Do You Require A Mobile Enterprise Application Platform To Build Enterprise Mobile Apps

When I talk about mobile applications for OnDemand solutions, customers ask me if they need to buy a mobile enterprise application platform such as the one Sybase, an SAP Company, provides. So when I ran into Gertrud Beisel, my colleague who manages the HCM mobile apps, I asked her the question. She explained it to me.

The short answer is that there is no technical requirement. You do not need a Mobile Platform to build a mobile app for an SAP HCM solution. Some partners of SAP have already demonstrated this. This approach works when

• You only build a few apps for a specific device for a small number of employees
• You don't care about remotely managing data in the devices your employees carry
• Your employees are very careful and will never misplace their devices, so security is not a concern

When you deploy multiple mobile apps to a large number of devices, it is necessary to have a mobile enterprise application platform that enables you to build faster, deploy efficiently, and, if necessary, wipe out applications and data from the devices. You may also need a mobile enterprise application platform, when you want to build once and deploy to multiple types of devices.

In other words, when you get serious about mobile deployment, you should plan to have a platform such as the one provided by Sybase. I hope this explanation helps.