Windows PhoneCustomer Solution Case Study

Leading International Human Rights Agency Develops Compelling Mobile App in Four Weeks

OverviewCountry or Region: United StatesIndustry: Nonprofit

Customer ProfileInternational Justice Mission (IJM) is a nonprofit human rights agency that brings rescue to victims of slavery, sex trafficking, and other forms of violent oppression. IJM has roughly 400 employ-ees and is based in Washington, D.C.

Business SituationTo help supporters stay connected and engaged in its work, IJM must have an innovative, interactive application that is available on all major mobile phone platforms.

SolutionIJM engaged Brushfire Mobile, which used Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, Microsoft Expression Blend 4, and Windows Phone Developer Tools to build a compelling mobile application for Windows Phone in only four weeks.

Benefits Unique, highly interactive user

experience Rapid time-to-market Increased market reach Deeper constituent engagement

“Our Windows Phone app helps us connect deeply with supporters and enables them to take simple steps to help make a difference.”

Amy Lucia, Vice President of Global Communications, International Justice Mission

International Justice Mission (IJM), a nonprofit human rights agency, must support apps for all major mobile phone platforms as part of its strategy to maintain and grow its network of active supporters. With help from Brushfire Mobile, IJM built an app for Windows Phone that makes it easy for supporters in the United States to remain connected with the organization’s overseas work, take action to help make a difference, and promote the organization’s efforts through social networking and other communication channels. Brushfire developed the IJM app for Windows Phone in only four weeks, taking advantage of unique Windows Phone design features to provide a highly compelling and interactive user experience.

SituationInternational Justice Mission (IJM) is the largest and fastest-growing human rights agency in the world, working in 13 countries to combat slavery, sex trafficking, and other forms of violent oppression. The organization was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen, its current President and Chief Executive Officer, who worked in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice and directed the United Nations genocide investigation in Rwanda in 1994.

In all of its casework, IJM has a four-fold purpose. The organization’s first priority is immediate relief for the victims of abuse. Second, IJM works to ensure that victims are equipped to rebuild their lives and respond to the complex emotional and physical needs that are often the result of abuse. Third, IJM works to hold perpetrators accountable in their local justice systems—based on a belief that, when would-be abusers are afraid of the consequences, the vulnerable do not need to fear them. Finally, IJM seeks to prevent others who are at risk from being abused by strengthening community factors and local judicial systems to help deter potential oppressors.

Outside of its casework, one of the organization’s key objectives is maintaining and growing its network of 200,000 active supporters, most of whom who live in the United States. A few years ago, IJM relied mainly on outbound marketing for such efforts. That began to change when IJM realized that a transition to personalized, relationship-based marketing (versus a one-size-fits-all message) would help people get closer to the casework it did, feel more connected to the organization,

and empower them to join with IJM by helping fund its mission. “We can’t take supporters overseas to experience the conditions in a brothel and witness a rescue firsthand, so we need to find other ways to help them connect with our work and stay engaged,” says Amy Lucia, Vice President of Global Communications for IJM.

First on the organization’s list was a redesign of its website, which was implemented along with a new content management system that lets nontechnical users publish breaking news, stories on rescue missions, and other articles in real time. Following that, IJM began to explore how it could use mobile apps to help supporters in the United States connect directly with the organization’s overseas work—including ways to take action to help make a difference.

In 2010, major donors funded the development of mobile apps for Apple and Android devices, both of which were developed by Brushfire Mobile, a subsidiary of EpicThink Media. Immediately after finishing the Android app, IJM turned its attention to rounding out its mobile portfolio with an app for Windows Phone. “I was passionate about having apps for all major mobile phones,” says Lucia. “Citing the future market share I expect Microsoft to have, I convinced the team to invest in an app for Windows Phone as a means of helping IJM engage with an even broader base of supporters.” Adds Gabe Cooper, President of Brushfire, which Lucia engaged to develop the app,

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“Traditionally, we design an app once and then use that design for all phone platforms. However, when we began to develop on Windows Phone, we saw that its user experience was radically different.”Gabe Cooper, President, Brushfire Mobile

“We were eager to participate in the effort, as we saw the value of Windows Phone as a compelling new consumer device and were eager for an opportunity to start developing on it.”

SolutionDevelopment of the IJM app for Windows Phone began with the design phase. Rather than dictating the app’s look and feel, Lucia left its design up to Brushfire, with instructions to fully exploit the phone’s unique user interface.

“Traditionally, we design an app once and then use that design for all phone platforms,” says Cooper. “However, when we began to develop on Windows Phone, we saw that its user experience was radically different. At that point, we brought our designer in to completely redesign the app to exploit the Windows Phone user interface.”

One developer and one designer used the Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate development system, Microsoft Expression Blend 4 design software, and the Windows Phone Developer Tools to create the app, which is based on Microsoft Silverlight. The effort took four weeks end-to-end, including the UI redesign starting in week three. “With Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend, the designer and developer could work together in parallel, with coding continuing as we redesigned the UI,” says Loren Kutsko, Chief Technologist at Brushfire. “Even with a ‘hard left turn’ halfway through the project, we were able to keep 85 percent of the code that we had already written.”

Adds Eric Herbrandson, Senior Developer at Brushfire, “During weeks three and four of the project, I sat with the designer, and we redesigned the app entirely in Expression Blend. The only thing we used Photoshop for was creation of the background images.”

