Developing an app for your business may be a journey you have considered embarking upon for some time, but perhaps one you have held back from because of the perceived complexity of the processes involved.
With this step-by-step guide to mobile app development, you should be able to see that even the creation of a customised program for modern smartphone platforms can be simpler than you might think.
Basic Planning
Before you do anything, coming up with a strategy that will be at the core of the app development process and central to your broader plans for digital dominance is essential. A key aspect of this is determining the goals you hope to achieve through mobile app development, and the metrics which can be used to calculate the effectiveness of the finished product further down the line. Collaborating with experts will let you get a good idea of how the early planning stages should progress.
UX & UI Design
Once you have an idea for an app, you need to consider what kind of experience it will offer users and how this experience will be presented and delivered to them. This applies whether you are aiming to build an outward-facing app for customers, or one which serves the needs of employees.
Usability, both in terms of interface and experience, comes down not just to the simple act of an app performing the functions for which it was designed, but doing so in a way that impresses users and engages with them in ways that other apps do not. And while aesthetics are important, a good looking app must also be one which puts form and function on equal pegging. This is why UX and UI design are the next steps to take.
In-depth Development
After working with app developers to hammer out a plan for your app and the kind of user experience you want it to provide, the development process can move to the next stage, which again should be collaborative and communicative in order to deliver the best results.
You will need to determine the underlying technologies and platforms that will power the app, as well as deciding with which mobile OS ecosystems it will be compatible. This will impact features as well as narrowing or broadening your potential audience.
At this point you can expect to carry out checkups to see how the app is progressing and make use of constructive feedback to guide its formulation so that your original aims are being met rather than overlooked.
Post-Launch Assistance
A custom business app is not just something you make, launch and then forget about entirely – it’s an ongoing project which requires support and maintenance in the long term. What type of post-launch assistance is required will vary from app to app, from business to business. But decisions about this should be made long before it goes live.
You will usually need to offer user support and weed out any bugs and security issues with updates throughout the lifespan of the app, ensuring you keep it compatible with the evolving OS ecosystems which it inhabits. So in reality this is not a journey with a predetermined endpoint, but rather a series of ongoing steps which will hopefully get you to a rewarding destination. Click here to know more.
