‘According to our recent State of the Custom App Report, organisations that have built a custom app experienced a 74% increase in productivity and an 81% reduction in inefficient tasks.’
Organisations are increasingly faced with the challenges of using technology in the workplace and managing different facets of the business. Custom apps – software solutions developed specifically for your business needs – have the ability to revolutionise internal business processes, significantly increasing productivity and efficiency.
According to our recent State of the Custom App Report, organisations that have built a custom app experienced a 74% increase in productivity and an 81% reduction in inefficient tasks.
Creating a custom app has never been easier. There are now many platforms on which you can create and deploy apps on a wide choice of devices without the coding expertise or hefty budgets previously involved.
When designing your app and creating a successful prototype, here are three things to consider:
1.Organise your data
Before you do anything at all, you need to decide which data is relevant and how it should be structured. This may seem obvious but it is perhaps the most important part of the building process. Data is the backbone of your app, so if it’s not organised your app won’t work as you intend.
Ensure data is broken up into the most basic components so that you maximise searching and reporting capabilities down the track. For example, always split a person’s name into separate first and last name fields.
Also consider how data sets will be organised in tables for efficiency and consistency. For example, have one table for organisations related to another table for people – The org data is stored once but can be linked to any number of people.
2.Create an efficient user interface – UI
When designing the UI it is vital to think about who is going to use the app and what they want to achieve. Ensure users see increased efficiency over previous manual processes, and that consistent and accurate data collection makes them more effective.
Your UI should consider the device that will be used and the tasks to be completed. For example, a user with an iPad device doing an on-site equipment inspection will need a very different UI to a user at a desktop machine in the office processing invoices and payments for those services.
Design a clean, modern interface that can be personalised to provide a customised user experience appropriate to their role. During the building phase, it is imperative that the app is tested with the intended users. Implement a process of evaluation and modification in response to user feedback as you go give the best solution for the users.
3. Design for mobility
In today’s business environment it’s critical to be able to work on the go – keep this front-of-mind when creating your app. Users need to be able to access it, and view and update data from anywhere.
Security of your data of paramount importance, so choose a development platform that allows you to set up security accounts that control access to and encrypt data, both when being transmitted between devices and stored on them.
Consider enabling your app to take advantage of GPS tracking, image capture, barcode reading and signature on glass. A mobile app can therefore enable a user to build a comprehensive report, create a PDF copy and email it to the customer before heading onto the next job.
Initially, the process may seem daunting, but with the right development platform, any business can design, build and deploy a customised app that streamlines workflow and stimulates productivity.
David Head, APAC Consulting Engineer, Filemaker, Inc.
