Snappii Mobile Application Platform for Business

Why Insurance agencies need a mobile app

Tu2013-08-29T04:05:01.185-07:00

Insurance companies require a customer oriented approach that guarantees quick response to rapidly changing life conditions. Competition among insurance companies is intense so they must be fully equipped with modern technologies to remain competitive. Mobile apps are a must-have means to not only show contact information, but also involve clients in the complete insurance process allowing them to calculate insurance rates, order quotes and get feedback quickly.

In today’s mobile age, virtually every industry is leveraging mobile technologies to expand self-service channels and improve those already in place. The insurance industry is no exception. Today, customers can access their policies, file claims, pay bills and get quotes – all with the convenience of using a smartphone or a tablet. However, insurers are only just beginning to capitalize on the full value that mobile solutions can deliver. There are new options for solutions that go beyond just simple transactions. It is now possible to improve top and bottom line growth, and transform both the customer experience and business processes across the entire value chain, by simply changing the way information is captured and utilized.

With over 1 billion smartphones and tablets in use by customers, employees, partners and agents, Insurance Agency customers can now:

Ask for quotes anytime from anywhere
Manage their accounts
Report claims with photos, video, etc (no need for Adjusters to make physical trips to every Incident)
Pay bills
Reduce paper forms
Get answers faster any time of the day

Insurance Agency employees can:

Get access to corporate systems from anywhere any time and increase productivity
Eliminate paper forms
Leverage BYOD and require less IT purchases

Insurance Agency Partners and Agents can:

Service more clients
Service clients faster
Eliminate paper forms
Reduce travel

SnAPPii functions that enable Insurance Mobile App creation include:

Ability to create mobile apps without coding
Ability to leverage any programmer and non programmer to create and manage mobile apps
Reduce difficulty in hiring mobile programmers
Dramatically reduce the cost of mobile apps
Enable multiple releases of apps with minimum effort
Mobile e-forms
Support for complex calculations
Easy non-coding integration to legacy systems

There are endless opportunities for the use of mobile technology in the insurance industry. Nowadays, insurers offering mobile apps are viewed as innovative and customer-focused. With the mobile market growing so rapidly, all insurers should anticipate that clients will soon expect their insurers to provide mobile capabilities in some form. The mobile age customer will continue to be increasingly demanding, with escalating expectations for advanced mobile applications – expectations that are shaped both inside and outside the industry.
SnAPPii MEAP is a real alternative to hiring in-demand, cross platform developers or outsourcing mobile app development to unknown or potentially unreliable companies. It also allows experienced mobile to dramatically accelerate app builds with SnAPPii by taking advantage of not having to re-write code for the same features on different applications and focusing on coding enhancements to the platform for business-specific needs.
Using SnAPPii any business can have a fully customized insurance app in days vs months and succeed in collaborating with their current and future clients. It is a profitable solution for those who care about their business.

Why Oil&Gas Industries Need Mobile Apps

Tu2013-08-29T02:33:39.443-07:00

Mobile technology is playing more and more significant role in our lives. Even industries which are not tightly combined with up-to-date technologies today are really wanting to involve into a mobile world. Oil and gas industries are not the exceptions. Taking into account that the above industries suppose in-field activities having a mobile app is a must-have for them. A lot of in-field businesses suffer from tons of paper forms they need to fill out and handle daily. That is time consuming and not convenient as paper can be easily damaged,lost that will mean both time and money wasting. We are living in the 21st century when it is a high time to think about forests preservation and digital forms is the best alternative ever. Using electrical forms will not only eliminate paper usage but make the whole work process easier and more straight forward. That is thousand times user friendlier to have all necessary forms and documentation on one device and have 24/7 access to them than trying to sort out piles of paper which are just increasing all the time. Using mobile devices and tablets it is really simple to share,deliver and handle big amounts of data.

Let's take a look at the Oil and Gas industries alone. They are huge and urgently need a mobile approach. There are a lot of types of mobile apps which can created here to simplify a hard work of employees. Mostly data collecting apps may perfectly fit the niche. The following types of forms are frequently used in oilfields:

- job estimators
- weekly timesheets
- risk assessments
- equipment inspections
- accident reports
- internal work orders
- mining operations checklists
- oil production reports
- drilling reports
- etc.

These industries may be a big potential for mobile apps creators. Together with other useful features like GPS, Calculators, Web Services integration and etc. mobile apps may become an indispensable tool for oil and gas in-field workers.

It is not easy to find experienced mobile programmers to build an app and get it live in online stores. It may take months to create a great product and it is expensive. However there is a decent solution for all who want such apps. SnAPPii mobile app creating platform makes it easy to build native applications running both on Android and iOS devices. Visual Drag and Drop WYSIWYG editor allows to develop apps in hours and with no programming skills. Moreover SnAPPii already created an Oil&Gas app which is available in the Appstore and Google Play and contains useful forms and features in it.

If you like the app you can simply request a similar one via email or the app and SnAPPii will consider all of your requirements to make an app to best fit your business needs. Just give it a try.

SnAPPii makes it easy for customers to organize data inside their apps

Tu2013-08-22T06:52:08.165-07:00

As the time goes by, SnAPPii keeps growing and accumulating more and more user experience and receiving lots of feedback from its customers. Practice shows that most apps that are created operate various data. SnAPPii customers want to show different lists, categorize data, split it into groups, and that makes SnAPPii Development Team think that from a user perspective it would be great to add the ability to have easy access to any data, instead of looking through every entry.

So, today, with Advanced Lists and multi-level lists being widely used by our customers, SnAPPii development team adds Search and Sort functionality to that lists.
The benefits are obvious:
-- Your app users specify a search string to have easy access to the data
-- Your app users can sort this data in ascending or descending order
-- You can control the data shown to app users
-- etc.

Let's consider an example.
You have uploaded a list of cars: they are different makes, styles, reviews and price. SnAPPii allows you to organize the search feature for your app users to easily access this data. Search and sort by car make, reviews and price.
Take a look at the image below.
In SnAPPii Editor you, as an app owner, choose the sort filter.

In my example, I allow app user to sort cars by Model, review and price – ascending/descending order. That’s what they will see in the app:

And the result will be:

When your app users do a search, that’s what they see on their devices:

And view any of the results:

Search filter
Search filter allows to specify the search criteria that will Always apply for users, or be overridden when a user selects search or sort from the app.
For example, by default I want to show only the BMW cars, so I specify it in the search filter, see the image below:

In the app, user will only see the BMW cars, but with the filter “be overridden when a user selects search or sort from the app” users can search for other cars.
Go try it on snappii.com and share your feedback with us!

Mobile Delivery Solutions Mean More Efficient Transport and Happier Customers

Tu2013-08-09T14:52:00.904-07:00

Package transportation and delivery of all types from ship-to-shore, and rail carrier to 18-wheeler and local box truck, can be a tricky balance of tasks. Everything including inventory tracking, special care instructions, driver routing and delivery confirmations must happen seamlessly to be successful. Shipments to the wrong destination, missed deliveries, manual paperwork and tracking/routing through disparate back end systems can waste valuable time and money. Automating these processes through mobile apps not only allows faster inventory tracking out of the gate but provides customer information, delivery confirmation (including GPS location and signature capture) and end-of-run inventories in real-time.

Delivery automation through cross platform mobile apps means eliminating the paper nightmare of data inaccuracies, time delays and associated costs. It allows you to follow products, and the trucks they are on, through the full cycle, from departure to delivery and the routing in between. It also means increasing customer satisfaction by providing accurate, real-time information on package status and improving employee and company productivity, allowing more deliveries with less runs, cheaper, faster and more effectively.

Key features of a mobile Delivery solution include:

Integration with Backend Systems: collect and deliver data to and from your corporate systems to better manage inventory, streamline delivery routing and further automate processes like customer accounting and payroll.

Keeping Track of Drivers: Know where your drivers are going and provide GPS-based check-in capabilities to allow dispatchers to see the location status and details of all drivers.

