When water cooler conversation turns to movies and lands on The Matrix, what scene first comes to mind? Is it when the film’s hero-in-waiting, Neo, gains self-awareness and frees himself from the machines? Or Agent Smith’s speech that compares humans to a “virus?” Or maybe the vision of a future ruled by machines? It’s all pretty scary stuff.
Although it featured a compelling plot, The Matrix wasn’t the first time we’d explored the idea of technology gone rogue. In fact, worries about the rise of the machines began to surface well before modern digital computers.
The rapid advance of technology made possible by the Industrial Revolution set off the initial alarm bells. Samuel Butler’s 1863 essay, “Darwin among the Machines,” speculated that advanced machines might pose a danger to humanity, predicting that “the time will come when the machines will hold the real supremacy.” Since then, many writers, philosophers and even tech leaders have debated what might become of us if machines wake up.
What causes many people the most anxiety is this: We don’t know exactly when machines might cross that intelligence threshold, and once we do, it could be too late. As the late British mathematician I. J. Good wrote, designing a machine of significant intelligence to improve on itself would create an “intelligence explosion” equivalent to, as he put it, allowing the genie out of the bottle. Helpfully, he also argued that because a super intelligent machine can self-improve, it’s the last invention we’ll ever need to make. So that’s a plus — right?
There are other perspectives on the matter — that fears of a machine-led revolution are largely overblown.
Like technological advances that came before, artificial intelligence (AI) won’t create new existential problems. It will, however, offer us new and powerful ways to make mistakes. It’s smart to take some preventive measures, like putting in alerts that tell you when the machine is starting to learn things that are outside [of] your ethical boundaries.
Tech companies and the auto industry are working hard in tandem to make autonomous driving a reality by the early 2020s. Driverless cars with various levels of human participation will roll out in stages over the next few years, with fully-autonomous SAE Level 5 driving on the scene by 2030.
Today, most automotive manufacturers have achieved Level 2 assisted driving where the car can manage simple scenarios, like active lane centering and parking assistance, itself. Fewer manufacturers provide Level 3 autonomous driving where the car can autonomously navigate a traffic jam or roadways to a destination. For both levels, human drivers can take the wheel if they choose.
The limitations of AI that prevent advancement to fully-autonomous driving
From an engineering standpoint, Level 3 autonomous driving is powered by two things: hard-coded structured programming models mostly written for embedded systems and deterministic rules that make decisions supported by neural networks.
These two things combine to build AI driving agents, but with at least five important limitations:
Lack of perception and behavior intelligence compared to humans. Unlike existing AI agents trained with machine learning (ML), humans don’t need thousands of images of trees, for example, to recognize a tree or identify a driving situation.
Low accuracy performance. With existing tools, the probability of steering accuracy decreases as more autonomous driving functions and components get added. The complex real driving system will deliver only about 60 to 70 percent accuracy performance on motion control for steering and acceleration, well short of what’s required for fully autonomous driving.
Inability to cope well with complexity. Deterministic rules are usable in closed environments, such as a contained driving course, but can’t capture the complexity of real-world driving situations.
Require too much data. Usually ML models require enormous amounts of data, which are too expensive and difficult to collect and move over existing corporate networks.
Take up too much run-time, CPU/GPU processing and address exabytes of storage resources. It takes a lot of time and power to process the large volumes of automotive data and learn from them – and that’s often not cost-effective.
For the industry to evolve toward fully-autonomous driving, technologists have to develop an AI model that mirrors human driving behavior. In doing so, we need to guarantee a deterministic behavior that always produces the same result from the same input. The industry needs a new approach.
The big question then remains: How will the car act autonomously and intelligently in real time, in the real world?
We believe a big part of the answer lies in adapting knowledge of the human brain to AI – and we have drawn much of the inspiration for our new approach from brain science research conducted by Danko Nikolic at the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) in Germany .
Adapting innovative brain research to AI and the production of fully autonomous vehicles has emerged as one of the more exciting technology innovation breakthroughs we’ve seen in the past couple of years.
While it will take time, the benefits to society of producing self-driving vehicles – and simply learning more about how the brain works along the way – holds great promise for human progress.
For every Apprenuer, building a great mobile application takes center stage. Since the startup app development process has been repeatedly talked about, a considerable amount of time and effort is spent on discovery, design, and development.
Sure, providing value to the end-users is the prime goal behind any app but pricing a digital product is an equally important aspect, one that should not be overlooked. It should be carefully determined to build a profitable and scalable mobile app business.
Product pricing strategy in marketing plays an instrumental role in getting your app the initial traction and visibility in the app store. How you determine the price of your product decides the success of your app in terms of the number of downloads and user retention in the long run.
But it is like walking on a tightrope- apps that are offered for free or at a relatively lower price gather greater market share and can penetrate in the market seamlessly while apps that are offered for a higher price have the potential to garner a good ROI.
So, how do you decide the right product pricing strategy? A lot of factors come into play when ascertaining the price for your app- market research, the value and functionality of your app, and the market competition. All this coupled with an understanding of consumer psychology is a must to run a successful mobile app business.
If you plan on building an app, or your product is in the development pipeline and you have not given much of an afterthought to this equally essential aspect, do not worry, we will break down what is a product pricing strategy, the popular pricing models for mobile apps and help you strategically determine the right price for your application.
What is a product pricing strategy?
Pricing strategy is how you make money from your mobile application. Every breakthrough idea has some business model behind it. While initially, you may only be concerned about rapidly launching a Minimum Viable Product, having a pricing strategy in place will only help you build a robust product.
Pricing a digital product may seem like an easy task, but it certainly isn’t. Play Store and App store are sprawling with millions of mobile applications and the types of pricing models for apps have evolved over time. But before we delve too deep into the types of mobile app pricing strategies and discuss their pros and cons, we would like to share some valuable insights that will help you make the right choice.
Product Pricing Strategy for Mobile Apps
1. Human Behaviour and psychology
Human psychology plays a fundamental role in determining the price of your product.
Consumers are keeping up with the rapid strides in technology. It is the growing rise in consumerism that steers the scope of advancements. Customers today are well-read, well informed and they always strive to make a conscious decision.
For every product, there are ten other alternatives available in the market, so how do you assure a customer will choose your product?
Simple, you must ensure that the perceived value of your product is greater than its price.
A customer should always feel that the price of your product is right and tapping into this segment becomes all the more easy when they do not have a reference point to begin with.
Before taking a decision, we humans tend to compare products with the alternatives available in the market and assess them for their pros and cons.
So, when determining the mobile app pricing strategy you must take into account other products available in the market, characterize your value proposition and ensure you are offering a greater value than your competitors.
2. What the market is willing to pay
The right pricing strategy should revolve around what the market is willing to pay. And to determine that, you must test your product at different price levels and see how the market responds.
An application has a recurring revenue stream. To stay competitive you need to tap on new functionality and offer regular updates. So it is essential to holistically view the recurring revenue model and not worry about the revenue per price point.
More often than not, mobile app developers offer a product for free to garner a huge user base and generate revenue from advertisements. But later on, when you offer an upgraded product for a certain price you had already devalued the product and can’t really sell it for more because the perceived value is low.
So, the ideal approach is to test your product at various price levels and see how the market reacts to it.
3. Build a product that users want
A product should be built with an aim to address user concerns and it must solve their problem. When you build something that users truly want, it is easy to decide the price. Look for factors that can enhance the value of your app- a stellar design, a splendid user journey.
