4 Reasons Why Retailers Should Be Using Mobile Apps

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Retailers don’t have it easy, as they need to navigate a competitive and uncertain business environment. And considering how much Covid-19 has impacted the retail space, the old ways of doing business no longer apply.

So what should business leaders do to sail the rough seas and come out ahead on the other side?

Firstly, all business leaders should learn about and embrace the latest mobile technologies. Secondly, they should assess how these technologies will fit their business needs and fulfill goals. And thirdly, they should work with an experienced developer, such as NS804, to create the right solutions for their needs.

For retailers, mobile apps can radically transform their businesses for the better. These apps can automate and enhance specific business processes, excite and expand the customer base, and introduce several m-commerce opportunities.

But it’s not only brick and mortar businesses that can benefit from mobile apps but also online retailers. And by online retailers, we don’t only mean those that sell and ship physical goods but also those that sell digital products. The versatility of mobile apps makes them ideal for a variety of businesses.

Now, we understand that it’s not always easy to pinpoint how mobile apps can serve your business. So we’ve compiled this handy list to help you identify the pain points your business and customers may experience and how mobile apps can mitigate or solve these issues.

1. Build An Ecosystem That Serves Your Business Entirely

Have you noticed how big tech companies have built walled gardens to herd their customers? Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others have gained tremendous leverage by locking users into their platforms. And even smaller players such as Funimation, Netflix, and Spotify have monopolized specific segments of the media streaming market.

Sure, all these platforms offer numerous opportunities for savvy businesses. But consider for a minute that you’re running an indie record label that has signed up several promising artists. You decide to make available recordings of these artists on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube Music. And this isn’t necessarily a bad move, as all these platforms have huge audiences you can reach.

However, you’re also driving business to these platforms, diminishing your brand, and limiting your potential revenue. And that’s because your customers can only get hold of your music on these platforms and not directly from you. Furthermore, the branding of each platform holder will always overshadow your brand. And with streaming services such as Spotify, you’ll receive a pittance every time a user streams songs from one of your artists.

The good news is that you can avoid all these issues by building a mobile app that your customers can download. Within the app, you may allow your customers to download or stream music and even purchase physical copies (on CD, tape, and vinyl) of albums. And any time you release a new album, you can notify your customers via in-app and pop-up notifications.

Ultimately, you’ll establish an ecosystem that serves your business and yours alone, which means that your customers remain yours. And a third party doesn’t get to determine how much you can earn, how you market your music, and how you reach fans.

2. Increase Your Cross-Selling Capabilities

Let’s stick to the indie record label example for now. And let’s consider how a mobile app can increase cross-selling of your products.

But you may ask, “How does cross-selling benefit a record label?”

It’s likely that fans will want to purchase merchandise such as caps, t-shirts, and posters of their favorite artists. It’s even possible to upsell, such as enticing a fan that has added a digital album to the cart to purchase the limited-edition vinyl release at a reduced price.

And how you go about cross-selling merchandise can take several forms with a mobile app.

You may notify fans with in-app and pop-up notifications whenever you have new merchandise available. And if these fans have opted in to receive emails, you can cross-sell merchandise via this additional avenue. When done right, an email marketing strategy can effectively drive customers down the sales funnel.

But since your mobile app will also have a database on the backend, you’ll have an accurate record of all your customers’ purchases. For customers that have bought one or more albums of a particular artist, you can target these customers specifically with merchandise. Thus, you don’t have to waste your marketing efforts on customers that prefer other artists or don’t bother purchasing merchandise.

Another way this data may aid you is by identifying the locations of your most loyal customers. And if you have the necessary funds available, you may decide to have artists perform gigs at these locations and set up a merchandising table at all live venues.

You may also set up a pop-up shop at a fair or mall for short-term selling and cross-selling purposes. In all cases, your app will serve as the hub to inform fans and merge your digital and physical endeavors.

3. AR & VR Benefits Clothing Retailers

Now let’s shift gears and focus on a more traditional business, such as a clothing retailer. If you’re running such a business, it’s likely that you’re operating out of a physical location such as a store in a mall or shopping street. And most, if not all of your customers, need to visit your store to try on and purchase your clothes and accessories.

While this is a common way clothing retailers do business, it’s not very efficient or forward-looking. But what will it take to change course and deliver a more convenient shopping experience to your customers? Thanks to the advent of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), it’s now possible to serve customers that live far away from your store.

You can craft a mobile app with AR or VR functionality that contains accurate 3D models of all the clothes and accessories you have in stock. And if the app has AR functionality, it will utilize the accelerometer and cameras of the phone to detect the customer’s physical form, angle, and view orientation.

Then, the customer will pick a clothing item displayed on the app, which will then show the item superimposed on top of the customer on the phone’s screen. The customer will also have the ability to adjust the fit, size, and color (if available) of the item on the fly. Once the customer is happy with how the item looks on them, they can add it to their cart or initiate a one-click purchase.

Now, you can ship the order and conduct an in-app survey soon after the customer receives the item to ascertain their satisfaction or lack thereof. Having this information will help you make changes to the products you offer and service levels if necessary.

4. Mobile Apps Power Up Fast-Food Restaurants

Finally, let’s focus on fast-food retailers of all shapes and sizes. Mobile apps have already proven their worth in this particular market segment. And with the many excellent food delivery apps available, customers have a growing appetite for quick and convenient food purchases.

A well-conceived fast-food mobile app allows customers to view an outlet’s menu and place orders with as few clicks as possible. Furthermore, all food items, descriptions, prices, images, and UI elements must be clear and crisp so that elderly customers and those with vision impairments can easily discern these and place orders.

But this mobile app isn’t only for placing orders, it’s also a powerful promotional tool. Instead of printing thousands of expensive full-color glossy flyers, you can promote your latest gourmet burger directly inside your app. Moreover, you can utilize animations, motion graphics, sounds, and a step-by-step video of how you make your gourmet burgers.

