Around the world, businesses use apps for a variety of functions. Perhaps the obvious functions are those that include reaching out to or communicating more directly and conveniently with clients and customers. In fact, 64% of customers prefer the ability to interact in real time with the companies they patronise, which can be accomplished uniquely through apps. However, employees can also use apps to help improve productivity, either by organising their work or allowing them an efficient means of collaborating with their employers and with each other. Overall, an app may be a crucial tool in managing a business with optimum efficiency.

Nevertheless, that’s not to say that business apps don’t come with certain risks. It goes without saying that for an app to work correctly, some sensitive information must be shared between companies and their employees and customers. Unfortunately, where there’s sensitive information, there will always be individuals looking to exploit it for personal gain. There’s always the possibility that important confidential data stored in apps will be exposed or stolen.

Although there are many ways to leave oneself vulnerable to attack, some of the most common ones include using weak passwords, a lack of time limits or lockouts, failing to encrypt or validate communication, and neglecting to enact proper security for storage. Even the most thorough and careful methods for guarding against information breaches are never entirely foolproof. It’s a risk that must be taken, however, as over 57% of all business buyers insist that they will switch brands if a company doesn’t offer a convenient app to use.

If safety were the only requirement for an app that can draw and maintain a customer base, it could possibly be easier to accept the inherent risks. That’s not the case, though. On top of ensuring confidentiality and security, businesses must prove that their apps perform adequately, if not excellently, under most circumstances. They must load quickly, be aesthetically appealing, and offer user-intuitive navigation and control functions. An app that cannot boast all these traits (and more) cannot hope to convince customers that their needs wouldn’t be served better elsewhere.

How can businesses guarantee that their apps maintain the highest possible levels of quality and security?

The answer to that question is summed up in two words: application monitoring. Also referred to as application performance monitoring or application performance management (both terms may be called APM for short), application monitoring is a technique designed to regularly evaluate an app’s performance, then isolate and rectify any problems. To be clear, application monitoring is not an object, but a process.

To be more specific, application monitoring tools can quantify every separate function of an app in order to figure out what’s working well and what needs to improve. If it can be timed, then time it. How long does it take to load something? How many minutes do people tend to spend on certain pages?

If it can be counted, then count it. How frequently does a specific problem or question get reported to customer service? Which pages or search topics get the most hits per day?

If it can be measured, then measure it. How do people typically rate your services? What do they think about how the app looks?

These questions allow monitoring tools to establish baselines and then help developers improve the applications themselves. And, when so much depends on those applications, keeping a close eye on their effectiveness is an essential part of ensuring user satisfaction and safety.

Application monitoring protects businesses from corruption, infiltration, and miscalculation. It demonstrates to clients and customers that their needs are taken seriously. Application monitoring can likewise help guide the business toward growth by helping it understand what should remain and what should change. Also, bear in mind that the more complex the app, the more monitoring it will require, especially since any necessary updates may affect its functionality. Neglect is a fast track to alienating target demographics.

Most importantly, though, the enduring popularity of apps suggests that they are here to stay. Any business that doesn’t want to fall into the shadows of obsolescence needs to be open to not only developing apps, but also constantly maintaining and improving them through application monitoring solutions.

Salesforce offers services designed to take application monitoring to the heights that businesses need. With event monitoring by Salesforce, organisations can analyse every individual piece of data that is processed in an app while ensuring that everything is secure.

Then there’s Heroku Enterprise, which allows businesses to create, experiment with, and integrate apps, essentially customising them and connecting each part into a fully functioning team. Similarly, the Salesforce Platform provides a marketplace where all kinds of business apps can be developed, exchanged, and connected, integrating superior application monitoring every step of the way.

Salesforce makes application monitoring simple and effective, so that every business can ensure that their applications are worthy of their brand.

The many possibilities afforded the world through smart technology and all the apps that come with it inevitably encourage highly competitive job markets. As such, a single app feature could mean the difference between maintaining a positive relationship with a customer or employee, or losing said customer or employee to another company. Every detail counts, and the only way to catch every detail is to use a system designed for exactly such a purpose — application monitoring.

Simply put, application monitoring is the key to surviving and remaining relevant in the modern smart-tech economy, making it the new necessity for business success.