Build a Mobile Application Development Team with iOS or Android SDK

Anastasia Stefanuk

App Development Trends

IOS vs Android

Steps to Build Team

Reason for Outsourcing

Remote Team Management

Hire Mobile Developers

An entrepreneur cannot handle a company without a team, and if you want to launch your own mobile application, you need a professional app development team as well. The cost of mobile app development is high, and the projects itself are usually time-consuming. In order to launch the app on time and according to the budget plan, you need to build a perfect mobile development team structure with qualified experts across several fields.

With the rapid growth of the mobile sector, the traditional programming undergoes serious change. If a website or desktop application was a primary concern for many business entities all over the world for the last 10+ years, we can now see that 2019 establishes a new trend for mobile applications. Based on the market, type of services or the product delivered, business usually has to decide between hybrid or native app (that requires Android and iOS programming). Regardless of the choice made, one will definitely need a mobile application development team. So in order to help you reach the decision, we would like to discuss important aspects of mobile application development services. In this article, we cover the important skills and ways to find the most cost-effective team members and try to reduce the mobile application development cost.

6 Mobile Application Development Tendencies

The year 2019 is epic in technology advancements released, and it is still not the end of the story. Mobile devices have become such a common part of our lives, that mobile applications turned into the urge for sustainable business growth. If you feel like you need an application for your company and you are already looking for app designer, check the TOP-6 development trends, that rule in the app world:

1. Blockchain technology. Major financial organizations and investors already have huge benefits. Mobile applications are made to capitalize on the booming currency platform. The technology also makes your business closer to more people and investors.
2. Machine learning and artificial intelligence. More companies are willing to develop a system integrated with human intelligence. Thanks to the accuracy and capturing of the real-time events, the AI can make the application more efficient. It is already widely used in the manufacturing and medical fields.
3. On-demand apps. More and more sectors of business are ready to present on-demand apps: taxi, massage, food or goods delivery, medical services, cleaning services and so on. If you provide your customers with on-demand services, look for an app designer for hire – your application has a chance to be a big success.
4. Wearable applications. The integration of the apps on the smartwatches is a possibility to enhance the lifestyle of your customers. The user can keep in touch with the services and applications without visiting a tablet or phone. And the companies already use it. Wearable apps are the most popular in the medical sphere.
5. Chatbots. This technology helps to deal with various communication aspects in the world of mobile applications. It has become so popular due to the need to interact with the customers in real-time 24/7. Thanks to the chatbots the service providers can partially avoid human-to-human interactions and unload the managers. If you are already looking for mobile app developer, think also about chatbot integration.
6. Internet of things. In education, e-commerce and other fields, IoT is already making its way. Its popularity is growing due to the possibility to get fast and convenient access to the information within the organization. For the lowest IoT developer rates backed by high quality results, trust Mobilunity for your next IoT development project.

IOS vs Android Market: Choose Mobile Application Development Team

The first thing every business needs is the target audience they work with. While choosing an app to begin with, the smartest choice would be to target the primary or the biggest audience. If services are delivered worldwide, here is the map that represents the breakdown between IOS and Android users by country.

For example, if your clients live in the US and Canada, you would need to hire the IOS development team first. Whereas South America or the European market tend to lean more towards Android-based devices. Below, you can find detailed data on how market shares changed since 2017.

As you can see, Android-based devices have lost their positions slightly in the European market but gained positions in Malaysia. So if targeting the Asian market first, you will definitely need the Android development team. Let’s pay attention to IOS market shares.

Statistics provided by DeviceAtlas.com

As one can see, IOS is gaining more popularity in Europe, however, it tends to lose the position in Asia.

Hire Dedicated Mobile Developers to Create Perfect Mobile App Development Team Structure

Getting your team right is vital if you want the outcome that you are looking for. If you are to hire dedicated application developers to work in-house then there are a host of different roles that you will need to fill to ensure that all required tasks will be expertly covered by your team.

Typically, a bare minimum of a productive team structure looks like this:

• Dedicated mobile application developer (s), that will be responsible for app development on the client’s’ side
  • with knowledge of Java/Kotlin for Android development team;
  • with experience in Objective-C/Swift for the iOS development team;
• Backend developer (the one that will connect your app to existing business structure and services or create a new one). Based on the business industry, they might need knowledge Node.JS, Java, .NET or Python;
• DevOps specialist who configures servers, set Cloud-related procedures, etc.;
• UI/UX designer. Having a great interface is a must these days, as well as creating an easy and logical flow for every user. Contact us now for hiring qualified UI front end developer for creating great mobile apps!
• QA specialist, that will perform the overall testing of an application.

And there is also a project manager that will lead the team for mobile application development and communicate with business owners. Depending on the type of application, its complexity, and depth of knowledge required to complete the tasks, a mobile application development team structure may vary. You may need to hire more developers, a business analyst, or a technical writer (if the project involves a great amount of documentation).

While it may be tempting to hire dedicated mobile developers to work in-house it is often best to subcontract the work out elsewhere. Using a development company allows you to better budget the project as well as often passing the development process to an existing team that already works well together.

To hire dedicated mobile developer talent that is going to fulfill all of your needs is a lengthy process. Using a development company is going to reduce the time required to get your team together and get your application designed and working. It also will ensure that you will get a team that covers all of the different areas that are required to make your launch a success.

It will also help to keep costs down, something that is vital if you are a small company. To hire dedicated mobile app developer experts to work directly for you will require you to shoulder all of the recruitment costs and then all of the other costs that you will encounter in-house such as for their office equipment, software licenses, and a host of other costs before you even think about their salary. Add to this the ability to find a team overseas in a country where costs are significantly lower than where you are currently located and you could get your star team for a fraction of what you would expect.

