Case Study What Does It Take To Go Mobile

CASE SUMMARY

• This case is about go to mobile technology. The case shows its customers new way that mobility can streamline operations, reduce costs, increase works productivity and enable power of real-time response.
• Decker Outdoor Corporation is the parent company of brands such as UGG Australia, Teva and Simple Shoes.
• USAA is Financial Services company serving members of US military and their families.
• Ryland Homes is a home builder at US. 
• Mobile technology is a business models and activities which are based mobile technology where firms need to designed and develop software applications for mobile environments. Customer expect and demand to be able to use a mobile device of their choice to obtain information or perform a transaction anywhere at any time.

• By 2015, there will be one mobile device for every person on earth. More people will use their mobile than PCs to go online. If company wants to stay connected to its customers, it needs some sort of mobile presence. Developing mobile apps or a mobile web site has some special challenges. Mobile apps is different from that on PC. There are special features on mobile devices such as location-based services that give firms potential to interact with customers in meaningful way. Firms need to be able to take advantage of those features while delivering an experience that is appropriate to a small screen.

SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS

• Most personal marketing channel available on the market
• Measurable for ROI purposes
• Completely permission-based, with opt-in required for marketing text messages
• Ubiquity of channel - 260 million mobile subscribers nationwide, 3.5 billion worldwide
• Many consumers giving up landlines for mobile
• Sales of smartphones with Internet capability booming
• Many marketers, retailers and publishers recognizing need for mobile presence
• Most powerful loyalty marketing tool
• Ideal comparison-shopping tool for shopping and buying decisions 
• Mobile applications market growing by leaps and bounds
• The future of coupling
•  The future of search marketing 

WEAKNESSES

• Perception problem - always the bridesmaid, never the bride 
• User experience with the Internet on mobile not ideal - screen size, keypad and slow network speeds 
• Wireless carriers not innovating at faster pace 
• Lack of standards across platforms and carriers 
•  Many mobile marketing service providers not sophisticated in marketing outreach - don't tell, won't sell 
• Fate depends on four major carriers - AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel 
• Inadequate outreach to advertising agencies and media buyers

OPPORTUNITIES

• Gives legs to other channels - store, online, television, radio, print and billboards
• Mobile is the future - no, the present - of database marketing. Marketers must have mobile loyalty program to complement online and offline
• Benefit from marketing dollars pulled from television, print and radio toward more measurable, ROI-driven media, a.k.a., the Internet and mobile
• Mobile advertising subsidizes content and services for consumers who understand the tradeoff
• More SMS text marketing for marketers and retailers targeting offers and alerts to opted-in consumers in database. Make the short code common
• More quality content on mobile as publishers launch mobile editions. More room for targeted ads
• Mobile coupons - killer app for mobile, along with mobile database marketing
• Mobile marketing jumpstarts mobile commerce sales

THREATS 

• Integrity: It may be difficult to maintain the integrity of a database if it is too complex or changes too quickly.
• Open source software: If companies are inclined, they can put their open source applications on hardware that performs better and costs less than SaaS.
• Security: The threat of security remains the topmost concern for service consumers of the internet for the data and applications

QUESTION 1 : What management, organization and technology issues need to be addressed when building mobile application?

The introduction of a new information system involves much more than new hardware and software. A mobile strategy involves much than selecting mobile devices, operating system and applications. It also includes changes in business process, changing the way people work, skills, and the way a firm interacts with its customers. System builders must understand how a system will affect specific business processes and the organization as a whole.

1.      Management

A.    Decision to select new mobile application – management should know what benefits to company and customers are before developing mobile application.

Company name	Benefit to company	Benefit to customers
Decker Corporation	·         Streaming process ·         Make company more portable	Customer able to look at a product on his or her mobile and see the same information on that device.
USAA	·         Increase efficient process. ·         Eliminates the labor and expense of processing paper check. ·         Keep customers engage.	Provide mobile technology to its business process and provide simpler and more powerful ways for customers to interact with the company.
Ryland Homes	·         Able to engage customers ·         Increase sales.	Help potential customer to finds its locations, looks at this products and register with the company.

 

B.     Examine business process

Before firms go to mobile – Management should identify what the process, tasks and improvement that they want go to mobile that most affected by tablets or smartphones.

Example:

a)      Focus on customer engagement field enablement and employee productivity.

b)      Identify where physical and historical context can drive faster task completion.

C.    Select the right device, software and application.

Management should decide what is the right device, software and application that can support their mobile technology business process. For example what software or application that capable to handle the customization work requires integrating with the process such as capabilities for creating, viewing and managing customer information online.

D.    Monitor and control

Develop own apps and apps store – monitor and control. Manage mobile enterprise access through own in-house IT. Involve security system.

2.      Organization

The key element, of an organization is its people, structure and business process.

Redesign business process	Redesign job	Train employees
·         Procedure/ SOP that can drive faster task completion. ·         Redesign processes to skip or accelerate those tasks.	Changing the way people work – focus on task orientation -          Change the way in which workers interact with core business system.	Provide training to staff – helps staff take the next step in whatever process scenario they are operating in at the time. -          Need to adopt to new method of process.

3.      Technology

Technology is one of many tools that firms can use to cope with change. To support firms new business process, firms should select the right technology and application that consists of CRM & SCM.

Company name	Technology & Application Used
Decker Outdoor Corporation	Technology such as touch interfaces, location and mapping features, alerts texting, cameras and video functionality.
USAA	Dedicated 100 mobile developers writing apps for devices using iPhone, iPad, Android OS, Blackberry and Windows Phone 7. -          Apps able to send geographic information system (GIS) data to a towing service and display nearby car rental locations. -          Apps support photo deposits: customer can capture an image of a cheque with a smartphone & automatically submit to the bank. The money is instantly deposited in the customer’s account. -          Apps display loan and credit card balances, shopping service & auto insurance policy information.
Ryland Homes	-          jQuery mobile software : to create variation of the site that were appropriate for different smartphone or tablet models. -          Focused on features communities, clickable phone numbers and brief online registration.

Question 2 : How does user requirement definition for mobile application differ from that in traditional system analysis?

Customer wants to be able to look at product on his or mobile device and see the same information on that device as that person would obtain in the store, plus some additional information such as consumers review.

Mobile technology can streamline processes, make the device more portable and enhance them with capabilities such as touch interface, location and mapping features, alerts, texting, cameras and video functionality.

The technology can also create less efficient process or fail to deliver benefits if the mobile application is not properly designed.

QUESTION 3: Describe the business process changed by USAA’s mobile application were deployed.

USAA launched its Web in 1997 and went mobile 10 years later, with about 90% of its interactions with customers taking place on these two self service channels.

In 2001, USAA handle 183 million customer contacts through mobile channel alone, and expect the mobile channel will its primary point of contact with customers in next two years.

USAA has 100 dedicated mobile developer writing apps for device using iPhone, iPad and Android systems, along with apps Blackberry and Windows Phone 7.

1.      Accident report and claims application

-enable customer to snap a photo and submit claim differently from the site of an accident.

-send geographic information system (GIS) data to a towing service and display nearby car rental location.

2.      Photo deposit and application.

-capture an image of a check with a smartphone and automatically submit to the bank.

-the money is instantly deposited in the customer’s account.

3.      Other application.

-loan and credit cards balances.

-shopping services.

-homeowners.

-auto insurance policy information.

-home circle and auto circle buying service.

CONCLUSION

In short, mobile service providers must not hibernate, ad agencies must open their minds, carriers must collaborate, publishers must make their inventory mobile, retailers must launch mobile commerce sites and advertise