Essential Singapore Mobile App Buyers’ GuideAbridged (Courtesy of RobustTechHouse)Here is the full article (http://robusttechhouse.com/essential-singapore-mobile-app-buyers-guide/)

Introduction

FACT: The world is going mobile Are you considering making a mobile app as a startup or to enhance your business? Are you based in Singapore? If so, read on, it’ll be worth it We’ve collated this guide based on our many interactions with individuals and

businesses who have gone through the same process

Contents

Native Mobile App or Mobile Optimized Website

iOS or Android or both Native or Hybrid Wire-framing Designing, Graphics and UI / UX Technical Specification Analysis Technology Risks Hire In-House of use and Outsourced

Developer

Singapore or Overseas Choosing a Development Partner in Singapore Quotes and Service Models Agile Development UAT and Handover Launching the Mobile App Maintenance and Post Development

Considerations Hosting Considerations

Native Mobile App or Mobile Optimized WebSite

In our experience, the deciding factor is typically whether you need to use phone functions such as the camera, GPS, the microphone etc. If you do, a mobile app is the way to go. Also, in our experience, from a User Interface andUser Experience (UI / UX) perspective, mobile optimized web sites tend to fall short of native mobile apps (i.e.people hate pinching), particularly if you are trying to extend an old website rather than build a completely new one.

iOS or Android

In Singapore, Android phones command about 51% market share and iPhones (which use the iOS operating system) command about 42% (source: Netmarketshare). So the common advice is to go for both iOS and Android (and forget others such as Windows and Blackberry) when developing your mobile app. The exception is if you are have a special use case and not intending to get the masses to download your app. For example, if you are going to provide your own devices to users or if you are targeting a very specific niche group of users (e.g. lower income users who may prefer Android phones).

Native or Hybrid

The reason we recommend Native is based on simple economics (and perhaps also some self-interest but let us explain). Given the number of hybrid tools available (and new ones keep popping up), only very specialized development houses will spend time and resources developing expertise in them. Development houses basically need to take a bet on which hybrid tool will be in demand. The support communities for each of these tools are vastly smaller than the iOS and Android development community so customization and future proofing is hard (we know iOS and Android operating systems will endure but cannot be sure about these hybrid systems). The result for the buyer is less choice (read: less supply of development houses = higher costs for you). From what we have seen, apps developed using hybrid tools also tend to be inferior from a UI / UX perspective because of the customization difficulty.

Wire-Framing

Wireframing is simply sketching out each mobile app screen as you imagine it to be. It can be a simple hand-drawn sketch (these actually work quite well if you don’t intend to do much iteration). If you want to collaborate with team members and iterate, there are several prototyping tools (most are freemium) that you can use including balsamiq, fluidui and invision. These tools allow you to create buttons and move through the app as you would when the actual app is ready, so they are great for visualizing the eventual app.

Designing, Graphics and UI / UX

Once you are happy with the wireframe, it is time to put the flesh on the bones. Typically, you will need a designer to perform this role. Most development houses in Singapore will be able to do this for you. Of course, you can choose to hire a freelance designer or even an in-house designer. Freelance designers are available from sites such as upwork and freelancer. Behance is also a nice site where you can go through the designers’ portfolio before making your choice. At 99designs, you get to run a contest and get many designs from which you can pick your favorite.

Technical Specifications

A key component of technical specifications is the entity relationship diagram (ERD). In essence the ERD will detail the database structure; that is, what data will be stored and how it will be organized (in database tables). Going through the ERD is a good way to identify missing pieces of a puzzle (e.g. “hang on, I need to capture the age of the user”). It typically also helps the team to go into the functionality of the mobile app in such depth that it gives rise to new questions and corner cases that your team may not have previously answered (e.g. “so how far away should the user be before I send him the notification?; should this be hardcoded or should I be able to change this parameter at the backend?”).

Technology Risks

At the time of technical specifications (or in fact earlier if possible), you would also need to figure out any Technology Risks of the mobile app. Technology Risks arise when your mobile app needs to utilize a technology that is not commonly deployed (e.g. machine vision, indoor positioning, natural language processing). At this point, the development house may need to embark on some research, either assessing whether it can build the technology from scratch or, more often, looking for a suitable software development kit (SDK) or application programming interface (API) that can do the job. Some SDKs and APIs are free, many are not.

Hire In-House or Outsource

How well-resourced are you? Hiring in-house is a longer term commitment and in the Singapore context, a much more expensive option. If you are startup which has already raised rounds of funding (Congrats by the wayJ), then this could be a good option for you. The advantage of hiring in-house is that you will be in control of the process. You can easily cope with future iterations of your product. Your developer could be directly incentivized to create the best product for you. If you are not a well-resourced startup and would like to start with a minimum viable product, then outsourcing usually makes sense.

