Is your fragmented web user experience a good reason to build a fragmented mobile user experience?

Most IT organisations are now thinking to at least some degree about how to work mobile computing into their systems

source: Accenture Mobility Insights Report 2014

Some of the more forward-thinking of those organisations are trying to create a coherent plan for this, whilst for others it is happening in a piecemeal fashion, with individual application silos moving at their own pace.

Mobile Fragmentation

The prevalence of this piecemeal, siloed approach should not be a surprise, of course.  Many of the organisations will have built their web user experience in a similar way as each business unit - marketing, finance, HR, etc. - purchases or builds its own applications, each with its own user interface technology and design philosophy.  In recent years, these application UIs have tended to support some sort of “skinning”; changing of colours and text fonts, adding your corporate logo, etc. However, skinning only goes so far, and doesn’t really affect how the user interacts with the system.

It is worth taking a little time to think about how this would all translate to the mobile experience.  The mobile applications world is already fragmented along technology lines; mobile web, native and hybrid apps; Android, Blackberry and iOS. One could argue that additional fragmentation along functional lines can’t make things much worse.  Alternatively, there is a case to be made that it is precisely because of this technical fragmentation that users won’t be as tolerant of functional fragmentation as they are for web applications.

Taking a very simple example, think about the app icons on your employees' phones.  Assume you have an HR app, a CRM app and a finance app. Are they consistently named, with a consistent look for the icons themselves?  Is this even under your control, or do you just provide what the application vendor offers?

Of course, no-one sat down and designed the fragmented web user experience we have; it was never our strategy.  It was simply where we ended up, through countless small “pragmatic” decisions.

Each business unit has its own mobile app, creating a fragmented user experience

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Designed for mobile

So, if we want to avoid making the same mistakes with our mobile user experience, what do we need to do?

Well, most organisations have, or are putting in place, an enterprise integration platform of some sort.  Even where it wasn’t really required before, the continuing rise of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is fast making it a necessity for 21st century businesses.  The most widely adopted approach is, of course, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), but traditional Message-Oriented-Middleware, Event Driven Architecture and Extract/Transform/Load systems are also still relatively common.

These integration platforms create the perfect opportunity for a coordinated approach to mobile computing.  

Rather than having each application create its own mobile application, have them expose their functionality through the Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) or alternative integration platform, and then build a consistent, coherent mobile experience on those enterprise services.

A unified experience delivered through a common integration platform

By taking control of your mobile app you can ensure a much smoother user experience: integrated and seamless security; consistent structure and menus; uniform and up-to-date branding; efficient mobile resource usage.  

Mobile development is still a relatively immature discipline, and hence the realm of the specialist software craftsman.   The difference between a hybrid mobile application engineered by an enterprise developer and a native equivalent mobile app crafted by an experienced mobile developer is striking.  Enterprises that capitalise on this by forming development teams dedicated to the mobile platform will deliver a much more compelling mobile experience for their users.

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Focus on value

Of course, exposing all the functionality in all those enterprise applications through a single mobile app is a massive undertaking; for most organisations it is probably far too expensive to be practical.  However, that should not be the objective.

Instead, focus on the specific scenarios where the mobile platform adds real value.  Take a look at the various processes that your applications support, and divide them into those that are best done in a full (web) application with a large screen and a proper keyboard, and those that lend themselves to mobile.

Consider a company’s expense claim process, for example.  The monthly process of collating, submitting and analysing expense claims is probably one that benefits from the convenience of the desktop.  However, snapping receipts with a camera and posting them to a pending expenses claim (with a timestamp and a geolocation code) is a great use of mobile technology. 

Once claims have been submitted they go into the approvals process, and here mobile can again add value: viewing a claim and approving/reject it is something that can be done on a small form factor device, and with a simple approve/reject button.  It can also be done offline, in the odd minutes while waiting for a taxi, for example.

Some final thoughts

Users have chosen mobile the key platform for reviewing and actioning content. We have little choice but to embrace these changes, otherwise we frustrate or alienate those we are trying to reach, be they customers, employees or partners. A pragmatic integration strategy to incrementally expose business functions through a common integration layer provides a platform for that mobile strategy the execs are clamouring for.

Questions for comments:

• Do you support BYOD?
• Do you provide corporate devices?  
• Do you promote or enforce device standardisation, or support multiple platforms?