Is your RFP mobile application ready to send to potential partners?

The decision of a mobile application development company to build your application requires careful planning and clear communication. A Request for Proposal (RFP) of the mobile application is the best tactic to choose a partner to work on your project. An RFP will help your team present the criteria and expectations of your development project. This strategy will help you reduce the best provider applicants for the task.

Creating and distributing an RFP mobile application is an involved process. For the document to fulfill its purpose, it must include enough information about what it intends to achieve within the association. For the best results, explain explicitly why you are paying the provider and what is expected to be delivered to you. In addition to that, your RFP will have to communicate in detail the requirements of the product and the totality of the services that its budget covers.

RFP templates will vary from one project to another, but generally they must follow a standard formula, so that providers know what to expect from the document. To begin, download our mobile application RFP template and personalize it as you work through your specific requirements.

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The rest of this blog will include four key considerations to stay on your radar throughout the application process, from research to the distribution of the document. By paying attention to these considerations, you will know if you have communicated the correct amount of information to accurately assess the suppliers' responses.

1. Consult experts in mobile application development

It is likely that the RFP of your mobile application requires particular information that you are not prepared to answer on your own. For that reason, you should consider consulting with mobile application development experts before you start writing the document.

An RFP should include as much information as possible, so that the providers that you approach can return the most accurate and valuable solution for your money. To ensure that your RFP recognizes the full scope of your project, we recommend investing in a product discovery session before writing or distributing the RFP document.

At BrainStudioz Mobile, we conduct a concentrated five-day product discovery session that allows your project team to set product and business outcome objectives, prioritize product features, and gather essential assets such as user trips, wireframes , simulations and a selectable prototype. At the end of these five days, your team will fully understand the scope of your project and have a better idea of ​​how your required services are aligned with your budget.

More information: here is why product discovery should come before your RFP mobile application

2. Consider the "big picture"

Another important benefit of product discovery for writing an RFP is that the process helps your team think about the "big picture."

One mistake that many companies make in the RFP process is to focus only on the application itself. To be honest, it is scarce that you only need application development services, and you cannot get caught emphasizing the features of the product without looking at the entire life cycle.

First of all, what are you building? More specifically, on which platforms do you target and on what devices are you developing the solution? Answering these questions will help you determine what services you need and if you need services throughout the life cycle of the project, from consulting to quality assurance.

The development of the back-end server should also be addressed in your RFP. Do you have existing systems such as web services or CMS, and if so, do these systems have API and documentation available to access? The list goes on; do you need push notifications? Do you need analysis for your solution?

It is also important to remember that the development of mobile applications does not end with delivery. Your RFP mobile application should seriously consider maintenance and continuous support. Your mobile application will inevitably need maintenance on the road, and your RFP must specify the level of support you need from your development partner. The more detailed your RFP, the more adapted your supplier's responses will be to the exact solution you need.

3. Choose your early mobile app success metrics

This consideration may be relatively self-explanatory, but as you write your RFP, you need a solid understanding of how you will define the success of your application. An RFP mobile application is the basis of a successful development project, and to write a complete document; you need to understand what you want your application to achieve.

An RFP is used to eliminate ambiguity and, while experienced application development companies will make recommendations, it must provide enough information to understand what is needed. Will it determine the success of your application based on performance metrics, engagement metrics or business metrics of the application? Do not start writing your RFP unless you know how it will measure the success of the project.

4. Be clear about the budget of your mobile application

Mobile application development projects vary in price dramatically. It is vital to present all the requirements of your project in your RFP so that suppliers can provide accurate estimates. Again, this is why it is so important to understand the full scope of your project; when you understand well what you are building, you have a better idea of ​​the costs that you are facing. This knowledge also helps you accurately rate the suppliers' offers.

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Your project budget may not be the first conversation you have with potential providers, but the issue will arise over time, so if you decide to include specific numbers in your RFP, it's up to you. If you have questions, you can ask the bidders to respond with a detailed list of what their services would cost. Or you can consult our definitive Guide for mobile application development costs for an in-depth analysis of application budget benchmarks.

The budget is a determining factor when selecting a partner for the development of applications. It is important to make it very clear that you expect accurate communication for each factor related to the cost.

An RFP mobile application is a requirement to find the right development team. However, there is a substantial amount of research that must be done before you can submit your proposals. If you have questions about how to write your mobile device proposal request, contact us today or download the template directly.