Organisations are not moving fast enough to develop and deploy mobile apps for staff, customers and partners, missing out on business benefits and creating an “app gap”, according to a new study.

Apparently, 95 percent of the 600 organisations surveyed have employees which use personal mobile devices and applications for work, and who trust that mobile technology will help business outcomes.

In addition, 92 percent believe that adopting mobile apps will not only give them a competitive advantage, but that not doing so will put them at a disadvantage.

However, only 29 percent of surveyed businesses have begun a formal mobility project, although 42 percent plan to do so in the next year. Only half of organisations (51 percent) interact with their employees using apps, with fewer (45 percent) using apps to interact with customers.

The main roadblocks to increased adoption include security concerns (54 percent), the additional investment required (48 percent) and need for ongoing support (47 percent).

In addition, more than half (56 percent) are concerned they lack the skills to develop an appropriate application and interface across a range of mobile devices and platforms.

A significant portion (62 percent) of respondents would prefer to commission the development of mobile apps to an established vendor, versus 38 percent who would prefer to do the work in-house with a new, dedicated mobile app development platform.

The survey was conducted by research firm Vanson Bourne, and sponsored by Progress Software.