How to Make an App For Your Business
Here’s a Business App Builder Worth Your Time
If you are a business owner, someone in charge of operations, or someone who would like to digitize (part of) their work, the idea of making your job easier through an app has probably crossed your mind. Business apps are a great way to tidy up data entry, eliminate manual work or spreadsheets, and streamline and accelerate workflows and processes. The only challenge? Not everyone knows how to build an app.
This guide introduces you to building an app for your business. It covers the tools needed, and steps to take and provides examples of simple apps that can be developed or customized in less than 30 minutes.
PS: If the idea of building an app has not crossed your mind, but you have landed here anyway, a good question to ask is: which Excel spreadsheet would I like to get rid of?
What Are Business Apps?
A business app is a web application created for internal users or external business partners. Common off-the-shelf business apps are Customer-Relationship Management (CRM) systems, asset tracking systems, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, or ticketing systems.
In addition to these ready-to-use systems, bespoke or custom-built business apps are becoming increasingly important for businesses. Bespoke software offers the advantages of being cost-effective, easy-to-implement, and fully customizable.
Here are three characteristics of a business app:
1. Users of a Business App
Unlike a consumer-facing app, a business app’s users are professionals (typically, they log in with their business email address).
For example, a sales app is used by the employees in the sales department and the sales team. An accounting app is used by the accounting & finance staff. A business partner portal can be accessed by business partners.
The users of a business app are typically a fixed number of identifiable professionals. The number of users can range from as little as a handful of users for a small departmental app to hundreds of users in a client, supplier, or business partner portal.
2. Functionality of a Business App
Business app’s functionalities and characteristics can typically be summarized as:
CRUD Operations
Users can create, read, update, or delete data, such as customer information, inventory data, or financial information.
Reporting and Analysis
Business apps facilitate reporting and data analysis. They can be used to create PDF reports or charts and dashboards for analytics. Unlike in consumer-facing applications, user interface design is not a primary consideration for business apps. Though they must be easy to navigate, their real value does not come from how pretty, but rather how functional, they are.
Security and Authentication
Security is paramount for business apps. Data stored by the application can only be accessed by those with valid login credentials. The application owner can grant or cancel a user’s access and enforce security policies.
3. Distribution of a Business App
Since a business app is typically not a consumer-facing app (i.e. it is not a Facebook, Twitter, or Amazon), the app is not widely distributed. It is typically not available for download on an app store (such as the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store). Instead it is only distributed to those who need to have access due to their job role and responsibilities.
How to Make an App For Your Business: 3 Steps to Go from Idea to App
To build a business app, all it takes are three steps: first, model your database. Secondly, build your user interface. Third, launch your app. None of these steps requires you to write code. An understanding of relational databases, however, is a plus!
Step 1: Model Your Database
Almost every application in the world can be thought of as a place for data storage. An app stores data in a database. Databases (unlike spreadsheets) store data in a secure, scalable, and consistent manner.
To model your database, start by analyzing the spreadsheet you wish to replace, or the process you wish to create. What data is being dealt with?
To give some simple examples:
A product database stores information about products: weight, dimensions, colors, variations, and product categories.
A sales database keeps track of interactions between your sales team and customers.
An accounting database is a central repository for accounting and financial data.
Check out our library of pre-defined databases to learn more about these commonly-used business database systems:
The first step in setting up your business app is to list out all the data your application is supposed to store. Once you have listed all the tables and fields, it is time to build your database.
To do so, there are several tools available. Traditional database builders rely on code written in SQL and are designed for technical users.
Business app builders, such as Five let you create a database in point-and-click. Check out our video tutorial to follow the steps for building your database.
Step 2: Create Your User Interface
Business app builders are designed to accelerate user interface creation. For the most part, users of your app will deal with the following interfaces:
Forms for data entry, updating, or presentation. On the surface, forms seem easy. However, anyone who has ever designed a form knows that it takes time to build a good form.
Five comes with an easy-to-use form builder that turns your database table from Step 1 into a form quickly and in just a few clicks. Rapidly develop inquiry forms, appointment forms, or any other customized forms, for example.
In addition, Five lets you create conditional forms, enforce rules for data entry, or set fields to read-only or required. Your end-users will thank you for a well-designed form that lets them interact with the data stored inside your database effectively and intuitively.
Other common interfaces of business apps include dashboards and reports. Five comes with visual designers for both. Dashboards let you visualize your data through charts. Reports can be used to generate PDF documents for sharing.
Last, Five also lets you add authentication to your application. By selecting Five’s multi-user setting, Five adds a login screen to your app. Only users with valid credentials can access the data stored inside the application. Through different user roles, you can even define how users can access the app. For example, some business app users’ can be given read-only access, while others have full privileges to create, read, update and delete data.
Step 3: Launch Your App
Last but not least, it is time to launch your app to your users.
In Five, apps are launched with just a click of a button. Once “deployed”, the app is available online and ready for use. All apps developed in Five are responsive by default: they can be accessed on desktop, tablet, or mobile. This is ideal for apps that are used by both back-office employees and employees in the field.
How to Build an App for Business, The Rapid Way
Whether you’re a small business or a large corporation, Five’s business app builder lets you quickly build custom business software without any coding skills.
In just three steps, we can convert an idea into a web application. Sign up for Five’s free trial to turn your business app into working software. You get 14 days of free access to Five’s business app builder. If you get stuck, visit our user community.
Once your app is ready for deployment, sign up for a paid subscription. Each paid subscription comes with a cloud-hosted database, application hosting, and a custom URL for your app. Some of our plans even come with unlimited users, making them ideal for building business partner portals.
Happy building!
