Info-Tech Research Group1 Headline / Subhead Vertical Spacing V3 Choose a Mobile Development...

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Choose a Mobile Development StrategyYou already have the tools, so ignore the hype and go mobile your way!


Get informed on the options in mobile application development, ranging from native web, to HTML5, to MEAP, in order to create a user-friendly application.

Mobile is an essential technology and organizations are taking advantage of its strengths

Application Development Managers responsible for setting a mobile development strategy

Systems Architects looking to build sustainable solutions that include mobile components

Software Developers tasked with writing code for one or more mobile platforms

Quality Assurance Managers leading a mobile testing effort

Better understand the mobile development landscape today

Understand where mobile development is headed in the short and long term

Caution you on risks in mobile development

Allow you to make informed decisions about next steps in developing a mobile application strategy

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:


Understand that mobile development is a manageable process that isn’t as radical as you may think.

Executive Summary

• Recognize that mobile applications are ubiquitous, but the hype is not as daunting as it may seem. Use your existing principles when developing a mobile strategy.

• With many options to choose from, such as iOS, Android, and BlackBerry, you must develop a clear strategy.

• Due to consumerization, the mobile device market is controlled by end users. These end users dictate which devices they use, and in what context.

• Choosing the correct mobile development tool for your organization is critical. Companies should veer from hyped products, and be conscious of future vendor lock-in with proprietary tools, which do no integrate with current development standards and practices.

• Understand the entire ecosystem of native apps, being cautious of the complications that can come with developing an Enterprise Application Store (EAS).

• Organizations should develop web apps to avoid code fragmentation and long-term maintenance and version complexities that can arise from side-by-side web and native app development.

• Native apps should be considered when specific hardware features, like cameras or contacts, is essential to application functionality. Tool selection for native apps should remain simplified.


See the challenges of mobile development as opportunities for end-user creativity

The pervasiveness, and fragmentation of mobile devices leads to challenges, and opportunities for mobile app development.

• Mobile applications are an excellent way for businesses to engage with customers and employees. They are designed so that a single task can be completed anywhere, at any time, making them extremely appealing to users.

• The different form factors and platforms each have specific features. Businesses can build use-cases for these different features, and create mobile experiences that satisfy the majority of end users.

Challenges

Opportunities

• The large number of different mobile devices has created a high level of fragmentation, yet users expect the same features and experience across platforms, and form factors.

• The mobile development market is not as mature as desktop and web. Mobile applications require a sound strategy to guide a development team forward without introducing unnecessary risk that locks users into a platform that may not be supported in the future.

• Even within a single platform, upgrades are not always backward compatible. This introduces risk in redevelopment efforts.

We know that mobile apps are going to become more

prevalent, not less.

-Peter Coppola, Associate Director

Australian Catholic University


MOBILE STRATEGY• Without a sound strategy, requirements will

spiral into a wish list of unnecessary user, and technical requirements that serve no purpose to the business. This wastes precious resources, and capital on development that has no ROI.

• Over time, useful applications tend to see increased take up. Without a governing strategy, the mobile application will eventually bloat into its own team, and processes that may not utilize existing infrastructure and processes. Left unchecked, integration of two development silos at this stage becomes extraordinarily difficult, and expensive.

• A lack of strategic mobile development focus will result in problematic apps. Organizations will struggle with uncontrolled requirements testing.

Target your end users with solid requirements building, and avoid a spontaneous mobile development strategyDeveloping a right-size mobile strategy is necessary because there are implications across the development stack.

DEPLOYMENT

TESTING

DEVELOPMENT

REQUIREMENTS


Use your existing application development best practices and keep development processes intact to minimize your costs

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

NON- MOBILE

MOBILE

BEST PRACTICES

INTEGRATED TOOLS

GOVERNED PROCESSES

RESOURCES

The fundamentals of application development still apply in the mobile space, and should be used to your advantage, and adjusted to your needs.

• Fundamental application development issues, and best practices do not change with mobile development. The goal should be to address business needs, following a consistent development process, which includes proper requirements gathering, coding standards, reviews, version control, unit and integration testing, and controlled deployment.

• Look at leveraging your existing application investments, or risk the creation of custom development stacks that lead to data governance and application maintenance problems in the future.

• Keep your mobile development tools integrated with your current toolset to avoid a situation where obtaining good metrics to improve your process is not available.

• Appoint the right people for mobile development. Assume mobile development will require its own construction process. This will help you mature faster as mobile, and non-mobile development teams communicate.


• Avoid development tool isolation where a radically new method of developing is incompatible with your current tool set. This will create an unnecessary learning curve for development teams, and lead to development process partitioning.

