Jul 23, 2020

How to Overcome the Challenges You Face in Custom Mobile App Development: 8 Must-Read Tips

The number of smartphone users is rising quickly every day, and so is the number of mobile apps used in them. Most entrepreneurs have either built mobile apps for their business or are planning to do so. In just the last three years, a million applications have been submitted to the Apple and Google app store. This indicates how much needed mobile apps are right now.

As a business owner, you might face many challenges that require a lot of research and attention to overcome. To build a custom mobile app successfully, you need extensive focus and clear business goals.

Choosing the right app development platform

The platform you choose as an app development software must be flexible enough to allow you to build apps that can run on various devices. Tech stack should also have the ability to integrate easily with SQL and other databases.

It should also be scalable in case the developers are required to move the web apps to hybrid apps or even native apps. Data management is vital for any firm; therefore, the platform you choose should be able to access different databases to be accessed and brought into app design. The platform should also have the ability to integrate with back-end systems that must also support data synchronization between the back-end databases, users, and systems.

It should be designed, keeping in mind the industry-standard technology. So that it helps you accomplish app development from no-code or minimum coding to evolve the app further and meet changing requirements.

Let's take a glance at what challenges you might face while developing your app and how you can overcome them.

Communication

When it comes to communication, it isn't a strong point for many developers. Most of them struggle to communicate with other members of their team. So, it all falls on the Project manager to ensure that the communication remains smooth in the group; therefore, you need to invest heavily in a skilled and experienced Project manager.

Doing this will improve all communication and will also decrease the development time of the project. Hence, as a result of the overall cost of project development will also come down. Hire a project manager that has worked on a project similar to yours

Another issue with communication is the irregularities or absence of timely discussions. To solve this issue, you need to make a clear process along with some specific timeframes that ensure clear communication after particular time periods.

It is essential to have clear communication as it is aligned with all the deliverables. You should not just assume that all task development is going smoothly and as planned. Make sure that you provide plenty of input details as well as examples.

Language barrier

It isn't hard to find English proficiency; the software development team you hire should have a team that speaks English and writes in it. This is not the case for most companies out there; often. The employees below managers and team leaders are not that good at communicating in English.

To work out the difference in language proficiency is to talk directly to the member involved in software development by phone, video call, or email.

Many project managers and developers often try to take advantage of the language barrier, even when proficient in English. In most cases, they try to pretend that they didn't understand the project requirements to delay a timeline or work on the project in their way.

Changing business requirements

If the business requirements keep on changing every day according to everyone's wishes and fantasies, the project in development might never be completed. This takes a toll on both the project timeline and cost.

When it is Enterprise software, it makes things even more complicated as the business analyst needs to take into account the wishes and constraints of multiple stakeholders from multiple departments.

This leads to conflicting business requirements and needs within the business. What you need to do is have a detailed discussion with the stakeholders and note down every requirement that they are asking for in a text or document. Later on, you can sit down and discuss with your team the similarities and contradictions.

Later on, the final key points are then discussed with the stakeholders about all the issues and finalize one robust requirement that is agreed upon by all. At last, a final document can be prepared, and if no member of the team has any disagreements, then the development process starts.

This procedure might take some time and effort, but in the end, a stable and robust system satisfies all the stakeholders.

Security

Today data breaches are the worst thing that can happen to your app; if the data is breached, then your business is compromised.

Earlier it was easier to keep data secure when it was stored in physical servers at a safe and unknown location. But since the dawn on internet and cloud storage facilities, it has been getting harder to protect your users' sensitive information from leaking.

Here are some of the steps that you can take to make your app secure:

SSL encryption encrypts your web platform and the connection between your web server and the user's browser. This encryption helps you to keep the data private. It helps protect your private information, such as credit card information or personal bank account details. SSL certificate for mobile app security plays an important role. However, developers in initial stage of mobile app development use code signing certificate for authentication of an app code and security along with higher encryption.

Unwritable file system is another security measure that makes the website code and server configuration un-writable by the user.

All the security measures should be taken at the time of app development. This gives you an edge in security and saves the trouble you have to go through if any problem occurs at the later stage.

Integrating with other systems

It has been a challenge for software development firms to address the issue of integrating multiple IT systems across different functions, departments, and stages of the application. System integration also shows that relevant information can be viewed and updated in real-time regularly.

Some development companies use monolithic systems, which means that all aspects, like data input and output, data processing, troubleshooting, and user interface, are interwoven. If a business depends on such architecture, then it makes it difficult for the coding and testing teams to implement new changes every time they make one.

Therefore the enterprises must develop a standard data model within in order to integrate these systems successfully.

Funding

Money is another challenge that is faced by developers while building an app. The developer must have a fair idea about what the overall cost associated with your app is. It is not a one-time investment; it also needs some money for future value additionally.

What you need to do is extensive market research before choosing an app developer to work on your project if you are not a technical person. Always stay clear that what you need is not just a mobile app but a successful mobile app, so quality should be on top of your list.

Multitasking by developers on different projects

Most of the time, the issue faced by in-house project managers is difficulties in switching employees during outsourcing their custom app development projects. Developers mostly assume that they can efficiently multitask between multiple projects, which is quite inefficient.

A better approach to this problem is to go for a well-dedicated team. This might seem expensive at first but will save a lot of your money in the longer term.

The reason people find difficulties while coding or working on customer service is lack of focus. Interruptions in tasks like this can result in a lot of time being wasted. This is why you should go for a dedicated team that works only on your project with their full potential without getting interrupted.

Mobile app marketing and promotion

To take your mobile app towards success, growing its visibility and awareness are essential, and mobile app marketing is key to these. To obtain a massive response from the target audience, the developers need to opt for a great marketing strategy.

But one of the challenges the developers can face is a lack of skills like SEO and other online affiliate activities.

So the best way to do your mobile app marketing is by hiring a successful creative marketing and ad agency such as GoodFirms that can help developers like you to market your app aggressively and reach more and more number of people.

There is a big difference in a good app and a successful app. There are many apps on the Google and Apple app stores, but it just takes a few years, and the apps automatically vanish. If you don't promote your app correctly, it won't take much time to get lost, so make sure to spend some time and effort on its proper marketing.

You may also be interested in the best practices for outsource vendor management.