Tag Archive for: custom app development

What does Corporate App Development look like in 2024?

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A corporate app in the business world today can serve as an alternative to a website to deliver a particular service within a business. No matter the size of the business, a mobile app is an avenue to deliver a consistent experience across multiple devices.  Corporate app development is best described as the process of designing, building, and delivering bespoke applications for businesses.

To understand this, it would be useful to broadly classify corporate apps into two categories. First, internal apps are meant to help employees be more efficient at their day-to-day tasks within the company. A field service company, for instance, could have an app where staff can upload documents, monitor their schedule and access other important information while out in the field. Internal apps would also include human resource management apps where employees can book their leave days or update personal information.

The other category would include customer facing apps, which are meant to improve interactions between and its customers. These apps are mainly meant to drive revenue mainly by increasing the time in contact with customers as well as the quality of service to them.

Considerations Before Investing in a Corporate App

While the two broad categories of corporate apps are quite easy to differentiate, the decision on whether to put money into an app is anything but. From the start, the business has to be very clear about the purpose of the app. This determines what the minimum viable product will encompass in terms of features. App users are savvy and will not use an app whose value is not quantifiable from the onset.

Clear goals include conducting staff training, ensuring regulatory compliance, or making administrative work faster and easier. A corporate app should not set out to do too much to begin with. Other functionalities can always be added once there is a critical mass of users.

The app promoters (those championing the app) must carry out sufficient research before the building phase begins. The user pain-points have to be well documented, from actual data collection as opposed to assumptions. Then, the question of why a bespoke app is better than off-the-shelf solution must be raised. Remember, an enterprise app requires a maintenance budget and should work reliably across different operating systems and devices. Find out what other organizations in the industry are doing to handle similar operational problems.

 

To estimate the return on investment, a business should prepare a framework to quantity the gains made from building the app. This can be difficult for internal apps where there are no clear cash savings made. Other metrics such as time spent on the app, number of daily users, and user ratings and comments may be helpful. All these should be taken into account at the app design stage.

On engagement, there should be a well-planned app popularization strategy for quick adoption once the app is ready. For internal apps, there could be people requested to be evangelists for adoption of the app and a launch event to create the necessary buzz.

The Benefits of a Corporate Application

Greater Optimization Processes

A sustainable organization is a summation of all tasks that enable it to provide value to target customers while it remains a going concern. Often, inefficiencies in carrying out of tasks affects means the organization is ‘leaking value’ that could otherwise be delivered to customers or retained as profit.

By building an enterprise application, the goal is always to reduce such inefficiencies. Building modern applications to replace legacy systems can create efficiencies that can translate into value for an organization.

Better Planning and Reporting

For organizations that are keen on data-led decision making, an app can help to streamline the data handling process. Managers can receive the data they need to make real-time decisions. There are often important aspects of the business that remain obscured due to data unavailability. If the decision-makers of a business can get a monitoring dashboard or scheduled reports, a business can gradually work towards important KPIs which is eventually reflected on the bottom-line.

Automation through Corporate App Development

Businesses today have no choice but to adopt automation solutions where possible where possible. Building a corporate application in most cases is part of the automation agenda part of the business.  For instance, an app created as an admin solution can have inbuilt workflows for approvals, task alerts, and reminders. Automation allows people within the business to focus on important and non-repetitive tasks.

Employee Engagement

There are corporate apps that are geared more towards promoting employee engagement. This often happens for large organizations with people spread out across many regions, states, or countries. By creating a social app, businesses hope to create an avenue to propagate culture, foster goodwill among colleagues, while encouraging people to be imaginative. The app can also serve as a source of truth for important company information, news, and new opportunities. Availing important information there can encourage employees to engage regularly with the app.

Productivity

Availing an app that reduces paperwork and repetitive tasks for employees has a positive impact on morale. Forward looking organizations send a message to the employees that the organizations are willing to invest in their success. Higher productivity is likely to be visible in higher customer satisfaction ratings and better quality of work.

In organizations that have some employees working remotely, an app can serve as an avenue for communication, work delivery, task assignment, and project management. Such a platform ensures that teams work in concert and that the quality of work does not suffer at all.

Scalability and Integration

A great advantage of corporate app development is that a solution is built with the integration needs of the app in mind. Most businesses use a combination of suites to make up their workflow. A corporate app solution is likely to have a flexible structure that allows them to work as stand-alone solutions or integrate with other software. All this is tailor-made for the specific case at hand.

Scalability is an equally important factor to consider when building corporate apps. The app should be able to handle increases in the number of users as a business grows. Scaling is important to avoid having to rebuild the app as demands grow. A scalable app should allow new features and functionalities to be built, only requiring updates to fix bugs and improve the UI.

Steps in Corporate App Development

Requirements Gathering

As earlier pointed out, there has to be a sufficient amount of information gathered on what an app should be. There has to be a clear link between the user needs, business goals, and the functionality of the app. This ensures that resources go into building the most important functionalities as opposed to building a bloated app with minimal functionality.

By conducting interviews with stakeholders, the development team ought to create a project scope with succinct features and specifications.

Planning Phase

Once the project deliverables are clear, focus can now shift to project planning. Some projects have shorter deadlines while development teams differ in the amount of resources at their disposal. It is at this stage that an approach for the project emerges. The team declares project timelines and milestones. It is prudent to establish communication channels for effective reporting of project progress, as well as accountability. It is common for projects to exceed their initial scope or deadlines to require adjusting. Maintaining open and frequent communication helps to avoid misunderstanding and project cost overruns too.

Wireframe Prototyping

The next step in the development process is to create an outline of the app on wireframing tools. It shows how the UI of the app will look like, including where images and buttons will be. Wireframes help to visualize the user journey, so that any adjustments necessary are done before coding begins. The goal is to achieve the smoothest user experience possible.

Development (Coding)

Once wireframes are approved, the corporate app development work can move to the actual coding of the application. A majority of the time goes into building both the backend functionality and the frontend (UI). The choice of technology to use rests largely on the development team but it is important to adhere to current best practices.

App security, in particular, is an area of concern. With numerous legislations coming up in various jurisdictions, the development team must be vigilant so that the app does not contravene any laws. The cloud solutions used, the app permissions, and the nature of data collected from users must all be in keeping with current legislation.

Testing

A corporate app requires rigorous testing before it is ready for the market. Fortunately, most of the testing today is automated and can be carried out as the code is being written. The main areas of testing are around security, functionality, and reliability of the app in different situations. The app architecture must be robust enough to withstand increases and reductions in user demand.

A sample of users may test the app before launch to give feedback on the UI/UX.

Deploying

Once the app is ready for the market, there should be a rollout plan to create enthusiasm around it. For a corporate app, creating communication material such as blog posts should help make intended users aware of the upcoming launch of the app. It would also be useful to create a space for users to discuss their experience once they start using it.

Management should keep track of indicators of user behaviour. These metrics include the number of downloads, sign ups, session lengths, most frequented pages and more. Such data will help determine the improvements necessary and the roadmap the app is likely to take.

Best practices require setting aside a budget equivalent to around 10% of development costs as an annual app maintenance budget. This should ensure efficient handling of bugs and feature requests from users. Unresponsiveness to complaints can quickly lead to loss of popularity of an app. This could be regardless of the resources the team spent in the initial development phase.

There is a general consensus now that a corporate app development initiative is not necessarily a project with definite start and end dates. Instead, it is a product that is continually growing and evolving. There must be ownership within the organization.

Corporate app development faces a few challenges.

