A Roundtable Discussion about When to Go Mobile App, Mobile Web, or Somewhere in Between. Higher Education Enterprise Mobile App Conference

Transcription

1 A Roundtable Discussion about When to Go Mobile App, Mobile Web, or Somewhere in Between Higher Education Enterprise Mobile App Conference February 5, 2013

2 Presentation Overview This session is described as a roundtable Audience participation is encouraged You are the roundtable Everyone has opinions on Mobile Apps Mobile Web The in between

3 What is GW doing? GW has an in-house developed mobile experience (GW Mobile 1.0) Hybrid approach Developed by Academic Technologies department Development largely done by students University Web Services provides mobile directory, course listing, and a number of the web assets

4 What is GW doing? Desire to grow functionality, including ERP integration, has generated a quest for a solution (GW Mobile 2.0) GW doesn t want to continue as a mobile-app development shop too many demands make this a challenge Developers graduate making for support challenges Occasional development worth considering for the truly unique needs. It is a service we must provide.

5 What is GW doing? Decision made to look for a vendor-supported option. Investigated ERP-provided option and decided it didn t have the breadth we desired. Considering ERP-neutral offerings. Could end up with multiple streams one product to support LMS and another to provide breadth and scale for other items, including ERP connectivity. Public web relying on responsive design

6 Points to Consider Security HTML5 Hybrid Application Development (Apache Cordova, Adobe PhoneGap) Native Application Development Data We care more about student privacy than students do Do the App Stores provide a false sense of security?

7 Points to Consider Sustainability Web Apple ios Android Blackberry Windows 8 Others Who does the work? Developers, students, vendors?

8 Points to Consider Scalability Growing the offerings Growing the audience Leveraging what already exist that meets mobile demand or could be quickly adapted to mobile. Desirability Can development meet demand? Can we develop what they really want? If you build it, will they like it? Will they use it? Does this development prevent/delay another project?

9 Points to Consider Size Big files Network Considerations Usability Native app user experience Web-based user experience 508 compliance

10 Points to Consider Phone Features Push notification GPS location services Camera Speakers Integration with other apps cal, phone Social Integration Remote cleaning What is the value?

11 Random Thoughts ECAR document from Purdue University 68% of students prefer apps to mobile-web. Speed is the reason. (Bowen, Kyle and Pistilli,Matthew D. Student Preferences for Mobile App Usage Sept 25, 2012) Gartner conversations suggest planning on a disposable strategy. What works now may not work at all in two years. We don t know what we don t know. ipad adoption surprised many. Perhaps Xbox will become the new platform-of-choice for college students.

12 More Random Thoughts There is no one right answer. ERPs, LMSs, vendors, home-grown they all have pros and cons. Combining solutions may be considered. Virtualization is worth considering for certain use cases. Mobile is just one delivery platform of many content and data are the real jewels. Consistency, integrity and security of content and data is the key. Everything doesn t need to be mobile.

13 The End QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? CONCERNS?

14 For More Information Mark R. Albert, Director University Web Services Division of Information Technology The George Washington University