Category: Startup

Build Better Apps in Less Time: 5 Reasons to Choose Low Code MVP Development

Posted on by galaxy-admin

As of 2022, nearly 3 million apps are available for download on the Google Play Store. And of all people, millennials are the most active app users, with 21% opening an app 50 or more times per day.

Your analytics will reveal that most website traffic comes from mobile users. That’s why startups today want to ensure their presence on the mobile platform as long as their idea and the problem they intend to solve are feasible with a mobile app.

But here’s the catch, a growing app market can mean something other than that your new app will succeed. Especially for startups, you will know if your application will grow once you test it. Does this imply that you should invest in full-fledged development? Not quite.

There is another solution that is quite a buzzword in the industry! Many startups and app market legends, such as Spotify, Uber, Instagram, and Dropbox, have succeeded through the MVP approach. And Low-code MVPs can be especially beneficial for mobile startups working on a limited budget or timeline.

If you’re considering this approach for your startup, we recommend reading this post to learn more about it.

Build Better Apps

Why is Low Code MVP essential for mobile-based startups?

Before we get into the details, let’s talk about what an MVP and a low-code MVP are.

MVP is the primary product version you build to understand your audience better. It helps the audience know the product and what to expect from it. On the other hand, it helps businesses realize the actual value of the product and its feasibility.

MVPs allow you to determine:

  • if your users are ready for the product,
  • if they’ll be interested in using your solution, and
  • what the scope is for scaling the product.

If you get enough insights from the users of the no-code MVP, it may be worth investing in a full-fledged solution.

A Low code MVP performs the same function but involves less to no code in its creation, which comes with additional benefits for startups and small businesses since they are more efficient and cost less.

In fact, it is considered one of the quickest and most established routes to success, whether a new product or a feature upgrade.

Now let’s discuss the benefits!

Benefits of Low code MVP in mobile-based startups

Higher efficiency

As we saw earlier, No-code and low-code platforms appeal to startups because they offer ready-made tools, reusable code, pre-built integrations, and templates for various development scenarios.

According to Gartner, by 2024, 65% of development functions will be low-code.

Some solutions include in-depth analytics, monitoring, and A/B testing features to optimize system performance. Plus, they support integrations with third-party services and comply with various industry standards.

Sounds terrific, right? But wait, there is more.

Cost-saving

Efficient and costs less? What can be better than this combination?!

Low code development tools help enterprises reduce their costs by up to 84% by allowing them to spend less money hiring professional development teams, cloud specialists, and other technical jobs. Businesses also don’t need to invest in expensive hardware infrastructure, development software, and licenses.

On top of that, these tools let you build your low-code MVP with less effort.

Faster deployment

IDC found that these organizations have reduced their development lifecycle for new applications by 62% and new features by 72%, respectively.

Low-code solutions improve your company’s agility by making it easier to reuse modules and code templates, create your MVP, and get feedback from users more quickly.

All of this means that you can attract potential investors faster than your competition and get a head start on solving the issues that are holding you back, and you are all set for launch in less than half the time. Now that’s exciting!

MVP helps you identify the market demand and evaluate the customer experience.

Being a startup founder, you prefer to test and validate your product idea by creating an MVP. The concept may seem promising regarding projections and visual designs, but the actual proof of concept interacts with a tangible application.

Customer feedback is crucial, as it allows you to identify your product’s most and least appealing sides.

The reversibility, or being able to go back to make changes, is one of the key reasons why MVP development is popular among startups. If any functions are unnecessary or have bugs, fixing them or adding new features during the quality assurance testing process is much easier. This flexibility helps to implement updates smoothly and bring the release date closer.

Limitations of Low code MVP & Setting the right expectations

Like all tools, despite their benefits, developing MVPs has limitations concerning drawbacks.

Here are the primary things you must consider:

  • Technical constraints

No-code and low-code platforms might not support the features you want in your app. You might need to resort to custom development tools to overcome some restrictions.

  • Vendor lock-in

Your app can become locked into the vendor’s proprietary technology stack and lack access to the source code. So, migrating your MVP to another low-code platform will become too costly.

The most typical and crucial mistakes startups make during MVP development are fixating on minor imperfections, needing more feedback, ignoring analytics, and needing more time for release.

Developing an MVP using no-code and low-code platforms does not guarantee affordability and timeliness unless you keep the limitations in mind and stand clear of any mistakes that might happen.

DIY vs. Professional Services: Which is better?

If you are a startup, low code should assist you in delivering an MVP to market with as few resources as possible. And if you are an established brand and want to try out a new feature on your app, low code MVP can also benefit you.

On the other hand, just building an MVP does not guarantee success. Business owners must remember that creating a no-code or low-code MVP is a quick way to test their business idea, not a magic switch that improves everything about your app.

Your apps rely on coding methodology and management practices to succeed. Furthermore, your team may still need to do some custom coding to overcome the limitations of low-code technologies.

If you believe you require the assistance of an experienced software development company’s assistance, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We’ll make your MVP development truly affordable.

How to leverage product discovery to get funding for your app?

Posted on by galaxy-admin

With numerous apps rolling down the industry daily, it’s essential to make the app survive and significantly impact this competitive market. So, how can one greatly influence a wider variety of prospects than at any other time in history? It takes more than just an idea to create a cutting-edge app. Getting funding for the project is equally of utmost importance. Only the right investments will ensure that your winning apps actually win the market.

According to McKinsey, 17% of IT projects fail the business trying to execute them. According to CB Insights, poor market, product, development, and consumer research lead to a product’s failure in 35% of cases.

Before pitching investors your business or app idea, you need to put in some effort. Investors want to know that you have given your concept some serious thought, so a basic idea won’t cut it. IDC predicts that in 2023, infrastructure and service investment for public clouds would nearly double to $500 billion globally. This is where product discovery can make a world of difference.

Using product discovery, businesses can assess whether a potential product concept is viable on the market. Product discovery justifies why your product should exist and determines who will use it instead of creating solutions to challenges that nobody currently faces. Additionally, it brings about the possibility of attracting new investments quickly.

Product-Discovery

What is Product Discovery?