Not only is this more impactful than using printed materials, but customers can also tap on this visual promo, which will take them directly to the checkout page to complete their order. And that’s powerful because fast-food restaurants rely heavily on impulse sales.

In Conclusion

Traditional brick-and-mortar businesses through to online retailers can all benefit from having their own custom mobile app. The examples we’ve described above present a few of the possibilities that help enhance businesses. Contact NS804 to learn how we’ll help you create a mobile app that can transform your retail business for the better!

11 Things to Look for in an App Development Partner

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There are two outlooks in mobile app development: hiring an in-house team and outsourcing experts. The latter involves working with an established mobile app development partner; the partner takes you through the end-to-end process of mobile app development, deployment, maintenance, and promotion.

When it comes to start-ups or businesses that cannot take their eyes off the bottom line, you should work with an outsourced expert. Outsourcing experts means working with an established team on a project basis. While both approaches have disadvantages and benefits, we recommend working with an established mobile app developer.

But, what do you look out for in a mobile app development partner?

1. Industry experience and expertise

Experience is a critically underpinning factor when looking forward to outsourcing a software development partner. Previous work experience working on multiple mobile apps is an added advantage. The practical experience of designing and handling another app can make a difference. So, strive to identify experienced and seasoned software developers. You can establish experience by looking keenly at customer testimonials and collecting feedback and responses from potential digital market sources.

2. Development costs

It’s important to inquire about the cost of a mobile app development project. The mobile app development cost is the prime factor determining the selection of a mobile app development partner.

However, cheapest isn’t always the best, quality matters too. One way to reconcile cost and quality is to collect a few proposals. Then, examine the work breakdowns alongside the project deadlines and time estimates.

The emergence of a mobile app calculator has proven important in estimating app development costs. So, when working with professional mobile app development experts, you can obtain accurate project estimates using a calculator. Alternatively, you can only pay for the minimum viable product MVP to get a feel of how your project will be.

3. On-point communication

App development is a strenuous and time-consuming task. This project demands active collaboration and communication between the client and the app developers. Transparent and clear communication is the only way to build rapport with your project players. That’s because building an app is not a one-time project. It demands the input of programmers, UX/UI developers, data scientists, graphic designers, and project managers.

So, before you invest your money, ensure you understand your partner’s communication frequencies. The app development process entails different phrases. Therefore, strive to hire an app development partner who meets before the commencement of any phase. This selection will enable you to make inquiries, suggest changes, and build trust with project players through continued engagements.

4. Standard development process

The mobile app development process is strategic and systematic. App development follows specific technical specifications and meets minimum app requirements, including the requirements of safety and protection of user information.

Most professional mobile app developers follow a straightforward process, making it easy for clients and app users. So, inquire about their app development process before investing your money in a developer. This way, you can rest assured of all the deadlines and when the project will be completed.

Essentially, a standard development process will include the following steps:

  • The meeting, interaction, and association with the clients and project players (designers, programmers, data architects, graphic designers, UX/UI programmers).
  • Examine and carefully look at the client’s requirements to establish a wireframe.
  • Obtain the client’s approval and start creating a minimum viable product.
  • Thoroughly test the mobile app to ensure it conforms to the client’s requirements.
  • Approach app development and further maintenance
  • Test the app and promote it to the relevant audiences

Selecting partners who don’t follow established processes and procedures would cause problems later on.

5. Vision and clarity

You cannot develop a superior mobile application without a clear vision of what you want. It’s by first defining a need that you can establish a clear-cut solution. The same principle applies to mobile app development. It’s advisable to go for a developer who keenly listens to your requirements if you want to build an app that resonates with your vision. While some developers keep their opinions above their clients’, as experts, we carefully guide our clients but do not demoralize them.

6. On-going maintenance

It’s advisable to inquire about the possibility of maintenance after the app launch. That’s because after an app launch, most apps still experience hiccups. Professional app development wouldn’t be reluctant to offer maintenance. Therefore, when hiring a mobile app developer, it’s advisable to hire the one that offers maintenance. And in most projects, the free maintenance timeline would range from 6-to 12 months.

7. Market and competitor analysis

According to documented statistics by Statista, 81,300 Android and 26,000 iOS apps are released so far in 2022. It’s evident that with each passing day, a new mobile app is released, but only a few survive the turbulent market competition. The reason is because only a few mobile apps have detailed market and competitor research behind them.

Therefore, if you want to succeed in your mobile app development project, you should invest exhaustively in market and competitor research. Try to search for a mobile app development company that helps you zero down on your goals and target market. In addition, look for an app development partner that assists you to obtain the latest market trends in your niche.

8. Diversity of app development services

A professional and competent mobile app development partner must offer a diverse suite of development services. Creating a custom mobile app is more than programming or coding. Instead, app development is an end-to-end process that demands you validate the ideas, clarify needs, priorities, and concerns, and convert needs into useful designs.

Therefore, always opt for a mobile app development partner who offers a complete app services package. You should only hire an app development partner who offers extensive services tailored to your business needs. For instance, NS804 offers multiple mobile app development services: iOS app development, Android app development, UI/UX app design, app store optimization, and minimum viable product.

9. Commitment to meeting deadlines

Meeting project deliverables in a timely manner is a critical variable in any project. Failure to meet the project deliverables may lead to costly failures or breaches. So, if you hire a partner with many experienced developers, you’re unlikely to miss critical project deadlines.

10. Security measures

App development captures critical business information and sensitive data. So, it’s crucial to verify the app security measures the developer follows. It’s advisable to contract or hire an app development partner who signs non-disclosure agreements and adheres to security guidelines and protocols.

In addition, it’s crucial to ask whether the business policy covers any cyber liabilities. Clarifying whether the business policy covers cyber liabilities is critical in ensuring the development partner follows all the relevant security protocols in case of breaches, compromise, or data theft.

