SilentPoints The Silent Warehouse
Now that you’ve decided to get into mobile apps, you would be seeking to narrow down mobile app development companies to help you with the task. The price estimate, timelines for delivery and expertise aren’t the only three things to look at.
If your end user were to buy a product from you, you’d face a volley of questions from why they should buy from you to your business model and even ethics! You too shouldn’t be any different while searching for your business partner. We’ve been into mobile app development for a long while now and here are a few key questions that you should ask your potential service provider in our opinion.
#1: How do they go about Developing a Mobile App?
This is essence is will tell you if they are good enough for the job. With this question, you are seeking to elicit an answer from your potential mobile app development developer that pertains to their workflow. Simply learning that someone employs the agile methodology isn’t enough, what they do in every phase of development and how they divide their workflow into various phases is also important. Typically, the workflow should include prelim research along with functionalities, target audience study and so on. They should then go about doing a feasibility study, prototyping and then think of optimization before proceeding to development.
#2: Expertise and Team Strength
Once you’ve narrowed down a technology or platform, you should get to know the kind of expertise your potential partner has in the field. If you are outsourcing a portion of development or are looking for someone to develop it from the scratch, you really must ask this question and satisfy yourself as to their expertise. Find out the team strength of the mobile app development team and get to know the number of senior developers and newbies in the team. Instead of going by word of mouth, ask for proof of experience and seniority.
#3: Timeline and Cost Estimates
You were obviously going to do this! There is no point in proceeding with a discussion without agreeing upon these aspects. We just wish to give you some general estimates and tips in this area to help you decode better. On an average, a mobile app will take about 5-6 months to get developed and sometimes be completed in 4 months too if it’s a small app. Watch out for people who commit to impossible deadlines. Also, don’t disqualify someone if they are charging you a higher price. Ask them why there is such a price difference and see if they are justified in their claims.
There are some key elements to look for in your price estimate and they are: research, consultation, UX protos and mock-ups, wireframes, design, development, project management, reporting, infra costs, guarantee and software and 3rd party licenses. Also, if your project requires senior developers, your cost levels might escalate.
#4: Experience in Similar Fields and References
If the UI/UX design company that you are considering for your app has already worked on a similar app or in the similar field or similar functionalities, that would be a major plus as you can review their work and test their understanding. Also, understanding their clientele would be a major plus – have they worked with start-ups alone, have they worked with mid-sized enterprises and corporates; all these questions can dispel any doubts that you might have.
You must ask for references from old clients and assess their validity irrespective of whether they’ve worked in a similar field or not. Researching the UI/UX design company’s reviews on public forums and review sites can help you to a large extent. Ask them questions about previous projects and how they went about their challenges and what their learnings from them were. This will give you some perspective into their work culture and sincerity.
Apart from these, you should also ask about the access that you will be given while they work on your app to the data, development files and so on. Communication is yet another aspect that you need to focus on and we recommend setting up reporting guidelines and review meetings so that you have a grip on the project.
