Product Development is being swayed by Consumerisation

If we were playing tech word bingo I think you would find this post riddled with buzz words, sadly there is nothing for a full house in this post.  But one of the areas that we are constantly seeing raising its head in the business place is consumerisation of IT, and this shift in consumerisation is starting to drive a shift in product development.

The choice and level of functionality the modern consumer has in their home devices has led to a significant shift in the expectations professionals have of their corporate technology; we now expect the Sunday night experience on a Monday morning.

The shift in the way professionals use and perceive technology, together with the consumerisation of IT, has seen the emergence of a new business professional; one who considers their device to be a reflection of themselves, whether that be at work or at home.

At the end of the day, end users want a range of choice and flexibility, which must be made available by employers and IT departments.  And we as IT professionals are no longer able to say no if we want to attract and retain key workers.

Staff today no longer considers their laptop to be a tool, rather an extension of themselves and part of how they communicate and collaborate with colleagues around the world. Design is key and has made the industry stand up and look at their products.

End user choice creates some challenges for IT. As the number of devices managed by IT continues to rise, so does the time and resources required managing and maintaining these devices. Often the sheer number of devices is making the IT department resist the inevitable. However, over the next couple of year those corporate IT departments who have not enabled a diverse population of devices will struggle to keep control.

The key design requirements for enterprise computing should focus on the following elements:

• Common platform capabilities standardise where possible.  If you are going to allow BYOD you need to restrict the number of devices you support through a strict HCL.  Centralised cloud management is ideal for this or one at the very least links to an on premise solution such as Microsoft SCCM and Intune.
• Desktop virtualisation is rapidly becoming a mainstream way to simplify the desktop experience for users who are mobile and expect to be able to work from wherever they are.
• Security is more important than ever and, with the average cost of a data breach at $4 million, the need for an integrated and comprehensive data protection solution is clear.

IT Consumerisation is clearly driving a change in professional expectations and what IT must do to deliver on those requirements.  It is commonly regarded that allowing users to work with the right devices at the right locations is a way of attracting and retaining staff.  Vendors are responding by keeping the modern workplace in mind and developing business-computing products designed to improve productivity, simplify management and be aesthetically pleasing to the workforce.

Management Dashboards

As you will know by now Equanet are skilled in delivering tablet devices into the enterprise and realising a faster time to value through our advisory services enabling you and us to develop the strategy, architecture and governance needed to foster collaboration whilst protecting your IP.  One of the areas that we are constantly asked for help on is management dashboards to analyse their data be it real time or statistical and these need to be viewed across a number of devices (iOS, Android, Windows) leveraging the right technology (native or HTML5).

Once we start working with businesses it often becomes very clear that there are numerous levels of management dashboards required which covered many areas of the business.  Such as field sales, execs, risk managers and IT service desk managers.

Different dashboards convey different information...

Portfolio dashboards make sense if different portfolios are involved.  The challenge here is to bring out the business objective credibly to an IT metric through the mobile BI implementation.

Service dashboards can be focused on organising and presenting metrics which impact service issues.  Customer satisfaction can be very clearly measured by taking into account the average time with which help desk tickets were closed for example.

The IT dashboard usually consists of lots of metrics of all types and hence most of these dashboards lack focus and direction.  This typically is an area that the CIO wishes to address, ensuring that the IT dashboard is roles based and provides the correctly mined data to the the right IT member.

Ensuring the right data is delivered to the right user can be challenging and expensive so they need to be categorised to align to the needs of the business:

Operational are useful for monitoring BAU business processes and are assessed on a real-time basis, often with alerts for exceeded thresholds.

Tactical highlight the working of a particular department and its performance ensuring the manager is empowered to implement changes

Strategic provide important insight related to an organisation’s performance in comparison to its predefined strategic goals. Often built upon mined data into data cubes.

Need help with establishing your BI dashboards, then contact us.

Windows 8: One week later

So after getting to grips with the missing start button, the metro UI and grappling with where Microsoft have moved some system features I have to admit I like the new Windows 8 concept, design and application store.  Sure we have a raft of more tests to do but my first thoughts on why this is going to be a great hit with consumers are highlighted below.  And lets face it consumers typically win meaning businesses need to to start their testing now.

Windows 8 was downloaded over 1 million times in the first 24 hours the beta version was made available.  And we believe that the are a number of key features that will make the latest Windows release so enticing to consumers and the enterprise.

• Touch
• Keyboard and mouse control
• Windows 8 application store
• PCs and Windows Phone integration with cloud services.