Whether you are seeking an in house team or to hire a development company, with some thoughtful project team structure, mobile application development will run faster and more efficiently. You must, however, plan carefully and ensure that you cover everything that is going to be required for your specific team if you don’t want any last-minute surprises.

Mobile app development cost depends on the salaries of these team members. If you want to save some budget during the app creation, try to find the specialists for a lower price. Hire the dedicated programmers on outsourcing in the country, with the lower salaries for coders. To find out, in which countries you can find cheap programmers, we’ve compared the salary of these specialists.

The comparison of the annual specialist salary by country:

Main Steps to Build a Dedicated Mobile App Development Team

#1 Clarify Initial Requirements

As the saying goes, ‘If you are failing to plan,...’. So if you want your project to succeed, make sure to have solid requirements and realistic expectations before you are out, looking for the perfect team.

#2 Estimate the Amount of Work and Expertise

Once you have a clear vision and understanding of what needs to be done, you can focus on the area of expertise required. For example, for IOS development team, the developer will have to be familiar with Apple Guides and restrictions they set for application development, whereas

Android development team will face the challenges of having various devices to work with. If you plan to release both IOS and Android app simultaneously, make sure to communicate well with both teams and coordinate their schedules.

#3 Hire the Best-Fitting Team

While we obviously, will advocate the remote teams and outsourcing to a mobile application development company, there are cases when this is not an option. Some government-related products or applications that process and store sensitive data might forbid one from hiring the team outside of their country. It also depends on the industry, many companies consider relevant experience in the field, e.g: developer with experience in delivery apps building for grocery delivery app development. However, if there are no such restrictions, you can choose the team that will deliver the best result.

Main Reason for Outsourcing

There are several main reasons that define the decision of numerous companies to choose outsourcing over having a team in the office.

• Lower costs of the development. Usually the vendor is chosen where tax rates or developers salary rate is lower, so it reduces the overall cost of development significantly, even virtual reality mobile app development will be less costly.
• Wider pool of experts to choose from. It is very hard and expensive to maintain wide range of technical experts within one company. On the other hand, maintenance does not require deep knowledge, so it is reasonable to outsource and hire experts only for development period.
• Existing teams that work well together. This is not the common case, but some companies have already formed teams that can start development very fast, due to previous experience and proven working procedures.
• Better chances of finding experts with relevant experience. Commonly, outsourcing companies have experts that already have knowledge and experience in specific business domain, which is important for startups.
• End-to-end services. You can receive full package, from request from proposal, development all the way to accompanying support of the product.

And while many companies tend to keep app outsourcing a secret, there are some honorable mentions that do not deny it. Amongst them are Slack, WhatsApp, Alibaba, AppSumo, and Expensify.

This solution is the best option for long-term projects and complex product development, which includes also application creation: ROI and efficiency are at the highest level.  If you rent a mobile developer team of a professional software development agency, you get a team of specialists with the relevant skills and experience, picked for your particular project. The team is well-coordinated and managed by the skilled project manager. The manager ensures efficient cooperation between you and your development team and keeps you informed about the development process.

A dedicated team model suits the best for the development from scratch. You gain access to the programmers with the required skills at a lower price, but without the risks you face, working with freelance coders. In terms of app designer cost, it is a profitable alternative for hiring the in-house development team.

Managing the Remote Team

There are several aspects of managing a mobile application development team that might be sitting half the world away from you. However, what good would it do for you if we just stated the obvious problems without offering any solution?

• Task Management

Who started what, when and why? What’s the progress on that task set 2 sprints before? Is there any clarification of the issue added to pool over a month ago? All these questions stem from the lack of proper handling of the tasks. Depending on the size of the team, the complexity of the project and the specific requirements of a particular project, here are some of the top choices:

• Trello
• Asana
• JIRA
• Wrike, etc.

These services allow you to create multiple boards and track the progress your team makes.

• Code Management

Keeping track of the changes made, performing code review, and updating software versions require specific tools. One of the most common and widely loved by many developers is Git. There is also a longer list of less famous ones that are more task-specific, like Subversion, GitKraken, GitLab, Helix Core, etc.

• Communication Tools

Another aspect, that is important for successful performance is communication. If you the team is under 10 people of the budget cannot cover costly solutions, there are either free or freemium solutions, like Skype, Slack, and Mattermost.

If planned and guided properly, the remote mobile application development team can perform as successful as your regular in-house team without costing a fortune.

Tips for Effective Remote Management

1. Set expectations clearly. Avoid goals like “quick” or “well”. The best goal is measurable and accurate.
2. Treat remote workers as local ones. Give them as much access to your company as possible, make them feel as a part of the team.
3. Communicate regularly. Engage the remote workers to daily communication and plan some face-to-face meetings.
4. Schedule video-connection. Video-based coaching is a possibility to look at one another and have a real-time conversation. Plan regular video meetings.

Why Ukraine and Mobilunity?

Apart from having a great tech talent pool of experts in various industries and technologies, including ATS consulting, hiring MEVN stack developer and much more. Ukraine also allows you to hire mobile app developers at the market prices that can be 2 to 6 times lower comparing to the US prices without compromising the quality of the services delivered.

While we cannot say that we are the biggest provider of outsourcing services, we are proud to say that we have versatile experience with clients worldwide. We offer software development along with custom mobile application development focusing on the needs our clients and delivering results beyond one’s expectations.

Having discussed all the important aspects, we would like to refresh key aspects. In order to make a decision, you need to have a clear understanding of both your product and market, as well as know the estimated costs of the development and how it correlates with the budget you have.

Contact us to get to know more about hiring mobile app development teams in Ukraine!