build mobile application

8/9/2019 build mobile application

1/19

BEST PRACTICES FOR BUILDING YOUR

Mobile Applications

A RapidValue Solutions Whitepaper

Authors: Rajesh Padinjaremadam & Ron Guida


2/19RapidValuBest Practices For Building Your Mobile 1

The Mobile RoadmapWe are in the decade of mobility. Smart phones are driving Mobile Internet and App usage.

Since the introduction of iPhone in !!"# smart phone penetration has been gro$ing

signi%cantly. According to report released by &entith'ptimedia# smartphone penetration in

the $orld(s top )* digital mar+ets is e,pected to double from -./ last year to an average of

")."/ in !).

Build

ASS0SS B1I23

30P2'Y

4ot only are smart phones getting more prevalent# consumers are spending more time on

them. According to Flurry Analytics # about 5) minutes per day are spent on smart phones

compared to "6 minutes on des+top internet. Businesses need to adapt to this changing

consumer behavior and consider mobile as one of the +ey strategic channels for the future.

3espite increasing prevalence of mobile teams and initiatives# the %eld is relatively young and

best practices are hard to come by.

7aving $or+ed on over )!! engagements and countless interactions $ith our customers

over the past 8hree years# $e have put together a set of +ey considerations for navigating

your mobile roadmap. 8hese considerations $ill help you identify opportunities and also

avoid ma9or pitfalls $hile trying to implement mobility pro9ects. We have categori:ed these

considerations into 8hree phases ; Assess# Build and 3eploy based on the activity timeline

and a series of steps $ithin each phase.


3/19

A three-phase approach ensures your mobileproject is hihly e!!ecti"e

ASS0SS

8his phase ensures that an


4/19

#stablishin abusiness case prior to startinyour mobile initiati"e is critical to the projectsuccessIt is important to build a business case prior to investing in mobile. 8his helps in ensuring

a systematic investment $ith measured


5/19

And so is identi!yin the riht technoloychoice$

Mobile enabling technologies are evolving fast. It is important to select the right

technology# from the perspective of end=user usability as $ell as long=term scalability.

8ypical choice to be made is bet$een native apps and mobile $eb. 4ative apps can be built

$ith 'S speci%c technologies li+e i'S# Android etc. or leveraging cross=mobile platforms li+e

PhoneGap# Appcelerator and


6/19

%ic&-o!! the projectby settin up across-!unctional team

Mobile engagements need a co=ordinated team assembled from cross=functional

departments. Some of the roles that are needed for an e@ective mobile team are

?omplian

ce J$here

neededK

1ser

0,perienc

e

3esigner

s

1I

Graphic

3esigner

s

uality

Assurance

0ffectiveMobile

Pro9ect team Sales LMar+etin

g

3evelopersBusiness

; 1ser 0,perience designers For designing the end=customer e,perience and navigation.

; 1I Graphic designers For graphics and branding.

; Mar+eting L Sales team 0specially for customer focused apps in order to ensure

e@ective $ay to mar+et and sell the concept.

; Business team Provides scope for the pro9ect as $ell as user acceptance criteria.

; I8 development team 8eam that is primarily involved in the development of the

engagement. 1sually this team may need multiple s+ills especially $hen developing

applications for different platforms li+e I'S# Android# Blac+berry etc. If the application

being developed uses cross platform tools li+e uired for each of those tools $ill also be re>uired.

; uality Assurance team It is highly recommended to have an independent testing

team for device testing $hich provides both manual testing and automated testing

support.

; ?ompliance team 8hese s+ills are needed $here the application needs to adapt to

compliance re>uirements li+e 7IPAA.

Build


7/19

'reatin a compellin user e(perience is thene(t step

Example lipboard i!ad app

8hough there many ne$s aggregation apps

available today# one of the applications that createsa uni>ue e,perience is Flipboard. What di@erentiates

Flipboard is the clean and simple 1I coupled $ith a

reading e,perience uni>uely designed for the iPad.