To determine the mobile app pricing models you need to know the app development cost, which involves factors like the actual cost, the value the product offers and the money required to thrive it.
Having a sound knowledge of the current market trends is equally crucial and rolling out new updates and enhanced functionality is the key when opting for a penetrative pricing model.
4. Study the market and competitive landscape
Market-driven pricing is a great approach to arrive at an optimum price point for your mobile application. Studying the competitive landscape and analyzing your user base can help you discover opportunities where the competition is lacking.
For instance, launching your app at a relatively lower price than your competitors gives you an advantage in the market.
Understanding the market demand for a product and viewing it from the customer’s perspective helps a great deal in deciding the right price.
It is crucial to establish early on what makes your product special and what value does the competition in the market demand from your app.
5. Robust marketing strategy
In today’s fast-paced environment, the power and reach of social media is expanding every day. In such a scenario, backing your pricing strategy with a robust marketing strategy is more like a necessity. Having an understanding of the current market trends along with a marketing strategy in place helps in maximum user acquisition. To retain users in the long run, rolling out enhancements in every quarter is a good strategy.
So, leverage the power of social media to create the buzz around your product and gain initial traction. Don’t be fixated on the top of the funnel, it is ideal to look at things holistically. Curating rich content for social media platforms ensures the word about your app reaches far and wide and generates the maximum number of downloads.
6. Affordability
Besides offering the desired functionality, your app should be affordable for customers. It is only fair to offer value to your customers at a decent price.
Penetration pricing strategy helps businesses attract new customers due to the low cost. It is considered a classic strategy because it uses behavioural psychology to drive customers to purchase the product. The pricing for any digital product should also take into account the sustainability of your business.
7. Understand what your product and target customers demand
It is crucial to realize early on that no one size fits all. What may have worked for someone else, would not necessarily work for you. There will be new opportunities that you can tap into to app development for startup.
Think out of the box, be unconventional in your ways, and look out for alternate models to generate revenue.
For instance, the wide pool of data generated from your app could be of value to someone. Healthcare apps generate a huge amount of data that is useful for doctors and researchers.
8. Paid vs free
Deciding, whether to launch an app for free or paid, involves a couple of factors, like the required amount of users. If you want to gather a huge user base at once, free is the go-to choice.
With paid apps, users expect more features and functionalities. They certainly do not like paying each and every time a new enhancement is rolled out.
Also, when the customers pay to avail in-app purchases, you must ensure it offers sufficient value.
Taking cues from what the competition is doing is a good practice to establish yourself in the market. You cannot choose a paid pricing model when others in your niche are offering similar functional apps for free. However, if your app has advanced functionality and a unique proposition which is not found in similar apps, users can be willing to pay more.
Types of Pricing Strategies for Apps
1. Free
We don’t usually get a lot of things for free. The ‘Free’ tag is not just a pleasant surprise but also a great tool to attract a large pool of customers. The same applies to the free app pricing model.
As the name suggests, these apps are free to download, and in most cases, the primary source of income is through advertisements. Free apps are often seen as a great tool to attract a large pool of users and retain them in the long run. They are meant to facilitate communication and customer service.
Depending on the purpose of your application, there are two types of free pricing strategies to choose from. The former is a Completely free strategy, which is used when you already have a well-established product or a service in place. In such a scenario, the app is an add- on tool for the users. The goal behind completely free apps is not to make money directly from the app but redirect potential customers to other revenue streams.
For instance, free apps involve features like coupons, discount notices and other pertinent information which encourages users to take action. The app is used to spark interest, support the marketing strategy and drive users to other revenue channels.
The latter is an In-app advertisement strategy. In this strategy, the apps are offered for free but users see adds while using the app. Primarily, gaming apps use this strategy to generate ad revenue. With in-app advertisements, the key is to ensure that the advertisements that are being displayed are relevant to the users.
There are services through which you can easily filter the ads by user relevance and format and ensure the ads in your app actually pique the users’ interest.
According to Statista, mobile app pricing statistics indicate that the distribution of free and paid apps is such that 96 percent of apps in the Google Play store are freely available whereas in iOS 90.3% apps are free.
2. Freemium
The freemium pricing model is a modified version of the free pricing strategy. This model is highly popular and widely used by businesses. Freemium apps can be downloaded for free but include limited functionality and features. To generate money from these apps, in-app purchase opportunities are created. There are three freemium strategies to choose from depending on the tiers, features, and incentives.
Two-tiered approach – It includes apps that customers can download and use for free but there is a premium functionality that can only be availed upon payment. This strategy is widely used in gaming apps where users have to buy in-app currencies, extra lives or upgrade to additional levels.
The second model includes apps which offer full functionality but only for a limited period of time. The idea behind this strategy is that users can see the vision and get familiar with the app’s utility, and after a while, they will be willing to avail the services.
The last model includes apps where all the features and functionalities are free except it comes with built-in advertisements. The catch here is that a small amount is charged from users to offer an advertisement free app.
3. Paid
The name clearly gives it away, for paid apps, customers have to pay to download the app. Due to the huge popularity of free and freemium apps, the paid model is considered least effective.
In case you opt for a paid pricing model, it is essential to back it up with a compelling marketing effort. To drive users to purchase your app over a free equivalent, you should have an effective marketing strategy in place. Besides the description of the app in the app store, a potential customer must be equipped with the value you are offering with your product.
With a paid app, users tend to have higher expectations. But once you manage to attract a user, they will turn into a loyal customer if your app offers the perceived value.
To leverage the paid pricing strategy, many brands opt for a week free trial. It is a good tactic to approach potential long-term users by showcasing what your app is all about and giving them the opportunity to make a choice.
4. Paymium
Paymium is the amalgamation of freemium and paid model. For paymium apps, the users not only pay for the app but also pay an additional cost to avail an added functionality. Although it is not a widely used strategy, it does have the potential to generate great revenue streams.
This pricing model works well for music and social networking apps. This strategy can rapidly gain traction if exciting content, unique functionality, and useful features are introduced on a regular basis.
Conclusion
The app market is growing by leaps and bounds. To penetrate in the market with ease and carve a niche, you must choose the right pricing strategy for your mobile app and take the aforementioned insights into due consideration. Pricing model plays a fundamental role in determining an app’s success. It is essential to choose the right monetization strategy as early as possible. Your product pricing strategy should meet market and user expectations, offer the perceived value and help you accomplish business goals.
There are a lot of things product managers are accountable and responsible for. A product manager is not only liable to strategize by creating a roadmap but also needs to articulate the release cycle of a new product to the team along with everything that comes in between.
They are also required to have the expertise in knowing how to identify the priority tasks and manage the team accordingly. Not just this, but mobile product managers are also given the responsibility to analyze the features added to a product (mobile app) and whether they are in sync with the client’s goals.
All in all, every process, activity, and decision associated with a product is synchronized and aligned by the mobile product manager. What helps these product managers achieve their KRAs is a certain set of skills.
Now, obviously they will be required to explain certain product management ideas to their team members so that they all are on the same page. But, the thing to wonder is – how do they explain all the product management concepts and key ideas?
Well, I think a few useful diagrams for product managers do the trick. If you are interested in knowing what these diagrams are and how and when they are used by mobile product managers, stick till the end.
Diagram 1 – Communication bottlenecks
It is understood that as a manager, you need to be aware of what is going on in your team and how the team members are managing their tasks. But, it is ludicrous for any person to be involved in every communication and decision – one person cannot handle all the things on one’s own, right? Isn’t this why the delegation was invented?
