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| The rise of the “just-right” apps 1
The rise of the “just-right” apps7 rules for enterprise software success.
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Why “just right,” and what does it mean? In the fairytale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” Goldilocks tried the first chair and it was too hard. The second? Too soft. Finally, she found the chair that was “just right.”
In the world of enterprise hardware and software, the idea of a solution being “just right” is often abandoned. Vendors sell us on the idea of generic, “good enough” solutions—apps not tailored to unique business processes and go-to-market strategies. When we discover that generic will not work, we often spend countless hours and cash on coding customizations.
We battle over hardware. We war over software. And we’re tired of settling for out-of-the-box, vendor-defined solutions. What we really want now are applications that are “just right” for each team, customer, partner, and person—and just get stuff done. But how?
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Change the tools.By 2020, according to Gartner research, at least half of all new IT line-of-business applications will be created
through low-code platforms. Just as the web browser made the internet available to all, a new breed of application
development platforms will make just-right app creation available to all— even people with zero coding
experience. Anyone will be able to create a “just-right” app.
Zero in on human-centered design. So what makes just-right apps so powerful? Just-right apps start with a human need, not the technology. Just
because something can be done does not mean it should be done. Just because a vendor offers a slick new feature
does not mean it will meet the needs of each user. Some features just get in the way of real productivity. Getting
to “just right” means starting with the needs of each user and tailoring solutions around how work could be done
differently. Instead of automating existing processes, human-centered design questions each process entirely,
asking, “How can we make this exponentially better for each person involved?”
For example, instead of shaving seconds off a call process, could we cut call times by 75%, or eliminate calls
entirely? To deliver valuable information in the most meaningful ways, it is logical to build applications only once
we understand the real and felt needs of end users. Instead of focusing on comparing features and functions of
established shrink-wrap solutions, it’s more important to start with the needs of each user, and assemble apps
rooted in observation, empathy, rapid prototyping, and iteration. Human-centered design never starts with the app.
It starts with the user. Just-right means we strive to develop solutions that work the way people do, rather
than forcing people to work the way the technology works. People want applications that work the way they do
at all times—and on the devices of their choosing. People quickly abandon clunky apps that don’t provide
intuitive experiences.
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Understand the drivers. Before we dive into the rules of building just-right enterprise apps, it’s important
to understand the factors that are driving this change. These forces are causing
seismic shifts in business app development and have profound implications on
perceived—and real— success and failure of business solutions.
The cloud is a commodity. We are witnessing the sunset of on-premise servers. Cloud platforms like Amazon
Web Services (AWS) make spinning up processing and storage capacity a point-
and-click operation. Computing infrastructure can be accessed like any other
utility. Actually, it’s even easier. You can spin up a cloud compute facility on the
other side of the globe in less than an hour. You can’t do that with a power utility.
So, we now judge cloud infrastructure platforms—infrastructure as a service, or
IaaS— on metrics like transaction speed, storage space, and uptime. The high cost
of infrastructure has all but disappeared. Businesses can simply rent the computing
power they need for a fraction of the price. As the costs associated with cloud
infrastructure continue to drop, competitive pricing benefits businesses of all sizes.
Competition changed the database landscape. Thanks to cloud commoditization and the rise of opensource options, database
offerings are no longer limited to the big names. A host of upstart software
companies now stand shoulder to shoulder with organizations like Microsoft,
SAP, and Oracle. This translates into lower overall costs for cloud-based database
services. The vast array of application program interfaces (APIs) and web services—
which provide access to data where it resides—have shifted focus for competitive
database software. Companies no longer need to migrate data with rip-and-replace
database decisions. Instead, it’s more important to access data wherever it may
be, and make that data useful in real-time, transactional ways. With APIs and web
services, apps can now be built without changing the system of record.
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Development must keep pace with business.The traditional app development model relies heavily on collaboration between
line-of-business, technical, and design teams. Front-line business teams— those
most keenly aware of customer needs and frustrations—bear the primary
responsibility of communicating these requirements. Business teams often
understand challenges and have brainstormed solutions, but information gets
lost in translation because business teams aren’t able to properly articulate their
current needs or anticipate their future needs. How much time has been wasted by
writing requirements that just get abandoned? It’s scary. A new breed of application
development platform can remove the need for lengthy requirements gathering.
