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How to Make an App for Your Company

You have a fantastic app idea and are overjoyed to see it come to fruition. However, getting from concept to final development isn’t always easy, which is why you’ve come to our post on how to make an app for your company.

Apps are created for a variety of reasons, but the main goal is to transform an app into a profitable economic enterprise. It is critical to understand that successfully developing an app entails several moving components, including strategy, design, development, APIs, back-end programming, hosting, and launching.

This tutorial will teach you how to make an app for your company. We’ll show you how to make an app and give you some pointers on making your first app a profitable endeavor.

To take your app from concept to launch, you must fulfill six steps.

Create a business strategy
Hire app developers
Budgeting & planning
App development
Marketing
Support & maintenance

While this article focuses more on the mobile app development process, it can still be a good read if you are creating web applications as the overall development process is somewhat similar.

How to Create A Business Strategy

Developing an app without a strategy is like constructing a house without a blueprint. It is doable, but you will be dissatisfied with the end product. The plan should define your needs, goals, and process for developing the app.

Define Your Business’s Requirements

Between the Apple App Store and Google Play, there are about five million apps accessible. Only roughly 0.01% of these apps are successful. Your app should address a problem or provide consumers with a unique value. Original concepts have a higher likelihood of success than replicating an existing idea. Apps worth billions of dollars are successful because they solve large problems that affect a large number of people. You must have legitimate business needs if you are developing an enterprise app for your staff and customers. “What is the purpose of your app?” you should ask yourself. Every successful app serves a certain purpose. Google Drive allows you to access, create, and store files quickly and easily. Facebook connects you with the people that matter to you. Venmo allows you to send and receive money from friends and family. Uber provides ride-sharing services right to your door. Your program must solve a problem while also providing value to users. After all, developing an app is more than just producing a piece of technology. It is all about developing a great product and establishing a great company.

Conduct market and competitor research

The Apple and Android app stores have been in existence for more than a decade. Numerous app concepts have come and gone since an idea by itself does not make it distinctive. During your study, you may come across comparable app concepts that are aiming to solve the same problem. Just because similar software exists does not imply you should abandon your concept. There is always a better way to do the same thing, as the saying goes. A competitive study can assist you in identifying the mobile apps’ strengths and flaws.

During your analysis, consider the qualities and benefits of a competitor’s product. Is their app able to fix your issue? Is there anything you can do to improve on that solution? How popular is their app? Is there a demand for another app with a similar concept? Recognize their prices, resources, alliances, and corporate culture. There are other commercial and free resources available to help you determine your initial app development investment. You can learn how much funding they have raised to support their venture.

Take Charge of the Logistics

You must market your app if you want users to find it. A website is a necessary step in promoting your software (more on app promotion down below). It is critical to reserve a domain name for your website early on in the process. You should also make sure that there are no other live apps with your name in the app store. If this is your first business, we recommend registering it before launching your app. Software Stores need you to register your app under a company name.

If you are developing a business app that will not be used by the general public, you may not need to secure a domain name, but you should consider adding a product page for your new app to your corporate website.

Read: How To Create An Enterprise Mobility Strategy in 2022

Hire App Developers

Once you’ve established a business strategy, it’s time to build your app. Quality mobile apps necessitate user interface design, programming, quality assurance testing, and project management. It is doubtful that you will discover a brilliant developer to meet all of your requirements. Your project will necessitate the formation of a team. Who you hire will be entirely determined by your budget and requirements. You have a few choices.

Employ In-House Developers

In some cases, in-house developers are a terrific option. You can employ exactly what you need while keeping everything in-house. The process of assembling a team, on the other hand, might be time-consuming. It takes several weeks to find each employee. We are also witnessing increased technological convergence. Many apps integrate features for artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet of things, and augmented reality in addition to basic mobile technologies. As a result, you’ll need a wide set of expertise on your team. What if you live in a region with a limited talent pool? Hiring the top personnel is nearly impossible, and it may take months to fill the positions. This will cause you to fall behind schedule. Hiring in-house developers might also result in fixed expenditures being added to your payroll. If you own a startup or a small firm, you may also have to worry about providing them with office space, equipment, software licenses, and perks. All of this can increase the size of your initial investment.

