While organizations work on their enterprise mobile strategies doing mobile application backend development, they encounter predominant challenges and complexities like below
1. In-house expertise gap for mobile application backend development
- Different genre of expertise is required for MABD – front end & backend dev which is beyond just a web development or a traditional IT expertise
- Having the right combo of below mobile expertise in-house for any organization is a challenge
Language and Frameworks – Ruby, PHP, Python, Java, .Net, Node.js, Ruby on Rails etc Web servers – J2EE, Apache, Nginx, IIS.
Database management systems – MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, etc Middleware - a software that works on the server which connects application’s frontend to its backend
2. Constant need for re-establishing API strategies
- Companies need to evaluate their current APIs and determine whether they can fulfill the new requirements of the app. In some cases, these services may not be adequate, which means modifying existing APIs or creating new ones. In other cases, the services may not exist at all, which means APIs will need to be created from scratch.
Optimal Architecture
Having the right architecture for varied backend capabilities like below poses a challenge
- data synchronization across platforms
- data storage capabilities
- ability to send alerts and notification messages
- offering support to various HTTP methods
- service integrations like push notifications, email notifications, and queuing services
How can these be addressed?
Organizations can either
- Outsource it to the MAPD firms in entirety
- Or, invest in mobile platforms which has the preliminary functions as ready-to-consume features, so the developers can focus majorly on web dev / front end development
In case of second option, we can see realizable benefits like,
- the percentage of expertise required for features like enabling push notifications, backend integrations, app management, etc., will be taken care of by platforms which offer mobile backend as a service allowing the IT teams/ limited resources to more focus on front end development.
- By providing a consistent way to manage backend data means that developers do not need to redevelop their own backend for each of the services that their apps need to access, potentially saving both time and money.
- Another significant advantage of the platform is that of managing the changes. In the traditional way of API development, any changes to the APIs require an end to end testing and deployment of the back-end system. When we use the platforms, it is just pushing the delta changes thereby saving effort and time
- The platform components are tested and proven for various business scenarios
- Enterprise security in built in the platform
As a result, this reduces internal costs while also allowing internal team members to gain the knowledge needed for future initiatives.