Resources

The first major challenge a lot of corporations face in their app development initiatives is failure to commit sufficient resources. This could stem from improper research and project specifications leading to incomplete projects. The lack of a maintenance budget could also lead a project to fail soon after launching.

Security and Compliance

Customer-facing business apps require a framework to keep up with legislations on data handling. Businesses need to be careful about how they handle personal data, their own intellectual property and that of any suppliers they are working with. A small breach could result in irreparable damage both in terms of reputation and financially.

User promotion and Change Management

An app that replaces  old ways of handling operations within the company may face resistance.  Therefore, there should be efforts to reduce the steepness of the learning curve for new users. Users are more likely to embrace an app if there are resources to explain functionality and the app’s UI is intuitive.

Scaling and Heavy Workloads

Some apps face an inability to handle huge workloads. The wrong choice of technology and a weak architecture can cause under resourced apps to fail. Slow speeds, security breaches and frequent downtimes are common problems with unscalable applications. Proper planning and future-proof designing are the only way to prevent such eventualities from happening.

Corporate App Development at NS804

The choice of the development team when building a corporate app is absolutely crucial. Their approach to the project, their experience, level of professionalism are determinants of the success of your mobile application. If your business is planning to build an app to support any function, reach out to NS804. We are a world-class corporate app development firm with decades of combined experience in our team. We have a relentless resolve to keep up with current best practices in app development. No matter the size or function of your intended business app, our team will exceed any expectations.

 

Software Developer Richmond: Why Partner With A Professional App Developer?

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Are you searching for a professional app developer for your next project? The perfect software developer is not only a reality but may be closer than you think. NS804 is an established award-winning studio that has completed over a hundred apps and has its headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.

But why partner with a professional app developer when you could hire a freelancer or even handle development in-house? While it may seem cheaper to hire a freelancer, you have no guarantees that this individual can complete your project according to spec or on time. Furthermore, you never know if you’re dealing with an honest individual or someone who will disappear after they take your money. 

If you rely on an in-house team, they can complete your project. However, that will depend if they have the relevant skills, know-how, and development tools to handle your project. If your project has unique functionality, requires specialist skills, or needs to scale — your in-house team will face many challenges.

Consider the additional risk you’re adding to your project if your in-house team lacks familiarity with the relevant development tools and methodologies to complete your app. If you’re dealing with such a scenario — isn’t it better to work with a professional studio? A software developer in Richmond studio like NS804 can handle projects of all categories, specifications, and scopes.

Avoid the risk associated with a potential failure by partnering with the right studio for your next project. Below, we outline in detail several of the aspects you should look at when considering a software developer in Richmond. 

Working With A Specialist In Native Mobile App Development

The two main ways to build mobile apps are cross-platform and native app development methods. But what are the differences between the two methods? Cross-platform development is a process that allows developers to target both iOS and Android using a singular codebase and toolchain. Also, it’s possible to target platforms like the desktop, web, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices with cross-platform tools.  

As you can figure out, cross-platform development lowers costs if you target more than one platform. So, why not make all your apps this way since it’s faster and cheaper? The main drawback of cross-platform development is that your apps will have inferior performance, platform features, and user experience to native apps.

A professional app developer like NS804 focuses on native development. There’s a good reason for this, as we want to develop the highest quality custom apps for our clients that comply with the guidelines and best practices set by both Apple and Google. When we create separate versions for each operating system (OS), such as iOS and Android, we can optimize apps for both platforms and use their latest features.

Ultimately, iOS and Android users benefit from this, as they will enjoy the unique features of their chosen platform. Several platform-specific features may take advantage of both the OS and the hardware. Thus, this will impact how we implement push notifications, the user interface (UI), and hardware features. All this leads to satisfied users, boosting downloads, app retention, and in-app purchases. 

The Advantages Of Native Development Tooling

How does NS804 develop phenomenal mobile apps for its clients? We start by looking at an app design brief of the client’s project. If the client doesn’t have a brief, we’ll hold a meeting to discuss all their goals and requirements for the project and assist with the planning process.

Depending on what the client wants for their app, we’ll pick the most appropriate development tools and methodologies to complete their project.

In most cases, we’ll choose Apple’s Xcode integrated development environment (IDE) with Objective-C or the Swift programming language (usually the latter) for the iOS version. For the Android version, we’ll go with the Android Studio IDE with Java or Kotlin (again, we’ll pick the latter since it’s a more modern language).   

Both Xcode and Android Studio are terrific because they offer comprehensive tooling for building, debugging, and testing apps. If a client wants to develop an augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), or gaming application, we will use additional tools. These tools may include the likes of Unity or Unreal Engine, as they’re the premier 3D AR/VR and game development engines available today.

We also integrate various backend technologies that will work best with an app, such as Kumulos (now Optimove), MySQL, or Node.js. However, we’re always on the lookout for cutting-edge tools that aid the development process and improve app functionality. 

Partnering With A Studio With Completed Apps Across Multiple Segments

A good reason to partner with a professional app developer like NS804 is our comprehensive portfolio. But what makes our portfolio so notable? Since 2012, we have completed over 100 apps in multiple segments. These segments include branding, business, communication, entertainment, productivity, and web design.

That means we can develop apps in multiple categories, which isn’t often the case with many smaller or newer developers and freelancers. Several of our apps have made a positive impact in a specific segment, as follows:

  • Béné: An innovative cashless tipping app that allows hotel customers to tip staff via QR codes without requiring them to download an app.
  • CFO Sidekick: A powerful tool to help small business owners keep track of all their finances, and it reads QuickBooks data.
  • Mamava: We developed an app using smart technology and GPS navigation to let mothers locate the nearest Mamava lactation pod or room in their area.
  • Prevue: This is a unique dating app that utilizes short-form videos to let users build meaningful relationships with potential suitors.
  • Referral Buddy: Our client wanted an app that allows users to keep track of all their referrals to businesses and to receive compensation.
  • Trivia Monsters: A fun trivia-based game built with the Java and Swift programming languages and the Kumulos backend services.

A Partner In Richmond To Help With Mobile App Monetization

Mobile app monetization is challenging, especially if you’re new to this process. However, if you partner with the top software developer in Richmond, we can help you with monetization and implementing the right strategies. NS804 can help you with the following types of mobile app monetization methods:

  • In-App Advertising: Adding ads in your app to earn revenue based on impressions or clicks.
  • In-App Purchases: Sell digital goods, additional content, or new features in your app.
  • Freemium Models: You can launch your app with the freemium model to offer basic or limited features for free and ask users to pay to access the premium version of your app.
  • Subscriptions: Offer your users access to premium content or features for a recurring fee.
  • Sponsorships: Consider partnering with brands to feature their products or services within your app in exchange for money.
  • Crowdfunding: Incentivize your users to fund your app’s development costs with rewards or exclusive perks.
  • Affiliate Marketing: Consider integrating products or services from third-party vendors to earn commissions on clicks, leads, or sales.
  • Email Marketing: Build a subscriber list and email subscribers with offers and promotions they’ll find appealing.
  • Data Monetization: Leverage your user’s data for targeted marketing, analytics, or research purposes while complying with privacy regulations in your region. 

