ABI Research (www.abiresearch.com) predicts the number of large enterprises to adopt enterprise app stores will grow at double-digit rates through 2018.

Globally, large enterprise app store adoption will grow at 30.4% YoY [year-over-year] with the manufacturing and trade industries commanding the largest share of app deployments. North American and Western European enterprise app store adoption will grow healthily at 20.7% and 21.5%, respectively, but Asia-Pacific will have the most enterprises with enterprise app stores by 2018 growing at 59% YoY.

"Mobile application management is growing in popularity among enterprises looking to deploy flexible mobile solutions to support Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) initiatives," says ABI Research senior analyst, Jason McNicol. "The problem is finding a scalable solution to deploy enterprise apps without placing additional burdens on IT departments. Enterprise app stores allow enterprises to expand their mobile application portfolio yet control distribution based on role and mobile policy."

Other benefits include enabling a mobile workforce with apps that contain key documents (i.e., PowerPoint presentations, videos, work order forms, etc.), custom app deployment to employees, and app lifecycle management (app deployment, maintenance, and retirement).

McNicol adds: "Enterprises supporting BYOD initiatives need to consider Bring-Your-Own-App (BYOA) initiatives as well. Widespread adoption of BYOD has led to an influx of third party apps being used to support business functions (e-mail, calendar, Office docs, document storage etc.). Instead of blacklisting these apps, enterprises are embracing, securing, and deploying third party apps through the enterprise app store. As such, the enterprise app store is a means to support BYOA."