Product Discovery is a process that helps product teams initiate project development to better understand your customer(s) and their problems. In a nutshell, you put your idea to the assessment in terms of how well it really works to solve issues and live up to user expectations.

The primary goal of the discovery phase is to validate your assumptions and ideas about the app and mitigate your risks. Based on the data gathered, you can refine your idea and find the best approach to address their challenges and deliver a solution that meets the users’ expectations and demands. It often involves consumer research, market research, mockups, prototypes, and even the development of preliminary functional products. 

The aim is to:

  1. Recognize and identify users’ existing problems.
  2. Validate the team’s proposed solutions.
  3. Deliver solutions that actually meet users’ and consumers’ expectations.
  4. Minimize risks that might arise before, during, and after product development.

You will find yourself being tugged in many different directions by stakeholders and customers if you don’t know exactly who you are targeting as your customer. You need a product discovery to offer you a solid foundation. You will benefit from presenting a better possibility, and the business will benefit from a more significant return on investment.

How Product Discovery Can Help You Get Investments?


01- IDEA VALIDATION ENSURES FASTER CREATION OF A PREMIUM PRODUCT

When a business idea is validated, you can assess whether any flaws might lead to significant returns, discounts, fixes, or replacement expenses. According to Business of Apps, the cost of developing a simple app can range from $32,000 to $48,000, while the cost of developing a complicated app starts at $72,000. Over 80% of mobile apps need 3 months or more to build, according to a survey by Outsystems. That is just another way of explaining that idea validation for your app will sometimes shield your business.

Investors get a sense of affirmation from product discovery that you will develop products or services that will address the issues your potential customers may have. Additionally, a business may already use a similar model on the market, or it may be excessive and complex for a potential client to grasp. However, product discovery allows you to test your idea, which lowers the risk before investing time and money in an unsuccessful venture. Moreover, incorporating a sharp vision into development will assist you in reducing time to market (TTM).

Key Takeaway- Product discovery serves as a methodical approach to verifying that the problem and the proposed solution you’ve defined align with what customers are willing to pay the price for. Investors get a sense of validation with product discovery as it lowers risk, accelerates the market launch of a value-adding service, and cuts expenses.

02- STREAMLINES PROJECT BUDGETING MORE ACCURATELY

According to **Fortunly, 18% of businesses fail because of cost overruns, and the product discovery process might help you avoid this. It will enable you to gather an accurate estimate of the project’s specific scope, preventing the possibility of transpiration that the product cost ends up being much more significant than anticipated due to unanticipated shifts in the scope or hidden complications. It can spare developers from completing extra work and reduce project delivery costs and time.

Not only will the product discovery increase your chances of getting an investment, but it will also enable current stakeholders to resolve any crucial issues before the start of development. To put it another way, you can set up a process for what you’re developing and how you will make it if you grasp the potential of your product.

Key Takeaway-  A detailed timeframe and an in-depth budget projection are both enhanced by the product discovery process. It prevents falling short of covering necessary costs and lowers the chance of earning less than expected.

03- GET A PRODUCT OUT THE DOOR QUICKLY

Spotting potential pitfalls early on and understanding how to avoid them, as well as making it clear what you’re developing and why product discovery will help you release a product more efficiently and quickly. You will save time in the long run if you take the effort to grasp the product needs slightly earlier. Product discovery aims to eliminate repetition and guesswork from product development and delivery by continually checking for hundreds of frequent change points.

With product discovery, making a choice is simpler if you think about everything your app has to accomplish, including scalability, function as expected, and connecting to data and other systems. All desirable features may be included later as the product gains momentum in the market. Therefore, the discovery analysis carried out at the start of the discovery phase will help you prevent various flaws and faults while saving money on additional development.

Key Takeaway-  Companies that are keen to capitalize on emerging market trends must release products fast to the market. If you use product discovery early in the development process, you can exceed customer expectations and outperform your competitors with quicker development timelines.

04- MINIMIZE DEVELOPMENT RISKS AND DELAYS

According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 664 projects were delayed, while 425 out of 1,579 reported cost overruns.

Each investor has a unique level of risk tolerance. It goes without saying that low-risk applications are more likely to receive investment than high-risk ones. By doing product idea analysis as part of the discovery phase process, you can spot apparent risks, provide strategies to manage them, and lower the possibility of unexpected issues throughout the product development process.

Product discovery lays a significant focus on disclosing risks, from missed deadlines and delayed releases to low demand for planned product enhancements to price wars with competitors. You can avoid making risky decisions by thoroughly undergoing product discovery before kicking off the development process.

Key Takeaway-  The discovery session provides you with a range of crucial hypotheses and minimizes the risk of paying extra unnecessary expenses or delivering a product that doesn’t satisfy the needs of the target market.

05- PRIORITIZING THE MOST IMPORTANT FEATURES

Which aspect or element of your app is most crucial? Which one should you start with? Prioritization is a tough nut to crack in product development. However, the product discovery phase makes it easier to validate the functionalities that will be used the most frequently and bring in the most revenue. Your priority will be clarified by actual user data regarding their problems and expectations. You can work with stakeholders to set the product backlog’s priorities with the help of user input.

Key Takeaway- With product discovery, investors can know what the app can deliver from the start, allowing them to prioritize the most important features with significant parameters. It allows the team to focus on creating something that provides genuine value to customers.

Wrapping It Up

Most app businesses fail due to a lack of investment, as accessing investors can sometimes be challenging. However, product discovery will help narrow down the appropriate investors for your product, as its primary objective is to gain a deeper understanding of business objectives and requirements. This makes it possible for you to lay the groundwork for your mobile app development that will satisfy your company goals and start turning a profit right away. Needless to say, you should do some preliminary research before pitching your business concept or app proposal to investors. Investors will undoubtedly invest in your project if it appears groundbreaking to them.

Galaxy Weblinks has expertise in building software from the get-go, including serving clients through the discovery stage of a software project for a wide range of industries and delving deeply into your product concept and context while providing effective discovery consulting. Contact us, and we’ll assist you in every step of the product discovery process. We believe that a product’s success depends not only on its original concept but also on how well it is put into practice.

