August 2019

There has been an upsurge in mobile technologies – not only in a person’s personal life, but also in business. In today’s time, being a part of the digital world is one of the top priorities for companies. One of the major steps to upgrading to mobile is the development of an enterprise mobile application. ​

What Does an Enterprise Application Development Mean?
Enterprise mobile applications make the process within the company easier, and at the same time create a comfortable climate to create interaction and involve the employees. It helps the business to operate more efficiently by providing turn-key solutions for several critical tasks:

• Employees having access to operational data even when they are out of office.
• Employees would have transparency for all current processes within the organisation.
• Having a single platform for all work processes, such as, scheduling, communicating, reporting, etc. which reduces time to solve complex problems.
• Improving the interaction between different departments, and the employees and top management.

An enterprise mobile app has become a powerful business tool not just for big corporate companies but also for small businesses. But there are some challenges that come with an enterprise mobile app, as it is relatively new and fundamentally different from web development. Let’s take a look at a few challenges you may face:
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The Right Team and Development of Time-Bound Application

The biggest challenge for developing an enterprise mobile application is getting together a team of resourceful people. The team members need to have diverse skills and capabilities to find the right people to work with. Some of the key people in the team include software and hardware engineers, developers, designers, testers and at least one project manager.

If the team member is working from a remote location, he/she needs to be given a download from the internal team about all the processes and features of the app. A dedicated representative should be in regular contact with the outsourcing team, if any.

Further, streamlined procedures can be adopted by implementing the low code approach to enterprise mobile application development. What does a low code approach mean? – it is a process of creating apps from reusable components which makes it easy for the developer to build a new app in a shorter amount of time. These low code approach apps can be created by a drag and drop methodology, making the app creation automatic. App creation can be done in a very short duration, if it is equipped with pre-configured business models, pre-connected technology components and a design studio with hundreds of designs to choose from – all you need is to drag your pick and drop it!
This methodology helps enterprise mobile applications overcome the slow development of a solution; rather the result is a fully customisable app that is scalable, cheap, secure and reliable. 
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Integrating the App with Back-End Resources

After developing the enterprise mobile application, it is a significant challenge to integrate it with the back-end resources. To overcome this challenge, there are tools made for smooth integration. Also, some apps come featured with an inbuilt enterprise administration backend to help the business administer to create a reporting engine that provides real-time analytics. It includes a communication framework for chat and notification, a scalable infrastructure for future integrations and in-built security features.

Cross-Platform Enterprise Mobile Application

One of the challenges that has cropped up while developing an enterprise mobile application is to customise the mobile app with the various platforms that are being used, such as iOS, Android and Windows. The company needs to invest in an enterprise mobile application that is compatible with the existing platforms or that can be customized. Companies can overcome this challenge if this process is automated.
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Security

With any form of technology comes the threat of data breaches and cyber-attacks. This poses a threat to customer data, as well as internal business security. A single security slack could cause trouble for the entire organization.

Furthermore, the rule of Bringing Your Own Device (BYOB) has created more security concerns:

• According to IDC research, about 95% of modern employees already use at least one personal device for work purposes.
• The results of a study by Poppulo show that 41% of employees are not satisfied with the tools their companies provide them with.
• Another IDC survey shows that more than 53% of workers in the US believe that using their own devices makes them more productive.

Reference Source:

https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US44001418
https://www.poppulo.com/blog/from-byod-to-byoa-what-the-workplace-app-explosion-means-for-internal-communicators/
https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=US44001418

These security threats can be controlled if enterprise mobile applications provide the means and guidelines for testing security standards and keeping them up-to-date.

• Encryption of data while creating the mobile app is crucial. The data shared in the app is vulnerable to attacks from another smart device, and the data being vulnerable to breaches and attacks. The data can be easily achieved using a secure container, which will protect the enterprise apps when devices are lost or compromised.

 

• Authenticating credentials like login and password has to be implemented for safe and secure authentication routine. To solve this problem, it is important to integrate with the enterprise’s LDAP directory as it will ensure you a proper and accurate authentication. It also delivers a suitable single-sign-on (SSO) across all enterprise applications.

 

• Impersonation to obtain information from employees of companies poses a great threat to breach of security. This information is obtained by bombardment of pop up ads or ads on the host system. To overcome this security challenge, there are some low code rapid app development platforms that can be implemented.

