Architecture & DesignStrengthen Your Mobile App Development Using Business Intelligence and Analytics

Strengthen Your Mobile App Development Using Business Intelligence and Analytics

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By Brooke Campbell

Using Analytics
Figure 1: Using Analytics

Image Credit: Pexels

Business Intelligence and Analytics Power Today’s Apps

Big Data is having a moment. There are very few industries left untouched by people obsessed with data, analytics, and a whole number of other new-age tech tools designed to make whatever you’re working on that much more effective at accomplishing its goals. And, although Big Data can seem complex on the outside, online resources are constantly making managing that hefty amount of information more user friendly and secure every day.

And, there’s no stopping the data tide now. Analytics has so permeated the global consciousness that, from journalism to basketball, Wall Street to Silicon Valley, people are becoming enamored with just what you can accomplish with mountains of data at your fingertips and the right tools to process them.

Mobile app development is perhaps one of the best examples of an industry that is greatly transformed for the better through the use of analytics and business intelligence.

The more we spend our time in virtual locales, the more data is compiled on us. What we look at, what we watch, what we read, how long we spend time doing all these things, and how likely we are to stay engaged on an app, all this information is vital to a business, but only if that business knows how to use that data to discern actionable next-steps.

In the mobile app development world, it’s cutthroat.

“The app market has the potential to grow to 100 billion dollars by 2020, whether it is through ads or purchases,” said Prabhjot Singh in an interview with TechRepublic. Singh is a co-founder and president of Pyze, which provides business intelligence that helps app developers monetize their creations. “Out of three million apps that are available over the Internet, less than 50 percent of the developers make over $500 per month.”

The idea of business intelligence is that the process can help you improve your app so you stay on the right side of that $500 divide.

You could have the best app in the world, after all, but if your design decisions aren’t being made to maximize appeal to the consumer, an inferior product may be able to swoop in and steal your customers.

The point is that there are a million little things that can make a mobile app seem better than another, and it’s not just the base product. By using data science, machine learning, analytics. and a number of other data-combing tools, what you end up with is a better picture of who is using the app and how they’re using the app.

For instance, let’s say you build a mobile dating app. You’re not unhappy with your download numbers, but you’re looking to break into the next tier. You’ve tried new features, better user interface designs, and cleaner presentation, but you can’t seem to overcome that plateau.

That’s where business intelligence comes in. By examining the data compiled on your current user base, business intelligence software will be able to show you things that you would have missed among all those disparate data points. Like that most of your users are actually not using the app as a dating service at all, but instead the ones who spend the most time on the product and download it the most are actually using it as a group meet-up app, let’s say.

With that sort of insight into your business, you can make key changes, pivots, and adjustments as needed to maximize the appeal to your consumer base. It’s these in-depth tools that give you a better view into the ins and outs of your mobile app’s world.

Why Business Intelligence Is Necessary in Today’s App World

With Big Data taking over the world of mobile app development, not using analytics and business intelligence is like having a tool box without a wrench; you may still be able to complete the job, but you’re doing so without all the available resources.

And, when everyone else is beginning to use that wrench to make their products even more competitive, doing without puts you at a disadvantage.

The trend of business intelligence and analytics strengthening multiple sectors is nothing new; it’s been going on for years now. Check out this example about how mobile app development is being changed by the introduction of business intelligence from all the way back in 2014. And, that was before machine learning and AI became popular buzzwords in the public vernacular.

The fact is that the data is out there waiting to be used. There’s a reason that even legacy industries such as the news business are facing dramatic changes due to the injection of data science. Just look at the success and proliferation of data-savvy online news venues that know how to market to their consumers and appeal to their audience, whereas older legacy media have struggled in recent times. A lot of that is due to the willingness for younger companies to engage with data and analytics, figuring out just how their consumers want the product and how best to deliver it so they keep coming back.

Business intelligence and analytics are tools like any other. Whether it is marketing surveys or focus groups, companies for years have been using samples and data to power their decisions. Now, however, due to the advent of the Internet and computers, we have more data than ever before that allows us to delve deeper into how our businesses are interacting with the customer. With business intelligence and analytics, we now have the tools to process this information more efficiently and effectively than ever before.

And, there’s no escaping it. With the Internet of Things one of the most talked-about trends in future-tech, there’ll soon be more data than ever before, waiting around for the right people to analyze and parse through to take the right steps for their companies to grow. The best mobile apps developed in the future will be the ones that take full advantage of all the tools available to them.

You don’t need mounds of data to tell you that.

About the Author

Author head shot Brooke Campbell loves surfing through social media, so she made it a full-time job and works as a social media manager at Entrance Software Consulting. And, Brooke loves all things Tech. When not working, she eats and sleeps, in that order.

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