Mobile Application Lifecycle Management Post Launch

A lot of people believe in the myth that once a mobile application is developed and launched (either on the public stores or for an enterprise), the job is complete. This cannot be farther from the truth. In fact, the quantum of work required to manage the lifecycle of a mobile product after its launch is way higher than what went into creating it. It is like having a baby. The real work of parenting starts after the delivery of the child. You don’t see the new parents coming out of the labor room and thinking, “That’s it, our job is done, and the baby will grow up on its own”. Similarly, the application development team cannot orphan their creation once it is launched. The need to invest time and effort in keeping it relevant to ensure growth.

Unlike the traditional client-server or web applications that go live as full – featured products, mobile software has a more iterative development cycle, with incremental improvements following in short cycles. Therefore, managing mobility product lifecycles is very different from the traditional software. Since the functionality is incrementally added to the core code, the support requirements post launch are much more intense compared to traditional products. There are a number of tasks that need to be performed for the post launch lifecycle support.

1. Adding features and functionality - The software will need to be kept relevant. In today’s world of fast paced technology evolution, what’s exotic today will become commodity tomorrow. The very features that your customers downloaded your application for, and that were your differentiator, will very soon be imitated and even enhanced by your competition. In order to stay relevant and continue to be valuable to your existing and potential customers, you need to keep innovating.

This means constantly improving the existing features of your app, and adding new ones. This will require on - going development effort, along with a core strategy team to guide and govern the development group. You need to constantly evaluate your competition, and their strategy, to create a counter - strategy.

2. Supporting new devices – there is a flood of new devices in the market, courtesy the myriad of device vendors. There are new devices with different form factors and specs getting added to the mix every now and then. It is very challenging to create code that will work on all the possible device and OS combinations that are available in one go. Therefore, you need to keep adding to the certified device list even after the launch. To do this, you need to test, modify, re - code (if required) and certify your app to work on additional hardware.

This is not just important for marketing. It gives you and your software access to a larger community of potential customers, which means a new and ever expanding revenue stream.

3. Updates and bug - fixes - It is not just about adding capabilities. Despite the most rigorous testing routines, any code can have unresolved issues, known and unknown. As your users report issues and concerns, you need to remedy them, and release updates to distribute the new code to the existing users. If your app is a paid app, you also need to set up a mechanism for the users to contact you for support. Depending on the volumes, this might mean an investment in a full time helpdesk.