Apps for enterprise use: The complete guide

March 4th 2025 | Box News

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Your enterprise software applications must keep up with the growing demand for faster results in today’s business world. The right collaborative solutions can effectively drive business goals — especially with artificial intelligence (AI) and automation advancing quickly. Identifying which of these tools will integrate smoothly with existing systems, while justifying their value to stakeholders, is a challenge for technology decision-makers within every company.

Let’s break down how apps for enterprise use benefit your operations, and the best strategies for selecting the right fit.

Key takeaways:

When choosing apps for enterprise use, consider their integration capabilities to ensure seamless data exchange and avoid creating data silos that can hinder your organization’s agility
Security and compliance should be top of mind — look for key features of enterprise apps like encryption, role-based access, and regulatory compliance to protect your organization’s sensitive data
Box provides a comprehensive solution for managing your content in the cloud, offering seamless integration with enterprise applications you use, enhanced security, and AI-powered features to streamline workflows and maximize the value of your data

What is an enterprise app?

An enterprise app is a software application designed to address the needs of large businesses and organizations. Unlike consumer apps, these solutions handle complex workflows, vast amounts of data, and multi-departmental use cases, serving as critical tools for project management, customer relationship management (CRM), and Intelligent Content Management.

Below are some key characteristics of apps for enterprise use:

Integration: The capacity to connect and synchronize applications with other business platforms by enabling smooth data exchange among systems, often through application programming interfaces (APIs)
Customization: The flexibility to adapt the software to fit specific needs, such as custom branding, personalized templates, and features tailored to different departments or business sizes
Collaboration: A set of tools like file sharing, real-time communication, and visual collaboration that facilitate teamwork regardless of location
Automation: The optimization of routine tasks and processes, improving team efficiency by reducing manual effort

Discover how to get started with enterprise workflow automation.

Enterprise application software examples

Grand View Research estimates that the global enterprise application market size will be valued at $357.56B in 2025, growing at a rate of 11.8% from 2025 to 2030. Cloud-based analytical tools drive the expansion of this category, with platforms that extract insights from unstructured data — such as documents, emails, and multimedia content.

Review the purpose of popular types of enterprise applications.

Enterprise application software examples	Purpose
Project management software	Empower organizations and teams to assign tasks, set deadlines, allocate resources, and manage budgets, keeping projects on track
Productivity suites	Support activities and workflows such as writing emails, formatting documents, building presentations, and managing meetings
Document management system	Help businesses organize, store, retrieve, and share text files, images, videos, and other types of documents
CRM tools	Allow companies to analyze customer data, track sales leads, manage marketing campaigns, and enhance customer service
Communication platforms	Improve instant communication and collaboration through messaging, voice, and video calls
Business intelligence solutions	Facilitate businesses in creating dashboards, visualizing trends, and performing in-depth data analysis
Visual collaboration tools	Simplify brainstorming sessions and collaborative project planning using interactive visuals like charts and diagrams

Learn how virtual brainstorming tools boost collaboration among remote teams.

What is the most important benefit of an enterprise application?

The main advantage of an enterprise application is a boost in efficiency. By integrating functions — for example, AI content creation, document management, and e-signature — apps increase overall productivity by centralizing workflows and tasks on a single platform.

Other benefits of enterprise applications include:

Task and workflow automation: You can streamline time-consuming activities like data entry and document approval with enterprise apps. Advanced platforms offer automated task assignment, intelligent document processing, and AI-powered search capabilities, so teams cut down on repetitive tasks — reducing project delays and human error.
Data-driven decision-making: Data fuels the success of any business, and you need to tap into its value to stay competitive. Applications with analytics capabilities, AI-powered content discovery, and metadata extraction give you access to accurate, actionable insights to make informed choices backed by real data.
Scalability: Mergers, acquisitions, and new market entries can strain your IT infrastructure. Cloud-based enterprise application software easily adapts to changing demands, from scaling to accommodate larger volumes of content to adjusting cloud storage capacities during seasonal fluctuations.

Explore the importance of a scalable cloud data storage solution for organizations.

Choosing the best enterprise apps: Key strategies to get started

Selecting apps for enterprise use requires careful planning to evaluate how well they support your organizational goals and future needs.

Here are four strategies to consider when looking for the best enterprise apps.

1. Involve key stakeholders in the selection process

Bring together teams that will use the app to make sure it aligns with their business priorities and meets their most pressing needs. This collaborative approach helps identify important features to adopt across the organization.

Identifying the importance of the app and its key features helps build a strong case to present to technology decision-makers. Next, arrange a demo to give stakeholders firsthand experience with the app, showcasing how it solves specific pain points and simplifies workflows.

2. Assess enterprise apps’ scalability and compatibility

According to a report by Airtable, organizations with over 20,000 employees use an average of 367 software apps and systems. Managing data and integrating these solutions can be a challenge for IT departments.

Large organizations with over 20,000 employees use an average of 367 software apps and systems

Some enterprise app platforms connect with software you already use. Services that offer cloud app integration help prevent downtime and data silos that limit agility and responsiveness.

3. Evaluate user-friendliness and vendor support

Prioritizing user experience allows teams to easily adopt a new enterprise application without a steep learning curve. Opt for intuitive, user-friendly tools with robust support through developer documentation, responsive customer service, and resource portals. Beyond assessing app functionality, consider the presence of tutorials and training modules, along with troubleshooting options like community forums.

4. Make security and compliance a priority

As more businesses embrace applications, the responsibility for enterprise cybersecurity remains fragmented across departments — AppOmni’s State of SaaS Security 2024 Report shows only 15% of organizations reported centralizing SaaS security responsibility within their dedicated teams. The lack of a unified approach to security creates vulnerabilities, making it difficult to manage potential data breaches, unauthorized data access, and cyberattacks.

Only 15% of organizations reported centralizing SaaS security responsibility within their dedicated cybersecurity teams

When evaluating apps for enterprise use, prioritize those that enhance your security posture with file encryption, role-based access controls, and comprehensive user authentication options to protect your sensitive information. Make sure the apps comply with relevant industry regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOC 2 to avoid potential legal and financial penalties.

Find out the top enterprise-grade features of secure collaboration tools.

Centralize your content in one secure enterprise app platform with Box

With Box, you gain a platform for organizing, editing, storing, and sharing your files in the cloud. The leading Intelligent Content Management platform, Box provides a single source of truth that combines enhanced security, collaboration tools, document management, unlimited e-signatures, and AI-powered capabilities. Together, the features and products Box provides speed up business workflows and enable you to unlock greater value from your data.

Box integrations let your teams:

Connect your content across 1,500+ apps
Create and send files without leaving the platform
Protect your data with our enterprise-grade security and compliance features
Generate content and streamline collaboration with Box AI

You can also leverage Box development tools, such as software development kits (SDKs) and resources, to build your own applications and make the most of our native capabilities.

While we maintain our steadfast commitment to offering products and services with best-in-class privacy, security, and compliance, the information provided in this blog post is not intended to constitute legal advice. We strongly encourage prospective and current customers to perform their own due diligence when assessing compliance with applicable laws.