​Final Thoughts
Developing enterprise mobile applications comes with a myriad of challenges. Enterprises must develop natively so that they can meet the customer’s demands. Technology is continuously upgrading itself and hence, there will always be challenges faced by enterprise apps to keep innovating and evolving as new technology enters the market. Ensure that there are enough flexibility in the app to keep up with this change.
If you wish to develop and deploy tailor-made industry-best solutions to deal with and overcome these developmental challenges of enterprise mobile applications, please do contact the App Scoop mobile app developers and app development Team: https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html

​The market is constantly churning out new mobile applications each day. With the ever-increasing demand of mobile applications, companies are trying to build mobile apps that are engaging, effective and that can transform their business. They want their next app to take the market by storm! However, there are times when the app curated in the mind cannot be developed by an in-house team – they require experts! Hence, many companies outsource their mobile app development rather than dumping it on their internal team. This not only saves time and money, but also ensures that the app is bought to life by experts, rather than a team that would work on a trial and error basis. 

Outsourcing mobile apps most times is a good idea except in certain scenarios. Let’s take a look at 5 mistakes companies make while outsourcing mobile app development.
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Mistake 1: Background Search of the Outsource Company
In a hurry to develop the app and outsource it, sometimes the company does not conduct a thorough background search. While researching the outsource company, one must gather the following data:

• Is the company recommended? Are there enough positive and credible reviews online?
• How many and which apps has the company created? What is their app portfolio?
• What are the qualifications of the team?

If you are unsatisfied with any of the information provided, the safest thing to do is move on to another company with more credible sources.

Mistake 2: Unclear Idea for the App
Just thinking about an app doesn’t make the app successful. An idea is just the first step towards creating a mobile app. Once the idea is created, it is necessary to refine, fine tune and note down all the important features of the app. Although, there are some companies that do not freeze the base concept of the app before outsourcing it to another company. This leads to an app that doesn’t meet its true potential.
It is important to make a layout, define the purpose of the app, make a timeline and budget the app. Once these details are finalized, it can be outsourced to another company. Post which there needs to be a round to clear doubts and communicate with the third-party app developers.

Mistake 3: Rushed Timeline
Rushing through an app will not do good to anyone. If the app is complicated, then developers need to have an appropriate timeframe. Some companies believe that just because they are outsourcing mobile app development to a third party that they are supposed to deliver the app sooner than their internal team.
It is always safer to go with experienced developers who might take some time but who would deliver an app that has lesser bugs and issues – who ensure that the end product is worth the wait.

Mistake 4: Cost Over Quality
In this competitive world, remember that there are several developers in the market that are willing to develop apps at a cheap rate. But obviously only developers that are out of work or have just entered the market are willing to work for less money. Most companies do not understand that the outcome of this could be dreadful.
It is always suggested that the companies must choose between the top 3 mobile app developers rather than looking for cheap or discounted offers. Comparing detailed breakdown of estimates from several developers will be very insightful once you look at budget components, such as planned hours, pricing for individual features, and so forth. You can then easily spot that one of the developers simply isn’t accounting for a lot of the details that others are budgeting for and those costs or delays will probably come up later in the project.

Mistake 5:  Shoddy Project Management
Even though you have outsourced the app, the company needs to appoint an internal project manager to take account of the development of the app on a daily basis. After each milestone, the project manager should test the product and ensure that the standards are being met. Check if your development partner would be open to providing you access so that you don’t limit your interaction to just emails and phone calls.

To Conclude

Hence while outsourcing a mobile app, ensure that you’ve done enough research on the app that you wish to create and the company that you are outsourcing the app to. Do not fall under the trap of discounted prices and quick deliveries. Make sure that you go through enough companies before choosing one. Like any technical project, a mobile app has a lot of moving parts. You will still need to invest in project management time when outsourcing app development.
The advantage of outsourcing the app development work is that it gets you immediate access to a well-trained team and with the right partner, a high-quality outcome along with insights from external expertise. If you wish to outsource your mobile app development, you can contact the App Scoop mobile app developers and the app development team: https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html

The insurance industry is a financial intermediary that plays a major part of the financial industry. Even though there has been a surge in purchasing and account insurances online, there is a huge part of the population that still prefers to take insurances through insurance brokers or visiting the insurance company personally. This results in the rise of paperwork and paper contracts which are prone to error and most often require human supervision. In short, the insurance involves consumers, brokers, insurers and sometimes even reinsurers – which results in a potential failure of loss of information, misinterpretation of policy and delay in settlement. 

