As a frequent traveler, I use various airline mobile applications all the time. I won’t mention the airline by name, but one particular app always frustrates me. Whenever I try and check an existing reservation it can take 10+ seconds even with four bars of LTE coverage. The problem isn’t the network – it’s a combination of how the application is built, how the application requests the reservation data, and how the data is extracted from the airline’s cloud server. It’s an incredibly poor user experience – if it were a consumer app, I would have stopped using it a long time ago. In a world where most downloaded applications get used briefly and then ignored or deleted, a good user experience is critical. Unfortunately, as a business/productivity app, I am forced to use it and suffer through the delays. Even worse, when I am on the plane and want to look at the reservation I can’t even access it! (Let’s ignore the topic of availability and reliability of airplane WiFi as a reliable backstop). But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Our applications today are too brittle, too dependent on fast connectivity, too sensitive to the latency and connection changes and too dependent on data access in and out of the Cloud. Our devices are inherently mobile, but the applications that run on them aren’t designed for these kinds of environments. There is a better way to build applications, and a better way to get data out of the enterprise and to the mobile device.

Realm enables this kind of anywhere, anytime access for all kinds of applications, both business and consumer. Realm’s Edge Sync Platform, or ESP, would allow the airline to store my reservation on my phone itself. I’d be able to access it with zero-latency, regardless of whether I was on the ground or in the air, and when I was connected to the network the airline could push any required updates or changes. With an improved user experience, I’d be more likely to continue using the application and/or the airline, leading to increased customer satisfaction and revenue, reduced churn, and a better overall environment both for myself and the airline.

If only other apps, including the airline, would take this approach. It’s a mobile world, and connectivity changes are a fact of life. Realm is the solution.