How Mobile Apps aid in driving Digital Transformation

How Mobile Apps aid in driving Digital Transformation

Introduction

Smartphones have become very critical in our day to day lives. The growing number of smartphone users, 3.5 billion at present, proves this. This has also given birth to a new phenomenon called mobile apps. These gadgets are hollow devoid of mobile apps. There is a reason for the same as well. The apps make life easier for both customers as well as the companies. As far as companies or businesses are concerned, they can easily establish a connection with customers through messaging via apps. However, the message has to be relevant for the customers. This means that the information should pertain to offers, discounts etc. As for customers, apps make it convenient for them to find a product or a service they desire. This is possible only if the app is devised with customer satisfaction in mind. In order to develop such an app it is better to approach an experienced mobile app development company. Hence, the benefits of apps are endless for both the parties if they are properly designed.

Stats are an eye-opener

The statistics provided underneath makes it clear why businesses need mobile applications now more than ever:

  • 21% of Millennial open an app over 50 times daily
  • Mobile apps drive 57% of total digital media usage
  • It is being observed that a user with 80 apps is using up to 40 apps per month
  • Users are expected to download 258.2B mobile apps in 2022

These numbers prove that the popularity of app is soaring and going forward the figures are going to be phenomenal.

What is Digital transformation?

There is a misconception doing the rounds that digital transformation is a process of maximizing the use of technology in a company. The theory is based on the fact that increased use of technology will lead to improved experiences of employees, customers, and other stakeholders. This is nothing but a flawed theory. To be precise, digital transformation is a phenomenon that goes beyond extending the scope of technology. So, what is it? It is a wider cultural transition that aids organizations to adopt an innovative approach that refuses to accept the status quo, and prompts businesses to learn from failure. Digital transformation is not just about incorporating digitalization into diverse areas of your business. It, in fact, changes the way companies function apart from providing genuine value to customers.

How mobile apps are accelerating digital transformation?

A mobile app is very much instrumental in making digital transformation a success story. In the current scenario, apps have become crucial in time spent on mobile phones. From routine surfing to making purchases, everything is facilitated through mobile apps. Even for businesses these apps serve as an ideal platform to establish good relationships with their customers. Hence, mobile applications offer myriad scope to the businesses and bring every aspect of a business on a single platform.

Also Read : How To Develop World Class Android App ?

4 Ways in which apps are transforming business digitally

Providing customers easy access to your business

A mobile app provides your customers with easy and quick access to your team members anytime and anywhere. The app comes with a ‘chat’ feature which companies these days utilize for communication purposes. It has become easier for customers to send their queries to the company. Companies can then respond to these queries in line with the volume of queries and messages received. Businesses can either choose a real-time response at specific hours or 24/7customer service, depending upon what suits them the most. Hence, this is one way in which mobile apps have digitally transformed the business.

Merging AI technology to serve customers

Another way in which mobile app is leading the way in digital transformation of business is through Artificial intelligence (AI) tools. AI is a technology that mimics human traits and then performs functions like humans. The technology enables businesses to interact with their customers in a better way so as to know them really well. Majority of the companies are employing AI technology while creating mobile apps. Some of the AI technologies being used are Natural Language Generation, Natural Language Processing, Speech Recognition Technology, Chat Bots etc. For example, Chatbots communicate with the consumers and register their responses. Hence, it serves the purpose of a virtual assistant for your consumers.

Enhancing functionalities of app through IoT

Internet of Things is basically about taking the power of the internet beyond computers and smartphones to other things or processes. This has increased the functionality of mobile apps as well. Everything pertaining to our lives, be it homes or even toilets, can be accessed via mobile apps on our smartphones. You might have heard of ‘Smart Homes’, where all the home devices are linked to the internet and can be managed easily with an app installed on your phone. So, the apps are no longer just about showing products or providing information. It has become more advanced thanks to IoT. This is another way through which apps are successfully accelerating digital transformation.

Triggering loyalty via real-time app analytics

In the current scenario, businesses thrive on real-time analytics. The real-time analytics has the propensity to make or mar your business. Also these days usage of mobile apps has gone significantly higher. The apps are also enabling businesses to access useful insights pertaining to consumers such as buying pattern, frequency of purchase etc. Thus, the collection of the real-time analytics allows companies to devise appropriate strategies to deal with customers effectively. If utilized properly, the real time app analytics can be beneficial for both companies as well as the customers. For instance, if you are using real-time analytics and a customer happens to be in the vicinity of your outlet, notifications regarding offers or discounts on the products will be instantly dispatched to him or her. This kind of prompt and coordinated technology makes consumers realize their importance to the company and inculcate in them a sense of loyalty towards the business or brand.