Work With A Professional App Developer To Future Proof Your App

Future-proofing your mobile app is essential so that it stays relevant as technology and market trends change. Several strategies to future-proof your mobile app are as follows:

  • Cross-Platform Compatibility: Ensure your apps run fluidly across the most popular platforms to reach the widest audience possible.
  • Scalability: Plan your app with scalability in mind, allowing it to handle increasing loads and new features without introducing new bottlenecks during this process.
  • Flexibility: Keep your app’s architecture and code flexible so that it’s easier to adapt to forthcoming changes and updates.
  • Regular Updates: Stick to a regular update cadence for your app to fix bugs, enhance performance, and introduce new features. Ensure your app remains fully compatible with the latest OS versions and hardware introduced by Apple and Android device manufacturers.  
  • Data Security and Privacy: Prioritize data security and user privacy in your app to align with current and future privacy regulations. Implement robust security measures and stay informed about the latest security threats and best practices.
  • Emerging Technologies Integration: AR, VR, and AI integrations will enhance your app’s functionality and make it more appealing to your users.

The Right Partner To Help You Identify New Opportunities For Your App

Many companies release their apps on the App Store and Google Play and think these are the only avenues available for releasing apps. However, this is not necessarily the case, as there are many alternative app stores in the market now. Due to new EU regulations, alternative iOS app stores are now becoming a reality in territories outside the US.

On the Android front, this isn’t much of an issue, as well-known alternative app stores for the platform are common. This means that you don’t need to rely solely on the App Store and Google Play to distribute your app. Instead, you should partner with a reputable studio to help you identify additional app stores to increase your app’s reach.

The partner will also advise you on which app stores to put your app on and which to avoid. That’s because only a handful of third-party app stores have a large enough user base to make them worthwhile. It’s also best to avoid app stores that don’t have a proper vetting process, as apps with malware from dubious sources end up in these stores.

Furthermore, your partner will identify overseas markets where your app can find an audience. There are many third-party Android app stores in China and other Asian markets that are worth pursuing. But it’s necessary to localize your app to appeal to users in these markets.

The Bottom Line

Partnering with a a professional app developer could be one of the best business decisions you could make. We’ll ensure that your app meets your highest standards and that of your users. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create phenomenal apps for iOS and Android.

Custom Mobile App Development: How To Benefit From The Latest Trends

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As a forward-looking business leader, you want to utilize mobile technologies to put your organization in the lead. But where do you begin with all the options currently available — do you pick an off-the-shelf solution or venture forth with custom mobile app development? 

The first option seems cheaper and hassle-free since you can use the product soon after registering your account. But with the latter option, a custom-built app will require a significant commitment from you, which will involve an initial cost outlay and consultation time with a mobile development studio.

Considering the mere accessibility of the first option, it should be the way to go, right? That may be the case if you only have a surface-level view of your organization’s short-term and long-term requirements. 

For example, you may be running a startup with a limited budget, so an affordable off-the-shelf solution suits your needs now. But how robust is this solution when you decide to scale your business or require features that this solution doesn’t offer? Will you jump to another ready-made solution to fill these gaps, or do you opt for a mobile app custom-built to your exact requirements? 

If you end up with several off-the-shelf solutions, you’ll add complexity to your organization’s existing tech infrastructure. Furthermore, your staff will require training to use these additional apps. While this isn’t necessarily bad, it’s seldom possible to train staff when you need them to perform mission-critical tasks required for the smooth functioning of your organization.  

Fortunately, you can do away with these issues by embracing custom mobile app development. Your organization will enjoy several key benefits from the latest trends custom-built apps bring forth, which we’ll discuss below.  

Custom Mobile App Development Solves Problems Exclusive To Your Business

Primarily, you want to approach custom mobile app development to solve problems that exclusively impact your business. Off-the-shelf solutions seldom do this because they attempt to solve issues affecting organizations in general. Since your business is unique, you can’t always rely on tools that all your competitors are using. 

Let’s assume you’re operating a chain of bakeries that use wood-fired ovens. But all your competitors are using either commercial electric or gas-powered ovens. Thus, how you stock your inventory and prepare your baked goods will differ significantly from competing stores and chains. 

The unique methodologies in preparing your goods will inevitably impact your tech infrastructure. You may need to create an inventory management mobile app to keep track of your stock levels based on your dough preparation and baking rates. Since your wood-fired ovens require skilled artisans to operate and bake slower than electric or gas ovens, your custom-built management app will work with this scenario.

If you had to use a similar solution to your competitors, you’d end up over-ordering or under-ordering on the wrong days. And this would impact the efficiency and profitability of your chain of bakeries. 

But why create a custom-built inventory management mobile app when you could go with a desktop or web-based solution? A mobile app is often the better choice since all your employees have mobile devices and will be in different areas of your stores. Your chief baker can check inventory and place orders without leaving the bakery floor, especially if a desktop PC isn’t available here. 

A Custom-Built Mobile App Offers Stellar Data Security

Not a day goes by without a major data security breach making the news. Sadly, the world’s most popular websites and cloud services are usually at the front lines of these data breaches. Whether it’s Alibaba’s leak of 1.1 billion chunks of user information or Microsoft’s Azure cybersecurity breach impacting executive accounts, no mainstream online product is safe from hackers.

But where does that leave mobile apps; are they safer? Yes, mobile apps are often safer if users download them directly from the App Store or Google Play. Both app stores have raised the bar on what they expect from developers regarding app security, user data, and privacy. However, unscrupulous developers and bad actors still manage to publish dubious apps on these stores, which poses a significant security risk to users. 

The good news is that custom mobile app development allows you to lock down your security on all fronts. And enjoy peace of mind due to having a higher level of app security than any off-the-shelf solution can offer your organization. Moreover, you can integrate your custom-built app with a hybrid or private cloud service, giving you considerable control and data protection. 

Take Advantage Of The Latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) Trends

Trailblazing large language models (LLMs) like Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini are integral to the modern AI landscape. There’s a good reason for this since these LLMs radically improve the productivity and efficiency of users and organizations. And like all modern organizations, you want to take advantage of these LLMs if you haven’t done so already. 

All the most popular LLMs offer application programming interfaces (APIs) that integrate with desktop, mobile, and web apps. So, you can easily tap into the power of these LLMs without requiring expensive hardware or knowing the minutest details of how these language models work. All your staff needs to do is learn how to enter prompts that will output the desired results from the LLMs you’ve integrated.

It’s also possible to build custom mobile apps that don’t use prompts but rely on other forms of user interaction, such as voice and context-based inputs. If you embark on custom mobile app development, consult a reputable studio like NS804 to help you plan and implement these inputs to suit your needs along with LLM integration.

Improve Staff Productivity With A Custom-Built Mobile App

Since you’re the leader of your organization, there’s no one better placed to understand your staff. You know how productive they are, their workflows, and what motivates them to perform at their best. You also know who the team players are and who are unengaged. 

Ideally, you want your unengaged staff to step up by emulating the behavior of your best employees. But that largely depends on how well you convey your organization’s culture, expectations, and goals. Leading by example and initiating discussions with staff members who are lagging behind will also help.

Even if you take all these actions, your staff still needs the right tools to produce optimal results. If you’re relying on a mix of disparate apps from different vendors, you’re making things more difficult for your staff. And that’s because they’ll have to contend with differing user interfaces (UIs), workflows, and app usability.  

Worse still, you’ll often encounter one or two apps within your suite of apps that create bottlenecks. These bottlenecks may be due to apps with poor performance, lack of updates, and unsupported features, ultimately making them redundant. Nevertheless, your organization can adopt a better app strategy by creating one or more custom-built apps that address all bottlenecks your organization currently deals with.

Thus, approach custom mobile app development with the intent to offer the features and workflows that will help keep all your staff members productive. Moreover, ensure all your custom-built mobile apps are fully compatible and integrate with your existing tech. In time, you can consolidate all the most crucial features into a singular mobile app, reducing complexity and maintenance costs.

