With more and more people conducting business online, it’s more important than ever for companies to have mobile apps for products and services. The more convenient it is for prospective buyers to purchase products, the more likely is it that they follow through.
For many businesses, this involves a third-party company responsible for developing the mobile app. Unless the company already has an in-house software development team that can handle the task, they will need to find a good quality company to handle the outsourcing work for them.
When it comes to creating the right app for a specific product or service, the hiring company needs to ensure that they complete their due diligence. Luckily, there are a few standardized steps that help companies create the right app with an outsourced development team.
5 Steps to Ensure a Successfully Outsourced Application
1) Always look for a reputable app development team.
There are many freelance software developers out there that offer businesses reasonably priced mobile apps. Unfortunately, not all of them are reputable and that can easily lead to problems.
Instead, the hiring company must complete quite a bit of research to better guarantee that they’re dealing with a business that has an established team of developers that will be working on their app.
2) Don’t make the mistake of letting price drive the overall decision.
The bottom line is that it will likely cost companies more money to choose an outsourcing company over a freelance software developer. However, this is rather justifiable due to the man hours it takes a team to create a high-quality mobile app.
However, this isn’t necessarily a negative. When a company has a quality team working on their behalf, they are far more likely to get a positive result over individual freelancers. Businesses must choose wisely as they’ll be working with them for as long as they agreed to in the contract.
3) Avoid any company that isn’t easily located (or not at all located) online.
When it comes to choosing the right development team, decision-makers should always look for one that has an established brand of its own. The hiring team should have a very easy time finding the company online with its own website, reviews, and/or social media profiles.
It should be very easy to research them online to see the company’s previous work. Nothing is more important to a company than its reputation in the business world.
4) Look for online reviews of the company.
One of the best ways to evaluate any company is by looking for consumer reviews posted online. There are tons of online review websites that are available for anyone to discover what other people are saying about the possible provider.
These reviews are very helpful as they provide good insights into the company before a potential client decides to go with them to work together on a mobile app. The best way to get a feel for or about a company is to hear from other people who have had apps developed for them by the potential team.
5) The app development company should be familiar with the industry of the hiring company.
Not all industries are created equal, and the client must select the company experienced in creating apps for the market that the hiring company’s products and services fit into.
It’s far more likely that they will get a better result using a company that has previous experience with their type of product. The hiring company should still complete the research and should ask the companies associated with previous work examples if they have any background in creating apps like the one required.
Having the Right Development Team Is Just the Beginning
Finding the right outsourcing team for the development of a new mobile app is just the beginning. There are several things that hiring companies need to take care of before they get started. The team must ensure that they have a solid structure and outline of how they want the app to function as any requirements ahead of meetings with potential outsourcing providers.
The more details that they can share with the outsourcing team, the better. The in-house team must provide them with as much information as possible to ensure that the app that they come up with will be exactly as planned, communicated, and expected.
Follow Up, but Avoid Hovering
Companies shouldn’t act like one of those clients who tend to micromanage, as all of the constant interruptions can only serve to cause delays in development, leading to longer dev times. Instead of constantly calling with tons of questions and status checks, in-house teams should figure out a way to work with the outsourced team in real time (as much as possible) and with regularly scheduled updates alongside weekly meetings.
Testing Is Very Important
After the delivery of the app to the in-house team, there is one more very important step that they can’t forget: the in-house team must set aside time to thoroughly test the app and all of its functions before even considering releasing it on the market. Upon the completion of all of the testing and quality assurance, teams have the ability to work with the dev team to get it added to Google Play and the App Store.
Great Teams Build Great Apps
The in-house teams of hiring companies and decision-makers must fully understand the process of creating a mobile app with not just an outsourcing team, but the right outsourcing team. It’s far more complicated and involves a lot of work to ensure that everyone gets it right the first time.
Thankfully, there are many helpful steps and tips out there that help teams avoid any of the most common pitfalls that people run into when it comes to creating a mobile app. The best advice is for companies to remember to complete their due diligence before making the final decision.
