The rise of the “just-right” apps (1… · The rise of the “just-right” apps 6 Follow the 7 rules for just-right apps. Modern business trends are bringing line-of-business

| The rise of the “just-right” apps 1

The rise of the “just-right” apps7 rules for enterprise software success.


Why “just right,” and what does it mean? In the fairytale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears,” Goldilocks tried the first chair and it was too hard. The second? Too soft. Finally, she found the chair that was “just right.”

In the world of enterprise hardware and software, the idea of a solution being “just right” is often abandoned. Vendors sell us on the idea of generic, “good enough” solutions—apps not tailored to unique business processes and go-to-market strategies. When we discover that generic will not work, we often spend countless hours and cash on coding customizations.

We battle over hardware. We war over software. And we’re tired of settling for out-of-the-box, vendor-defined solutions. What we really want now are applications that are “just right” for each team, customer, partner, and person—and just get stuff done. But how?


Change the tools.By 2020, according to Gartner research, at least half of all new IT line-of-business applications will be created

through low-code platforms. Just as the web browser made the internet available to all, a new breed of application

development platforms will make just-right app creation available to all— even people with zero coding

experience. Anyone will be able to create a “just-right” app.

Zero in on human-centered design. So what makes just-right apps so powerful? Just-right apps start with a human need, not the technology. Just

because something can be done does not mean it should be done. Just because a vendor offers a slick new feature

does not mean it will meet the needs of each user. Some features just get in the way of real productivity. Getting

to “just right” means starting with the needs of each user and tailoring solutions around how work could be done

differently. Instead of automating existing processes, human-centered design questions each process entirely,

asking, “How can we make this exponentially better for each person involved?”

For example, instead of shaving seconds off a call process, could we cut call times by 75%, or eliminate calls

entirely? To deliver valuable information in the most meaningful ways, it is logical to build applications only once

we understand the real and felt needs of end users. Instead of focusing on comparing features and functions of

established shrink-wrap solutions, it’s more important to start with the needs of each user, and assemble apps

rooted in observation, empathy, rapid prototyping, and iteration. Human-centered design never starts with the app.

It starts with the user. Just-right means we strive to develop solutions that work the way people do, rather

than forcing people to work the way the technology works. People want applications that work the way they do

at all times—and on the devices of their choosing. People quickly abandon clunky apps that don’t provide

intuitive experiences.


Understand the drivers. Before we dive into the rules of building just-right enterprise apps, it’s important

to understand the factors that are driving this change. These forces are causing

seismic shifts in business app development and have profound implications on

perceived—and real— success and failure of business solutions.

The cloud is a commodity. We are witnessing the sunset of on-premise servers. Cloud platforms like Amazon

Web Services (AWS) make spinning up processing and storage capacity a point-

and-click operation. Computing infrastructure can be accessed like any other

utility. Actually, it’s even easier. You can spin up a cloud compute facility on the

other side of the globe in less than an hour. You can’t do that with a power utility.

So, we now judge cloud infrastructure platforms—infrastructure as a service, or

IaaS— on metrics like transaction speed, storage space, and uptime. The high cost

of infrastructure has all but disappeared. Businesses can simply rent the computing

power they need for a fraction of the price. As the costs associated with cloud

infrastructure continue to drop, competitive pricing benefits businesses of all sizes.

Competition changed the database landscape. Thanks to cloud commoditization and the rise of opensource options, database

offerings are no longer limited to the big names. A host of upstart software

companies now stand shoulder to shoulder with organizations like Microsoft,

SAP, and Oracle. This translates into lower overall costs for cloud-based database

services. The vast array of application program interfaces (APIs) and web services—

which provide access to data where it resides—have shifted focus for competitive

database software. Companies no longer need to migrate data with rip-and-replace

database decisions. Instead, it’s more important to access data wherever it may

be, and make that data useful in real-time, transactional ways. With APIs and web

services, apps can now be built without changing the system of record.


Development must keep pace with business.The traditional app development model relies heavily on collaboration between

line-of-business, technical, and design teams. Front-line business teams— those

most keenly aware of customer needs and frustrations—bear the primary

responsibility of communicating these requirements. Business teams often

understand challenges and have brainstormed solutions, but information gets

lost in translation because business teams aren’t able to properly articulate their

current needs or anticipate their future needs. How much time has been wasted by

writing requirements that just get abandoned? It’s scary. A new breed of application

development platform can remove the need for lengthy requirements gathering.

