How to Outsource the best Java Development Service
August 18, 2022Benefits Of Hiring a Flutter Developer
August 20, 2022How to Reduce App Development Cost
Some years ago, only a few companies could afford the fact of having an application where their users were able to find their services or products there. It was a new tool and the elements required to build one were too expensive. During these last years, the use of an application by companies has been extended. Nowadays, most companies all around the world are provided with, at least, one application. That is the reason why we are able to develop mobile applications at a lower cost. Moreover, depending on some factors, such as the size of the company or the objectives of the application, we could consider different options to reduce the cost of developing an application. In this article, we are going to see some ways to reduce this cost. There is any perfect solution for the reduction of this cost. Depending on the situation of each development, we could consider one or another.
Why is App Development so expensive?
Before starting to see which are the possible solutions for reducing App Development costs we are going to see which factors can make App Development costs increase.
● Large project team
● High demand for app developers
● The lack of template solutions in the market
● Set of features of your app
Large project team
The App Development Process is composed of several stages and a lot of details required. For these requirements to be correctly developed, it is necessary to have a complete team working on them and checking that everything is going as planned. For that reason, companies have to invest money and time in composing a high-skilled team with the experience and knowledge enough to do this process in the best possible way.
High demand of app developers
As mentioned before, the use of mobile applications for business performance has increased in the last few years. In the same way, and as a consequence, the number of app developers has increased too. Moreover, everytime these app developers are more specialized and experts, which means that it is more expensive to get their services.
The lack of template solutions in the market
Most of the applications developed are built from scratch, so developers have to spend a big amount of time developing all the application requirements. For that reason, and as mentioned before, developers have to have more knowledge for developing each stage of the process.
Set of features of your application
As expected, depending on the features that we want to add to our application, it is going to be more expensive and we will spend more resources on developing the application. Sometimes they can be cheap, but adding a lot of cheap features can make the cost of app development increase significantly.
Ways to reduce app development cost
1. Create all products requirements at once
2. Consider Outsourcing
3. Cross-Platform Development
4. Pre-built Features
5. Iterative Process
6. Avoid Custom Graphics or Processes
7. Minimum Viable Product
The first way to reduce the App Development Cost could be to determine the product requirements all at once before starting the process. If you plan all the possible requirements, you will be able to see what could be the cost and if the options planned fit well with your budget. At the same time, you can make modifications to your requirements and see if the budget changes a lot or if you can afford it. It is not easy to define all the requirements at once before starting to build your application. The list must be highly-structured and with clear specifications. You have to make sure, before giving the requirements list to the developer, that no changes will have to be made. Each change that the developer will have to make, increases the cost of the app development. This way, in addition to being a method of reducing your app development cost, could be also the first step of a group of saving decisions.
2. Consider Outsourcing
The second way is to consider outsourcing the service of app development. With this method, another company will be in charge of creating your application with an outsourcing contract. Is a way to cooperate with developers that will allow you to save money because you minimize the equipment cost and the internal workflow. You will not have to spend money on worker formation either. Moreover, you will be able to explore developers from all around the world looking for the best one for your app development. This is a good option if you are looking for just receiving the product done and without having to invest in hiring workers or equipment. Especially if you do not have a constant need for app development. This method could be optimized if you first apply the product requirements list before outsourcing app development.
3. Cross-platform Development
We know that a native app works faster and provides higher results and performance. Nonetheless, the use of a Cross-Platform App will allow you to provide your services in multiple platforms with just a single code base creation. This way, app developers will be more efficient. You can do this process hiring a Cross-Platform App developer or outsourcing the services. As it is mentioned in the article Cross-Platform App Benefits for your Business, you can also save money with this method thanks to the good maintainability, as for each change in the app, this will be updated in all platforms. This way, you will not have to spend time and money making changes for each platform and users will have at their disposal the latest version of the app. It is another method that can be optimized with a requirements list.
4. Pre-built Features
It is common to use pre-built features to reduce the App Development Cost. This way, developers will not have to create a personalized feature for our app creation and the process will not be that expensive as if they would have to create a new one. With this method, we will be able to personalize our application and, at the same time, save some money using the pre-built features. Some providers offer this option for a very nominal price. Make sure that these pre-built features are related to the objective of your application and that they are going to fulfill their role correctly.
5. Iterative Process
It is common that, during the app development process, some changes have to be made. If our creation process is made of big stages and we have to make any modification or test the app, this will be more expensive because we will surely have to modify more aspects related to that one. On the other hand, if our process is made of sort stages, each modification required will be solved fast and will not harm other stages of the process, allowing us to save more money and testing each stage in a more efficient way.
6. Avoid Custom Graphics or Processes
The more personalized an application is, the more expensive it will be. In the requirements list that you have to make before starting the application development, you will have to consider the customization of the app. Each of the customization actions we make will increase the cost of the app development. It is possible to have an application that provides our services without needing many customization settings but it does not mean that you have to refuse all the custom options to save money. You can do a pre-selection of basic customization graphics or processes to see if they fit in your budget and follow this selection during all the process.
7. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The Minimum Viable Product, as the name suggests, is an application whose settings are the basic ones. The idea of this method is to create an app with essential features. Once you have this first version, you will be able to measure the results of the app in a real market.
If you are interested in building an application at an affordable price, please contact us.
