App Development For Your Business – Detailed Guidance

According to a PWC study, 86% of consumers are willing to spend extra for a better experience. The story of the brand Muji demonstrates this. Through the usage of the Muji Passport mobile app, Muji has had great success in improving the user experience. After its release, the app helped drive a 46% increase in in-store purchases. So, is it challenging to do a app development? What is the price? What are the steps, exactly? AMELA will offer thorough instructions on creating enterprise mobile applications.

How to Start Your App Development Process?

Before starting to build a mobile app for a brand, you need a BA to analyze the company’s business situation, thereby coming up with a new business strategy for mobile applications.

Many businesses will wonder if they need a technology expert to be able to develop the application. The answer is no. Because most IT companies now have an IT team that advises exactly on the needs of each business group, you don’t have to be an expert in the field of technology to build an application.

It’s not necessary to be an expert in technology, but having some expertise in this field might help you select the best app development partner.

Difference between Freelancer and App Development 

After preparing a detailed application building plan, next, businesses need to choose a strategic partner to cooperate with. There are two types of partners: Freelance and IT company. Each partner will have certain advantages and disadvantages. AMELA offers a few comparison criteria between these two types of partners so that businesses can easily consider choosing the right partner for the project:

Criteria	Freelancer Developer	App Development Team
Price	Low	High
Qualification	Expertise in the limited field	Multi-skilled in different fields
Realiability	Low	High
Task Concurrence	Multi-Tasker	Each member is responsible for their part
Terms	Temporary or long-term cooperation	long-term cooperation
Size of project	Small or full-time	Bigger Projects
Confidentiality	Need to include NDAs if privacy is a concern	NDAs are included in the contract
Further Project Maintenance	No	Yes

> Related: Flutter vs React Native: Which One is Better For Your Project?

App Development Process and Its Stages

Step 1: Brainstorm the idea

Before you plan to proceed, you need to answer the following questions to make sure you didn’t engage with the wrong idea, and the idea is doable

・App Goal: Why do you want to build a mobile app? Is it really necessary in your business? Does your idea fit or very well the needs of your company/target audience? Do you have enough resources to promote it?

・Target Audience: Who is your target audience? Who are the potential users?

・USP Applications: What are the key features? What is the core appeal of your app? Why should your audience use your app?

・Competitor analysis: Who are your competitors? Do they have a similar app? If so, are your problem-solving ideas better than theirs?

・Application investment: Building an app will need a relatively large cost, are you well prepared? Do you have an investment plan?

・App Marketing: When and How will you promote your app? What is your advertising strategy for the first 500 users?

Step 2: Market research

This is an important step to show whether your calculations are right for the customer. What steps does market research take? Refer to the following steps:

Step 3: Build Wireframes for Your Application

Once your idea list is ready, it’s time to shape your ideas- Wireframes. You can think of wireframes as your app blueprint. It will show the design of the application and its functions. In addition, it will help you understand the interface and operation of the application.

Mainly the wireframe of the application gives a clear theory for the team to follow. In addition, it is also a reference for application developers.

Step 4: Choose the platform

There are 3 application development platforms for you to choose from

・Native app: With the support of development languages and tools, developers can develop an app on specific platforms like Android, and iOS.

・Cross-Platform App/ Hybrid App: Single mobile app built on HTML5 and can run on multiple platforms. They are downloaded from all the app stores just like the original apps.

・HTML5 Web Apps: These are actually optimized mobile websites that look like native apps and run on a mobile browser. Building web applications is quite fast and simple but the flexibility is not as good as using native apps.

Step 5: Development

Any good app development project must include 3 parts:

・Back-end system: A database and a server are required to support the application’s functions by connecting to the network. If you are using an existing server, you will need to configure it and make some changes to accommodate the application’s functionality.

・Front-end design: The user interface is part of the application where users will interact. In this section, we’ll put the structure, design, visuals, and behaviors that you might see on a website, web app, or mobile app to work.

・API: application programming interface. An API is a piece of development tool that allows two software programs to communicate with each other.

Step 6: Test your application

Running a code review process during development helps in making sure that there are no major bugs left at the end to solve.

Step 7: Launch the Beta version of your app

Test the Beta and collect user feedback. Early adopters provide a lot of helpful feedback on the pros and cons of your app. Additionally, their experiences and ratings can make it easier for you to understand your users’ experiences and their needs. If you get good feedback, you will have a pretty good number of users before the official release.

Step 8: Launch the official application

Officially submit your app to the Google Play store or Appstore and collect customer feedback to improve the app in the future.

Step 9: App Marketing

The application development partner will be fully responsible for steps 1 through 8. Once your app has been released, it is time to launch promotional campaigns for it.

Where Can You Find App Development Firms?

As mentioned in phase 2, there are two types of application developers: freelancers and IT service partners. They can be found on reputable social networking platforms such as LinkedIn and Upwork.

・LinkedIn: As the world’s largest social network, it is simple to find a reputable technology company on LinkedIn. Companies provide detailed information about their services, websites, and company profiles.

・Upwork: this is a freelancer’s paradise. Simply post your need to hire an IT freelancer to develop web applications, and Upwork will recommend the right people for the job.

・Furthermore, referrals from close relationships are a good and fast way to find the right app developer. You will feel more confident using a service from someone you trust, just like word-of-mouth marketing.

Cost

Custom mobile app development takes time to plan, design, program, and quality assurance for the development process. In this phase, we’ll look at statistics on average app development time and how it affects costs:

・Developing a custom mobile app for the user takes an average of about 4 months

・The price range depends on the level of work, the term, the developer’s experience and other factors: The average cost ranges from $1500 to $12000, with more complex apps costing $1M

・A freelance application developer can expect to earn between $15 and $300 per hour of work.

・App maintenance costs are typically between 15% and 20% of the initial development cost, according to industry standards.

Technologies Used in App Development 

The following technologies are commonly used in mobile application development:

・Flutter: Flutter is a great framework for native app development that allows you to create mobile apps for both iOS and Android devices using the same codebase. Flutter has grown tremendously in the last 3 years. and is currently the #1z framework for developing native mobile apps. Flutter is also by Google, uses Dart (another Google programming language) and provides an SDK for developing a cross-platform native mobile app.

・Xamarin: There is no better choice for creating a native mobile app with .NET and C# than Xamarin. Xamarin allows you to create native Android, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, macOS, and Windows apps with native API access using. NET.

・React Native: Besides Flutter, another framework for developing native cross-platform mobile apps is React Native. It creates high-quality native mobile apps with React and JavaScript. It is the best option for all web developers who want to develop mobile apps and are familiar with technologies such as JavaScript and React.

 

Summary

Before starting the process of developing a mobile application, it is important to clearly understand what you need. A careful and detailed plan for application development can save time and money.

We’ve provided you with this guide to give you the best overview of your mobile app’s development with the necessary knowledge and expertise. Application development can vary depending on the business, and the potential risks will vary as well.

Take advantage of the tools mentioned above, and consult experienced developers to get the process.

Source: Mindbowser

Editor: AMELA Technology