How to Use Mobile Technology to Grow Your Business

Held at Wharton Huntsman Hall on 2017-10-03

Event Objectives:
- To learn how to implement mobile technology to increase revenue by building stronger connections with existing and prospective customers.
- To understand the differences among native, web and hybrid apps, along with their pros and cons.
- To become familiar with the development process, what to expect and what’s expected of the owner.
- To gain a sense of the economics involved with building vs. buying, as well as maintaining a mobile app platform.

Transcript

2. These slides will be available at: https://speakerdeck.com/neomindryan Hi! I'm Ryan Findley
3. ❖ Located in Center City ❖ Stewards of custom software ❖ Technical specialty is the Ruby on Rails ecosystem
6. Three Software Builds
7. Some Terminology ❖ Hard Savings - dollars to the bottom line now ❖ Reduction in unit cost of operations / production ❖ Reduction in overhead / transportation costs ❖ Reduction in manpower ❖ Soft Savings - the possibility of dollars to the bottom line in the future ❖ Reduction in cash flow / need for working capital ❖ Avoidance of capacity enhancement ❖ Increased employee / customer satisfaction
8. Daily P&L Statement ❖ Drives restaurant profitability by providing an immediate P&L ❖ Requires specialized accounting expertise to get setup (sells their core business) ❖ Foundation for a new revenue stream
9. Paperless Invoice Project ❖ Reduced time to invoice (and A/R!) by ~25 days ❖ Reduced/eliminated a manual job ❖ Reduced errors due to transcription / loss of paper ❖ Became the foundation of a new line of business
10. Self-Service ESOP Portal ❖ Originally considered a cost with only minimal soft-savings ❖ Turned into a sales tool that sold 100% of new prospects for 2+ years ❖ Allows self-service by client companies and their employees
11. –David Autor, "Automation and anxiety" The Economist, Jun 25th 2016 “Automating a particular task, so that it can be done more quickly or cheaply, increases the demand for human workers to do the other tasks around it that have not been automated.” Lesson 1
12. –Jason Fried “The software and web industry can learn a lot from the lumber industry, the oil business, and corn and soybean farmers. They take waste and turn it into hefty profits.” Lesson 2
13. Native Apps vs. Web Apps
14. Mobile Native Web App
15. Responsive Web
16. Responsive Web App
17. Native App vs Responsive Web App
18. Mobile Native Web App Responsive Web Hybrid App (e.g. PhoneGap) React Native Responsive Web App AKA HTML5 Web App e.g. m.uber.com Custom dual- platform process
19. Native Apps are: Mobile Native Web App Responsive Web Hybrid App (e.g. PhoneGap) React Native Responsive Web App AKA HTML5 Web App e.g. m.uber.com AppSheet Custom dual- platform process Release via App Store Centrally hosted releases ❖ Centrally hosted ❖ Not at risk risk of being rejected from App Store ❖ Lack full capabilities of a native app ❖ Can be less complicated to maintain ❖ Faster ❖ Fuller control of device & hardware ❖ App store experience ❖ Distributed and installed on various devices Web apps are:
20. One more options: Custom Branded Apps ❖ Agencies will "skin" their app with your brand, examples: ❖ http://lp.socio.events/build-your-event-app ❖ http://howtohersheyapps.com/daycare-center-app-design/ ❖ https://www.mindbodyonline.com/branded-apps
21. The Economics of Software Development
22. VS
23. –Me “If it exists already, and you can pay reasonable fee to use it, you should probably start there.”
24. (Obvious) Reasons to Build ❖ Niche market ❖ Competitive advantage: scale in high-margin industry or efficiency low-margin industry ❖ Competing with an established service (providing new value and/or disruption)
25. Less Obvious Reasons to Build ❖ If the anticipated cost is less than 1/4 the anticipated value, it might be worth it (software is risky) ❖ If it will improve your product and you can afford it, it might be worth it.
26. – Jason Fried, Rework “Find a judo solution, one that delivers maximum efficiency with minimum effort. When good enough gets the job done, go for it.”
27. Responsibilities of a Software Owner
28. Remember: (Software) assets are a liability ❖ Maintenance is 40-80% of the cost (initial build is 20-60%) ❖ Roughly 60% of maintenance is enhancements
29. Invisible Tractor
30. Approach it like an experiment Take Small Steps Building software is an inherently risky activity: ❖ 17% of large IT projects go so badly that they can threaten the very existence of the company. ❖ On average, large IT projects run 45% over budget and 7% over time, while delivering 56% less value than predicted
31. Play to your strengths. It's about communication. Remember the invisible tractor. Rearrange this spectrum for your strengths, weaknesses, concerns. Do they have relevant experience? Do you have a fluent PM? Offshore On-site Office in same city Office in same timezone, different country Offshore, fluent PM located with team Office in nearby city Office in same timezone & country Onshore? Offshore? Remote? Distributed? Office in same country
32. How to Start
33. Make a clickable prototype This is a great way to communicate functionality. Don't get an estimate until you've done this. Read More: http://boxesandarrows.com/pdf-prototypes- mistakenly-disregarded-and-underutilized/ Tools: - http://pencil.evolus.vn/Default.html - http://try.justinmind.com/wireframing - https://www.axure.com - http://www.adobe.com/products/experience- design.html
34. Learn the vocabulary, what to expect Agile. Scrum. Sprint. User Story. Points. Retro. These are software words. See books at the end.
36. Further Reading
37. Fin.