Are you trying to build a mobile app development capability in-house? If you are an established business and your business is not mobile app development, you are likely not going to need full time development staff and they may became underutilized after the initial mobile app development and the mobile app enters maintenance mode.

Development Risk. Many believe hiring in-house will reduce development risk because your staff will have the same goals as you. This is not necessarily the case. To hire well, you do need to have a good technical recruitment process to find good development talent. On the other hand, development houses naturally mitigate this risk as they are likely to have refined their technical recruitment process (they know how to ask the right questions) and in time, should have weeded out underperformers (it is in their interest to do so). By having a decent number of development staff, the development house will also be able to mitigate against staff departures and handle advanced technical problems (there usually are senior developers around to help).

Singapore or Overseas

“Singapore-based” developers would in general have lower Development Risk. To be precise, the development company which you will sign the contract with should be registered in Singapore and be willing to sign a contract with jurisdiction in Singapore and under Singapore law. Legally, therefore, you will have a stronger contractual case against the developer should there be gross underperformance, not to mention reputational risk for the developer in the local context. There are other ways to lower your Development Risks such as tranched payment which we will discuss later.

Factors to Consider in Choosing a Development Partner

Cost: Clearly a consideration but not the be-all-and-end-all. It is equally, if not more important to pay attention to non-cost factors as discussed below.

Specialization: Certain development houses have particular specializations even within mobile app development. For example, some focus on game creation. RobustTechHouse specializes in mobile commerce and financial technology. We readily admit that we are not very good at game creation, because it takes specialized game design and technical skills to create great games. If the development house has a blog, it may be good to check it out to understand where their interests lie. Also take note of the tone of the blog – is it self-promotional or are they genuinely interested in the subject matter?

Portfolio, Reviews and Testimonials: Do look out for the past experience of the development house. They are a decent gauge for what you can expect to receive. Some development houses will go above and beyond “just development” and throw in (for free) quite a bit of consultation. You may be able to tell from the testimonials.

Partnership model: Some development houses have standard quotation structures that they are reluctant to deviate from (e.g. only time and material quotes). Others may be more flexible and be willing to provide a fee cap. Certain development houses (such as RobustTechHouse) are willing to take equity as part payment, which could be a nice model for startups.

Contract Terms: Look out for such terms as the payment terms (typically 15 days after invoicing, invoicing is likely done monthly as the project is being developed, about 5% can be set aside to be paid after the completion of the warranty period), warranty period (typically 3 – 6 months in Singapore), third party costs (typically pass through, the buyer would pay directly for third party costs) and ownership of data and intellectual property (you would typically want to own the data and intellectual property and would want this clearly stated in the contract).

Factors to Consider in Choosing a Development Partner (cont)

Timeline: You may be in a rush and would like to launch quickly. Quotes which promise a quick turnaround may look tempting but don’t place too much weight on these. It is often tempting for development houses to promise quick work in order to win the contract, but the truth is that it is very difficult to provide an estimate of the overall development process early on, especially without full specifications.

Is the development house interested in the success of your mobile app? This question, although very important, is not easy to consider objectively. There are tell-tale signs though, such as – How responsive is the development house during pre-sales? Do they take time to understand your business? Do they provide value added suggestions and ways for you to reduce cost or optimize your approach? Do they take a robust and long-term view of the technical needs of the project? Is the development house willing to help out in small ways even before signing on the dotted line (help could include simple things like email setup to making useful introductions or links to interesting industry resources)?

Are you dealing with a decision maker or sales person? As discussed throughout this article, the nature of mobile app development is fluid and particularly in post development, you would like a development house to be able to exercise some flexibility in helping you, rather than sticking to the letter of the contract. You don’t want to hear “sorry, all my developers are deployed elsewhere, your development period is over and your bug fix has got to wait for 2 months”. Dealing with the decision maker directly helps you assess if the development house will exercise flexibility down the line and indeed if he/she would allow such flexibility to be exercised quickly.

Technical Ability. Ask for the CV(s) of the actual developer(s) that will be assigned to your project to have a sense of his / her experience and technical ability.

Quotes and Service Models

In general, there are 4 partnership models available in Singapore. Time and Material quotes. Here development houses will quote on a per manday basis (in Singapore, this could range from

S$250 to S$800 per manday). The development house should concurrently also provide an estimate of the total number of mandays that it would need to complete the project. Be aware that this is only an estimate, not a cap – so the final bill could exceed the estimate. When under a time and material arrangement, it is crucial to keep track of the amount of time (and hence the fee) that the development house has accumulated. The development house should keep you updated and also alert you as you are approaching the original estimated price.

