Just shoot me.
"Technology follows fashion more than we’d like to admit, and apps are where it is at."
Are you for real, ElReg?
If so, seriously, just shoot me.
Calling a company Antenna when what you make is an abstraction platform, rather than antennas, might not be sensible – especially at a congress stuffed with mobile techies – but what the firm actually does works well for the trend of this age. Technology follows fashion more than we’d like to admit, and apps are where it is at …
I for one applaud this software and fully support any efforts made to sell it to marketing executives.
If you ARE a marketing executive I'm on linkedin and I am more than happy to pick up some extra work give me a ring when you're finished with comic sans and want to know why you can't do whatever it is that's foxed you this time. ;)
I think the author of this article missed the point that the apps that an enterprise supplies to its employees are there to help them do their job and not just for corporate propaganda purposes.
For example, consider an app that takes the place of a dedicated parcel tracking device, allowing the driver to scan the parcel, find the directions to the target address via sat nav and then accept the customer's signature. Or another example of one to permit the employee to book holiday or submit sick leave declarations. The set of appropriate apps is only limited by the corporate sense of imagination (which is, I must say, often pretty limited).
Yes, you might have some app that provides access to corporate policy documents and the like, but that, to me, is not what enterprise apps are about.
Enterprise apps are not new either.
Parcel tracking and leave management? Really? You think there is a company out there that doesn't already have these things? Thye just probably don't call them "apps" - maybe "interactivity" or "tools"
Apps is just a new bit of shiny - it is an interface - not functionality. The real focus needs to be on properly developing the functionality in management tools for mobile devices. Sure, wrap it up in an "app" but develop it properly in the first place.
In that case, call it what I did way back in 1999: "Front PHAGE"....
I even gave HotMetal Pro a try, but eventually, the department head and the company went with FP...Front Phage..., then something else came along, the name of which I forgot, but it was gaining traction around 1999/2000 and it made seamless or consistent formats across department...
For video content delivery in mobile apps there's been an IDE for the marketing guys to go mad with since last year from KIT digital. All drag and drop nonsense like this producing applications that are probably quite similar, but hey! I use a word processor and haven't used a typesetter and design house for simple print requirements in a long time. I don't believe it's reduced the number of designers. If anything there are more, based on Apple sales figures. As companies start simple and then realize they need to differentiate themselves from their competitors with a more complex app.