Now, it is natural you would want to be included in all the important inter/intra-team conversations, but you need to reflect on one thing – is it necessary? Is it something you should do by putting aside your other responsibilities?
The answer is – analyze whether the team is capable of communication which is not dependent on you. And if it is, you need to make some conscious decisions to ensure that important things like fluent communication are not solely dependent on you. A diagram that can effectively explain the case in point is given below.
Let’s say, a Web Engineer needs to discuss something with the Product Analyst and then the PA says they need to discuss something with the iOS developer in this regard. Now, the Web Engineer should ideally approach the PA and iOS developer directly, instead of being dependent on the PM (as shown in the image on the left).
The diagram on the left shows the dependency of the team on product manager to communicate with other members of other teams – something that adversely affects the workflow and slows it down. And on the right is the diagram displaying an efficient communication flow that is not dependent, instantly eliminating unnecessary points of contact.
Diagram 2: Waterfall vs agile
Though there are many resources out there on the internet participating in the debate of the Agile vs Waterfall approach, it may still seem like a vague concept in relation to product management. So let’s clear the fog of ambiguity.
It is generally known that the cost of mobile app development is calculated on the basis of hours it takes to develop that product.
Now, if the product manager of that mobile app development company chooses to use the Waterfall approach (i.e., a large release of the product), this would mean that the product will be launched all in one go.
Now, when a product is released, it is expected to become an instant hit – something which won’t be easy in this instance, since the product is launched all at once and is definitely a home to some issues. The value that they will get from this release won’t be equivalent to the investment (time) made by the developers. It is because they would require to fix the issues from the start.
On the contrary, the agile approach supporting small releases and iterations would show instant value results, since you are simultaneously identifying errors and fixing them. The diagram above clearly shows the difference in the end result of choosing these product management approaches.
Diagram 3: Representation of delivery size
When it comes to delivering a product on time, it is a very crucial part of the whole development process. It can literally make or break the future of any mobile app. If time-to-market is too long, some other app could capture the market and it would render the mobile app in question futile.
Here is a representation of the sizes of initiatives taken when developing an application –
The diagram on the left shows the throughput of the delivery size that only deals with working on big projects (large chunks of work at the same time). It is absolutely clear that working only on big projects of a product would create a blockage at one point of time in the future, since these projects would require more time, attention, resources, etc. And if anything goes wrong, the impact would be devastating on the whole process, inevitably increasing the time-to-market.
{Also read our article on “Project Managers vs Product Managers: Difference, roles & challenges”}
The diagram on the right is a classic “to do”. The advantages of adopting the Agile approach have rippled down to this stage in the product management process as well. This approach advocates the mixture of performing small tasks with large chunks of work (blue), something that we also follow at Anteelo.
As visible in the diagram, unlike the one on the left, here small chunks of work (Pink) can easily pass through the funnel (can be done easily). If these prove successful, the product managers can carry on with this idea (yellow circles) and invest completely. And if otherwise is the case, then they can iterate again and invest accordingly.
{Check out this extensively detailed article on “10 most important documents product managers must prepare”}
Diagram 4: Level of leadership involvement
The diagram below comprises two models for elaborating this product management concept. One on the left displaying the initiative size, number of tasks done at a time, and the risk factor in them, and the other concerned with the level of involvement of the product managers (leadership) correspondent to these tasks and initiatives.
The one on the left is a pyramid of tasks/initiatives to be performed by the team. The bottom of the pyramid means many tasks being performed at once, and the diagram on the right shows the amount of involvement with respect to these menial tasks having low to none risk.
As we move to the top of the pyramid, the number of tasks decreases while the risks associated with these tasks increase as well, this is where the product manager MUST be consulted, while in the formed he/she can be just informed. This diagram would help not just help mobile product managers but also the team members in knowing when to depend on the leadership.
Diagram 5: Analyzing segmentation value
There are a few practices that organizations are accustomed to following. One of them being the habit of optimizing for the average instead of a segment. Meaning, they tend to focus on the average instead of particular segments that need improving.
In the circumstances where the targets and hypotheses are fairly broad, it becomes challenging for the product managers and development teams to create an impact via product. It is because you are here trying to satisfy a variety of targets at the same time, which is not at all possible.
Diagrams, such as given below are a way to analyze each segment for identifying which ones are impacting the performance of others. All this to resolve the prevailing issues.
The diagram above consists of three hypothetical experiments 1,2, and 3 with segments A, B, C, and D. Out of three experiments, in the first case, there was an uplift in the segment A, followed by a decrease in the second case, and third with no change.
Taking an individual look, in experiment 1, segment A performed well with others, except segment B. Now, the diagram has highlighted the decline in this segment juxtaposed to the others. This could help product managers in finding the reasons for this happening which will eventually improve the average in the longer run.
A similar situation occurs in experiment 3, where segments A, C, D underperform in opposition segment B which showed significant change. Again, a study would clear out the reasons for this happening.
These useful diagrams for product managers can easily be customized to one’s needs, irrespective of which industry the product managers are operating in. As far as Anteelo is concerned, I think these models really help our teams in simplifying the process and maintain open communication between inter/intra-teams.
Data-driven digital transformation opens opportunities for healthcare providers, policy makers and patients to move toward personalized healthcare by collecting and sharing new kinds of data. The next wave of productivity gains will not come simply from the delivery of information and messages from one place to another, but from the cross-linked aggregation of a more complete body of information. While the transition requires an investment in new technologies and new ways of doing business, the tools are rapidly maturing, and costs are coming down.
Denmark has been at the forefront of health data exchange for more than two decades. It began in 1994 with the creation of Med Com, a nonprofit organization owned by the Ministry of Health and various local government entities, which designed a range of healthcare data exchange standards. Med Com also enforced a strict policy of compliance, which led to countrywide adoption.
The initiative established Denmark as a global leader in data sharing and in empowering patients to be more involved in their own treatment. A key aspect of the country’s digital health initiative is its web portal, Sundhed.dk (or health.dk), which gives patients secure access to health data, including information on their treatments, visits to their doctors and notes from their hospital records.
Now the rest of the world has caught up, and the old standards are competing with those that have global reach, such as Health Level Seven International (HL7)’s Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard. The new standards offer new data-sharing options and provide a far richer and more impactful set of options to healthcare providers.
While messages to and from clinical applications still have relevance, data sharing capabilities that enable true and actionable insights are growing in importance. The new data sharing models have the potential to transform healthcare, supporting digital transformation and moving healthcare toward progressive business models. The ability to share clear, consistent patient data is integral to driving patient-centric care, since patients now demand that healthcare organizations interact with them through multiple communication channels and have a deep understanding of factors that may affect their health.
But is this paradigm shift from messages toward rich data consumption easy for providers to adopt? Well no, if you still treat your electronic health records (EHRs), radiology information system (RIS) and laboratory information system (LIS) as big monoliths and data repositories where isolated and specific data is shared as messages.
Let me give an example. When I was a hospital chief information officer and wanted some new functionality in our EHR system, I needed to go through several hospital and vendor approval processes. In the end, it might take 2 years to get the change implemented, since the development roadmap didn’t leave much room for my innovative ideas. What I needed — but did not realize at the time — was access to data outside the applications where the data resided. The problem is that the apps themselves are not built for data sharing purposes and yet they contain vast amounts of invaluable data from across the enterprise — clinical, administrative, logistics, infrastructure, etc. In the past, medical use cases tended to be drawn from a single source, such as the EHR, but today’s use cases draw data from apps, medical devices and perhaps even sensors.
