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OKC-based UR Mobile consolidates online portal design process [Journal Record (Oklahoma City, OK)](Journal Record (Oklahoma City, OK) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) UR Mobile LLC is consolidating the design process for online portals so that businesses don't need to employ three or four contractors to build across different portable technology platforms, Chief Executive Mike J. Zserdin said. The Oklahoma City-based company has stepped ahead of the ongoing evolution of the Internet, recognizing that people are getting more of their content from equipment such as iPhones or Androids and relying less on full-size personal computer screens. But while some organizations have already started embracing that shift, they still have to accommodate for coding differences between iPhones and Androids. Those design differences are costly. "More and more people are viewing the Web and doing Web-based work from a small-screen device," he said. "Web functions simply do not work at that level - account log-ins, account access, buy something, sell something, register. "Industry numbers show that just as recently as six months ago, less than 15 percent of the top 1,000 online retailers had an optimized mobile version of their site. ... Anything on the Web has to be restyled, repositioned and reformatted to be mobile, across multiple platforms." UR Mobile's new Accelerate system allows users to build mobile Web applications up to 80 percent faster and more cost-effectively than traditional methods, Zserdin said. Gartner Inc., a leading information technology research and advisory company, recently identified mobile devices as a key component of the top 10 technologies and trends for organizations in 2012. The analysts presented their findings during the annual Gartner Symposium ITxpo in Florida. Gartner experts said businesses should expect wide diversity in not only how consumers interact online, but also the business-to- employee mobile environment as employees' own tablets and smartphones become more important components in the workplace. And the general form of user interface that has developed over that last couple of decades is changing to match, with windows and menus being traded for prompts manipulated by touch and voice. Simpler component applications are being built and stored on the so-called cloud of virtual storage space so that they can be pulled into larger, more complex systems as needed, Zserdin said. Consumers are most familiar with entertainment or lifestyle apps available through online stores, purchasing tens of billions annually, Gartner's experts said. The enterprise side of the market is now embracing apps as well, and UR Mobile's Accelerate shows promise to simplify that process regardless of the type of end device used. "Being cross-platform, it's showing great promise," he said. "It's much more cost-effective to build a single Web-based application than to build four applications for Apple, Android, Microsoft and RIM. "And the strategic advantages to Accelerate are that marketing people and business analysts can build these applications, and it does not require significant input from the overtaxed IT department," he said. UR Mobile recently secured contracts with high-profile brands such as Sony, the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the Country Music Association, and has business relationships pending with several software companies. "The challenge that executives have is that mobile is in everyone's top three priorities to investigate," he said. "Our solution allows them to go mobile faster and cheaper. We're showing good traction." (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |