Mobile App is a major undertaking – Don’t treat it lightly
In the world awash with Mobile Apps, it is amazing how many requests we get for creating a new Mobile Application.
Whilst this is great business for us, usually clients are unaware of the potential costs of development and the costs of ongoing maintenance involved in owning a Mobile Application. Before anyone embarks on a Mobile Application Development projects, there are a number of key areas they need to consider.
Why do you need a Mobile Application?
This is a fundamental question you need to ask before committing to an ongoing project of development of an application and maintenance.
If you have a well-designed Responsive Website, then it is questionable that you need an App for your visitors. A well-thought out and well-designed website, should be easy to use on a mobile device, as well as offering all the functionality that your website offer to a desktop user to your mobile user.
Many apps have been developed for either internal use by staff, or for the users of the service your company offers online. Not withstanding the above comment about your website design, there are some services that Mobile Applications can enhance. These include Banking, where mobile apps can offer additional security for transactions, online e-commerce platforms that can offer order tracking on the move, etc.
It is really very important to consider what you can offer on your mobile application that you cannot offer on your website, which will also be of value to the users to entice them to download and use your Mobile App.
Requirements Brief
Just like websites, or any software, it is futile to start a project with a blank piece of paper. You need to describe and document your requirements in full, before a developer can consider giving you a valid timescale and price.
We all hear about escalating costs of digital projects, but the reason most projects overrun their time and budget is the dreaded “Blank Page” for requirements. If there is no detailed requirements document, then don’t blame your developer for exceeding your original budget or timescales.
Lack of detailed Requirements Document is the biggest reason for project failures, cost overrun, and project time overrun.
Operating System – Android or iOS?
It stands to reason that you are best to cover both variants if you are going to sell your Mobile App, or make it available to your customers, as you have no control over the platform in use by the consumers.
For internal projects, it is possible to limit the operating system to one or the other, if your company does not operate BYO (Bring Your Own) device policy. Assuming your company provides smartphones for staff usage, then you only need to develop for whichever operating system you use for the smartphones you provide to your staff.
Updates and Maintenance
You need to recognise that once the original Mobile Application project is complete, you will still need to maintain and enhance the software. There are 2 drivers for updated :
- New Functionality – Business environment is not static, which means new requirements come to light, as well as requirements that you had not anticipated will come to play. So onward developments is part of the commitment when you develop a Mobile Application.
- Operating System Updates – Currently Android and iOS have at least one major updates per year, plus interim releases for bug-fix and security patches. Your Mobile Application needs to be tested against the minor Operating System releases, but will also need to be recertified by Google and Apple for new major releases. If you do not keep up with these changes, your application may be withdrawn from their respective official stores (Google Play and Apple Store).
Summary
Mobile Applications are not for the faint-hearted, and require ongoing commitment, which in turn requires ongoing costs. Before you embark on a Mobile App project, you need to make sure you have a sound financial case, with realistic cost-benefit analysis, which considers not only the first stage of a product being launched, but also the upkeep of the product.
cContact us and we can help you create a Requirements and Technical brief (see our articles on this), and help you develop a sound and useful Mobile App.