Designing Mobile Apps: A Roadmap for Businesses

Transcription

1 Designing Mobile Apps: A Roadmap for Businesses James Dellow Published by

2 Designing Mobile Apps: A Roadmap for Businesses is published by Ark Group UK/EUROPE OFFICE Ark Conferences Ltd Paulton House 8 Shepherdess Walk London N1 7LB United Kingdom Tel +44 (0) Fax +44 (0) publishing@ark-group.com NORTH AMERICA OFFICE Ark Group Inc 4408 N. Rockwood Drive Suite 150 Peoria IL United States Tel Fax publishingna@ark-group.com ASIA/PACIFIC OFFICE Ark Group Australia Pty Ltd Main Level 83 Walker Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia Tel Fax aga@arkgroupasia.com Online bookshop Editor Evie Serventi eserventi@ark-group.com Head of content Anna Shaw ashaw@ark-group.com UK/Europe marketing enquiries Robyn Macé rmace@ark-group.com US marketing enquiries Daniel Smallwood dsmallwood@ark-group.com Asia/Pacific marketing enquiries Steve Oesterreich aga@arkgroupasia.com ISBN: (hard copy) (PDF) Copyright The copyright of all material appearing within this publication is reserved by the author and Ark Conferences It may not be reproduced, duplicated or copied by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher. ARK2139

3 Chapter 1: Introduction This report will equip readers with the necessary tools not only to understand mobile applications (apps) in an organisational context, but also to identify the real value of mobile applications from their own organisation s strategic and business perspectives. While this report is intended to be business focused, naturally while dealing with a technology-driven issue it is necessary to touch on technical topics. The primary focus of this report is to: Establish the business context for implementing mobile apps for enterprise users (this includes employees, contractors and business partners); Emphasise the importance of designing enterprise mobile app solutions in a way that is user experience focused and usercentred; and Address how the implementation should be managed, building on the user experience-based approach to mobile app design. The report features detailed case studies from: Asian law firm King & Wood Mallesons; International financial services company Zurich; and Global architectural design studio Woods Bagot. It also includes case examples from Alcatel-Lucent and Apache Corporation that demonstrate how organisations can successfully deploy simple apps and offthe-shelf solutions to have an impact on their business. Background The data on the adoption of smartphones and tablets and the growth in mobile data usage all bear out what many of us can see for ourselves in our everyday lives. Even more pervasive than the personal computer (PC) revolution, which spawned the creation of a whole new industry and made the fortunes of companies like Microsoft, this new mobile computing revolution is evolving and growing even more quickly. By 2016, mobile devices are expected to account for nearly 60 per cent of internet data traffic 1. Analysts also predict that 375 million tablets will be sold in and one third of them will be sold directly to business 3 (see Figure 1). However, powerful mobile devices are already in the hands of everyday users and the workplace is one of the most obvious places to see this in action. A survey by Citrix reported that 28 per cent of workers are already using personal devices at work 4 and another survey by Cisco Systems, Inc. reported that one in three employees are using three or more computing devices at work 5. While the value of mobile applications targeted at consumers is already well recognised, many organisations are also looking to utilise similar apps for commercial gain by deploying them to their own staff or 1

4 Chapter 1 MOBILE WORKPLACE % in 3 use three or more computing devices at work are looking at the role of custom apps for their business 28% 1/3 Share of internet data trafþc by smartphones & tablets in % of tablets will be sold directly to business by in 5 IT managers who think they must overcome the security challenges of BYOD before allowing it 73% college students & younger employees who would accept a lower-paying job with device choice, social media access, and mobility of workers are already using personal devices at work! IT DEPARTMENT Figure 1: The mobile workplace in 2012 and beyond their business partners. One recent survey indicated that more than 70 per cent of companies are already using or planning on using custom mobile applications in the workplace 6. This interest is taking place against a backdrop of a broader consumerisation of IT; user expectations are rising and the user experience is now critical to maximising the value of mobile in the workplace. For example, two in five college students and younger employees say they would accept a lower-paying job that gave them device choice, access to social media and mobility 7. The outcome of these trends is the creation of a next generation workplace, powered by mobile technologies. The past generation of mobility in the workplace focused on providing access to basic tools like or providing access to applications and data on the corporate network through a laptop when working away from the office. But for many of those users, particularly before fast broadband internet access became widely available, connecting remotely to the corporate network was an arduous undertaking. Getting connected involved multiple steps and presented users with many potential problems they might not be able to find somewhere to plug in the modem cable, the dialler software might fail to connect if the line was bad or they might enter the wrong details into the virtual private network (VPN) login. The alternative was to use public internet kiosks to access web-based ; however, these systems are inherently insecure for corporate users. Broadband internet, Wi-Fi and extranets eventually made the task of connecting a laptop remotely to a corporate network easier, but the user was still forced to carry a laptop everywhere if 2

