OPTING FOR INNOVATION IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS

Jens H. Hosbond, Peter A. Nielsen and Ivan Aaen

Department of Computer Science, Aalborg University, Denmark

Keywords: Mobile application development, scenario planning, innovation.

Abstract: In this paper we are concerned with innovation in the development of mobile applications. In particular, we

address how we may come to think systematically about innovative aspects of mobile applications. We

suggest that there is not enough support for this in the mobile systems literature and we hence suggest a

framework that supports the thinking about the possible innovative features of a mobile application in a

systemic and systematic way. The framework is inspired by the theory on scenario planning. In this

framework we see mobile social arrangements of node, dyad, and group as fundamental units of analysis.

We apply the framework to a case where the mobile users are truck drivers in a long-distance haulage

business. Our use of the framework illustrates how we can arrive at a consistent and systemic view of a

possible scenario for innovative mobile applications. We continue with a discussion of to what extent and in

which ways the framework gives rise to innovative thinking by relating to a common theory of types of

innovation and innovation processes.

1 INTRODUCTION

Evolution of mobile devices in recent years has been

immense. We are constantly faced with an

increasing number of powerful and media-rich

devices each encompassing more and more technical

features. The inclusion of a yet larger amount of

features – e.g. high-resolution camera, MP3 player,

telephony, e-mail etc. – in mobile devices such as

PDAs, Smartphones, and cell phones, are indications

of a strong technical convergence. Technical

convergence has previously been suggested as one

fundamental driver for mobile information

environments (Lyytinen and Yoo 2002). Currently,

the convergence primarily takes place at the device

level and mainly at the hardware level. A similar

convergence at the software level (e.g., at the

Symbian or the Windows mobile platform) has yet

to be seen. Presently there is virtually no

compatibility between devices allowing the same

mobile applications to run on different devices. This

makes development of mobile applications a costly

and potentially risky business.

A costly development activity is acceptable as

long as a basis for creating sufficient revenue is in

place, however only few successful real-world cases

exist. Consequently, herein lays one of the primary

barriers and challenges for application development

businesses.

Mass scale, is another fundamental driver

proposed by Lyytinen and Yoo (2002). For the last

decade, we have witnessed an immense adoption

and diffusion of mobile devices especially in the

Western parts of the world and in the Far East.

However, widespread use of mobile data services,

i.e., mobile applications, has far from been at the

same level. The unsuccessful adoption of the

wireless application protocol (WAP), which was

supposed to kick-off intense use of the mobile

internet (Helyar 2002), clearly illustrates this.

However, exceptions exist; for instance the case of

iMode in Japan with 26 million subscribers in 2001

(Vincent 2001) or the surprising success of the low-

cost and simple SMS application (though that

technology has not been well integrated with the

Internet). From a population of 5 million, 6.5 billion

SMS messages was sent in 2004 in Denmark

(National IT and Telecom Agency 2004).

Low adoption rates are just one out of several

difficulties facing mobile application developers

(Mylonopoulos and Doukidis 2003; Krogstie,

Lyytinen et al. 2004; van de Kar and van der Duin

2004). The question then becomes what constitutes a

successful application with respect to adoption

potential? The countless numbers of unsuccessful

H. Hosbond J., A. Nielsen P. and Aaen I. (2007).

OPTING FOR INNOVATION IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS.

In Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - ISAS, pages 23-30

DOI: 10.5220/0002377400230030

 SciTePress

mobile applications surely indicate that something

should be done differently. With this paper we opt

for increased focus on innovation in mobile

applications. Hence, we pose the question: How can

we support innovative thinking in mobile application

development?

Following Tidd, Bessant & Pavitt we see

innovation as a process of turning opportunity into

new ideas and of putting these into widespread

practice (Tidd, Bessant et al. 2005). Outcomes from

this process range from minor incremental

improvements to radical changes affecting our ways

of thinking about products, processes, organizations,

markets, time and space or even about who we are.

We see two challenges in supporting innovative

thinking. One is to come up with ideas. Another is to

see these ideas in the context of business strategy.

For these challenges we propose a heuristic

approach to promote idea generation. The approach

is inspired by scenario planning, which is well-

suited for thinking about organizational and business

strategies in highly uncertain environments

(Schoemaker 1991; Schoemaker 1995;

Mylonopoulos and Doukidis 2003). We propose our

framework as a heuristic approach for generating

innovative ideas for future mobile applications. The

framework should be of use in all phases of a

development project, e.g., the initiation,

development, and evaluation phases and targets

managerial responsibilities in development efforts.

