The importance of developing mobile apps in today’s competitive digital market has become all the more important in 2017. Mobile use is on a constant up with customers looking for easier ways to connect with customers while they are on the go; and those firms that have taken advantage of this trend have been developing apps that help customers engage seamlessly, spread brand awareness, and to create a means to easily push news and updates on products, services, promotions or events to customers. As the importance of mobile apps grows, software springs up here and there that allows people to develop apps from customisable templates with little to no need for knowledge of coding. But are these ‘citizen-developer’ suits really an ideal approach?
Some stats on mobile app usage
The Apple App store has some 2 million apps on board, while the Google Play store has around 2.2 million; and it is estimated that around 52% of mobile device usage, is spent on mobile apps. In fact, the number of mobile users surpassed desktop and laptop user’s way back in 2014, when the estimated global mobile app revenue was somewhere around $35 billion dollars, raised by a further $10 billion in 2015. With statistics like that it is easy for companies to see why developing an app will give them an advantage in their marketing campaigns. But these advantages, more often than not, come at a hefty cost for the development services, which has tempted more than one marketing manager (and their prospective clients) to opt for cheaper, less customisable, ‘citizen-development’ suites. But what are they?
What is a ‘citizen-developer’ suite
Citizen developer suites have been hailed as a far simpler, albeit less functional method of developing apps for your clients without the prerequired knowledge in coding that is generally needed. Their simplicity means that anyone can have and build an app, and can even do it in far less time than on traditional platforms. While they promise to bring something new to the game, don’t expect to find success with them in becoming an amateur developer overnight.
What does this mean for development companies
At first glance, this calls into question the need for time, money and energy consuming task of developing apps traditionally, but that doesn’t mean things are going to go pear-shaped for developers, in fact their role is becoming more important because of such suites. In the past and in the absence of user-friendly development tools, companies valued their developers in terms of their skill, whereas now it is more about the mindset. Sure, these citizen developer tools can make it easier and quicker, but they cannot account for design principles, best practices and a developer’s mindset, which is a facet that is becoming more and more important in the app development world. This makes their role even more important, and also allots their careers with more space for lateral growth, while their experience and expertise, as opposed to their development skills, are becoming an all-important function in mobile marketing.
Contact Applord today for more information
If you would like to know more about having your app developed by a professional and experienced team of developers that make it their business to stay on top of and benefit from trends in the industry, contact a representative from Applord, an innovative app development company in South Africa, and speak to us for further details.
