A custom application can streamline complex internal or customer-facing processes through a dedicated user interface (UI) designed with those processes in mind. Consolidate dozens of steps and tasks into a single environment so that customers or employees can drive results faster and with minimal friction. Enhance those processes with additional insights, collaboration, and features in a dedicated digital environment, ensuring the application’s capabilities evolve with the needs of business.
A winning user experience will determine the success or failure of any digital initiative. Optimizing digital interactions via a dedicated application allows companies to isolate information, capabilities, and behaviors within a single, purpose-built environment, then enhance those aspects to the benefit of users and outcomes. Whether you represent a restaurant improving the ordering process for curbside pickup, or an enterprise improving employees’ experiences using analytics, an enhanced application UX takes you one step closer to realizing your application’s full potential benefits.
Organizations don’t always have the right digital infrastructure to take on emerging market challenges in a timely and effective way. Leading companies use custom-built applications to overcome unique long-term or short-term market challenges, driving business continuity and success in unpredictable circumstances. A custom solution can make all the difference when use cases such as specialized alert systems, UIs for timely purchases, mobile apps for attendees at an industry event, and others emerge.
A custom application provides all kinds of users with a destination to begin critical processes, functions, and requests, even when they have little initial information. Mobile apps that help consumers apply for mortgages, do their taxes, apply for jobs, and other tasks provide great value in terms of time and cost savings. Applications that help employees complete HR training requirements, apply for benefits, or automate key aspects of their responsibilities drive employee and business value as well.
Applications centralize related functions and processes within a single environment, making them ideal for dedicated analytics associated with improving those functions and processes. Analytics aligned with those apps can provider organizations with great insights into user behaviors, industry trends, and customer sentiments as well. That’s because advanced analytics help technical employees analyze and optimize the application and the business in ways that are impossible in decentralized environments.
Customer-facing applications create all kinds of new opportunities for companies seeking to improve the ways they engage and interact with their customers. Implementation of special features like loyalty points, “favorites,” automated recommendations, and personalized discounts within the environment represent new opportunities for marketers to engage customers and improve their brand experiences.
Custom applications can streamline the execution of loyalty programs, as well as expand the range of customer behaviors that can become part of companies’ loyalty initiatives. Easily adjust the offerings, point systems, and content associated with loyalty initiatives within the app environment. Companies can associate app access with loyalty features as well, incentivizing more users to download the app and maintain a connection via their mobile or other personal device.
Not all applications succeed; but a carefully planned and executed application can drive real value in key areas of business. Companies who work with an application development expert can identify the right users, processes, features, and functions for their own successful digital application, ensuring their application use cases align with successful adoption and real ROI.
Develop Your Custom Application with Uvation
The experts at Uvation are prepared to help you select the right technology platforms, programming languages, and development frameworks for your application development needs. We guide you through the development process, ensuring that your application is properly designed, tested, and deployed. Additionally, We provide ongoing maintenance and support to ensure your application continues to function properly and meets the evolving needs of your users and your company
The application development experts at Uvation can help you identify the right use cases for application development at your organization. Whether you’re developing a mobile app for consumers to access products and services, or implementing a digital app your employees can use to access company resources, our experts can help you determine the right approach. Our team also works with you to develop a timeline for implementation and helps encourage user adoption among your employees or customers.
Your application’s user interface (UI) and related user experience (UX) will determine the success or failure of your app, no matter how well-suited its purpose. Starting with the design of your UI, Uvation ensures the UX of your application is appropriately suited for your users. We optimize essential fields, content, buttons, and other functions aligned with the business purpose of your application, ensuring users find the easiest and most desirable path to the value they seek as well.
Once your application has been designed, our implementation experts help you strategize then successfully launch your application its users. We ensure you maximize initial progress with the application’s adoption, and work with you to ensure the application reaches the full extent of its frequency of use. We help you measure the results of your progress and identify opportunities to improve the application as well.
Annual mobile app downloads reached 218 billion in 2020—a 7% increase from the previous year. (App Annie)
The vast majority of business leaders believe custom app development outside of IT—that is, the “citizen development” of apps—is important. (TechRepublic)
Low-code application development will account for more than 65% of application development activity by 2024. (Bloomberg)
Application development is a series of processes that includes planning, creating, testing, and implementing dedicated digital, user-facing software applications for one or more mobile, desktop, tablet, or other devices. These programs, also called ‘apps,’ are designed to centralize and optimize functions, processes, and user experiences associated with a single goal or set of goals, usually in line with specific business functions.
As consumers and employees become more familiar with mobile and other digital applications, the market for application development continues to expand into more industries and use cases. There is a growing variety of application types and development approaches emerging as well—including custom, rapid, low-code, mobile, web, and enterprise application development, among others—each of which serves unique purposes in the broader application development landscape.
Low-code or no-code application development involves the use of digital features to make application development easier for nontechnical users to execute—even among those with limited familiarity or abilities associated with traditional application development. That’s because low-code environments make it easier for users to take an intuitive approach to development—including access to existing, pre-written code; “drag and drop” functionalities; and pre-built features they can easily configure for their organizations’ own unique use cases.
Before You Invest in Application Development
There are several requirements to take into account before you move forward with application development. Consider these essential steps before you begin, and how a consultation with Uvation can help.
ASSESS THE STRATEGIC VALUE OF YOUR APPLICATION
Uvation helps you answer the question, “Why do we need to develop an application?” This is critical—not all business cases call for a dedicated application, even if it’s possible one could be applied. At this stage, determine the real need for an application; the development, testing, and implementation requirements; the likelihood of user adoption; and the real potential ROI from your investment . You may find the timing for development isn’t right, or an application isn’t right altogether. Otherwise, you may identify new requirements or requisite features before you begin.
DEFINE THE APPLICATION’S PARAMETERS FOR SUCCESS
Countless applications fail because companies do not have specific parameters in place to determine their success. Uvation helps companies identify the specific goals associated with application development and work to those ends in a holistic way, preventing pitfalls like “feature creep,” user confusion, unproductive workflows, and counterproductive backtracking or fixes.
ESTIMATE THE APPLICATION’S DEVELOPMENT COSTS AND TIME
Make sure your application is worth the time, effort, and cost to develop and implement before you begin. For example, the challenges organizations seek to overcome with a new application are often temporary or fleeting—they require rapid development if an application fits at all. The estimated rate of adoption can affect your application’s success as well, where sufficiently robust adoption might take too long to deliver the ROI you require. But in many cases, a successful application is within reach—with the right planning and consultation, you can realize the true potential of a dedicated application through a streamlined, cost-effective development process with plenty of internal and external support.
