Editor’s note: This guest post is written by Chris Schroeder, CEO of App47, a mobile app management tool to deploy apps to targeted audiences.

The common perception of app stores is that there are two options. If  you want a place to sell your app or if you’re looking for a place to buy one, you go with Apple or Android.

But the truth is, app stores exist in tremendous variety – customizable platforms are easy to deploy and manage, allowing organizations and even individuals to create and curate their own app store.

The benefit boils down to what’s best for the enterprise versus what’s been working for the consumer. Think of it from the perspective of an entertainment-driven user: If you need to download Angry Birds,  iTunes or Google Play are great. But if you’re an enterprise decision maker, your concerns are performance and productivity, not keeping kids busy on a road trip.

App distribution for enterprise

App distribution for the enterprise is a different animal. It needs to cooperate with diverse platforms, it needs to effortlessly push out the latest version and ensure adoption, and it often needs to operate within the parameters of a particular licensing limit.

This is where the advantages of your own, enterprise-owned app store are obvious. They become portals packed with an approved, updated, secure suite of apps. Employees know which apps they can use, they know they’re getting updated versions, and they know they are dealing exclusively with company-approved apps. This is especially significant in the face of today’s top-of-mind security concerns.

Internally managed app stores are often the difference between a workforce getting on board with mobility or rejecting it outright, only to return to the desktop equivalent. They are the first step in getting your workforce comfortable with enterprise mobility itself, let alone the specific apps they might use. There’s the immediate impact on productivity an app might confer, but there’s also a high-level appreciation of mobility’s true power. That’s a huge internal app store advantage.

There are deeper benefits. You can:

analyze ultra-granular data about user behavior

capture detailed crash reports

rapidly push out updates

optimize enterprise mobile app effectiveness

This applies whether the apps you manage are exclusively for your workforce, or if you also push out apps to consumers or client audiences.

A customized app store’s depth of information lets you scrutinize and refine performance to better keep users engaged. This, in turn, can improve factors like in-app advertising monetization. You keep sales staff at peak performance, streamlining customer interaction and your ability to meet customer needs. Organizations are even able to sub-assign app access to various teams or even individuals with specific responsibilities; they only have access to the apps they need, particular to the devices they use.

The bottom line? You can create a one-stop app store for your organization. You give your people welcome convenience and security, you get greater user behavior visibility and control.