[vc_row][vc_column][blog_single_full_content]Mobile apps for business has gained significant importance, all because of the exposure and convenience it offers. There are various stages involved in developing an app, starting from hiring a mobile app developing company, brainstorming, prototyping, designing, development, testing, and deployment. Well, this is not where the app for business ends. The next and the continuous process is app maintenance. This cannot be avoided after your business app is successfully launched in the store.
It needs to be monitored, taken care of, and updated regularly to stay competitive and survive in the pool of other business apps. Here is why mobile application maintenance and support are important is for business.
Importance of App Maintenance
1) Eliminating Downtimes To Save Revenue Loss
Let’s say your app generates revenue of $1 Million daily. Your app faces a sudden downtime and it is not fixed for 10 days. You will suffer a huge loss of $10 Million in 10 days. This will happen when you haven’t hired a mobile app development company for regular maintenance. A big brand can still bear such huge loss but for small businesses, it would be a hell lot of difficult. Make sure your app is maintained to get out of downtime in the minimum time or not experience it at all.
2) Save Your App From Getting Banned on App Store
App stores have rules which are to be followed compulsorily. These rules are amended from time to time and become more strict. Non-compliance with these rules can make your app banned from the stores. With regular mobile app maintenance services, your app will always be following the latest guidelines staying away from getting blacklisted. Say, for example, the previous year Apple released iOS 11 with software upgrade needing a minimum of 64-bit apps instead of 32-bits. With regular maintenance, apps will be updated with such changes.
3) Secure Apps From Cyber Threats
Hackers always find a weak point in your app. You might have used the best encryption and security policies but with time it gets outdated and prone to cyber-attacks. Hackers will anyhow search a way to get access to confidential and sensitive data. By hiring a mobile app development company and maintaining your app, you will increase its security and maintain your user’s confidence.
4) Users Preferences
With time, the likes and dislikes, user interaction and user behavior changes. Keeping your app without maintenance and updates is driving your users away from your app to your competitors. It is tested and proven that mobile app maintenance services play a very important role in increasing traffic and getting higher ratings from users. It is very important to cover the issues the users are facing in maintenance or else they will turn to your alternatives.
5) Stay Competitive
If you hire an experienced website and mobile app development company, they will always provide you post-launch services for several months. This is because maintenance is not a one-time thing, it is a continuous process. If you can monitor your app yourself, that is great. However, if you don’t have enough resources, you can assign the task to your mobile app development company. Make sure your app is bug-free, loads faster, has easy login and logout, and every function works flawlessly.
6) Financial Benefit in Long Run
You can choose the best website and mobile app development company but it is not possible to develop and deploy a perfect app. There will always be room for changes and improvements. With existing bugs, crash, and downtime, there will be a huge financial setback. Maybe at first, you might save money ignoring maintenance but in the long run, it is definitely a bigger loss.
7) Infrastructure
If the infrastructure on which the app is hosted has any changes, it will affect the performance of the app. The app needs to be updated for flawless performance and regular maintenance will help the app owners with that.
8) Yearly App Audits
Generally, both Google and Apple release a newer version of their mobile operating system. A beta version of the mobile OS is released before the actual launch for the developers. In this phase, the developers get the chance to download and test their apps to be compatible with the version. It is not uncommon for certain features to stop working or not work as expected after the OS release. This is why developers offer a maintenance package post-launch to keep the app running and running smoothly after every new release of the OS.
9) Libraries
Mobile app developers use third-party libraries in the app and dependencies while developing. Now, these libraries can change on a frequent basis. These apps will malfunction unless they are updated which makes a continuous mobile app maintenance a non-negotiable element.
10) Programming Language
Apps also need to be maintained based on the changes in the programming language. There was a major shift from java to Kotlin for Android and Objective C to Swift for Apple. Regular maintenance will keep the app updated to the latest programming languages for the best user experience and client satisfaction.
Based on your app, its user base and nature, here are some types of maintenance you can choose for your mobile app.
Types of Maintenance
1) Corrective Maintenance
This type of maintenance includes repairing the faults and errors in the routine app functions like design, coding or app logic.
2) Preventive Maintenance
This maintenance includes stopping the happening of errors. It involves code restructuring, code optimization, and documentation updating.
3) Adaptive Maintenance
Certain changes have to be made in the app to keep the system updated and running for adjusting the OS or the hardware.
4) Emergency Maintenance
The issue arises out of the blue which has to be solved on the immediate basis to keep the app running smoothly is what emergency maintenance is all about.
5) Perfective Maintenance
The app undergoes perfective maintenance when there arises a need to offer new features and functionality by making changes in the source code as per user needs.[/blog_single_full_content][/vc_column][/vc_row]