What’s Keeping You from Developing a Mobile App?

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Mobile apps have become quite mainstream following the explosion of m-commerce and the dwindling reputation of e-commerce. Nowadays, organizations are already coming to terms with the fact that mobile is a game-changer, following the rising popularity and uptake of mobile apps.

Unfortunately, despite the rising significance and popularity of apps, few organizations are considering this frontier. Already, mobile apps contribute billions of revenues and turnovers to leading retail brands like Amazon and Walmart. But despite this potential, not all businesses and brands are ready to upscale their mobile app adoption efforts.

So, what’s keeping you from developing a mobile app?

1. Brand awareness

Today, more than ever, organizations are tapping into strategic digital marketing. An important part of this effort is to endorse rigorous, cross-platform marketing and outreach approaches, including mobile apps. A clear benefit of mobile apps is building a strong brand awareness alongside your other marketing initiatives.

Evidence has shown that while traditional advertising and outreach approaches struggle to keep your brand at the top of the mind of consumers, digital outreach puts your business at the fore and the center of mobile screens. The growing phone ownership alongside higher internet infiltration rates has led to the rapid uptake of mobile apps.

2. Customer engagement

There are ways to increase brand awareness and brand engagement with a business. For instance, email marketing is a tested-and-proven approach, and so is social media. But none of these is as personal as push notifications. So, a mobile app ensures that you can ping your customers with a push notification that brings products to their attention. Mobile apps represent ways of directly connecting with customers at a personal level.

3. Cost-savings

Increased brand awareness and more sales are what most brands are after. Regardless of whatever sector you’re in, increasing the sales of products and services is what will ultimately lead to business success. Luckily, mobile apps can help enterprises seeking increased sales, revenues, and higher turnovers. Studies have shown a strong correlation between mobile app adoption and sales. Users who use mobile apps are strongly inclined to purchase from m-commerce stores. Thus, enterprises and brands endorsing mobile apps experience higher sales and revenues.

4. Better customer service

Customer relationship management is the lifeblood of customer retention. Organizations that invest in better customer relationship management systems, including cloud-based data management systems, automated response systems, and call centers achieve efficiency and scalability. Most importantly, these organizations can connect and interact better with their clientele, increasing the chances of repeat business.

So, if you’re looking for a revamp of your customer relationship management, a mobile app would pivot you for success. Alternatively, you can design a mobile app that integrates seamlessly with your enterprise resource planning systems, streamlining operational workflow and meeting productivity targets.

5. Competitive positioning

Running a small business is never easy. You need every advantage to compete with big boy brands by ensuring brand awareness and customer satisfaction. Designing and deploying a mobile app lets you offer the same advantages as popular brands. You get to compete at the same level. Creating a mobile app offers you similar benefits that reputable brands enjoy with mobile app development.

Contact NS804 to kick-start your journey towards mobile app adoption.

5 Reasons Your Sales Teams Wished You Had an App

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Sales teams need the right tools to bring about impressive results. And in today’s mobile-first approach to app development, there are no excuses why they shouldn’t have access to the most effective tools.

But as a long-term business leader, you may argue that sales teams were capable of delivering results long before the advent of smartphones and apps. And that’s true, as talented sales staff would always adopt the right strategies to accomplish their goals, regardless of the technology available to them at a particular point in time. 

However, rival teams will use the best and latest technologies to gain a competitive advantage. So, it makes little sense to sit on the sidelines while competitors eat your lunch! You not only need your sales teams to perform at their best but also have access to the type of app that will set them apart.

1. Help Your Sales Teams Collaborate

Perhaps you have multiple sales teams or only have one but still need all staff members to collaborate. Yet that’s incredibly difficult, especially if you have to manage these collaborations manually. You may need to appoint or hire someone to handle this task, but that’s an additional and ongoing expense. 

But if you utilize an app to automate the process, you allow your teams to collaborate seamlessly across multiple time zones. And the key benefit is that they can make crucial decisions quicker, without having to come into the office or hold meetings.

2. Monitor Each Staff Member’s Performance

Your best sales staff will appreciate knowing that you can accurately track their performance via an app. But why is this so important to them? Firstly, they’ll want you to weed out the underperformers holding the team back. And secondly, they’ll want you to reward the right people with performance bonuses and not those sitting on the sidelines that unfairly receive additional compensation when the team meets certain sales milestones.

3. Analyze Current And Future Market Conditions

Trends change all the time, so sales teams must stay on top of these. But that’s easier said than done, particularly if sales staff operate in different time zones or countries. But having an app where each staff member can report on new and upcoming trends helps the rest of the team gain better insight.

4. Access And Update Client Information In Real-Time

Companies that haven’t kept up with the times tend to rely heavily on their desktop infrastructure. That means that they record and retrieve all client data via desktop PCs. And that data may not have been updated in years, which diminished its accuracy and value. 

But if these companies adopt a mobile-first approach, they can allow their sales staff to work out in the field and collect the latest client data. And then share this information with all the relevant parties in real-time.

5. Enhanced Marketing Capabilities

There’s nothing more frustrating for sales staff than not having access to the latest marketing materials to present to clients. Perhaps the print shop hasn’t delivered your brochures on time, or the latest prices don’t appear on the product sheet. Thus, your sales teams would be at a disadvantage if they were to leave the office without marketing materials. 

