Checklist to Consider Before Building Your Next Enterprise App

Enterprise mobile app development has grown in popularity in recent years. 71 percent of organizations consider investment in enterprise mobility solutions as their top priority for keeping up with the market competition. Here the role of enterprise apps becomes even crucial for streamlining communication, boosting productivity, and improving client satisfaction in firms. But, building a business app that meets all such expectations is not an easy task.

There’s no secret trick that can allow you to build a perfect business app in the first go. Everybody needs an enterprise app that enables you to effectively engage with employees, deliver important updates, respond to client queries quickly, and keep track of all important business processes in one place.

To make this happen, you need to first think about building an app that meets the expectations of end-users - your employees, clients, and other stakeholders. One that employees want to use and is easy to navigate through. It should also be flexible to accommodate the business and technology changes quickly. Taking assistance of an experienced enterprise software development company can help you build such an business app solution faster.

Apart from teaming up with an experienced technology solution provider, you can realize the above idea by keeping the following things in mind:

Know your End-User Requirements

Before you start building your custom enterprise app, think about your end-user expectations and needs. It’s important to get into the skin of the potential app users to understand what they actually need to ensure your app’s future success. For example, if your business app is inclined towards your employees more and will help them perform routine tasks more efficiently - then you should know what are your employee pain points of daily work, what activities are time-consuming and repetitive for them, areas where they fail to maintain proper team communication and so on.

Talk to people and gather important feedback so you don’t miss out on little nuances that can make your employee work easier and guarantee your app success. Make sure every key requirement related to people, processes, and data for your enterprise app is brought to the light and discussed. This facilitates hassle-free development at later stages.

Analyze Market Competition

During the groundwork for your enterprise app, it’s also crucial to check what features your competitors are offering in their business apps. Do these features make their employees’ and clients’ lives easier? Find out the answer by navigating through app stores and downloading some corporate apps. Once you’ve gathered relevant information, present this data to your app strategy planning experts. Brainstorm ideas and discuss how to improve upon those features and add something that’s unique and relevant to your audience.

Choose Your App Platform Wisely

Once app requirement analysis and planning is done, you need to decide upon the development platform for turning your idea into reality. It’s the first basic step of app creation. Choosing between a DIY platform and outsourced software development company is always tricky. So consider aspects like budget, ease of execution, project control ability, etc. If you decide to go with an outsourced development partner, inquire about things like engagement options, technology stack, budget, portfolio, and so on. On the other side, with DIY platforms you need to analyze things:

- Is the platform easy to use?
- Does it offer quality customer support?
- Will it provide easy app integration and deployment options?
- What’re the overall charges for app support and maintenance services

Consider these questions upfront before making a selection as it can hurt you badly in the long run. Look for detailed TnC, service level agreements (SLA), and other kinds of important documentation in both cases.

Native vs. Hybrid App Decision

This might be considered as an extension of the previous factor, the platform decision. Opting for the native app option can backfire you in terms of lesser audience reach. Whereas choosing the hybrid app option pretty much solves the puzzle of lesser app penetration, but comes with a high budget and complex development process. Take your decision after considering end-user preferences.

Employees at today’s digital workplace use three devices on average to get the job done. So it’s better to build a hybrid app (write once, deploy everywhere) that can run across multiple platforms - Android, iOS, and Windows smoothly. This will increase app usage possibility and popularity among target users.

App UI/UX Design

This might not be a crucial part of your consideration list, but building an app with an intuitive UI is pretty much important. Customers always love using products that are easy and fun to use. The same goes for software applications. Make UI/UX design an important part of your app creation process. Remember UI and UX are distinct. UI is the design of the app interface, which also forms the basis of user experience (UX). Improve your app user interface design by teaming up with UI/UX experts.

Integration And Backend Capabilities

It’s important to consider the back-end capabilities of your enterprise mobile app. Having a robust database keeps you away from data security, storage, and connectivity issues. Modern-day business apps also rely on API integrations for the exchange of information with third-party apps to execute certain functions. On the other hand, some developers refrain from having a custom backend. Consider factors like cost and time involved while making a decision of keeping a customized backend.

Keep App Security in Mind

App security is crucial when it comes to enterprise apps. Never solely rely on in-app security features thinking it would be enough to safeguard your app against cyber attacks and data breach incidents. Right from project initiation, your developers should think about incorporating additional security measures to advance your app security levels. Consider mobile app security measures like password protection, high-level authorization, role-based access, API gateways, strong data security policies, and more.

Make your App Scalable

Thinking today’s needs of any enterprise app is not enough, you should prepare for the future needs of your application too when the company grows. For example, if you’re planning to build an enterprise web app or platform, you should also plan for a mobile version to provide better usage options. Also, think about the app architecture - is it flexible enough to accommodate new functionality or features when the need arises. Does your application support third-party app integrations? What is the additional cost of incorporating a new set of functionalities in your app? Does your application run on the latest technology stack? These are some self-evaluation questions that will decide your application fate in the long-run and whether it will be a hit or miss among users.

Focus on ROI Optimization

Figuring out app monetization methods at the start of your project is crucial. For improving the app monetization rate, you need to first increase your app usage and popularity among the users. Take feedback from end-users - employees and clients - through online surveys and questionnaires about your application. For example, if the app targets your employees, ask questions like how it’s improving their productivity, what types of internal processes are reduced through application use, and so on. Besides that, focus on adding new features in the next update based on user feedback. Integrate the latest technologies like artificial intelligence and AR/VR to improve the app user experience and participation rate.

Plan for the Long-Term

Remember that your contribution doesn’t stop after the app is built and released. You need to continuously plan and strategize for the upcoming app releases. And, take an important decision regarding budget, user experience, and monetization methods. What’s even more crucial is living up to user expectations. The app you build should continuously evolve and become more useful for the target audience. When we discuss enterprise apps, it’s never about the company, it’s about the employees and customers who will use it.

You should also keep up with the changing business requirements. So, plan smarter and think about the long-term goals. With every release, try to make your app even more user-friendly, engaging, and something that makes the working lives easier.

Common Examples of Enterprise Applications

As we know, enterprise apps are a must for any modern-age business for optimizing their business processes, streamlining communication, and boosting employee productivity. The presence of business apps enables companies to execute business transactions quickly and accurately. Besides that, you can also store your enterprise data securely and automate repetitive, mundane tasks. Now that we’ve discussed some major benefits of enterprise apps, let’s look at some typical enterprise applications that actually integrate the above capabilities into businesses:

Common Examples of Enterprise Applications

- Enterprise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software
- Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software
- Treasury Management System
- Supply Chain Management (SCM) Software
- Business Intelligence Software

Summing Up..!

Hope you received a good amount of knowledge about enterprise apps and how they contribute to improving your organization’s productivity. The development of an enterprise app is not an easy task. You should give careful consideration to the above-given factors at every step of your development journey to build a successful business application that makes daily work much easier for your employees. Considering these aspects will work as a cornerstone for your enterprise app development efforts. Even if you have a good amount of time and money, implementing the above ideas will surely help you build a desirable app solution.