Custom Mobile App Development Enhances Business Competitiveness

World-renowned brands like Domino’s Pizza, IKEA, and Nike rely on custom mobile app development. Also, NS804 has delivered custom-built solutions for leading brands like CarLotz, Dominion Energy, and Luck Stone. All these brands understand that custom-built apps offer them an unprecedented amount of control, efficiency, and security.

Another reason custom mobile app development is popular with brands is that it helps them stay competitive. They prefer using bespoke apps that align fully with their needs and goals instead of relying on off-the-shelf solutions that have little to do with their businesses. It’s not that brands will never use the latter, but tailor-made solutions will always play a central role due to their holistic design and implementation. 

But how can a custom-built mobile app give your organization a competitive edge? If your organization is a startup or a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME), you’ll have a tool designed specifically for your business processes. That won’t be the case for most of your competitors who opt for off-the-shelf solutions, as these won’t adequately cover all their day-to-day operations.

Increase Customer Engagement And Satisfaction

While custom-built mobile apps usually address internal business needs, you should also consider customer-facing scenarios. Nowadays, most existing and potential customers will seldom visit your website unless you have an e-commerce store or are regularly running special offers. So, you’ll need to consider a more effective avenue to reach and engage customers if your online presence isn’t having an impact.

An effective way to form a more meaningful relationship with your customers is with a custom mobile app. The app must make it easy for customers to learn about your products and services and receive round-the-clock assistance via AI-assisted chatbots. 

To make it easy for them to make purchases, ensure that you integrate the most popular payment gateways into your mobile app. Apple allows third-party payment processors for iOS apps distributed in the European Union (EU) as of March 2024. Android developers enjoy more freedom in this regard, as they can integrate leading platforms like 2checkout, Stripe, and WePay for most territories. 

Your customers will use mobile devices with different aspect ratios and screen sizes, and a growing number will use Android flip phones. Obviously, supporting these various screen configurations complicates matters from a development standpoint. But you want to give all your customers a satisfactory user experience (UX), and that’s only possible by implementing responsive design so that your mobile app adjusts its UI for each target device.

But to substantially increase your customer-facing app’s engagement, consider integrating the most favored social media platforms. Make it child’s play for your customers to share all the coolest products and services you offer across all their favorite social media accounts. Furthermore, this will help build awareness for your brand and its offerings without any marketing cost for your organization.

Connect With The Surrounding World More Effectively

The increased adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) devices offers businesses of all sizes countless opportunities to boost efficiency. IoT devices come in all forms, such as affordable single-board computers (SBCs), industrial sensors, and even security systems. The best part is that you can build an app that can communicate with all these devices and even automate specific tasks.

Now, consider a practical application for your organization’s office management procedures. You want to keep track of staff activities in the office related to their attendance, interactions, and movements. Why you should do this is to ensure that your office facilitates a safe and productive work environment. 

While you can spend weeks or months monitoring the office environment in person, you can gather more meaningful data by installing IoT devices in the right places. These include an automated attendance clock, desk sensors, and room occupancy monitoring devices. Then, your custom-built office management app will draw data from all these devices and provide you with real-time analytics.

With this data-driven approach, you can quickly pinpoint troublespots in your office layout and even identify errant employees. And with all custom mobile app development endeavors, you can add additional features when required. For example, you’ve identified that staff members spend their lunch breaks at the office lounge and avoid the cafeteria. 

You could remodel the cafeteria to make it more appealing. Alternatively, you can install vending machines in the office lounge to dispense drinks and snacks. And make it easy for employees to make purchases by introducing near field communication (NFC) payment via a newly-introduced feature in your office management app.

The Bottom Line

Custom mobile app development is the way forward for all businesses that want to perform at their best, especially when presented with harsh economic conditions. A custom-built app is designed to exclusively serve your organization’s structure, goals, and business processes. It’s never a one-size-fits-all approach like many popular off-the-shelf apps that usually run on a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription model. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you build a custom app to help you stay ahead in your industry!

6 Reasons To Use Artificial Intelligence In Mobile Apps

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AI or artificial intelligence in mobile apps has many appreneurs, businesses, and developers asking questions. Many of these questions surround the feasibility and implementation of this trailblazing technology in today’s apps. There are also concerns that artificial intelligence is currently in a hype bubble. 

The good news is that leading large language model (LLM) platforms like Bard, ChatGPT, and Copilot make implementation easy via their well-documented application programming interfaces (APIs). But the bad news is that there’s significant hype driven primarily by AI evangelists and the media. This hype often misleads users, developers, and business leaders into thinking that AI is a silver bullet to their problems.

While there’s little doubt that AI can radically boost efficiency, productivity, and workflows, it won’t necessarily deliver the desired results. You can use ChatGPT to write an elaborate blog post about any topic imaginable, but it won’t always be factually accurate or contain the most up-to-date information. You’ll still need to fact-check all the information in your post, read through it a few times, and make several edits before you have an article that’s worth publishing.

As you can tell, some level of human intervention is still necessary regardless of how well LLMs have advanced. But you should still use artificial intelligence in mobile apps to deliver solutions that will make life easier for your customers, employees, and users. The solutions will automate arduous tasks, minimize business costs, and help users boost their creativity.

Mobile apps that facilitate the right mix of human interactivity and generative AI output will change the game in 2024 and beyond. Here’s why you should use AI in your upcoming app project.

1. Stay Ahead By Implementing Artificial Intelligence In 2024

The media may make you think generative AI is enjoying wide adoption, but this isn’t the case. It’s still an emerging technology that had a breakout year in 2023 but hasn’t quite hit the mainstream yet. Will 2024 be the year that this happens, or will the pundits be proven wrong?

Forrester analysts provide several predictions and arguments in favor of adopting generative AI soon:

  • More than 90% of enterprises plan to implement generative AI for internal uses and customer service. 
  • Almost 50% of enterprises predict that generative AI will help them attain their productivity objectives. 
  • Approximately 60% of employees will undergo prompt training in 2024. 
  • Bring your own AI (BYOAI) will become commonplace in many enterprises in 2024. 
  • AI will heavily impact the human resources (HR) departments by analyzing employee data. 
  • AI bots and tools will continue to enhance developer productivity, but companies should not ignore potential security issues.
  • Data protection and privacy will play a central role in 2024 as authorities push for legislation to deal with the risks associated with AI. 
  • Governance is essential to deal with copyright violations and to ensure a safer and more ethical environment involving generative AI. 

2. Artificial Intelligence In Mobile Apps Facilitates Efficient Content Creation

Businesses, marketers, and influencers must post regularly on social media to build and sustain a reasonably-sized following. Back in the early days of social media — this was easy — due to the minimal availability of feasible mainstream platforms. Just posting on Facebook and Twitter (now X) was enough to gain visibility. 

Nowadays, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have become indispensable for targeting Millennials and Gen Z consumers. So, you must be constantly active on at least five platforms to maximize your reach. But that’s demanding, as you must also post quality content relevant to your audience. Can you do this consistently while running your business or leading a team?

You’ll likely burn out wearing multiple hats during the workday, negatively impacting your health and productivity in the long term. One solution is to hire social media marketing experts to handle all your social channels. They’ll create content, post regularly, and engage with your audience, but all this is costly. Expect to pay between $500 and $5,000 monthly for these services. 

If you’re a small business owner or starting as an influencer or creative, even a $500 monthly fee may cause you to overshoot your budget over a long period. However, generative artificial intelligence in mobile apps can lead to a remarkable content creation and social media posting solution. If you team up with a reputable studio like NS804, you can build a generative AI-powered app custom-built to your needs. 

