The Benefits of a Marketing Plan

What is a Marketing Plan?

Marketing is to do with matching the features and benefits that your products and services are able to provide with specific customers and then telling those customers why they should buy them from you. Your marketing plan details how to do this. A Marketing Plan is a document that supplements your business plan and brings together all your market research so that you can work out exactly where your business is going and how it is going to get there.

Your plan should include:

  • Objectives.
  • Details of the current market.
  • A full analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. (SWOT Analysis.)
  • Your plans for achieving your objectives.

The plan should be flexible and able to be adapted to meet the changing conditions in the market place.

Benefits of a Marketing Plan

Having a marketing plan will help you to focus on your target market and to find if there are any gaps in the market that will provide new opportunities for you. Your marketing plan will also provide you with something that enables you to measure how you are progressing. This can then highlight strategies that are working for you and those that are not.

A good marketing plan will also benefit you in that it provides your outside financiers with confidence that you know your market and that you know how to achieve your objectives.

A good marketing plan will deal with the matter of sourcing new leads as well as creating new networking opportunities for your business. The bottom line means your plan will define your business as well as your customers and your future plans.

What is a Good Marketing Plan

A good marketing plan is really a blueprint for the action that your business needs to take in order to achieve certain goals. It will identify the most cost effective ways of performing certain functions and should show the best way to present your business to your target audience.

A good marketing plan will save you money by cutting out unnecessary expenses while at the same time presenting you with new marketing opportunities. A good plan will work for your business to make sure that what you do fits into your budget and that your marketing drive reaches your target audience.

It will essentially keep all your activities and your budgets on track. If you don’t have a good marketing plan it is possible that you are not taking full advantage of all the ways to reach your target audience. This will result in decreased sales.

A Marketing Plan must Reach People

Your marketing plan will provide you with a track upon which your business needs to run. It is similar to a flight plan for pilots. Their flight plan tells them the direction along which their plane is going to fly, where they are leaving from and the path they have to take to get to their destination.

A sports coach will have a game plan that sets out how the team is going to play the game that particular day. The coach will work on strategies that will effectively frustrate and win out over the competition so they can come out on top.

Your marketing plan should be designed in a similar fashion.

  • It has to be built with an end result in mind.
  • It should fit the specific markets you are aiming for as well as the people in those markets.
  • It has to be flexible to meet the needs of the people in the markets because those needs are constantly changing.
  • It must focus on people rather than on products.

Remember to always develop a marketing plan that is specifically designed to reach people.

BB Chart: A Method for Targeting Benefits and Barriers in Business Opportunities

Business leaders are always looking for new opportunities to reduce costs or increase profits. However, these opportunities may only be discussed during strategic meetings, often by doing an analysis of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (aka SWOT). SWOT is a great tool for leaders to see where the business has been, where it is now, and where it could go. However, the result of SWOT falls short when some of the opportunities identified may not be immediately pursued. This can be due to management feeling they need to do further research before proceeding with an opportunity. This follow-up research can take lots of time, effort, dollars, and possibly result in lost opportunities. Instead, decide if additional research is necessary and which opportunities are immediately implementable by following the SWOT exercise with a quick Benefits and Barriers (BB) review.

To do a BB review, simply make a T-chart with each opportunity listed on the top of a separate page. Then put the words “Benefits” on the left side of the T and “Barriers” on the right. Once the chart template is ready, leaders can begin to brainstorm ideas to place into each side of the chart.

  • Benefit examples: rapid influx of cash, easy to do, profit increase, already have expertise, low cost to implement, matches long-term goals/objectives, can use existing equipment, cost savings, strong market for product, easy to sell, fits into corporate values, improves customer satisfaction, etc.
  • Barrier examples: costly to implement, do not have expertise, requires training, quality concerns, special equipment is necessary, expensive to implement, takes too much time, government restrictions, outside current customer base, legal issues, requires additional insurance, more space needed, etc.

