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Mobilizers: Are You Saving Time with App Signing Automation?

Mobile devices generally require installed applications to be digitally signed with a certificate to verify that the stated author did in fact deploy the code. This process is a security measure known as app signing that uses a key pair comprised of a public and private key. In a nutshell, app signing helps users and other software to determine whether an application can be trusted.

Signing applications can be a time consuming process in many instances and can delay deployment by days. Enterprises generally rely on developers or IT administrators to navigate its murky waters, but 3rd-party dependencies and trivial errors can bog down even the most qualified personnel. So how can mobilizers streamline app signing and save time in the process?

The answer is Automated App Signing.

Auto Signing is a fairly recent development that allows non-technical users to successfully sign and re-sign apps through an automated process without any assistance from developers or IT experts. The obvious benefits of automating this process is that it reduces both the amount of time and the amount of expertise required to execute this vital step.

By folding automated app signing into their development lifecycle, organizations are able to release successive app versions and modifications more quickly and efficiently. The process dependable and can be repeated continuously with predictable results. Unlike manual signing, which has an unpredictable timeframe, the time it takes for the auto-signing process to complete is much less varied. This helps application managers take the guesswork out of their timelines and allows them to schedule deployment dates with a higher level of accuracy.

Enterprises that already have an automated release cycle can further increase their operational efficiency by adding auto-signing functionality to their existing processes. Furthermore, putting the ability to sign apps in the hands of a greater number of employees also means that departments gain more ownership over their applications, and are less dependent on technical staff.

For enterprises developing both internal and external applications, integrating automated app signing into a mobile application management framework just makes sense. It is an evolutionary step forward in a burgeoning field that reduces the required timeframe and cost of app deployment.
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About Author

Richard Rabins
Richard Rabins

Co-founder of Alpha Software, Richard Rabins focuses on strategy, sales, and marketing. Richard also served as CEO of SoftQuad International from 1997 to 2001, when it owned Alpha. In addition to his 30 years with the company, Richard played a key role as co-founder, and served as president and chairman of the Massachusetts Software Council (now the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council), the largest technology trade organization in Massachusetts. Prior to founding Alpha, Richard was a project leader and consultant with Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), and a management consultant with Management Decision Systems, Inc. Richard holds a master's degree in system dynamics from the Sloan School at MIT, and a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering and master's degree in control engineering from University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has served on the boards of Silent Systems, Legacy Technology and O3B Networks, and is co-founder of Tubifi www.tubifi.com.

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The Alpha platform is the only unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct “no-code” and “low-code” components. Using the Alpha TransForm no-code product, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the Alpha Anywhere low-code environment to develop complex web or mobile business apps from scratch, integrate data with existing systems of record and workflows (including data collected via Alpha TransForm), and add additional security or authentication requirements to protect corporate data.

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