Information centre menu
News Newsletters Events Press Cuttings Articles - Articles Archive 2007 - Articles Archive 2006 - Articles Archive 2005 - Articles Archive 2004 - Articles Archive 2003 - Articles Archive 2002 - Articles Archive 2001 - Articles Archive 2000 - Articles Archive 1999 - Articles Archive 1998	Mobiles Devices and their use with business applications, they do exactly what is says on the tin…. or do they? Chris Gledhill, Managing Director, PDMS We are bombarded every day via the many channels of advertising and media about the power and effectiveness of using mobile devices in our everyday lives. You can use your mobile phone to surf the web and pick up e-mails, use your PDA to access documents and carry out important business functions all of which, up until now, were only possible on an office based computer or laptop connected to a suitable network. More and more the message is that mobile devices are serious tools for business applications! They tell us with swooping videos, messages and graphics how easy, simple and efficient it all is! Is this really the case? Do these devices actually do all this in such a straight forward and easy manner, as we’re led to believe? My experience is that in many cases they simply don’t. I’ve tried, as I’m sure many have, on a number of occasions to ask my mobile phone simple questions through it’s version of ‘Google’ but more often than not if I get anything at all it takes so long that I give up and move on to the next question in the quiz. But why is this? Surely this isn’t just down to me passing into the age of that well known dementia ‘non-programmata video recordum programum’, which has mutated into ‘mobile technologia non-workum’? In many cases mobilising people in your workforce can seem like a great idea, but in reality, the mobile device you are using to connect to your system is only as useful as the systems themselves. So, the ‘usability’ of these systems via the mobile device is extremely important. This I feel is crucial to what makes an application of real use through a mobile device. This ‘real world usability issue’ is one all quality development organisations have been through in the past when migrating traditional office based applications to widely available web browser based versions. Considerable steps have been made primarily in the provision of mobile business application usage with, for example, the sending and receiving of e-mails via mobile devices such as Microsoft Windows enabled Smartphone’s or Blackberry’s. However, this kind of access to applications is often through a consistent interface very similar to the applications people are familiar with back in the office. Translating other business specific applications for use via a mobile device or devices is a challenge which requires careful planning and consideration. These considerations are many and cover areas such as: Presentation issues, mobile devices have small screens and often limited graphical display ability which will almost certainly mean that the style or presentation of the information will need to be changed. Input methods are different on mobile devices and so changes may be required to facilitate this. Bandwidth, while it has become a less important factor for traditional browser based applications as Broadband is commonly available it is, however, a very important factor for mobile solutions. Mobile devices with often very low bandwidth available take us back to the days where every byte of data which an application serves is critical to the overall performance. Often the ‘User Goals’ of a mobile user are very different to an office bound equivalent, they are typically less interested in lengthy documents or in generally browsing but need access to key information in an intuitive, quick and low click way. Device limitations are also a key factor as each model can treat the same page of information in quite different ways. If your planned solution is targeted at one device which is available to all your mobile users then this is relatively straight forward. However, if your business application is targeted at mobile users in general then this can be a significant challenge. As to whether the numerous big players who provide the operating systems for the popular mobile devices in the market place will push for a standardisation or consistency is yet to be seen and it’s certainly not something I’d hold my breath for, although Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 would appear to deliver a platform which goes a good way towards this. Careful thought should be given to the requirements for secure access to data which is to be accessed via a mobile device. Public facing brochure ware is obviously not an issue but any information which contains commercial or personal details requires the right levels of encryption to be in place. Password protection alone is not adequate security for mobile devices. To this end along with many other important areas for consideration, the W3C or World Wide Web Consortium has recently published a set of Guidelines, as are already available for traditional browser based applications, for Mobile Web Best Practices. These should be a ‘must read’ for anyone who is considering the provision of access to one of their business applications through a mobile device via a browser interface. It’s not all doom and gloom there are a number of pilots and real world examples of the use of Business Applications by mobile device users out in the field. For example, Police Officers in West Yorkshire can access the latest legal and case law information from the Police National Legal Database, through a Blackberry mobile device all while out on the beat. Often there are many reasons used to justify the deployment of mobile technology, but ultimately it has to address both the commercial needs of the business while providing a solution which is actually of use and in a usable fashion by its target market. It can be easy for an organisation to embark in a particular direction, trying out the latest technologies being promoted and advertised, only to find these do not really add value to the business. Any organisation should ensure they have a strong commercial case before investing in mobile solutions. In the future mobile business applications will, I’m sure, become more and more essential as they change the way in which people do things through their everyday working lives and this will add to the strength of any commercial case. This will only happen when future development work is centred around the user and not the technology, as it is now.

