Make Your App Simple to Navigate with These 6 Design Tips

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Mobile app design is not all about looks and beautiful aesthetics. It’s sometimes about how easily users can communicate and interact with your app.

Think about app design as a concept that merges looks and interaction – aesthetics and functionality. And app navigation is like interactions or a conversation with an app.

So, making your app navigable is critical to the overall design work.

Here are six design tips to make your app simple to navigate:

1. Thumb navigation

Research has suggested that 49% of app users use only one thumb to navigate the phone’s interface. When designing, remember that your app will be used in numerous ways.

So, ensure that when designing, you place the most crucial features at the bottom of the app. This way, users can reach these features when using the phone with a hand or two.

2. Bottom tab bar

Many reputable apps, including LinkedIn and Instagram, place their primary features on the bottom tab bar. For instance, Instagram’s core functionality tabs are accessed through the tab bar, making switching between features easy.

So, when designing an app, ensure you do the following:

  • Avoid using icons of different colors at the bottom
  • Avoid scrabble icons at the tab bar
  • Show only the most frequently used destinations

You can always display a badge at the tab bar to show new information.

3. Card-style design

Cards are critical elements to use in your mobile interface design because they can display actionable features. The card-style design allows content to reveal itself to the targeted audience, making navigation easy and fast.

The card-style design further gives users the fun feeling of swiping left and right. For instance, the Google Primer App allows users to tap on each card and swipe the cards away anytime they are done reading what’s written on each card.

4. Avoid clutter

It’s advisable to keep your app clean and succinct. And by avoiding clutter, you make the app cleaner and easy to navigate. In addition, by removing clutter, you prioritize content, and the space, whether white or black, contributes to readability.

5. Full-screen navigation

Full-screen navigation means you don’t save any space on your screen. This type of navigation can be beneficial and equally powerful for some mobile apps. The full-screen navigation is simply a navigation platform that lists all the navigation elements, and it’s great for simplicity and coherence if you select the colors properly.

6. Search box

Your users can feel locked in a dark room if you omit search navigation. Ensure that you incorporate a magnifying glass icon at the top of the app to give your users the liberty to search for whatever they want.

Adding a search box means liberating your users and letting them explore every nook and cranny in your app.

NS804 – App Navigation Made Easy!

NS804 is a trusted provider of superior mobile app design solutions for Android and IOS. NS804 seeks to provide clients – individuals, businesses, corporations, and organizations – with clean interfaces and functional apps that answer difficult questions.

In addition, NS804 apps meet the criteria of simplicity and functionality allowing consumers to enjoy all that an app has to offer.

Contact NS804 for superior mobile app design in Richmond Va.

How to Make an App User Friendly

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Mobile applications continue to be critical tools for our everyday lives. Many factors must be considered when creating an app including; services provided, layout, design, features, and user experience.

Development of mobile apps requires a lot of effort and ingenuity with each app designed to solve a particular problem. However, what makes an app stand out is the user experience which can make a significant difference in making an app successful and stand out from the rest.

There is growing competition for app developers to create quality popular apps. With so many apps out there, users have a wide array to choose from. This makes app retention crucial by not only making the experience awesome but also being functional by solving the user’s problem.

So how do you make your app user-friendly in a highly saturated space? Well, making an app user-friendly requires some elements to collectively work together to achieve this goal.

1. Keep it Simple

The most important tip for making an app user-friendly is simply making it simple. The end user is likely to stay on an app that is simple and easy to navigate. Instagram and Tik Tok are some of the most popular apps which is because of the basic functionality that makes them easy to use.

A basic design must hook users who are not particularly tech-savvy and appeal to those with short attention spans. The average user is usually not interested in all the features of an app. Most users are focused on functionality and convenience when using the app.

They want to navigate the app seamlessly without feeling overwhelmed with information or complex features. An easy-to-use app means a new user can jump straight into the app with zero familiarity yet be able to navigate with ease.

Keeping it simple with an easy-to-understand layout and design creates a pleasant experience.

2. Understand the Target Market

The user interface and experience are based on user demands and behavior. User demands are typically the issues, difficulties, or obstacles that users are trying to address with the app.

User behavior on the other hand is the general pattern of characteristics that the target market shows while attempting to solve the issues.

For instance, younger users heavily rely on apps for on-demand services, whereas elderly users enjoy the personal touch of phone conversations. To make an app user-friendly, it is essential to comprehend the subtleties of user wants and behavior.

Making an app with the preferences of your target users as the top priority will ensure that you are creating something they will enjoy and use repeatedly.

3. Make it Safe and Secure

People are becoming more aware of the threat of hackers and the potential dangers of information getting leaked to the wrong hands. Users want the assurance that the data shared on apps are secure and will not be accessed or used illegally. This is especially true for apps that collect sensitive data like credit card information, medical data, or bank details.

For such apps, the consideration of security cannot be overlooked. Any app with security breaches is going to have a negative outlook with users who will avoid it completely.

Therefore, you should take all necessary steps to ensure that users of your application do not suffer any security breaches. Many apps employ a Facebook or Google sign-in as a method of contracting out their security procedures to a trusted vendor.

The first thing users notice once they launch an app is a design, color, and layout. A basic color scheme is appealing and user-friendly as opposed to a clash of various bright colors. The design should be attractive yet simple without being overbearing for the users.

