Skip to main content

From Online Service to Mobile App

Service companies use branches, phone, kiosks and web as direct channels to customers. In recent years service companies added a new channel - the smart phone application. Smart phones differ from PCs in screen size, ease of typing and input, connection speed and use context. Keeping these changes in mind, mobile apps shouldn’t be a replica of their online counterparts. One difference is that the mobile app has to be leaner. Another difference is that mobile apps should have unique features, such as location based features, taking advantage of mobile capabilities.

As a case study, I compared the online website and mobile app of Citibank’s card services. As shown below the mobile app has fewer pages (17 vs. 84) and has fewer levels (4 deep vs. 6 deep).

Companies rushed to create iPhone and android apps often not doing it “right”. Mobile operation system defragmentation and rapid market changes make doing it right all the more challenging. That may be the reason why Citibank’s iPhone app got a poor ranking of 2.5 out of 5. Surely in coming years the industry will mature and mobile apps will improve.

Figures (top to bottom): Citibank Credit Card Online Service (Prepared with PowerMapper), Citibank Credit Card Mobile App, Van diagram comparison of features



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SDM from up on the bridge

I am taking the first spring semester as a long distance student in MIT's System Design and Managment (SDM) program. The long distance option, which I am grateful for, poses some challenges. A month into the semester, I am still trying to improve the interaction with the classroom, faculty and fellow students and maintain a balance between school and work. Setting up a work station I am using my home office (/living room /dining room/ guest sofa) from which I connect to the ‘bridge’. I find it useful to work with two screens. One displays the class, the mike controls and my video (I want to see how I appear to people looking at me from the classroom). The other displays the presentation slides and notebook (OneNote). The webcam is positioned above the main screen and when I look at the other screen, I am not facing the webcam. Class participation The video and sound quality are good. Material is always available before hand on the web. So keeping up with the studies is eas...
3 comments
Read more

Frugal Innovation in Healthcare

I have been working on EVOCAM a low cost endoscopy system with my partners at Evolving Technologies. Using frugal innovation techniques we developed a light, portable endoscopy prototype for a fraction of the price of existing solutions. Recently Medicine for Humanity physicians used our system to operate in Uganda. To allow training to continue from afar, after volunteer physicians returned home, we are planning to add a tele-medical feature to our device. I joined the team after they already had a working prototype and focused on market research, creating a concise massage and preparing a parametric engineering evaluation that exemplifies how EVOTECH is positioned in the market place. Basically everything it takes to turn a good idea into a good business plan. I am currently working rendering another EVOCAM out of MIT’s hobby machine shop. Together we took EVOTECH into MIT’s $100K business plan semi-finals (still competing) and to a bunch of other competitions in MIT and out...
6 comments
Read more

10 Recommended Readings on Business and Policy

Piles of business and policy books are published every year. While almost any book has something worthwhile in it, only a small fraction are good. And for every profound idea there is a load of simplifications, unbiased assertions, after the fact reasoning and hype. When considering what to read I know what to avoid. For starters, I’d avoid anything with a title similar to this blog title – anything with a number in it: “365 days of success”, “8 new roles of money” (from the Kiyosaki who brought us rich dad poor dad) or “101 ways to turn your business around”. I also avoid biographies and autobiographies. They tend to present a simplified view where the fortunes of companies and nations are over attributed to one person. This view is misleading and even dangerous when people start believing in saviors and messiahs . Autobiographies have all the flaws of biographies and they are also biased and are too often just pure narcissism. Finally, I won’t read a book about a company written f...
3 comments
Read more