Apperian

Apperian, established in 2009 by founder Chuck Goldman, carved out a niche in the enterprise mobility management (EMM) space by focusing on a streamlined approach to mobile application management (MAM). The company's inception was influenced by Goldman's prior experience as a key member of Apple's iPhone Enterprise Beta Program, where he gained firsthand insight into the challenges organizations faced when deploying applications to their employees. This background directly shaped Apperian's core mission to simplify and secure the distribution of mobile apps within a corporate environment.

The company's platform was designed to manage the full lifecycle of mobile apps without necessitating the intrusive device-level control typical of broader Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. Apperian's technology centered on an enterprise app store, allowing employees to easily discover and download corporate applications. A key differentiator was its 'app wrapping' technology, which enabled security and management policies to be applied directly to individual applications. This app-centric approach provided IT departments with granular control over corporate data and access on a per-app basis, a method that proved particularly effective for organizations with bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies, as it respected employee privacy by not managing the entire device.

Apperian's business model was rooted in providing a subscription-based platform to large enterprises across various sectors, including healthcare, finance, and retail. These clients utilized the service to securely deploy and manage both in-house developed and third-party apps to their workforce, partners, and contractors. The value proposition was clear: enhanced security, simplified app distribution, and improved user adoption. After nearly a decade of operation as an independent entity, Apperian was acquired by Arxan Technologies in January 2017, which itself was later absorbed by Digital.ai. This acquisition integrated Apperian's MAM capabilities into a broader suite of application security and protection tools.

Keywords: mobile application management, enterprise mobility, app wrapping, BYOD security, enterprise app store, application security, mobile security, corporate apps, app distribution, MAM