From Concept To Distribution
These days many companies are
opting to develop their own applications
in order to better serve customers
or to meet specific internal
needs. You could, for example, build
an out-facing app that improves communication
between your employees
and customers. Or you could create a
more in-depth application that helps
administrators monitor your company’s
network or data. If there is an
unmet need in your company or even
in your industry as a whole, it can
make sense to make your own application
to solve the issue. We will highlight
what it takes to get the job done.
FOCUS ON THE IDEA
Of course, every app starts with an
idea, which usually grows from recognizing
that a process for getting something
done is either lacking or could be
improved. If you think an app could
help, there are numerous specifics to
consider before embarking on the appbuilding
process, but first you should
document what the app will do in its entirety.
It might be easy to write down a
sentence or two about the app and deem
the idea solid, but more is needed: Draw
out the idea to all imaginable conclusions,
using a whiteboard for diagramming
if necessary, to ensure the app’s
full scope is understood at the outset.
DEFINE YOUR AUDIENCE
Identifying an audience for your
app should be implicit when you
draw out the overall app idea. Broadly
speaking, an intended audience is either
internal (company employees) or
external (customers or others outside
the company). However, as sometimes
happens, you may find throughout the
development process that an app designed
for internal purposes could be
useful for people outside of your company
or customer base, or vice versa
So be prepared to adjust the app’s
scope during development.
DETERMINE THE NEED
Before you begin the development
process, search the online app stores
serving various mobile platforms and
consult the vendors your IT department
works with to determine whether an
app offering similar functionality already
exists. If you are considering a
consumer-facing app, compare your app
concept with any similar apps to make
sure a market exists for your product.
If an internal app is what you have in
mind, make sure a vendor doesn’t offer
an app that could be adapted to your
company’s needs with the vendor’s help.
CHOOSE PLATFORMS
A potential deterrent to building an
app in-house could relate to your choice
of platform. If you are building for one
platform, such as iOS or Android, then
your in-house team might be able to
handle the programming, testing, and
debugging needs of the app. But, says
Altaz Valani, senior research analyst
at Info-Tech Research Group (www.in
fotech.com), “if you’re thinking about
spreading across multiple platforms
and devices, then the best approach is
to consider an abstraction of the whole
mobile space, and there are third-party
companies that do that.”
PREP FOR MULTIPLE DEVICES
Preparing your app for use on certain
device types doesn’t always end
with choosing one or more platforms.
“You need to get out of the mobileonly
mindset,” says Valani. “You can
use mobile to get into the marketplace,
but everything is connected and everything
is a potential device. Users are
now looking for integration with their
tablets and with their desktops, so you
have to service that need. You have
to keep all of these branches synchronized
at all times.”
BUILD THE APP
If you feel confident that your idea
for an app is worth pursuing and all of
the targets-processes, audience, platforms-
are nailed down, the next step
is to build it. Your company may have
developers on staff who are experts at
app building, or some training might
be necessary to get on-staff developers
up to speed regarding specific mobile
platforms. But if your workforce lacks
any of the necessary technical knowhow,
it’s often a good idea to enlist
the services of a third-party vendor.
Ultimately, ensure that whoever develops
your app can execute on the
overall vision, as buggy or otherwise
problematic apps invariably draw unwanted
TEST & RETEST
After developing a minimum viable
product version of your application,
perform limited testing internally and
use the resulting feedback to build a
more stable version. If, after that, you
feel comfortable with the current state of
the app, then you should start casting a
wider net for testers. After testing with a
relatively small set of users, consider initiating
a beta test with a wider audience
before releasing the app for regular use.
SUBMIT FOR DISTRIBUTION
For external apps, it will be obvious
which marketplaces to submit your app
to if you built it for specific platforms.
The curating process varies; roughly,
the Apple’s iTunes Store is most stringent,
Google Play is the least, and
Microsoft’s Windows Phone is somewhere
in between. If you created the
app for multiple platforms, it’s simplest
to start the curation process with the
Android version.
SELL THE APP
If you built your app with the intent
of generating revenue, then
you’ll need to set a price point after
you’ve selected an app marketplace.
According to Valani, there is a
threshold where most apps “are 99
cents to three dollars.” Less expensive
apps can lead to more sales or even
impulse purchases, but if you believe
your app has a large enough feature
set to warrant a higher price, you
can always go beyond the threshold.
Valani also adds that lower priced
apps make it so “you’re being driven
primarily by volume.” But if your app
can fill a particularly large need, then
you may be able to make up the difference
in total revenue.
SUPPORT THE APP
The development process isn’t over
as soon as the app hits the marketplace.
You should regularly check
in on customer reviews or employee
feedback to determine whether you
need to change the app through quick
updates or make wholesale changes
in a future version. “Buggy and slow
applications just won’t survive,” says
Valani about external apps. “There’s
a very low barrier where if the app
doesn’t do what I need to do, it’s
gone. You need constant updates and
to consider things that are really important
to your users, such as performance,
scalability, bug fixes, and
security. The moment you start to get
things that aren’t working correctly,
you open the opportunity for a competitor
to get in there and create an
app that actually offers that.”
