Development of paid applications for Android as a business. The main stages of mobile application development

Technological development in our time allows you to use powerful tools from mobile platforms. A smart calendar, a professional text editor, access to documents from anywhere in the world and many other features of mobile applications make life easier for modern entrepreneurs. We have prepared for you the TOP 10, according to users, useful applications for doing business.

TOP 10 Mobile Apps for Entrepreneurs

In the era of "smart" gadgets, the number of applications is growing every day. Among the countless number of programs, there are those with the help of which you can significantly simplify doing business. In this article, we will look at the TOP 10 applications that will be useful for both established store owners and those who are just planning to open their own business.

The criteria in the formation of the selection were:

Max Downloads
Russification of the application
Cross-platform (the ability of an application to run on more than one operating system)
High user rating

We plan our time

One of the leaders in this area can safely be called Google-Calendar. Plan the timing of product deliveries, interviews, meetings with suppliers and partners - with Google Calendar, all this is more than simple. By default, the program is installed on many devices initially. For its correct operation, it is suitable for both Android and iOS. The app is available for download on Google Play and the AppStore.

About the benefits:

Ability to customize the calendar view mode (by day, week and month)
Automatic synchronization with Gmail. If you book a table or book a hotel, the information will be automatically duplicated in the calendar
Ability to set reminders in the same view as the event
The ability to set a goal for yourself (the planner will help you find free time to achieve it)
Convenient application interface

Nice bonus:

– Synchronization with Google Fit makes it possible to schedule sports activities, as well as track progress

About cons:

Some users attribute the lack of watches to them
It should also always be taken into account that changes in one activity entail changes in related tasks.

Clouds

The program for automating the work of the Business.Ru store helps save time, due to the fact that all product data: prices, descriptions, characteristics, stock balances, are stored in the "cloud". Thus, you get the ability to access information anytime, anywhere.

Cloud data storage is actually an archive that allows you to access company documents (invoices, contracts, acts, certificates) from anywhere in the world. The only condition will be internet access. The products of Google and Yandex corporations are very popular in Russia.

The Yandex product is installed on more than 5 million devices. Google Drive in the number of downloads has significantly outstripped its fellow, at the moment its number of downloads has approached the mark of 1 billion.

About the benefits:

With files stored on a virtual disk, you can perform any operations
There is a sharing feature. There is also the possibility of limiting permissions.
File change history

Bonuses:

Ability to scan documents using the device's camera

Minuses:

Perhaps the main disadvantage is the lack of the ability to sort files into folders. Each file on disk is stored separately

Control

The favorite in this direction is the application created by Bitrix. The application is absolutely free and also cross-platform. It is available for download on the official website of the company.

About the benefits:

CRM management from any available mobile device.
Works with both ready-made forms and files
Allows you to communicate with colleagues
Contacts from the phonebook are automatically copied to the application's notebook.
There is a video calling feature.

Bonuses:

- Availability of a live communication feed

Minuses:

– Used only in conjunction with Bitrix CRM.

Legal support

Legal support will never be superfluous, especially for an entrepreneur. If you have a large company, there will be no problems with legal assistance, most likely you have a personal lawyer or even an entire legal department.

If you are the owner of an individual entrepreneur or just a small business, for example, one or two stores, instead of hiring a lawyer, you can get by with installing the Consultant Plus application. At the moment, the program has established itself as one of the most reliable. Current laws, regulations, examples of solving certain situations - with an assistant installed on your gadget, all this will be at hand at any time.

Bank in your pocket

Today, perhaps, every self-respecting bank has a mobile application in its asset. The functionality of the applications is almost the same. All of them make it possible to control finances, make transactions on accounts, send payment receipts, receive notifications about changes in accounts, make tax payments, open new accounts, etc.

One of the most popular applications at the moment is Sberbank Online (according to statistics, as of January 1, 2018, 60% of the population of the Russian Federation are active clients of Sberbank).

Bulletin board

Finding premises, buying consumables, promoting your products and services, recruiting staff - all this can be done on one site. These sites are called bulletin boards. One of the most popular resources in Russia is Avito.

About the benefits:

Possibility to refine the search according to the parameters of interest.
Manage posted ads.
Ability to track new ads.
Ability to communicate with sellers and buyers via text messages.

Calls

The leader in the field of calls on the Internet is undoubtedly Skype. With it, you can communicate for free with subordinates, suppliers and partners, even while abroad.

