An "App" is NOT an "Application"
Let me start with a couple of definitions (author's discretion applied to find the most appropriate for my point)....
Dictionary.com defines "app" as --
noun, computers, informal
an application, typically a small, specialized program downloaded onto mobile devices:
" the best GPS apps for your iPhone"
That works pretty well for me.
"Application" is not as straight-forward. To get the relevant Dictionary.com definition, I need to qualify the term as ""Application Program" which yields --
noun
a computer program that is written and designed for a specific need or purpose
Well, I was searching for definitions as a place to start this blog entry, but the definitions have actually made my point for me. Short of the qualification around mobile devices for the "app" definition, both definitions sound like they are describing the same thing, right? An "App" OR "Application" is basically a computer program that is specialized for some purpose, to meet a need. And therein lies the problem...
As I asserted in my earlier post, smart phones and tablets, while giving business leaders more intimate exposure to technology and presumably made them more technology literate, have actually contributed to widening the gap in communications between the technology experts and business leaders and users. It would make perfect sense for them to believe an "App" is like an "Application"!
The difference boils down to three critical attributes:
1) Size
2) Scale
3) Security
probably in order of growing importance.
Size: The "apps" you purchase for your devices tend to be very small, specialized applications. Examples include some of my favorite iOS apps - Toodledo, Cal, Photos, Kindle, I could go on and on. Some are obviously much larger than others, but by and large they are designed for a specific, limited purpose. By comparison, enterprise level applications tend to be much larger in scale. Examples include some of my favorite enterprise applications - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications (e.g., Oracle, SAP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) applications (e.g., Salesforce.com), there are many of these, too. These are massive applications and generally cover a very broad set of functionality.
Scale: This one isn't as obvious, but significant differences become apparent when this attribute is disected further.
Scale as defined as users ... the "apps" you purchase for your devices are designed to appeal to a very large number of users, ideally, every smartphone or tablet user would find them useful and buy them, millions. Few reach that level of adoption, but that is the dream of most if not all "app" developers in the Apple and Android app stores. By comparison, except for very large companies, the users of enterprise applications won't likely approach the number of users of the most successful "apps" in the Apple and Android stores. The key difference here is the developer of these enterprise applications, to be successful, need for their applications to work for a wide variety of companies in a wide variety of industries and a wide variety of sizes. The complexities of making these applications succeed in all of those dimensions dwarfs the challenges mobile "app" developers face in satisfying their users.
Scale as defined by investment and pricing ... an interesting aside is the differences in scale of investments and pricing. The investment required for the simplest of "apps" (e.g., Cal) and the grandest of "apps" (e.g., Google Earth) is dwarfed by even the smallest of enterprise "applications" (e.g., Oracle's investment in their AR module). "App" developers sell their products at very low prices (e.g., $0.99 or $1.99) in anticipation of recouping their (relatively) modest investment over thousands or millions of users. Enterprise "application" developers must recover their (relatively) significant investments across a much smaller user base. Or, proprietary enterprise application developers building a custom application have an even smaller "customer" base that will fund their development.
Scale as defined by impact .... let me make this simple, when the app on your smart phone or tablet stops working, even if it stops working for every user the impact is usually an inconvenience for one or millions of users ... but it is still just an inconvenience. By comparison, when an airline's reservation system is down, or a bank's teller system is down, or a retailer's point of sale devices are down ... the impact is huge.
Security: The last of the three critical attributes. While some "apps" you use on your device may contain information that is critical to you - personal information, financial information, etc., the exposure companies face from loss of integrity in their enterprise applications is multiple orders of magnitude greater in impact. You only have to read the news accouns of recent events like the theft of Target's customers' credit card data, or the theft of Anthem's insureds' data to appreciate how critical the differences are in the security of personal "apps" and enterprise level applications.
Hopefully, this examination of these attributes of personal "apps" and enterprise "applications" have helped you understand why "An 'App' is NOT an 'Application'". In future blogs, I will explore recent efforts like "Agile" have succeeded in helping close this gap.
