Business application development provides organizations with the ability to streamline processes, improve productivity, and accomplish the objectives of the organization. Ranging from simple data management systems to comprehensive enterprise applications, these custom applications have many forms, but all serve certain goals and needs of various organizations.
In this blog , we will provide various aspects of business application development and provide essential information and ideas for each organization to consider utilizing software to provide , These are essential tools for the organization’s success.
What is Business Application Development?
Business application development is a process whereby companies design custom software solutions that meet their specific needs, improve business processes, scales efficiency, and helps companies reach goals or objectives. Business applications can range from simple data management solutions to complex enterprise systems, have interfaces with integrated workflows that reduce error, and allow users to efficiently and accurately flow through systems. Business application development gives companies the ability to respond to changing marketplace trends, grow their business, and differentiate themselves in the market while taking advantage of new technology trends.
Business Application Development Procedure
The following steps comprise the business application development procedure:
Organizing and evaluating
Planning and analysis is probably the most essential step to any business app development project.
In this step, business analysts, project managers, and domain experts will review and analyze the business requirements that need to be included in the app. Business requirements documentation will be created by business analysts, who will also assist developers in meeting those needs.
They will document the use cases and be able to provide the project team with important customer information. Given the app on this agenda, this analysis provides an opportunity to evaluate the risk embedded in completing the project in advance. The idea is to expose business and technical risks that might jeopardize the app’s success.
Design
The next step is designing the product architecture. In developing the architecture, technical architects and lead developers will draft a high-level design plan for the app and the system. The DDS, for the app, takes the form of a document that will outline what security processes need to be established, new database tables to be created, hardware and system requirement specifications laid out, and new transactions that will need to be defined.
Create and Write Code
This phase is creating and incorporating vital data into database, a programmer defines programming language requirements, while an application developer makes the interface by following the outcomes of the unit tests and coding requirements. This is a very important step, because the business analysts provide lots of key input.
Testing of Software
To ensure that the application satisfies user needs, professional test engineers compare it to the specifications. Functional testing services usually comprise non-functional testing, acceptability testing, unit testing, integration testing, and system testing.
Maintenance and Application Support
After testing is complete successfully, the system is set in maintenance mode in a live business software environment. Normally, all apps no matter how complex, number of users, or how large the QA testing regime, are subject to issues. Expert regular maintenance will be very necessary amid records of problems and ensuring everything is updated to date refreshing on relevant updates.
Business Application Types
Based on the many requirements and the context of their use in a commercial setting, business application development may be divided into several types. The main categories of business applications are:
B2B Applications
B2B (Business-to-Business) Applications are customized digital solutions developed to simplify a business process between your business and other businesses . These applications are the unsung heroes of inter-business interactions that negotiate transactions, manage partnerships and streamline supply chains. B2E applications provide an easier way of accomplishing tasks (e.g. submitting bulk orders, managing stock, doing commercial procurement) by allowing businesses to implement standardized services and lines of communication; and maintain secure, cost-effective communication between businesses.
B2B applications are often purpose-built to meet complex business needs, e.g. a need to integrate a partner’s procurement platform, develop into product lifecycle management, or customize communication in a sales pipeline. For example, a web service for bulk order submission makes it easy for retailers to submit bulk orders directly to manufacturers accurately and efficiently.
B2C Applications
The acronym B2C stands for Business to Consumer or Business to Client Applications. B2C applications are the perfect businesses to consumers connection portal and an amazing way to enhance customer experience. Customer interactions become effortless and enjoyable with a B2C application. B2C applications benefit consumers while modernizing the way businesses create and maintain customer relationships with their clients. Examples of B2C applications include loyalty apps, retail apps, and e-commerce apps. B2C applications represent an immense level of comfort and personalization for consumers, thus assisting businesses in providing a personalized approach in serving customers.
E-commerce apps are seen in many ways, but the most common examples of B2C apps are the ecommerce apps such as Shopify or BigCommerce. E-commerce apps give customers the freedom to browse and buy without feeling rushed, and to purchase from wherever they may be as long as they have internet service. Whether it’s the ease of one-click purchases or tracking shipments, the experience of shopping becomes easy and convenient.
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Loyalty apps go beyond personalization by rewarding customers for interacting with the brand and fostering ongoing behaviors with points or benefits that can be redeemed in the future. Loyalty apps allow brands to turn transactional behavior into deeper relationships allowing brands to express thanks to consumers for a transaction and creating loyalty with customers through genuine interactions.
Stand-alone apps, which are independent and run on people mobile devices, are subject to many different forms such as games, productivity-focused apps, or popular social media applications. Not only do these applications divert the consumers attention in a fun and entertaining way, but can also afford some measure of control over many aspects of the consumer’s life.
Internal Applications
Internal applications are pivotal in the enterprise environment today, driving productive internal processes and enterprise level productivity. Internal applications are the backbone of the enterprise space that are used on a day-to-day basis to keep the business running.
The simplest example of an internal application is something like Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) that provide a comprehensive application to manage employee related tasks (track applicant flow, administer benefits, and process payroll, among others). Inventory Control Systems monitor the supply and levels of stock, so there is always just enough that is not wasting capital by stocking too much. Communication Software such as Slack or Microsoft Teams allows instant messaging and communication across departments and time zones.
Other types of notable internal applications include; Accounting Software, Service Management Solutions , Reservation Software , Schedule Management Systems , Demand Forecasting Software .
Advantages of Developing Business Applications
Business application development has many advantages that can scale productivity and efficiency, and improve competitiveness. Here are a few advantages:
Enhanced Efficiency
Enhanced efficiency is the most basic of advantages of business application development. Companies look to business applications to automate and enhance their processes with technology that avoids the pitfalls of manual processes. Customized applications allow businesses to have faster turnover, eliminate bottlenecks, and allow employee time for bigger and better revenue-generating activities.
Imagine a sales force freed from the burden of web-based forms and paper based reports and utilizing a customized Customer Relationship Management system that instantly records training data and information about customer interactions, or an accounting department that uses a customized and automated financial management system instead of manual bookkeeping providing real-time insights and information on financial position.
With integration and automation being the key terms – applications can help connect disparate platforms with data synchronization, eliminating redundant data entry, and reducing errors. One last benefit: Often, enhanced efficiency comes with predictable outcomes making daily operations less exciting, but more consistent.
More Effective Data Management
Improved data management through business applications is like a compass that transports companies through the ocean of digital data. Business apps can create unity from scattered masses of data together into a single, accessible, manageable resource that allows companies to enjoy their data in its analytical form.
These apps can offer usable storage for the data of all facets of business—everything from information about customer contacts to sales transactions, from performance metrics to the full company financials. Furthermore, the data integrity improves due to the ability to properly restrict access to mitigate misuse and human error.
Businesses can quickly extract useful reports; even better, their trending and forecast analyses contain fewer surprises with the new data management applications. Visualizations and dashboards can take complex data and present it in easy to read and comprehend formats, so when your team is in the moment most crucial to the company, they can get their hands on the requested data.
Better Customer Engagement
Improving customer engagement through business apps can be perceived as a digital handshake. Meaningful engagement can happen through Apps, like personalized recommendations in a shopping app, or interactive support through chatbot options that allow immediate assistance.
When you send relevant and timely notifications, share new product or service announcements, or exclusive offers directly to your customers devices through apps, your organization is “front of mind.” Also, as we see a migration towards more self-service type options for your audience, they naturally enjoy managing their own preferences, or troubleshooting their own issues without needing to engage directly.
The Automation of Processes
Automating processes through business applications is like getting a consistent digital workforce that never tires and keeps improving your operational speed, accuracy, and consistency. Applications built to automate repetitive or time-consuming tasks, remove those tasks from people and eliminate errors that would have been made by humans when they’re done with robotic precision.
Take a workflow application that would route a task through an approval process without a human supervisor getting involved. Or an invoicing application that would automatically create and send invoices for you at the precise moment the sale is recorded. Anything that draws on a word or document management system would automatically file or retrieve a file based on user input. These examples of automation can save hours of time initially spent manually managing the paperwork.
The automation does not stop there. Think of scheduling; applications can manage calendars and appointments. Or customer service; sending your prospects and customers canned responses via chatbots and support applications are available 24 hours a day and can offer instant answers.
Cost Savings
Cost savings with business application development is akin to discovering buried treasure in your business’ expansive land; it is about removing inefficiencies and waste. Introducing automation not only reduces labor costs, but it also reduces errors and the costs of potential rework.
Competitive Edge
Getting a business edge with business application development is akin to giving your business a set of unique, high-tech tools to use in the business race. With the custom applications made to solve the unique challenges of a business, your business can move faster, further, and do more than your competitors.
Business applications that align with company strategy can offer a deeper understanding of market trends and customer behaviors. This not only allows you to respond effectively to market shifts, but also to anticipate larger companies struggling to react because of their rigidity.
Scalability
Scalability in business application development is similar to intentionally constructing an office space that can be expanded as your team grows. Scalability encompasses the process of creating applications that not only fit the current needs but can also accommodate expected growth. This growth can come from a higher customer demand, a wider product catalog, or even presenting larger and more varied data sets.
Scalable applications are designed from a technology standpoint for flexibility in future architectures that allow for changes, enhancements, and updates. Thus allowing the project to evolve while still utilizing the previous efforts and implementation without affecting the operations of the business mission or other activities. This specifies an adaptive approach that embraces technology change in an increasingly marketing dynamic business environment.
Customization
Customization in business application development is about hosting a distinctive solution, while ensuring that every pixel, process, and protocol of the application connects with the intricate, bespoke elements of your business. It is the provision to tailor software to align precisely to business objectives, workflows, and preferences.
Meaning that applications could be shaped to reflect their organization, enable or support their business practices, or resolve challenges that other generic solutions do not.
Improved Safety
Improved safety through business application development is similar to constructing a castle—the aim is to design a digital fortress to protect your valuable assets from external attack or internal malfunction. Custom business applications have multiple security layers specifically designed to protect sensitive information—whether that is financial, customer, or proprietary business processes—from unauthorized access, breaches, and leaks.
Security measures are what makes using a business application beneficial. Businesses now operate in a highly regulated environment. The various protocols and processes involved in security (encryption, two-factor authentication, regular security audits) result in a level of trust and compliance that is important to ensure your own business’s status in the marketplace while ensuring your customers that the information they provide is safe with you to build long-term relationships.
Access Information Anytime
Accessing information in real-time, which business applications allow, is increasingly valuable in our commerce based society. Factor in that business applications operate so quickly, it is like having a third eye watching your entire operation at any given time.
Not only can you monitor what is happening in real-time, but also you can monitor what happened when it happened. If one the apps you are using tracks your inventory, you will see in real-time how much you have on the shelf. If you see the inventory is dangerously low, you can order more instantly while recording it in your inventory tracking app. In gaming, knowing in real-time if you are winning or loosing would drastically change play. You would not be able to quit while you had a winning streak! In business, if or when your information is real-time, then you can adapt quickly to customer or market demands.
Best Practices in Business App Development
To guarantee success in your business app development, it is recommended that you incorporate the following best practices:
- Prioritize user needs and experience: Use user research and design thinking as your guiding principles to create applications that address real needs and experience. Frequently user test, ask for feedback to improve the application continuously.
- Plan for cross-platform compatibility: Build and design applications to be deployable on a variety of devices or operating systems or in different browsers. Whether you’re using responsive design techniques, such as, building a UI that is consistent across all platforms.
- Performance and speed matter: Look to optimize the performance of your application by employing techniques that will lower the application’s load times, lowering the server response times, and having the use of caching. Again, take time to use performance monitoring tools that will help you find bottlenecks in your application.
- Secure your applications: Make sure to protect sensitive information and private data so that no one has unauthorized access to it. Follow this best practice: authentication, encryption, and access. Make sure you are following industry best practices like OWASP Top 10 and run regular security audits.
- Design for scalability: Consider how your applications can accommodate increasing users and data volumes. Consider cloud-based and microservices architecture, etc. to build apps that are structurally capable of growing with your business.
- Incorporate emerging technologies: Leverage the power of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning, and cloud computing to improve the functionality and performance of your business applications. Use existing APIs and services to reduce cost and duration of development.
- Embrace agile development frameworks: Consider agile frameworks like Scrum or Kanban to enhance the speed of development, improve flexibility, and increase collaborative work across development teams. Use tools like Jira or Trello to track work, determine progress, and maintain transparency.
Business-Focused Applications Examples
Numerous applications are created directly for businesses, each customizable to needs, functions, and preferences. These are some of the main areas and examples:
Customer relationship management (CRM) apps
Customer Relationship and apps are the Swiss Army Knife of the business tech stack, they do and can be adapted and customized for many things. CRM applications house customer data and interaction (commercial/marketing) within one application for businesses to utilize everything from better understanding relationships, effectiveness of marketing- to provide a better personalized customer experience.
Whether tracking sales opportunities, marketing campaigns, analyzing customer behavior or trends , CRMs such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or Zoho CRM are simply an incredible business tool to foster customer engagement and increase revenue. CRMs automate mundane actions, aggregate basic information about customer and supplier engagement… and offer data that provide intelligence for smarter business decisions with customer-centricity at the centre of your business.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Applications
ERP applications are a fundamental supporting structure for core business functions. They provide an integrated overview of most business functions from finance, HR, purchasing, and operations, and are all updated in real-time and accessible from a single source of truth. ERP products, such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics, integrate previously siloed processes, facilitate data flows between processes, and provide visibility of the organization.
ERP applications have a foundational impact: they eliminate data silos, automate day-to-day activities, and offer insights that help decision-makers flesh out useful information from data in an integrated format. Companies use ERP systems to promote efficiencies in business operations, support regulatory compliance, and action strategic priorities.
Project Management Apps
Project Management Apps are the guiding stars of the corporate universe, showing teams the way through the complexities of teamwork, delivery, scheduling, and total project resources. They provide a systematic way to complete projects by breaking project deliverables into manageable work units, including tasks, milestones, and deadlines. Popular products such as Asana, Jira, and Monday.com guide teams to use their knowledge and skills to work effectively together, ensure everyone stays on track, communicates with each other effectively, and delivers timely outcomes, while keeping budgets on schedule, too.
Project Management apps offer great tools like Gantt charts for visualizing project timelines, Kanban boards for visualizing workflow, and the ability to track time spent on tasks and milestones. The apps are able to shift teams into optimized planning and execution mode and even provide decent analytical and project reporting tools that allow teams to track progress or evaluate team performance.
Human Resources Management System (HRMS) Apps
Human Resources Management System (HRMS) apps are the digital backbone of a company’s human resource structure, taking all the complex HR functions and connecting them in a simple and logical way. HRMS apps advance human resources by not only tracking employees’ points of contact but also automating payroll, benefits, performance appraisals, and recruiting. HRMS Apps like Workday, BambooHR, and Gusto provide tools to manage all aspects of the employee lifecycle from recruitment to retirement.
HRMS apps streamline the onboarding process for new employees, track ongoing employee skills, and provide reporting and analytical insights into managing the workforce, giving HR professionals more strategic time to focus on engaging employees rather than simply executing or administering processes on their behalf. HRMS apps include self-service employee portals too, allowing employees to work within their portal to feel empowered and to avoid communicating with other employees in the company.
Inventory Management Apps
Inventory Management apps are the watchful eyes over a company’s inventory to keep supply and demand in check. Inventory management apps such as Fishbowl, Zoho Inventory, NetSuite, etc. have features that facilitate tracking investments in stock, checking orders, sales, or deliveries. Companies can see live inventory stocks and avoid being overstocked or out of stock.
Inventory management apps and systems can automate stock control tasks and provide visibility into the health of your stock, from barcoding, (and even RFID tagging), to allowing greater forecasting accuracy and algorithm capabilities. All these efforts create better overall order fulfillment accuracy, lower holding costs, and improved inventory turns overall.
Successful Business Applications
To demonstrate what well-designed business applications can do, consider some successful examples:
Salesforce CRM: Salesforce’s CRM application on the cloud has changed how businesses manage their relationships with their customers. Salesforce provides a central location for sales, marketing, and customer services teams to work together. The new insight gained from customer data empowers these teams to engage customers collaboratively.Salesforce’s success is demonstrated by its substantial market lead, which in 2020 will account for 19.5% of the global CRM market.
