Technologies transform approaches to doing business significantly and push an increasing number of companies to go digital. No wonder more than 70% of organizations currently have a digitalization strategy.
All these companies are working on application development to improve their business performance, provide high-quality customer experience, and, at the same time, unlock new revenue streams. While that only scratches the surface of what tech can do for your firm.
Want to use technology to its fullest potential? We’ve prepared a guide on how to create an app for your business. Learn about the main dev stages, mistakes to avoid, and application costs.
In this article, Arounda will rely on its extensive experience in business application design and development. We’ll share tips from our practice and our successful case, the Mina Health product.
Types of Business Applications
Business applications are software aimed at increasing the efficiency of companies in almost any industry. The goal of creating such a product is also the desire to generate higher profits. Such software is divided into two main types. Let’s talk about them in more detail.
Apps for External Operations
Such applications are needed to establish interaction with customers and business partners. Some examples include eCommerce marketplaces, CRM systems, payment services, etc.
Apps for Internal Operations
Such applications are necessary to streamline the main business processes within the company. Apps for internal operations may include enterprise resource planning (ERP) or HR management systems.
If we talk about the type of software, it can be mobile, web applications, or both.
How to Plan and Develop Successful App in 6 Steps
Let’s say you’ve decided to create software for your business. Regardless of whether it is a web or mobile application, the development process is as follows:
Business strategy development
Dev team hiring
Budget planning
Application development
App marketing
Ongoing support
Now we’ll discuss how to build a company app step-by-step.
Step 1. Business Strategy Development
Developing an application without a comprehensive business plan is a risky venture. Not having a clear strategy puts your reputation and money at stake.
That is why the first and most important thing you should do is to create a business strategy. For this, you need to:
Determine your business goals. It can be improving the efficiency of your employees’ work or getting a monthly income of ‘N’ dollars. Make sure your goals are clear and understandable.
Research the market and competitors. Think about the best applications available, download them, and use them. Analyze competitors’ software and offer even better.
Define your target audience. If you’re building an application for internal operations, it’s clear who your audience is. However, you should learn about your target users more if it’s an app for external use.
Step 2. Dev Team Hiring
You can look for a development team with a ready business plan and a thorough strategy. To create an application, you’ll need the following specialists:
Mobile or web developers
UI/UX designers
QA specialists
Project managers
Business analysts
The team size will depend on the project’s complexity and timelines and your financial capabilities.
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Step 3. Budget Planning
Many applications fail due to insufficient funding, so planning your budget is crucial. Ask your dev team: “How much does it cost to create an app for my business?” Let your specialists consider all the necessary features, design, tech stack, etc.
Estimates in advance will help you stick to your app development plan and allow you to budget ahead of time. You can also create clear timelines for building your application based on budgeting.
Step 4. Application Development
Now your team can bring your concept to life. The development of an online business app takes several stages:
Defining specifications
Creating app’s UI/UX design
Application development (mobile/frontend, backend, API development)
Quality assurance
App deployment
Step 5. App Marketing
This stage is more about applications for external operations. To attract users to your software, you need to advertise it and stand out from the crowd. Remember also that user retention is no less important than acquisition.
Step 6. Ongoing Support
If your application is well welcomed in the market, it doesn’t mean you should stop there. It’s only the beginning. You can constantly improve your software product and offer more innovative solutions to your users.
Typical Mistakes in Business Application Development
We discussed what to do when creating a business application. And now, let’s discuss what you should absolutely avoid. Here are some common mistakes in application development.
1. Neglecting Business Strategy Development
Are there any startups that have succeeded without a pre-made business strategy? Yes, definitely. But these are rather exceptions to the rules.
Business strategy is one of the key requirements to develop an app. This planning process allows you to understand your target audience, the main goals of your application, and its strengths and weaknesses. It is also the ability to study competitors and find ways to get ahead of them.
2. Neglecting UI/UX Design
Even if you have developed an innovative application based on advanced technologies, all this will not matter if you’ve forgotten about UI/UX. You must design an app thoughtfully so that user interaction with your product is smooth.
Apps that provide a flawless user experience are in higher demand than those that don’t. So attention to UI/UX is your competitive advantage.
3. Choosing the Wrong Dev Team
The real problem is when it turns out that the contractors do not suit you at all. For example, they lack expertise, have unrealistic prices, and constantly miss deadlines. How can you choose a reliable service provider right away?
Take a look at some tips:
Values. Learn about the development service provider’s priorities and values. Do you share the same views?
Communication. Pay attention to how communication with the dev company takes place.
Tech expertise. Check out the company’s portfolio, employee training certificates, etc. Ensure that the team’s level of knowledge meets your project’s needs.
Industry expertise. Equally important is that your vendor has previous experience in your industry. It’s a guarantee of a complete understanding of all processes.
Coordination. Learn how effective project management, decision-making, problem-solving, etc., are. See how the team works in general.
All these mistakes should not scare you. You can easily avoid them. You merely need to pay more attention to business analysis, UI/UX design, and the selection of experts who will do all this.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an App?
The cost of application development varies under the influence of many factors. In particular, they are:
Overall application complexity
Number and complexity of features
Selected technology stack
Chosen platform (web, mobile)
UX/UI design complexity
Dev companies’ rates
Let’s look at the approximate cost of a business application according to its level of complexity:
Development of a simple application: from $35,000 to $93,000.
Development of a medium complexity application: from $50,500 to $135,000.
Development of a complex application: from $89,000 to $223,000.
Arounda’s Experience in Developing Business Applications
Arounda has extensive experience in the design and development of business applications. Our highly skilled team can create a digital product from scratch or improve an existing one for you.
Our services include three main areas:
Strategy. Our experts can conduct a fundamental analysis of your business and ideas.
Design. We are equally skilled in areas such as UI/UX and web design, and brand identity.
Development. Our team can effortlessly develop a mobile or web application for your business.
Take a look at a business app we have recently created. Such a project was Mina Health. It’s a healthcare product that leverages new technology and clinical research to modernize the menopause journey. Our team handled the Mina Health web app’s UI/UX development and design.
It’s just one example of what our experts can deliver for your business. But there’s way more. So feel free to peek through our portfolio.
Final Thoughts
Using technology for business is a must. This way, you can increase your company’s and employees’ productivity, gain more loyal customers, and boost your profits. Owning a business application will help you a lot in this.
Use today’s guide if you have a business app idea but are unsure exactly what to do with it. We hope our step-by-step app development handbook helps you figure out what’s what.
Have you already read our article? Then you probably noticed you require a reliable vendor to create an app. Arounda is just the one you need. We’ve already developed numerous products for various businesses and are ready to do the same for you. Drop us a line, and let’s get to work.
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