Alpha Software Blog



Do I Develop One Complex App or Many Simple Ones?

Many of the developers we work with see how users interface with B2C apps on their phones and tablets and observe, task-oriented, get-in/get-out apps that accomplish quick and simple requests. Get the weather. Find a better price. Find a current stock quote. Get me around the traffic. These simple apps are a far cry from the monolithic desktop apps that corporate developers now need to mobilize.  As a result, enterprise developers are asking, "Do I develop one complex app or many simple ones?"

GartnerGartner Research VP Van Baker just released a report entitled "The Mobile App Dilemma: One App Versus Many." The report offers guidance for application leaders building mobile apps who are struggling with whether to build a single feature-rich business app, or whether to build several smaller, simpler apps that may not all be used.The report aims to show readers how to add mobile app functionality without necessarily adding complexity. His key recommendation:

"...the recommendation for mobile apps is that they should be no more than two clicks deep or four to six screens in total."
Van advises development teams to "Focus on User Experience When Developing Multiple Mobile Apps." He stresses the importance of :
  • Establishing coordinated teams 
  • Producing a minimal viable product 
  • Conducting behavioral analytics 

In regard to producing a minimal viable product, Baker explains: "When building mobile apps, the focus should always be on delivering a minimum viable product for the initial version of the app. It is important to start with an app that addresses a few critical features. This is important to ensure that users will actually use the app. Additional features can be added and unused features removed over time."

We believe that mobile apps should be fast to build, easy for end-users to use, and should streamline and simplify everyday business processes. Our recent Alpha Anywhere V4 with mobile optimized forms launch reflects this focus. You can try Alpha Anywhere for free.

To read the full Gartner report, clients can download here.

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About Author

Amy Groden-Morrison
Amy Groden-Morrison

Amy Groden-Morrison has served more than 15 years in marketing communications leadership roles at companies such as TIBCO Software, RSA Security and Ziff-Davis. Most recently she was responsible for developing marketing programs that helped achieve 30%+ annual growth rate for analytics products at a $1Bil, NASDAQ-listed business integration Software Company. Her past accomplishments include establishing the first co-branded technology program with CNN, launching an events company on the NYSE, rebranding a NASDAQ-listed company amid a crisis, and positioning and marketing a Boston-area startup for successful acquisition. Amy currently serves as a Healthbox Accelerator Program Mentor, Marketing Committee Lead for the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Launch Smart Clinics, and on the organizing team for Boston TechJam. She holds an MBA from Northeastern University.

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The Alpha platform is the only unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct “no-code” and “low-code” components. Using the Alpha TransForm no-code product, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the Alpha Anywhere low-code environment to develop complex web or mobile business apps from scratch, integrate data with existing systems of record and workflows (including data collected via Alpha TransForm), and add additional security or authentication requirements to protect corporate data.

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