Mobile devices are quickly becoming the replacement for the enterprise Desktop and that trend has corporate IT departments and software vendors scrambling to put together some enterprise applications working on selected mobile devices.
There is no one keeping track of the number of existing enterprise applications, but the mobile community has already discovered the door of opportunity: last year, Apple launched its iOS Enterprise Developer Program. The program helps companies to host and distribute iOS applications through Apple Store and provides engineering support.
Also big enterprises are now launching its own app store. For example, Genentech, a biotech firm based in San Francisco, has created around 30 mobile apps for their employees. In addition to offering highly specialized applications such as "Small Molecule Data Integration", a database of molecular components, provides others more generic, like an app called "Get a Room", used to find and book meeting rooms and "Peep", which provides a directory of employees.
Kraft Foods, for instance, launched a set of enterprise apps for supply-chain management and procurement. Meanwhile, IBM is building an enormous mobile-apps store it has dubbed WhirlWind, which already offers 400 apps and serves more than 26,000 employees.
Everyone is carrying their mobile devices around all the time. For this reason, decision makers now see that these tools increase productivity, reduce paperwork, and increase revenue.
Here are some reasons why bussiness are using mobile apps (Infographic from Zendesk.com):