• Current development tools represent an investment in best practices, and lessons learned. Mobile development should integrate into that trajectory.

• Keep your options open. Stay away from vendor lock-in, and look for tools that can be switched in the future without compromising your development efforts.

Integrate mobile development tools into your existing ecosystem to save time and money

Just because you have a variety of mobile platforms, capabilities, and form factors to choose from does not mean you have to dismiss old best practices.

DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR

MOBILE

DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR

NON-MOBILE

The goal of tool selection should be to encourage cross-communication, not to create individual development pockets. To optimize your mobile application development strategy, use your existing best practices.

Our mobile web strategy is very much using the same

infrastructure as our other applications.

-Peter CoppolaAssociate Director



Find your place on the development grid to help select the right tools for your mobile development projectMobile development is a natural progression of your current development approach.

Form FactorDesktop Mobile

Pla

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IDE for Desktop

Proprietary MEAP

Open Source IDE for Desktop

Open Source MEAP

Proprietary IDE for Mobile

HTML

© Info-Tech Research Group

Mobile development can be done using several tool categories.

Proprietary tools may offer faster time to market at the expense of

scalability and flexibility. Organizations should be careful not to lock in to a single vendor. Web represents the most flexible

option to develop across platforms, and form factors.

Info-Tech’s Tool-Taxonomy Matrix helps organizations understand the

crucial elements of mobile applications before jumping right in. It is essential to have a clear understanding of the differing platforms, ranging from iOS, Android, and BlackBerry, the different form factors, and the

choice between web and native applications.

Tool-Taxonomy Matrix


Web development for mobile apps allows for the greatest access from the greatest amount of devices. Don’t go native if you don’t have to!

Make future-oriented decisions; web applications are ideal for cross-platform development

• Unless it’s absolutely necessary to take advantage of device specific hardware, do not develop native mobile apps because it requires investment in App Stores, application specific support, deployment and versioning, form factor refactoring, and platform specific extensions.

• Leverage your current investment in web application development to move into mobile web development. Your developer skill set will still be useful in the mobile space, and you will not be tied to a mobile vendor specific tool that may not survive in the long term.

• Mobile hardware vendors have standardized on a few web rendering engines for devices. This consolidation is helpful to your development efforts because it abstracts the hardware away from the application. Take advantage of it.

• HTML5 is seen by many as the next generation web markup language that is cross platform, and cross device. Many prominent sites already use this technology. Organizations looking for a long term, sustainable development plan should seriously consider the web over of native apps.

Development Team

While web development is notable for its versatility, it does have its weaknesses as well, which will be discussed in further detail later in this solution set. That being said, your development team’s web development experience should be considered, and taken advantage of to maximize your mobile app’s capabilities.

Info-Tech Insight


Investigate your user base, and business needs to find your place in the mobile space

Mobile development is just one part of a much bigger development strategy. That is why organizations

should not develop a mobile strategy that radically diverts from the overall development strategy. This solution set will dive further

into each of the three dimensions in our Development3 Framework:

Form Factor, Platform, and Application. It is important to make strategic decisions about each of these axes, as they will drastically change the success of your mobile

application. Understand which devices your users are currently

using, and try to predict the future.

© Info-Tech Research Group

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Development3 Framework


Step carefully into the mobile development space to enable business goalsDon’t go full throttle into the mobile development space without a solid business case. Like every technology, you must gauge mobile’s appropriateness for your organization.• Mobile development is an attractive prospect for many

organizations due to the ubiquity of mobile devices, but its usefulness will vary.

• Some organizations can enhance the productivity of their workers through existing mobile functionality. Some workers will only require mobile email access, which does not require a full-fledged mobile development strategy.

• Mobile development should initially be considered in two cases: user demand for particular mobile functionality that is poorly supported, or not currently offered by the existing technology environment, or to capitalize on mobile technology to enable particular business objectives.

• As with any major IT project, consider the current state of your IT environment. Taking on a mobile development project without an assessment of your IT department’s current capabilities could lead to a non-starter that will waste time, and resources. The costs of a failed mobile development project are not trivial.

Mobility suffers from a significant amount of hype in technology circles, and the clamour for its use may be harmful to the success of your organization. See Info-Tech’s solution set Choose a Consumerization Strategy for more details on the pitfalls of mobility.

We want to develop a document that explains what

our mobile strategy is.



http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-choose-a-consumerization-strategy


Assess the appropriateness of mobile development for your organization with Info-Tech’s tool

Not all organizations will require a mobile development strategy. Use Info-Tech’s “Mobile Development Readiness Assessment Tool” to determine, based on your unique criteria, where an opportunity exists for your organization in the mobile development space.

