The following is an excerpt from Alex Bratton’s upcoming book, Billion Dollar Apps.
Introduction to mobile app strategy, app selection and identifying the right apps for maximum impact
Mobile apps can have a huge impact on our businesses, but only if we’re building the right apps for the right reasons. Picking the obvious app instead of the right app is a common pitfall of the fast paced world of mobile apps. The wrong app can distract the organization and deliver disappointing results, often raising the question of if mobile is really a passing fad or a fit for the business. Because of the rapid pace of mobile, getting apps right the first time is critical.
There are 5 key steps to achieving billion dollar apps — apps that reinvent industries, propel businesses into the realm of the giants and breath new life into organizations.
It is not about blinky lights. It’s about figuring out how to drive real business and end user value. How do we as organizations understand mobility and embrace it, so we can generate new opportunities and revenue?
1. Articulate the Business Strategy
Your billion dollar app strategy starts with with a foundation rooted in your business strategy. There are some simple but extremely important questions that need to be answered:
- What is the current top level strategy for your business?
- What key goals are being targeted for the next 12 months?
Summarize these business drivers in 2-3 top level items such as grow topline revenue through sales, grow topline through acquisition, improve bottom line earnings or boost customer retention.
2. Identify Key Workflows
Once you have identified those business drivers, it’s time to take a look at the key workflows in the organization that support them. What are the things that need to occur in the business process for those drivers to be realized?
For example, if we’re talking about revenue growth, what are the workflows for how you sell, close and deliver? You probably need to educate the customer, gather information about their needs, communicate your unique value proposition, identify specific products or services for the customer and then close and book the sale. Each of those workflows requires different information to be at hand and often can involve filling out dreaded paperwork.
Check out Steps 3-5 over on the Lextech Blog.
