App developers to embrace cloud services

A new report by IT research and advisory firm Gartner., Inc. has found that in only three years, about 40% of the mobile app development projects will use cloud backend services . The study also predicts that this will make development leaders lose their grip on both the way and speed with which their companies adopt cloud services.

Cloud mobile backend services offer a new kind of platform-as-a-service. It is used to enable the development of mobile apps . These cloud platforms are also known as mobile backend-as-a-service. That is because they offer backend features which are often used by mobile applications. Among them are, for example, push notifications, user management, social network integration, as well as data storage. In addition, there are cloud mobile backend services that enable developers to set up server-side code.

From Gartner also say that these services will turn into a main part of the ecosystem for app development. As a consequence, companies may start to rely on them without having the necessary knowledge on the risk they hide. Therefore, they need to be quickly familiarized with the results of expending app functionality to the cloud.

One of the main purposes of mobile backend services is to enable the use of cloud functions, like data storage, to developers of mobile applications. In other words, the developer created an app relying on well-known programing mechanisms for storage. In the meantime, the cloud service works like a backup that can store and retrieve all the needed information. However, as soon as the popularity of cloud services for mobile apps start to grow, the risks for company data will also increase. If they are not governed, sensitive information may find its way to the cloud. In addition, this will threaten the security of the organization. In order that to be avoided, cloud services and company systems will need extra governance and security capabilities. The ones which are seen in some mobile app development platform will no longer be efficient enough.

A large part of the enterprise app development is done outside the field of IT. Those include applications developed for business units, end-users or from business units to third parties. Traditionally, the majority of mobile app development that was not done by IT has been outsourced. However, after the introduction of visual application builders and other faster tools for mobile app development, thing started to change. The mobile app demand is rising. As a result, developers who do not rely on IT look for new ways to meet the needs of their business.

The risks behind that are many. Non-IT developers will have bigger chance to create app that combines sensitive company information with cloud services and storage. The study concludes that it is vital for companies to learn about these problems. According to the research, organizations need to reflect that in their cloud service policies.

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