No matter what type of business you start, in today’s digital world, you can provide your customers with an enhanced experience by developing a mobile app. Additionally, depending on the nature of your business, a custom mobile app could also help your employees work more productively behind-the-scenes.
However, if developing apps and websites isn’t a regular function of your business, you shouldn’t waste money hiring an in-house development team. There’s no reason to pay full-time employees if their only immediate responsibility will be to create one or two apps to serve your current needs.
Instead, hire third-party developers to create your app. Just make sure you’re choosing the right team for the job. Hire an employee who has a certified in-app development course. I would recommend Intellipaat DevOps course which will help you learn various aspects of software development & operations, continuous delivery, continuous integration, automated build, test, and deployment.
The experts at DEV.co recommend asking developers certain questions when considering whether to work with them. Specifically, to better determine if a development team will serve your needs, ask the following:
What projects have you worked on that are most similar to this?
Before meeting with developers to discuss your goals, take the time to plan how you’ll describe your goals. Once you hire a development team, you can work with them more closely to discuss the features and qualities you want your app to possess, but even before making a hiring decision, you want developers to have a reasonably clear sense of what type of product you’re trying to create.
When you feel confident a development team has a general understanding of your vision, ask them to provide examples of similar apps they’ve created in the past. You need to be certain they have the skills and experience necessary to deliver a finished product that aligns with your plans.
Pay attention to how developers answer this question. Be skeptical of any developers who are excessively vague in their answers. Ideally, a developer should be able to explain in relatively specific terms why their experience with certain past projects qualifies them to handle your project.
Can you describe my business model and target audience?
You may not feel confident you’ve clearly described your goals to a developer you’re considering working with. Or, you might not be sure they understand the role your app will play in your overall business.
To more clearly ascertain whether they understand the critical points you’re trying to express, after discussing your overall plans, ask them to describe your business model, goals, and target audience in their own words. Their response will help you determine if they genuinely appreciate your needs.
What were your most successful projects, and what made them successful?
This ties in with the first question. Along with confirming that your developers have worked on projects similar to yours in the past, you should also confirm they’ve developed products that succeed.
Ask them to cite examples of their most successful apps, websites, and any other types of products they’ve created. More importantly, ask them to specifically explain why those products succeeded.
You want to learn how the decisions they made contributed directly to an app’s success. It’s not enough to know an app attracted a large user base. Sometimes weak apps nevertheless attract a large number of users because they’re associated with familiar brands. Your goal is to understand the role a development team played in an app’s popularity and profitability.
What’s your estimated budget and timeline?
Don’t make the mistake of hiring a development team solely because they promise to offer affordable services and/or complete your project quickly. Saving money now by hiring an unqualified team will actually result in your business losing money in the future. A development team that takes shortcuts won’t deliver a quality product. You’ll need to start from scratch later if this happens.
That said, you do need to account for practical factors like your budget and timeline when choosing who to work with. Ask developers for realistic estimates during your early discussions.
It’s also wise to ask the team to describe their typical workflow. While the specific details of a workflow may vary somewhat depending on the nature of a project, most developers will usually be able to provide a general description of the overall steps in their process.
Understanding a development team’s workflow will help you more thoroughly understand their timeline. Learning about the details of the development process will illustrate why it may take as long as it will.
How do you offer continued support?
Even an app created by a genuinely talented and experienced development team can still require some degree of maintenance to ensure it functions properly and reliably after it’s been released.
Developers who truly provide their clients with the level of service they deserve understand that their job isn’t merely to create the finished product. They should also be available to offer a reasonable degree of post-delivery support. Ask developers how they will do so for you.
How will I get updates or ask questions?
While developers are working on your project, you may want to check in on their progress from time to time. You also might have additional questions or ideas that you forgot to mention or didn’t consider during your initial discussions.
It’s critical that you be able to reach out to the developers when these moments arise. Before hiring a team, find out how you’ll stay in touch.
Of course, sometimes developers may claim they’ll be responsive, only to fail to deliver on their promises when you actually try to contact them. They may take too long to respond to emails, “forget” to respond to questions, or provide vague responses.
Guard against working with such a team by paying attention to how responsive they are (or aren’t) even before you’ve hired them. During the early stages, when you’re still considering a team as an option, but haven’t fully decided to work with them yet, consider how much time it takes for them to respond when you call or send emails, and assess how thorough their responses are.
Does asking all these questions take time? Yes. However, doing so is very important. A strong app can fuel your business’ growth. You need to know you’re hiring experts qualified to develop such an app.
