Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
In today’s world of high mobile expectations, fierce competition and fast-changing technology, it can be hard to convince businesses that they need to take the time to consider their mobile governance. But they must consider it if they intend to create and execute a mobile strategy that is sustainable. Let’s consider the role of policy and management processes as part of a governance program.
Policy
Every enterprise needs a mobile strategy policy rulebook that targets both long-term goals and short-term objectives. It should cross multiple processes and technologies, and define multiple management disciplines. Often implementations unravel because an organization has not set out clear policies for enterprise-wide compliance. Key elements of the policy rulebook should show:
- Documented support and endorsement from senior management of the company’s mobile strategy and its related efforts
- A structured approach to gathering and prioritizing new mobile initiatives
- A budgetary framework for costs relating to enterprise mobility (including strategy efforts, services, software, licenses and hardware)
Management Processes
The reality is that mobile solutions are often implemented without considering the long-term implications and the changing technology landscape, which can lead to work silos, integration nightmares, increased support costs and frustrated mobile users. But establishing clearly defined management processes can go a long way toward avoiding these potential minefields. Companies should look at:
- Establishing procedures for dealing with employees’ changing needs and requirements, covering areas like Bring Your Own Device, securing access to sensitive network resources, setup of an internal app store and providing a self-service portal
- Agreeing on and adopting an agile project development approach
- Including user experience experts, user interface experts, senior developers and testers in your projects
- Implementing efficient design and coding guidelines
- Setting up a structured approach to mobile testing that includes both a way to define test processes and how to prepare the infrastructure for testing through emulators, cloud-based device services and physical devices
An overarching focus on reliability and quality assessment is essential if the enterprise is to avoid the possibility of damaging the corporate image or revenue due to the unavailability of a service.
Governance may not have the ”hot” quotient of say, the next new app or the cloud, but its thoughtful, well-defined establishment is vital to the ongoing success of a mobile strategy. Take the time and energy to get it right, right from the start.
Fernando Alvarez leads Capgemini’s recently launched Mobile Solutions Global Service Line.
