Apps are everywhere these days. We use them to do everything from shopping for Christmas presents to connecting with romantic partners. Apps populate our smartphone screens, and they are of vital importance to us as users — and as professionals, too.
If you’re a business owner, you should understand why app development matters. Here’s what you need to know about apps and app development, from the history of mobile apps to the tools you need to create the best possible app for your own group.
IMAGE: PEXELS
A Brief History Of Apps
What are “apps”? They’re just programs, really. “App” is short for “application,” as in computer applications. That term came from the old verb form of “application,” and was shortened to “app” in phrases like “killer app”. It became nearly synonymous with mobile programs with the rise of smartphones, particularly Apple’s iPhone and corresponding App Store.
Apps, then, are usually understood to be mobile apps for smartphones and tablets. Like other forms of computer programs, they have grown in popularity and in business applications since their debut. Today, when the vast majority of Americans own smartphones, businesses and other organizations need apps in order to stay connected to their mobile customers.
But businesses don’t necessarily build their own apps. For business leaders whose expertise lies elsewhere, that wouldn’t make much sense.
How Apps Are Built
For most businesses and organizations, app development is something that is outsourced to an app development agency. By turning to such agencies, businesses and other organizations can ensure they’re getting a high-quality app that delivers on the promises of the smartphone age.
Ideally, an app design agency should work closely with the organization to make sure that the app fulfills the needs that led to its creation in the first place. The new app should also be integrated into a business’ overall online (and offline) presence: it should share the same branding and use the same online profiles, for instance, and it should be promoted on the brand’s mobile website and by signs in brick-and-mortar locations.
All of this is the kind of thing you can expect from an experienced app design team. As a business owner, your best bet is to invest in a great outsourced solution.
What Apps Can Do
Apps let businesses connect with consumers on their mobile devices and allow other organizations, including nonprofits and universities, to do the same thing with their supporters or students. But what is that connection good for?
A number of things, actually. Communication is one: apps are great for sharing information with users. Push notifications and in-app messages can alert users to tasks, announcements, or anything else that your organization wants them to know about. And, thanks to the data that apps can collect, this sort of communication goes both ways. You could field customer complaints or simply use data about their behavior to inform marketing and PR decisions.
Apps are also great for setting up simple billing and payment systems. A payment profile can be stored in or accessed by the app, and that can make it a whole lot easier and more convenient for a customer to place an order, or for a donor to support a nonprofit. And as any organizational leader surely already knows, this means app users will be more likely to share their hard-earned money with your organization.
Apps are powerful tools. If you partner with the right design agency and offer users real benefits, you’ll find that they embrace your app and give your company new ways to succeed.
If you are interested in even more app-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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