Hire Freelancers

Hiring freelancers might provide you with more freedom. Most app development projects would want the services of several freelancers. Hiring several freelancers poses a unique set of challenges. You may have difficulty finding freelancers who are in the same geographical location and timezone as you. It is possible to manage freelancers all over the world. It can, however, provide project management issues for those who are unprepared. Most businesses engage freelancers for particular skills and short-term projects. If you decide to look for freelancers, we recommend using platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed.

Hire an app development agency

The majority of businesses outsource their app development tasks to an app development agency. The fixed costs associated with in-house developers are eliminated by using an app development firm. It also reduces the project management costs and difficulties involved with engaging a group of freelancers. Most app development companies offer end-to-end services, bringing your product from concept through launch. Most agencies also have a wide range of talents to meet your expanding needs. It is vital to realize that finding the correct app development agency comes with its own set of challenges. Typically, Google search is the first place to go for an app development service. Google is a fantastic tool, but it is not without flaws. You may find that your local search results occasionally include companies from other countries. Many directory websites that promote multiple agencies do not distinguish where the agency is located appropriately. These listings can also be tampered with in order to mislead customers. We recommend that you use LinkedIn or Dun & Bradstreet (a business directory for all agencies). Be thorough in your research. You should contact the agency by phone. Sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) (NDA). Check and chat with client references. Request a thorough proposal that includes estimates. Your decision should be based on the overall value you receive as well as the total cost of ownership, not just the hourly rate. Don’t start your project unless you have a signed contract.

Who you employ to create your app might have a significant impact on the outcome. This is the most important choice you will have to make.

Planning and Budgeting

According to Gartner, only about 1% of mobile apps are successful. One of the most common reasons for app failure is a lack of finance. So, how do you estimate and budget for your app development project? If you have in-house developers or are hiring freelancers, you should get estimates from them. If you are thinking about hiring an app development business, you should get quotes from at least three different organizations. All successful apps have one thing in common: they are of high quality. So, when you contact app development businesses for a proposal and estimates, look for organizations that provide comparable services and have a track record of producing successful apps. This will ensure that you obtain accurate estimates. You may also use our website’s app cost calculator to get a ballpark estimate.

You will need to make technology decisions as part of your estimation and budgeting process. Do you want to develop a native app or a mobile-friendly / responsive web app? If you’re creating a native mobile app, do you want to target iOS, Android, or both? Will you design for phones only, or will you also need to support tablet users? What you choose will have an impact on pricing and timeliness.

Gain More Insight: How much does it cost to make an app?

If you’re attempting to budget for a startup app business, keep in mind that technology/app development typically accounts for 40% of total investments. When budgeting, you must account for both external and internal costs. You’ll need money to invest in marketing, customer service, and administration. You may also have to pay hosting fees if your app requires a back-end program that runs on a server. For example, if the cost of app development is $100,000 and your app is not expected to generate significant revenue immediately after launch, you should have at least $250,000 accessible to build a profitable app business.

If you don’t have enough cash, instead of abandoning your app idea, we propose producing a minimal viable product (MVP) or starting with wireframes/prototypes. This can assist you in demonstrating your proposal to potential investors in order to obtain extra cash.

Divide deliverables into milestones.
Determine dependencies
Make a schedule.
Make a communication strategy.
Create success criteria.

You are now ready to turn your app idea into a reality.

App Development

The mobile app development cycle consists of five stages: define, design, create, test, and deploy.