To ensure that staff doesn’t go away empty-handed, an app showcasing the latest products and services of your company will suffice. Sales staff can whip out their smartphones or tablets to show clients promo videos and presentations. Furthermore, they can showcase your flagship products via impressive augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) experiences.

In Conclusion

Sales teams will perform at their best when they use the most current mobile devices and apps. And that’s because these tools will radically empower sales staff to move quickly and secure those critical sales based on the latest up-to-date information. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you develop phenomenal custom apps for your enterprise! 

How Can Mobile Apps Help Improve Company Culture?

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Company culture can make or break a business. And that’s because company culture consists of the formal and informal behaviors, values, and systems that impact customers and employees. But it’s easy to ignore or misunderstand these facets of an organization since few people can tell apart these behaviors and values at face value.

Yet we can easily identify the organizations that have a good company culture, and here’s how? We look out for companies with good customer service, high employee retention rates, solid financial results, and boast a culture of innovation.

Another way to identify good company culture is by surveying the staff of an organization. And we’d ask them the following: How well do they communicate with each other? What is the decision-making process like within the organization? Does the organization acknowledge and fairly reward staff contributions? And how are employees hired, promoted, and laid off? 

Surveying an organization’s customers makes sense too. And we’d want to know the following: How well does the company respond to customer complaints and feedback? Do the products and services of the company meet or surpass expectations? And does the company delight and surprise customers with innovative products and services?

Think of how customers and employees perceive a company such as Apple. We’re willing to bet that it’s mostly positive, even though it isn’t perfect. But more likely than not, expect Apple to improve company culture constantly to stay ahead of the curve.

Now, you may be wondering what all this means for your organization. Actually, it means far more than you’d think, especially if you bring mobile apps into the equation. We look into how mobile apps can improve company culture in more detail below!

Improve Company Culture With Powerful Communication And Collaborative Tools

Your employees may have multiple email accounts and use several communications tools to get work done. But that’s an administrative and security nightmare, especially if you have staff coming into the office and working remotely. Furthermore, they may use desktop PCs and various mobile devices to complete daily tasks, increasing the complexity of your systems. 

Relying on third-party vendors to provide essential productivity software makes sense if you’re a startup. But you’ll eventually reach a roadblock since you’ll likely find this software doesn’t scale with your needs or lacks features essential to a growing company. Then, there’s the case that not all your productivity software integrates well with your existing or upcoming systems. 

That’s why you’re better off working with an experienced developer such as NS804 to create a custom solution for your needs. Together, you can build a mobile app that provides staff with a tightly integrated mobile app for communications and collaborative purposes. And you can allow them to log in with a secure two-factor authentication (2FA) or even passwordless authentication.

Your staff will become more productive, as they will no longer rely on disparate pieces of software to get work done. They can work within a singular all-in-one solution with a cohesive user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Furthermore, they won’t have to wait for a third-party vendor to release features and updates when they’re most needed. And there’s a risk that new features may take months or years to arrive, and sometimes — never!

But with a custom mobile app, this isn’t a problem. You can add new features on short notice and have these implemented to your specifications. And staff will feel confident knowing they have access to the most productive tools tailor-made for them.

A Mobile-First Approach Enhances Company Culture

We mentioned earlier that you could be using desktop PCs and mobile devices. There’s also the possibility that you could be relying on web apps for some of your mission-critical business processes. If that’s the case, it’s a messy approach that will make your systems and staff workflows more inefficient than they should be.

But the good news is that you can streamline all this with a mobile-first approach. The latest smartphones and tablets are powerful enough for most business tasks. And if you opt for native app development, your mobile app will boast high performance and speed on these devices. Thus, it’s no longer necessary to have most, if not all, of your staff using desktop PCs or laptops. 

And if you have staff that works outside the office or remotely, they’ll appreciate using lightweight devices with small form factors. Also, consider those employees that don’t feel comfortable or like using desktop PCs or laptops at home. Either because they feel intimidated by these or need a break from the computer screen and desk when not in the office.

But a smartphone or tablet feels more accessible, especially to non-tech-savvy employees. And with an intuitive mobile app, they can get work done while sitting on their couch, back porch, or while waiting for an order at their favorite restaurant. Knowing that they can quickly complete tasks on the go and in any environment helps improve company culture and staff satisfaction.

Staying Connected With Customers

While it’s a wise choice to develop a custom app to improve staff efficiency, you should also consider your customers. And think of how you will build an effective and sustainable communications pipeline to connect with them. Now we know what you may be thinking, “Why not use Facebook or Twitter to stay in touch with customers?” 

While social media platforms do a reasonably good job at connecting businesses and customers, they have several shortcomings: 

  • Firstly, you don’t have ownership of these platforms and are subject to their terms and policies, which means you could lose access to your account for reasons within or beyond your control.
  • Secondly, you’re only a business in a sea of businesses on these platforms, so it’s challenging to stand out or prevent your customers from discovering competitors with a few clicks. 
  • Thirdly, you can’t create your own UI/UX and messaging functionality and are strictly reliant on what each social media platform provides, which may not meet your expectations and requirements. 
  • And finally, you can’t directly contact users that engage with your business unless they specifically provide you with their contact details and email addresses.

From a business standpoint, relying exclusively on social media to stay in touch with customers isn’t a good move. You’re better off building an email list via your website, especially if you want to build long-term relationships with customers. But a website isn’t the only avenue to help you accomplish this goal, as you can also utilize a mobile app. 

Furthermore, a custom-built mobile app allows you to present your products and services exactly how you want. And you can keep your UI/UX and identity on-brand and tailor your messaging features so that they’re satisfactory to you and your customers.

The Bottom Line

As a business leader, one of your key goals is to improve company culture. While this isn’t easy, you can accomplish much by utilizing the methodologies and tools that will impact customers and employees positively. And the good news is that one or more custom-built mobile apps can bring about changes that can radically transform your organization for the better. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create mobile apps that mean business!

What Makes a Good UI Design

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The user experience is the most common front-end, interactive feature in any app, website, or dashboard. The user interface supports all human-computer interactions.

The user interface provides a navigational platform to control software. Think of a user interface as an application programming interface that links users and a computing system, the back-end.

Although a user interface can take many forms, it accomplishes two fundamental purposes:

  • conveying information from users to machines
  • conveying data from machines to users.

The most important features of a great user interface design are:

1. Simplicity

Simplicity is the centerpiece of any navigation. Easy navigation depends on a highly simplistic user interface. So, the user interface design must be succinct: it must communicate the most with the least. The designer must ensure less navigation and fewer mouse clicks to accomplish any app or website task. It’s important to add new features only if they’re essential and bring substantial value to the application.

2. Consistency

Your user interface must deliver consistent browsing and search results. Consistency achieves stability and eliminates ambiguity and information chaos. Designers should apply size, typeface, and style conventions to screen components to improve readability and learning.

3. Intuitiveness

Intuitiveness is the most important detail of a great UI design. Intuitiveness means that users can easily learn your interface and quickly pick it up. Intuitiveness implies the ability to get accustomed to your app’s interface, element spacing, and overall layout. Intuitiveness means something that can be understood easily and applied with ease.

4. Familiarity

Familiarity is a critical feature of a great UI design. While many designers aim to create intuitive designs, few stop to ask themselves what does an intuitive design mean? Well, intuitiveness means making things understandable and easy to remember. Creating a great user interface concerns familiarity. Designers must aim to create apps that deliver personalized user experiences. Aiming for familiarity will reinforce your app design.

5. Responsiveness

A great user experience must be responsive to users’ needs. Today, most website visits come from mobile endpoints, which is surprising given that it’s convenient to leverage an Android or an iPhone. You encourage users to visit your website frequently and stay longer by having a mobile-responsive interface. Responsiveness is about reducing the latency time and offering a rewarding experience.

6. Clarity

Clarity is an important element in the user interface design process. Clarity signifies that you know what you’re doing and that the interface or platform your users leverage is trustworthy. Achieving clarity in user interface design involves consistency, truth, and simplicity in your messaging. If you aim for consistency, it’ll be simple for users. In addition, if you eliminate ambiguity and incorporate only relevant elements, your interface will be rewarding.

7. Attractiveness

Attraction is about aesthetic appeal. Attraction concerns making elements and layout appealing for prospective and existing users. Attractiveness aims to make the site enjoyable and thrilling to navigate. You can make your site or app efficient, simple, easy to use, and concise – but it will only do well by making it attractive. Your clients or prospective users will not only use a stirring interface; they will look forward to using it once again.

Contact NS804 to achieve a great UI design.

5 Myths About Mobile Apps for Business, Debunked

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Mobile apps are marking a new frontier in the digital mobile revolution. The penetration of smartphone devices alongside internet infiltration extends limitless opportunities for mobile users.

Already, the mobile app uptake is on the rise accounting for over six billion mobile app users globally. Because of the rising popularity of mobile apps, organizations are gradually upscaling their uptake and streamlining their operations through mobile apps.

Below we debunk five myths surrounding mobile apps for business:

1. Mobile apps fall way cheaper than web

There’s a popular myth that mobile apps are cheaper to develop and maintain than web applications. This myth is because mobile phones are physically smaller devices and have less computing power than computers. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize that mobile app development is as complex as software development. Indeed, software developers collaborate with many professionals – designers, analysts, programmers, and data architects – to develop mobile apps.

2. Cross-platform app conversion is faster and nominal

Most clients assume that converting an app from iOS to Android and vice versa is a simple process. Unfortunately, they fail to understand that cross-platform app conversion is a complex, time-consuming, and strenuous process involving code rewrites and re-programming. Cross-platform app conversion is not an automated process; the programmer has to code from scratch.

3. I don’t need an app

Most users presume that their phones contain all information and applications they need. Unfortunately, this is not true. Today, we live in a world that’s interconnected and where everything is digital. For instance, things like communication, shopping, social interactions, entertainment, news, and education are being conveyed via the web. That automatically means that users must adopt applications that support these diverse functions.

