MOBILEMICROAPPSTheshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

MightyCloudInc.hello@mightycloud.com

AbstractInthemostgeneralcase,enterprisemobilityisatoughproblemrequiringabig

investmentintheITinfrastructure,skills,andprocesses.Thecostisprohibitiveformanycompanies.Thenetresultisarelativelysmallnumberoftrulytransformative

enterprise-widemobilitydeployments.Fortunately,thescopeoftheproblemcanbedramaticallyreducedbymakingsmalladjustmentsinsomeoftheunderlying

assumptions.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

BackgroundEnterpriseMobilityMaturityModelSeveralstudieshavepointedtoastronglinkbetweenthebusinessperformanceofacompanyanditsmaturityintheareaofenterprisemobility.Companieswithwell-articulatedenterprise-widemobilitystrategiesdemonstratehigherrevenuegrowthandbetteroperatingmargins.

Thenatureofthecauseandeffectrelationshipbetweenmobilityandperformanceisopenfordiscussion.Still,itmaybeinformativetoconstructamodeltoshowhowacompanymightprogressfromalowermaturitytoahighermaturityinenterprisemobility.

Basedonwhatweseeintheindustry,suchamaturitymodelcouldconsistofthreedistinctphases:aware,reactive,andproactive.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

TheAwarePhase.Atthispoint,withthe80percentpenetrationofmobilephonesintheUnitedStates,themajorityofcompanieshavebeenexposedtomobilityandareawareofit.Someorganizationshavenotyethadanopportunitytodoanythingaboutit.Theyareintheawarephase.Employeesatthesecompaniesbringtheirowndevicestowork(BYOD)andinstallapplicationsoftheirchoosing(BYOA).TheyuploadcontenttoDropboxandtakemeetingnotesinEvernote.InspiteofthelackofITinvolvement,ormaybethankstoit,mobilityatthisstagehasapositiveeffectonemployeeproductivity.Atthesametime,duetothewidespreaduseofthird-partyapplicationsandcloudservices,confidentialinformationmaybeatrisk.

TheReactivePhase.RealizationoftherisksassociatedwithBYODandBYOAputsITinthereactivemode.TheytakeactionbydeployingenterprisemobilitymanagementsuitesandissuingdetailedBYODpolicies.Useofthird-partyapplicationsislimitedtotheonesapprovedbytheITdepartment.Thereislittleornocustomapplicationdevelopment.Organizationsissue“managed”mobiledevicestoemployees.Peoplebegincarryingmultipledevices,personalonesandtheonesprovidedbythecompany.Companiesinthereactivephaseachieveahigherlevelofinformationprotectionandriskmanagement.Atthesametime,theiractionsmayactuallyhavenegativeimpactontheoverallemployeeproductivity.

TheProactivePhase.Thependulumswingsintheoppositedirectionwithemployeesdemandinggreaterproductivity,privacy,andcontrol.ThepressureoftencomesfromtheCXOoffice.ManyCIOsarebeginningtounderstandthelimitationsofmobiledevicemanagementandtransitiontomanagementofmobilecontentandapplications.Thisisoftenachievedwiththehelpofcontainerizationofcompany-ownedresourcesondevicesthatmaybecontrolledbytheemployees.Thenewapproachandmindsetputscompaniesintheproactivemode.Manyofthembegindevelopmentofcustommobileapplicationsthatdramaticallyimproveemployeeproductivityandincreasebusinessvelocity.

Nothingpreventsacompanyfromtransitioningdirectlyfromtheawarephaseintotheproactivephaseinthismaturitymodel.Infact,agrowingnumberofenterprisesarelearningfromthemistakesoftheirpeersanddoingjustthat.

ImportanceofCustomApplicationDevelopmentWhileoff-the-shelfproductivityapplicationsmaybecomepopularwithemployeesduringtheawarephaseofourmaturitymodel,theireffectontheoverallcompanyperformanceislimited.Toachieveanoticeableimpactintheproactivephase,companiesmustleveragemobilitytooptimizeandtransformtheircorebusinessprocesses.Sincetheseprocessesareusuallyuniquetothecompany,theiroptimizationandtransformationrequirescustomapplicationdevelopment.