The layout should be clean without too much going on to convey an application with extraordinary visual appeal. All in all, the design and layout should be simple with icons and paths that make it easy for users to navigate the app.

NS804 – Making Your App User-Friendly

NS804 is a trusted provider of superior mobile app solutions. We help individual businesses and large companies navigate the difficult process of developing an intuitive and user-friendly app. At NS804, we work together with clients to identify their different business needs and deliver mobile app solutions that address these issues.

Contact NS804 for superior, user-friendly mobile apps.

App Commerce Trends of the Future

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The mobile app industry is thriving due to the high uptake of smartphone technology. The increased consumption of smartphone devices alongside higher internet penetration rates leads to a corresponding growth in mobile apps.

According to published statistics, there are 6.3 billion smartphone users globally. And if you factor in the 1.14 billion tablet users globally which are growing exponentially at a rate of 26%, you realize just how reputable and promising the mobile app market is.

In 2022 alone e-commerce sales are slated to exceed $430 billion. The e-commerce sector is growing as retailers respond to consumers’ increased uptake of smartphone devices and mobile apps.

So, retailers that want to maintain a competitive advantage must watch out for new trends that will define and shape the mobile app landscape.

Let’s take a look at some app commerce trends of the future.

1. Shopping via mobile apps

Credible statistics show that 72% of e-commerce sales happen on mobile devices, with 85% of customers opting for mobile apps for their day-to-day shopping. Evidence has shown that the continued adoption and the rising preference for mobile app shopping are due to the speed these apps function. Already, consumers are finding mobile apps speedier, agile, robust, and ultimately convenient.

2. One-click purchasing

One-click is a term first postulated by the world’s leading retail giant Amazon to mean ‘making all purchases with one click. One-click purchasing allows consumers to buy all products from a store without necessarily having to key in their personal or purchasing information.

You only have to click and all information keyed in including:

  • Billing address
  • Shipping address
  • Credit card number
  • Email address
  • Card verification number
  • Customer name

Retail outlets that use one-click purchase options allow customers to complete all purchases using data from previous purchases. So, you don’t have to key in all the personal and credit card information anytime you make a purchase.

Point to note: Although the one-click app commerce trend is a convenient option with many benefits, the biggest question is security. Consumers must remember that the one-click drift relies on an intermediary getaway payment system.

This intermediary getaway is PCI-certified, so your information is safe and secure. So, you don’t have to worry because there are sufficient security configurations to protect your personal and credit card information.

3. Social commerce

Customers are converging on social networking channels now more than ever before. Your customers, too, are always on social media – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many more. So, it’s easier for your product (or service) to catch their eyes on social media sites than on your website.

One of 2022 leading mobile commerce trends is using social media for mobile commerce. Brands and businesses are increasingly converting their social media following into actual sales by reinventing how they communicate to this social audience.

While many e-commerce enterprises have tried and succeeded, most enterprises find that converting social traffic into product sales is a conundrum. Navigating from a social media conversation or post to product sales appears an uphill task that requires remediation processes.

Luckily, the social commerce trend has come to solve this challenge.

4. Augmented reality

Augmented reality is one of the latest kids on the block in technology and user experience. Augmented reality continues to elevate the mobile commerce market by giving it a complete sensory experience.

Augmented reality allows users or viewers to virtually try on, personalize, and even fit products at the convenience of their homes or offices. In addition, consumers can augment the real world using real products while seated back at home.

The four key strategic benefits of augmented reality in shaping app commerce include:

  • Unique customer experiences. The first benefit of augmented reality in transforming mobile commerce is that it provides the best customer experience by blending both the physical and virtual worlds.
  • Eliminates cognitive overload. Have you ever tried repairing something by referring to a manual? Well, the process can be tedious and mind-boggling, especially considering that you have to refer to technical drawings or specifications to arrive at the desired outcome. Augmented reality presents information in easy-to-process digital snippets, sparing the user from processing complex pieces of information or data.
  • Heightens user engagement. When augmented reality first became popular, it was confined to gaming and entertainment. However, today, augmented reality has extended its use to many other applications that add tangible business value.
  • Competitive differentiation. It’s critical to differentiate yourself in a market where every seller offers the same products or a homogenous line of products at the same price band. Augmented reality lets mobile apps set themselves apart with creative campaigns and attractive snippets. The 360-degree visual and sensory experience offered by augmented reality sets most apps aside from their competitors.

There’s no denying that recent developments have revealed something exciting about us as humans. As a human race, we spend more time immersing ourselves in screens.

And so with time, our realities become deeply integrated or ingrained with digital experiences. Indeed, we tend to see a product as superior or inferior based on its ability to indulge or conform to our digital experiences.

As a result, building your app by considering this aspect of human nature may help you achieve the desired results, especially when embedding augmented reality in your m-commerce app.

5. M-Commerce

Aside from e-commerce, there’s a corresponding growth in m-commerce. M-commerce refers to buying using smartphone or tablet devices. M-commerce has grown because of the growth and uptake of smartphone devices or endpoints.

As a result, with 6.3 billion smartphone users globally, it’s now possible to understand why mobile commerce is the new frontier in a world with a web of heavily interconnected endpoints – mobile phones, laptops, tablets, computers, and even wearables.

