MEASUREMENT OF MOBILE BUSINESS APPLICATIONS

JULY, 2013

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

MOBILE DEVICES ARE PRESENT EVERYWHERE.

IT IS INEVITABLE FOR EVERY COMPANY TO IMPLEMENT A COMPREHENSIVE MOBILE STRATEGY.
AN APPLICATION DOES NOT ONLY SERVE TO INPUT AND DISPLAY TEXTUAL AND VISUAL INFORMATION. IT IS IMPORTANT TO BUILD SUCH A KNOWLEDGE BASE BY MEANS OF WHICH WE CAN COLLECT, ANALYSE AND ASSESS MEASURABLE DATA.

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

CONTENTS
B2E AND B2C BUSINESS USE MOBILE STRATEGY WHAT SHOULD WE MEASURE? EFFICIENT DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORT PREPARATION LIFE CYCLE OF APPLICATIONS NEW MEASUREMENT PROCESSES

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

B2E AND B2C

In an earlier publication, we have already examined in detail the measurability of mobile applications, as well as the associated problems and difficulties and ways to avoid them. According to our examinations, while in the case of personal applications, analytics mostly seek to enhance the performance of the advertisement displayed (purchase intent, brand perception, acceptance of the advertising, etc.), in the business sector, the most important consideration is the performance of the company or business unit and to make organisational operations more efficient.

e.g. a presentation, application, if more or less time than average is spent on a page, may indicate the quality of the contents, which can and should be analysed in light of the business processes. Considering the various types of applications in different industries, we find that there is a subset of information that can be obtained from mobile devices and is identical in all cases.

<< IN MOST CASES, EACH INDUSTRY AND TARGET APPLICATION IS FEATURED BY UNIQUE NEEDS, THEREFORE SPECIAL MEASUREMENT AND STATISTICAL SOLUTIONS ARE REQUIRED >>
In case of a notebook application, if more time is spent on a given page than the average does not necessarily indicate a problem and you might not have to respond to it, but in case of a business, Despite the fact that the measurement technologies and the data measured are similar, there is a big difference in the way of processing, using and interpreting the data.

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

BUSINESS USE
The trend is already visible but in the near future the mobilisation of existing enterprise processes will play a very important role, as in this model, the use of traditional PCs is shifting towards the use of mobile devices. More and more software developers have already recognised that sooner or later desktop computers will be replaced by portable devices such as mobile phones and even more importantly, tablets. It may seem strange that in the future an accounting firm would perform data processing or accounting on tablet devices. Actually, we do not speak of this type of applications, rather of those that can de facto be used effectively on mobile devices, whether it is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), decision support or another internal corporate system managing industry-specific processes. It is important also to distinguish between mobile applications targeted at corporate customers and partners and those intended for internal use.

In the first case, the possibility of complex interaction should be ensured on the broadest range of devices possible.

>> THE MAIN AIM OF INHOUSE USE IS TO MAKE THE PERFORMANCE OF WORK AND COOPERATION AS EFFICIENT AS POSSIBLE <<
Here we might think of managerial approvals or the work of travelling salespeople, agents or service engineers.

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

MOBILE STRATEGY
The IT managers of enterprises playing a decisive role in various industries have realised that the really useful mobile applications are not the existing versions of applications, which are featured by limited functionality, running on Windows or other different platforms.

interface, camera or GPS the ones that cannot be found in personal computers. Some managers and developers treat mobile and desktop systems as two completely different worlds.

>> THE MOBILE STRATEGY IS WAY MORE THAN JUST RE-WRITING THE EXISTING PERSONAL COMPUTER APPLICATIONS TO MAKE THEM SUITABLE FOR USE IN A MOBILE ENVIRONMENT <<
A good mobile application has to be developed taking into account the characteristics of the mobile device from scratch; in fact, it is about way more than just the smaller screen size or smaller processing capacity of current devices. When mobilising various company processes that already seem to be well-established, it is advisable to take advantage of certain capabilities of mobile devices, such as the touch-screen

>> ACCORDING TO OUR EXPERIENCE, A HEALTHY SYNERGY OF DESKTOP AND MOBILE SYSTEMS CAN LEAD TO THE BEST RESULTS <<

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

MOBILE STRATEGY IN THE WORLD

A survey of Accenture (published in 2013) which was prepared by interviewing over 200 IT managers in the leading markets, shows that according to the majority of IT professionals, mobility will have at least as big or even bigger impact on the operation of companies as the Internet had before the turn of the century. At least the same proportion of them plans to use more than one fifth of their budgets aimed at development for projects related to corporate mobilisation.

markets. In these markets, more than 90 percent of IT managers will spend more on mobility this year, while in the developed markets, only one third of them would increase this budget.

