Mobile devices are increasingly moving into media, advertising, software, and services. Most people rely on them for business, shopping, gaming, communicating and beyond. Smartphones now play a “critical role” the productivity lives of business professionals. Handheld devices are now key to doing business.
Consumer apps have dominated the mobile marketplace in recent times. But business-friendly apps have made significant inroads into the workplace. Think time management, collaboration, task management, expense reporting, or internal content sharing.
Many companies are already making their own customized applications, while most are investing in outside apps to boost productivity and help remote workers stay connected. By 2018, more than half of all B2E mobile apps will be created by enterprise business analysts using coddles tools, according to Gartner. Outlined below are some key practices for building mobile apps today.
1. User experience cannot be overemphasised.
You should aim for a mobile app that is both intuitive and user-friendly. Users don’t really care about how much investment you have made in your app. Even the best built app will not be successful if they are not user-friendly.
“In some cases, the desired application functionality may be the same for each platform. But customers of each platform expect the style to be similar to the other applications that they use. A good motto here is “application personality, platform look and feel.” says Michael Thomas of The Next Web
2. Build your mobile app with your audience in mind.
Here is Chelsea Apps (UK enterprise mobile applications and Innovation Labs.) advice for building mobile apps. “Start everything with understanding your audience.The Discovery phase is where we find out what makes your customers, workforce and business tick.
We have found the optimum team always has senior consultancy experience alongside the fearless affinity for technology that comes with the younger guys in Development and UX/UI. That’s because our way of solving problems for our clients is entirely rooted in understanding how human behaviour has been practically impacted by the ongoing revolution in mobile technology.”
Related: Here is How to Build a Remarkable (and Useful) App People Will Actually Use
3. Educate yourself about the competitive landscape.
There is so much you can learn from your competitors before you begin to build your app. Find out what What are they doing right. Research similar ideas out there, test competitors’ apps and note the benefits of each. What can be improved? What are users complaining about most? What features do users hate most? How best can you improve upon what your completion offers?
4. Strive for consistent functionality across all platforms.
Most developers build their apps for a single platform before develop the same app for the next popular platform. Mobile users expect nothing less than the best functionality like a similar app they are used to. They will expect their interactions with your app to be similar to other apps on their platform.
5. Get your potential users involved.
Don’t develop in isolation. most apps built behind closed doors do not translate well to the real world. Involve potential users in the design process. One of the best ways to get your prospective users involved is to release a minimal viable version to a section of your potential users and solicit their feedback whilst they interact with your app. Use then use their comments and difficulties to improve. A key to providing a quality app is early customer feedback. Get your beta out as soon as possible.