1sers have chosen this application over most other

ne$s reader apps though Flipboard did not have the

%rst mover advantage.

1sers get to chance upon ne$ content in such an

easy $ay thereby increasing the stic+iness of the

application ma+ing users to bro$se more than $hatthey initially started to read.D

Building the right user e,perience is the +ey to a successful mobile engagement.

8raditional soft$are development did not give this aspect too much importance. Most

developers still focus on functionalityD rather than end customer e,perience leading to

functional but non=stic+y applications. 0,perience 0ngineeringD is the ne$ paradigm in themobile $orld.

1sers in the mobile $orld have a lot more choice no$ and $ill pic+ the product that gives

them the best overall e,perience. Building stic+iness and $o$ factor is very important.

Mobile design should ta+e care of aspects li+e screen si:e# connectivity# band$idth#

designing for a variety of devices and creating the best navigation e,perience.

Mobile has some uni>ue features compared to des+top. For e,ample# smart mobiles have

cameras# they can determine your position using GPS# detect motion# scan barcodes etc. 8hese

features can be used innovatively to enhance user e,perience to increase customer stic+inessto your app. For e,ample# delivering the right coupon $hen a user $al+s into his favorite store

$ill signi%cantly increase customer satisfaction.

In short# mobile pro9ects should be driven by customer e,perience and 1 designs rather

than soft$are functionality alone.

Build


8/19

)uild your projects in an iterati"e *ay todeli"er incremental+ measurable "alue

Mobile development is best accomplished using an iterative development approach. 8his

approach is $hat $e call a Self=Funded ModelD and typically uses an eight to ten $ee+s

iteration cycle. 8he bene%ts of the %rst iteration partly fund the cost of development of the

follo$ing iterations and if the app is successful can even fund the full costs by the third or forth

iteration.

ollo"in# are the $e% steps to this model:

; Split overall scope into small chun+s of functionality.

; Identify >uic+ $ins.

; Group functionality into multiple iterations prioriti:ing on >uic+ $ins.

; 2aunch the %rst version of the app.

; 8a+e customer feedbac+ and launch ne$ functionality in si, to eight $ee+s iterations.

Main ad&anta#es of this model are:

; Bene%ts=focused development approach rather than features.

; Better customer satisfaction due to constant feedbac+ and delivery of functionality.

; Increased Ne,ibility to customer needs or changing re>uirements.

; 0arly iterations e,pose and mitigate ris+s.

; Management can ma+e tactical changes to the product.

Build


9/19

Example A 'ar#e Accessories Retailer in (S

uent release brought ne$ features and incremental bene%ts. Si, months after the

launch of the %rst version# the app is currently in its fourth version.

30SIG4# B1I23 L 80S8 JF'< 0A?7 P7AS0K

Build =


10/19

And do not under-estimate ,nteration e!!ortMost mobile engagements need integration $ith cloud

applications or enterprise legacy applications for them

to $or+ smoothly. Moreover# integrations are not one

big bang to be done at the end of the pro9ect. 2eaving

integration decisions to the end# results in a lot of

re$or+ and this can be as high as

6!/ of the overall e@ort.

In order to avoid this# Integration design should be

ta+en up in parallel to mobile application design and

should be given a higher priority. Also all APIs needed

for Integration should be developed earlier to the

mobile component development that

needs it. 8herefore# e@ective pro9ect planning $ith dependencies

is re>uired.

Example Inte#ration "ithin Mobile )ommerce application

For one of our customers# a 1S based retail chain# $e are currently building an innovative and

uni>ue m=commerce application that helps provide the $o$ factor to customers and increase

usage. 8his application(s 1I can be controlled from the bac+end by an admin and can be

changed fre>uently to +eep the novelty factor. In order to ensure that this application $or+s to

meet the dynamic re>uirements # it had to be integrated for various functions li+e product

management# inventory management# user management# shipping# ta,# order management#

payment integration# Faceboo+ and 8$itter.D

Build


11/19

Plan appropriate amount o! testin e!!ortMobile testing can ta+e considerable amount of time

even though the development timeframe may be

short. 8his is because of the uni>ue nature of mobile

and fragmentation of devices.