4. Apps crash or slow down your device

Software crashes are caused by many things, including bugs, hardware issues, and viruses. However, things like outdated codes, malicious attacks, and hardware failures can cause delays and crash your device. . Regardless of the cause, poor app performance isn’t always a result of a poorly-designed app. Sometimes, crashes and slowdowns can happen because you installed a malicious app. It’s advisable to be vigilant for malicious apps disguised as add-ons.

5. Mobile apps don’t need promotion

Individuals and organizations do the hard work of investing in a mobile app but fail to promote it. Like any other product – a shoe, an electronic, a commercial building, an entertainment hotspot, or a new brand – an app needs to be marketed and promoted vigorously.

Proper planning and promotion are a must-have because of the stiff competition. It’s not enough to invest in your app and post it on a platform like AppStore or PlayStore. It takes an intensive investment to promote your app to the relevant markets.

For instance, an app like TikTok leveraged digital marketing strategies and worked with brand activation agencies to promote itself. Influencer marketing and public campaigns like FightTheDarkness, GarBaithoIndia, and Chipotle: Boorito Challenge are some of the earlier promotion campaigns by TikTok. Your app also needs rigorous campaigns and promotion to reach the right audience.

You can contact NS804 for mobile app development and promotion solutions.

The 13 App Ideas That Could Change Your Business

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Mobile apps have transformed many things, among them user browsing experiences and online shopping patterns. Mobile apps have reinvented business communications allowing businesses to optimize on financial and operational performance.

In addition, mobile apps continue to accelerate digital retail practices, especially as online retailers view mobile apps as a frontier in mobile commerce. There’s no doubt that mobile applications have dominated businesses, from small enterprises to large establishments.

Mobile apps continue to push boundaries in business process developments. So, if you’re looking to build your first app, here are some app ideas that could change your business.

1. Scan and Shop App

The “scan and shop” app lets users scan items they find physically so that they can order them online. The scan and shop app allows users to physically translate their physical shopping experiences to online. The app allows you to scan items and track them back online by images. This approach allows customers to buy products easily from online stores. Scan and shop apps allow vendors to add more features to make the app experience interesting. Businesses looking to transform their online shopping experiences can invest in scan and shop apps.

2. Mall Navigation

Although the Covid-19 pandemic saw shrinking mall spaces following social distancing measures in public areas (stores and malls), digitization has the potential to debunk this anecdotal talk with mobile commerce. Mall navigation apps will secure the digital maps of all the physical malls in a specific area, allowing users to locate specific stores in malls.

These apps allow shoppers to physically locate a store and use navigation to physically visit and shop. This app can navigate directions and maps, check restaurants, stores, bathrooms and locate parking spaces. So, if you’re a business enterprise or an individual running a commercial building, a mall navigation app is a must-have.

3. Restaurant Booking

Among the most hit businesses by the pandemic was the hospitality industry, hotels and restaurants being the biggest culprits. Luckily, the pandemic revealed that apps could bridge gaps in customer service through graphical restaurant reservations.

Nowadays, couples, families, individuals, and groups can use mobile apps to book hotel reservations. To what’s known as the graphical restaurant reservation, this booking app gives you access to a restaurant’s physical layout and general appeal. Graphical restaurant apps allow you to select your preferred dining spaces (and tables) for a specific time.

4. Supermarket Checkout

Supermarket checkout apps let users compare prices in different product categories. In addition, these apps let you automatically scan products and make purchases using e-payment gateway integrations. Integrated e-payment options provide improved shopping capabilities and superior experiences for prospective customers. Businesses can use this app idea to bolster online retail experiences.

5. Health Check-up and Food Planner

Health is a priority today more than ever. That’s why health insurance has skyrocketed in the last decade with rising emphasis on disease prevention and management. The health check-up and food planner app checks your health on a daily basis and suggests the meals that you should consume to remain healthy.

Health check-up and food planner apps incorporate temperature measures, body mass indices, blood pressure, body weight, and calorie count metrics. Collectively, these metrics can be used to boost your dining experiences, especially if you run a fast-food, groceries, hotel, tours and travels business.

6. Voice Translation App

There’s no doubt that business is about communication and agreements. In the contract management process, a central part of negotiation is establishing clear communication that supports all procurement needs. Businesses engage in “buy-and-sell” processes that often involve communication between people of different cultures.

A voice translation app understands the rising globalization and multiculturalism. This app responds to differences in languages, especially between employees, customers, professionals, and associates of different cultures. A voice translation app is a superior tool if you’re looking to foster communication in a multicultural workforce environment.

7. AI-Based Picture Translation

We all have challenges translating road signs, pictures, images, and signatures – especially when traveling to another country or exploring a foreign culture. So, just like Google Translate or Lens, an AI-based picture translation app allows travelers to translate pictures, texts, images, and objects. AI-based picture translation apps would transform business experiences, especially enterprises looking forward to transforming and reinventing how they communicate to multicultural audiences.

8. Criminal Alert App

Businesses in warehousing, logistics, and procurement definitely need a guaranteed security solution. A criminal alert app is embedded in warehousing computers, personnel devices, and procurement endpoints to detect any anomalies in inventories. A criminal alert app is important for monitoring inventory inflows and outflows, and monitoring warehousing activities. This app provides end-to-end visibility to procurement processes, enabling store owners and warehouse floor supervisors to keep track of inventories.

