1. Hire a specialist

Try to find agencies that focus on mobile app development as their primary line of business rather than a side branch. Because mobile development is a specialized field, developers need to be familiar with the relevant programming languages, software development kits (SDKs), and particulars of chosen mobile devices (i.e., iOS or Android).

A company that is a “jack of all trades” often does not have the professional expertise to be an expert in any particular sector. For instance, if your objective is to build a native mobile application, you should get in touch with businesses that focus on developing native applications.

It is usually quite simple to determine whether or not a firm specializes in a certain technology or domain. As a general rule, multi-purposed businesses will offer you an extensive list of various platforms and technologies with which the company can work. You can find the number of native apps the vendor has in their portfolio and the number of iOS or Android developers working in the state.

2. Keep in mind that the scope of the application is not the most important factor

In many cases, consumers look for a contractor with a portfolio that includes similar projects to their own. In the minds of some, the fact that these developers have previously developed an application for a restaurant shows that they’ll be able to do the same for you. However, from the perspective of development, the fact that the potential vendor has done past comparable work does not always suggest that the contract is appropriate for you.

For instance, the same interfaces and features are used to build apps for restaurants and news sources. Dating apps will almost surely include chat features, and you may prefer the firm that developed “just another dating app” to the one that added a great conversation feature to an app for a food delivery service.

3. Inquire about estimates if your RFP is extensive enough

Requests for “an app similar to Uber” and a brief description come to us regularly. Concurrently, our prospective clients will ask us to provide them with a proposal and make an assessment. This potential client is most likely making the identical request to a number of other app development businesses to analyze the prices each is asking for the service.

Suppose you own a construction business, and a potential client approaches you with the question: “How much does it cost to construct a building?” You can now understand the way that we are feeling.

To prevent this issue from happening, be sure to include an in-depth description of your product in the request for proposal that you send. In this approach, potential vendors will better put together an accurate proposal or pricing estimate. After that, you will be able to compare firms without fearing that the recently recruited contractor would misunderstand the scope of the task.

4. Open a demo trial contract

You can spend considerable time interviewing a potential contractor, but this does not assure that they are the best company to work on your project. When you hire a mobile app developer, you’re not paying for a portfolio, a proposal, or a speech. In order to see whether you and your contractor are the right fit, you need to start working together.

At the start of a trial contract, you should first determine the project scope that will be performed for the first one to two months. After that, monitor the activities of the developer’s team.

Fortunately, it’s much simpler to switch contractors at this point. You can do your due diligence with a trial contract since minimal risks are involved. You will likely know by the time the trial is through if you are comfortable working with the vendor long-term since you will be familiar with how they work.

5. Contracts should be broken into separate sections

This recommendation is about the trial contract. If you are starting from scratch with the development of a mobile application, the first things you will need to focus on are the business analysis and the user interface, and customer experience. Create separate contracts for each activity, and use them as a benchmark to evaluate the prospective vendor.

After the process, you will be provided with a requirement specification and layouts for each of the screens in your application. You will be able to simply contact a number of mobile app development businesses with your RFP if you use these resources (which, at this stage, is as detailed as possible). This enables you to analyze your offers or estimations.
6. Choose the appropriate company size
Suppose your company requires a team of four to six mobile app developers. When you reach out to a company with more than a thousand employees, you will be put at the end of their list of customers, and your request will be prioritized based on how much money your firm makes. In this situation, predicting which projects this corporation would send to the finest software developers and C-level managers is simple.

If, on the other hand, your company is close to the next round of investment and getting ready to raise further money and one of your goals is to expand your team, then a small studio with less than twenty employees is probably not what you need. You won’t have to worry about missing out on the focus of the CEO at any point, and you can probably expect to be provided with competitive pricing. However, the progress of your team will be limited.

In this case, a small mobile studio does not have a sufficient amount of necessary resources. In the end, they will be required to provide you with all the developers they now employ, including those they have recently recruited.

We strongly suggest you get in touch with an app developer who can respond to your specific requirements. Your value as a client will increase as a result of your actions, and the business’s capacity will enable you to expand your project’s scope.

7. Transparency is key

Have you already signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA)? If this is the case, you need to make sure that you inform the prospective vendor about the present scope of work and the general intentions you have for it.

Earlier, there have been situations in which startups delayed revealing their mission until after an agreement had already been signed. The unfortunate reality is that preserving your ideas as a secret almost always results in difficulties throughout the process of development.

Clients that make it abundantly obvious that they would want to form an in-house team for additional work on the project are much appreciated by our development team. This way, our customers will benefit from our ability to help them in a team’s interviewing and hiring processes.

Ensure that potential vendor developers understand your strategic objectives and communicate them properly. For example, if you inform your vendor that you want your culinary application to expand into a full-fledged social network at some point in the future, then they will be able to adopt the appropriate strategy for development and architecture, which will save you both time and money.

8. Check testimonials and references

You most likely check reviews on Booking.com or TripAdvisor while you are searching for a hotel to stay at. The feedback of others is necessary for many aspects of life, including app development.

B2B directories such as Clutch and GoodFirms allow you to see the reviews of others on a potential vendor you are considering working with. Reviews on Clutch are put through multiple tests, making it difficult to provide fake feedback. If you use Clutch, you may go through a developer’s portfolio, choose a project that interests you, and then request the contact information of the firm representative who worked on that project.

You should be able to get all the details you want from an app development business that you can trust to have full faith in their capabilities. The developer might also boast about their past success by demonstrating their accomplishment to you by providing references. Therefore, providing references is beneficial to all parties involved.

9. Get to know the people with whom you will be collaborating

The best way to get a sense of the kinds of projects a firm can deliver is to go through the portfolio of any potential vendor you are considering working with. Furthermore, keep in mind that these projects in the portfolio were developed not by the company but by the people that work in it.

Every worker in the company will have a unique professional background and experience. Therefore, conducting interviews with app developers before beginning a project together is a recommended best practice. In addition, you can discuss your preferences with the pre-sale manager regarding the future members of your remote team.

For instance, we offered two of our app developers who are big football enthusiasts to a client who was developing a second-screen football application. Both of these app programmers are huge lovers of the sport. As a direct result of this, both the client and our developers had a positive experience throughout their time spent working together.

If you have any questions about our business, portfolios, developers, or trial contracts, please feel free to contact us.

The post What You Need to Know Before Hiring a Mobile App Development Company appeared first on Third Street Software.