You may use multiple generative AI platforms to train your models based on your own text, images, and videos. Then, by inputting a sequence of prompts on your custom-built app, you can generate and post on-brand marketing copy, images, and videos across all your social channels with minimal work.

3. Create High-Quality Videos With Generative AI

We’ve already discussed why you should utilize more social media platforms, particularly the newer impactful ones. But you must create distinctive and humorous short-form videos to make it on TikTok and more in-depth and professional-level videos to captivate YouTube fans. For professional results, you must invest in video production equipment and lighting. Then, learn the skills to use these effectively with video editing suites. 

But that’s not enough, as you’ll still need to write a video script, build a set, and hire a cast and a crew. Of course, you can outsource most of this work to a professional video production company. Depending on the quality and length of your videos, you could pay as little as $500 and possibly over $100,000. Some production companies will work with you on yearly contracts and charge between $15,000 and $100,000.

As you can tell, it’s cost-prohibitive to compete with top trending video content creators and deep-pocketed enterprises. However, things have changed, especially after OpenAI announced Sora — a trailblazing text-to-video tool designed for generating intricate scenes. 

Sora shocked and amazed the entire video production industry and even caught the attention of Tyler Perry. The world-renowned filmmaker decided to stop the expansion of his studio since this would no longer be necessary with generative AI tools like Sora. He reportedly claimed that these tools save costs but will cause many job losses in the film industry.

While this sounds grim, Sora and similar tools will democratize professional video production soon. And this is an excellent reason to use artificial intelligence in mobile apps aimed primarily at video generation. These apps will find traction in most business environments but also with content creators seeking cost-effective solutions that simplify the entire video production process.

4. Generative AI Enhances The Employee Experience

As a business leader, you want your employees to perform at their best, even when facing organizational change or unsatisfactory task distribution. In more extreme cases, you want employees to perform adequately when key staff members aren’t available. So, you’ll need to implement the tools and methodologies to ensure all your employees stay on track under these scenarios.

Implementing communication and project management platforms like Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Trello is a first step. But your business is unique, so you still need a custom solution that addresses all its needs and covers the blind spots other platforms miss. That’s why you can’t ignore the power and versatility that generative AI brings forth. 

You can train your generative models on employee data by including their work roles, productivity, and skills. Your AI model will help you look at your employee data holistically and help you pinpoint any potential productivity bottlenecks or staff shortages early on. Be sure to comply with data and privacy legislation in your region when collecting and analyzing employee data. 

Another benefit of analyzing employee data is you’ll detect notable workforce trends that impact your organization. If you employ a large workforce, it’s often difficult to accurately determine employee retention rates and the overall success of your human resources (HR) department. Traditionally, you’d hire expensive consultants to figure this out for you — but now — your generative AI model will deliver detailed reports in record time and at little cost. 

Building a custom internal app allows your employees to collaborate and complete all their tasks, and you can pull all this data in real-time. The app can also let your employees provide feedback that will help you improve work conditions and the overall employee experience.

5. Use Artificial Intelligence In Mobile Apps To Transform Customer Service

It’s no secret that AI chatbots are very effective at offering customer service around the clock. But how well do they resolve customer complaints and deliver satisfactory service to rival a human agent? It ultimately depends on the capabilities of the AI chatbot platform you decide to use. 

You can choose from several notable chatbot platforms available today, like Botpress, Dialogflow, and UChat. Botpress is ideal for creating conversational chatbots for organizations of all sizes. Dialogflow is Google’s feature-rich solution for building versatile and scalable chatbots and voicebots. Then, there’s UChat, aimed at digital marketers and small business owners who want a simple solution that integrates with all their social channels.   

Of course, there are many more AI chatbots in the marketplace. But instead of trying to find a solution that’s a good fit for your organization, you could always build a custom solution that addresses all your needs. Moreover, you can avoid the monthly fees and limitations these chatbot platforms will subsequently impose on your organization. 

More importantly, you have some control over the intelligence of your custom AI chatbot solution. Before the availability of generative AI chatbots, traditional chatbots weren’t particularly smart since they followed set rules. Thus, these could never convince anyone that they were nothing more than customer-facing bots. 

Once the GPT-5 LLM is available, convincing human-like interactions will become the norm. But you can achieve impressive results depending on how well you train your AI chatbot using GPT-4. You’ll need to collect large datasets of human interactions and then prepare these for training by removing unnecessary datasets. After you train your model, evaluate the results before deploying to all your customer-facing channels.

6. Improve Order Fulfillment With AI

While your organization doesn’t have control of the entire supply chain, it can impact the order fulfillment process. And this segment of your business should run like a well-oiled machine that responds to all types of scenarios like delays, stock shortages, and logistics issues. As a first step, you must implement an order management system (OMS) that’s right for your company structure. 

Then, you’ll need to pick an order fulfillment strategy your organization can handle. For example, if you have enough storage space, employees, and skills, you’ll go with an in-house order fulfillment. But if you don’t have these resources, it’s better to outsource fulfillment to a third party. 

Regardless of your strategy, you should become proficient in forecasting and planning every step to avoid wastage and costly interruptions in order fulfillment. However, you can drastically reduce the guesswork by integrating AI into your order fulfillment operations. Of course, it’s best to do this from day one of your operations, but there’s little harm in integrating AI in due course. 

Using artificial intelligence in mobile apps that aid order fulfillment will help your staff quickly ascertain all current and future inventory levels. They can accurately predict when they’ll run low on inventory and when to order from suppliers. Thus, your company won’t have to turn away customers due to unavailable stock. 

AI-powered order fulfillment is essential for large organizations, but small retailers benefit also. For sustainability reasons alone, retailers must reduce inventory waste. A well-trained inventory model will alert them when they’re ordering too much or too little of a specific item. They can further improve the accuracy of this model with sales and store visitor data.

The Bottom Line

The hype surrounding generative AI is astounding, but so is the technology. We expect future iterations of LLMs to improve and impact even more industries. Also, we expect the use cases to grow exponentially as appreneurs, businesses, and users embrace AI in 2024. Contact us today to learn how NS804 can help you build and use artificial intelligence in mobile apps that will drive growth from now on! 

Mobile App Development Mistakes: Impact Of Choosing The Wrong Developer

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One of the costliest and most disastrous mobile app development mistakes you could make is to hire the wrong developer. Unfortunately, it’s an easy trap to fall into, given the plethora of app studios and freelancers vying for your projects. These entities will try to convince you they can complete your projects quickly and cost-effectively. 

In some cases, this is true, yet it’s the more established and experienced developers who make good on these promises. You can check if they’re up to the task if they have a comprehensive portfolio of completed projects, positive customer feedback, and even acquired awards for their work. Established mobile app developers like NS804 tick all these boxes, as we’ve built a reputation for creating phenomenal apps for our clients and have the acclaim to prove it. 

However, many developers are not in our position and are willing to oversell to secure client work. While we can all understand why they do this — it’s not in your best interests to work with them — and here’s why. 

With freelance developers, many are in the process of learning fundamental skills and building up their portfolios. It’s common for newcomers to follow several Udemy app development courses and then set up an account on Fiverr to sell their services to unsuspecting clients. These individuals are neither professionals nor comprehend software development best practices.

Then, many overseas and fly-by-night studios offer competitive rates but have poor code quality and less-than-stellar support. The potential cost savings, if any, will lead to a frustrating and stressful app development experience. As a busy appreneur or business leader — you don’t want this — so avoid the following mobile app development mistakes listed below.

 

USE OUR APP COST CALCULATOR TO ESTIMATE THE COST TO BUILD YOUR APP!

