Mobility & the Role of Business Analysis

What Mobile Solutions Mean Today

The evolution of mobile technology in recent years has led to widespread use of mobile devices by consumers. This desire for consumers to use mobile devices on such a regular basis has logically led to the need for businesses to adapt by developing mobile solutions. This is not news for anyone, nor does it require any change for consumers. In this case, the consumers, through their extensive use of mobile devices, are pushing the change onto companies. This is having a major effect on the development, design, and marketing teams that need to create mobile solutions. In many industries, the potential growth after implementing a mobile solution, or potential stagnation or decline if one is not implemented, is too much to ignore.
Mobile solutions can provide a larger customer base, or at least connect a company to its customers better. They can also provide a flexible platform for expanding marketing initiatives. However, to provide these mobile solutions, companies have to spend time & money on planning, design, development, and maintenance (like any new product). In certain industries & circumstances, the ROI is not worth going after, while in others mobility may be the only path forward.
One of the best examples of mobile disruption is in the banking industry. One may think of banks as large, slow moving, brick-and-mortar corporations, but that has changed with the advent of mobility. Some of the world’s largest banks have developed apps that meet their consumers’ wants & needs. These apps focus on ease-of-use, have strong security and contain comprehensive functionality. A few examples of how banks are meeting these “requirements” are through clean, slick interfaces, transfer & deposit capabilities, and the capacity to gain access through fingerprint ID instead of passwords. This all boils down to a deep change in how banks approach their business. Mobility has convinced them that increasing customer engagement, by giving their customers the mobile apps & functionality they desire, is the primary objective, and converting sales is the secondary objective that should follow increased engagement.
 

Impact to Planning & Requirements

This major shift towards mobility means that mobility should be part of the discussion at the outset of each new project. In some situations, a mobile solution will not be part of the project, but it is a good practice to ensure the final product has the capability to be easily converted to support a mobile implementation. There is always the possibility of a future, mobile iteration.
The team must proactively anticipate and justify the need for a mobile solution, or recommend against it. The Project Manager, Business Analyst and Architects need to understand the business processes, use cases, and the scenarios with which the end-user would most likely execute these processes in order to maximize their value. Conducting and utilizing this analysis will optimize the solution for the near-term and for subsequent releases.
But in today’s environment, the analysis will always start with the question, “why not mobile?”.
 

About Anexinet

Anexinet is a leading professional consulting and services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions around digital disruption, analytics (and big data), and hybrid and private Cloud strategies. Anexinet brings insight into how technology will affect how business decisions will be made and how our clients interact with their customers in the future.
Shushanta Sharma, [email protected]