Gartner Says By 2016, 40 Percent of Mobile Application Development Projects Will Leverage Cloud Mobile Back-End Services
Gartner Special Report Examines Mobile Applications Strategies and
Architecture
By 2016, 40 percent of mobile application development projects will
leverage cloud back-end services, causing development leaders to lose
control of the pace and path of cloud adoption within their enterprises,
predicts Gartner, Inc.
Cloud mobile back-end services provide a specialized form of platform as
a service (PaaS) to support mobile application development. These cloud
services — referred to by some in the market as "mobile back-end as a
service" — provide the back-end capabilities commonly required by mobile
applications, such as user management, data storage, push notifications
and social network integration. In addition, some cloud mobile back-end
services allow developers to deploy server-side code.
"Cloud mobile back-end services stand to become a key component of the
application development ecosystem," said Gordon Van Huizen, research
director at Gartner. "As a result, a given organization may begin using
them without first developing the requisite understanding of the issues
and risks associated with employing cloud services for application
infrastructure. What's needed, then, is something of a crash course in
the fundamental concerns of deploying application functionality in the
cloud."
A primary goal of mobile back-end services is to make the use of cloud
capabilities, such as data storage, as natural to the mobile application
developer as possible. The programmer develops mobile applications using
familiar storage programming mechanisms, and the cloud service acts as a
black box that stores and retrieves the data as necessary. But as the
use of cloud services by mobile applications grows, the challenge of
governing the security and use of sensitive corporate data also grows.
Left ungoverned, this results in the hidden movement of potentially
sensitive data to the cloud, and the possibility of inadequate security.
Governing such interactions between mobile applications, enterprise
systems and the cloud may require additional security and governance
capabilities beyond those found in a particular mobile application
development platform (MADP).
"Governance technology can only be effective, though, if it is used,"
said Mr. Van Huizen. "Clear policies must be established and
communicated to developers prior to the use of cloud mobile back-end
services by applications that may access corporate or customer data."
A significant amount of enterprise application development takes place
outside the scope of IT in the form of business unit application
development, end-user application development and development outsourced
by business units to third parties. Historically, most mobile
application development not performed by IT has been outsourced. This is
beginning to change with the emergence of visual app builders and other
forms of rapid mobile application development tools. With the increased
demand for mobile applications, non-IT developers will increasingly look
for ways to provide mobile applications that satisfy their business
requirements, and they will begin building their own mobile applications.
"This presents a risk much greater than in the past," said Mr. Van
Huizen. "The advent of more sophisticated rapid mobile application
development environments, the availability of cloud services and
increased access to enterprise systems will expand the potential for
non-IT developers to build applications that commingle sensitive
corporate data with cloud-based services and storage. It is, therefore,
necessary to extend awareness of the issues to the broader organization,
as well as the organization's policies for cloud services, so that
mobile applications built outside IT are subject to the same oversight
and governance as those built within IT."
Additional details on cloud mobile back-end services can be found in the
report "What AD Leaders Need to Know About Cloud Mobile Back-End
Services: Don't Enter the Cloud Unprepared." The report can be found on
Gartner's website at http://www.gartner.com/resId=2330315.
Additional information on mobile strategies for development and
integration is available in the Gartner Special Report "The Mobile
Imperative: Mobile Application Strategies and Architecture." The special
report can be viewed at http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/mobile-imperative/
and includes links to reports and video commentary that examine the
impact of mobile application strategies and architecture on enterprises.
Mobility and its impact on the enterprise will be further discussed at
the Gartner Catalyst Technical Forum on Mobility taking place June
19 in Frankfurt, Germany and September
25 in London. The new Gartner Catalyst Technical Forum on
Mobility delivers the latest Gartner for Technical Professionals
Research insight and recommendations to address mobile challenges.
Geared toward IT practitioners, it provides detailed, tactical guidance
on technical architecture, policy and implementation approaches to make
your enterprise mobility initiatives successful. More information on the
Frankfurt event can be found at http://www.gartner.com/technology/summits/emea/catalyst-germany/.
Detail on the London event can be found at http://www.gartner.com/technology/summits/emea/catalyst/.
About Gartner
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology
research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related
insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every
day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government
agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and
professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is a
valuable partner in over 13,000 distinct organizations. Through the
resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner
Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to
research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of
their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in
Stamford, Connecticut, USA, and has 5,500 associates, including 1,400
research analysts and consultants, and clients in 85 countries. For more
information, visit www.gartner.com.
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