Information centre menu

Mobiles Devices and their use with business applications, they do exactly what is says on the tin…. or do they?

Chris Gledhill, Managing Director, PDMS

We are bombarded every day via the many channels of advertising and media about the power and effectiveness of using mobile devices in our everyday lives. You can use your mobile phone to surf the web and pick up e-mails, use your PDA to access documents and carry out important business functions all of which, up until now, were only possible on an office based computer or laptop connected to a suitable network. More and more the message is that mobile devices are serious tools for business applications! They tell us with swooping videos, messages and graphics how easy, simple and efficient it all is!

Is this really the case? Do these devices actually do all this in such a straight forward and easy manner, as we’re led to believe? My experience is that in many cases they simply don’t. I’ve tried, as I’m sure many have, on a number of occasions to ask my mobile phone simple questions through it’s version of ‘Google’ but more often than not if I get anything at all it takes so long that I give up and move on to the next question in the quiz. But why is this? Surely this isn’t just down to me passing into the age of that well known dementia ‘non-programmata video recordum programum’, which has mutated into ‘mobile technologia non-workum’?

In many cases mobilising people in your workforce can seem like a great idea, but in reality, the mobile device you are using to connect to your system is only as useful as the systems themselves. So, the ‘usability’ of these systems via the mobile device is extremely important. This I feel is crucial to what makes an application of real use through a mobile device. This ‘real world usability issue’ is one all quality development organisations have been through in the past when migrating traditional office based applications to widely available web browser based versions.

Considerable steps have been made primarily in the provision of mobile business application usage with, for example, the sending and receiving of e-mails via mobile devices such as Microsoft Windows enabled Smartphone’s or Blackberry’s. However, this kind of access to applications is often through a consistent interface very similar to the applications people are familiar with back in the office. Translating other business specific applications for use via a mobile device or devices is a challenge which requires careful planning and consideration.

These considerations are many and cover areas such as:

Presentation issues, mobile devices have small screens and often limited graphical display ability which will almost certainly mean that the style or presentation of the information will need to be changed.
Input methods are different on mobile devices and so changes may be required to facilitate this.
Bandwidth, while it has become a less important factor for traditional browser based applications as Broadband is commonly available it is, however, a very important factor for mobile solutions. Mobile devices with often very low bandwidth available take us back to the days where every byte of data which an application serves is critical to the overall performance. Often the ‘User Goals’ of a mobile user are very different to an office bound equivalent, they are typically less interested in lengthy documents or in generally browsing but need access to key information in an intuitive, quick and low click way.
Device limitations are also a key factor as each model can treat the same page of information in quite different ways. If your planned solution is targeted at one device which is available to all your mobile users then this is relatively straight forward. However, if your business application is targeted at mobile users in general then this can be a significant challenge. As to whether the numerous big players who provide the operating systems for the popular mobile devices in the market place will push for a standardisation or consistency is yet to be seen and it’s certainly not something I’d hold my breath for, although Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 5.0 would appear to deliver a platform which goes a good way towards this.

Careful thought should be given to the requirements for secure access to data which is to be accessed via a mobile device. Public facing brochure ware is obviously not an issue but any information which contains commercial or personal details requires the right levels of encryption to be in place. Password protection alone is not adequate security for mobile devices.

To this end along with many other important areas for consideration, the W3C or World Wide Web Consortium has recently published a set of Guidelines, as are already available for traditional browser based applications, for Mobile Web Best Practices. These should be a ‘must read’ for anyone who is considering the provision of access to one of their business applications through a mobile device via a browser interface.

It’s not all doom and gloom there are a number of pilots and real world examples of the use of Business Applications by mobile device users out in the field. For example, Police Officers in West Yorkshire can access the latest legal and case law information from the Police National Legal Database, through a Blackberry mobile device all while out on the beat.

Often there are many reasons used to justify the deployment of mobile technology, but ultimately it has to address both the commercial needs of the business while providing a solution which is actually of use and in a usable fashion by its target market. It can be easy for an organisation to embark in a particular direction, trying out the latest technologies being promoted and advertised, only to find these do not really add value to the business. Any organisation should ensure they have a strong commercial case before investing in mobile solutions.

In the future mobile business applications will, I’m sure, become more and more essential as they change the way in which people do things through their everyday working lives and this will add to the strength of any commercial case. This will only happen when future development work is centred around the user and not the technology, as it is now.