When you outsource mobile app development, you want to get the work done professionally at a reduced cost and with little overhead. And while this sounds enticing — in 2019, the global market size of outsourced services was $92.5 billion — outsourcing development doesn’t come without risks. But there are ways you can keep these at a minimum level. Learn how to mitigate outsourcing development risks.

The Truth About Software Outsourcing

If you're like many business owners, outsourcing mobile app development might seem like a good idea, especially from a financial perspective. The average business is strapped for cash, and even if you’re more financially stable at a bigger company, launching a mobile app can still be costly if you don’t have in-house resources experienced in mobile development.

But outsourcing mobile app development is not a one-size-fits-all solution, and it has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Handing over a list of specs and expecting a service provider to come back with a great digital product isn’t necessarily how outsourcing looks like. The communication is critical, and it's the core of good cooperation with your business partner.

And while the overhead with outsourcing is significantly lower than if you were to build an in-house team, some questions also need to be answered — What is the cost? Will I lose access to my data? What about intellectual property rights and trade secrets? Who will be managing the project? 

These are all valid concerns that should be taken into account before choosing an IT outsourcing partner.

What Are the Major Risks of Outsourcing Software Development?

Adjusting to remote teams and time zones

The first major problem with having a remote app development team comes when you want to oversee how outside contractors handle their part of the job. The need to be in control is sometimes hard to let go, especially when you’re working with a partner with different processes.

If you’re in the trust-building stage, consider asking about the possibility of CI/CD (continuous integration and continuous discovery). In the CI/CD approach, you get to see the development of your app daily through a working demo.

CI/CD will help you oversee the progress and evaluate the quality of the deliverables. So when your outsourcing partner is underperforming, you’ll know it very early in the project and will be able to halt the work without risking losing money.

Knowing how the app’s development is progressing also helps to estimate whether you’re going according to the time frame or not. A delay is the last thing any project owner needs in their schedule. But keep in mind that delays are one of the trade-offs of lower costs per hour when you hire offshore developers.

Another issue might stem from different time zones and cultural differences.

Every time you work with a remote team, it’s important to remember that they’re on a different schedule than the one your business operates on. Take extra measures to avoid any miscommunications or mistakes by keeping communication channels open and setting clear goals. Most of all, be considerate of their time by meeting when it’s suitable for both parties.

Working with a partner that lacks business expertise

Assessing the expertise of a remote development team can be a difficult task. And if they’re unfamiliar with your business niche, there's a chance the team you're working with won't be able to navigate industry problems as well as they should. In that case, it will take longer for them to integrate your business vision or project idea into your mobile application.

The solution? Look for an experienced outsourcing company that knows the ropes of your industry. Ask about their processes, project successes, case studies, and anything that will help you assess if they're qualified enough to do what you need them to. We recommend starting with a project discovery phase where intensive research allows teams to gain more understanding before jumping head first into implementation.

Inviting security breaches

Outsourcing app development means sharing portions of your data with another company. This can put your company at risk for security breaches, compliance violations, and financial scams. According to the Deloitte Global Outsourcing Survey, data security and loss of IP (intellectual property) are the leading concern among companies that outsource their operations.

To mitigate the risk of security breaches, outsourcing companies have to be vetted thoroughly (e.g., by checking their reviews on social media). Employees need to stay vigilant for possible misappropriations of trade secrets or loss of IP rights. There is also sensitive customer information that can leak through outsourcing — login credentials, medical records, credit card info — all can make their way to third-party hands depending on what type of solution you're developing.

To minimize those risks, ensure you sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) with an offshore company involved in your project before you share any data with them. This way, if any data leaks, they will have to pay penalty clauses. Furthermore, try to collaborate with a company that is legally bound by intellectual property laws (e.g., European intellectual property law). 

Experiencing hidden costs and quality issues

While it’s tempting to settle for the lowest bid, in the end, the development might cost more than you expected. Before falling for the cheapest, consider the possible consequences of choosing a partner that has never completed similar projects. Also, is the company you want to partner with big enough to meet the demands of your project timewise?

When new agencies enter the market, they often offer low bids that aren’t feasible. Ultimately, the development ends up costing organizations more because these newcomers can’t manage the scope of the project correctly.

