The App-Centric Enterprise

And Why the Web May Soon Be Obsolete

By Bill French

The alchemy of smart mobile devices and

the app market model have combined to

produce a seriously compelling value

proposition for business organizations and

consumers. This paper provides insights

into the emerging app-centric world, how it

will influence and integrate with an

increasingly mobile workforce, and why the

Web may soon be obsolete.

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THE APP-CENTRIC ENTERPRISE

INTRODUCTIONIn an age of mobility, enterprises are changing in profound ways.

I recently gave a presentation at Mobile Health Expo, and since then, I’ve been focused on a paper about app-centric healthcare and why mHealth 2.0 is far more likely to succeed than the first wave of mobile health solutions that date back ten years or so. Because of this work, I’ve been sensitized concerning the app-centric movement and why consumers, business people, and even entire organizations are smitten by the overwhelming and seemingly insatiable need for mobile apps.

APPS – POINT-SOLUTIONS FOR EVERYONE AND EVERY TASK

Through its consumer campaigns, Apple has cemented the idea that there’s an “app for that” and by “that”, Apple means just about anything you can imagine.

This positioning is taking hold in business, government, religion and everyday lives of individuals across the globe as the popularity of iPhone, iPodTouch, and now iPad, has grown rapidly and pervasively since iPhone’s debut in mid-2007. Conceptually and literally, this positioning has also spilled over to non-Apple environments such as Android-based phones and devices. App stores are erupting for every viable smart-device platform and operating system.

Apps have become a meaningful abbreviation for technology that just works. Apps provide a common and easily understood idea that has been widely accepted as a solution – indeed a means to get stuff done quickly and effectively. Humans across the globe see apps as the pathway to achieving objectives, whether simple tasks or complex processes, and they’ve begun to vote on this model [literally] with gestures of resounding approval.

Good apps create and sustain long-lasting relationships with users and they find their way into prominent visibility on their mobile devices. Bad apps are quickly tossed aside as users exercise real-time [natural] selection for solutions that make life better. Apps are quickly becoming the life-link between users and businesses – they represent the brand equity of that relationship and users can assess the benefits of an app at relatively low costs.

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Consumers are thrilled with the App Market Model.

APP MARKET MODELThe app market model emerged when Apple first released iPhone in 2007. Steve Jobs’ vision assumed that consumers and developers would benefit most from a powerful mobile web browser that pervasively supported open web standards. However, developers had different ideas; they wanted direct access to native elements of the device through an SDK (software development kit) and rightly so. Even today, Web standards and browser technology doesn’t mix all that well with native device and deep hardware features for many reasons including but not limited to security challenges. With the advent of iPhone (generation 1), developers desperately wanted the ability to create optimized apps that performed as well as Apple’s own pre-installed [native] apps.

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, Inc. agreed and went above and beyond the developer’s call for more device-level access. Apple provided comprehensive programming access to iPhone and its wealth of hardware capabilities, but on one condition – all apps would be reviewed for quality of experience and the distribution and sale of apps would go through iTunes – the App Store was born.

As global mobile industry analyst Ralf Gordon Jahns describes it in a recent report,

“The first six months in 2008, after the launch of the Apple App Store, proved to be an Eldorado for developers who quickly jumped on the band-wagon, realizing amazing downloads numbers for, generally speaking, very simple applications. In 2009 the market swelled with tens of thousands of new apps, making it more and more difficult for individual apps not to be lost in the long tail. Nonetheless the mass of developers adhere to IOS as their preferred mobile development and distribution platform.”

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Apple has cemented the idea that there’s an “app for that” and by “that”, they mean just about anything you could imagine.

In 2010, the app market model is now at full throttle with likely many years of growth ahead.

Mobile vendors have joined the app market model without hesitation. But this success has little to do with Apple or its vision and everything to do with what customers and business users want – simple, focused, point solutions that just work. And apps need to work across two critical dimensions; the ability to purchase and install apps without friction, and fitness-of-purpose.

WHY THE WEB MAY SOON BE OBSOLETE

When we think of the web, we often think it is synonymous with the Internet. Here are two scenarios to consider that may help to explain the difference.

Scenario A Scenario B

You wake up and grab your coffee and sit down at your desktop computer ...

You wake up and reach for your smart phone and begin tapping on app icons ...

• You start by launching a web browser

• You open Gmail and check your email

• You launch your favorite Twitter application, check for messages, and let your mother know you’ll come over for dinner

• You load a new browser window with Weather.com to see how you should dress

• You log in to your doctor’s website and set an appointment to see her

• You’re curious about recent back pain so you look up some articles at WebMD.com

• You refill a prescription online at Target.com

• You start by launching a web browser

• You open Gmail and check your email

• You launch your favorite Twitter application, check for messages, and let your mother know you’ll come over for dinner

• You load a new browser window with Weather.com to see how you should dress

• You log in to your doctor’s website and set an appointment to see her

• You’re curious about recent back pain so you look up some articles at WebMD.com

• You refill a prescription online at Target.com

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In scenario “A”, all activities were all performed on the Web using a Web browser. This is a very familiar model but it should not to be confused with the Internet. Web site applications such as Weather.com and WebMD.com run in a bowser but utilize the Internet as the communication medium. The Internet [metaphorically] represents the pipes, and the content from these Web applications flow through the pipes to you.

