16 Best Practices for Mobile Customer Engagement & Data Collection in the Enterprise

Editor's Notes

• #2: MONTH - CLARIFY - 16 NOT 10 - EVERYONE - PERSPECTIVE - 4 CHARTS Earlier this month, Avoka released a whitepaper on Best Practices for mobile customer engagement and data collection. Let me clarify. Mobile Data Collection is quite clear. And the area of Customer Engagement we focus on is when the customer wants to transact – order, apply, claim, request, etc. 16 best practices may seem like a strange number…but the reality was…there were 16. Not 10…16. EVERYONE is talking about mobile and its importance. I wanted to give you my personal perspective on the challenge and opportunity associated with Mobile before I get started. There are 4 charts that for me sum it up.
• #3: MARY / LIANG - 100 Slides - SALES 3 YEARS - DUST / 300% - ADOPTION PACE Every year, Mary Meeker and Liang Wu from Kleiner Perkins Caulfield Buyers release the internet trends report. It’s a 100+ slide behemoth on slideshare but very insightful. Look at this chart. The iPhone was a run away success – but in its first 3 years of sales, the iPad has left the iphone in its dust outselling 300% The pace of adoption of new technology by the masses has increased.
• #4: SHIPMENTS - DESKTOP - LAPTOP - TABLET - 3 YEARS TO ECLIPSE From the same slide deck…this is a chart of shipments of Desktop PCs (GREEN), Laptops (BLUE) and Tablets (ORANGE) 3 years after the launch of the iPad, it eclipsed two devices that had been around for decades.
• #5: HOME - CBA - DEVICE / TIME - TABLET A little closer to home – this chart from CBA shows a breakdown of users accessing their online properties by time of day and device. Desktop dominates in the office SmartPhone is always there…and dominates the commute home Tablet is #1 in the high value hours from 6pm onwards when a lot of people take care of their personal banking…#1!!!
• #6: WESTPAC - SIMILAR - REPRESENTATIVE - UNPRECEDENTED And this isn’t just a CBA phenomenon – Westpac see very similar (not identical) behaviour from its customers. Now that’s a good representative sample of Australian consumers. Do you need any more convincing that this is worth discussing?
• #7: 2 USE CASES - FIELD PRODUCTIVITY - CUST ENGAGE - DIFFERENCES - COVER BOTH As the whitepaper suggests, there are two separate use cases for mobile in the enterprise There’s the productivity that can be achieved by field staff And the engagement that can occur with customers. Very different use cases – but with similarities, so hopefully there will be some value in the content delivered this morning.
• #8: EXPOSURE - EXAMPLES - BRING TO LIFE Avoka has had exposure to projects with a range of organisations covering both scenarios. I’m going to talk through a number of these examples to bring some of the Best Practices we’ve learnt along the way to life.
• #9: 16 LARGE - ASK AS WE GO Now – 16 is an unusual number and its also a large number. So please…feel free to ask questions as we go, otherwise this is going to be a long sermon.
• #10: EXTENSIONS / SYBASE - FRAMEWORK / ORACLE - DEV / Kony & Adobe - PRODUCTS - ANAYST CATCH-UP - REQ > RESEARCH One of the first decisions you’ll face is BUY or BUILD There are extensions to existing products like Sybase for SAP. Frameworks from vendors like Oracle. Development environments from companies like Kony and Adobe. And products that deliver particular capabilities. The question is which one is right for you. Unfortunately, much of the analyst work in this area is lacking…the magic quadrants and wave reports aren’t quite as complete as they could be. So you probably need to look at your requirements and do some research.
• #11: THIESS - TIMESHEET - PALM - eBAY - RFP - $$$ - APP STORE - eFORM - Timesheet / Reporting / OH&S This is what happened at THIESS – large construction, mining and engineering company. Thiess had a timesheet application they’d developed for Palm Pilots 10 years ago. Problem was, the only way to buy Palm Pilots now was eBay…seriously! So they want to market for a new mobile enabled time sheeting and project reporting solution to capture data from a mobile workforce comprised of staff and sub-contractors (so BYOD was important) The responses they got from vendors were multi-million dollar propositions. They’d budgeted for less. They experimented with cheap apps in the App Store – but they fell down in areas such as Integration, Security and Offline usage They ended up with an Enterprise Forms solution that they could use to build their own data capture applications for timesheets, utilisation reports, OH&S reporting, etc.