Once the ideas for the chart are exhausted, leaders can easily see where benefits outweigh barriers to quickly implement some opportunities. If barriers are much larger than benefits, those opportunities may not be worth pursuing at this time. Where benefits and barriers appear equal, further research may be warranted to make a decision and determine potential for return on investment. For those opportunities that will not be immediately implemented and still look promising, the leadership can now make a plan for overcoming the barriers so that the business can reap future benefits.

An alternative method to quickly analyze each opportunity during a strategic meeting is to break the leadership team into sub-groups of three to four people. Each sub-group would be assigned two or three of the most interesting opportunities to do a BB chart for in a short period of time. Once the charts are complete, the sub-groups would re-unite into the larger leadership team to vote on which opportunities to pursue, which to research more, and which to abandon for now.

SWOT analysis is a useful tool for business leaders to determine where the business is and where they want the business to go. However, do not stop there as it can let easy opportunities slip through the cracks by trying to do too much research before starting them. Instead, use the BB chart to target the benefits and barriers of potential opportunities. This charting method allows for quick execution of those opportunities that will quickly result in immediate benefits to the business. As well as identifying which opportunities are worth the time and effort of additional research versus those that may not be as advantageous as they appear when brought before the business leaders.

Benefits Of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems

Business owners demand instant and low-cost solutions that are easy to upkeep and maximize return on their investment. Enterprise resource planning – ERP systems fit the bill perfectly and hence have become popular with many businesses, especially in implementing the the resource efficiency lessons learned during recent recessionary periods. In fact, now not only multi-million dollar businesses that deploy such systems, but also small-sized units and even start-ups.

So how will your business benefit from an Enterprise resource planning software system? Here are the lures that have prompted business owners to walk the ERP road:

Reduction in Operational Costs: Deploying an ERP software system holds benefits for all three process streams of an organization-strategic planning, production control, and management control. Such a system integrates varied business processes across the myriad of departments in an organization into a single and comprehensive information repository. This integration makes communication smooth in-between departments and this improved communication, in turn, imparts a degree of efficiency in the production, planning, and decision making processes. This efficiency is manifested in various ways-lower production costs, less marketing expenses incurred, and less need for securing help desk support.

Facilitating Inventory Management: Businesses these days are located in various geographical regions. Administrative units, warehouses, and back-end support offices are spread all over the world and this leads to complexities in managing the inventory in these locations. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software system lets you maintain detailed inventory records, keep a track of materials and lot, thus simplifying your inventory transactions. With an ERP system empowering you, you can keep inventory volumes at optimum levels.

Streamlining Day-to-Day Management: An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system streamlines the process involved in carrying out the day-to-day tasks of managing a business. This is primarily because an ERP software system facilitates the creation of a backbone data warehousing system. This makes it easy for the employees of an organization to easily gain access to updated business-related data. This ready access to data eases the process of decision-making and exerting managerial control over key factors of production.

Support to Resource Planning: Resource planning forms an integral component of the strategic planning process that is carried out in an organization. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are therefore designed to take on the tasks involved in planning resources effectively and efficiently, and over the years, this functionality has improved in leaps and bounds.

So where can you obtain an Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) software system that will provide you with all these strategic benefits? ABAS Software Partner has ERP software solutions that will take care of the varied resource planning needs of your business.

The Benefits of PSD to Magento Template Conversion

Electronic business is getting more and more popular, one effect of which is increased competition. To differentiate and make their venture stand out among others, business owners strive to add more useful functionality and design features to their sites.

But many of them face various hurdles in the way for being not much tech-savvy. This results in implementation of various actions that cause only harm to their business, quite often what made with good intentions turn out to be time-consuming and expensive. So when it comes to web development, it’s better to find a reputed company that can professionally guide you through the jungle of e-business insides.

As a leading ecommerce development platform Magento offers multiple opportunities to its users. It’s the most widely used CMS (content management system) and many businesses have already fully enjoyed its advantages. Magento is an open source framework, which determines a huge amount of useful tools, plugins and overall flexibility it offers. Online stores developed on this platform are not only attractive for visitors but also cross-browser compatible and SEO-friendly.