1. The assessment of the appropriateness of mobility is a simple go or no-go, but you should always consider it as a possibility for a future IT project.

2. The appropriateness of mobility will increase as your processes mature.

3. Often, organizations jump into mobile development because they feel they have to. Use this assessment to identify early on what your drivers should be.

Info-Tech Advice

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-mobile-development-readiness-assessment-tool

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-mobile-development-readiness-assessment-tool


What’s in this Section: Sections:

Form Factor

Introduction

Executive Summary

Form Factor

Platform

Application Type

Challenge, Pitfalls, and Costs

Conclusion

• An explanation of different form factors

• Pros and cons for tablets, and smartphones

• Some challenges that arise because of the many different form factors

• Reassurance that you can adapt your existing process for mobile development

• A checklist for how to develop for multiple form factors


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Find your place in the highly fragmented form factor space

The different form factors for mobile

development follow a continuum. You have already developed for desktops and laptops: developing for mobile devices is not much different. Use your

existing best practices to move across the

continuum in order to successfully develop mobile applications.

Choosing your form factors can be extremely difficult due to pressure from the business to develop for multiple devices, but don’t get bogged down!

Right now, there are many different form factors. These form factors each have different features that are not repeatable across all devices. In the future, organizations can expect to see even more form factors being created.


Develop for the right form factor to improve the end-user experience and avoid wasted effort

Strengths:

• The larger size of tablets enables users to easily sift through information.

• Users can comfortably click/touch buttons with relative ease.

• Several images can appear on a screen at once, without hindering the user experience.

• Substantial text can be read without changing pages too frequently.

Weaknesses:

• Too much information on one page can distract from the main point.

• Giving the user too many clickable/touchable options may be confusing, detracting from the overall user experience.

• The touch screen may be difficult for some users to navigate; too many steps may cause the user to lose interest.

Strengths:

• The smaller screen size is ideal for a single message to be displayed.

• The small screen makes navigating through a site easier (assuming there is only one or two buttons per page).

Weaknesses:

• Messages must be kept short in order to fit on the small screen size.

• Touch screen smartphones can be hard to click; can only have one or two buttons per page.

• There are vast variations of form factors in smartphones (ex. screen size, keyboard vs. touch screen, etc.) and each one must be tailored to in a different way.

TABLET SMARTPHONE


Develop a strategy for multiple form factors to avoid isolating your end users

Consumers’ preferences are widespread, creating immense fragmentation in the mobile device market that forces developers to consider multiple form factors to reach a wider audience.

Requirements Gathering

User Interface

Testing

Tools

Maintenance

Support

• Requirements gathering must account for different screen sizes. The user experience needs to be seamless; otherwise, the user will not be productive.

• Increased User Interface complexity for additional form factors. With different screen sizes, there may be added development effort required to make the user interface appealing, without unintended stretching of GUI elements.

• Test teams should expect more time for development to thoroughly test devices in different form factors.

• Maintenance involves retesting on several form factors. Once deployed, maintenance releases and bug fixes will be required across all form factors. Unintended consequences can creep in, and should be documented so that future maintenance releases can more accurately predict impact.

• Support involves multiple UI experts. Scrolling, and swiping may not be as necessary in larger form factors. As much as possible, to minimize code branching, develop to a single UI standard. Otherwise, you will have to maintain multiple device interfaces, making maintenance more difficult.


Prepare your people, process, and technology for constant form factor flux to keep pace with user expectations

People

Process

Technology

• Users are expecting fast, nimble, user-friendly apps across different screen sizes to help them be more productive.

• Developers are under pressure to write code that works across different screen sizes, and scales.

• Device manufacturers are continually innovating to add higher resolution, and form factors to further differentiate their product in the market place.

• The Software Development Life Cycle must include integration testing across form factors, and resolutions.

• Software development teams need to understand the process of unit testing, and developing for multiple form factors.

• Mobile application developers should consider which form factors are best suited to their needs before developing an application.

• The speed of technological change makes it difficult to develop without a continual focus on maintenance releases as new form factors, and hardware hits the market.

• Application functionality will likely not be identical across all smart devices largely because of the differing screen sizes, and features. These differences pose a challenge for developers as applications need to work seamlessly across all of them.

One form factor does not fit all. Prepare your people, process, and technology to limit the impact of constantly changing form factors.


Follow these four steps when choosing mobile form factors in order to maximize your ROI, and minimize costs

Amazon is to introduce up to five or six tablet SKUs…the tablets will be different sizes, including a 10-inch model…

-Amazon's mobile ambitions grow, Reuters , July 23, 2012

Maximize your ROI: Do not develop for every form factor if you don’t have to. Find out which form factors your end users need and only develop for those.

