Are Mobile Apps for Business Worth It? Here Are Some Considerations to Help Decide

Apple and Google currently offer a combined 4 million apps to users that are ready for download. That number goes up every quarter.

The impressive volume of applications that are being released today and the growing user base of mobile platforms have led companies to ponder their apps for business strategy.

Is it worth building a mobile app for business? Would doing so be playing into a fad or would it actually provide value to customers, shareholders, and sustainability?

When it comes to building apps for business, there is no one-size-fits-all answer as to whether or not creating an application is right for your company. To help you determine whether or not your organization should make the investment, our team outlines some considerations to mull over that should help you determine whether or not to take the leap.

Understand the Cost of Mobile App Development

Creating apps for business can be an expensive endeavor. In a survey conducted by UCI, the average budget to build mobile solutions for medium to enterprise-sized organizations was between $250,000 and $500,000.

Granted, if you have a small business that’s looking to build an app with limited functionality, development costs would be much lower ($5000.00 and up).

But the initial building process of an app is just one piece of the puzzle.

What about costs stemming from rolling out updates? What about costs associated with providing customer support around your application?

All of these expenses are things many businesses don’t account for. That’s a shame because they can drive up lifetime costs of developing applications substantially.

The bottom line is that in order to determine whether or not developing apps for business is the right move, you first need to understand how much it’s going to cost you immediately and throughout the application’s life cycle.

You can typically get estimates on these numbers by discussing your vision with application design firms.

Is Expanding Your Reach Worth the Investment?

Most companies that we’ve spoken to about why they want to develop business apps have given us the same answer…

“We want to broaden our reach.”

That answer is a perfectly good one. Looking at research released by PRC, 77% of Americans own smartphones. That number represents a 35% increase over numbers that were presented in 2011.

The mobile market is expanding. More people are accessing the internet and interfacing with brands through applications.

Is getting ahead of that trend worth the expense you’re forecasting for your application’s development cycle?

If it is, you’ll want to start engaging app developers to get your project going.

Is Providing More Value to Customers a Good Business Move?

Building apps for business provides more value to customers.

On its surface, creating a mobile app gives people a new avenue to engage with you. Beyond that added bit of value, with a mobile app, you can offer tons of other features like easy-to-access digital coupons, loyalty programs and more.

While adding that kind of value to your customer’s experience is a nice thing, is it really worth it for your company?

Think about your customer’s demography and weigh it against the features you’re considering for your mobile app. How likely are your customers to leverage the additional value you’re planning on providing?

We’ve seen it time and time again where businesses invest hundreds of thousands of dollars to build out new platforms for their customers that the vast majority of them aren’t interested in.

Do everything in your power to be honest with yourself about who your consumers are. Never invest in “improvements” that don’t do anything to address their needs.

What Kind of Profit Do You Anticipate on Mobile?

If your app is aimed at generating more profit for your company, how will it achieve that end? How much do you anticipate your app bringing in?

If you can project additional income from your application, you can deduct that income from your development costs which can sweeten the value proposition of developing apps for business.

It’s important that you consider “cannibalization” when forecasting application profits. For example, if your customers are currently ordering things from your company through your website, providing those customers with a mobile app may lead them to just migrate their same volume of business to your new platform.

That migration may not be additive to your bottom line.

Our Two-Cents

We’ve asked you to ask yourself a lot of questions. At this point, we hope that you have an idea of whether or not developing apps for business is the right move for you.

In our opinion, developing business applications is a solid investment for companies that are looking to withstand the test of time. This is especially true if they feel that their ability to engage with customers is limited by native web browser functionality.

So, Are Mobile Apps for Business Worth It?

Companies that invest in mobile apps for business do so because they see that that’s where the world is trending. And they’re right.

Billions of people are using the internet regularly. A growing amount of those users do so with their smartphones. Consequently, investing in applications today could pave the way for your organization to have a much brighter tomorrow!

Running a business in today’s tech-focused age can be tough. Our team at Business Blogs Hub aims to make things easier.

To learn more about how you can take your company to the next level, check out more of our expertly crafted content today!