For starters# testing should be not only planned on simulators

but also on physical devices. Also# there may be multiple

devices from various manufacturers for operating

systems such as Android and Windo$s Mobile. 0ach

device may have a di@erent screen si:e and

features.Your application may not $or+ as intended on

all devices. 8herefore# the application should be

thoroughly tested for any issues and defect=%,es before

implementing it.

Moreover# in=house testing teams might not have all the devices and hence tools li+e3eviceAny$here or

Perfecto Mobile can be used for remote testing on actual devices.

Mobile testing may also need in=%eld testing for applications that use GPS# maps etc. 8his

means that someone has to travel to a fe$ locations and test the application# especially

features li+e serving coupons or deals $hen user is near a shopping area.

In=%eld testing is also needed for testing under various net$or+ conditions li+e G -G

and net$or+ s$itching.

Since most mobile pro9ects tend to be iterative in nature# automated testing can help in

reducing overall testing e@ort. Some of the automated testing tools that can be considered are

See8est# 8estPlant# ualityassurance service and ensures that the product that is launched in the mar+et is bug free.

8his lab also certi%es the app for various devices.

Build


12/19

eployment o! nati"e mobile apps !orconsumers *ill re.uire you to understandApp Stores and appro"alprocesses

4ative apps are typically distributed to end=

users through an App Store process. Mobile $eb

applications do not need to go through an

approval process.

Some of the +ey store=fronts are Apple App=

Store# Google Android Mar+et# Windo$s

Mar+etplace# Blac+Berry App World and

Ama:on Appstore. In addition# there are a

number of other App Stores that can be used

for distribution.

Some of the app=stores re>uire an approval process for the apps to be made available to

public. Where an approval is re>uired# it is important to pay attention to the approval

process.

Apple Store has a manual revie$ and approval process# $hile Google Store does not have

an approval process. It is imperative to understand the approval guidelines and timelines

involved# to ensure that you have a launch process as planned.

Examples

; Apple guidelines indicate that apps $hich do not have signi%cant native features may

be re9ected. It is therefore advisable to have only those applications that have

signi%cant native components to be built as native apps. Apps that have only lin+s to

videos etc. may be better built using 78M2 or mobile $eb frame=$or+.

; 8ypically# Apple approval timeline ranges from one $ee+ to three $ee+s# therefore at

least t$o $ee+s timeline need to be planned to ensure that apps are ready to be

launched JFor e,ample = If you $ant to sho$=case an app in an event# you need tocomplete the app development and testing at least t$o $ee+s in advanceK.

4ote You can al$ays reach out to Apple for an e,pedited approval $ith a valid reason.

*eplo


13/19

While enterprise apps *ould re.uire you tobe!amiliar *ith enterprise distribution methods

'ne of the +ey challenges associated $ith an enterprise app is to deliver the app to allrelevant

employees. 'ne of the $ays of distributing an application intended for the employees of an

enterprise is to distribute the app on App Store# but re>uiring credentials# so that only

employees can access $ith the right login. 7o$ever# this may not be considered safe for appsinvolving information re>uiring high security.

An alternative mode of distribution $ithout going through the App Stores is an enterprise

mode of distribution in case of Apple. Apple provides an enterprise mode of distribution to

distribute applications to employees of an enterprise. In this case# an app is hosted on the

server and an email or SMS $ith the $ebpage lin+ is sent to the target device.

Another option to deploy applications $ithin enterprises is to use a Mobile 3evice Management

soft$are li+e &enprise or AirWatch. Most leading M3M providers provide an ability to setup

enterprise app=stores $hich can then be used to distribute apps to enterprise users.

Examples

; For an in=store catalog application that $e deployed for a retailer# $e used an

approach of getting the app on the App Store $ith authentication. 8he app $as also

made available to users in the public domain# but $ith different content.