11. Design aspects

Intuitive design is the cornerstone of any successful app development project. Robust mobile apps meet evolving needs through their intuitive, easy-to-use designs. So, user design should be an underpinning factor when developing an app.

The design takes a prime spot in achieving a superior mobile app project. Indeed, most development partners offer a design mock-up to act as a sample of the project during the proposal stage. So, it’s advisable to examine and evaluate different design elements when selecting a mobile app development partner.

You can contact NS804 for custom mobile app development solutions.

What’s Keeping You from Developing a Mobile App?

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Mobile apps have become quite mainstream following the explosion of m-commerce and the dwindling reputation of e-commerce. Nowadays, organizations are already coming to terms with the fact that mobile is a game-changer, following the rising popularity and uptake of mobile apps.

Unfortunately, despite the rising significance and popularity of apps, few organizations are considering this frontier. Already, mobile apps contribute billions of revenues and turnovers to leading retail brands like Amazon and Walmart. But despite this potential, not all businesses and brands are ready to upscale their mobile app adoption efforts.

So, what’s keeping you from developing a mobile app?

1. Brand awareness

Today, more than ever, organizations are tapping into strategic digital marketing. An important part of this effort is to endorse rigorous, cross-platform marketing and outreach approaches, including mobile apps. A clear benefit of mobile apps is building a strong brand awareness alongside your other marketing initiatives.

Evidence has shown that while traditional advertising and outreach approaches struggle to keep your brand at the top of the mind of consumers, digital outreach puts your business at the fore and the center of mobile screens. The growing phone ownership alongside higher internet infiltration rates has led to the rapid uptake of mobile apps.

2. Customer engagement

There are ways to increase brand awareness and brand engagement with a business. For instance, email marketing is a tested-and-proven approach, and so is social media. But none of these is as personal as push notifications. So, a mobile app ensures that you can ping your customers with a push notification that brings products to their attention. Mobile apps represent ways of directly connecting with customers at a personal level.

3. Cost-savings

Increased brand awareness and more sales are what most brands are after. Regardless of whatever sector you’re in, increasing the sales of products and services is what will ultimately lead to business success. Luckily, mobile apps can help enterprises seeking increased sales, revenues, and higher turnovers. Studies have shown a strong correlation between mobile app adoption and sales. Users who use mobile apps are strongly inclined to purchase from m-commerce stores. Thus, enterprises and brands endorsing mobile apps experience higher sales and revenues.

4. Better customer service

Customer relationship management is the lifeblood of customer retention. Organizations that invest in better customer relationship management systems, including cloud-based data management systems, automated response systems, and call centers achieve efficiency and scalability. Most importantly, these organizations can connect and interact better with their clientele, increasing the chances of repeat business.

So, if you’re looking for a revamp of your customer relationship management, a mobile app would pivot you for success. Alternatively, you can design a mobile app that integrates seamlessly with your enterprise resource planning systems, streamlining operational workflow and meeting productivity targets.

5. Competitive positioning

Running a small business is never easy. You need every advantage to compete with big boy brands by ensuring brand awareness and customer satisfaction. Designing and deploying a mobile app lets you offer the same advantages as popular brands. You get to compete at the same level. Creating a mobile app offers you similar benefits that reputable brands enjoy with mobile app development.

Contact NS804 to kick-start your journey towards mobile app adoption.

5 Reasons Your Sales Teams Wished You Had an App

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Sales teams need the right tools to bring about impressive results. And in today’s mobile-first approach to app development, there are no excuses why they shouldn’t have access to the most effective tools.

But as a long-term business leader, you may argue that sales teams were capable of delivering results long before the advent of smartphones and apps. And that’s true, as talented sales staff would always adopt the right strategies to accomplish their goals, regardless of the technology available to them at a particular point in time. 

However, rival teams will use the best and latest technologies to gain a competitive advantage. So, it makes little sense to sit on the sidelines while competitors eat your lunch! You not only need your sales teams to perform at their best but also have access to the type of app that will set them apart.

1. Help Your Sales Teams Collaborate

Perhaps you have multiple sales teams or only have one but still need all staff members to collaborate. Yet that’s incredibly difficult, especially if you have to manage these collaborations manually. You may need to appoint or hire someone to handle this task, but that’s an additional and ongoing expense. 

But if you utilize an app to automate the process, you allow your teams to collaborate seamlessly across multiple time zones. And the key benefit is that they can make crucial decisions quicker, without having to come into the office or hold meetings.

2. Monitor Each Staff Member’s Performance

Your best sales staff will appreciate knowing that you can accurately track their performance via an app. But why is this so important to them? Firstly, they’ll want you to weed out the underperformers holding the team back. And secondly, they’ll want you to reward the right people with performance bonuses and not those sitting on the sidelines that unfairly receive additional compensation when the team meets certain sales milestones.

3. Analyze Current And Future Market Conditions

Trends change all the time, so sales teams must stay on top of these. But that’s easier said than done, particularly if sales staff operate in different time zones or countries. But having an app where each staff member can report on new and upcoming trends helps the rest of the team gain better insight.

4. Access And Update Client Information In Real-Time

Companies that haven’t kept up with the times tend to rely heavily on their desktop infrastructure. That means that they record and retrieve all client data via desktop PCs. And that data may not have been updated in years, which diminished its accuracy and value. 

But if these companies adopt a mobile-first approach, they can allow their sales staff to work out in the field and collect the latest client data. And then share this information with all the relevant parties in real-time.

5. Enhanced Marketing Capabilities

There’s nothing more frustrating for sales staff than not having access to the latest marketing materials to present to clients. Perhaps the print shop hasn’t delivered your brochures on time, or the latest prices don’t appear on the product sheet. Thus, your sales teams would be at a disadvantage if they were to leave the office without marketing materials. 