 

Misunderstanding The App Industry Leads To Costly Mobile App Development Mistakes

About a decade ago, anyone with rudimentary coding skills could release a fun and quirky application in the app stores. The barrier of entry was so low that bedroom coders and startups released tons of apps at negligible cost. Of course, the quality of these apps was often questionable, but these early efforts helped developers earn money and stardom. 

Most app users during that era were willing to put up with subpar apps since smartphones felt novel. Thus, they would download and try out the latest apps regularly, which created a near-endless demand for new apps. But the allure would fade since too many cruddy apps started ruining the user experience. 

Eventually, users became picky about what apps to install and soon lost interest in low-quality or uninspired efforts. Smartphones and tablets also became more standardized, leading to a homogenized look, feel, and feature set among brands. While consumers never truly lost interest in smartphones and apps, they did lose some excitement. But this is not necessarily bad, as it signals a maturing market. 

Sadly, many who wish to enter the app industry today haven’t fathomed these changes. They assume that the barrier of entry is still low and that a simple app developed in a few days or weeks could lead to vast fortunes. 

They haven’t considered the increased demand for quality from users and the app stores. App development today requires testing, a better user experience (UX), and a greater focus on marketing. Then, there’s the high cost and effort associated with user acquisition (UA), which is unavoidable in today’s super competitive app marketplaces. Therefore, it’s better to partner with a reputable studio to help you navigate the app industry as it is today. 

The App Stores Have Raised The Bar To Deter The Wrong Developers

Apple and Google don’t mess about when it comes to increasing trust with users. Both tech giants have taken bold and long-needed steps to diminish the number of low-quality apps from reaching the App Store and Google Play. They’ve long been aware of the glut of buggy, poorly developed, and opportunistic cash grabs filling their app stores.

Besides, many apps from unscrupulous developers also pose significant security risks, which have no place in app marketplaces. There’s always been a troubling amount of apps with malware and trojans available that unsuspecting users download onto their devices. Considering that many users do banking on their smartphones, these infected apps threaten their financial security and privacy. 

One of the most detrimental mobile app development mistakes you could make is to hire such a developer on a lark. The damage to your reputation and business would be monumental, not to mention the legal action against you from users. The developer you hire may not even be malicious but overlooks potential security vulnerabilities that could lead to a similar outcome.

Due to these issues, Apple and Google have constantly improved security measures in their respective app stores, operating systems, and software development kits (SDKs). But they’ve also raised the bar on what they expect from developers with tighter regulations. 

A good example is Google Play’s recent requirements for new Android app developers and those with personal accounts. These developers must have 20 or more people test their apps for at least two weeks before release. Understandably, many developers are venting their frustrations on Reddit and attempting to build test groups on Discord. But studios that have set up effective mobile app testing pipelines won’t face any issues with compliance.

Mobile App Development Mistakes Due To Unsuitable Tooling

You may work with a developer who uses no-code tools to build your app. The developer may insist on using such tools due to the increased speed they offer or because they lack programming experience. Either way, this isn’t necessarily a good idea, as no-code platforms often introduce performance bottlenecks.

While newer no-code app builders offer performance improvements, they still don’t produce apps that hold up to native-developed apps. And if your brand’s reputation hangs on the quality of your app, you shouldn’t cut corners. Work with a studio like NS804, renowned for building apps using native languages like Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. 

The snappy performance, consistency, and native user interface (UI) make the additional cost and effort to produce native apps worthwhile. It’s also much easier to debug, test, and scale native-built apps than those made with no-code solutions. 

One of the drawbacks of no-code solutions is that they’re rather esoteric and often made by smaller niche tool developers. Thus, documentation, code examples, and support are not on the same level as that provided by Apple and Google. It’s also harder to find tutorials and other training materials from third parties and online teaching platforms. 

Should you want to update or scale your app at a later stage and be unable to work with the same developer, you’ll be out of luck. You will need to rewrite your app entirely from scratch, preferably in a native programming language, to avoid this same issue in the future. You can diminish the potential for mobile app development mistakes by ensuring the developer you hire uses the tooling, programming languages, and best practices recommended by Apple and Google.

The Wrong Developer Relies Heavily On ChatGPT

You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT and the impact of the artificial intelligence (AI) platform on programming and other disciplines. As a tool to help developers write boilerplate code and conjure up solutions, it’s a fantastic time saver. But as some kind of silver bullet for developing complex, robust, and mission-critical apps, the answer is not so straightforward.

While ChatGPT can make all types of apps, even complex ones, it won’t necessarily deliver the best and most solid apps. That partly depends on how well the developer understands ChatGPT’s large language model (LLM) and what prompts to enter. Then, the developer’s comprehension of the code that ChatGPT generates also comes into play. 

If the developer can understand, tweak, and implement the code to fit the app project, the results will impress while cutting costs. But if the developer hasn’t taken the time to learn the nuances of ChatGPT, it will have the opposite effect. It’s also crucial that the developer has a good comprehension of the programming languages used in development, especially after the introduction of new updates and standards. 

Nevertheless, the developer should have the skills to complete apps without ChatGPT or any other AI platform. An overreliance on these platforms isn’t ideal, as the developer must know and trust the codebase. As impressive as these AI platforms have become, they don’t always generate the right solutions.

So, never trust a developer who relies exclusively on these AI platforms to make your app. Or a developer who gives a single glance over the AI-generated code before inserting it into your app during production. And you certainly don’t want your banking or internal business app to have code that hasn’t been thoroughly inspected and tested.

Partnering With A Developer With Little Mobile App Development Experience

It’s not uncommon for developers to jump across industries for various reasons. For example, web developers often become disenchanted with building websites and decide to try their hand at mobile app development. They may assume this route will be more fun or earn them more money. 

While web developers possess several skills used in mobile app development, it’s not always a smooth transition. App development is often more challenging than web development due to the differing hardware considerations and increasing requirements imposed by the app stores. The Android platform alone requires that developers test on a wide variety of devices, while web developers only need to test their websites on several browsers. 

Web developers use languages like JavaScript, PHP, HTML, and CSS to build websites. While it’s possible to develop mobile apps with JavaScript, it’s not a first-class citizen and will seldom deliver the performance of native languages. Another shocker for web developers is the higher costs and more involved procedures associated with app development. 

If you’re considering hiring a web developer who has recently transitioned to mobile app development, think twice before proceeding. You don’t want to work with someone likely to make common mobile app development mistakes. It’s also unlikely that this developer has enough expertise or understands the nuances between Android and iOS.

Instead, opt for an established app development studio that has dedicated Android and iOS developers on the team. You’ll have the peace of mind that your app builds will be equally good on both platforms. And when you need to roll out updates and patches, you have a team on hand to do the heavy lifting.

 

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION WITH AN APP DEVELOPMENT EXPERT TO GET A CUSTOMIZED QUOTE!

 

Working With A Developer Lacking The Necessary Resources

Mobile app development is not cheap, so every competent developer must have the necessary resources to complete their projects. These resources include the funds, staff, office space, hardware, and development tools available to the developer. If the developer lacks these, they won’t be a good candidate for your next project.

But how can you tell if the developer has the necessary resources to tackle your project? It’s not possible to know every aspect of the developer’s business, but there are a few tell-tale signs you should look out for. 

Check if the developer operates from an office that you can visit if you’re nearby. If you can stop by the developer’s premises to meet the team and discuss your project, that’s a positive sign. And if the team lead gives you a tour of the office and a rundown of the development process, that’s extra reassuring. A well-run and properly equipped development studio means you’re dealing with a credible developer. 