6. Voice shopping

Voice apps like Alexa and Siri have been growing over the last decade, thanks to massive improvements in artificial intelligence and machine learning. In addition, how voice search is used and applied in different contexts has changed drastically.

Today, home appliances are utilizing voice search in day-to-day tasks like changing channels using remotes, switching lights, and controlling entry points like gates, doors, and entrances.

People also use voice search to check weather conditions and to tell their audio systems to stream music.

However, today, voice search has gradually penetrated the e-commerce market. Indeed, credible research shows that the voice market is expected to reach $40 billion by 2023, up from $2 billion less than half a decade ago. This growth represents a 1000% increase in just four years.

So, it’s possible to see that voice search and personalization, in general, are critical trends in the mobile commerce market.

7. Mobile chatbots

Chatbots have existed for decades. And perhaps you’ve ever interacted with a chatbot at some point in your life. In fact, we are already interacting with chatbots anytime we order from our favorite restaurants or even speak with an agent for a TV or cable company.

And while chatbots have become a common scenario in our day-to-day lives, these bots have not fully penetrated the mobile commerce market. However, this is likely to change in 2022 and beyond.

Just think about all the benefits of chatbots. Imagine if you can integrate chatbots with mobile apps to help improve the customers’ shopping experience.

So, in 2022, e-commerce stores will be embedding chatbot features in smartphone apps. This new trend will revolutionize e-commerce, making bots the center of focus in consumer interactions and customer support in general.

NS804 – Futuristic Approach to Mobile App Commerce

NS804 is a leading provider of mobile app solutions. NS804 provides mobile app design and development solutions – from inception to completion.

Today, NS804 believes that the mobile commerce market is changing, and businesses must adopt new trends in app adoption and use.

So, at NS804, we believe the best way for businesses and brands to grow and evolve is by adopting a futuristic mindset to app commerce.

Contact NS804 for mobile app design and development solutions.

 

Mobile App Design Process: How To Get Started

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The mobile app development and design process can become complex if you rely on disparate teams or freelancers to create your app. But if you work with an experienced development studio, such as NS804, it’s a streamlined process. At least, that’s the case on your end. Even so, it’s still crucial to understand what this entails to best plan your next move.

And whatever you do, you’ll need to consider your mobile app design process from the get-go and in its entirety. Don’t write a single line of code or start hiring developers without doing the following first!

Start By Asking The Hard Questions

You may have formed a mental picture in your mind’s eye of what your app will look like and how it should function. Moreover, you may be using a popular app that’s left a good impression and want to emulate its better qualities.

But is it wise to invest time and money in an app based on the above criteria? The short answer is a clear no!

Instead, you need to identify what problem your app aims to solve. You can start by asking yourself what problem you’ve faced in your daily life and how an app could solve it effectively.

But don’t stop there. Ask a series of questions that will help you identify all the possible pain points users may encounter and how your tentative app will solve all of these. And while this seems simple, it’s the first and most vital step in the mobile app design process, so don’t ignore it.

Design Your App

Now, it’s time to design your app, but it will likely take the form of wireframes, a series of 2D diagrams that act as a blueprint. And you’ll ignore elements such as colors, fonts, graphics, and styling for now.

However, you may need to build a more elaborate prototype if requested by stakeholders before they greenlight the app’s development. If that’s the case, you’ll likely spend more time on the prototype’s user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).

But you also need to understand that app design never ends, as it’s an iterative process. Thus, you’ll do this near the beginning of the mobile app design process and whenever you give your app a UI/UX refresh.

Conduct Market Research And Competitive Analysis

At this point, you have a vague idea of what form your app will take. But you’re still unsure if there’s a market for your app. And even if there is, you don’t yet know what will make it appealing to users. Furthermore, your brand positioning strategy and business considerations will impact the direction of your app.

So, you’ll need to conduct market research and competitive analysis that help answer the following questions:

  • What pain points are users regularly experiencing?
  • Does my app address these pain points?
  • What will make my app appealing to these users?
  • What market am I entering? (e.g., entertainment, productivity, social)
  • How competitive is the market segment that I’m entering?
  • What are the top performing apps in my category?
  • What makes my app better than these top performers?
  • What sets my app apart from those released by competitors? (not necessarily top performers)

And you can take things a step further by building user personas and asking the following questions:

  • What type of person will use my app?
  • Where does this person live?
  • What are the demographics of this person?
  • What pain points does this person regularly experience?
  • What are this person’s likes and dislikes?

The Bottom Line

Whether you’re an appreneur or an organization releasing your first or hundredth app, you always start with the mobile app design process. And that’s because you need to know how your app will look and function early on.

Furthermore, you need to know whether your app truly addresses users’ needs and if there’s a sizable market that will make it feasible. Contact NS804 to learn how we’ll help you create best-in-class apps by following tried and true practices!

Cost of Developing a Fitness App

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A fitness app is a mobile, desktop, or web application that lets users track their health and fitness activities or workouts.

A fitness app meets your health and fitness activities. Fitness apps mainly consist of features for tracking workouts, monitoring physiological body rates, and logging exercises.