This latest release of Windows is indeed a bold move but pulls tougher the BYO-3 relationship of Phone, Tablet and Laptop very nicely.

One of the most compelling parts of Windows 8 is the Windows Store. This application store follows the Metro style that allows for easy browsing and viewing on your Xbox 360 and Windows phones.

There are new ways of switching between apps, as well as more updates to the desktop tools. There are changes under the bonnet to file copying, power management, security, networking, hardware support and more.

The improved touch gestures also make it far easier to work with. Swipe from the right edge of the screen and you get the redesigned charm bar providing Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings.Or you can hover your mouse in the top or bottom right corners.  Swipe up from the bottom on the Start screen to get a quick link to the All Apps view.

Start, which is highlighted in the colour theme you choose on install, swaps between the Start screen and your last activity. Search is now context sensitive.

As you swipe across the Start menu, it stops with the group of tiles you've swiped to line up under Start; this is the promised 'speed bump' to help you navigate around. Scrolling with a mouse works far better - if you push the mouse past the edge of the screen, the tiles scroll as if you were swiping with your finger.

The zoom feature now works too; pinch to shrink the tiles on the Start screen to tiny thumbnails so you can see everything at once or move an entire group.

Switching between apps is better.

You can close Metro apps without restoring to the task manager. Drag down from the top of the screen until the app you're looking at shrinks down to a thumbnail and keep dragging that off the screen to close it.

Notifications in Metro work well; they pop up in the top right corner of the screen where they're not likely to be in the way and you can tap for options.

The metro apps is a great feature of Windows 8.  They are fast to launch, crisp and responsive and there are already useful apps in the store such as Evernote.

The messaging app makes good use of the size of a PC screen to show you multiple conversations on Facebook and Windows Live.

The Windows 8 desktop has addressed many of the frustrations of Windows 7 but there is one thing that’s just not there… the start button!

This was a big and bold move by Microsoft.  And is available if you hover on the left hand corner of the screen and when you click it; you guessed it, it’s back to the Metro UI.

To get quick access to desktop tools without going back to the Start screen, right-click in the left-hand corner to get a pop up menu which contains: Search, Run, Explorer, Task Manager, Control Panel and many others.

If you use a Windows Live account to log in, you automatically get your contacts, calendar and messages.

The Consumer Preview proves that Windows 8 isn't all about touch. The improvements to the desktop are good and will make navigation easier.

All in all a good release from Microsoft which shows their intention around both touch and none touch devices.  We would be interested to see your thoughts on the release.

Apple Do It Again - 3rd Generation iPad Introduced

Apple has unveiled a raft of new features set to be included in the 3rd generation iPad which will set the tablet market alight even more!

The next-generation iPad will feature a high-definition retina display and an improved camera, dubbed "iSight". The technology giant heaped pressure on its rivals with a cut-price iPad 2, priced at $399 (£254).

Apple also increased its presence in the home with an enhanced set-top box, Apple TV.

The next-generation iPad will feature a high-definition retina display, which Apple said boasts more pixels than a high-definition TV.

The slightly-heaver device will feature improved photo and video taking, with a greater resolution camera and a HD video recorder. It will be able to connect to high-speed 4G networks and run an Apple-built A5X processing chip.

Some other key points highlighted in todays press conference were:

585,000 apps are now available on the App Store
iTunes playlists can now be configured on your iDevice or Mac and have them show up on your Apple TV
Apple TV will have 1080p support
15.4 million iPad units shipped (more than Acer, Dell, Lenovo, and HP)
Retina display on the new iPad
2048 x 1536 and 3.1 million pixels – 264 pixels per inch
A5X processor and quad-core graphics
5 megapixel camera sensor, backside illumination, auto focus, 5 element lens, hybrid IR filter, and Apple-designed ISP
1080p video recording
Voice dictation
A microphone button is now featured on the keyboard
Feature 4G LTE (Next-Generation Wireless)
If the carrier supports it, the iPad can now become a personal HotSpot
Own your own on March 16th in US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan.
Existing apps will be scaled up to the new iPad, and text will be automatically rendered to higher resolution.
Rear-side camera now being referred to as “iSight”
iPhoto for iPad will have new editing and cataloging features. Retina display will enhance editing. “New gestures, new effects, multi-touch editing” and beaming photos directly between devices.
iPhoto app will support up to 19 megapixel photos – will also make it easy to share via email, Flickr, Twitter and others
The new iPad will maintain its 10 hour battery life even with a new A5X processor

So all in all a great line up of capabilities setting iPad ahead of the game yet again. Need help on integrating iPad into your business the you should contact us to understand how we can help you.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad