Your Business Application Does Not Work on Phones or Tablets

Often, yes. If your application is already web-based, its screens can usually be redesigned to adapt to phones and tablets while the database and business logic stay as they are. If it is a desktop program, it has to become a web application first. A separate app in the app stores is needed only when you want things a browser cannot do well, such as heavy offline use.

Signs this is your problem

• Staff pinch, zoom and scroll sideways to use the system on a phone.
• Field workers write on paper and type it in later.
• Approvals wait until someone is back at their desk.
• People call the office to ask what is on the screen.
• The application needs a browser or plug-in that phones do not have.

Three ways to get onto phones and tablets

Responsive web screens. The same application rearranges itself to fit the screen it is on. One system to build and maintain, nothing to install, and it works on any device with a browser. This is the right answer for most business applications.

A mobile web front end for part of the system. Only the tasks people do away from a desk, such as approvals, lookups, time entry or job updates, are rebuilt for small screens. The full system stays as it is for office use.

A native or cross-platform app. Installed from the app stores. Worth it when staff must work for long periods with no signal, or when you need close use of the camera, GPS or scanner.

What can stay and what has to change

The database, the business rules and the reports normally stay. What changes is the screen layer. How much work that is depends on the age of the application: a fairly modern web application can often be adapted screen by screen, while an old one may need its screens rebuilt on current technology. Either way, you are not rebuilding the whole system.

What mobile access changes in practice

• Field staff enter data where the work happens, once, with photos and signatures attached.
• Managers approve from wherever they are, so things stop waiting on desks.
• Sales people check stock, prices and order status in front of the customer.
• Paperwork from the field arrives the same day, so invoices go out sooner.

How Keene Systems handles it

1. We look at who needs the system away from a desk, and for what. It is rarely every screen.
2. We review how the application is built. That decides whether screens can be adapted or must be rebuilt.
3. We redesign the screens that matter for small devices. Tested on real phones and tablets with your staff.
4. We release in stages. The most useful mobile tasks first.

The next step is a short, no-pressure conversation. Book a call with Lance Keene or use the form on this page.