People are accustomed to using applications in their everyday lives. No doubt, they want to take advantage of this functionality while at work. Therefore, nowadays it is impossible to imagine an enterprise that does not use corporate applications that help manage business aspects more efficiently. Corporate apps automate the implementation of business processes to some extent and support such tasks as data analysis, planning, and data management. Corporate applications provide a holistic, real-time view of the entire enterprise due to its ability to integrate and process large amounts of information from various business areas.
Web application development aims to create complex, mission-critical, reliable, distributed, component-based, and scalable apps. These systems must be data-centric and must have intuitive user interface. The requirements for administration management and security are extremely stringent. It’s of crucial importance that the apps could be deployed on various platforms across corporate networks, the Internet or intranets.
Designing corporate apps is a challenging task. If you want your web application development project to be a success, you will have to meet hundreds of separate requirements. In order to design a high quality application, you should take these requirements into account. These include:
- The business goals
- The amount of money you plan to spend on it
- The time-frame which puts limitations on the period the application must be delivered at
- The number of concurrent users it must support
- The number of people involved in its development, testing and maintenance
- The required level of security.
The most common types of corporate applications are: automated billing systems, email marketing systems, call center and customer support, payment processing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Business Intelligence, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), HR Management, content management, Business Continuity Planning (BCP), enterprise search, messaging and collaboration systems.
There is a steady trend in modern web app development that gives common ground to various enterprise applications. When we talk about this trend we mean shifting over to Web-technologies.
Web applications have several significant advantages. These advantages are so important that they determine the choice of platform during either the web application development or implementation process. The pros include:
Ease of deployment. Web-based applications do not require clients to install them. If there are about 100 people in the company, a client application can take weeks to deploy, while the deployment of web-based applications can take only one day.
Ease of support. If changes are made to a desktop application, all customers will require an update. However, updating web-based applications is extremely efficient, and can often be done « on the fly ».
Technology development. Web application development technologies have moved far ahead recently. Nowadays web applications are no worse than desktop-technologies. Thus, a full-fledged web app development of web-based applications today is not as complex as it used to be.
Cross-platform. When talking about Web applications, everyone is well aware of the fact that there can be two different platforms at the end of the link. If the company opts to use Web-based applications, it will only benefit from it: web application development makes the enterprise open to all platforms. For example, with the help of PHP web application development, a web application company such as Elinext Group can create apps that are displayed on any computer or mobile device.
Web application development companies focus on delivering flexible and efficient solutions as well as mitigate the disadvantages you can face while using corporate applications. However, disadvantages of corporate apps can be the following:
User dissatisfaction. Functionality is the main goal of enterprise software. However, it can sometimes often lack a friendly user interface. Business users normally have little choice over the apps they deal with. However, it’s likely that you will hear a lot of stories from the employees about struggling with software. However, user dissatisfaction is the main driver behind custom web application development. Nowadays companies that provide web application development services concentrate on streamlining processes, enhancing productivity and delivering a user-centered experience design.
Lack of agility and flexibility.
Web app development is a demanding process. As a result, the application, in the result, can be sluggish and inflexible. That is why customization is needed to help reduce undesirable effects. But don’t expect that it will help you get rid of these problems completely. Troubles can arise as soon as upgrades roll out, which can result in additional maintenance costs.
High licensing and support fees are another thing web application developers try to take care of. Annual support and maintenance contracts can cost your company up to 20 percent of the initial license price. This is a difficult issue to resolve at the moment, though developers do everything possible to satisfy their clients’ needs at any cost.
In spite of these disadvantages, corporate web application development often achieves its primary goal. That means that pertinent data for a given context is presented to the user on a timely basis, effective decisions are made and the operations in business departments are enhanced. That is why if you want your business to be efficient, corporate applications are the way to success.
Industries and Technology Areas
Industries: IT
Technology Areas: software development, web application development
