Key Take Aways
- Developing an in-house mobile app team is time-consuming and expensive, with costs including salaries, infrastructure, and ongoing maintenance. Additionally, staying updated with evolving mobile app trends requires continuous research and adaptation.
- Outsourcing offers cost-efficiency, time savings, flexibility, and access to expert development and ongoing support. It allows businesses to focus on core activities and strategic objectives while adapting to changing market conditions and customer preferences.
Mobile applications create a make-or-break situation for the company. If the mobile application serves its purpose, captures the audience, and perfectly meets your customers’ needs while also having fast software and a simple and engaging design, your company will receive the trust and engagement it deserves.
It is not always wise to work on mobile app development internally. Building a team from scratch (if you don’t have one) will not be as smooth as you think. The building part will take up to 3-4 months and set you back for more. So, what should you do? Let start!
Why Mobile Apps are the Back-Bone of Digitilization?
Mobile apps provide users with instant and convenient access to information, products, and services anytime, anywhere, directly from their smartphones or tablets and allow businesses to send real-time updates, leading to a better customer-provider relationship. With mobile applications you can tailor your approach with different strategies. Enabling locations may allow businesses to recommend physical stores while surveys enhance customer experience. If you want increased revenue and satisfaction among customers, implementing a loyalty program through your app will provide first and zero-party data easily.
“On average, mobile apps have a conversion rate of 157% compared to web apps and 52% of worldwide Internet traffic is from mobile devices.”
Statista
With the integration of advanced technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI), mobile apps can offer interactive and immersive user experiences that captivate and engage users, differentiate the brand, and drive user retention and loyalty. Mobile apps also enable businesses to automate and streamline various processes and workflows, reducing manual efforts, minimizing errors, and increasing efficiency and productivity.
Developing a Mobile App Internally: What’s to Come?
If you are not an IT company with too much time or already have a mobile app development team, you can skip this part. If not, the challenges you may face can push your team to the edge. What are they?
1) Developing an App Takes Time, Creating a Team Even More
Building a dedicated mobile app development team from scratch is not only time-consuming but also resource-intensive. It involves multiple stages, from recruitment and hiring to training and setting up the necessary infrastructure. But if you still decide to go with your idea, what are some challenges you may face?
Identifying and hiring skilled and experienced mobile app developers, UI/UX designers, QA testers, and project managers can be lengthy and challenging. It requires conducting interviews, evaluating candidates’ technical skills, experience, and cultural fit, and negotiating employment terms.
“As of Mar 26, 2024, the average annual pay for a Mobile Application Developer in the United States is $110,482 a year. Just in case you need a simple salary calculator, that works out to be approximately $53.12 an hour. This is the equivalent of $2,124/week or $9,206/month.”
ZipRecruiter
Once the team is assembled, comprehensive training and onboarding are needed to familiarize them with the company’s goals, processes, and standards, as well as the specific requirements and technologies related to mobile app development.
The entire process of recruiting, hiring, training, and setting up an in-house mobile app development team can take anywhere from 3 to 4 months, delaying the time to market and potentially putting the company at a competitive disadvantage.
2) High Cost, High Risk: App Development Team
Internal mobile app development has significant financial implications, including recruitment and training expenses, as well as ongoing operational costs and overheads. We talk about creating a team and investing in specialized talent. But what are the additional costs?
- Maintaining a full-time in-house mobile app development team requires regular salaries, bonuses, and benefits, which can be a significant financial burden for the company.
- The latest mobile app development tools, software licenses, hardware, and infrastructure to support the development process add to the ongoing operational costs.
- After the app is developed and launched, ongoing costs are associated with maintenance, updates, bug fixes, and customer support, which can strain the company’s budget and resources.
The estimated cost of developing a mobile app can vary between $25,000 and $150,000, and for highly customized and complex apps, the expenses can exceed $300,000.
3) Familiarity with Mobile App Trends
Keeping up with up-to-date trends in mobile app trends requires thorough market research for your company and target audience. Even if you tried to only implement general trends surfacing, you will need additional information for your audience.
If your audience is tech-savvy and knows how certain app features are used, you may need to implement more technologically advanced features to make their process easier and your app more eye-catching. If your audience is somewhat familiar with tech and are e-commerce buyers, you may consider implementing point systems.
Mobile app development rapidly evolves, with new technologies, frameworks, and best practices emerging regularly. Ensuring the in-house team stays updated and continuously learns and adapts to the latest trends and technologies requires significant effort and investment in professional development and training programs.
To summarize, you want to tailor your app to your audience’s needs and expectations while also paying tribute to general mobile app trends such as multi-channel optimization. As mentioned above, this requires good market research, which takes time and costs and requires training or personnel in this specific area.
Who Should Invest in In-House Mobile App Development?