The app for Windows Phone uses the same back-end web services as the IJM mobile website and iPhone and Android apps. Those web services run on the Microsoft .NET Framework and the Windows Server operating system, as does the organization’s website and content management system. “Being able to develop the Windows Phone app and make any necessary adjustments to the back-end web services using the same tool set was a real timesaver,” says Herbrandson.

IJM launched its app for Windows Phone in March 2011, making it available for down-load in the Windows Phone Marketplace in the United States. When downloading the app, the user is told that it uses the phone’s built-in location services to deliver person-alized content. Starting the app displays its panoramic home screen, which provides the ability to flick left or right to transition between multiple panes—a feature unique to the Windows Phone version of the app.

With the IJM app for Windows Phone, IJM supporters can:

Get real-time updates from the field about rescues, arrests, and convictions—including personalized updates on the topics they are most passionate about.

Use Bing Maps to view the locations of rescue efforts.

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“The development environment and tool set for Windows Phone made it very easy to get a lot done in a short amount of time.”

Eric Herbrandson Senior Developer, Brushfire Mobile

Post notes of encouragement for undercover IJM investigators and other team members.

View recommendations on other steps

they can take to support the organization’s work.

Make donations to help support the

organization’s cause.

Connect with IJM events and groups in their local area, or create new groups.

Share content from within the app

through email, SMS, and popular social networking channels to help raise awareness about IJM and its work.

IJM launched an aggressive marketing campaign to promote the app’s adoption in May 2011. Moving forward, IJM plans to make similar versions of the app available in additional countries. IJM also plans to take advantage of other unique features of Windows Phone such as Live Tiles, which will make it possible for users to see whether new content or other updates are available from IJM directly on the phone’s Start Screen—instead of having to first launch the app.

BenefitsWith its app for Windows Phone, IJM is increasing its reach among mobile phone users. The highly interactive app makes it easy for IJM supporters in the United States to connect directly with the organization’s overseas work, including ways to help make a difference and share their involvement through social networking and other communication channels.

“We’re passionate about increasing our base of supporters because more supporters means more of the world’s poorest will be rescued from violent oppression—and more perpetrators will be held accountable for their crimes,” says Lucia. “In most cases, once people know that sex trafficking, slavery, and other horrific crimes are taking place, they always care. But people sometimes aren’t sure how to turn that caring into action. Our Windows Phone app helps us connect deeply with supporters and enables them to take simple steps to help make a difference. It’s a key part of our strategy to stay on the cutting edge of relationship-based marketing.”

Unique, Highly Interactive User ExperienceIJM exploited unique Windows Phone design features such as panoramas to deliver an app that is highly compelling and interactive. “Our iPhone and Android apps are virtually identical, whereas our app for Windows Phone delivers an entirely different user experience,” says Lucia. “The entire Windows Phone user experience is highly interactive, which maps very well to our overall mobile strategy: to help people get closer to the work that IJM is doing, and, through that capability, to spread the word about what we do and contribute to the cause.”

Rapid Time-to-MarketBrushfire delivered the Windows Phone version of the IJM app in just four weeks. “We may build apps for many phone platforms, but, when it comes to server-based development, we’re a Microsoft shop, so we already had experience with

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Figure 1. The IJM app for Windows Phone helps IJM supporters in the United States to stay connected with, support, and promote the organization’s overseas work.

Visual C#, Microsoft Silverlight, and Windows Presentation Foundation,” says Cooper. “This made it very easy to start developing for Windows Phone.”

Herbrandson credits his high productivity during the project to the development environment for Windows Phone. “The development environment and tool set for Windows Phone made it very easy to get a lot done in a short amount of time,” he says. “As an added benefit, designers can actually implement a user interface with Expression Blend instead of just drawing pictures of what it should look like, which leaves even less for me to do as a developer.”

A robust hardware specification also accelerated development. “With Windows Phone, you can build an app once and know that it’ll run well on all Windows Phones,” says Kutsko.Increased Market ReachFor IJM, its app for Windows Phone provides the means to reach out to an even broader mobile user base. What’s more, the nonprofit organization was able to build its new app at a fraction of what it had cost to develop its other mobile apps. Cooper’s desire to bring Brushfire up to speed on Windows Phone was also a factor in the company’s participation. “Windows Phone is very consumer-centric and easy to develop on, providing all that we need to reach out to mobile users with compelling lifestyle apps,” says Cooper. “At the end of

the day, it’s all about the consumer—we’ll do whatever it takes to make them happy.”

Windows PhoneWindows Phone 7 is a different kind of phone, designed to bring together what you care about most—easier and faster. It delivers captivating phone experiences across work and play, enables productivity without compromise through Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office Mobile, and provides a platform for compelling applications that can work across the phone, web, and PC. For more information on Windows Phone 7, go to: www.windowsphone.com

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For More InformationFor more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers in the United States and Canada who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to:www.microsoft.com

For more information about Brushfire Mobile, visit the website at: www.brushfiremobile.com

For more information about International Justice Mission, visit the website at: www.ijm.org

This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

Document published October 2011

Software and Services Windows Phone 7 Microsoft Visual Studio− Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

Ultimate− Windows Phone Developer Tools

Microsoft Expression Blend 4 Technologies− Microsoft Silverlight

Partners Brushfire Mobile