Large organizations face unique needs compared to small-to-medium-sized businesses. Because of the complexity of their operations, every aspect of an enterprise company has to scale, unifying numerous departments and teams and managing a workforce of hundreds or thousands of employees.
Enterprise organizations need customized applications for their internal operations, secure connections to other organizations, and often for direct connections with customers.
We’ll define enterprise application development, the types of features enterprise businesses need, and why large organizations must seek the right long-term development partner to customize enterprise software.
What Is Enterprise Application Development?
Enterprise-level organizations are often structured with numerous departments and teams specializing in different roles. Organizations at this level rely heavily on multiple software platforms to share data across all departments while also keeping security and privacy at the highest priority. Corporations use a multitude of enterprise applications to manage daily operations, but even with all combined, these platforms rarely cover every need.
These corporations turn to enterprise application development to better connect the inner workings of their organizational processes. They may also need secure, customized software to connect with business partners, B2B customers, vendors in their supply chain, and even B2C customers. Unique enterprise platforms may be needed just to manage B2C customers.
Enterprise applications generally help to streamline the unique framework of a large company’s operations, enhance customer engagement where applicable, manage company resources, and provide deep analytics to fuel executive and departmental decision-making.
These features help large-scale companies continue to grow with maximum efficiency.
Enterprise Web Application Development
In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, having a robust and efficient technology infrastructure is crucial for staying competitive. Enterprise application development plays a pivotal role in streamlining operations, enhancing user experiences, and driving innovation within organizations. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the key aspects of enterprise application development, from its benefits and best practices to the latest trends shaping the industry.
Enterprise applications are custom software solutions designed to meet the specific needs of a business. They offer a range of benefits, including improved efficiency, enhanced collaboration, and optimized decision-making. By automating complex processes and integrating various systems, these applications empower organizations to operate seamlessly across departments and locations.
Key Best Practices:
- Identifying Business Needs: Before embarking on an enterprise application development project, it’s essential to thoroughly understand the unique requirements of your business. Conduct a comprehensive analysis to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.
- User-Centric Design: User experience (UX) is paramount in enterprise applications. Design intuitive interfaces that ensure ease of use and accessibility for all users, regardless of their technical proficiency.
- Scalability and Flexibility: Build applications that can grow and adapt as your business evolves. Scalability ensures that the application can handle increased workloads and user demands, while flexibility allows for quick adjustments to changing requirements.
- Security and Data Protection: Given the sensitivity of enterprise data, security should be a top priority. Implement robust security measures to safeguard sensitive information and comply with relevant regulations.
- Agile Development Methodology: Adopt an agile approach to development, breaking down projects into smaller, manageable phases. This promotes iterative development, continuous feedback, and quicker time-to-market.
Latest Trends in Enterprise Application Development:
- Cloud-Native Solutions: Cloud computing has transformed the landscape of enterprise application development. Cloud-native applications offer scalability, cost-efficiency, and the ability to access data and services from anywhere.
- Microservices Architecture: Breaking down applications into microservices enables easier maintenance, scalability, and deployment. This approach allows teams to work on specific components independently.
- AI and Machine Learning Integration: Incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) capabilities into enterprise applications can enhance decision-making, automate tasks, and provide insights from data.
Enterprise Mobile Application Development
Custom enterprise mobile application development is necessary to integrate different devices used by employees, vendors, and stakeholders. Cross-platform compatibility is crucial, especially where B2C enterprise applications are needed, so customers can easily navigate the platform to connect to support, e-Commerce, or personal profiles.
Custom enterprise software should track analytics about user behavior on mobile devices and desktops alike.
As is the case for workstations, this software needs the highest level of security, authentication, and structured permissions to protect the network from attacks.
Examples of Enterprise Software
As mentioned above, enterprise applications may be needed for B2B, B2C, and internal operations.
The following are examples of widely used enterprise applications large corporations will custom-develop to suit their specific needs:
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Managing team communication
- Business continuity planning (BCP)
- e-Commerce
- Customer support/Chatbots
- Human resources management (HRM)
- Supply chain management (SCM)
- Inventory management
- Cloud server integration
- IT operations
- Cybersecurity
- Collaboration Software
- Resource Planning
Why Do You Need Enterprise Application Development?