About the benefits:

Ability to create group chats
Minimum traffic consumption at the time of video calls.
Possibility of organizing group meetings with video call function.

Additional functions:

– Making calls and sending SMS to mobile operators (for an additional fee).

Office on the phone

Another assistant for the entrepreneur is Microsoft Office Mobile applications. With their help, you can work with documents from anywhere in the world and at any time. Work with tables in Excel, Word text files and even create presentations in Power point - thanks to Office applications, all these functions will be available on your gadget.

About the benefits:

Familiar interface, convenience and ease of use of applications
View, edit and create documents on the go
Ability to store files in the cloud
Preservation of the document format when working on a PC and laptop
Ability to send documents by e-mail as attachments and hyperlinks.
Office applications are supported by most phones and tablets.

The program for Business.Ru stores will speed up the issuance of documents and eliminate possible errors when filling out. It will allow you to automate tax and accounting reporting, as well as control cash flows in the company.

Document Scanner

The store owner deals with paperwork every day. Working with papers within the walls of the office is not a difficult task. But what if you are on the road, and the documents need to be urgently scanned and sent to the addressee? A document scanner can help with this task.

One of the simplest and most versatile document scanning programs is Genius Scan. Images are saved in JPEG / PDF format at the maximum resolution, the saved file weighs about 1. If the document is too heavy, it can be lightened, but with loss of quality.

About the benefits:

All created files can be sent to cloud storages (Box, iCloud Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive)
Ability to send documents to social networks (Facebook, Twitter)
Sending documents by email Mail or fax.

The basic version is available for free on both iTunes and Google Play. However, most of the options become available only after purchasing the full version of the application.

Of course, there are a lot of applications for entrepreneurs. However, you have to start somewhere. Try a few of the apps above and you'll see how much easier it is to run your business, especially if you're doing some (or all) of it remotely. It is worth noting that each of the applications is absolutely free for the user.

Read articles about retail:

You will learn:

What mobile applications will be useful for your company's customers.
Where to order the development of a mobile application for your business.
How to promote a mobile application for business.
How to develop business through internal mobile applications.

Does an ordinary entrepreneur who has no idea about mobile marketing need applications for business? Today, a significant number of people (more than one third) in the post-Soviet space are active users of modern digital gadgets: tablets, smartphones. In the West and in Asian countries, there are even more such people, and the mobile application market is developing at a tremendous pace.

All mobile applications used for business can be divided into two groups:

Programs that meet the internal needs of the company.
Applications that solve business problems: increase in sales, increasing loyalty, marketing goals, branding.

The most common are internal applications, for example, for business automation (restaurant and hotel business, shopping centers) or optimization and efficiency of collective activities:

applications that allow you to share work documents;
programs for internal communication: instant messengers, trackers;
mobile versions of corporate social networks;

The most common mobile applications for clients

Mobile loyalty program. Such applications are increasingly being used as a replacement for loyalty cards.
Applications in addition to the company's online services: mobile showcases, online catalogs, shops; applications for buying tickets; online banking; goods delivery status trackers.

The usual schemes that work on websites and in traditional online stores, unfortunately, are not applicable in the mobile sphere. This is the main obstacle to the active use of applications for marketing, branding and sales promotion.

It is unlikely that a client will download a program with a company's business card to his phone when all this is easy and accessible in a mobile browser. This seriously complicates the work of many enterprises wishing to develop in the IT field.

When is the right time to think about developing a mobile application for your business

Of course, not every company necessarily needs mobile applications for business. However, in some niche markets, smartphone programs will be very useful in terms of increasing customer loyalty to increase sales. These are areas such as:

tourism (search for hotels, resorts, booking tickets, interactive maps);
medicine (online appointment with a doctor, a list of services and prices, calling a doctor at home);
automotive business (rental, car wash, dealer networks);
catering establishments: restaurants, cafes, etc. (promotions, menus, delivery orders);
beauty industry (recording to specialists, interactive price list, information about services);
delivery services and shops (product catalogs, ordering, price list);
services sector;
fitness (class schedule, prices, online recording, reviews);
leisure (maps, online ticket applications, rooms, tables, etc.).

Before ordering the development of a mobile business application, you should calculate whether it will bring the benefits you expect. After all, such a program can either help the development of your business, or not bring any results.

If you are sure that a mobile application will increase sales, then you should carefully approach the search for a performer. Answer the questions:

What exactly do you want to develop an application for?
Will your business customers be interested in it, will they use the application? For example, mobile applications are unlikely to work if the majority of consumers are pensioners.
Can you recoup the costs?