Electronic Signature, GPS and Photo Capture: Capture delivery confirmation signatures and GPS location coordinates directly on the mobile device with just a finger. Additionally take and submit photos to confirm package condition at time of delivery as well as any potential delivery site damage or accidents.

Proof of Delivery Stats: information including signatures and photos can be sent by email (body, PDF, spreadsheet) to all necessary contacts as soon as delivery is complete. Information can also be submitted via web post, database and in-app.

Offline Capabilities: Capture, store and access data locally and submit when internet connection is available.

Mobile Delivery solutions offering the ability to collect and immediately transmit data go far beyond making sure a single package arrives. Increasing driver productivity, streamlining delivery runs, eliminating the paper processing nightmare and decreasing expenses all lead to a more efficient process overall. A mobile Delivery solution means, no matter what the cargo, method of transport, or destination, more successful deliveries will happen more often and for much happier customers.

ABI Research says Worldwide Enterprise App Store Adoption Expected to Triple by 2018

Tu2013-07-15T20:00:36.537-07:00

A recent report by ABI Research estimates that by 2018 the number of enterprise app stores will have tripled after year over year double digit growth rate. Worldwide growth is anticipated to be 30.4% annually, with Asia-Pac leading the charge at 59% annually. North America and Western Europe are expected to see annual adoption grow by about 21% each. This further supports the suggestion that large enterprise companies are looking for ways to support their employees and their business through mobile app development and adoption.

As employee demand for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) options increase, companies are looking for ways to effectively develop and manage mobile strategies that address this demand and allow the delivery of high quality, cross platform mobile apps as part of the initiative. These mobile apps, and the delivery system they reside on, need to be flexible, scalable, secure and easily managed. They need to readily support BYOD, the third party apps users are bringing to the table and the new business-related and company specific apps many enterprise organizations will need to build.

James McNicol, Senior Analyst at ABI said in the report, 'Mobile Application Management is growing in popularity among enterprises looking to deploy flexible mobile solutions to support Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) initiatives. The problem is finding a scalable solution to deploy enterprise apps without placing additional burdens on IT departments. Enterprise app stores allow enterprises to expand their mobile application portfolio yet control distribution based on role and mobile policy.'

Leveraging employees for the highest levels of productivity and efficiency means delivering mobile options that put daily business tasks in their hands, anytime, from anywhere. Clearly the organizations looking to streamlining their business operations through work force mobilization will only further sharpen their competitive edge. Adopting BYOD and enterprise app store initiatives is one step. Enabling rapid development of cross platform, robust, scalable, high performance, native apps is the other.

Alex

Construction Apps Streamline Operations and Field Data Collection

Tu2013-07-12T07:33:52.534-07:00

The extremely competitive construction industry is facing a burgeoning set of challenges including labor and cost overrun management, jobsite injuries, lack of system interoperability, poor data flow and information access and management. Project opportunities continue to abound but field data collection and management remains cumbersome and inefficient. Disparate software systems and a heavy dependency on paper-based data collection creates a data access nightmare including emergency situations when the need for fast and precise information is key. Automating construction operations through mobile apps not only increases productivity, decreases expenses and streamlines operations but can enhance safety and emergency response as well.

It is estimated that 90% of all cost overruns on construction projects are caused by labor issues. Keeping a daily, microscopic focus on this cost is ideal, but difficult to execute with so many variables. There may be weather issues, site conditions and delivery and safety issues that affect production. Project/site managers need to easily and efficiently track a daily comparison of budget to actual expenditures, tallying man hours to specific tasks, assessing time spent vs. tasks completed, etc. They should also be able to tie those daily activities and costs back to the total project cost to identify overrun trends.

Much of the information in a construction job is form based, from time cards and daily equipment logs, to bids, parcel evaluations and change orders. Many initial forms spur additional forms and the strong dependency on traditional paper methods for data collection results in data repetition, redundant processes, and poor data quality. It’s also difficult to manage multiple blue prints, CAD drawings, bid documents and more while traversing any number of field site conditions. Not to mention the overwhelming amount of reference material involved in every project. Having all needed forms and documentation at the ready in one compact, easy to access location means avoiding massive amounts of paper, improving data accuracy and ensuring field resources have information at their fingertips wherever they are.

Even with the many software programs typically involved in construction projects the information flow between these groups is typically paper-based. Additionally, because each construction discipline houses information on their own database, there is no single, easily accessible repository of all project information. This has created a nightmare for everyone involved including emergency planners and responders who need immediate jobsite information including interior, surrounding buildings, access roads, and utilities. It also contributes to higher job site injury rates with no efficient means to collect and distribute real-time workplace safety data, or push out notifications of new regulations, safety details or emergency processes. Tackling these issues requires that all project data across disciplines and systems must be aggregated and available in an immediate and seamless view.

Some of the many benefits mobile apps can offer the Construction industry include:

- Identify and avoid cost overruns by monitoring daily work operations including numeric/alphanumeric, date/time, GPS/location, visual map, photographs and signature capture.

- Aggregate data and allow data capture and display to and/from disparate back end systems, submitting captured data where needed - via Email (body, PDF, spreadsheet), web post, internal database and in-app.

- Collect real-time workplace safety data to help predict potential risks and dramatically reduce injury rates.

- Enhance Emergency Response –access resources, collect and submit data and collaborate in real-time with multiple teams.

- Streamline and manage bid operations with immediate data capture and report access, including photos, drawings and signatures

- Easily access blueprints and design specs for multiple projects, all in one compact location, from anywhere.

- Track and access various items like materials, work lists, punch lists, site status, weather conditions, supply deliveries and quality control - on the spot.

- Utilize multiple in-app calculators for materials (paint, concrete, lumber, roofing, drywall, carpet, steel…) and measurements (pitch, rise, run, arcs, circumference, right-angle, etc.).

- Access contact, bid and project information on everyone involved including architects, structural and civil engineers, subcontractors in every discipline, local government offices and more

- Work offline – store and access data locally and submit when internet connection is available.

- House a document library for procedures manuals, checklists for QA/QC, safety and commissioning, local ordinances, hazardous material sheets, etc.

- Deploy notifications, new information and updates/changes immediately across all devices.

Providing real-time, aggregated, seamless field data access from anywhere, anytime, across all construction disciplines and resources will provide a huge boon to the construction industry. Implementing robust, cross platform mobile apps to address this need allows everyone involved in construction projects of any scale to streamline communications, increase productivity, improve safety, decrease expenses and help ensure projects are completed on time and on budget.

Alex

Airline Cockpits Begin the Ascent toward Fully Mobilized Pilot Operations

Tu2013-06-28T13:51:28.919-07:00

In today’s vastly competitive air travel arena, airlines always seem to be “one-upping” the competition. Offering planes that are larger, faster, more luxurious, less expensive, and every other amenity, or lack thereof, they can imagine. Many, if not most, have also come on board with consumer-side mobile apps offering airline information, and personalized access to travel itineraries, booking information, flight delay details and more. But what still plagues the airlines, as is true for so many other industries, is the massive amount of internal paper-based operations. Everything from human resources and maintenance, to flight attendant activities and pilot operations is hampered by inordinate amounts of paper. Now American Airlines has announced it is the first in the industry to completely mobilize the cockpit with apps delivered on the iPad.

Replacing heavy, bulky pilot bags with the iPad did more than just open up space and eliminate copious amounts of paper, some 3,000 pages per pilot, according to American. It reduced American’s #1 pilot injury source (transporting the bags) while dramatically streamlining access to all manner of daily operational data and even emergency procedure details. Additionally utilizing apps in the air and on the ground potentially allows mobile data capture of every manner including photographic, GPS/location, visual mapping, alphanumeric and more.

But the non-stop mobile momentum doesn’t end with iPads in the cockpit. It’s just one component of American’s aggressive, cross platform, go forward mobile strategy. Flight attendants operations are being streamlined to enhance all manner of in-flight customer interactions from food service to gate details and connecting flight information. “All 16,000 of American’s crew members worldwide have been given Galaxy Notes. ‘We’re the first airline to give a tablet to every single crew member’,” said Patrick O’Keeffe, American’s VP of Airline Operations Technology.