Here’s a problem that hospitals encounter — the outbreak of a contagious disease. To quickly mitigate a health crisis, the hospital needs to know within 12 hours what items and which people have been exposed: medical devices, staff, relatives, etc. To gain that insight, those managing the problem need data from a real-time location system, booking data, clinical data and data from a medical device database. But how do you make sure that the data is accessible outside of those apps? This is what digital transformation is about in healthcare — to set the data free and transform through innovation, with actionable insights, advanced analytics and other cutting-edge capabilities that are built upon your data.
It’s not only hospitals and clinicians who need these advanced insights. Today’s empowered patients require those insights to improve and manage their own care — whether that’s insights from digital devices for remote monitoring of their conditions or communicating with clinicians to help drive personal
health goals.
I believe it is time for health economies to look at how they will integrate and connect their existing systems with new digital technologies and merge the data locked inside to generate meaningful, actionable insights — both to inform personalized, patient-driven clinical care and to push the development of new treatments, pathways or services. Organizations that embrace change and transformation will emerge as winners in a world that demands first-class clinical care, better patient experiences and reduced costs.
While Denmark has led the way on health data exchange, advanced global standards and new digital technologies create the landscape for all health economies to embrace patient-centered care initiatives enabled by connecting data across the broader health ecosystem.
The health insurance sector is finding itself in a whirlwind of change. For insurers, this means getting an understanding of the domain’s benefits and tech stack powering the change.
New-age healthcare space or digital health ecosystem, as it’s usually called, is engineered to keep patients on a pedestal. The transformation of healthcare has created an ecosystem where every medical industry stakeholder and process has been operating to keep patients at the center stage.
While this patient-first system is coming organically to the caregivers, insurers – the third key stakeholder of the healthcare sector – are finding the transition a bit challenging. In this article, we are going to look into the capabilities that payers need to inhibit to survive the growing competitiveness in the digital health insurance world.
The insurance industry is staring at a cultural shift that will put people’s well-being at a primary stage. The shift has forced the sector to move from paying financial compensation to injury, illness, or loss towards the end goal of mitigating or preventing them.
A key role in bringing this shift to health insurance digital transformation has been brought along by technology adoption by every custom healthcare software development company.
In this article, we will dive into the technologies insurance companies can adopt in the digital health services landscape. But first, let us look into the benefits that would make the domain an active participant in the changing landscape of digital transformation in healthcare.
The Benefits of a Digitalized Insurance Sector
1. Digital solutions help people make healthy decisions
Digital healthcare solutions powered by wearables and insurance-inclined apps help people: prevent diseases, better diagnostic, manage a chronic condition, limit lifestyle risks. A number of modern users expect their health and care providers, insurers to provide them digital wellness solutions.
New-gen insurers, by offering consumer-centric programs like health quantification, etc. can meet this consumer expectation.
2. Digital platforms help insurers connect with the users
Digital tools and digital health platforms provide insurers the ability to give their clients a welcoming, interactive platform using which the insurers can create an ‘I care’ strategy. The platforms do not just act as a mode to have positive interactions with the customer but also gather data that can help make processes and values efficient.
3. Insurance digitalization help lower risk and cost
Digital healthcare services help make a detailed picture of users’ overall health. Upon the data, the insurers can create an approach that can be used for personalizing premiums through dynamic pricing. The data-driven approach also enables risk assessment that enables accelerated underwriting.
According to a Capgemini report, the use of data-driven assessment helps insurers adopt a more value-driven care model where the digital tools provide a transparent picture of the dynamic pricing model.
4. Digitalization in the insurance space optimize customer experience
Digital space helps healthcare insurance service providers optimize the customers’ experience by increasing the number of touchpoints and providing new services. Here are some of the use cases of how it happens:
Digital health insurance plans for managing personal health
Virtual healthcare delivery
Connected vehicle and smart-home solutions
Voice technology for advising customers.
5. Digital tools can secure data dominance
The insurance sector is producing more data than ever before. They have been building and scaling big data ecosystems to create visualized data sets that can suggest benefits plans according to the success factors.
Providers and healthcare app developers that are best able to use big data are delivering personalized customer experience, bettering retention, and are creating more accurate quotes – all at a lot faster speed compared to traditional approaches.
These and a plethora of other benefits are a guarantee that is dependent on the adoption of a new-gen technology set. Technology in health insurance has become a driving force that can take the domain towards end-to-end digitalization.
Let us take a closer look at some of the technologies we suggest our insurance sector partners, in our capacity as a healthcare app development company USA and India, to integrate into their solutions.
3 Technologies Aiding Insurance Digitalization
Machine learning
Insurers, as they process claims, gather a large amount of data from multiple sources. Incorporation of machine learning in the process and healthcare mobility solutions can help build customer relationship management systems that offer targeted service and eliminate churn.
The industry is also exploring ways to use the technology for helping doctors deliver proactive, timely, and cost-effective care to patients.
Internet of Things
With over 1 billion wearable devices active in the market, the healthcare industry is no more unsure about the technology’s capabilities. The biosensors present inside the wearables are getting more sophisticated to become links in the digitalized healthcare system which lays emphasis on home-based treatments.
Through the data collected by the sensors, insurance companies can help wary customers of problem signs before they develop into diseases.
Distributed ledgers
When a patient interacts with a healthcare system, they talk to a number of parties: doctors, pharmacists, insurance companies, etc. A distributed ledger can enable all the stakeholders to be on the same platform, making the interactions and following transmissions, transactions transparent and real-time.
An example of this can be seen in how the patients no more have to wait for the insurance companies to release payment since the latter is updated of the stage where they are at in the healthcare system.
One of the key resources in the healthcare economy is data – a resource that places insurers in the central of the provider side of the digitalization landscape. A number of insurance companies are making use of data to become active participants in healthcare transformation, while there are still a number of providers who are waiting for the digitalization lighting to strike.
Whatever the case may be on the insurer end, the other side of the reality is that members are appreciating insurers’ digitalization efforts by increasing the usage of value-added services. For an insurance company, it means that now is the golden time to enter the space. We can help you.
Our team can help you make an infrastructure that can bring you on a shared transparent, value-plus platform as your customers. Contact our team of insurance industry digitalization experts.
Gone are the days when advertising was considered the most prominent marketing channel to promote a brand. With rapid transformations in the digital landscape, having a strong mobile presence has become a necessity for businesses to thrive.
Mobile apps have emerged as an effective marketing solution. A mobile app not only helps automate business but also provides better customer service. With apps, brands do not have to struggle to establish themselves- they can foster a deep connection with netizens of all demographics and age groups, promote brand awareness and garner the right market visibility.
Studies show that more than 50% of customers who regularly use a branded app are more likely to buy from the company.
It is relatively easy to target a mass audience base with other marketing channels but targeting each individual based on their unique preferences is the need of the hour, and it has become all the more possible through mobile apps.
A branded app is a powerful approach to facilitate brand promotions in a persuasive way. By using a mobile app as a brand marketing channel, you can reap huge benefits. It keeps users engaged and you can enjoy higher conversion rates.
Why should Brands go online?