5 Reasons Building Your Startup App in Flutter Is Great for Business

Posted on by galaxy-admin

In this blog, we will take a look at the various pros and cons for startups if they choose Flutter to build their mobile applications. 

Mobile apps are instrumental in driving the success of most startups. You must choose a reliable framework to build your mobile application. We will be sharing with you the various reasons why we recommend Google’s Flutter to develop efficient and profitable apps for startups.

The age-old question – Native or Cross-Platform? 

The first decision that you need to make while building a mobile application is – 

  • Shall I go ahead with one application for all the platforms using Cross-platform technologies?
  • Does it make more sense to develop native applications for Android and iOS?. 

Advantages of building a Cross-Platform app for Startups: 

Low development and maintenance costs

Cross-platform is a budget-friendly and faster-to-deploy way of building an app. This is good news for most startups. Native apps on the other hand are costlier to make and maintain as there are different codebases to look after, update, or fix. Cross-Platform with a single codebase in comparison, is easier to make and maintain.

Quicker-to-market

Cross-platform app code is reusable and allows you to make apps for both platforms with a single codebase. As a result, the time-to-market becomes shorter. With native development, you’ll be spending twice the time to provide the same set of functionalities for two separate audience bases.

Plug-ins for every need

As cross-platform development has become a common practice, the plugin marketplace is crowded with plugins to make your developer’s life easier. Plugin eliminates the grunt work, hence making your mobile app development more efficient and flawless. 

Quick and easy testing

When you have a single codebase, you don’t have to hire different engineers with different skill sets to test a single app performance on different operating systems. Checking and optimizing a single app takes only half the time it takes for two apps with different codebases.

Looking at all these advantages, you may wonder why cross-platform isn’t a default for mobile app development already. Here is the catch!

The user experience of cross-platform applications is not at par with that of native applications. The applications are run through a code interpreter since they are not compiled as Native ARM code. As a result, the native apps are more intuitive and efficient. 

Enhanced UX with Flutter – 

Flutter is also a cross-platform development kit. However, it does things a little differently to provide a more native-like feel to your apps. Flutter leverages native UI elements of both Android and iOS. 

Here are some pros of using Flutter for mobile app development for Startups:

1. Better design and customizations 

Design is pivotal for any early-age startup app, as it needs to grab the attention of investors and users alike. Flutter comes equipped with rich UI features and intuitive designs that grab attention like lucrative crypto investments. You will also find custom widgets for Android and iOS quite useful, as it completes the native look of an app with a seamless and crisp UX. Among the list of countless widgets, Flutter is also equipped with Material Design for Android and Cupertino/ iOS widgets for iOS applications. 

2. Dart hits the target

Developed by Google, Dart is Flutter’s programming language. It significantly reduces the launch time of the application. Additionally, Flutter does not need to name OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) widgets because it utilizes its own. As a result, apps built on Flutter don’t require a JavaScript bridge, because Flutter skips the JavaScript bridge to connect directly with the native platform. 

3. Firebase for backend is great for startups

Firebase is Google’s backend solution and comes equipped with Flutter. It makes for a great backend solution, especially for mobiles. With Firebase, Flutter offers out-of-the-box and stable assistance, hosting solutions, real-time databases, and protocols for user authentication as well.

With Firebase’s release automation tool, mobile app launches and maintenance become more straightforward and seamless. 

4. The hottest feature of Flutter | Hot Reload

Hot reload allows developers to apply and check changes to the code in real-time. The feature allows developers to quickly fix bugs and issues without risking functionality and redeployment of the code. With Hot Reload, developers can add new functionality, fix bugs, and experiment in real-time. This feature can increase your developer efficiency up to 5X.

5. Smart Libraries for a functional UI

No matter if you’re developing an app for iOS, Android, or Google Fuchsia, you can easily gain access to widgets for the respective platforms. When you’re using Flutter as a UI creation tool, you can use widgets to integrate all the platform-based functionalities like scrolling, navigation, icons, and fonts.  

For business applications built for internal communications, ticketing systems, geolocation, and so on, Flutter offers powerful functionality to generate structured and intuitive UIs. These UIs rely on geographic locations along with the ability to change the UI based on language, text, and target area’s layout. 

How Much Does it Cost To Build A Startup App with Flutter in 2021?

Like any other app, the pricing of apps built on Flutter is correlated to its complexity. The simpler ones like a fitness app with suggestions, plans, and profile should cost you around $26000 to $34800. Compare that to a highly complex app like Instagram, it will set you back around $41,500 to $55,000.

Factoring in the cost of making two separate native apps in the picture makes the Startup app development with Flutter an even juicier proposition.

Closing Thoughts

Owing to its convenient libraries, customization widgets, and native-like experience, developers are preferring 4-year old Flutter over many older counterparts. Therefore, its framework is evolving at a great pace. Flutter does have some flaws. They include architectural approach and lack of third party integrations. However, the cost of building an app and other benefits outweigh its flaws to make it a good choice for Startups. 

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Mobile App?

Posted on by galaxy-admin

Turning your great mobile app idea into reality requires a significant amount of time, effort, and money. One of the most crucial questions towards this is “What is the cost of developing a custom mobile app”? Determining the cost is one of the most difficult tasks and requires a significant understanding of the overall development process. Even survey reports of the experts have a wide range of estimates – 

  • Clutch surveyed some of the world’s leading mobile app development companies to determine the average cost of mobile app development. And it yields startling results: “The average cost of app development ranges between $25,275 and $171,450.”
  • According to a VDC survey of enterprise app developers, mobile apps cost an average of $140,000 per app.
  • According to a Kinvey survey of CIOs, the average cost of app development is $270,000 per app.
  • According to an EMM survey, more than 75% of enterprises budgeted more than $250,000 for mobility solutions.

With such varied cost estimates for the development of a mobile app, we have listed a few important considerations that will help you identify the right cost estimate based on your requirements and will also help you in the selection of the right mobile app development company. 

1. Identify what type of app you are building

The type of app that your business needs will determine the overall design, functionalities, and cost. The more complex the app is, the more expensive it is to build one. Apps that cater to gaming, social networking, shopping, marketplaces, etc involve several features and functionalities that add to the pricing. These features include payment processing, in-app messaging, data security, geolocations, single sign-on, third-party integrations, etc. 

