As corporations strive for process improvement and increased productivity, enterprise mobility solutions surface as a way to make employees more productive and more efficient in the workplace.

However, while companies discuss mobility solutions and the best way to implement them, we’ve found many of their decisions are driven by old assumptions and outdated ideas that simply aren’t true.

Today we’ll shine some light on the top 7 myths that are most commonly believed when it comes to developing enterprise mobile apps.

The Most Common Myths of Enterprise App Development

Enterprise mobility is a complex matter and with complexity comes confusion. There are many more misconceptions about enterprise mobility than we’ll cover in this post, but we’ve found these seven to be the most common.

Myth #1: “We know what we’re doing.”

We’ve found that department heads and IT analysts can accurately picture what their mobility solution looks like in their head or sketch out a wireframe. However, developing and implementing a mobile strategy is riddled with complexities and hurdles most enterprises are not equipped to tackle without help.

Compounded by a lack of mobile specific development skills and experience, existing strain on IT resources, and the complex task of extracting the needed data from existing applications in the proper way, even the best companies struggle to implement a mobility solution.

With IT resources already in heavy demand, most enterprises look outside their organization for help implementing their mobility strategy. Productivity benefits and ROI come from cross-platform integrations.

Extracting the right data in the right way to create an effective mobile application is best left to the experts. At the end of the day, enterprise mobility is a rapidly changing environment with multiple viable approaches to implement the right solution.

Myth #2: “6 weeks of development time means 6 weeks.”

Enterprise mobility providers use terms like “agile” and “rapid development” when describing their development cycle. Case studies are published claiming delivery of working solutions in 12 weeks, 9 weeks, or even 6 weeks. Corporations engage based upon these time frames, only to learn that the enterprise definition of six weeks differs than that of the mobile app developer.

A 6 week development calendar is deceiving because, most mobility solutions don’t start the clock when you start building your app. They start the clock after you’ve extracted the information you need from SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, and any other application you’re integrating. It’s often 8 to 12 weeks of development to extract this information in a way that can be used to create a real time mobile application.

The project is often “late” before the development clock even starts.

Myth #3: “Building an enterprise mobility application requires programming.”

This is the myth that has almost everyone drinking kool-aid. In today’s rapidly advancing mobile solution landscape, there are several providers who require minimal programming to develop a solution. At least one solution can be created and deployed without ANY programming whatsoever.

Companies who embrace the reality that enterprise mobility is more about platform and integration than development, create and launch mobility solutions in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional solutions. Often, one or two business analysts or IT architects can manage the entire project.

Time to develop and launch a mobile app can be less than one month with these solutions. That’s with calculating development time in a rational way, not like myth #2.

Myth #4: “Mobility solutions will mature and standardize.”

The last several years have produced huge advancements in the world of enterprise mobility. The bar has been raised by companies like Kony and solutions like SAP’s SMP platform. With new solutions springing up on a monthly basis, traditional thinking is that winners will emerge and standardization will take effect.

We consider this unlikely.

Standards such as HTML5 and OAuth are evolving. Core applications such as SAP, Oracle, and Salesforce are evolving. Devices are evolving. And the solutions offered by mobility vendors are changing at breakneck pace.

In this one, rare instance, change is your friend. Companies that maintain a flexible stance in mobility will seize opportunities to create mobile solutions using agile and lean methodologies.

Myth #5: “Enterprise mobility is a security nightmare.”

Studies have shown that at least one third of enterprise companies have had sensitive corporate data compromised through lost or stolen devices.

While this risk is real, it’s not a reason to throw in the towel. Risk management simply needs to be a key focus within your mobility strategy.

Mobile device management protocols combined with analytics, encryption, and modern authentication, offer vault-like protection of data when devices are inevitably lost or stolen.

Myth #6: “A large investment in infrastructure is required.”

Corporations often act like the solution to every problem is more servers. With cloud-based solutions offering secure, scalable, and affordable solutions, the only reason to deploy a behind-the-firewall mobile solution is compliance.

If you’re mobility strategy is subject to HIPAA, check out our compliance checklist. We can show you how to maintain compliance while reaping the benefits of reliability and performance of a cloud-based mobile app.

Myth #7: “Enterprise mobility is optional.”

Keeping up with the pace of business today all but requires a mobility strategy. Employees are more mobile than ever, needing access to data while on the go and needing to make decisions IN real-time. Whether it’s procurement, timesheets, sales execution, human resources, CRM, management insights, transport & delivery status, or inventory availability, real-time access to vital business data is no longer optional.

As for the myths of enterprise app development, you now know the truth. The truth will set you free if you let it.