How Do You Make an App? 5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your PaaS App Development Solution
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For some organisations, particularly smaller scale ones, issues related to budget may prevent them from investing in the latest digital business tools. Other organisations may find that the tools available to them are not capable of addressing the unique needs of their business.
The solution to both of these concerns is custom app development, with the Salesforce Platform.
The Salesforce Platform Empowers Citizen Developers.
When readymade digital solutions are too expensive or too limited, citizen-developer platforms give businesses of all sizes the tools and support they need to create powerful business apps on their own. In fact, 80% of business innovators use citizen developers. From concept to creation, effective PaaS development solutions guide users through the complexities of app creation.
The Salesforce Platform is a unified ecosystem of development tools, bringing together the complete catalogue of services that have helped cement Salesforce as the world’s number-one enterprise cloud. With the Salesforce Platform, you can build, manage, buy, and and optimise applications for every business need, all from a single central location. Build apps for any connected device, in any coding language. Or, take advantage of low- and no-code solutions, so that citizen developers of all skill levels can create powerful apps with drag-and-drop tools.
And because any apps made on the Salesforce Platform are entirely cloud based, security, analytics, and reporting are all handled automatically. Likewise, thanks to Salesforce’s shared-data model, all authorised users have access to the same information, updated in real time. Employees can also better coordinate their efforts, thanks to built-in social collaboration in the form of Salesforce Chatter, where they can securely share files, communicate, and build vendor and client communities.
The Salesforce Platform is a proven commodity. Users experience an average ROI of 478%, and enjoy development cycles that are 50% faster. However, all of the features and tools in the world aren’t worth much if you don’t know how to properly leverage them to actually build apps.
How Do You Make an App?
The truth is that mobile devices have become an integral part of our society. It is predicted that there will be over 10 billion mobile smart devices in use by 2018, and 4.4 billion mobile app users worldwide by 2017. These apps are all designed to solve user problems, whether that means assisting with tasks, communicating over distance, or even providing entertainment. Business applications are very similar, in that they function as problem solving tools.
The Salesforce Platform provides the tools to make this possible, with built-in tutorials and tools to help even the least tech-savvy users navigate the complexities of app development. However, for businesses new to the process, the questions remains: how do you make an app?
To answer that question, here are five tips to help carry you through the process of building your first business application:
Focus on user experience
App architecture is always going to be important, but when it comes to mobile business applications, user experience may be even more so. What is the purpose of the app? Who is the intended user? What kind of experience are you hoping to provide? If you can answer these questions accurately, and then plan your app around your answers, you’ll be much more likely to be creating something meaningful to your users.
Go beyond maintenance
Even with the right plan in mind, if you’re stuck maintaining on-premise software or other needlessly complicated systems, you won’t be able to focus on solving business issues related to the app itself. This is one reason why reliable PaaS solutions are so important, but even with the cloud, it’s possible to get sucked into focusing on the wrong aspects of app development. Take advantage of the Salesforce Platform’s advanced automation options, so that you can leave the maintenance issues (and other tasks) to the system itself, and instead put your developers’ energies towards creating a better experience.
Keep scaling in mind
If you’re designing a business app, then chances are you already know what you want it to do, and who your target audience will be, but consider looking ahead. Don’t just design your application to meet you current demands. Design it to meet the demands your business will face should everything work out exactly the way you’d like for it to. If you create an app that is capable of scaling to match your business at its most successful, then you won’t have to go back to the drawing board once that success becomes reality.
Keep it secure
The Salesforce Platform retains certifications for all major worldwide security and data privacy standards for all IT systems, which is a huge step towards ensuring that the data associated with your apps are safe and secure. Take things a step further by thoroughly testing your apps for any potential security issues before rolling them out, and make sure that all of your developers and employee users are trained in the basics of app security.
Take advantage of social functionality options
Social media is quickly becoming the preferred method of communication for many users around the world. This is because social media allows for unprecedented levels of engagement and exposure. At the same time, employee social networks provide easy-to-use communication and collaboration options, improving employee productivity and decreasing development cycle times. Take advantage of the Salesforce Platform’s advanced social functionality, so that your users can enjoy the many benefits socially connected tools bring.
Build Applications You Can Trust.
Your business needs digital tools it can rely on, but that isn’t all. It needs tools that are cost effective to build, powerful enough to scale as you grow, and specifically designed to handle the unique needs of your organisation and your clients. Custom applications, developed on the Salesforce Platform, bring together the game changing innovation and cutting-edge tools that have made Salesforce the world leader in enterprise cloud solutions, so that you can build apps worthy of your brand.
How do you make an app? It’s not as hard as you might think. Start by signing up for the Salesforce Platform free 30-day trial, and get ready to build the apps that redefine your business.