In addition to this, you have to identify the type of app that best suits your business objectives. Your costing is influenced by whether your app is hybrid or native. Developers create native apps for a specific operating system (mainly Android or iOS). Hybrid apps allow launching on multiple platforms simultaneously; thus reducing the development time for cross-platform builds. Native apps are typically expensive as they are built for specific platforms and provide a better user experience. 

2. Understanding the app development process 

Costs to develop a mobile app can be more accurately estimated by understanding the overall app development process. There are five key stages in the development process – Discovery, Design, Development, Testing/Deployment, and Marketing. The first two stages (Discovery and Design) help understand the requirements better and define the total costing. These stages are often given less importance which results in changes at later stages and project overruns. 

The Discovery stage ensures the real need for the app where the focus is given on the target market, users, and competition. Typically, the average cost of the Discovery stage varies between $5,000 and $10,000 and spans between two weeks and a month. A good mobile app development company focuses on the outcomes of this stage to move forward.  

In the Design stage, the app development company understands the key functionalities/features that the app needs to have. Based on these, they design the look of the app through wireframes, visual design, and user experience (UX) design. The cost of the Design stage varies considerably based on the number of screens in the app, typically ranging between $10,000 and $20,000 and could take up to a month.  

Both the Discovery and Design stages focus on the end-user to provide maximum customer satisfaction during their interaction with the company’s app. Additionally, they help better estimate the hours and costs required for Development and Testing/Deployment. Together these four stages cover the majority of the mobile app development costs. 

3. Pricing

Once you have narrowed down the complexity as well as time efforts needed to build several features/functionalities, the next crucial step is selecting the right mobile app development vendor based on their approach as well as their hourly rates to arrive at their final pricing. One important point to remember is that the cheapest quote is not always the best option.

The vendor’s approach to arrive at the final pricing is an important factor to distinguish between several vendors. The best way is to review a few proposals and compare the project plans and time estimates for each phase. Understand the # of hours, resources each vendor is proposing, and then compare their total costs.

Also, never pick a vendor purely based on their hourly rates. These rates depend on the region of the development company. The typical hourly rates for development activities based on regions are – 

  • Asia/Eastern Europe: $15-$30 / hour
  • South America: $30-$45 / hour
  • North America: $80+ / hour

Lastly, most vendors provide support/maintenance services, and their pricing can vary. Look at the monthly support hours each vendor is proposing and at what cost.

Given the importance of the Design stage in the overall app development process, it is crucial to hire a company that specializes in product design along with significant development experience. Galaxy’s UX Studio has been a unique differentiating factor from many of our competitors. If you’ve any doubts related to mobile app development and if you need assistance developing one, then feel free to talk to us here.

Hidden Cost of Building a Mobile App: The App Development Iceberg

Posted on by galaxy-admin

What is the cost of developing a custom mobile application? Clutch took a survey of some of the world’s leading mobile app development companies to determine the average cost of mobile app development. And it yields startling results:

“The average cost of app development ranges between $25,275 and $171,450.”

In reality, determining the cost of custom mobile app development globally is one of the most difficult tasks. Even expert survey reports do not have the same answers for you.

Let us take a look.

  • According to a VDC survey of enterprise app developers, mobile apps cost an average of $140,000 per app.
  • According to a Kinvey survey of CIOs, the average cost of app development is $270,000 per app.
  • According to an EMM survey, more than 75% of enterprises budgeted more than $250,000 for mobility solutions.

However, when it comes to actual app development, these figures are far from accurate.

The Digital Product Iceberg

The unseen 90 percent of an iceberg’s underwater mass helps with flotation, provides structure, and determines whether ships pass by easily or are surprised by a submerged underwater ice formation they thought they had cleared.

Much of the important work that goes into creating a digital product happens beneath the surface. The great unseen chunk that gives your product structure and ‘makes it do what it needs to do’ includes the user research, planning, interactions, objectives, functional requirements, and user experience strategy.

In other words, the work beneath the surface is what determines whether your digital product succeeds or fails. Failure to complete any part of that critical work will hurt your structure.

The Tip of The Iceberg

What is the cost of building a mobile application? This question remains common irrespective of the size of your company or your requirements. 

Several online calculators can be used to get an approximate idea, but they will give you an estimate with a price tag of $20,000 to $35,000 for an app built with a variety of features. Smaller apps with basic features will cost anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000, depending on the complexity.

We believe that the online calculators are unable to provide you with a breakdown of the development costs, only an estimate. If the estimate comes to $20,000 and $35,000, we must ask why the range is so vast. Costs of app development are affected by many factors and parameters. So, to get an accurate estimate of the app development cost, you’ll need to understand how each factor affects the cost.

The estimated amount for support and maintenance cost, as well as the app’s complexity, play a large role in determining the cost of app development. This is difficult to estimate. It has been our experience that in 2021, the average cost of developing an app runs from $40,000 on the low end for a simple app to over $200,000 for a complex enterprise app. This cost can go down by around 30% if you opt for outsourcing the mobile application development.

Most likely, you’re looking at the higher end of this range if you need a highly functional digital product that works on multiple platforms and devices and can integrate with an overwhelming number of third-party apps, is visually appealing, is hosted in the cloud, and uses smartphone hardware features (like GPS, motion coprocessor, NFC technology, etc.).

What’s Beneath the Surface

In addition, you’ll have to think about ongoing maintenance costs. If the technology changes, something breaks, or you want new features, who will keep your app up to date? Other one-off solutions may require you to contact a Dev shop years later in hopes of getting a response. Most likely, it will be given to someone who has never seen your app before. Your full-time developer can cost you upwards of $90,000 per year in salary.

Maintenance is made easier for you by having a relationship with the company that built your app, but there are still costs associated with that. Apps, like websites, require a monthly hosting fee. The cost of continuously monitoring the performance of your app to ensure that your audience isn’t having problems will also be incurred. Unfortunately, people rarely report bugs, preferring instead to delete the app. In addition, you’ll need to budget for updates as iOS and Android evolve, plus licensing fees.

Avoiding the Product Shipwreck

Your digital product is doomed if your users are unhappy. Too many companies are doing things backward, and that is creating massive problems. It is estimated that they spend 90% of their time thinking about the surface-level app development, and only 10% of their time (we’re being generous) on the app development planning that needs to support the entire product. These companies have omitted crucial steps that are necessary for users to be guided properly. Instead of starting from scratch, they’re tempted to make assumptions. It’s a project shipwreck for you. 

Considering all of these factors, you may be wondering how anyone manages to create an app they’re proud of in the first place. It’s a lot to keep track of, from conception to creation and maintenance. App development can be done in a variety of ways: using a no-code platform, hiring a creative agency or dev shop, or working with a digital product design agency. Everything comes down to choosing the right approach for you in the long run.

To avoid shipwrecking your users, plan your app development approach before even thinking about the cost.

There is a lot of infrastructure behind every application. Think beyond the action you want users to take when building an app. This usually necessitates partnering with a digital agency that can help dig into the research, strategize, create a delightful user experience, and course correct any issues that arise.

Where To Start

Working with a creative agency or a dev shop is likely to be easier, but neither can provide a comprehensive approach to the problem at hand. They can help you create an app that works properly and help you fix any problems you run into along the way. As a result of their technical expertise, they may not anticipate every user’s need or provide an aesthetically pleasing final product. However, a creative agency may not have the technical expertise you require.

Sometimes the best solution is to hire an agency that specializes in digital product design and development. Help with brainstorming, user experience, design, and execution is available from a digital agency. With a long-term partner for your app’s development, you can scale and grow.

Saving Money on Product Development – Tips and Tricks

Posted on by galaxy-admin

When it comes to product development, it’s good to shoot for the stars and be ambitious. Ideas are immense fun on paper; execution, however, is another story altogether. The viability of ideas surfaces only when we try to build on them. Without proper expectations, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s important and over-exhaust your budget. So, how to strike the right balance and build great products, within your budget without compromising quality? 

Planning is crucial

There’s a common mistake that people make while planning a product. They opt for outcome-based planning and not process-based. It doesn’t matter if you know everything at the outset, what matters is how you manage the risks.

Planning instead should be about:

  • Making assumptions about the reality of the product
  • How the production is going to work
  • What are the expected results?

What typical planning includes: 

  • Goals – Goals outline what you want your product to deliver. It could be increased sales, recognition, building a community, or providing a service. They help you determine your offerings – an app or a website, essential functionalities, and what channels will be the most suitable for the distribution of the product. They also assist in aligning the small tasks with the bigger picture.
  • Target group –  Identifying and understanding your customers is the most crucial thing to get right. You can start by filtering your customer base with age, place, lifestyle, and needs.  Focusing on a group will help you separate must-have features from the ones that are only for show.
     
  • Timeline – Developing and testing are just a part of the development cycle. You must also account for internal approvals and marketing activities early on while creating a timeline. The number of stakeholders involved and time taken for feedback can significantly affect the time to deploy. Setting an accurate and realistic schedule will have a direct impact on productivity. 
  • Budget – Needless to say, budget determines the direction and speed of product development. A well-defined budget will help you choose the right solutions and leverage the money at hand efficiently.
     
  • Solution – Deciding on the technologies is just as crucial as determining the budget. It’s always a good idea to consult specialists to choose the right set of technologies for your product. Utilize the discovery phase call with the specialists to pin down technologies best suited for your goals. Then use that information to build a detailed plan of product implementation.  

Simplicity over complexity

‘Keeping it simple’ is not only good for product transparency but it also aids in budget management. Unnecessary complexity is the foe for your product. 

Making the calls on essential features and cutting down on the ones you don’t need is the most effective money-saving advice in product development. While it’s easy to go down the path of excessive development for more features, it costs money. And not to forget, that today’s modular technologies allow us to easily add features in subsequent stages when the demand arises. Try taking the MVP route.

Bad choices are costly

Good products come at a price but cheaper alternatives cost more. A poor product leaves a bad taste on users, needs numerous refactors, and has serious vulnerabilities that require frequent patches. This eventually results in a far costlier, but inferior product. 

Go Agile 

By principle, Agile is doing the same amount of work but in short and iterative cycles that aids in tiny achievable goals with fewer delays and faster feedback implementation. Agile teams leverage instantaneous channels for communication to reduce the need for reworks because real-time communication facilitates active participation in the process and immediate reaction to potential errors. 

Outsource entirely

When you’re working on a complex project, outsourcing is one way to ensure that you have access to a large talent pool based on your project requirements. With outsourcing, you can choose between flexible engagement models and opt for the one which suits your budget and project requirements. You would know what to expect and ensure timely deliveries.

You can also hire resources in-house but this may not be the most cost-effective option. By outsourcing, you’re paying for the expertise that you need for a specific time. It is your instant and efficient access to the manpower that can often save significant time and money. 

Saving money on product development can be as easy as avoiding a few mistakes. We recommend that you use a sensible mixture of the above tips and save a substantial amount while maintaining the product quality. 

Leveraging MVP For Your Business

Posted on by galaxy-admin
MVP is your product idea with the bare necessary features that you will test with real users. Feedback received from this stage will then be used for developing your actual product. The response from your MVP sets the direction of your product and answers essential questions like:
  • Is your idea marketable?
  • Will the users pay for your idea in the future?
  • Does your MVP solve the problem as you anticipated it?
  • What additional features users expect in your product?
Your MVP gives a reality check of the viability of your product, hence it’s vital not to skip it.

Why is MVP necessary?  

To further elaborate on the importance of MVP and to convince anyone who says otherwise, reason with them with the points below:
  • An MVP lets you test a basic product before it goes for design and development stages, thereby saving you time and effort.
  • Helps you in identifying a group of early adopters for future testing.
  • Is cost-effective viability and feasibility check.
  • Gives you insight into user expectations concerning your product.

When does MVP come into play? 

