Are you considering building an app to promote your business, keep in touch with customers or to launch a startup You’re probably busy shortlisting development companies right now, trying to find a team with a good portfolio and skills. Although a lot of companies offer a similar package of app development services, different teams come up with unique approaches for each project.
Every development process always includes iOS or Android engineers, but they couldn’t do much on their own. App development requires a complete team of professionals that can offer their extensive expertise. The regular members of a development team (apart from developers) are project managers, QA engineers, business analysts, and designers. All of them are important. Sure, you can perhaps try and build the app yourself, but if you don’t want an “off the shelf” app with standard options, you need to dig deeper. A full mobile app development team has a number of key players who help you launch your company into the mobile world.
Business analysis
We’ll start with the business analysis as this is an important pre-development stage that defines the future of the project. Business analysts will usually interview you to find out what you’re looking for. You may already have a rough idea on what you want, so it’s important to define it clearly here. If you haven’t, you can get some expert advice from the business analysts as they will know the latest trends and market demands. They can suggest what feature you should include and which you perhaps shouldn’t. After you’ve met with the business analyst, ensure that you’ve discussed everything – a good technical specification of the ins and outs of the project is essential.
After the first step is complete, there’s the development itself. It’s pretty easy to find a team fluent in Swift, Objective C++ or Java, Kotlin or React Native and Flutter. Today development companies are very versatile and agile. And as the competition is intense, each company tries to offer better service and prices.
Clients usually request native app development, though the number of cross-platform solutions has grown in the past few years. The main perk of building a mobile app from scratch is that in the end clients receive a custom app tailored for their businesses.
Quality assurance
There is no guarantee that your app will even work if no tests have been conducted before the release. QA is yet another important stage in the mobile app development. Testing helps to find the problem with the app performance throughout the development process and fix them right away. QA engineers base their opinions on the technical specification and wireframes they receive to see if the app performs accordingly and if there are any fluctuations. Make sure that they’ve covered every eventuality and every possible option.
Project management
Project management is a way to an effective communication between the client and the development team. Usually clients don’t talk to the developers in person, though there can be exceptions. A good Project Manager will sit between the developers and you as the customer, ensuring that costs, timelines and the specification is adhered to. Project managers make sure that both parties are on the same page regarding the project and that the team works according to the clients expectations. One of the project manager’s responsibilities is to provide you with weekly reports on what was done and what is yet to be done. Thorough planning and real-time communication have a tremendous importance.
UI/UX design
There is no app that doesn’t require this service. The visual element of the app plays an important role in how users perceive it. Getting your company logo in there, getting your design and “feel” into the app is important too. Apps with top-class design and smooth navigation always outweigh apps that can only offer simple and unappealing user experience.
If you’re looking to have an app designed for your company or service, above all ensure that you set a budget, stick to it and clearly define what you want so that there’s no misunderstanding.