In the last few years, a lot of enterprises have morphed from using third party app stores to native enterprise app stores that provide their customers and other companies a pit stop for exclusive company apps.

A survey conducted by Appcelerator, a company that holds a poll among mobile app developers on a quarterly basis, included 804 participants from 1-person firms to businesses with 10,000 employees and above. The overall results of the survey revealed that enterprise-based applications and mobile app stores were on the rise.

The research firm Gartner, Inc. also points out that 25% of enterprises will own an app store for management of corporate PC and mobile device apps by the year 2017. And these stores will promise better control for apps frequently used by apps, but this will only be possible when the concept is adopted on a wide scale.

The research VP at the source, Ian Finely, also believes that public app stores lack proper procurement strategies and security policies, and because BYOD has become an important element in companies, enterprise app stores present a viable solution, and when implemented successfully, they can reduce the IT administration fees and the risks involved.

Benefits of creating an enterprise app store 

There are several advantages of creating an enterprise app store, even though the initial deployment may be a time consuming process. Some of them include:

1. Top level security

The rise in BYOD means that enterprises require a control over what employees download on their devices, so when there is a native app store, the enterprise can adopt company-wide policies that require employees to download all the apps from the specific platform, ensuring compliance.

It is also possible to automatically manage and respond to compliance violations as well as utilize APIs to adopt top-notch control through an enterprise mobility program. Among dozens of cloud management systems out there, my reading on different enterprise mobile application solutions gave me the most insight into how companies can restrict usage of mobile apps and incorporate geo-fencing for mobile device management.

2. Free up employees

Enterprise app stores also provide a way to free up the IT staff for other tasks. The department can also automate processes to push out app updates and set rules for repetitive violations. The cloud management model can also prevent malware by preventing access from rooted and jailbroken mobile and tablet devices.

A self-service model therefore would allow employees to download apps without guidance from the IT department and ensure security at different levels by restricting usage of certain device features.

3. Cost savings on licensing fees

The new age of enterprise app stores allows for integration of analytics that demonstrate how often the apps are downloaded as well as the distribution frequency of the group of employees using the apps.

Such analytics will allow monitoring of license usage and also enable the enterprise to reallocate licenses that remain unused, translating into reduced costs of licensing fees. It will also provide a base of personalized software licensing and app usage.

4. A clutter free experience

For employees, it can be a daunting task to search for an enterprise app from a public app store. Apart from regional restrictions, there are thousands of apps, implying the employees need to enter a keyword and then browse through a long list to search for the right app.

An enterprise app store on the other hand will provide a seamless experience and employees can pull the required apps directly from the store.

Enterprise app stores will continue to rise as companies take additional measures to ramp up BYOD security and make it easy for employees to stay connected and productive through company-based applications.

Author Bio
Devin is an Search Marketing expert and professional in backlink outreach/acquisition. Devin began his career in SEO while in college and now helps SEO agencies and in-house marketing teams scale their outreach and publishing campaigns by leveraging his knowledge of the industry. You can find Devin on twitter @dmak_11, LinkedIn, or Google+.