Many companies use an SAP system within their business operations to manage business processes and customer relationships. Oliver IT develops applications that communicate smoothly with the underlying SAP system and the enormous amount of underlying data, increasing the opportunities for SAP users within their operations. In this article, we explain which types of apps Oliver IT builds and what added value these applications offer.Developing smart applications
An application can be built in several ways. Basically, Oliver IT focuses on the development of three different applications, each with its own technique. The applications are an extension of SAP and offer our customers extra possibilities. All are easy to use by our end users.
The native app
The most common way to build an application is the native app. This uses the underlying operating system of the device, i.e. iOS or Android. This makes native apps easy to use, fast and flexible. The native application does not need internet, these apps are offered in a store. Other functions of the device are also used, such as sending push messages and using the camera.
Challenges in building a native application
The development of a native app sounds like the ideal solution. However, building these applications brings some challenges.
It is important that the application is developed in the language of the operating system. For iOS this is often Objective-C or Swift, for Android applications Java is often used. To develop an application for different operating systems, multiple developers are needed, each specialized in the language of one of the systems.
A disadvantage of this is that it is not very cost effective. In addition, keeping multiple apps up to date and synchronous is a time consuming and costly process.
The Webapp
A web application is in fact a mobile version of a website. Web applications run in a browser environment, such as Chrome. These run platform independent and therefore webapps can be written in the same language for all platforms. Another advantage is that these apps do not need to be manually updated every time. As soon as the app is changed, the new version loads immediately when the browser reloads. So no waiting times!
Limited access to other functionalities
However, web apps have limited access to other features on the device. For example, camera access may be blocked and there is no data storage on the device itself.
The Hybrid app
The hybrid application is an intermediate form that combines the advantages of web apps and native apps. Just like a web app, the hybrid app is developed in one go. All operating systems run the same application, making errors caused by different implementations a thing of the past.
Then a system specific sauce is poured over the application so that devices can run the app as if it were a native app. This gives you access to all desired functionalities and gives you the same flexibility as with a web app.