Monday, May 05, 2014

Top Gulfstream manager talks future of mobility at Georgia Southern University

Even at Gulfstream Aerospace, a leading business jet manufacturer and large employer in the region, getting everyone to use a smartphone has not been the easiest task, according to Hannah Byrne, senior manager of mobile strategy at the company.

Byrne spoke Friday at Georgia Southern University about the past, present and future of mobility at her company as part of a lecture series sponsored by the Savannah chapter of the Technology Association of Georgia.

Byrne told the crowd of about 80 that even coming from a background that included launching a startup company and mobile app within 16 months, mobile development is not for the timid.

“It’s really true, the minute you think you’ve got something, something comes out better, faster, bigger, higher res, you name it, it’s impossible to keep up,” said Byrne. “And in my experience at Gulfstream, it’s even harder because of the size of the organization — we can’t be as nimble.”

Byrne said this is a challenge as she tries to implement mobile technology solutions at Gulfstream, solutions that benefit both the internal corporate workplace and their external clients, the people who own or operate their jets.

She said when she arrived almost two years ago, her boss handed her a Blackberry, already an outdated device from Byrne’s perspective, and had to wait several weeks before getting an iPhone.

“When I started 20 months ago, we had one Objective-C developer — just one native iOS developer — we had a mobile-specific budget of zero and we had less than 500 iOS devices in the environment,” said Byrne.

Flash forward, Byrne said, and the company now has a mobile team of 10 people, 2,500 iOs devices in use — with a few legacy Blackberry users — and 24 apps.

Byrne said a recent survey showed that although many companies say mobile development is a top priority and one of the biggest factors for their future growth, few allocated more than 5 percent of their budget toward relevant IT expenses.

Budgeting is usually the most significant obstacle when trying to determine whether to build a new native application or acquire one, said Byrne, but said IT professionals should not let it stand in the way of delivering useful products.

“Don’t let it be your No. 1 hurdle,” said Byrne.

She concluded with tips for success in the mobile/IT world, including having strong IT leadership and institutional backing, considering disruptive technology, adopting user interface and user experience (UI/UX) designers, fostering internal talent and building a library of reusable code.

She said although Gulfstream is a large and complex organization, she still encourages her mobile team to think innovatively. After all, she said, their clients are among the most mobile in the world, quite literally.

“It’s hard for us to bridge that gap to have innovation, so I try to encourage the internal team to get out a little bit, go to a TAG event and see what other people are doing,” said Byrne.


Story and photo:   http://businessinsavannah.com

Gulfstream’s Hannah Byrne talks about mobile apps to a crowd at the Small Business Council / SMART Luncheon.