It is not enough just to develop a mobile application for business. Its promotion plays an equally important role.

In other words, you will need to actively grab the attention of customers. To do this, you need to plan costs.

It's not just the design and functionality of your app that matters. The quality of the product and the service provided must also be at the same level. Pay attention to advertising, do not let customers forget about the product, improve the application regularly.

It's no secret that many users are often annoyed by regular updates, because they complicate the work with the program. You should conduct a thorough analysis of whether your product needs the development of a business application.

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Development of a mobile application as a tool for business development: advantages

Sales increase

Any business is created with the aim of making a profit, and marketing tools also serve this purpose.

Mobile applications for business are aimed at increasing the company's sales by attracting and retaining the target audience. Built-in features such as a loyalty program or push notifications help motivate customers to buy your products or services. In addition, they can notify about discounts and promotions.

Leaving the house, a person tries not to forget about the keys, phone and wallet. Thus, the business is inside the phones of customers and remains in their pockets. The contact of the company with customers is due to the fact that they use the mobile application. The scale is amazing. Never before in the history of mankind has advertising been so accessible.

Detachment from competitors

Many companies use a variety of means to advertise their business: flyers, radio spots, SMS mailing lists, Internet sites, social networks. If we look in the App Store and Google Play, then most likely we will find no more than ten business applications in one city or an entire region. Competition in this area is almost zero.

Let's say a resident of Voronezh wants to arrange pizza delivery to his home from his phone. Google helps him find a mobile app that is automatically downloaded to his smartphone. Through a computer, this does not happen as quickly (due to higher competition) as through a program in a phone. The Yandex company announced its readiness to set up advertising packages in Yandex. Direct" for mobile applications.

Business promotion using smartphone programs can occur not only through various marketing activities on the Internet.

To expand the number of its consumers, the company can give special bonuses for the fact that the client uses the application. Few people use such a tool, and people have a very good attitude towards bonuses and discounts, everyone loves them. Mobile devices today are available to the vast majority of the population. With the help of the application, promotions are launched, which helps to compete with other enterprises and increase the loyalty of the target audience.

For example, a company, in order to attract attention, gives a lifetime discount of 10% on its products or services to someone who installs a mobile application. Another bonus can be a free cup of coffee in a cafe in exchange for a demonstration of an application downloaded to a mobile device. In this case, all parties are satisfied: in a cafe, the buyer is likely to order something in addition to his coffee, which will bring profit. In addition, the consumer will be grateful for the gift, and the company will have one more loyal customer.

Loyalty

How to win the sympathy and trust of customers? The secret is simple: be useful and indispensable to your customers. Loyalty programs can help develop various bonuses and gifts - customers, as a rule, love this very much. This will boost sales and encourage repeat sales. So, for example, a variety of promotions such as “Every fifth cup of coffee is free”, “Every 10th dinner is a gift” can be held in a cafe. This will make a person visit your establishment again and again in order to get the coveted bonus. The program in the smartphone will record visits, and the cafe will increase the number of loyal customers.

Another advantage of the mobile application for business: you no longer need to fill your wallet with numerous customer cards. The desired program is in your phone, which is always with you.

Building customer trust through push notifications

Phased development of mobile applications for business

Stage 1. Business analysis of the target market. This stage is designed so that the customer can understand for himself and determine why he needs an application for business, for what purpose he will use a mobile tool for communicating with his customers. Even before creating a TOR for the program executor, the customer should reflect on some important questions:

What is your main goal in developing and launching a mobile application for business?
Do you plan to make sales using your business application?
What exactly does your target audience look like? Who can join its ranks?
Is there competition in the field in which you want to work with the application, and how serious is it?
Are your customers already using any apps? Your competitors' clients? Are there apps that both use? Will customers be ready to move from their programming to analogue?
How much money do you need to spend to create and promote your business application?

Stage 2. Development of an agreed solution. An important step at the initial stage is the preparation of technical specifications. If the customer does not have a ready-made TOR, then the contractor can provide him with a brief for filling out and further work on this document. The next step is prototyping and user profiling to evaluate the finished product. After the TOR has been prepared, the tasks have been agreed with the designer, and the profitability assessment has been carried out, you can proceed to the actual process of developing a business application.

Stage 3. Preliminary assessment of the development cost. At this stage, an assessment is made of how long the work on the application will take, which specialists should be contacted.

