Your organization has fallen behind in the digital marketplace, and you need to work with an app building company to reinvigorate how your brand interacts with customers on their smartphones, tablets, connected TVs, and more. You’re looking at mobile application development companies to hire and help you build a new product that will reengage your customers. Below you’ll find a guide to the process of working with a development company. However, it’s important to understand that each process is always ongoing in a constant back and forth. This guide to building an app will run you through the steps that will get you to a sellable product faster…

Prototyping

An app company will begin by defining your product, capturing your ideas and business requirements, and presenting a visual solution. The developers will want to know: a) why does your business need an app, and b) what do you hope to accomplish by building one. You walk in with a problem, and you should walk out with a solution. For example, a QSR business may need to find a way to make digital payments easier and reduce times in their line ups. When that very problem was taken to the firm Clearbridge Mobile, their solution was a Closed Loop Mobile Wallet that connected the QSR’s gift card to the app for quick and easy NFC payments at the POS. Once you have an idea, you’ll see wireframes and mockups that will give you an idea of what the product will look like in the end. Clearbridge is an expert mobile application development company that develops end-to-end digital solutions like closed loop wallets and touch less payments, which all began with groundbreaking prototyping.

Strategy

Product strategy should be done on a case by case basis and take into account the mobile trends current in your organization’s industry. What are your competitors doing that you’re not, and how do you surpass them? This is the stage at which you have to ask how your application can better engage with your clients.

Design

The design should reflect your brand: a unique, polished, and inspiring visual look that will make using the application a pleasure. It should both cohere with your brand’s existing style and adapt it to the platform on which you’re competing. When you work with a company that practices integrated development, for example, Clearbridge Mobile, the design process is always evolving with your feedback and objectives.

Development

The company you work with should invite you to be part of the building process. They should provide end-of-sprint demos that show you how the job is progressing and to give you an opportunity to provide feedback and control the project every step of the way. A custom process will provide you with clean code (i.e., it’s easy for coders down the line to read) native to the platform.

Quality Assurance

QA is an ongoing process at every stage of the game. It includes manual and automated testing, and visual quality assurance to make sure that the end product is both functioning perfectly and a pleasure to use.

Before you sign on with a mobile app development company, ask them about their process. Ask how often will you be updated on the project’s progress and when you will have opportunities to provide feedback. It’s important that you get the final product your organization needs to outperform the competition.