Define

You may have had a clear idea of the app you want to design up to this point. You may have a high-level functional specification and preliminary sketches of how you want your app to look. In some circumstances, that may be sufficient information to get programmers started on developing the app. For apps with a limited scope and minimal complexity, you can build an app in iterations using agile procedures without gathering a lot of information upfront. More complicated programs, on the other hand, may require use cases/user stories to capture comprehensive requirements for each function. All stakeholders in your company should be involved in setting the project scope. This technique might assist the development team in clarifying the project scope. The app, for example, may allow users to log in with a username and password. A few months later, the client suggests checking in with an email address rather than a username. Making this change may result in extra time spent revising the login procedure. This can be avoided by obtaining and negotiating app needs ahead of time. This is the stage during which you should address the “what” of your project.

Design

App design must be an afterthought in 2021. Consumers favor goods that provide an intuitive user experience, a refined UI design, and a high level of performance. An experienced app development team understands how to create scalable and effective apps while adhering to best practices. Visual design and solution design are the primary focus of the design process. To generate visual designs, the app designer can use design tools such as Invision, Sketch, or Adobe XD to translate the app requirements into wireframes. During this step, all of your stakeholders should provide input on the designs. Making design modifications after the app has been built will be prohibitively expensive. Your app development team will identify an app’s architecture, technological stack, database structure, and API design for solution creation. This is the stage during which you should handle the “how” of your project.

Develop

Now that you’ve created your app designs, it’s time to build your app. The majority of app development projects include front-end/user interface development, API development, and back-end development. Don’t get right into programming. Prioritize the needs and design a development strategy based on milestones. We recommend segmenting the project into smaller deliverables to improve project progress. Setting up status meetings will allow you to compare progress to project estimates. You should assess each milestone as your team completes it to verify it meets your expectations. You should also incorporate a procedure for dealing with project modifications. Stakeholders may make suggestions that alter the project scope in various cases. A change management system will aid in the management, evaluation, and prioritization of changes.

Test

Quality assurance (QA) testing guarantees that your app is reliable, secure, and useful. Creating a testing plan and test cases is part of a full app testing process. Best practices recommend that you run several tests on each part of your application. App designs will be validated through user experience testing. Functional testing will ensure that all of the app’s features function properly. Performance testing guarantees that the app loads quickly, that there are no memory leaks, and that the program does not deplete the device’s battery. Security testing searches for flaws that could jeopardize user data. Device testing assures that the app works with each new device release. To reduce manual testing labor, many modern apps rely on automation testing. During testing, automation can also replicate multi-user and load testing scenarios. We encourage you to include all stakeholders in the testing step. Any comments received throughout the testing phase should be documented, reviewed, and prioritized. Before you consider the program finished, you should resolve any flaws.

Deploy

You must submit your mobile app to the relevant platform before it can be distributed through the app store. The iOS app should be uploaded to the Apple App Store. Google Play should be used to submit an Android app. After you submit the application, it is reviewed. Google will examine and approve your app within a few hours. Because of its thorough vetting procedure, Apple takes about a week. If your app does not comply with the app store’s requirements, you will be notified. In that scenario, you must correct the issues and resubmit your application. When the app store accepts it, it will be accessible for download. The clearance process for apps can take up to two weeks. When creating your project timeline, make sure to include this time.

If your app development incorporates database and back-end work, you must deploy these separately. Many businesses host their online apps and databases on cloud service providers such as Amazon AWS and Microsoft Azure. Cloud hosting offers scalability and flexibility. It may also lower the company’s initial expenditure on hardware and software licenses.

You should identify your onboarding procedure as part of your deployment stage. Training sessions for corporate apps should be held with both internal and external users. This will enhance app adoption and help your app succeed.

Find out: How Long Does It Take To Develop An App?

App Marketing

There are millions of apps in each app store. App discovery on the app store is not as simple as browsing for a webpage in your browser. If your app is not a top-ranking “featured app,” it will be tough to find organically. Implementing a marketing strategy can assist your audience in discovering your app via various marketing channels.

