Enterprise Applications

Extending enterprise applications to mobile devices is increasingly becoming a priority for organisations looking to optimise their workforce.
 

Today's enterprise mobile application space continues to mirror developments in the personal computing industry 20 years ago.  PC adoption in enterprises was driven by the basics - word processing and spreadsheets. However, businesses started to realise increased efficiencies as the PC was gradually introduced into line-of-business operations. Now in the modern workplace almost every task is performed with the aid of a personal computer.

The same is true of mobility. Much of the early adoption of enterprise mobile solutions has been driven by the basics - which in this case is email and messaging. But, like the PC, the most dramatic benefits will be realised when the power of mobile computing is harnessed for business-specific applications.
 
The challenge is to seamlessly extend various aspects of enterprise applications, many based on a variety of technologies and platforms, to mobile devices. Your staff members now carry computers in their pockets that are likely more powerful than the first computers your company ever purchased.
 
There are, of course, many flavors of enterprise applications that can be extended on to mobile devices, such as Customer Relation Management (CRM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP - the scheduling of employees and resources), and Business Intelligence (BI - advanced and timely reporting).
 
As most existing enterprise IT systems don’t have a direct way of working with devices, mobile middleware plays a crucial role. Some of the important features of this tier include security, data synchronization, device management, and the necessary support for multiple devices.
The mobile client application is the software that will run on the device. There are many considerations at this tier, including data availability, communication with middleware, local resource utilization, and local data storage. In addition, many business factors need to be considered. For example, who are the target users? How critical is it to have the latest data? Are there restrictions for storing data on the device? What provisions are there in case of no network connectivity?
 

When selecting the platform for the device, we see three main options:

Online Applications (also known as a thin client). This is client software, normally a browser, used when connectivity can be guaranteed. Without a connection, the mobile application does not work.

Offline Applications (also known as a thick client). This is client software installed locally to the device that holds all required data for the duration of most operations, and synchronizes at the end of each day or a preconfigured period of time.

Occasionally Connected Applications (also known as a smart client). This is client software installed locally, similar to the offline model, but where the application can update and refresh data at any point in time. The frequency of the data refresh depends on the criticality of the application.