Beyond the Honeymoon Stage
That said, this is an innovation still in search of standards and scalability. Players such as Adobe, Nexaweb, Microsoft and various open source movements are propelling RIAs forward, and a handful of companies are successfully reaping the benefits of early RIA deployment. Yet despite the activity surrounding RIAs, the nagging fact is that it's both difficult and costly to build a Rich Internet Application that works well in a wide range of platforms. The frameworks for building RIAs are proprietary and come as browser plug-ins, Java applets or ActiveX controls, which require disruptive downloads. RIAs also require sophisticated Web browsers. And as with any new technology, there's a lack of skilled developers.
But the mainstream adoption of RIAs is inevitable. Many estimates have indicated that RIAs won't be in the mainstream system development until late 2010. As RIA technologies converge, they will create a larger pool of skilled resources to tap into and simplify the development process.
We believe RIA adoption will evolve in two phases. The first phase—available today—is driven by AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript + XML), a technique that breaks the synchronous nature of the click-and-refresh cycle in typical Web pages. The second phase focuses on enriching the user interface and will be driven by several vendors and open source initiatives like OpenLaszlo.
Seeing RIAs in Action
One way to see RIAs in action today is to compare Google Maps with MapQuest. Because Google Maps uses AJAX technology, users can easily and endlessly move around maps without constant refresh requests to the server. Google Maps uses RIA buffering technology to retrieve the map data incrementally. By comparison, MapQuest searches involve clunky page-after-page sequencing that retrieves the map data all at once. Google Maps therefore consumes 70 percent less network traffic than MapQuest while providing a richer experience to its users.
Other early adopters in the business-to-consumer space have already begun reaping the rewards of the technology. For example, MINI USA customers can configure their dream MINI Cooper on the company's website using RIA technology and watch their dream car unfold as they select their desired features. Many dealers have adopted the configurator as a showroom sales tool, sitting down with prospects in the dealership to design the MINI of their choice. The most telling statistic is that the conversion to sale for configuration leads averages 30 percent. Leveraging the strength of the online experience, MINI established an online owner's environment that more than 65 percent of its owners participate in. Furthermore, the site generates nearly 50 percent of total leads, serving as the company's largest generator of sales leads and demonstrating the power of RIA as a sales tool.1 In another example, Best Western has achieved a 70 percent increase in performance and a 90 percent reduction in network traffic by using RIAs for its property management system.2
These companies are using RIAs to realize a key characteristic of high performance businesses: They are obsessive about winning the battle for the customer based on deep understanding of customer behavior and preferences, according to Accenture research.
1 Macromedia, Inc., "The MINI USA website uses Macromedia Flash® to lap other car maker sites with a high-speed custom configurator," 2005.
2 Nexaweb, "Best Western Deploys New Member Web Intranet to Over 4,000 Employees Using Nexaweb," June 28, 2004.