"Big Hands, Iddy biddy buttons"

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been evaluating a a number of the mobile projects that we’ve delivered over the past year in an attempt to streamline mobile deployments for our customers.  I’ve found a common thread that is one of the key indicators if not the key indicator of a successful deployment – getting buy-in and properly preparing employees who work in the field.

Let me share a quick story. Last week I visited a local company for an oil change. The service tech came out eager to assist. But as he pulled out his Motorola device to scan my VIN and input the work order it became very clear that he had not been properly trained on the device or the software.  He became very frustrated and tried to constrain his frustration until he fumbled and dropped the device. He commented, “I hate technology. My fingers are too fat and I don’t know how to use this D*!%$ thing.”

Curious I asked him why. He responded, “They barely showed me how to use the thing and like everyone else in the shop the buttons are two small for my fat, gnarled fingers. I just want something easy to input the work, if they’re going to make me use this D*%$ thing”

Is this story uncommon? No. And that’s the problem.

I’ve worked on a number of mobile projects over the years. Often these companies are on the 2nd or 3rd mobile deployments. I’ve notated that the two consistent failure points are integration and user adoption.  Successful enterprise mobility projects I’ve been involved with always involve the end-user.  Getting field user buy-in and feedback is crucial to user adoption of mobile technology. Too many company’s purchase mobile solutions and mobile devices to automate processes, then expect to simply hand the device to mobile users and miracles to occur.

So, what’s the secret sauce?

Involve a core group of mobile workers from the beginning. Their insight of business processes in the field is invaluable to you. Spend the time up front to discover what would make the life of mobile workers easier. Identify business process bottlenecks. Put some mobile devices in their hands and see what they prefer. Run a pilot deployment for a period of time.  This extra step is invaluable in your mobile solution evaluation, selection and will better ensure user adoption. In fact, on new projects we’ve made it a rule to send one of our team members out in the field to shadow a mobile worker for a day.

“Walking in their shoes” will give you valuable insight as to the right mobile solution for them and help you make the right decision for your company.

Jody Sedrick
Follow me on Twitter: @jodysedrick and @zenewareinc
LinkedIn Profile 
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Zenware is a Boise Idaho based company that specializes In custom mobile software development, custom iOS development, custom Android development, ipad software development, iphone software development, custom web development, web hosting and Saas based work order management software.

This weekend two of my kids, one 7 and one 8, were on a kids website.  I approve of this site, the computer is in the main room and one of us parents is in the room when they are on the computer.  I have rules about its use and they follow them, but…  I heard giggles and went to see what was going on that was so funny.   My youngest said “we are getting into other people’s games”.

As I investigated what was going on I discovered they were hacking into other kids accounts and playing the games they had access to.  Here is how they did it: they randomly chose usernames like cat123 and 123cat.  Then they used the same or opposite for the password.  They had not just done it once, but had found 4 accounts that they were logging into with the same combination of passwords.  They were not doing bad stuff, just playing the games, but they were hacking.

My first impression was “Wow my kids are geniuses!”  My second was “Why are people so stupid?”

We forget sometimes that there are people out there who have the intent to get into our stuff.  We also make it easy or convenient for ourselves to remember the passwords because, let’s face it, we have a lot of them to remember.

So here is the obvious lesson, make sure your passwords are secure and that your data is safe.  One way to do this is through a secure web password tool or something of that nature.  There are number of options on the market: KeePass, RoboForm, LastPass, Sticky Password, Passpack and 1Password, to name a few. Sometimes, whether it’s out of convenience or just not thinking we set ourselves up for a potential bad situation. Keep that in mind as my kids may not be the ones out there right now and who knows what the next person will come up with.

Rod Puzey – Zenware