The final price will not necessarily coincide with the preliminary calculations. Ultimately, the cost of the application may turn out to be either more or less than what was expected. The terms of reference can help determine the amount for developing a business application most accurately.

After all the preliminary steps, the process of creating a program is taken under control by a responsible specialist who monitors the progress of work and answers all questions.

Stage 4. Prototype design. To demonstrate how the program works, you need a prototype, or, in other words, an application model. It can be static or interactive: with active buttons and navigation options. This is the job of an analyst. His task is to think over the logic of the program and the role of the user in it (user story). Marketing department will help to make adjustments to the idea in accordance with the characteristics of the target audience and the tasks that will be solved using the mobile application.

At the end of his work, the analyst discusses the models with the customer, corrects some points and passes the baton to the designer. The tasks of the latter include choosing the style and design for the application.

Stage 5. Development of the first release of the product. In accordance with the terms of reference, the developers release a pilot project of a mobile application for business. If it's complex, then it's best to create an MVP first - a minimum viable version of the program that will allow you to understand how customers will react to your product. The analyst will help you figure out the necessary set of functions for the application. If necessary, you can create a control server and an API service for transferring data between the server and the program.

Stage 6. Testing. Testing a business application is a necessary step in the process of creating a quality product. It can be performed on simulators and on real devices. The main goal of this stage is to make sure that the operation of the application with the hardware and software platform will correspond to the planned model.

Stage 7. Publication. A new application is published, as a rule, in the personal account of the customer of the Google Play Market and App Store services. To create an account in the Google Play Market, you need to make a registration fee of $25. In the AppStore it will cost $99 and it will take 2 weeks to confirm the registration. In addition, the App Store fee is annual.

Stage 8. Technical support. At the request of the customer, additional services can be provided: application technical support, release of new versions for updated mobile operating systems, marketing and advertising services. In addition, you can place applications in the App Store or Google Play on customer accounts. All this is done for a fee.

How the mobile application accelerated the work of employees and the company

Where is the best place to order the development of a business application

There are different options for where you can go if you want to order the development of a business application. It can be a company that specializes in such services, or an individual freelancer, or you can develop a program yourself. What to choose is up to you. All of these options have both advantages and disadvantages.

Finding a freelancer for such work is no more difficult than finding a specialist to create a landing page. It is important that he be able to program on the platform code. By working with a freelancer, you can significantly save your costs (from 20 to 40%). But at the same time, there is a high probability that there will be problems when fulfilling an order: freelancers do not always strictly comply with the deadlines and requirements for work.

The profile company will cope with the order perfectly, however, it will cost a lot. Refinement of any element or making the slightest changes will also be paid. And without them in this activity can not do. As a result, for a lot of money you will receive high-quality services.

You should expect about $10,000 (at the most rough estimate) to develop a full-fledged business application. The customer pays:

work of specialists on the technical task. It is important for both parties to understand what exactly the application will be created for;
the appearance of the product;
programming and creating a working model of the application;
product testing. Work to correct possible errors.

The final cost of the project will be determined by the scale of those issues that must be resolved when using the program.

In addition to all the above options, there is the possibility developing a business application using the constructor. This method is more suitable for simple programs with a small set of functions.

Flipcat.net (Russian).
Mobiumapps.com (Russian).
Russia.ibuildapp.com (Russian.
Brightmobile.ru (Russian).
Goodbarber.com (English).
Appmakr.com (English).
Kickappbuilder.com (English).

All these services are paid: English ones are more complicated and more expensive, Russian ones are easier and cheaper. Each site has a free trial option, so you can experiment to determine which of these resources is right for you.

What to consider when developing applications for business

The cost of services for creating a mobile application for business is much higher than for developing a web application or website. And, as a rule, sites pay off better than mobile programs.
Mobile applications for business are investments with an eye on the future. It may seem that such programs do not play a decisive role in terms of competition today. But keep in mind that the mobile device market is developing very quickly and it is important to keep up with it in order not to lose leadership positions.
Statistics show that on average, there are approximately 26 mobile applications for each mobile device today, 10 of which are social networks, instant messengers, weather and mail services. The remaining places are for your programs or competitors as games and other services. As you understand, business card applications remain without a chance.
The mobile phone today is the personal space of the user. In the same way that people don't want to fill their pockets with junk and useless materials, they don't want to load their phone's memory with information ballast. Therefore, develop a quality and useful product in order to win the trust of your customers.

