On
the basis of functionality the application performs or on the users and usage
of the applications, Mobile applications can be classified as – Business to
Business Applications, Business to Customer applications.
Business
to Customer Mobile applications:
- These are the mobile applications that the enterprise wishes to develop for its customers / stake holders.
- It is generally seen that the objective behind these applications is customer involvement, create brand recall, reach target customer and provide with accurate and timely information.
- The number of end users of B2C applications is high.
- Some examples of B2C application are: Times of India Mobile App, ICICI bank immobile application, Flipkart Mobile application.
- From the above applications we can see that these applications are not independent applications (Does not automate any enterprise internal operation/process) and are in some or other way depends on the transactions / information the company wishes to share with the customers.
Business
to Business Applications:
- These are the Mobile applications that the enterprise wishes to develop for optimizing its internal processes or functions.
- These applications are generally to automate certain business processes, reduce time required for certain processes/functions, Electronic Data interchange within the Business/ Organization.
- The number of users of B2B applications is limited and much less than the B2C application.
- Some examples of Business Applications in India are : ICICI Tab banking Account Opening application [ http://www.icicibank.com/campaigns/tab-banking/ ]
In
this application, the entire manual process{Customer fills form à Submits documents à Bank data entry staff punches the data in Bank
system à Scans documents à Uploads that in Bank system] of account opening is automated [Tab Officer fills form in the Tab application, scans
documents and submit à The data gets saved in the bank database]. This
reduces time and cost required in the process indirectly increasing
productivity.
Role
of Business Analyst:
With
wide range of Mobile phones, applications and platforms, Business Analyst can
play a key role in developing Enterprise mobile applications:
- Application Type: Native, Web or Hybrid? Based on the target end users to be catered and business objective, Business Analyst can help business to Analyze and decide type of Mobile application [Native Application, Hybrid application, Web application] that must be developed.
- Platform: - iOS, Android, Symbian? : Business Analyst can analyze the data, market. Target user demographics to help business decide platform for which the application must be build.
- Identify Processes: Business Analyst must understand the current processes in the organization, identify the processes which can be optimizing by introducing Mobility.
- Propose Solution: Based on the identified process, design and propose feasible Mobility solution.
- Solution development: As mentioned in detail in my previous blogs, actively involved in the solution development lifecycle.
Business
Analyst thus plays a key role in identification of right process to be
mobilized, right platform on which Mobile application should be based and the
right solution.
About Author:
Saurabh Kane is a consultant in Systems Plus Pvt. Ltd. Within Systems Plus, he actively contributes to the areas of Technology and Information Security. He can be contacted at: saurabh.k@spluspl.com