When you're looking to outsource a project, ensure that your contract covers all of the services and deliverables needed. The contract should outline the timeline, estimated costs, and explicit details about what is expected from both parties.

Ask what is included in the per hour contract, so as not to fall into the trap of being charged extra.

Dealing with miscommunication

The key to success for any project is clear communication. You can avoid many costly and time-consuming problems with your projects if you make sure that both parties are on the same page. Without a clear understanding of what is required, delays will pile up and turn good outsourcing relationships sour quickly.

When engaging a partner for outsourced work, make sure to consider and discuss all aspects, including deadlines for deliverables, milestones along the course of your project, software requirements, and expectations on quality.

Dismissing the role of your engagement

One of the risks you possibly haven’t considered but most outsourcing companies are familiar with, is your own engagement. If vendors don’t get timely responses from you regarding questions or requests, chances are you won't be satisfied with what's delivered in return.

When project managers and developers work closely with their clients, they're able to understand all of the nuances in your business and create a solution that fits exactly what you need. This means that there will be less miscommunication between team members on the project, and it will likely end up being completed faster. 

The more your outsourcing partner knows about what you want, the better their work will be for you in the long term.

With over five billion unique users on mobile devices, creating an app opens up a whole new channel through which you can interact with your current and potential customers. But a large audience means even greater competition. 

Here's everything you need to know about marketing your mobile app and becoming visible in the crowded world of mobile apps.

What Is Mobile App Marketing?

Mobile app marketing is creating a strategy where your main goal is to attract targeted users to your app at every stage of the marketing funnel — from the moment they hear about your app to the time they become users and turn into loyal customers.

To do this well and effectively, your marketing content must be personalized and highly strategic.

How Do You Market an App?

Marketing a mobile application is a complex process that entails many steps and covers multiple angles from which you generate demand for your application.

We’ll delve into more details in later sections, so for now familiarize yourself with the basic setup for how to market an app:

Define your target audience 

Having an idea of who your app is for is the best place to start. If you can't describe your target audience aka the user persona, it’ll be tough marketing your app to them. When you know your target audience, you can be precise and effective in your marketing efforts.

A user persona should paint a picture of your ideal target customer. This will help you craft the app marketing strategy so that it resonates best with your prospects.

The key characteristic of every user persona is the pain point and challenge the customer is facing. These two should be top of mind when creating your user persona.

Besides these two, try to answer these questions:

• What platforms do your target customers use (Android, iOS, or both)?
• What kind of content does your user persona consume and engage with online?
• Can you leverage any influencers that are popular among your target app users?
• Is your user persona likely to make in-app purchases for premium content/features? Or maybe your monetization will be more ads-based?
• Which channels are most effective for marketing purposes? Consider both paid and organic (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin).
• How should you communicate with your audience? What is their preferred tone of voice and style?

Remember, a lot of answers to these questions will initially be assumptions. As you experiment with your marketing strategy, these hypotheses will be verified.

Research your competitors 

App marketing is not just about knowing your audience. It's also about knowing what your competitors have been doing. Market research and competitor research will help you discover successful strategies and avoid costly failures.

Watching your competitors closely will give you plenty of insight about which channels to use and the type of messaging to draw inspiration from. Watch your competitors, make notes, and use this data to make your mobile app marketing efforts even more successful. 

The most successful apps in the stores are those that address the most common user needs. For example, Zoom or Google Meet — aka the most downloaded apps in 2020 during the pandemic — fulfilled the need for convenient remote communication for personal and professional purposes.

So you could orient your marketing message around a specific and current problem. Raise awareness through marketing content and then drive demand.

Create a landing page

A landing page allows users to learn more about your app on mobile web and desktop. Use SEO and search intent keywords to attract your users and show them how the app solves their problem.

Landing pages are also a great way for initial app onboarding — you can create a video to let your prospects know what they can expect when they install your app. you can include screenshots on top of demo videos.

Use call-to-action buttons with links to your app in the App Store and Google Play Store.

Start a blog

This is another way to reach your target audience and use SEO to drive traffic to your app. Keep your blog updated and share valuable and unique content on your social media channels. Consider guest blogging to further increase reach.

A good practice is to start blogging and generating organic traffic long before app release. This will increase your app’s traction significantly once you launch.