9. Exam Study

Virtualization is changing traditional education with online distance learning opportunities. New learning platforms such as Coursehero, Coursera, Doordash, and Quizlet are at the center of traditional learning transformation. Already, schools are implementing software and adopting technologies to support this transformation. In responding to this shift, businesses in education and higher learning sectors may consider investing in these apps.

An exam study app is a virtual study app where students can meet virtually and revise for upcoming exams in a particular discipline. By using exam study apps, learning can be facilitated using discussions, study tools, and study materials. This app would definitely be a win for enterprises in research, academia, higher and Montessori curriculums.

10. Call Recording App

Cybersecurity is a rising issue in enterprise security especially with the uptake of digitization solutions in business processes. Unfortunately, despite the significance of cybersecurity in today’s online shopping, most customers still fall victims of phishing and spam calls.

Most businesses are investing and downloading call recording apps so that when they’re harassed by scammers, they can record, save and share the audio file with anyone. This app is critical for all enterprises that want to share scamming and phishing audio calls to internal personnel as a measure against cybercrime.

11. Tip Calculator

The tipping culture is forever changing and affecting businesses differently. This app has a calculator that allows faster entry of food bills when you’re dining with friends and family and you want to split the bill. The tip calculator calculates the total amount to tip. This app is a critical component for hotels, restaurants, and businesses in the hospitality sector where tipping is nigh.

12. Sell, Buy, Rent Apps

The sell, buy and rent app is just like the Facebook app but with added functionality. This app lets users hire products online, buy or sell. Apps like Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Vrbo, and Plum Guide let you hire properties for a specified duration. However, a sell, buy, or rent app allows active customer-buyer engagements, facilitating property and goods transfer either through buying or renting out.

13. M-Commerce Apps

Mobile commerce, popularly referred to as M-Commerce, refers to shopping on a mobile device, especially a smartphone, tablet, or wearable. The future of m-commerce is bright with customers turning to mobile shopping solutions. This means that for forward-thinking organizations, a simple m-commerce app can put you ahead of competitors.

Mcommerce allows you to operate contactless ordering and delivery applications. This improves the entire customer service experience by using innovations such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and mixed reality. For instance, virtualization and mixed reality allows shoppers to try out new outfits before purchasing. That means that malls and fashion retailers must look at Mcommerce apps as the next frontier in retail fashion.

Contact NS804!

There’s no doubt that a superior digital retail strategy combines an intuitive, user-friendly digital store and a fully functional website. However, mobile apps are complementing digital retail strategies especially with the accelerated uptake of mobile solutions. Rising adoption of smartphones and infiltration of internet connectivity continue to define new shifts in mobile app adoption.

Contact NS804 to transform your business with intuitive mobile applications.

How To Grow Brand Awareness with An App

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Business leaders often want to find effective ways to increase brand awareness. You’re likely one of those business leaders looking at how technology can positively impact your brand. And since we live in an era with so many options, technology-wise, it may seem incredibly daunting to make the right choice. 

Now, you may be wondering if apps can help grow brand awareness. And the short answer is a resounding yes, especially if you’re thinking of mobile apps instead of desktop or web apps. However, haphazardly releasing a mobile app for your brand will likely yield negative results. Instead, it’s best to follow these handy tips to make your app development endeavors worthwhile.

1. Increase Brand Awareness With A Quality Native App

Sadly, the mobile app stores have too many cheaply done, low-effort, and redundant apps. Users will often download apps that pique their interests, try them out, and eventually delete them. And what’s worse, most of these apps won’t get downloaded again in the future.

Obviously, as someone that wants to grow brand awareness, you don’t want such an outcome. So, how do you go about developing a mobile app that will do your brand justice?

Start by creating a native app that will run smoothly on Android and iOS. And while it costs more to develop a native app versus a hybrid app, your users will appreciate the better performance your app will deliver. Another benefit of releasing a native app is it will have a native UI that corresponds with the target platform’s guidelines and specifications.

2. Focus On UI Design And Usability

Your app must have an attractive and easy-to-navigate UI, as you want it to appeal to users while not frustrating them. After all, an ugly and unintuitive UI makes it harder for users to navigate the app. And this is usually a tell-tale sign of a low-quality app, which will reflect poorly on your brand.

Then, ensure that the design language of your app is on-brand. So use color schemes, graphic design, images, fonts, logos, and patterns associated with your brand for your UI. Ultimately, you want users already familiar with your brand to ‘feel right at home’ once they run your app.

Also, you want users to quickly associate your app with your brand by having a cohesive design language. The cohesion must be so strong that when you release other apps, users will instantly make the connection by simply looking at a screenshot of your app on social media or in the app store.

3. Grow Brand Awareness And Increase Retention With Push Notifications

Push notifications are a powerful tool that every savvy brand should utilize. Users love having announcements and content delivered that’s tailor-made for them.

For example, you’ve created a food delivery app meant to serve customers of your pizza brand. But to engage these customers, you offer them discounts on pizzas they’ve bought before based on their prior purchase history. And to keep them hooked, you provide them with pizza eating and making tips and run contests at a regular cadence. 