Ensure that your application is user friendly for ALL of the form factors you develop for. Get user feedback often, and use this feedback to cater to your end users.

Make sure you have testing, support, and maintenance resources ready for form factors that you choose. The more form factors you develop for, the more this will matter.

Consider the future when developing your mobile application. Expect more form factors to be constructed in the future, so developing for a single form factor indefinitely is not ideal.



Platform

• An overview of the most popular mobile platforms

• Advice for choosing the correct mobile platforms for your organization

• Suggestions for multiplatform development options

• Recommendations for programming languages, and agile cross-platform approaches

Introduction

Executive Summary

Form Factor

Platform

Application Type

Challenges, Pitfalls, and Costs

Conclusion


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Understand the challenges of a multiplatform strategy, or risk a painful process

Going multiplatform with your mobile development strategy is ideal, but each new platform adds complexity, and potentially costs.

Bring your developers to the table. Knowing what your resources are developing in mobile apps will clarify the level of expertise of your staff. Avoid using out-of-the-box solutions that attempt to bypass a lack of knowledge in these areas.

Each platform has a different native code language, and API that may be unfamiliar to you:• Developing native apps for all platforms

requires an understanding of the language, and low level APIs available in each platform, making a custom approach expensive.

• Cross platform development requires an approach that abstracts the underlying platform, yet allows applications to work natively.

It may be impossible to add the same features across all platforms:• Mobile vendors are in competition to deliver

on innovative devices. Taking advantage of the new features creates tension with developing around a common code base.

• Users may expect a certain feature on their platform which is not available on others.


Know the mobile market, or you might waste your efforts in choosing the wrong platform to support.

Know the ins and outs of the most popular mobile platforms to prepare your developers for user demands

Mobile Platform

iOS AndroidBlackBerry

OSWindows

PhoneSymbian

Company or developer

Apple Inc. Google Research in Motion Microsoft Accenture via Nokia

Supported programming languages

C, C++, Objective-C C, C++, Python, Java C++, Java C++, .NET C++

Installed base of active users

200 million worldwide 275 million 175 million Estimated at ~20 million

250 million

Strengths Platform version consistent across devices

Highly customizable Security, enterprise focus

Windows compatibility

Large install base

Weaknesses Enterprise security Fragmented platform versions, security

Declining growth in worldwide market

Slow adoption rate on consumer level

Merging with Windows Phone in 2016


Focus on apps over devices to handle the shifting mobile landscape

The type of device is becoming less of a concern. A multiplatform strategy that focuses on apps will ease transitions in a rapidly changing market.

• Android and iOS are both safe bets in terms of long-term market viability. Failing to support them will create low end user satisfaction.

• Mitigating the risks of these less secure devices will be simpler if you prepare your network for them, and properly enable, and lock down your end-users.

Don’t get stuck with obsolete technology

Why back one winner, when you can back them all?

• Going multiplatform from the start will help you prepare for the shifts in the market.

• Being inflexible about the choice of supported platforms will lead to frustrated end users, wasted IT effort, and inevitable security breaches when end-users decide to access the network on an unsecure device in spite of IT’s decree.

Two and a half years ago, someone said: ‘what would happen if we allowed our employees to use their iPhones and Blackberries to check their email?’ We went down that engineering path to validate these solutions.

-John Simpson,Enterprise Architect, Intel

Use Info-Tech’s existing research on Mobile Device Management to guide you through your mobility security concerns.

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/understand-and-develop-a-mobile-management-strategy-


Use HTML5 to simplify your multiplatform strategy

HTML5 is a well-supported programming language that is usable on multiple platforms, but be wary of its shortcomings.

HTML5 is gaining support in the mobile development space

• HTML5 is not yet a standard in the mobile space, but it is gaining traction among developers for its versatility.

• HTML5 can create advanced web features that can be used in any mobile browser that supports it, and can even allow for mobile use cases.

• AppCache allows for local storage to minimize workflow interruptions from a lack of connectivity.

• HTML5 is an open standard, thus can be tapped for use on a number of platforms.

Applications that used to be written for specific computer

architectures, CPUs, operating systems and devices are now

increasingly written for the Web...

-Antero Taivalsaari, Kari Systä, "Cloudberry: HTML5 Cloud Phone Platform for Mobile

Devices," IEEE Software, 29 March 2012.

Further discussion about HTML5, and its capabilities will be addressed later on in the solution set.