The obvious answer here is right after the ideation of your product. However, there are times when you take the MVP route apart from this. If you wish to venture into a new category in your existing product. For example, you are an online bakery shop with great reach and wish to leverage your brand to diversify offerings. You are thinking of including frozen food in your product offerings. You need to see if there is a separate website to be developed or you can integrate the new products into the existing one. If you wish to revamp your older website with a new design and improved UI. There will be a new color scheme, different navigation, basically a complete makeover. You can create an MVP for both scenarios to see your response. Your existing customer base can be reached out for their inputs on the new MVPs and give their feedback on whether your vision is being reflected in the new design. So the scope of MVP is not restricted to just a new product, it can be for:
  • New features
  • Different design
  • Introducing your product to newer demographics

Which MVP model to go for?

The decision to build an MVP of your product is not complete yet. You need to select which MVP  model is feasible for you to build with the available resources and timeline. Here are the most popular ones.

Landing page MVP

You create a landing page with the basics:
  • A description of your product
  • How is it different from your competitors, i.e. your USP
  • A CTA button can be added for signing up for newsletters, more content about your product, contact information, etc.
Buffer went with the landing page MVP. Google Ads helped Joe Gascoigne got 120 sign-ups and was able to talk to many of them to get their thoughts on his product and what they liked the most about it.

Explainer videos MVP 

In this, you create a video, preferably a short one that describes your product and a demo of your product in action. You will need access to your audience, via their email IDs, or targeted ads. Animated videos can also be created here. Videos are known for higher engagement rates when compared to text, so you have a chance of creating a buzz on social media as well. Dropbox’s four-minute-long video went viral, and they got the attention of the potential users within a short period, thanks to the video.

Wizard of Oz MVP

This is the “Fake it till you make it” scenario! In this, the customer interacts with your product thinking that it’s the final one. But in the background, a person will be handling the responses to your customer. The tasks performed by your team will eventually be done by certain algorithms or automated technology. But before you invest your time in that, you wish to see if users need it. Plus you get user responses this way that will act as the base for your future assumptions. Jeff Bezos similarly launched Amazon from his garage.

Concierge MVP

Concierge MVP is helping your users manually to achieve their end goals. Every customer that visits you, will be guided by a human resource. Via this method, you get a one on one conversation with your real users and understand their pain points. It’s testing the waters yourself! You interact with your users and incorporate their feedback to your original idea. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to develop a complete prototype to test as you are present to guide your users. Airbnb started similarly. Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky tested if people were willing to stay in houses and build a website around the same concept and three people signed up.

Email MVP

The starter pack for this method is an email list and a good response rate from the same list. Sending a product via email is way more convenient than building a website. However, a good click rate is a must, otherwise, your emails are of no use due to lack of feedback. An existing user base can be helpful here as they are familiar with your product and brand. They will be more willing to spare a few minutes as opposed to shooting emails to strangers. A lack of response can lead to a dead-end here, so it must be avoided at all costs. Ryan Hoover’s Product Hunt received a huge response from the emails he sent and could thus leverage that for creating a successful platform. Everything said, skipping an MVP is never a good start. Numerous options can be taken to see the viability of your product. They vary as per resource availability, timeline, and tech friendliness. If you think that developing an MVP involves a lot of work, call us, and we will make the MVP journey smooth for you. About us  We specialize in delivering end-to-end software design & development services. Our digital product experts are creative problem-solvers with a decade of experience in all facets of digital and interactive design and development. We create compelling and human-focused web and mobile experiences delivered through clean, and minimalistic UI.

How to decide what’s the right tech stack for your Mobile/Web App?

Posted on by galaxy-admin

Choosing the best technology to build a robust solution is a very crucial decision. This is the third step while planning mobile and web application development. It comes after establishing the business perspective and product structure. With large companies, in-house and offshore developers typically make the choice collaboratively. It’s more complicated if you’re a small startup.

The decision will generally decide whether your mobile and web application will perform well and be scalable. It will also impact your budget! A well-chosen tech stack gives a competitive advantage and helps it grow, whereas the wrong technology can set you back by months.

This article will give you insights on things you need to know about the tech stack, and some clues for making smart decisions when the time comes.

Differences Between Web and Mobile App Tech Stack

What is a tech stack anyway? Bluntly put, it’s a set of software tools, databases, frameworks, programming languages, and technologies that are used to build a mobile, web app, or a website.

Web applications are generally internet-enabled. Thus, users don’t have to download them to access it. Web app tech stack uses the resources provided by the system. In this way, to build a web app, you will need to use a combination of front-end and back-end technologies.

Mobile apps are created for a specific mobile platform, i.e. a particular environment and cannot be replicated to another environment. To use a mobile app, the user should download it from the app/play store. Thus, apart from front-end and back-end technologies, to build a mobile app, you should use platform-oriented technologies – Swift and Objective-C for iOS and Java or Kotlin for Android app development.

Front-end technologies include:

  • HTML/HTML5
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • UI-frameworks and libraries: ReactJS, AngularJS, React, jQuery, and others

HTML and CSS Toolkit

There are several frameworks used for CSS and HTML. Some of them include:

  • Pure
  • Materialize
  • Susy
  • Bootstrap
  • UIkit
  • Bulma
  • Foundation

Popular choices among them are Foundation and Bootstrap. While Foundation is ideal for developing nimble, responsive websites, Bootstrap uses HTML, CSS, and jQuery library to make responsive web pages,

JavaScript Frameworks For Front-End Development

Modern web applications use JavaScript in the front-end. We have listed the best frontend frameworks to use in 2021 for web and mobile applications.

Back-end technologies include:

  • Operating system
  • Web server: Apache, Nginx
  • Databases: Neo4j, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and others
  • Programming languages:  Objective-C, Python, PHP, Java, C#, and others
  • Cloud infrastructures and services: AWS, Heroku, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and others.
  • Various frameworks build over programming languages: Django, .NET, Node.js, and others;

Once again, we have listed the best backend frameworks to use in 2021 that you may use.

Here are a few types of popular back-end tech stack combinations used mostly:

LAMP Stack

The LAMP stack helps in building an environment for running PHP applications. It’s used for hosting websites on Linux. The stack is made up of the following technologies: Linux (the environments OS), Apache (the HTTP server), MySQL (the database), and PHP (the server-side programming language).

