Planning to invest in a web-based app? Read this first.
Those of us who lived through the early 2000s will clearly remember the ‘digitalisation of the workplace’.
A seemingly never-ending process that involved almost every web-based app in existence appearing on our desktop. For many, I think the ‘brand new CRM’ that inevitably crashed every hour without fail, soured the idea of web-based applications being a useful tool – one that can genuinely improve your business.
However, twenty years later and web-based apps are making waves. Especially with the introduction of progressive web apps, it feels as if SMEs rediscovered the joy of web-based wonders.
Let’s go back to basics, what is a web-based app?
Essentially, it’s just a piece of software that allows you to log in to a web address to submit and retrieve data to or from a database over the internet. You’ll most likely know it in the form of your Google Drive, Hootsuite, or Evernote. The biggest giveaway is that web apps aren’t native to any specific system, like iOS or Android – you can access them from anywhere.
Are they better than mobile?
~Business Game Changer Special Promotion~
It’s apples and oranges. Web-based apps are different to mobile apps and it depends on the end service you want to provide for the user.
However, there are a few things that your web-based app can do that mobile can’t offer and vice versa.
Let’s start with the obvious, your web-based app needs an internet connection to work, mobile doesn’t always. With this comes several benefits.
Firstly, your web-based app updates itself – no notifications reminding you to update the app. For this reason, among others, web-based apps are far easier to maintain – they’ve got a common codebase, so they’re a lot easier to manage.
Plus, they don’t require app store approval, so your launch timeline is flexible. You’re also able to offer content or advertising as you see fit, with no app store terms to adhere to.
No one likes to wait
OK, you’re sold on a web-based app and now you’re wondering what can they do for your business? Let’s get specific. Most web-based apps are designed to streamline processes or make something more efficient, and generally should offer a multitude of services and benefits – like with Glow, support is one of the biggest areas of functionality.
To identify whether an app is valuable, you need to ask yourself whether it solves a problem for your business. For example, one of the biggest problems I wanted to solve for businesses was the speed and reliability of receiving support for their website.
We’ve all been there. A service stops working – let’s use the contact page on your website as an example here – maybe the general enquiries form has stopped working? So, you contact a website developer and then you wait. How long? Well, there’s a million different answers to that, many of which you don’t like! With lockdown increasing on-site traffic, the contact page is even more essential to your business and you really don’t have the time to sit around and wait.
No, what you need is a support ticket system operated by a team of web developers from 7am until 10pm, 7 days a week. You need the vast majority of requests to be completed within 24 hours of the first message and you need to receive status updates when work is likely to take longer than anticipated.
This scenario should be used as a basis for decision making. What is your biggest pain point? What do you need in order to take that away and which apps can help you do that? If one doesn’t exist, do you have the time, the money and the resources to develop one?
It might be that a web-app isn’t the way to go, but it’s definitely worth doing your research to explore the option. Chances are, others in your industry are likely facing the same challenges and would welcome an app that makes things just that little bit easier.
Endless opportunities
While we often think of web-based apps as ‘less than’ their mobile counterparts, what you can create is pretty revolutionary. There’s no reason why you can’t develop an app which creates opportunities and streamlines processes – I did it for a service known to receive little attention.
How did I know it was going to make a difference? Well, having worked closely with SMEs since my mid-20s, I know that website maintenance is something that from an SMEs perspective is misunderstood in terms of importance. Now more than ever SMEs need to recognise the importance of their website giving it the attention it deserves, and a web-based app was the right thing to develop to power digital growth.
There are plenty of things that should be left in the early 2000s, glossy buttons, whacky slideshows and reverse type spring to mind – web-based apps aren’t on the list. They’ve come a long way, and they are changing the way we work for the better.
Is there a way you can productise your business through a web-based app?
By Phil Storey
Phil Storey is the founder of Glow – a pioneering website maintenance app designed to highlight the importance of website maintenance and power digital growth. Incorporating all aspects of website support and upkeep for WordPress websites, Glow streamlines the processes involved with website maintenance.
When Phil’s not planning the growth of the business, you’ll find him pushing his e-commerce business, Kijani and travelling backwards and forwards between Leeds and Barcelona to see his girlfriend Sophie.