SAP ERP: SAP’s business application suite helps organizations understand and influence critical business functions such as finance, procurement, supply chain, etc. The capabilities and functionalities of SAP’s ERP have allowed businesses to automate and streamline these key business functions. 92% of the Forbes Global 2000 Company lists are SAP ERP users
Slack: Workplace team collaboration software have been transformed by Slack. Slack facilitates file sharing, real-time communication, and integration with a wide range of third-party programs. In terms of acceptability, 65 Fortune 100 companies have adopted Slack.
What further developments are planned for business app development?
As technology continues to evolve at lightning speed, the business application development industry must remain agile enough to take advantage of the new trends and opportunities that are consistently presented. Some of ongoing trends we will continue to see include:
- Cloud-native apps: Organizations are increasingly utilizing a cloud-native application architecture that has been designed for the cloud. Cloud-native applications offer microservices, containers, and a serverless computing model which enable scalability, resilience, and agility.
- Progressive web apps: Progressive web apps are websites that can deliver app-like experiences to the user through a web browser by capitalizing on the above trends . PWAs offer some of the great features of apps as well as websites – including organic reach – which ultimately makes them more attractive.
- Increased diligence in pushing design boundaries: Increased diligence in implementing design constraints with regard to accessibility, compliance and regulations will continue to heighten beyond 2023. Things like the WCAG accessibility guidelines will increasingly need to be incorporated into the overall UX design. UX designers will need to define alternative methods of input or follow WCAG 2 accessibility guidelines.
- Emergence of widely adopted Remote Collaboration platforms: As remote work capabilities accelerate rapidly, established platforms will continue to evolve and interconnect to meet business needs. Emerging platforms will be creating connected experiences to conceptualize, define and embody R&D people and project collaborations in visually engaging ways.
- Emergence of self-serve onboarding: Where knowledge has historically been siloed, there have always been many levels of learning curves associated with onboarding a new tool like a software app. Initially onboarding traditionally has associated expenses. Beyond these full-time positions, it comes down to the developer to make onboarding accessible and easy for the app users.
Conclusion
In the digital quilt of modern business, business application development is an integrated piece of every successful organization’s fabric. It represents innovation, and a path to efficiency, and is a compass as businesses navigate through the complexities of the digital age.
With B2B applications enabling intercompany operations, B2C applications connecting with customers, and internal applications improving the ability of organizations to perform, business application development is a vast and significant area.
Our aim is to help businesses improve and extend their presence in the market.
After covering the iterative process of development, identifying examples of transformational applications, and the future of application development, it is apparent that equipping your organization with a tailored application for its business requirements is not merely a great opportunity, it’s an opportunity to put your business into a position to lead your industry in the future.
As you prepare to embark on a digital journey, consider the fact that with the right business application development partner, your vision can be made into a highly functional business application that is built to serve you for today but also poised for what the future holds.
FAQs
1.What is the timeline for a business application development?
The length of time it takes to build a business application varies widely, based on the complexity of the application, the amount of functionality to be included in the application and experience of the development team. For a simple application, you can generally expect a timeline of a few months, whereas for a complex enterprise solution, timelines can exceed over a year. Every project is unique, so please discuss the specific timeline with your development team for the best estimate.
2. What is the timeframe for developing a business application?
The timeframe for developing a business application can vary widely depending on the complexity of the application, the level of functionality to be incorporated into the application and the experience of the development group. Timelines for complex business solutions may exceed a year, while those for basic applications should be anticipated to take a few months. Each project is different so please consult with your development group regarding the specific timeframe for the best estimate.
3. Should I choose custom software, or off-the-shelf applications?
The decision to use custom or off-the-shelf applications depends on your specific business requirements, budget and time constraints. Custom software allows you to use bespoke features specific to your business and offers greater flexibility, however it may not be suited to your budget and will often take longer to build than off-the-shelf applications. Off-the-shelf applications will be less expensive to use, will take less time to implement, and will often accomplish generic needs.
4. What can I do to make sure my business application is secure?
To make sure your business application is secure, use strong encryption for data, strong user authentication, and make sure you update and patch your application regularly.
