Dorota Jasińska
Andrzej Puczyk
The mobile app market is growing rapidly, and more and more businesses are adding mobile applications to their services. The number of available Android apps has passed 3.5 million, and iOS apps–1.8 million. According to Statista, total mobile app revenue is expected to grow, reaching a market volume of over $780 bn by 2029.
These numbers prove the potential of mobile apps for businesses that want to reach more customers, drive growth, and generate more revenue. As the need for access to apps and mobile solutions grows, even small businesses can use easy-to-configure, off-the-shelf apps or custom mobile solutions. A mobile app is slowly becoming a “must-have” to compete in the market. Custom app development can address the needs of creating a successful mobile application for businesses.
The mobile application development process involves many specialized steps beyond just writing code, which is why it may seem complex for organizations. Neontri specialists have over 15 years of experience delivering awarded mobile apps of all types of complexity for customers, with no technical knowledge required from the client.
Custom app development tailored to your business needs
Custom mobile app development brings more benefits compared to off-the-shelf solutions, as it can be customized and adjusted for the specific needs of an organization. Developing custom applications can bring many benefits to the organization. Custom software solutions allow for scaling and third-party integrations to drive growth, while ready-made apps may not be flexible. With custom development, the customer has full control over the apps’ features and updates. The advantages of custom app solutions are:
- Scalability and flexibility: Creating custom apps offers scalability and flexibility that are adjusted to the specific needs of businesses. Depending on the audience and goal of the app, custom solutions can accommodate new unique features and scale with the growth of the company. Custom mobile applications are designed to seamlessly integrate with key existing systems, APIs, and other software, ensuring long-term flexibility for the business. Pre-built software has limitations in these areas that are often challenging to overcome.
- Security advantages: Data security and the prevention of unauthorized access are crucial for users. Custom app development allows adding extra security layers to the application, increasing safety and access control. To address the issue properly, businesses need to adhere to security frameworks and compliance standards, such as HIPAA in the US or GDPR in Europe.
- Long-term cost efficiency: While the initial cost of custom application development is higher than implementing an off-the-shelf solution, they offer savings in the long run. Modifications and adjustments of ready-made applications are costly. Adding new features to an application that is not flexible, like a custom app, also involves significant spending. Off-the-shelf apps often depend on licensing and subscription fees, which are recurring costs. Moreover, custom applications are easier to fix and maintain as businesses control the development and bug-fixing process. In the case of off-the-shelf software, businesses rely on third-party support and their timeline, which may result in extended downtime. In the long run, the custom application tailored to specific business needs eliminates significant costs. Developing custom applications ensures that the solution is flexible and adjusted to the business needs.
- Competitive advantage through personalization: Proper service customization and personalization are significant for application success and user satisfaction. Custom apps offer tailored, user-friendly solutions that can help resonate with user needs. Custom apps also incorporate brand-specific elements, like brand color, logo, etc. This ensures the services stand out and help connect with the target audience. Neontri can prepare a custom application in just a few months to bring your business closer to your customers.
- Improved integration with existing systems: Custom applications are tailored to the organization’s IT infrastructure, ensuring streamlined integration into the existing systems. This allows a custom app to easily communicate with legacy code, databases, and tools without the need for time-consuming, complex migrations and code refactoring. Custom-built apps can also significantly improve operations by, for example, offloading the core system.
Custom app development process
The custom app development process involves several steps to deliver quality services. Organizations must determine their goals and requirements to properly plan the development stages and choose the right tech stack. Neontri experts with over 15 years of experience can assist throughout the entire process of creating a custom app.
Understanding business needs and goals
The development process should start with a thorough analysis of the business’s unique needs and goals. First, the application purpose, target audience, and primary functions need to be defined. It’s important to properly identify the app’s functions and possible ways to achieve business goals. At this point, organizations must determine core functionalities, create a clear roadmap for necessary features, and eliminate unnecessary steps or add-ons.
Pro tip: This is the base for the next steps. Involving an experienced business analyst in the organization’s industry can help streamline the process and avoid common mistakes, saving lots of time in future app development stages.
Planning and research phase
The next step involves thorough planning and research. Because software development costs can be unpredictable, it’s important to analyze all elements needed for custom development. The planning phase should focus on the following:
- Compliance considerations
- Primary features and goals
- Tech stack
- Competitive analysis
- Timeline and budget estimation.
Setting up a timeline for each development phase requires experience and know-how, which is why having a business analyst on board is necessary. The planning and research phase should also analyze potential bottlenecks in the development process. This is the moment when the business can learn about possible integrations of third-party tools or scaling options.
Role | Number of positions | Responsibilities |
Software Developer | 6-9 | Writing the code for the application. |
Product Owner/Product Manager | 1 | Representing the business needs and prioritizing features./Overseeing the project timeline, budget, and resources. |
Tester | 2-3 | Testing the application, identifying and fixing bugs. |
Business Analyst | 2-4 | Ensuring developed solutions meet the initial goals. |
Pro tip: The planning and research phase is the base for further steps, so to avoid any bottlenecks in the development process, invite top specialists to prepare a complex plan and perform thorough research.
Choosing the right technology stack
Depending on the app’s functions and goals, the technology stack may differ. The selected technology stack influences how the app will perform. That’s why combining the right frameworks with tools and programming languages will contribute to the performance, efficiency and scalability of the app. Moreover, the right stack will ensure easy maintenance and updates.