If you have specific design requirements it’s a high time to benefit from PSD to Magento conversion. Besides the fact that this process is a fast way to refresh your site, among the important reasons to add PSD transformation to your e-business development plan is that it helps to increase conversion rates.

As for other weighty benefits, check a few ones below:

  • Unique design. There are a lot of Magento themes and templates available on the market. But as business owner you know exactly who your target audience is and can say for sure what should your store look like. Converting your PSD design files into Magento you get absolutely exclusive theme that will make customers come back.
  • Lift up on search engines. Properly implemented conversion is impossible without SEO-friendly codes. Well structures and clean coding that corresponds all basic standards ensures top page rank in search engines.
  • Speed optimization. Online stores contain a lot of data and changeable content, which influences pages load speed. Adding more and more functionality and design elements can affect loading speed and as a result users will leave your site without making a purchase. PSD to Magento theme conversion helps to avoid this problem by splitting Photoshop files into different design layers.
  • User-friendly interface. Ecommerce site are made for people, so user-friendliness is crucial for them. PSD to Magento conversion helps to make functioning web pages out of regular picture. Sites created on Magento are easy to navigate and as a special advantage its coding allows to implement media files upload such as video and audio.
  • Pixel-perfect dynamic interface. The conversion of PSD files into Magento requires solid expertise from developers and entails a long-term process. Only skilled programmers are able to provide really smart and totally hand-coded markup. Such a smart and clean conversion allows to add JS and attach images later.

Magento is a powerful framework and it’s getting more and more popular everyday. The benefits above are just a few major reasons to act in this direction. In fact due to its popularity the platform is being constantly upgraded and a significant amount of programmers all over the world create the new features and modules for it every day. Start your own online ecommerce business or enhance the existing one with the help of professional PSD to Magento services.

Benefits of Opening a Google AdWords My Client Center

For those that have run an AdWords account in the past for their own websites, the mention of a separate, more advanced account for those who work as consultants might seem a little foreign. But it is important to find out more about Google’s “My Client Center” as it is a vital part of the process required to take the AdWords Professional Exam and become certified by Google.

My Client Center is essentially the tool that Google provides to advanced AdWords users who currently manage more than one account at a time. It allows larger advertisers who either run multiple accounts for their own business or who work as consultants for multiple companies to keep track of every AdWords account they have open from one simple interface.

It is an ideal tool for search engine marketers and optimizers, as well as bidding managers who only keep track of advertising accounts. Think of it as a master program that compiles all of the data from every one of your AdWords accounts to speed up the process of going through each of them.

Within the My Client Center interface, you can do multiple things. You can view and work within multiple accounts, even other My Client Center accounts, directly through the interface you are provided. Additionally, you can run reports for a single account or for all of your accounts, across the board with the My Client Center report feature. You can assign a single login name for your account and quickly and easily create new AdWords accounts or link existing accounts together through this interface.

Your regular AdWords interface will still work as well when you start a My Client Center account if you only need to access one account at a time, but with so many integrated features at your finger tips it is rare you will ever need to do so.

It is important, even if you do not currently need a My Client Center account, to both understand what it is for and how it operates. You will be tested on it and need to have an operational account when you try to get your Google AdWords certification. Additionally, you will be permitted minimal leniency on questions regarding this part of AdWords. The interface, how it works with each account, how you start a new account, and how you can communicate with clients or profiles through it are all important aspects that you will need to know.

For anyone that has multiple AdWords accounts or who has thought about considering the starting a career in AdWords consultation, it is vital that you start your My Client Center profile right away. You will need to acclimate yourself with the features, how to use it, and what you will be required to do when you want to perform a specific function now instead of trying to figure it out later when a client’s livelihood relies on it, and in turn your own livelihood.

