Mobile Labs tackles key challenges in QA testing for enterprise mobile apps

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1 Mobile Labs tackles key challenges in QA testing for enterprise mobile apps Analyst: Raúl Castañón-Martínez 26 May, 2015 Testing is a critical element in the app development life cycle, but its relevance becomes clearer as companies mature in their mobility deployments. This explains in part why demand for this type of offering lags behind other technologies such as app development and app management. As enterprises mature in their mobility deployments, testing and monitoring the end-user experience becomes increasingly relevant. Given the projected growth in the enterprise mobility market, we expect demand for performance and testing technology to grow rapidly in the next two years. This represents a sizable market opportunity for companies such as Mobile Labs, a provider of enterprise-grade mobile testing products. Mobile Labs has developed enterprise-grade testing products that are up to par with key industry competitors, and is gaining traction in a growing market. In this report, we look at how the competitive landscape in this emerging space is evolving, and the challenges that lie ahead for Mobile Labs. The 451 Take Mobile Labs is riding the mobility wave the company has experienced tremendous growth in the last two years, and expects to continue growing at a fast pace in the near term. Mobile Labs is in the proverbial right place at the right time, and is well prepared for this opportunity. It has a robust and mature product with capabilities that are up to par with its main competitors. There is a lot to like about Mobile Labs, but it's a small fish in a big pond and still has a number of challenges ahead. The company has benefited from this being a greenfield opportunity but the landscape is changing. As a pure-play competitor, it depends to a certain degree on partnerships with other testing vendors, some of which could become competitors. While this is a potential threat, it is also an opportunity because Mobile Labs can be considered an attractive acquisition target. To continue gaining market traction, Mobile Labs Copyright The 451 Group 1

2 will need to quickly expand its capacity in different areas including business development, operations and strategic partnerships. This is not an easy challenge, but it has shown the capacity to quickly adapt and take advantage of changing market conditions. If Mobile Labs can keep pace with the market, it will be in a good position to benefit from this growing opportunity and become a key player in the industry. Context Mobile Labs is a provider of enterprise-grade mobile-testing products. The company was founded in 2011 by Sanjeev Tirath, Ramesh Maturu, and president and CEO Don Addington. Mobile Labs has raised to date $10.5m in two rounds. The company has 45 employees and is based in Atlanta, Georgia. Mobile Labs competes in an emerging segment that we identify as mobile application performance management (mapm), covering performance and testing solutions for mobile applications. Though still evolving, mapm has emerged as a key growth opportunity within the larger APM space. Despite the hype, enterprise mobility is still in its early stages. Our most recent IT decision-maker survey 2015 US Enterprise Mobility: IT Decision-Maker Survey shows that 53% of large enterprises in the US have deployed less than 20 employee mobile apps. This is an impressive number given the complex nature of these projects, but still a small fraction of the number of enterprise workflows that can potentially be mobilized. Companies are increasing their IT spending for mobile application projects. Our survey data indicates that 50% of IT decision-makers in the US expect their organizations to increase their investments in enterprise mobility in Our research shows that budget allocation is shifting to mobile-application development and mobile-application management; respondents identified these two areas as their top investment priorities for mobile-application projects. We expect mobile application performance management (mapm) to follow this trend, lagging by one or two years. As companies advance in their mobility deployments, monitoring the quality of the mobile end-user experience will grow increasingly relevant. 451 Research expects this will result in a surge in demand for mapm and testing technology in 2015 and into 2016; this represents an important opportunity for companies like Mobile Labs. Copyright The 451 Group 2

3 Products Mobile Labs provides mobile-application-testing products that check an application's security, agility and affordability. It seeks to address key challenges that mobility imposes that are much different and more complex than traditional software QA and testing. These include the wide variety of devices and operating systems, shorter development and release cycles, and external conditions that can influence app performance. The company seeks to simplify the QA and testing process for mobile applications with automated testing tools and integration to third-party platforms for end-to-end testing. Trust is an automated mobile-app-testing tool that tests application functionality on both Android and ios devices. Trust is a certified add-in to the HP UFT automation solution. deviceconnect is a private, internal device cloud and mobile-application-testing platform that provides comprehensive management of mobile-application-testing assets. DeviceConnect is designed for enterprise testing teams, and allows 24/7 remote access to testing assets from any geographic location without introducing any risk relative to sending devices, data and applications outside of the corporate security boundary. Strategy Mobile Labs has experienced explosive customer growth over the last two-year period since the launch of deviceconnect. The company claims that in that period of time, customers deployed nearly 5,000 test devices into strategic private mobile-cloud environments. The company expects to grow 250% year-over-year from 2014 to The business is structured on a subscription model, and extended models show growth in excess of 150% year-over-year. Mobile Labs serves a variety of industries and applications in the US and around the world. Key verticals include banking, financial services, automotive, healthcare, government and insurance. An important component of the company's strategy is its partnerships with technology providers. Mobile Labs has been certified as a technology platform by 23 global systems integrators (SIs) including Accenture, Capgemini, Infosys and Cognizant. All of these organizations are technology solution providers, and most are also Mobile Labs resellers. Competition The main competitors for Mobile Labs are other providers of mobile-app-testing technology such as Copyright The 451 Group 3

4 Applause, Keynote, Perfecto Mobile, Experitest and Telerik. Other competitors include larger enterprise software vendors such as HP, IBM and CA Technologies. The competitive landscape also includes mobile-app-development vendors that are expanding their capabilities to include testing and mapm, such as KidoZen and Kony. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Mobile Labs has a mature product and is gaining traction with customers in key verticals. Product capabilities are up to par with the industry at a lower price than its main competitors. Opportunities Threats Companies are beginning to pay attention to the mobile end-user experience, which will result in a surge in demand for mobile-testing technology. Demand for app-development products has grown in the last year; we expect mobile-testing technology to follow this trend. Mobile Labs is well funded and steadily gaining market share, but it's still a small fish in a big pond. Vendors of app-development platforms are showing interest in expanding their capabilities into mobile testing and mapm. Copyright The 451 Group 4

5 Reproduced by permission of The 451 Group; This report was originally published within 451 Research's Market Insight Service. For additional information on 451 Research or to apply for trial access, go to: Copyright The 451 Group 5