The bell curve of mobile innovation

For the last 15 years, developers have been stretching the limits and capabilities of apps. From games that kill time (and generate in-app purchases, of course) to more utilitarian apps that manage your money or monitor your IoT devices, apps run the full gamut of purposes.

But how long can that last? Building a mobile app as an entrepreneur is straightforward enough, but as an organization it’s different. It isn’t cheap or as straightforward as building a website, and the skills needed are decidedly different from those needed for standard API-driven web applications. So where does the future of mobile development go from here?

There are 3 main avenues companies may choose to travel down with their mobile strategy going forward, which can be envisioned as a bell curve.

1. Sticking to table stakes/white label solutions

Let’s start with those who will stick to the status quo. This population will likely represent industries where mobile apps are the market standard and, frankly, you can’t get away with not having one. Take banks as an example. Even the smallest regional banks have an app. Customers expect it, and not having one is unacceptable in the market and will potentially drive away new and existing business.

In these industries, white labeled, cheap solutions aimed at simply getting your brand in the game have become the norm because the cost of building and maintaining a bespoke mobile app is out of reach. But still, customers expect a solution and won’t tolerate not having one.

The problem that many of these companies will run into is that most white labeled solutions are not built for scale. Typically, these vendors started by building solutions for a single client (who typically contracted for a specific set of features, not the full suite of what the market would require) and try to scale after the fact. There’s potential for that to work, but only for a short period of time. As they grow their user base and technology suite, they start to deal with issues around scaling, including deploying to the various app stores, keeping up with maintenance, and implementing and maintaining customizations. Next thing you know, you’re only getting one update per year, and it’s mostly bug fixes.

The hope is that as the mobile application market continues to mature, we will see more innovative solutions hopefully focused on modular architecture, testing automation, and a focus on CICD automation. Without automation, these companies are going to either end up ballooning in costs or will simply stop operating. But you should walk in clear eyed knowing that these solutions will be more focused on the lowest common denominator, not innovation.

If you’re going to be a consumer of a white labeled app, choose your partner wisely. You need to ensure that whoever you select is going to work with you harmoniously and allow you to innovate without disruption. There are very few competitors in most of these spaces, but that doesn’t mean your decision is irrelevant. This is a good opportunity to use a third party to help you find the right partner who doesn’t have the burdens or pressure that you’ll feel from your organization.

2. Innovating to create market setting solutions

The next category on the bell curve would be any company looking to innovate in the mobile space — because there’s still a ton of opportunity to do so! The industry is still very young and ripe with potential.

The market setters are an important part of the ecosystem because they are the ones who create new table stakes for their industries which feed the backlog for white labeled solutions. Look at the fast food/coffee market. Starbucks was an early innovator of creating an app that combined your payment method and loyalty program in one. It drove usage because it was a simple switch that gave customers constant perks that incentivized them to return (all without having to talk to a human being – a millennial dream come true!)! This model was a huge success, and as a result every other brand in the space quickly pivoted to catch up. Now you can order ahead in almost every national chain and use their built-in loyalty programs.

Every business in every industry has the potential to become the next market mover, but not everyone is willing to put in the work to do so. Most of the time, companies aren’t going to be able to create these solutions internally as they often aren’t “technology” companies. They need partners. Going back to the Starbucks example, they worked with a startup to create their initial mobile solution. Once they had built up the technology and their own internal technical capabilities, they brought the solution in-house and navigated forward from there.

The main thing a company needs to be successful in the innovation space is to have a distinct point of view and a willingness to pivot multiple times before landing on the optimal solution. That point of view must differentiate you from your competition. There are too many apps that all look the same despite not being white labeled. If you’re investing heavily in a mobile app, don’t waste that money just to be boring or mimic your competitors.

The ideal model for companies willing to invest in mobile innovation is to work with a strong technical/product partner to build out your initial solution. Use that partnership to help you not only create the technology solution, but also to innovate, pivot, and in the long term identify the skillsets you need to add internally to create longevity for your product. Then, do a soft transition from external build out to internal ownership/management. This gives you the flexibility to iterate through an agency or partner who not only knows the space well, but also understands how to quickly innovate within an enterprise and then turn around a stable product without disrupting your existing product development lifecycle.

3. Progressive web apps in lieu of a mobile application

In both the table stakes and innovation sides of our bell curve, we see one commonality – there’s a compelling use case for a mobile application. Whether that’s meeting the market or beating the market, there’s a reason to build and deploy a mobile app.

But what if your industry doesn’t have a well-defined use case? Or if your solution doesn’t need to leverage the power of the iOS/Android ecosystem, but just needs to be available to mobile users?

In these scenarios, it makes absolutely no sense to have an app in the store without a specific stated purpose. Having an app just for the sake of it is going to cost you money without providing any value, and it will do nothing but frustrate your team and your clients. Mobile users are comfortable with their phones and if your solution doesn’t need to be a mobile app but is accessible via the web on a mobile device, it’s still solving the problem for the user without creating unnecessary overhead for your team.

Take a hard look at your company and your goals. Are you just looking to keep up with the market? Are you looking to innovate and create the market? Or are you just looking at deploying a mobile app just to say you did?

In any of these three cases, you can only be successful if you’re honest with yourself and make good decisions about how to move forward. There’s opportunity out there to create great solutions whether they’re within a white labeled app, a completely bespoke app, or even in the progressive web app space. But the key is to base your solution on the value you’re providing to your customers rather than trying to check some arbitrary box.

If you need help making those decisions, we have experts who have delivered solutions in all three categories and the product knowledge to help identify what would be right for you and your organization. Get in touch to learn more.