; For a sales catalog app deployed for a medical device manufacturer# the approach $asto go through enterprise distribution mode# as the app content $as more sensitive# as

$ell as there $as no information that $as relevant for general public.

*eplo


14/19

And o! course+ enterprise mobile securitycannot be le!t open

Mobile 3evice security should be a +ey consideration $hile

deploying enterprise mobile apps# especially the ones accessing

corporate documents or corporate data. Security has been

important in the laptop $orld as $ell# but in mobile $orld#security assumes paramount importance 9ust because the device

is mobileD# $ith a higher possibility of losing the device.

Some of the leading Mobile 3evice Management players li+e &enprise#

Sybase Afaria and AirWatch handle mobile security aspects as $ell.

7o$ever# a careful mapping of your enterprise security

re>uirements $ill have to be completed to ensure that the right

solution is implemented# that suits your needs.

Examples

; ?I' at a large %nancial organi:ation $ants to ensure that the enterprise data that is

accessed on users mobile phone is secure# and is $iped off if the device is lost.

; I8 organi:ation $ants to ensure that the apps that are installed on the employees

device can be controlled and managed centrally.

; 0nsure that users abide by pass$ord policies to ensure that the pass$ord cannot be

bro+en.

*eplo


15/19

Trainin should not be inored !or enterprisemobile apps

Mobile and tablet apps are normally much more intuitive and user=friendly than

traditional $eb=based applications and hence re>uire less user training.

7o$ever# for an enterprise app# it is prudent to budget cost and e@ort for training to ensure

that you obtain ma,imum results. 0specially for apps re>uiring data entry Je.g. by service

technicians or sales people in the %eldK# planned training sessions $ould eliminate any

potential for errors and ma,imi:e overall returns.

Examples

; While deploying an in=store sales catalog system for a retailer#


16/19

Plan !or onoin maintenance & uprades

In most cases# mobile and tablet apps re>uire

constant updates due to multiple reasons ;

; ?onstant changes to technology ; ne$ releasesof

'perating Systems and ne$ features

; 1ser feedbac+ ; As mobile is an area that is

evolving >uic+ly# ne$ features as $ell as

different $ays to use and navigate the apps

are al$ays brought in by the users. 'f course#

the best mobile app is built b% listenin#

to %our customers continuousl%+ and

impro&in# on a re#ular basis, Most of the

mobile apps ecosystems have built=inmechanisms for feedbac+# and this provides a

great source for improvement opportunities.

It is al$ays useful to plan and budget for on=going maintenance and upgrade costs in advanceas part of

your planning e,ercise# as that $ill ensure a better


17/19#nablin Mobility

And last but not least+ measure the appe!!ecti"eness

As they say# you cannot manage $hat you cannot

measure( ; 8his is true for mobile apps as $ell. As this is

an emerging %eld# measurement of user behavior is the

+ey to obtaining relevant insights. 7aving the right dataon user behavior also puts you in a position to moneti:e

your apps# by providing relevant information to your

advertisers.

'nce the app starts getting used# it is important to

monitor +ey data parameters generated by the app.

Oaluable information on the app usage including time

spent on speci%c pages and advertisements can be

obtained and charted# if the app has been designed $ith

this in mind. A lot of valuable information to %netune the

app# can be obtained by closely monitoring this data.

Examples

; In one of the end=to=end iPad based maga:ine publishing solutions that $e built for a

leading health care publisher# $e built an analytics module that $as able to trac+ a lot

of good information# li+e the total time spent by the user per maga:ine issue# time

spent on each page# time spent on each ad etc. 8he client $as able to use this

information to e@ectively sell advertisement space and $as also

able to identify the sections of the maga:ine that generated ma,imum interest.

*eplo


18/19#nablin Mobility

Best Practices For Building Your Mobile Applications)R RapidValue


19/19

About RapidVau!

build mobile application

Documents