It can be considered that the modern, digital world is based on two things- the Internet and mobile apps. You can easily find incredible mobile applications with impressive features available for use for targeted customers. Ordering food online, learning lessons or sending money, it all is possible through mobile apps these days.
Particularly related to small and big businesses, people are investing in enterprise mobile apps to improve the efficiency of processes followed within their organization. These apps are built to save time and money, which can result in complete enterprise transformation.
Why do you need to develop an enterprise mobile app?
Here are a few enterprise mobility statistics that clearly state that today, every organization needs enterprise mobile app:
But, what if you want to get an enterprise mobile app developed and you don’t know whether your employees are using Android-based smartphones or iPhones? Obviously, that is their personal choice.
But, does that mean you will need to invest in getting two apps developed – one for Android users, and one for the iPhone users?
Not really!
Following the native mobile app development approach, separate apps for Android and iOS are needed. But you can easily cut costs and save time by getting your enterprise mobile app developed using cross-platform development approach. Here, the same code can be used across both platforms.
Here comes the intro of React Native Framework – Consider it as the future of cross-platform mobile app development.
What is React Native?
React Native is technically an open-source framework requiring only JavaScript to build a mobile app. One of Facebook’s software engineers presented it as a viable alternative to native mobile app development.
This technology makes it relatively simple to create a mobile enterprise app, and it also improves the user experience.
You’ll be glad to know that apps built with React Native function are just like native apps or apps built with Java, Swift, or Objective C. This is because their UI components are identical.
Getting a React Native app developed for your business can even help you save money and time.
Top 6 Benefits of Using React Native for Enterprise Mobile Apps
Let’s look at the advantages of choosing React Native for an enterprise mobile app-
1. Ease of Getting Helped by Community Experts
React Native is an open source framework. This means that all its documentation is open for use by React Native developers across the globe.
Having an app based on community-driven technology will be highly advantageous for your enterprise. That’s because you and your hired team of app developers can easily get helped by the React Native community if some development-related issue arises.
Similarly, you can find information related to React Native app development within the community online.
Not just that, you can also get recognition for writing a code that others can use and implement within their projects. Generally, app developers are willing to share their experiences with others in the React Native community. This creates a helpful environment that encourages them to learn while they work and write code.
Also, React Native is highly supported by Facebook developers. They have also established a forum to communicate with other app developers and help them up.
2. Reusable Code for the Android and iOS Apps
Another advantage of using a React Native framework is that you do not need to write separate code for Android app and an iOS app. In fact, around 80 to 90% percent of React Native code can be reused in the apps for these two platforms.
Reusability of code is one reason behind the increasing popularity of this open-source framework. It can cut the time as well as the app development costs significantly. If you have a web-app based on React Native already in place, its code can be reused to build a mobile app for your enterprise.
Furthermore, this framework has a library of pre-built components that can be used to pace up the app development process. These components must have been written for some specific functions, which you can deploy within your app without having to write the code from scratch.
3. Simplified User Interface Design
In terms of mobile user interface, you might have heard about React Native being compared to other frameworks, like AngularJS or MeteorJS. But it would be better to describe it as a JS library than a framework.
The mobile app development is more about creating a sequence of app screens to be followed by end users. It can be best done by using React Native and results in highly responsive, smoother UI. You can also expect your enterprise app to have the least possible load time.
4. Additional Support for Third-Party Plug-Ins
For some specific needs, an app developer may not find certain components available in the React Native framework. It happens because this technology is still growing. To provide additional support to the app developers in such situations, this framework has native modules and JavaScript modules available as complementary third-party plug-ins.
React Native Vector Icons, React Native Router Flux, React Native Selectme, etc., these are some of the prominent third-party plug-ins this framework provides.
5. Intuitive Modular Architecture in Place
Let’s first understand what a modular programming is all about-
It is more of a technique that makes a bigger program divided into a number of independent blocks or modules. These modules function independently, but also in coordination with other modules to define the functionality of the parent program.
React Native has this modular architecture in place that helps developers to upgrade the apps in less time. Once created, these modules can be reused with both web and mobile APIs.
6. Useful Feature of Hot Reloading
It may sound more technical, but ‘hot reloading’ is an impressive feature of React Native framework. In simpler terms, it refers to the ability to change the code and see the results almost instantly, without recompiling the app.
Let’s say you have the code of the app open in one window while having the app screen in the other. Hot reloading means that if a change is made in the code and is saved, you can see its effect in the other window having the app screen almost instantly.
When Creating A Mobile Enterprise App, What Considerations Should Be Made?
Now that we know why use React Native for mobile app development, we must know what things you should consider when developing a mobile enterprise app.
Planning
Planning and carrying out the development of a mobile enterprise application with care is essential. The app must meet the company’s requirements while making it easy for partners, customers, and employees. Consider the following advice to ensure the success of an enterprise mobile app development project:
Before beginning the development process, defining the enterprise mobile application’s objectives is essential. What issues is the app intended to address? What objectives is the app designed to accomplish? Businesses can ensure that the app meets the organization’s specific requirements and delivers the anticipated benefits by defining the app’s objectives.
Understanding the Target Audience
Understanding the enterprise mobile application’s target audience is also crucial. Who is going to use the app? What are their preferences and requirements? Businesses can ensure that the app is designed with the user in mind and meets their needs and expectations by knowing their target audience.
