{"id":34093,"date":"2023-10-20T14:32:40","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/does-my-business-need-a-mobile-app-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:32:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:32:40","slug":"does-my-business-need-a-mobile-app-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/does-my-business-need-a-mobile-app-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Does my business need a mobile app? &#8211; StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>I run a retail business and am wondering if we need an app.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>  <span id=\"more-8885\"><\/span> <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>Generally speaking, what kind of businesses benefit from having an app?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>And how much does it cost to develop one?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Apps have certainly become the new craze for businesses but it\u2019s much more than a case of wanting an app, it\u2019s about what effect it will have upon your business.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I would receive a couple of enquiries a week in regards to businesses seeking information on what is involved with building an app. My first question is always the same: \u201cWhat do you need the app to do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In many cases, the need can be fulfilled through another mechanism that is cheaper, more effective or, more often than not, both!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An app is just another marketing tool and like all tools, it\u2019s not the correct fit for every business.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I encourage businesses to consider:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What benefit can be gained from the development of an app?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Will it drive you more business?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Will it increase internal or general efficiencies?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Will it gain you higher levels of recognition and brand awareness?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As an example, I had an organisation approach me who wanted to develop an app that was essentially a directory.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This information already existed on their website but the website was not mobile compatible.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In this instance, the cost difference between developing an app (compared to re-developing the site to be mobile compatible) was over five times as much!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, many organisations derive huge benefits from the development of an internal app that drives higher levels of productivity.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Paperless forms, inventory systems, time management, etc, all provides a direct benefit to the business.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>With new emerging opportunities such as Apple\u2019s iOS Developer Enterprise Program, developers are now able to develop and distribute apps to a set of employees rather than needing to push the app through the iTunes App Store.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The benefit in this is higher level of controls and avoiding the app being publicly available, this has opened new opportunities for the business sector.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In terms of costs, like most technologies, it\u2019s a case of what the brief calls for. In some round terms though, custom development would begin at around $10,000 and you can essentially spend as much as you can imagine from there.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There are certainly cheaper ways to enter into the app market but these generally rely on an existing platform that is able to be adapted to your needs.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re selling the app on the App Store, you\u2019ll also need to be mindful of the 30% cut that Apple takes for being on the world\u2019s largest App marketplace.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While we\u2019ve covered iOS (or Apple-based) development, you also have to consider Android and Windows Mobile markets, which require their own development. This can triple your development costs if you wish to reach your entire market.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The initial cost of developing the app \u2013 along with the enormity of which direction to take combined with an understanding of whether it will actually provide you with a clear ROI (Return on Investment) \u2013 is key to determining if an app will be a wise use of your money.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There are many options and knowing what\u2019s right for your business is the difference between an investment and a waste of money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I run a retail business and am wondering if we need an app. \u00a0 Generally speaking, what kind of businesses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}