If you’re reading this, you’ve probably decided to build a mobile app for your company. Congrats, you’ve made the right move. Once your business has gained some momentum, a website alone will not suffice. A mobile app can help you grow your business sustainably and meet the customer’s expectations. To get the most out of your investment, you need a good development partner. Choosing a mobile app development company for your business can be tricky. But don’t worry, we’ll help you out.
The good thing is you have plenty of options. There are more than enough companies ready to help you out. The other side of the coin is that it’s not easy to choose who’s best suited to you.
Technological capabilities aside, you need a development partner who understands you.
Whatever technology you want to use, it’s not hard to find a company that specializes in it. But when you’re creating something for the long term, you want a team who understands you, what your organisation does, and your requirements. In simple terms, you need a team with the right vibe.
And communication is very important during app development
If you’ve ever developed an app you know the drill. Clear communication between the stakeholders is important at every stage of the development process. And that’s why communication is among the top skills a developer needs.
You can gauge the communication, and the gaps therein, after a couple of discussions with the team. See if the team is able to understand what you’re talking about, and if you’re able to understand what they’re talking about.
And communication is two-way(obviously). Make sure your conversation doesn’t become an email conversation. You need a development partner that gives good feedback and works with you to build a good solution. The client knows the business, the development team knows the technology. Unless you have a precise list of requirements, it’s better to work with the app development company to come up with this. Of course, this changes significantly if your organisation has its own IT team.
Someone in your company who has experience in app development will be an excellent liaison here.
While discussing communication, discuss the communication tools used by the company, their working hours, the time zone, etc. Most companies use similar communication tools and have their own methods to work around different time zones. But it’s always better to understand how the project management works, how often you get updates, and how often the meetings are held.
Mirror of business
This is an interesting concept often talked about by business coaches. I can’t say how it will stand under strict scientific scrutiny, but the concept is interesting. And makes sense anecdotally.
The concept is that you attract clients like you. If you’re not one for strict deadlines, you’ll get clients who don’t care about paying you on time. If you’re not focused, you’ll get clients who are not. You get clients who reflect who you are.
It stands to reason that the reverse is also true. You get service providers who reflect you.
This is an important factor to keep in mind while looking for any service, and not just app development. Respect the meeting timings, be punctual, and you’re likely to end up with a provider that reciprocates.
If you know what you want, you get a mobile app development company that gives you exactly what you want. If you are not sure of what you want, make sure you do it before development starts.
Check out the portfolio of the app development company
When you’re developing an app for your business, particularly a customer facing app, the UI and UX is super important. A bad user experience can have a negative impact on your business.
And there’s really only one way to know how good your app will be, and that is to check out the development team’s portfolio. Of course, if you’re working with a relatively new mobile app development company, they may not have a portfolio to showcase. This doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t be a good fit, you’ll just have to do more due diligence in that case.
Always better to have an app developer experienced in the technology as well as the industry
When developing an app, you can expect better results if you’re working with a team experienced in the specific technology. For example, when you’re building an IoT solution, it’s better to work with a company that has experience developing IoT applications. When you’re building an AR app, it’s better to go with a developer team that has previously worked on AR apps.
Of course, any developer worth the insane amount of stickers on their laptop can learn anything new fairly quickly. And an experienced team will be ready and capable of taking on any new challenge.
But a team that has worked with a technology will be familiar with best practises and can foresee problems easily.
Another key factor is the experience of the team with your industry. If you’re a pump manufacturer, or if you’re into B2B, you’ll be better off with a company that has worked in a similar industry. Familiarity with the business processes and goals will definitely be a plus.