Perhaps an even bigger step towards global mobilization in the air, American successfully lobbied the FAA for broader use of the iPad in flight. They are currently the only airline in the world able to use iPad at every phase of flight from takeoff to landing. But winning the blessing of the FAA leaves other airlines with the opportunity to be fully cleared for takeoff in the mobile space as well.

As if streamlined operations, increased employee productivity, reduced injury and huge cost savings isn’t enough, American’s mobile app deployment in the cockpit has dramatic impact on the environment, “removing the kitbag from all of our planes saves a minimum of 400,000 gallons and $1.2 million of fuel annually based on current fuel prices,” said Campbell…“Additionally, each of the more than 8,000 iPads we have deployed to date replaces more. Altogether, 24 million pages of paper documents have been eliminated.”

With American Airlines being the first to globally embrace mobile apps for internal, in-flight operations, they have clearly stepped to the top rung of the competitive ladder. This inevitably begs the question of whether the others can be far behind. Who will get their fastest and with equally robust mobile app data collection solutions remains to be seen. One thing is clear, mobile optimization is sure to make the friendly skies even friendlier.

Alex

Mobile Data Collection Apps Go Far Beyond Saving Paper

Tu2013-06-22T21:16:16.447-07:00

Though the advent of the internet has dramatically changed the way we do business, most companies are still bound to a tremendous amount of daily paper transactions. Data collection, re-entry, validation and approval drag down productivity and leave too many opportunities for error. If field employees are involved, time is wasted waiting for the documentation to arrive for entry. The same delays occur in getting information out to the field. Inevitably extra steps in data processing can lead to errors. Automating this process dramatically reduces time delays, and removes the middle man, allowing off-site workers to gather and share information to, and from, the field in real-time.

Mobile data collection offers a flexibility and scalability that paper simply can’t match. Mobile data collection apps allow employees to use their own devices to capture and submit virtually any data. Integration with back end CRM, ERP and other databases eliminates repeat data entry by allowing the information to process seamlessly behind the scenes. Options to have the data submitted by email, spreadsheet, PDF, web post, database connection or in-app further accelerates related processes (data analysis, validation, reporting, approval, invoicing, etc). Streamlining or completely eliminating the paper burden increases efficiency and data output in the field and in the office. The ability to immediately deploy changes remotely and provide push notifications of key information means employees will always have the latest rules, regulations and emergency process information at hand. This helps improve worker safety and peace of mind.

To be effective, mobile data collection apps need to be robust and offer many types of information capture. These native, cross platform apps must, at a minimum, collect numeric, alphanumeric, date/time, GPS, location address, email, photo and signature data. They must work in both Internet connected mode and when Internet connection is not available (offline). They must allow data to be stored locally on a device and sent once the connection is re-established to ensure that information can be gathered on the spot and delivered timely. They must also have the ability to integrate with back end corporate databases.

The uses for mobile data collection are endless. From remotely-manned oil wells to agriculture, scientific research, crime scene investigation, global health and much more, the ability to collect and immediately transmit data carries benefits even beyond a greener planet. Eliminating the paper processing nightmare, increasing productivity and revenue, decreasing expenses and improving worker safety will offer a competitive edge to any organization.

Alex

Gartner Says Mobile CRM Apps in App Stores Will Have Grown 500% by 2014

Tu2013-06-28T16:21:33.287-07:00

Gartner recently reported the Number of Mobile CRM Apps Downloadable on App Stores will Grow to Over 1,200 by 2014.

"CRM continues to be high on the CIO's agenda," said Ed Thompson, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.” According to Gartner's Executive Program survey of 2,053 CIOs in 2013, attracting and retaining new customers was ranked the No. 4 business priority for 2013. “Customer experience management is emerging as a business discipline for marketing, sales and customer service leaders. Every day, these leaders are incorporating more new technology into their projects to achieve their organizational goals."

As detailed in a previous blog, and further confirmed Johan Jacobs, Research Director at Gartner, an effective mobile app strategy (CRM or otherwise) involves knowing the reasons behind the mobile app drive. You need to take a deep dive into the goal of your enterprise mobile app strategy and determine exactly what it is that mobile apps will do for your business. Think of the business processes you want to enable with mobile apps first, determine the priorities for delivery (chances are multiple apps will be needed and desired for maximum productivity and ROI) then build your strategy around these processes. Find out what products or services your (internal and external) customers want and need. For employees, channels and business partners survey each group and determine what business issues they are facing and how mobile app(s) can solve these issues. Understanding not only why your enterprise organization needs mobile apps, and what business processes they will support, but who will deliver and manage the process and end product, is essential to a successful CRM mobile app strategy.

As indicated by Gartner, “the shift to apps will create a competitive advantage for some CRM vendors...” which means those unable to create effective apps with a solid design interface and usability will inevitably fall behind. As Mr. Jacobs indicated, “if there is a rapid rise in demand for CRM apps, there will be a shortage of development skills”. So CRM application vendors will not only need to determine what functionality to include in their apps but have the resources to bring them to market. Ensuring rapid and effective apps that support CRM processes means adopting a platform that enables both non-programmers and expert programmers to create native iOS and Android mobile apps without writing code.

These high performance apps must be data rich, sophisticated, secure and highly scalable. They also need to potentially connect to cloud servers, enterprise databases and ERP applications while supporting hundreds of thousands of corporate users. Being able to develop and deploy best in class apps in the short term will help keep CRM application vendors from falling behind the pack. The ability to analyze app usage, provide effective updates and changes and immediately distribute them to all end users will further define the leaders of the pack. SO what does a best-in-class CRM mobile app entail? More to come on that…

Alex

Oil and Gas Mobile Apps are an Essential Component for Safety and Management

Tu2013-06-14T11:38:17.162-07:00

With the continually expanding global oil and gas infrastructure, it is more important than ever to be able to safely submit, store and mange information. Many programs exist on the back end to document new construction and on-going inspections. There is also a wealth of documentation on rules and regulations, emergency and safety procedures and more. But the front-end data collection and documentation research requires a multitude of mostly paper-based forms, charts, rules and reports which can be time consuming and tedious. Not to mention, in an emergency situation, having immediate access to the most up-to-date procedures and real-time collaboration can dramatically accelerate response and repair time. Automating these processes through mobile apps not only streamlines operations and increases employee productivity, but can greatly enhance safety and emergency response.

Being able to complete and submit detailed mobile forms, including photographic documentation, dramatically reduces paper usage and data inaccuracies. Inspectors, product managers and safety officials can work even in offline mode and user management and signature options offer the security that only the appropriate people are accessing information. All personnel can be kept aware of regulatory changes and mission-critical instructions through in-app notifications and immediate distribution of app changes. This ensures the most up-to-date collection, reporting and reference capabilities will always be available.

Some of the features a best-in-class Oil & Gas mobile app should include are:

Equipment Management - Keep track of multiple tanks, wells, pipes, and even traveling rigs.

Daily reporting - Document and monitor work progress in, and from, the field. Identify & report problems with photographic evidence and signature capture and detail work plans, project schedules and more .

Detailed calculations –quick and easy calculations, unit conversions, financial reports and even “what if” scenarios on environmental impact.

Enhanced Emergency Response –Access resources and collaborate in real-time with your team from wherever you are.

References – access a host of reference materials to use for configuration, safety research, and emergency response. Data can be made editable to take advantage individual detailing and updates.

Hazardous Site check in – allow solo workers at dangerous sites to check in and enable one-touch emergency communication

Back-end data integration– Feed data collection activities directly to your internal databases for immediate reporting and further actions.

Location Tracking - Collect and record GPS data visually and with coordinates and access in-app maps and directions.

