The State of Enterprise Mobility: Shifting App Ecosystem to Include More B2B and B2E Apps

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The State of Enterprise Mobility: Shifting App Ecosystem to Include More B2B and B2E Apps

Over the past decade mobile technology and in particular the advent of smartphones has completely transformed the way many of us live our lives. Similarly, smartphones are transforming the way business is done on a global scale. Today we’re going to explore how current trends in enterprise mobile technology are shaping the business environments of the future.

The Mobile App Ecosystem is Shifting

Recently IDC and Appcelerator surveyed over 6,000 mobile developers to look at the hot trends in today’s mobile development ecosystem. They found that the mobile development community is shifting from a B2C-centric ecosystem to one which includes more and more B2B (business to business) and B2E (business to employee) apps (see figure 1). As enterprise companies have witnessed and experienced the adoption of consumer-facing mobile apps, they’ve developed an increased confidence to bring smartphone-apps into the workplace. This assertion is clearly reflected in the numbers presented in the Appcelerator/IDC Q2 2013 Mobile Developer Report:

“Q410 to Q213 has seen a 19% decline in developers who report expecting to build consumer-facing apps (B2C) for their enterprise clients. The growth is in business (B2B) and employee (B2E) apps, from 29.3% in Q410 to 42.7% in Q213. Due to the number of employee apps required by enterprises, 63% of developers are reporting “increased” or “greatly increased” enterprise demand for their skills in the past six months.”

Current Affairs: Changes in the Enterprise Landscape

At the moment the enterprise workplace environment is a mixed bag, where some companies are on the cusp of new mobile technology while others trail decades behind. No matter where you are on this evolution bell curve, the future will be similar for many of us. Young companies and those who adapt to the changing technology will persevere while many others will fall into the history books. Recent trends in enterprise mobility such as IT consumerization and in particular the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement are the driving forces behind these changes. Leveraging smartphone technology in the workplace is beginning to be regarded as a necessity for companies to remain competitive.

What to Expect in the Age of Enterprise Apps

So how will mobile technology be utilized in the enterprise moving forward? First and foremost, you’ll witness a consolidation and emulation of peripheral hardware devices in the workplace. Everything from a calculator to a compass to a barcode scanner will exist as emulated hardware in the form of a mobile app. This trend is already clearly demonstrated in the consumer market, and the enterprise data capture market is moving in this direction at a rapid pace. The Scandit Barcode Scanner is one example of the technology driving this change, by making it easier for companies to lower total cost of ownership (in some cases by over 70%) by replacing expensive hardware with a smartphone-based app. Another aspect of the future to consider is that the workplace itself is increasingly mobile. As more and more work can take place on a mobile device, employees begin to actually carry their work around in their pocket. This can greatly enhance the independence of employees working in the field, giving them an additional level of flexibility.

Utilizing Scandit in B2B and B2E Apps

Our innovative mobile barcode scanning technology provides a unique opportunity for enterprise companies to reduce costs by replacing expensive dedicated scanner hardware with a smartphone-based solution. There are a vast variety of mobile app usage scenarios where Scandit technology can be leveraged, which includes everything from point of sale apps to package shipment and delivery apps.

Interested in testing out our barcode scanner SDK? You can try it free for 3 months by signing up for one of our enterprise trial accounts.

Stay tuned to our blog for some upcoming posts which will explore the world of mobile point of sale!