web based apps good enough wp

7/31/2019 Web Based Apps Good Enough WP

1/12

WebBasedMobileBusinessAppsMayBe

GoodButAre

They

Good

Enough?

www.sybase.com

W H I T E P A P E R


2/12

WebBasedMobileBusinessAppsMayBeGoodButAreTheyGoodEnough?

Contents:

LetsBuildaMobileAppNoSweat! .......................................................................................................2

ADevelopersDilemmaCostvs.Functionality:LookingforaBetterWay............................................ 3

WhatifMobileApplicationsWereBrowserBasedWebApplications?................................................................3

Hybrid

Applications

Putting

HTML5

Apps

Inside

Native

App

Containers...............................................5

EmpoweringHybridApplicationswithaMobileEnterpriseApplicationPlatform(MEAP) ..................................6

Advantagesof HybridApplications.......................................................................................................................6

RealLifeExample:UsingHybridAppsforDynamicFieldSurveys ............................................................8

GoingHybridorGoingNativeWhenItMakesTheMostSense ..........................................................10

Notes ...................................................................................................................................................................11


3/12

2 WebBasedMobileBusinessAppsMayBeGoodButAreTheyGoodEnough?

LetsBuildaMobileAppNoSweat!Considerthisscenario.

Acompanydecidestheyneedamobilecompanydirectorythat

workerscanaccessfromtheirsmartphones.

Thisisalargeorganizationinwhichpeopleareonthego.When

theyrenot

meeting

with

each

other,

they

are

meeting

with

customers.Theyonlyspend20%oftheirtimeattheirdesks.Inthe

courseofatypicalday,theyshareinformationonthefly,andthey

needtoknowhowtocontacteachother.Also,thiscompanyjust

mergedwithanothercompany.Managementwantstoget

everybodyuptospeedasquicklyaspossible.

DeveloperBobintheITdepartmenthasbeenstudyingupon

HTML5.Acompanydirectoryseemsliketheperfectkindof

applicationforthis.Theappwillneedtoworkonacoupleof

differentkindsofphones,butthatseasywithaninternetbrowser

basedsolution,andHTML5hassomegreatdatahandlingfunctions.

DeveloperBobsaystohisboss,NoSweat!Hereshowtheproject

goes:

1. DeveloperBobgetstowork.Hisbossstopsby.Managementsaystheywantthisbytheannualcompany

meetinginfourweeks.HedropsapaperonBobsdesk.

Thatsthefinaltallyofdevicesweneedtosupport.Five

differentsmartphonesplustheiPadtablet.DeveloperBob

saysOK,buthewondersaboutthattablet.

2. Bobsbossstopsby.Turnsoutallthedirectoryinfoiscomingoutofthreedifferentdatabases.DeveloperBob

blinks.

3. Bobsbossstopsby.Absolutelyhavetohaveironcladsecurity

on

all

that

personal

info.

What

ifsomebody

leaves

theirphoneinataxi?Belikegivingawaythekeystothe

store.DeveloperBobthinksaboutsecuringdataonall

thosedifferentdevices.Hedetectsastrangeemptinessin

thepitofhisstomach.

4. Bobsbossstopsby.Wedecidedtoaddalittlesocialnetworkingtothemobiledirectorytoencourage

collaboration.Wewanteverybodytobeabletobuildtheir

owncolleagueslist.Wealsowantpeopletobeabletopost

picturestheytakewiththeirphone.Nicetouch,eh?Could

comeinhandy.DeveloperBobhasanewtwitchunder

oneeye,andhenoticesatremorinhislefthand.

5. Bobsbossstopsby.Annualmeetingscomingrightup.HowsitgoingBob?

Atthiscriticaljunctureinourstory,weleaveDeveloperBlobina

tightspotsowecantakeacloserlookatsomeofthechallengeshe

facesinbuildingthecompanysmobiledirectoryapplication.


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WebBasedMobileBusinessAppsMayBeGoodButAreTheyGoodEnough? 3

ADevelopersDilemmaCostvs.Functionality:

LookingforaBetterWayUntilrecently,companiesgoingmobilefacedachoice.Theycouldbuyandcustomizeoutoftheboxmobile

applications,ortheycouldbuildtheirownusinganintegrateddevelopmentenvironmentnativetothe

devicesthatwillruntheirapplications.

