Enterprise Apps vs. Microapps: Which is Right for Your Business

Digital transformation drastic changes in the processes support modern enterprises and organizations. A majority of these changes have been directed toward improving employee experience. However, the most marked change has been the shift from monolithic legacy systems to microapps. 

With this change, employees can use only the functionality that they require with encumbrances that monolithic applications usually necessitate. Employees can get specific jobs done quickly and easily without any hassles as before. And there is less friction among the software functions as was there before.

Read our blog “ERP or Digital Transformation The Best Solution For Your Enterprise”.

We all have many apps downloaded on our smartphones. Out of these apps, many of them are mobile enterprise apps.

According to recent studies, a large number of enterprise apps do not serve to improve employee productivity. Microapps, however, are handy and can accomplish specific jobs in a better manner. .

Enterprise Apps - Challenges

A majority of enterprise apps for mobiles have too many features loaded onto them. They are constructed to mirror the functions of a desktop app or the website app. This has resulted in complex interfaces, too many menu options, and other functions that create confusion in the minds of the users. There is a chance that many users will ditch the app after using it for a few days.

As a result, these enterprise apps are slower to load and harder to use. These factors reduce the speed of the app and reduce the overall functionality by a large margin. 

Transformation into Microapps

Microapps today are being designed and developed to serve the needs of the modern business world. Microapps are designed to provide a consumer-oriented experience which was not the case with traditional enterprise apps. Microapps are feature-rich and deliver targeted functionality that allows their users to get the specific job done quickly and efficiently. 

What is a Microapp

A microapp is a single app consisting of a collection of functions which together provides highly focused applications that are task-based. They deliver targeted functionality. Such a microapp is usually stored as one mobile app. 

Let us consider the example of a personal banking microapp. The features of such apps usually include

• Current balance
• Show the last few transactions
• Reset ATM pin
• Transfer Money

Such a micro app helps the customer to focus on specific tasks rather than take them through unnecessary steps which can cause hassles for the user.

How Microapps Empower the Modern Workforce

With fundamental changes in the composition of the workforce in these modern times, monolithic, legacy apps are not useful now. Modern businesses’ workforces are made up of temporary personnel, contractors, and third parties. These workers find it difficult to learn old-style apps. Learning microapps is far easier for the modern worker.

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Collaboration Benefits of Microapps

Collaboration benefits are substantial when using microapps. These apps are supported in a mesh app and service architecture (MASA) that is designed to share data and information easily without much manual intervention. They are then routed to those who require this data and information. The manual posting and forwarding process is avoided.

Microapps vs. Enterprise Apps

Microapps offer key benefits such as the following when compared to enterprise apps:

• Workers focus on only what they need to complete a task and become more productive.
• Workers do not have to understand app functions that are not essential for completing the task at hand. Microapps are streamlined and do not pose that problem.
• Workers in an enterprise view microapps more like the apps and services that workers commonly see on their smartphones and are easily able to learn and work with them. 
• Microapps instantly integrate into the workflow.

These benefits help to improve the overall speed of the operations of an organization. The learning curve for monolithic apps is eliminated, helping to get the work done faster. This is particularly helpful in optimizing non-traditional worker productivity. 

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From the organizational perspective, it becomes possible to roll out fixes or improvements for business processes quickly with microapps. There is no need to wait for any major release to add any new functionality as happens with legacy apps.

Microapp Development

A microapp can be developed independently without the need for any other micro-app. They can also be updated independently. This allows an easy interaction system and provides maximum customer satisfaction.

Any microapp is distinguished by three characteristics:

• Microapps are more focused on task-specific operations
• Building/Maintaining microapps can be done independently
• Microapps can provide users with a single task they require to do

General Benefits of Microapps

• Microapps provide quick and easy-to-use mobile apps; they provide a single-click operation for accessing the required information or completing a task
• Microapps provide a whole new level of personalization 
• Microapps can be combined with a user feedback system on app usage and this allows developers to make the app better
• Unlike enterprise apps, microapps can be fully used by employees

Also read “Develop Applications in the Era of Digital Transformation”