I think the use of mobile technology is really going to change in the next few
years, predominantly through how businesses will start to use the
technology. I think we've all become quite familiar as consumers with using
our phones to engage in quite a range of different services, but actually
businesses using this technology internally is really going to pick up
pace in the next few years and we're going to start seeing a lot of
innovation coming from how businesses engage with their employees, how they
improve their processes, how they manage to cut costs and mobile technology is
really going to be at the key of that.
So, Mobile First is very much a process that we go through in terms of
designing specifically for the mobile device being the primary form of
engagement. So, often things like mobile responsive websites people will always
start up assuming what it looks like on a desktop and then shrinking it down to
see how that then looks on a mobile. For Mobile First you're considering the
mobile user at the very beginning of the process that you're looking at. So, you're
looking at how its optimized you're looking at how the content is going to
work for them and you're considering the approach that they're going to have
being on a mobile device what they're looking for specifically as a user
rather than just taking a whole heap of content and shrinking it down so it
stacks on top of each other nicely.
Well a desktop site is still very much needed but the majority of traffic is
now coming from mobile devices and a lot of brands a lot of businesses are seeing
people accessing their site, accessing their information, predominantly through
a mobile device. We've been working with Fujifilm recently and again they've been
getting a lot of traffic from snapchat advertising and all of that traffic is
coming through on mobile devices, so it's very very important for them that
they're considering and taking into account what that customer journey is
going to be like for someone who's coming in from a mobile device rather
than just taking it as a shrunken down version of what the desktop is.
So, the customer journey is very much the process at which someone navigates
through the site, it's the flow of information, it's leading them to certain
other places in the site. Basically it makes sure that there are no dead ends,
that you're doing really well with things like signposting, taking them
through, that there's a logical sense of progression for them in terms of
content and where things are going and again optimizing that content for the
mobile device potentially. So, rather than taking three paragraphs of text actually
on a mobile you might only be interested in that first paragraph, so again
optimizing the content specifically for the medium that someone is is coming
through on.
Cloud services are really involved in mobile technology people often don't think
about it but they just see the the app and what's happening directly on their
device but behind all of the popular apps that we use things like Facebook
and Twitter and all of the other apps services there's always a huge cloud
program or a sense of provision behind that app powering its data powering some
of the processes that it goes through so this is just one way in which the
cloud is taking a really big step forward in terms of adoption in the
coming years really.
When you're outside of a Wi-Fi zone you don't have data connection to your app
the emphasis is really coming down to app developers to make sure that they're
providing an eloquent way for you to engage with the app still even if there
isn't a data connection. Even if it is heavily reliant on cloud services or
data from online rather than just a big screen that says you haven't got any
access, internet access at the moment. We're seeing things like local caching
of data where the information is stored on the device and then at the next
opportunity when it's connected in it's then posted back up to the server and it
connects to that, but it still gives the user the ability to interact with the
app and maybe do some some of the services that it's offering. So, really
that emphasis on the app developer to provide that offline service is becoming
much greater emphasis when looking at how you build them in production.
At Greendog we've been using quite a range of different mobile technology for
clients, we've seen businesses coming up with really innovative ways for solving
problems in their business one recent example is a printer supplier who when a
an error code happens on the machine it generates a QR code and then we've
built an app specifically to read that data, it's got all of the error
information in it, that then gets sent off to their support services and
they've got a huge range of data about what is happening with that machine,
where it is, everything that's that they need to know, so they can offer a much
faster better and proactive support service to their customers. And again
through how we can improve areas like health and safety by delivering
improvements in mobile technology and the data that can be accessed through
that. There's really been quite a range of different solutions that are
available and we're really keen to try and promote how mobile technology can
really push forward cost savings and improvements and engagement across a
range of different businesses.
When we're building an app we consider iOS and Android as the two major platforms. I
think between the two you've got over a ninety-nine percent market share there.
But specifically we build our app technology in a way that is portable
into other providers such as windows phones or BlackBerry's. So, if there was a
specific requirement for my business we're potentially they've just bought
into providing their staff with Windows phones for example, then it would be
relatively easy for us to then take that and and spread it across the board. But
definitely iOS and Android are you to massive markets.
I think the big thing that we'll start to see in the next couple of years is a
big push towards augmented reality I think some of the big players are
already starting to throw their hat in the ring in terms of how we start to
engage with things like augmented reality and that's different to virtual
reality where you've got a complete overcast of what you see but augmented
reality is when you see an overlay of your natural environment and very much
how we interact with things like mapping technology, even things down to viewing
information on on a site that you're visiting or anything like that,
you'll be able to see a lot more information that is contextually
appearing in in your natural environment and that will be through through
mobile's it will be through other wearable technology that will
undoubtedly start to take a much greater play forward in in the coming years. But
in terms of how, definitely students, going into the marketplace can really
make a difference, you know they've got this great understanding of mobile
technology, they can see things in a fresh way, they're not stuck in the rut
of we do things this way and this is the process we're doing, that really gives
them the opportunity to see things in a fresh light, to take mobile technology
forward and introduce a whole range of savings and cost benefits into into any
business really.