Page 549 -

548 Part Four Building and Managing Systems

a smartphone and automatically submit it to the ogy as well. The company revamped its mobile Web
bank. The money is instantly deposited in the site in March 2011 to increase sales leads by helping
customer’s account. This system eliminates the potential customers with mobile phones find its loca-
labor and expense of processing paper checks, and tions, look at its products, register with the company,
the time required to mail the check and wait three and call directly. Ryland’s development team made
days for the deposit to clear. In 2011, USAA Federal the site easier to read and capable of fitting on a
Savings Bank processed $6.4 billion in deposits smartphone or tablet screen without requiring users
through this mobile app. to pinch and zoom. It used jQuery Mobile software
The mobile app also displays loan and credit card and responsive Web design to create variations of the
balances, shopping services, homeowners and auto site that were appropriate for different smartphone
insurance policy information, Home Circle and or tablet models employed by users. (The jQuery
Auto Circle buying services, retirement products Mobile framework allows developers to design a
and information, ATM and taxi locators, and a single Web site or application that will work on all
communities feature that lets users see what others popular smartphone, tablet, and desktop platforms,
are posting about USAA on Twitter, Facebook, and eliminating the need to write unique apps for each
YouTube. mobile device or operating system.) Ryland focused
A real estate company may want to display a on features such as location-based driving directions
completely different site to mobile users who are to nearby communities, clickable phone numbers,
looking for house information after driving by a and brief online registrations to increase the chances
“For Sale” sign. The realtor may want to optimize of making a sale. The site shows nearby communi-
the mobile interface to include specific listing and ties in order of distance, based on the location of the
contact information to capture the lead immediately mobile device.
and keep the load time fast. If the mobile site is
Sources: Samuel Greengard, “Mobility Transforms the Customer
simply a more user-friendly version of the desktop Relationship,” Baseline, February 2012; William Atkinson,
site, the conversions may not be as high. “How Deckers Used a Mobile Application to Build Customer Traffic,”
Ryland Homes, one of the top U.S. new home CIO Insight, November 9, 2011; “Going Mobile: A Portable Approach
to Process Improvement,” Business Agility Insights, June 2012;
builders, has a conventional Web site, but it wanted
Google Inc., “Ryland Homes Opens Doors to Local Sales with Mobile
to be able to engage customers using mobile technol- Site for Home-Buyers,” 2011.

CASE STUDY QUESTIONS

1. What management, organization, and technology 3. Describe the business processes changed by
issues need to be addressed when building mobile USAA’s mobile applications before and after the
applications? applications were deployed.
2. How does user requirement definition for mobile
applications differ from that in traditional systems
analysis?

Review Summary

1. How does building new systems produce organizational change?
Building a new information system is a form of planned organizational change. Four kinds of
technology-enabled change are (a) automation, (b) rationalization of procedures, (c) business process
redesign, and (d) paradigm shift, with far-reaching changes carrying the greatest risks and rewards.
Many organizations are using business process management to redesign work flows and business
processes in the hope of achieving dramatic productivity breakthroughs. Business process manage-
ment is also useful for promoting, total quality management (TQM), six sigma, and other initiatives for
incremental process improvement.

MIS_13_Ch_13 global.indd 548 1/17/2013 2:31:25 PM