According to a recent survey of by telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson, 35% of mobile phone owners use apps such as Facebook before they get out of bed in the morning.
Pause a moment and let that sink in.
These are the same people that buy your products, view your ads, work in your offices and lead your departments, and over one-third of them use an app before they even get out of bed in the morning!
This is the reality of Connected Mobility. It represents a fundamental change in how we do everything and your consumers, suppliers, employees and competitors are already tapping into this shift. A winning mobile strategy isn’t a nice-to-have anymore; it’s a necessity.
But what does it take?
At Egen, we use a simple but comprehensive One Page Mobile Strategy plan to guide business and I.T. leaders in the creation of mobile strategies. Underlying this plan are 5 critical insights driving success…
1. Define Your Mobile Center-of-Gravity
A strong Mobile Center-of-Gravity is the foundation of every winning mobile strategy. A lot goes into defining this – and you will have to do your homework – but it’s worth it.
Mobile Maturity
Your organization’s Mobile Maturity identifies your current mobile capabilities and measures where you are right now and where you want to be against a standard maturity index (0=No Capabilities; 1=Limited or Tactical Mobile Presence; 2=Mobile Enterprise; 3=Consumer-Facing; 4=Customer Intimacy; 5=Strategic & Innovative). It is a self-assessment, but it creates a clear picture of where you are and where you are heading.
Competitive Landscape
The Competitive Landscape defines where your organization fits into the larger mobile eco-system. It addresses the current sate of mobility (Industry Snapshot); where things are heading (Mobile Trends); what your competitors are doing (Competitor’s Top 5); and opportunities to fundamentally change how things are done (Potential Game Changers).
Strategic Objectives
Every winning mobile strategy starts with the underlying business objectives and then aligns these objective against specific mobile goals and desired capabilities. The focus of this center-of-gravity component is to identify the business objectives driving mobile and then define goals and capabilities aligned with these objectives.
Master Business Case
The Master Business Case defines the value of mobility – to the business and to the users – and defines this value in terms of monetary “Table Stakes” ($ value of mobility; target spend; recoup horizons; and 5 year ROI) used to make strategic decisions.
2. The Right Solution Matters
Native vs Mobile Browser; hybrid or pure-play; how to handle device proliferation; Cloud ready or self-hosted; performance & scalability… these are some of the critical design drivers for a mobile app – and getting them right is critical. So how does an organization ensure their mobile strategy drives towards the right solution?
Ask the right questions.
10 Questions Driving Mobile Solutions
- Will you be supporting one target device or multiple devices?
- Native app or web (or both)?
- Self-contained or will the apps have a backend component?
- Is the backend self-hosted or CloudSmart?
- Standard devices or BYOD?
- Device constraints?
- Able to function without internet connectivity?
- Apps need to scale?
- High availability and/or DR?
- What are the key app KPIs for success?
3. It’s All About the UX
An app with a lousy user experience (UX) is worse than no app at all. There’s nothing worse than building an app that no one uses. The best way to ensure your organization doesn’t make the same mistakes as these folks is to address the key UX drivers in your mobile strategy. Many of the UX details are app-specific, but several elements span an organization. As a minimum, your mobile strategy should address the following areas:
- Purpose. What’s the driving purpose (or purposes) behind your mobile strategy? How will these be addressed as part of the UX?
- Target Audience. What types of users will your apps target? How will their needs be addressed in the UX?
- Context. How will your apps be used across broad scenarios? How will this drive the UX?
- Customer Experience (CX). What type of CX are you looking for? How will this drive customer intimacy?
- Branding. How will the UX enforce a consistent brand and image across all apps?
- Design Language. Will there be a common Design Language defining a consistent UX across devices and apps?
- UX Design Process. What is your organization’s process for creating world-class user experiences?
- Constraints. Are there any constraints impacting UX design?
4. Talent Drives Success
When it comes time to execute on a mobile strategy, talented people make all the difference. But the mobile strategy itself needs to identify the type of talent needed – and where to find this talent. The last thing you want is a budget that doesn’t include the cost of the talent you need.
5. Don’t Forget Security and Privacy
Mobile devices come with all sorts of interesting features that tend to drive IT departments crazy: cameras, microphones, geo-location, bluetooth, etc. And then there are the apps themselves – wonderful little nuggets of uncontrolled mayhem downloaded directly from some app store without direct IT department oversight.
Complicating everything are the users themselves. There may be information we’d like to use, but how do we ensure we protect a user’s privacy?
The mobile strategy must address both of these areas. Detailed solutions aren’t required, but the strategy needs to identify the Critical Security Concerns all apps must address and the Key Privacy Policies they will support.
Putting Everything Into Perspective
Connected Mobility is changing everything. If you want to know why a winning strategy is important, just take a look at this.
Up Next: Leveraging Your Web Investment in the Push to Mobile
-Mike
@mobilebizguru
Previous: Welcome to Mobility Insights
Mobility Insights 