Planning your mobile workflow and commit to a service provider for a long term is a serious decision. It does not only influence the instant success of the implementation, but, going forward, also whether you have a future-proof solution. An organization following this mindset is a must-have to stay successful.

Being future-proof all comes down to the organizational structure, the way of collaboration, the technologies adapted, and continuous and innovative product development. As we mentioned before, a professional development team is always up-to-date in technology trends. Not only has it the benefit of selecting the right solution but also being able to upgrade it to the latest standards whenever necessary.

A service provider with a strong focus on product development will seize new opportunities regardless of the nature of technological innovations. Hints for such mindset can be easily figured out by taking a close look at the product roadmap: the alpha and omega of short-term goals and long-term methods.  

If you don’t pay attention to how exactly the product development process looks like, though, you might face serious issues whenever your business needs to change direction.

Here is our suggested method that guarantees to save you from such troubles:

1. Look for responsiveness

The first task you have to do is to check the above-mentioned product roadmap. This process already tells a lot about the approach: it is the right one if the provider takes customer suggestions seriously. After all, the roadmap should reflect the client’s business priorities and be aligned with the company strategy.

2. Look for flexibility

Long-term thinking is shown, among others, in the composition and the possible extension of the development team of the provider. They should be prepared for (even sudden) growth of demand that requires the inclusion of more programmers, by hiring or outsourcing. Changes in the business workflows are also quite common, and sometimes they require the intensive adjustment (upgrade) of the application – so you want to work with a team that is able to expand on a short notice.

3. Look for easy integration

Integration of applications with other elements of the IT-architecture is a sensitive part of any deployment, but while it is common sense to pay attention to it at the first implementation of an app, you would not imagine how many times it pops up again in the course of upgrades. A good integration platform can handle usage spikes, connectivity to different cloud systems and backend processes, and some more. Make sure you know how (by what method) and how often your product will be upgraded, according to the original contract, and if integration checkups are part of the process.

4. Look for innovation and other details

The product roadmap is the go-to point for other juicy details about the strength of focus on product development. The user experience is one of those often overlooked details, although it is known to reduce training times, crucial when upgrading the app. But even more importantly, you should look for innovation: it should be an explicit goal. In today’s business and technology environment, only keeping up with solutions is not enough anymore. You have to innovate both in your business and your application development in order to stay ahead of the game.