The paper is structured as follows. Section 2

presents the heuristic approach. In Section 3 we

exemplify the use of the framework by applying it

first to describe the current use of ICT in a mobile

setting and then to suggest possible innovative future

uses of ICT in the same setting. The purpose for a

business of managing innovation is to gain a

strategic advantage (Tidd, Bessant et al. 2005). The

theory focuses on types of innovation and phases of

innovation and in particular it attracts attention to

innovative options. We find that the theory of

managing innovation gives an appropriate context

for understanding scenario planning and our

framework. This becomes the basis of our discussion

in Section 4. In Section 5 we conclude the paper.

2 FRAMEWORK

In this section we present the framework suggested

to support innovative thinking in mobile application

development. First we introduce theory on scenario

planning serving as the theoretical foundation of the

framework. Second, the theory on managing

innovation will be presented briefly and taken up in

more detail in Section 5. Third, the elements of the

framework are presented.

2.1 Scenario Planning

Many report that software development within the

mobile business is highly dynamic and uncertain

(Mylonopoulos and Doukidis 2003; Krogstie,

Lyytinen et al. 2004; van de Kar and van der Duin

2004). Especially, application developers in the

mobile value chain (Varshney and Vetter 2002; van

de Kar and van der Duin 2004) are faced with

difficult conditions for developing tomorrows

innovative application. This is often attributed to:

lack of standardisation in software platforms,

unsuccessful business models, and an escalating

competitive environment. To act proactively and

effectively reduce the level of uncertainty in such an

environment is to think in terms of scenarios

(Hogarth and Makridakis 1981; Malaska 1985;

Schoemaker 1991; Schoemaker 1995; van de Kar

and van der Duin 2004). We use the term ‘scenario’

as “a script-like characterization of possible future

presented in considerable detail” (Schoemaker 1991,

pp. 550). Schoemaker (1991) suggests using

scenarios in situations where: uncertainty is high,

too many costly surprises have been experienced,

the industry has experienced significant change, etc.

(Schoemaker 1991, pp. 550). The development of

mobile applications thus seems well-suited for

scenario planning.

In scenario planning we do not blindly believe in

forecasting the future or charting the uncertainty

concerning mobile applications, but we apply

scenarios as means of explicating uncertainty

(Schoemaker 1991) and to provoke innovative

thinking. Scenario planning may be applied in all

phases of a development project, also referred to as a

multiple-scenario approach (Malaska 1985).

Scenario planning supports the establishing of a

foundation for decision-making (Schoemaker 1995)

as scenarios in our context serve as means for

charting key characteristics of the mobile application

and its use, e.g., end-users, use context, business

model, etc.

2.2 Innovation Management

Innovation management is about managing the

process of recognizing opportunities and needs for

new ideas and of implementing these ideas in

widespread practical use. Tidd and colleagues

ICEIS 2007 - International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

distinguish between four broad categories – dubbed

the ‘4Ps’ – of innovation (Tidd, Bessant et al. 2005).

Product innovation – new ideas relate to the

products or services offered by an organization (e.g.

a mobile phone used as payment device). Process

innovation – changes in how products or services are

created or delivered (e.g. supporting and

coordinating homecare work via wireless PDA

systems). Position innovation – changes related to

positioning or re-positioning a product (e.g.

targeting personal computer operating systems to

mobile devices as in the case of Windows CE for

pocket PCs). Paradigm innovation – changes in the

mental models of the organization itself and of what

it does (e.g. video phones leading mobile phone

companies to change to being infotainment

providers).

The innovation process involves four major

activities (Tidd, Bessant et al. 2005): (1) Searching –

scanning the internal and external environment for

threats and opportunities for change, (2) Selecting

(strategic decision on response – if any – to these

threats and opportunities), (3) Implementing

(translating and launching this response in the form

of an idea for something new in an internal or

external market), and (4) Learning (improving the

ways innovation processes are managed in the

organization).

In this paper we primarily address the searching

and selecting activities in the innovation process.

Our aim is to suggest heuristics for generating ideas

for solutions targeted towards mobile applications,

their technologies, their markets, and their users.

2.3 The Framework and Its Elements

The underlying idea of the framework is a heuristic

and pragmatic approach to uncover essential aspects

of mobile use scenarios. To foster innovative

thinking among managers, developers, designers,

users and customers a shared language is needed

(Nonaka 1994). Thus, a scenario describing the

current mobile information system is necessary.

Apart from serving as a common point of departure,

this scenario may also serve as a basis for forming

innovative ideas for improving or radically changing

the current system or its use. Furthermore, the

scenario may be used as means for assessing the

consequences of a proposed innovation.

The heuristic framework may be applied

throughout the development cycle as a steering or

evaluation mechanism to highlight the innovative

prospects of the application being developed.

Innovation of a mobile application is not only

attached to a new technical solution, but may also be

linked to new ways of use or a new business model.

The framework reflects these diverse perspectives in

innovative thinking via a systemic view of the

mobile application being developed and a particular

focus on technical, social, and economical

characteristics.

The framework is two-dimensional: One

dimension is the unit of analysis and the other

dimension is a set of key issues. The unit of analysis

spans three levels, namely node, dyad, and group.

These units are chosen as we find them

representative of the three levels of social use of a

mobile application. For example, an application such

as mobile access to e-mail is located at the node

level, i.e., the social interaction is limited to the user

accessing her e-mail. As an example of a mobile

application at the dyad level we find SMS. SMS is

an asynchronous text messaging technology used as

a means of creating and maintaining social

interaction between two mobile phone users at a

time. Mobile applications at the group level are all

intended to support group work. Take for instance

mobile chatting – e.g., MSN Messenger: Mobile

chatting is intended for use between people (1-1 at

the dyad level, but also 1-m or m-m) serving as a

means of communication in a group.

The other dimension highlights seven key issues

(W5H2, see Table 1) that together provide a

systemic view of a mobile application under

consideration. The set of issues may be changed or

new issues of interest may be added if necessary.

However, we find that the issues suggested here

provide a set of creative viewpoints. To foster

discussion and reflection the seven key issues are

formulated as questions. The issues suggested for

examination are: What is the mobile application

providing? Why is there a need for this mobile

application? When is the mobile application intended

for use (temporal aspects)? Where is the mobile

application to be used (location aspects)? Who are

the intended users? How is the mobile application

technologically being realised? How much is

economically required for creating a successful

business case (business model aspects)?

The two dimensions in the framework forms the

framework in Table 1.

Table 1: Framework for support of innovative thinking.

What Why When Where Who How

How

much

Node

Dyad

Group

We suggest a two-step approach for using the

framework in Table 1: (1) map the current mobile

OPTING FOR INNOVATION IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS

application into the cells in the framework; and (2)

use the result to orchestrate a discussion of

innovative ideas for a future mobile application

targeted towards the same setting (taking the

changes induced by the outlined system into

account).

3 CASE: CURRENT ICT USE

In this section we exemplify the use of the

framework by mapping a mobile information system

from a Danish middle-sized transportation company

into the framework.

The company has specialized in arranging

refrigerated truck transport of, e.g., fish and fresh

fruit. The organization consists of a forwarding

agency and 10–12 cooperating haulage contractors

with approximately 25 trucks driving regularly for

the forwarding agency. Four forwarding agents are

responsible for coordinating and communicating

transports.

The typical roundtrip for a truck is that it leaves

Northern Denmark on Thursday mornings with a full

load of fresh iced fish for a fish market in Southern

Europe. Consignments are formal agreements

between the forwarding agency and a consignee

about the transport of goods. The consignments for

moving goods from north to south can be planned

and these transports are the core business for the

organization. Somewhere in Southern Europe new

consignments are found and goods are picked up to

be transported north in Europe. The trucks return to

Northern Denmark in time to start a new roundtrip

on Thursday morning.

The forwarding agents find north-bound

consignments and plans which haulage contractors

should transport the found consignments. Finding

consignments is a complex task which is usually

performed as a search for consignments in the region

where a truck is empty or will be empty shortly. The

planning is an even more complex task and the

forwarding agents use several strategies and have

invented various paper-based artefacts to support

this. The forwarding agency competes for

consignments with other agencies, but there is a kind

of trust-based informal network between one of the

forwarding agents and around 10 forwarding agents

in other agencies. In this network it is possible,

relatively freely to discuss rumours and ask for help

to find consignments. This is referred to as the

friends’ network.

There is substantial coordination between the

forwarding agency and the truck drivers during each

roundtrip. When driving south the communication

concerns details of delivery of the south-bound

goods and the details of the consignments. It also

concerns the possible and later the committed

consignments for

the north-bound trip. When

driving north the communication concerns details of

delivery of goods and the consignments. The

coordination of which drivers shall transport which

consignments is usually performed directly between

the forwarding agent and the involved drivers.

The current use of ICT encompasses

communication through satellite and wired as well

as wireless, mobile phones. During a roundtrip the

drivers will also communicate extensively with the

forwarding agency on the phone. The more formal

part of the communication is by satellite messages as

most trucks have satellite communication equipment

for text messaging and GPS positioning. The current

technology does not include GPS-based navigation

as the terminals in the trucks are very simple. The

formal communication usually contains consignment

notes and loading lists. On a weekly basis around 30

trips are planned, 75–100 consignment notes are

filled in, 300–350 satellite messages are exchanged,

and the phone rings constantly. The coordination is

distributed by the nature of the field and is rather

complex for the involved forwarding agents.

Apart from the communication between the

forwarding agency and the drivers, the drivers en

route somewhere in Europe have ephemeral drivers’

networks where they communicate on many issues

to pass time and effectively maintain a social

network. This communication is on radio with a

limited distance, CB – Citizen Band Radio.

The current situation in the case is described by

answering the seven key issues in the framework,

see Figure 1. In describing the current situation we

have focused on the actors in the mobile information

system; emphasizing the different users and use

contexts taking place. Here we apply W5H2 as

means of analysis and synopsis generator of the

current situation.

For the current system, the following system

definition may be formulated: The system provides

communication between truck drivers and a

forwarding agency with the overall purpose of

managing a fleet of trucks and their routes when

transporting goods in Europe. The system mediates

consignments as formal contracts between

forwarding agencies, consignees, and drivers. The

system also mediates truck drivers’ social interaction

while driving. The system utilises several

technologies (phone, satellite messaging, wired

phone, wireless phone, CB) that are not integrated

and the total operational cost is medium.

ICEIS 2007 - International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

Figure 1: Current situation ([T]: Trucker, [FA]: Forwarding Agency).

4 CASE: NEW OPPORTUNITIES

For exploring new opportunities and ideas we again

use W5H2 for structuring the brainstorm on future

uses of mobile ICT in the case.

Based on the current case description in Figure 1 we

develop a scenario for a future mobile information

system in Figure 2 - a future scenario characterised

by a high level of technology convergence and

integration; lowering the number of technologies

required for a truck driver to master while driving.

In addition, we suggest mature and well-known

technologies that are cheap to operate and relatively

low-cost to implement in a truck.

Notice, that we here apply W5H2 for idea

generation and exploration of future uses. The

outcome is a synthesis of an innovative future

scenario for the investigated case.

To summarise, the possible future scenario

presented through the framework in Figure 2, we

provide a system definition, encapsulating the

essentials of the scenario. Hence, the scenario in

Figure 2 may be summarised as: The system

provides integrated communication between truck

drivers and a forwarding agency with the overall

purpose of managing a fleet of trucks and their

routes when transporting goods in Europe. The

system mediates consignments as formal contracts

between forwarding agencies, consignees, and

drivers. The system also mediates truck drivers’

social interaction while driving. The system utilises

one main set of technologies (GSM/SMS-based

communication between PDAs) supplemented by

CB. The investment is medium and significantly less

than for the current system. Total operational costs

are low.

The future scenario in Figure 2 is just one

possible outcome of our brainstorm. W5H2 has

many interpretations and foci as the framework

resembles generic questions. Repeated brainstorms

may therefore result in several new and innovative

future scenarios.

OPTING FOR INNOVATION IN MOBILE APPLICATIONS

5 DISCUSSION

The framework provides a search space made up of

uses and needs paired with possibilities. These

possibilities may lead to product, process, position,

or paradigm innovations for an organization.

The framework is generic and can be used in

conjunction with specific searches for charting the

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats

(SWOT) all of which add to the understanding of the

kind of innovation (product, process, position, or

paradigm) that is necessary for an organization to

stay or become a competitive.

