Credits : Prnewswire

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Apalon, a leading mobile development company, is partnering with Caravan Stylist Studio during fashion week in New York with a unique Coloring Book for Me app activation. The partnership launches Thursday, February 9 at The Gregory Hotel (42 W 35^th Street) and runs through Thursday, February 16. The Coloring Book for Me activation invites bloggers, fashion insiders, and hotel guests to color life-size images, interact with the app via tablets, and take home cards they can color at their leisure. Guests will also be able to schedule styling appointments and view the presentation of Caravan X Tabii, a zero waste capsule collection by Claudine DeSola and Tabitha St. Bernard.

Coloring Book for Me has 25 million users, who are rediscovering the joy of coloring on Android™ and iOS® devices. The app takes the adult coloring book craze off of the page and into users’ hands via their mobile device. With over 25 color palettes and numerous designs to choose from, the app helps users escape the chaos of their day as they color and edit their artwork in a matter of minutes.

“Adult Coloring Book Apps are all the rage as we rediscover the joy and calm of coloring. Whether you’re in your 20s, 30s, 40s or beyond, Apalon’s Coloring Book for Me is a product that will inspire and bring out the creativity in you. Creative expression and color are key inspirations and themes in the fashion community. We are thrilled to partner with Caravan Stylist Studio and The Gregory Hotel to bring our Coloring Book for Me experience to life during fashion week,” noted Lyle Underkoffler, General Manager, Apalon.

This marks the first time Apalon will have a presence during fashion week in New York. The creativity behind Coloring Book for Me is a natural integration for the Caravan Stylist Studio team.

“All of the dresses we created for Caravan x Tabii are a representation of color so this partnership with Coloring Book for Me is the perfect complement to the presentation. The Caravan at The Gregory always seeks to provide a creative hub for guests during the chaos of fashion week – people are running from one show to the next and this lounge offers a relaxing space where people can tap into their creativity by coloring, listening to a custom playlist by DJ Oreon and the Caravan team, and enjoying treats and hot chocolate by So Delicious,” stated Claudine DeSola, Founder, Caravan Stylist Studio.

About Apalon

An IAC Applications company, Apalon is a leading mobile development company with one of the largest and most popular app portfolios in the world, reaching more than 20 million monthly active users. A unique blend of passion and skills are at the core of the company’s DNA, driving the team to produce top-rated, award-winning mobile experiences for millions of people around the world. Apalon’s portfolio includes well-known titles such as Weather Live, Speak & Translate, and Pimp Your Screen. Learn more at www.apalon.com.

About IAC Applications

A division of IAC (Nasdaq: IAC), IAC Applications brings together a unique collection of award-winning technology companies to form one of the world’s largest distributors of utility applications, with its products downloaded more than one million times a day across desktop, browser and mobile devices. For more information about IAC Applications, its businesses and its products, please visit www.iacapps.com.

Coloring Book for Me is a trademark of IAC Search & Media Europe, Ltd. Android is a trademark of Google Inc. These and all other third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.  No association or endorsement is implied.

SOURCE IAC Applications; Apalon

Credits : E27

We are well into 2017, and it is high time to take stock of the trends that have come and gone. The market of mobile apps is getting bigger day by day. According to Gartner research, there will be more than 260 billion mobile app downloads in 2016, compared to 180 billion in 2015. The market is supersaturated and really competitive. But there is still a high demand for fine solutions, though. To be up to date, check out an outlook of about five app development trends you should not miss, as created by mobile app development company The App Solutions.

1. More IoT apps

The IoT industry is expanding rapidly and will connect more than 4 billion people, with an opportunity for US$4 trillion revenue by 2020. It will effect a major shift both in hardware and software connected devices.

The core idea behind this trend is not just collecting information, but also provide an information analysis users can rely on while making decisions.

The App Solutions determines two vectors of development for the upcoming year. First is the Rapid Prototype Development that provides the service of prototype creation on a really tight schedule. The second line of activity is the Prototype to Production service wherein we help to complete the project, staff the team with engineers and pick the hardware products.