5 Designing Mobile Apps: A Roadmap for Businesses they wanted to stay connected. In hindsight, it is not surprising that the killer app of Research in Motion s (RIM) BlackBerry in this period was mobile access to . Key drivers Three key drivers are affecting business and driving demand for both the use of mobile apps by employees and the need to develop mobile apps: Technology innovation Today, mobile connectivity is exemplified by the concept of always on, always connected. In most cases, once a username and password have been entered and saved for the first time, a user can launch a mobile app and gain instant and on demand access to the tools and systems they need. Even more versatile than most laptops, smartphones and tablets that support both Wi-Fi and mobile data can automatically switch between the two methods of accessing the internet, giving users continuous access wherever they are at home, on the road or in the office. For these users, the convenience of today s mobile connectivity changes mobile access from a task in itself to a situation where it becomes part of daily business as usual. Social media on mobile For consumers at least, mobile devices are quickly becoming the primary means of accessing social media 8 and this pattern is expected to flow into the enterprise. The real impact of the use of social media on smartphones is that it highlights the fact that smartphone and tablet usage is socially situated. Internet-connected personal devices blur the lines between professional and personal usage and this will present both challenges and opportunities for organisations that attempt to leverage enterprise mobile apps for business benefit. Generation shift A generation of users is growing up with the hand held equivalent of a personal computer in their pocket, which is often better connected and enabled than the IT tools provided by their employers. When this demographic trend is mixed with the above technology and social media trends, it creates a powerful force behind the adoption of mobile in the workplace. Technology trends The driver of technology innovation itself is being accelerated by three different trends affecting mobile devices and the technology in the enterprise more broadly: Mobile in the cloud The Web 2.0 era and social media have created new opportunities to host applications in the internet cloud. Although not always the preference of large organisations or those affected by particular regulatory constraints, this is an ideal combination for creating useful apps that either augment desktop tools or provide a platform for powerful mobile apps. Such cloud-based services avoid the need to set up complex in-house systems to support them. Consumerisation of IT Distinct from the technology capabilities of mobile in the cloud, the consumerisation of IT and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend are creating new user expectations about the quality and usability of mobile devices. Apps such as Flipboard (available for the iphone and ipad) set a high standard for corporate apps to emulate. For some consumers, the iphone and ipad are considered to be too expensive but the availability of cheaper handsets and devices, particularly Android, opens the door for an 3

6 Chapter 1 even broader user base or allows more users to own a variety of mobile tools. Mobile hardware capabilities Innovation in mobile hardware devices means that they include features beyond the basic capabilities that allow them to make phone calls or run applications. These capabilities include support for rich media (such as audio and video) and also sensors that support location-based services or interfaces that support voice- or gesturebased computing (for example, Apple Siri). Mobile network speeds are also becoming faster, with the rollout of fourth generation (4G) wireless technology around the world. Even if organisations ignore mobile and mobile apps, these underlying trends are set to change the traditional enterprise IT landscape significantly. Indirectly, organisations will be affected by mobile in some form, regardless of whether they engage with this change or not. Overview of planning and implementation The report is structured to guide the reader through three stages (see Figure 2): 1. Understand the potential for the next generation workplace by learning about the technology attributes of mobile software and the mobile device it runs on. Understanding these attributes is a critical step in designing workforce mobile apps that leverage these unique capabilities and planning what kind of enterprise information technology infrastructure might be required to support them. 2. Plan the business case for investing in mobile devices and providing 1 Understand 2 Plan 3 Implement Understand the next generation mobile workplace Make key decisions and develop the business case Apply a user experience and usercentred design approach? Select a roadmap option: Quick Pilot Prioritised Complete Strategic! Limited support Develop mobile IT infrastructure Better support IT architecture Drivers: Technology innovation Social media Generation shift Outcome: A next generation mobile workplace Figure 2: Overview of planning and implementation 4

