A nuVizz Inc whitepaper
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BUILD VS.BUY
A GUIDE TO
ENTERPRISE MOBILITY SOLUTIONS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.TRADITIONAL MOBILE TECHNOLOGY
II. ENTERPRISE MOBILITY SHIFT
III. MOBILITY DEVLOPMENT
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Prelude
Traditional
Mobile
Technology
In the traditional enterprise software space, the
factors influencing build vs. buy decisions are
obvious. When enterprises need software to
automate a part of their business, typically they first
look for an off-the-shelf package that meets their
requirements. Some of the considerations that lead
to a buy decision are time-to-market, proven track
record, community of interest, and potentially cost. If
a package that meets all or most of the
requirements can’t be found.
Common Mistakes
Inside our
Whitepaper…
Enterprises look to building the solution themselves.
Of course, there are some advantages to building:
the solution is built to exact specifications, you control
the roadmap/priorities, source code is owned, etc. But
as any enterprise that’s ever taken the build route can
attest, the road has many bumps that don’t always
meet the eye
In this whitepaper, we examine the enterprise
mobile solutions space in the context of the build
vs. buy debate. Mobile solutions are undeniably
quite different from traditional software
solutions in a number of ways. Before getting
into the details, it’s important to review the
mobile maturity model, especially as it pertains
to enterprise mobility.
1000 Circle 75 Pkwy l Suite 705 l Atlanta, GA 30339 l www.nuvizz.com
The Enterprise Mobile Maturity Evolution
The enterprise’s foray into mobility started with consumer applications.
Companies wanted to reach customers on their mobile devices. The
fastest, easiest and obvious decision was to render browser-based
applications as mobile web apps. This enabled companies to quickly
connect with customers who were looking for them using mobile
devices. Mobile web apps were a good initial step to provide
information to customers. But this approach doesn’t lend itself to
transactional applications, nor does it provide the user experience
(UX) consumers are used to with other mobile apps and games.
“
Mobile web apps were a good initial step to
provide information to customers. But this approach
doesn’t lend itself to transactional applications, nor
does it provide the user experience (UX) consumers
are used to with other mobile apps and games.
- Author
1000 Circle 75 Pkwy l Suite 705 l Atlanta, GA 30339 l www.nuvizz.com
?
BUY
?
?
“REVOLUTIONARY”
vs
BUILD
“INTRICAE”
The Enterprise Mobility Shift
So enterprises shifted to building native mobile apps in
order to leverage native device/OS capabilities, and
provide a better UX. However with native app
development came the challenges of device/OS
fragmentation, and the need to replicate application
development for multiple OS platforms. This challenge is
somewhat manageable with consumer-facing apps since
there are relatively fewer such apps per enterprise.
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// Page 4
B2E Mobile Solutions
With the advent of business-to-employee (B2E) mobility, the focus
became the security of devices and data, and the management
and control of the overall enterprise mobile platform. B2E mobility
started with secure access to enterprise email and content on
mobile devices. From this naturally stemmed a focus on Mobile
Device Management (MDM) solutions. MDM soon became a
necessary first step for enterprise mobility. But, MDM solutions
only provided the infrastructure required for enabling secure B2E
mobility.
As businesses recognized the obvious benefits of the latest
mobile technology and applications, the demand for B2E
mobile solutions across lines of business started to grow.
Typically, these demands came from line of business owners.
With the growing demand, IT organizations started to look at
better ways to create and manage mobile applications in the
B2E space. Some of the challenges were similar to those for
consumer applications, such as fragmented device and OS
platforms – an issue further accentuated by the BYOD wave.
However, there were more serious challenges for B2E mobile
applications related to backend integration, and solution
deployment and management.
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Failure in Traditional Approaches
As in the case of consumer mobile apps, enterprises began down
a DIY path for B2E applications – building their own mobile apps
with in-house resources and/or external consultants. With the
growing demand, enterprises soon realized they needed a more
sustainable approach to building and managing apps. For some
time, B2E mobile applications have been focused on providing a
new UI for traditional desktop software.
..And like mobile web apps, these have failed to make full use of
the technology or deliver the scope of potential benefits, such as
improved productivity and efficiency, real-time visibility and
workflow, differentiated customer and employee experiences, and
reduced operating costs.
1000 Circle 75 Pkwy l Suite 705 l Atlanta, GA 30339 l www.nuvizz.com
Traditional just misses the mark
The Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) mobile business software space
is predominantly limited to extension apps from traditional
independent software vendors (ISVs). Unfortunately, this misses the
mark. While an improved UI for back office systems drives some
benefits, it’s completely different from mobilizing work by design.
Mobilizing by design targets mobile professionals whose work
processes are still cumbersome and manually intensive, and whose
tools of choice are smartphones and tablets. This powerful platform
introduces a paradigm shift that changes the way work is done. The
key is designing solutions for mobility from the ground up. The
majority of mobile B2E solutions that enterprises want are not
available as COTS applications.
So as stated, to strategically mobilize their businesses
enterprises have had to build their own apps. However,
with the sharply increased demand and executive
mandates to capitalize on promised results – all still in
the face of a highly fragmented technology landscape
– enterprises need a better way.
1000 Circle 75 Pkwy l Suite 705 l Atlanta, GA 30339 l www.nuvizz.com
Mobility Development
In continued moves to stay ahead of the curve, Mobile
Enterprise Application Platforms (MEAP) came on the
scene. MEAPs provided a way to create deviceindependent mobile app front-ends, and a basic set of
functional capabilities. Most MEAPs allow for device/OSindependent applications by employing a least-commondenominator approach relative to the functionality
supported across all devices/OS’s.
New Mobility Software Platforms
The latest iteration of mobile tools, Mobile Application
Development Platforms (MADP), offers a better method for
device/OS-independent mobile app development. Some
MADPs support a hybrid app development model using a
combination of HTML5/JavaScript/CSS for the front-end,
and native device functional plugins. This approach offers
the opportunity to save on the development effort while
leveraging more native capabilities.
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Enterprises looking at mobility as a strategic, longterm, ongoing initiative have been on this journey
toward maturity in the enterprise mobile space. The
challenges are many.
First, the business is simply having to wait while IT
organizations struggle to choose a sustainable strategy
in the face of the complex, less mature, fragmented,
volatile, and at times confusing, vendor and solutions
landscape.
Second, enterprises are afraid to commit to and invest
in a mobile platform due to the risk and cost exposure.
They’re finding that no one platform meets all their
needs, and many end up with multiple platforms to
address their diverse requirements.
In the end, enterprises are left with the important task
of mobilizing their business, and all the burdens that
have traditionally gone with it – risks, manpower,
special skills, infrastructure, maintenance and support –
which seriously limit their ability to meet demands in a
timely manner
So what is the Solution?
SIGN UP FOR A FREE DEMO TODAY
At nuVizz, we understand the mobile landscape
and we approach enterprise mobility from the
top down. Mobility offers tremendous
opportunities to improve processes, and our
focus is creating complete, commercial-grade,
packaged solutions that address the business
use cases which benefit the most.
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