Android app development and iOS app development are amongst the major trending topics amongst the business operators. The services help the business to appear and deliver their services via a digital platform mainly the mobile.
Online grocery, food delivery services and game development are few of the most demanding during the lockdown period. This article aims to cover the costing for maintaining a mobile app and the role of an expert company like BR Softech Pvt. Ltd.
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No matter what technology we use, there are certainly some costs associated with it. After each application that paves its way into the market comes the maintenance costs that are associated with it. It would be wise to have a rough idea about the costs that might be incurred as the app progresses so does its usage.
There are many updates that need to be planned with every app that is available in the market. A lot of factors come into play while deciding the maintenance and the cost associated with it. This section aims to hit the costing part that is involved with the maintenance of a mobile-based application.
Developing a typical mobile application may be a time consuming and costly process. The cost incurred to develop an advanced mobile application may cost anywhere between $50000 to $1000000. It may take over a year to develop a mobile application or a minimum of half a year.
Mobile app development is just one aspect of the process, and it consists of a lot more grey areas that could not be neglected at any cost. Development, deployment and its maintenance are what makes a complete cycle in case of a mobile application. Neglecting the latter two might be a perfect recipe of disaster in the journey towards your goal. It is advised to have a clear picture of the prices that might add up to the cost of maintenance and eliminate any occurrence of surprise.
Here are some points that make up a rough estimate of the cost of maintenance that might come in handy before investing in a mobile app development process.
It is important to have a better understanding of how the mobile applications are built and maintained and also the other reasons associated with it such as the cost, its benefits and drawbacks in case a client does not adhere to it.
This article will be helpful for you to have a better understanding of the important aspects that are related to the mobile application and reduce any risk associated with it. It will also help in saving the costs that otherwise would have been skyrocketing for a person without any technical or even the basic know-how.
Before diving deep into knowing the hidden costs of maintenance, it is important to have a better understanding of the structure of a mobile application.
It will also have you to better command your team and have better accountability from the IT developers or the vendor and instruct them about your requirements. Also, it will help you identify any loopholes in your product or any part if it is missed.
All the facilities that are mentioned below do not come at the standard price but have a separate costing and need to be purchased accordingly. There are mainly four categories in which the maintenance part can be divided. Scroll down to uncover each of them, one-by-one.
The points, as mentioned above, cover every aspect that is related to the mobile app maintenance and hence diving deeper into it will be a wise decision in the long run.
The services that are required to execute the operations or say to fulfil the purpose of the app comes under the category of functional services. The developer may load the app with certain features, however, to go advanced, it is necessary for you to subscribe to the additional services.
Below are listed some of the functional features and the annual costs that are associated with it.
Push notifications
Binding your app off the capabilities will be an injustice for your business. Functions like push notifications help in elevating the user engagement and motivates them to avail your services and increase the sales. The annual cost of maintenance can reach up to $2400.
Social media and chat integration
Another feature that comes under essentials for better marketing and one-to-one chat interactions with the clients. Integrating chatbot services can also be a grade up. A minimal annual maintenance cost for these services can cost up to $1200.
SMS and email services
There are many service providers in the market that integrate SMS and email services for an annual charge of $1500, more or less.
It is important to have maximum control over the features that play a major role in daily functioning. Calling the IT department every time when you need insight into the daily data is not a better alternative, but having effective control over accessing these ‘mentioned’ certainly is.
Below are mentioned some of the essential services that might add up in your annual maintenance budget.
Content management
A dashboard capable enough to allow the operator easy click and editing is a must-have, and the process should be as easy as editing a Microsoft word document.
Dashboard emulator
No one wants to launch an update without having a preview of it, and the dashboard emulator helps you do the same that makes its name into the list.
Functional services management
The dashboard should be flexible enough to accommodate several functions from a single dashboard. There is a wide range of services that comes under this section from monitoring consumers’ behavior to sending notifications via email, SMS and push notifications.
Dynamic updates
Incorporating updates should not be complicated instead of an easy process. The dashboard should empower the user to make changes and upload the same instantly. Also, the updates should be immediately reflected on all the users associated with it.
User profile
Hiring a good app development company will ensure that you have a good mechanism to manage the user files. Many details and information that are essential to carry out daily operations on the app on a large platform must be organized.
Analytics
Tracking daily activities should be considered one amongst the many best practices as it gives a detailed insight into the consumer’s behavior that has a direct impact on the prosperity of the business.
Read more: Mobile Apps: How They Help in Tracking Shipment from Multiple Couriers
Access controls
It is important to assign the authority of every person that interacts with the mobile application be it the administrator, employee or users. Determining the limit of access for every group will help in the purpose.
Data segmentation
Setting parameters in advance for categorization of users should be practised. Parameters may vary depending on the level of activity, profile, pattern and much more.
All the platforms and mediums to store and transmit the data comes under the category of infrastructure services. As these services deal with critical data, maintaining data security and safeguarding, the brand’s reliability also becomes an important aspect.
Servers
Servers are the foremost of the infrastructure services that have a role in uploading and transmitting the information and gaining user traffic. Outsource hosting from a reliable name can cost an annual of $12000.
Data storage
One of the most important aspects that cannot be neglected during android and iOS app development is how and where to store the data. Data storage services can cost you an amount of approximately $3600 to $4000.
Content delivery network
Content delivery networks play an important role in determining the success of your mobile application. It is important to have a well-established content delivery network from a reliable company to accommodate users from a wide range of geographic locations. A rough estimate of the costing of a secure content delivery network can go up to $4000.
Image data
Almost all the apps deal with a lot of images with different elements in it. It is important to receive, process and deliver these images for an enriched experience. Availing these services can cost you an approximate $5000.
Development tools and libraries
There is a wide scope of the cost to avail these services that can range anywhere starting from $1200 to $100000 or even more than that.
It is the technical support and not the cost of structuring the application that is required by every application, be it of any nature. However, they can add and rise up to skyrocketing prices over time, depending on the complexity of the job.
It is important to launch timely updates for both the platforms and the cost incurred in the process can reach up to $10000 annually.
App update submission
Even though after having a dynamic update mechanism, there might be instances where there is a requirement of resubmission. It can cost you an approximate of $2500.
Application Programming Interface
Timely and recurring maintenance of the API’s (that are generally third-party) has some cost associated with it that may increase over time as the number of API are often seen growing to be it any application. It may cost you a total of $5000 annually.
Bugs
Detecting and finding the solution to a bug can be a complex and time-consuming process. Consider an annual budget of 10-20 % of the total development cost for fixing bugs when encountered.
Maintenance cost
All the service costs that are mentioned above in the article also require some kind of surveillance and monitoring. It can cost anywhere around 20% of the total development cost or even more.
No matter if digitizing your business is your motive or mobile game development for entertainment purposes, after reading this article, you must have got a fair idea of how much budget to carry separately for the maintenance.
Start building your own mobile application by an expert software development company like BR Softech Pvt. Ltd. to take your business online in this digital world.