<< IN THE OPINION OF THE LEADING PROFESSIONALS, THE MOBILISATION OF BUSINESS PROCESSES MAY BRING IN ITS TRAIN SUCH A TASK, THE IMPORTANCE OF WHICH IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF THE APPEARANCE OF THE INTERNET >>
The global survey, however, revealed significant differences regarding companies operating in the emerging

Similarly, in the emerging markets, half of participants of the survey said that their company had already elaborated a detailed mobile strategy, while in the developed markets, only one in every ten companies has developed a mobile strategy.

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

WHAT SHOULD WE MEASURE?

During the use of the application, we map the users interactions, the continuity of the interactions, as well as the application usage patterns based on, for example, which functions of the application were used, how often and in what order.

<< WHEN MEASURING BUSINESS APPLICATIONS, THE GOAL IS TO BECOME ABLE TO MONITOR EACH STEP OF A GIVEN MOBILE USER AND TO DELVE INTO SUCH DEPTHS OF THE AVAILABLE DATA THAT WAS UNIMAGINABLE BEFORE >>
From among the data necessary in respect of the running of the business, we need to find those that are not business-critical data of their own but by using various data collection and analysis techniques they may greatly facilitate the operation and effectiveness of the company.

To enhance the user experience, it is important to know how effectively users can handle the individual buttons and tactile interfaces, but it is also important to learn what they did, for how long and at which point they exited the application and finished using it.

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

EFFICIENT DATA ANALYSIS AND REPORT PREPARATION

The amount of data generated and stored by companies has grown by leaps and bounds in the last decade. Today, decision makers must have an even greater insight into the situation of their companies; in decision support they need immediate, even more accurate information both in the field of business processes and of market analysis. The introduction of mobile devices facilitates and expedites the recording and processing of data in a wide variety of areas of company operation and provides information supporting company-level planning and verification processes to analysts, a variety of business users and senior management.

IMMEDIATELY >>
The identification of the underlying reasons behind the various trends and tendencies becomes much faster and easier.

<< WITH THE USE OF MOBILE CLIENTS AND THE ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS, THE QUESTIONS ARISING IN THE COURSE OF ANALYSES, CAN BE ANSWERED

By jointly managing corporate databases, using different data collection and analysis techniques and performing indepth analyses, processes that have remained hidden so far can be identified more easily; thus, with the help of information that is actually relevant, analysis and future planning becomes

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

LIFE CYCLE OF APPLICATIONS

When planning and incorporating each measurement into the applications, one must know the application, the parameters to be measured and the business goals comprehensively. An important question is when these measurement points should be developed: Upon planning? Upon implementation? Upon use?

<< THE LIFE CYCLE OF A TYPICAL BUSINESS APPLICATION CANNOT NECESSARILY BE COMPARED TO THAT OF A NORMAL APPLICATION >>
In the various industries, they have just started to develop the mobilisation of the corporate infrastructure; there are no complete processes for mobile use.

On the one hand, the lack of mobile strategy and mobilised processes, on the other hand, the acceleration of business life and the constant changes in requirements (new products, new processes) require continuous developments and simultaneously, ongoing feedback about and change of the various metric data and indicators.

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM

NEW MEASUREMENT PROCESSES

We quite often see such business situations where due to mobility, work processes become quicker and more efficient. Each client has different needs. In some areas, e.g. the size of incoming inventory is reduced, transmission speed increases, errors are eliminated, data quality improves or there are less double entries.

application-level indicators, depending on the scope of the applications users and the business goals to achieve and with the help of the main indicators, different reports and evaluations can be determined.

<< IN THE CASE OF EACH OF THE VERTICALLY LINKED BUSINESS UNITS, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE BASIC MEASUREMENT SOLUTIONS MAY BE THE SAME, DIFFERENT PROCESSES AND ANALYSIS METHODS LEAD TO THE DESIRED RESULTS >>
The indicators and the related reports may vary depending on the business goal and are adapted to the purpose of the application. By using a combination of the above described new data sources and

These include, for example, the time spent on each page of a presentation application, broken down by products and users, or the time necessary for the attainment of given goal, set by the company, and an application navigation map in relation to the individual users and devices. In addition, the frequency of the occurrence of a certain bug, broken down by date, version number and users, may be an important quality indicator.

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY

WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM