Enterprise mobile app development has undergone a paradigm shift in recent years, from being a novelty to being essential for all businesses. Businesses are learning how to build an app and are leveraging these mobile apps to increase customer interactions with their business, provide employees with new tools to improve their efficiency, and identify opportunities to create new revenue streams.
With each release, mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) continue to advance in computing power and capacity. This allows companies to create mobile apps that are far superior and sophisticated in their offerings. Today, mobile apps can combine capabilities for technologies like augmented reality, machine learning, and the Internet of Things.
While technology is evolving at a breakneck pace, it’s exciting to see its potential, Application development has become much more complex. Many companies do not have the resources or knowledge on how to create an application for their business. At Invonto, we’ve partnered with companies from all industries to simplify the app development process and deploy custom mobile apps for their businesses and customers. Over the years, we have achieved significant revenue growth for our clients. Through this experience, we’ve gained the expertise to turn an app idea into a success story.
This article will help you and your team understand what’s involved in creating an app for your business .
Following these six steps can help you create a successful app. We’ll talk about each one in this article.
- Creating a Business Strategy
- Hiring App Developers
- BudgetingBy knowing how much capital they’ve raised to support your business, you can better understand the investment requirements to build your mobile app.
Pre-Production Marketing
Your Is Possible that the application is not developed, but there are certain marketing activities that must be carried out at this time. One is to register a website domain name for your app early in the process, which you can then use to promote your app. You’ll also want to check that no other live apps share your name in the Apple and Android app stores. If it is a new business, we recommend that you register it before starting your application. App stores require you to register the app under a business name.
If you’re building a business app that isn’t for public use, it’s not critical to secure a domain name, but to advertise your new app idea mobile to your team will help you establish your strategic objectives. Involving your team early in the mobile development process will make it easier to roll out finished products across your organization.
Read: How to Develop a Successful Mobile Strategy
Hire App Developers
Once you have a business strategy, it’s time to build your app. Quality mobile apps require user interface design, programming, QA testing, and product management. You are unlikely to find a single developer who has the experience to handle each phase. You may want to assemble and hire a team for your project. Who you hire depends on your budget and needs. You have a few options.
Hire in-house developers
In-house developers can be a great option in certain situations. You can hire exactly who you need and keep everything in-house. However, the process of recruiting and building a team can take several months.
In addition to basic mobile technologies, many modern applications include capabilities for the cloud, artificial intelligence, machine learning, Internet of Things and augmented reality. Creating a sophisticated mobile app requires hiring a team with diverse skills. For companies based in a region with a small talent pool, hiring the best mobile app developers can be difficult and time consuming. That will set you back.
Hiring in-house mobile app developers can also add fixed costs to your payroll. If you’re a start-up or small business, you may also need to provide workspace, equipment, software licenses, and benefits that can increase your initial investment. The other problem: After spending the time and effort to assemble your team, one or more developers might leave for another job, forcing you to constantly recruit new developers and maintain a bench force.
Hiring Freelancers
Hiring freelancers can provide flexibility. Most mobile app development projects require the skills of several freelancers. Hiring multiple freelancers presents different challenges. You may have trouble locating freelancers in your geographic location or time zone. You can manage freelancers all over the world. However, it is likely to present additional project and resource management challenges. Most companies hire freelancers for specialized skill and short-term assignments. If you choose to look for freelancers, we recommend relying on trusted platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed.
Hire an App Development Agency
Most businesses rely on app development agencies. for your projects. An app development agency eliminates the overhead costs associated with in-house developers. It also eliminates project management overhead and challenges associated with hiring a pool of freelancers. Most app development agencies provide end-to-end services, taking your project from idea to launch. Most agencies also have diverse skills to support your growing needs. When you don’t know how to build an app for your business and don’t have the resources to manage technical teams, hiring an app development agency may be your best option.
Finding the right app development agency has its own Warnings The first place to look for a mobile app development agency is Google search. Google is an amazing tool, but it’s not perfect. Sometimes your local search results include foreign companies. Many agency directory websites do not correctly distinguish where the app development agency is located. These listings can be manipulated to mislead consumers. We recommend using LinkedIn or Apps Inc (a business directory exclusively for US-based agencies) when looking for an app development agency.
Be diligent in your research. Talk to the app development agency over the phone, Zoom, or other video conferencing platform, or even meet them in person when possible. Ask the agency to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) before sharing confidential information. Check customer references and talk to them. Request a detailed proposal with budgets. Your decision should be based on the total value you receive and total cost of ownership, not just an hourly rate.Some mobile app development agencies may have experience working on enterprise app development projects, while others may have experience working on consumer-focused apps. Some mobile app development agencies can offer advice on your digital strategies that can help you increase the return on your mobile app development investments. Regardless of which agency you decide to work with, don’t start your project without a signed service agreement that protects your intellectual property and gives you ownership of the final product.
Whoever you hire to build your app can do a big difference in the result. This is the most important decision you’ll ever make.
Budgeting and planning
Why are less than one percent of mobile apps successful? Insufficient funding is one of the main reasons applications fail. So how do you estimate and budget for your application project? If you have in-house developers or are hiring independent developers, ask them to provide you with a quote. If you’re considering hiring an app development company, get estimates from at least three different companies.
All successful apps have one thing in common: good quality. So when you contact app development companies for proposals and estimates, consider companies that offer comparable services and have a proven track record of building successful apps. This will ensure that you receive realistic estimates. You can also try the in-app cost calculator on our website to get a rough estimate.
As part of your estimating and budgeting process, you’ll need to make technology decisions. Do you want to build a native, cross-platform app or do you want to build a mobile-friendly web app? If you’re developing a native mobile app, do you want to build it for iOS, Android, or both? Will you be building for phones or will you need to support tablet users as well? What you choose will influence price and timing.