You might wonder what content to publish. The best content is one that drives awareness about a problem — the problem your target audience is facing. These can be whitepapers, reports, videos, case studies, articles. Cover all verticals of the problem.

Optimize your mobile app’s product page

Optimizing your mobile app’s product page is a fundamental step in every app marketing strategy. Think about the title, design a catchy icon, and use screenshots that convey the app's selling points and benefits.

You never know what will trigger the customer to install your app, but doing the groundwork will give you extra points.

We’ll dive into a little bit more detail about product page optimization on app stores later.

Promote on social media

Social media marketing can have a huge impact on the popularity of your app. When you're thoughtful about what content you share on social media and distribute it to qualified prospects via both organic and a bit of targeted advertising, you can increase your traffic significantly.

Don’t go for all social media channels available, though. Start with three major ones (Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin) and verify which generate the most users for your app over time.

Contact influencers

Look for influencers that your target audience follows. Contact them for a possible partnership (e.g., by sponsoring their podcasts). An honest review from an influencer on their social media channels can give your app lots of traction.

Failures are a natural event in the life cycle of a product, but they’re especially painful when a whole project ends up unsuccessful.

When a digital product fails, the team usually performs an inspection called a postmortem. The team gathers, analyzes what went wrong, tries to draw conclusions, and creates a note. The learnings from that failure help the company adjust the processes so as not to repeat the same mistake.

But what if we could look into the future before the project failed? At nomtek, we use a premortem — an attempt to predict and mitigate problems before they happen.

What Is a Postmortem?

Before explaining what a premortem is, let’s take a closer look at a postmortem.

In medical language, a postmortem describes the procedure after the patient's death, where doctors and pathologists try to understand the cause of demise. The detailed analysis of why something as complex as a human body has failed can be applied to multiple contexts.

For example, when you need to understand what exactly went wrong to be able to avoid it in the future.

Software development loves postmortems because they’re a great learning tool.

What Is a Premortem?

The main purpose of a premortem is to simulate failure before it happens.

More specifically, a premortem is a meeting that takes place before the first line of code is written. All team members involved in a project attend it:

• account manager
• development team
• moderator

Depending on the size of the project and the team, a premortem meeting lasts one to two hours.

We follow these steps:

#1. The scope of the project is explained so that each participant has a full picture of the situation and potential threats.

At nomtek, we do a premortem after the kick-off meeting, when the team already had a chance to familiarize themselves with the current state and plans for the future.

#2. The moderator announces that the project has failed — this is important. We are talking in the past tense: the project has ended. Participants must feel that the action has already happened.

#3. By using sticky notes or an agile retrospective tool, participants list the reasons why the project failed.

These reasons can be the obvious ones like exceeding the budget, the less obvious ones that all fell ill with COVID and the timeline crumbled, or the totally abstract ones like a falling meteorite. 

We throw out all ideas until we can move on to the next stages.

#4. Then we proceed as in a typical agile retro. We group similar cards and vote for the most important problems.

‍A good criterion is to vote on things that have the best chance of occurrence, and ones that we have an influence on. Sorry, we won't upvote the meteorite scenario ;)

#5. Here we discuss and come up with solutions. There are different techniques for how to carry out this step.

We simply give participants a moment to come up with specific actions and then post them simultaneously on the Slack channel where we can review the available solutions.

Experience tells us that sometimes the most unconventional ideas end up on the action point list, so it's important not to reveal solutions too early, so as not to disturb the creative phase.

The selected solutions must be actionable, precise, and measurable. We can select more than one way of mitigating the risk of a single problem.

#6. The developed action points are assigned to the appropriate people, and then we set a regular checkpoint to check the progress, e.g., in two weeks or at the beginning of a regular retrospective if it’s a repetitive activity.

Picking a mobile development partner is one of the most important decisions in the life-cycle of your application. The right partner will help you realize your idea’s potential. But the process of choosing a mobile development agency can be cumbersome and downright daunting.

How can you effectively look for a vendor and how to use the most common channels to evaluate an app development agency? Let’s dig in.

General Advice on Choosing a Mobile App Development Company

Before we delve deeper into the gist of the matter, let’s list some of the general advice you should keep in mind when looking for a mobile app development partner.