HTML5 is not a perfect language

• HTML5 is still a potential security concern, and has some issues with synchronizing, and storing local data. Make sure that your organization can handle these shortcomings before adopting HTML5 as a solution.


Intel had to decide between developing a native app, and developing on HTML5. With the UIs faring similar, they decided on the HTML5 option.

Case Study: Intel decides to go with an HTML5 mobile application strategy

Industry:Segment:

Source:

SemiconductorsApplication DevelopmentInfo-Tech Client Interview

Intel was in the process of developing its mobile applications. From business management, there was a strong preference towards native apps; the assumption being that native apps provide the best user experience. However, these native apps are costly, and time consuming to transfer to multiple platforms.

Situation

The development team realized the complexity of the situation: while the user experience is extremely important, so is a far reach. HTML5 was perfectly capable for the goals of this app. They presented the app on a native platform, and an HTML5 version to management, requested that management try both, and see which they preferred.

Action

Seeing that there was no difference in user experience for this application, and considering the cost, time, and reach of the app, Intel went with the HTML5 apps.

Results

We held them side by side, and management could not

tell the difference.-John Simpson

Enterprise Architect, Intel



Application Type

• Overview of application types

• Selection advice for right-sized application types

• Overview of the Enterprise Application Store

Introduction

Executive Summary

Form Factor

Platform

Application Type


Conclusion


Choose an application type that fits your strategy to avoid having to recondition in the future

The choice of native apps versus web apps is critical. Choosing the

wrong application type will negatively impact existing

development processes, and people, resulting in confusion, and

buggy releases.Selection of the app type is not just

a software construction issue. Organizations must take into

account the entire mobile development lifecycle including

deployment, frequency of updates, and user support.

Organizations need to consider a long-term perspective for app type. Even though consumer apps are

immensely popular today, the industry is moving toward

standardizing on web.

Organizations should map their application type based on requirements, and reusability, rather than simply assuming that native is the best approach.

Web applications enable organizations to create once, and run many times. This strategy is the most cost effective method. However, organizations should be aware that with a web application, they will not be able to take full advantage of device-specific hardware features.

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Choose a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform for distributing simple native apps across multiple platformsMEAP is a middle ground between native and web applications, but is limited in its ability to take advantage of the hardware of multiple devices.

• An entire Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) ecosystem has emerged to help native app developers lower cost, and ease multiplatform native app development.

• Traditionally, to develop native applications, organizations were required to develop on several different languages, using several different development teams. This was costly, and time consuming. However, MEAP is a solution that converts all native languages into a single language, enabling organizations to develop on a single language for multiple platforms.

• While this is seemingly flawless, there are drawbacks. Not all MEAP solutions have identical features. Therefore, even though these are ‘native’ apps, they do not necessarily capitalize on all hardware features for every device. If your organization requires a specific functionality, it is imperative to do your homework, and check which MEAP providers can actually accommodate your needs.

MEAP applications certainly have their benefits. They enable organizations to take advantage of multiple platforms while developing on a single language. However, there are many vendor offerings in this space that offer different features. Check out Info-Tech’s vendor landscape Mobile Development Platforms for more guidance on this topic.

MEAP

App

licat

ion

Cod

e

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-vendor-landscape-mobile-development-platforms


Leverage the abstraction of MEAP tools to produce native apps instead of locking your code into a single platformConsider MEAP tools in the short term rather than native app development, but it will not solve all of your platform coding problems.

• Abstracts the native hardware, and allow developers to use existing tools, and standards.• Provides native look, and feel of widgets.• Can compile into native app for multiple platforms, and form factors.• Can take advantage of native hardware features like local storage, and geolocation.

Benefits of MEAP tools

• Creates multiple code branches within the development trunk, making duplication within the development of code hard to detect.

• Not all tools are mature, and integrate with the full development lifecycle (mobile and non-mobile). This separates mobile testing, and deployment into its own process. The more mature MEAP tools contain their own proprietary repositories, which makes measurement of development metrics difficult.

• There is always some degree of customization required per platform. This makes a single code base for all mobile development difficult to achieve.

Drawbacks of MEAP tools


Choose a web application to get the furthest reach, and the most versatility

Web applications enable organizations to run apps on all platforms and form factors, but are not strong in device-specific features.

• Web applications are generally simple versions of desktop applications streamlined for mobile use.

• They are optimal for cross-platform development because the features that they use are ubiquitous, and functional when accessed from any kind of mobile device.

• Excellent for allowing easy access to existing resources already located on the web, and displaying that information in a way that can be consumable from any platform or form factor.

Simpler is always better with web applications. If you overload it with features, not every device will be able to handle the app.

