Mobile Business Solutions for Coles

This assignment analyzes the development of a mobile business solution for Coles Supermarket. It emphasizes the importance of security due to customer data handling, user-friendliness for app preference, and performance/scalability aspects. The document considers various technologies and platforms used in mobile application development and their impact on cost.

Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
Mobile Application Development Proposal for Coles Supermarket, Australia
Student Name: Student ID:
University: Date:
Student Name: ID: 1

Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Technologies and Platforms required for Application Development.....................................................3
Success Factors and Enablers................................................................................................................5
Cost Factors...........................................................................................................................................6
Key Components of Mobile Business Solution.....................................................................................6
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
References.............................................................................................................................................8
Student Name: ID: 2

Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
Introduction
From past a decade we have witnessed various technological trends that have made a
major impact on our day – to – day activities as well as on the business operations and
processes. Smart phones, high – speed internet and cloud computing technologies have made
a drastic change in the business execution. With these technologies, businesses are now
capable of dealing with global clients and also have improved their productivity – levels and
also have helped global businesses to reduce their cost investments. The advent of smart
phones and high – speed internet has given rise to mobile business solutions that help
businesses to stay connected anywhere in the world (Godwin-Jones, 2008). Thus, there is
significant increase in production which helps businesses to provide high value to their
customers. Severe competition in global markets has made it compulsory for most of the
businesses to adopt mobile business solution and keep their employees and clients connected
in a network and be highly productive (Holzer and Ondrus, n.d.).
The aim of this report is to effectively design and develop a new technology for one
of the leading supermarkets in Australia, which is Coles Supermarket. The report focuses to
develop a mobile application for Coles Supermarket as a part of mobile business solution for
the company. For the purpose of the project report, it has been assumed that Coles
Supermarket own a fully – functional official website and is now planning to implement a
mobile business solution (a mobile application), that will integrate all the existing website
features such as browsing grocery products, filter products, add to cart, and also checkout.
Some additional features such as promo codes and discounts on a minimum amount
purchases will be included to gather attention of Coles customers to use the mobile
application.
The project report is structured as follows: the important technologies and platforms
required for the application development, identifying the success factors and the technology
enablers, different cost factors involved in the mobile application development and the key
components etc are discussed in this report.
Technologies and Platforms required for Application Development
Following is the detailed description of the range of technologies that are used by
programmers for developing a mobile business solution (mobile application):
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Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
HTML 5 is considered to be ideal or primary programming language and is mainly
used to develop a web – fronted application for various mobile devices. HTML 5 has many
unique and easy features such as – simple insertion of various data types, accountability for
different size of device screens, and rationalizing the input parameters. But, the HTML 5
programming language has a limitation that it is still considered to be a proposed standard.
Also, the HTML 5 is cost – efficient in comparison with other programming language or
technologies as it is supported by various browsers (Austins, 2017).
The next technology is Objective – C, which was chosen by Apple Inc as a primary
language for programming their iOS applications. Apple Inc built various iOS applications
using Objective – C and made them scalable and robust. Objective – C is a superset of C –
language and consists of wide range of functionalities which deal with display functions,
Input / Output and graphics. As a part of development framework of Apple, integration of
Objective – C is made fully on all MACOS and iOS frameworks. But now, Objective – C has
been slowly replaced by yet another latest technology called as Swift. This programming
language mainly takes into consideration of few important elements such as – Cocoa Touch
and Cocoa which are the latest APIs in Apple. Currently, Swift programming language is
being used simultaneously with Objective – C, but in some time, Swift language will tend to
replace the Objective – C completely as many businesses prefer cutting – edge features in
their mobile applications (SCAND (EN), 2017).
The next technology used in mobile application development is C++. C++ is
definitely the most robust and appropriate programming language to build mobile
applications for Windows and Android devices. C++ is a very powerful and also widely used
programming language and allows development of various mobile business solutions for
wide range of business applications and can be implemented on almost all the platforms.
Lastly, Java programming language is yet another important technology that is used in
development of mobile business solutions. Java is the most widely used and preferred
programming language for application development for Android devices. Java programming
language can be run in two approaches. They are – in a browser window and also in a virtual
machine that can work without a browser. This kind of flexibility helps the programmers for
updating software as well as to re – code. Also, cross – platform applications are developed
using Java programming language (Feigen, 2009).
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Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
Success Factors and Enablers
There are several factors that must be taken into consideration when developing
mobile application for a specific business. Following are the range of key success factors and
enablers that add more value to the mobile business solution for Coles Supermarket:
On a global – business level, the customers are segmented in a broader range and
thus, the overall interface of the mobile business solution has to be very appealing. This
interface, in specific is known as Graphic User Interface, abbreviated as GUI. In addition to
the GUI, the User Experience (UX) also has to be very efficient. The fonts, colours and the
quality of product images or illustration videos used in the mobile application for Coles
Supermarket must be of very high- quality. Also, the images used for each grocery product
must be totally relevant to the product description. The overall user experience of using
mobile application has to be user – friendly from customers perspective. Navigating through
the mobile application, adding products to cart and checkout features, and also logging into
account etc must be done quickly in a few steps and should not be very time – consuming
(Saucier and Hylton, 2011).
Yet another key success factor and an enabler considered for the development of
mobile business solution is the Security. It is quite evident that customers need to log in to
their account on their mobile application and input their personal details such as name, email
ID, address, contact number and also many applications have the feature of saving credit
and / debit card details. Managing these critical information is very important and thus, at the
back – end of mobile development, security aspects must be given a very high priority in
order to avoid major attacks from hackers.
We already know that technology is developing at a very fast pace and each
technology comes up with updates or upgrades very frequently. It is important to consider the
use of latest technological trends in developing a mobile business solution for Coles
Supermarket. Also, easy upgrading process to the next update must also be considered in the
development of mobile application. Using latest technology makes the mobile application
faster, and adds value to the business (Cuadrado and C. Dueñas, 2012).
Adaptability is yet another important key factor that determines success to the
developed mobile business solution for Coles Supermarket. Every business has to undergo
certain changes internally as well as externally and these changes can make a major impact
on the mobile application. The changes can be including an add – on security feature for
Student Name: ID: 5

Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
more levels of security or adding an entire new vertical to the business line. The mobile
application must be capable of easily getting adapted to the changes that affect the business
line. In other words, flexibility in the design and implementation must be considered in the
initial stages of development of mobile business solution (Cuadrado and C. Dueñas, 2012).
Cost Factors
Below is the list of few cost factors that can impact on the overall mobile application
development and its maintenance at the back – end:
Application purpose and the functionality is one of the key cost factors that drive the
overall application development budget and also determine the cost of mobile application
development. Yet another cost factor that must be considered here is the devices supported
and mobile platforms. Since the mobile business solution for Coles Supermarket will be
developed to support devices on Android, windows and iOS, it is obvious that the
development time is more and also this increases the overall cost of the mobile business
solution. It is important to note that each application platform is different, for instance,
Android fragmentation can be slightly difficult for developers to understand if the application
functions appropriately for every hardware. Making application functionalities universal also
determines the overall cost of the mobile application development. Application requires
continuous maintenance at the back – end including the database management system. There
are specific maintenance plans available for application development and this include the
functionalities and features that must be implemented within the mobile app. (Kissman, 2017)
Key Components of Mobile Business Solution
Following are the key components of a mobile business solution developed for Coles
Supermarket:
 Relevant Devices: In order to run the mobile application successfully, it is
important to have a smart phone or a tablet as a device to use the application.
Since the application here will be developed for various operating systems (OS),
the application can be used on Android, Apple and Windows smart phones and
tablets. Having latest OS and upgrade helps the user to get the best experience of
using the application as device speed and / or lags determine the user experience
(Joch, 2013)
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Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
 Internet connectivity: Without connection to the high – speed internet it is not
possible to use the mobile application. Wi – Fi or device internet connection is a
must to use the application on device
 Back – end management: Though the front – end users and their experience of
using the application matters a lot, there are lot many functionalities that must be
carried out at the back – end functionality of the mobile application in order to
ensure high reliability. Database management, security features and many other
functionalities that are carried out at the back – end side are also the key
components of the mobile business solution for Coles Supermarket (McWherter
and Gowell, 2012).
Conclusion
From the research report conducted on understanding the important aspects of mobile
business solution for global businesses, it can be concluded that mobile business solutions
have entirely changed the global businesses. There is lot of competition in global marketplace
and thus, business organizations are trying to put their maximum efforts to improve their
efficiency and also increase their productivity to a greater extent. With an effective and
efficient mobile business solution, it is possible for the businesses to connect with their
employees easily and also keep in touch with their global clients. There are several
technologies and platforms that are used and implemented in various mobile business
solutions and depending on these elements, the cost of design and implementation of a
mobile business solution varies significantly. Considering the development of a mobile
business solution for Coles Supermarket, as discussed in the report, it is important to consider
the security aspect as a higher priority as customers link their personal details to the mobile
application to shop on the mobile app and also make payments on the mobile application.
Mobile business solutions or mobile applications are to be made user – friendly and attractive
as various researches have shown that customers prefer mobile applications when compared
to websites. Also, there is increased performance and mobility due to development of mobile
applications for business solutions. Various other factors such as high performance,
scalability, reliability and GUI (Graphic User Interface) etc are to be considered when
designing and developing a mobile business solution for Coles Supermarket.
Student Name: ID: 7

Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
References
Austins, C. (2017). Top 6 Programming Languages for Mobile App Development. [online]
dzone.com. Available at: https://dzone.com/articles/top-6-programming-languages-for-
mobile-app-develop [Accessed 18 Sep. 2017].
Cuadrado, F. and C. Dueñas, J. (2012). Mobile Application Stores: Success Factors, Existing
Approaches, and Future Developments.
Feigen, B. (2009). Mobile application development.
Godwin-Jones, R. (2008). Emerging technologies mobile-computing trends: lighter, faster,
smarter. Language Learning & Technology, 12(3).
Holzer, A. and Ondrus, J. (n.d.). Trends in Mobile Application Development. [online]
Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.177.1082&rep=rep1&type=pdf [Accessed 18 Sep. 2017].
Joch, A. (2013). The Key Components of a Mobile POS Solution. [Blog] Biz Tech. Available
at: https://biztechmagazine.com/article/2013/12/key-components-mobile-pos-solution
[Accessed 18 Sep. 2017].
Kissman, J. (2017). Mobile App Development Cost: The Top 6 Budget Factors. [online]
celerity.com. Available at: http://blog.celerity.com/mobile-app-development-costs-the-
top-6-factors [Accessed 18 Sep. 2017].
McWherter, J. and Gowell, S. (2012). Professional mobile application development.
Indianapolis, Ind.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Saucier, M. and Hylton, R. (2011). Top 10 Mobile App Success Factors. [online]
Transpara.com. Available at: http://transpara.com/blog/2011/10/17/top-10-mobile-app-
success-factors.html [Accessed 18 Sep. 2017].
SCAND (EN). (2017). Mobile Application Development Technologies | SCAND Technology.
[online] Available at: https://scand.com/technologies/mobile-development/ [Accessed 18
Sep. 2017].
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Mobile Business Solution for Coles Supermarket
Student Name: ID: 9