Theneedforapplicationmodernizationisyetanotherfactorthatisdrivingthedevelopmentofcustomapplications.AgreatnumberofenterpriseapplicationsthatareinusetodaywerebuiltintheninetiesfortheWindowsplatform.TheemergenceoftheInternetdidnothingtoshakeMicrosoft’sdominance.Companieswereundernopressuretoreplacetheirlegacyapplications.Thesmartphonerevolutionchangedeverything.Mobilityintroducedsignificantplatformfragmentation,whichisforcingenterprisestoadapttheirapplicationsforthenewenvironment.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

StateoftheArtinMobileApplicationDevelopmentApplicationArchitectureAtsomepointduringtheapplicationdevelopmentcycle,thedevelopmentteammustdecideontheimplementationapproach.Threeoptionsareavailable:native,mobileweb,andhybrid.

NativeApplicationsNativeapplicationsaredevelopedusingthetoolsetprovidedbythemobileplatformvendor.TheyhavedirectaccesstothedevicehardwareandtheplatformAPIs.Theyarecompiledintomachinecodebeforeexecution.Thisguaranteesexcellentperformance.Developersoptimizetheend-userexperiencebyfollowingguidelinespublishedbytheplatformvendor.Nativeapplicationsdevelopedforoneplatformcannotbelaunchedonanotherplatform.Nativeapplicationsaredistributedviaappstores,whichmaylengthentheproductreleasecycle.

MobileWebApplicationsMobilewebapplicationsaredevelopedinHTMLandJavaScript.Theyaredesignedtosupportabroadrangeofmobileplatforms.Awebbrowserisusedtoexecutetheapplicationandrenderitsuserinterface.Consequently,manyapplicationparameters,suchasitsspeed,responsiveness,andsecurity,dependonthequalityofthebrowser.Theend-userexperienceisoptimizedforconsistencyacrossplatformsandmaynotfeel“native”onanyparticularplatform.AmobilewebapplicationhasnodirectaccesstothedevicehardwareandplatformAPIs.WebapplicationsaredistributedviaURLs,instantlyandwithlittleoverhead.

HybridApplicationsHybridapplicationsaremobilewebapplicationsthatarewrappedinalayerofnativecode.ThenativecodeisusedtoprovideaccesstothedevicehardwareandplatformAPIsinaconsistentmanneracrossplatforms.Thenativewrappermayalsobeusedtoaddresssomeofthebrowsershortcomings,suchaslackofrobustsecurityormanageability.Whenwrappingamobilewebapplication,aseparatehybridapplicationiscreatedforeachmobileplatform.Thisincreasesthecostoftheproject,butnotasmuchasinthecaseofnativedevelopment.Hybridapplicationsaredistributedviaappstores.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

MobileApplicationManagementOnceanapplicationisdeveloped,itmustbelaunchedintheenterprise.Theprocessconsistsofseveralstepscollectivelyknownasmobileapplicationmanagement(MAM):

1. Addanapptothesystemofrecord(“apponboarding”)2. Inspecttheapptomakesureitissafe(“appinspection”)3. Securetheappwithpolicies(“appprotection”)4. Addcredentialstotheappsothatitcanrunproperly(“appsigning”)5. Distributetheapptoalltheendusers(“appdeployment”)6. Tracktheappusageandcollectuserfeedback(“appanalytics”)7. Updatetheapponaregularbasis(“appadministration”)

MobileContentManagementManycompaniesaredevelopingmobileapplicationswiththeobjectiveofimprovingtheirbusinessprocesses.Inagreatnumberofcases,businessprocessesareusedtocreate,review,catalog,andpublishdigitalcontent:forms,documents,presentations,images,videos,etc.

Inordertoprovidesecureaccesstocontentonmobiledevices,acompanymustimplementamobilecontentmanagement(MCM)solution.Itconsistsof:

1. Acontentrepository2. Amiddlewarelayerthatconnectstoexternalrepositories3. Mobileapplicationsthatprovideaccesstocontentstoredintheserepositories4. APIsandSDKsforaccessingcontentincustomapplications5. Admintoolsformanagingcontentanddefiningaccesscontrolpolicies

Inthetraditionalmobilityarchitecture,mobilecontentmanagementisadisciplinethatisentirelyseparatefrommobileapplicationmanagement.

IdentityandAccessManagementUseridentitiesanduserrolesformthefoundationforsecuritypoliciesgoverningaccesstomobileapplicationsandcontent.Theseartifactsaremanagedintheidentityandaccessmanagement(IAM)system,whichincludes:

1. Auserdirectory2. Adirectoryofresourcesprotectedbythesystem3. Alibraryofaccesscontrolpolicies4. Atoolformanaginguseridentities,roles,resources,andsecuritypolicies5. PolicyenforcementmodulesandSDKs6. Extensionsforsupportingcommonprotocols,suchasSAML,Kerberos,etc.

ManyIAMsystemsthataredeployedtodaylackcompatibilitywithcloudservicesandmobileapplications.Theymustbeeitherupgradedorreplacedaspartoftheenterprisemobilityeffort.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

MobileBackendasaServiceAmobileapplicationmayrequiresupportfromanumberofcloudservices:

1. Cloudstorage2. Persistence3. Pushnotifications4. Collaboration5. Socialnetworking

AnumberofvendorsofferbundlesofsuchservicesalongwiththecorrespondingSDKsforthevariousmobileplatforms.Thebundleiscalledamobilebackendasaservice,ormBaaS.

PuttingItAllTogetherInsummary,beforeacompanycanbeginmobilizingitsbusinessprocessesandmodernizingitslegacyapplications,itmustimplement:

1. Amobileapplicationmanagement(MAM)solution2. Amobilecontentmanagement(MCM)solution3. Anidentityandaccessmanagement(IAM)system4. Asetofbackendservicessupportingmobileapps(mBaaS)

Theexactsetoftechnologiesdependsonthebusinessrequirements—thenumberofmobileplatformsthatmustbesupported,theapplicationarchitectureselectedbythecompany,andotherparameters.

ThislistofprerequisitesmayseemprohibitivetomanyITmanagers.Asaresult,wearefacingacrisis.Ononehand,companiesmustbuildmobileapplicationsinordertocompeteandgrow.Ontheotherhand,manyofthemlackthefoundationrequiredtocompletethiseffort.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

MicroappstotheRescueNativevsHybridintheEnterpriseIntheconsumerspace,whereintensecompetitionamongmanysimilarappsisforcingdeveloperstoreachforeverytrickinthebag,nativeappsarewinningovermobilewebandhybridapps.Gamingisthetopcategory.AgamedevelopedinObjective-CwillalwaysfeelsnappierandjazzierthantheonewritteninJavaScript.

Inaddition,nativevs.hybridhasalwaysbeenamatterofdeveloperproductivity.Hybridappshavelittletooffertheendusersovernativeapps,anddeveloperproductivitymatterslittleintheworldofconsumerapps,wherewell-fundedstart-upscanfocusongainingtractiononadominantplatform.

Thesituationisradicallydifferentintheworldofenterprisemobility.AnITmanagerdeployinganemployee-facingappinaBYODenvironmentmustsupportmultiplemobileplatforms:iOS,Android,Windows,etc.Developerproductivityhasdirectimpactonthebudget,andtheabilitytowritecodeonceandrunitonallplatformsisveryimportant.

Itisnotsurprising,therefore,thatarecentsurveyofITdecisionmakersconductedbyTechValidatediscoveredthatnativeappsaretrailingmobilewebandhybridappsintheenterprisebyalargemargin.

Preferenceforhybridandmobilewebappsmayalsobeexplainedbythedifferentnatureofapplicationsdevelopedintheenterprise.Thesamesurveyreportedthatthelistofthetopfivecategoriesofappsintheenterpriseincludedprocessautomation(forms,routing),reportingandanalytics,executivedashboards,CRM,andcollaboration.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

Asfarasformsandreportingareconcerned,mobilewebandhybridapplicationsofferperfectlyadequateuserexperienceandperformance.

MobileMicroappsBylimitingthescopeoftheproblemtomobilewebandhybridappsonly,wecandramaticallysimplifytheenterprisemobilitysolution.

Theissueofplatformfragmentationisautomaticallyaddressedbythecross-platformnatureofwebdevelopment.Codecanbebuilt,debugged,andtestedononeplatformanddeployedondevicesofallkindsacrosstheenterprise.

Managementandsecurityofmobileapplicationsisstillaconcern.Theissueispoorlydefinedformobilewebapps.Managementandsecurityofhybridappspresentsthesamesetofchallengesasmanagementandsecurityofnativeapplications.Thereisnoautomaticgain.

Thereisnogain,thatis,untilwerealizethatinsteadofwrappingonemobilewebappinnativecodetoproduceasinglehybridapp,wecanwrapseveralmobilewebappsinonenativeenvelope.Forinstance,wecanwrapallappsrequiredtosupportacertainworkflowprocess.

Wecansignificantlyreducethemanagementandsecurityoverheadbymanagingandsecuringasetofrelatedapplicationsasagroup.

Wecantakethislineofthinkingastepfurtherandturnournativeenvelopeintoagenericcontainerthatcanhostallkindsofmobilewebapps.Wecantransformamobilewebappintoahybridappbysimplythrowingitintothiscontainer.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

Wewillusethetermmicroapptorefertomobilewebappsthataredeployedinacontainer.

TheMicroappContainerandPlatformThemicroappcontainerisanativeapplicationthatcanhostanynumberofmobilewebapplications.Wecancreateonesuchcontainerpermobileplatforminourenvironment:iOS,Windows,Android,andothers.Thecontainerisolatesapplicationsfromidiosyncrasiesofthevariousmobileplatforms.Italsoprovidesaccesstoasetofsharedservices.Implementationoftheseservicesmaybelocaltothecontainer.Servicescanalsobehostedinthecloud.Theyformthemicroappplatform.Inthefollowingsections,wedescribesomeoftheseservices.

Meta-DataManagementApplicationsdeployedinacontainerhaveasetofcommonattributessuchasname,description,versionnumber,andothers.Thisinformationismaintainedwithhelpofthemeta-datamanagementservice.Itisthesystemofrecordforallmicroappsdeployedintheenterprise.Eachmicroappismappedtoanassetmanagedbytheservice.

ContentManagementThemicroappcontainercanhostnotonlyapplications,butalsocontentusedbytheseapplications:forms,documents,images,andvideos.Eachcontentitemismappedtoanassetinthemeta-datarepository.Fromtheperspectiveofthemeta-datamanagementservice,microappsandcontentaredifferenttypesofassetsthatcanbemanagedinaratheruniformmanner.Inadditiontometa-datamanagement,thecontentmanagementserviceprovidesasetoffeaturesthatistypicallyassociatedwithmobilecontentmanagement:acontentrepository,acontentintegrationlayer,andothers.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

IdentityandAccessManagementMicroappsandcontentassetsareuniformlyviewedassecurityresourcesthatcanbeprotectedbythecontainer.Thecontaineractsasanenforcementpointforpoliciesexpressedintermsofuseridentities,userroles,devicelocation,timeofday,andotherattributes.Useridentitiesandsecuritypoliciesaremanagedwiththehelpoftheidentityandaccessmanagementserviceprovidedbythemicroappplatform.Thisservicecanbeintegratedwithotherelementsofthecompany’ssecurityinfrastructure,suchasaninstanceoftheActiveDirectoryoraSAMLprovider.

CollaborationThepowerfulmechanismforexpressingsecuritypoliciesandtheuniformapproachtomanagementofapplicationsandcontentenablerichcollaboration.Applicationsandcontentassetscanbeorganizedintocollections,aspecialtypeofassetssupportedbythemeta-dataservice.Collectionscanbenested.Accesstocollectionsiscontrolledwiththehelpofsecuritypolicies.Itemscanbesharedbyplacingthemincollectionsandgrantingaccesstothesecollectionstousersandgroups.

