Businesses with a more established mobile approach are now focused on deploying the types of apps that can increase employee productivity and encourage collaboration, according to a report from Good Mobility.
The report found a 54 percent growth rate in total enterprise application activations quarter-over-quarter, up from 43 percent growth from the second quarter to the third quarter of last year.
The top apps activated on tablet and smartphone devices were document editing, custom apps and file access applications, making up 63 percent of the total enterprise apps activated in the fourth quarter.
The report found Android tablet activations held steady from the third to the fourth quarter, while smartphone activations slightly decreased by one percentage point quarter-over-quarter.
"There’s no question that enterprise mobile app development is on the rise and the industry is at an inflection point," Maribel Lopez, founder of Lopez Research, said in a statement. "Good’s latest index report maps closely to the Q4 2013 Lopez Research benchmark. Our survey revealed almost two-thirds of the companies interviewed plan to mobile-enable at least five or more applications in 2014."
For the first time in the fourth quarter, the energy and utilities sector was reported as one of the top 10 industries for the total number of device activations, with 2.5 percent reported.
The financial services industry continues to lead by a large margin in total iPad activations, recording more than 46 percent of total tablet activations in the fourth quarter, likely attributed to the many known use cases of the tablet in this particular industry.
"The need for security around mobile data has never been greater and is driving more sophisticated app deployments across our customer base, specifically custom app development," Christy Wyatt, CEO and president of Good Technology, said in a statement. "This is delivering significant value across organizations while also protecting the corporate assets inside of these organizations."
Custom enterprise app development continued to grow at an astounding 55 percent quarter-over-quarter, with the greatest amount of growth seen in the business intelligence, secure browser and social business app categories.
While document editing remains the most activated enterprise app, more advanced mobile apps are gaining significant ground.
The report indicated enterprises begin their mobile lifecycle strategy by leveraging mobile apps for fundamental tasks such as email and contacts access, as well as editing capabilities, but are now increasingly looking to develop apps that drive new efficiencies, new workflows and new revenue streams.
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