As enterprise apps become a more critical component of the modern workforce, Enterprise Apps Administrators have emerged as a crucial member of the workforce. These are the people modern companies trust to keep their communication and collaboration workflow moving naturally.

After all, according to a Deloitte study, 66% of all employees see connected work tools as crucial to their productivity.

What is an Enterprise Apps ADMINISTRATOR? And what makes one great?

Whether your Enterprise App focus is in Amazon Web Services, Azure, Salesforce, Office 365 or Google Cloud, it's important to make sure that you have the right support to help you reach your goals. While it's safe to say that technical knowledge is crucial, what other characteristics does a great apps admin need beyond the standard know-how?

Let's take a look at The Top Characteristics of a Great Enterprise Apps Administrator

Patience and Consistency
Attention to Detail
Commitment to Security
Passion and Innovation
A Great Team Player
Forward Thinking & Imaginative
A Willingness to Learn

Apps admins are the people responsible for implementing the technology we use every day. Whether it's your file sharing tools in G Suite, or your machine learning and analytics strategies to improve customer experience, an apps administrator has a lot on their plate.

The most successful administrators are the ones that can complete tasks with attention to detail and focus. They carefully observe how users and apps interact with the existing technology stack of their company and implement changes to make sure that everything continues to work smoothly. Apps administrators even know how to translate usage statistics and information into actionable insights for business. For instance, they might examine your G-Suite domain, look at user statistics, and discover that your team needs more tools for video conferencing and file storage.

Apps administrators know that their work has a direct impact on the performance of a company. If the apps you rely on every day aren't working correctly, then your organization cannot function efficiently. As such, apps administrators must have an exceptional eye for detail, and the dedication to consistently evaluate your systems signs of an upcoming error.

Additionally, in a world plagued by security threats, your app administrator can use their attention to detail to evaluate your service for signs of:

Data leakage
Poor storage strategies
Potential attacks
Third party access
Unexpected users

Enterprise Apps administrators can access things like small spikes in data storage, to determine whether changes are suspicious, or natural in origin. Having someone on hand to watch over your entire technology infrastructure means that your employees can continue to experience the benefits of their productivity suites, stress-free.

Speaking of safety on the cloud, the best apps administrators assess everything your business does with an eye for security. Across multiple applications and multi-cloud environments, your apps admin always has an eye open for issues that might slip past your IT team. For instance, they may regularly audit any third-party apps installed in your network to check that they're not acting as a backdoor for Trojan codes and malware.

Apps administrators can also manage the different permissions levels that each member of your team has when it comes to adding and removing applications or making security changes. Regular auditing ensures complete transparency in your technology stack and keeps the risk of data leakage to a minimum.

An apps admin works best with your team when they're just as passionate about your success as you are. These professionals need to be honest, authentic and committed to your growth as a company. After all, they're the lynchpin holding your communication, collaboration, and cloud productivity stacks together.

A dedicated apps admin goes above and beyond to make sure that the tools you have available to you are well-situated to make every in your team as successful as possible. They assess your current workflow and performance patterns and suggest changes or implementations to your stack that will help you to see a measurable step forward towards your goals.

Highly Motivated Self-Starters

The best apps administrators are often highly-motivated self-starters. They aren't the kind of people you need to micromanage to get things done. These are the experts that take the initiative and do what it takes to help your organization thrive.

It's easy to assume that because apps admins spend so much time with technology, their people skills don't have to be exceptional. However, your apps administrators are also there to help your team members understand how they can use your technology stack, and what the benefits of each solution might be.

Great Team Players

Apps administrators are great team players. They're authentic, easy to talk to, and they're happy to work hand-in-hand with any member of your organization to help them take full advantage of the latest technology. They do all the hard work of getting to know the latest software and cloud tools so that implementing new methodologies is more natural for your company.

In a world that's evolving as quickly as this one, it's crucial for any technology expert to have an imaginative side. Just look at the rate at which G-Suite and the GCP are growing for instance. With new disruptive technologies arriving on the market regularly, the best apps admins are the ones that stay on the cutting edge of technology.

Administrators for any software stack need to consider the threats that can emerge in a business environment, and come up with practical solutions to problem before they ever arise. With a creative a forward-thinking mindset, your app's admin can help you to get ahead of the curve with new ideas like:

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and analytics
BYOD (Bring your device) policies
Multi-cloud environments

As mentioned above, an essential trait of any good administrator will always be a comprehensive knowledge of the apps they'll be working with. Strong technical understanding reduces business downtime and helps your team to perform at their best. However, it's worth noting that as the technology space continues to fluctuate, the best apps admins don't merely rely on the education and insights they already have.

Sensational administrators have a constant commitment to education that keeps them searching for the latest news about Salesforce, AWS, the Google Cloud or any other tools you may be using. They're the first to visit trade events and download eBooks online. The passion we mentioned above helps incredible app admins to keep their knowledge up-to-date and relevant.

Official Apps Administrator Appreciation Day Announced in Austin

Back in July, we co-hosted a Google Cloud Next Extended event here in Austin, live streaming keynotes from Google's top executives at the historic Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz. The event, Google's largest in the company's history, was full of new developments and announcements for G Suite, Chrome and Google Cloud users.

On July 27, 2018, just as Google Next '18 was getting underway, Steve Adler, Mayor of the City of Austin issued the following proclamation declaring October 4, 2018 officially as Applications Administrator Appreciation Day - a nod to this new breed of IT professional. Here's the full text of the proclamation.

City of Austin Proclamation

Be it known that

Whereas,

Austin has long been recognized as a leader in technology, cloud and software. As more Austin area companies embrace a work-from-home and mobile bring-your-own-device policy, a large percentage of local information technology professionals now manage only applications; and

Whereas,

Applications Administrator Appreciation Day recognizes these knowledge workers that most of us trust and depend on daily to keep our personal and business information secure and private; and

Whereas,

Systems Administrators have long enjoyed international recognition on July 27th each year;

Now, Therefore,

I, Steve Adler, Mayor of the City of Austin, Texas,

do hereby proclaim

October 4, 2018

as

Applications Administrator Appreciation Day

in Austin.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the City of Austin to be affixed this 27th Day of July in the Year Two Thousand Eighteen.

It's great to see progressive cities like Austin officially recognize this new breed of IT Professional. The date for Apps Admin this year falls towards the end of Austin's amazing startup week. It's also the day before the world famous Austin City Limits Festival.

Here at Coolhead Tech we'll be participating in most of the ATX Startup Week events but we'll be especially excited for Thursday's Startup Crawl to provide us with the opportunity to raise a glass to some of our favorite Apps Admins around Austin on their official appreciation day!

We're also taking the day to recognize the top 100 Apps Administrators in the world. All business App Administrators can apply for this recognition for 2020.

There are plenty of other qualities essential to a good apps admin too - including ambition, analytical skills and a commitment to transparency. What do you look for in your administrators or yourself as an administrator? Let us know in the comments below!