It’s more accurate to think of your browser plus any given Web site as an “app” running on the Internet.

You spent the morning on the Internet but never actually used the Web in scenario “B”. The distinction is subtle but the comparative user experiences are not.

In scenario “B”, you were happily running mobile “apps” that help you get things done quickly and efficiently. The apps you chose for these tasks are very specific and tend to focus your activities with economy of interaction because they were

designed for mobile use. In mobile computing paradigms, efficiency is key – user interfaces are simpler and more concise because they must be. This tends to yield a higher degree of productivity than broadly designed Web applications and most important – user satisfaction.

It’s more accurate to think of your browser plus any given Web site as an “app” running on the Internet.

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Aaron Levie sums it up nicely in this recent article, Building the Simple Enterprise.

“Complexity is the culprit, and it takes many forms: tedious processes for common tasks like HR and expense reports, inability to collaborate beyond the firewall without IT intervention, and information silos without any security rationale. Not to mention the bad UI, error messages, upgrade failures, and downtime that users and IT departments contend with on a daily basis. And while no one explicitly desires cumbersome technology, we keep buying it because we’ve built a strong correlation between the number of features a solution has and the likelihood it will solve our problem.”

For the most part, when it comes to life-tasks or business tasks, no user wants to spend more time tapping on frustratingly small interfaces and many will say they’d rather have a large screen where the viewing experience is superior and a comfortable forgiving keyboard with which to type. But here you are, steps from a desktop or laptop computer and still, you prefer to use your mobile device for many tasks. Why? Because app-centric systems simply offer a better approach to getting [certain] stuff done.

Daniel R. Odio raises an interesting reason in this blog post why apps are so attractive to users,

“... a fundamental tenet of the allure of apps: while you browse the web, you don’t own the web. Being on the web is a very nomadic experience. You visit your favorite sites, then you visit other sites, but there’s very little sense of ownership on the web. An app, by contrast, provides a unit of ownership. You purchase an app using iTunes. You own that contained experience.”

It’s safe to say that the verdict is in – apps require less typing, less time, and less user interaction than other computing alternatives. They are sleek and focused point-solutions. While apps are primarily designed for mobile use, you find them more appealing even in your office, your home, and at your desk.

THE APP-CENTRIC ENTERPRISEThere’s no doubt that the app market model will continue to provide new and innovative ways for businesses and large organizations to advance the science of computing. There will be some bad apps along the way, but the innovation cycle has been greatly

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shortened in this new model, making it more likely that companies can avoid massive IT failures.

At the heart of this emerging trend is the notion that apps are relevant only in a mobile context – when you’re away from the office. If you take a few minutes to observe your own behavior with mobile devices including the somewhat mobile iPad, you’ll discover that you’re actually [increasingly] using your iPad and smart phone at your desk. It’s obvious that you’re already depending on it while roaming through the building, in ad-hoc and casual meetings, at lunch (in the building) and certainly in conference rooms.

Apps are becoming increasingly important in non-mobile and quasi-mobile contexts. App-centricity in mobile and non-mobile contexts is already an important aspect of everyday business, and it’s about to flow back across your desktop and laptop.

Ross Rubin recently penned “Switched On: The iPadification of Mac OS” where he observed,

“Apple’s new MacBook Air was cited as taking on traits associated with the iPad such as thinness, flash storage, longer battery life, and instant on. But it is the changes coming in Lion that are inspired by the iPad’s user interface that will have broader ramifications for the future of all Macs, even desktops.”

EMBRACING THE APP-CENTRIC TREND

Organizations must act quickly to shape their business model implementation strategies to accommodate the emerging app market model. Mobile app trends are dramatically impacting customers as well as workers, necessitating stringent evaluation of internal and external opportunities.

Internally, businesses can begin by reassessing the effect mobile devices are presently having on its workforce and identify key process areas that can leverage this trend to business benefit.

Enterprises must consider how influential an Apple-inclusive mobile device strategy can be to its workforce and its customer base. Embracing the happier side of mobile computing is a sure success path to creating an enterprise environment that’s seen as perhaps forward thinking, lighthearted, and more likely to be a creative and enjoyable place to work. A progressive mobile device policy could sway recruitment success as well as employee retention goals.

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ROAMBI: A CASE IN POINTBusiness intelligence is one segment of enterprise mobility that is growing more rapidly than others. While all companies can find useful ways to leverage mobile computing devices for greater operational efficiency, business intelligence is at the core of the app-centric enterprise.

Roambi, a powerful BI app for iPhone and iPad, serves as a useful case study in the emerging app-centric enterprise. MeLLmo, the company that developed Roambi, has created a mobile business intelligence platform that delivers the most stunning data presentations available on iPhone and iPad today. There are simply no apps that compare to presentation quality and user experience design.