According to a report, smartphones account for 70% of the mobile time out of which 90% of smartphone time is spent on applications. Most people today have access to their phones wherever they go, which implies that you can reach your target audience almost anytime, anywhere through a mobile app. This doesn’t necessarily apphttps://appinventiv.com/blog/mobile-app-as-brand-marketing-channel/ly to other marketing channels, some of which are limited by the restricted availability of the devices that they depend on.
Brands have realised the potential of what a mobile application can do and that goes beyond simply selling a product or service. This discovery has opened up new marketing avenues. It provides businesses the opportunity to engage with their audience in new and creative ways and turn them into loyal customers.
Studies show that desktop internet usage is dropping and mobile internet usage is rising significantly. Although mobile websites get more visitors, visitors tend to spend
Mobile app industry is flourishing. It is estimated that by 2021, there will be roughly 7 billion mobile users worldwide. (Source) With the advent of disruptive technologies such as AI, AR VR companies are finding new ways to market their products. Artificial Intelligence allows mobile apps to store user data in order to recognise and preempt their preferences, needs and choices.
Mobile apps are a powerful marketing channel for brands. It helps companies connect with the audience, convey brand messages, keep users engaged and create customer loyalty in a crowded marketplace.
Today brands are using mobile apps to improve offline experiences for their customers and boost sales. According to a recent survey, 75 percent of customers engage more with loyalty programs that provide rewards in a mobile-friendly way.
So, if you are still not going mobile for marketing, it’s time you consider the many benefits a branded app has to offer.
Benefits of Mobile platforms as Marketing tools
There are a number of ways how mobile apps help businesses. They humanise companies, lead to better interactions between brands and customers, and increase loyalty and sales.
1. Enhancing Brand awareness and visibility
Businesses are often on the lookout for an effective platform through which they can market their brand. Apps enhance brand awareness and visibility and can strategically increase the customer base.
Once an application gets installed on a mobile device, users will come across the brand logo frequently, thereby enhancing visibility and awareness. The more often a user interacts with a brand’s app, the sooner they tend to buy their products and avail their services.
If you want to get users talking about your unique app, you must ensure that your app provides all the features that your target audience is looking for.
The app should be interactive and keep users coming for more. Afterall, it all boils down to effective frequency- the more people are introduced to an app and the more they interact with it, the more chances that they will actually buy.
2. Forming a connection with your Customers
Engagement is extremely crucial and a mobile app helps you form a deeper connection with your customers and prospects.
With declining attention spans, it has become significantly important to curate compelling personalised content and keep your users coming back for more.
An effective way to engage your users is to frequently offer them fresh Personalised Content. Users are interested in content that is relatable and piques their interest. In this rapidly changing environment, user preferences keep on changing and to establish yourself in the market you need to keep up with them.
Regardless of the type of application, a brand must invest in personalized in-app content. One way to ensure that happens is to create and study customer personas to better understand what type of content works best for your audience.
Another effective strategy is Push Notifications. Push notifications have the power to capture user attention and make them check out what’s new in your app. They encourage customers to use your app. The key with push notifications is to make them compelling. A push notification must be of some value to the end user no matter if it’s a copy, a promotion or some perk. Don’t overdo the notifications or it may irritate the users.
3. Collecting Data about Customers
A good marketing strategy revolves around analysing customer behaviour. If your app solves a pain point for the user, they are likely to share their data with you.
You can use mobile app as a brand marketing channel to monitor users, their personal shopping behaviors, engagement levels, browsing habits, locations, mobile app usage, favorite hours and much more.
This way you can collect valuable user insights, analyse through the data, understand the needs of the customer and improve your product quickly.
You can collect user data in the following ways:
Onboarding: You can have a basic questionnaire during registration which includes pertinent information about age, preferences, habits and more.
By offering Bonuses: It is an ideal approach to swap discounts, bonuses or special offers as a reward for completing small questionnaires.
In- app Behaviour: Marketers can always keep track of the marketing process in a closed loop by monitoring and analysing user’s in-app behaviour. For brands it has become relatively easy to collect user data based on purchases and reviews of the product.
This way you can evaluate the data and change your brand development strategy based on user feedback.
The Starbucks mobile app widely uses this opportunity and monitors in-app user behaviour. As of April 2019, Starbucks claims 16.8 million active loyalty program members. It all became possible by analysing user data, looking for new avenues and rolling out strategic data-driven initiatives to target users.
It is essential to have a review/ feedback section. Allow your users to tell you what exactly they want from your app. Iterating and improving the product the way your target audience wants it reaps excellent rewards.
4. Increasing Customer Loyalty
Rewarding frequent customers is a great marketing strategy. Getting customer loyalty has become a challenge for a number of brands. A mobile app is the right tool to increase your customer loyalty.
When you reward frequent customers, it encourages them to buy more and they are more likely to share your brand with their fellow friends. This strategy can be easily implemented using push notifications or via in-app messages. Loyalty rewards help in establishing a strong connection and turns users into loyal customers.
5. Scaling up your target Audience
The Internet is not just breaking boundaries but making things that were impossible a decade ago happen in real-time. Mobile apps enhance the user base, not just in their country of origin but also across the world.
Through geo-targeted push notifications, localisation and location based brands can send specific messages to their target user audience. Location based call to action via region or location mapping feel more personalised to the user, grow the target audience and can drive more sales.
6. Increasing Sales Ratio
Applications enhance customer experience by making the buying process simpler, convenient and intuitive, thereby resulting in the increase in sales ratio.
But an app doesn’t have to necessarily offer purchases to boost sales, it can do so by offering loyalty programs and additional services.
Domino’s faced a serious sales issue back in the mid-2000s. With the wave of digitalisation, Domino’s decided to go mobile. Besides making significant improvements in the quality of their product, Domino’s created a branded mobile app that was extremely responsive and rendered a delightful experience.
It resulted in the app’s contribution to half of the company’s online sales in 2015.
When Domino’s started facing issues with retaining their customers and witnessed a rise in the bounce rate, they came to us. We worked on their UX, refined their UX Strategy and brought a steep rise in their conversion rate by 23% and significantly increased their session time.
7. Social Network Marketing through apps
Mobile connectivity has become essentially important and the ability to synchronise it with social networks provides businesses a higher chance to disperse the content and make it go viral. Mobile apps allow users to easily share the brand’s content across all social networks.
For instance, PUMA’s empowering Propah Lady campaign created a ripple effect on the social media and gained a huge amount of followers and brand customers.
Common Mistakes to avoid when making a mobile app for Brands
The advantages of a mobile app for business are endless. Sure, you can create a unique app and get users to download it but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee that the user will return to your app.
According to Statista, 25 percent apps downloaded by mobile app users worldwide are only accessed once after download.
So, how do you ensure that users keep coming back to your app for more?
The underlying reason why most users abandon a branded app is either poor UX or it focuses more on novelty value and lacks functionality. So, here are some common mistakes that you should avoid when creating an app and to establish it as an effective brand marketing channel.
1. The app doesn’t provide any value to the user
Every app operates on a pain point and it is designed to solve a specific user problem. This holds true for branded apps as well. If your app is a means to place advertisements on your customers’ mobiles, you are doing it wrong.
A branded app should solve user problems in one manner or another. It is only when you create a useful product that provides some value on an ongoing basis, that users will keep coming back to the app. The ideal approach is to know your target audience, study their needs and determine what they expect from your app.
2. The app lacks special offers
The idea behind a branded app is to create awareness and enhance customer loyalty. If a branded app doesn’t offer discounts, special offers and other app usage benefits, customers will most likely abandon the application.