A website can be a valuable asset in promoting your software. A website provides users with additional information about the app. You can offer users the opportunity to join your email list for future updates. Social networking, content marketing, paid campaigns, and optimizing your website for key search engines are all ways to grow your audience.

Before you launch your app, you must generate awareness of it. What use is an app if no one knows about it? That is why the pre-launch is so crucial. You should create brand recognition and buzz around your goods and services during this stage. Using market research and competitive analysis, define your ideal consumer. User personas can assist you to understand the values, pain areas, and interests of your customers. Use them to plan out your messaging and where you’ll market your app.

Once you’ve launched the app, you’ll want to concentrate on an acquisition plan to increase downloads. Using sponsored advertisements and social media, get the app in front of the right people. With only a few clicks, customers can download the app to their phones. Partner with influencers to broaden your reach. Influencers can help you advertise your app and gain user confidence. Extend your reach even further with public relations initiatives aimed at publications and media sources. Whatever you choose, your acquisition strategy should assist you in gaining downloads.

Even when you’ve earned those downloads, your work isn’t done. Consider how Instagram grew from 50 million monthly active users in 2012 to 1 billion in just six years. When you compare Instagram from 2012 to 2018, you can see how far it has progressed. Instagram’s app design has been revamped multiple times, renamed, new features have been added, and performance has been improved. Many business owners are concerned with audience acquisition but not audience retention. How do you turn new users into brand advocates? Two-way communication is the most effective strategy to keep your audience interested. Pay attention to user input and engage them in a conversation. Push notifications and in-app messaging allow you to engage with users. Don’t forget to use channels that aren’t part of the app ecosystem. Email outreach and social media campaigns are excellent ways to communicate with users. Implementing a marketing strategy will increase user growth and assist you in meeting your business objectives.

You have hiring possibilities for your marketing staff just like you do for your development team. You have the option of hiring in-house marketers, freelancing marketers, or a marketing agency that specializes in marketing apps. Whatever you decide, make certain that the marketers are well-versed in mobile app marketing. They should be familiar with the app development process, technological advances, app shops, and app promotion. Most marketing firms would work on a retainer basis, with monthly prices ranging from $5,000 to more than $20,000.

Support & Maintenance

Your app is a success. It has received a large number of downloads and positive feedback. However, the work isn’t finished. Popular apps have a long-term growth strategy. The creation of mobile apps is a continuous process. The truth is that there is always the potential for improvement, no matter how good the initial program is. You must evaluate customer input, market demands, new rivals, and technological improvements.

Security upgrades and bug fixes should be included in app maintenance plans. App maintenance guarantees that the app is compatible with the most recent versions of the iOS and Android operating systems, as well as new mobile devices. Any modifications relating to app performance will be included in application maintenance. Platforms such as Google Firebase assist app owners in tracking performance metrics. Firebase provides performance monitoring, crash reports, user statistics, and a variety of other services. In addition to maintenance updates, you may want to think about adding new features to your app. There will always be a new competitor that rises to prominence. You should learn from both the positive and negative criticism they receive. Based on the input, you may improve your app. This will assist you in gaining new app users as well as retaining existing ones.

Conclusion
There is a lot that goes into developing an app, but with the appropriate plan and team, you can transform your app idea into a profitable business. To summarize, these are the stages for creating an app:

Create a business strategy
Hire app developers
Planning & Budgeting
App development
App Marketing
Support & Maintenance

Elesier has been developing online and mobile apps since 2018. We’ve developed numerous successful apps for firms in the finance, construction, healthcare, industrial engineering, entertainment, retail, travel, and consumer products industries across Canada. We assist our clients from the concept stage through a successful launch, offering guidance at each level of the process. We offer turn-key projects so that our clients can stay focused on their core competencies. Please contact us to say hello, learn more about what we do, or discuss what we can do for your company.