Outoftheboxpointsolutionsarequickertodeploy,buttheyhavedisadvantages.Theyoftenneed

customizationtoworkjustrightforaparticularbusinessusecase.Theyalsohaveproprietarytoolsfor

customization,configuration,andmanagementthatarespecifictotheapplication.Afterdeployingafew

outoftheboxpointsolutions,companiesfindthemselvesspendingenormousamountsoftimemanaging

them.

Buildingyourownnativeappsenablesyoutohavetheexactfunctionalityyouwant.Thereis,however,a

catch.Buildingnativeapplicationsrequiresspecialknowledgeofthelanguages,SoftwareDevelopmentKit

tools,anddevicefeaturesuniquetoeachnativeenvironment.Mobileapplicationdevelopersaretypically

specialists.IfyouneedaniPhoneapp,youfindaniOSdeveloper.Thenifyouneedthatapptoworkonan

Androiddevice,youfindanAndroiddeveloperwhocanrebuildtheapplicationfortheAndroiddevice.

Companiesenvisioningtheirmobilizedfutureworryovertheprospectofusinghighpricedspecialiststo

buildeach

application

several

times

over,

or

using

high

priced

resources

to

customize

commercial

applicationsforeachdevice.Thisisespeciallytrueinlightoftodaysbusinessimperatives:

Surveysshowthatover50%ofenterprisesnowsupportmorethanonemobileoperatingsystem,and25%supportmorethanthree

1,butthenumbercould,infact,behigherthanthat.Thereisa

growingtrendformobileworkerstobringtheirowndevicestowork.Arecentsurveyrevealedthat

over80%ofITdepartmentshavehadrequeststomigratebusinessapplicationstopersonalmobile

devices.2

Companieswhoavoiddevelopmentcostsbybuyingoutoftheboxsolutionscustomizethoseapps70%ofthetime.

3Thismeanscustomizingforallsupporteddevicesisveryexpensive.

Ifonlytherewasasimplerwaytobuildmobileapplications

WhatifMobileApplicationswereBrowserBasedWebApplications?

Turningwebapplicationsintomobileappshasacertainappeal.Anyonewithabrowserenabled

smartphoneortablet,whichisprettymuchanysmartphoneortabletonthemarkettoday,wouldbeableto

runawebapplication.Webapplicationscouldbebuiltonce,andtheywouldworkonanymobiledevice

withabrowser.Also,theskillsrequiredtobuildwebappsaremucheasiertofindthanthoseneededto

buildiPhoneorAndroidorWindowsPhoneapplications.

Itsaniceidea,butuptonowHTML,thetechnologyusedtobuildwebpages,hasbeenverylimitedinthe

wayitcanrunapplications.However,recentadvancesinHTML,collectivelyreferredtoasHTML5,havethe

wholeindustrytakingacloserlook.Andwhatistheindustryseeing?

ItseemsthatHTML5offersagreatwaytobuildsimplemobileapplicationsthatworkonanydevice.

Howeveras

Developer

Bob

found

out

the

hard

way,

there

can

be

complications.

For

instance:

Bobsbosstoldhimtosecurethedirectoryinformationthatdownloadstodevices.Everydeviceandbrowserhandlesdatadifferently,sonowhesgottocreatesomethingdifferentforeach

device;

Collectingdirectoryinformationfromdifferentbackendserversiscomplexandtimeconsuming; ThewholesocialnetworkingfeatureisimpossibleforBob.HTML5doesntevensupportdirect

controlsoverphonehardwarelikecameras.


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6/12


HybridApplicationsPuttingHTML5AppsInside

NativeAppContainersWhatifyoucouldmarryawebapplicationwithanativeapplication?

WhatifyoucoulddothissotheHTML5applicationcanperformdevicespecificfunctionsthroughanative

application

component

of

some

kind?

If

Developer

Bob

had

something

like

that,

he

could

do

everything

his

bosswasaskingfor,nosweat!

Itturnsoutthereissuchathing,anditiscalledaweb

container.Awebcontainerisanativeapplicationdesigned

toprocessgenericfunctioncallsfromawebapplication.