Take your time

Don’t rush into a partnership. Evaluate any potential contractor carefully, taking into consideration their experience with your app idea.

Ensure your app idea is safe

When discussing potential cooperation with a supplier, ask for a non-disclosure agreement to keep your idea and concept confidential.

Look for software agencies with previous experience that matches your project, industry, or sector

If there were any challenges or issues that came up during the creation of a similar project, it’s likely the company knows how to solve them. Industry-specific experience decreases development time and increases the final quality of your product.

Double-check the location of a mobile app development agency

‍Companies listing their location as, for example, US-based, can in fact be located elsewhere. You can easily confirm the location by checking the company’s LinkedIn profile as well as the profiles of its employees.

How to Find a Mobile App Development Agency

#1. Determine the Scope of Work You Need

The choice for a mobile development partner will largely depend on what you need exactly to breathe life into your application. That said, you might be in one of these five scenarios:

• Full-cycle development
• Design
• Development
• Design & development
• Feature-specific support
  

Full-Cycle Development

Full-cycle development includes work on all stages of app creation. From strategy to design and development to post-release support, full-cycle development is best done by experienced mobile app dev agencies that can provide expert insight and advice on the whole process of app creation.

Design

Maybe you have an underperforming app that delivers poor experiences to your customers. Or maybe the working version of your app, e.g., an MVP, needs improvement or complete design overhaul to deliver value to your customers. In that case, hire an agency that has documented examples of past work where their focus was strictly on UX/UI design. Also, make sure they have experienced UX/UI designers aboard.

Note: UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) are two separate things. Always look for companies that provide both. UX designers are a real thing and their work greatly impacts the success of your application. Bad user experience will quickly lead to app abandonment.

Development

With designs and wireframes at the ready, you’ll need solid development work to launch your app. Here, you can look for agencies that do development work solely (e.g., offshoring partners).

That said, consider hiring an experienced agency that delivers more than just development services. The problem with development-only providers is that they might not have the business skills necessary to translate your vision into a digital product that sells.

Mobile app development companies with full-cycle services can help you release a product that resonates with your target audiences. For example, by evaluating your idea, an end-to-end mobile app development agency can tell you which features are key to release a product that doesn’t flop on the market.

Also, communication and project engagement play a huge part in building an app. Keep that in mind when talking about potential cooperation with overseas companies.

Design & Development

When you know where you’re at with the specifics of your app — meaning you have a strategy and documentation — look for a mobile app development agency with professional UX/UI and development services.

Try not to hire separate providers for design and development. Collaboration and communication between the two ensure that the most optimum implementation paths are taken. For example, that you don’t pay for designs that cost too much or aren't feasible to be developed.

Feature-Specific Support

What about needing the expertise of someone to develop a specific function or part of your mobile app? For example, including VR/AR features in your application will require a partner that has extensive knowledge in the field to deliver seamless experiences.

You can consider staff augmentation to supply your app development team with external expertise. Mobile development agencies specializing in staff augmentation have experience blending with existing team members to provide valuable knowledge and insight.

#2. Use Ranking Websites

It’s no news that today's market of mobile application development agencies is saturated. There are thousands of potential mobile development contractors that could—or couldn’t—turn your idea into a full-fledged app that will give your business a boost.

Thus, it might seem tricky to go through such a densely populated landscape and emerge with a shortlist of potential partners. To the rescue in this case come ranking websites that aggregate and rank mobile development companies.

The most popular ranking websites are:

• Clutch
• AppFutura
• BusinessofApps
• Visual Objects
• The Manifest
  

Let’s see what to look at when navigating these ranking websites.

Clutch

Clutch is a business directory specializing in B2B reviews for various industries. Clutch is by far the most popular ranking website with reliable agency reviews.

What to watch out for:

When you are redirected to a Clutch listing, you automatically see a “Sponsored” list—meaning the companies paid for high visibility. Don’t let that put you off, however, since these companies are still vetted by Clutch. Besides, if they can afford sponsorship, they do their job well and diligently.

Still, try to sort the list by organic verification of services—i.e., by “Clutch Rank.”

