Choosing a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP)

1. THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A
MOBILE APP
ROCK STAR
Part 3:
Choosing a Mobile
Enterprise Application
Platform (MEAP)

2. Introduction
Mobile devices and technologies are driving the most sweeping changes in marketing
and customer engagement since the Internet. Mobile apps make it possible to reach
customers and prospects like never before – reaching key demographics, building
engagement, and driving personalized offers that increase loyalty and generate
revenue. And mobile apps can dramatically cut costs, as compared with old media and
paper-based solutions.
But the more apps you have, the more challenging ongoing maintenance, integration
and updates become. This guide, Part 3 in the Essential Guide to Becoming a Mobile
App Rock Star, offers guidance on choosing the best Mobile Enterprise Application
Platform (MEAP) to make mobile apps easier to build and maintain.
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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3. Standardizing your Mobile
Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP)
“
MEAP vendors offering approaches that support mobile OS diversity have significant
advantages over application suite or mobile OS platforms/tools in three situations:
1) when there are three or more applications, 2) when there are three or more targeted
OSs or runtime platforms, and 3) when projects involve the integration of three or
more back-end systems.
“
Gartner “Rule of Three” (2012)
Many big organizations have given business units the freedom to create and launch
dozens or even hundreds of mobile apps. This has enabled them to quickly deploy
innovative applications and achieve rapid return on investment. But now they’re facing
major management challenges:
Maintaining apps with bug fixes, supporting new devices and OS
updates, and ensuring that content is up to date
Keeping apps up to date when back-end platforms, external service APIs
and other integration points change
Updating content from multiple content management systems, back office
tools and admin interfaces
Listening to user feedback on the app stores (or internally) and updating
apps to keep users satisfied and engaged
Establishing consistent branding across multiple implementations
Securing data (confidential and public), managing user authentication, and
enabling traceability
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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4. So what should organizations do to make
their mobile app portfolio manageable?
As originally stated by Gartner, any organization planning on creating 3 or more
mobile apps in the coming years should consider establishing a standardized Mobile
Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP). In the short term, it may require a bit more
work and investment, but the investment will quickly pay off with:
Faster speed to market and ease of keeping the applications up to date
Lower cost of development and maintenance
Enhanced business intelligence
Data and user security
Other benefits, such as brand consistency, change management,
CRM and system architecture.
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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5. INTEGRATE
DEVELOP
MEAP
MANAGE
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
DEPLOY
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6. How to choose a MEAP solution
Once the requirements are clear, there is a choice between choosing an existing
platform and vendor, building a platform, or possibly a hybrid of the two.
Existing Platform:
Solutions include SAP Mobile Platform, IBM Worklight, KonyOne and DMI Open MEAP.
Creating a Custom Proprietary Platform:
An alternative is to establish a standard framework based on a combination of best
practice guidelines, tools and code that can be reused across the applications.
Organizations such as MTV and ESPN have done this successfully over time.
Hybrid Model:
The third option is to use an existing platform and customize it based on your needs.
This may be a great alternative if there are many common platforms and processes in
place already that can be leveraged to create a standard for your mobile apps.
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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7. What are the pros and cons of each model?
Pros
Cons
Existing platform
• Faster speed to market
• Potentially lower cost
• Ongoing support
• License cost
• Locked in to one supplier
• Lack of flexibility
Creating a custom platform
• Tailored to the
organization’s needs
• Flexibility
• Keeping up to speed with
technology development
• Can be costly to develop
and keep up to date
Hybrid model
• Combining the best of
an existing platform and
custom development
• License cost
• Locked in to one supplier
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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8. An overview of available platforms
Description
Benefits
SAP Mobile Platform
(previously Syclo)
Create and deploy mobile apps for
the workforce and customers.
• Provides the greatest number of plugins
and tools for SAP integration
• Cross-platform development based on
Phonegap, which is the most established
dev tool
IBM Worklight
Mobile application platform to
build, run and manage mobile
applications.
• Plugins and tools for other IBM platforms
• Supports HTML5, Native and Hybrid apps
KonyOne Studio
One of the first MEAP solutions
which claims to be
standards-based. Reduces coding
by up to 90%.
• Segment solutions and references for all
major verticals
• Framework for cross-platform development
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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9. Description
Benefits
Antenna Software AMPChroma
Mobile cloud platform that
manages the mobile lifecycle from
Design, Build and Integrate to
Publish, Run and Manage apps
• Open platform allowing standardized
tools
• Client technology enables “write once,”
deploy on any device, any version
Kinvey
Backend as a Service solution,
offering data integration, legacy
system mobilization, as well
as complete app backends for
developers creating apps
• Backend as a Service reduces cost of
backend development
• Plugins for Oracle, Salesforce
DMI Open MEAP
Open development framework with
reusable components, back-end
plugins for most major platforms,
content management, middleware and
best practice guidelines.
• 100% based on open source
• Using a combination of native
development and web technology
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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10. Conclusion
Take the pain out of managing and maintaining a portfolio of multiple mobile apps by finding the right MEAP solution for your
organization. It will deliver benefits now and for years to come.
For more information on how to become an enterprise app rock star, read the other parts of our series.
Part 1: Developing an actionable mobile application strategy
Part 2: Creating a mobile application business case
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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11. DMI
About DMI
DMI Sales Team
One Rock Spring Plaza
6550 Rock Spring Dr
Bethesda, MD 20817
U.S. Sales: 855.963.2099
Int’l Sales: 240.200.5848
sales@DMInc.com
DMInc.com
DMI is the world’s leading provider of enterprise mobility services and solutions. We build enterprise class mobile solutions that
generate results for the world’s top brands and businesses. Our mobile solutions combine the award-winning user experience design
that has made us one of the top creators of consumer apps, with the deep middleware and engineering expertise that we’ve used
to build and manage enterprise applications for the most demanding IT departments in the world. DMI mobility solutions improve
business processes, tap new revenue streams, build customer loyalty, and increase employee productivity. And we offer a full range
of Managed Services to securely set up, configure, and manage your mobile devices.
The proof:
We’ve built more than 400 mobile apps—in the past 12
months alone—for more than 150 leading organizations—
like Disney, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Vodafone, P&G, The
National Guard, and Universal Studios.
We offer a full range of security options that include
Federal-grade hardware-based security, two-factor
authentication, secure container, and sophisticated
encryption solutions.
We offer brilliant creative and user experience: Our mobile
app development group was named the Best Branded
App Developer at the 2012 Mobile Entertainment Awards.
With our expertise and economies of scale, we can provide
mobility management at a higher service level and on
average 20% lower cost than most companies can do on
their own.
We have 500,000 devices under management for more
that 100+ clients, including many Fortune 500
companies—like BP, Johnson & Johnson, Sears, The
Associated Press, Allergan, and more. At BP, we’re
deploying 1,000 managed mobile devices each day.
We provide 24 x 7 x 365 mobile service support for more
than 500,000 users. DMI is the one call our customers
need to make to resolve any issue—devices, apps,
infrastructure, even carriers.
Pervasive excellence is our commitment to quality service.
DMI is one of only a handful of companies that is CMMI L3
appraised for both application development and services,
as well as ISO 9001:2008, ISO 27001:2005, and
ISO 20000-1:2011 certified. Our average D&B Open
Ratings performance score from our clients is 94/100.
THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BECOMING A MOBILE APP ROCK STAR (PART 3)
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