Alisa Hamai, Usability Engineer and Co-Chair, Oracle Usability Advisory Board
On a snowy night on December 8, 2008, Oracle hosted a lovely Italian dinner for our Usability Advisory Board at the II Fornaio Restaurant in Denver, Colorado.
A total of 13 customers attended the Usability Advisory Board meeting at Oracle’s Denver campus the next day. The theme of this meeting was Enterprise Applications for Mobile Devices.
Below are some key highlights worth sharing:
Oracle has already developed mobile solutions for enterprise users, as seen in their Oracle Business Indicators. Oracle Business Indicators are task-focused applications, which allows secure access to business information on the go (for example, performance indicators, contact information, and sales data). These applications also allow executives to respond quickly and easily to common tasks (for example, approvals for hires, expenses, and purchases). Additionally, users will have access to comprehensive predefined metrics and reports delivered from Oracle Business Intelligence Applications, including financial, human resources, supply chain, and customer relationship management analytics. The user experience in this interface is superior and noteworthy: it has flexible and intuitive browsing and keyword/wildcard searches in the catalog. Frequently-accessed metrics reports can be saved to a Favorites list. Users easily zoom in and out of report details via the iPhone multi-touch (or “pinch”) technology. The applications also have timely alerts, which allow Sales Managers and Field Managers to enable immediate actions when they are away from the office.
Oracle Business Approvals for Apple iPhone is coming for Expense, HR Job Offer, and Purchase Requisition. Managers and executives are the target audience. Key features include: optimization for superior usability on iPhone; access to Oracle Business Indicator Apps prebuilt Analytics; and leverage of Oracle SOA/BPEL technology.
Image 1. Oracle Business Indicators for Apple iPhone.
Image 2. Presentation: Enterprise Applications for Mobile Devices (Lenley Hensarling, Group Vice President, EnterpriseOne, Oracle).
Customers participated in a focus group on mobile applications, which was a follow-up to an online survey conducted prior to the meeting. Topics discussed included: why mobile is important, and what is “mobility” (“It’s getting people on the move and getting apps on mobile devices.”). The Mobile Solutions for Applications Unlimited Team has been designing user experiences for Oracle’s new Application Unlimited products, such as Business Intelligence (OBIEE), CRM On Demand, and Life Sciences. Oracle created a task-focused application with business indicators for the iPhone and Blackberry to help sales people and managers be more productive in their jobs. The team has been busy working jointly with the Mobile Applications Team to gather user research on enterprise needs of our customers. Oracle obtained customer feedback and incorporated the feedback into their designs.
Mobile Solutions out in the market today include: CRM On Demand Mobile Assistant and Mobile Sales Forecast for the iPhone and Blackberry; Business Intelligence Indicators for the iPhone; and Business Approvals Applications for Managers and Sales Managers for the iPhone.
Customers expressed interest in the CRM On Demand Mobile Sales Assistant, and which version of CRM On Demand is supported. Oracle Mobile Sales Assistant requires Oracle CRM On Demand Release 15 or above.
The Mobile User Experience Team conducted ethnographic research in three countries (USA, India, and Singapore) and observed mobile users. They wanted to know “in what ways mobile devices support enterprise mobile workers day-to-day, worldwide.” A few interesting observations from their research include:
For additional information about the Mobile User Experience Team’s ethnographic research, you can read the “ Going Native: Ethnographic Research to Understand Mobile Workers” blog on Usable Apps.
Image 3. Plenary Working Group on Mobile User Experience (left to right: Lynn Rampoldi-Hnilo, Senior Manager, Mobile User Experience, Oracle and Madhuri Kolhatkar, Director, Applications Unlimited & Industry Solutions User Experience, Oracle).
Future Programs for 2009: One of the take-aways from the group discussion is that customers wanted a two-day meeting to cover all the meeting topics. Additionally, a few customers welcomed hosting a board meeting at their location.
Figure 4: Anna Wichansky, Senior Director & Chair, Oracle Usability Advisory Board.
Our next board meeting is scheduled for March 30-31, 2009, at Oracle headquarters in Redwood Shores.