The beauty of push notifications is that they’re relatively easy, cheap, and quick to set up. And if users know that they’ll be receiving discounts and handy tips via upcoming push notifications, they’re more likely to engage with your app and keep it installed on their smartphones.

In Conclusion

Increasing brand awareness can and should go hand-in-hand with creating quality native apps, implementing UI design with usability in mind, and using push notifications. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you develop phenomenal apps that will help grow your brand!

Do You Need A Custom App? Here Are 5 Signs That You Do

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Deciding if your company needs a custom app may seem like a no-brainer. Then you come across online articles that sing the praises of off-the-shelf solutions. And these articles may convince you that the cost savings and ease of implementation of these turnkey solutions will have you covered. 

But that’s not entirely true, especially if you need a solution that must address specific business processes unique to your organization. That doesn’t mean that you should never use turnkey solutions, but keep in mind that these have a one-size-fits-all approach. 

So, they may be good at addressing problems experienced by businesses in general. Yet they seldom solve problems exactly the way you want, as they pertain to your organization’s needs. Thus, there are many ways your business will benefit by going with a custom app, which we’ll cover in more detail below. 

1. A Custom App Will Address Unique Business Needs

Every organization is different, so why rely on generalist solutions? And that’s also a question you should be asking if you need to solve complex problems. 

Let’s assume for a minute that you need to develop a mobile app that must collect a lot of data. Not only that, you want the data made available in JSON, XML, and your in-house encrypted and proprietary file format. And you want to retrieve, store, and transmit these files seamlessly across all your existing systems. Systems that may be outdated but still serve your needs perfectly. 

Now that’s a cumbersome problem — but will you find turnkey solutions that will solve it? If you look hard enough, you may find several off-the-shelf solutions that may work. And you’ll likely need programmers to make these diverse solutions function correctly. 

But things will get messy, and you’d better hope your in-house programmers or outsourced team are up for the task. If competent, they’ll likely cobble together a workable solution, but one that’s a Frankenstein of a creation. But if that’s not the case, you’ll have sunk time and money into a failed project. 

However, you can avoid such an outcome by working with professional custom app developers, such as NS804. You can discuss and outline your needs and the specifications that the custom solution must meet. And you can rest assured that the finished app will have all the features you need while meeting and even surpassing your quality standards.

2. Scale Your Custom App Only When Necessary 

Developing a custom app gives you total freedom to decide its future. Perhaps, you’re happy with your app and have no plans to scale up for the foreseeable future. But if you go with an off-the-shelf solution, you may not have this luxury. And the reason being is that many turnkey vendors like to lock in customers to the way they do business. 

Many operate as a Software as a Service (SaaS) and rely on subscriptions with a tiered pricing model. So, you may miss out on features or receive additional features that you don’t need based on your tier. Worse still, vendors may remove mission-critical features or enforce version upgrades at the most inopportune times while offering no tangible benefits. 

And then, there’s no guarantee that these vendors will be around for the long haul. You may want to scale up your app two years down the line but find out that the turnkey vendor has gone out of business. Or they may abandon specific APIs and toolsets essential to the continuous development of your app. In some cases, they may break compatibility with earlier versions of their own solutions or even operating systems, such as Android and iOS.

In a nutshell, relying on off-the-shelf solutions presents many risks. And if you’re a startup, you shouldn’t be wasting money on solutions that bring too much or too little to the table. It’s better to work with a custom app developer to scale up your app only when necessary, as this will free up funds that can go into other areas of your business.

3. Enhanced Security That Surpasses That Of Turnkey Solutions

As a business leader, you want your mobile app to have the tightest security possible. That’s especially true if you need to pass around valuable company data or handle payments. But that’s only possible if you have a clear understanding of the underlying technologies and security protocols. 

That’s the beauty of custom app development, as you’ll know exactly what technologies power your app. And there won’t be any hidden surprises if the custom app developer and your in-house security team work closely. Furthermore, they can further tighten security immediately after encountering a vulnerability. Something that’s not always possible if you were to rely on turnkey solutions.

Apart from the additional control over your security, you’ll also enjoy the benefits of improved integration. There’s no guarantee that off-the-shelf solutions will integrate with your existing systems. And even if they do, it’s unlikely that this will result in an elegant and optimally secure process.

4. Unlock A Plethora Of Marketing Opportunities 

Your mobile app won’t only help promote your brand but also give you a direct marketing link to your users. And you may decide to initiate your marketing campaigns via well-planned push notification strategies. After all, push notifications are powerful at delivering value, driving sales, and enhancing brand loyalty.

But if you take the custom app route, you can optimize your direct marketing endeavors. And you can increase or widen your marketing pipeline according to your needs and do this at any time. Furthermore, you won’t deal with any limitations imposed by turnkey vendors or wait for them to introduce the marketing features that you need. 

Another reason why you want to have complete freedom over your direct marketing channels is that you want to build long-term relationships with your users. Thus, you don’t want a third-party vendor to become an intermediary that gains access to your users and their data. There’s always the risk that they turn out to be a bad actor or suffer from security vulnerabilities down the line. And it’s not just their reputation that will suffer, but yours too.

