New Opportunities in the World of Custom Apps

Featured article by Ann Monroe, vice president of marketing, FileMaker Inc.

The mobile revolution has transformed the way that businesses get work done. Distributed teams and remote individuals need applications that are available any time and on all of their devices. This new model of collaboration and productivity has created a high demand for the latest “it” career in tech: custom app developer.

Why custom apps, instead of ready-made, packaged options? A custom app differs from a packaged app because it focuses on the unique needs of a company. Custom apps allow people to move away from inefficient workflows, ad hoc processes and systems that don’t provide real-time, accurate information. Creating custom apps is the perfect job for people who enjoy solving these common business challenges.

What’s Driving Custom App Demand

A recent Gartner report projected that “by the end of 2017, market demand for mobile app development will grow at least five times faster than internal IT organizations’ capacity to deliver them.” This means that a lot of companies are going to need custom app developers. What’s driving this trend, and what are the problems that organizations are trying to fix by deploying custom apps?

– Unnecessary confusion: Siloed or disorganized information can result in extra meetings, last-minute emergencies, pressing problems and unforeseen events.

– Knowledge siloes. Oftentimes, key subject matter expertise resides within individual employees without whom companies would be lost.

– Time-sucking tasks. Many organizations still rely on manual, labor-intensive tasks that are necessary but inefficient, wasting time and energy.

The draw of creating custom apps is that they are able to address each of these issues.

Not Just for “Developers” Anymore

It may surprise you to learn that many people fall into the world of custom app creation

while working in a non-IT role. Gartner calls these people “citizen developers.” Typically, they work for teams that have a job to get done that can be done most efficiently with the help of a custom app. So he or she applies their subject matter expertise and builds a custom app for their team using a platform designed for people just like them.

Here’s a real-life example of a citizen developer: Oscar Santos, a sales rep in his mid-20s, wanted to track every interaction with his customers, and those interactions often included documents, photographs and reminders. He also needed a way to keep track of prospective customers. Though he had a strong aptitude for spreadsheet management, he knew there must be a better, faster way. He created his first app quickly and went on to build a powerful app that is now in use in multiple offices across his company. As he made more custom apps, he switched from the sales department to a new career as a custom app developer.

Another non-IT professional, Mary Pitzen, had recently graduated from college and was looking for Take a look at Oscar’s story.professional direction. Mary was a political science major who was unchallenged in her post-college administrative position. She had a knack for technology and took it upon herself to learn how to develop apps using the FileMaker Platform. After a month of self-directed learning and four months of mentoring, she was developing sophisticated custom solutions and had found a new position.Read Mary’s full story and watch her video.

Small businesses will often bring in a Web developer when they need a website or an upgrade to their current site. They usually have a form to collect prospective customer information or they have an ecommerce presence. In either case, they then have valuable data that can be turned into business insight with a custom app. So, web developers can easily expand into custom app development. Developing custom apps allows these professionals to serve a broader range of IT needs. These skills make developers more valuable to their clients, providing a way to offer more to existing customers and an “in” to finding new ones.

Some people may try their hand at custom app development and find they really enjoy it, but the prospect of finding their first few clients may seem overwhelming. If that’s the case, here are some practical tips:

– Update your LinkedIn profile with your new skills. You’ll also want to note in your profile if you have skills in software development, iPhone, iPad, user interface design, database design and information architecture – just to name a few.

– If you’re interested in exploring a career as a custom app developer, join a custom app developer online community. You’ll learn about training, running a business, and the pros and cons of working for a development firm, and find answers to technical questions from experienced developers. You’ll also find an open community of like-minded friends.

The mobile device genie is not going back in the bottle, and neither are the apps that make them such a powerful business asset. This means that the need for people who can create custom apps, whether professional developers or in-house individuals with the right aptitude and interest, will remain high for the foreseeable future. Interest groups, online learning and today’s custom app platforms are all available to help those interested in trying their hand at this much-needed and lucrative task.