3. The app is difficult to use
The simplest way to identify a good app is how convenient and intuitive it is for the customers. If the app is complicated to use regardless of the functionality it offers, it won’t appeal to a mass audience.
4. The app lacks updates
It is essential to keep up with the rapid shifts in technology and implement the same into your app. If you change your marketing strategy, website design or provide better branding, you must ensure that you have enough resources to make the same updates on your app.
5. The app doesn’t move beyond the desktop experience
If you consider an app as a smaller version of the website with the same features, you aren’t leveraging the app as a right marketing channel. A branded app is more than a novelty value and must provide important features and information.
6. The app doesn’t provide a personalised touch
Today a wide variety of content is available on the Internet and with ever decreasing attention spans, it has become significantly important to provide a personalised touch with your application.
Through a branded app you can target each individual based on their unique preferences and get closer to your customers. By sending personalised push notifications you can retain your users and turn them into loyal customers.
How to establish a Mobile App Marketing Strategy?
Having an app marketing plan is extremely crucial when creating a branded mobile app. So, dig deep and understand what your business needs. There are many types of mobile apps but the crucial factors that come into play when creating a branded app are as follows:
Acquisition: You must ensure that when a user onboards and shares their personal information on your app, they come across a variety of useful mobile features that add some value to their life.
Engagement: Your app should be able to capture user attention, engage customers with the brand and keep them coming for more.
Conversion: Besides engaging customers, your app should focus on driving users to conversion.
Next thing that you need to figure out is the product pricing strategy. Product pricing strategy or mobile app monetization plays an instrumental role in getting your app the initial traction and visibility in the app store. The app pricing model determines the success of your product in terms of the number of downloads and user retention in the long run. It is essential to take into account the cost and value, run a competitor audit, gauge the estimated demand and analyse the cost of user acquisition before opting for a pricing model.
Here’s our Insight on how to choose the right pricing strategy for your mobile app project
Making a branded app is one thing but you also need to understand that the mobile app ecosystem is a challenging environment.
It is a given that regardless of how well crafted your application is, it will not get its spot under the sun until it is marketed right and there is a buzz around it much before it hits the stores and users’ devices.
So, how to promote your brand with mobile apps?
Well, here’s a definitive mobile app promotion guide that will help your market your brand
A Brand Marketing Channel for the world’s largest Furniture retailer IKEA
The lack of mobile app as a brand marketing channel is often felt by startups and established enterprises.
For IKEA, we developed an impeccable solution that helps walk-in customers go through the products catalogue. With a simple and comprehensible user interface, the application displays the products straight from the inventory, eliminating the chances of disharmony between the customer demand and the product supply.
Moreover, it offers customers access to product discounts and offers all in one place.
We solved the problem that IKEA was facing, and with our effective solution customers got a catalogue that displayed all the store offers and discounts in one place and retailers got the contact information of hundreds of store customers for sending them marketing collaterals.
Conclusion
A mobile app is considered a brand’s own marketing platform. It establishes a direct marketing channel and allows marketers to reach a wide range of users around the world. If you are still not leveraging mobile apps as your brands marketing channel, you are certainly lagging behind. It is time you explore the new marketing avenues and jump on the wagon.
Generally, when it comes to computer security, people often misunderstand terms of cybersecurity and information security for the same meaning. But do both of these terms mean the same though? Well, let’s proceed further to find out!
What is Cybersecurity?
While cybersecurity and information security may seem synonymous to users, both terms are theoretically different in the concept of security. Cybersecurity is the amalgamation of processes, technologies, and practices, chiefly designed to protect data, systems, networks, and programs from unauthorized access and cyber-attacks.
Organizations transmit sensitive and confidential data across networks and to other devices for business purposes on a daily basis. This is where cybersecurity plays the role of securing information and systems used for process or storage from various types of attacks in cybersecurity.
As ever-evolving cyber-attacks are rapidly on the rise, implementing cybersecurity solutions helps in safeguarding the data related to confidential and financial records of the company. Employee security awareness, training tools, incident response tools, email authentication protocols, brand monitoring tools, etc. are some types of cybersecurity solutions.
What is Information Security?
Cybersecurity explained above states the focus on the security of process and technology. However, information security is entirely a different concept. Information security plays a role in ensuring that both digital and physical data is being protected from unauthorized access, exploitation, recording, disclosure or modification.
The abbreviated term of information security is “infosec” and is also referred to as “data security”. It aims to keep data secure regardless of digital or physical form. Moreover, information security is a set of practices to keep data secure during scenarios where it is being stored or transmitted from one device or place to another.
While information security remains to be a primary focus in protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data, maintaining organizational productivity is equally an important concern. This is why information security offers guidance, security policies, industry standards in passwords, antivirus software and information security awareness to provide best practices.
So, if cybersecurity and information security work on the same goal of safeguarding an organization’s data, then what differentiates both terms? Let’s find out with the difference stated below!
Cybersecurity Vs. Information Security: 5 Key Differences
Before continuing to learn what differs both terms, it is important to understand that cybersecurity is basically a subset of information security. You can consider information security as an umbrella with cybersecurity coming underneath it along with other security standards.
Now let’s read further to figure out the differences between these two terms:
Cybersecurity
Information Security
Security of data and information in digital or electronic form.
Protection of data from cyber frauds, cybercrimes, cyber-attacks, and law enforcement.
This focuses on securing the cyber resilience of an organization including personal data present on the digital and electronic platform.
The advanced step to combat persistent cyber threats that are imminent.
Deals with cyber threats like phishing, ransomware, risk of removable media, cyber scams, vishing, and smishing.
Security of information assets, existing in both physical and digital form.
Protection of information from unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, misuse or destruction.
This focuses on securing information assets of an organization like integrity, confidentiality, and availability.
The foremost step in the foundation of data security.
This deals with all sorts of security threats to ensure that proper security protocols are set in place.
From the above-given table, now we can easily differentiate between both the terms. While information security mainly concerns protecting data of organization from any sort of unauthorized access, cybersecurity ensures that an organization’s electronic data is secure from cyber threat actors. Cybersecurity is a broad practice of ensuring that servers, networks, and email channels remain protected and accessible to only authorized users that fall under the realm of information security.
Although, the information is not the only area of concern for cyber threat attackers. Some hackers are keener about uncovering the user’s login credentials and gaining unauthorized access to closed networks. Their purpose to do so is to manipulate the data and website or hamper the essential functions.
To prevent hackers from attempting such malicious activities, patching up existing vulnerabilities in networks and devices is a must. Doing so leaves no room for hackers or cyber threat actors to make any possible interaction between the computer device and network or server.
This is why we have certain types of cybersecurity solutions that hold a wide scope right now. Moreover, the experts in this field will have high demand over the next decade too due to the introduction of new technology trends.
The Parallel-ground Between Cybersecurity & Information Security
After all these differences, you might wonder if there is any parallel-ground between cybersecurity and information security or not. Well, the answer is yes! Both cybersecurity and information security are the foundation to information risk management.
While cybersecurity professionals are mainly concerned with safeguarding electronic data from cyber risks and data breaches, they still perform physical security practices. Just like information security professionals keep a cabinet full of confidential information locked, cybersecurity experts require physical security measures to keep adequate data protected. It is impossible to physically lock a computer device, but having security protocols in place, one can easily prevent unauthorized access.
Both cybersecurity and information security are crucial aspects of technology in this evolving 21st century. Organizations looking forward to data security must understand the importance of these two aspects of technology. Every security administration of an organization must stay one step ahead of the ever-evolving security threats.