9 Compelling Business Benefits of Gmail Cloud Computing For All Your Office Productivity Needs

Deploying Google’s Gmail for my start-up internet marketing business has allowed minimal and secure IT administration of my 8 websites (28+ email accounts). Supporting a mixed operating environment which includes Microsoft, Ubuntu and MacOS, multiple browsers, and document file formats from Microsoft Office, Open Office is made possible and easier with an in-the-cloud computing environment like Gmail.

So why would you consider cloud computing like Google Mail for your business, especially an SME (small medium enterprise)?

In a two words – security and compliance. E-mail security, web security and message compliance are the underlying benefits to solid business reasons to have your mail and office documents served through Gmail.

Compliance to Security and Retention Requirements

Whether your organization is 1 person or thousands of people in size, you are faced with accounting, legal and government regulations and standards that dictate acceptable levels of IT security and records retention for all electronic files and e-mails. Gmail can help ensure compliancy plus provide you with real business benefits in streamlining your document and email management. Deploying Google Mail is just smart business. Some benefits include:

1) Organizing and Filing (Archiving) your email the anyway you want it.

Google uses labeling as a way to file and organize your emails. You can tag an email with multiple labels. For example, an email from your accountant with tax information could be label as “Corporate Taxes”, “Accountant”, “IRS”, “Revenue Canada”. Gone is the restriction of having to choose only one file folder to which you move an email.

2) Keeping Email conversations or threads linked together.

Appearing like cascading file folders, emails on the same topic (subject) will be kept together in your inbox or to the multiple archived labels you have assigned. No searching for the email trail or thread of emails about a particular subject. They are visually represented like a group of stacked file folders.

3) A free unlimited storage repository for all your email and messages forever!

At 7 gigabytes per gmail user account and growing as of August 2008, the Google mail tagline is ‘ you’ll never need to delete another message’.

Takin’ Care of Business, instead of computer or IT Administration

Reducing the time spent on administration of your computer storage, security, backup and recovery allows you to spend more time building your business. Manage all your email accounts entirely from within one or two Gmail addresses. Once set-up, Gmail offers this low administration environment.

4) No Mail is downloaded or stored on your server, desktop, laptop or PDA. This eliminates any stress or administration angst associated with:

– searching for emails stored and scattered across multiple client devices – some emails on your PC , some on your laptop, some on your PDA

– scheduling backups of your email, contact list and documents

– recovery (and loss) of email & documents due to client device loss, failure or theft

– expanding storage capacity due to continuing email and document growth and retention

– remote or mobile access for all your email, attachments and documents

– managing, consolidating and keeping intact multiple email addresses and personalities

– off-site backup of select files for SOHO or Small Businesses

Document creation, management and simple online collaboration

5) Use Gmail online Office Suite to create, manage, store your business documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Read and write Microsoft Office formatted documents as well as all the open document variants. Securely stored at Google, eliminate HDD file storage and backup. No more MS Office licensing fees to Microsoft.

6) Store images and pictures using Picasa Web Albums. Manage your images on your PC using FREE Picasa Software – crop, adjust, special effects.

7) online chat and messaging integrated, stored and managed just like your email.

Reducing the complex e-mail security threats to your corporate data

8) Google yet again has an very intelligent SPAM filter that checks each message content and therefore does not arbitrarily blacklist the email address, just the specific email due to content. No emails are downloaded to your PC or an office application; therefore, no waste of bandwidth or risk of infected emails on your hard drive.

9) Google’s anti-virus checking is also performed away from your computer. All attachments are checked at the Google server for viruses and, if infected, flagged/moved to SPAM right away. No infected e-mail ever arrives on your computer’s hard drive.

Traditional server or computer-based email systems download ALL your email, passing it through a spam/anti-virus filter on your computer. This is a waste of bandwidth usage (downloading spam email) and, even worse, exposes you to the additional risk of having spam and virus-infested e-mails get closer to your data files on your computer hard drives?

So why you need to seriously consider using Google Mail for all your office needs?

