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Betting on Business Innovation with Rich Internet Applications?
Innovation is a must for any organization. Many are attempting to create solutions that break down the walls separating business processes from the flow of information. They are being lead by a constant drumbeat demanding more effective interactions with customers, partners, and employees. What they have found is that their legacy applications do just the opposite.Ultimately executives are asking, “How do we create something that doesn’t just give us a flashier interface but offers substantial benefits?” “How do we create a compellingly different way for people to work, play, and even live?” At a rapidly increasing rate, these organizations are turning to a technology that is revolutionizing business interaction, rich Internet applications.
The promise of rich Internet applications is alluring, but like the Sirens of past it is imperative to avoid the rocky shores that surround them. Many efforts fall short of expectations, deadlines, and budget. Like other IT projects, they fail because of poor planning, management, and expectations.
Other efforts fail in a different way. Not because they didn’t deliver against the schedule or budget, but because they neglected to create the innovation RIAs can provide. This is often because these projects were approached with the same mindset used to develop the legacy applications.
When RIA projects fall flat, the finger of blame is often pointed towards the technology. If companies buy into this and abandon the technology, they forego a very powerful asset. The advantage of RIA is real. With informed executive oversight, experience, and discipline, it can deliver the kind of breakthrough organizations need to stay ahead. The rest of this article is dedicated to helping executives map out a route to RIA success. It summarizes top mistakes and offers best practices that will help avoid the pitfalls.
Establish Clear Business Goals
Not having clear business goals is something that can hurt any project. RIA projects are no different. In fact, it is probably even more important with RIA because the wow factor makes it easy to get sidetracked on flashy features. Answering a few questions like “What measurable business value will this create?” and “Who will specifically benefit from this?” helps tremendously. Making sure that every team member knows the answers to these questions will help them prioritize their efforts.
Embracing experience driven design is critical to capitalizing on RIA. Ignore this and you will surely miss out. Even worse you may be setting yourself up for another stiff dose of negative ROI.
Rather than starting from a list of assumed necessary features, experience driven design begins by understanding the needs of the users you are trying to please. The iterative approach fosters interaction between the application team and the users who matter most. If executed effectively, you can avoid creating a merely superficial application or hearing the dreaded words “Well that is what I asked for but its not what I need.”
Too many times experience driven design is practiced in name only or is pushed to the back burner. Perhaps it seems too fluffy to some. Or perhaps it appears like an easy corner to cut when faced with a tight budget or timeline. Regardless of the reason, the business results rarely vary and are usually unpleasant.
One of the main keys to successfully implementing experience driven design is releasing early and often. A great strategy is to start with basic sketches. From there, the fidelity of the design concepts can be increased until a clickable prototype is reached.
Though it may seem like it is slowing things down, obtaining user input can be done efficiently at each design iteration point. When implemented correctly, it helps to focus priorities and avoid costly wrong turns.
When starting out don’t try to answer every edge case. Identify core interaction points and tackle those first. This avoids getting stuck in the mud and helps drive costs down.
Even seasoned experience architects can push the envelope of what’s technically possible. In some respects this is what you want them to be doing. However, the application eventually needs to be developed and perform when it is deployed. Having the technical architects involved in the experience design phase provides a critically important system of checks and balances.
Status Quo
While this may almost be a cliché, not doing so it is the classic innovation killer. Let the experience designer confront preconceived notions. This can result in innovation and competitive advantage not found in the initial vision.
Some of the greatest strengths of rich Internet applications can also cause great difficulties. For example, the ability to readily connect to a host of different data sources is a powerful one. However, many have not developed an effective services layer to support this kind of interaction.
This is often taken for granted at great cost. In the end, RIAs are dependant on the data going in and out of it. It is not sufficient to think that the necessary services can be cobbled together on an ad hoc basis. If these are constantly in flux or ill defined, it will cause significant problems in development and QA. Time spent ensuring quality in this area will save many hours of delay and finger pointing.
RIAs can rapidly show superficially impressive results. The unfortunate thing is that management often confuses this with having a solid application and their expectations become skewed. A snappy proof of concept isn’t something that will hold up to commercial use. Developing a sustainable RIA requires sound architecture practices like any other business solution.
Most RIA technologies have application frameworks or architectural models associated with them. These frameworks offer a proven approach to development. This delivers an inherent use of best practices and easier maintenance down the road.
The deliverables of RIA projects usually require interaction from a greater variety of specialized skill sets. The ability to effectively tie these together is no easy task. Like other efforts, the amount of time and skill required to complete the project is likely to be underestimated. Do a gap analysis. Without the correct resources or availability, proceeding will have limited odds of success.
This is an area foreign to many businesses. Generally, this group will consist of an experience architect and at least one designer. The experience architect can glean critical user needs and combine that with business goals. From there, they will work with the technical team to translate that into a final application. Finally, designers provide will the polished look and feel while refining subtle user interactions.
Front End Architecture and Development
The front-end architect is responsible for assessing technical and business requirements and determining overall application structure. Additionally, they ensure the creation of a highly scalable and maintainable end product. While working closely with the engineering lead, they will define a development approach that will allow the team to work effectively.
While many organizations have a strong understanding of their backend systems such as databases, LDAP, or ERP, few have expert knowledge in extending them effectively for use with RIAs. As mentioned earlier, this is a critical part of RIA development. The right expertise here will not only increase RIA success but will allow for greater flexibility in future projects.
Keeping multiple teams on task, on budget, and in scope is challenging. Project managers provide objective insight and coordination across disciplines while mitigating risk. Yet, this is an area that is routinely underinvested in and is a top contributor to project failure.
Many organizations task technical leads with project manager responsibilities. Doing this merely injects risk and mediocrity to a project and saves neither time nor money.
Parting Thoughts
RIA’s offer outstanding capabilities and are an excellent platform for driving business innovation. They can break down walls, create compelling new ways to interact, and act as a robust differentiator. Despite best intentions, many of these projects do not deliver the expected result. This is usually due to a lack of experience, understanding, or proper investment in the necessary skill sets.
As rich Internet application development is relatively new, organizations are just now taking the steps to build these skills internally. While this is important, many make the mistake handing mission critical applications to resources learning on the job. This may be beneficial to the individuals building their skill sets, but it does not bode well for the end result.
Utilizing the experience and talent of organizations specialized in this arena can be highly valuable. They can work with executives to develop an effective RIA strategy. From there, these organizations can deploy a veteran team while integrating internal resources. This mitigates a significant amount of risk while considerably increasing return on investment.
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