To ensure that staff doesn’t go away empty-handed, an app showcasing the latest products and services of your company will suffice. Sales staff can whip out their smartphones or tablets to show clients promo videos and presentations. Furthermore, they can showcase your flagship products via impressive augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences.

In Conclusion

Sales teams will perform at their best when they use the most current mobile devices and apps. And that’s because these tools will radically empower sales staff to move quickly and secure those critical sales based on the latest up-to-date information. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you develop phenomenal custom apps for your enterprise! 

How Can Mobile Apps Help Improve Company Culture?

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Company culture can make or break a business. And that’s because company culture consists of the formal and informal behaviors, values, and systems that impact customers and employees. But it’s easy to ignore or misunderstand these facets of an organization since few people can tell apart these behaviors and values at face value.

Yet we can easily identify the organizations that have a good company culture, and here’s how? We look out for companies with good customer service, high employee retention rates, solid financial results, and boast a culture of innovation.

Another way to identify good company culture is by surveying the staff of an organization. And we’d ask them the following: How well do they communicate with each other? What is the decision-making process like within the organization? Does the organization acknowledge and fairly reward staff contributions? And how are employees hired, promoted, and laid off? 

Surveying an organization’s customers makes sense too. And we’d want to know the following: How well does the company respond to customer complaints and feedback? Do the products and services of the company meet or surpass expectations? And does the company delight and surprise customers with innovative products and services?

Think of how customers and employees perceive a company such as Apple. We’re willing to bet that it’s mostly positive, even though it isn’t perfect. But more likely than not, expect Apple to improve company culture constantly to stay ahead of the curve.

Now, you may be wondering what all this means for your organization. Actually, it means far more than you’d think, especially if you bring mobile apps into the equation. We look into how mobile apps can improve company culture in more detail below!

Improve Company Culture With Powerful Communication And Collaborative Tools

Your employees may have multiple email accounts and use several communications tools to get work done. But that’s an administrative and security nightmare, especially if you have staff coming into the office and working remotely. Furthermore, they may use desktop PCs and various mobile devices to complete daily tasks, increasing the complexity of your systems. 

Relying on third-party vendors to provide essential productivity software makes sense if you’re a startup. But you’ll eventually reach a roadblock since you’ll likely find this software doesn’t scale with your needs or lacks features essential to a growing company. Then, there’s the case that not all your productivity software integrates well with your existing or upcoming systems. 

That’s why you’re better off working with an experienced developer such as NS804 to create a custom solution for your needs. Together, you can build a mobile app that provides staff with a tightly integrated mobile app for communications and collaborative purposes. And you can allow them to log in with a secure two-factor authentication (2FA) or even passwordless authentication.

Your staff will become more productive, as they will no longer rely on disparate pieces of software to get work done. They can work within a singular all-in-one solution with a cohesive user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Furthermore, they won’t have to wait for a third-party vendor to release features and updates when they’re most needed. And there’s a risk that new features may take months or years to arrive, and sometimes — never!

But with a custom mobile app, this isn’t a problem. You can add new features on short notice and have these implemented to your specifications. And staff will feel confident knowing they have access to the most productive tools tailor-made for them.

A Mobile-First Approach Enhances Company Culture

We mentioned earlier that you could be using desktop PCs and mobile devices. There’s also the possibility that you could be relying on web apps for some of your mission-critical business processes. If that’s the case, it’s a messy approach that will make your systems and staff workflows more inefficient than they should be.

But the good news is that you can streamline all this with a mobile-first approach. The latest smartphones and tablets are powerful enough for most business tasks. And if you opt for native app development, your mobile app will boast high performance and speed on these devices. Thus, it’s no longer necessary to have most, if not all, of your staff using desktop PCs or laptops. 

And if you have staff that works outside the office or remotely, they’ll appreciate using lightweight devices with small form factors. Also, consider those employees that don’t feel comfortable or like using desktop PCs or laptops at home. Either because they feel intimidated by these or need a break from the computer screen and desk when not in the office.

But a smartphone or tablet feels more accessible, especially to non-tech-savvy employees. And with an intuitive mobile app, they can get work done while sitting on their couch, back porch, or while waiting for an order at their favorite restaurant. Knowing that they can quickly complete tasks on the go and in any environment helps improve company culture and staff satisfaction.

Staying Connected With Customers

While it’s a wise choice to develop a custom app to improve staff efficiency, you should also consider your customers. And think of how you will build an effective and sustainable communications pipeline to connect with them. Now we know what you may be thinking, “Why not use Facebook or Twitter to stay in touch with customers?” 

While social media platforms do a reasonably good job at connecting businesses and customers, they have several shortcomings: 

  • Firstly, you don’t have ownership of these platforms and are subject to their terms and policies, which means you could lose access to your account for reasons within or beyond your control.
  • Secondly, you’re only a business in a sea of businesses on these platforms, so it’s challenging to stand out or prevent your customers from discovering competitors with a few clicks. 
  • Thirdly, you can’t create your own UI/UX and messaging functionality and are strictly reliant on what each social media platform provides, which may not meet your expectations and requirements. 
  • And finally, you can’t directly contact users that engage with your business unless they specifically provide you with their contact details and email addresses.

From a business standpoint, relying exclusively on social media to stay in touch with customers isn’t a good move. You’re better off building an email list via your website, especially if you want to build long-term relationships with customers. But a website isn’t the only avenue to help you accomplish this goal, as you can also utilize a mobile app. 

Furthermore, a custom-built mobile app allows you to present your products and services exactly how you want. And you can keep your UI/UX and identity on-brand and tailor your messaging features so that they’re satisfactory to you and your customers.

The Bottom Line

As a business leader, one of your key goals is to improve company culture. While this isn’t easy, you can accomplish much by utilizing the methodologies and tools that will impact customers and employees positively. And the good news is that one or more custom-built mobile apps can bring about changes that can radically transform your organization for the better. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create mobile apps that mean business!

