A Mobile Delivery Platform Is Like An Irrigation System

I recently got some irrigation work done in my back yard. When I first got the quote, I was shocked. I wondered why I need to invest more money in an irrigation system than what I am spending on plants. The landscape contractor explained to me that timely watering of plants is critical for the health of all plants in the garden and not investing in an irrigation system will kill the plants. He pointed out that the trees, shade plants, potted plants and full-sun plants all need a separate watering schedule and I won't be able to keep track of everything all the time. I got his point. I have enough dead plants in the garden to support his argument.

Image from ajslandscapingsupplies.com

I started thinking that this is probably how our customers feel when we tell them that they need to invest in a  mobile platform, even before they can deliver mobile apps.  The truth is, you do not need a big mobile platform to delivery a few mobile apps to a few users. That is kind of like managing a few plants. You can water them manually and if you don't water them regularly a few plants might die. But imagine managing a few hundred plants of multiple types requiring different types of attention. Soon the situation becomes unmanageable and you will need a system to water all the plants.

When you delivery tens of mobile apps to hundreds of users on multiple devices, the situation can and will soon get out of hand. Delivering the apps, administering them, remotely securing the device or securing the data on a lost device - all necessary functions - require a mobile platform. It is like the irrigation system in the garden. Expensive. Invisible to the end user. But essential and even critical for the success of your mobility initiative.