I use Roambi for small business data presentations and mobile delivery requirements with my clients, as well as in my own [very small] business. The designers at MeLLmo have slowly and purposefully transitioned its offerings to serve much larger customers – corporate enterprises. The rate of Roambi’s transition and readiness for large corporate buyers suggests it was fully intentional from the beginning.

Roambi serves large and small organizations by compartmentalizing its product and service layers. Instead of a single monolithic BI app, common business chart templates separate logical reporting requirements. The templates each participate in a unified experience, but it’s obvious the architecture is well planned.

MeLLmo and its very clever presentation designers have managed to create a holistic approach to acquiring, optimizing, and delivering actionable information to many Fortune 500 companies. This strategy required a significant investment in cloud services and security infrastructure to support the breadth and depth of

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enterprise BI requirements. But with a clear vision of mobile BI requirements, the Roambi team recognized that back-end integration with existing BI products and services such as IBM’s Cognos and Oracle’s Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition, required serious planning.

APP STRATEGYThere are many aspects of developing a solid app strategy for workforce or customer apps, but here are some basic areas to consider.

Design Simplicity! Successful apps are simple and they typically focus on one important objective; don’t lose sight of that. If it takes more than a week to design an app, the train is off the rails. Repeatedly step back to the app’s core objective and regroup on a daily basis during the design and envisioning phase of the project.

Limitation Awareness It’s very common for design teams to race ahead of the limitations of the chosen platform. Device and OS limitations are real and any attempt to shoehorn in capabilities that are far beyond the scope of the mobile platform will likely fail.

Process Friction! Remove as much as you can. Whether it’s an e-commerce app for your customers or an app to let HR know you’re out sick, the reason certain apps are great is because getting stuff done requires little effort. Think through the process carefully and eliminate actions. Do not create the app until you are certain that every possible process optimization has been explored and baked into your solution.

User Experience It’s very tempting to create all manner of complex user interface gestures and navigation with touch-capacitive screens. Resist this temptation in the early stages of your app lifecycle. Users need simple and intuitive navigation gestures to learn how to use your new app without any training or help. If they have to ask for help or training, you’ve missed the goal.

Rapid Prototyping Creating an app that users feel is indispensable takes time and many prototypes. At the outset, build a rinse-repeat

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cycle into your prototyping time budget. Use agile engineering models to quickly reshape and experiment with innovative ideas. Download award-winning and popular apps to gain additional ideas. Enlist a variety of people to provide rapid feedback.

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HOW I CAN HELPFeel free to call me even if it’s just to chat about your app strategy. I like to get feedback from the trenches and understand real-world challenges. You can reach me via email (bill.french@ipadcto.com) or at my Google Voice number (970.205.9121)

iPad® Consulting Services

As businesses dramatically increase the amount of information within and across their departments, it is a strategic imperative to leverage the information to fuel innovation, responsiveness and efficiency. It is also critical that enterprises learn how to provide greater relevance in the delivery and sharing of information with and between information workers. iPadCTO provides consultative and implementation services around four primary areas:

• Business Intelligence and KPI Dashboards

• Dynamic Workplace Applications

• Portal Development and Integration

• Advanced Information Discovery for Knowledge Workers

You may also find these additional free iPadCTO resources helpful.

Executive App Core The Executive App Core for iPad identifies the most effective and productive app collection for executives, and it's exclusively included in my iPad Executive Training program or through my consulting services.

iPad Executive Training Full-day onsite training sessions provide a comprehensive introduction and proficient education with hands-on guidance featuring the Executive App Core. Half-day sessions provide the fastest on-ramp to operational performance and include a hands-on workshop for the top five apps in the Executive App Core.

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Ebook: The iPad Executive Through a lot of experimentation and a continuing search for the best apps for executives, specific success patterns have emerged that continually allow me to achieve hyper-productivity with iPad. Perhaps you've done the same, even subliminally. This is a natural progression that all iPad-carrying executives undertake at some level. But what’s typically missing from casual exploration is how our chosen apps perform in two dimensions – the overall context of functional business tasks and how well they work as a cohesive mobile solution. Onsite training sessions include complimentary copies of the comprehensive eBook, The iPad Executive.

iPad CXO Advisories iPad CTO is a high-velocity news portal that provides breaking stories, opinions, and technology advisories for C-level executives who use the Apple iPad® or are contemplating integrating the iPad into their organization. Our bi-weekly executive advisory service delivers a comprehensive business intelligence report direct to your inbox with iPad information that matters.

iPad Tips and Tricks This ebook scratches the surface of the ingenious ways to use iPad more efficiently and more productively. These tips have been culled from my own experiences and research encounters as well as some shared tips from iPad CTO readers.

Mobile Apps: Native or Web? To help you wade through the pros and cons, I’ve created a strategy planning template and brief ebook guide bundle. You can download it and share it with your mobile development colleagues – it’s free.

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