It seems like there truly is an app for everything today. With so many available, we’ve developed a certain expectation that there will be an app for everything, and if there isn’t one, it can easily be created. Just wait a week or so…if that. Personally, I don’t remember the last time I downloaded a complete software application for my computer, but I can tell you that my last app download on my smartphone was yesterday. While apps and applications are similar, there are some significant differences, and here is how I differentiate between the two:

1. Single versus multiple tasks. If you download an app for your smartphone or tablet, chances are it will perform one primary function. Most software applications, particularly enterprise software, have multiple features, functions, and uses.
2. Transaction based. Most apps focus on processing many individual transactions, such as checking bank accounts, creating grocery lists or updating Facebook, not managing complex processes. Move past basic data entry, communications, checklists, etc., and you have moved into the realm of the full-fledged software application.
3. Portability. The typical model of the app is a widget that you load onto a portable device such as a smartphone or tablet and that you use on the run (or sitting – at the airport, the hotel, the DMV, etc.). Software applications might be remotely accessible, but they have historically been something you use seated at a “proper” computer.

Software with a Side Order of Apps

*Spoiler Alert!* Things in the app world are changing, lines are blurring, and the culprit is the cloud. Cloud computing is allowing complete software applications, including complete enterprise suites, to be accessed remotely on nearly any device. Software designed for use in a web-browser, as well as responsive to the type of device is allowing users to easily access their applications anywhere. So, the distinctions I mentioned aren’t as definitive as they once were.

However, I’m sure many of us have experienced a time when a complex software application made a simple task more complex than it needed to be. So in the domain of cloud-based software  there is still a distinct place for the app. Common repetitive tasks such as time entry, task reminders, basic database queries – I could go on – lend themselves to the ease-of-use and intuitive user interfaces provided by the simple, transaction-based app.

Can these two worlds – the domain of the app and of the application – coexist? Of course – we’re already seeing this with applications like Quickbooks and Salesforce.com, and more software systems in a variety of industries are moving in this direction. Complex processes and workflows are handled by sophisticated software that’s up to the task, while simpler tasks can be handled by apps.

When you’re looking for software to make managing your business, or even your life, easier, consider applications that manage complex processes but provide a “side-order of apps” for when you simply want to do one thing.

 

 

John Chaney is the President and Co-Founder of Seattle-based construction software provider
Dexter + Chaney.

He can be reached at jchaney@dexterchaney.com, and more information on the company can be found at www.dexterchaney.com.