Your brand is looking to develop an app for one of its campaigns or services. How do you go about choosing the best mobile app development agency to do this?
Mobile apps are expected to generate over $935 billion in revenue by 2023. And in today’s increasingly digitised market, there is no shortage of development companies eager to create unique and responsive mobile apps. In this competitive climate, then, the question becomes: how to find the right agency for you?
If you’re planning on hiring app developers, do you know what to look for when it comes to specialisms, UI/UX, industry knowledge, and price? If not, read on to learn what every mobile app development agency should be able to offer your brand.
Portfolios & success stories
Nowhere is the statement ‘quality is key’ more essential than when choosing an agency to develop your mobile app. You should feel confident in your choice when assigning over the core responsibilities (and, in essence, opportunities for success) of its latest project to an external company for development.
Your ideas and ambitions deserve to be fully realised in a high-quality application. The difference between a good mobile app developer and a great one is larger than you’d think.
Before settling on an agency, your team should ask themselves the following questions:
- Who have they worked with in the past?
- What is the general quality/standard of their work?
- Do they have a specialism or technical expertise?
- What are their strengths and weaknesses?
- Have they worked with companies in our sector before?
- Is there evidence of their capabilities with projects like ours?
A full portfolio is a strong indicator of the quality of a developer’s services. It is, after all, a list of their clients that are satisfied enough with the service they received to publicly associate themselves with that company.
A good portfolio or case study should contain clear metrics that show the success of the project, as well as detailed information about the brief, services supplied, technicalities, and challenges overcome. As an example, you can find the case study for our web and app development project with Pearson here.
Technical skills & ability
While it sounds obvious, a good mobile app developer should have all the necessary technical skills required to complete your project to an excellent standard. They should not only be familiar with the tools and processes available to them but should be able to recommend new ones that could realise your vision more effectively. Or, be receptive to trying new technologies you may recommend and already use. A mobile app developer should at least have an understanding of the following:
- Data structures, algorithms, and programming
- The lifecycle of an app & multithreading
- UI and UX best practices
- Caching mechanisms
- Core design principles and patterns
- Unit testing
- The key profiling and debugging tools
- QA and performance testing
As well as this, however, a good developer should also possess good ‘people skills’ to make your working relationship a positive one. This skill set includes:
- An ability to think outside the box
- A solutions-oriented approach to project work
- The ability to take on board feedback and respond to it
- A constant desire to learn and discover new methods
If your mobile app developer has the right combination of these two skill sets, you’re on the right path.
Transparency
Before working with any mobile app development company, it is essential to check their transparency policy. During the process of app development, feedback and reports are crucial.
The exchange of ideas between you and your app development agency should always be a priority, in order for them to produce an end product fine-tuned to the ambitions you laid out. There should be a reliable system in place for transparent communication between the two parties for quick, fruitful, and efficient development to occur.
Data handling & security
On the other hand, too much transparency can end in disaster. As a brand with a new idea or concept, sharing it with an external source can seem like a risk. A good mobile app developer must be able to reassure you of their data handling capabilities and safely process your request, keeping your data safe and secure.
One of the most pressing threats during the early stages of app development is the leaking of an idea. When considering that Apple’s App Store has 1.96 million mobile applications available for download (as of the 2nd quarter of 2022), confidentiality really is key when coming up with a new concept as there are bound to be attempts at duplication. To prevent this from happening — and to avoid poor-quality replicas making an appearance before your original idea does — your app developer needs to have strong security measures in place.
Ask about their data handling processes early on in the relationship.
Cost-effectiveness
One of the most significant affecting factors in choosing a mobile app development agency is cost. While searching for companies that fall within your budget is wise, having a somewhat flexible budget is also advisable, especially if your project has plenty of different business features and variables.
In order to find the right development agency for your brand cost-wise, the following considerations should remind front of mind:
- Does the agency fall within our budget?
- Do the services they offer meet our business needs?
- Are their services worth what they are charging?
In almost all cases, location has an impact on the cost of mobile app development. Offshoring the creation and testing of your app to an overseas developer (or a company with overseas locations) is often the most cost-effective solution. This brings us to another factor: international potential.
International potential
Lastly, while looking for the optimal mobile app development company for your brand, you should always factor in the international element. While it may be tempting to opt for a local agency, it is always a smart idea to keep your options open geographically. This allows you to see the potential of a wider market, comparing services and prices across the globe.
Here at We Are Amnet, we specialise in Smartshoring, a hybrid model of creative production with regional client service teams and offshore hubs. This model — a version of offshoring redefined and transformed by us — overrides the limitations that come with geographical specificity to allow for the most effective use of talent, regardless of the location.
In today’s competitive, globalised economy, models such as Smartshoring have become essential to increase profits and business growth. How? Connecting our main studios in Chennai and Mumbai with in-country client services allows us (and you) to enjoy the best of both worlds: quality content production and excellent customer service at a reduced cost.
So, when it comes to developing an app, our globalised solutions can offer you scalable, flexible, and low-cost resources that make the most of an increasingly interconnected world to gain the best results.
Work with We Are Amnet
To find out more about the benefits of our unique, global approach to creative production, you can download our Smartshoring for brands factsheet here.
If you have any questions about our services, browse our blog for more strategic business insights or contact our experts today.