Web applications can

offer some security by

authenticating users via login

credentials.

They can also allow for simple actions like text entry and drop-

down list selection.


Choose web apps for a broader set of scenarios, and make future-oriented decisions

Select a web app strategy to retain long-term flexibility.

• Development process can be easily integrated into current web application development practices.

• Requires no installation, and updates are immediate for the end user.• Consolidation of mobile web rendering engines means there is a consistent look and feel

across devices, and form factors.• Allows bug reports, and support requests to be funneled into a single code base for

distribution to maintenance teams. This means code branching, and merging is easier because of a single code base.

• Greater development synergy between team members due to similar technologies across platforms and form factors.

Benefits of web apps

• Requires the end user to be connected to the internet. There may be a cost for data transfer based on the user’s mobile plan.

• User experience does not include native widget look and feel, which can disrupt the user flow if not properly designed.

• Performance is dependent on light payloads to and from the web application. Heavy data exchange will be sluggish.

• Lack of integration with device-specific hardware. For example, cameras and contacts features will not be available through a web application.

Drawbacks of Web Apps


Weigh the costs of native apps versus their rich featuresNative applications offer great detail for device-specific functionality. However, developing for multiple forms requires multiple languages.

• Native applications are optimized for specific devices by taking advantage of specific hardware capabilities.

• They are more difficult to develop for in a multiplatform ecosystem as a result, but may be necessary depending on the use case.

• Great for field use, as they do not always require web access to perform functions, and are potentially more secure as they are bound to a particular end user’s device.

Use cases for native should be considered carefully. Know which features are essential and which are nice-to-have.

Native applications are best suited when

they require device-specific features, such as touchscreen

capabilities.

They can also integrate other

web-based services, such as geolocation.


Consider the entire ecosystem before developing a native app to avoid complications in the development cycle

Construction

Support

Distribution

Testing

Developing a native app involves using a

completely different construction method .

Testing is completely different than for your

other applications. You’ll need to test for two different streams

(assuming your app is only for one platform).

Distribution for a native app involves using an App

Store. If you plan to develop an Enterprise

App Store there are many complications that will

follow.

With native apps, you have to consider a support cycle that

includes updating the App Store for users to

download the latest maintenance releases.

Native app ecosystem

The accessibility of your enterprise application store is dependent on native apps. Large companies developing native applications may want to consider developing an EAS to ensure all of the apps can be found in one place.


Customize carefully with an Enterprise Application Store

Construction

Support

Distribution

Testing

Native app ecosystem

The EAS can act as a gateway to public App Stores such as Apple, and Google’s App Stores. This allows a level of mobile device management as it gives IT a degree of control over which apps get downloaded onto a user’s device.

• Enterprise App Stores (EAS) are in-house, or vendor-owned application stores that distribute your enterprise mobile apps to your users’ devices.

• Like public App Stores, the EAS allows the enterprise to distribute, secure, and control the applications it develops for its employees. It also shows employees which apps are appropriate to use in their workspace so they don’t use alternate, less secure options.

• Building a customer EAS for your enterprise can be a costly endeavor, but you will be in better control over upgrades to your enterprise apps.

• Outsourcing your App Store to outside vendors is a potential solution, but creates a middleman that can slow the distribution process. Consider your own enterprise’s capabilities before choosing to go with an outside vendor.

Enterprise App Stores are necessary when developing native, and MEAP apps. Stay on top of application quality control to keep your users happy.


Choose native apps in certain scenarios, to optimize platforms’ specific features

Choose a native app strategy if you need specific hardware features, or have limited distribution platforms

We use native apps for the user experience.


Australia Catholic University

We pushed everything down to web, unless they needed native specific features.

-John SimpsonEnterprise Architect, Intel

• The APIs are not compatible across platforms, which makes each device development its own trajectory.

• Mobile device manufacturers have their own development roadmaps, and organizations will be tied to the device roadmap, including patch release testing, version upgrades, and API changes.

• Deployment is dependent on an App Store for distribution, and manual user intervention for installation. Organizations will have to monitor device installations, and manage onboarding, and termination of app access.

• Requires highly skilled developers in a specific platform for native app development.• Native development tools leading to debug, and test cycles that may not integrate with

existing tools.

Drawbacks of Native Apps

• Offers more flexibility, such as the ability to take advantage of hardware, and customer API features, like cameras or contacts.

• The app can work offline, and resync when the user comes back online.• Provides native user interface widgets, which minimizes user experience friction.• Maximum performance in cases where speed is critical to the user experience.• Opportunity for differentiation as development is not based on a lowest common

denominator.

