Does your business need a mobile app to compete effectively? Based on a recent study by Flurry, your answer might be, yes!

On average American’s are now spending two hours and forty-five minutes on their mobile devices. That isn’t the only increase. What consumers are doing on their mobile devices has changed as well. According to Flurry, “The data tells a clear story that apps, which were considered a mere fad a few years ago, are completely dominating mobile.”

Whether you’re effectively reaching your audience or not, it won’t matter if the app doesn’t appeal to your audience. However, creating a useful and efficient app for your organization is easier said than done. A lot of the headaches associated with creating a quality app can be handled through adequate up front work and, ideally, collaborating with a great development team.

Before you begin developing your mobile app, consider the following steps.

Step 1: Develop Your Wireframe

Oftentimes, developing your wireframe is the most time consuming part of the whole process. Use a simple software, like Mockingbird, Balsamiq and Axure to map out what the elements of your app should be as well as how each page should be laid out.

A good development team will collaborate with you to define the app. As many screens as possible should be mapped out, along with every potential action a user can take to get your development team off to a good start. But be prepared to make changes as you and your team design and develop your app and learn more about what works for users and what doesn’t.

Identify Which Platform(s) are Most Appropriate for Your app

Depending on your business needs, you may have an idea of whether you require Android, iPhone and/or Windows Phone app development. If you need an app that operates on several smart phones, some mobile app platforms can be used to create apps for several phone platforms.

Make sure your development team has experience in the platforms you need.

Hire the Right Mobile App Development Team

You want to take advantage of the real and substantial savings of global software development, but you don’t want to waste time and money learning how to do it, especially, if you need a dedicated development team. In today’s fast paced and cost constrained world of software development, you can’t afford a long learning curve and the expense in both time and money, of making a mistake.

In general, it is best to go through trusted sources, such as direct referrals or reputable agencies that track feedback ratings.

Develop Your Apps and Be Prepared to Collaborate

Technical or non-technical, you should involve yourself in the development process heavily. This does not mean getting into the code, but it does mean ensuring your specification is being followed correctly. Work with the developers and enjoy the collaborative process, ensuring a final product that meets your vision and delights the end users.

Tweak the UI

A good development team may have a graphic designer, or UI person he or she works with. In the case that they don’t, hire your own graphic designer to mock up the pages for iOS or Android. It is more important to get the functionality up to par first before implementing the correct UI.

Development of a successful mobile app requires careful planning, but will deliver a considerable advantage when done correctly. Start by identifying your goals and put them into terms that can be communicated to your mobile app development team during the specification process

Some other points to consider:

• Keep your mobile app size under 20MB. This will ensure users do not need WiFi in order to download and install it.
• Don’t make your app public until it is truly ready. Nothing will leave somebody with a sour taste quite like an app that crashes their device or leaves them regretting their download.

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