Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Analysis: Mobility Apps: Page 6 of 12

Finally, if you're thinking strategically, you shouldn't be mobilizing just one application, but rather a set of apps that address the mobile worker's business processes.

If You Build It ...

Mobility architects can quickly calculate the effectiveness and importance of highly visible items such as a user interface, but determining the optimal mobile application architecture is more complicated. There are a variety of approaches available (see "An Optimal Mobile Application" in the image gallery), so it's important to understand the trade-offs; the desired degree of interaction between the mobile worker and an application may mandate one architecture versus another. Keep in mind that an app vendor may support only one approach.

The first consideration is the type of client software that will run on your mobile system. In a client-server application for a laptop, for example, it may be just the desktop version of the software or a Web-based interface. Things are trickier with smartphones, where approaches include messaging, browser-based, Java and native clients.

Messaging architectures are the simplest, albeit normally the least interactive. Here, your central site application simply sends text messages to mobile phones using the cellular operator's SMS (Short Message Service.) Alternatively, operators have SMS gateways where, under a contractual agreement, you can dispatch messages via your application in a more controlled fashion through a well-defined interface. The advantage here is, you don't need to install anything on the mobile system.