App business: More difficult than development is follow-up operations and promotions

Not long ago, Exmart founder Zhang Jiangang mobilized 1/3 of the company's technical staff, developed a restaurant general electronic menu app. When his company's salespeople excitedly marketed the app to restaurants across the country, most of the restaurants responded: "You're a very good product, and we know it's a big trend for the future catering industry, but under the current circumstances, we're not going to pay to buy it." "The idea is that the catering industry is extremely competitive and we are only concerned about what will be like in three days, without spending a lot of money to pay for the future in three years."

The big contrast is: as early as 2010, a French restaurant on the initiative to find Zhang Jiangang, asked Zhang Jiangang's company for their special development of a mobile phone ordering the app, in this app, users can choose their own raw material collocation and practice, and then orders, not out of the house, A restaurant can bring your choice of sandwiches and burgers to your home!

Do you need to do your best? Does your business need apps?

Not to mention the traditional catering business, even a lot of internet and it's electric business enterprises in this heart is not sure. "What's so great about this thing?" The screen is small, the experience is poor, or touch screen, it is impossible to show the goods on it. "Last year, Zhong, a senior expert at China's E-commerce Association, chatted with an electric business owner about the app," the boss said, dismissive.

The boss's doubts reflect the attitude of most companies to the app: worry about the small app between the phone's square-inch, not enough to show a good user experience, and once the user experience is not good enough, will affect the corporate brand image?

Lei, director of the new Media Center of the brand Promotion department, has been focusing on app for a long time, even a dedicated expert seminar has been held for a long time, but the reason for this is that "the current app solution is not mature enough for the user experience." "In addition, many enterprises still have a mindset: as a traditional enterprise, we have just learned to use a computer, even the official website has not been built, where also the app?"

"I don't think it's good or not to think about experience first, but the key is to see that people are increasingly spending their time on apps," he said. Zhong's view is diametrically opposed. His reasoning is that app attracts young, new generations of consumers, and that none of the apps in the emerging media has the absolute advantage, so app offers an equal opportunity to seize the next generation of consumers.

However, the above app-reserved power business boss has now left behind the "good user experience" worry, and has launched its own iphone version of the app this year. When he saw more and more peers are rolling out their mobile shopping app, also can't restrain. "Somebody else did, and I'm going to do it." "This is a typical way for many retail companies to face this new model of app. Today, both electric companies and many traditional retail companies without it technology genes are trying to develop their own apps. Apps are becoming a gateway for retail companies to attract emerging consumers.

Some of the more traditional manufacturers, service-type brand enterprises, they began to use the app as a marketing tool to promote brand awareness. Apps are even more influential to users than the corporate microblog that many companies today value.

If your company is a large enterprise group, you can also develop apps for your internal business processes. Nestle is doing this: as a multinational company, Nestle employees all over the world, Nestle will be part of the internal ERP system and mobile phone to achieve a full docking, the development of Nestle Mobile Office app, making the company's employees even on the way to travel, can easily handle a variety of business. And those who do all the time "flying trapeze" senior professional managers, you can look at any time and anywhere to view the company operating a variety of key data!

The trade-off between "self-development" and "outsourcing"

Finally decided to launch their own app, the next question is: "How to do it?" is the recruiting technology team to develop their own, or to turn to the app outsourcing company?

I'm afraid no one has given an absolute answer, because it requires the business to weigh in terms of their specific circumstances and strategic planning. "It depends on the weight of the mobile end in your company's long-term value." "Juhaibo, the vice president of Jingwei Ventures, said, and Internet senior research expert Bo also holds the same view:" This is a very complicated question, or to see the core value of the company in the network or mobile end. "he said.

For the core business is not on the mobile side of the traditional companies, Tanghaiyang, vice president of Technology at Babel, advises that a short-term app project for a new product or an ad campaign is best to outsource, and that some long-term app projects can be created and maintained by their own recruiting teams. But even so, traditional companies may not be able to find the right technical talent: "The surgery industry has specialized, because the enterprise culture difference problem, the traditional company is difficult to retain the app technology talent." "In general, technical talent is at the heart of a specialist app outsourcing company, but in a traditional enterprise, perhaps just as a support person, they may feel insecure in this group."

Not long ago, the software outsourcing platform Smart City outsourcing of its platform in the last three years of outsourcing data statistics, the results show: 2011 mobile App outsourcing demand index compared to 2010 growth of three times times, The company's mobile app budget has grown 4.5 times-fold compared with 2010, and mobile app development has risen from 35% to 48% in all outsourced projects, reflecting objectively the growing emphasis on mobile apps by companies that have surfaced on a related app outsourcing industry.