Fitness apps share one or more features with health and wellness apps. Some popular fitness apps include Fooducate, MyFitnessPal, Glo, Zones for Training, and Sworkit.

What’s the Typical Cost of Building a Fitness App?

The cost of a fitness app will vary depending on depth, scope, and target users. In addition, app development costs will vary from one app development partner to another.

However, although there are variations in the cost of fitness apps, most vendors or designers will charge an average of $15,000 to develop a solid fitness app. However, this cost is variable. A fitness app can range from as high as $30,000 to as low as $5,000.

In addition, an app with a limited number of features, also called a minimum viable product MVP, will be more affordable and easy to test than an app with extended functionality.

So, it’s advisable to weigh your options before settling for a fitness app.

Factors Affecting the Cost of a Fitness App

Many factors affect the cost of a fitness app. It’s crucial to understand the average hours and total costs (or individual costs) incurred in developing a fitness app to account for the total costs.

Building an efficient and fully scalable fitness app demands an end-to-end understanding of individual material costs as well as the hours of labor. Here are additional factors that will ultimately affect your fitness app development cost.

1. Platform choice

The platform where you’ll launch your app – whether Android or Ios is a defining factor in estimating the cost of your fitness app. Android and IOS are two leading platforms dominating the mobile app marketplace.

Creating an app for each version will take double the time and cost. That’s because you need specific programming languages for the web, mobile, and desktop computers. It’s advisable to choose cross-platform development solutions unless your project is large-scale or whether it targets specific Android and IOS users.

Fitness App Development Costs – Cross-Platform vs. Native
Platform Cross Platform Native
Development Hours Development Costs Development Hours Development Costs
Android + IOS + Web 600 – 800 $150,000 – $250,000 750 – 1000 $200,000 to $300,000 (and $20,000 extra for additional platforms).

 

2. Type of fitness app

You can also calculate the cost of your fitness app based on fitness category levels. Knowing the fitness app type you want to develop can substantially improve your expenditure throughout the project.

Here are some popular fitness app categories and their average costs.

Fitness app category Fitness app sub-category Average cost
Wearable apps Heart monitoring $15,000 – $50,000
Oxygen monitoring
Pulse monitoring
Fitness activity tracking apps Run tracking apps $30,000 – $125,000
Cycling tracking apps
Gym tracking apps
Workout and fitness apps Personal training apps $50,000 – $100,000
Exercise apps
Gym workout apps
Nutrition and diet apps Diet apps $15,000 – $90,000
Food intake app
Nutrition app
Yoga apps Mixed yoga apps $10,000 – $25,000
Yoga workouts
Yoga for beginners
Meditation apps For breathing $20,000 – $100,000
For sleep
For mindfulness

 

3. Location of the developer

Finally, the location of your fitness app developer will affect your app development costs. Developers from different regions tend to have different hourly rates.

Generally, countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia tend to charge on the higher end, while developers from India and Ukraine charge relatively lower.

Always work with trusted experts for the best possible solution for your fitness app.

How Much Does It Cost To Develop a Tip Calculator App?

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A tip calculator for a restaurant is a simple app to build when working with an experienced developer. The simple concept is to be able to calculate a tip based on the total spent by patrons at a particular table. However, the complexity can quickly escalate based on extra functionalities you may request. Let’s consider extra features of a tip calculator that can deploy in a real-work environment.

Features of Your App Calculator

First, you may want tips to be calculated based on customers’ opinions on the quality of service. The higher the tip, the higher their satisfaction with the client. They should also be able to input a custom tip amount if need be. Your tip calculator app should provide the management of the restaurant with a dashboard to track total revenue and total tips. The trend would be a great indicator of growth or threat of decline, prompting corrective action.
Another important feature of a tip calculator app is the ability to split the bill. Some apps are powerful to the extent of splitting the bill among 99 people.

UI of Your App Calculator

Besides features, you want a simple UI that people working in a busy environment can use. You’d therefore expect the development team to include a UI-designer to think through the front-end of your app and come up with a clean design that also integrates with your brand’s colours.
Overall, the development hours of such an app would not exceed 100 hours, inclusive of prototyping, coding, testing, and launching. Assuming you are hiring a US-based development team for the project, it should not cost you more than $10,000 to build a minimum viable product. If you are seeking to develop a mobile app for your business, reach out to NS804 for world class app development services.

Launching a New Product? 11 Reasons to Have a Mobile App

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The product life cycle stages provide a benchmark for understanding the product development process. The product life cycle stages include a market introduction, market growth, market maturity, and market decline.

The different stages of a product’s lifecycle pose discrete challenges. The commonly cited challenges with launching a new product include ideation, product roadmap problems, market viability, workflow management, product engineering issues, and the pace of innovation.

So, when launching a new product, you want to be careful not to miss out on any vital points that may affect its adoption. A mobile app is critical for launching a new product, be it software, hardware, consumer electronics, or merchandise.

Mobile apps allow brands and business leaders to actively connect and engage with their target audiences, building the base for future business. Mobile apps provide an interaction platform, connecting prospective customers (and markets) with brand owners.

So, here are eleven reasons to have a mobile app when launching a new product:

1. Customer loyalty

Enterprises operating in competitive market landscapes must go an extra mile to remain visible and competitively positioned. For brands starting in fresh markets, it’s important to think of something to stand out: a gem that distinguishes you from the rest.