Imagine real-time prototyping, design, development, deployment, and iteration. It’s
now possible. Those closest to customers can now quickly build just-right apps and
iterate at the speed of business.
Users still rule the day. Customers provide the most valuable insights into technology development. End
users hold the keys to driving powerful, meaningful solutions. But sometimes, this
rule is forgotten. IT, design, and business sometimes seem to be at odds with each
other. A major contributor to this friction is that each group uses different tools. Our
tools can keep us siloed. While the goal of any app project should be to address
the needs of users, we often trip over what can and cannot be done. Design
wants something the current platform does not support. IT wants something
that a preferred business app cannot deliver. As leaders get their heads around
the customer-centric imperative, they will learn to fight to meet the needs of the
customer—instead of fighting against each other. App users must rule the day. But
to get to this level of collaboration and customer obsession, we need a different
type of platform—one that won’t lock us into silos of inflexibility or frustration.
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Follow the 7 rules for just-right apps. Modern business trends are bringing line-of-business teams, design, and IT closer than ever before—with the ultimate goal of better serving customers through intuitive, powerful, “just-right” apps. Sounds great in theory, right? But putting it into practice is another thing entirely. To help guide your process, we developed seven rules to help leaders navigate the land mines.
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Focus on humans.It cannot be emphasized enough: we must constantly
learn and relearn to adapt our apps to the ever-
changing needs of people—not the other way around.
When undertaking a new app development project,
start by listening to the needs of users and design
your app to meet them. Human-centered apps are the
future, and failing to focus on the people using your
technology could mean disaster. In short, “more human,
less machine” should be the guiding principle for
enterprise app development. Very practically, this means
we need to spend some time observing how users try
to get their work done each day. Spending a day—or
even an hour—looking over someone’s shoulder can
transform understanding. Asking how and why
they do what they do can lead to powerful,
transformational insights.
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Build to think.In the world of just-right apps, we build to think.
Traditional app development processes get bogged
down by overthinking and personal bias. We waste too
much time trying to write requirements documents
and build prototypes based on our own skewed
understanding about what users need, only to find out
that our own assumptions and desires may taint the end
result. Rather than expecting users to translate visual
and intuitive expectations into written requirements,
we should show users what we’re building as we build.
By involving them in a visual, more intuitive process,
we can check our biases at the door and get real-time
feedback before it’s too late to turn back. Use face-to-
face meetings with users to drive app development.
Avoid archaic wire-framing. Instead, adopt an
application development platform that delivers rapid,
real-time, real-world prototyping and iteration to test
and learn as you go. We must change our processes and
tools so we can build apps while sitting next to actual
users. With the right process and tools, we can learn to
build and adjust solutions faster while driving adoption
from those who co-design the apps with us—
the end users.
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Drive mass-market usability while protecting individual needs.Successful consumer apps work seamlessly for any
and all users. Just-right enterprise apps should do the
same thing within the context of your business. While
it makes sense to gather stakeholders from all levels
and departments across your enterprise to understand
a broader set of application needs, it is very important
to also consider the needs of narrower, exclusive sets
of users who can make or break your app’s success. To
the maximum extent possible, abstract to meet the
broader needs of your company—without losing the
ability to tailor to the needs of specific users. This “mass
customization” gives every user a vested interest in the
project’s success. It also creates an opportunity for every
person to make an impact on company success.
Just-right apps adjust at the speed of users’ needs—
both broadly and specifically. Mass-market consumer
apps update and react at the speed of customers.
Similarly, enterprise apps should be able to adapt at
the speed of business, without sacrificing the needs
of individual users. Choosing the right application
development platform can help you achieve this.
Look for a platform that can deliver a consumer-like
user experience (UX), with user interface (UI) tooling
to deploy different processes and UIs to different user
types without losing the big picture. For example,
can you create a unique process tailored to business
development reps, field reps, and partner managers
without sacrificing the usability or data aggregation
required by your sales leaders? When we build apps that
include usability based on individual user roles, we can
truly address the key pain points of people throughout
our organizations.
