Why pay for developing a Mobile App –when you can build it on your own

Articles
Jigar Panchal

This decade has seen the most drastic changes in how businesses small and big operate. The various business strategies, marketing modules and budget planning have changed dramatically, to give way to a new mobility-centered approach.

What is mobile technology and how does it shape businesses?

On a broad perspective, mobile technology would encompass everything from SMS and mobile websites to apps. There was an outburst of marketing texts before the smartphone era took off, which paved the way to mobile websites. This was followed by debates on mobile sites vs. mobile apps.

Clearly, mobile apps have a greater advantage – they are instantly available once you’ve downloaded it, and they provide a user experience that’s far better than mobile sites.

Mobile Apps Platform

Mobile Apps Platform

But the next big question that’s worth discussing is the platform of the app. On what platform would you target your apps? Considering the current state of affairs; the smartphone market is largely dominated by Android devices closely followed by IOS and several other platforms. So choosing a platform would largely depend on the device that your target audience uses. You can work your way around this by building cross platform applications that function on most mobile platforms. But again a cross platform app might not be able to leverage native properties, as well as a native app.

Once you decided on the platform, you also have to redefine the purpose of the app by choosing a category of app you wish to create. Preliminary one can classify apps into two types:

  • Ones that directly generate income
  • Ones that are built for branding, marketing and customer service

The first category deals with building apps that directly or indirectly generate income through app purchase/subscription, in-app purchases or by advertising links.

If you are charging users through your app its best to stick to native versions as these platforms payment have integrated billing.

The second category of apps is built mainly for marketing or branding. (Think Target or Starbucks.) Usually, these apps are free of cost and are widely advertised across media since they largely serve as a medium to reach a wide audience.

After all this discussion and planning you would hire a team or an expert to build your dream app. The team would take time to understand your requirements and then deliver them. After initial development, it would go through a series of changes and tweaks. During this phase, you might have to deal with delays due to technical snags, resource issues or any unwarranted glitches.

Let’s say that you survived all of that and created your app. You would now have to monetize the app to fetch returns. That leaves you with yet another money-draining series of campaigns, advertisements, etc.  After everything, you might end up wondering if all this was worth it or whether you would have done it better.

Whichever way you put it, the huge bills you incur by hiring a team or individual might not justify the returns you get from your app. The next alternative would be to build it yourself. That would lead us back to the first few questions and the need for expertise in app building.

However, there are certain app-building platforms that solve all of these issues by helping users generate apps that leverage native features incorporating business requirements beautifully. App building platforms like Configure.IT, enable users to create fully configurable mobile apps speedily. The platform can be leveraged even by users who don’t have a technical background.

The beauty of this platform is a smart interface that guides users from building databases, a management console to handle the data, the necessary APIs to connect with the data and fully functional mobile UI for the app. Generate apps that fulfill complex business requirements through a series of clicks and easy configurations.

Start building your app now using this dynamic yet versatile building platform.

About Configure.IT

Configure.IT is a cross-platform App Development platform that empowers developing 100% native, customizable and extendible apps and backend, without writing code. The solution provides infrastructure free solution for developers, startups and enterprises, to build mobile solutions that doesn’t require great skills, experience and technology expertise.

Understanding the Cloud Computing Stack: PaaS and its Impact on Businesses

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