– Complete office mobility – via any browser, access to your email, documents, images, chat

– Access anywhere, anytime through any browser

– No backups required of email, office documents or contacts

– Manage multiple user profiles and email accounts in one convenient place

– Includes Anti-Spam and Anti-virus checking away from your PC, Laptop or Server

– Gmail Free Unlimited file space

– Next to No Mail Administration.

Gmail is the perfect Mobile Office Utility for Small Medium and Enterprise businesses. Google Mail Cloud Computing environment will allow you to focus on your business operations and growth. Implementing the Gmail in-the-cloud computing model for your email security and compliance makes a whole lot of sense.

Keep your head in the clouds!

5 Benefits Of Using YouTube For Video Hosting

In 2005, the biggest video sharing website of the world was born. It was named YouTube by its creators. Soon, it was purchased by the search engine giant Google for around 1.6b dollars. On this platform, you can share your videos with the whole world easily. Millions of people will watch your videos from across the globe. Given below are a few benefits of hosting your videos on YouTube. Read on to know more.

Vast Audiences From Across The Globe

The success of a business is based on its visibility. For visibility, you don’t have any option that is better than YouTube. Once you have uploaded your videos choosing the right category and place, you are good to go. If your video is liked by tons of people, it may go viral. Once it goes viral, it will get tremendous amount of viewers in a short period of time. So, the website has a huge audience.

Cost of Hosting

If you want to host your personal or business videos on a paid hosting service, the cost will be very high. On the other hand, if you choose YouTube to host your videos on, the cost will be zero. You don’t have to spend any money on the operational aspect of your channel on YouTube. The site management will take care of everything. All you need to do is upload and publish your original videos.

Ease of Use

If you opt for paid hosting, you will have to spend a lot of time buying domain names, choosing web hosts and setting up your website. But with YouTube, you have an easy path to walk on. Everything is already set up, so you just need to create an account and that is it. By following some basic steps, you can upload your videos as fast as your connection allows. So, YouTube is a lot easier to use.

Web Traffic

Your videos will be of no use if they don’t get watched by anyone. In case of your own website, you will have to take the necessary steps in order to bring visitors. On the other hand, if you upload them on YouTube, the visitors will come to your channel on your own. Since the platform is owned by Google, the videos will be indexed in its database automatically.

Bandwidth and sustainability

Since YouTube has dedicated servers, you don’t have to worry about the bandwidth and space. You can post as many videos as you can. The unlimited bandwidth will allow millions of viewers to watch your videos at the same time. In case of paid hosting, if you have not signed up for unlimited bandwidth and your videos go viral, the server may end up crashing and your viewers won’t be able to watch any of your videos. In case of YouTube, this is no problem.

So, if you have been looking at a paid hosting service to upload your business or personal videos, we suggest that you try out YouTube first. I bet you won’t regret your decision.

8 Benefits of Having a Real Estate Website

Whether your old school or on the cutting edge of technology in your dynamic real estate business, everyone needs a website in this day and age. The benefits of having a real estate website are many in number, and the risks of getting left behind without one are very real. So, what exactly are these benefits? Read on for a brief sample.

1- Build a Strong Web Presence

Get found easier and instantly, via Google searches or links on other sites. Have your office’s address, phone numbers, e-mail address, logo, current listings, and specialization displayed at the click of a mouse. Show up in more places, under more categories, and associated with specific strategic keywords. If you combine your real estate website with the rest of a comprehensive marketing campaign, people can find you in so many different ways, your business will be hard to miss!

Make sure to create a listing on Google My Business for local listings, which are area-specific. Yes, you can select who sees you first, depending on where they live.

2- Generate More Leads

This is a no-brainer. Gone are the days of paying thousands of dollars for Yellow Pages ads and highway billboards, hoping enough people will see it and maybe call your office. Do you also want to pay someone just to answer the phone for you full-time, and rely on methods that the average client no longer uses? Your real estate website is like your modern-day “head office”. This should be the first and most important place your potential clients find you, and if you use an online form to collect client info, then the real estate leads are immediate, free, and warm. A website can also serve as the place that you direct clients to your social media, or vice versa, and have the public sign up for your impactful newsletter for regular announcements.

