Flexera Software, the leading provider of next-generation software licensing, compliance and installation solutions for application producers and enterprises, announced an interface redesign of App Portal, the industry-leading enterprise app store. The new release was developed to help ensure broad adoption by a technically savvy, modern day workforce, from millenials to baby-boomers, bolstering IT's ability to deliver a consumer-friendly self-service environment.
App Portal 2014 embraces Flexera Software's "Functional Simplicity" user interface approach - a seamlessly intuitive design aesthetic delivering sophisticated, high-level business functionality to consumer-oriented employees who reject stale, decades-old design standards.
A new App Portal "Browse Catalog" interface presents a hyper-intuitive layout and navigation for accessing the enterprise application store catalog. A tile view puts front and center information that consumer-oriented employees would expect to see about an app including a graphic, title, cost, user rating, and icons providing quick facts about the application (such as if an approval is needed, if a license is required, and whether the application is already installed on the employee's device).
App Portal 2014's new shopping cart will be familiar to any employee that shops on Amazon. An intuitive fly-out menu indicates the number of items selected, giving users an easy way to see the contents of their shopping cart and remove items without leaving the browse catalog page. A new menu bar across the top of the screen provides quick access to each area of App Portal. A prominent new search bar lets employees quickly search the catalog from anywhere in App Portal. And User Ratings let employees leave detailed feedback that is displayed under the app, helping other employees make informed selections as well as providing managers and procurement teams with valuable employee feedback.
Integrated with FlexNet Manager Suite, Flexera Software's best-in-class Software License Optimisation solution, and AdminStudio Suite, the company's market leading Application Readiness solution, App Portal is the only enterprise app store that enables self-service while seamlessly tying together and automating essential IT operations processes around application compatibility, packaging, and software license management. It provides enhanced visibility into software asset management enabling reclamation of unused software while avoiding overspending on expensive enterprise software licenses - helping to ensure compliance with licensing agreements and corporate policy, while reducing software distribution costs and accelerating consumerisation of IT adoption.
Moreover, planned and documented IT service management (ITSM) processes are becoming an increasingly important component in the delivery of higher customer satisfaction. App Portal integrates with ITSM solutions' service catalogs, such as ServiceNow and BMC, providing a solid foundation to obtain quick time-to-value and return on investment, with the dynamic data needed to manage software requests.
"Any employee-facing IT rollout - whether it's a consumerisation of IT or self-service initiative - lives or dies by whether employees actually like the new system and can use it easily. This means appealing to a wide spectrum of employees, from baby-boomers to millenials that grew up using consumer technology," said Maureen Polte, Vice President of Product Management at Flexera Software. "App Portal 2014 is dressed to impress the entire workforce - it is bar-none the most consumer-friendly enterprise app store on the market. It's not just a face-lift - it will help IT save face by encouraging enthusiastic adoption while also helping to ensure accountability and control."
