I don’t think there is any doubt anymore that the world and the enterprise are going Mobile-First. At MobileIron we define mobile first as the following:

“In a Mobile First enterprise, users have access to every business process they need, on any device they want, with a secure experience they love”

Here is a quick video that describes our Mobile First strategy.

Everywhere you look , enterprises are redefining customer experiences and their businesses by making their core business processes available through Mobile Apps on any modern mobile device.

Here is a very interesting example: this morning I landed at the Airport in Amsterdam and I saw a lady from the ground crew of a major airline helping travellers holding an iPad. I got closer to figure out what application (business process) she was using and I took a picture.

I was surprised and amused that she was actually using a green screen application probably from a mainframe. This is a both a good and bad example of mobile first.

It is good because this company mobilized a core business process and is allowing their employees to help customers where and when they need it.

It is a bad example because they mobilized the business process without adapting the application to the native user experience of the target device. Just take a look at the custom multi-layered keyboard she needs to emulate all the key combinations that old mainframe keyboard could do…

 

Clearly not a great experience for the user, but it gets the job done.

Unlike the old monolithic applications of the mainframe and the enterprise web era, well designed mobile applications are small and single purpose and therefore simpler.

So, I applaud this airline for embracing mobility, but they still have work to do to be a true Mobile First organization and delight their employees and in turn, their customers

Have you seen similar examples? Have you seen this done right? Let me know in the comments below or on twitter

– Vittorio