Mobile apps can offer start-ups and brands leverage when launching a new product. For instance, apps can lead to repeat business and bolster referrals. In addition, apps can foster new product and service adoption, especially when users share promotions, new products, and new deals.

There’s no doubt that your brand can accurately forecast long-term business outcomes when it has a loyal customer base. So, aim for a well-designed and customized app for your target customers. When launching products, this app may make a difference between a successful product launch and a failure!

2. Improved communication

Mobile apps act as crucial avenues for marketing communication. With mobile apps, you don’t have to overburden your email support because you have an extra communication channel.

In essence, mobile apps can communicate to a wide range of stakeholders, internal and external. With tailored communication and strategic response forums, mobile apps provide the convenience and flexibility of responding on the go. So, regardless of whether you’re catching a flight or traveling by train, you can always follow up on crucial office proceedings with a mobile app.

3. Marketing outreach

Mobile apps are indisputably the best single source of marketing truth. With mobile apps, you don’t have to worry about reaching hundreds, maybe thousands of potential customers, brands, partners, and suppliers. You can do that at a go.

Mobile apps afford enterprises and brands the flexibility, convenience, and agility of connecting with markets and other brands. It’s through mobile apps that you can foster your marketing outreach. Today, most consumers are connected to digital mobile platforms, making mobile a frontier in marketing communications.

4. Online shopping

When launching a new product, brands specify authorized suppliers, including stores, malls, shops, and hypermarkets that stock these specific products. Unfortunately, traditional product launches relied on complex supply chain lines.

The unpredictability and uncertainty of global supply chains continue to impede successful product marketing and distribution. Mobile apps are bridging this gap by offering online shopping options. So, when launching a new product (or service), your mobile app can be utilized as a distribution frontier.

The digitization of supply chain downstream activities has made it easier for brands to connect with customers. Digitizing distribution, sourcing, and supply continue to close gaps between production and consumption, making production and manufacturing seamless and surprisingly rewarding.

5. Brand image

Mobile apps improve brand image by offering interactive and intuitive interfaces to display products. In addition, mobile apps encompass diverse audiences and outreach, enabling emerging brands to reach a diverse audience. Product launches that use mobile apps experience better brand images because of accessibility, outreach, and product scope.

6. Customer visibility

Mobile apps are critical tools for obtaining insightful and actionable feedback, including customer behavioral patterns. Evaluating customer feedback and use patterns is a primary part of launching a new product. However, few brands and enterprises can successfully collect, collate, and report customer behavior to improve product launches and adoption levels.

Mobile apps allow you to collect insightful metrics: customer use patterns, pricing options, user behavior, market adoption, and competition levels. With mobile apps, you can gather and record customer responses, and obtain nifty product usage metrics, including product defects, failures, and inefficiencies.

7. Employee loyalty

There’s no doubt that workplaces are evolving with new technologies – blockchain, virtualization, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics. The desire for employees to learn, adapt and evolve with time is propelled by new technologies that help organizations automate their workplaces.

Unfortunately, not all organizations are undertaking improvements in technology adoption. Published research shows that employees exposed to new, exciting technologies are more loyal and committed. In addition, the study shows that workplaces that adopt modern equipment, technology, and processes enjoy better employee loyalty.

8. Omnichannel shopping approach

Brands and enterprises are using the omnichannel shopping approach to give customers a seamless shopping experience across all their devices – smartphones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, and smart TVs.

Omnichannel access lets customers shop remotely. This is because customers can access products on-the-go through smartphone devices. With omnichannel access, customers can shop for products online using their mobile phones. Mobile apps reinforce omnichannel shopping, helping customers access products without visiting stores.

9. Customer relationship management

The customer relationship management domain is forever changing. The emergence of technical support software and remote helpdesk support has changed the face of traditional CRM.

However, the most disruptive technology in the customer relationship management domain is the mobile app. The mobile app connects people, places, and platforms. Its interoperability with other channels, including digital social channels, volatility, and versatility make mobile apps critical for connecting customers with technical support teams.

So, when launching a new product, you must view an app as a strategic tool for managing your customer relationships. Brands and organizations are leveraging mobile apps to foster their approach to customer relations. Mobile apps help CRM personnel handle inquiries, process complaints, report issues, and provide timely resolutions.

10. Employee training

Human resources face the challenge of providing upgraded training and learning materials to employees, especially when introducing them to new products, technology, or markets.

However, you can eliminate these challenges by using e-learning apps that allow employees to learn about new products, new work models, and methodologies.

E-learning mobile apps like Udemy, Skill Pill, and BoostHQ ensure that employees have access to similar learning materials, regardless of where they’re. So, when launching a new product, a mobile app can streamline the process of educating your workforce on the ins and outs of the product.

11. Fostering employee commitment

The Technology Acceptance Model TAM terms usefulness and ease of use as the two most important factors for successful tech adoption. Your employees or customers will uptake your new product if it’s easy to use and functional or practical to them.

When launching a new product, foster your workforce’s commitment with a mobile app. By deploying a mobile app, you show your employees that you care about modernizing your workplace.

