By Jim Lundy
Today, “mobile-first” is a new term being talked about with regard to mobile apps and what they can actually do. However, even in 2014, many mobile apps do little more than mimic the browser access screens for the legacy application.
Mobile-first is all about designing apps for mobile devices as a first, not a secondary priority. This blog is all about the shift to a mobile-first user experience.
Mobile First: Consumer Banking Started the Revolution
Several years ago, shortly after the iPhone launched, mobile banking launched into people’s living rooms when Chase launched their consumer-focused mobile banking app.
Depositing checks from a smartphone changed the game in banking and now in 2014, nearly every major bank offers a mobile banking application for both consumer and business users.
Despite the advances in some industries, for every groundbreaking mobile app we see, there are four times as many mobile apps that do little more than display webpages. For example, Salesforce is touting its Salesforce1 mobile app—it is the major theme in Saleforce’s marketing campaigns. Despite their marketing prowness, Salesforce1 still does not offer all of the functionality that the browser-based version of Salesforce Sales Cloud offers.
Mobile First: Web Conferencing
In other areas, such as web conferencing, we have seen a shift to one in which the mobile app offers similar or a better experience than the native browser experience. Services such as Cisco WebEx, Fuze, and even Polycom have easy-to-use mobile apps that allow the user to do things that are harder and more cumbersome to do on the browser version of the app.
The things I like about the mobile-first web conferencing apps is that I can schedule the meeting, lead the meeting, and change presenters via my iPad, all without the need to use my Mac or PC. But the big thing I like is that I can do it faster and easier than on a PC.
Mobile Learning
Even in corporate learning, which is often part of a talent suite, mobile-first is also the new way forward. We just got a demo on the new mobile app from Expertus and they offer a great example of a mobile learning app that was designed for the mobile user. It allows a student to register for and take a class—all from their mobile device. It also gives managers on the go a good analytics dashboard of what is going on.
The most important takeaway from mobile-first is what your competitors are doing to disrupt you by designing and deploying an innovative mobile app. Mobile-first is the new way forward. The question is, how is your enterprise going to leverage mobile-first to win in the market?