ICT115 Introduction to Systems Design For Desktop Applications

Discussion:

This section discusses about the main requirements of the report.

Company Overview:

Picoso is a Mexican restaurant franchisee that operates in many business locations in the Sunshine Coast. The business activities of the restaurants include dining of customers where they are only allowed to dine inside the restaurant. The restaurant also has a website which is mainly used to order take-outs from the restaurants. This facilitates customers to come and take their order from the restaurant. The report includes a comparison among the mobile applications and the websites that will be used in the restaurants to adopt the delivery service of the restaurant. Customers will be more than capable to order from the restaurants without the need for going in the restaurants. These orders will be completed by delivery process of the restaurant. This adoption will allow the restaurant to make more profits and drive more sales. Furthermore, the activity of brand exposure will also increase which will help the restaurant to get more customers and reach a high level in the market.   

Benefits of mobile applications over desktop applications:

This section is used to describe the main features of the mobile applications as opposed to the websites.

The faster speed of operations is the first advantage of a mobile application. The speed of operations of a mobile application is much greater than the website based applications. This is mainly due to the fact that the mobile application stores data in the local devices. This reduces the time required to retrieve the data from it and thus increases the operational flexibility. In case of a website based entry, the data is stored in the database or servers which needs strong network access to provide retrieval of data (Al-Jabri and Sohail 2012). Furthermore, the use of plugins and programmable tools are also a major point of difference. The websites uses the JavaScript for working whereas the mobile application uses the framework to operate. This is also another point which contributes to the prompt actions of the mobile application.

The presence of customizable preferences in the mobile applications is the second advantage to their use. Cookies used by websites, which are used to collect data from a user may not always work due to the presence of antivirus programs. But in case of a mobile application, the analytics of the user activities are recorded and the search results are filtered depending on their engagements. In addition, they are also given combo offers which are also based on their activities (Corral, Janes and Remencius 2012).  This helps in getting more engagement from the users and helps a company to reach their targeted brand image in the market.

The reduction of network usage is another advantage for a business implementing mobile applications. This reduces the need for constant connection in some product pages. For example, the restaurant may host their product description pages in the application. This page does not need network access to reload it every time the product page is opened. This increases the engagement of the customers and makes them adopt the mobile versions of the site which drives in more sales.

The next advantage of a successful mobile application is the use of various device related services. This means the use of many Smartphone applications like the camera or GPS for functioning. For example, the GPS can be used to automatically get the location of the customer and will make it easy for both the restaurant and the customers to place an order (Dalmasso et al. 2013). In addition, a barcode scanner can be used to get an estimated price of the various products so that it can be purchased online.

Lastly, the push level notification is another advantage which contributes to the benefits of the mobile application integration. These push notifications are always shown at the top of the screen or at the lock screen. This helps to keep the customers engaged about the products and services and thus helps to increase the sales made by a company or business organization (Tayade 2014). Regular update notification is another way of letting the customers feel more engaged with the application.  

This section defines the front-end user interface of the mobile application that is to be developed by Picoso. Along with this, the work breakdown structure is also provided here.

The work breakdown structure shown in this report is used to describe the activities of the front-end user interface of the mobile application. These activities will be integrated in the business operations. The user signup is the first feature of the application. This page is used to get access to the system. After installing the application, this is the first page that will open in front of the user’s device. This page is used to get authentication features from the users and also to get leads. There are two divisions of this feature which includes the signup and the sign-in parts. The first part is used by new customers whereas the second part is used by existing users. After getting email and password from the users, they are granted access to the system.

The home page is the next feature of this application. The main requirement of the home page is the need for a great user interface which will highlight the brand of the restaurant franchisee. This will also increase the brand value in the market. This is the first requirement of a mobile application as a great interface and designs is necessary to succeed in the market. Moreover, the home page displays a list of deals and combo offers which are used to show food items according to the preferences of the user. This increases the number of sales made in the day and increases the revenue generated (Palmieri, Singh and Cicchetti 2012). In addition, customers can also search for a particular food item from the list of orders available.  The food icon showed will show a star rating on top of it that will rank the food items out of 5. These ratings are based on the feedbacks received by the users.

The payment option is the next characteristics of the mobile application. Every user will have a caret option which will be used to store the food orders so that they can order bulk items from the restaurant. In addition, the cart feature will also allow the users to edit the orders based on their preferences and also add/remove them from the cart. This option provides flexibility and increases engagement on their platform.  The orders which are placed are then reviewed by the user and then they are allowed to check out of the process by paying for the services. This is to get the orders for delivering at their doorsteps.

The personal details page is the next feature of the mobile application. This page is basically used to update the personal credentials of the users. This includes updating the address, name, and pin code or email id of the customers. This section is used for both the existing as well as the new customers (Hao et al. 2013).  The existing customers can update their credentials whereas the new customers can provide their customers. This reduces the time required to give address every time of placing orders.

Lastly, the push level notification is another feature which contributes to the benefits of the mobile application integration. These push notifications are always shown at the top of the screen or at the lock screen. This helps to keep the customers engaged about the products and services and thus helps to increase the sales made by a company or business organization. Regular update notification is another way of letting the customers feel more engaged with the application.   

Alternatives to in-house development:

This section discusses about the presence of alternate methods of mobile application development. There are basically two types of application development. One is the contractual workings where an outside company is given a contract for making the application. Another method is the in-house development where the company itself makes the application. This is the basic requirement for a mobile application adoption which is necessary before commencing with a business (Shiraz et al. 2013). The outside companies are responsible for fully developing the application according to the requirements of a client. This gives a benefit of keeping away from the hassles of programming and added expenses. However, the business policies may not always comply with the contractor’s policies which may result in disputes in the application frameworks. Moreover, an application provider may sell their services for a cheaper rate and then trick the businesses by disappearing with their money. This is the main foundation of a fake company. Furthermore, full custom rights are not provided to the client company which causes them to take the help of the contractors every time they need an update.

Thus, this report recommends the use of in-house applications which will increase the transparency of the system and can be modified without the need for any external helps.

Conclusion:

Thus, the conclusion that can be drawn from the report is that the use of in-house application can provide more benefits to Picoso than the use of commercial contractor based companies. This will help them to continue their business operations and make changes according to their business needs. The analysis made on this report aims to showcase the various benefits of the mobile application integration in the business. This increases the engagement of the customers and makes them adopt the mobile versions of the site which drives in more sales.

References:

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