Amanda Jackson
Andrzej Puczyk
Every business on the path to building an enterprise mobile app knows the pressure of balancing multiple priorities.
The app needs to serve their audience and meet business needs. It needs to meet security objectives but ideally without an extended time to market. Developers need to deliver an excellent front-end experience that customers see, without neglecting critical “invisible” elements that are just as important, if not moreso.
Because we understand these competing (or perhaps complementary) objectives at Neontri, we offer a solution in our Mobile App Framework. This framework has helped a wide range of enterprise customers in banking, fintech, and other industries, to meet the needs of millions of end users. Here, we’ll explore the Mobile App Framework, why it exists, and its core features that can support your business in delivering the best mobile app possible.
This article is the second of a three-part series on Neontri’s Mobile Framework and how it can help you develop your mobile app masterpiece. Follow us on LinkedIn to be the first to learn about the third installment here on the blog.
What is the Mobile App Framework?
The Mobile App Framework is a mobile app development platform that exists to accelerate the process of developing highly functional enterprise-grade mobile solutions.
The framework is our proprietary Software Development Kit (SDK) which our team uses to develop either a minimum viable product (MVP) or completed mobile application. It offers an advanced, security-optimized frontend and backend architecture and allows us to build quickly without sacrificing usability or security in the final product.
Every business’s needs are unique when beginning a new mobile development project, so our support is flexible as well. Once the application is complete, the Neontri team can continue to provide support based on your specifications or hand the reins to your team of developers. Whatever your needs, our bespoke services are here to help you accomplish your goals for the app on a timeline that meets your business objectives.
Why the Mobile App Framework exists (and how it drives value)
We created our Mobile App Framework to solve some of the biggest challenges enterprise organizations face when building their mobile apps. Here are some of the major benefits of the framework.
Benefit#1: It deals with the “invisible” parts of the mobile app
When users picture your app, they think about what they see and experience. In a banking app, for example, this might involve logging in, checking their balance, or transferring funds. These front-end functions bring clear and immediate value to the business and to your customers, and they might be where the expertise of your mobile developers lies.
To implement and support those visibly valuable functions, the app needs critical functionality behind the scenes that customers will never see like app security or multi-language support. Yet the unseen functionalities are costly in terms of time and developer efforts.
The Neontri Mobile App Framework takes care of the “invisible” elements and provides the architecture for the complex parts of your mobile app. Instead of focusing on complex backend functions that users will never see — like securing the network connection, protecting sensitive data, or using the cryptography — you can spend time focusing on what will drive direct value for your customers and your business.
Benefit#2: Reduced the time to market without giving up security
The complexity of server-side functionality often forces businesses into an extended development process that greatly increases the time to market for their app, which means organizations must wait for the app to drive value. In trying to shorten that timeline, businesses might cut corners and sacrifice security, which leaves them and their users vulnerable to data breaches and cybersecurity attacks.
The best case scenario is mobile development with the shortest possible time to market without sacrificing security practices. The Mobile App Framework provides this outcome by getting businesses to a finished project in a fraction of the time while maintaining bulletproof security through a proven, ready-to-use mobile app architecture.
Benefit#3: It protects users’ sensitive data
Most people carry a security liability around in their pockets — smartphones are inherently insecure, yet most mobile apps rely on individuals’ devices for security. Android users, in particular, often have major security gaps due to dropped support when they don’t make necessary updates and aren’t aware of the risks. For Apple and Android smartphone owners alike, developers are responsible to make a plan to protect user data within their app in the face of security gaps.
With the Mobile App Framework, you won’t need to rely on your users’ smartphones for security. Instead, you become the master of your security. Security is a primary focus for the framework, with an architecture that’s optimized to protect user data without your developers having to design the functionality from scratch.
Benefit#4: It supports both mobile ecosystems
The features that the Mobile App Framework supports are compatible with both iOS and Android, which is great news for mobile developers. When making changes to your mobile app with the Mobile App Framework, devs only have to do so in the code once for the update to be available in the app for both mobile ecosystems.
This means that, over time, any developer — whether Android or iOS — can implement needed changes for users to have access on either platform.
Benefit#5: It covers one-time implementation elements
The Mobile App Framework delivers significant baseline value for your project upfront.
The complex features and functions offered essentially need to be implemented once for your project.
To secure users’ sensitive data, for instance, you only need to modify the code in the SDK at the start of the project and you’ve implemented that particular function. Other than ongoing updates or minor bug fixes, you won’t have to repeatedly implement these complex elements over time. You can focus on directly delivering value to your users and rest assured that your security and other backend elements are working as designed.
3 core features of the Mobile App Framework
Now that we’ve covered why the Mobile App Framework exists and the problems it solves, let’s explore three of its core features for building a better app more quickly.
1. Secure Core
Security is one of the biggest concerns and challenges of mobile app development. No matter what operating system or app version a user has, the application must offer consistent and high-level security despite the fact that mobile platforms are not bulletproof.
Because of the complexity and heavy workload involved, security is also the primary feature of the Mobile App Framework. Neontri’s Secure Core has been optimized, audited and tested for the highest levels of mobile app security.
Secure Core benefits mobile applications in several key ways, including:
- Secure network communication on both ends with mTLS implementation. Each user has their own certificate, so the server knows who it’s talking to.