Benefits of Native Apps


Make a well-informed choice for your application type, or risk getting locked into a bad investment

MEAP Web Native

Access for all platforms by default

Access to all platforms by default Requires coding for each platform

Allows for use of hardware and web features

Allows for use of web features only

Allows for use of hardware and web features

Requires versioning, and upgrades for each platform

Only requires upgrades to one web application

Requires versioning, and upgrades for each platform

Development may be simplified for multiplatform, but still requires some custom coding

Only requires programming in one language

Requires programming in the language of each target platform

Requires App Store Deployed on web for central access

Requires App Store

MEAP


Choose the appropriate development approach with the Enterprise Mobile App Type Assessment Tool

Your organization’s needs determine the app type you’ll develop. Use Info-Tech’s “Mobile App Type Assessment Tool” to determine, based on your unique criteria, which app type is best for your mobile development project.

1. Let your requirements drive the decision. Don’t develop a mobile app just because of the hype.

2. Consider an app type strategy in light of future maintenance, and support costs, which may include App Stores, and resources.

Info-Tech Advice

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/it-enterprise-mobile-application-type-assessment-tool


You’ve established what platforms, and form factors to develop for, and which application type to create, but that’s only part of your overall strategy.

Move forward with your mobile development strategy

You are here. Now

what?

Strategic decisions about platform, form factor, and application type are key to any mobile development

strategy, but your path to a mobile enterprise will still be fraught with challenges and

pitfalls. The technology concerns are important, but even more important are the

needs of your enterprise, which will also need to be

considered when attempting to start mobile development.



Challenges, Pitfalls, and Costs

• Advice on proper requirements gathering

• The pitfalls of mobile application development

• The sources of costs based on your form factor, platform, and application type

Introduction

Executive Summary

Form Factor

Platform

Application Type


Conclusion


Requirements gathering is the most important step in the process of creating a mobile development strategy, so take the time to get it right.

Adapt to the consumerized mobile space by gathering thorough requirements for your development projects

Able to handle project disruption

Achieved overall success

0

10

20

30

40

50

11 8

29

42

Mobile Development Success from Re-

quirements Gathering

Low IT Involvement High IT Involvement

• Requirements gathering is a step that can be looked over in a consumerized ecosystem because the demands on IT are mainly driven by the users.

• Failure to have IT heavily involved in all aspects of mobile development requirements-gathering affects the development team’s ability to deal with unforeseen issues, and the overall success of the project.

• 72% of IT professionals agree that high levels of IT involvement in requirements gatherings allow their development team to handle unforeseen issues with ease, and 64% agreed that it aids in the overall efficiency of development projects.

• User feedback is a key component of requirements gathering, but IT must be heavily involved in the inception and development of the process in order to improve development project success rates.

Requirements gathering for mobile development can be a tough ordeal. Use Info-Tech’s research to Overcome the Barriers to Good Requirements Management.

http://www.infotech.com/research/ss/overcome-the-barriers-to-good-requirements-management


Following best practices, the Australian Catholic University surveyed its end users before finalizing their mobile app because the end user has all of the power.

Case Study: The Australian Catholic University ensures its mobile app will have value before developing it

Industry:Segment:

Source:

EducationWeb Services/Information TechnologyInfo-Tech Client Interview

Situation Action Results

The Australian Catholic University is currently developing a mobile presence. They are gearing their applications around students, and creating app browsers for students to easily search things.

The development team was proactive, and surveyed the power holders- the students- to optimize the value of the app. Further, they are currently waiting on management approval, ensuring that they receive a second opinion on the specific purpose of the app.

Though it’s early in the development cycle, it can be foreseen that the app will be more successful than had they developed one without first setting out its purpose. The user experience will be far better because the students were part of the decision-making process.

We’ve surveyed students to find out what services they want.

-Peter Coppola Associate Director, Australian Catholic University


Stay platform and form factor flexible in the user-controlled mobile space

Remember the mobile landscape is still going through tremendous innovation in form factors, platforms, and development tools.

• Mobile hardware vendors are pushing traditional boundaries between mobile, and tablet. Organizations should remain flexible, and not avoid standardization.

• Increased resolution on devices will mean development teams have to create flexible user interfaces that allow for rip, and replace without requiring a complete retesting of applications.

• HTML5 continues to make inroads as a viable long-term platform. Large scale web sites, and their mobile counterparts already use the technology which has the advantage of being an open, standards-based platform which is supported across devices. This has the greatest potential for leveraging existing development practices and tool sets, and should therefore be considered as a first option by organizations.

• MEAP continues to mature by allowing native execution with easier development. Organizations should be careful to select a vendor with the widest range of target platforms without locking in through the use of proprietary infrastructure, or development tools.