The benefits to implementing Oil & Gas mobile apps are numerous and palpable:

- Save time and money in data collection and reporting

- Manage site incidents more efficiently and address situations as they arise

- Go green, eliminate paperwork and reduce inaccuracies

- Improve workforce productivity and safety in the field

- Automate maintenance and repair processes to increase asset reliability and performance

- Identify and help prevent equipment malfunctions on the spot with immediate feedback to internal resources

In the Oil and Gas industry, streamlining data flow to and from offsite resources with mobile apps enables smarter, faster decisions, improves worker safety, increases productivity while decreasing expenses and helps ensure protection of the environment.

Alex

Inspection and Audit Apps Ensure Ease of Complex Data Collection and Reporting

Tu2013-06-11T16:17:26.418-07:00

Whether you are inspection/audit individual or company, or a business that needs to perform inspections of any sort, automating this process through a mobile app offers virtually limitless opportunities. Construction auditors reviewing jobsite safety incidents can collect detailed information and supporting photos that even include follow up actions. From business and residential properties to restaurants, commercial vehicle fleets, utilities and more, full-scale mobile inspection/audit apps afford efficient, detailed, professional and effective data collection and reporting.

With a robust inspection/audit mobile app that supports complex data collection, you can complete your entire inspection, online or offline, directly through your electronic “forms”. Capabilities such as image capture, text and multiple choice data elements and one-touch GPS location identification, provide for seamless collection of critical inspection details. Login, user management and signature options offer several levels of security to ensure only the appropriate people are accessing information. Completed forms can be immediately submitted via email, web post, corporate database, in-app database or even to another portion of the app itself.

Complex mobile data inspection apps also innumerable benefits:

Customer Benefits:

- Accelerate business processes

- Streamline measurement and data collection

- Eliminate manual processes and paper trails

- Identify, monitor and help prevent hazards

- Improve customer service and showcase modern advances

- Create reports with comments, locations, photos, etc

- Enhance data accuracy

Employee Benefits:

- Save time in creating reports and delivering them to the employer, employees and/or customers

- Fill out inspection forms, even offline, with the simple touch of a finger and have them submit automatically when connection is available

- Gain access to corporate systems from anywhere, anytime, and increase productivity

- Leverage BYOD and require less IT purchases

No matter the type of inspection required, best in class, complex, mobile data collection apps offer inspectors and auditors the ability to compile and report data from anywhere, at any time. Additionally the ability to keep off-site personnel aware of important information, such as rule changes or mission-critical instructions through in-app notifications and immediate distribution of app changes, for example an enhanced or entirely new form, means the most up-to-date collection and reporting capabilities will always be available.

Alex

Creating Insurance Property and Causality Apps is Now Easier Than Ever

Tu2013-06-03T15:27:43.565-07:00

Over 1 billion smartphones and tablets are in use by customers, employees, partners and agents across the country and around the globe. Consumers are quickly turning mobile app usage from just the fun of social networking and games to the every day necessities of mobile banking, ecommerce and a host of business purposes. Some large insurance companies have increased their marketshare by jumping on the mobile app bandwagon and now it's even easier for any insurance and property/casualty companies to follow suit with their own apps.

Insurance companies providing mobile apps offer an invaluable services to their customers, employees and partners by providing timely access to information, quotes, claims and account management. Along with a more efficient and cost effective means of managing an internal and external "customer base", a full service insurance app dramatically reduces paper usage for a "go-green" approach to business.

With an insurance app built on a flexible, scalable, easy-to-use platform offering cross-platform native app functionality:

- Customers can now

Ask for quotes anytime from anywhere
Manage their accounts
Report claims with Pics, video, etc
Eliminate Ajusters making a physical trip to every incident
Pay bills
Reduce paper forms
Get answers faster any time of the day

- Employees can now:

Get access to corporate systems from anywhere, anytime and increase productivity
Eliminate paper forms
Leverage BYOD and require less IT purchases

- Partners and Agents can now:

Service more clients
Service clients faster and easier
Eliminate paper forms
Make less trips and provide timely follow up

Snappii now offers features and functionality that enables full-service, customized Insurance Mobile App creation:

Ability to create mobile apps without coding
Ability to leverage any programmer and non programmer to create and manage mobile apps
Dramatically Reduce cost of mobile apps
Enable multiple app releases with minimum effort
Support for complex calculations
Mobile forms completion and submission (including photos)
Complex data access
Push Notifications
Easy no-coding integration to Legacy systems

Putting the right insurance information into customers' and employees' hands in a timely and efficient manner through a mobile app means improved productivity, increased business and more satisfied customers. That's the kind of insurance policy every business needs.

Alex

A New Approach for Apps Created with Mobile Cloud Services

Tu2013-05-28T09:55:35.345-07:00

In my last two blogs I talked about how companies are trying to address the burgeoning mobile app demand with cloud-based mobile app development approaches. These approaches, often taking the more traditional paths of server-side development or outsourcing, can present challenges in time, resoures, cost and development control. As such, utlizing an online mobile app development platform is an excellent alternative to traditional app making approaches.

snAPPii is a cloud-based platform for developing sophisticated, feature rich mobile apps without writing code for a majority of apps. We enable programmers and non-programmers to build native apps quickly without having to know Objective-C and Java programming. Experienced mobile programmers can dramatically accelerate app builds with snAPPii by taking advantage of not having to re-write code for the same features on different applications and focusing on coding enhancements to the platform for business-specific needs. Additionally snAPPii’s own App Designers leverage the platform to offer clients full service custom app development.

snAPPii users build mobile applications over the cloud without having to install any software. Our Visual WYSIWYG editor with drag, drop and configure functionality offers a wide range of benefits.

Some of snAPPii’s core features and capabilities include:

1. Data Connectors. Build sophisticated data driven native apps that leverage data from both internal enterprise systems as well as cloud based applications. snAPPii offers several pre-built data connectors to commonly used web services like SalesForce, Vimeo, Mailchimp and etc. Connect to websites, web based applications and internal databases with RESTful API web services. Send and retrieve critical information and mobilize business processes. snAPPii has several pre-built XML data connectors and we provide step by step instructions on how to create new connectors to suit your needs.

2. Push Notifications. Schedule and send push notifications to user groups to promote news, events, appointments and special offers. You can promote your business and let clients know the latest news, special deals and other information you want to convey quickly and easily.

3. User Management. Signup and login features to capture user information and control access rights to individual screens and tabs. . snAPPii supports O-Auth protocol for user validation providing the ability to log users in to a variety of web based systems for authentication via LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.

4. PayPal Integration. Shopping cart functionality with Paypal integration allows product, service and membership sales directly through the app.

5. Social Media. snAPPii offers out of the box full integration with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, RSS feeds, etc.

6. Custom calculations. Create custom formulas to calculate orders, measure project specifications, and develop productivity tools.

7. Digital Forms. Enables customers to submit data to you 24x7 in the format you determine. Collect, store and send information from customers, partners, clients, and employees. Any business data - documents, photos, GPS locations, digital signatures, etc can be turned into a form for capture.

8. Multi-Language Support. snAPPii currently supports 17 languages: English (U.S.), English (UK), French (France), German, Simplified Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Arabic, Hebrew, Danish and Dutch.

9. Photo controls. Take, share, e-mail, post and store pictures using the Photo Button. This can be very useful for any number of business and personal reasons allowing visual submission of information quickly and easily.

10. Customizable UI. You have total control over the User Interface down to the pixel level. Unlike a template-based approach, you have control over laying out each element – texts, images, multiple buttons, etc exactly how and where you want them.

11. Testing is an important part of the app development process. With snAPPii, development teams can work collaboratively in parallel work streams. The SnAPPii WYSIWYG Visual Editor and the live build Preview App enable teams to build and update apps quickly, instantly view changes on their devices and provide immediate feedback. This dramatically compresses the development cycle, improves time to market, and lowers costs.

12. Quick and easy app updates. Making and distributing app changes can take just minutes making the total cost of ownership with snAPPii a fraction of apps requiring source code changes.

