Recently, I attended a conference hosted by a major player in enterprise mobile communications. Typical of these gatherings, it was an energetic, eager crowd. Lots of optimism about the industry, discussion of innovation, and the near-constant buzz about the devices and apps that are making it all possible.
In the midst of all that upbeat energy, however, I kept having to dispel a frustrating misconception with respect to mobile application management (MAM) and App47 itself. The exchanges typically went something like this:
Fellow Conference Attendee One:
“Hey, Chris from App47! How are things in the crash log business?”
Me:
“We’re not in the crash log business. Well, we are, but that’s only part–”
Fellow Conference Attendee Two:
“I thought you guys were about mobile app security.”
Me:
“Yes. Security, along with app stores, analytics–”
Fellow Conference Attendee One:
“Yeah, I really need someone who can handle deployment. Sorry”
Me:
“Deployment, we do that as well. Actually we do all five essential–”
Fellow Conference Attendee Two:
“Hey great. I’ll call you if I need security.”
And so it tended to go. The perception is that the enterprise mobile application management industry is populated by single-focus vendors able to wrangle one of the five essential MAM concerns. The hurdle that creates is a fear of having to work with five separate vendors to address each: deployment, security, monitoring, management, and configuration.
If there were a multiple-choice test asking you to describe App47, you’d have to fill in the circle next to “All of the Above”.
The follow-through question for our prospective partners is why that would matter with respect to meeting their immediate, imperative need. Typically, people come to us needing one of those five concerns addressed. That’s when we have to ask them to take a step back and see the entire MAM lifecycle — not simply because it’s nice to have a single vendor who can handle everything (it certainly is), but also because everything is essential to successful app-driven enterprise mobility. You may strike up a conversation based on a need for security, or deployment, but you’ll quickly learn that monitoring, management and configuration are just as critical.
It’s systems management for mobile apps in the enterprise, and creating a single platform that contends with them individually, and as part of an interdependent collective, is where where the conversation has to go.
Next time we talk at a conference, over coffee, or wherever, I’ll be happy to explain why App47 is a single-source MAM vendor in the truest sense, and why you shouldn’t settle for a fifth of the capability you really need to realize optimal enterprise mobility.
