Global Study Conducted by 451 Research Finds Skills Gap and Resource Constraints are Key Challenges for Mobile App Development; Two-Third of Mobile Apps Will be Developed Externally Over the Next Two Years

A new 451 Research global survey, sponsored by Kony, Inc., shows demand for new enterprise mobile applications to rapidly increase. The survey of IT management, IT development and line of business professionals found that more than half of the 480 respondents, from North America, Europe and Australia, plan to deploy 10 or more enterprise mobile apps during the next two years. However, it also revealed that IT departments are ill-equipped to meet the demand for mobile apps due to budget and resourcing limitations, skills gap, legacy infrastructure, overall technology fragmentation and immature lifecycle workflows. As a result, many companies are looking to external resources to meet business demand for mobile apps.

"There is strong demand for new mobile apps, and companies are broadening their focus beyond core processes and application silos; however, enterprises are still very much in the early stages when it comes to mobile app strategies," said Chris Marsh, principal analyst, 451 Research. "IT is still in the driver's seat when it comes to both the bulk of internal mobile app development, technology procurement and project management, although line of business want input and greater collaboration. Line of business is also starting to bring a great amount of funding support to the discussion."

According to the study, the types of mobile apps in highest demand by enterprises in all industries, including healthcare, financial services, insurance and retail, are customer relationship management apps for sales, marketing and services, customer engagement and general employee productivity apps. A growing proportion of companies will look to IT for the bulk of their internal mobile app development. However, the mix of development diversifies beyond just IT, with 42 percent of mobile app development work being done outside of IT.

"The global market for enterprise mobility is expected to grow from $72 billion to $284 billion by 2019, nearly quadrupling in size," said Dave Shirk, president of Products and Marketing, Kony, Inc. "Companies need to be prepared to meet this demand for mobile business solutions with proper alignment between lines of business, IT developers and IT management, to effectively manage and lead enterprise mobility projects. As the largest independent provider of enterprise mobility solutions, Kony has successfully helped the world's leading enterprises to effectively use mobility as a catalyst for business innovation."

Key findings from the study include:

To access the full Enterprise Mobility report findings: 451 Research - 2015 Enterprise Mobile Application Report

For two years in a row (2013 and 2014), industry analyst firm Gartner placed Kony in the "Leaders" quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Mobile Application Development Platforms. Kony also received the highest scores in 3 out of 4 use cases in Gartner's Critical Capabilities for Mobile Application Development Platforms report. In addition, Kony was recognized as "One of the Best Platform Solutions for the Enterprise" amongst Mobile Application Development Platform providers: Ovum Decision Matrix: Selecting a Mobile App Development Platform Solution, 2015-16.

Additional Resources

About Kony Inc.

Kony is the fastest growing, cloud-based enterprise mobility solutions company and an industry leader among mobile application development platform (MADP) providers. Kony empowers organizations to compete in mobile time by rapidly delivering, ready-to-run, multi-edge mobile apps across the broadest array of devices and systems, today and in the future, with a lower total cost of ownership. Kony's cross-platform solution helps organizations design, build, configure and manage mobile apps to empower and better engage with customers, partners and employees. Kony was named the first place winner in CTIA's MobITs Awards in the Mobile Applications, Development & Platforms category and included on the Inc. 500|5000 list of fastest growing private companies in America.

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Kony, Inc. Jean Kondo, 510-823-4728 Jean.kondo@kony.com or Blanc & Otus Danielle Tarp, 415-856-5182 Danielle.tarp@blancandotus.com