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Connect data systems.Even though data may be fragmented into different
systems of record, it’s critical to “defrag” this data
by joining disparate data sources within a unified
“system of engagement.” Just-right apps seamlessly
connect valuable data sources and present meaningful
information within an intuitive interface—allowing
users to pick and choose the data they need at any
given moment—and securely reading and writing to
systems of record in ways that keep IT happy. Giving
users instant control over the data they need means
the information should be contextualized immediately
to deliver truth and value. APIs and web services allow
businesses to eliminate the inefficiencies caused by
data silos. Meanwhile, a no-code platform like Skuid
can connect disparate data without writing any code or
doing any extract-transform-load (ETL) processes. Skuid
negates the need for cost-and time-intensive migration
projects. You can take advantage of these innovations
to provide a just-right experience for your users.
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Create without code.The long development cycles of the past cannot keep
up with the pace of innovation we now require. By 2020,
at least 50% of all new IT line-of-business applications
will be created with RAD toolsets, according to Gartner’s
2016 report, “Market Guide for High-Productivity
Rapid Application Development Tools.” Simply put,
business needs are and will continue to outpace our
ability to write enough code to keep up. Application
development platforms should dramatically reduce
code and reinforce good UX design principles so that
developers, designers, and business users can actively
and intuitively participate in the app creation process.
This is the next wave, where platforms for innovation
make it possible to quickly create and evolve fully
custom, powerful, just-right enterprise applications.
Reducing code-dependency saves money and time.
But the major gains come when key stakeholders
have the time and platform to collaborate on solving
complex business challenges, and when users achieve
maximum productivity and happiness with their
software experience.
“The Skuid platform typically pays for itself in just 30 days.”
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Encourage users.Complicated interfaces and user experiences translate
into lengthy training times and low user adoption,
stopping app projects in their tracks. Bad UX turns apps
that should make employees’ jobs easier into obstacles
to productivity. Often, it’s code that prevents good
UX. How? Writing code can chew up an application’s
budget. By the time the functions and processes get
built, there isn’t enough budget left to create a user
experience that makes the app truly useful. UX gets
sacrificed as a “nice-to-have” instead of a mission-critical
element of the project. Problem is, often these usability
compromises cannot be overcome, even with
extensive training.
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Take control of your UX.While some off-the-shelf apps may claim award-
winning UX or interface, ask yourself, “Who is it for?” If
the UX was not designed by and for your users in your
unique business, chances are slim that your users will
love the app or want to use it. Just-right apps intuitively
deliver insights to each user. Visual skins that sit atop
existing apps are not enough to do this. In fact, they
may be just the opposite of what is required for your
company. Because user experience is the key to unlock
productivity and inspire business growth for your users,
it is mission-critical for all enterprises, large and small,
to take control of their user experience and refuse to
concede it to any particular vendor. “Good enough”
is not “just right.”
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Embrace a no-code platform.To create just-right applications that adapt at the speed
of business and market changes, you need an enterprise-
class, no-code platform. Some vendors tout the message
of no-code app development, but only Skuid delivers
a platform where business, developers, and designers
can collaborate to create dynamic, beautiful, seamless,
completely custom apps. With Skuid, no code is required
to create apps, but developers and designers can
also extend the platform in powerful ways, including
theming, custom components, and much more.
Skuid works with most enterprise software platforms
and systems of record to create custom-tailored
apps with point-and-click, drag-and-drop ease—no
code required. Visit blog.skuid.com for just-right app
development resources. On our Customers page, you’ll
see examples of how industry-leading global enterprises
have used Skuid’s no-code platform to build just-right
apps faster, and at far lower costs, than code.
You’ll read how—in just 8 weeks—Intuit built an entirely
new sales process that enables their 1,600 sales reps to
make more deals more quickly, improving user adoption
by 80%. You’ll also find out how AFL saved $1 million by
building their custom CPQ using Skuid.
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Get started on the path to just-right apps. Visit skuid.com/free-trial to start creating the apps you imagine.