by sginteractiveEstimated reading time: 5 minute(s)
It should be very obvious by now that Covid-19 has hit Singapore hard, not only as a health threat but also as an economic and social threat.
Let’s first talk about how mobile app developers in Singapore can help with the health threat that Covid-19 has presented. If you think about mobile apps and Covid-19, the first thing that comes to mind on how mobile apps could help the situation is contact tracing. The government has launched a mobile app, TraceTogether to help out with contact tracing efforts to reduce or prevent the spread of COVID-19 among community cases. TraceTogether uses short-distance Bluetooth signals between phones to detect other TraceTogether users when they come into close proximity. The user’s phone will automatically store records of their encounters in his/her phone when close proximity is detected with another user. However, there are some setbacks such as its instability on the iOS and could drain quite a chunk of battery life, causing Singaporeans with iPhones not wanting to use it.
According to a statement by the Smart Nation Office in Singapore, approximately 1.8 million people have downloaded the TraceTogether app, but “it is not enough”. This is because it excludes some demographics such as the elderly and young children who may not own or use smartphones. Furthermore, these two demographics are in fact the ones who will be more prone to fatal effects of Covid-19 and thus there should be a better way to track them.
Contact tracing has been drawing more attention lately, the government speaking out about issuing out wearable contact tracing devices for Singaporeans in the latter half of this month of June. This, of course, comes with the controversial issue of personal privacy along with wearing this device. It is also not a guarantee that everyone is willing to wear it.
App developers in Singapore could help the nation in another way, other than focusing on contact tracing. App developers could help small local businesses who need assistance coming onto the digital space. This way, local businesses could continue contributing to the local economy and survive this economical ordeal as a business and also as a whole nation.
The table below shows the comparison of March and April 2019 with March and April 2020 in terms of sales in the retail industry. As you can see, the retail industry is affected very negatively by Covid-19 and suffer a heavy decline in sales. The only sectors which are still profiting are the supermarkets and convenience stores, simply because people need these necessities during the quarantine.
(source: singstat.gov.sg)
Above is an illustration to better visualize what Covid-19 has done to our economy, specifically in the retail sector.
With the help of mobile app development, these retail businesses could continue to function by making use of eCommerce and bringing their sales online. This way, they may also save many people from retrenchment and allowing staff to keep their jobs.
Enterprises may also take this time to realize the productivity and convenience a mobile app could bring to their business and to their customers. The decision to get an app developed now is also made easier with government funding in this period for those enterprises who wish to improve their business in any digital aspect. To find out more about these grants and why having a mobile app could be better than just having a website, check out this article.
So how do you go about developing a mobile app for your enterprise?
The following would be the process flow you want to take:
Step 1: Identify needs or problems in your enterprise
This could simply be issues that your enterprise has been facing for years or it could also be problems that surfaced from the recent Covid-19 pandemic. For example, it could be a specific work process or task that you think could be sped up or automated. It could also be a lack of an inter-departmental communication channel that you feel could benefit the enterprise as a whole if there was one. It could also be the need for an integrated platform where it would bring convenience to your staff when they can inject and extract data from a single platform.
Step 2: Engage a mobile app developer
There are many mobile app developers in Singapore, so you could go online and check on their credibility and look at their portfolio. When looking for a mobile app developer, it is important to keep in mind that there is not a one-size-fits-all mobile app design that everyone could be satisfied with. It is very important to customize the mobile app to the needs and wants of your enterprise so you could save money on unnecessary functions and focus more on developing functions that are specific to your industry and enterprise. Here at SG Interactive, we offer fully customized mobile apps to suit an enterprise’s needs because we believe that the core of a mobile app is its customization to your specific needs and functionality.
Step 3: Let your mobile app developer know about the problems you have
At this stage, it is important to be layout your issues and problems you have and let the developer know what your end goal of the mobile app is. This is to ensure both of you are on the same page before proceeding with the detailed part of customization. Here, it is crucial to let your mobile app developer know your entire idea and flow process of your ideal mobile app. This is like painting a picture for your mobile app developer to visualize how you want your app to turn out. You may use mapping tools to map out certain ideas or processes to let your developer have a visualization of your needs. With that, he could assess and propose the relevant solutions to your problems through the mobile app.
Step 4: Craft out design and user experience with your mobile app developer
You should also have an idea of the user experience that you want to create for your mobile app. This is crucial because the user experience is the key that sets a great app apart from a mediocre one. Wireframing tools could help at this stage and it is very important to agree on the potential outcome and design of your mobile app with your developer. With that, he would proceed to develop and craft your app to the user experience you wanted.
Step 5: Continue improving with feedback
At this stage, your app should be ready to launch. It is an important common practise to collate feedback while you run your app for the first few weeks or months. With feedback, you could then further improve or tweak certain features to better suit your business or customer process. Continue to work with your mobile app developer to add on or modify your mobile app for constant improvements to your mobile app.
I hope these steps have helped you kickstart your mobile app development journey. There is no better time than now to take advantage of the digital side of the business as we lay low and emerge stronger after Covid-19. If you have further questions or would like to have a consultation for mobile app development, feel free to drop us your contact in our contact form and we could help you on-board this mobile app development process.