In our scenario development we used the

framework to analyze the immediate process needs

for a forwarding agency. We did not focus on threats

but solely on opportunities for innovations in the

current process. We focused on immediate and

incremental improvements based on mature

technologies already in use or easily available to the

forwarding agency. We believe that the same

framework does scale up to form part of a more

extensive search process addressing for example the

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats - all

relevant aspects in an innovation process.

The organization in our case study was a service

provider. As our focus was on incremental

innovations it comes as no surprise that our scenario

for the future contains process innovations only.

On the node level we suggest navigation and

route and consignment management for the trucker,

and for the forwarding agency we suggest fleet and

consignment management. These affordable

improvements aim for fleet utilization optimization,

improved quality of service, and better working

conditions for the driver. All in all these changes

should lead to productivity and quality

improvements and thereby to enhanced

competitiveness for the forwarding agency.

Figure 2: A future scenario.

ICEIS 2007 - International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems

On the dyad level we suggest a protocol for

consignment negotiation between a trucker and the

forwarding agency, and support for email

correspondence between forwarding agencies. These

improvements should enhance aligning local and

central information and assessments, provide a

central overview and thereby enhance the benefits of

cooperation among forwarding agencies in the

‘friends network’.

The group level deals in our case only with

truckers. Unless the forwarding agency is

significantly reorganized via more radical

innovations it will maintain one central coordinating

office engaged only in dyadic relations. For the

group of truckers we suggest support for

communication with truckers nearby as well as

communication in virtual groups. In order to

enhance local cooperation and cater for social needs

we suggest access to see whether there are

colleagues in the vicinity. Beyond providing social

benefits to the drivers such support will enhance

employee identification with the agency and

promote building communities of practice among

drivers. This in turn should lead to improvements

and greater uniformity in service and strengthen the

drivers’ abilities to cope with problems.

In our scenario development our main focus was

on searching for ideas, and we did not directly deal

with the implementation of these ideas. We believe

that implementation will be partially supported by

the framework as ideas are viewed in a context

where individual parts of a mobile application are

seen in combination with other parts by virtue of the

three levels of analysis. This way implementation

issues are supported via economies of scale or

economies of scope suggesting more economically

viable solutions with effective uses across nodes,

dyads, and groups.

We believe that the scenario developed for this

case offers strategic process advantages with

promises for increases in speed (due to faster

negotiations and improved coordination), lower

costs (due to better fleet utilization), increased

robustness in process (due to communities of

practice and easier access to support from colleagues

for solving acute problems), and improved quality of

service (greater punctuality and precision).

The framework with three levels of analysis was

helpful by allowing for a narrow focus on particular

issues without sacrificing an overview of the

problem setting as a whole. The W5H2 questions

were useful for eliciting ideas. In our scenario these

questions were far from exhausted. We settled for

only a few interpretations of e.g. “what?” at the node

level. There are many relevant aspects of every

question and working with the framework for a

while will likely elicit an abundance of ideas for the

selection activity in the innovation process. The

combined part-whole perspective offered by the

three units of analysis also provides some insights

on implementation issues for a given scenario and

thereby also some input to the decision on a

particular scenario.

6 CONCLUSION

In this paper we address the issue of mobile

application development. Development of mobile

applications is surrounded by much uncertainty and

especially lacking end-user adoption is a barrier for

obtaining success in the mobile application industry.

To proactively confront these challenges, we opt for

innovative thinking in the development process.

Specifically, we suggest a framework inspired by the

theory on scenario planning for use by decision-

makers in a development project. We argue that the

framework aids in describing current and future

scenarios of a mobile information system. For sake

of illustration the framework is applied on a case of

a middle-sized Danish road haulage firm where the

current situation and a possible future scenario are

proposed. To link the framework to theory on

innovation we discuss the different types of

innovation resulting from use of the framework and

the phases of innovation relevant in which the

framework may be used. We find the framework

useful for fostering innovative thinking in mobile

application development and in particular the

framework supports the searching, selecting, and

implementation phases of innovation. Next, the

applicability and potential of the framework is to be

tested in projects of mobile application development.

Use of the framework in different development

contexts will add credibility to the relevance of the

framework in general, but also serves as a basis for

exploring and evaluating the consequences resulting

from applying the framework in mobile application

development.

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ICEIS 2007 - International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems