Realizing the ROI of Mobilizing your Applications

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In part III of this blog series, we will discuss how to realize your ROI by mobilizing the applications you have identified. Additionally, enterprises and organizations must understand the different scenarios that exist when approaching app development.

By this time you have hopefully identified which applications you need to mobilize and understand how much ROI will be realized. Additionally, you should understand how long it will take you to realize this ROI, whether it be for an enterprise or an app that is public facing.

The BYOD Challenge

The next step in realizing your Return on Investment is taking a look at what technology you are using today. You need to get a handle on what types of devices are being used by both your internal and external customers. The cost to go mobile is greatly decreased when everyone is using the same platform. However, with the global acceptance of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), this has become more of an issue with regards to creating applications. While BYOD has saved organizations huge amounts of money, developing applications for each device type for internal and external customers can be quite costly.

In this scenario, you need to identify if the application(s) you are creating can be fitted to the variety of devices using mobile web or a hybrid app and must always be connected to the Internet, or if they need offline capabilities as well.

Choosing the Right Solution

Furthermore, The type of solution you need is dependent on the data you need to communicate. For apps that are data heavy, you must be prepared to use multiple threading technology. Both hybrid and mobile web apps are not the ideal solution for this, as customers have grown to become very impatient when gaining access to data. In this scenario you will most probably need a native app that can be used both online and off.

Lets take a look at the qualities of each to provide you with a better understanding of the types of apps, so you can choose.

• Mobile Web – This type of app solution is the least expensive but is single threaded so not recommended for apps that are data heavy. They require an internet connection to run. They are extremely popular due to the widespread use of web browsers and support of the HTML5 programming language.
• Native – The most expensive to develop on, it has become the solution of choice for most enterprises. It boasts multi-threading which makes it great for apps that are data heavy and can be run offline without an Internet connection. Because they are built for specific devices they have the ability to utilize hardware and software that is specific to those devices. Creating a native app for the Android platform can increase the costs of app development since a different version would need to be coded for each specific device.

• Hybrid – It is single threaded so heavy data apps aren’t recommended to use such a solution. The way this type of app is structured consists of two parts, web and native. These two parts are completely separate and communicate with each other via sending messages between each other in order to complete tasks. This type of app can work offline.
In any case, you should be analyzing how the app’s users go about dealing with data and create a mobile user experience that is as close as possible to their way of doing things. In doing so, you will be making it as seamless and adoptive experience as possible. For instance, if they are using a pen and paper to communicate data, you might want to create an app utilizing a pen-like stylus and handwriting recognition.

By not arriving to a strategy for developing your app to match your customers’ way of doing things, you may need to invest more money in redesigning or refining the architecture of your app.

Utilizing an App Prototype Strategy

When you are ready to roll out your app, it doesn’t need to be in a full fledged way. If you want to test the app waters with a prototype, there are a plethora of tools that exist on the market that will convert existing applications. There are also a number of third party services that empower you to convert existing technology into web or hybrid apps. This will allow organizations to quickly deploy the app to their internal and external customers, analyze their experience, refine the app as needed and re-release.

For more information regarding Mobilizing Enterprize Applications, download our Whitepaper: MOBILIZING ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS: OBSTACLES, BENEFITS, AND KEY CONSIDERATIONS

Calculating ROI for Mobile Application Development

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Calculating ROI for Mobile Application Development

Enterprises can at times use scores of different applications within the context of their business. You can have salespeople, agents, customer service representatives, sales managers, etc…

Identifying what applications or sections should be mobilized can be quite a chore. You have to consider not only your internal clients but your external as well. Though, it doesn’t have to be so difficult. Once you’ve identified which section(s) of your applications are prime for mobilization via a simple analysis, it can provide your organization with maximized ROI.

Double Work Eliminated

For example, a government agency tasked to monitor certain requirements for grocery goods utilize pen and paper for personnel to note certain specifications at a physical location. They then go back to their office desks and input all this information manually, an unnecessary chore and a waste of valuable time, especially with the state of technology available.

This time can be extensively reduced by capturing the data and transferring it to the server instantly.  Mobile Spectrum provides terrific examples of our applications that capture data on forms and submit it to the server on demand.

Capturing and Consumption of Data

We have two different issues regarding the handling of data. One is that of capturing data, the other is to prepare data so that it is fit to be consumed. Let’s take a sales rep visiting with a client. If the rep needs to show something to their client and are not fitted with mobile technology, they will need to pull out binders with product descriptions and sometimes another with photos of the product(s). If they are more advanced they might have a laptop with an excel spreadsheet with many sheets and columns and rows with a plethora of data.

All this is a waste of time, both to the customer and consumer. What’s more, in today’s world where every second counts, this may hurt the ability for the salesperson to make the sale and will give more time for the customer to start thinking that they need more time to think about completing the purchase.

Mobilizing → Increased productivity

The time that it would take for both parties to share and consume information can be greatly curtailed by mobilizing these tasks. The rep may be able to visit more clients per day and customers will become enraptured with the way the product information is communicated and will be more likely to purchase.

Based on this specific scenario, organizations need to assess the Time X Cost that it takes them to perform certain business-related functions without the use of mobile. Then they can make decisions with regard to what sections of their sales application they see fit for mobilizing and will gain them the highest ROI.

Say for example, a salesperson on average visits 7-10 customers per day, and spends an average of one hour with them. Without mobile, just the setup time takes them 20 minutes and an additional 40 or so minutes to find what they need to present to the customer. This hour can be cut to half an hour or even less by mobilizing a rep’s sales activities and even going further, you can mobilize elements of your application that a customer can use to browse product pages and choose the items and quantities they want, hence minimizing the rep’s time at the customer. Thus, making it a win-win for all parties.

For more information, download our whitepaper: DEVELOPING MOBILE APPLICATIONS