Developing a Mobile App for Picoso: Challenges and Solutions

The essay explores the necessity for Picoso to transition from a website-based order system to a sophisticated mobile application that incorporates advanced features like online ordering and delivery options. A detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is provided to outline the in-house development process, covering resources, design, and customer interaction methods. Additionally, the essay assesses alternatives such as self-service platforms if the in-house app does not meet expectations, emphasizing cost-effectiveness and control. The analysis underscores mobile applications' role in enhancing business efficiency and customer engagement.

System Design Report

Executive Summary
As more than half of the generation spends a good amount of time on their
smart phones, so mobile applications could be a better option for increasing the
status of a business. Rather than relying on website, Picoso decided to develop a
mobile application for its customers which must be including some modified
functions than the desktop website such as GPS tracker, online bookings and home
delivery as well. The mobile application can help Picoso in gaining more and more
customers as it can act as a better option to achieve Picoso, their targets. If the
company does not feels satisfied with the developed app, it can also go for various
alternatives of the in house development and it has its own advantages.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TOPIC 1...........................................................................................................................................1
TOPIC 2 ..........................................................................................................................................2
TOPIC 3...........................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
The use of website has its own advantages for a business but using a specified mobile app
for it can give more fruitful results, hence achieving the satisfaction of the customers and
completing the targets of the company as well (Müller, Kijl and Martens, 2011). The report is
about a franchisee of a Mexican restaurant, Picoso which is using a website in which the
customers are able to take away the orders but the firm focuses on developing a mobile
application so that they can include some more specialised features like home delivery etc. which
can attract the customers. It will be including a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) which will
represent the in house development of the front end of the application. Also, it involves various
alternatives of the in house development which can also be pursued by the restaurant.
TOPIC 1
As Picoso has a few stores on the Sunshine Coast, the restaurant has recently analysed a
review of their store by considering some of its operations and modification of them in order to
satisfy their customers. Currently, the store has been suing a website for the customers to take
away the orders for the pick up at the store. They are focusing on modifying their website in
order to satisfy the customers so that they don't have to face any issues regarding the delivery of
the food. So, the franchisee has decided to develop a mobile application by the NMC
consultancy in order to include the modified essential features so that they can be able to satisfy
their customers to the fullest. In comparison to their website, the mobile application will prove
more beneficial to the franchisee in order to achieve their target, thus satisfying their customers.
The comparison can be discussed as under :
According to Charland and Leroux (2011), the mobile application can help the restaurant
in interacting with the customers consistently. An average amount of individuals spend at least 4-
5 hours on their smart phones, so it seems easy for them to simply open a mobile application
than opening a website in phone or moving on to desktops. More mobile presence may maximize
the attention of the people towards the restaurant. As Picoso wants to include the facility of the
home delivery in the application, so as per Han Rebekah Wong (2012), using a mobile app for
sales is much better option. This app can provide the latest offers on the front end of the page
itself and keeping the inside details on the back end. Valuable offers will be a better idea for
attracting more and more customers.
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According to Scott (2015), this new application can act more successful as it must be
including the demographics and geographical locations. It will help the users to easily set their
delivery location and also will be helpful for the restaurant in assessing the exact location of the
customer where the order has to be placed. As per Salehan and Negahban (2013), the application
can also include the feature of using an area sensitive push message which is not possible in case
of websites. This feature will pop up an invitation to the nearby people. This also seems an
attractive feature which can attract the customers to an extent. As discussed, people are less
interesting in paying attention to the billboard notifications and they spend a great amount of
time on the mobile phones. Having a help desk on the app is more feasible to access than in the
website, so it can take further feedbacks and suggestions from the customers using the app. By
this way, the people will also consider that the Picoso takes care of their customers and their
needs well.
TOPIC 2
A work breakdown structure (WBS) is considered as the division or breakdown of a
project in smaller units. It has a huge importance as it delivers the most precise concepts of the
project. A WBS also provides a better analysis of the cost, time and the risk factors (Dehlinger
and Dixon, 2011). In this, one can initiate from the smaller tasks and then, the combination of all
will help in reaching the final outcome. It helps in minimizing the complex and the complicated
activities.
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The above is a representation of the in house development of the mobile application. It
will be depicting the resources that need to be undertaken in the application, design which
involves the visuals including all the styling and framework, user experience and the interface. In
the resource, all the necessary tools which have been used in the development of app are
included as the GPS locator, placing order option for the customers etc. The means of interacting
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In house development
Resources Design Communication
Tools
GPS locator
Help desk
Area sensitive
push message
Visual User
interface
User
experience
Order placing
Illustration 1: WBS STRUCTURE OF THE INHOUSE DEVELOPMENT FOR THE FRONT
END OF THE APPLICATION

with the customers have a special help desk which is active for 24 hours a day for its customers
suggestions and feedbacks. Also, some features have been added such as the area sensitive push
message which gives notification message of the restaurant inviting the nearby people.
It can further be represented with the help of the statistics below :
As it is clear enough that the people using the desktop systems for accessing internet have
been almost the same through years but the people using mobile phones have increased from the
year 2007 till now. The generation today is very much dependent on their mobile phones and a
huge content of people spend almost half of their time using these smart phones. So, developing
a mobile app can act as a much better option for Picoso to attract the customers, thus achieving
their targets as well. It is quite seamless to use the desktops for accessing the internet each time.
Mobile phones remains handy enough and people can access the internet whenever they want to.
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Illustration 2: Statistics on the comparison of the usage between mobile app and desktop
Source : Armando , 2016

Specialised features in the app will attract more and more customers and it will however benefit
the restaurant in getting a good number of customers.
TOPIC 3
There are various alternatives for the in house mobile development as well for which Picoso can
go for. It can help the company from a huge cost that is being used in the development of the
app. Two alternatives can be used and are discussed as under :
Getting it built
There are various self service platforms available in the market which are suitable for the
companies with a low budget or the ones who do not have an in house developer. Picoso can
also go for a self service platform. There are various services available such as Appmaker,
ShoutEm, Bizness Apps etc. which can help in getting the presence of app for a little amount of
budget. It has some sort of additional fees for some specific patterns such as Android and iPad
versions. If Picoso didn't approved the application in case it seems unsuitable or incomplete to
complete their targets, they could go for these platforms. Like in case of Bizness Apps, the
restaurant authorities can develop their app within an hour but it needs complete information and
data along with the techniques to be used. The app development is being done with the help of a
drag and drop template and it includes all the business specialised features which can give a huge
amount of the benefits to the authorities in gaining a good content of customers.
App store submission
Another benefit of if Picoso uses a self operating system for developing the app is that
they can themselves manage the submission process of the app store. Excluding out the
guesswork, designing and proper styling of the checklist of the application can be easily done. In
this case of if the app has been developed by a third party, like in case of iTunes or any else, first
the submitting of app takes place (Salehan and Negahban, 2013). Then, its approval or denial
takes a much amount of time. Also, the outcomes can vary to a higher level as well.
Going for these self service platforms can help in a cost effective process. Along with it,
the process is a less time consuming than the in house development. Also, it enables the users
for self learning. The process can also enrich the social interaction of the people. The foremost
advantage of this can be considered as the fact that the person themselves can focus on the
management and have the proper control over the operations.
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CONCLUSION
It can be concluded from the report that as Picoso was using a website for the customers
to take away the orders which not included all the required features, so they wanted to go for a
mobile application which must be including the specialised features such as placing orders
online, delivery options etc. A work breakdown structure (WBS) has been used for the in house
development of the front end of the mobile application which included all the details such as the
included resources, designing and the means of interacting with the customers. If the application
does not seem suitable by Picoso, they can also opt for various alternatives such as going for the
self service platforms etc. By means of it they can develop the app according to their own
requirement and management.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Charland, A. and Leroux, B., 2011. Mobile application development: web vs. native.
Communications of the ACM. 54(5). pp.49-53.
Dehlinger, J. and Dixon, J., 2011, October. Mobile application software engineering: Challenges
and research directions. In Workshop on Mobile Software Engineering (Vol. 2, pp. 29-
32).
Han Rebekah Wong, S., 2012. Which platform do our users prefer: website or mobile app?.
Reference Services Review. 40(1). pp.103-115.
Li, Y. M. and Yeh, Y. S., 2010. Increasing trust in mobile commerce through design aesthetics.
Computers in Human Behavior. 26(4). pp.673-684.
Müller, R. M., Kijl, B. and Martens, J. K., 2011. A comparison of inter-organizational business
models of mobile app stores: There is more than open vs. closed. Journal of theoretical
and applied electronic commerce research. 6(2). pp.63-76.
Salehan, M. and Negahban, A., 2013. Social networking on smartphones: When mobile phones
become addictive. Computers in Human Behavior. 29(6). pp.2632-2639.
Scott, D. M., 2015. The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video,
mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly.
John Wiley & Sons.
Online
Armando., B. 2016. [Online]. Available through:
<http://news.abs-cbn.com/business/10/01/16/the-benefits-of-mobile-apps-for-business>.
[Accessed on 18th October 2017].
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