Recently, New York Times reported that the one millionth mobile app went into the market. Are mobile apps now as much a requirement for a business as a web presence and a 1-800 number? Thinking along the lines of below questions may help determine if your business really needs a mobile app:

Know Your Customer
Foremost, and as obvious as it may sound, it is imperative that businesses determine if their customers are tech savvy and if a majority own a smartphone. Moreover, it would be even better to determine what type of a smartphone a majority of them use - do they have an Android or IOS based device? You could also alternately choose to implement a mobile website instead of a "native" app in which case it doesn't matter what type of smartphone the customers have, however, the functionality may be limited.

Revenues
Would a mobile app be helpful to increase revenues for your business? A good example of a mobile app being helpful to business is eBay. The eBay business model is perfect for a mobile app because the app helps their customers monitor sales and bids on the go. It is estimated that around the world the eBay app makes a sale every 2 seconds. Customers for your neighborhood restaurant might not need such constant monitoring but it brings us to the next point.

Customer Engagement
Would a mobile app help your business engage better with the customer? The answer almost always is a resounding yes. For example, customers could check out the location and menu of your restaurant via the app without which they may have opted for their old watering hole. Restaurants can also use apps to get instant feedback about the quality of food and service - such insights are priceless in business. Still the business needs to ensure  there are enough resources dedicated as customer interactions will most likely increase with the use of an app.

The Bottom Line
What functionality should the mobile app for your business have and does the cost of developing such functionality justify the perceived return on investment? This may be hard to answer but is an important consideration especially for small businesses as the cost of developing a mobile app could vary widely based on the complexity of the app. Static apps - those that display static information such as location of business and services offered - can fall in a price range of $2,500.00 – $10,000.00 depending on the functionality.  Dynamic apps - those that need to interact with a server component to get information - can average from $10,000.00 – $30,000.00 again depending on the complexity.

The above list is by no means exhaustive and obviously each business needs to take a look at its own business model and determine how best a mobile app can be used in the interest of the business. Bigger companies such as IBM have started creating their own internal appstores. Such internal appstores are used to distribute apps securely to their employees and have proven to be successful in enabling increased employee collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Please do share your comments on how you may have successfully used a mobile app to improve your business operation.