Mobile provides new ways of interacting with users and the enterprise ecosystem. This includes innovative ways of collaborating and executing transactions, applications and business processes on mobile devices. These capabilities are based on new business processes and applications that are designed for mobile devices.
Some of the significant challenges that are unique to the mobile architecture include:
- Microservices is a differentiating strategy for most enterprises.
- Customers expect individualized and customized marketing and service.
- Mobile is the preferred channel of engagement for most customers.
- Enhanced mobile and cloud security drives banking business transactions.
- Agility and quick decision making drives competitive advantage.
- Availability of disconnected mode of data synchronization.
Shown below is a mobile reference architecture
1. Mobile app
A mobile app is downloaded on the mobile device. A mobile device management agent is installed on the mobile device. Client side libraries are on the mobile device that enable offline capabilities for storing the information in a disconnected mode. The information stored on the device is encrypted.
2. Edge services
Edge services receives the request. Edge services are a group of services that handle the request and get it to the right destination. These include the domain name server, the CDN server, the firewall, and the load balancers. Often an API manager is added to find the right application once the request is inside the network. Every request going to or from the network goes through the firewall.
3. Mobile gateway
Invokes the APIs, authenticates the user, and connects the request from the mobile device to the mobile backend. A mobile gateway marks the entry point from a mobile app to the mobile-specific services for the solution, typically offering a set of Internet-accessible APIs. This may be implemented by a common gateway across all channels into an API ecosystem.
4. Security services
Security services enable management of access so that only authorized users can securely access mobile cloud services. This component also provides protection of data across mobile devices and cloud services, and enables visibility to actionable security intelligence across cloud and enterprise environments.
6. Mobile backend
The mobile backend provides runtime services to mobile applications, which implement server-side logic, maintain data, and use mobile services. The mobile backend includes an environment to run application logic and the implementation of APIs which can communicate with the enterprise network, other services, and applications outside the service provider. It provides the following mobile OS-independent capabilities: application logic and API implementation, mobile application operational analytics, push notifications, location services, mobile data sync, and mobile app security.
7. Mobile device management
Mobile device management (MDM) focuses on managing devices, mostly in business to employee (B2E) scenarios. MDM provides services to keep track of enterprise-owned devices on many mobile platforms and to manage devices that connect to corporate networks using management agents on the devices. MDM provides enterprise application distribution, mobile device security, device management and device analytics.
8. Mobile business applications
Mobile business applications represent the enterprise or industry-specific capabilities that must be available to devices that consume mobile services or drive communications with users of devices. These can provide the gateway to enterprise applications and data, and include their own analytics components to track usage. They include: proximity and analytics services, campaign management, customer behavioral analytics and reporting, and workflow rules.
9. Data services
Allows for synchronizing data across multiple data centers and synchronizing data captured in a disconnected mode on mobile devices. Data services enable mobile apps to store and access data. Mobile apps deal with data from many different sources including enterprise systems, social networks, and a variety of other sources. Data is often stored in a form suitable for rapid access by mobile apps and sometimes includes (potentially transformed) extracts of enterprise data. Data services can include mobile app data, NoSQL, file repositories, and caches.
10. Transformation and connectivity
Enables secure connection to enterprise systems and the ability to filter, aggregate, or modify the data or its format as it moves between mobile backend and enterprise application or data. Transformation and connectivity takes the messages and data intended to be stored in the enterprise’s database and completes any necessary transformation from the mobile request formats to database formats and ensures secure reliable messaging is used appropriately.
11. Enterprise user directory
Provides storage and access to user information to support authentication, authorization, or profile data.
12. Enterprise applications
Includes applications that accomplish business goals and objectives that may interact with cloud services. The enterprise applications may use data used by the mobile app as well as logs and context data for analytics. If the mobile app updates the data, then enterprise applications may process those changes.