With a gamut of apps being launched every day, users are now downloading unapproved apps on their personal and company devices to carry out business. Monitoring and controlling the release and use of unauthorized and unsafe apps is crucial, to safeguard business critical information. And enterprise app stores can be the answer to that problem. According to Gartner, by 2017, 25 percent of enterprises will have an enterprise app store for managing corporate-sanctioned apps on PCs and mobile devices.

You can choose from a variety of ways to distribute enterprise mobile apps to users. A public app store is a viable solution that is not only cost effective but also leverages a model that most end-users are familiar with. While public app stores like Apple, Windows, and Google Play offer specific features for enterprises, they typically lack enterprise-grade requirements, especially around mobile application security.

Building your own enterprise app store comes with certain challenges that must be considered like a high upfront investment and ongoing costs. And even if you do get your own enterprise app store in place, there is no assurance that your employees will stop using unapproved apps to perform certain business functions. As the enterprise app store industry is rapidly accelerating, there is an impending need to address growing concerns over security, management and control of apps. Having your own enterprise app store is winning half the battle, provided it meets the requirements of the business and users alike.

Enterprise app stores can promise greater control over the release and distribution of apps, the software expenditure, and the relationship with app vendors. However, this is possible only if the enterprise app store is widely adopted. An enterprise app store offers all that a public app store does, and more. While an enterprise app store can include a mix of publicly available apps approved by IT and apps developed specifically for the organization, only authorized users can access and download apps specific to their business needs. Having your own enterprise app store can result in the following benefits:

1. Privacy: Enterprise app stores keep apps away from the public. In scenarios where apps contain confidential information that needs to be safeguarded within the organization, enterprise app stores perform better. An enterprise app store provides a very high level of confidentiality and privacy, as information-rich apps are available only to authorized people.
2. Controlled Access: Where public app stores allow the release and download of any app, enterprise app stores can have stringent policies in place which control the access and use of apps. With your own enterprise app store, you can provide role-based access to apps, by making apps available only to individuals with specific responsibilities within the organization.
3. More Visibility: Having your own enterprise app store means you can have more visibility into factors such as which users have downloaded which apps and how many licenses are currently in use. Management and the organization of apps becomes easy, and presents an opportunity to track usage and feedback more effectively.
4. Security: While there are high chances that popular public app stores carry damaging malware and vicious programs, enterprise app stores consist of apps that are carefully curated and authenticated that do not allow harmful programs to enter the system easily.
5. Ease of Distribution: Apps in an enterprise app store can be easily distributed, as there is no need for a formal approval process. The general public cannot see a listing for your app, purchase or install it, resulting in elevated security. Moreover, you can quickly send push notifications on app updates, upgrades, and security patches on a periodic basis.

By controlling which apps can be downloaded and how many licenses are in use, enterprise app stores can save a lot of money. Enterprise app stores typically feature internal app ratings, which means you can remove apps that have low usability to realize immediate cost savings. You can grant role-based access to apps, which is important for enterprise apps that serve different departments of the company. You can also ensure that only apps that meet the company’s security criteria are downloaded by employees and exposed to the corporate network. Build your own enterprise app store and get the control you need!