2017 was an exciting year for App47. As we discussed last week in our year in review, this year, we traveled the world, made exciting improvements to our product, and talked on our blog about a number of key trends impacting our company—to name just a few highlights. But of course, looking back on what happened over the past year is just one part of any true end-of-year reflection.
As we wrap up this year and look towards 2018, it’s just as important for us to stop and reflect upon what’s in store for the next year. We’ll be back in January with a few predictions for where App47 is headed in the new year, but to start, we thought it a good idea to make a few observations about where our industry as a whole is headed over the next twelve months and beyond.
To truly get a sense of where enterprise mobility is headed, it’s critical to understand the enterprise market itself. The enterprise market is a unique one. Though it continues to evolve and change, growth in the enterprise is extraordinarily slow—especially in comparison to the consumer market. The size and complexity of the enterprise, coupled with growing security concerns, mean that it’s not as quick to adopt new technologies as the consumer market. And yet, even growing slowly, within the enterprise there are many healthy ecosystems.
We continue to see evidence—from customers and elsewhere—that the enterprise mobility market is still only barely tapped. Some of our customers, for example, are just starting to build out their own internal apps—in 2017! Elsewhere, signs point to progress, even if it’s slow progress. Another App47 customer has used us primarily as an analytics platform, but still doesn’t have a BYOD solution. This is more common than you’d think.
Within the last year or two, the ideas of (and needs around) security, single sign-on, API integration, in-house app development, and more have all started making headway in the enterprise, and continue to spread. In other words, enterprises are growing more aware of their needs, and are finally putting processes in place to build out robust mobile strategies. Although in some ways it’s a shame that this evolution has taken so long, in other ways this is exactly what you might expect when working with large companies in complex industries.
As we head into 2018, then, we expect this momentum to keep building, and for companies to continue the process of adding resources and capabilities to their mobility strategies. Complex solutions take time to gain steam in the enterprise, and though companies may be lagging behind compared to consumers with regards to mobility, there’s still lots of room for growth. The most cutting-edge companies have already invested significant resources into mobility, and still realize there’s room to grow and expand.
Although we don’t think that the enterprise will converge with the consumer app space any time soon, we expect 2018 to be another exciting year for MAM growth in the enterprise as companies grow more aware of the incredible capabilities it has to offer.
