BUILD VS.BUY

A nuVizz Inc whitepaper

BUILD VS.BUY

A GUIDE TO

ENTERPRISE MOBILITY SOLUTIONS

1000 Circle 75 Pkwy l Suite 705 l Atlanta, GA 30339 l www.nuvizz.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I.TRADITIONAL MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

II. ENTERPRISE MOBILITY SHIFT

Prelude

Traditional

Mobile

Technology

In the traditional enterprise software space, the factors influencing build vs. buy decisions are obvious. When enterprises need software to automate a part of their business, typically they first look for an off-the-shelf package that meets their requirements. Some of the considerations that lead to a buy decision are time-to-market, proven track record, community of interest, and potentially cost. If a package that meets all or most of the requirements can’t be found.

Enterprises look to building the solution themselves. Of course, there are some advantages to building: the solution is built to exact specifications, you control the roadmap/priorities, source code is owned, etc. But as any enterprise that’s ever taken the build route can attest, the road has many bumps that don’t always meet the eye

Common Mistakes

Inside our

Whitepaper…

In this whitepaper, we examine the enterprise

mobile solutions space in the context of the build

vs. buy debate. Mobile solutions are undeniably

quite

different

from

traditional

software

solutions in a number of ways. Before getting

into the details, it’s important to review the

mobile maturity model, especially as it pertains

to enterprise mobility.

“

Mobile web apps were a good initial step to

provide information to customers. But this approach

doesn’t lend itself to transactional applications, nor

does it provide the user experience (UX) consumers

are used to with other mobile apps and games

.

- Author

The enterprise’s foray into mobility started with consumer applications. Companies wanted to reach customers on their mobile devices. The fastest, easiest and obvious decision was to render browser-based applications as mobile web apps. This enabled companies to quickly connect with customers who were looking for them using mobile devices. Mobile web apps were a good initial step to provide information to customers. But this approach doesn’t lend itself to transactional applications, nor does it provide the user experience (UX) consumers are used to with other mobile apps and games.

?

?

The Enterprise Mobility Shift

// Page 4

So enterprises shifted to building native mobile apps in

order to leverage native device/OS capabilities, and

provide a better UX. However with native app

development came the challenges of

device/OS

fragmentation, and the need to replicate application

development for multiple OS platforms. This challenge is

somewhat manageable with consumer-facing apps since

there are relatively fewer such apps per enterprise.

BUY

BUILD

“REVOLUTIONARY”

_{“INTRICAE”}

vs

?

With the advent of business-to-employee (B2E) mobility, the focus became the security of devices and data, and the management and control of the overall enterprise mobile platform. B2E mobility started with secure access to enterprise email and content on mobile devices. From this naturally stemmed a focus on Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions. MDM soon became a necessary first step for enterprise mobility. But, MDM solutions only provided the infrastructure required for enabling secure B2E mobility.

Typically, these demands came from line of business owners. With the growing demand, IT organizations started to look at better ways to create and manage mobile applications in the B2E space. Some of the challenges were similar to those for consumer applications, such as fragmented device and OS platforms – an issue further accentuated by the BYOD wave. However, there were more serious challenges for B2E mobile applications related to backend integration, and solution deployment and management.

B2E Mobile Solutions

As businesses recognized the obvious benefits of the latest

mobile technology and applications, the demand for B2E

mobile solutions across lines of business started to grow.

As in the case of consumer mobile apps, enterprises began down a DIY path for B2E applications – building their own mobile apps with in-house resources and/or external consultants. With the growing demand, enterprises soon realized they needed a more sustainable approach to building and managing apps. For some time, B2E mobile applications have been focused on providing a new UI for traditional desktop software.

..And like mobile web apps, these have failed to make full use of the technology or deliver the scope of potential benefits, such as improved productivity and efficiency, real-time visibility and workflow, differentiated customer and employee experiences, and reduced operating costs.

Failure in Traditional Approaches

The Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) mobile business software space is predominantly limited to extension apps from traditional independent software vendors (ISVs). Unfortunately, this misses the mark. While an improved UI for back office systems drives some benefits, it’s completely different from mobilizing work by design. Mobilizing by design targets mobile professionals whose work processes are still cumbersome and manually intensive, and whose tools of choice are smartphones and tablets. This powerful platform introduces a paradigm shift that changes the way work is done. The key is designing solutions for mobility from the ground up. The majority of mobile B2E solutions that enterprises want are not available as COTS applications.

So as stated, to strategically mobilize their businesses enterprises have had to build their own apps. However, with the sharply increased demand and executive mandates to capitalize on promised results – all still in the face of a highly fragmented technology landscape

–

enterprises need a better way.

In continued moves to stay ahead of the curve, Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms (MEAP) came on the scene. MEAPs provided a way to create device-independent mobile app front-ends, and a basic set of functional capabilities. Most MEAPs allow for device/OS-independent applications by employing a least-common-denominator approach relative to the functionality supported across all devices/OS’s.

The latest iteration of mobile tools, Mobile Application Development Platforms (MADP), offers a better method for device/OS-independent mobile app development. Some MADPs support a hybrid app development model using a combination of HTML5/JavaScript/CSS for the front-end, and native device functional plugins. This approach offers the opportunity to save on the development effort while leveraging more native capabilities.

New Mobility Software Platforms

Mobility Development

Enterprises looking at mobility as a strategic,

long-term, ongoing initiative have been on this journey

toward maturity in the enterprise mobile space. The

challenges are many.

First, the business is simply having to wait while IT

organizations struggle to choose a sustainable strategy

in the face of the complex, less mature, fragmented,

volatile, and at times confusing, vendor and solutions

landscape.

Second, enterprises are afraid to commit to and invest

in a mobile platform due to the risk and cost exposure.

They’re finding that no one platform meets all their

needs, and many end up with multiple platforms to

address their diverse requirements.

In the end, enterprises are left with the important task

of mobilizing their business, and all the burdens that

have traditionally gone with it – risks, manpower,

special skills, infrastructure, maintenance and support –

which seriously limit their ability to meet demands in a

timely manner

SIGN UP FOR A FREE DEMO TODAY

At nuVizz, we understand the mobile landscape

and we approach enterprise mobility from the

top down. Mobility offers tremendous

opportunities to improve processes, and our

focus is creating complete, commercial-grade,

packaged solutions that address the business

use cases which benefit the most.

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