Imagine real-time prototyping, design, development, deployment, and iteration. It’s

now possible. Those closest to customers can now quickly build just-right apps and

iterate at the speed of business.

Users still rule the day. Customers provide the most valuable insights into technology development. End

users hold the keys to driving powerful, meaningful solutions. But sometimes, this

rule is forgotten. IT, design, and business sometimes seem to be at odds with each

other. A major contributor to this friction is that each group uses different tools. Our

tools can keep us siloed. While the goal of any app project should be to address

the needs of users, we often trip over what can and cannot be done. Design

wants something the current platform does not support. IT wants something

that a preferred business app cannot deliver. As leaders get their heads around

the customer-centric imperative, they will learn to fight to meet the needs of the

customer—instead of fighting against each other. App users must rule the day. But

to get to this level of collaboration and customer obsession, we need a different

type of platform—one that won’t lock us into silos of inflexibility or frustration.


Follow the 7 rules for just-right apps. Modern business trends are bringing line-of-business teams, design, and IT closer than ever before—with the ultimate goal of better serving customers through intuitive, powerful, “just-right” apps. Sounds great in theory, right? But putting it into practice is another thing entirely. To help guide your process, we developed seven rules to help leaders navigate the land mines.


Focus on humans.It cannot be emphasized enough: we must constantly

learn and relearn to adapt our apps to the ever-

changing needs of people—not the other way around.

When undertaking a new app development project,

start by listening to the needs of users and design

your app to meet them. Human-centered apps are the

future, and failing to focus on the people using your

technology could mean disaster. In short, “more human,

less machine” should be the guiding principle for

enterprise app development. Very practically, this means

we need to spend some time observing how users try

to get their work done each day. Spending a day—or

even an hour—looking over someone’s shoulder can

transform understanding. Asking how and why

they do what they do can lead to powerful,

transformational insights.

1


Build to think.In the world of just-right apps, we build to think.

Traditional app development processes get bogged

down by overthinking and personal bias. We waste too

much time trying to write requirements documents

and build prototypes based on our own skewed

understanding about what users need, only to find out

that our own assumptions and desires may taint the end

result. Rather than expecting users to translate visual

and intuitive expectations into written requirements,

we should show users what we’re building as we build.

By involving them in a visual, more intuitive process,

we can check our biases at the door and get real-time

feedback before it’s too late to turn back. Use face-to-

face meetings with users to drive app development.

Avoid archaic wire-framing. Instead, adopt an

application development platform that delivers rapid,

real-time, real-world prototyping and iteration to test

and learn as you go. We must change our processes and

tools so we can build apps while sitting next to actual

users. With the right process and tools, we can learn to

build and adjust solutions faster while driving adoption

from those who co-design the apps with us—

the end users.

2


Drive mass-market usability while protecting individual needs.Successful consumer apps work seamlessly for any

and all users. Just-right enterprise apps should do the

same thing within the context of your business. While

it makes sense to gather stakeholders from all levels

and departments across your enterprise to understand

a broader set of application needs, it is very important

to also consider the needs of narrower, exclusive sets

of users who can make or break your app’s success. To

the maximum extent possible, abstract to meet the

broader needs of your company—without losing the

ability to tailor to the needs of specific users. This “mass

customization” gives every user a vested interest in the

project’s success. It also creates an opportunity for every

person to make an impact on company success.

Just-right apps adjust at the speed of users’ needs—

both broadly and specifically. Mass-market consumer

apps update and react at the speed of customers.

Similarly, enterprise apps should be able to adapt at

the speed of business, without sacrificing the needs

of individual users. Choosing the right application

development platform can help you achieve this.

Look for a platform that can deliver a consumer-like

user experience (UX), with user interface (UI) tooling

to deploy different processes and UIs to different user

types without losing the big picture. For example,

can you create a unique process tailored to business

development reps, field reps, and partner managers

without sacrificing the usability or data aggregation

required by your sales leaders? When we build apps that

include usability based on individual user roles, we can

truly address the key pain points of people throughout

our organizations.

