Best Practices for Enterprise Mobile App Development

Best Practices for Enterprise Mobile App

Development

27-Aug-2013

2 © Alliance Global Services 2013

About Alliance

Alliance is a software development and testing firm that partners

with software, technology and information-intensive businesses

on their mission critical work. Leveraging agile practices, Alliance

architects and builds software applications, mobile applications,

and products that become primary drivers of innovation and

revenue growth for its clients and their businesses. Alliance is

recognized for driving quality and speed-to-market when

business success depends on the software inside. Founded in

1994, Alliance is headquartered in suburban Philadelphia in

Conshohocken, PA.

Today’s Speaker David Rader is Alliance’s CTO. He focuses on improving software

development teams and technology strategy for Alliance’s clients.

David has over 15 years of experience in software development and

consulting and is passionate about delivering great customer

experiences and business value. Prior to joining Alliance, David was

a Senior Partner at Fusion Technologies and has worked for a major

retail brokerage and a data analytics consultancy. David has a BA

from Northwestern University in Economics and Integrated Sciences.


Agenda

Introduction

UX Focus

IT Investment

Cross Platform Approach

Always On (and Offline)

Release Planning


Enterprise Mobile Applications

Examples:

• Field Service

• Sales

• Agents

• Medical

• Retail

• Shipping / Logistics

Customers

Employees

Supply Chain / Sales

Channel

In House Enterprise Systems


Typical Challenges for Enterprises

• Security

• Policy & Compliance

• Usability

• API’s Beyond The Firewall

• Scalability

• Rate of Change

• Cost Management

• Technology


Agenda

Introduction

UX Focus

IT Investment



Release Planning


Systems of Engagement

“Empower people with smart apps and products to take the next most likely action in their immediate

context and moments of need.” – Geoffrey Moore


Winning Your Users Affection

Make your apps:


What Makes a Good App?

Portal Task

Focused &

“Context Aware”


UX Recommendations

Don’t copy existing

systems

Focus on the “real”

business process

It’s better to have a

portfolio of small, focused

apps

Rather than a big,

“kitchen sink portal” app.

Include a UX design team!


Agenda

Introduction

UX Focus

IT Investment



Release Planning


“Simple” Apps Require Back-End Integration

Mobile Field Service App Directory Services

CRM

ERP / Master Data

Transactional


Remember Typical Challenges? Investments Needed!

Security Compliance

MDM

Enterprise App Store

Analytics

MAM

Mobile SSO Entitlements

Auth & Auth

Cloud Services Scalability

Queue

Technology


Security in a BYOD World

• Multiple OS’s - iOS, Android,

Windows Phone, Blackberry

• Personal & Corporate data

• Regulatory requirements

• Sensitive data & encryption

Don’t expect your App (or API) developers to be security

experts – Buy a product


Collaboration between IT & Business

• Business has the “mobile app” budget

– First version is usually “small”

– Getting all the integration in v2 requires back end functionality

– Wants to go FAST!

• IT needs Enterprise investments to work across departments

– Providing standard services for entire organization

– Has to think about next year’s scale

– Usually pulled by business demands due to budget constraints

– Typically “large” investment


Agenda

Introduction

UX Focus

IT Investment Collaboration



Release Planning


Multiple Platforms

Android52.2%

iOS40.0%

BlackBerry4.4%

Microso 3.1%

Symbian0.3%

ComScore US Smartphone Market Share Aug, 2013


Different Mobile Approaches

Capability

Co

mp

lexi

ty &

Co

st

iPad Compatible Website

Mobile Optimized Web App

Hybrid Mobile App

Pure Native Apps

Triage existing websites and apps for compatibility. Ensure most commonly used transactions work correctly.

Create separate website targeted to mobile. Design for touch, small screens, mobile UI pattern, task focused use.

Cross-device, HTML5 based functionality delivered via installed App through common App Stores.

Native iOS and Android apps with full access to device sensors, camera, microphone, video playback, and app integration.

Cross Platform Apps

Native apps built from a shared code base, with native plugins or native UI elements


Server API

UI

Logic

Services

API Client

UI

Logic

Services

API Client

UI

Logic

Services

API Client

iOS Android Windows

Phone

Pure Native

3 Platforms Supported 3 Code Bases to Maintain 3 Full Testing Efforts Hard to Staff -- Need iOS, Java, and C# mobile skillsets

All Native gives the best total user experience but is it worth double the cost?


UI

iOS Android Windows

Phone

UI UI

Logic Services API Client

Server API

Cross Platform Native

3 Platforms Supported Fully Native UI 70 – 80% Shared Code 50 – 60% Less Maintenance Effort Shared Skills across platforms!

Cross Platform Native gives the best UI experience by combining a lot of the common features


Stretching Your Development & Testing Budget

Naive

• 12 Releases Per Year (3 Per Platform)

• 10 Dev’s Total (3 per platform + 1 API)

• 5 Testers Total

• 25-50 devices to test

Cross Platform

• 12 Releases Per Year (3 Per Platform)

• 6 Dev’s Total (5 shared cross platform + 1 API)

• 2 Testers

• 10-15 devices to test

46% Less Maintenance Cost $375,000 Savings Per Year Lower overall risk of app delivery


Agenda

Introduction

UX Focus




Release Planning


Always On Expectations

• Consumerization has trained users to expect 24/7 access

• That work from anywhere

• With very fast response times

• Think about Amazon.com, google.com

– “Always available”

– Sub-second response time

• Enterprise Notions are Quaint

– Scheduled maintenance windows

– Batch processing down-time

– Status bar for slow load

– Control of upgrades


Why Offline?

• Industrial or Remote Settings

– Cement plant inspectors

– Power plant service reps

– Equipment maintenance

– Deliveries

– Network may not be allowed

– Or just impossible (metal,

underground)

• Deliver Always On

– or at least Always Reliable

– Users will quickly tire of re-work or

unable to process


Application Design Considerations

•Sync (& delta)

•Transactions

•Queued Offline

•Entitlements

•Encrypted at rest

•Conflict resolution Secure


Agenda

Introduction

UX Focus




Release Planning


What should V1.0 be?

• Everything you can imagine?

• Just enough to be viable?

• One useful feature?

Fact:

You will learn what users need

and want after you deliver

something to them.


Sprint to Keep Up the Pace

• Agility is a requirement

• “Potentially” Shippable does not have to mean all the way to an

app store

– But it can!

– And with automated testing, and continuous integration – maybe it

should!


20 Releases a Year

App Enhancements

+ OS Updates w/ compatibility, new resolutions

+ Device compatibility

* 2 or * 3 Platforms

_______________________________

1 – 2 releases per month!

You have to automate to survive!


To Recap

• Winning UX • Take Security Seriously • Collaborate on IT investments • Multi-platform Approach • Transactional Offline • Agile Releases


QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS


Thank You David Rader

CTO

[email protected]

www.allianceglobalservices.com

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.allianceglobalservices.com/

http://www.allianceglobalservices.com/