5. Deliver A Superior User Experience

Nobody knows your users better than you do, so you’re in a position to create an app they’ll find appealing. So the most sensible choice is to develop a custom app that will meet or surpass your users’ expectations.

You want to create an app that allows users to complete tasks with as few taps as possible. A quality app with a well-designed user interface (UI) will reflect positively on your brand. Moreover, this will build brand loyalty and help with retention, so getting repeat business will be much easier.

And you can also improve the perception of your organization by allowing users to connect via the app. Thus, allowing them to communicate, give feedback, and lodge complaints, directly and quickly. If users see that they can resolve issues inside the app without being inconvenienced, they’ll likely keep it installed on their phones and recommend it to others.

The Bottom Line

Developing a custom app is usually the right choice for most organizations. And that’s because the end product will be far superior to that made with turnkey solutions. It will be more secure, run smoother, have better custom marketing pipelines, offer scalability when necessary, and deliver a better user experience. Contact NS804 today to learn how we’ll help you create cutting-edge custom apps that will engage your users! 

The 6 Best Apps for Businesses

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The best apps for businesses make it easier to handle everyday office and work tasks, whether working from home, in the office, or on the go. Business owners must remain agile and scalable to respond to changing business needs and evolving consumer preferences.

The rising adoption of mobile phone by users combined with increased infiltration of internet connectivity has forced enterprises to adopt digital technologies, among them online shopping capabilities.

Digital solutions are proving to be quite innovative approaches to targeting new customers and retaining the existing ones. This is precisely why mobile app adoption by businesses is on an unprecedented rise. While mobile devices certainly play an everyday role in our businesses and activities, selecting the best app for businesses can be challenging.

That is because you may want to have business apps that do multiple things: collect, store, and transfer documents across different devices and through different communication channels like wireless, wired, and Bluetooth. In addition, you may want an app that handles your enterprise resource planning activities, and one that responds well with your social media followers, mostly online clients and prospects.

In this article, we discuss the most important apps for small and medium-sized businesses. The best mobile apps offer superior functionality while also driving value and growth.

So, what are the best apps for businesses?

1. Microsoft 365

Microsoft Office recently rebranded to Microsoft 365 and is the best suite for small businesses. Microsoft 365 suite entails different apps that are powered with diverse capabilities. The apps include intelligent capabilities like ideas for Microsoft, Excel, advanced security features, teamwork, and real-time collaboration. Microsoft 365 allows licensed users to deploy the software to five PCs and MACs, five mobile devices, and five tablets.

Microsoft 365 boasts superior connectivity and productivity across your enterprise. The software contributes to streamlined knowledge because information can be shared through cloud document management. There’s enhanced mobile access anywhere and anytime, leading to productivity due to round-the-clock work. Intelligent process automation, and social capabilities, are some of the features that make Microsoft 365 a must-have for businesses.

2. Wave

Financial management is a critical function of any venture. The ability to oversee and manage your finances from anywhere is critical, and Wave gives you billing, invoicing, and accounting software for doing business mobile. This mobile app is designed to help entrepreneurs sync bank accounts, balance books, and connect to their bank accounts anytime and anywhere. Accessing cash flows anytime and anywhere is quite indispensable for a successful venture. That is why small businesses are using Wave as a money management solution.

The main leading features of Wave include:

  • Wave allows businesses and individuals to create and send invoices to anyone and from anywhere. You receive notifications anytime an invoice is viewed, paid, or due.
  • Wave allows you to set up recurring billing for regular or returning clients. Payment information syncs with the account’s function.
  • Wave provides a receipt scanning feature which means that you don’t have to keep paperwork. Once you scan financial documents or information using the app, Wave automatically syncs it with the account.
  • Wave makes it possible to create accounting reports showing losses, profits, cash flow, and sales tax.

Wave provides customized money management and billing solutions, enabling businesses to stay at the top of their invoicing and accounting tasks.

3. RingCentral Office

RingCentral Office is the best selection for businesses looking for a perfect phone system. RingCentral Office not only comes with lots of features and capabilities; it is affordable too. This app offers a cloud-based phone system built around business services. So, it’s fine to use RingCentral Office on any endpoint with a browser: tablet, PC, smartphone, and Apple iPod.

RingCentral Office offers some basic plans that include: a phone system and call management and phone rental options for desks and conference calls. But, it’s the pricing tiers that give RingCentral Office an edge over other phone management apps out there. RingCentral Office app combines multiple features at a fair price.

RingCentral Office further provides a contact center as a service and unified communications as a service, which means that it offers the enterprise experience for small and medium-sized enterprises. In addition, the app can deliver a communication platform as a service. It gives you access to a developer’s networks. That means that you can use any APIs to customize and integrate your phone systems and other software in your business.

4. Avast Business Antivirus

With the increased adoption of digitized solutions comes the risk and threat of cyber-attacks. That is because attackers exploit the systems and networks that support critical business operations. One way to protect critical business systems is by using a trusted antivirus from a renowned developer and supplier.

Avast business antivirus delivers on its promise. This antivirus is an excellent endpoint suite that gives you various suites such as email protection, firewall, antispam, and antivirus for end-to-end security. When compared to the standard version, Avast business version provides Exchange and SharePoint protection and a plethora of tools for your servers. This software ranks as the best business software security solution for businesses.

