5 Steps to an Engaging Enterprise Mobile Strategy /

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5 Steps to an Engaging

Enterprise Mobile Strategy /

Growing New Business Through the Mobile Channel /

A White Paper for IT Directors, CEO’s, CTO’s & CIO’s

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary /! 3

5D Mobile Enterprise Strategy /! 4

About Furious Tribe /! 11

White paper version 1.0 as of October 31, 2012

By: John Walker

[email protected]

Furious Tribe 14 Hume Street, Dublin 2 Ireland

Phone: +(353) 1-6572558 Web: www.furioustribe.com e-mail: [email protected]

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Furious Tribe shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

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Executive Summary /

A White Paper released by mobility consultancy, Furious Tribe on “5 Simple Steps to an Engaging Enterprise Mobility Strategy”.

When an organisation implements a new technology they will typically conduct an in-depth study on benefits, costs, ROI, and current market needs to name just a few of the primary decision making factors. Your organisation possibly has these same questions as you contemplate the implementation of enterprise mobility.

Mobile technology has accelerated in terms of functionality, purpose, connectivity and capability through the global adoption of smartphone devices. More enterprises have mobile offerings that facilitate their customers’

needs through using enterprise applications designed to enhance the user experience of your brand. With accessibility and connectivity at the forefront of customer requirements, mobile technology facilitates as a stable solution to bridge both together.

The previous transition from paper to plastic payment processing is evident once again in a new form, as plastic transactions are rapidly replaced by digital payment alternatives using mobile devices. Organisations are strategically moving towards finding a place in the digital wallet of consumers by connecting them conveniently with services that improve their lifestyle. User experience (UX) is at the core of customer acceptance through a carefully structured process that is focused primarily on function and design.

One of the biggest challenges that currently face mobile business is customer acceptance due to ingrained behaviour. Helping consumers move forward with mobile business will require a secure, reliable and convenient service. The recent ecosystem of partnerships has encouraged relationships between financial institutions, wireless providers, tech companies and retailers to work simultaneously together.

This cohesiveness is moving the mobile channel forward that is creating immense disruption in worldwide markets’ throughout a range of industries. Consumers are demanding continuous interaction, on demand data retrieval, personal account control, anytime access and support through mobile devices.

This white paper will evaluate the process behind creating an enterprise mobility strategy starting from needs analysis to launch of your enterprise mobile application to the app store.

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5D Mobile Enterprise Strategy /

DETERMINE / DIAGNOSIS / DESIGN / DEVELOP / DEPLOY /

Determine your mobile expectations by establishing a set of goals that correlate with your vision with desired outcomes. At this stage some of the key considerations should include:

• How will a mobile presence help you achieve your business targets?

• How will your customers have an improved experience through mobile?

• Is your mobile strategy for internal or external purposes?

• What percentage of your budget is allocated to the mobile channel?

Summary: The answers to these questions provide the necessary framework required to establish a mutual vision with your mobile consultancy.

1. Drivers. When determining your mobile strategy understanding market drivers that highlight advancements in technology and communication channels are important to track.

• What economic, social, political or technological factors are changing current market trends?

• How are others driving the adoption of mobile technology in their industries?

• What fundamental changes in customer/consumer behaviour are driving the need for mobile integration within your organisation?

• What are the technology trends that support the development of the new mobile market?

Summary: Analysing market drivers will determine the next stages of new business development concepts and strategies that help you predict the impact of new technology within your organisation.

2. Innovation. Developing new products and services for your customers using innovative technology will help you to continuously position yourself as an Industry leader.

• In the past how well has your customer base adapted to the introduction of new technology?

• What is your target demographic for digital banking?

• How can you keep pace with technology innovation while fulfilling customers' expectations of the mobile channel?

• Can you transfer your most popular services onto mobile devices?

Summary: Innovating to meet customer expectations will help deepen relationships and improve public perception of mobile security. According to Forrester, consumer adoption of mobile banking has accelerated

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over the past few years. In the US, the proportion of online adults who are mobile bankers has quadrupled from 4% in 2006 to 16% at the end of 2010.¹

3. Budget. Implementing mobile solutions will typically have four categories that need to be addressed in terms of estimating your investment.

• Will you require new hardware such as internal mobile devices to support the adoption of mobile technology throughout your organisation?

• Will the software/mobile app need further customisation for future features?

• Is training offered to employees during the introduction stages of new technology?

• Is there an option for technical support on an on-going basis?

Summary: When devising a budget for the mobile channel it’s important to understand how the mobile channel incurs operational expenses that support your application.

The next phase is to diagnosis customer insights for a greater understanding of end user requirements. At this stage some of the key considerations should include:

• How will you investigate and produce accurate data that reflects a current customer requirement?