Based on the results of these points, we can build a logical chain: Customers love free apps → Programs provided free of charge will pay off through advertising → You can invest in the creation, development and promotion of useful and free branded applications for business that will not contain third-party advertising.

For example, a drinking water supply company can order a calculator to determine the water balance in the human body or a fitness program. If you're in the business of selling children's products, you might consider creating a product with useful information for parents or educational games for children.

If we talk about the quality indicators of the application for business, then these are the following points:

no failures;
number of daily and monthly audience;
retention.

The last point can be attributed to the most important, since it shows how many customers are ready to use the application on a regular basis. It is not easy to achieve a high level of this index. As a rule, about one third (26%) of people are not interested in the application and remove it from their mobile device. Even if half of the users continue to work with the program, this will be considered a good result.

How to promote a mobile app for business

Method 1. Market Demand Optimization.

Optimization refers to the exclusive name of the application and the presence of keywords in its description. In addition, the number of downloads and a place in the customer rating are important to get into the top. Remember to keep your business app up to date: outdated versions are removed from both search and catalogs.

integrate advertising into popular programs;
break down the target audience into categories by interests, choosing the most famous and popular applications;
put your banners on them.

Google AdWords will help you with these tasks.

Method 3: Content marketing. Tell the world about yourself. Find out which resources your customers spend the most time on and place your guest posts there with information about the pros and features of your application. For this you need:

upload video,
create audio podcasts,
shoot videos for special purposes,
be active on social media.

Try to use content marketing thoughtfully and comprehensively, using the various opportunities that it has: guest posts, SMM, video marketing, etc.

Method 4. Working with opinion leaders. Influencers can be great helpers in promoting your product. Any audience has a few people whose point of view and value judgments are listened to by the majority. In this case, it is important for you to achieve a high rating of your application from opinion leaders, and then, naturally, thanks to their stories and impressions, many others will learn about your product very quickly.

Method 5. Promo site. The official representation on the network (whether it is an independent promo site or a separate page within the main resource of the company) will be of great help in promoting your mobile application for business. The effectiveness will be affected by the type of program: a start-up or an information element of a large company.

Thanks to the promo site, you will have new opportunities to promote the mobile application. For example:

visualization of application features;
creating instructions for using mobile programs;
contextual advertising; targeting in social networks;
WOW effect.

Today there is no shortage of ways to promote mobile applications for business, it is very important to use them wisely.

How to grow a business through internal mobile applications: 3 successful examples

Example 1. Retail.

Vkusvill chain grocery stores developed a mobile database and 1C:Enterprise and implemented it into an automated system. The pilot version of the program was created within 2.5 months, exactly the same amount was spent on finishing the working version.

The application is used in stores in order to send reports. For example, in a situation of some kind of malfunction, an employee of a retail outlet takes a photograph of the breakdown and sends it to the main office.

Thanks to the presence of the image, any explanation becomes redundant. The program also allows you to control product quality, returns, write-offs, etc. With the help of a mobile application scanner installed at the goods receiving warehouse, information is sent directly to the database.

The owner of the network claims that thanks to the use of this product, millions of rubles are saved per month. We also managed to save on the development of the program due to the fact that it was created on the basis of 1C. In another specialized company, the application would cost much more.

Example 2. Production.

The AtomEnergoMash Technologies plant installed an iOS-based application and 1C: Production Enterprise Management, which is used by about 100 people working in the workshops. The company produces, among other products, components for nuclear reactors. These are huge products, resembling a very large truck in their dimensions. The manufacturing process is fully automated, but for security reasons, workers cannot use computers directly in the shops. The solution was a mobile application for business. It is able to find components by barcode, scan, open access to technological cards. Using this program, employees receive tasks and report on their implementation.

Example 3. Wholesale trade.

The company selling medical equipment "CS Medica Povolzhye" uses in its work a mobile application based on "1C: Trade Management 8" and "1C: Enterprise Accounting 8". In particular, this program is actively used by sales representatives of several divisions of the company. The application performs various functions: reserving products in the warehouse, receiving and registering orders, filling out advance reports. The introduction of the software product allowed sales representatives to conduct 20% more meetings with clients.

Another example of a successful implementation of a mobile application for the internal work of a business

Alexey Svetishchev, Head of Information Technology Directorate, Velobike, Moscow

The work of our company is aimed at ensuring that bicycles and empty seats are always available at the stations. More bikes - more customers, more stations and free places on them - more satisfied consumers who do not need to wind extra kilometers in search of a station with a free place.

In order to solve our main tasks, we had to carry out work to improve the logistics of bicycles and identify the optimal ratio of the number of bicycles and free places at the stations. We managed to cope with this with the help of forwarding drivers. They have been using the mobile application for business since 2016, which saves time and improves the quality of the park. I will share with you more information about our application and the features of its functioning.

Each driver is assigned a specific city sector. His tasks include driving around the bike stations within this zone, inspecting and evaluating the bikes visually, putting them in order, washing off dirt or inscriptions. Send those bikes that are damaged to be repaired. The driver can also move bikes from one station to another as needed. Each of the listed operations must be reflected in the driver's report.

Before installing the application based on 1C:Enterprise 8, we used an Excel spreadsheet and an accounting program. But the previous reporting methods did not suit us, primarily because they could not cope with large amounts of information. An Android-based mobile application was installed on special data collection terminals, which are very similar to a smartphone in terms of size and functionality. The device is equipped with a barcode reader and a built-in navigator function. The cost of one such terminal is about 35,000 rubles.

Before starting his duties, the driver receives a terminal from the dispatcher, enters the application and logs in. Being at the station, he chooses in the program the operation to be performed.

If this is a standard operation like "bring the bike in order", then the driver simply selects it among those listed in the application. For extraordinary tasks (for example, “getting a drowned bike”, “finding a bike abandoned in the city”, etc.) there is a special section “outside the station”.

For example, a driver works with the "move" operation: he picks up a bike from one station and transports it to another. After selecting a task in the application, he scans the barcodes of the bikes that he will move. Already on arrival at the desired station, he marks the operation "set" and again reflects the barcodes of bicycles by scanning. In this way, information about the location of specific bicycles is stored in the database.

Database updates occur every five minutes. This process runs flawlessly, quickly and conveniently.

Absolutely every bike, station and car is equipped with barcodes. We needed them for the operation of previous terminals - analogs of the current ones. We used them only in the warehouse to account for incoming or outgoing bicycles.

The impact of the application on the quality of the business was reflected in the following results.

1. The speed of decision-making has increased. Information from the terminals is transferred to the database used by the dispatcher. In addition, there are two maps showing the number of all bicycles and the location of the drivers. Until recently, information was received twice a day, now everything is

Both when using mobile devices and in everyday life, the idea often arises to make things better. This idea can lead you to start a promising and successful business project to develop and sell a mobile application. Applications can be used both to simplify the interaction between the buyer and the seller in a real business (food delivery, business catalogs, private ads, mobile stores, taxis), and to sell exclusively virtual goods (games, social networks, dating services).

No need to hurry

If you have an idea, be prepared for the fact that the same idea was recently born in the head of another person. Not every idea leads to success, and even more so, you don’t have to rush to develop a mobile application right away (especially this advice can be given to programmers). In every project, development must be preceded by a planning stage consisting of at least two stages:

Business analysis - analysis of the needs of the target audience, collection of requirements for the application, formulation of project goals. This stage should give you an answer to the question DO users NEED the product.
Business plan – assessment of the cost of development and commissioning, formulation of a monetization strategy, assessment of the return on investment in the project. This stage gives an answer to the question, IS IT PROFITABLE to produce a product.

Need help with a business plan?

Write to us!

We are happy to answer!

What is included in business analysis?

Competitor analysis

Gather information about your competitors and peers. The mobile app market is very saturated right now. For example, according to the data at the beginning of 2018, the number of iOS applications exceeded 2.1 million, and the number of Android applications - even 3.6 million. You do not need to analyze all the applications of your subject, it is enough to choose three or four market leaders for analysis.

After the information about the market leaders has been collected, answer the question:

Why would my product be better?

Write how your product will outperform the market leaders, and what target audience it is designed for. Prepare unique selling proposition(USP) for your users. Keep in mind that, inspired by your idea, you are likely to be biased in your assessments, so be sure to let other people read your business plan and carefully consider their comments.

What features will the app include?

When selecting features, follow a simple rule:

It is better for an application to perform one task perfectly than if it performs all the tasks the user needs mediocrely.

Write down all the features that your application can perform, then sort them by frequency of use, and be sure to evaluate whether these features are present in the market leaders, and whether they are "must have".

What is the purpose of your project?

The goal of the project is not just the performance of certain functions by a mobile application. Try to formulate the goal of the project in terms of what emotions it will bring to the user. After all, all mobile games and most mobile applications are purely for the entertainment of users.

