Consumers flock to app stores to load their devices up with the latest games, social media and other apps. Now, these same consumers are bringing their insatiable thirst for mobile apps into the workplace.

Companies are responding to the disruption with their own take on the Apple innovation that changed the mobile world as we know it: Giants such as Pepsi are erecting their own internal app stores to quench employees’ desire for mobile business apps in a sane, safe and secure fashion. They’re intent on stopping the trend of employees and business units adopting whatever apps they want from wherever they want them, without IT supervision. In a recent IDC white paper, sponsored by CA Technologies, the research firm found that adoption of of public cloud, social and mobile technologies in business operations “has already reached high levels, often driven by “stealth IT” (i.e., by business units or individuals without corporate IT’s knowledge or support).”

Managed Security, Provisioning, Usage

The enterprise app store is a centrally managed repository of software that’s either been custom-developed, bought from a third party, or acquired under a volume license agreement through a commercial app store such as Apple’s. From this central repository, the enterprise can not only adopt the apps it wants, but it can also blacklist those it doesn’t. And, the enterprise can define who gets access to what. Based on those rules, IT can implement app security policies and automatically provision and deprovision apps as employees join and leave the company, thus preventing a former worker from accessing proprietary corporate information.

Many of these new app security tools will let the enterprise track application usage and performance, too. Software version management is another important feature, ensuring that employees use the latest approved version on their mobile devices. And, from the store repository, IT also can manage software licenses, renewals and compliance with vendor agreements.

A growing number of vendors offer enterprise app stores as part of their mobile device management and application development platforms.

And here’s where the enterprise architect can get in front of the mobile app trend and play a key leadership role: The architect can help identify the solution that’s best for his or her company and that works well within the existing enterprise architecture. Mobile app stores can be implemented as software that resides inside the firewall, as a service within a cloud architecture, or as a subscription-based service offered by carriers such as Verizon and AT&T.

If you’re an enterprise architect at an organization that’s moving aggressively toward Software as a Service (SaaS), the cloud approach is best. (By the way, have a look at this article to learn more about the trend to “everything as a service,” or XaaS, changes the IT management landscape in a big way.) If you serve in an enterprise architect’s role at a bank, where there’s hyperconcern about security and data protection, an internal software implementation is the way to go.

The Enterprise Architect Behind the App Store Scene

Enterprise app stores address the following areas of app security, and as part of the job of recommending the appropriate framework, the EA should assess how well various offerings address each piece:

• App quality — includes preventing the distribution of malware via mobile apps
• Information access — includes determining who has access to data from mobile apps
• App distribution — involves how to get apps on devices and control employee access rights
• Information at rest — affects how to determine which data should reside on the mobile device
• Data wipe — deals with removing data from mobile devices if it’s not needed or poses a security risk

In addition to identifying the best app store solution for his or her company, the enterprise architect should outline some best practices and standards that apply consistently across all the apps that will reside in the app store. For example, will the app store group applications around enterprise function, such as ERP or CRM? Or does it make more sense to organize apps by department, geography or job function? Either approach helps with the information-access issue, of course.

It’s important for the architect to be proactive and establish a common “world view” of mobile app security and management for the company, which includes getting key stakeholders on board early in the process. So, how’s your mobile app store coming along? Or are you exploring other innovative ways to secure mobile app and information access? Let us know below.

What’s the future of enterprise architecture management? Detecon Consulting, an information and communications management consultancy headquartered in Bonn, Germany, expects to soon publish new research that explores this topic from the perspective both of businesses and the vendors that supply them with enterprise architecture (EA) tools. With some exceptions, both parties are predicting the same outcome: While EA is currently viewed in many organizations in terms of technology-operational or technology-strategic issues, that isn’t a sustainable model. Enterprise architecture’s future is to manage the whole enterprise, not just IT.

“What I have seen, not only in our study but in discussions with other customers and industry partners,” is the need for a “strategy to expand and extend their function into the business,” says Marcel Berneaud, Managing Consultant, Team Head EA Transformation, at Detecon. This expanded concept of EA is playing out in the implementation of roles such as demand manager or business architect, for example, to create better alignment between the business and IT. “The demand from the business side is that EA management should help them in a more business-strategic way, not just in a technical way.”

Phasing-in the Changes

But many wonder whether senior executives will embrace a broadened view of EA possibilities that will make it possible for architects to deliver strategic business management, and where might they draw some lines. For instance, many organizations need to encourage more skills development so the staff can apply EA frameworks to managing the extended enterprise rather than just the information systems. And perhaps there’s a need for bigger budgets to develop these skills, too, leading to some fears that a holistic approach of EA management might be too grand a scheme. The good news, says Berneaud, is that it is possible to take a phased and sequential approach to moving EA beyond its IT borders.

Starting sooner rather than later makes sense when you consider trends and challenges such as globalized businesses that require the enterprise to act in totally new environments. When you think about the international environment, “with many suppliers and customers, you need to see the big picture,” explains Detecon consultant Aneta Nowobilska. “You need new methods that let you handle your processes, enable the integration and exchange of data. Enterprise architecture can support these scenarios.” 

The Trends for Enterprise Architecture Management and Tools study explores many other scenarios, too, although the study also cautions that disparate viewpoints need to mesh a little better when it comes to whether or how EA tools can support the extended view of the function. The Detecon team points to some vendors having more of a technical history and maintaining their focus on the IT part of EA management, while others are trying to push the envelope even when architects themselves aren’t sure of how deep to go. For example, they’ve seen that EA tool vendors are finding it important to consider business continuity because it plays into the bigger picture of corporate risk management. But the research shows that some companies don’t see EA methods as having a role in supporting business continuity. Conversely, EA stakeholders are thinking more about their role in the mobile device/universally available information world, whereas some tools vendors haven’t seen mobile support as part of their job. 

New Vision of EA

Detecon is hopeful that its study will accomplish a couple of things: On the one hand, it can give enterprise architects more proof for persuading management to embrace EA for business requirements without fear. That can be found in advice on choosing pilot projects and applying EA management methods to show how well they can support business strategy and contribute to IT and business alignment. For their part, tool vendors will get some insight into what their customers are thinking that could play a role in how they evolve their tools. “It’s [about] what companies want to do in the future with EA management. And, if they want to stay competitive, they’ll have to comply with that vision,” says Nowobilska.

When it comes to EA's role in managing the enterprise, you can see that we at Smart Architect couldn't agree more -- just have a look here, or here, or here, for starters, Feel free to weigh in with your own thoughts on EA's impact on strategic business management.