Offering Alternatives

Are you building critical software? Then you know to offer a fallback option if something – despite all your testing – does not work. That is often not a concern in organizations that can simply force users to suffer their app. Like the public sector in Denmark, where every parent of a schoolchild in Denmark must use the “Aula” app. Unfortunately, a botched upgrade means that many cannot log in.

Having only smartphone apps makes you vulnerable. The app stores do not older versions, so once you have rolled out a defective version, you (and your users) are up the creek. The mitigation for this risk is to also offer a responsive web application with only the most crucial features.

Take a look at the smartphone apps your organization offers to its customers. Are any of them critical? If so, do you have an alternative ready?