INTELLIGENT MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
The Application Love Affair:
Delivering what the business
wants, when it wants it
Applications should not be deployed in isolation; channel partners should play a key role
in devising an organisation-wide digital transformation agenda that prioritises mobility,
virtualisation and cybersecurity solutions says Ossama Eldeeb, Senior Manager, MENA
Partner Organization, VMware.
F
ollowing the release of Pokémon
GO, the consumer relationship with
software applications seems to have
hit its zenith. With users now desperate
to engage with the physical world through
an augmented reality application, the
near-global trend is symptomatic of a
wider change in our society: that of the
Application Love Affair.
A result of the exponential growth
in computing power – as observed by
Moore’s Law – businesses are now under
increasing pressure to bring unique
experiences to users through the new
and ever-changing technologies that
pass through their hands. And while it is
smartphones and tablets that have enacted
this change, it is the applications that are
so central to the way our engagement with
businesses has changed.
Choice and flexibility are the driving
forces. Applications have become the
currency of any and every modern
organisation; central to implementing a
successful business model. The numbers
themselves speak volumes: in 2015
alone, more than 25 billion iOS apps
were downloaded, while over double that
were added to Android devices. It is this
consumer revolution that has led to the
same enthusiasm permeating the workforce,
with employees now expecting the same
level of access to apps in their working
lives as they get in their home life. The rise
of the consumer app store has given birth
44
to demand for a corporate app store: and
businesses have answered, with an 80 per
cent jump in business apps in the last year
alone. In fact, ‘business’ is the third-most
popular app store category so far. With
employees able to see the options, all of
which seem quickly accessible, it can become
frustrating if they feel the IT department is
blocking them from using these new tools.
Application challenges
Delivering new applications for the
wider business has always been a
time-consuming and often technically
challenging task; even using a Virtual
Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) approach,
it could take an excessive amount of time
and resources to update the images on
employees’ devices, ensuring everyone has
secure access to the latest version of the
organisation’s approved applications. The
process was long due for improvement.
With market speeds hitting an all-time
high, and industries seeming to change
overnight, organisations need to adapt
and realign their application management
strategy to one of continuous development,
making it an iterative process, where
employees can have access to the latest tools
as and when they become available, rather
than sitting on old and outdated versions,
as upgrading the device’s image is a low
priority for a time-strapped IT department.
Doing this needs a new kind of tool.
Enter VMware’s App Volumes. Making
Ossama Eldeeb, Senior Manager, MENA
Partner Organization, VMware.
VDI more agile and flexible, App Volumes
allows businesses to implement a ‘Just
in Time’ deployment model – bringing
applications and tools to users the moment
they need them.
The use cases are wide-ranging: think
of a school where the teacher decides, at
the last minute, to introduce their class to a
new application that can help their studies;
one quick word to the IT department and
they can ensure all pupils get instant access
to the program. Or consider a business
hiring temporary employees to cope with
Issue 09
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS