Evaluating RhoMobile Suite 4 as mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP)

Today's mobility landscape offers more options than ever before for companies and departments developing mobile enterprise applications. While having multiple vendors to choose from is definitely valuable, it also makes decisions more difficult, as each option comes with its own pros and cons. In this article we will examine some points to consider when evaluating a mobile enterprise application platform.

Device support

Not that long ago, Windows Mobile devices completely dominated the enterprise mobility field and they are still widely used. Today, however, Android devices have achieved significant market penetration in the enterprise space and Windows Embedded 8 Handheld (built on Windows Phone 8) is just around the corner. Nobody can predict whether there will be one clear winner in the mobility wars (and if so, who it will be) or if several platforms will coexist in the long run; therefore, multi-device support is a key consideration in order to future-proof your development.

Integration with existing applications

All mobile platforms have features to help applications communicate with the external world and include the basic building blocks to interface with external servers via standard protocols like HTTP. If your company has preexisting databases and applications, your mobile strategy will likely require integration with one or more of those data sources; in that case, look for a platform which provides you with adapters or connectors to enterprise backends, CRMs and ERPs.

Opportunity cost and time to market

Companies today must do businesses and react to market forces at unprecedented speed, while typical software development projects have the reputation of being chronically late and over budget. In some cases, this is due to unforeseen changes in the scope of the project coupled with a design that does not provide enough flexibility to react to those changes. Your platform of choice should afford you the option of making changes to your application rapidly when the need arises.

Another important aspect is the time it takes for a developer to be productive in any particular platform. Standards-based platform have a clear advantage in that developers can start producing results much more quickly because they already have the necessary skills.

Deployment flexibility

Whether your infrastructure is already in the cloud, in a traditional data center, in servers under your direct control or in a hybrid model with different parts running on a mix of those, your new applications must still give you the option to choose where to deploy and to change that decision in the future if the need arises.

Those are some of the factors that can tip the scales in favor of one platform or another. Here is how RhoMobile 4 positions itself, compared to native development and to other platforms:

Device support

RhoMobile lets you write your application and run it unmodified on iOS, Android, Widows Mobile and Windows Phone 8. If you were to build your mobile solution as a native application, you would have to budget for as many projects as platforms you want to support. A native application is forever locked to the platform it was developed for, while a RhoMobile 4 application can be running in a new platform in hours.

Integration with existing applications

RhoMobile Suite includes RhoConnect Server, a synchronization server that links applications runing on mobile devices with enterprise data sources. Instead of having to write synchronization code from scratch, developers only need to create adapters following a very simple pattern and RhoConnect will take care of optimized two-way data sync between a mobile app and an existing backend, be it an SQL database (Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle or others), . Implementation time can be measured in hours or days.

Opportunity cost and time to market

The ability to deploy your application to a device and have parts of it come dynamically from a server gives you the ultimate in flexibility and rapid development. Build an application as a single, integrated package or keep your options open and take advantage of the instantaneous rollout capabilities of a traditional web application. For those sections of your project that can be subject to rapid change, a RhoMobile 4 application can load some of its screens dynamically from a server under your control, while still having access to peripherals such as the barcode scanner and local data storage.

RhoMobile 4 applications are built on a standards-based infrastructure, with HTML, CSS, Javascript and Ruby. Web developers are already fluent in these technologies and can be up and running in hours. Additionally, there are several Motorola-certified partners https://developer.motorolasolutions.com/docs/DOC-1773 that can provide consulting services and training for your staff, so you know you are not alone in this journey.

Deployment flexibility

Cloud, datacenter or on-premise, you have the ultimate decision. Your servers can be anywhere and your RhoMobile 4 applications can be deployed on your existing infrastructure and migrated from one place to another without changes to the code. If your infrastructure changes tomorrow, you know you have the option to move from one place to another (and even back, if required).

RhoMobile 4 is all about you and your business. Do you have any questions? What other factors are you considering for your next mobile project? Leave a comment below

About Us:

Kutir Mobility is your partner in the enterprise mobile app space. Working with RhoMobile since before it was acquired by Motorola Solutions, we can help your business make the most of mobile. Get in touch today to see how your business can meet more ambitious targets.