13. Flexible delivery models for snAPPii are available depending on your organization’s desired level of security and control. With the snAPPii Visual WYSIWYG editor:

- The back-end is hosted and managed by snAPPii in the cloud (snAPPii intelligently distributes API calls among the servers and scales based on demand).

- : The back-end is hosted and managed by snAPPii in the cloud, but with dedicated infrastructure and VPN access for increased security and control.

- : The back-end is hosted and managed on your premises or data center, for maximum control and access to local data sources.

Offering next generation native mobile applications guarantees a more immersive experience with your clients, partners and employees, which in turn will help increase visibility and popularity.

By adopting the snAPPii cloud-based app development platform as a key component of your mobile strategy, signiﬁcant savings can be realized in lower capital, development and operating costs. As well, business agility will be increased as you accelerate your time to market and leverage the reusability of existing services.

Alex

Cloud Based Mobile App Development and the Challenge of Traditional Approaches

Tu2013-05-17T11:22:38.905-07:00

In my last blog I discussed how cloud services and in some cases MBaaS (Mobile Back end as a Service) will be a critical component to publishing and continually updating any number of informational, social, ecommerce and even internal applications rapidly and inexpensively. MBaaS opportunities help accelerate Enterprise app development but are only one consideration in how organizations may be currently attempting to meet the rapidly increasing mobile app development demand. Many companies are trying to address this demand with a more traditional approach to cloud based mobile app development. The issue lies in the associated challenges that hinder timely and effective delivery of the end product.

The Traditional Mobile App Development Approach - Internal Server-Side Development and Outsourcing

Traditionally, organizations can/do offer their own cloud services in a number of ways, but key among these are:

Internal server-side development through delivery of data via internal infrastructure:

In this case, software, hardware and networking infrastructure is first allocated and only then transferred into the data center. Using Objective-C, Java, PHP and other programming languages the required services are coded on the back end. Once these services are exposed via APIs and tested they can be further managed. If a client requests it, there is an opportunity to integrate to other public cloud systems like social channels and PayPal.

Internal server-side development by delivering data via Infrastructure-as-a-Service:

This is very similar to the first approach with the main difference being that instead of an internally managed infrastructure, a third party provider (outsourcing) is utilized. This is usually a less expensive option, but the back-end software development and management is still the customer’s duty. This means still needing to have development and support staff at the ready.

The Challenges of Traditional Approaches

Traditional server-side development is not without challenges. It is these obstacles that are causing many companies to struggle with how to address their increasing mobile app demands timely and cost effectively.

It is a costly venture to have an app built, thoroughly tested and accepted in the app stores. From hiring developers and having your app coded for cross platform use (ie. iOS and Android), to testing, distribution and maintenance, the numbers can easily exceed six figures.

From inception to release, it can prove extremely difficult to get an app to market in a timely manner with traditional approaches. Server-side app development can take several months from start to finish which can prove detrimental in the increasingly fast moving world of mobile apps.

Creating cross platform mobile apps traditionally requires highly skilled and experienced programmers who can develop both in Java and Objective-C. These developers are scarce and in high demand so organizations often have to hire one or more developers in each coding language to fill this need. Even still, the demand for experienced mobile developers exceeds the supply.

Keeping apps competitive requires constant updates or fixes which can sometimes prove as challenging as the initial build. App updates require additional coding which means additional expense. Additionally, internal or third party resources will have already moved on to other projects so stopping for updates means delaying new projects to maintain previous ones.

Faced with the challenges of timely and effective mobile app delivery with traditional app development approaches, utilizing a cloud based, online mobile app development platform is an excellent alternative to build your cross-platform, native mobile applications at a fraction of the time and cost. More on this approach in my next blog.

Alex

Cloud Based Enterprise App Building MBaas and More

Tu2013-05-05T19:34:27.131-07:00

The rapid rise and increasing consumer-driven demand for mobile applications is growing at a heated pace. Mobile apps have already proven to be an excellent way to promote/run your business and communicate with your customers. Now organizations are realizing the benefits and potential of implementing internal mobile apps to streamline business processes and communication with their employees. Enterprise mobile apps can further any companies’ strategies aimed at improving customer loyalty and employee productivity while decreasing costs.

One of the core challenges with mobile applications is that there is no single operating system suitable for all devices. Every device type runs on its own OS and has its own software and interface peculiarities. These devices support native, hybrid and HTML5 web apps on different OS platforms like iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry. Choosing theplatform(s) upon which to create your apps is as important a task as determine what apps you want to build. The choice will also hinge on who your audience is and how you want to attract and interact with your potential app users. Once the apps are developed, the ease of executing on-going maintenance and enhancements will play a big role in their success.

Although faced with the challenge of multi-device/OS support and the level of intricacies in the complex apps users are demanding, it’s no wonder enterprises are nevertheless putting vast amounts of time and resources into determining their mobile app strategies. Mobile devices and apps have given companies access to users in a myriad of ways and the users are responding and wanting more. With companies now adding in the internal component of strategies like BYOD (bring your own device) and users demanding access to enterprise backend systems, developing relevant apps is quickly becoming a necessity.

Cloud services and in some cases MBaaS (mobile back end as a service) will be a critical component to publishing and continually updating any number of informational, social, ecommerce and even internal applications rapidly and inexpensively.
The strategy of Mobile Backend as a Service

When implemented properly, utilizing MBaaS for enterprise mobile application development offers numerous benefits. MBaas is the term used to describe tools that provide cloud-based, pre-built components for developing mobile app backends. These platforms reduce the cost, time and difficulty needed to build, deploy and maintain mobile apps allowing developers to focus their efforts on core features. These types of mobile back end tools accelerate the process of new mobile app creation. Consumers require functionalities like GPS localization, social media integration and payment options to search, stay and purchase online. Employees are demanding BYOD opportunities with access to corporate enterprise systems like SAP, Salesforce and Oracle potentially combined with social networking and other services.

Taking advantage of MBaaS in your mobile app developments means addressing and resolving the potentially major issues before they happen.

- Product quality:
When your customer-facing mobile application is released there is a greater chance to be noticed and expand your business by gaining new clients. Internal apps have the potential to positively impact employees and productivity. The reverse side, however, is that if the app is poorly constructed, users will simply remove it from their devices. The golden rule is to deliver useful and reliable mobile applications focusing on quality and usefulness over “fancy” but possibly unstable technologies/features.

- Distribution
Your mobile application must be robust and work quickly regardless of the geographic location in which it is being downloaded and used. Consumers simply won’t tolerate slow working or buggy applications. To compete with the vast and rapidly increasing breadth of offerings in the app stores, you will have to offer maximum stability and availability, which can be a costly proposition.

- Security
With any cloud infrastructure data privacy and integrity is critical. This is a multi-level process addressing everything from the app that sits on a device to the back end support systems and shared resources. Your mobile app must ensure secure access to all information is provided at all times.

While MBaaS opportunities help accelerate mobile app development, they are only one step in the process. Determining how to effectively build and distribute complete enterprise applications in a cloud-based environment is the rel challenge. It means looking at the traditional server-side and outsourcing options and determining if there is a better approach. More detail on that in my next blog.

Alex

Step 5 in Creating an Enterprise Mobile App Strategy Management and Analytics

Tu2013-04-30T13:52:57.673-07:00

An often overlooked but key component of mobile app success, and the final step in your 5-step mobile app strategy (though on-going), is addressing app analytics and management.

App analytics relates to the number of users – new, active, registered; how often they use the app and other statistics to track in the immediate term and over time. If you have added a discussion forum or Q/A component to your app, users can also ask questions and provide feedback about functionality they’d like to see. This information will help you to understand how your app is performing and what your users are saying so you can consistently improve your app and its overall performance.

To follow your app/apps statistics with a product like snAPPii you can use the dashboard. Dashboard measures user analytics and improves app performance, allowing you to leverage continued feature and functionality updates to enhance the user experience.