Enterprise application development is a strategic investment that empowers organizations to achieve operational excellence and drive innovation. By following best practices, staying informed about the latest trends, and partnering with experienced development teams, businesses can unlock the full potential of technology to stay ahead in today’s dynamic business environment.
No two organizations are identical, and at an enterprise level, companies run into several issues when trying to use off-the-shelf platform solutions.
Often, these companies are using a combination of dozens of different applications to manage the separate aspects of business. Departments suffer from being siloed off from one another, and even when numerous different programs are combined, they still aren’t ideal. Only a limited number of enterprise business solutions are capable of integrating in unison.
Enterprise organizations need custom-tailored solutions that match their workflow and processes, and as a result, they can:
- Increase efficiency with better analytics
- Scale operations with a more unified workflow
- Reduce siloed communication problems
- Save on multiple subscriptions to off-the-shelf enterprise software
What Features Should an Enterprise Application Have?
Enterprise software needs an intuitive front-end design with a user interface (UI) that is easy to navigate, especially since people from widely different roles will need to use the same platform.
Scalability
Enterprise software has to be able to manage complex, varied tasks. It has to be designed for use by thousands of employees and even potentially millions of customers. It needs to integrate well with powerful servers designed with the bandwidth to handle maximum capacity.
Improved integration
Many companies turn to enterprise application development to improve upon business solutions they need customized for their specific needs, while continuing to share familiar platforms with partners.
Custom enterprise software is designed to integrate with other systems to improve workflow and increase efficiency.
Connectivity
In addition to software integration, enterprise software brings departments together through a unified platform. With dashboards, alerts, analytics, announcements, and any features that improve internal communication, a customized application helps segregated teams connect throughout the work lifecycle.
Security
For internal network systems and cloud network systems, cybersecurity is of the utmost importance. Large corporations also have a large attack surface. It’s not just the company’s hardware and software: every employee and executive is a potential entry point for cyberattacks.
Different industries also face unique regulatory requirements for protecting user data and protecting infrastructure. Enterprise software has to have strong authentication, administrative rights management, and compliance features built in.
Why Outsource Your Enterprise Application Development?
Enterprise corporations have to remain competitive. They are constantly looking for ways to improve performance through streamlined processes, better-organized systems, and analytics that help them grow.
You need a dedicated long-term enterprise application development team with the expertise to build the features you need.
The Challenges with Hiring In-House
You may consider adding a full-time team internally, but there are several challenges you want to consider that come with in-house development.
Limited Local Talent
You need a team of the best software developers that remain current on every trend and every new programming language. Your choices for hiring locally may be limited.
Excessive Costs
Hiring locally means paying top-dollar salaries, but you’ll also need a budget for equipment, training, workspace, and other company resources.
Time-Consuming Hiring Processes
Your human resources needs to know all of the most critical traits that make the right development team. Hiring in-house means properly assessing applicant skills, tailoring your interview process, integrating the team, and developing proper training.
Rapid Changes in Technology
The surge in AI, machine learning, and other technologies means you have to hire long-term talent that understands how your company needs to adapt to change. For many organizations, this is far outside their expertise.
The Benefits of Hiring Your Nearshore Partner
Excel SoftSources partners with enterprise companies to provide the industry’s best long-term, nearshore enterprise application development services. This provides you with the following advantages:
Cost-Savings
Nearshore outsourcing significantly reduces costs compared to local hires, and instead of paying salaried employees, you pay for hours worked.
Professional Talent Pool
Our nearshore software developers are experts in their field and fluent in English.
Cultural Alignment
Our teams share an aligned work ethic, culture, and collaborative development process, ensuring they understand their role.
Shared US Time Zone
Our nearshore teams are in Costa Rica, so they will be synchronized to your work cycle. This means there’s no lag in communications for every stage of the development lifecycle.
Most Efficient Development Practices
Our teams are skilled in Agile methodology and DevOps, meaning constant shared communication, continuous development and deployment, and measurable progress.
Excel SoftSources: Your Partners in Enterprise Application Development
If you’re ready to streamline your processes, improve internal communications, and increase company-wide efficiency, we’d love to hear from you.