They are needed to provide and implement the best security awareness training practices and as well as analytical tools to monitor phishing and fraud activities taking place on the online platform. With constantly developing technology and the IT world, security professionals must stay updated to tackle down the evolving security risks and prevent future cyber threats.
For the past 15 years, the electronic health record (EHR) has been the cornerstone of digital hospitals and a primary repository for clinical data. The strategy for most healthcare providers has been to integrate as much data as possible into the EHR so that clinicians need to work with only “one single source of truth” when treating their patients.
However, there is a problem with EHRs. They are simply not designed to incorporate data from other sources, such as medical devices, asset management systems, location services, wearables or any other secondary non-clinical data. These sources of data offer tremendous value for improving health outcomes but, because of the difficulty in incorporating these data sources, are not being used.
In the coming years, most healthcare providers will prioritize aggregating new data sources (and thereby exploring new use cases). They will be seeking to not only implement new business models, but also to leverage the investments they’ve already made in new capabilities and technologies centered around internet of things (IoT) platforms, artificial intelligence, big data and robotics.
Storing such data in a single clinical silo, like an EHR, is neither practical nor efficient. Rather, healthcare providers need to focus on data aggregation and orchestration platforms (DAOP) that can collect data across the ecosystem and deliver actionable insights which will impact the day-to-day delivery of care. These platforms help move healthcare providers away from a reactive approach to managing healthcare data to one that’s more proactive, automated and insights-driven.
This is because the latest generation of DAOPs is architected as a collection of different open, modular and granular services, provisioned using the cloud and delivered as a service, which is enabled thanks to emerging server less designs. As these intelligent layers of software and data continue to be integrated in advances in big data, analytics, artificial intelligence and automation, and root themselves in agile/DevOps practices, they create low-cost, increasingly automated and smart agile workflows.
The EHR remains an important system — but it will be only one source of data feeding the DAOP. It will continue as a digital application focused on documentation, internal work flows and decision support within the hospital, while the DAOP will act as an engine, enabling new and innovative business models across the patient ecosystem.
Data, interoperability and APIs
Accessing and harnessing data across a variety of systems is the core of what the DAOP does. Once the aggregated data has been transformed and ingested into a centralized data lake, it can be consumed as microservices through a structured and well-managed API gateway.
The use of RESTful (Representational State Transfer) APIs, or RESTful web services, combined with the rapidly emerging FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard, is accelerating and standardizing healthcare interoperability. FHIR-based RESTful APIs enable healthcare data-sharing across a federated and fragmented environment without necessitating data migration or locking up data in centralized solutions, such as EHRs. This is important because locking up data in EHRs and other such systems can reduce an organization’s control of the data and lead to prolonged time to value from new ideas and innovations.
Setting a complete healthcare API strategy
FHIR-based RESTful APIs are just the tip of the iceberg. On their own, they do not solve problems like data fragmentation, lack of standardization or sub-optimization across a complex ecosystem. To fully leverage the benefits of FHIR and APIs, more must be done than simply adding an API on top of an existing system of record, because the raw data is typically not in a state or format that lends itself to interoperability without manipulation. Most systems of records, such as the EHR, store data in a proprietary format, which needs to be manipulated before it can be shared. Maintaining a loose coupling of applications is best done outside of the EHR and enabled by a FHIR-based data lake.
To be successful, a complete healthcare API strategy should:
Address the differences between the raw data from the systems of records and the data requirements of FHIR and other interoperability standards. Data transformation and translation against industry standards helps to standardize the data into a canonical form.
Hide the complexity of the underlying data environment to the data consumer. APIs and the platform behind them provide the opportunity to encapsulate the systems of record so the end user doesn’t have to search through multiple systems to find the data.
Consider opportunities to improve and enrich the raw data to maximize its use. Once data is aggregated and standardized behind the API, questions can be asked of the data that could not be asked before. Opportunities exist to enrich the data with provenance, security, privacy, conformance and other types of metadata. Enrichment can also come in the form of new insights gleaned from the data through analytics and evaluation of the data against knowledge bases.
APIs should be the gateway into a robust data processing platform capable of maximizing the usefulness of the data behind it. In this way, the challenges EHRs and other systems of record present with aggregating important sources of data can be overcome without undue burden and cost to the healthcare organization.
But when Facebook acquired WhatsApp, startups’ third eye of innovation opened. And we saw a new slew of messaging apps entering the sector and the existing ones expanding their business model.
Facebook’s acquisition of Whatsapp, which was one of the biggest business deals of 2014, presumed to make Facebook all the more profitable, ironically flamed the demand for Telegram application – one that was operating as a sidelined app before.
Users who were already wary of Facebook in terms of how it used their data, switched to Telegram – the app which offered end-to-end encryption of messages. And within no time, without any single point promotional effort, the download rate of the messaging app increased by 1.8 million users.
Between then and now, the messaging industry has not just acknowledged Telegram as a top player but is finding answers to how to build a chat app like Telegram. Especially its flagship incorporation of Bots in messaging app but also an encryption architecture that makes it impossible to hack.
Today, we are going to look into the different facets of Telegram like messaging app development, helping you get to the bottom of what made Telegram successful and the roadmap you will have to follow to become a success.
How Much Does it Cost to Develop an App like Telegram?
How Does Telegram Makes Money? What is the Telegram Business Model?
How To Make Money With An App Like Telegram?
Business Level Challenges In Making An App Like Telegram
Telegram App Outlook
While the above image surmises the Telegram market share and its basic level synopsis, in order for you to get a complete understanding of the application, you will have to look at the business from the inside – who constitutes its users, which companies it competes with and what makes it stand out in the otherwise competitive messaging space.
Knowing what the business stands for will help you understand how to create a messaging app like Telegram.
Who Uses Telegram Application?
The prime difference between Telegram vs. WhatsApp chat applications is that Unlike WhatsApp which specifies that the users should be 18 years of age and above, Telegram has posed no such restriction on the platform. People of any age can interact with the application. Purpose wise, Telegram is used for both personal and business purposes by its users. The set of features that the app works with makes it a competitor of both WhatsApp and Skype.
The application is active in a number of nations, but it is most actively used in the Asian nations.
The primal reasons why users opt for Telegram application are:
Encryption of message, which highlights the brand’s focus on users’ privacy
The fact that they are not backed by any agency that would have the need for users’ data to support their business model.
Who Are Telegram App Top Competitors?
Telegram messaging app sees competition from both business messaging and personal messaging app front. So, the app has competitors in both WhatsApp, Facebook messenger and Slack, Skype for Business.
Must-Have Features for Telegram App Development
Being a messaging app, the features and functionalities that Telegram app comes with is similar to other messaging app platforms operative in the industry.
To revise, here are some of the features of a messaging app which Telegram app also shares within their ecosystem – Login, Text functionality, Creation of Group, Ability to make calls, Notifications, Sharing of Live Locations, etc.
Admin-Side Features of Telegram Application
In addition to these features, there are some functions of a messaging app like Telegram that help the brand stand ahead of its competitors.
Here are what those Telegram specific features are:
1. Multi-Platform Availability
The application is not only active on Android and iOS, but also Web. So, can take the help of either an app development company or take an iPhone development route to get started with the process of when you build Telegram clone app.
2. End to End Encryptions
Telegram is one of those few messaging apps that use end to end encryption to safeguard the information shared on the platform.
3. Multiple Accounts
The app allows users to log in from multiple accounts and use the application from different numbers, instead of restricting their usage on one number, like in case of WhatsApp messaging application.
4. Chatbots
Telegram was one of the first messaging platforms to include the functionality of chatbots within the application. The bot helps users with a number of tasks starting from reporting the recent news to enabling in-app purchases.
5. Cloud Storage
Telegram works on cloud storage. And since cloud storage is known to be dynamic, it allows users to access their data from anywhere once it is saved in the app, without asking them to back-up their data.
This cloud storage facility also enables them to track their sessions and download files any time they see fit.
6. File Type and Size
The maximum data size that you can transfer within the application is of 1.5 Gigabytes. The app also does not stop users from sending over specific file types. This makes the platform a go-to messaging apps for people who uses rare file types.
7. Multiple Groups Creation
There are two types of groups which you can create on telegram application:
Normal Groups – Ones where you add people from the contact list. These can have 200 bots and members
Super Groups – Every group can be promoted as a Super Group which is private and can have over 100,000 members and bots.
While the features that Telegram comes packaged with, already creates a distinction between the famous messaging app and its competitors, what truly sets it apart is the user experience that it offers to its stakeholders.
Telegram App User Experience Module
The application, straight from its onboarding page, highlights the best of its offerings and showcases what the users will get when they’ll install the application.
From the moment you sign in, the whole user flow that follows, makes the application an example of a focused, minimalistic mobile app.
The colour combination and icons, text combination that Telegram uses is also directed towards making it an easy in and out experience for the users.
Elements wise, they have not added multiple functionalities in the application that would take the focus away from messaging or making video calls.
Creation of an application that can support an expensive feature set and minimal design standards like Telegram app does, calls for a technology stack that is hand-picked to provide a safe ecosystem for millions of users to interact and share data in real-time without any lags and breaches.
Let us look at the probable tech stack that Telegram app operates on next.
Technology Stack of Telegram Application
Telegram application is assumed to be made on some of the most robust technological combination of the modern time, which includes C++, Cocoa, JavaScript, and Objective-C etc.
How Much Does it Cost to Develop an App like Telegram?
Even though the factors that affect mobile app development cost remains same in case of Telegram app like it would in any other app, the cost of Telegram application is several numbers ahead of the developmental cost of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Android Messages and Facebook messenger etc.
The reason behind a greater cost of developing chat app like Telegram is the backend technologies it works around and the measures it takes to keep the data secure and unhackable.
Additionally, the fact that the app witnesses millions of users being active on the platform in real-time, performing multiple actions like messaging, making calls, making in-app payments, shopping, etc. makes the designing and development of the application all the more cost inducing compared to other apps in the same category.
How Does Telegram Makes Money? What is the Telegram Business Model?
Business/revenue model is the core structure of any business. This offline business necessity holds equal prominence in the online/ mobile space as well.
Businesses, irrespective of what category they operate in and what user size backs them need inflow of funds to keep the operation afloat – At least that is what we have grown to believe in.
Telegram, opposedly, did not had a single source of revenue planned for themselves till much recently. Meaning, the Telegram revenue model was something that never existed in the company’s books.
Right from the company’s establishment, the founder, Pavel Durov has been very clear that Telegram will never be a money-making business. The aim would always be on offering a safe, encrypted platform for people to interact in. This is the reason why the brand never saw funding coming in from only source nor any other mode of revenue generation. Telegram is till date working on the money that Pavel received upon selling his social media platform.
But as the rule of the business goes, you cannot grow your business forever until you maintain a balance between expense and revenue. Telegram took its first step monetization 3 years back where the team developed and released paid stickers on iMessage and the money which is being earned through the medium is being used to pay designers and developers.
Now while the amount earned through this Telegram revenue model route is not enough, the brand assures users that it will introduce non-essential options but will never turn towards advertisements option to earn money for making profit is not their end goal.
But just because Telegram’s founder had a financial back doesn’t mean you would to. In order for you to survive in the industry, you will have to look into multiple ways to earn money on your Telegram clone app.
How To Make Money With An App Like Telegram?
There are four most-applied ways that are a part of chat application monetization model, through which messaging apps generally make money and how you can too. Here are what those ways are:
Advertising
Partnering with brands to show their ads on the app is one of the most incorporates ways to earn money on your app. Everytime a user clicks on an app, you get money in return from the business.
In-App purchase
You can add elements in your application like Stickers or Gifs which you can allow your users to purchase in monetary terms.
In-App money transfer
Although this would require you to expand your messaging app business, but you can create a structure for your users to send money to other users from within the application. This way, while you will get a portion of the transaction fees, they will not have to jump to other applications to perform the task.
Gaming
This too, like in-app money transfer would require you to expand your business offering. In this part of the application you can give your users the ability play games within the application by making payment – either to play the game or jump to the next level.
Business Level Challenges In Making An App Like Telegram
The challenges that startups might face when developing a complex application like Telegram are majorly four-fold. Two of those issues are such which would need a technical solution while there are two issues which have to be solved by the business itself.
Choosing the Platform
While Telegram is available on all – Android, iOS, and Web, the maximum installs that it gets is from Android. While Telegram has reached a business level where it can afford lags in terms of low traffic, for a startup, it will be very important to choose between Android and iOS platforms to start with and then decide whether or not to expand into the Web platform.
A wrong decision on this front can lead to startups losing a good portion of their limited money in vain.
Database Choice especially on Concurrency Grounds
The next technically inclined challenge that businesses can face would be in terms of the database choice. An issue that emerges with developing architecture of messaging apps of all types and complexities.
Ideally, they should prepare for a Telegram like messaging app development process that would prepare the app to can handle multiple users in real time, assuming they are all performing the most server draining tasks like uploading large sized documents or doing video calls.
As a mobile app development company that specializes in the development of complex telegram like messaging app development, we make use of Microservices architecture instead of Monolithic to ensure that the app never crashes and is ready to hold millions of concurrent users, with all of them performing highly complex tasks.
Raising Money for Development and/or Expansion
The technicalities, minimalist design, and complexities that Telegram like messaging app development process comes attached with doesn’t just make it a time taking affair but also a highly costly one.
While Telegram had a financial backup to manage their operations, assuming you are a startup that doesn’t have the same privilege, you will arrange for funds to build Telegram clone app.
Attracting Users
Telegram claims that it has till date not spent a dime on the promotion of the messaging platform. The mediums that have helped them spread their business actively and attract new users are:
Telegraph
It is a publishing tool which lets users develop fully formatted post along with media files. Additionally, the Telegraph posts are supported by the Instant view functionality, making it easy to access content within the application.
Gaming Platform
Telegram comes with a Gaming platform that allows you to develop HTML5 games with minimal sounds and graphics. These games are then loaded on-demand like web pages instead of asking to be downloaded on the users’ devices.
Telegram Passport
The service lets users store their personal data like passports, national IDs, receipts, and bills etc. on the cloud which is protected with end-to-end encryption. The messaging platform itself cannot access the data, which makes it an attraction point for security focused users.
Bot APIs
The API enables developers to connect their program to Telegram system. They also give mobile app developers a space to create their own bots, which can even be powered by Artificial Intelligence.
While Telegram has taken an unconventional route to promote their application, you can follow the usual practices to promote your application – advertisements, creation of website, using social media to promote the app, pushing it on product sites like Producthunt, etc.
We can help you find solutions to all these issues and many other unsurfaced ones. Get in touch with our business consultants today.