• #12: CLOUD / ON-PREM - PUBLIC CLOUD - HOST VIRTUAL - CHG RAPID - FED GOV - ALLOW FOR CHANGE And once you’ve decided on Buy vs Build…then there’s Cloud or On-Premise. Cloud has a bit of a stigma attached – people think Public Cloud..enter your credit card and away you go. But Private Cloud is really just another term for secure hosting on virtualised infrastructure that we’ve been doing for years. The technology landscape in relation to hosting is changing rapidly. The federal government just recently released its Cloud Guidelines for agencies…and I can tell you, because we’re working with it for a large agency…it’s still a moving target. So if you can find a solution that allows you to deploy in either a Cloud or On Premise model…that would be wise. Not sure Slaeforce are going to give you an on premise option any time soon…but there, you know what you’re getting yourself in for.
• #13: IMPORTANT eFORMS - 2 WEEKS / 2 MONTHS - FLEXIBILITY / SCALABILITY / RELIABILITY = CLOUD Interestingly, Jaguar Land Rover faced a Cloud dilemma. When JLR release a new vehicle, there’s a lot of activity and interest. People sign up for newsletters, submit enquiries, request a test-drive (and 1 in 10 Test Drives result in a sale). But Building these forms was a slow process through their traditional IT approach. Simple changes took 2 weeks and new forms took several months. This was unacceptable when a new car was itching to be released to the market. So they went with a product in the cloud to give them the TTM, Scalability and Reliability they needed.
• #14: PAPER ENDURING - BENEFITS - REPLACE Now – if you’re using Paper today, there’s a lot to be said for it. Its an enduring medium for a lot of good reasons. It doesn’t crash, doesn’t need connectivity, it’s familiar, you can attach things to it, put it down and come back to it easily with a session timing out, supports collaboration, and the only device your users need is a pen. So when you replace paper as a means of engagement or data collection – look for something that people will happily move to. Don’t’ take away all the advantages of paper if you don’t need to. For example, replace Staples with Attachments. Allow it to work occasionally connected. Provide auto-saves every 5 minutes, etc.
• #15: STEVIE WONDER @ UN - Access IQ - 1 in 5 - 500k VISUALLY - AGEING - MAGUIRE vs SOCOG Accessibility is an interesting challenge. I thought this snippet of an infographic from Access IQ sums it up quite well – 1 in 5 Australians have a disability and almost ½ million are visually impaired. And with the aging population, these figures are only going to increase. And if you’re not familiar with it – do a Google Search on Maguie VS SOCOG where the government was found to be negligent by not providing an accessible option for the Sydney Olympic web site. Accessibility is an important feature to deliver in any solution you may be considering.
• #16: CONTROVERSIAL - HAMMER / NAIL - TRANSACTIONS <> EQUAL - CUSTOMER VALUE Now – this is a controversial one. Let me explain these two charts… When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything can look like a nail. You don’t just have hammers and not everything is a nail. Does anyone hate this concept?
• #17: WBC INSURNACE - TREE - CALL / PDF - CX - POPULAR, XML Here’s a practical example. Westpac approached us with a view to improving the customer experience for Home & Contents Claims. This was not about operational efficiency…although that was achieved by improving the quality of data collected. Current situation – phone / PDF to print. Tree on house & printer. So we proposed a solution that delivered a great experience for completing the claim on a phone, tablet or PC – with validation, mandatory fields enforced, camera integration for pictures of damage etc. The collected data is then overlayed on an exact replica of the current paper form which is processed the way it was processed yesterday. No change management, no retraining, no documentation changes…just no re-work No one lodging an insurance claim expects it to be settled immediately. There will always be an assessment of some sort. The online has provide more valuable than anticipated…the solution is already producing the data as an XML file…Westpac now integrating to their claims management system.