Learn more: How much does it cost to create an app?
If you’re trying to budget for a startup app business, keep in mind that technology/application development typically accounts for 40 percent of your total investments. When you budget, consider internal and external costs. You will need funds to invest in marketing, support, and administrative functions. You may also incur hosting fees if your application requires a back-end program that runs on a server.
For example, if the cost of developing the application is $100,000 and it is unlikely that your app generate substantial revenue soon after launch, then have at least $250,000 available to build a successful and sustainable app business. For enterprise mobile apps, you may not have to worry about funding your marketing efforts, but you will need to hire resources to roll out new digital products to your business and train your employees.
If not If you have sufficient funds, we recommend that you create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or wireframes/prototypes instead of giving up on your app idea. This can help you demonstrate your idea to potential investors and commercial stakeholders to obtain the necessary funding.
After you’ve budgeted for your app project and secured funding, create a product roadmap. The product roadmap is an extension of your application strategy and will guide your development efforts. The roadmap will help you:
- Prioritize deliverables into milestones
- Identify dependencies
- Prepare a timeline
- Create a communication plan
- Establish success criteria
Now you are ready to turn your application idea into a reality.
Application development
There are five stages in the mobile application development cycle: define, design, develop, test and deploy.
Define
At this point, you may have a clear idea of the application you want to create. You may have created a high-level functional specification or rough sketches of what you want your app to look like. In some cases, that might be enough information for developers to start building the app. For applications with limited scope and low complexity, you can build an application in iteration by following agile development processes without collecting many details upfront. However, more complex mobile apps will need use cases/user stories to capture detailed functional requirements and business rules.
All stakeholders in your business should contribute to defining a vision for the project. This process can help clarify the scope of the project for the development team. For example, the application can allow users to sign in with a username and password. A few months later, the client suggests logging in with an email instead of a username. Making this change can add unnecessary time when reworking the sign-in process. You can avoid this by gathering and discussing the application requirements in advance.This stage is when you want to address the “what” of your project.
Design
Application design cannot be an afterthought. Consumers prefer products that offer an intuitive user experience, polished user interface design, and good performance. An experienced mobile app development team knows how to build successful and scalable apps by following best practices. The design phase focuses on visual design and solution layout.
To create visual designs, application UI/UX designers can translate application requirements into schematics using design tools. design such as Invision, Sketch or Adobe XD. During this stage, all interested parties must participate by providing feedback on the designs. Making design changes after the app is built will be very expensive. For solution design, your mobile app development team will identify an app’s architecture, technology stack, database structure, and API design. This stage is when you want to address the “how” of your project.
Develop
Now that you have your app designs, it’s time to develop your app. Most app development projects involve front-end development, API development, and back-end development. The Applications may also include services for user authentication, push notifications, payment processing, multimedia, location tracking, and usage analysis. Many companies create mobile applications that include advanced features for AI
Find Out: How Long Does It Take To Create An App?
App Marketing
Every app store has millions of apps. Discovering apps in the app store isn’t as simple as searching for a website in your browser. If your app isn’t a high-ranking “featured app”, it will be hard to discover organically. Implementing a marketing strategy will help your audience discover your app through other marketing channels.
A website can be a great resource for promoting your app. A website provides users with more information about the app. You can give users a chance to join your email list for future updates. You can build your audience through social media, content marketing, paid campaigns, and optimizing your website for major search engines.
Before launching your app, raise awareness about the application. What good is an app that no one knows about? That’s why pre-launch is important. During this stage, build brand awareness and buzz about your products and services. Define your ideal customer with market research and competition analysis. User personas can help you understand consumer values, pain points, and interests. Use them to describe your message and where you’ll be promoting your app.
Once you launch your app, you’ll want to focus on an acquisition strategy to win downloads. Get your app in front of the right audience through paid campaigns and social media. Consumers can download the app to their phone with just a few clicks. Expand your reach by partnering with influencers who have an affinity for your app and your target audience. Influencers can promote your app and build trust with consumers. Expand your reach even further with public relations campaigns targeting publications and media outlets. Whatever you decide, your acquisition strategy should help you get downloads.
Many business leaders focus on acquisition but not audience retention. How to convert new users into brand ambassadors? The best way to retain your audience is through two-way communication. Listen to user feedback and engage your users in a conversation. In-app messages and push notifications help you engage with users. Don’t forget to use channels outside of the app ecosystem. Email outreach campaigns and social media are perfect for talking to users. Executing a marketing strategy will maximize user growth and help you achieve your business goals.
Just as you have hiring options for your development team, you also have options for your marketing team. You can hire in-house marketers, freelance marketers, or a marketing agency that specializes in marketing apps. Whatever you choose, make sure they have a solid understanding of mobile app marketing. They need to understand the app development process, technology trends, app stores, and app promotions. Most marketing agencies will work on a down payment basis with monthly fees ranging from $5,000 to over $20,000.
Support
At Invonto, we have successfully launched many web applications and mobile applications for companies in the finance, construction, healthcare, industrial engineering, entertainment, retail, travel, and consumer products industries. Some of our success stories include a voting app for America’s Got Talent, a personal finance management app for Transamerica, a construction scheduling app for D. R. Horton, a telehealth app for ReconSTAT, and business apps for Sealed Air.
We guide our clients on building an app from strategy to successful launch, providing advice at every stage of the building an app process. We provide turnkey application development projects so our clients can stay focused on the front lines of their business. Contact Invonto to say hello, learn more about what we do, or to discuss what we can do for your business.
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