2. Android before iOS

In 2017 Android has all chances to become a priority platform. Already now Google Play has twice more downloads than iOS App Store. (To be fair we should notice that iOS apps bring more revenue than Android.)

The main reason for this tendency is growing markets of India, China, and Latin America, where smartphones that run on Android prevail. Another significant factor is the evolution of Android ecosystem itself. In any case, the final choice is dictated by the business objectives of each particular project.

3. More UX, less art

The success of a mobile app is defined by the thoughtful user experience, and 2017 won’t change the situation. A diffused background with well-marked and highlighted call-to-action button is a must today. In this way, app owners can help users navigate through the app to the target action. The art should bring a minimum distraction.

Graphic designers and artists will develop UX into an art form. So take a closer look at grid-based interfaces, parallax, split-screens and micro-interactions to gain traction.

4. Security is more important than ever before

Surprisingly, a vast amount of users still don’t take the security issue seriously enough. But it absolutely does not mean that app developers should do the same. With growing development of mobile purchasing and rapidly expanded amount of other users’ private data, security is a number one priority.

Smartphones have plenty of options for user verification like face recognition through inbuilt cameras, voice recognition, fingerprints, SMS codes, and phone calls verification. The whole app security architecture should be carefully checked and improved.

5. Cross-platform apps

Cross-platform apps gain more attention and this becomes another trend that shapes the nearest future. App development customers want to get their apps in the short term and with reasonable price, and frameworks like AngularJS or Cordova are perfect for that.

Another argument for this trend is an increasing number of devices per one person. All apps should look nice, run smoothly, and show excellent performance while connecting to each other.

The takeaway

As a bonus, here are some more trends we all should look out for:

• Space saving features that will help to solve the problem with constant lack of space;
• Interactive push notifications can bring the interaction with app users to a new level of communication;
• Virtual Reality is a bit raw at the moment, but the interest for this area is definitely huge;
• Сhatbots are already here to take over the care of answering users questions and providing relevant content.

To sum up all the above, we should say that the opportunities of a mobile app market are going to reach US$77 billion during the year. So it is worth trying even if your idea is in a highly competitive niche.

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The views expressed here are of the author’s, and e27 may not necessarily subscribe to them. e27 invites members from Asia’s tech industry and startup community to share their honest opinions and expert knowledge with our readers. If you are interested in sharing your point of view, submit your post here.

Credits : Computerweekly

Santander bank wants to make its staff more productive through mobile apps, which it will create alongside IBM.

Spanish bank Santander is working with IBM to develop iPhone-based mobile apps for its staff to help them engage better with customers.

IBM is also working with Apple on the project, and a suite of IBM MobileFirst apps will be designed using Apple’s modern programming language, Swift, for 11,000 Apple devices at the bank. These will be used by staff across the corporate, small to medium-sized enterprise (SME), private and retail banking operations.

IBM MobileFirst has mobile application development modules and application management capabilities.

Santander employees will have quick access to up-to-date information on products, services and clients, which the bank expects to help them make better recommendations to customers.

The apps are designed for employees working in Santander’s central offices and the banking network.

Apps will include a tool to help staff measure how they are meeting targets on products, customers and in certain regions. There will also be an app that provides mobile access to metrics to support risk management.

Javier Cuenca, ‎managing director of technology and operations at Santander, said: “Collaborating with IBM will help us accelerate our digital transformation and improve the client experience to anticipate customer needs.”

Every app will be integrated with Santander’s enterprise systems, giving staff quick access to real-time data.

Santander is using IBM’s app design and development model – Mobile at Scale – and plans to roll out the first the set of apps in April 2017. It will develop apps over the next two years.

“Santander is committed to reinventing how it conducts business, beginning with creating ways for bank employees to engage with business customers for an exceptional banking experience,” said Gareth Mackown, European mobile and Apple leader at IBM.

