Charting a strategic roadmap for going mobile – 5 steps to success

Companies are aggressively looking for ways mobile technologies can give them competitive edge. Specifically, mobile learning and performance improvement are becoming important areas of focus for many organisations looking to push organisation development to a growing internal and external mobile audience that has smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

The 5 steps process guides companies as they take their significant investment in organisation and people development and convert it for use in a mobile world. Proper conversion of content to mobile learning and development requires strategic thinking, co-creation, instructional design and development skills, for mobile strategies to become a success.

The successful implementation of mobile solutions requires the following five steps:

Step 1: Developing the mobile strategy

Looking over the fence, in alignment with the overall digital strategy.

Step 1, the mobile strategy serves as a guide to understand how going mobile can support your organisation’s overall business strategies and goals. By working with your organisation’s key stakeholders the mobile strategy should link high-level business objectives with people’s mobile usage patterns and preferences. The co-creation process aims to result in a business-focused mobile strategy organised in a specific plan of action to design, develop and implement the identified mobile solution, e. g. a Virtual Leadership programme, supported through executive buy-in and funding.

Step 2: Diagnosing user needs

Going mobile is about people, not technology.

Step 2 assesses the current mobile learning environment within your organisation’s market segment. In-depth exploration with tools from field research such as semi-structured interviews and participant observation provide essential insights into how best to deliver the requisite knowledge to your target audience. Understanding the needs of all users ensures that your enterprise’s mobile strategy aligns with their learning preferences, their work approach, and their familiarity with all things mobile.

Step 3: Prototyping and gamifying

Starting small, learning fast, generating cost-effective, tangible outcomes.

Step 3 expands on the learning from Steps 1 and 2. Prototyping means building a test model, e.g. one specific module from the Virtual Leadership Programme called Forget Body Language, Listen! This prototype in e.g. iOS, Android, Windows Mobile and/or Web allows for live testing to confirm that it meets your organisation’s vision, can integrate with your organisation’s other systems, and meets your business requirements but does not include all features - just enough for testing. The cost-effective way also allows you to testing important key features such as carefully selected gamified elements and the user experience (UX).

Step 4: Implementing the mobile solution

Featuring the full mobile solution.

Step 4 is tightly based on the learning cycle from Steps 1 to 3. Based on the feedback on the prototype Forget Body Language, Listen! the final solution of the Virtual Leadership Programme can now be developed and featured. This includes seamless integration with the content management system and the learning management system, together with maintenance. Integration into existing enterprise applications is also essential. Services should also include project management based on PMI or agile methods as SCRUM.

Step 5: Measuring your return

Delivering what was promised.

Step 5 suggests that you identify key metrics that support business objectives and determine how those metrics can be captured and assessed. This assists you in:

• Measuring the impact on performance by collecting data during and after the use of the mobile apps or other mobile solutions;
  
• Correlating as much data as possible to monetary values in order to calculate the ROI of your mobile solution; and
  
• Evaluating the alignment of the solution with true behaviour change and your business objectives.
  

Going mobile is a complex change process. These 5 steps are designed to guide you through the complexity inherent in going mobile. It is advisable to invest in a tailor-made change programme with experienced experts in order to avoid common mistakes.