Capped quotes: To make sure you keep within your budget, you may want to request a cap on the quote. Development houses are generally willing to consider this only if you are very clear in your specifications upfront. Significant changes to specifications may result in post-hoc changes in the cap. As to what is considered a significant change, this is generally a negotiated outcome (read: another reason to get an appreciation of the flexibility of the development house upfront).

Fixed price quotes: Very similar to capped quotes, with the only difference that there is no chance that you will be charged less than the fixed price. Therefore, fixed prices should be lower than what would otherwise be the cap. Again, it pays to have the specifications spelt out in detail before obtaining the quote, otherwise development houses may mitigate their Specification Creep risk by providing higher quotes.

Part equity payment: A few development houses will also be a technology partner in the true sense of the phrase. Particularly for startups, mobile app development is an ongoing process (e.g. how many iterations has Grab undergone?). If you want someone on your side investigating latest technologies and suggesting new builds and features on an on-going basis, this is a good model. In this model, the development house will function much like a CTO. They will be interested in not only your mobile app idea but also your overall business plan since they are sharing execution risk with you.

Agile Development

The trend in software development has decisively moved towards agile development. In simple terms, this means that buyers should expect the developer to provide interim builds. Agile development reduces Development Risk for the buyer because you can tangibly monitor progress. However, buyers need to be prepared to test and provide feedback on unfinished products. For some not used to this process, it may come as a surprise (“hey, how come you are sending me something which doesn’t work? Are you shabby or a bad developer? Aren’t you supposed to test things rigorously before sending it to me?”).

It is usually in the interest of the buyer to ask for agile development and interim tests. We have come across many horror stories where the buyer waits for several months and then receives something not workable. Having lost valuable time, the buyer then turns to other developers to “continue” the development, only to find that the old code is not useable. In general, it is not easy to “continue” code development, particularly if the old code is badly written and documented. In order to provide a robust outcome, many developers will simply prefer to start from scratch rather than fix somebody else’s mess.

UAT and Handover

The agile development process places less emphasis on the final User Acceptance Test (UAT). Nonetheless, it is good practice for the buyer to go through one final comprehensive test of the mobile app before signing off on it. In going through the UAT, it helps to have a checklist of all test procedures. Test both the front end and backend simultaneously. Corner cases should be tested to identify bugs.

Once done, the mobile app can be officially handed over to the buyer. This may mean deleting test data and the changing of admin passwords for security purposes to prevent developers from accessing production data. However, in practice, you would still want to allow select developers to have access to the new passwords for quick bug fix and maintenance purposes.

Launching the Mobile App

Before the app is ready, you likely want to have a plan to launch the mobile app. The development house should make sure they successfully list it on Google Play and the App Store. Listing on Google Play is pretty much instantaneous but listing on the App Store may take a week or so, depending on how quickly Apple reviews the App and whether the app complies with the Apple App Store rules. There are many reasons for possiblerejections, which will add to the timeline. An experienced iOS developer will generally be able to avoid most of these issues.

Beyond simply listing on the app stores, you may need to consider marketing activities to attract mobile appdownloads. This may involve submitting to Android app review sites and iOS app review sites. You may also consider app marketing activities. App marketing is generally beyond the purview of mobile app developmenthouses but they may be able to help with some recommendations of reputable digital marketing agencies in Singapore.

Maintenance and Post Development Considerations

It is prudent to ask the development house about available maintenance plans early on, but you may not want to sign on the dotted line until you are comfortable with the development house. In any case, there is typically a warranty period within which the development house should continue to support you for bugs and crashes. Note that the warranty will typically not new features beyond the original specifications. As to what exactly are new features, again, it is usually a negotiated outcome.

Post development, you will want the development house to remain very responsive especially if you have questions or encounter bugs, or even worse, crashes. You will want them to fix these issues as quickly as possible or it may mean lost business to you. Although not often specified particularly in the warranty period, it would be useful for buyers to include Service Level arrangements with the development house. Providing good service in the warranty period and post development is often what distinguishes a great development house from a not-so-good one. Find development houses who would genuinely want your mobile app to be a success.

Hosting Considerations

Unless you are large organization with your own servers or where security is an extreme concern, your mobile app is going to be hosted on the cloud. There are many cloud hosting services around, and the 2 key considerations are cost and scalability. Our favorite solutions which provide pay as you use solutions (reasonable costs when you have low number of users, and easily scalable if you achieve strong traction) aredigital ocean and heroku. These offer great server management tools and we are able to be informed immediately if and when server-side issues arise and fix them.

Hope this was useful.

Contact us at sales@robusttechhouse.com for questions / comments

Here is the full article (http://robusttechhouse.com/essential-singapore-mobile-app-buyers-guide/)