Wins Stack

Windows Internet Naming Service (Wins) is another back-end stack that consists of a Windows server, internet information services, .Net, and Microsoft SQL Server. It’s a system that is used to determine the IP address associated with a particular network computer.

MEAN Stack

The mean stack consists of MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, and Node.js. It is more of a full-stack structure. It‘s an open-source JavaScript software stack for building dynamic websites and web applications.

Xampp Stack

Xampp toolkit consists of X, Apache, MySQL or MariaDB, PHP, Perl. AMP stack lets you install Apache, MySQL, and PHP on your computer together with some other useful software. It’s designed to provide you an easy installation experience.

MERN Stack

MERN consists, MongoDB, Express, React/Redux, and Node.js. The MERN stack is very similar to the MEAN stack. This stack is sought after because of the growth in popularity of ReactJS in front-end development and NodeJS in back-end development and is useful for building high-end single-page applications.

Choosing the right Tech Stack | 11 must-know things

Your choice of technology stack should be based primarily on the quality and functional requirements you want to have in your app or website. If that tech stack can develop all the desired features and functions you want, then, it’s the right choice.

The Size & Complexity of the Project

One of the key factors to watch out for is the size of your project. The tech stack needed for a mid-sized or even large project will vary from that needed for a small project. Besides the size, the complexity of the project also matters a lot. Complex projects ask for thorough technologies and tools.

The Product Functionality and Specification 

You need to be sure that your defined functionalities should solve the problems of your target audience. It makes sense to run this step after or along with market research to find out what products already exist and what additional specifications your software needs to have to beat the competition. According to this, you will be able to choose your right set of tools.

Products’ Required Speed and Functions

It goes forward to double-check the compatibility and efficiency rate of pairing a project and tech stack. Here, the functions, and speed expected with the project is supposed to deliver to its users well, which goes a long way in determining which tech stack to use.

System Load Requirements

This is another very important aspect to pay attention to. Several projects have different processing loads and therefore not all tech stacks can serve all processing load requirements. With this, you will need to compare your prospective product processing loads with the capacity of the tech stack to ensure that it can meet that need.

Clearly defined requirements for MVP

MVP is the imperative to the mobile & web application development process of a product. As a bare-bones set of crucial elements, MVP is generally designed for experimental proof of the competitiveness and viability of the product in a real market situation. Thus, it’s essential to understand what matters to an app right from the start and what technologies will be needed in the future.

Scalability Requirements

It’s essential to understand that there are two types of scalability — horizontal and vertical.

Horizontal scalability means the capability of running on more devices. Vertical scalability helps in adding more elements to an application. Both are equally important for the growth and efficient operation of the product.

The tech stack you choose should be able to support your app as it scales up. When you are ready to enhance your productivity, your tech stack should be equipped with the right tools, frameworks, and aspects that would step up the process without wasting time or money. As the app landscape is dominated by MVP models, your stack should be able to support upgrade and scalability at various stages after the launch of a prototype without complicating things.

Performance Requirements

The influence of performance stats comes from two sources. One from the business requirement and the other is what the technology is capable of in a situation.

Performance requirements determine how fast the system can react and how many requests the system can process at what rate. Since the whole operation must react to thousands of events at millisecond speed – it makes sense to pick the most reliable option.

Costs

Budgeting the tech stack is probably the trickiest thing in the entire development process. Why? Well, software development is not precisely writing on a piece of paper with a pencil — it demands a significant financial resource to get the job done. There are:

  • Subsequent maintenance costs
  • Technology education & licensing fees
  • Developers’ salaries
  • Hosting costs for keeping the product

The trick is to avoid overspending wherever possible, avoid bloating, and balance things out.

DevOps & security requirement

The kind of DevOps practices you are used to, as well as the level of the security requirement, is a crucial factor, too. Will your app just serve as an informational hub for end-users or your app will manage their financial data?

If you need to manage user data, security is of paramount importance and hence, you should also consider choosing a tech stack that always facilitates a high-end security framework to fulfill app development goals.

Maintenance

The Tech stack should be easy to manage without lengthy codes. If your tech stack confuses your developers with complex codes and takes a long time to process and complete a task, then you might get stuck after a point in development.

At the same time, choosing a stack that has a very illegible coding structure can lead to additional spending on training and development of resources. So, your focus should be on finding a tech stack on which code is easy to maintain for your development team.

Seek out professional guidance

If you are new to the world of application tech stacks, then seeking out the help of an IT professional is a good idea. These professionals will be able to provide the guidance needed to get the best tech stack components.

Conclusion

These are the essential things you need to know about Tech Stack as a concept and how it affects the development of a project and defines its prospects.

With these tips, you will be able to navigate in the vast sea of options, not get caught in the shuffle, or lose sight of your goals.

Contact Us right away to discuss your website or app development tech stack according to your business requirement and complexities.

About Galaxy Weblinks

We specialize in delivering end-to-end software design & development services and have hands-on experience with large, medium, and startup business development requirements. Our engineers also help in improving security, reliability, and features to make sure your business application scale and remain secure.

3 Remote work problems and how to deal with them

Posted on by galaxy-admin

Since Covid-19 is what everyone is talking about, so we are going to spare you the gruesome pandemic details. Instead we’re going to talk about remote work challenges and how to deal with it.

In order to flatten the curve numerous industries have ceased operations, while some which can still be operational with distributed teams are trying to make the most of it.

Modern jobs are suitable for a distributed workforce but working remotely and managing teams while sitting miles apart is more difficult than it seems.

A little background about remote work before we begin. It was in 1983 that a legend named Steve Roberts showed the world that working remotely is possible; when he embarked on a 17,000 mile trek across America. All he had was bicycle and a solar powered portable computer on which he penned his iconic book ‘Computing across america’.

Since we are not on a bicycle trekking/working across America, this should be fairly easy for us with an arsenal of tools that are literally made to serve remote work, right? The truth is, while it is relatively easier but it isn’t a cakewalk either.

There are other problems that we need to take into consideration while talking about work that thrives on collaboration.

1. Having to work in Isolation

In contrast to a remote working environment teams in offices solve problems by arguing, empathizing, and celebrating together. The informal chats of the peers away from their desks is also one of the contributing factors to the birth of new ideas.