In fintech apps, Swift and Kotlin are the native programming languages. On the back-end, which also depends on the app’s legacy systems and purpose, Python, Kotlin/Java, and C++ are popular, but new technologies are emerging, such as Rust and Go-lang. This is an excellent choice for scalability and security. PostgreSQL and Mongo databases are among the popular options for storing data in the backend used by the fintech apps.
For e-commerce apps, Swift, SwiftUI, and Async/Await are good choices for iOS apps. Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Koin, and Ktor are good Android app options. As the backend is usually already operated by the company, it must be correctly integrated into the app. For example, the company may already operate using a web app. The choice of integration method will vary depending on the order management system used.
Neontri experts have experts with over 12 years of experience who will help your company choose the best technologies depending on the systems used by the organization. We delivered mobile facades for e-commerce businesses and helped create dedicated solutions for our customers with growth and scalability in mind.
Pro tip: Choosing a reliable custom app development company will guarantee your app’s success.
Testing and quality assurance
Testing the app’s functionality and quality assurance ensures the product functions well and meets the requirements. Testing allows the detection and elimination of bugs, while quality assurance helps prevent potential problems and performance issues. Identifying problems and bugs at early development stages can significantly reduce the cost of the process.
There should be two types of testing: manual and automated. Automated testing ensures quick verification if code changes haven’t caused new issues. It allows to cover a lot of cases fast and effectively. Manual testing allows the app to be checked by real users of the app scope that automated testing would miss. Combining these two types can help ensure the best app quality.
Launching the customized app
Every app needs to be prepared for launch on Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Both stores evaluate the key aspects of the app. Google Play store relies on an automated review process that checks policy compliance, app design, and functionality. Apple App Store has a more manual verification process regarding app design, functionality, security, and compliance.
Apart from ensuring it meets the requirements for launch, it needs to be properly described for users and optimized for app store search (ASO). Once launched, it can be promoted through various channels, like social media, paid ads, organic promotion, or email campaigns.
Post-launch: monitoring and maintenance
After the launch of an app, it’s necessary to monitor its performance to ensure good functionality. The post-launch period allows the collection of data to optimize the app, its features, fixing bugs and analyzing user feedback or needs. Such performance metrics and user feedback should guide the app’s further development.
It’s necessary to update the app constantly to avoid technical debt and security issues. Crash and user reports, along with engagement data, are the base for potential new features or problems that have appeared in the meantime. Addressing the issues regularly improves user experience and the app’s functionality.
As nowadays user face more and more cyberthreats, updating the app with safety and security in mind is a must. The app may contain access to sensitive information that needs to be adequately protected. Otherwise, users will uninstall the app. That’s why encryption, secure data storage and compliance are so important while planning the app.
Pro tip: Businesses can forget the app needs to be maintained, which may generate vulnerabilities and technical problems. That’s why choosing the right vendor for your business who can deliver maintenance services is crucial.
At Neontri, we offer complex maintenance and 24/7 support for your business. Our specialists know how to ensure the app’s safety and development after its launch. We offer several types of maintenance services, depending on the customer’s needs.
Neontri, your custom application development expert
Neontri offers custom software solutions for various industries and, as a mobile app development company, has created mobile apps for leading European banks. Our portfolio contains the best mobile application for the biggest bank in Central Eastern Europe, as well as other awarded mobile apps used by millions of users.
We also have expertise in other industries, like e-commerce, as we helped develop a custom mobile solution for a leading e-commerce company in Central Eastern Europe. Our experts, with over 12 years of experience, know how to create an app that will seamlessly integrate with third-party providers.
We can prepare a mobile banking MVP using our custom framework in just 7 months and build a mobile banking app in 1 year. Our experience allows us to deliver top mobile solutions to your company using the best available technologies and integrating with your legacy systems.
Contact us to unlock your business’s full potential with a custom app that will attract customers and drive growth for your company.
Final thoughts
Custom app development offers many benefits that are connected to the tailored solutions used in the application. Such apps offer greater flexibility and control of the development and a wide range of integration options with already existing systems. Custom applications are dedicated to the business needs and offer scalability which is not always the case when off-the-shelf-solutions are used.
Still, the development process of a custom app must be well thought out and include proper planning and research, programming, testing, and maintenance. To ensure the best possible result with the custom app for the business, it’s important to find a reliable vendor with proper experience in the field.
FAQ
How can we ensure our custom app development project doesn’t fail?
To make sure the custom app development project succeeds, the organization must focus on a few areas. These include setting realistic goals, understanding business needs, proper planning and research, finding the best technology stack, testing, marketing after launch, and maintenance. Taking into account all these factors will contribute to the success of the app.
What factors influence the ROI of custom app development?
The Return on Investment (ROI) of a custom app depends on several factors. These include clear business objectives, good user experience, development and testing costs, scalability, maintenance and updates, and marketing.
How can businesses measure the benefits of custom app development over time?
The benefits of custom apps can be measured using the following metrics: user engagement, revenue growth, operational efficiency, feedback, savings, etc. It’s important to track the number of active users and their retention. An app can also generate significant revenue growth or streamline business processes. User feedback reflects the app’s value to customers. Tracking such data can give insight into the app’s benefits.
What are the intangible benefits of custom app development?
The intangible benefits of custom app development include scalability, enhanced customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and improved security. Scalability allows the app to adapt to the user’s needs, and a better user experience will influence customer loyalty and brand awareness. Custom apps can also help streamline workflows and automate tasks. Moreover, custom solutions ensure better security and control over data.