PersistenceThemeta-datamanagementservicecanbeusedbythemicroappstostoreandretrievearbitraryJSONobjects.Eachapplicationisautomaticallyallocatedanassetcollectionforthispurpose.Sub-collectionscanbecreatedifnecessary.Thesamesecuritymechanismthatisusedtoprotectappsandcontentcanbeusedtocontrolaccesstoobjectscreatedbytheapplication.

EventManagementTheeventmanagementserviceprovidesacross-platformpublish-subscribemechanism.Microappscancreateeventchannels,subscribeforevents,andpublishevents.Duetotheintermittentnetworkconnectivitythatiscommonformobiledevices,amicroappmaynotbereachablewhenaneventisposted.Theservicetakescareofstoringtheeventanddeliveringitwhentheappcomesbackonline.

Real-TimeCommunicationThereal-timecommunicationservicesupportsvideoandaudiocommunicationbetweenmicroappsrunningondifferentdevices.TheserviceimplementstheWebRTCstandard.Communicationcanbeperformedeitherinpeer-to-peermodeorviaacloud-basedgateway.

ThePlatformAbstractionLayerTheplatformabstractionlayerprovidestransparentandsecureaccesstotheAPIsoftheunderlyingmobileplatform.Microappsusethislayertoaccessthedevicecamera,listcontentinthepicturegallery,readGPScoordinates,searchforentriesintheaddressbook,andperformotherplatform-relatedtasksinaplatform-independentmanner.

ReportingandAnalyticsInformationabouttheappandcontentusageisautomaticallycollectedbythecontainer.Thisinformationisaggregatedandpresentedintheformofreportsanddiagrams.Systemadministrators,businessmanagers,andapplicationdeveloperscanusethemtoderivevaluableinsights,tunetheapps,improvethecontent,andoptimizebusinessprocesses.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

SolutionsThemicroapparchitectureisveryversatileandcanbeusedtosupportanumberofcommonsolutionpatternssuchascollaboration,enterpriseapplicationintegration,andbusinessprocessmanagement.

MobileCollaborationInthecaseofcollaboration,wehaveagroupofusers,eachwithamobiledevicethatisrunningamicroappcontainer.Thecontainerispopulatedwithmicroappsthatareusedtosharecontent,exchangemessages,andcommunicateviaaudioandvideo.

Thecontainerrequiresuserauthentication.Theuseridentityandprofileinformationisavailabletothemicroappsandcanbeusedtocustomizeandenhanceuserexperience.Amessagingapp,forexample,canautomaticallyaddauserphototoallmessagespostedbytheuser.

Whenaninstantmessageispostedononedevice,theeventmanagementservicecanbeusedtopropagateittoallotherdevices.Thepersistenceservicecanbeusedtomaintainapersistentstreamofmessagesthatusersjoinandleaveasneeded.Thereal-timecommunicationservicecanbeusedtoestablishapeer-to-peerlinkforstreamingvideoandaudiobetweendevices.

EnterpriseApplicationIntegrationEnterpriseapplicationscanbeintegratedatthedatalevel,applicationserverlevel,APIlevel,oruserinterfacelevel.Theuserinterfacelevelintegrationisoftenthemosteffectiveandtheeasiesttoimplement.Anenterpriseportalisagoodexampleofthisapproach.

Anenterpriseportalisawebapplicationthatconsistsofmultipleportlets,eachportletdisplayinginformationfromasinglebackendapplication.Userscangetthebird’seyeviewofallapplications’dataontheportalhomescreen.Theycaninteractwiththeportletsandgetmoreinformationifnecessary.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

Microappsbringasimilarapproachtotheworldofmobility.Amicroappcanbeusedtoprovideaccesstoabackendapplication.Asinglebackendapplicationcanberepresentedwithseveralmicroapps.Multiplemicroappscanberunninginonecontainer.

