Any business today, irregardless of its size, requires software and mobile solutions to carry out daily work practices in a seamless manner. In particular, the benefits of having a custom app are many. They have revolutionized how we go about our daily routines, how we work, and how we conduct business.
Leveraging the power of web and mobile technologies to streamline business procedures has never been easier. In particular, custom app development is something that big and small companies give a lot of attention to nowadays. It has opened up so many possibilities, yet you don’t even require an in-house team of developers to get the job done.
This flexibility has led to big and small businesses adopting mobile apps almost en masse. Reduced costs and vastly improved productivity are just a couple of the benefits that they’ve been tapping into.
The gains are especially pronounced for small businesses, primarily because there’s no need to hire specialized resources for building a custom app. Putting together a team of competent mobile app developers can be a huge strain on the finances, especially for startups that are already working with a limited resource pool. This is why most of them prefer to outsource the work to a trustworthy IT firm.
These specialist mobile app development companies have seasoned professionals on their team who can get a project started in next to no time. As a result, your small business can swiftly deploy its custom app(s). This also makes scaling the project much more straightforward.
Reasons Why Your Small Business Should Use a Custom App
Following are some compelling reasons why your small business should have a custom app.
Better Approach to Work
Every business wants to improve its work procedures and eliminate bottlenecks wherever they are. In this regard, if you go for an off-the-shelf system, your entire workflow would require changes to match the system. This means having to deal with multiple features that are completely irrelevant to your needs.
Instead, businesses prefer creating custom applications to aid their work processes. The primary goal behind the development of any custom app is to enable a company to work the way it wants to work. Therefore, you can think of a custom app as a problem-solving tool that drives constant improvement and innovation.
You Can Scale a Custom App at Your Own Pace
Consider this scenario. You need an application that your new venture can rely on. This needs to be scalable at a pace similar to your business growth. However, you don’t want to waste any portion of your limited funds by paying for extra capacity and additional functionalities that your company doesn’t need at this stage. Nevertheless, you have no choice but to pay because the functionalities you do need come as a package deal with the other unwanted ones.
This is how off-the-shelf IT solutions fleece users, making them pay for scalability that is irrelevant with regard to their business needs. On the other hand, no such issue exists in a custom solution. This is because you always have the option of asking the development team to enhance the capabilities of an app in accordance with the needs of your company.
As already mentioned, custom app solutions can be especially beneficial for cash-strapped startups. During the initial stages of a business, anything that can save some money can be vital later on.
High Level of Customization
Looking for a one-size-fits-all software solution for your business can be a major struggle. Even if you come up with something half-decent, it won’t help get your venture to where you want it to go. So, what should you do?
It’s simple and obvious by now. Turn to custom mobile app development!
Work closely with your development team and clearly map out the functions that you want the app to have. They’ll be able to build something exactly as specified and in accordance with your business needs. In this way, you would also be able to ensure that each and every cent invested in the development of your custom app actually ends up enhancing your business procedures.
Doing the above is considerably better than having to pay for software that includes irrelevant and useless features. Moreover, given this high level of customization, decreasing costs and driving efficiency in the long run would be a piece of cake!
Superior Customer Experience
Because of the control that users have on a custom application, a business can deliver a truly customized experience to its clientele. This can be an immensely powerful tool when you’re trying to build brand loyalty and improve customer retention. Given that retention of customers is the key to success for any company, earning repeat sales from existing clients is more profitable than looking for new business.
A Custom App Provides a Direct Marketing Channel
A custom mobile app creates a direct link between a business and its customers. This connection automatically opens up a marketing channel that doesn’t cost you anything. You can use it to attract traffic and drive engagement across your digital presence. One of the most common methods of doing that is through “push notifications.” This approach is especially great at keeping customers updated about upcoming sales and promotions.
Through this direct marketing channel, you can easily connect with existing customers without spending a dime. It’s certainly much more cost-effective than following them around the web by way of targeted ads whose creation requires a significant investment of time and money!
Stand Out from the Competition
Every customer wants convenience. And it doesn’t get any better than a custom app that enables your esteemed clients to connect with your business in just a couple of taps. It serves as an instant perception boost for your company, leaving the competitors behind. Furthermore, if the other players in your industry aren’t reaching out to their target audience via a custom app, it’s a costly mistake that will probably haunt them later on!
Greater Control Over Security-Related Aspects
As the digital era has evolved, so have the hackers and tech thieves who can give authorities around the world a major headache. This is why you can never take any chances with data security. Whether it’s your proprietary business info or confidential customer details that your employees can access through the app, making adequate arrangements for its protection is important.
In contrast to an off-the-shelf solution, a custom mobile app provides greater control to small business owners over security-related factors. With it, you’ll know the exact security protocols that are in use and the technologies that were adopted for the security aspect during the development phase. Also, your in-house team of developers can further enhance the protection protocols, especially if you have highly sensitive data that requires a top-of-the-line data security system.
More Productivity
Have you endlessly tried (and failed) to utilize off-the-shelf technology solutions to boost productivity within your business? In all probability, you had a hard time finding an app that included the right features for your organization. Very few such applications actually provide any customizable solutions in this regard.
Here again, custom mobile apps have changed the game for the better. You can build them from the ground up according to your business objectives. Whatever functionality you require and want your team to take advantage of can be built into the custom app. As a result, you can look forward to vastly improved business productivity.
A Major Boost in Profitability
It’s no secret that increased productivity and greater efficiency eventually lead to a profit boost. This is what every small and big business wants to achieve. To do so, you can leverage an effective custom mobile app solution that will also help with improved brand recognition and more customer loyalty. Ultimately, any enhancement in these areas would drive more revenue and resultantly more profit for your venture.
Better Business Insights
In the age of Big Data, businesses that use different off-the-shelf products are usually swamped with data bundles (no, we don’t mean the Internet data bundles offered by your cellular phone service provider!). These stacks of data are often scattered across a company.
In addition, information can sometimes be trapped on a laptop, tablet, or mobile device. When this happens, your team can’t access the info in real time. Hence, data consolidation becomes vital, especially if you aim to grow quickly because your employees will often be collaborating with their colleagues in other work teams and departments.
With a custom mobile application, all the data gathered through analytics can help in promptly analyzing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and other metrics. This will lead to better decision-making. Besides, the availability of this data in real time would reduce your employees’ dependence on one another. Even the communication needs between teams and departments would decrease, thereby saving valuable time.
Final Words
There has been no better time in history for building a custom mobile app, especially for small businesses. This cutting-edge creation has significantly leveled the playing field between small and big businesses. If you’re an owner of a startup, a mom-and-pop shop, or any other kind of small business, take advantage of the custom mobile app phenomenon before it’s too late!