Your team has been tasked with building an enterprise mobile application to allow your increasingly mobile workforce or customer base to access your company’s services from their mobile devices. This can be a daunting task, as it requires a variety of domain expertise, from solutions architecture and user experience design to mobile application devops and deployment management. Fortunately there are several ways to tackle a project like this and improve your mobile experience, and I will outline a few of them here.

Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms (MEAPs) and Mobile Application Development Platforms (MADPs) are low-code solutions that empower organizations to efficiently build, deploy and manage mobile apps across devices. These platforms provide visual, drag-and-drop interfaces to rapidly develop apps, compile them across operating systems like iOS and Android from a single codebase, and bake in services like data integration, offline usage, notifications and more.

For companies embracing mobility to better serve employees and customers, MEAPs/MADPs can provide huge time and cost savings compared to traditional custom mobile development. They allow faster app development without deep technical skills. Studies show development time can be cut by at least 50-80%.

However, speed should not come at the cost of good product design process. To ensure user adoption and delight, investing in user-centric design with an experienced agency is highly recommended when leveraging these platforms. Conducting exercises like empathy mapping, journey mapping, and creating a service blueprint can uncover user needs and gaps not obvious at first glance. This prevents wasting time building features users do not want.

In addition, while MEAPs provide templates and reusable components for the user interface, having custom branding and design is key for consumer-grade mobile experiences users now expect. The visual design should align to your brand and organizational goals. Partnering with a UX agency skilled in strategic design can make the difference between having an app employees/customers begrudgingly tolerate, and one they actively enjoy using.

Once sufficient upfront planning and design has occurred, taking advantage of a MEAP/MADP for the development and deployment phases can greatly accelerate your time-to-market while keeping costs affordable.

As there are many players in the marketplace, evaluating your options is highly recommended before selecting a platform. Below we highlight the top five platforms that may be a fit, based on common enterprise mobile needs and our extensive consulting experience. Reach out for a more detailed assessment.

OutSystems

OutSystems positions itself as a leading low-code development platform primarily focused on the rapid development of web and mobile applications. The cornerstone of their offering is a model-driven visual development interface that facilitates drag-and-drop functionality for user interface design, business processes, logic, and data models.

While we used to not recommend using the available UI components to build anything but the most basic user interfaces, they have more recently updated their UI library to be more competitive. Their template library provides starting points for many different business use cases, such as order management, quote generation, and employee directories. Their software provides the richest feature set for implementing custom business logic that we have seen in the marketplace.

A standout strength of OutSystems lies in its extensive integration capabilities. It supports integration with over 400 third-party systems, including custom SOAP services and REST APIs, all managed through a visual development interface. This feature simplifies integration with existing systems like Salesforce or legacy databases.

Furthermore, OutSystems offers the flexibility to run applications on their cloud-based platform, other public or private cloud platforms, or on-premises. This flexibility accommodates various use cases, including those with stringent data sensitivity requirements.

OutSystems distinguishes itself with its low-code approach, robust visual development interface, improved UI components, versatile template library, and powerful integration capabilities, making it a comprehensive solution for rapid application development and deployment.

Mendix

Mendix, a subsidiary of Siemens, has consistently held a leadership position in the low-code development space and is featured on this list for the fourth consecutive year. The platform has gained significant traction, even earning recognition from major players like SAP and IBM, who incorporate Mendix in their respective Mobile Application Development Platform (MADP) offerings, contributing to the long-term stability of the Mendix platform.

One notable feature that sets Mendix apart is its commitment to cloud portability. Unlike many Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms (MEAP), Mendix allows for the deployment of a production system with a containerized codebase to any cloud-based or on-premises environment. This flexibility provides companies with the option to move their applications to their own hosting environment in the event of any issues with the Mendix network, which operates on AWS. Furthermore, Mendix has expanded its support for private cloud installations, enabling users to run low-code applications in their own Kubernetes-based (virtual) private cloud.

The Mendix Marketplace is another standout offering, providing a platform where members of the developer community can share their modules with others on the platform. This includes a variety of modules such as data connectors, interface components, and authentication modules.