You’ll also now have a thorough database of potential client info for ongoing listings distribution or announcements.

3- Provide More Exposure to Your Properties

The bulk of a real estate website should be dedicated to property descriptions. This is the opportunity to display full-detail descriptions, brilliant digital photography, and 360-degree virtual tours. You can use as much or as little space as you like, provide clickable links, and make it a more interactive experience for the visitor. The listing created on your real estate website can also be shared (for free) via external links to your own social media pages, other real estate websites, community websites, or anywhere else your marketing efforts lead you.

Again, gone are the days of paying for paper advertising in a weekly or monthly magazine with black and white photos, lost among thousands of other listings in the same book. This just isn’t effective anymore, and can even be a waste of money.

4- Tell Them More About You

A real estate website is the perfect place for potential clients can learn more about you as a professional. This is more important in real estate than almost any other service business. Talk about and splash photos displaying awards you have won, events you participate in, community involvement, as well as your personal background and qualifications. When people get to know you this way (as an individual) they get to like you and trust you. This complements your social media and other real estate marketing strategies perfectly.

5- Tell Them About Your Business

Why wait for a local journalist to write an article about you in the paper or local magazine? Want to be known and respected in the local community? Modern technology puts the power back into your hands. Put the information out there yourself, and draw readers in to see it through strategic web techniques.

For no extra cost, you can regularly publish and update details such as the regions you work in, your years of experience, and areas of real estate expertise. Do you have a knowledgeable team? Are you influential in a hot part of town? Do you specialize in condos, revenue properties, or commercial buildings? Put that out there, forever and visible to the entire world. Include high definition photography and videos to reinforce the message, and make a strong first impression they won’t forget.

6- Create a Brand for Your Practice

If you’ve never succeeded in transforming yourself (and your practice) into a brand, or maybe never thought about it, then this is the way. Think about the biggest, most successful, “celebrity” real estate brokers in your area. They are household names, aren’t they? The public is familiar with their names and faces, the same way they know the name of the local grocery store, florist, or school. Top of mind awareness is ultra important in any business.

Think about it. Your picture everywhere, a logo people will remember, a slogan that rolls off the tongue. A properly executed real estate website can begin this process for you, and position you and your agency as the brand of choice in your local market.

7- Use It as Part of Your Listing Presentation

A listing presentation is what an agent shows to the home seller to convince them that he/she is qualified to sell their home. It usually includes stats, a marketing strategy, pricing, relevant experience, and the added value the agent brings to get the job done. If much of this information is already on your website, you save time and effort. Maybe your potential seller already saw a lot of these details and is already impressed by you before even placing the first call.

8- Exchange Information More Easily

No need for potential new clients to call and wait to speak to your receptionist. This small gesture alone can turn off the ultra busy and impatient 25 to 50-year-old shopper, who is used to having questions answered instantaneously these days. No more need to set up an appointment, drive to meet each other, and invest time just for some initial “this is how we work” info. All this can be accomplished with a few brief lines on your real estate website, which people can read within seconds and move onto the next step.

No need for clients to wait for a form to arrive by fax, or stay on the phone during business hours, to fill in their personal info.

This also allows existing and potential clients to provide feedback in an open forum, so you know what they’re looking for. All this can be done 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, and not just during your office hours (when potential clients themselves are most busy).

6 Benefits of Customized Web Application Development

A web application is a client-server computer program that is stored on a remote server and delivered through the internet via a web browser.

Some common web apps you’ve probably worked with include Google Docs, Pixlr, Evernote, Trello, and Netflix. Essentially, a web app is an online computer program that can help you perform a function, rather than just take in information.

If you’re a business, having a customized web application can not only benefit your employees, but can benefit your customers. Here are six benefits of a customized web application:

It’s Tailor Made

A web application made for your business by a web development company will be exactly what you need to solve your problems. The application will be created to serve the specific purpose you need it for, and you can rest assured your application will be able to handle all your business’ requirements.