Thisdoestwothings:

ItenablesagenericHTML5webapptoperformfunctionsthatarehighlyspecifictoaparticular

devicetypeshardwareanddatahandling

capabilities;

Byusingnativeappcontainersforeachdevicetypesupported

in

a

business

mobility

environment,

it

becomespossibletocreateasingleHTML5

applicationthatperformsadvanced,devicespecific

operationsonallthedifferentdevices.

Suddenlyasinglewebapplicationcanhavenearlythesamecapabilityasnativeappscreatedforeach

supporteddevice.Butwheredoallthehybridappcontainerscomefrom?


7/12


EmpoweringHybridApplicationswithaMobileEnterpriseApplication

Platform(MEAP)

Creatingacontainerforawebapplicationishalfthesolution.Containersarethemselvesnative

applications,andyouwillneedasmanydifferentcontainersasdevicetypesyousupport.Managingan

enterpriseofdevices,containers,andhybridapplicationsisnearlyimpossiblewithoutamobileapplication

platformhavingthesecapabilities:

Containersthatarefullyintegratedintotheplatformenvironment.Notallwebcontainersarecreatedequal.Anenterprisegradewebcontainershould:

o tieintobackenddataandsupportserverdrivenevents,messages,andnotifications;o managecontentthroughasingleadministrativeinterfacethatisintegratedwiththe

platformidentityandsecurityservices;

o supportsingle,consistentencryptionacrossdifferentdevices. Applicationscanbewritten

instandardsbasedHTML5,

JavaScript(thestandard

scriptinglanguageusedto

createwebapplications),

andCSS

(Cascading

Style

Sheetsthestandardstyle

sheetlanguageusedto

definetheformattingand

appearanceofwebpages).

Thesearetechnologies

familiartowebdevelopers.

Thisenablesthemto

incorporateopensource

frameworksandalsoselect

theirpreferreddevelopment

environment.

Strongapplicationmanagementcapabilities

thatenableyoutodistribute

applicationsbasedon

operationalrolesanddevicetypes,andenforceadeviceandapplicationmanagementstrategy.

AMEAPsimplifiestheprocessofbuildinganddeployinghybridapplications.

AdvantagesofHybridApplications

Hybridapplicationsofferveryspecificadvantagesinabusinessmobilityenvironment.Theseinclude:

Hybridapplicationsreduceapplicationdevelopmentcosts:Hybridapplicationsenabledeveloperswith

less

specialized

skill

sets

to

build

an

application

once

for

all

the

devices

in

abusiness

mobility

environment.Howimportantisthis?Researchshowsthatbuildinghybridapplicationsisabout1/3

thecostofbuildingequivalentfunctionalityinnativeapplications.Insomeinstances,costsavings

canbefargreaterthanthat.4Thesesavingsaddupwhenmultipliedbyallmobileapplicationsand

supporteddevicetypes.

HybridapplicationsdelivercriticalnativeenhancementstothecrossplatformbenefitsofHTML5andwebapplications:Theseincludesuchfeaturesaspush,deviceAPIs,security,andprovisioning,


8/12


Hybridapplicationsprovideaconsistentlevelofdatasecurityacrossalldevices:Containersenabledeveloperstousenativedevicememoryfordatastorage.Thismeansyoucanstoremore

datathanwouldbepossiblewithasimplewebapplication,andthedatacanbestoredmore

securelyusingtechniqueslikedataencryption.

Hybridapplicationssimplifydevelopers'accesstobackenddata:BecauseMEAPcontainerscanhaveallthenecessaryhookstobackenddatasourcesbuiltintothem,itiseasyforadeveloperto

connecttoacorporatedatasourceandbuilddatarichmobileapplications.

Hybridapplicationssimplifyapplicationmanagement:Ascompaniesbecomemoremobilized,theywillbesupportinganevergrowingportfolioofmobileapplications.Applicationmanagement

becomesamatterofsomeimportanceinamobileenterprise.AMEAPbasedmobilitystrategythat

includesappcontainersaspartoftheplatformsolutionsimplifiesapplicationmanagementinthese

ways:

o Itbecomesasimplemattertopushnewhybrid

applicationsouttoworkers

whosedevicesarealready

setupwithcontainers.

o Inmobilebusinessenvironments

where

companiespermitpersonal

liabledevices(theseare

personaldevicesworkers

adaptforbusinessuse

somethingthatsurveys

showisnowdoneby

nearly60%ofmobile

workers5),hybridapp

containersmakeitiseasy

toseparatebusiness

applicationsfrompersonal

use

applications.

o Incaseswhereadeviceisretiredoranemployee

leavesthecompany,it

becomesaneasymattertoremovebusinessapplicationsfromthedevicewithout

affectingnonbusinessrelatedfeaturesandapplications.

o Hybridapplicationsareeasiertoupdate.Whenitcomestimetomodifyorupdateanapplication,thechangeismadeonceinthehybridappandthenpushedouttoallthe

usersandtheirdifferentdevicetypesacrosstheenterprise.

