Credit: ThisIsEngineering Via Pexels
If you look online for advice about creating an app for your business, you often find two schools of thought.
One faction advocates for quality at all cost, encouraging business owners to spare no expense in who they hire to create a custom app, what features they include, and how much time they allot for completion. The thinking, according to this school of thought, is that a powerful, flexible, multi-functional app will pay dividends by way of customer acquisition and retention. They are not necessarily wrong.
The other faction advocates for fast, inexpensive, off-the-shelf apps, citing lower upfront development costs and quicker deployment. According to this school of thought, getting any app up and running is a victory in and of itself – even if scalability, personalization and compatibility are left to the wayside.
The best way to approach app development is to try and find a middle ground. As with any operational business project, creating a custom app requires companies to walk a tightrope between frugality and quality assurance. You want to save as much money as possible on the project without sacrificing its revenue-generating potential (thereby defeating the purpose of creating an app in the first place).
In this article, let’s explore a few potential considerations for saving money on app development – the right way.
Employ Professionals
It may sound counterintuitive when the aim is to save money, but hiring professionals is the safest way to go.
Some companies try to develop their apps in-house with limited resources and unqualified internal talent. While this method saves some money upfront, it may generate a product that causes more problems than it solves. And when you add up your true expenses (including the wages of internal employees diverted to the project), it’s not that much cheaper.
It’s better to partner with a reasonably priced custom app developer with a track record of producing apps on-spec, on-time and on-budget.
Credit: Mikhail Nilov Via Pexels
Look Beyond Your Borders
Next, you have to consider where to outsource your app development. While there are several app development companies in Eastern Europe and Asia that offer relatively low development costs, many are unreliable, and may not deliver the quality and functionality your company needs.
A shrewd middle-ground is to look to our northern neighbours: Canada. Custom app developers in Canada, like TheAppLabb, deliver “North American quality” at slightly lower prices than their American counterparts.
Weigh the Merits of Individual Features
Some features will prove essential to your businesses, but implementing too many can add unnecessary costs to the project. For instance, according to some estimates, push notifications can increase mobile app development costs by 30%. As you begin working with a custom app development company, consider what features you need – and which ones can be safely sacrificed.
Start Simple, Then Build
Starting with a simple, streamlined UI has several benefits. To start, it costs less for developers to make. But secondly, it may also make it easier for new users to adopt your platform. Remember: If you’ve started with a simple, custom-built UI, you can always add and complexify the app later down the line.
It’s entirely possible to build a powerful, scalable, user-friendly app without going over budget. Follow these general tips to start creating an app that uses your money wisely.