5 Myths About Mobile Apps for Business, Debunked

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Mobile apps are marking a new frontier in the digital mobile revolution. The penetration of smartphone devices alongside internet infiltration extends limitless opportunities for mobile users.

Already, the mobile app uptake is on the rise accounting for over six billion mobile app users globally. Because of the rising popularity of mobile apps, organizations are gradually upscaling their uptake and streamlining their operations through mobile apps.

Below we debunk five myths surrounding mobile apps for business:

1. Mobile apps fall way cheaper than web

There’s a popular myth that mobile apps are cheaper to develop and maintain than web applications. This myth is because mobile phones are physically smaller devices and have less computing power than computers. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that mobile app development is as complex as software development. Indeed, software developers collaborate with many professionals – designers, analysts, programmers, and data architects – to develop mobile apps.

2. Cross-platform app conversion is faster and nominal

Most clients assume that converting an app from iOS to Android and vice versa is a simple process. Unfortunately, they fail to understand that cross-platform app conversion is a complex, time-consuming, and strenuous process involving code rewrites and re-programming. Cross-platform app conversion is not an automated process; the programmer has to code from scratch.

3. I don’t need an app

Most users presume that their phones contain all information and applications they need. Unfortunately, this is not true. Today, we live in a world that’s interconnected and where everything is digital. For instance, things like communication, shopping, social interactions, entertainment, news, and education are being conveyed via the web. That automatically means that users must adopt applications that support these diverse functions.

4. Apps crash or slow down your device

Software crashes are caused by many things, including bugs, hardware issues, and viruses. However, things like outdated codes, malicious attacks, and hardware failures can cause delays and crash your device. . Regardless of the cause, poor app performance isn’t always a result of a poorly-designed app. Sometimes, crashes and slowdowns can happen because you installed a malicious app. It’s advisable to be vigilant for malicious apps disguised as add-ons.

5. Mobile apps don’t need promotion

Individuals and organizations do the hard work of investing in a mobile app but fail to promote it. Like any other product – a shoe, an electronic, a commercial building, an entertainment hotspot, or a new brand – an app needs to be marketed and promoted vigorously.

Proper planning and promotion are a must-have because of the stiff competition. It’s not enough to invest in your app and post it on a platform like AppStore or PlayStore. It takes an intensive investment to promote your app to the relevant markets.

For instance, an app like TikTok leveraged digital marketing strategies and worked with brand activation agencies to promote itself. Influencer marketing and public campaigns like FightTheDarkness, GarBaithoIndia, and Chipotle: Boorito Challenge are some of the earlier promotion campaigns by TikTok. Your app also needs rigorous campaigns and promotion to reach the right audience.

You can contact NS804 for mobile app development and promotion solutions.

What Makes a Good UI Design? 7 Features

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The user experience is the most common front-end, interactive feature in any app, website, or dashboard. The user interface supports all human-computer interactions.

The user interface provides a navigational platform to control software. Think of a user interface as an application programming interface that links users and a computing system, the back-end.

Although a user interface can take many forms, it accomplishes two fundamental purposes:

  • conveying information from users to machines
  • conveying data from machines to users.

The most important features of a great user interface design are:

1. Simplicity

Simplicity is the centerpiece of any navigation. Easy navigation depends on a highly simplistic user interface. So, the user interface design must be succinct: it must communicate the most with the least. The designer must ensure less navigation and fewer mouse clicks to accomplish any app or website task. It’s important to add new features only if they’re essential and bring substantial value to the application.

2. Consistency

Your user interface must deliver consistent browsing and search results. Consistency achieves stability and eliminates ambiguity and information chaos. Designers should apply size, typeface, and style conventions to screen components to improve readability and learning.

3. Intuitiveness

Intuitiveness is the most important detail of a great UI design. Intuitiveness means that users can easily learn your interface and quickly pick it up. Intuitiveness implies the ability to get accustomed to your app’s interface, element spacing, and overall layout. Intuitiveness means something that can be understood easily and applied with ease.

4. Familiarity

Familiarity is a critical feature of a great UI design. While many designers aim to create intuitive designs, few stop to ask themselves what does an intuitive design mean? Well, intuitiveness means making things understandable and easy to remember. Creating a great user interface concerns familiarity. Designers must aim to create apps that deliver personalized user experiences. Aiming for familiarity will reinforce your app design.

5. Responsiveness

A great user experience must be responsive to users’ needs. Today, most website visits come from mobile endpoints, which is surprising given that it’s convenient to leverage an Android or an iPhone. You encourage users to visit your website frequently and stay longer by having a mobile-responsive interface. Responsiveness is about reducing the latency time and offering a rewarding experience.

6. Clarity

Clarity is an important element in the user interface design process. Clarity signifies that you know what you’re doing and that the interface or platform your users leverage is trustworthy. Achieving clarity in user interface design involves consistency, truth, and simplicity in your messaging. If you aim for consistency, it’ll be simple for users. In addition, if you eliminate ambiguity and incorporate only relevant elements, your interface will be rewarding.

7. Attractiveness

Attraction is about aesthetic appeal. Attraction concerns making elements and layout appealing for prospective and existing users. Attractiveness aims to make the site enjoyable and thrilling to navigate. You can make your site or app efficient, simple, easy to use, and concise – but it will only do well by making it attractive. Your clients or prospective users will not only use a stirring interface; they will look forward to using it once again.

Contact NS804 to achieve a great UI design.

 

Do You Need A Custom App? Here Are 5 Signs That You Do

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Deciding if your company needs a custom app may seem like a no-brainer. Then you come across online articles that sing the praises of off-the-shelf solutions. And these articles may convince you that the cost savings and ease of implementation of these turnkey solutions will have you covered. 

But that’s not entirely true, especially if you need a solution that must address specific business processes unique to your organization. That doesn’t mean that you should never use turnkey solutions, but keep in mind that these have a one-size-fits-all approach. 

So, they may be good at addressing problems experienced by businesses in general. Yet they seldom solve problems exactly the way you want, as they pertain to your organization’s needs. Thus, there are many ways your business will benefit by going with a custom app, which we’ll cover in more detail below. 

1. A Custom App Will Address Unique Business Needs

Every organization is different, so why rely on generalist solutions? And that’s also a question you should be asking if you need to solve complex problems. 

Let’s assume for a minute that you need to develop a mobile app that must collect a lot of data. Not only that, you want the data made available in JSON, XML, and your in-house encrypted and proprietary file format. And you want to retrieve, store, and transmit these files seamlessly across all your existing systems. Systems that may be outdated but still serve your needs perfectly. 

Now that’s a cumbersome problem — but will you find turnkey solutions that will solve it? If you look hard enough, you may find several off-the-shelf solutions that may work. And you’ll likely need programmers to make these diverse solutions function correctly. 

But things will get messy, and you’d better hope your in-house programmers or outsourced team are up for the task. If competent, they’ll likely cobble together a workable solution, but one that’s a Frankenstein of a creation. But if that’s not the case, you’ll have sunk time and money into a failed project. 

However, you can avoid such an outcome by working with professional custom app developers, such as NS804. You can discuss and outline your needs and the specifications that the custom solution must meet. And you can rest assured that the finished app will have all the features you need while meeting and even surpassing your quality standards.

2. Scale Your Custom App Only When Necessary 

Developing a custom app gives you total freedom to decide its future. Perhaps, you’re happy with your app and have no plans to scale up for the foreseeable future. But if you go with an off-the-shelf solution, you may not have this luxury. And the reason being is that many turnkey vendors like to lock in customers to the way they do business. 

Many operate as a Software as a Service (SaaS) and rely on subscriptions with a tiered pricing model. So, you may miss out on features or receive additional features that you don’t need based on your tier. Worse still, vendors may remove mission-critical features or enforce version upgrades at the most inopportune times while offering no tangible benefits. 

And then, there’s no guarantee that these vendors will be around for the long haul. You may want to scale up your app two years down the line but find out that the turnkey vendor has gone out of business. Or they may abandon specific APIs and toolsets essential to the continuous development of your app. In some cases, they may break compatibility with earlier versions of their own solutions or even operating systems, such as Android and iOS.

In a nutshell, relying on off-the-shelf solutions presents many risks. And if you’re a startup, you shouldn’t be wasting money on solutions that bring too much or too little to the table. It’s better to work with a custom app developer to scale up your app only when necessary, as this will free up funds that can go into other areas of your business.

3. Enhanced Security That Surpasses That Of Turnkey Solutions

As a business leader, you want your mobile app to have the tightest security possible. That’s especially true if you need to pass around valuable company data or handle payments. But that’s only possible if you have a clear understanding of the underlying technologies and security protocols. 

That’s the beauty of custom app development, as you’ll know exactly what technologies power your app. And there won’t be any hidden surprises if the custom app developer and your in-house security team work closely. Furthermore, they can further tighten security immediately after encountering a vulnerability. Something that’s not always possible if you were to rely on turnkey solutions.

Apart from the additional control over your security, you’ll also enjoy the benefits of improved integration. There’s no guarantee that off-the-shelf solutions will integrate with your existing systems. And even if they do, it’s unlikely that this will result in an elegant and optimally secure process.

4. Unlock A Plethora Of Marketing Opportunities 

Your mobile app won’t only help promote your brand but also give you a direct marketing link to your users. And you may decide to initiate your marketing campaigns via well-planned push notification strategies. After all, push notifications are powerful at delivering value, driving sales, and enhancing brand loyalty.

But if you take the custom app route, you can optimize your direct marketing endeavors. And you can increase or widen your marketing pipeline according to your needs and do this at any time. Furthermore, you won’t deal with any limitations imposed by turnkey vendors or wait for them to introduce the marketing features that you need. 

Another reason why you want to have complete freedom over your direct marketing channels is that you want to build long-term relationships with your users. Thus, you don’t want a third-party vendor to become an intermediary that gains access to your users and their data. There’s always the risk that they turn out to be a bad actor or suffer from security vulnerabilities down the line. And it’s not just their reputation that will suffer, but yours too.

5. Deliver A Superior User Experience

Nobody knows your users better than you do, so you’re in a position to create an app they’ll find appealing. So the most sensible choice is to develop a custom app that will meet or surpass your users’ expectations.

You want to create an app that allows users to complete tasks with as few taps as possible. A quality app with a well-designed user interface (UI) will reflect positively on your brand. Moreover, this will build brand loyalty and help with retention, so getting repeat business will be much easier.

And you can also improve the perception of your organization by allowing users to connect via the app. Thus, allowing them to communicate, give feedback, and lodge complaints, directly and quickly. If users see that they can resolve issues inside the app without being inconvenienced, they’ll likely keep it installed on their phones and recommend it to others.

The Bottom Line

Developing a custom app is usually the right choice for most organizations. And that’s because the end product will be far superior to that made with turnkey solutions. It will be more secure, run smoother, have better custom marketing pipelines, offer scalability when necessary, and deliver a better user experience. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create cutting-edge custom apps that will engage your users! 

The 6 Best Apps for Businesses

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The best apps for businesses make it easier to handle everyday office and work tasks, whether working from home, in the office, or on the go. Business owners must remain agile and scalable to respond to changing business needs and evolving consumer preferences.

The rising adoption of mobile phone by users combined with increased infiltration of internet connectivity has forced enterprises to adopt digital technologies, among them online shopping capabilities.

Digital solutions are proving to be quite innovative approaches to targeting new customers and retaining the existing ones. This is precisely why mobile app adoption by businesses is on an unprecedented rise. While mobile devices certainly play an everyday role in our businesses and activities, selecting the best app for businesses can be challenging.

That is because you may want to have business apps that do multiple things: collect, store, and transfer documents across different devices and through different communication channels like wireless, wired, and Bluetooth. In addition, you may want an app that handles your enterprise resource planning activities, and one that responds well with your social media followers, mostly online clients and prospects.

In this article, we discuss the most important apps for small and medium-sized businesses. The best mobile apps offer superior functionality while also driving value and growth.

So, what are the best apps for businesses?

1. Microsoft 365

Microsoft Office recently rebranded to Microsoft 365 and is the best suite for small businesses. Microsoft 365 suite entails different apps that are powered with diverse capabilities. The apps include intelligent capabilities like ideas for Microsoft, Excel, advanced security features, teamwork, and real-time collaboration. Microsoft 365 allows licensed users to deploy the software to five PCs and MACs, five mobile devices, and five tablets.

Microsoft 365 boasts superior connectivity and productivity across your enterprise. The software contributes to streamlined knowledge because information can be shared through cloud document management. There’s enhanced mobile access anywhere and anytime, leading to productivity due to round-the-clock work. Intelligent process automation, and social capabilities, are some of the features that make Microsoft 365 a must-have for businesses.

2. Wave

Financial management is a critical function of any venture. The ability to oversee and manage your finances from anywhere is critical, and Wave gives you billing, invoicing, and accounting software for doing business mobile. This mobile app is designed to help entrepreneurs sync bank accounts, balance books, and connect to their bank accounts anytime and anywhere. Accessing cash flows anytime and anywhere is quite indispensable for a successful venture. That is why small businesses are using Wave as a money management solution.

The main leading features of Wave include:

  • Wave allows businesses and individuals to create and send invoices to anyone and from anywhere. You receive notifications anytime an invoice is viewed, paid, or due.
  • Wave allows you to set up recurring billing for regular or returning clients. Payment information syncs with the account’s function.
  • Wave provides a receipt scanning feature which means that you don’t have to keep paperwork. Once you scan financial documents or information using the app, Wave automatically syncs it with the account.
  • Wave makes it possible to create accounting reports showing losses, profits, cash flow, and sales tax.

Wave provides customized money management and billing solutions, enabling businesses to stay at the top of their invoicing and accounting tasks.

3. RingCentral Office

RingCentral Office is the best selection for businesses looking for a perfect phone system. RingCentral Office not only comes with lots of features and capabilities; it is affordable too. This app offers a cloud-based phone system built around business services. So, it’s fine to use RingCentral Office on any endpoint with a browser: tablet, PC, smartphone, and Apple iPod.

RingCentral Office offers some basic plans that include: a phone system and call management and phone rental options for desks and conference calls. But, it’s the pricing tiers that give RingCentral Office an edge over other phone management apps out there. RingCentral Office app combines multiple features at a fair price.

RingCentral Office further provides a contact center as a service and unified communications as a service, which means that it offers the enterprise experience for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the app can deliver a communication platform as a service. It gives you access to a developer’s networks. That means that you can use any APIs to customize and integrate your phone systems and other software in your business.

4. Avast Business Antivirus

With the increased adoption of digitized solutions comes the risk and threat of cyber-attacks. That is because attackers exploit the systems and networks that support critical business operations. One way to protect critical business systems is by using a trusted antivirus from a renowned developer and supplier.

Avast business antivirus delivers on its promise. This antivirus is an excellent endpoint suite that gives you various suites such as email protection, firewall, antispam, and antivirus for end-to-end security. When compared to the standard version, Avast business version provides Exchange and SharePoint protection and a plethora of tools for your servers. This software ranks as the best business software security solution for businesses.

5. Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services AWS is the world’s most adopted and renowned cloud platform. AWS has over 100 fully-featured services from different data centers. AWS offers strong computing power, database storage, and content delivery to help enterprises scale exponentially. Amazon Web Services runs applications and web servers in the cloud and thus hosts dynamic websites.

The benefit of Amazon Web Services is that it’s easy to use. This cloud platform allows vendors and application providers to securely and quickly host their apps, whether using a new SaaS-based app or an existing app. In addition, the AWS is flexible that enables you to select the operating system, database, and web programming platform. Amazon Web Services further boasts of its cost-effectiveness, security, reliability, and scalability.

6. Square

Square is a point-of-sale POS app that enables businesses to streamline their sales activities. Square is designed with superior functionality allowing you to ring up customers and close sales in minutes. Indeed, the best point-of-sale apps like Square can be customized to fit your business needs and industry requirements. Restaurants, for example, can use Square for table management and kitchen coordination activities. Retail stores, on the other hand, can use Square for its diverse retail management functions.

What’s crucial is that Square is easy-to-use and provides superior functionality and a clear interface. The Square company offers transparent and fair pricing. The app is mobile-friendly and works collaboratively with Androids, iPhones, and iPad. For small and medium-sized enterprises that don’t need advanced functionality, Square has a free trial plan.

NS804 – Developers of Best Mobile Apps

NS804 is an app development company with years of experience in app design, development, and maintenance. NS804 talented developers can help you design your app from inception to completion while enabling you to enjoy smooth, advanced functionality and scalability. NS804 development team optimizes your app’s functionality and delivers best-in-class app functionality.

NS804 can surely help you ace your next mobile app development project with a diverse specialty in android app development, IOS app development, app store optimization, UX/UI design, and minimum viable product MVP development. And with our cost app calculator, you get to know exactly how much it will cost to develop a new app from scratch.

Contact NS804 for the best mobile app development solutions.

What Makes an Effective Company App? 12 Features

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Mobile apps are transforming businesses by giving innovative solutions to legacy problems. With a well-customized mobile app, you can communicate directly to customers, improve customer engagement, and design a personalized marketing channel.

When investing in a mobile app, companies look forward to building robust apps that will attain success in the shortest time. But this is not always the case. Most mobile apps get drowned in the sea of apps out there. This is why it’s important to learn the ups and downs of building a great mobile app.

To ensure your app meets the minimum requirements and provides maximum value, you must be aware of features that make your app stand out. Below, our mobile app development team looks at features that make an effective company app.

1. End-User Simplicity

A great UX design is determined by superior navigation and a clear interface. Interface and navigation enable an app to rank higher among other alternative apps. So, if your app is well-customized and easy-to-use, potential users will not have to look for alternatives. The end-user simplicity is a fundamental characteristic of award-winning apps that collect and maintain a large audience or user base.

2. Integrates IOS and Android

These are two most common operating interfaces. However, a service provider can offer a cross-platform development as a marketing gimmick for targeted clients. The leading cross-platform frameworks are ReactNative, PhoneGap, and NativeScript. These platforms and frameworks enable businesses to save costs while entering the market with a minimum viable product MVP. The ability to integrate and cover both Android and IOS is a key element of a successful company app.

3. Performance

Performance is a critical attribute of any successful company app. Performance refers to the way the app functions according to set requirements. Optimum performance means that the app meets the highest levels of outputs and meets set requirements and expectations. On the other hand, a poor app performance means that the app negates its key responsibilities and expectations. The app must load faster and particular attention should be given when pages or objects take long to load. The latency time must be kept to a minimum with constant app optimization.

4. Security

Cyber-attacks are posing significant threats to protected networks and systems, including critical enterprise resources. The compromise of a critical resource like the enterprise mobile application may pose a significant threat to customers. For instance, compromise of mobile apps may reveal personally identifying information (credit card numbers and social security numbers), or even compromise the integrity of protected health information PHI. So, a successful company app must have the necessary security infrastructure and posture to detect threats and patch unprotected networks. Luckily, mobile app developers can design apps with robust security infrastructures, protecting information, networks, and crucial resources.

5. Personalization

A personalized application reinforces close relationships with targeted prospects. Personalized app experiences create loyalty, raising awareness and leading to higher user retention levels. Users love products (and apps) that offer lots of customization possibilities. For effective company apps, it’s advisable to offer users limitless possibilities for customization. Winner apps incorporate details such as flexible backgrounds, fonts, color, and settings.

6. Great Image Resolution

A great app balances speed, functionality, and resolution. Most importantly, you have to ensure that what’s displayed on the screen is clear enough to make the user experience delightful. The world is way past the blocky graphics and today users expect hi-definition, 3-D images and multiple colors. A great image resolution must also sync seamlessly with the overall app’s functionality to ensure a smooth and rewarding user experience.

7. Search Icon

Provide users with an easy way to search and locate items and objects. The search functionality particularly matters for software products with high complex content. Therefore, it’s advisable to make every page and content as clear and easy-to-locate as possible.

8. Feedback Systems

Providing feedback is a great way to build and garner a reputation. So, it’s advisable to let users report bugs, give comments, and feedback about the app’s functionality, products, or brands through an open app forum. Giving users an opportunity to air their views and give grievances about products and app’s functionality leads to enhancing credibility and trust.

9. Social Integration

Social integration is a critical component for users connecting in the app’s ecosystem. Integrating with social networking channels simplifies using the app by enabling users to easily sign-up in the app. In addition, social integration allows users to share posts about events thus remaining fully connected in their social channels.

10. Customization

The app design process must consider customization as a key feature of aligning app features with customer preferences. By customizing the system functionality, layout, and content, the app viewing experience can be tailored to meet and respond to users’ needs.

11. App Analytics

The app must provide clear and accurate statistics and metrics. Clear visibility of user browsing trends enable businesses to monitor customer behavior, thus adjusting business practices to respond to consumer needs. Analytics is a critical component for mobile apps of all sizes and sophistication. Analytics track your app’s performance and optimize the app’s functionality.

12. Offline Access

Mobile apps work best where there’s a stable internet. Although connectivity is great for apps, there are apps where offline access would be appropriate. As a company, you must predict a situation where internet access would not be possible and provide features that work without internet connectivity. It’s difficult to categorize apps based on features because a majority of them depend on industry and app type.

Classifying The Features of a Successful Mobile App:

A successful mobile app integrates these features smartly: user, market and product. These elements need to integrate seamlessly and sync seamlessly to provide users with great usability, unique value, and superior performance. In examining what makes a successful mobile app, the features discussed above have been classified into two: customer-centric and business-centric features.

Customer-Centric Features

Customer-centric features denote attributes that evoke a positive emotional response to customers and targeted app users. Customer-centric features include:

  • Nice and appealing design and layout
  • Well thought out user interface and user experience
  • Reliable and stable workflow
  • Sufficient data protection
  • Quick access to service desk
  • Cover needs and specifications based on user needs

Business-Centric Features

Business-centric features refer to attributes that satisfy key business requirements. Business-centric app features include:

  • Offer quick, hassle-free payments
  • Encourage user retention
  • Protecting data breach
  • Easy update procedure
  • Low maintenance and development costs

NS804 – Transforming Enterprise Mobile App Adoption

Mobile apps are at the forefront of the digital mobile revolution. Mobile apps provide diverse capabilities and superior functions – communication, interaction, emailing, purchasing, billing, and payments – all integrated into a simplistic app solution. That’s the reason most companies are accelerating their app adoption efforts to keep track of new industry developments.

Companies must ensure their mobile apps function effectively to meet evolving consumer needs even with the rising adoption of apps. A streamlined app experience will provide growth opportunities. There’s no doubt that mobile apps are proving as innovative solutions to bolster growth and build a competitive positioning.

You can contact NS804 for innovative mobile app solutions.