Sohowcantheseadvantagesbeputtopracticaluse?Letslookatanactualcase.


9/12


RealLifeExample:UsingHybridAppsforDynamic

FieldSurveysForamajorglobalfastfoodbrand,maintainingfoodandservicequalityisintegraltothebrandandtothe

business.Tokeeptabsonhoweachofitsmanythousandsofrestaurantlocationsisdoing,onecompany

has3500auditorslocatedaroundtheworld.Theseauditorsgotorestaurants,ordermeals,andevaluate

theexperience

by

answering

survey

questions.

AuditorsuseaWindowsbasedlaptoprunningaspecialsurveyapplication.Eachdaytheyloginandsync

theirsystem.Whentheydothis,theydownloadalistofplacestheywillaudit,alongwithinformation

specifictoeachbusiness(suchaslocation,contactinformation,andthemanagersname).Theyalsogeta

questionnaireuniquetoeachbusiness.Thisquestionnairevariesdependingonfactorslikethecountry

(language),thetypeoffacility(notallrestaurantsofferexactlythesamemenusorservices,soquestions

varydependingontherestauranttype),andthepurposeoftheevaluation(afoodqualityevaluationwill

havedifferentquestionsthanafacilitiesmanagementevaluation).Thequestionnairealsohasdesign

featuresthatmakeitfastandeasyforauditors,likequestiontreesandcollapsingquestioncategories.

Thissystemworksprettywell,butitisshowingitsage.Acoupleofkeyissues:

Theoriginaldeveloperisnolongergoingtosupportoldtechnologyusedtobuildthisapplication. Surveyquestionsareaddedandchangedallthetime.Anynewsolutionneedstobeableto

generatethehighlydynamicsurveyformsauditorsuseinthefield.

Surveyresultsarestoredonauditorslaptopsuntiltheyloginandsynchtheirsystem.Thenthedatadownloadstothemasterdatabase.Ifauditorsstoremorethanafewsurveysbeforesynching

anddownloading,dataisgarbledandtheylosesurveyresults.Toavoidthis,theysyncupafter

everysurvey.

Auditorswouldliketousedevicesthataremoreportablethanthebig,

clunkylaptops.Theywouldpreferto

usetabletsandsmartphonesto

capturetheirsurveydata.

Oneapproachwouldbetoturnthesurvey

applicationintonativeapplicationsforspecific

mobiledevices.However,thiswouldrequire

buildinginhousedeveloperexpertisesothat

theycouldmaintaintheeverchangingsurvey

forms.Themaintenancecostswouldbehuge.

Anew,MEAPbasedhybridapplicationsolution

offersafarmorecosteffectivewaytodothis.

Allthebackenddataexchangeismanaged

throughnativeappcontainers.Thedynamic

survey,whichisuserinterfacedesignintensive,

would

be

handled

as

an

HTML5

web

application.Thisapproachhasclear

advantages:

ApplicationcodeandlogicalreadywritteninJavaScriptorHTMLcanbe

cutandpastedintonewhybridapps

builtontheMEAPplatform.


10/12


Generatingdynamicformsandupdatingquestionsismucheasierusingawebapplicationapproach,anditdoesnotrequirethecompanytobuildawholenewkindoftechnicalexpertise.

Thesurveyapplicationistotallyportabletodifferentmobiledevicetypes,liketabletsandsmartphonesrunningwebappcontainers.

Thesurveyworkswhetherthedeviceisonlineoroffline,andifthedeviceistemporarilydisconnected,thedataisqueued,thensynchedinthebackgroundwhentheconnectionis

restored.

