to shape your enterprise mobility strategy

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to shape

your enterprise

mobility strategy

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2 Mobile utopia is closer than you think

3 Step 1 Identify your Mobile Maturity 4 Step 2 Adopt a Mobile Mindset 5 Step 3 Do your Due Diligence 6 Step 4 Keep an Open Mind

7 Step 5 Choose your IT Infrastructure Wisely 8 Step 6 Keep It Simple

9 Step 7 Unleash your Data Assets 10 Step 8 Security, Security, Security 11 Step 9 Manage for Success

12 Step 10 Measure Return on Mobility 13 The last word

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10 steps to shape your enterprise mobility strategy

The mobile revolution that has transformed our lives as consumers is now similarly redefining the way enterprises manage their operations and engage with employees, partners and customers.

This is prompting many businesses to rethink the technologies, services and techniques that underpin their mobile initiatives, and evolve traditional roles, responsibilities and organizational cultures accordingly. For example, corporate data, once the sole preserve of analysts, is now accessible to a wide range of everyday business users who are able to explore, model and act on information in new and sophisticated ways.

As with any investment, expenditure on mobile initiatives brings the need to define what success looks like. That means being able to measure the return on mobility (ROM) generated by being able to deliver the right information to the right people on any device at any time, supporting smarter working practices and timelier interactions.

That doesn’t just happen by accident: to maximize ROM, organizations need a considered, joined-up mobile strategy. But there’s no need to start with a blank sheet of paper. This eBook breaks down the strategy development process into ten simple steps that will help you achieve demonstrable, repeatable mobile successes.

Mobile utopia is closer than you think

“34% of all companies

lacked any kind of strategy

whatsoever around mobility

in the fourth quarter of 2013.”

Source: Yankee Group - Data Insight: Enterprises are still Hesitant around Mobile

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Identify your Mobile Maturity

Recognize where you are today. Yankee Group identifies three distinct phases of maturity when it comes to enterprise mobility (the more mature your approach, the greater the business value you’re likely to gain from mobile initiatives):

1. OppORTuniSTic

where you deploy apps individually or experimentally to meet specific use cases, without an enterprise-wide direction

2. STRaTeGic

where you deploy mobile apps across a larger subset of the organization and with more sophisticated functionality as part of a roadmap to deliver defined business outcomes

3. MObile-fiRST

where you use mobile apps across the whole organization to transform business processes and drive innovation in an integrated and unified way

Identify your specific barriers to mobile maturity – whether data security, device management, app development, back-office connectivity or cultural hurdles – and work out how to dismantle or lower them. (Hint: this eBook should give you some good foundations).

Unlike traditional enterprise applications, IT doesn’t have to keep mobile close to its chest – the business should own and drive mobility initiatives, while IT takes care of deployment, security, and device and application management.

Because mobile initiatives tend to be user-driven rather than policy-led, app users can be a valuable source of innovative ideas. So encourage and nurture the ‘mobile rockstars’ in your organization to become champions of change!

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identify and segment different user profiles and needs, internally and beyond your four walls. This could include business customers, consumers, channel partners, your supply chain or anyone else you deal with regularly.

Determine what value or business outcome you intend to achieve through creating a mobile app. Do you want to improve service delivery, boost sales, reduce costs, increase engagement or something else?

Prioritize the key business processes that will lend themselves to quick wins through mobilization. But don’t stop at the “low hanging fruit” of the road-warrior sales force: innovation is often about seeing the same old thing in a whole new light.

Establish the requirements based on users and usage scenarios by considering questions like: Where will the users be (on or off network)?

What are the likely usage scenarios (field service, operations, customer service, sales or others)?

Where will the back-end application data reside (on premise or in the cloud, legacy systems or third party business services)?

What device(s), form factor(s) and operating system(s) will be used now and in future? Will the runtime execution environment be hosted or local?

What security requirements does that raise in terms of data at rest, data in transit and data in use?

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promote innovation and transformation. unlike traditional enterprise software that was the sole preserve of iT, mobile apps give the business greater flexibility to design and create great front-end experiences. So give the business units more control over the apps they need to run and grow operations. let iT focus on complex backend integrations, security and policy requirements, user access and code deployment. Identify the mobile devices, form factors and operating systems you plan to support – bearing in mind that these are continuously evolving. With a complex landscape, you should be looking to simplify mobile initiatives and get them to market quickly.