Whereas in a remote environment there are no such opportunities or need of small talk or relationship building. As a result people feel disconnected from their coworkers. Just to get everyone on the same page remote work requires a lot of communicating and alignment.

What to do?

Filling communication gaps with tools

There are a lot of tools to facilitate real time communication in between teams. You also have to make it clear to your team that these tools are not strictly for work communication.

Try to initiate casual and transparent communication by hopping through tools like Slack or Skype to check in on your coworkers to see how they are doing. Share funny news or memes to keep it light and to let them know that it’s okay to slack.

2. No structure or discipline

Unplanned sessions and meetings help maintain a sense of constant ideation and alignment.  The problems are discussed and solved in real time with immediate feedback. It’s not that ideal for a distributed team.

What to do?

Scheduled check-ins with flexible agendas

Getting meetings on a calendar can help you establish a structure that in turn keeps your team regular in communication and in deliveries. Slack can be your friend here, as you can make separate channels for informal conversations, ideas, agendas, task status, and updates.

For the people who need urgent assistance they can get on a call with concerned coworkers easily.

3. Deadlines delaying Burnout

One week you will be full of fresh ideas and energy to execute them and the next you’ll be entertaining your imposter. Isolation might lead to other problems that might not surface in an office environment when you’re working alongside other people.

Being sedentary all day in isolation might make you less productive eventually causing a burnout.

What to do?

Put everything on the calendar

Identify your most productive hours and working from there define your time slots for working and slacking for the day. When you give yourself time to go outside away from the screen and allow your mind to wander, you feel refreshed and relaxed. Avoiding onset of a potential burnout.

The secret to good remote work is treating it like you would at your office. Start small like taking shower and getting dressed before logging in, then move on to more important stuff like checking in with your manager for feedback and informal chat. Like everything difficult, remote work demands discipline and discipline starts with small meaningful steps.

8 essential tools your startup will need in 2020

Posted on by galaxy-admin

When it comes to choosing the right tools, it’s important to choose the ones that make sense for your needs and work best for you.

While defining what’s right for you, you must consider cost efficiency, productivity, ROI, and the number of third-party app integrations.

Don’t sweat we’ve saved the labour for you, here is a list of the fastest growing tools to be useful in 2020 for a startup.

1. Take workstream collab to a whole new level

When working with a remote team, calling and emailing each other is not the way to get things done. Infact, relying on platform that keeps all the communication styles together is crucial.

Slack is the most used team conversation tool among smaller and independent users. Around 60% of startups pay for Slack’s workplace communications software. It is popular among group that’s more platform-agnostic, integrating almost 800 apps.

Trusted by: Upwork, Gitlab, Pinterest, Salesforce, and more.

2. They say only the most organized will survive!

Every startup needs a desk manager where you can store all your ideas. Where you can manage broad-range of projects and daily To-dos.

Asana streamlines projects and prevents details from slipping through the cracks. It’s a great tool for start-ups which have several clients and multiple ongoing projects. The tool is popular among small to medium-sized teams because of its easy task workflows.

Trusted by: Airbnb, Dropbox, Khanacademy, Lyft, and more.

3. Ensure your brand reach with social engagement

Your business’ online presence is vital for your marketing and brand image. Using the right social media monitoring and management tools you can enhance customer engagement.

Buffer lets you manage and schedule posts on many social media channels. You can even schedule all your content at once or schedule before days, saving you a lot of time. It’s quite an essential tool for businesses starting with online marketing.

Trusted by: WebFX, AJ&Smart, Huckberry, The Seattle Times, and more.

4. Communication works for those who work at it

If you are just starting, you are not going to have customer service and sales team right from the very start. You need a way to communicate in the most efficient way with the users.

Drift lets you integrate chatbots and real-time conversations on your website. It provides a full suite of tools for live chat, scheduling sales meetings, and more. This marketing and sales platform helps to generate more qualified leads.

Trusted by: MongoDB, HubSpot, TreeRing, Clio, and more.

5. Add real-time feedback in your business decisions

Survey tools help in reaching your goal of offering best product to your customer. As customer feedback helps from validating your MVP to choosing ideal marketing strategy.

SurveyGizmo is an online survey platform for small businesses or intermediate users. It conducts and creates questionnaires, quizzes, polls, and surveys. This tool can also get integrated into other digital, and social media platforms.

Trusted by: Adobe, Verizon, Sonos, The Home Depot, and more.

6. Solve user problems with intuitive designs

Screen has become the most important place in the world. People look at screens so much so that they’ve developed a critical eye for designs. It’s now more important than ever to adopt tools for design management, prototyping, design, and ideation.

Figma is a design tool for complex prototyping, wireframing and UX design. It is ahead of Sketch and InVision in areas of learning curve, design layout, app speed, and interface. It has also outranked Adobe XD in connecting processes of prototyping, and design.

Trusted by: Zoom, Uber, Berkley, Dribbble, and more.

7. Change the way your development team creates software

Changing your development workflow again and again is not a good idea for your business. Especially if your company relies on its software for mission-critical applications. That’s where you need a distributed version control system.

Git is a favorite among millions of developers and open source contributors. You can build software, manage projects, host and review code. Git is a frontrunner among Bitbucket, Microsoft TFS, Glitlab and more.

Trusted by: Netflix, Reddit, Lyft, Shopify, and more.

8. Enhance performance with loaded security and testing

Manual testing is slow and error-prone. This is where test automation tools shine. These are best poised to take advantage of the latest automation trends like ML as well.

Ranorex Studio has a comprehensive set of features for web, mobile, desktop, and API testing. It also provides all in one test automation across devices, platforms, and technologies. It integrates with tools like Travis CI, Git, TestRail, Jenkins, Jira, and more.

Trusted by: Varigence, Sage, Cisco, Fujitsu, and more.

Software industry is very dynamic, hundreds of tools are released on a daily and they disappear just as fast. For the very reason choosing a reliable and promising solution can go a long way in ensuring your business’ stability.

We have an end-to-end experience of working with organizations big and small. If you need design or development related assistance, we’re always happy to help.