The Secret to a Successful Mobile RFP

When selecting a mobile app platform for your mobile app initiatives, it’s critical to understand your options. Different app platforms have distinct capabilities designed to help overcome challenges with regard to development time, skills shortage, integration complexity, security, and cloud deployment. As businesses hone mobile-first strategies, they should look to mobile application platforms that are able to manage multiple apps in continuous development cycles as efficiently as possible.

Choosing the Right Mobile Platform

To succeed in the mobile-first economy, organizations should adopt technologies that are both agile and open. We’re seeing enterprise mobility mature as organizations move from developing one-off tactical apps to continuous development and deployment of an increasing portfolio of app projects that connect to multiple back-end systems. This transition has led to the emergence of new developer toolkits and cloud-based mobile application platforms that address the need for a more unified, strategic, and agile approach to mobility.

For developers, mobile platforms must offer access to popular developer toolkits, reusable APIs and back-end services, team-based collaboration, and be easy to deploy. By enabling developers to use many of their existing tools, some platforms also enable organizations to leverage existing employee skill sets. For lines of business, innovation and speed to market are paramount, while for IT, centralized control of security, integration, and policy management remain fundamental requirements. When choosing a mobile platform, these demands, coupled with the quickly evolving mobile landscape, could lead to trepidation. Concerns over vendor lock-in and negative past experiences with proprietary platforms may also impact the decision; however, a mobile Request for Proposal (RFP) can help calm these fears and solidify which platform will meet the organization’s mobile needs.

An effective RFP comprehensively examines platform functionality, hosting and infrastructure availability, device and development support, back-end integration, team-based development and collaboration, administration, and scalability. Furthermore, a structured, adequate process will include a detailed questionnaire, which, when completed, can provide a more complete picture of the mobile platform. At  Red Hat, we provide a specific mobile application platform RFP template. Fundamental questions include:

• What devices and operating systems are supported for the development of hybrid and native apps?
• Is the platform cloud-hosted?
• How does the platform handle integration with back-end systems and data?
• Does the platform provide multiple environments for developers to separate development and production?
• Which hosting options are supported?
• Which options are available for managing data security from device to back-end systems?
• How can the solution scale with regards to high numbers of mobile apps?
• How does the solution support a clear, transparent migration path for mobile apps built outside of the platform to be migrated onto the platform?

Making Your Mobile Selection

At their best, mobile platforms can accelerate development and reduce complexity of back-end integration. They must be flexible to suit a wide variety of needs while also supporting effective security and policy management and allowing for quick updates. For businesses that have already deployed successful mobile projects, platforms need to be able to migrate and manage those apps seamlessly. These are factors that a successful RFP will speak to while also demonstrating how the platform will help achieve the highest possible return on investment.

About the Author: Cathal McGloin is Vice President, Mobile Platforms at Red Hat. He is the former CEO of FeedHenry, recently acquired by Red Hat and provider of an industry-leading open standards based mobile application platform. Cathal has championed startup ventures in IT and Telecoms, including Performix Technologies which he founded, and Aran Technologies where he was President/VP Sales. Previously, he was with Siemens, Germany and Cap Gemini, UK. He is based in Boston.