Keep an open mind as to whether to develop hybrid, native, HTML5 or web apps – one type doesn’t fit all.

Choose future-ready, open technologies and toolkits that don’t lock you in. Your platform of choice should support ease of updates, code re-use, interoperability and portability.

Consider the resources and the skill-sets you require to support your mobile strategy. Choose your team with agility and flexibility in mind – whether resources are internal, external or both. You’ll need a blend of back-end integration, client-side design, UI and DevOps skills, with a technology platform that allows dispersed teams to collaborate and manage mobile projects centrally. Developing an app is only a small part of the equation. Check that you have the tools you need to manage the end-to-end app lifecycle: develop-integrate-release-update-sustain-retire. Rinse and repeat as required.

Keep an Open Mind

“Keep an open mind,

one type doesn’t fit all”

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6 10 steps to shape your enterprise mobility strategy MAY 4

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Don’t let your data centre dictate your mobile strategy. Developers’ unswerving focus should be on building great apps that meet the needs of the business and users alike, not standing up and configuring the stack.

Look beyond the self-contained functionality of service orientation to open, more agile

architecture. Software architectures that worked well for web-centric applications are no longer agile and flexible enough to meet the demands of mobile–namely continuous and ever-shorter development cycles, elastic scaling, and flexible aggregation of multiple internal and external data and services.

Cloud-based infrastructure will allow you to take advantage of server-side business logic and execution, and give you the speed, flexibility and scalability that are the prerequisites for killer mobile apps.

Cloud also lets you store, retrieve and process data outside of mobile devices, orchestrate push notification and incorporate capabilities like location awareness and proximity search – opening up whole new possibilities.

Choose your IT infrastructure wisely

“Cloud also lets you

store, retrieve and

process data outside

of mobile devices”

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You can’t mobilize your entire enterprise overnight, so you’ll need to prioritize your mobile initiatives. Start out by understanding:

What are your strategic drivers?

These might be cost competitiveness, process efficiency, customer service and organizational agility or a specific industry challenge.

Which processes are important to those aims?

This might include marketing, sales, workforce management, project planning, asset tracking, performance management or something else.

Many organizations are finding their feet and gaining confidence in mobility by taking a phased approach:

STaGe 1:

Start with what you know and mobilize your internal processes. Look for quick wins to eliminate paper-based business processes by exploring simple, form-based B2E apps.

STaGe 2:

Deploy B2B/B2C apps to connect and share information with business partners and engage with customers more effectively. The experience and learnings you’ve acquired in Stage 1 will serve you well here.

STaGe 3:

Innovate your business by combining device-specific features and M2M (machine-to-machine) capability to create new revenue-generating possibilities and transformative ways of working.

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Keep it simple

“Rethink the possibilities

that today’s mobile, cloud,

social and data combinations

can bring to your app”

a good app should be able to perform a given task within two or three clicks, swipes or gestures, so don’t cram it with every conceivable piece of functionality.

Avoid trying to adapt an existing web interface or clunky process for the small screen: rethink the possibilities that today’s mobile, cloud, social and data combinations can bring to your app. Break down app functions into manageable user-focused steps. Hint: involve end-users in the design and functional specification and you’re more likely to end up with an app

they can’t wait to use.

If you’re looking for maximum audience reach, you may need to weigh up native versus hybrid development. Native apps have the feel, flow and familiarity users love on their native devices, but as hybrid apps use a single code, it’s easier to develop for multiple platforms.

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The main difference between business and personal apps is the connection with the enterprise back-end. The app needs to retrieve the payload data from those systems and parse it into consumable form. So the first step is to identify what existing backend systems and data your app needs to integrate with.

The cloud plays a pivotal role by receiving data over a secure channel and sending it on to the app on the device. By providing a single point of entry into the enterprise, this approach is inherently more secure than exposing corporate data directly to the device.

The complexity involved in integrating different systems with different protocols is the nemesis of simple, high-performing mobile design. Mobile Backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS) functionality excels at integrating legacy systems of record by acting as a hub between mobile clients and the enterprise systems they need to access. It offers the APIs, security and tools for easy access to backend data, including proprietary systems that weren’t originally designed with mobility in mind. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), managed and maintained by cloud services providers, can help you speed up innovation and reduce complexity. Check whether there are any new systems or cloud services that can be easily integrated via APIs to enhance your mobile experience. You need to ensure your data is only accessed by authorized users – especially on BYO devices. Unlock your data with appropriate levels of access and authentication for different user groups.