Improving your employee commitment will go a long way in accelerating the adoption and use of a new product. As a result, it’s advisable not to decouple employee engagement from the product initiation and adoption processes.

NS804 – Transforming Enterprises with Mobile Apps

NS804 provides custom-built mobile apps. NS804 designs and deploys functional, easy-to-use mobile apps that answer the trickiest question your business has to ask.

So, if you’re looking to create your first mobile app, don’t hesitate.

Contact NS804 for quotations and inquiries about your next project.

Education Apps and Your Business: The 4 Signs It’s Time to Consider One

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Education apps are an exciting avenue that more businesses should explore. And by business entities, we mean all types, from small home-based businesses to large international enterprises.

But what are education apps, and how do they benefit businesses? In short, they function primarily as powerful learning tools. They help to fill in knowledge gaps that business leaders, entrepreneurs, employees, and even clients — in specific cases — may have. And in more extreme cases, these apps may cover an entire staff training program of an enterprise.

More importantly, given the interactive nature of education apps, they offer a more engaging learning path. Quite understandable considering that wading through thick employee training and development books or watching cheesy training videos may put off most people. Furthermore, education apps can become considerably fun with well-implemented gamification features, making learners look forward to upcoming sessions.

Now you may be wondering if these apps are right for your business. Short answer: you likely do if you require a cost-effective and effective way to train staff. And you most certainly do if your staff works remotely and across various time zones. However, there are several more reasons you should consider developing one or more education apps for your business — read on!

1. Education Apps Enhance Existing Training Materials

If you’ve been in business for some time, you likely have a sizable amount of training materials already available at your disposal. And your staff has likely become accustomed to learning from your existing training modules and their respective formats. These formats could include books, documents, or even audio and video lectures and presentations, to name a few.

So developing an education app might make you think that you now have to replace the above. But that wouldn’t be wise, especially if you’ve already spent a lot of time and money on these. And that’s especially true if your staff enjoys learning from these training materials, and they do so effectively.

However, it’s worth developing an education app to serve as the central repository for all your training materials. And you can start by converting all your training books and documents into a Portable Document Format (PDF) or a proprietary format. Then, you may store these digital documents on your servers, and your app will retrieve these when the user requests them.

Furthermore, you’ll have complete control of the dissemination of these files. For example, only your sales staff will have access to sales-orientated training materials, and your technical staff won’t have authorization. You may also decide to limit the time staff will view these files or keep track of how long it takes for each staff member to absorb new or existing learning materials.

You can also digitize all your analog-based audio and video presentations and upload them to your repository. But if you’re worried that these contain company secrets that could leak out to competitors, you can secure them. Apply a Digital Rights Management (DRM) lock to all your content, considerably limiting what an unscrupulous employee can do.

2. Run Live Training Sessions

Perhaps your business specializes in a highly technical field that changes regularly. A good example would be a custom PC building company, which deals with an ever-evolving range of computer parts that regularly hit the marketplace. But the latest computer parts often require additional know-how to install correctly without damaging any components.

High-end cooling components, graphics cards, motherboards, and power supply units (PSUs) can be finicky and expensive to replace if damaged. And things get more complicated every time AMD and Nvidia release their latest graphics cards or when manufacturers have to update their motherboards to stay compatible with the latest central processing units (CPUs).

An experienced technician may have little trouble putting a system together, but inexperienced staff will likely struggle. Ideally, you want these staff members to level up their skills to be as competent as your expert technician. And you want them to gain knowledge of the latest installation methodologies every time a manufacturer releases a new component.

But how do you keep all your staff up to speed? And what happens if you have staff that comes into your workshop and some that work off-site?

You can solve both issues with an app that helps you run live training sessions. Your expert technician can live stream himself working on a new PC build while explaining each step of the process. The other staff members will follow the stream and use the app’s built-in chat function if they have any questions.

And this gives the expert technician the opportunity to explain things further and interact with the other staff members. Furthermore, the other staff may be working on their own builds concurrently and now have the ability to receive help directly from the expert technician even when not in the same building.

3. Engage And Teach Your Clients

Believe it or not, you can engage and teach your clients with the right type of education app. Moreover, you can further build brand loyalty. But how do you do this with an education app, and is it even possible?

Well, you should evaluate whether or not your product or service offering requires teaching. If you’re running a dropshipping business, there isn’t much need for an education app that will interest your clients in any conceivable way. But if you own a popular restaurant with meals prepared by a renowned chef, there’s plenty of potential for such an app.

Your clients may want to know how your chef prepares that tasty dish of pesto pasta. And quite possibly, many other items on the menu. So, you can fulfill that wish by creating an app where clients can access cooking videos and even live training sessions. They can follow your chef’s pre-recorded or live-streamed videos and prepare these meals from their homes.

Now, you may think that it’s unwise to share the recipes of your restaurant’s choice dishes. After all, you don’t want to reveal secret recipes or have clients stop visiting your establishment. But you don’t need to give away your most valuable recipes. A small sampling of menu items or slightly altered recipes should please most clients. And you may decide to put these behind a paywall or allow access via a subscription fee if the training sessions prove popular.

4. AR & VR Are The Perfect Education Technologies

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) work incredibly well as educational tools. That’s due to their ability to simulate real-world environments, objects, and scenarios. Furthermore, they offer a more convincing and immersive experience than any other technology.

