Download Web and Mobile – A unified digital strategy

WebandMobile–Aunifieddigitalstrategy
Asthemobilerevolutionmarcheson,healthcarepayersandprovidersareunder
pressuretoprovideanytime,anywherecapabilitytotheirconsumers.Whatthis
meansisthatwhatconsumersareabletodofromtheirhome,theymustbeable
todothesameusingtheirsmartphonesevenwhentheyarenotinthehome.To
enablethesamecapabilityonbothwebandmobilerequiresagoodunified
digitalstrategy.
Therearebroadlytwoapproachestoextendthefeaturesetavailableonaweb
portaltosmartphones–makethewebportalworkwellinthesmallformfactor
ofsmartphonesorcreatemobileappsthatcanbeinstalledonsmartphones.We
willexaminetheseapproaches.
ResponsiveWebApproach
Extendingthewebportaltosmartphonesistypicallydoneinoneoftwoways.
Fewyearsago,healthcarepayersandproviderscreatedanadditionalmobile
optimizedwebsite,commonlyreferredtoasthe.mobisite.Thiswebsite
duplicatesasubsetofthecapabilityavailableonthewebportals.Thisisno
longerseenasaviableapproachbecauseIThastwowebsitestomaintainand
enhance.Theprimaryissueisthatnewfeaturesintroducedinthewebportals
takemuchlongertomakeittothe.mobisite.Anewerapproachtakes
advantagesofadvancesinHTMLtechnologies(morespecifically,HTML5andCSS
3mediaqueries)tomakethesamewebsitereorganizethecontentandadaptto
devicesofallsizes.Thisapproach,calledastheresponsivewebdesign,enables
theuserstousethesamewebportalonsmartphoneswell.Theprimary
advantageisthatthereisonlycodebasetomaintainandhenceanynewfeatures
addedtotheportalareavailableonsmartphonesimmediately.However,onekey
issueisthatitisstillawebsite—eventhoughthesitepresentsanicer,compact
viewonsmartphones,itisstillasiteaccessedviasmartphone’sbrowser.Itisstill
notarichmobileappthattakesadvantagesofallofthedevicecapabilities.
MobileAppapproach
Topresentarichandnaturallook-and-feelitisbesttogowithmobileapps.
Mobileappscanprovidesignificantlymorecapabilityincludingsomeoffline
capabilitywhenthemobilephonelosesnetworkconnectiontemporarily.Itcan
alsointeractwithphonefeaturessuchasuseofApplePayforonlinepaymentor
addingagentscontactinfointothephonecontactlist.
Whilemobileappsaredefinitelymoresuperiortoresponsivewebportals,
creatingmobileappsarenoteasy.Itrequiresbrandnewdevelopmentusing
skillsetthatisoftennotreadilyavailablewithinInsurer’sIT.Therearecertain
deviceindependentapptechnologiessuchasPhoneGapthatpromiseeasy
creationofappsusingHTML5,askillsetavailableinInsuranceIT.Whileitworks
tocertainextent,theperformanceandrichnessofuserinterfacedonotmatch
thoseofrealnativeapps.Anotherdisadvantageisthatthisisstillanew
developmentandanewsoftwareparadigm(singlepagewebapplication)
comparedtoportalwebdevelopment.
Uniqueunifieddigitalapproach
Basedontheexperiencebuildingportalandmobilesolutionstoourcarrier
partners,wehavecometorealizethatonesinglecodebaseforbothweband
mobilewhilefeasibleisnotabletotakeadvantageofcapabilitiesofsmartphones
andprovidearichuserexperience.However,buildingouttwoseparatesolutions
oneforwebandoneformobileisalsonotagoodstrategy.Basedonsignificant
researchwehavearrivedatwhatwebelieveisauniqueunifieddigitalstrategy.
Inthisstrategy,itdoesnotmatteriftherearemultiplecodebasesbuthowever
thecodebaseshouldbecompactandshouldnotrequirechangeswhenthereisa
featurechangeandnotatechnicalcapabilitychange.Whatthismeansisthatif
thebusinesswantstochangesomefieldsinapageoralterworkflowfora
transaction,thechangeshouldbemadethroughconfigurationofthepagesand
workflowwithoutrequiringcodechanges.Codechangewillhoweverbe
necessaryifanewtechnicalcapabilityhastobesupportedforexample,Apple
Pay.Theconfigurationswhichwecallasmetadatatellstheportalandapp,what
featuresareavailabletoauserandwhatinformationistobecollectedfora
transaction(sayonlinepayment)andwhatAPIistobeinvokedwhenuser
submitsatransactionandwhatinformationistothedisplayedaftertheAPIcall.
Theportalandappimplementationsreadthemetadataandconfiguretheuser
interfacetoallowpermittedtransactionsfortheuser.Sincetheportalandapp
aremetadatadriven,simplybychangingthemetadataitbecomespossibleto
changetheportalandappbehaviorwithoutprogramming.Thisdoesnot
eliminateallprogrammingbutbydefiningmetadataconfigurationwell,wecan
minimizecustomizationsthatwillbeneededtoportalsandapps.Primary
advantagesofthisapproachare:
1. Itachievesunifieddigitalgoalofextendingthesamecapabilityonboth
webandmobileandatthesametimetakeadvantageofrichnessofeach
platform.
2. Compactcodebasethatdoesnotchangeoften.Featurechangesaremade
simplybymakingconfigurationchangestometadata.
3. Thereisnoneedtoimplementmultipleappsorwebsitesoneforagents
andoneforinsured.Theappsandportalarerolebasedandlimitfeature
setbasedontheloggedinuser.
Onedisadvantageismultiplecodebases.However,thecodeiscompact,
configurable,deliverssignificantcapabilityanddoesnotrequirefrequent
customization.Thisapproachnotonlyletsusersaccesstheirdatawheneverand
wherever,butthereisalsoreallynoneedtobuildmultipleportalsorappsfor
eachusercommunity.
JarusHealthTechnologiesisaleadingproviderofinnovative
technologysolutions,reusableframeworksandcustom
implementationservices.JarusHealthhelpscorporationsautomate
businessprocesses,improveefficiencyandcutcosts.Backedbya
highly-skilledteamwithextensivedomainandtechnologyexpertise,
JarusHealthassistscustomerswithdevelopingflexible,modern,
service-orientedsystemsthatimproveagilityandprofitability.
Copyright@2016JarusHealthTechnologies,LLC
JarusHealthTechnologies
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