• How will mobile technology improve or solve a problem area within the organisation?

• Do you require your application to be available on mobile devices other than smartphone devices?

• What browser are you designing for?

Summary: Providing answers to these questions will help you decide precisely who your target audience is and the exact services they require through the mobile channel.

1. Stakeholder Needs Analysis. This identifies all the users and stakeholders who may influence or be impacted by the introduction of mobile technology.

• Task Analysis is a recorded process to how an activity will be completed using a mobile device and application. This includes the manual and mental activities required by the end user along with other interchangeable factors to complete a set task.

• User cost benefit analysis will produce the data required to make a decision to determine if implementing a full mobile strategy will be recognised as a sound investment.

1 Source: Forrester: The ROI of mobile Banking

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• Context of use analysis includes usability, accessibility and acceptability factors, which determine in a systematic way the benefits of adopting a new technology.

• Conduct primary market research through field study & observation. This forms a real time perspective of current user interaction between employees, customers and other involved stakeholders.

Summary: Knowing the DNA of your end user allows you to create exceptional products and services that will be accepted through researching their habits, reactions and concerns through stakeholder needs analysis.

2. User Needs Identification. Analysing collected data from the stakeholder needs analysis allows you to develop a stronger understanding of your end user and their habits. This permits your company to create more targeted questions that help you discover new opportunities.

• Through the use of qualitative research, user surveys, and focus groups a direct information channel between the end user and organisation is established.

• An Interview process often reveals consumer requirements through a series of well prepared and targeted questions focused on current frustrations and desires.

• Evaluating competitors systems through a SWOT analysis highlights current trends. However basing your mobile strategy on the results of another organisation is not always sensible as their strategy may not be successful.

Summary: Identifying user needs builds on previous data collected that either reinforces or discredits previous research. This stage eliminates weak ideas and allows strong concepts backed by real data to develop further.

3. Personas. Handling objections before they happen is key to the successful launch of a new product or service. Through creating personas based on real data it allows us to create a fictitious character that represents your real life customers. This character will help shape everything from design to usability and information flow.

• Creating a targeted customer profile is derived from the brainstorming session of creating fictitious characters who have names, photos and detailed biographies with personality traits, habits, likes and dislikes included.

• Using a visual method such as a storyboard to sequence different personas in a visual manner allows you to think like an end user.

• Creating scenarios of your potential customers allows you to further develop a range of possibilities of different outcomes, otherwise known as user journeys.

Summary: It is impossible to create something that meets the needs of everyone without diluting your message to the point of confusion. Creating personas allows you to focus on a select group of targeted users that your application is intended for.

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The design process for mobile applications is purely focused on end user experience that results in a positive interaction. At this stage some of the key considerations should include:

• How will users navigate easily to and from tasks within the same browser?

• Is your app consistent with user interface (UI) conventions?

• Does your initial purpose of the app reflect the current design and put the user first?

• Does your design incorporate key indicators such as short workflows, clean focused design, easy inputs and interaction fields?

Summary: Using the data collected during both the diagnosis and design stage it empowers you to make superior design decisions. If you’re app isn’t efficient to use on the move, it won’t get used at all.

1. User Interface (UI). Using information gathered from creating personas to simulate the experience of potential users, it allows for the creation of a user interface to match the precise customer requirements.

• Information Architecture is a systematic approach to organising information in a purposeful way such as content hierarchy, content layout, search functionality, readability and technical writing.

• The Interaction Model is what is used to tie functionality to design. Examples include how to open or close operations, navigation of the app and vertical lists, transition between screens and how different functions interact with each other.

• Usability of the application is typically measured by the extent of completing an exact task through a series of steps that have already been established during the previous stages.

Summary: The visual interface of an application has a system behind it that determines elements of design.

Well-structured information architecture and interaction models create an understanding how both compliment each other through functionality.

2. Sketches & Wireframes. During the early stages of user interface (UI) design it is often required to use sketches that create quick working prototypes that detect problems early on in the design stage. These sketches are then transformed into wireframes diagrams.

• Having the options to place and move objects around easier with a large scale mock up represented by sketches makes it easier for group discussion and creative design.

• Focus is removed from colours, fonts, alignment and more focused on positioning and placement, which is more important at this stage.

• Transforming sketches into a wireframe of the application helps the design team, development team and client understand the skeletal framework of the application.

• The main elements of the wireframe should include information, navigation and interface design.

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Summary: The designs at this stage highlight the position and layout of the proposed interface. The focus is on the type of information that is going to be displayed and the range of functions also available.

3. Graphical User Interface (GUI) design. The overall design of the application is determined

• Design Elements that are taken into consideration include an array of design principals such as colour attributes, shape, texture, space, dominance, symmetry and balance. Incorporating these elements with the overall company branding is important for awareness.

