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Common missteps to avoid in business application development

Aug 03 2016

There are several mistakes that cause business applications to fail.
There are several mistakes that cause business applications to fail.
When it comes to developing a new business application, creating a perfect one is challenging. There are countless ways that organizations can stumble during the process, leading to an application that fails to meet users' needs.

A recent article from InformationWeek examined the challenges app developers face in greater detail.

"Most enterprise mobile apps have a long way to go before they can be considered great mobile apps," the article reads. "Unfortunately, apps often fail for the same reason over and over, with organizations neglecting to see the problems before it's too late. Soon, user adoption plummets, shadow apps (those not approved by IT) become commonplace and your business begins to suffer."

The article goes on to talk about several specific examples that recur through the business landscape. These include:

Giving in to every demand - When creating an application for enterprise use, it is usually not practical to give users everything they want. The problem is that creating a program that answers every single demand can take a much longer to develop. Instead, the focus should be on addressing the core challenges, completing the launch and being ready to start incorporating feedback to make the app better.

Copy an existing business process - New applications should be designed with an eye toward the business processes that will be useful in the future. Because of this, apps should be new systems and not simply a different way to do complete existing processes. This can also handcuff developers and stifle innovation.

Not connecting to your business - If your app has groundbreaking capabilities for collecting and analyzing data, but does not connect to the broader business infrastructure, it will create complications by forcing users to complete another step outside the program.

Despite these challenges, any organizations should be able to create an effective business application with the help of a custom application development company.