If you are about to move from the pen, paper and planning stage onto the development and launch of your mobile app there are certain hidden costs it pays to be aware of.
Finding the right partner to help in the development of the app is key, and a quick bit of research will show that the costs for this can vary and it can mean paying anywhere between $15,000 and $500,000 to get that first version on the marketplace.
If you are currently looking at hiring a freelancer, then read on, because this article may well change your mind.
Experience shows that if you want to get a mobile app business off the ground you need a team of developers, not a single freelance worker. Of course, the other thing you should remember is that if you want a quality app then the process will be neither quick nor cheap.
There are several ways you can move forward but the vital thing to consider is how to get the right development partner, someone with plenty of experience on the shop floor but who doesn’t cost the earth.
At Aristek Systems company it is advised for clients to take account of the following factors when making these decisions (you can find more on https://www.aristeksystems.com/services/custom-software-application-development/).
1] Set your goals and priorities
Make sure you know exactly what your business objectives are before you look for a developer. Be honest about your priorities and what is most important to you. Is visual design vital? Is it all about maximizing the user experience? How will you maintain these things while still producing an app that functions optimally?
Identifying your needs help you weed out any potential bugs or issues with workflow on the app and also help you to get the app to market more quickly and cost-effectively.
Think about your users. If you are building an app to rival an existing established on-demand app your users will be used to a high level of excellence and would be expecting that from you.
An initial version of the app could, therefore, involve high costs and you could be looking at fees of around $15,000 to $25,000 for back-end development alone. All of this is dependent on the complexity of your app.
2] Buy Quality
Labor and resources are always the biggest cost when developing a mobile app but quality is always king. If you buy cheap you will not be hiring the best talent and you may end up buying twice in the long term.
The price is often directly related to the quality of the resources you get within the software development industry because developers are in high demand. The law of supply and demand leads to much higher fees and salaries within the industry but, that said, it also means you will be able to translate that into the quality of your app.
When you start to see large disparities in quotes for your project you can easily ascertain the level of service you will be getting in each case. At this stage, it is better to return to the previous point and ascertain which aspects of the app are the most important.
3] Hiring onsite or offshore?
Geography plays an essential part in the pricing strategy for developers. Those in the developing markets, for example, will less expensive and vice versa. You could easily find a developer for $12/hour in India, but you will be looking at around $150/hour if hiring within the USA, so the location you choose to develop your app will have a huge impact on your budget.
Outsourcing offshore is very common not only because of the lower costs but also the availability of large numbers of quality, experienced developers. Large corporations often hire offshore, for example, Apple outsourced many of its software development projects to India for development and maintenance.
4] Infrastructure
Infrastructure has a huge impact on cost. Developers do not control APIs (third-party application programming interfaces) and these are necessary to build the app. Any sort of data storage for the app, whether that is in-app or database will also impact on cost depending on the complexities of the project.
Additionally, if your app gains traction you will need to make sure the back-end can be scaled according to use. These factors vary but they are crucial so you will need an expert to work on them.
5] Proper understanding of the project
Sometimes this factor rears its ugly head later and can hurt your budgets. You must ensure that the developer knows exactly what you are looking for, down to the fine details.
Leaving things open to assumptions and not clarifying them at the outset can lead to some real pain later on. This is usually seen as increasing costs which can cause issues with stakeholders and impact your relationship with the developer.
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