Measurement of mobile business applications

AFF GROUP - ENTERPRISE MOBILITY
WWW.AFF-GROUP.COM | INFO@AFF-GROUP.COM
MEASUREMENT OF
MOBILE BUSINESS
APPLICATIONS
JULY, 2013

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.

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

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.
<< 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,
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.
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.

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 IN-
HOUSE 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.

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

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.
<< 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
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.
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.

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.

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.
<< WITH THE USE OF
MOBILE CLIENTS AND THE
ASSOCIATED SYSTEMS, THE
QUESTIONS ARISING IN
THE COURSE OF ANALYSES,
CAN BE ANSWERED
IMMEDIATELY >>
The identification of the underlying
reasons behind the various trends and
tendencies becomes much faster and
easier.
By jointly managing corporate databases,
using different data collection and
analysis techniques and performing in-
depth 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

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.

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.
<< 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
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.
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.

Measurement of mobile business applications

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