Utilizing the snAPPii dashboard you can:

- Track the total number of app downloads (active, registered, first time)

- Send and track push notifications

- Track usage frequency

- Track registered users

As important as analyzing your app activity is app management. Your app needs to be a living product with continual updates and changes that further enhance your offering. Being able to make timely changes with ease will be important. So too, however, will be quickly and seamlessly distributing those changes to all of your end users, whether 100 or 100,000. snAPPii provides the ability to make and save your app changes, test them immediately and distribute them out to all your users with the push of a button. It's that easy.

Just building your app(s), dropping them in the public or private app store(s) and running won’t ensure rapid and long-term user adoption. Analyzing and managing your enterprise mobile application(s) to suit the changing demands of your app users and their technologies will make a dramatic difference in the popularity, usability, lifecycle and revenue generation of your mobile app(s).

Alex

Step 4 in Creating an Enterprise Mobile App Strategy Mobile Technology Selection

Tu2013-04-26T08:39:05.170-07:00

Watching the emergence and rapid rise of mobile apps, one harkens back to the advent of the internet and how it was transformed from its earliest static stages to the highly interactive solution of today. Part of this change occurred as a result of the continually new and improved development technologies.

In the informative phase of the web, HTML web servers were the foundation of web technology. With companies constantly having to meet their growing requirements and competitive needs, new tools such as JavaScript and other app servers quickly became an integral part of the interactive phase. The web showed companies’ they could dramatically change and influence their customer relationships by taking advantage of the full-featured web opportunities and applications that had been developed. This was then the time for companies to develop their enterprise web strategy. They took, and had, the time to plan IT budgets, interact with client and employees, integrate internal company systems and of course, time to innovate.

Mobile technology development and adoption is following a very similar course to the web only at a highly accelerated pace. Companies started by building native apps using SDKs and frameworks. These offered the most robust and user friendly apps, but was (and still is) a costly and time-consuming process that can only occur with experienced mobile app programmers. Then HTML5 came about allowing non-Objective-C and/or JavaScript programmers to build mobile apps quickly, more easily and without the concerns of rebuilding for various mobile device platforms. But a number of issues such as major security risks, poor offline accessibility and a much less robust overall user experience make this a faster, yet less effective offering. Now hybrid apps have begun making their way into the corporate mainstream offering the option to basically take the HTML5 technology, and wrap it in native code. However, since Hybrid apps are doing their best to emulate native apps the work required to create the “virtually native” look, often takes even more time and coding knowledge than simply building a native app to begin with and there are still some potential performance and compatibility issues.

Just as there is no one single mobile device platform and no one mobile device type, companies may also want to consider adopting an enterprise mobile app strategy, and development tool, that offers native and HTML5 options. At the end of the day, native apps simply offer the richest most ultimately satisfying end user experience, being able to take full advantage of native device features and functionality, and should be part of any organization’s mobile app strategy. That may mean going wholly native, which is the ideal scenario, or possibly even hybrid if the organization feels strongly in that approach. But with the opportunity to offer data rich, cross platform, native mobile apps in tandem with HTML5 offerings, all from a single development platform, companies can take advantage of reaching users directly through their mobile devices in whichever way the user wishes to engage.

More and more organizations are realizing that not offering mobile apps to their employees and/or consumers is simply not an option and instead the question has become how to address the burgeoning app development backlog perpetuated by high consumer demands and a shortage of programming resources. Mobile app development platforms like snAPPii allow developers to quickly and easily build data rich, cross platform, native apps. It enables rapid development, testing, deployment, new version distribution and analysis of all apps. With its visual build methodology programmers can create apps faster using drag, drop and configure capabilities, without having to write any code at all for many apps. Apps can be launched in tandem across Android, iOS and HTML5 platforms without having to rebuild for each platform. Experienced programmers can work faster and more effectively taking advantage of maximum scalability, performance and code re-use. The snAPPii architecture facilitates creation of enterprise apps that access data from back end and cloud based servers.

Using the snAPPii Mobile App Platform companies can:

- Accelerate app development and shorten it to days, not months

- Develop real, high performance, secure, native, data rich apps by leveraging existing programmers without having to retrain them on Objective-C and Java technologies

- Exercise greater project control by keeping mobile app development in-house

- Leverage company employees who understand the business

- Accelerate development for experienced programmers providing them a solid app development foundation to enhance only as needed with business specific code.

Once your development platform has been selected and apps have been built and released, the work is really just beginning . On-going app analytics and management, to understand how your app is performing and what users are saying, will be key to further enhancements. Having an app isn't enough. Having an app people want and will use is what matters and will be essential to long term success. More on that in step 5.

Alex

Step 3 in Creating an Enterprise Mobile App Strategy Determining User Access and Trends

Tu2013-04-23T05:05:20.290-07:00

Creating an Enterprise mobile app strategy demands understanding the nuances of your audience. Beyond the obstacles once presented when incorporating the web into the business mainstream, the mobile proposition is even more challenging as there is no single operating system suitable for all devices. Every device type runs on its own OS and has its own software and interface peculiarities. This means choosing the platform(s) upon which to create/support your apps is as important a task as determine what apps you want to build. The choice will also hinge on who your audience is and how you want to attract and interact with your potential app users.

At one time, Blackberry and their proprietary OS was THE corporate standard and the device that chartered in the emergence and predominance of mobile to the business space even before mobile apps came in to play. Then the Android and iOS platforms took over and devices like the iPhone exploded onto the scene bringing with it the introduction of mobile apps and their endless possibilities. For a time, iPhone reigned supreme as the number one smartphone device and now Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy III have dramatically taken over the #1 spot. On top of this, there’s Windows Phone 8, the re-emergence of Blackberry with BB10 and the explosive growth of the tablet market, now outselling PC’s by more than half with no slow down in site. Wtih more and more companies also considering or adopting a BYOD strategy as well, they are now faced with a plethora of devices and operating systems to consider supporting with their internal apps.

Beyond purely the number of operating systems and device to consider, there is also contemplation of the markets in which certain mobile devices tend to be preferred. For entertainment purposes, like streaming video or large/high intensity graphic applications, tablet-based devices tend to be a popular user choice. This is also true of ecommerce industries like retail, where more purchases are made on tablets than via smartphone, though the latter still provides a hefty amount of revenue for these shopping sites and applications. Due to the continually increasing popularity of Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy series, retail-related organizations might assume Android is the best market for their applications. For business, the jury is still out on whether, or if, there will be a predominant player in the business space, like Blackberry once was, though at present the Android and iOS operating systems hold the most market share across a number of devices.

Understanding why your enterprise organization needs mobile apps, and what business processes they will support, is key to a successful mobile app strategy. A big piece of that puzzle is mapping those processes to the needs of the end users and the overall audience you will be addressing early in the planning stages. This approach will help create the solid enterprise mobile app foundation upon which to build the robust, data rich apps your end users want and your business needs. As important as taking those first steps as well is determining the best tools and resources to execute your strategy - and that's Step 4.

Alex

Step 2 in Creating an Enterprise Mobile App Strategy Defining Your Mobile App Users

Tu2013-04-19T13:44:57.888-07:00

In a previous blog, I addressed Step 1 in creating an enterprise mobile app strategy - understanding the business needs. Step 2 is about clearly defining your mobile app users and their demands. The more experience and exposure users have, the more complex apps they want to see, the greater their expectations those apps will exist. When they find organizations that support their app demands and desires, those are the companies they support, as consumers and employees. Mobile applications are now actively using cloud services, personal log in functionality, chat, online catalogs, product lists and shopping carts etc. Apps are quickly following suit.

Trying to build a single app to meet the breadth and scope of everyone’s requirements will prove far more frustrating than beneficial and in many cases can lead to a project being scrapped shortly after implementation or even before the project is completed, but not before time, money and resources have been consumed. For any customer-facing mobile apps, create focus groups of current and prospective customers and find out what products or services they want to be able to access through your mobile apps and the functionality within the app that would be most useful to them. For employees, channels and business partners survey each group and determine what business issues they are facing and how mobile app(s) can solve these issues.

The wide range of functions that are now available for mobile applications significantly changes companies’ relationships with their mobile users. Interactive user experiences during the development cycle and within the apps themselves are inevitably a key piece of that engaging and ongoing experience. This can be a positive and transformative opportunity for companies and users as long as active research and implementation into users needs is constantly occurring. Determining what users want is one piece of the puzzle, it’s also important to know how they want to see it, the way they want to use it and where they want to access it.

Without understanding who your audience is and what they want, as well as their preferred device methods to find you, companies may end up building the greatest apps no one ever uses. This is especially important with the emerging proliferation of BYOD opportunities and therefore every imaginable type of mobile device infiltrating daily enterprise operations. Determining the technology preferences of your app audience and how that factors into your mobile app strategy is Step 3.

Alex

Part 2 - Enterprise Mobile App Development - Native vs. HTML5 (and Hybrid)

Tu2013-04-11T04:12:19.846-07:00

In my last blog, I discussed the necessity for enterprise businesses to embrace a mobile app strategy to remain competitive in an increasingly mobile world. Two of the approaches for app building, HTML5 and hybrid offer some benefits, with web apps being an easier build for non-mobile programmers and Hybrid apps offering a more native look and feel. But web apps pose a strong security risk, can’t take advantage of device features like camera and GPS, offer limited local storage and have poor offline capabilities and compatibility issues. Hybrid apps offer a better level of security and can take advantage of device features but the complexity of trying to make it “look and feel” like a native app, often requires more coding and can be more challenging than just building a native app to being with. In comparison, native apps, the third app building approach, simply offer the best overall user experience, bar none.

Native apps offer a wealth of advantages over their web-based and counterparts. Information is far more secure being compiled, encrypted and multi-level. Local databases are available through on-device storage and apps are able to function in offline mode. Native apps are able to take advantage of the full device functionality such as camera and GPS and offer the same look and feel which simply makes the apps easier to use. Fast graphics and fluid animation allow for the smoothest transfer of images and data which is a key for corporate apps that process a lot of information or require frequent refreshing. Native apps also have excellent potential for exposure in the app stores offering dynamic marketing, trending and analytics.

Traditionally, compared with web and hybrid apps, native apps have had the reputation of being costly, with long development cycles due to coding from scratch for each new app. There is also no single mobile platform, so developers have needed to be experienced in Objective-C (iOS) or Java (Android) languages to build the apps for one platform or the other. With there being a shortage of skilled mobile developers to begin with, programmers with the ability to develop for both platforms are even harder to come by. This has meant multiple developers and/or multiple app builds to launch on more than one platform have been required. Additionally, app updates and changes have been challenging when needing to be deployed to potentially tens of thousands of people at one time. That said, native app development has changed for the better.

Along with the benefits native apps offer over web apps or hybrids, there are now tools available to develop Enterprise mobile apps that are timely, cost effective and address burgeoning mobile app backlogs. These development platforms allow the creation of true, native, cross platform apps that are data-rich and require no coding. With a platform that offers visual app development and the option to build and immediately test functionality, even non-mobile programmers are able to quickly and easily build quality apps. This means past concerns over native app development equaling a lengthy time-to-market, challenging prototyping, searching for mobile-skilled programmers and high costs are no longer warranted. Instead, enterprise organizations can address their mobile app backlog by leveraging all their existing programmer resources to launch the cross platform, native apps that will offer their end users the best overall experience, period.

Alex

Enterprise Mobile App Development - Native vs. HTML5 - Part 1

Tu2013-03-26T07:37:44.620-07:00

It’s hard to imagine the first communication between a Web browser and a server via the internet occurred almost 23 year ago. For many businesses, adoption of the web was slow and sometimes painful, but consumers were patient, awaiting opportunities that provided access to endless information, shopping and social networking would afford. However, with the advent and almost stratospheric rise of smart mobile devices, consumers and employees alike are no longer patiently waiting. They want access and they want it now. The demand for mobile apps is staggering and for businesses, embracing mobile app development is no longer an option, it’s a necessity. As organizations work through creating and executing an enterprise mobile app strategy, a key decision to be made is whether to build Native or HTML5 (web apps). There is even talk about Hybrid apps being an option. Each certainly has benefits and drawbacks, but ultimately, native apps simply offer the best overall user experience. In part 1 of this blog – we’ll take a closer look at the challenges of HTML5 (and Hybrid) mobile app development.

HTML5 has provided an opportunity for rapid development of web-based mobile apps even by developers just getting started. Following a write-once-deploy-everywhere strategy, web apps deploy easily and are easy to manage and distribute changes and updates. Being web based, they can also run across multiple mobile devices. This has allowed for a myriad of apps to be created relatively inexpensively and in short time. That said HTML5 has some significant drawbacks especially for consideration in the enterprise mobile app space.

Poor security and lack of offline storage are presently two major roadblocks to an enterprise HTML5 based mobile app strategy. Security issues such as form manipulation, data transfer and injection attacks pose potentially high security risks. While there are some JavaScript coding practices that can help with these issues, HTML5 local storage saves data in unencrypted string form and should not be used for sensitive data. As such, the level of security threat remains concerning, especially when corporate data is involved. As well, though web apps offer some level of local storage it is limited. Online web apps can cache information for use when offline, however, if a screen has not previously been cached, for example, it will not work when offline.

Another key issue with HTML5 is the lack of the “native” user experience. There are several native device features that cannot be taken advantage of with web apps, such as the camera, calendar, GPS and multi touch features. With web apps users won’t have the look and feel of their native device functionality. Additionally, performance can be an issue as web apps can be slow or unstable when an internet connection is unreliable. There are also issues with platform and browser compatibility, especially on Android devices, which will be a key issue now that Samsung devices, the market share leader in 2012, are slated to more than double its percentage point lead over their rivals in 2013.

In the face of web apps drawbacks, a nod must be given to Hybrid apps which are generating a lot of the buzz. These Hybrids basically take the HTML5 technology, and wraps it in native code. These do provide faster performance than web apps with a more native look and feel. They also enable the use of device features like camera and GPS through an abstraction layer. However, since Hybrid apps are doing their best to emulate native apps, the work required to create the “virtually native” look and feel, often takes even more time and coding knowledge than simply building a native app. Additionally, while often faster than a web app, there are still performance issues and lag times especially where graphics performance is concerned. There may also be some compatibility issues when a new device version is released.

HTML5 and Hybrid apps offer some solutions for potentially getting apps out to market fast, and potentially more cost effectively. However, to put all the eggs in one basket of either solution is a risky investment for all the reasons mentioned above. What neither can offer is the ultimate end user experience that can only be gained by providing data rich, cross platform native apps which are more enterprise-viable than ever before. More on that in tomorrow’s blog…

Alex

New Gartner Report Says Mobility is Now Fundamentally Reshaping Mainstream Consumer Behavior

Tu2013-06-28T16:25:34.197-07:00

A recent Gartner report, from a survey of more than 8,000 global consumers, indicated that:

"Household adoption and spending on consumer technology products is shifting faster than expected in favor of gadgets and services that are portable or mobile and those that deliver networking capabilities and entertainment...The major change is that mobility is now reshaping mainstream consumer behavior in fundamental ways..."

Given the continued adoption of smartphones, the almost stratospheric rise of the tablet for web viewing, and new innovations in the works, mobile is the wave of the future and the future is now.

According to Nick Ingelbrecht, research director at Gartner, "Early adopters tend to leave the home laptop in the bag and are abandoning the home office in favor of the lounge room couch or bedroom to do online activities in a more comfortable environment using a tablet or smartphone. This early adopter trend is becoming mainstream consumer behavior."

Though the report was focused towards technology vendors who provide digital products and services (PCs, cameras, video gaming systems, etc...) the fundamental consumer behavior change speaks volumes to the absolute need for mobile strategy adoption across the business sector. Regardless of business size, target market or industry vertical, consumers and employees will be looking more fervently for businesses that cater to their on-the-go shopping, lifestyle, education, entertainment and work task needs. Organizations need to effectively deliver mobile websites and apps that cater to these needs sooner rather than later.