Conclusion

So, it would be quite fair to say that mobile applications are critical in accelerating the process of digital transformation in businesses. In order for making a successful transition towards digitalization, companies need to give more importance to mobile app development. Hence, it can be safely concluded that mobile apps drive digital transformation of businesses and help companies gain significant edge over their competitors in a crowded marketplace.

What are the advantages of cross-platform mobile app development?

What are the advantages of cross-platform mobile app development?

Introduction

If you think that your business requires a mobile app, then the immediate and foremost question that pops up in your mind is, “Do I go for a native mobile app or a cross-platform mobile app?” Despite your choice of platform hinging predominantly on the platform your target audience enjoys spending time on, going for cross-platform mobile app development makes the prospect of your app turning successful and well-known in less time than a native mobile app. Dissimilar to native mobile apps, which operates solely on a single operating system, cross-platform apps are very versatile, have a single code base and operate on several operating systems.

Two chief types of cross-platform mobile apps happen to be:

Native’ Platform Mobile Apps

Through the assistance of a third-party vendor, these apps are developed with the API given by the native operating system SDK (Software Development Kit), in other programming languages without the backing of the operating system vendor. The final app utilizes native APIs and has a sole cross-platform codebase, which results in a higher native feel compared to a hybrid app.

Hybrid ‘HTML5’ Cross-Platform Mobile Apps:

These are primarily written as a web application with contemporary web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. The final app is attached within a thin native container, which permits it to operate on any device notwithstanding several browser-centric limitations. But, these apps most of the time are unable to get a native look and feel akin to native cross-platform apps. Apart from being quite adaptable and simple to build, cross-platform mobile apps benefit both clients and developers with a lot of worthwhile and tangible benefits.

Benefits of Cross-Platform Mobile App Development

One App Instead of Many:

In case you opt for the option of cross-platform, your developers will not be required to write new code for each platform. Rather, they can opt for the same code on various platforms. Utilizing a single code base on all platforms not only reduces routine activities but also turn the job of maintenance and deployment very convenient for developers. This is a big advantage with a cross-platform mobile app development.

Remain Uniform Throughout:

A pleasurable and seamless user experience (UX) is the recipe for success as far as an app is concerned. A beautifully thrashed out UX of an app needs to perform uniformly on all devices. Keeping similar user interface design on all platforms, cross-platform development provides users with the same incredible app experience irrespective of the device they’re using the app.

Integrate with the Cloud Seamlessly

The other distinct advantage with cross-platform apps is that they can be integrated swiftly and comfortably with cloud environments and enterprise-level plug-ins. To put it simply, cross-platform apps gel with anything and everything and can leverage several plug-ins and extensions for improved app experience, expandability and functionality.

Swift Release:

Cross-platform development offers developers the facility to reutilize the code within the app many times and hugely reduces the time required to introduce the app to the public. Further, instead of building various apps, simply one app would suffice. This can spare developers a lot of precious time, permitting them to offer the project in a short duration.

Zilch Technical Hurdles:

Cross-platform development can be very beneficial for developers as they don’t have to learn new, platform-centric languages such as Objective-C, Swift or Java. Any developer with familiarity in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript can easily begin with cross-platform app development. Also, these languages can be learned quickly than a totally new platform specific language.

More reach with less promotional efforts:

Standard rule stipulates that the large number of platforms you develop an app for, larger the audience you can reach out to. Developing the app for various platforms such as iOS, Android, Windows, and BlackBerry also minimizes your promotional initiatives as the majority of people will become familiar with your app. The other significant benefit is that you don’t have to make niche messages to attract a certain segment of audience.

Minimizes Development and Maintenance Expenses:

Clients requiring a cross-platform mobile application for their business will only need a small team of professionals well versed in a particular kind of technologies, which brings down the whole development expenditure regarding the project. As there is only a single app to deal and update, maintenance expenditures come down in comparison to managing and updating various apps for several platforms.

5 highly Desired Cross-Platform Mobile App Development Tools

In the past building a cross-platform mobile app used to be a very tall order fraught with a lot of difficulties and risks. But, with the enormous growth of cross-platform mobile app development tools, the scenario has transformed rapidly. Developers these days are leveraging these tools to churn out app with less hiccups. In this endeavor let us explore some well-known cross-platform mobile app development tools and platforms that can bring down your development time and efforts.

1.  Xamarin

The hugely popular and commonly used tool to develop native cross-platform mobile apps with the potency of C# programming language and.NET framework. It is owned by Microsoft!

2.  React Native

React Native happens to be an open source app development framework from Facebook to create cross-platform native mobile apps with the help of JavaScript and React.js. An ideal foil for Agile Development!

Also Read : React Native Or Xamarin ? Which One Is Best ?