But be sure to ask the developer what contingency plans they have in place should they fall behind schedule. Consider all scenarios that may cause delays, including outages, app store policy changes, API updates, staff turnover, testing issues, etc. Mobile app development mistakes often happen when teams haven’t prepared for unforeseen events or allocated the relevant resources to deal with these issues.

In Conclusion

Mobile app development mistakes often happen when dealing with inexperienced or incompetent developers. But you can avoid regretful outcomes by working with an experienced and established studio that has built a reputation for delivering high-quality apps. Contact NS804 today to learn why we’re one of the best app developers in Richmond, Charlotte, Denver, and beyond! 

Mobile App Development Questions: 5 Things You Should Be Asking Before Partnering

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It may seem like a technical matter to ask a professional studio several crucial mobile app development questions. But this is the essential first step that will help you assess whether or not they would make a good development partner. After all, you have specific needs for your upcoming app project and want to know if the studio can complete your project according to spec.

The studio’s portfolio of completed projects will undoubtedly play a role in your decision-making process. Another aspect that will likely affect your decision is the studio’s reputation and accolades. 

For example, NS804 has consistently ranked as one of the top app developers (2018-2022) and B2B companies — according to Clutch. And according to the Manifest, we’re also one of the most reviewed app developers in Denver. Furthermore, we’ve gained the trust of prestigious brands such as Dominion Energy, Luck Stone, and Wells Fargo Advisors, to name a few.

While that may seem like we’re tooting our own horn, we intend to pinpoint what you should look for early on. Does the studio you’re talking to have the ability, reputation, and track record to complete your project satisfactorily? Or are you dealing with freelancers or a fly-by-night studio that may not see your project through to the end? We’re hoping it’s the former scenario and not the latter.

But even if it seems that you’ve found the studio right for you, don’t sign on the dotted line just yet. Ask them the following mobile app development questions before making your decision.

SCHEDULE A CONSULTATION WITH AN APP DEVELOPMENT EXPERT TO GET A CUSTOMIZED QUOTE!

1. Which Of Your Apps On The App Stores Can I Download?

It’s all well for the studio to show you their portfolio, but that’s not enough. And that’s because you’re never sure if those apps shown in the portfolio function properly. You’ll only see several screenshots with hardly a hint of app functionality. However, more savvy developers will use motion graphics or make demos available.

While that’s a significant improvement from static app screenshots, it’s wise to ask for more. And we recommend that you ask the studio to provide you with download links to their apps in both the App Store and Google Play. Then, take the time to download and install these apps to try them out. Put yourself in the position of a user to see if these apps make good on their promises.

Furthermore, we advise you to read user reviews, view the ratings, and check if these apps receive regular updates. If these apps receive mostly positive reviews with high ratings, it’s already a good sign. But it’s also crucial that these apps aren’t outdated and are still supported, as that shows that the studio is still involved in maintaining them. 

You may also ask to see the studio’s Android apps in other stores (if available), such as the Amazon Appstore, Huawei AppGallery, and Samsung Galaxy Store. Quite often, users will leave reviews and ratings at these stores too. And you can also cross-check to see if the apps on these stores are on the current versions as those on Google Play.

2. Do You Specialize In Native Mobile App Development? 

Undoubtedly, this is one of the most important mobile app development questions you should be asking. But why is native app development so important, especially with the growing popularity of cross-platform frameworks nowadays? While these cross-platform frameworks and tools make development easier when targeting Android, iOS, and other platforms, they come with a performance penalty. 

Whether we like it or not, native app development is the only way to create the most performant apps. That means the studio should use Apple’s development tools and the Swift or Objective-C programming languages for developing iOS apps. And Google’s development tools and the Kotlin or Java programming language for making Android apps. 

Another benefit of native app development is that the studio will follow the best practices and implement user interfaces (UIs) native to the target platforms. Ultimately, your users will appreciate the high performance of your app and that it looks and feels similar to other apps on their respective platforms.

3. Can You Help Me With My App’s Monetization Strategy? 

If you want to develop a B2B or internal business application, you probably don’t want to monetize it. But if you’re targeting ordinary iOS and Android users, you’ll want the studio to help you with your monetization strategy. 

Since this will impact an app’s success, you need to know if the studio has the relevant experience to advise you every step of the way. Moreover, it must know as early as the planning stage if you’ll need to implement ads, in-app purchases, pursue a subscription model, or release a paid app.  

But the studio should also have the foresight to propose monetization strategies as you scale your app. For example, you may release a freemium app early on, but once you gain enough users, you’ll need to choose the correct monetization model. 

The studio will have already determined that in-app purchases will be the best way to monetize your app instead of ads. Thus, you’ll have designed your app for this eventuality at an early stage. So you won’t have to waste valuable resources trying different strategies to figure out what works best.

4. Have You Developed Apps For Devices Besides Smartphones And Tablets? 

You likely want to target smartphones, tablets, and possibly desktops. Most studios have the experience to develop apps for these platforms, but little beyond this point. However, you should ask if the studio can bring your app to other platforms, such as Android Auto, smart watches, smart TVs, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) devices.

These options will allow you to bring your app to a massive and diverse audience. And while it’s always challenging targeting multiple platforms concurrently, it’s worthwhile for the long-term sustainability of your app. Also, it’s not uncommon for apps to have a lackluster reception on one platform but enjoy phenomenal success on another.

Obviously, practice due diligence and investigate whether a target platform is feasible for your app. Budgetary bottlenecks may prevent you from pushing your app onto multiple platforms. But if the studio has the ability to port your app later on, you may adopt a staggered release schedule instead. This approach will allow you to stay within budget and limit the stress associated with multi-platform releases. 

USE OUR APP COST CALCULATOR TO ESTIMATE THE COST TO BUILD YOUR APP!

5. How Well-Rounded Is Your Team? 

Your list of mobile app development questions should always include questions about the studio’s staff. And you’ll want to know if they have a well-rounded team that can handle all aspects of app development. You don’t want to deal with a studio that will build your app but leave you high and dry when you require App Store Optimization (ASO).  

So, you’ll want to know if they have at least one Android developer, iOS developer, backend developer, mobile app tester, project manager, quality assurance engineer, and UI/UX designer on the team. If the studio is doing work for several clients, then they should have enough staff available to handle multiple projects. Be cautious of partnering with an understaffed studio, as it’s unlikely they’ll complete your project on time or at all.

Asking The Right Mobile App Development Questions Will Yield Favorable Results

Never be afraid to ask a succession of tough questions to any studio competing for your app project. Always remember that you’re in the driver’s seat and intend to partner with a studio that can deliver and not offer hollow promises. 

If you’re undecided or are unconvinced that the studios you’ve already contacted can bring your app to fruition, give NS804 a call today! With our long experience in app development and list of achievements, we’re sure we can develop the phenomenal app you’ve always wanted.  

Mobile App Developers In Charlotte, NC

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Charlotte, in North Carolina, is a populous and exciting city. It currently has a population of approximately 899,000 inhabitants and is ranked as the third fastest-growing city in the United States. Not bad, considering it had little more than 11,500 inhabitants in 1890. 

But where does this bustling metropolitan area get its name from? Surprisingly, it owes its name to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a German princess who became the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1761. And even the local public school education agency is named after this Queen.

While Charlotte boasts a fascinating past, it’s also a city set to succeed now and in the future. And that’s because it’s a major financial hub, with Bank of America, Truist Financial Corporation, and Well Fargo & Company having headquarters here.

Furthermore, all these financial institutions have embraced mobile app technology wholeheartedly. And to serve their clients efficiently, quickly, and safely — all three institutions have released mobile apps of extraordinary quality.