- Protecting users’ sensitive data by securing any data stored on the device itself.
- Cryptographic functions that prevent unauthorized access to a user’s account.
- Multiple techniques that make reverse engineering difficult to prevent hackers from using the app to access sensitive data.
Neontri also constantly updates the framework to ensure that applications remain secure and stay aligned with the latest security standards.
2. Secure WebView
While native mobile is typically the best way to build an enterprise application, some organizations need the flexibility of a hybrid application. Whether you need a shorter time to market, host secure forms in your app, or frequently update some screens in the app, a secure WebView may be needed.
The Mobile App Framework provides the module that allows you to run a web application within the mobile app using a customized WebView component. If, for example, users can browse a product listing within your native app but you need to link them to an external page for additional product details, the WebView opens securely within the mobile application.
This is especially useful when organizations need to deploy their app quickly — users can access the app sooner, while your developers build natively behind the scenes.
3. Common functions
The Mobile App Framework also provides a number of universal mechanisms that drive value for mobile banking and other enterprise applications across platforms. These include:
- Multilanguage support to ensure each user can engage in their native language.
- Dynamic rich text labels that can be updated without the time and effort involved in an application update
- Feature flags to remotely disable a specific feature without interfering with other features
- Generating a one-time code for security or verification
- Intelligent caching mechanism to reduce network requests
- Extended error handling
- Maintenance break management
These features of the framework ensure your application has the support needed for an accessible, easy user experience that helps you achieve your business objectives.
Mobile App Framework in action: 4 customer examples
How do these framework features deliver value in real time, and how do end users experience the benefits of mobile apps built with the frameworK? These four Neontri customer examples illustrate some functionalities that the Mobile App Framework can bring to life for businesses and their customers.
Secure signatures with mSzafir
The mSzafir mobile app lets users conveniently and securely sign documents from their smartphones. High-profile users, including government officials, can sign with a compliant qualified electronic signature for legal or commercial interactions.
The Mobile App Framework enabled two key features that provide convenience and ease of use without sacrificing security. First, the mSzafir app lets users generate a OneTime Token (OTT) to validate their qualified signatures in other apps that are integrated with the Szafir ecosystem. Qualified signatures must be as secure as possible, and much like two-factor authentication, the OTT upholds the security needed to verify qualified signatures on official, sensitive documents.
In addition to the infrastructure for validating signatures, the app enables the signing process. In the mSzafir app, users can upload a document, authorize it with their pin to sign, and receive a signed, finalized document with their qualified signature.
Sensitive data and document protection with Aion
Most documents exchanged between a bank or financial institution and its customers contain important, sensitive information like personal data, ID card, income, or account balances, so the documents must be handled with high levels of security. Aion Bank’s mobile app, built using Neontri’s secure framework, allows users to exchange important documents with the bank, without fear of being compromised.
When users upload a document containing sensitive information, the framework handles security for processing and encrypting these documents, then sending them to the bank’s servers. Straight from their smartphones, Aion customers can exchange key information with their bank and rest assured that their documents and data are safe from the eyes of hackers.
App updates, simplified with IKO
Every developer knows all too well just how time- and money-intensive it is to process frequent updates to the App Store and Google Play, especially when it comes to testing. PKO Bank Polski worked with Neontri to build its IKO app, and the framework simplified app updates in several ways.
As a banking application, IKO’s users often need to complete dynamic forms through the app. These forms change frequently, with fields added or updated often, to comply with government regulations. Updating these forms in the app would require labor-intensive release processes. But the Mobile App Framework allowed them to share the dynamic forms using an enhanced WebView with a secure layer instead.
When someone opens the form from within the mobile app, IKO loads a secure webpage that doesn’t force users to log in again. Users enjoy an enjoyable, easy-to-use experience, and PKO Bank Polski can efficiently make needed changes.
The Mobile App Framework also helps with updating labels in the app, in case of a minor mistake or spelling error. Through a single, easy-to-use multilanguage support mechanism, developers can manage all the text and labels used in the app through a web admin panel. This means the team can resolve text errors without having to wait until the next release. At any time, the update mechanism, which is built into the application launch process, allows them to make changes for users to see in real time.
Testing features with iPKO Biznes Mobile
Adding and releasing new features to your mobile app is exciting and risky because the feature could fail when it goes into production, either in the app or on the server side. For mobile app iPKO Biznes Mobile, the Neontri Mobile App Framework mitigates this risk through a feature-enabling mechanism. This allows app administrators to dictate whether features are available, both newly released and previously existing app features.
After a release, they can test whether the app is working for a small group of users, then release it to everyone or turn the feature off for further development. The iPKO Biznes Mobile team faces less risk of failure with new features, and users are less likely to have a poor in-app experience.
New app users also benefit from the offline demo mode the framework enabled. Those who don’t have an account can test features and try out the app without having to register, then decide if they want to commit to the app.
In conclusion
Whatever goals you have for your enterprise mobile application, the Neontri Mobile App Framework is here to help you deliver on those goals. We help you build an MVP or full-fledged mobile application that meets optimal security standards without sacrificing time to market.
If you’re ready to learn more about Neotri’s app development services, and how Neontri can help you build the mobile app masterpiece your business and your users need, contact us today.