• Interface Design takes into account design principals and human behaviour that creates a user-friendly experience through aesthetic and minimalistic design.

• Usability Design Evaluation involves taking users through the design model while documenting the process and user experience.

Summary: The representation of the wire frame comes to life through a graphical representation whilst acknowledging and adhering to design principles and guidelines for mobile application design.

In the development stage you build upon the previous three stages to actualise the user experience into a working product. At this stage some of the key considerations should include:

• How can the architecture of the application be planned in a dynamic way, making it easy to adapt and change?

• From our user research, what mobile platforms are important to our users and business?

• Should we build the applications natively or use a cross-platform option such as HTML5?

Summary: From the beginning make sure to choose the right development technology for your business, native can appear like a good option but can be costly to maintain multiple technologies.

1. Architecture Design includes a technical set of rules that break down the interaction between the user, system and business goals of an application. Some of the main principals include:

• Build to Change as mobile devices are replaced and updated constantly which results in the need to implement new requirements and features.

• What data will the application use, will it rely on local storage or will it connect with a web service (API)?

• Will the applications be delivered over the public App Store or an enterprise distribution?

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2. Final Usability Evaluation. This quantitative and qualitative process provides data from real users performing actual tasks using the mobile application.

• The cognitive walkthrough is a process used for usability evaluation with attention focused on how well the interface allows users to complete tasks for the first time without any formal training.

• Video recording can be used as a more formal type of testing that records the user interactions with the product and what they have done at each stage. This method is sometimes preferable for capturing longer user journeys where every piece of data is integral.

• If users give their consent, tracking software can be installed that allows you to watch a more natural form of user engagement with the application, measuring how long users spend in each section and the path they took through the application.

Summary: The final usability evaluation phase builds upon and validates the assumptions that were made at earlier phases such as wireframing or information architecture.

Deploying your application is the final phase of the project that has multiple stages before the final release of the live project. At this stage some of the key considerations should include:

• Does the mobile application work as anticipated and fulfil the needs of all stakeholders involved?

• Do you understand the development phases that determine each build release of the mobile application?

• How will you know if your customers have embraced your App and are using it?

Summary: The deployment stage is an important stage to address any possible unforeseen issues through the various release stages.

1. Testing. A continuous evaluation process that ensures verification and validation of each stage.

• Use Cases are a list of activities with a specific goal at the end, which needs to be accomplished or completed. This results in clarification of usability from a users standpoint.

• Regression Testing takes place after a change has taken place within the code base, to test for unintended consequences as a result of other changes made.

• Cross-Platform Testing is required to determine functionality of application on multiple devices and browsers.

• Documentation & Test Reports for testing exercises such as test plan, test scenario, test case and traceability matrix are recorded and documented for compliance purposes.

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Summary: Rigorous testing ensures deliverability of accurate progress reports related to the stability of the application and also highlights areas where continuous improvement may be required to refine possible problem areas.

2. Build Releases. Due to the complexity of software multiple build release phases are introduced to improve on previous releases that have encountered issues through testing.

• Alpha Phase of the release cycle is the first phase of software testing which often means that it’s very unstable and susceptible to crashing.

• When a Beta Release has been issued it suggests that the majority of application features are mostly working.

• Requesting Closed and Open Beta tester groups within a company is common practice when releasing an App to test first in-house before publicly announcing it.

• General Availability is when the owner of the App decides to distribute it knowing that any previous issues have been reformed and that the product functions as expected.

Summary: This specific build release process ensures quality assurance at every stage from initial App development that addresses any unexpected issues before final release or general availability.

3. Digital Analytics & User Experience (UX). Statistical data that influences the decision making process in areas of design and usability.

• Interaction activity monitored by analytical tracking code providing real time data that can be compiled into reports showing demographic information, traffic sources, visitor navigation flow, content viewed, bounce rate and devices used.

• Feedback from users helps you to understand their experience, which can later help shape future App updates and features.

• Customer Intelligence Data is a rich source of information that provides distinct information about consumer behaviour through analytical information gathered which helps improve the functionality of a CRM system.

• Risk Management is greatly improved through using real data collected over a period of time which strengthens the decision making process.

Summary: Digital Analytical information is essential for making both decisions and suggestions that improve how end user interacts with the Application. Data obtained through analytics will help develop even stronger personas for future products and updates.

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About Furious Tribe /

Furious tribe has an established reputation for deepening relationships, delivering results and driving revenue for their clients through integrating mobile technology into current business models, enabling growth through the mobile channel across a wide range of industries worldwide.

Offering services such as mobility consulting, mobile software and application development and managed mobility services to business to employee (B2E), business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B).

Visit us at www.furioustribe.com for more information