• #18: BUILD + MAINTAIN - CHANGE x COST - ACT GOV 1 JULY Its not just about the BUILD costs – you also need to factor in the maintenance costs for your solution. So really you need to consider the Build Cost plus the Cost of Changes multiplied by the Frequency of Changes to understand your TCO. We had an example in the ACT Government where on the 1st of July…
• #19: INTERNET etc - PRE-FILL - VALIDATE - SUBMIT - OPEN / STANDARDS Any solution you build or buy for mobile engagement and data collection is likely to require some or all of the following integration points. Internet / Intranet / Extranet / Portal / Mobile App Pre-Population Validation Submission…where does the data collected need to go. Try to implement a solution with an open architecture and standards based interfaces to make this easier.
• #20: VALUE IN FEATURES - BUILD - FRAMEWORKS - FUTURE Devices these days are powerful – and much of the benefit you can achieve can be unlocked by accessing the features of your devices. If you build..you’ll probably need to hand code leveraging these device capabilities. Frameworks such as PhoneGap and Kony make it easier. So look for solutions that give you access to a wide range of device features. You may not need all of them day 1, but as your usage becomes more sophisticated, you may want those capabiltes in the future.
• #21: HOUSING - OUTSOURCED - GPS / LOCAL / CAMERA / WIRELESS - 2 NEW BENEFITS Now, the NSW Dept of Housing is, I believe, the largest landlord in Australia. Like any other landlord they need to perform inspections 2 unforseen benefits – Data Accuracy for budgetary purposes / Improved Safety due to earlier notification of dangerous issues for resolution
• #22: APP? - PROJECT PLAN - NEW iOS - CONTAINER APP Have any of you released an App to the Apple, Google or Microsoft App Stores? Did you factor that approval process in to your Project Plan? For anyone that hasn’t been through it…your at the mercy of Apple, Google and Microsoft employees. Try getting an app approved when they’re releasing a new version of the operating system that EVERYONE is trying to capitalise on. The only viable solution for the enterprise is to consider the Container App model. You deploy one app with infrequent updates which acts as the container. Your other funcationlity is then deployed as modules directly from your server, not through the app store. The container app doesn’t change when a new piece of functionality si deployed through the container rather than within the container.
• #23: F200 - 10,000 / 90 COUNTRY - CONTENT / CAPTURE - FDA POWER Let me give you an example. A fortune 200 Pharma decided to deploy iPads to the mobile global sales force of 10,000 in over 90 countries. Information about drugs delivered as content – but what about data collection forms for product orders, complaints, adverse drug reaction reports, etc. Chose a solution that would allow them to deploy a container app to the devices. Then each of the data collection forms was synchronised from the server, not through the app store. These data collection apps work within the container. Singapore Transport has done something similar where a container app as been developed which contains sub-apps for Buses, Trains, Traffic, etc.
• #24: LOTS - AUTH/ANON - FIELD / SUB-CON - SUPPORT BOTH There are lots of different types of user – but one important distinction for this type of solution is Authenticated and Anonymous. Chances are your field staff will be Authenticated…although this can become more complex for those leveraging sub-contractors. The point being – whether you’re looking at mobile for field staff or in customer facing scenarios, support for both authenticated and anonymous users is useful.
• #25: SIMILARLY - ASSIGN / USER INIT - EXAMPLES Similarly, there are many different types of tasks that can be completed by field staff on a mobile device – but for the purposes of mobile data collection, we’ll simply classify them as ASSIGNED or USER INITIATED Examples include…
• #26: AUSGRID - STAFF / CEC - ASSIGNED / UNEXPECTED - LOGISTICS EXAMPLE Ausgrid has a large mobile workforce made up of staff and certified electrical contractors. Both groups are asked to complete assigned tasks. But both groups can encounter unexpected tasks in the field…not allowing them to collect information related to those tasks (provided their qualified to do so) is a lost productivity opportunity. STAR TRACK example…
• #27: SECURITY ENTERPRISE - ACCESS - STORAGE / MDM - COMMS In the Enterprise Use Case, there are a number of security challenges that must be met including Access – ensuring the device and applications can only be accessed by the appropriate users. Data Storage – Any information stored on the device should be encrypted and support the ability to remotely wipe the device within the App or through a MDM solution like Good or Mobile Iron, Air Watch Communication – All information sent to and from the device should be encrypted. Security and Integration are often the features that will separate Enterprise Solutions from those easily available in the app store.