It’s Scalable

Sure, off the shelf software may address most of your business’ needs, however it’s not as scalable as something custom built. Having a custom web app developed will guarantee that your application can grow as your business does, and you won’t be forced to switch to a more expensive program or worry about costly license purchases.

It’s Safe.

Most online hacking comes from hackers being knowledgeable of weak points in commonly used software, which can put a big target on your business if you use one of those softwares. To hack a custom coded application would take much more time and effort to learn the program, so it will be a less attractive target.

It’s Adaptable.

If your business already uses a few other softwares, it’s no problem to create your custom web app to flow seamlessly with them. Unlike utilizing multiple off the shelf solutions which often will not work together efficiently, a custom web app can be created with your other preferred softwares in mind, ensuring a higher productivity and easy workflow.

It’s Consistently Maintained.

When you use a commercial software, you’re forced to count on that software development company to keep your software running. If the company shuts down or if they decide to no longer maintain that app, you’ll be forced to switch softwares, which can be an unexpected expense for your business.

You Can Save Money Over Time.

Of course, having a custom web app built isn’t necessarily cheaper than using something off the shelf, but over time it can save you a great deal of money. You won’t have to pay for licensing packages or purchase extra hardware, because your application can be built to work with your existing hardware. You’ll also own your application, so you won’t have to pay to use it (only for maintenance).

Major Benefits and Key Challenges of Android Development

Powerful Android applications make a difference in the world. As more than 84 percent of all the Smart Phones use Android OS, there are great opportunities for developers of Android applications, making it possible for you to find a skilled android developer in any part of the world. Having said that, here is an in depth look at the major benefits and key challenges of android development to help you choose the best platform for your business app development.

Major Benefits:

Android development is cost effective

Android is open source, therefore developers can create any number of rich applications, without any recurring license fees. On the other hand, an easy SDK creation does not require more resources. You can also go for any number of revisions in the application, as there are free modification programs available, which further bring the cost down.

Inter application integration

With Android being an open source platform, it is more suitable for all sorts of inter application integration. Even if you want to merge or cross-promote the various programs together, Android is the most suitable program to use, as the technology itself is perfect for any kind of connection between dissimilar software.

Graphics support

Android offers extensive support for 2D and 3D graphics, which helps companies to attract users to its mobile applications. Using high-quality graphics is crucial for the success of any mobile application.

Less skill is required

Android programs are basically written in Java. A developer with a working knowledge of Java and good experience in this programming type can easily get Android application up and running with relative ease.

Linux kernel

Android is based on Linux kernel, which means that the basic features of Android are very similar to those of Linux kernel. Based on Linux, Android gives a very secure and stable platform, ensuring an obstacle free and smooth environment where applications can perform their best.

The key challenges

UI development

As the OEM’s (Original Equipment Manufacturers) produce their own user interfaces, which are quite different from each other, it is sometimes a problem for the developer to handle this variation in UI’s.

Performance

Factors such as GUI (graphical user interface) and memory and power use affect the performance of an application. During application development, the developer must take into account the problem of resource utilization and distribute the resources optimally to all the applications that need them.

Security

With the widespread use of Android smart phones, there is also a need to protect these devices from malicious attacks aiming to steal critical information such as usernames and passwords. The data in transit and data at rest both need to be protected against any unauthorized access.

Backward compatibility

As Android is known for its frequent updates, it is important for the developer to ensure backward compatibility in his application developments. It is necessary to ensure that the developed application runs smooth not only on the updated version, but also on the previous versions of the Android API.

It is time for business owners to start thinking beyond regular app ideas, such as email and calendar, as they are too basic to utilize an Android developer’s full potential. While the business owners struggle with their creativity and lack of ideas, there is no shortage of talent in the Android developer community. Use your potential to come up with a challenging idea, and give it a chance. No matter how bizarre it may seem at first glance.

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