Mendix places a strong emphasis on catering to “citizen developers,” allowing business process owners to build and modify applications without requiring extensive involvement from IT developers. The platform tailors the development process and documentation to accommodate a range of abilities, making it accessible for a diverse audience. This focus on a wide range of development skills positions Mendix as a platform that potentially empowers smaller business teams to independently develop their own applications.

Plant an App

Plant an App, as a relatively new player in the low-code platform arena, is carving its niche by differentiating itself through inclusiveness, particularly towards developers. Unlike some low-code platforms that aim to replace developers, Plant an App focuses on empowering developers through its platform.

The platform is designed to meet the needs and preferences of software engineers, aiming to enhance their capabilities rather than supplanting them. By catering to developers and helping them accelerate software delivery without sacrificing technical flexibility, Plant an App positions itself as a tool that complements and empowers technical professionals. According to their claim, a significant majority of individuals using Plant an App to build applications are technical in nature.

In return for choosing a less established low-code platform, users benefit from enhanced pricing transparency and better value. Plant an App’s entry-level plan is free for an app with up to 10 users, with multiple higher levels depending on the complexity of the application. This pricing structure aligns with their business model, enabling them to target mid-market enterprises. Plant an App’s approach positions them as a cost-effective option for organizations seeking to address these challenges while empowering their technical teams.

Appian

Appian has offered different variants of low-code application platforms since 1999. Their platform focuses on enterprise application development for process automation, case management, and data workflows.

At the core of Appian is their Records data model which combines process, data, and user interface on a single development platform. This allows developers to define data models, business logic, and workflows through intuitive graphical interfaces and drag-and-drop functionality. The user interface and experience can also be designed visually without coding.

One of the key strengths of Appian is the ability to integrate with existing data sources and legacy systems. Their platform has extensive out-of-the-box interfaces, APIs, and connectors to common enterprise applications as well as the ability to build custom integrations. Artificial intelligence recommendations assist developers in building new connections.

While Appian started more focused on professional developers, their platform has expanded to empower non-technical business users to participate in application development through simple interfaces. This allows collaboration across business and IT. Appian also offers cloud deployment or can run apps on-premises or in private clouds, enabling flexibility.

Appian stakes its claim as a top choice for large enterprises needing custom applications that connect to legacy systems. Their sweet spot is complex process automation. Their visual no-code interface abstracts away unnecessary complexity for developers while opening the door for less technical staff to engage.

HCL Volt MX (formerly Kony Quantum)

After being acquired by Temenos, a Swiss banking software provider, the non-banking part of the platform was spun out to HCL Software and continues to live on there. The former industry leader continues to be worth considering, although it is unclear how much HCL will invest into it in the future.

The HCL Volt MX platform combines several products into a holistic service offering for organizations looking to build an application that connects to their preexisting back-end business systems, such as SAP, Siebel, Salesforce, Sharepoint or Oracle. One of the strongest pieces of their offering is MobileFabric, which allows decoupling the front- and back-ends through a set of connectors that auto-generate the client bindings through their iOS, Android, Windows, and PhoneGap SDKs.

Application development is handled through Nitro Engine, a JS based development platform that allows working both with native and hybrid application components. It is also compatible with Visualizer, a GUI based development interface.

A service offering worth noting are their HCL Volt MX Accelerators, which promises building an app in as little as four weeks. This can be done either through their full-service team on their end, or through training and mentorship.

Partner with a UX Agency

If you are uncertain about your team’s ability to take on the workload and responsibility of the end-to-end application design and development, consider partnering with a proven Digital Product Agency. Our team can help you complete an organizational review, linked with a solutions analysis, to determine the correct approach to your project. We offer the strategic leadership that aligns the project with your long-term business goals, avoiding technical debt and maximizing your ROI. Contact us to review your project and options.

Other platforms

For a more in-depth analysis of the MEAP marketplace, we recommend Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms report [PDF].

If you are considering developing a web or mobile application in-house using an Enterprise Application Platform then consider working with our team at Emerge to ensure a successful project. Our Enterprise Mobility Strategy & Consulting offering can help you lay the foundation for an effective mobility program and guide you through the complex decisions your organization needs to make to get there. Unsure about how to proceed? Contact us to talk to one of our business experts about how to best leverage a mobile enterprise application platform for your project.