Credits : Techspot

Aspiring mobile developers take note: knowing how to work with the most popular tools is key. That’s why Android is the ideal operating system for new developers to work on. Android is the world’s most popular OS and its capabilities continue to grow with each update. Pick up the Ultimate Android N Development Bundle, and you’ll learn how to work on the Android platform and leverage its new features to build new groundbreaking apps.

Featuring 5 courses, this training will help you take the first step towards developing on Android. You’ll start by getting comfortable with Android’s free development tools. Then you’ll dive into Java and start building your own projects. You’ll discover how to design app interfaces and scale images to show up correctly on any device. Then, you’ll get your hands dirty organizing data, building menus, and integrating your projects with other apps like YouTube. On more advanced courses, you’ll tackle XML, JSON, and learn how to use essential database tools SQL and SQLite.

Meant for beginner to intermediate programmers, with this Android N Development Bundle you can go from zero to advanced and you’ll only pay $39, that’s 90% off its usual $415 retail price.

Credits : Shutterstock

Mobile web sites are a growing design issue. According to StatCounter GS, mobile web access has risen to 36.54% in the United States as of January 2017. Internationally, according to the same set of statistics, mobile phones have overtaken desktops as the primary means of accessing the internet by approximately 4%.

This means that companies seeking to reach customers need their sites to be easily read and navigated by smaller screens and devices that may not support Java or cookies. But what works best? And what should IT departments focus on when improving or developing mobile sites? Experts on the Forbes Technology Council have this to say:

1. Put Priority Content At The Top

Place high-priority content, such as phone numbers, address or directions, at the top of the website page, so that users can quickly get to it without having to scroll. Don’t fall into the trap of “stacking” low-priority content over high-priority content. – Andrew Kucheriavy, Intechnic

2. Foster An Environment Of Continuous Experimentation And Improvement

Good UI/UX is hard. Don’t imagine you’re going to get it right the first time. Experiment with alternatives as much as you can during development. Consider A/B testing technology that lets you run experiments to evaluate interface alternatives and to respond quickly to the findings. Implement continuous integration and deployment techniques that let you release improvements regularly. – Manuel Vellon, Level 11

3. Ask Users About What Works And What Doesn’t

It helps to know from people using it every day what works and doesn’t, so go straight to users and get their feedback. After all, you want people to use it, and there’s no better perspective than those that already do. – Chalmers Brown, Due

4. Don’t Make Mobile An Afterthought

An increasing number of people use a phone or tablet as their primary way to interact with websites. You can’t slap together a mobile site as an afterthought and expect to be successful: Mobile should be a first-class citizen from the start. Also, resist the temptation to suppress certain content completely on mobile. It may be much easier, but some visitors may never come to your site on a computer. – Jay Oliver, GeekHive

As app developers, we are fortunate to often work with clients who are launching their first app. It’s a collaborative process that always leads to amazing products, built from the ground up. Then there are other times where we’re brought in after an attempt has been made… and usually not a moment too soon!

If you’ve ever tried to do your own plumbing, app development is like that: it can be way more complicated than you’d expect, and tiny details can be the difference between a flushing toilet and a rising tide of horror. So when do you know if your company is in over its head when it comes to making an app? Here are three red flags that will signal when it’s time to outsource your mobile development.

Credits : Business2community

1. Your app development time table is too long.

According to a recent survey by outsystems.com of over 3200 IT professionals, 40% said that it took between 6 months to over a year to deliver a finished app. Did we read that right? By the time the app comes out, it’ll already be obsolete! That sort of lengthy development time for software can make or break a business, especially in our mobile-first world.

There are a slew of reasons why apps can stew in development hell, but it usually comes down to one thing: resources. A good app, like any good software, takes a lot of effort. You need a rock-solid design that can translate to rapid iterations of wireframe models, your backend team communicating well with your UX team, and a deep understanding of best practices at every step. Poor sprint management always leads to lengthy delays, so project management is also paramount to timely app development.

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All this can be nearly impossible for even enterprise-level companies to accomplish. If your app’s launch date is continually getting pushed another two weeks, it’s probably time to outsource development.

2. Your MVP is bad.

Lots of tech blogs say that get to your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and push it live, then iterate quickly. Although this has been repeated countless times, we don’t think this is great advice when it comes to mobile apps. The reason is that smartphone users just don’t give new apps much of a shot.

App downloads are slowing, perhaps by up to 20%. That means less people are downloading new apps altogether. Meanwhile, 77% of users don’t open a new app again after 72 hours, and it’s often because that initial experience is just not up to snuff. So we have a user base that is both reluctant to download new apps, and to give new apps much of a chance. And you want to release a half-baked MVP? Hmm.

Credits : Business2community

When it comes to mobile software, first impressions matter more than businesses realize. After all, there are often many other similar apps to choose from. If your company is racing to put out a MVP that is just so-so, you might be setting yourself up for a situation where you won’t get a second chance. It’s important to put out the best app you can from the get-go, and outsourcing your app can ultimately nab higher ROI when loyalty is earned due to a better product.

3. You just don’t have the expertise.

Seems like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised just how many companies lack the skill set internally but still forge onward with a complicated app development. Almost half the IT professionals surveyed in the outsystems.com report said that there was a knowledge gap with mobile that slows development.

It’s no secret that there is a shortage of mobile app developers which is a growing problem for the industry as a whole, but also for individual companies that try to rely on unproven talent to build their apps. Remember, it’s not just the app itself; it’s integration with the backend, it’s integration with the cloud, it’s security, it’s speed of deployment, it’s scalability. It’s a lot, and even enterprise-level companies have stumbled at the scope of their mobile projects. Even if they technically have the resources (aka man-power), the lack of expertise will slow development to a crawl.

Look, not every company can quickly get up to speed on iOS’s latest changes or programming in Swift. If you’re spending more time (and money) on just learning the skill set instead of developing, it’s time to outsource your app.

Credits : Itproportal

When those sudden moments of genius strike, you could be onto the next big thing – the new Angry Birds or Snapchat might be around the corner. But the main practicality in converting an interesting idea into an application is deciding on your platform of choice.

Currently, iOS and Android are the main contenders for introducing a new app; both have advantages and disadvantages in certain areas, which can be a minefield for the new market entrant.

However, help is at hand in the shape of cross platform mobile development tools, which have become increasingly sophisticated of late as demand has risen. These help to reduce the development time of applications by enabling developers to re-use code across multiple platforms, resulting in less room for error as the same code is shared between multiple platforms, and also generating a codebase which is more easily maintained and updated. The tools can provide a side by side comparison which helps to maintain design consistency throughout each environment.

When it comes to stand alone consumer apps that target the Play Store and App Store, we at ByteSnap recommend that it’s best to choose one core platform to deliver on first, as the potential user base is in the multi-millions. Once established, then approaching alternative platforms with the learnings from the first is considerably easier.

However, there are cases where simultaneous development and release across multiple platforms are a key part of products feature set – such as apps that ‘talk’ and integrate with specific hardware for additional functionality. This could encompass IoT products or particularly ‘hot’ new hardware, for example.

Native vs cross platform?

It is important to note that cross development tools come in mainly two flavours – native cross development and Hybrid cross development.  Each has their own strengths and weaknesses, but if you’re in any doubt, our software consultants at ByteSnap Design are expert in cross platform mobile development and are well placed to assist.

Once you’ve made your choice between native and hybrid cross platform app development, you’ll be needing one of these tools for cross platform mobile development:

Xamarin

Xamarin has become one of the leading solutions providers in the native cross platform application development market.  The tool allows developers to use a C# codebase to build Android, iOS, Mac and Windows apps.  There is native API access across the supported operating systems and also the ability to add “components” to an app for plugin functionality, such as barcode scanning, in-app billing and a multitude of custom controls.

Xamarin provides a plethora of reference material – API documentation, example code and even boast a “Xamarin University” to help support developers – and the vibrant development community means there are also a lot of new components and custom controls being developed.

After Microsoft acquired Xamarin it became free to use with versions of Visual Studio. The Xamarin Test Cloud is worthy of mention; a 2,000-strong real device testing suite in the cloud where users can setup tests and get comprehensive results including performance statistics, screenshots for the steps taken and compare for regression testing.

Appcelarator

Appcelerator Titanium boasts the ability to make “native” mobile applications on iOS, Android and Windows Phone using one JavaScript Codebase. If there is any functionality where the native API is not exposed through the Titanium API set, then the developer can make a “module” written in native code to expose this functionality. This makes this platform ideal for creating apps that are close to native in performance, especially where the developers are well versed in JavaScript.

Appcelerator recently announced Hyperloop – which vastly increases the power of this as a true cross platform mobile development tool, as Hyperloop exposes all native functionality for iOS and Apple – with planned support for Windows Phone in the future.

Like similar tools, Appcelerator provides analytics and third party components to implement 3rd party modules. For enterprise customers there is also the option for using a virtual private cloud server for storing sensitive data.

Qt

The oldest cross platform development tool on our list, Qt had its initial release in 1990.  It has possibly the largest list of supported mediums, most notably Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Windows, however also reaching Mac OS, Linux, Sailfish, QNX and more.

The latest versions of Qt (5.6+) include a great amount of mobile application support, adding in functionality for high DPI, navigation and themed UI. Since then, more controls have been added to these styles which cover Material Design (Android), Universal Design (Microsoft) and Qt’s default style.

There are two current forms of Qt, open source and commercial. Each of them carries different licences that are applied to the generated application and this should be taken into consideration.

Adobe Phonegap/Apache Cordova

Adobe PhoneGap uses the open source project Apache Cordova as its engine and is one of the most popular, go-to, development environments for cross platform web applications. Because it is open source, PhoneGap is free to use and boasts the ability to interface with other Adobe technologies, as well as a large list of third party tools such as PayPal, Testing SDK’s, Analytics and Barcode decoders.

PhoneGap developers write applications as web apps. These leverage the WebKit installed on the target device using HTML, JavaScript and CSS as the language. This way, they trade performance and some level of native interfacing for portability and reusability.

PhoneGap also offers cloud services (PhoneGap Build) for building and distributing applications to the relevant app stores, removing the reliance for maintaining target native SDKs and to push systematic updates to target phones as part of the development cycle.

Sencha

Sencha, similar to PhoneGap, makes use of HTML5 to achieve cross device portability. Though it has many applications and tools available to developers, such as; Architect, Themer, and various IDE Plugins, the main offering for mobile applications development is Ext JS. Once the application has been built developers can use Sencha cmd or Cordova to use device specific API calls to achieve close to native functionality.

Sencha offers a library of prebuilt UI components and accompanying UI themes, with the ability to write custom modules to expose native functionality. They also have an automated test suite available which leverages the Jasmine framework for JavaScript. Standard licences start at a minimum of 5 developers and provide a good entry point.  However, the premium licence contains some crucial development tools such as debugging and analytical data.

Graeme Wintle, director, ByteSnap Design
Image Credit: Nito / Shutterstock

Credits : Itproportal

There is definitely a struggle between supply and demand, and organisations seem to be losing this battle.

Business use of mobile apps is exploding, and with good reason. Mobile apps can offer substantial productivity benefits to organisations, cost reductions, and increased customer and staff satisfaction. Analysts also report that around two thirds of organisations are using three or more apps.  Therefore, many companies clearly see the need for apps and mobile development. However, their mobile app development teams face many challenges during the mobile app development process.

This includes the ability to scale teams in line with app development requirement, complex back-end integrations and faster release cycles.

App supply vs app demand

In addition to this, Gartner reports that the market demand for mobile application development services will grow five times faster than internal IT teams’ capacities to deliver apps.  Whereas another study found that nearly half of the organisations it surveyed have a backlog in mobile development that ranges between 10 to 20 apps.

So there is definitely a struggle between supply and demand, and organisations seem to be losing this battle. Part of the driver behind this mobile app development problem is because app development continues to be complex and challenging; which raises a serious question around how organisations can build apps faster and more efficiently?

Mobile app development obstacles

Further, aside from overcoming the time it takes to develop apps rapidly, there are several obstacles development teams face. For instance, being able to import apps from a single platform to all the major OSs is key. Otherwise, it can double or even triple the cost with each additional platform port costing an incremental 50 per cent – 70 per cent.

Native mobile app developers with strong skills can also be difficult to source; and, HTML5 mobile apps lack native features, perform poorly and consequently provide users with bad experiences, resulting in low adoption. Back-end or server side development can also contribute to terrible app performance, and substantially impact end-user experience, accounting for 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the effort and expense.

Many of the complexities associated with mobile application development can also be attributed to the vast fragmentation of technologies available. Building your own back-end, using custom frameworks from niche point products, or using an array of open source tools and plug-ins can enhance  both complexity and costs.

Typically these tactics make sense and are cheaper initially for simple applications, or for extending a web application to mobile; however, they can quickly become complex custom mobile application development projects. With these quick-fix choices often resulting in a high total cost of ownership that have the potential to increase over time.

This isn’t a new problem for large enterprise to deal with too.  They have been solving software development issues for many years. But, it is an expensive way of building apps, especially when you throw development for mobile into the mix; which now requires specific development processes and methodologies to be factored in so that the development process can be saved from chaos.

Developing for mobile moments

The answer to this problem, therefore, lies in identifying ways to continue delivering great mobile experiences by using predictable and repeatable mobile app development processes, that free up agile development teams, enable parallel work streams, maximise reuse and which are cost effective in the long term.

Additionally, mobility has fundamentally changed the application development model that is being used by developers.  Now, developers focus on breaking a business process into multiple small task-oriented user interactions, sometimes referred to as “mobile moments”. They favour this approach over the traditional monolithic one. Proven elsewhere, this more modern approach allows teams to develop in a reliable, repeatable and sustainable fashion that does not require the creation of a brand-new approach.

What is the model-driven approach?

So, the better path to consider is one that adopts this model-driven approach. Meaning, the adoption of a methodology that enables rapid development of applications from architectural models that make use of smaller, discrete objects. Ultimately, many organisations have found that they can streamline development with this approach.

In addition, by using model-driven development and combining it with a microservices architectural approach to assemble and deploy self-contained independent components into a complete solution, it is possible to develop applications faster and reuse components across multiple applications.

What Java developers teach us

To see this in action, you only have to consider how Java-based development teams, with frameworks like Spring and Struts are adopting model-driven development.   They use object-based models to abstract low-level programming complexities and provide a standardised programming approach that enables any developer to immediately understand the application structure and change it with confidence.

Importantly, too, the wide adoption of Java-based model-driven development demonstrates the advantages that model-driven development can deliver.

However, currently, there is also no similar standardised enabler for a model-driven approach across mobile. So, globally, mobile application developers are suffering from many of the growing pains that the early Java development community came up against; which included slow and costly application development, shortage of development skills, low level of code reuse, and high costs for application changes and updates.

But, by using a model-driven development approach, optimised for the unique challenges and requirements of the mobile space, companies can apply this path to better address the rapid pace of changes required on the front-end mobile app interface, while bridging to less frequent but equally important changes in the mobile back-end and core business infrastructure.

Conclusion

Mobile app usage is only set to continue exploding. It is also likely to evolve to include application development across multiple other connected devices (M2M/IoT/wearables) too. As it continues to grow, so must software development teams’ capabilities to rapidly, accurately and cost effectively handle development for these and newer platforms.

The gains available from adopting a model-driven development approach are undisputable. The sooner teams start to adopt them, the faster they can reap the vast array of benefits offered to their teams, customers and the wider business.