Theconceptoftheportalhomescreen,themainscreendisplayingmultipleportlets,cannotbeeasilyrepresentedonmobiledevices.Whatworksinsteadisastreamofnotificationswithsnippetsofinformationpostedbydifferentapps.Ausercanscrollthroughthestream,reviewindividualentries,andlaunchthecorrespondingmicroapps.

BusinessProcessManagementAbusinessprocessisasequenceofstepsthatisperformedbythevariousprocessparticipantsinpursuitofacommongoal.Abusinessprocesscanbeusedtoreviewandpublishadocument,handleaninsuranceclaim,orinspectapieceofequipment.Completingastepintheprocessmayrequireinteractionwithanumberofbackendapplicationsandcontentrepositories.

Thetimeittakestocompleteaprocessinfluencesanumberofcriticalperformancemetricssuchasemployeeproductivity,companyprofitability,andcustomersatisfaction.Thistimecanbesubstantiallyreducedbymakingitpossibletoperformsomeofthestepsintheprocessonmobiledevices.

Microappsareideallysuitedforthepurpose.Wealreadydiscussedhowmicroappsandservicesprovidedbythemicroappplatformsupportmobilecollaborationandenterpriseapplicationintegration.Theseareimportantcomponentsofbusinessprocessesmanagement.

Toenablereal-timeexecutionofbusinessprocesses,microappscantakeadvantageoftheplatform’seventmanagementservice.Whenastepintheprocessiscomplete,amessagecanbesenttotheprocessparticipantsresponsibleforthenextstep.

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MOBILEMICROAPPS|Theshortestpathtoenterprisemobility

ConclusionCompanieswithwell-articulatedenterprise-widemobilitystrategiesdemonstratehigherrevenuegrowthandbetteroperatingmargins.Amaturemobilitystrategyoftenimpliesdevelopmentofcustommobileapplications.

Inthemostgeneralcase,mobileapplicationdevelopmentrequiresaverysignificantinvestmentintheITinfrastructure,skills,andprocesses.Formanycompanies,thecostofsuchaninvestmentcouldnegateanybenefitstheywouldderivefromenterprisemobility.Thenetresultisarelativelysmallnumberoftrulytransformativeenterprise-widemobilitydeployments.

Fortunately,thescopeoftheproblemcanbedramaticallyreducedbymakingsmalladjustmentsintheunderlyingassumptions.

Byanalogywiththeconsumerspace,itiswidelyassumedthatenterprisesmustbedevelopingnativeapplicationsbecausetheyaredeliveringbetteruserexperienceandguaranteeinghigherrateofadoption.Atthesametime,numerousstudiesarepointingtothefactthattypicalenterpriseusecasescanbeequallywellservedwithmobilewebandhybridapplications.

Bylimitingthescopeoftheproblemtomobilewebandhybridapps,onecansignificantlysimplifytheoverallarchitectureofanenterprisemobilitysolution.

Multiplerelatedapplicationscanbehostedinasinglecross-platformcontainer.Theycanbemanagedandsecuredasagroup.ApplicationsandcontentcanbeuniformlytreatedasITassets.Thissimplifiesthetaskofdefiningandenforcingsecuritypoliciesandenablesnon-trivialapplicationandcontentsharing.TheapplicationcontainerreducesthecostofapplicationdevelopmentbyprovidingtransparentaccesstothemobileplatformAPIsandcloudservices.

Companiescanusetheproposedapproachtoimplementsophisticatedsolutionsformobilecollaboration,enterpriseapplicationintegration,andbusinessprocessmanagement.TheycandosowhilepreservingtheirinvestmentsintheexistingITinfrastructure,skills,andprocesses.

AboutMightyCloudMightyCloud(www.mightycloud.com)isanenterprisemobilityplatformthatdramaticallysimplifiesmobileapplicationandcontentmanagement.MightyCloudpioneeredtheideaofmobilemicroappsanddevelopedtheworld’sfirstsecureandmanageablemicroappcontainer.MightyCloudcontainerandcloudservicesenablecost-effectivedevelopment,deployment,andmanagementofsophisticatedsolutionsformobilecollaboration,enterpriseapplicationintegration,andbusinessprocessmanagement.