Custom web applications are a great way to put much-needed automation into your team’s hands. It’s important, however, to make sure that you don’t end up making choices that result in hard-to-use unproductive apps. If you are partnering with a professional company for business web application development services, there are a few things that you’ll want to avoid doing to ensure your project goes as planned and the application meets your expectations.

These are four common ways that organizations end up sabotaging their own web application.

1. End user needs are not considered, often end users are missing from vital discussions

The first step in creating a user-friendly interface is understanding who your users are and how they will actually use the app. Providing this insight to your developer will help them plan for what features your users will need and how they’ll learn to use the application.

Often a group of managers makes decisions that could have used the entire team’s input; this is important for gathering real-world use cases and improves rollout efficiently when the complete team takes ownership of the tools built for them.

Another important thing to communicate is potential changes or upgrades that may be needed in the future. This allows developers to design a system to accommodate future changes easily. If there is a larger key feature that needs to be added sometime down the line, and this wasn’t communicated to the developers, then it can end up costing more (and taking more time) than it should if it is not planned for now.

2. Making changes to fix smaller problems instead of a deeper analysis in process

When testing the completed functionality of the application, make sure not to make decisions based on knee-jerk reactions from your team. Not everyone will love everything about a new business application; some will take longer to adapt to it than others. Always take time to think before deciding to implement wholesale changes solely based on inputs from a small subset of users. The development company that you hire should not just be “yes” men; they should provide real-world insight into what works based on their experience developing web applications.

3. Assuming your developer knows how your business works

This is quite controversial but a very valid point. Companies assume developers would use common sense knowledge about their business but forget that developers know little or nothing about the business nuances.

Very often with an app development project, it is the things that seem small that end up causing severe delays. A developer isn’t going to understand your business the way you do, nor will they be able to easily anticipate what you want or need, be sure to share all of your requirements with your development team from the start and continue to give them the advantage of your business knowledge at every step.

The way we tell our customers to brief us is as new employees with no background on what they do and how they do it, we can then get the complete picture and assist in developing a successful web application.

4. Scalability is not discussed or planned for

Programming a software system involves several steps, and almost all depend on the number of records the program will be processing. Not planning for regular business growth is where many companies get into trouble.

The worst time for a web application to crash or slow down is in times when business is booming and the system is under pressure to manage more order, more customers and more goods. CSL designs applications to anticipate growth for the next 5 years with a yearly audit on the code and infrastructure to ensure scalability is planned well.

Investing in a web application that only lasts for a few years is yet another problem, we expect our solutions to work for at least a decade without significant upgrades.

5. Selecting a development company that’s not skilled at communication

The initial price of a business web application may tempt some organizations to consider outsourcing their development off-shore. The problem with this is that partnering with an off-shore developer can often lead to a much longer turnaround time due to communication challenges and other factors. These delays add to the overall cost of the application plus keep it from getting into the hands of your employees.

CSL delivers the best of both worlds, onshore and offshore. Our model of development never fully relies on offshore resources, a healthy mix of both onshore and offshore resources keep our costs reasonable with the delivery of high-quality software that’s well thought out.

Contact Custom Software Lab if you have more questions about the potential pitfalls of business web application development.