Why is Clutch Rank important? Well, Clutch Rank is assigned based on client reviews (number and quality), experience, the scope of services, and industry expertise (certificates, awards, etc.). In other words, it’s an objective measure of a company’s services.

Another thing to keep in mind is to check the service focus of a mobile app development agency you’re browsing.

Service focus will help you determine whether the company’s services are oriented mainly at what you need. This is especially useful if you have an idea for an app that is unconventional and requires extensive industry experience as well as design, development, and strategy skills to be successfully launched into the market.

Clutch also gives you information on minimum project size, average hourly rate, number of employees, and location. On top of that, you get the agency’s description as well as detailed information that can help you verify a company’s credibility.

AppFutura

AppFutura ranks service providers based on a mix of verified client reviews, active expertise-sharing, reliability, and project performance.

Client reviews are confirmed via interviews. Companies listed on AppFutura are certified by the website’s staff and have the infrastructure and experience to deliver their advertised services.

What to watch out for:

Just like Clutch, AppFutura sorts companies with “Featured” agencies populating the top.

Whether you sort the agencies by “Popularity” or “Ranking,” the list somehow always begins with “Featured” companies. Again, something to keep in mind when looking for an app development agency.

Business of Apps

Business of Apps goes beyond being only a ranking website and is a leading publisher of news, insights, and analyses in the world of business apps.

Companies interested in the app industry app can look up valuable statistics, with detailed revenue and usage from many major players out there. Business of Apps also releases a regular podcast where industry experts share their insight on the current matters affecting the global mobile app market.

The company runs a fair share of industry-focused events, where participants from all over the world can attend conferences full of detailed knowledge on mobile apps.

What to watch out for:

Business of Apps’ list of top app development companies also starts with “Featured” companies.

The Manifest

The Manifest (a sister website of Clutch) is another listing directory. The Manifest, however, focuses more on delivering analyses and insight on current matters revolving around business. The site also publishes practical how-to guides on marketing, business, productivity.

What to watch out for:

The top app developer list on The Manifest is sorted by sponsored companies, meaning the top is populated by the companies that paid for visibility. There’s no option to change the sorting, so keep that in mind when browsing.

Tip: Scroll down the list to see companies sorted by organic ranking.

Visual Objects

Visual Objects (another sister website of Clutch) is focused on featuring the design portfolios of listed companies. Visual Objects, just like The Manifest, aggregates companies listed on Clutch.

What to watch out for:

It’s not clear how Visual Objects sorts the listed companies, but the ranking is similar to Clutch’s list when sorted by “Clutch Rank.”

#3. Dig into Reviews

Reviews, especially those verified ones available on Facebook or reputable ranking websites, are a great source of information on a potential contractor. Reviews will let you in on any possible issues (untimely delivery, dishonest charging practices, difficult communication, etc.).

You can also reach out directly to the company owners who have worked with a contractor you’re interested in to get first-hand information on matters specifically important for your project.

‍That’s particularly helpful when the company has hired the agency for a similar project to yours.

Google Play and App Store

Reading a client review of a mobile development agency is one way of gauging the quality of their services. Another important thing is to browse through reviews left directly on app markets by users.

User reviews can shed valuable light on bugs and usability. Do a thorough read of app market reviews to pick out recurring issues or ascertain that your future contractor provides quality services.

Tip: Don’t get too discouraged by negative reviews. Users are more likely to leave a review after a bad experience than a good one. Cross-check the reviews with the number of active users to get a more accurate picture.

Today’s software development utilizes many methodologies to facilitate building applications and software solutions. We have Waterfall, Agile, Design Thinking, or Lean Startup as well as their combinations and variations. What are the principles of these methodologies? How do they support software development? Let’s explore the differences between the Waterfall methodology and a combined approach that includes Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile.

Waterfall

The Waterfall approach to software development describes a sequential process for building software—i.e., one step has to be completed before the next can begin.

In the Waterfall methodology, the project scope, outcome, and requirements are documented fully before any development begins. The documents, among many other aspects, include functional specifics, user interfaces, architecture, data structure.