7 Designing Mobile Apps: A Roadmap for Businesses business apps. While the benefits of using smartphones and tablets in the workplace are often self-evident to individual users, the user-led adoption experience does not provide a framework for strategic thinking or managing their adoption. It is worth bearing in mind that branded consumer apps have a high failure rate 9 and it is likely that poorly planned enterprise mobile apps will suffer the same fate. 3. Implement through designing, developing and deploying enterprise mobile apps using a user experience and user-centred design approach. Not only are mobile device interfaces different, we also know that the use of mobile devices by employees is situated in different times, places and contexts. A design approach that can encompass this complex view of the user is essential for the successful implementation of smart enterprise mobile apps. This planning and implementation roadmap needs to be supported by the right mobile IT architecture and mobile app governance. This is not without challenges and 70 per cent of IT managers see information security as a barrier to allowing BYOD in their workplace 10. The mobile user experience approach advocated in this report consists of applying a range of user-centred design tools that enable the business, end-users and app developers to understand the many different situations where an end-user will use business apps. These tools include: Personas User archetypes created to represent the diversity of a particular user base; Situation maps that describe the times, places and contexts where different groups or types of users will use mobile apps; User journeys that map what a persona does when using a mobile app in a particular scenario, from beginning to end; and Prototyping Used to help test the user experience of mobile apps more holistically than simple wireframes or visual concepts used in traditional application design. Additionally, the mobile app designer takes into account the different capabilities and user experiences of the actual mobile device to create the most effective or suitable user interfaces. Key user interface design factors for mobile devices relate to: How information is presented on mobile device screens; How users are able to input information into mobile devices; How they navigate information and functionality, including physical handling of the device; and How to take advantage of touch screen gesture controls. While many of these factors can be treated as design constraints, building on the broader capabilities of mobile devices it is also possible to use them as a source of design innovation. Clearly enterprise mobile apps need to deliver a benefit to the organisations that implement them, but developing usercentred mobile apps should be treated as a means for ensuring that this outcome is achieved. Engaging in the design of mobile apps through the perspective of the end-user increases the opportunity for organisations to design mobile apps that are fit for purpose, deliver real value and provide innovative solutions to business problems. 5

8 Chapter 1 References 1. Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, , Cisco Systems, Inc. See en/us/solutions/collateral/ns341/ns525/ ns537/ns705/ns827/white_paper_c html million tablets will be sold globally in 2016, Forrester, see com/forrester+375+million+tablets+will+b e+sold+globally+in+2016/-/e-pre Cisco Connected World Technology Report (2011), Cisco Systems, Inc. com/en/us/netsol/ns1120/index.html. 4. IT Organizations Embrace Bring-Your-Own Devices, Citrix, See com/lang/english/lp/lp_ asp. 5. Cisco Connected World Technology Report (2011), Cisco Systems, Inc. 6. State of Mobility Survey: Global Findings, Symantec, See com/content/en/us/about/media/pdfs/bstate_of_mobility_survey_2012.en-us.pdf. 7. Cisco Connected World Technology Report (2011), Cisco Systems, Inc. 8. comscore introduces Mobile Metrix 2.0, revealing that social media brands experience heavy engagement on smartphones, comscore, 7 May, Press_Releases/2012/5/Introducing_Mobile_ Metrix_2_Insight_into_Mobile_Behavior. 9. Killer apps The promises and pitfalls of a smarter world, Deloitte LLP, 11 July See industries/tmt/7e7484c7e vgnvcm c56f00aRCRD.htm. 10. BYOD gives competitive advantage, say IT managers, BT Plc, 16 May See Showarticle.cfm?ArticleID=741139D3-592C- 426E-9904-EB C19. 6