3.  NativeScript

Another effective open source framework to make cross-platform mobile apps having a native look and feel with JavaScript, TypeScript or Angular. It even assists the Vue.js framework!

4.  Appcelerator Titanium

This is a leading open-source framework that permits developers to make native mobile apps for several platforms with a single JavaScript code base. A very good option for developers with knowledge in JS.

5.  PhoneGap

Earlier known as Apache Cordova, PhoneGap is a famous framework to create cross-platform hybrid mobile apps with the efficiencies of HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.

Lastly

Going by the afore-mentioned points it can be safely concluded that cross-platform app development is ideal compared to other methods. The chief reason being less expensive and time-consuming. If you are planning a mobile app for your business then consider the cross-platform development process.

React Native or Iconic Framework: Take your pick

React Native or Iconic Framework: Take your pick

This is a reality and we all need to accept the same. Mobile apps have become an integral aspect of an organization in these times- whether it is marketing or customer service. Literally, half of the network function is performed on mobile devices. Everyone’s life would come to a stand still without mobile apps.

When it comes to the React domain, there are two major ways of building versatile mobile applications, the ones working on every platform: Ionic and React Native.

Ionic and React Native are two ideal solutions for apps. In certain manners, they vary, which we are going to tackle and juxtapose both solutions so that there is a clarity as to choosing the right alternative. Hence, let us get into the action.

How do you explain the Ionic Framework?

A business called Drifty (presently Ionic) built Ionic. The company to begin with made drag&drop solutions that permitted jQuery Mobile and Bootstrap to make applications.

When the success of this kind of method was clear, this was utilized to create a system that would facilitate the method responsible for creating applications. Generally, the application uses web-based code, which minimizes the heavy weightlifting pertaining to launching software to the next platform. More often than not, the application code taken from the web application also works in the mobile application, courtesy the Ionic. The Ionic Platform happens to be an open source, user-friendly tool meant for businesses such as Burger King, Home Depot, Amtrak Sworkit, etc.

How do you describe React Native?

Facebook wholly assists this cross-platform system. The system can create a mobile app for iOS and Android platforms with JavaScript. As a result of its capacity to “translate” JavaScript into native components, the code can easily be shared between the two platforms. We employ bridges, which implies that it is easy to create a “bridge” between JavaScript and the native language. A bridge is, in a way, a method of setting up contact between Respond Native and native platforms. The hot reloading happens to be another important feature, which assists the programmer to check enhancements and correct quickly and effectively than in single-platform applications. React Native is utilized by businesses such as Shopify, Facebook or Wix.

Now the differences involved in these

From a non-technical individual’s perspective, Ionic and the React Native do not come across as separate entities. But the same thing can’t be said about a developer. Considering the thought process of a developer, it is critical to understand the differences while creating a mobile application. As for mobile app development, the differences happen to be significant, and warrants a focus on the same. We can view differences if we see it from a client’s perspective:

React Native = native and Ionic = hybrid

A native app happens to be a software application developed for a certain platform-iOS or Android-with a programming language. It is designed with JavaScript and React, but all elements are native iOS and Android components. When it comes to Ionic, web views are used, applications created with React Native give incredible user experience. (Web Views loads and displays web content straight from your application. For example, mail uses Web Views for showing HTML content in messages). Whereas Ionic is a hybrid form, implying that applications are devised with HTML, CSS and JavaScript. These applications can easily be used on the internet, desktop or mobile. Ionic utilizes Web View to develop apps that were mentioned above. Ionic apps happen to be full-screen and totally powered browsers which use Web Views and Web technologies. For incorporating features such as GPS, camera, etc. into your application, Ionic utilizes Cordova or Capacitor plugins. This can dent performance in bigger applications severely. Ionic has to first provide the graphic components to offer the elements on the screen via a browser.

Churn out applications faster

React Native aids engineers to extract the full potential of the code written in React for the web application. This helps in writing an application in much less time. Whereas, in Ionic, developers can easily turn a website to a mobile application. Hence, you can develop a mobile application swiftly out of an existing web application.

On the count of popularity

This could be a critical aspect while deciding between Ionic and React. As mentioned previously, React Native has the backing of the social media giant Facebook. Several other broad apps such as Skype, Uber Eats and Instagram use the same as well. Ionic happens to be an app that is also very popular. It is utilized by smartphones such as MyTelkomsel and Vodafone India.

Crux of the matter

It is quite apparent from the above mentioned points that both Iconic and React have their own merits. We simply wanted to show that both Ionic and React Native, differ in tiny details and do their jobs efficiently. We have not hassled you with any technical data and details to confuse you because we wanted to build your interest in the topic. So, now make your own choice based on the write up.