The traditional Waterfall project structure is split into six phases:

1. Requirements and analysis. Collect client requirements pertaining to the product. The information collected during this phase should be enough to validate the product idea and let developers grasp the client’s intended vision of the product. The following is established: budget, risks, completion date, dependencies, and success metrics.
2. Design. Agree on a programming language, specific design elements, system design. Documents produced during this phase will be the framework for the implementation (coding) phase.
3. Implementation. Turn client requirements and design documents into the software.
4. Testing. Test the software for bugs and check if the goals from the requirements document are met.
5. Deployment. Release the software to the client.
6. Maintenance. Fix any problems found once the software has been released to the customers.
   

Benefits

• Better manageability. Because each step is documented and deliverables outlined upfront, it’s easier to manage the project.
• Fixed price and deadline. The cost and delivery date can be determined with a high degree of accuracy.
• Clear instructions. Developers and designers involved in the project know exactly what to do and when to do it. With detailed documentation available, the project can be completed by different teams.

Drawbacks

• Once the development begins, it’s difficult to adapt the project to any changes in requirements or new market insights. Whenever significant changes are needed, the project has to go through the requirement and design phases.
• Requirements don’t always reflect real user needs.
• Because users receive the software only once it’s finished, it’s difficult to gather any actionable feedback beforehand and adjust the product to better align with user needs. This increases the risk of project failure caused by a potential lack of market need or low satisfaction.
• Projects relying on technologies that have frequent release-cycles need to be updated often to reflect the changes. As a result, the estimations in documentation will be less accurate.

Use Cases for Waterfall

Taking into consideration the principles of Waterfall and its resulting pros and cons, this methodology is best for building projects with clear specifications and client requirements. We can think of using Waterfall with projects that are simple, predictable, and well-defined.

For example, the Waterfall approach can be used when adjusting an application to meet specific regulations (e.g., when developing medical systems), or when integrating software with existing infrastructure—e.g., banking systems. In both cases, clear and detailed documentation and specifications are critical to successful project completion.

Here are specific project features that determine if the Waterfall approach is a good fit:

• Product definition is stable.
• Technology is understood.
• There are no ambiguous requirements.
• Ample resources with required expertise are available freely.
• The project is short.

The Need for Different Software Development Methods

The Waterfall methodology has been around for decades, initially serving as an essential and structured approach to software development. In the 1990s, however, the Internet technology began evolving rapidly — the Waterfall approach proved inefficient in the increasingly dynamic and complex environment.

There was a pressing need for software development methods that could address the inefficiencies of Waterfall’s linear approach to building software. As a result of that need and through years of refinement, a combined approach for the entire product development life cycle was created.

The combined approach includes methods and processes that come from different backgrounds to together form a mindset for the adaptive building of products, as opposed to following a rigid project plan.

• Industrial design -> Design Thinking
• Manufacturing -> Lean Startup
• Software development -> Agile
  

Below is a brief description of each and a summary of how they complement one another in the software development paradigm.

Founded in 2009, nomtek is an innovation-driven software house with offices in Poland, Germany, the UK, and the US. Our key focus is on mobile apps, but we’re not one to fall behind technological trends, so we also do IoT, AR (Augmented Reality), and XR (Mixed Reality) design, development, and integrations.

Our Manifesto and Mindset

Our end goal is to build cutting-edge digital products that not only last but also matter. We’ve worked with startups, mid-sized companies, and big enterprises to craft the absolute best digital experiences.

There’s nothing we appreciate more than hearing how our work has impacted a client’s business, which is why we enjoy partnering with Clutch, a B2B platform that curates verified reviews from real clients.

We recently collected several 5-star reviews from satisfied clients. One such review came from a well- known Swiss marketplace, which hired us in 2019. The company already had a huge in-house team of developers and other experts, but they needed our extra skills and flexibility, to be able to deliver the new mobile application on time and within budget.

Our Process

First, our team hosted a pair of coding, our client’s developers and ours were working side by side to get to know each other and assess the level of skills and capabilities. Once we had passed the test and were accepted by the teammates, we joined the iOS and Android. We then brought along some manual and automated QA testing, where 6 additional talents were augmented in the in-house team.

Once we had joined the team, the client was over the moon with our process and quality that we deliver. Since our work was really good, we were asked to stay longer and help the internal team to improve mobile solutions. Today we continue cooperating with the client, delivering the ongoing manual and automated QA testing and consulting the in-house team internal team to improve the mobile solutions.