Enterprise Mobile App Development

What is an enterprise mobile app?

An enterprise mobile app is one a company builds to run its own processes from a phone or a handheld terminal. Its users are known: the field sales representative, the warehouse operator, the service engineer, the auditor or the manager who approves.

Its value comes from data entered where the work happens reaching the central system at the same moment. The field representative enters the order while standing with the customer, and nobody types it again at the office.

What sets it apart from a consumer app is the priority: the goal here is not downloads but completing a transaction in as few steps as possible without error.

When do you need a mobile app?

For approving, checking status and viewing lists, a mobile-friendly web application is usually enough. A mobile app comes into play where one of the following applies: camera or barcode scanning, location, capturing a signature on the device, notifications, or working where there is no connection.

iOS, Android and the platform decision

Which platforms the app runs on and how it is built is a decision made against the requirements. It would not be right to say one approach is better on every project.

We look at these headings when deciding: the device capabilities involved (camera, barcode, location, printing), the expected performance, whether offline working is needed, the target platforms, how maintenance will work and the scope of the project.

A warehouse app doing heavy barcode scanning and a manager's app used a few times a month do not have the same technical requirements, so we decide from that list rather than from a general preference.

Offline working and synchronisation

In a warehouse, on a production floor or at a customer out of town, the connection is not always good. If the app is expected to keep working there, it has to hold data on the device and send it once connectivity returns.

The real work is not the transfer but managing conflicts: preventing the same record being created twice, deciding which version wins when the device and the centre disagree, and defining where records that could not be sent will collect.

Barcode, QR, camera and location

Device capabilities need development and testing on real hardware; which of them are genuinely required has a direct effect on scope.

• Barcode and QR scanning (camera or handheld terminal)
• Taking photographs and attaching documents
• Capturing a signature on the device
• Adding location data to the record
• Receipt or label printing on a mobile printer
• Scenarios requiring serial and batch tracking

Notification scenarios

Notifications exist to stop a process waiting: a request pending approval, a new work order assigned to the field or a critical stock position reaches the right person.

Who receives a notification for which event is defined by role. Sending everything to everyone means the notifications get ignored altogether within a short time.

ERP, API and backend integration

Behind a mobile app there is usually an ERP or another corporate system. Item, price, stock and account data are read from it, and transactions created in the field are written back.

On the SAP Business One side we make that connection through the service interfaces shipped with the product, so the ERP's own business rules stay in force. For other systems we use the API the other side offers.

Roles, permissions and mobile security

Because devices get lost, permissions and session management matter even more on mobile.

• Each user seeing only their own region, warehouse or customers
• Role-based screen and transaction permissions
• Session management and timeout
• Protecting data held on the device
• Being able to cut access remotely
• Transactions recorded against the user's account

App Store, Google Play and enterprise distribution

An app can be published in the public stores, or delivered only to company devices through enterprise distribution. For an app only your own staff will use, the second route is often more practical.

Store rules and processes change over time, so we plan this heading at the start of the project against how things stand then, and put the necessary account and certificate preparation into the schedule.

What drives the cost

What enlarges a mobile budget is usually not the screen count but offline working, device capabilities, the number of platforms supported, the number of roles and the integration scope.

Establishing early which of those are genuinely needed keeps the scope predictable. Our custom software development cost guide goes into the detail.

Frequently asked questions