Why Do You Need An In-house Dev Team?

January 28 , 2021 Posted by Admin

Within the past few years, smartphones have taken off in popularity quite fast. With the advent of cheap Android phones designed and developed by a number of Chinese firms, more people from different socio-economic backgrounds have been able to afford and use these phones. This has allowed many people previously unable to join the smartphone boom due to economic reasons to join and expand the market.

With so many people using smartphones now, there is a dire need for smartphone app developers who will develop apps for a number of different devices on the market. The current smartphone market is dominated by two major mobile operating systems, mainly Android by Google and iOS by Apple. While iOS is only used by devices from Apple itself, android is the go-to option for most smartphone developers. That means that app development services for either the iOS platform or the Android platform are needed in big numbers. 

With so many people using smartphones now, brands and businesses have started to look to this medium to do business. With around four billion people worldwide using smartphones, marketing or even conducting your business through mobile apps has become quite popular. Conversely, as mobile apps grow in use, time, and popularity, people spend less time using mobile web browsers. This means that customers who rely primarily on mobile devices for their internet usage are now being lost as customers to those brands who use websites instead of mobile apps. 

So that means that no matter how responsive or how visually appealing your website might be if you do not have an app to go with it, you might be losing potential leads. Now, if you are a small company or just have a tight budget, then outsourcing your mobile app’s development and its upkeep might become too expensive for you in the long run. If not expensive, it might become too much of a hassle to make sudden changes or updates to the app according to market trends. So the best solution is to have an in-house development team that will not only develop your mobile app but also look after its maintenance and upkeep, as needed. 

Let us look at some of the reasons why having an in-house mobile development team is to your benefit. 

Enterprise mobile apps are becoming more common

If your company has workers that are spread over a large area instead of a single place, then having an enterprise mobile app might be the best way forward, which will focus on security as well as be customized for your business. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many companies had to fall back to working from home, and the first problem many faced was interconnecting their corporate structure and data digitally so that their employees could work without any problems while still being accountable for their time. 

Those with enterprise apps easily gave their employees access to their required data and allowed them to contact anyone necessary to their work without worrying about their geographical proximity. 

Customers are now more mobile-oriented

People nowadays are relying on their mobile devices, even for shopping, more so than in-store or even via website. Especially last year, with the majority of people around the world in some form of isolation or lockdown, online shopping was the only way for many to buy products for use, and the vast majority of those customers shopped via the shop’s mobile app. 

With the current generation of mobile-savvy adults making over two-thirds of their online purchases via mobile apps, it is easy to say that this is the way for brands, especially those targeting this demographic. 

Better customer retention

The presence of a brand’s mobile app on a smartphone is a constant reminder to the user about the value of that brand. That allows the user to ignore the competition somewhat, especially if your app is already serving its purpose. 

Not only that, but by tracking how often they use your app, you can even lure less frequent users by offering them discounts or rewarding frequent and loyal customers with loyalty bonuses. This allows you to use the data generated by each user and target them accordingly without wasting valuable resources. 

Another good feature mobile apps provide is to push geofenced notifications whenever they come near your physical store to offer discounts or deals. This can be utilized well to capitalize on customers’ impulse-buying capabilities. 

Outsourcing Development is not so satisfactory

For many companies, outsourcing their app development tasks may seem like an easy choice, but there are a number of problems associated with it. A majority of companies who outsourced their app development and maintenance faced a few problems, according to a study by Wakefield.  The first issue was the cost, which ended up being higher than what most of the companies had expected to pay. The second problem, and one related to the first problem, is that there were high costs associated with outsourcing the maintenance of the app. The third issue was the lack of quick customization that outsourcing offered. This resulted in many companies feeling as if the resultant app was not what they envisioned it. Due to issues such as delays, lack of quality work, or not following best industry practices, oftentimes, the resultant app was not up to the mark for long-term reliability. This cost the owners of the app even more. 

Having a mobile app for your business is fast becoming a necessity in today’s market. If you keep outsourcing the development and maintenance of your mobile app, there are a number of problems you might run into. The first problem is the cost that you might accrue when you outsource to a mobile app development company. Another factor is the dependency factor. If you outsource your app to another company, you join its fate with that of the development company. That means that often, the quality of your app and the speed with which changes are made in the app will depend on the development firm itself. This means that not only would you lose a market opportunity if updates are not made timely, but you might also put your sensitive corporate and customer data into the hands of another company. 

While hiring new staff for an entirely new team might not be so feasible, a great way to counter that might be to invest in upskilling the existing staff so that they might take over the development duties. This way, you can have an in-house development team with multi-skilled members without spending much of your budget. 

If you are looking for a reliable and budget-oriented mobile app development company, contact App Development Pros. Their expert teams of developers are present to help you develop the app that will help your brand reach its potential.

Also Read: Top Android Development Trends In 2021