Building an app or IT system for your business is a very expensive and time consuming process. You are not only spending money but you are also wasting your active productive hours. Typically app and IT projects run for a few weeks or months and in some cases even upto years. They say, ‘You get what you pay for’. You must have the right amount of budget to avoid disappointment.

Price of websites and software is never fixed and it is a bit difficult (specially for non-IT person) to find out the price of a software or website. Price depends on many factors. It is similar to any other commodity; for instance, car, gemstone and any other thing has different qualities and ranges. Same is with the software and websites. It is relatively difficult for a non-IT person to justify that why the cost of accounting systems of big firms and banks cost millions of dollars but the same software for a small business costs a few hundred dollars.

Many startups and small businesses cannot afford a consultancy phase to prepare a document that outlines all the requirements in terms of design and development. However, for small budget projects, your supplier is expected to initially spend sometime with you to understand the requirements and then give you a quote and budget based on those details.

Big organizations who can afford consultancy phase of the project would normally run a consultancy phase to collect data and requirements on the project. They would normally prepare a document called RFP (Request for Proposal). This document would include all the details on the projects including the different components, the technical requirements, scope, scalability, future provisions, design and other details required for the design, development, testing and implementation of the project.

Many clients (who are in the process of making their first software, apps or MIS) judge the price from the design and user interface of that particular software or app. However, its not the design of the website or a software, rather it is the quality, the type of coding, future expansion and post launch services that matters. There are also business ethics, cooperation, scalability, profile of the service provider, data security and privacy issues involved in a project. Other important factors are post implementation services. Your software must have been developed according to standards so that you can integrate any future scalability in case of future requirements and/or expansions. Also in many cases, new software companies and individuals close down and they take away all the intellectual property of your system with them. In that case you restart building your app or IT solution from scratch. This wastes not only your money but also your precious time and efforts. It also compromises your business idea and model as you will be sharing your idea/concept with many different teams. It is well said, “You get what you pay for”. 

It is recommended that in the absence of an RFP document (based on the pre-development consultancy phase), the client must share information about the available budget. This gives an idea to the developer about the level and scope of the project. For instance, if I want to buy a car through an auto trader. Either I should have complete details about the car that I am looking for; or alternatively I should inform the dealer about my available budget and then he could suggest me the cars available in that budget. Otherwise asking simply for a car will not work because prices of cars varies from a few hundred pounds (for used cars) to their prices in millions. We understand that many suppliers will misuse if you inform them in advance about your budget. But you also Google about the average price, for example, “What was the average price of a native mobile app in 2015”. Companies that follow business ethics will be looking for a long tern business relationship. Good companies always keep the success of their clients first because if the client is successful they will bring in more business. Your supplier must be able to give you a quote and time line after you discuss the project in detail with him/her. As a rough estimate price of mobile apps would start from £400 to Millions.

We suggest that you ensure a minimum level of quality and ensure some budget for it. Don’t go for too cheap options, ensure a minimum level and go for the right thing that gives you comfort, efficiency and peace of mind. Software tools and packages are important elements of businesses and you must not compromise on them.

Depending on your available budget, discuss with your service providers and reduce some functionalities/modules if your budget is less. If the app is properly developed, you can always Ad-on in future once you start generating revenue.

We suggest the following blogs to give you a better understanding of the topic.

Do you want to have a mobile app, website, eCommerce solution or a software for your business? Do you want to be one step ahead of your competitors? Do you have any innovative idea that you want to make app for? Contact us for a free 30 minutes consultancy and we’ll help you being one step ahead of your competitors. To know more About iFahja, visit our About us page and our profile.

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