Unleash your data assets

“The cloud plays a pivotal

role by receiving data over

a secure channel and

sending it on to the app

on the device.”

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a chapter of your mobile strategy should define your organization’s mobile culture and risk tolerance. (it’s not too late to go back and address this if you skipped it first time around).

Mobile adoption is not without risk because, by necessity, it allows employees to carry company data beyond your four walls. Employee negligence is thought to account for around a third of data breaches, but a sizeable majority is typically the result of deliberate, malicious intrusions (internal as well as external).

Mobile security therefore needs to extend to every aspect of data integration and handling: between back-end systems and the cloud; within the cloud; between the cloud and the mobile device; and on device – including devices your company doesn’t own.

Robust user authentication and authorization are essential. Additionally, in-depth reporting and analytics can give you valuable insight into app users and usage behaviors. But don’t forget you need a well thought-out policy and widespread user education to succeed.

An enterprise app store can give you greater control, but the key is to secure corporate information rather than restrict the use of apps. Keep your focus on enabling users, not punishing them. Your security measures should be invisible and respect the user experience.

Security, security, security

“Enable users,

don’t punish them”

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enterprise mobility isn’t a ‘one and done’ exercise: it’s a continuous cycle of Design, Development, Deployment, Measurement and Management. it transcends all levels: device, app, usage, cloud consumption, data engagement... you name it.

Business never stands still, so nor should your apps. Build for change, because it will happen. Use reporting and analytics to monitor app usage. Yes, of course this will enable you to enforce policy compliance (stick), but it will also give you the chance to find out how users interact with the app and inform future development (carrot).

Don’t limit your vision of apps to untethering workers from their desks: stretch your ambitions to streamlining workflows, breaking down information silos, transforming business processes and generating new revenue streams. It’s all up for grabs.

All dogs go to heaven, and so must we prepare for apps’ end of life. Identify those ready for decommissioning, track, log and report removals, and archive all apps that have outlived their usefulness. You never know what concepts you could recycle and update in future.

Manage for Success

“Enterprise mobility

is a continuous cycle.”

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no business can afford to do mobility for mobility’s sake. You need to take a look at the whole picture when calculating the ROi of mobile initiatives.

Shift your focus from TCO (total cost of ownership) to ROM (return on mobility) to measure business benefit, not cost, otherwise you will never progress beyond “business as usual”. Sketch out new or additional KPIs and metrics that you can use to measure the success of mobility initiatives, e.g. user reach, mobile conversion level, worker safety, service delivery time, paper process elimination, enhanced data collection (basically, whatever makes your business tick).

ROM metrics should take into consideration the fast evolving cycles of mobile apps – unlike enterprise software that can be years in development, mobile apps are highly iterative, supporting a more agile, experimental approach.

Innovation needs support from the top – executive sponsorship will improve the traction of mobility initiatives. But remember that great ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. Very often, the people on the ground who undertake tasks on a daily basis will know there’s a better way to work and inspire you to achieve tangible and intangible ROM.

Measure Return on Mobility

“Mobile apps are

highly iterative,

supporting a more agile,

experimental approach.”

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formulating your mobile strategy is considerably more manageable when you break the process down into the ten steps outlined in this ebook. We’re sure you can’t wait to roll up your sleeves and tackle the backlog of mobile apps just waiting to be built, but don’t rush to mobilize.

The right foundations are crucial to help you get beyond a “me too” approach and reinvigorate or even reinvent your business. You’ll find the real value of enterprise mobility will be revealed as your app deployments mature from lightweight and tactical to more involved, strategic and scalable use cases.

FeedHenry provides next generation, cloud-based mobile enterprise application solutions that simplify the development, deployment and management of mobile apps for enterprise. The FeedHenry platform enables development of native, hybrid and HTML5 apps that securely connect to multiple backend systems and supports deployment of server-side code to private, public or hybrid cloud environments. The solution offers IT departments the ability to create, control, measure, adapt and futureproof their mobile business strategies for employees, partners and customers in one place, increasing productivity, connectivity and engagement.

Ready to Accelerate your Mobile App initiatives? Learn more and schedule a demo today. Email: [email protected] Call: USA +1 781 472 9120 UK +44 20 3393 1466 IRL +353 51 275106 @feedhenry feedhenry.com