Accessible and stable applications (apps) hosted in cloud systems and distributed to where a business needs them help to improve its agility, responsiveness and resistance to disruption, says cloud and security app company F5 Networks Europe, Middle East and Africa senior VP David Helfer.

Apps are the means through which workers interact with business processes and companies interact with clients. Today, apps are considered as some of the most important elements of a company’s systems.

Combined with the growing use of cloud systems to manage information technology (IT) and costs, and ensure that services can readily be put in place to support a business’s operations, the effective use and management of apps are a core focus area of digital transformation, he explains.

“Data and apps are equivalent to financial capital for companies, because they rely on them constantly and are of significant value. Therefore, F5 Networks advise that companies take an ‘app capital’ approach to managing and delivering their cloud-based resources.”

These cloud and app trends hold true in the industrial sectors, with in-house apps and outward-facing apps used in industrial environments, adds Helfer.

Enterprises should focus on modernising app portfolios and associated infrastructures to support digital transformation and provide responsive and resilient operational resources, explains F5 Networks sub-Saharan Africa sales manager Alain Tshal.

“Data and apps must be secure, accessible and well managed to effectively support operations. Apps need basic services to underpin business operations, including traffic management, bot protection and access management, for example.”

This is why it is important for enterprises to explore new IT infrastructure models and application development and management tools, as well as implement policies that balance effective controls with innovative freedom, he adds.

New IT resources and infrastructure models, mainly taking the form of hybrid cloud systems, enable companies to make their IT environment more responsive without having to compete for scarce IT skills to manage complex data centres. Meanwhile, they can retain their existing skilled personnel to support business strategies and projects, says Helfer.

“The proliferation and operational importance of apps also mean that they must be deployed with high-level security in place from the moment they are introduced to stop them being used as a cyberattack vectors.”

F5 Networks has significant experience in optimising network and IT resources, which includes cybersecurity best practices in mobile workload and hybrid cloud environments. The demands of clients and the broader industry have led to F5’s transition from being an app delivery specialist company to being a multicloud application services and security specialist company, he says.

“A key part of securing the growing use of apps, including in industrial IT environments, is to ‘spin up’ the app within the correct security environment and with the correct security posture for the workload in place. Our experience of working in multiple cloud environments, and often simultaneously, provides us with the means to ensure that apps are secure across all uses and environments,” notes Helfer.