The industry has reached a tipping point: mobile devices are first order citizens in the app development space. Some organizations have already assumed mobile will be the primary driver of development in the coming years. The development goals should remain constant to enable the use of mobile platforms to achieve a successful development strategy.

We have the mix because originally we went through

the hard task of engineering everything to get a native application

strategy to make sure that the application had the

right infrastructure.

-John Simpson Enterprise Architect

Intel


Justify your strategy with proper measurement tools to gauge the success of your application

What will this cost?

How do I justify the investment

How do I measure success?

• If you have a well defined process, adding new form factors should not be a significant impact to the current process. However, if your process is not well defined, it could be very expensive with duplication in effort.

Your ROI will be higher if you have a well established process in place. However, if you must develop a process from scratch, these efforts will be

applicable for future development endeavors.

• Measure the usage amongst the end users. This will measure the quantity of people using your application.

• Request feedback from the end users to gauge their satisfaction. This will measure the quality of your application.

It is essential to continually measure your applications’ success. Without this information it is impossible to know how to move forward.

• Improvement in user productivity.• New, and more suitable channels for application deployment.• Leverages existing mid, and backend investments.

If developing your mobile application yields these three results, the investment is justified. The benefits will certainly outweigh the costs in the

long run.


When comparing native, and web applications, it is imperative that you consider the difference in price.

Understand where your development costs are coming from to optimize your mobile development strategy

Native Application Web Application

Construction Testing Distribution Construction Testing Distribution

While developing native applications enables organizations to take full advantage of different devices’ unique hardware features, it certainly costs more. For each step, organizations must pay for the development for each platform, whereas with web applications they pay per step.


Conclusion

• Mobile development techniques are not radically new. They are a natural evolution from desktop to laptop, and now into mobile and tablet form factors. Therefore, the same principles that apply to traditional non-mobile development still apply, such as requirements gathering, development practices, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

• Organizations must have a very clear mobile development strategy to avoid plunging existing development practices into chaos. An ad hoc mobile development approach can pull away critical resources, and funds from other projects. Failed mobile development projects can be costly, but a solid strategy will keep people, and processes aligned for mobile development success.

• Mobile development is governed by three dimensions: form factor, platform, and application. Organizations should understand the pros and cons of choosing where to play in this space.

• Choice of mobile development tools is critically important. Organizations should stay away from the hype, and be careful about future vendor lock-in with proprietary tools, which do not integrate with current development standards and practices.

• Mobile web apps will provide the greatest long term flexibility for organizations as compared to native mobile apps. Organizations should develop web apps as a default to avoid code fragmentation, and long term maintenance, and version complexities. Native apps should be considered only if local hardware features are required in the app functionality.

• It is imperative to continually measure your success. To do this, measure the usage of your apps amongst your users, and request feedback.


Appendix: Survey Results

• Conclusion • Survey Respondents • Mobile Development • Hypotheses• IT Involvement in mobile development processes• Reflection • Current state of mobile development team


Conclusion

• Mobile development techniques are not radically new. They are a natural evolution from desktop to laptop and now into mobile and tablet form factors. Therefore, the same principles that apply to traditional non-mobile development still apply, such as requirements gathering, development practices, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

• Organizations must have a very clear mobile development strategy to avoid plunging existing development practices into chaos. An ad hoc mobile development approach can pull away critical resources and funds from other projects. Failed mobile development projects can be costly but a solid strategy will keep people and processes aligned for mobile development success.

• Mobile development is governed by three dimensions: form factor, platform, and application. Organizations should understand the pros and cons of choosing where to play in this space.

• Choice of mobile development tools is critically important. Organizations should stay away from the hype and be careful about future vendor lock-in with proprietary tools, which do not integrate with current development standards and practices.

• Mobile web apps will provide the greatest long term flexibility for organizations as compared to native mobile apps. Organizations should develop web apps as a default to avoid code fragmentation and long term maintenance and version complexities. Native apps should be considered only if local hardware features are required in the app functionality.

• It is imperative to continually measure your success. To do this, measure the usage of your apps amongst your users and request feedback.


Survey Respondents - Industry


Survey Respondents - Location


Survey Respondents – Full-Time Employees


Survey Respondents – IT Employees


Survey Respondents – Revenue


Survey Respondents – Job Title


Survey Respondents - Country


Survey Respondents - Department


Mobile Development Maturity


Mobile Development Success


Hypotheses


IT Involvement in mobile development processes


Thinking about all of your application development, how frequently do the following happen during your projects?


Current state of mobile development team

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