Burley Kawasaki, SVP, Products, Kony

Credits : Itworldcanada

IT professionals are at a crisis point when it comes to digital transformation and application development, according to a new report by OutSystems on the state of application development.

As mobile apps become increasingly important – and necessary – for successful businesses, the challenges in developing them have also grown, says the low-code platform company’s fourth annual report, App Dev in the Age of Digital Transformation, Low-Cost Platforms and Citizen Developers.

The report surveyed over 3,200 IT professionals from 40 countries and 28 industries and found that mobility – or the ability for an app to function on a mobile device – was the most common business requirement for apps, up from sixth place in the company’s 2015 survey. In particular, “88 per cent of respondents noted that it was either a requirement or very important to incorporate mobile functionality into their current and future applications.”

“Not surprisingly, large organizations generally plan to build more apps than smaller ones,” the report continues. “In fact, 34 per cent of companies with more than 5,000 employees said that they intend to build at least 25 apps in 2017. In many cases, these are indeed very lofty goals that not only demonstrate high levels of demand, but also put tremendous pressure on today’s IT teams.”

Challenges of app development

However, barriers to successful app development have become “overwhelming,” the study finds. Time and budget constraints were the biggest cited, followed by a gap in skills, an onslaught of competing priorities, and a shortage of mobile developers.

In fact, the report quotes an October 2015 Gartner study that predicts market demand for app development “will grow at least five times faster than IT’s capacity to deliver it through 2021, and that one out of every three new B2E [business-to-employee] mobile apps will fail within six months of launch by 2019.”

OutSystems’ report finds that well over half of IT professionals (62 percent) reported having a backlog of mobile apps, some of whom have more than 10 apps waiting to be developed.

“Our 2017 survey clearly shows that many IT professionals are at a crisis point when it comes to digital transformation and application development,” said Steve Rotter, CMO for OutSystems. “Project backlogs are growing, there are more systems to integrate with, the demands for mobile and IoT are increasing, and the scarcity of skilled developers are top concerns.”

The length of time it takes to develop a mobile app is one of the main factors of this backlog. According to the report, more than three-quarters (76 per cent) of IT professionals say it takes “over three months, on average, to develop a mobile app.” One out of 10 respondents take even longer, with their required time going beyond a year.

“Not surprisingly, this is leading to considerable dissatisfaction, with nearly half (44 per cent) of respondents saying that they’re not happy with the current velocity of their application development team,” OutSystems reports.

But a shortage of people capable of creating these mobile apps has also been a major problem in the IT sector. More than a third (37 per cent) of organizations reported that they are already facing a shortage of mobile developers, and 44 per cent reported that they are experiencing a knowledge gap in the skills needed to undertake mobile development.

Developer skill requirements are changing

Interestingly, part of the survey explored what skills companies are looking for in app developers and found that those who experiment with newer and less technical approaches, such as HTML, user interface design and JavaScript, are more sought-after. These creators are easier to find and tend to focus on front-end development – or the look and feel of the app – instead of just functionality.

However, many companies are turning to non-professional “citizen” developers as a cheaper, easier to find, and often faster, alternative. According to the report, 43 per cent of those surveyed support citizen developers already or are considering doing so, and this number will only increase going forward.

According to 2015 Gartner research, “by 2020 at least 70 per cent of large enterprises will have established successful citizen development policies,” although in general, “the smaller the size of an organization, the more likely it is to take advantage of citizen developers.”

Experimentation is on the rise

OutSystems’ report found that in the wake of expanding challenges, organizations are increasingly experimenting with their approach to app development. A popular option is using low-code or no-code platforms, which is defined by U.S.-based market research company Forrester as solutions that “enable rapid delivery of business applications with a minimum of hand coding and minimal up-front investment in setup, training, and deployment.”

Low-code platforms “dramatically increase” productivity and speed of a development team, and 43 per cent of those surveyed say they use such technology. Forrester expects the market for low-code software platforms “will increase by a factor of nine to over $15 billion [USD] over the next five years.”