- If you are an IT company with existing personnel who have experience in creating mobile apps, you may do your mobile app development internally.
- If your company offers IT solutions to other businesses, whether B2B, B2C, or D2C, internal mobile app development can serve as a valuable asset and potentially evolve into a marketable product for your company.
- If your company has specific or unique requirements that cannot be met by existing mobile app solutions or off-the-shelf products, developing a custom mobile app, in-house may be the best option to ensure the app meets your exact needs and specifications.
What to do if you are not capable of doing either above? Try outsourcing!
Benefits of Outsourcing Mobile App Development
Outsourcing is useful for some, especially middle—and large-level companies with short time periods. If you don’t have large amounts of time and expertise in this field, you may consider outsourcing from companies that are experts in mobile app development.
1) Cost Efficiency Like No Other
Mobile app teams can range from 5-7 to 10-12 people. You will need a project manager who oversees the entire process, manages budgets and timelines, and assigns roles. A team of 2 UI/UX designers that will design the UI and UX of the mobile app (wireframes, prototypes, design mockups, and so on). Ideally, 2-4 mobile app developers and a backend developer to handle the app’s functionality, features, and performance. Quality assurance tester to identify and report bugs and inconsistencies and a DevOps engineer to maintain the app’s stability, reliability, and scalability.
Additionally, you can hire a database administrator, security expert and business analyst to make sure nothing goes south and you are keeping track of trends, market and your mobile app at the same time. Each member will require a salary, even a small team of 5 will be very costly. After the project’s development, your task force will be left with nothing but maintenance. Outsourcing mobile app development can provide expert assistance, efficient development, and up-to-date market insights at a significantly lower cost!
2) Outsource Your Mobile App and Save Time
Outsourcing saves time since hiring, adapting, and project start tasks are no longer an issue. You have a faster time to market and can allocate your resources more efficiently. By delegating the mobile app development process to external experts, companies can focus on their core business activities and strategic objectives, allowing them to allocate resources more efficiently and effectively. Also, outsourcing mobile app development enables businesses to accelerate the development process, reduce time to market, and gain a competitive edge by launching their mobile app faster.
Creating a simple app focused on 2-3 features takes 3-6 months, while a medium-complexity app takes 6-12 months to develop. If you need something more professional and high in complexity, it will take you more than a year. Adding the hiring and adapting, then identifying needs tailored to your audience, adds 6 months more.
Agile Methdology: Will it be faster with outsourcing?
Agile methodology synergizes remarkably well with outsourcing in mobile app development, significantly boosting speed and efficiency. By leveraging outsourcing partners skilled in agile practices, companies can streamline;
- the development process,
- rapidly iterate on features,
- and adapt to changing requirements with ease.
Agile frameworks facilitate close collaboration between distributed teams, enabling quick decision-making and continuous improvement cycles.
Moreover, outsourcing allows companies to tap into a global talent pool, access specialized expertise, and accelerate development timelines. With agile methodologies and outsourcing working hand in hand, businesses can achieve faster delivery of high-quality mobile apps, gaining a competitive edge in the dynamic digital market.
3) Flexible and More Focused: Prioritizing Company Needs
Outsourcing allows businesses to be flexible regarding project scope, team size, and development resources. With outsourcing, you can, as a company, easily adapt to changing market conditions, customer preferences, and technological advancements by quickly scaling the development team, reallocating resources, and adjusting the project scope and priorities as needed.
Outsourcing mobile app development enables companies to focus on their core business activities, strategic objectives, and value-added services, while leaving the technical aspects of mobile app development to external experts. By delegating the mobile app development process to external experts, companies can enhance their overall business productivity and efficiency, reduce distractions, and improve their time management and organizational performance.
4) Support and Maintenance with Security: Expert Development
Outsourcing mobile app development to experienced and reputable companies reduces the risks associated with mobile app development, including project delays, cost overruns, and quality issues, by leveraging their expertise, proven methodologies, and quality assurance processes.
Also companies with expertise in compliance and security ensure;
- the mobile app’s compliance with industry regulations,
- data protection laws,
- and security standards,
Reducing the risk of legal issues, data breaches, and security vulnerabilities.
Mobile app development needs consistent surveillance; outsourcing provides that but also ensures you receive ongoing support and maintenance services. This protects the mobile app’s performance, reliability, and user satisfaction, allowing businesses to focus on continuous improvement, updates, and enhancements to meet evolving user needs and preferences.
Final Words
Mobile app development is a key part of going digital. To get the best results, companies need the right skills. Building a team from scratch can be hard and expensive. Outsourcing can be the solution! If your company has many projects and tight deadlines, consider outsourcing to experts. At Appcent, we specialize in mobile app development and offer full digital transformation services. To learn more and move your business forward, contact Appcent today.