Mobile Strategy – Hiring versus Outsourcing
Solutions
Introduction Without any doubt, mobile technology has completely transformed business work processes worldwide. The key to mobile success for any organization is building a strategic mobile practice that allocates user requirements, business goals, and growing mobile technology. There are big advantages involved in outsourcing a comprehensive and effective mobile strategy along with many challenges at the same time.
In first part of our "Mobile Strategy" whitepaper we have in-depth discussed about all necessary trends and technology concerns that should be considered before building an effective mobile strategy. We have discussed below all the challenges and advantages involved in both – outsourcing and hiring services. Also, we have talked about some strategic considerations that should be taken care of to overcome these challenges.
Whom to Hire In this quagmire of technology, advancements, devices, apps and security, it is most natural that one could lose focus and adopt something that is not prudent. Therefore, enough knowledge and enough support both are necessary in this mobile world. It was needed earlier too What then should now be your action plan? Is it something that you can handle yourself in the given circumstances? In ideal situation, one would tend to adopt the strategy in a planned way. However, looking to the pace, it could be a great challenge for the existing team to understand, digest, brainstorm and then strategize the full-fledged policy towards adopting the mobile as a strategic path. So the best foot forwards is to start developing the skills internally but hire someone who can address these needs. For the ideal candidate, it is necessary that s/he understands the mobile in and out. Some of the skills to look for are: Must have used multiple kinds of mobile devices. This includes smartphones as well as tablets. This will enable you to decide the proper UI/UX for the mobile apps developed for your enterprise.
Must have enough exposure in managing infrastructure for enterprises. While this is not an important factor, someone having knowledge of the IT Infrastructure can be really an asset. This trait will allow you to plan the device management, application distribution, platform selection and overall architecture definition of the mobile strategy. Must have worked on mobile app development projects for as many possible platforms (OS). Having enough web development experience also is a boon. This kind of capability will allow you to decide the best possible approach towards the mobile app development strategy. Must have enough experience and proper bandwidth to take the enterprise mobile strategy to the next level. This skill will be extremely useful for your enterprise to kick-start a project to test the grounds and then move fullthrottle based on the positive results. While looking for an ideal candidate, the weightage for all the above skills can be considered to be equal because your enterprise strategy is an important step towards embracing the latest trends. If currently available talent is taken into consideration, there is a huge demand for such skills, whereas, the availability or supply is limited. Therefore, it is necessary that you prefer to choose an organization for this role and not an individual. From a longterm perspective, from a cost effective approach and from an overall goal point of view, it will be prudent to find the right organization with the above aspects covered in the best possible manner. While doing the above will bring in the outsourcing into picture, it is important to note that getting skills that are tested well at other enterprises will most times fit into your requirements. Once you are done shortlisting the right company for the above skills, it is only about deciding the right one based on your budget.
How to get the Maximum With a proper hire, in-house employee/contractor or an outsourcing company, you are well set for the mobility action. Not really! Having the right mix of the internal and external consultants and the developers will be the key factor. Therefore, stick to your age-old practices in the vendor selection. Make sure that you don't hire just for the execution of the strategy. It will be worth hiring a team who can help you in strategizing and then implementation of the policies or the apps. In your overall selection process, make sure that you get a team that has strengths in all of the following: Mobile strategy definition, understanding of the platforms, and native versus hybrid versus web app development. Mobile development knowledge and capabilities for the variety of platforms available in the market including simple apps in HTML5 to complex native apps, designing of mobile apps, the overall UI/UX of the apps and such aspects.
Technology behind the mobile is still your own domain and hence you need to have the company that understands your backend databases, processes, requirements and defines or architects the strategy befitting to your core needs. Security with the introduction of mobility is bound to take a hit if not planned properly and hence the company needs to know your security concerns, your network and standards for app usage and distribution. The above list is exhaustive and may literally change from one org to another. The ability to find the right fit is always the most difficult task. The idea behind the above information is to enable you and your team to take the right direction. This commentary may not necessarily bring a solution to your enterprise mobile strategy. However, it will ensure that you make a calculated decision.
A large BPO wanted to develop iPad app for customers. The BI data was available internally and the plan devised for roll-out involved only internal users in Phase 1. In later stages, the customers were involved so that there is faster acceptability of the well-tested solution. Strategize roll-out, especially in case of external app development.
Strategic Considerations To make sure that you are successful, you need to ensure some of the finer aspects of the enterprise mobile strategy: Consider the short, medium and long-term goals of the organization. Needless to mention here that the definition of these terms should be 3, 6 and 9 months or at the maximum 4, 8 and 12 months. Ensure that you do an enterprise-wide check on the requirements and demands of the people. It is pretty natural that there will be some repeat tasks or apps that multiple roles in your org may need. Find the target audience for the mobile apps development. This can be tricky because certain features may not be needed when you develop for your customers or external users. In case your strategy is usage focused, plan out the BYOD versus non-BYOD approaches. Bring in the management for ensuring that the usage of the mobile strategy aligns with the enterprise goals. Once again, these are limited aspects of improving upon what you are today. Your overall approach towards the strategy can happen in the best manner if the right information is available to you at the right time.
Conclusion There is a huge amount of information available on the internet and you can easily get lost in the maze. At the end, it is the prowess within your organization that will determine the route taken in the mobile strategy definition. Add to that the prowess available around you and you could beat the competition and overcome this disrupt.
References Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) Gartner (www.gartner.com)
About Softweb Solutions Softweb Solutions is a leading Mobile Application Development company. Our team of adroit developers strives to deliver the most innovative mobile solutions to match business requirements. For more information, contact us at info@softwebsolutions.com or visit us at www.softwebsolutions.com