To cut these losses, giant insurance companies are switching to Blockchain technology. Why will the Blockchain technology help the insurance industry for the better? Blockchain is the ideal technology that can store records and data cryptographically. It helps build transparent operations built of trust and stability. According to a report in The SAP Digital Transformation Executive Study, the banking and the insurance industry is planning to double up their Blockchain investments by the year 2019. The industry wants to transform and streamline their processes via Blockchain and mitigate the challenges faced while data sharing, claim processing and frauds.
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ReferenceSource:https://www.sap.com/cmp/dg/innovation-is-live/index.html?url_id=banner-DTES_Banner_4_Ways-News_Center-2017_DTES-Oxford_Report

Current Challenges Faced by the Insurance Industry

We’ve already covered a few challenges faced by the insurance industry, let’s recap the most concerning ones:

• Privacy issues from underwriting to claims processing
• Limited growth in mature markets
• Data management while client onboarding
• Identity management
• Fraudulent claim activity

Now, let’s take a look at how Blockchain can help combat these challenges faced by the insurance industry.

Blockchain – Making Insurance Industry Better
Leveraging Blockchain will help to promote transparency, trust and stability in this early stage of adoption. Let’s take a look at each point in detail:

Security
Suspicious and dubious transactions can be eliminated by logging each transaction with the use of a public ledger. The authenticity of the customer, policy and transactions can be verified through the decentralized digital repository. This secures the insurance companies from hackers who want to steal and corrupt files.

Smart Contracts
With the help of Blockchain, insurance companies connect real time information of contracts from multiple systems. It will allow the insurance company to even view physical documents and activities that apply for processes like claims, payments and reimbursements. This process is much faster and is done with greater accuracy, thereby, saving the insurance company time and money.

Big Data
Imagine the amount of data that insurance companies need to handle – especially with the introduction of the digital age. With the help of Blockchain, companies can now organize, store and protect data in secured fashion. Since, it is stored on Blockchain, the information – static or data without centralized coordination – can be viewed by all parties. This is possible because the user’s data creates a digital fingerprint using a date and time stamp which provides both transparency and security.

Third Party Transactions
It is easier for insurance companies to carry out third-party transactions and claims made through a digital device. Blockchain helps the insurance company to reduce administrative costs as the claim and payment is automated. Past claims can be easily viewed on Blockchain – promoting a higher degree of trust between the user and the insurance company.
Reference Source: https://www.idginsiderpro.com/article/3301163/how-blockchain-is-disrupting-the-insurance-industry-for-the-better.html

​Fraud Detection
With the help of Blockchain it is easier for the insurance companies to detect frauds.
“On a distributed ledger, insurers could record permanent transactions, with granular access controls to protect data security. Storing claims information on a shared ledger would help insurers collaborate and identify suspicious behaviour across the ecosystem.”
Reference Source: https://www.cbinsights.com/research/blockchain-insurance-disruption/

Identity Management
While data is being fed into Blockchain, it is a must for ever user to fill in all their KYC details. The users have to fill a detailed document, which goes through an identify verification procedure. These details can be verified through Blockchain, by assessing the connected government databases. Every record will be secured and accessible to all the parties involved.
 
Blockchain Insurance Sector
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The main agenda for switching to Blockchain for insurance companies is that it enables automating processes and secure decentralized transactions. Many check issues can be done quickly, securely and in a more organized fashion. Let’s take a look at the multiple insurance companies these affect:

Health Insurance
Blockchain loops in all hospitals and clinics, lab vendors, physicians and insurers in the application which makes it easier to streamline the “flow of health information for enhanced underwriting and claim validation”.

Life Insurance
Blockchain assembles death registrations and death claim procedures which helps streamline the claim settlement. 

Travel Insurance
Blockchain puts together a data centre that has all the travel agencies, airlines, other travel departments and insurers under one umbrella which makes it easy for insurers to check facts and process or deny the claim.

Home Insurance
Blockchain stores all the retail estate details which makes it faster for them to verify and process home insurances.

Wrapping It Up
Blockchain is the future of secure technology that is yet to sweep over the world. If you wish to know more about how Blockchain can be used for disrupting the insurance industry for the better, you can contact the App Scoop mobile app development team on: https://app-scoop.com/contact-us.html