10 Things Every IT Leader Should Know

to Survive & Thrive in the App Revolution

The App Paradigm Reaches

the Enterprise

Today, companies need lean,

fast, low-risk app development.

From numerous perspectives, the environment for

corporate IT is undergoing fundamental changes.

The Pace of Change

is Unrelenting

Demand for new applications has outstripped

most organizations’ IT capacity.

Users have a hard time articulating

requirements upfront. Developers have

a hard time keeping up with changing

business needs.

TODAY’S MANDATE : Create Apps Quickly That Support Your

Business & Truly Serve Your Users

• Speed/Simplicity

• Social Productivity

• Enterprise Scale

• Cloud-Centricity

The following are four key attributes and benefits

of a contemporary app strategy:

Differentiate Your Business

Through Apps

Commodity apps are only good

for commodity needs.

1.

Don’t build quick, lightweight apps with the tools

and technologies meant for massive core systems.

Adapt Your Apps or They’ll Die

Design for today – adapt as your

business evolves.

Think of enterprise apps as living organisms that

survive by creating business value. If they can’t

adapt easily to new business needs, they no

longer generate value.

2.

Empower the Business

Create a culture of innovation and

empower the domain experts.

Business process experts know what the application

needs to do, and technical experts know how it

should work. Both are equally important

throughout development projects.

3.

App Development is a Team Sport

Support collaborative

development that incorporates

different perspectives.

Success in building business apps is predicated on

the ability to incorporate the perspectives of

developers, business experts, analysts, and users

throughout your organization.

4.

Let Users Take the Starring Role

Create a feedback mechanism

that lets users know you’re

listening.

The Facebook generation will tell you what they

think. Take advantage of it, count on it, and make

it part of any project.

5.

Add Apps – & Breathe New Life Into

Legacy Systems

Build on top of what you have.

Don’t rip and replace existing systems; build new

functionality on top of them to extend your return

on legacy IT investments.

6.

Remember: Speed is Everything

Address your users’ needs

quickly, before they inevitably

change.

The greatest hidden danger of traditional app

development is the uncounted opportunity cost of

slow application development.

7.

Leverage a Multi-Channel Approach

Don’t get distracted by “one-off”

mobile projects.

Yes, you need quick and smart answers to respond

to mobile needs, but just as important, you need a

strategy to develop apps that are integrated with

your overall business process.

8.

It’s Not About the Size of Your

Development Team Anymore

There’s more to solving a challenge

that throwing bodies at it.

Leverage technology to empower your business and

process experts. You’ll be surprised how much they

will accomplish.

9.

Don’t Complicate Development with

Technology Decisions

Focus development on the business

need, not the technology selection.

Many IT organizations are giving careful consideration to a new

paradigm for corporate application development that has

emerged as one of the fastest and most cost-effective

technologies: application Platform as a Service (aPaaS).

10.

Are your ready

for the App Revolution?

Get started by creating an environment that provides:

• Speed/Simplicity

• Social Productivity

• Enterprise Scale

• Cloud-Centricity

Mendix is the app platform company for the enterprise. We enable companies to build, integrate and deploy web and mobile

applications faster and with better results, effectively driving ROI in days not months. Learn more, join our user community

and get started for free at now.mendix.com.

© Mendix Inc. 2013. All Rights Reserved

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