Smart Apps

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1. Background 4

2. Developing Smart Apps

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Introduction

The term “smart apps” refers to software applications that run on smart phones. The basic purpose of these applications is to enable users to make use of digital services without having to access an internet browser.

They also enable people to use services in ways that aren’t as possible on other channels, that:

o Locate where you are and personalise the service around that.

o Barcode transactional information to make payments or access services.

o Overlay digital information relevant to where you are.1

With councils looking to promote and share information about their services in a way that is quick and easily accessible to the general public and looking at ways that their customers can communicate with them as well, smart apps appear to offer a potential solution.

This is especially the case due to the increase in use of this technology and its ability to enable people to easily exchange information and make transactions. This has led us to research the long term applicability of this technology as well as looking at the opportunities to develop KCC Apps.

This guide should help to you understand the background to smart apps and go through the steps of developing approaches to build new apps which can provide council services to the public.

1 Otherwise known as augmented reality

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1. Background

Smart applications are being used more and more across the country. Indeed, over the past four years, sales of smartphones in the UK have risen almost tenfold2 with 15% of mobile phone users owning a smartphone. They are predicted to continue growing year on year by over 35%3.

Furthermore, these applications are not only limited to mobile phone users, as apps can also be accessed through other type of mobile applications, such as the iPod Touch or the iPad and so potentially offer an even wider customer base.

There is limited evidence on statistics for take up of public services apps as they are so new, but for example Warwickshire Council have seen a fifteen fold increase of smart phone users to its website from 1000-15,000 hits since it developed its own general purpose smart app. As mentioned above, this is in line with the increase in smart phone usage across the UK.

For specific uses from a clientele that is less likely to use smart phones, i.e. those out of work, about 6% of Jobcentre Plus customers use its app with over 60,000 downloads.

Alongside the rapid growth of smartphone sales, there seems strong rationale for further exploring the use of smart phone applications which could provide innovative and cost effective services for people in Kent.

By changing the way people approach using their mobiles and accessing online public services, these apps, designed to serve people on the move and developed to provide multiple services, should help deliver benefits for both KCC and the people of Kent.

2 OFCOM Technology Tracker3 Inform Telecoms and Media

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Developing Smart Phone Apps

Having read the background to why smart apps could benefit councils you may wish to develop your own smart app. To do this you will need to:

1. Develop the approach

2. Engage people in your project

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1. Develop the approach

For the smart apps to become a useful tool for your residents and your council, develop an approach that focuses on different strands which all complement each other.

o Develop a cost benefit analysis of the effectiveness of smart apps in order to see whether the benefits outweigh the costs. For this you should calculate the proportion of service users who have downloaded the app versus the proportion of users who use online/phone/face to face access. You should also calculate the costs to develop and administrate apps versus the cost of the overall process of developing and managing the service.

Given the cost of development ranges from £0-£12000 depending on which smartphone you want to develop an app for and whether or not you have the skills available to program the language the required, it is recommended to conduct a thorough market analysis.

o Develop a market analysis which analyses the app economy in Kent to identify local developers that we could work with to develop your apps. Further, you should learn what types of smartphones are available, which are most widely used and review the different platforms4.

o Develop a customer analysis which allows you to review the different demographic groupings against smart phone users. This can be achieved using the Mosaic database.

This should include: o Age o Gender o Location o If they have a high demand on public

services

Optionally, you could assess the behaviour of the customers of your service in use of smart phone apps to access local services in Kent.

4 Including Nokia Symbian (38.8%), RIM Blackberry OS (19.2%), Apple iOS (15.9%) Google Android (9.8%).

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o Develop a resource analysis which evaluates the cost, skills and technology needed to develop apps to each of the different types of smart phones. This should include the:

o Different types of smartphone apps available

o Data traffic by platformo Costs of developing apps for different

platforms o Skills needed to develop appso Technology needed to develop appso Review of existing online services for

apps5

Resources Needed

Types of Smart Phone

To develop or test out these tools, we need not a lot (1), some (2) or a lot of (3)

Time Technology Research Funding Training

iPhone OS

2 3 2 2 3

Blackberry OS

1 1 2 1 2

Android1 1 2 1 2

Symbian OS

1 1 2 2 1

Windows Mobile 1 2 2 1 2

5 For example “Apply for it” apps, “Ask for it” apps, “Find it” apps, “Pay for it” apps, “Report it” apps.

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2. Engage people in your project

o Encourage app developers to explore how you could test or pilot these tools out, especially those groups helping prototype apps to improve public services6.

o Raise awareness across your local area, sector7, national media8 and other related work streams in your council. This could be achieved by posting videos on the KCC Website would allow you to explain your ideas to the public. You could also feature a vox pop or forum there to get quick feedback and discover new ideas.

o Involve business units responsible to identify what research you could capture together of the impact of apps on improving services. Representatives of your communications, technology, engagement and information services are critical.

o Engage companies enabling users to develop apps for them to see if there any opportunities for collaboration9 and understanding lessons they have learnt.

o Sound out people who are already working on smart apps. This will give you a better understanding on how to engage the community of developers in this field.

o Get people to help each other. Encourage volunteers to get together and complete tasks while they’re out and about. Get young people excited about positive activities and connect with each other.

6 http://appsforgood.org/ 7 http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=9274627 8 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/oct/30/politics-web2 9 Such as O2 Litmus

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