Opinion One size definitely does not fit all when it comes to enterprise applications.
With the invasion of mobile devices into the enterprise, enterprise applications are being stretched to the limit by workers trying to access apps designed for a 24 inch screen on a 5 inch smartphone. To get a sense for how enterprise applications need to evolve to meet the needs of the rapidly growing mobile workforce, consider the evolution of Web technology and early ecommerce sites.
In the late 1990s when the first websites started appearing, they were primarily informational. They presented information that had previously been delivered in printed materials. It wasn’t until Web designers stopped trying to imitate print catalogues or brick-and-mortar experiences and instead started creating new Internet-based ecommerce experiences that websites really became fast and easy to navigate and transformed the way we transact business.
Business workflows and applications are overdue for a similar transformation and evolution to fully take advantage of mobile technology. While the first wave of mobile apps designed from the ground up for mobile devices exist, the majority are designed for consumer use. When it comes to enterprise mobile apps, mobile workers are in most cases still forced to connect to an internal network and navigate interfaces designed for desktop computers with 13 or 24-inch screens.
A mobile-first design approach for enterprise applications acknowledges that users will be working on small screens, and that tapping and swiping gestures are preferable to typing.
Recent research from Gartner shows that the time people spend on different sized screens varies dramatically. For instance, on a laptop the average user session lasts for 36 minutes, while on a smartphone the average session is only 1.2 minutes. However, the number of sessions per day is much higher, with only 4 on average for a laptop, but 19 per day on a smartphone.
Obviously people are using smartphones in different ways that traditional computers, and applications need to be designed to optimise the user experience for both the size of the screen, as well as the length of usage. Employees are ready and waiting for the next wave of enterprise mobile applications designed for the mobile era.
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