However, Charlotte’s not only a wonderful home for banking giants but also for other key players. Adecco Staffing, American Airlines, Atrium Health, Daimler Truck North America, Duke Energy Corporation, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, Lowe’s, Novant Health, and Wal-Mart all have a strong presence here.

All these companies, and even smaller businesses and startups, require the services of reputable mobile app developers to remain competitive. And since NS804 has an office in Charlotte, we can conveniently offer our expertise and services locally.

But what should businesses expect from one of the leading mobile app developers in Charlotte, NC? Below, we’ve compiled a list of what we can provide to all our clients.

1. Cross-Platform Development Experience

One of the perks of working with NS804 is that we’re a cross-platform mobile app developer. And beyond that, we also specialize in native app development, which means that we can deliver maximum performance to both your iOS and Android apps. Moreover, we ensure that the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) remain native to the target platform.

2. Custom Apps That Suit Your Business

NS804 develops apps predominantly for small and mid-sized businesses, including startups. And we have a deep understanding of what makes these businesses tick and what kinds of apps will help them succeed. Should a store owner need a retail app to serve clients, we’re able to build a custom app that’s crafted to the store owner’s specifications.

3. Expert Implementations

Whether you need to integrate a relational database or implement an application programming interface (API), you’ll need the expertise of a professional studio. These implementations are complex and can pose a significant security risk if not done correctly. So, never go it alone, and instead, rely on the expertise of a professional developer to handle these tasks for you.

Why Mobile App Developers In Charlotte, NC?

If you’re located in Charlotte, then it’s better and more convenient to work with a developer established in your city. But more importantly, you need to work with a mobile app developer that’s built a reputation for professionalism and quality. Contact NS804 today to learn how we can help you create phenomenal apps that will help boost your business!

4 Ways Service-Based Contractors Can Benefit from a Mobile App

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In industrialized economies, service-based contractors grease the wheels in the market segments in which they compete. They allow enterprises, large and small, to outsource vital business processes to function more smoothly and cost-effectively. And that’s great, but how do contractors reduce their costs while increasing efficiency?

A way to change gears and turbo charge any service-based business is with a mobile app. And why that’s the case is because a mobile app helps automate various crucial tasks. Thus, reducing or cutting out staffing overheads almost entirely. Furthermore, a mobile app never sleeps and provides service around the clock.

And if you’re a contractor, all this may sound very enticing. But a mobile app doesn’t only help automate things, as it’s also capable of so much more. Below, we’ll go into greater detail about what mobile apps can do for service-based contractors.

1. Reporting Tools For Contractors Working Out In The Field

Let’s consider for a minute that you run a data center maintenance service in your area. And you have several technicians that drive out to these data centers, many of which are out of town. Now, you want all these technicians to keep you informed and report on all the maintenance work done at these sites. Preferably, you’ll want to have all reports submitted as quickly as possible to inform the client of any issues that will impact business.

But how do you do this without having your technicians come to the office or engage in costly phone calls?

Well, the most efficient way is by implementing powerful reporting tools in a mobile app, which may run on a tablet or smartphone. And this app may also include a checklist, which technicians need to check off to show that they’re working within established maintenance protocols. Furthermore, technicians can conduct security audits and report any breaches and discrepancies.

Once they input this information, the app will immediately send it to your servers and update the client’s maintenance report in real-time. In case of a breach, you can respond immediately by sending out a cyber security specialist and notifying your client. The quicker you respond, the higher your chances of dealing with a security breach and keeping your client’s data safe.

2. Enhance Collaboration With A Project Management App

It matters not if you’re running a data center maintenance or a packing service, as you’ll be dealing with customer demands, deadlines, and staff management issues. So, you’ll need tools that make collaboration a breeze, regardless of whether your staff comes to the office, works remotely or both.

A well-designed custom project management app will empower you and your staff to make the right moves. It should have an easy-to-understand user interface (UI) that your non-tech-savvy employees can navigate easily. But user-friendliness isn’t what this app is all about, as it will also need several vital features.

It should have a task tracker that can handle multiple projects, even thousands, if necessary. Moreover, it should accurately track and record the following: assigned staff, client information, due dates, project status, task descriptions, and task priorities. To better organize tasks, use a Kanban board combined with advanced filtering features to sort through multiple projects quickly.

And it’s necessary to implement a timer that accurately tracks the duration of all tasks. You may record this information and make it available in a timesheet. It will also help you determine the completion of projects, bill clients, and pay staff. Furthermore, you can integrate multiple payment processing platforms such as PayPal and Stripe for all digital transactions.

So, you can effectively turn your project management app into a central hub for handling the most crucial business processes. And when you grow your service-based business and need additional features, you have options. You can either add these to your project management app or develop another app that integrates with your existing systems.

3. AI Chatbots Apps Make Contractors Available 24/7

Clients hate it when they can’t reach their contractors on the phone or have to wait for an email response. They expect to speak to a company representative immediately to help them with any issues they may encounter. But as we all know, that’s not always possible, especially if the contractor is small in size without enough staff on hand. Or can’t afford to hire a call center to handle all incoming calls.

However, neither is a good excuse as to why contractors of any size can’t respond to their clients. Not only is this unprofessional, but it will also cause clients to reconsider working with contractors that don’t seem helpful.

So how do we solve this problem and provide clients with a 24/7 response channel? Well, a mobile app can act as a viable communications channel. And if we implement AI chatbots within the app’s messaging service, clients can have their queries answered by these chatbots immediately. In fact, AI-powered chatbots will seem so convincing that many clients won’t even realize that they’re not conversing with actual humans.

Furthermore, the beauty of chatbots is that they’re incredibly versatile. You can make them conversational so that they can be more engaging. Alternatively, they can operate as virtual assistants and be very informative to help clients with deeply technical issues.

And from a development standpoint, all the major technology companies have a chatbot or virtual assistant platform. Apple has Siri, Google has Dialogflow, and Microsoft has Azure Bot Service.

4. AR & VR For Interactive Training Sessions

Perhaps your company offers online and offline training services to clients. But you want to stand out by providing them an interactive and meaningful experience they won’t get anywhere else. And the best way to do this is with augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR) mobile apps.

You’ll opt for an AR app if your training sessions require interaction and representation of the real world. For example, you may be training a client’s employees to detect and repair gas leaks on actual gas pipes. The AR app will aid them in correctly identifying the fittings, piping, and tubing as they pass the smartphone camera over these. And on the smartphone display, a description of the part with a visualization of the tooling and repair methodology will pop up.

But you may opt for a VR app if you need to simulate various dangerous scenarios related to gas leaks. Perhaps, you need these employees to fix gas pipes located in areas with highly combustible materials nearby. But you don’t want to put these employees in harm’s way, so it’s preferable for them to receive training in a virtual environment that’s completely safe.

The VR app will show a realistic 3D representation of the test environment with the pipe fittings. And each employee will wear a VR headset made exclusively for smartphones, such as the Samsung Gear VR. Then, the app will use a smartphone’s accelerometer to track head movements and the VR device’s controller to execute actions. For most employees, the experience won’t seem much different from playing a game from a first-person perspective.

The Bottom Line

Service-based contractors have become indispensable in modern economies. They help businesses of all sizes achieve their goals by providing services that are beyond the capabilities and scope of these businesses. And with the right kind of mobile apps, contractors can meet and surpass the expectations of even their most demanding clients.

Contact NS804 to learn how we’ll help you create outstanding mobile apps for your service-based contract business!

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!

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!