As the Garter report says, "technology and service providers are being faced with no alternative but to innovate for mobility." If they do nothing, they face a potential train wreck as consumers abandon gadgets, services and applications that do not fully support changing mobile lifestyles." This same premise applies to businesses at any level, but especially for enterprise organizations facing a broad BYOD mantra. Adopting a mobile strategy will be a key success factor for businesses across the board, as will employing the right tools and processes to execute valuable and well-utilized deliverables.

The adage, "if you build it, they will come" simply does not work in the mobile space. You need to build it well and in a manner that is timely and cost effective to support your business needs. When it comes to gadgets, consumers may jump on board and buy them, then ultimately drop them if they don't work. In the mobile space however, when consumers and employees are on their devices for work or play, if the content and functionality isn't there, they will immediately move on. This means decreased consumer revenue and worker productivity. I know I find myself working even more often, beyond the standard office schedule, if access to corporate systems and work tasks is more readily available.

"The shift to wireless access and portable devices represents both a threat and an opportunity to technology vendors." the Gartner report points out. The same holds true for businesses needing to deliver data-rich mobile solutions to their end users. In the wake of the rapid adoption of newer, more robust, consumer-friendly and cutting edge devices (think Google Glasses) businesses late to the mobile party just won't get a second invitation.

Alex

Tablets Beat Out Smartphones for Web Pages Views - Where is Your Business?

Tu2013-03-08T20:11:42.530-08:00

After looking at 100 billion visits to 1,000+ websites worldwide, the Adobe Digital Index is reporting that tablets have taken over smartphones for the first time in global web traffic generation. While PC's are still the predominant medium for web surfers, with tablet sales beating out PC sales by more than half at the end of 2012, it is evident that mobile devices will very soon be THE place to go for web browsing. That said, it's virtually impossible for companies not to jump on the mobile bandwagon, no matter the company size or industry, and be visible anywhere.

It goes without saying that if you don't have a website, you aren't being found, but so many companies feel that just having a website is enough. With an anticipated 1.9 billion smartphones slated to be sold this year alone, your company not only needs to be found, it needs to be optimzied for mobile use. Users need to have mobile websites and apps in the palm of their hands that provide a robust and personal experience. Even casual browsing at the beach with a margarita on the weekend, CEO's and consumers alike are looking for easily accessible, engaging content that makes them want to know more. Additionally, employees are looking for ways to easily access corporate systems for off-hour follow up on any number of work-related tasks. If a company isn't providing that enticement, they are potentially getting less than their employees are willing to give and handing their consumer business to their competition!

Providing mobile websites and/or mobile apps that educate, inform, entertain, or otherwise captivate, leads your potential customers and employees to engage more often and for longer periods of time. More time, more work completed, more sales made. If organizations the likes of Google, even as they are streamlining their company, have adopted a "mobile first" strategy, the statement for "going mobile" is clear. Every company is not Google, but that doesn't mean we can't all aspire to be. A mobile site combined with data rich mobile apps is not only realistic for SMB's and the enterprise alike but a necessity. Taking up the mobile charge will do a tremendous amount towards getting any company their fair share, or more, of the mobile browsing market. The companies who do not embrace a mobile strategy, out of fear, misunderstanding, or lack of acceptance of the role mobile will very quickly play in their success, will ultimately disappear.

Alex

Creating an Enterprise Mobile App Strategy Step 1 - Understanding Your Business Needs

Tu2013-03-06T03:52:01.784-08:00

With almost 2 billion smart phones expected to be sold this year and tablets outselling PC’s by more than half, enterprise companies across the board will need to embrace a mobile app strategy to remain competitive. But there is a constant flow of conflicting information surrounding mobile app development and BYOD strategies and determining what’s needed to be successful can be a daunting task. In addition, rushing to jump on the mobile app bandwagon, some companies try to tackle every want and need at one time and within one app. This leads to an end product that is less than desired and in the wake of failed implementation, mobile app strategies can be abandoned altogether. Beyond obtaining the tools and resources needed to implement a mobile app strategy are the building blocks required to create a solid foundation for success. Reaching the goal of a clean, effective and successful enterprise mobile app strategy requires taking one well calculated step at a time and it starts from step one – understanding your business needs.

Taking on a mobile app strategy is about much more than the tools you will use or even the end product itself. An effective mobile app strategy involves knowing the reasons behind the mobile app drive. You need to take a deep dive into the goal of your enterprise mobile app strategy and determine exactly what it is that mobile apps will do for your business. Are you looking to serve your customers, employees, vendors, channels, or all of the above? Will mobile apps enhance or replace current technologies? Think of the business processes you want to enable with mobile apps first, determine the priorities for delivery (chances are multiple apps will be needed and desired for maximum productivity and ROI) then build your strategy around these processes.

Once a list of potential mobile apps and the business processes they map to is determined, it’s time to bring the end users into the fold. Too often companies engage in enormous technology projects, investing huge amounts of time and money to create what they believe their customers (internal or external) want and need without actually asking them. Development of any kind in a vacuum is never successful and in many cases can lead to a project being scrapped shortly after implementation or even before the project is completed, but not before time, money and resources have been consumed.

It is almost assured that multiple mobile apps will be necessary to successfully meet all the business needs of your end users. Trying to build a single app to meet the breadth and scope of everyone’s requirements will prove far more frustrating than beneficial. For any customer-facing mobile apps, create focus groups of current and prospective customers. Find out what products or services they want to be able to access through your mobile apps and the functionality within the app that would be most useful to them. For employees, channels and business partners survey each group and determine what business issues they are facing and how mobile app(s) can solve these issues.

Understanding why your enterprise organization needs mobile apps, and what business processes they will support, is key to a successful mobile app strategy. A big piece of that puzzle is mapping those processes to the needs of the end users early in the planning stages. This approach will help create the solid enterprise mobile app foundation upon which to build the robust, data rich apps your end users want and your business needs. Next is determining the best tools and resources to execute your strategy – that’s step 2.

Alex

Yes, Companies Really Do Need "An App for That" and Getting There is Easier Than Ever

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After reading a recent editorial on whether or not businesses need mobile apps, I realized there is still confusion and lack of understanding about what is available and possible in today’s mobile app development world. There are some 1.9 billion mobile phones expected to be sold worldwide this year combined with continued growth in tablet sales which reached an estimated 52.5 million sales in the last quarter of 2012. While it may be true in the small business arena that perhaps not every company needs a mobile app, with staggering end-user numbers and easy, affordable app building options now available, the question really becomes why wouldn’t you want one? Certainly in the mid-to-Enterprise space, mobile app development is a wave that companies will need to ride for a host of reasons, especially with the increasing flood of BYOD demands. So for them, it isn’t even a want, it’s a need.

“To app or not to app” really isn’t the question. Instead it’s a question of how to approach mobile app strategies with easy to use tools that open up a wide range of development opportunities. It was true at one time that: "Apps are great, but here’s the thing: they take a lot of time and money to build and after all that your app will only work on one type of phone". That is no longer the case. Cross-platform mobile development has taken on a new face, one that’s high quality, data rich, timely and affordable, allowing build-once-and-deploy-everywhere (native and HTML5) abilities. Fast prototyping, immediate testing, and ongoing real time management and distribution mean quicker turnaround of quality apps to streamline operations and enhance the productivity.

Even more exciting is the prospect that mobile app development can be done without requiring any mobile programming skills. This means being able to take advantage of existing development resources for app building. For already skilled mobile programmers it means greatly lightening the development load, only augmenting an already robust platform for specific enterprise needs. For systems integrators, it dramatically reduces the burden of determining how, and with what resources, to architect customer solutions. It also decreases their development investment while increasing the ease, scalability and time to market of the end product.

At every level of every business, a cross-platform mobile development solution removes the question "do you really need an app for that?" and replaces it with "what is your strategy for building the apps that are best for your business and you customers?” More on that in my next blog…

Alex