• #28: NO PROTECTION - RESP DESIGN - SCREEN, TOUCH, … - PRODUCT / TESTING There is no protection from the next wave of devices to come out of Apple, Samsung or Huwaei However…ensuring your solution supports Responsive Design is the best bet you have today. Responsive design takes care of variable screen sizes, different interface options such as touch, navigation with mouse / swipe, refactoring content, device funcationlity such as camera / gps and the performance capabilities of the device. It’s a lot to consider…but unfortunately, that’s the world we live in. Hopefully your requirements can be met by someone that takes care of this for you and tests against a range of different devices to limit your exposure.
• #29: RESPONSIVE = 1+ DEVICE - START / COMPLETE - PRODUCTIVITY / CONVENIENCE / ABANDONMENT And while on the subject of Responsive design…its not just 1 device that’s used to complete a transaction. Field Staff and Consumers alike will often initiate something on a convenient device such as a Smartphone and then complete it on a higher productivity device such as a tablet or desktop. Try to allow for this as it can be a great way to increase Productivity, Convenience and reduce Abandonment.
• #30: LENDER - HOME LOAN - PHONE For example, we’re working with one home lender on an application for a home loan that can be initiated on a mobile device, saved and completed on a larger screen (a mortgage is a long form to complete on a phone…though not impossible and people will!)
• #31: EXTENSION OF BRAND - CONSISTENT - OFFEND? - FAULT - LOGO - FONT / LAYOUT / WIDTH - HIGHLIGHT In the customer facing transactions, your online and mobile engagement solutions are an extension of your brand…try to ensure your solution will allow you to deliver an experience that represents your brand consistently Here’s an example that doesn’t. Hopefully I’m not offending anyone by highlighting Heritage Bank – it’s not their fault…it’s the tools at their disposal. You can see the Web page on the left about personal loans has a particular look and feel. The actual application form looks very different except for the logo. The font, layout, width are all very different. In fact, highlighted in that red oval are a set of radio buttons that were off my screen when I looked at this example. I needed to scroll to the right to complete them.
• #32: FINALLY - 24x7 - NEVER ZERO - ARM’S REACH FINALLY…its now a 24x7 world. Look back at this chart from CBA. It never bottoms out at 0%. There’s always someone trying to access the bank. And when you have over 10m customers – 1%...even 0.1% is a significant number. People are now more likely to wake in the middle of the night, grab the phone (not the laptop) within arms reach and check if a bill has been paid before going back to sleep.
• #33: CUST / FIELD - POWERFUL & HERE - STOP PLANNING / START DOING So , whether you’re looking at mobile for Customer Engagement, Operational Efficiency or Compliance such as our friends in Pharma…it’s a powerful, but diverse and challenging environment. The problem is – your staff and customers are already using it. So you need to stop planning and start doing.
• #34: PRINT - PDF WEB - COMPANION - SVA - BUSY - KATE You should all have a printed copy of the whitepaper. There’s also a PDF version available for download on the Avoka website We’re working on a companion piece for writing an online forms tender that fleshes out many of these recommendations in to specific questions you may want to ask. Finally – if anyone is interested in exploring this further, we’re offering today’s attendees a free no-strings assessment so you can determine the benefit that a mobile solution could deliver in your organisation either for Customer Engagement or Mobile Data collection. Our team are busily working on a couple of these at the moment…so we can’t start immediately. But if you’re interested, please let Kate know and we’ll work with you on dates.
• #35: INTEREST - BLOG / SHARE - CONNECT - THANK YOU - QUESTIONS - NICK Finally – this is an area of interest for me. I blog, share articles I find etc. So feel free to connect by email or on LinkedIn. Thank you for your time this morning. Any questions before I hand back to Nick?