5 important questions to ask when evaluating enterprise app platforms

Invest in a enterprise application platform is an important decision for the IOC.

However, this is the issue: not all platforms of business applications are the same. Because it is an emerging market with an excess of specialist tools, can be difficult to navigate the landscape of vendors and choose the best platform for their needs now and in the future.

To help guide you to the CIO in the process of research and selection of suppliers, we developed the following list of the five most important questions that must be made when evaluating platforms for business applications.

1. How easy is it to create applications?

What can the non-developers actively participate in the process?

With the growing business demands of new applications and functionalities, the CIO will need a platform applications that eliminate the bottlenecks of traditional development, dramatically increasing the speed, efficiency and performance. Taking this into account, you will need to pay special attention to the development environment of the platform.

Be careful with the programming languages owners that require developers to highly specialized, as they tend to generate increased complexity and costs without generating productivity gains very necessary.

If you are really interested in speeding up the delivery, look for a platform of applications built around a new paradigm as visual development based on models (MDD). Unlike traditional methods based on code, MDD is simple, intuitive, and extremely fast.

All the project team (including those who are not developers or business analysts) can create and collaborate quickly in models of executable applications, understand and review intuitively functionality, and to identify and make changes easily.

To illustrate the efficiency gains, a study by Capgemini found that MDD took only 2.5 hours per function point compared with 10.6 hours to Java and 15.5 hours to C#. This improvement in productivity alone can reduce a project of 6 months to 6 weeks. Imagine what this compression in the time you could do for your business.

2. How you can use the platform to create new applications and extend existing systems?

What can seamlessly integrate with any system?

Companies often take advantage of a platform business applications in two main scenarios: develop new custom applications and extend existing systems with new features driven by business. Therefore, it is important to address both. Although some of the platforms may be targeted specifically to expand specific systems (i.e., CRM), it is possible that do not address the full range of needs of application delivery.

Whether you're creating new applications or extending existing systems, ease of integration is a crucial factor that should be examined carefully. The reality is that, for most companies, the integration needs go far beyond a single application.

The key then is to identify a flexible platform that not only help you to create applications, but also allows you to integrate the app quickly and transparently with any process and existing system.

Look for capabilities like workflow integration, open API, connectors, repacked, and how easy or dicult it is to create integration points you need. In addition, in addition to the level of application, do not forget about the development integrated within your IT organization and the tools of existing development.

3. What capacities exist to facilitate collaboration between IT and the business?

The collaboration between IT and the business can make or break the success of a custom application. Unfortunately, too many application platforms focus strictly on the development environment, bypassing collaboration capabilities key that can increase communication, productivity, and the successful results of IT.

To keep all stakeholders aligned and engaged throughout the development process, look for an application platform with capabilities of social collaboration and project management. Examples include:

Activity streams, similar to Facebook for all users and projects

Built-in Chat for instant communication with the computer.

Skills agile project management to create stories/requirements of users

Assign tasks and priorities

Track progress with boards scrum and evolution graphs

Comments fully integrated and closed-loop end-users that are sent directly to the development team.

An environment of collaboration, social and easy-to-use, combined with an approach of model-based development that allows all project team members to speak the same language, will dramatically increase the results of the project.

4. Can the platform to deliver applications truly multi-device?

Enterprise mobile applications are fashionable at this time. In the rush to meet the growing business demands of mobile applications, it can be easy to forget that mobile devices are not (and never should be) an island.

To begin with, the mobile applications typically require integration with one or more back-end systems. And due to the different needs and profiles of the users, it is almost always necessary to access them from multiple devices (web, tablet, smart phone).

Therefore, the CIO should look for platforms apps that are able to offer real applications multi-device that will integrate seamlessly with back-end systems. In other words, your computer should be able to create an application once and then make it accessible to the necessary users through the necessary devices (and UI simple and intuitive).

In the end, all users need the same application; it simply consume and interact with him in different ways. Having to reschedule or rebuild applications to different devices or operating systems simply is not effective nor scalable.

5. How fast and flexible is the process of deployment of applications?

The problems of implementation should not slow down a project or worry about you really to your development team. To evaluate the platforms, applications, make sure that the implementation of applications is as fast and simple as connecting a device to a power outlet.

For example, with platforms that use models to executable (see question n.° 1), you can deploy the application in the cloud with literally a single click.

In addition to speed and simplicity, flexibility is another important factor when it comes to application deployment. While the cloud is often sufficient, there are many technical and commercial needs that require deployment options, alternatives, either a private cloud, local, or hybrid.

Therefore, it is important to evaluate whether the platform of the application can effectively support multiple deployment models. Even if this is not an immediate need, the requirements often change, so having this flexibility can save you major headaches and discomfort in the future.