Chapter 13 Building Information Systems 547 INTERACTIVE SESSION: TECHNOLOGY WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GO MOBILE? "How should we go mobile?" Almost every company Decker's customer analysis showed that when today is asking that question. By 2013, more people consumers use mobile devices inside a Deckers will use their mobile phones than PCs to go online, store, what is most important is a seamless interac- and there will be one mobile device for every person tion. The customer wants to be able to look at a prod- on earth by 2015. The number of Web searches per- uct on his or her mobile device and see the same formed on mobile devices has more than quadrupled information on that device as that person would since 2010. Customers expect, and even demand, obtain in the store, plus some additional information, to be able to use a mobile device of their choice to such as consumer reviews. obtain information or perform a transaction any- A mobile strategy involves much more than select- where and at any time. So if a company wants to ing mobile devices, operating systems, and applica- stay connected to its customers, it needs some sort of tions. It also involves changes to business processes, mobile presence. changing the way people work and the way a firm What do companies do, and where do they start? interacts with its customers. Mobile technology can Developing mobile apps or a mobile Web site has streamline processes, make them more portable, some special challenges. The user experience on and enhance them with capabilities such as touch a mobile device is fundamentally different from interfaces, location and mapping features, alerts, that on a PC. There are special features on mobile texting, cameras, and video functionality. The tech- devices such as location-based services that that give nology can also create less efficient processes or fail firms the potential to interact with customers in to deliver benefits if the mobile application is not meaningful new ways. Firms need to be able to take properly designed advantage of those features while delivering an expe- USAA, the giant financial services company serv- rience that is appropriate to a small screen. There ing members of the U.S. military and their families, are multiple mobile platforms to work with-iPhone, is acutely aware of the need to ensure that mobile Android, Windows Phone, and possibly BlackBerry, technology is aligned with its customer-facing busi- and a firm may need a different version of an appli- ness processes and leads to genuine improvements. cation to run on each of these. You can't just port a The company is using mobile technology to refine Web site or desktop application to a smartphone or its business processes and provide simpler and more tablet. It's a different systems development process. powerful ways for customers to interact with the It's important to understand how, why, and where company. customers use mobile devices and how these mobile USAA, launched its Web site in 1997 and went experiences change business interactions and behav- mobile ten years later, with about 90 percent of its ior. For example, do customers who use an app interactions with customers taking place on these handle a greater number of transactions on their two self-service channels. In 2011, USAA handled 183 own and use the phone less? Do they spend more or million customer contacts through the mobile chan- less time researching products and shopping from a nel alone, and expects the mobile channel will be its mobile device? primary point of contact with customers in the next Deckers Outdoor Corporation, the parent com- two years. USAA has 100 dedicated mobile develop- pany of brands such as UGG Australia, Teva, and ers writing apps for devices using the iPhone, iPad, Simple Shoes, spent considerable time studying its and Android operating systems, along with apps for customers' mobile behavior. It looked at how cus- the BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7 tomers use their mobile devices while shopping and USAA developed a smartphone accident report researching brands to find out how consumers would and claims app that enables customers to snap a connect with its brand through the mobile chan- photo and submit a claim directly from the site nel. When people use mobile devices, how do they of an accident. The app is also able to send geo- research the products? What information do they graphic information system (GIS) data to a towing want about brand? Are they looking for information service and display nearby car rental locations. about product features, product reviews, or retail Another mobile app supports photo deposits: a store locations? customer can capture an image of a check with 548 Part Four Building and Managing Systems a smartphone and automatically submit it to the bank. The money is instantly deposited in the customer's account. This system eliminates the labor and expense of processing paper checks, and the time required to mail the check and wait three days for the deposit to clear. In 2011, USAA Federal Savings Bank processed $6.4 billion in deposits through this mobile app The mobile app also displays loan and credit card balances, shopping services, homeowners and auto insurance policy information, Home Circle and Auto Circle buying services, retirement products and information, ATM and taxi locators, and a communities feature that lets users see what others are posting about USAA on Twitter, Facebook, and You Tube A real estate company may want to display a completely different site to mobile users who are looking for house information after driving by a 'For Sale" sign. The realtor may want to optimize the mobile interface to include specific listing and contact information to capture the lead immediately and keep the load time fast. If the mobile site is simply a more user-friendly version of the desktop site, the conversions may not be as high. Ryland Homes, one of the top U.S. new home builders, has a conventional Web site, but it wanted to be able to engage customers using mobile technol- CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 1. What management, organization, and technology issues need to be addressed when building mobile applications? 2. How does user requirement definition for mobile applications differ from that in traditional systems analysis? ogy as well. The company revamped its mobile Web site in March 2011 to increase sales leads by helping potential customers with mobile phones find its loca- tions, look at its products, register with the company, and call directly. Ryland's development team made the site easier to read and capable of fitting on a smartphone or tablet screen without requiring users to pinch and zoom. It used jQuery Mobile software and responsive Web design to create variations of the site that were appropriate for different smartphone or tablet models employed by users. (The jQuery Mobile framework allows developers to design a single Web site or application that will work on all popular smartphone, tablet, and desktop platforms, eliminating the need to write unique apps for each mobile device or operating system.) Ryland focused on features such as location-based driving directions to nearby communities, clickable phone numbers, and brief online registrations to increase the chances of making a sale. The site shows nearby communi- ties in order of distance, based on the location of the mobile device. Sources: Samuel Greengard, "Mobility Transforms the Customer Relationship, Baseline, February 2012; William Atkinson, "How Deckers Used a Mobile Application to Build Customer Traffic CIO Insight, November 9, 2011; "Going Mobile: A Portable Approach to Process Improvement, Business Agility Insights, June 2012; Google Inc., "Ryland Homes Opens Doors to Local Sales with Mobile Site for Home-Buyers, 2011. 3. Describe the business processes changed by USAA's mobile applications before and after the applications were deployed