There is a clothretail chain based in New Jersey called Syms. They advertise themselves as the ‘off price representative for over 200 authentic designer and brand names’. They run radio commercials heavily, which always tout their tagline – “An educated consumer is our best customer”. The sentiment here is that if a consumer knows what they are buying – they will pick Syms, if they don’t they may have regrets later. Speaking of the happy, educated consumer couple…
Business leaders need to heed this advice when reviewing mobility projects. Every decision maker should ensure they attain a level of understanding level reviewing technologies which will represent their company and brand through a mobile application. The application developer does not have their logo on the front page – you do.
Mobility is more than a technology project; it is a transformational opportunity for how an organization conducts business. Mobility will (when done correctly) drive a fundamental shift in how an organization interacts with their continuants – customers, employees and partners. And the opposite is true, if done improperly mobility can tarnish a brand.
I am not the first to use Citi as an example of business mobility gone wrong; but I feel it provides a compelling lesson. If you have not heard, Citi disclosed that there was a security flaw in the iPhone consumer banking app. According to the Wall Street Journal article “Citi said its iPhone app accidentally saved information—including account numbers, bill payments and security access codes—in a hidden file on users’ iPhones.”
Accidentally? It sounds more like a developer used a ‘work around’ to get the app to work in the manner desired, and a release of the app without a proper security review. I’m not here to bash Citi for their problems, in many ways I give them credit for addressing the issue publically.
I’m sure we all feel empathy for the business leader who left this project in the hands of IT. The business had a requirement for an iPhone application to better serve customers and asked IT to fulfill the need. Citi’s competitors showcase their mobile banking apps across TV, radio and web; and Citi needed to get on board. I’m sure there was a level of urgency put on this project.
There are many providers of mobile technologies. There are design firms, software companies, consulting firms, independent developers, wireless carriers, and of course internal IT resources who all can provide some level of mobile application development. How should one decide the proper approach? The lesson for business leaders is to stay involved in the decision making process when determining your enterprise mobility strategy & providers.
Typically, the independent developers create great looking flashy applications; many of these people also create mobile games and bring that perspective. Developing a standalone mobile game requires a very different approach when compared to extending a business process to a mobile device.
Both need to be compelling to the user, but the business application has much deeper requirements. A mobile business application has dependencies on back end systems, must operate both with and without connectivity, needs to be relevant to the business case, should be developed by a provider with industry expertise, requires a solid security model from host system to device, and many others requirements.
While most business people want business applications to be as compelling as mobile games, they still need to represent the brand appropriately, accomplish the business task quickly all while providing a mature security infrastructure.
We should all take some advice from Syms and do our homework to ensure we understand what we’re getting when we make investments in mobile technology.
Matt T -
Tags: Buiness Mobility, Enterprise Mobility, Increase Customer Satisfaction, Matt Torgersen, Mobile Applications, Mobile Apps, Pragmatic Mobility, ROI
