Creating mobile apps is a very complex task, not just in terms of the myriad of technologies involved but also the scale at which they have to be implemented with utmost precision. While this stands true for both consumer-facing as well as enterprise applications, the risks involved are fairly different. If the initial release of your consumer-oriented app crashes, you get bad reviews. But if you screw up in enterprise app development, consequences can be much worse, even escalating up to huge financial losses.
Keeping such considerations in mind, there are few platforms designed specifically for creating such applications and here are the top 5 of them:
#1. Adobe Experience Manager Mobile
Adobe Experience Manager is a very popular enterprise CMS that also has a mobile module to create, deploy and manage mobile applications. Like most of the other platform, it is a cloud-based service that comes with full-scale capabilities required for creating applications.
The centralized web-interface is seemingly simple, and apart from development and maintenance, also has analytics built-in that can be used for evaluating different metrics and end-user response. Since it is a mere component of vastly popular enterprise CMS of Adobe, it is available only to those who are already using it, not offering any a-la-carte services.
#2. Microsoft Visual Studio Mobile Center
Microsoft Visual Studio is one of the most sophisticated and advanced software development frameworks on the market and recently, Microsoft further extended its capability by integrating a dedicated Mobile Center. It is a cloud-based service that is deeply integrated with its Azure platform and supports the entire development cycle of mobile apps. From creating an application to generating installation packages to testing on more than 400 device configurations, it has it all. While community edition is freely available, developers only have to pay for the enterprise edition.
#3. Kony App Platform
This is another feasible option if you are looking to create an enterprise-grade application with minimum budget. It supports development, testing and deployment of apps for both on-premise and cloud usage. Apart from the development environment, it also comes with an elegant front-end IDE and mobile backend-as-a-service for free.
#4. Axway Appcelerator
Axway Appcelerator comes with much popular Titanium SDK that can be used for creating both hybrid and native mobile applications. Having support for development, testing and publishing of apps, the Appcelerator has a pretty flexible environment and features to accommodate the needs of both small-scale businesses and large enterprises. The applications developed on the platform can be deployed in all environments including on-premise, public and private cloud or any other hybrid configuration.
#5. Mendix
For enterprise app development companies looking for a collaborative tool, Mendix may just be the perfect tool. It comes with two distinct development tools in the form of web modeler and desktop modeler- both of which has their own set of benefits. While the web interface of web modeler supports model-driven development that can be accessed from anywhere, the desktop modeler comes with a large set of templates, widgets, and more for a productive development environment. Supporting the entire development cycle of an application, another major advantage of Mendix is that it’s available for free.