5. Amazon Web Services

Amazon Web Services AWS is the world’s most adopted and renowned cloud platform. AWS has over 100 fully-featured services from different data centers. AWS offers strong computing power, database storage, and content delivery to help enterprises scale exponentially. Amazon Web Services runs applications and web servers in the cloud and thus hosts dynamic websites.

The benefit of Amazon Web Services is that it’s easy to use. This cloud platform allows vendors and application providers to securely and quickly host their apps, whether using a new SaaS-based app or an existing app. In addition, the AWS is flexible that enables you to select the operating system, database, and web programming platform. Amazon Web Services further boasts of its cost-effectiveness, security, reliability, and scalability.

6. Square

Square is a point-of-sale POS app that enables businesses to streamline their sales activities. Square is designed with superior functionality allowing you to ring up customers and close sales in minutes. Indeed, the best point-of-sale apps like Square can be customized to fit your business needs and industry requirements. Restaurants, for example, can use Square for table management and kitchen coordination activities. Retail stores, on the other hand, can use Square for its diverse retail management functions.

What’s crucial is that Square is easy-to-use and provides superior functionality and a clear interface. The Square company offers transparent and fair pricing. The app is mobile-friendly and works collaboratively with Androids, iPhones, and iPad. For small and medium-sized enterprises that don’t need advanced functionality, Square has a free trial plan.

NS804 – Developers of Best Mobile Apps

NS804 is an app development company with years of experience in app design, development, and maintenance. NS804 talented developers can help you design your app from inception to completion while enabling you to enjoy smooth, advanced functionality and scalability. NS804 development team optimizes your app’s functionality and delivers best-in-class app functionality.

NS804 can surely help you ace your next mobile app development project with a diverse specialty in android app development, IOS app development, app store optimization, UX/UI design, and minimum viable product MVP development. And with our cost app calculator, you get to know exactly how much it will cost to develop a new app from scratch.

Contact NS804 for the best mobile app development solutions.

The 5 Features a Business Needs in an App

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The adoption of mobile phones alongside high internet penetration rates dictates new developments in smartphone usage. Already, mobile apps are dictating new frontiers in web experiences by offering chatting, browsing, and payment services.

Mobile apps are transforming legacy communication patterns by providing digital avenues for communication. A classic example is the chat apps: WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct, Line, Skype, and WeChat.

Research shows that mobile applications could generate up to $930 billion in revenues in 2023 alone. Already, shocking estimates show the power of mobile apps, reinforcing the talk of why it’s critical to get started with mobile apps. For instance, users spent over 3 trillion hours on mobile apps in 2021 alone.

The ever-changing face of mobile applications and the desirability of mobile apps to young demographics make it a target for tech-savvy enterprises. Most importantly, young developers are embracing application programming as a new frontier of mobile usability.

While apps are crucial in transforming legacy enterprises and shaping customer experiences, it’s critical to identify particular features that make apps desirable.

Important features a business needs in an app:

1. Usability

Usability is a critical consideration in any app development exercise. That means that developers must approach any mobile app development process with usability in mind. The app must be creative, simple, and easy to navigate. Most importantly, the app must focus on robustness and intuitiveness by incorporating the things people see in apps.

2. User-friendliness

Always aim for a user-friendly app design that’s simple to navigate and highly responsive. Navigation and responsiveness are the cornerstones of any successful app design work. Therefore, ensure that your business app is user-friendly and responds well to the evolving user needs.

Some tricks to make your app user-friendly include:

  • Focus on your target audience
  • Offer superior design
  • Prioritize user security
  • Optimize graphic and font size
  • Make wise use of push notification
  • Aim for intuitiveness

A user-friendly app is highly adopted and has higher retention rates.

3. Chat and call-back

Your business app must incorporate chat and call-back options. Business communication is forever changing, making mobile apps the go-to platform for business communications. Alongside emails, chatbots, and web portals, mobile apps offer a unique avenue for users, mostly clientele groups, to communicate and interact with brands.

4. Intuitive user interface

All apps must incorporate an intuitive interface, and proprietary, discretionary privacy. Users must own their information and privacy for apps to make meaningful sense to prospective users. The fact that enterprises are accelerating their app adoption efforts means that enterprises must find new ways to retain customers. One of these ways is by offering discretionary privacy solutions, including the possibility for privacy notifications in mobile apps.

5. Payment gateway

Payment gateway integration is a no-brainer for any business app. As a business owner, you are involved in the “money” business. That means that your services and products are sold or leased out to customers, making payment gateway integration altogether important. Therefore, a payment gateway is a critical feature of your business app.

NS804 – Aiming for Excellence!

Other vital tips for business apps include:

  • User experience is your ultimate objective
  • Always aim to deliver a superior typography
  • Aim for smooth edges, soft app elements, and creative color
  • The logo is the centerpiece of your brand positioning. Keep it first.
  • Remember to keep users updated. Users must not feel lost.
  • Be accommodative in scope. Let your app encompass many features and functionalities.
  • Aim for an interactive design. You can do this by testing, fixing, and testing once again.

At NS804, we guide businesses in mobile app development.

Contact NS804 to get started on your business app development journey.