The next ERP is a private App Store

The BYOD initiatives in corporations have been treating mobile devices (smart phones and tablets) as small PCs (typically small Windows PCs). They must be managed because corporate data is confidential and must remain within the corporation. A valid reason, but the wrong conclusion.

Instead of thinking of smart phones and tablets as small PCs, we should think of them as smart phones and tablets. That is, we should think of them as devices that run apps, and corporations should provide apps to access data and perform business functions. The apps should authenticate the user, retrieve and store data (only on servers, not on the device), and govern the use and access to data.

In such a system, a corporation needs a way to build and distribute its custom apps. Common functions like e-mail and calendars can be handled with generic apps. Functions that are specific to the business must be developed by the business and somehow distributed to users.

One could put them on the public stores (Apple's iTunes, Google's Play, and Microsoft's App sStore) or one could put them on a private store. The latter may have more appeal to large organizations.

Using a store (public or private) and the existing update infrastructure simplifies the task of software distribution. New employees can go to the store and download what they need. Updates are pushed to current users.

(Using authentication -- and not apps -- to control access to data lets anyone have any app. You do not have to limit apps to employees, or even subgroups such as executives. Think of it like Microsoft Excel -- anyone can buy MS Excel but only those people who can read the corporate spreadsheets can see their contents.)

Building a private store has some advantages. It is a single point for all apps, including apps across platforms. The Apple, Google, and Microsoft stores are limited to their platfoms. A private corporate app store is a "one stop" source. Also, one is not beholden to the whims of the store managers -- all have removed apps for unknown reasons, at one time or another.

Building an app store is not a company's main purpose. (Unless the company is selling apps to all comers.) Look for the big consultancies to offer app store services and frameworks. IBM, HP, Dell, and even folks like Accenture and Booze-Allen-Hamilton may offer them. I also suspect that there will be an open-source app store framework.

I expect that app stores will be limited to large enterprises. Small Mom-and-Pop shops don't need an app store to control and measure app usage. The Fortune 500 will use them, and the next tier may, but below that the public stores may be sufficient. The market for app store frameworks and implementations may be narrow, like the ERP market.

Come to think of it, the ERP vendors may be the first of offer app store frameworks and support.