A project goal statement is important to ensure that all of your employees and contractors have a clear direction in their work. Remember that any builder can answer the question "what do you do?" - "I'm laying bricks" or "I'm building a palace"!

What does a mobile app business plan look like?

The business plan includes business analysis as part of it. In addition, the business plan should contain the following sections:

Estimation of the time and cost of developing the first version of the application (taking into account the development of technical requirements for the mobile application and the server part), the so-called "beta version".
Evaluation of the timing and cost of implementing a stable version. Please note that contractors usually refer to the beta version when talking about development time, as neither they nor you know what the stable version will look like. So feel free to multiply their score by two.
Marketing plan - how you will promote the application in stores. Do you focus only on "organic" download growth, or do you plan to use ads for your application as well.
Financial plan and assessment of the return on investment. This block is the most important - the fate of the entire project depends on it, so do not let your optimism include unrealistic estimates in this section. Remember that by abandoning a disadvantageous project at an early stage, you can save significant financial resources.

Who can help write a business plan?

You will most likely be the author of the project's business plan. However, in order to avoid mistakes, it is recommended to involve experts in the development and promotion of mobile applications in the preparation of a business plan for a mobile application. Employees of our company have significant experience in developing applications for Android and iOS, as well as their promotion, so they can act as reviewers of your document.

We can also help you in formulating the goal of your project, which means that when ordering the development of a mobile application at Headwind Solutions, our employees will already clearly understand the guidelines that we lay in the basis of the project. As a result, you will get a high-quality and successful mobile application that fully meets the needs of your users and brings you profit.

Before you is a set of typical steps in creating a mobile application from scratch, which Componentix studio practices in its activities.

Target market business analysis

At this stage, the customer should decide why he plans to use the application, what is the final goal of developing a mobile communication tool with the audience. Here is a list of indicative questions that you should find answers to before formulating the TOR and ordering the development of the application:

What goals do you plan to achieve by creating and releasing your own mobile application?
Are there any plans to sell / convert conversions to the sale of goods and services within the application?
Who is your target audience and at the expense of whom it can be replenished?
How high is the competition in the field in which you plan to work (including with the application)?
What applications do your audience and your competitors' audience use, do they intersect? Are they ready to use your app instead of similar apps?
What is the budget for the development and promotion of the resulting application?

Development of an agreed solution

Before starting development, it is necessary to receive a technical task (TOR) from the customer or provide him with a brief for filling out and further work on this document.

After receiving the completed brief and / or TOR, you can start prototyping and compiling user profiles to evaluate the capabilities of the final product.

Based on the designer's vision, business assessment and agreement on the details of the TOR, the development process can be launched.

prototyping

Prototypes are designed by the designer and can be either static or interactive. To do this, you can use one or more of the prototyping tools that we talked about earlier.

Static prototypes and interactive layouts should be made taking into account the technical and software base that is planned to be used to create the application.

Code writing and technology implementation

With the finished design, the application goes to the developers: they will have to create a mobile application based on programming languages, frameworks and various technologies in accordance with the TOR, brief and approved prototype.

Testing

At various stages of application development, it is mandatory to internally test the application both on simulators and on real devices. The purpose of testing is to make sure that the interaction of the application with the hardware and software platform of smartphones and tablets will be exactly as expected at the prototyping stage.

Create a pre-release version

As a result of a series of tests and improvements to the application, a working version of the application should be obtained. It is this version that will be added to the app store: Apple App Store, Google Play, Windows Phone app store (depending on the platform for which development is being carried out) or any similar service for app distribution.

Adding an App to the Store

The final stage of the studio's work is adding the application for review to one of the above application stores (in the case of Componentix, we are talking about the App Store or Google Play).

Optional step: further technical support and marketing promotion of the application

Since these services are provided separately from the main package of services, they are paid separately. In addition to marketing and technical support, it is also possible to place the application in the App Store or Google Play on behalf of the customer (White Label service), provide server support for the application.

If you are ready order a package of basic and / or additional services for the development of a native application - write: we will discuss with you the terms, cost, we will help draw up a TOR and fill out a brief . And after a month or two you will have your own mobile application for iPhone, iPad or Android smartphones and tablets.

Mobile applications in the last decade began to play a big role in people's lives. Their functions often seem insignificant, but, nevertheless, they help smartphone and tablet users to solve various everyday tasks. Creating even a simple mobile application is painstaking and hard work, which takes a lot of time and effort and does not at all guarantee high profits in the future. However, really high-quality and necessary applications can “shoot” in the AppStore or GooglePlay and bring a lot of money to their developers. We invite novice entrepreneurs to turn their attention to a typical business plan for the development of mobile applications with calculations, which is presented in this material. First of all, he will help you navigate the financial side of the issue and understand whether the game is worth the candle.

