How Long Does it Take to Build an App?
Building an app is a complex operation with many factors that affect the timeline. On average you can expect a 3-12 month timeline to create an app....
If you don’t already have one, it can be hard to imagine how your business might benefit from its own custom mobile app. But trust us: Existing businesses can certainly build an app to serve customers and empower employees. And there are so many enterprise app ideas out there that suggest it might be the best move for taking your company to the next level.
After all, your customers are already using apps constantly. Statista reports that 92% of all time spent on smartphones is spent using apps, not browsers. Your users prefer to use apps, and taking care of your clients and customers is good for business.
Still not sure where to start? That’s understandable. Everyone needs inspiration sometimes. That’s where the following list comes in. Below, you’ll find a roundup of the 13 best app examples and best app ideas out there now. These might just guide you and teach you how to build an app for your business. Let’s dive in.
Communication and collaboration become some of the biggest challenges once an organization reaches a certain size. You can solve those challenges with a custom enterprise application that's been purpose-built for your exact needs. That means you can go above and beyond even what you might expect from top options like Slack or Microsoft Teams.
Your daily tasks get easier when your communication app is built for the kind of information you discuss most regularly. File sharing becomes a breeze. Your HR tasks and paperwork will be easier to complete. Thoughtful push notifications and automated workflows make sure nothing falls through the cracks.
How might your business benefit from creating a mindfulness app of its own? Your customers already come to your yoga, meditation, or sound bath studio for a reason. They trust and rely on the skills you teach them. Why not extend your services even when they’re on the go?
Over 200 million people around the world meditate, after all. And in our smartphone-centered society, we could all use a healthy dose of being present. Create an app that acts as an extension of your in-person business that can reach people even outside your community.
People aren’t nearly as active as they should be. But in truth? It’s hard to exercise if you don’t know where to start. If you have a fitness-based business, like personal training, for example, an app might be your next best move. It can include videos demonstrating how to carry out various exercises for your clients, for example.
It can also provide them with workouts they can do from home or during travel when they can’t make it to work out with you in real life. Plus, this has the potential to expand beyond your immediate clients to those looking for guidance everywhere.
One of the most annoying parts of long-distance travel is getting to the airport. You can drive your own car and pay for parking. You can cross your fingers that friends or family will drop you off. Or you can wait around, hoping the generalized car service you booked shows up on time.
If you have a car service, though, it might be worth considering creating an app that’s specific to airport drop-offs. Your customers can rest easy knowing that they can book your drivers who are specialized in getting to and from the busy airport without hiccups. (Like late arrivals, unsafe driving, traffic, wrong directions, and the like.)
Language learning apps can be a great way to practice your skills from home. But also, they’re not the same as working in a classroom setting, where you can bounce ideas off a teacher and get real-time, tailored corrections.
If you’re a native speaker with a business in teaching others the language, consider creating your own app to expand your opportunities for remote clients. Design it so that you can give users personalized feedback on their work. Perhaps you can create a video chat option, too, so that you are able to have conversations in the user’s non-native language.
If you’re a personal stylist who wants to expand their services to the digital realm, an app might be for you. Current clients can upload photos of their wardrobes to the app. Then, you can pick and drag items to create folders of outfits for them. An app is also a way for them to get real-time feedback from you instead of having to wait until your next styling session.
You could even organize their outfits into folders for different occasions. (Think: date nights, big work meetings, the kids’ soccer games, etc.) And if you see items for sale that might fit their style? You can suggest in-app purchases. (Perhaps there’s a way for you to make a commission here, too.)
The most frustrating part of grocery delivery services is that the store you actually want to buy from isn’t always available on the app. (Especially the local ones!) Plus, sometimes you ask for specific items only for your order to arrive with missing or mixed up foods.
So if you own a trusted local grocery store, deli, or cafe, an app might be your next business venture. Make shopping easy for loyal customers by ordering directly from your app. Then they’ll know that they’re getting the same great quality produce and food offerings they always do. They can also trust that items are being bagged with care by your employees and delivered by those who work specifically for your shop.
People audio record things for a million reasons: meetings, note-taking, research, interviews, memories, and more. But the hard part of reviewing the material is that audio is cumbersome and taxing to transcribe. Many will gladly pay a fee to take this step out of the equation.
Whether you have a knack for transcribing or you already have a transcription service business, creating an app might be for you. Make it easy on customers by allowing them to upload their audio to the app. They could also set ideal dates and times for the transcription to be completed, based on your availability. When it’s ready, they can receive a notification and open it on the app.
There’s nothing worse than scrambling last minute to find a babysitter. If you run a service that screens and assigns babysitters to various families, designing an app might be one way to level up your business. Make it so that vetted babysitters can plug in their availability each month, and then, parents can reserve spots accordingly.
This app might boast cool design features, such as a calendar view of each month. You could also have ways for parents to list information about their children’s needs. (I.e. allergies, bedtimes, favorite games, etc.) For babysitters, they might be able to display their rates, if they need food or transportation compensation, and the like.
Apps are a great idea for popular dry cleaning services. Why? It could aid in customer ease for scheduling dry cleaning pick up and drop off. Customers can select pickup and drop-off dates on the app based on when they need their items. You might also design a live-tracking feature that allows customers to see what stage of the cleaning and drop-off process their items are at.
Plus, you can more easily charge rush fees or add-ons like mending, starching, or sewing. Having an app might also make it easier to run your business. With an app, you can digitize your calendar and bookkeeping. This might help you and your employees stay organized and track product movement.
For those who run tourism companies in popular cities (or small seasonal haunts), an app might be for you. You can make all your information and services available on the app. There might also be a live chat with employees. Then, customers can easily access the information about the tourist destination, schedule activities through your app, and ask necessary questions.
It also might offer features like a calendar displaying limited events that only happen on specific days. The app could also offer packing checklists, restaurant guides, sightseeing tours, and the like. Basically, the app is like a way to digitize your content and make your services available 24/7 to customers when they need it. (They’re in an unfamiliar place, after all.)
eLearning apps aren't just for brushing up on your Spanish or practicing new recipes. You can also create a digital content library for just about any purpose. Whether you're training internal users on key workflows or training your clients on key software, digitizing the process with an enterprise app offers numerous benefits.
First, people tend to prefer on-demand content these days. Your users may prefer to go at their own pace instead of attending sessions. You're also eliminating a lot of marginal costs from your training program. Once you have the platform, it costs you almost nothing to onboard another user.
The overwhelming majority of people prefer self-service over calling a support hotline. This means that creating a client portal can improve your customer satisfaction while also reducing the burden on your customer support team. There are all kinds of ways to establish and control access to your most important systems.
For example, National Trench Safety built a cutting-edge portal on top of its ERP system. As a result, users can view and update orders without help from a technical admin. How much would your business change if employees and external users could access what they need without submitting a support ticket?
The possibilities are endless. It all depends on your business and what your users need. How will an app help you attract new users, retain the ones you already have, or raise the average lifetime value of a customer? Once you know the answer to that question, you're ready to start building.
Interested in learning more about how to translate your business into your app? We’d love to hear more about your project idea. Get in touch to get started.
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Building an app is a complex operation with many factors that affect the timeline. On average you can expect a 3-12 month timeline to create an app....
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