This question might catch you off guard. After all, doesn’t everyone need a mobile app these days? What we’ve found -- and what we tell prospective clients -- is that bespoke mobile applications aren’t the right choice for every business. Take the difference between businesses like GreatClips and Uber. Because Uber passengers might use the company’s services on a weekly basis -- even a daily basis -- developing a standalone app that can deliver an exceptionally streamlined user journey makes sense. On the other hand, with GreatClips, customers might only be booking haircuts once every six months. In that case, introducing a separate app may create unnecessary friction for users, compared to simply developing a mobile-optimized version of the company’s website.

Before entrusting your mobile application idea to just anyone, take the time to ensure you’ve chosen the right partner for your needs. One thing to evaluate is the technology used by prospective partners. Are they up-to-date on the most current languages used in mobile application development? For example, at Impekable, although we still work on React Native and Native iOS projects, we generally steer clients towards Flutter, which is more widely used right now. It’s also important to get to know providers’ approach to mobile app project planning -- specifically, how they address the question of building vs buying. For instance, when clients come to Impekable with a mobile app idea that involves a customer database, we aren’t going to recommend building one from scratch when we can easily integrate solutions offered by providers like Hubspot to provide the same functionality at a much lower cost.

In addition to evaluating a company’s development approach, look for a partner that fits into your company’s culture and preferred workflows. Remember, building a new mobile application can be a major undertaking. Make sure you feel comfortable with the team members you’ll be working with and that you have confidence in their ability to deliver the promised output.

When hiring from today’s top app development companies, it’s best to schedule discovery sessions with at least three potential providers. During these sessions, each provider should ask you questions and give concrete guidance on how they’d approach your specific project. Ask any provider you’re thinking of moving forward with for a full proposal -- this will help you compare apples to apples when evaluating providers’ approach, working terms, and more.