Investments at the start of a mobile application development business will need to be made in the amount of 350 thousand rubles. This money is quite enough to build a stable business in this high-tech area from scratch. The source of initial investment can be both personal savings of a novice developer, and loan funds received from a bank.

Brief description of the concept

The business of creating applications for mobile platforms, an example of the organization of which is presented in this article, must be registered as an individual entrepreneur. The best form of taxation for such a business is the STS (“simplified”) with a tax rate of 15% (income minus expenses). Declarations in this system are filled almost intuitively, so the company does not need the help of a professional accountant. The processing of financial reports is best done using the services of online accounting. Official registration of a business for the development of mobile applications will not do without choosing the appropriate OKVED codes:

62.0 "Computer software development, consulting services in this field and other related services."
62.01 "Development of computer software".

How much to invest in opening

The costs that are inevitable at the initial stage of establishing a mobile application development business are presented in the following table:

Not surprisingly, the main items of expenditure will be the purchase of computer equipment and licensed software. The specifics of this business obliges the entrepreneur to pay special attention to the quality of equipment and software. After all, the equipment on which mobile applications are developed must simply work stably and without failures, and information must be well protected.

Production plan

The office of the mobile application development company is a compact space, the area of which does not exceed 40 square meters. There are no special requirements for the location of the office. It can be located both in a modern business center and in a semi-basement in the old part of the city. The main thing is that all the necessary communications and stable high-speed Internet are connected to the office premises.

Also, the entrepreneur should take care of ensuring the security of the office, as it will contain expensive equipment and important development data. You can conclude an agreement with a security agency or simply install strong bars on the windows and a solid metal door.

Marketing plan

As for marketing and promotion of mobile applications for smartphones and tablets, everything is extremely simple here - advertising can be ordered in the AppStore and GooglePlay at a very reasonable cost. Advertising on popular YouTube channels also has a good effect.

The cost of one download of an average mobile application is $ 1.5, or about 100 rubles. Good apps quickly catch on with users, and it is quite possible to hope that they can be downloaded 5,000 times or more in a month. Accordingly, at such a rate, the monthly revenue of the developer company can be up to half a million rubles, and the annual "dirty" income - up to 6 million "wooden".

Staff

The work schedule of a mobile application development company is a standard five-day workday, but with some peculiarities. As a rule, at the final stages of mobile application development, work goes non-stop - without days off and almost without breaks. This nuance should be taken into account by the entrepreneur in order to appropriately reward dedicated employees in monetary terms. Below is the most optimal scheduling option:

Monday - Friday: from 09:00 to 18:00.
Saturday - Sunday: Closed.

The list of employees of the mobile application development company is given in the following table:

№	Job title	Number of people	Salary, rub.	Monthly payment fund, rub.	Payment per year, rub.
1	Chief Developer	1	40 000	40 000	480 000
2	Programmer	2	60 000	60 000	720 000
3	Support Specialist	1	25 000	25 000	300 000
4	Marketing Manager	1	30 000	30 000	360 000
TOTAL				155 000	1 860 000

Calculations of income and expenses

You can find a list of the monthly expenses of a mobile application development company in this table:

The profitability of a mobile app development company is shown in this table:

According to our calculations, the amount of net annual profit of a company that develops mobile applications, after taxes, will be 2.8 million rubles. This is subject to the high quality of applications and the development time for each of them is no more than three months. Accordingly, the profitability of this business will be around 47% - an excellent result for a young ambitious company.

Possible risks

The mobile app development business is a very risky business. It is impossible to take into account absolutely all the pitfalls of this undertaking, and quite often the principle of "make or break" accompanies the creation of any application until the end of its development. Below is a list of the most obvious risk factors that could negatively affect the development of this business:

Leakage of information about the features of projects and, as a result, the possible "borrowing" of their concept by other developers.
The need to attract additional funding when launching expensive or time-consuming projects.
Increased development time for individual applications, associated with additional costs.
Insufficient level of qualification of employees, their incompetence in highly specialized aspects of working on the creation of mobile applications.

In conclusion, we note that developers who are passionate about their work and create really high-quality software products for mobile platforms never remain in the red. World practice proves this perfectly.