3


Connect data systems.Even though data may be fragmented into different

systems of record, it’s critical to “defrag” this data

by joining disparate data sources within a unified

“system of engagement.” Just-right apps seamlessly

connect valuable data sources and present meaningful

information within an intuitive interface—allowing

users to pick and choose the data they need at any

given moment—and securely reading and writing to

systems of record in ways that keep IT happy. Giving

users instant control over the data they need means

the information should be contextualized immediately

to deliver truth and value. APIs and web services allow

businesses to eliminate the inefficiencies caused by

data silos. Meanwhile, a no-code platform like Skuid

can connect disparate data without writing any code or

doing any extract-transform-load (ETL) processes. Skuid

negates the need for cost-and time-intensive migration

projects. You can take advantage of these innovations

to provide a just-right experience for your users.

4


Create without code.The long development cycles of the past cannot keep

up with the pace of innovation we now require. By 2020,

at least 50% of all new IT line-of-business applications

will be created with RAD toolsets, according to Gartner’s

2016 report, “Market Guide for High-Productivity

Rapid Application Development Tools.” Simply put,

business needs are and will continue to outpace our

ability to write enough code to keep up. Application

development platforms should dramatically reduce

code and reinforce good UX design principles so that

developers, designers, and business users can actively

and intuitively participate in the app creation process.

This is the next wave, where platforms for innovation

make it possible to quickly create and evolve fully

custom, powerful, just-right enterprise applications.

Reducing code-dependency saves money and time.

But the major gains come when key stakeholders

have the time and platform to collaborate on solving

complex business challenges, and when users achieve

maximum productivity and happiness with their

software experience.

“The Skuid platform typically pays for itself in just 30 days.”

5


Encourage users.Complicated interfaces and user experiences translate

into lengthy training times and low user adoption,

stopping app projects in their tracks. Bad UX turns apps

that should make employees’ jobs easier into obstacles

to productivity. Often, it’s code that prevents good

UX. How? Writing code can chew up an application’s

budget. By the time the functions and processes get

built, there isn’t enough budget left to create a user

experience that makes the app truly useful. UX gets

sacrificed as a “nice-to-have” instead of a mission-critical

element of the project. Problem is, often these usability

compromises cannot be overcome, even with

extensive training.

6


Take control of your UX.While some off-the-shelf apps may claim award-

winning UX or interface, ask yourself, “Who is it for?” If

the UX was not designed by and for your users in your

unique business, chances are slim that your users will

love the app or want to use it. Just-right apps intuitively

deliver insights to each user. Visual skins that sit atop

existing apps are not enough to do this. In fact, they

may be just the opposite of what is required for your

company. Because user experience is the key to unlock

productivity and inspire business growth for your users,

it is mission-critical for all enterprises, large and small,

to take control of their user experience and refuse to

concede it to any particular vendor. “Good enough”

is not “just right.”

7


Embrace a no-code platform.To create just-right applications that adapt at the speed

of business and market changes, you need an enterprise-

class, no-code platform. Some vendors tout the message

of no-code app development, but only Skuid delivers

a platform where business, developers, and designers

can collaborate to create dynamic, beautiful, seamless,

completely custom apps. With Skuid, no code is required

to create apps, but developers and designers can

also extend the platform in powerful ways, including

theming, custom components, and much more.

Skuid works with most enterprise software platforms

and systems of record to create custom-tailored

apps with point-and-click, drag-and-drop ease—no

code required. Visit blog.skuid.com for just-right app

development resources. On our Customers page, you’ll

see examples of how industry-leading global enterprises

have used Skuid’s no-code platform to build just-right

apps faster, and at far lower costs, than code.

You’ll read how—in just 8 weeks—Intuit built an entirely

new sales process that enables their 1,600 sales reps to

make more deals more quickly, improving user adoption

by 80%. You’ll also find out how AFL saved $1 million by

building their custom CPQ using Skuid.


Get started on the path to just-right apps. Visit skuid.com/free-trial to start creating the apps you imagine.

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The rise of the “just-right” apps (1… · The rise of the “just-right” apps 6 Follow the 7 rules for just-right apps. Modern business trends are bringing line-of-business