Thus, if you need to train staff and put them in realistic or stressful situations, VR will do the trick. A VR application can have your staff repairing gas lines, operating heavy machinery, or undergoing mine training. In all these scenarios, staff won’t experience any physical risk, even though the training sessions closely emulate real-world dangers and possible outcomes.

And an AR app can help staff gain greater insight and awareness when training in a real-world environment. A staff member may need to change engine parts on an actual car. But may have difficulty remembering the names of all car parts and where each part fits. The AR app will overlay the relevant information inside the AR/VR goggles, AR glasses, or on the smartphone screen while still providing a clear view of the engine.

The Bottom Line

Businesses constantly evolve, so they need to train staff on an ongoing basis. Fortunately, education apps make this possible, as it’s more cost-effective and easier to create training programs in digital form than the more traditional methods. And mobile apps are the perfect vehicle for disseminating and accessing training content. Contact NS804 to learn how we’ll help you develop phenomenal education apps for your business today!

5 Tips for Rolling Out New Mobile Apps to Your Staff Effectively

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An employee mobile app can be a useful tool to accomplish all manner of goals within the organization. It can be used to share news in a large organization. Employees can use it to track their personal performance goals. In many organizations, it is used to curate culture by sharing of stories, curated content from external sources, and documentation of the company’s heritage.

Successful company apps are not the ones that have the fanciest features. Instead, they are the apps whose features provide the most utilities, so that the usage rate is high and sustainable. How should your organization go about rolling out a mobile app successfully?

1. Having Clear Goals for the App

As discussed, it’s essential for your app to have a defined primary purpose. Is it meant to provide a personal portal for employees? Do not start with the technical specifications for the app. Instead, hold a series of discussions with employees to find out what problems you could solve with an app. Use the feedback from these discussions to determine what features to include in the first version of the application. An MVP.

2. Have Sponsors for the Employee App

Successful launches of an employee app depend on the amount of support the app gets in informal discussions among employees. Identify sponsors to help curate the narrative about the app. The CEO of the company should be the main sponsor of the app and their support is crucial in creating enthusiasm for the app. Each organization has its nuances which you must remain aware of when introducing changes.

3. Pilots are Important for your Mobile App

Once you have the first version of the app, launch it in stages. Have a pilot run with a small group of employees. This will help you test how the app performs in a real-world environment. You will be able to catch any technical bugs while also noting feedback on the various features. Pilot runs might lead you to drop some features or make others more prominent based on the reaction to them.

The people involved in the test run are also very likely to become ambassadors for the app once you release it to a larger group of users.

4. Gamify the Mobile App Experience

It would help if you thought about ways through which you can increase usage rates on the app based on the purpose for which you built it. For instance, gamifying user experience through a reward system is a common way to increase use. If the app was meant to be a learning portal where employees can take self-development courses, awarding them points and having a public leader board will provide a positive incentive.

5. Communicate Relentlessly

Once you launch the app, have a plan to continue educating users on the various features of the app. You can have a video series highlighting how the features are helping users become more effective at their job because of the app. In addition, you could provide users with statistics on how well the mobile app has been received. When you do this constantly, it is likely to increase the usage rate of your app.

Lastly, picking the right software development partner will make the launch of your employee mobile app much easier. The developer should help you craft a strategy to gather information on employee needs and incorporate them into the final product. NS804 is a world-class app development company. We help businesses build products that directly improve their workflow.

How Today’s Manufacturers Are Leveraging Mobile Apps

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The fourth industrial revolution or Industry 4.0 has transformed the otherwise legacy, archaic manufacturing environment. Today, mobile app development in manufacturing is making things easier, especially with the uptake of mobile technologies and faster internet infiltration rates.

The fact that consumers, markets, and supply chains are all connected using digital networks means that mobile apps will continue to be a priority in the manufacturing sector. Today, more than ever, the manufacturing sector is experiencing the benefits of mobile apps in driving productivity and optimization. In addition, mobile apps have reduced operating costs, improved efficiency, and enabled better field service.

Indeed, compared to other sectors, enterprise mobility is gradually becoming a top priority for manufacturing leaders. Regardless of the huge potential of Industry 4.0 to transform the traditional manufacturing set-up, few organizations are upscaling their efforts towards tech adoption.

Below we discuss how today’s manufacturing leaders are using mobile apps:

1. Integration with CRM software

Integrating your customer relationship management software with a mobile app helps you mobilize your interaction and communication with clients. This integration makes it possible to communicate with customers on the go. Communication is a major advantage since many manufacturing facilities and shop floors are large, and they require bikes and golf carts to navigate. Mobile apps promise new solutions and fresh capabilities in integrating with CRM software for streamlined communication.

2. Order fulfillment through real-time inventory

For time immemorial, manufacturers and shop floor workers have used hand-held devices to manage inventory. But today, tablet and smartphone technology let users, especially manufacturing leaders, use a single device to manage inventory, perform order fulfillment, send emails and attend virtual meetings.

The use of a single device for multiple tasks helps save on hardware and software costs. The real-time inventory and order fulfillment mobile app lets your procurement teams perform their tasks while automatically updating the database. In addition, it allows for order tracking capabilities and website updates.

3. Energy efficiency

One of the uses for low-code manufacturing is monitoring. In manufacturing, energy usage is a critical expenditure that affects time, resources, and throughput. Leveraging mobile apps is mostly used by manufacturers who are concerned with their energy consumption. These companies use these apps for the following purposes:

  • Monitoring regular energy consumption
  • Monitoring energy utilization
  • Plant, asset, and line analysis
  • Data collection and meter inspection

So, mobile apps are helping manufacturing leaders monitor their utilities.

4. Quality management

Industry 4.0 has ushered in exciting developments in manufacturing and beyond. For instance, low-code QMS apps manage quality in production floors. Low-code platforms and applications have unique flexibility. Low-code platforms help to incorporate tasks that are required to remain compliant with the changing laws.

In addition, QMS low-code applications can be integrated into content management systems. This integration helps track workflows and find documents for internal inspections and external audits. Thus, mobile apps are changing the face of manufacturing by helping manufacturing leaders track down their workflows and identify documentation for internal audits.

5. Production monitoring and management

Imagine you can program your manufacturing line or plant using a remotely located tablet or computer. With Industry 4.0, that’s possible. Manufacturing leaders must work with trusted partners to design automated workflows. New developments in machine metrics have shaped production shop floors, helping organizations leverage programmed instructions to control complex machine parts.

For instance, in computer numerical control CNC, programmed instructions run machine parts using the MTConnect language protocol. On the same note, mobile apps are being used to monitor manufacturing shop floors.

Indeed, if you’re meeting with a client to review and approve a manufacturing project, you can enter your product(s) specs and print-ready documentation and files on your device. Once you key in, the system beams the entered data to your IoT-enabled manufacturing equipment. By keying in this data, the manufacturing project can even be completed before you arrive at the manufacturing headquarters.

6. Real-time machine monitoring

Your manufacturing facility performance and productivity can be affected by a slight downtime. Therefore, your technicians must be quickly alerted when a piece of machinery or equipment goes down. In addition, mobile apps give you the ability to optimize the sensors you’ve installed as part of your IoT interface. By installing sensors and collecting insight and feedback using mobile apps, you can identify machines that require maintenance and repairs.

7. Increasing visibility

One way to increase the productivity of your shop floor workers is to obtain accurate information about their day-to-day activities. GPS technology enables manufacturing leaders to find employees and workers wherever they’re on the shop floor. Most importantly, you can ensure whether safety personnel are available in the manufacturing environment. The GPS technology further provides a detailed and accurate account of your inventory, enabling you to track product usage.

8. Equipment inspection

Ensuring that all your machines are inspected and checked is a sure-fire way of avoiding costly repairs and damages. It has become an issue that most manufacturers are investing in predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance essentially uses condition-monitoring tools and sensors to observe and report on the nature and structure of a piece of equipment during its operation. Equipment inspection is becoming a reality with advanced monitoring tools that provide real-time reporting.

9. Employee productivity

Mobile apps make it easier for manufacturing shop floor leaders to monitor employee behavior and make modifications as needed. By using an app, you can track all employee movements and behavior and evaluate whether the employee’s conduct conforms to the company’s policy. Managers have remote, real-time access to everything, which is beneficial for occupational safety during plant emergencies. These statistics provide insight into how much time was spent on a single task and how many jobs were closed.

10. Resource utilization

By using mobile apps, managers can see everything going in and around the plant. Manufacturers have real-time access to sitting and moving inventory. This means that they can evaluate resource utilization and therefore make informed ordering decisions. In addition, better insight improves resource utilization. Managers can reconcile product orders and supplies and resource consumption or utilization.

11. Decision-making

Mobile apps offer faster, real-time access to accurate and reliable data. Faster access to verified information means that decisions can be made faster to improve the overall manufacturing process. And because mobile apps are easy and faster to use, they can improve the decision-making process. It’s important to note that utilizing customized mobile apps for manufacturing requires an initial investment. However, you must look at the long-term return on investment. Mobile apps foster efficiency and productivity, leading to creativity, innovation, and faster turnovers.

12. Automation

Automation streamlines workflows, especially in contemporary manufacturing environments. Automation software provides time and cost savings, eliminating human errors and improving overall productivity. Automation is becoming a critical element of the modern supply chain. Indeed, manufacturers are using low-code technology to automate process workflows and improve overall productivity gains.

The growth of modern manufacturing platforms has been facilitated by the rise of IoT technology like smart devices and interconnected networks. This automatically means more data streams in contemporary workplaces courtesy of interconnected IoTs. And to effectively tap into this data, low-code is being used to channel data and automate workflows to a central data repository. The repository is an enterprise resource planning system to perform data analysis and obtain actionable insights.

NS808 – Propelling Manufacturing Towards Digital Transformation

Manufacturers are endorsing digital transformation. For instance, 80% of manufacturers said they were ready to invest in new technology to improve their productivity gains. In addition, 91% of manufacturing leaders believe that data from people and machines will reduce costs and improve decision-making. And finally, 20% of manufacturers don’t share data either internally or externally, creating siloed manufacturing floors. Manufacturers must optimize mobile apps to streamline workflows and improve efficiency and productivity.

Contact NS804 to leverage mobile apps on your manufacturing shop floor.