Thismeans

auditors

no

longer

need

to

stop,

find

aplace

they

can

log

in,

and

synchronize

aftereachaudit.Itenablesthemtobemoreproductiveauditors.

Inadditiontothesebenefits,thehybridapplicationapproachopensthedoortoeasilyaddingcompletely

newcapabilities,suchas:

Pushingauditingschedulesouttoauditorsratherthanwaitingforthemtodownloadaschedule.Italsosimplifiesscheduleschanges.Ifanauditorisunavailable,thatpersonsschedulecanbepushed

tosomeoneelse.

Addingmappingandnavigationinsteadofsimplypostinganaddressaspartofanauditingassignment,thatinformationcannowhookdirectlytoamappingornavigationfunctionavailable

onthemobiledevice.

Addingimagery,soauditorscanphotographthatpoorlyassembledburgerorthatkitchenhazard.Thisapproachtofieldauditingiseasilyadaptabletootherkindsofbusinesses,suchasinsuranceadjusting

andunderwriting,homeinspectionsaspartofamortgageoriginationprocess,propertysurveys,andany

kindofoperationthatrequiresonsiteinspection.

Clearlyhybridmobileapplicationsofferuniqueadvantages,butaretheyalwaysthebestapproach?Are

theretimeswhenapurenativeapplicationisthebetterwaytogo?


11/12


GoingHybridorGoingNativeWhenItMakesThe

MostSenseHybridappsmakealotofsenseformanydifferentkindsofmobilebusinessapplications.Theremaybe

times,though,whenanativeapplicationprovidessomeadvantages.

Hybrid

applications

are

ideal

in

these

situations:

Yourorganizationhasaccesstowebdevelopers,butyoudonothavemobiledeveloperswhocansupportmultipledeviceoperatingsystems.

Youarebuildinganapplicationthatwillrunacrosstheenterpriseorrunonavarietyofmobiledevices.

Theapplicationneedstolookdifferentondifferentmobiledevicesorfordifferentusers(if,forinstance,youhavelocalizationrequirements,oryouaredeployingthesameapptodifferent

businessesordivisions).

Youneedtoproducetheapplicationquicklyandkeepdevelopmentcostslow.Purenativeapplicationsmaymakesenseinthesesituations:

Yourorganizationhasnativeapplicationdevelopmentexpertisereadilyavailable. Youarebuildingaspecializedapplicationthatwillrunononlyonekindofdevice,andyouhave

theexpertisetodevelopandmaintainit.

Theapplicationreliesheavilyongraphicalorprocessingperformance, suchasananalytics/businessintelligenceinterface.

Torealizethegreatestadvantagefromthehybridapp

approachtobuildinganddeployingmobileapplications,

youwillneedaplatformbasedmobilitystrategyin

whichtheMEAPsupportsfullyintegratedapp

containers.Thatmeansthecontainers:

tieintobackenddataandsupportserverdriveneventslikemessagesand

notifications;

useopensource,standardsbasedHTML(5)andJavaScriptlibrariesaswellasexisting

applications;

supportsingle,consistentencryptionacrossdifferentdevices.Formoreinformationaboutusinganddeployinghybridmobileapplications,clickhere,orcontactaSybase

orSAPrepresentative.

WhataboutDeveloperBob?

Without going into all the details,Developer Bob is doing fine.

Its true he totally blew his deadlineof delivering the new mobile

company directory in time for theannual meeting. However ever sincehe championed the use of hybridweb apps, Bob has become widelyregarded throughout theorganization as a very brilliant guy.
http://www.sybase.com/mobilize/strategic-mobilityhttp://www.sybase.com/mobilize/strategic-mobility


12/12


Notes

1 Reitsma,Reineke.TheDataDigest:WhichMobileOperatingSystemsDoEnterprisesSupport?ForesterBlog,

January7,2011.

2 Herrema,John.PersonalMobileDevicesintheEnterprise:WhatITNeedstoKnow.DigitalDiscourse,May

17,2011.

3 Frost&Sullivan.AdoptionofPremiumMobileEnterpriseApplications TheU.S.Perspectivein2010. April6,2011.

4 Sybasepragmaticresearch.

5 MobileAppManagement&theEnterpriseAppStore.AppCentral,2011.

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registrationintheUnitedStates.SAPandtheSAPlogoarethetrademarksorregistered

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