Select the Right Technology
An enterprise mobile application’s success depends on selecting the right technology. When choosing a technology for an app, businesses should consider things like the framework, the programming language, and the platform. The development team’s skill set and the organization’s specific requirements should inform the choice of technology.
Security
This is an essential consideration for mobile enterprise applications. The app must be secure and safeguard sensitive data for businesses. Encrypting data, using secure communication protocols, and implementing robust authentication and authorization mechanisms are all necessary. Additionally, security assessments ought to be carried out regularly by businesses to discover and address any vulnerabilities.
Performance Optimization
Enterprise mobile applications should be optimized for performance to offer a user-friendly experience. Optimizing the app’s data usage, reducing the app’s memory footprint, and minimizing the app’s load time are all necessary. Additionally, businesses should conduct regular performance testing to identify and address performance issues.
Design For Scalability
Mobile enterprise applications should be designed for scalability to accommodate growth and shifting requirements. Using scalable architecture, such as microservices, and designing the app with future requirements is necessary. Furthermore, organizations should direct standard scope quantification to guarantee the application can handle expanding client loads.
Focus on Client Experience
Client experience is essential for the outcome of big business portable applications. The goal of any business should be to satisfy the requirements of its target audience by offering a streamlined user experience. This necessitates designing the app with the user in mind, employing user-friendly design and navigation, and offering individualized experiences.
Utilize Analytics
Analytics is necessary to comprehend user interaction with the mobile enterprise application. Businesses should use analytics to learn about user behavior, find areas for improvement, and improve the app. Analytics can also help businesses find patterns and trends that can help them make strategic decisions.
Testing
Enterprise mobile applications will only succeed with rigorous testing. Before the app is released, businesses should conduct extensive testing throughout development to identify and resolve any issues. This includes user acceptance testing, security testing, functional testing, and performance testing.
Plan for Maintenance and Support
Enterprise mobile applications must be supported and maintained continuously to continue serving the organization’s needs. Businesses should prepare for ongoing support and maintenance, including feature enhancements, updates, and bug fixes. In addition, businesses ought to offer users access to support, such as help desk services, so that they can address any concerns or issues.
In conclusion, planning and execution are required when developing a mobile enterprise application. Businesses can ensure that their app meets the organization’s specific requirements, provides a seamless user experience, and delivers the anticipated benefits by following these recommendations.
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Comparison between Ionic, Cordova, PhoneGap and React Native
A few years back in time, the native mobile app development was highly based on Ionic, Cordova and PhoneGap. These are all cost-effective app development frameworks at that point in time. But as time changed, developers found them unable to meet their clients’ expectations. Next in time, React Native then took their place and has turned out to be a good alternative to develop mobile apps for diverse business related needs.
Ionic, Cordova and PhoneGap, all are used for the development of hybrid apps. Also, they are interrelated with each other.
- As an app development framework, Apache Cordova runs a hybrid app in WebView in Android, and in UIWebView in iOS platform.
- Ionic is a complete open-source SDK that is used for hybrid mobile app development. It is built on top of AngularJS and is based on Cordova. Its set of controls also mimics native controls.
- PhoneGap is an open-source, cross-platform mobile app development framework developed by Adobe. It is a distribution of Cordova, and allows developers to build mobile apps using HTML, CSS, and JS.
All these frameworks essentially lead to the development of a website embedded in a mobile app. The same is not true in case of the apps built on React Native.
Apps built with React Native will have their code written in JavaScript, but are rendered using native components. This makes the UX of these apps resemble native apps. They can’t be called mobile web apps, HTML5 apps or hybrid apps. Comparatively, these apps come with better performance and smooth animation effects/features.
You can really distinguish between the apps that are built using Objective-C or Java and those built with React Native.
Advantages of Moving from Ionic, Cordova or PhoneGap to React Native
One of the biggest problems of continuing with hybrid apps is their slow performance. They run well on high-end phones, but not as perfectly as you want them to. Greater problem related to their performance exists in low-end smartphones.
Obviously, a business owner cannot have his say on whether his end consumers should use a high-end or a low-end smartphone. The choice of a smartphone is more individual in nature.
Plus, a good proportion of smartphone users use just a few apps, such as Facebook, YouTube, etc. majorly. This has set their expectations about an app’s performance high enough. They want every new app they install into their phones to perform swiftly and match their expectations.
It is where hybrid apps fail to live up to their standard. They may lead to poorer user-experience, including keyboard misbehavior, gesture recognition issues, etc.
With all these issues, the popularity of hybrid apps is declining with time. Apps built with PhoneGap, Cordova and Ionic have shortcomings in them. Diverse popular brands are getting their hybrid apps rebuilt using React Native because of the following advantages:
- Better performance of the app
- Native feel with smoother animations
- No issue of browser compatibility
- Higher reliability
What’s the Verdict?
Now, the question may arise – Is React Native the Best Solution for Enterprise Mobile App Development Projects?
As per all the advantages of using React Native Framework detailed above, it is best for diverse businesses to get an enterprise mobile app developed using it. It will save their time and money too.
For the enterprise mobile app related to your business, it is important that you discuss your specific needs with a team of enterprise mobile app development experts. They will help you make the final decision. So, let’s discuss what’s best for your business needs.