Bridging the distance: Creating applications for global enterprises

Could the right applications help to bring your global enterprise together? Many of today's corporations span across time zone and even continents, creating remarkable business opportunities - but also challenges in terms of maintaining a unified company culture, communicating effectively and collaborating on important projects and initiatives.

Business software applications could mitigate these difficulties by providing convenient platforms for information exchange and by furnishing workers with the same tools and processes no matter where they are located.

Designing a global enterprise app

Application development can be geared toward any number of business operations, professional workflows or other company activities. For a global enterprise, the right tools may allow companies to bridge the geographical distance between office locations. Consider the following cases:

• Employees scattered across various sites need to collaborate on an enterprise-wide project or campaign. By creating a convenient, secure file sharing app, all team members can have ready access to the information they require without having to travel or get caught up in lengthy email chains.
• An organization expanding internationally wants to maintain its strong identity and company culture. By branding all of its apps and integrating features that highlight its mission or values, it helps workers throughout the enterprise feel connected through a unified presentation.
• A global company would like to foster a stronger sense of community and inspire innovative thinking. A web application with social enterprise components provides a platform for workers to share their ideas and stay in touch with each other.

Development considerations

Of course, creating apps for a global workplace requires a little extra planning than less wide-scale projects. For example, in the case of companies stretching across countries with multiple time zones and languages, internationalization is important. Additionally, building apps that adapt well to multiple platforms and operating systems may be more of a consideration for corporations spread throughout the world.

To integrate these extra elements without sacrificing the speed and convenience of rapid app development, companies should consider using a Platform-as-a-Service offering that includes internationalization support. Utilizing options that support devices diversity, such as HTML5, can also simplify an enterprise's path to global application success.

Other governance services that are important for most application development projects carry an added significance for the large-scale operations that usually characterize international businesses. For example, companies should ensure that their services include security, account management and operations support. Developers might also need to incorporate user role specifications into their applications so that a single product can be tailored to each group of professionals within the organization.