Choosing a company to develop a mobile application
So you’ve decided that it is time for your business to have a mobile application. You have validated your idea, set aside a budget and have clear objectives and KPIs for the project. Great! You’re ready to do this! But wait, you do not have any mobile developers on your team. Nor do you have mobile UX experts, designers, strategists, project managers, testers… Building this whole team from the ground up takes a huge amount of time and money, and seems too risky for an initial application to test the market. The solution? Hire a mobile development agency.
Just like Web development agencies, the number of mobile development agencies increases every year. Just like Web development agencies, some are exceptionally good, and some are a nightmare. Picking the right mobile development agency is not an easy task, even though crucial. Starting off with the wrong agency could have disastrous consequences, such as having to redo the whole application from scratch. Also, keep in mind that a mobile application is always evolving and needs updates. So when you have found the right agency, it’s gonna be a long term relationship and, just like for personal relationships, you do not want a divorce. Here are some characteristics that you should consider when picking up your partner.
Expertise
Building a mobile application requires a great amount of expertise from various fields, and if you have came to an agency to get it, it is most probably because your company does not have this kind of expertise. With that being said, how do you assess the expertise of the agencies you consider, without having the knowledge on mobile development that they have?
Start by looking at how they share their expertise with others and their community. Do they have a blog? Do they post articles on community websites such as
LinkedIn or Medium? Do they often go to conferences or talks (you can validate this by looking at their social network feeds)? Do they host conferences or give talks? All these are good indicators that they know what they are talking about.
You can also have a look at their past clients and projects. Building mobile applications is like anything else: the more you do it, the better you get at it. Even though you can find awesome agencies with no or a few past projects, going with one that has a proven track record reduces risk. Also, play with the applications they have built in the past to see if they meet your quality standards. Keep in mind though that some of the past applications might not be maintained anymore, might not work as expected on your newer device, might have been switched to another agency, etc. In doubt, the best way is to ask the agency directly for past projects they are proud of. One last thing: when you check their past applications, try to focus on objective, measurable metrics rather than subjective traits. For example, you might not like the design, and they might not either, but their client does. However, overall performance, a simple UX and robustness (it doesn’t crash) are all objective characteristics that are independent of the client and that define the agency’s quality standards.
Price
Price is often a key factor to consider in a project, and unfortunately it’s very tricky when it comes to building a mobile application. This is mostly due to the fact that there are multiple ways to do so (web vs cross-platform vs native) with their pros and cons, and different required effort. It is important that you understand these development techniques and their differences, and pick the one that suits your needs. For example, native development is recognized to produce applications with the highest quality, but requires more effort, whereas mobile web development is much faster but with a lower quality. There is no way a native mobile application can be done requiring the same effort as a mobile web application, so if you get similar quotes for both technologies, there’s something fishy. Either the agency proposing web technology is charging way too more, or the agency proposing native is overlooking parts of the project, and quality will be affected.
Like in many other domains, for a mobile application, you get what you pay for. Prices can range from 20,000$ to 200,000$+ for the exact same application, depending on what technology is used to build it, what features are included, the level of details needed, devices supported and tested, etc. A good agency will be able to explain in details how they come up with a given pricing, and how the application can be built according to your needs and your budget. Best agencies will be flexible on the pricing by keeping features or visual enhancement such as animations for a future release, but never by compromising quality.
Engagement
Last but no the least, a good agency engages with its customers. When you are developing an application, you are more than designing interfaces and writing code. You are building a product with clear goals. The objective of the project in regards to the agency should not only be delivering the application on time, but ensure that the application will reach the customer’s goals. It is their job, as experts, to guide you and give suggestions to make your product a success. For example, a client might not know, but analytics are very important in an initial version of an application, because it will give great insights on how the application is used and how it should be updated. Good agencies will propose to include it in the scope even if it was not part of the client’s request. They might also recommend you to not include some features that you initially wished and even refuse to implement them because they judge it will hurt the product. That’s a good sign that they care about the outcome of your project and will make everything they can to make it a success.
In conclusion, choosing the right agency to build your mobile application is crucial, but not an easy task nonetheless. Make your research and meet a lot of them and question them about their expertise, their price and their level of engagement. This will help you find the perfect partner, and may your relationship be long and prosperous.
