Factors to Consider When Building a Custom Application

What’s exactly a custom application development?

When a company has a specific application need that can't be addressed with off-the-shelf software, custom application development is a way out. Initially, custom application development is a way to tackle trouble areas in your business by creating a custom app solution. Designed specifically for a specific user or group of users, it aims to address these users' needs better than a widespread off-the-shelf software solution can. Moreover, it is typically more expensive, requires a detailed plan, and is altered to scale with your business.

Why do you need a custom application?

Undoubtedly, making a decision whether or not your business needs a custom application can be rather difficult. Let’s reveal why you need to invest in a customized app solution:

• The need to keep business afloat and reach millions of potential customers worldwide.
• The need to automate repetitive tasks.
• The need to organize a more dynamic and agile workforce.
• The need to facilitate collaboration and ultimately improve outcomes.
• The need to access the data you or your team need on the go.
• The need to have a secure app solution.

Things to consider before building a custom mobile app

The following are the key factors you should take into consideration to ensure that the custom app you are going to create becomes viral. Let’s delve into the details below!

1. Business goals

Defining current processes and future needs is imperative when it comes to building a custom mobile solution. Not only should you ask subject-matter experts in your company to be in the know about the current state of business processes, but you should also understand why you need to create a new app product and what processes you tend to improve with it. Moreover, it’s imperative to align your goals with your users’ demands and sketch out the desired processes that the future mobile app is going to support or solve. In addition to that, you need to identify important features you aim to include in your application  — simple and advanced versions for both basic and high-end users.

2. Research 

With in-depth market research, you can gain insights into what kind of apps are getting popular in your niche or in companies like yours. Additionally, you need to get familiar with what the most requested features are in apps like yours. Not only does it help you identify competitors or/and potential users to focus on, but you can also discover various strategies, features, and functionality used as well as mistakes your rivals made. Moreover, taking into account those errors, you will come up with a better plan and create a more unique app solution powered with more advanced features.

3. Platform

When selecting the best platform for the future mobile app solution, you may face a difficult choice amongst Android, iOS, React Native, or Windows-based one. Only by clarifying the target audience, app features, and pricing strategy can you make the right decision. In addition to that, it’s extremely critical to select a suitable mobile application development approach — native, hybrid or cross-platform one. Hybrid app development may suit your preferences if you have a focus on regular usage, offline compatibility, and interactivity while native app development provides access to full features of the selected platform ( iOS, Android, or web) and enables a highly personalized user experience. Cross-platform app development is an attractive option if you need to cover a larger market with multi-platform functionality developed and implemented in less time and less effort.

4.  The right IT team for the work

To bring a custom application solution to life, you need a professional IT team that can design and implement it successfully. With a mobile development company, you can deliver not only a user-friendly and aesthetically pleasant app solution but also an intuitive and secure one. However, finding the right team is not an easy task. You need to check all the tech stack, coding skills, and development procedures as well as keep in mind the time zone differences to organize communication and collaboration more effectively. Only by working with a top-notch team can you get a bespoke mobile app solution that will help you go mobile. 

5. Budget and Time Frame

It can be challenging to properly plan your budget along with the other critical components necessary to turn your idea into a successful custom application. The truth is the more complex features and functionality, the more time and energy the IT team requires. With that in mind, you need to get a list of all the major features the application should have and come up with a time period and a cost for each feature. Once all features are budgeted, you are in the know about the total budget and time frame as well. Not only does it help you effectively manage the development processes, but you can also keep your budget under control and make any changes to your planned timeline or budget.

6. Maintenance and Security

Removing bugs based on user feedback, creating new content, and tracking user analytics and organic conversion rate is essential to understand how the app is performing. In addition to that, keeping track of the configuration settings, including access rights and password policies is a crucial task as well. Only by maintaining a safe and secure custom application with high levels of data security can you provide peace of mind for the potential users or employees. Additionally, app maintenance helps you keep your mobile solution up-to-date and ensures that it is highly available and relevant to evolving business and user needs.

Need a custom application to benefit your business?

With increasingly specialized companies and high user demands, customization is becoming more the norm than the exception. Whether you are a veteran or new in business, creating a sophisticated custom mobile application is here to stay. Not only does it help you boost visibility, capture users’ attention, and meet your specific business needs, but it also enables your users to reach out to you from anywhere and anytime. With the right team and a properly considered development approach in place, a custom mobile solution is attainable for any business.