When you have finally found your astonishing idea for a mobile app, the next step will be finding the right mobile app tech team for making the best out of it, but it’s not that easy as finding the right LEGO piece!
You have to properly communicate your idea in a standard way by documenting your requirements, which is called Request For Proposal (RFP), then you can search for firms to bid on your idea.
What is Request For Proposal (RFP)?
When you require technical expertise, Request for proposal (RFP) document makes the communication with vendors or technical teams easier.
A good RFP document includes the following information in detail:,
- About Company: Describe your company background, vision, and projects in short, which will give the development firm an idea on what are the project goals you are focusing on.
- Requirements: Document the requirements you are expecting in the project and guidelines to be followed if you have any.
- Deliverables and Standards: Make an idea about the major components of your product and what you are expecting from the firm; this can include support services, suggestions, etc. The accuracy of this section will give you accurate time and cost estimations.
Why is an RFP crucial for mobile application development?
It is crucial that in every stage of mobile application development, you and the development company must agree on every change even if it is very small, an RFP document plays a major role in this by making audit trails.
Software development agreement practices are often very ambiguous in determining the sizes of various schedules, deliverables, and other matters. When you have proper documentation for the project, you can minimize the risks in any mode of operation, and you will be able to assess handling project changes objectively.
Here are few reasons why RFP is important:
- Defining your requirements: When you make an RFP document, it will impose you to define your project requirements and thus creates an internal discipline for your company.
- Ability to Compare Different Systems: When you bid your RFP, you will get responses from various vendors, and you will be able to compare functions, investments, and implementations.
- Details on Return on Investment: The Ability to compare functions and systems gives you details on how the proposed system can provide you returns
- A Standard for Evaluation: Using a proper RFP, you will be able to ask for a time and cost breakdown instead of any technical jargon provided by the vendor firms.
- Tracking Schedules: When you have no idea how large the project will be on a technical basis, you won’t be able to arrive on a decision on how long it will take to implement such a project’s internal systems.
Large projects will take months of coordination from the team members, a proper RFP will ensure that even after you switch back to your own team, a new employee can get goals of the project and hence the efforts.
What to write in your Mobile App RFP?
Let us discuss app-specific details to be included when writing an RFP for mobile app:
App Description
You can include the following details when describing mobile apps.
1. App Features
App features mean functions you are expecting in the final mobile app. When describing features, try to include core features and then make a list of features by prioritizing from must have to good to have.
2. User Scenarios
Describing different user scenarios will help the developer to understand the concept.
For Example:
- What will happen when a user opens the app for the first time?
- What will happen when a user completes a purchase in the app?
UI Sketches or Mockups
If you already have some UI concepts in mind that will be useful when communicating with the developer, this doesn’t need to be a professional one, hand-drawn sketches also work!
Platform details
For any mobile app development projects, we should give details on what platforms we are targeting or what devices you are targeting, this will make the cost and time estimation more clear.
- What platform are you targeting? Android, iOS, or Both?
- What device are you targeting? iWatch, Tablet, or Midrange Phones?
Documenting details like this will help your project development team more details on estimating the cost and time and thus properly manage your project development life cycle.
How to Find the Best Mobile Development Firms?
After you have created an RFP document for your mobile app, the next step will be finding the best partner for developing it.
You can use providers like UpCity or Clutch to search for different categories of vendors, but for that, you have to choose which category is right for you!
1. Development Focused
If you already have design materials for the app, these development companies will help you make it on different platforms. They will have a project manager and a group of developers so that you can focus on other areas like marketing, branding, etc.
2. Design Focused
In mobile app development, having a good UI/UX can help you onboard your targeted users easily. If you can handle the development team on your own or you already have a development partner, you can approach different design studios focusing on creating UI/UX for mobile apps.
3. Design & Development
When you have finalized your mobile app requirements, have proper marketing plans and channels, these firms can help you create UI/UX, and develop your app idea.
4. Full-Service Agencies
Sometimes you will need help with every stage of the app development life cycle like ideation, design, development, marketing, maintenance, etc. These agencies will help you connecting with the best partners for you.
Once you have your development direction, it is time to choose the company. Keep in mind the following thing while outsourcing your app development:
- Connect more than one companies with your Requirements: The more discussion you have with companies, you will get more clarity on your app idea, market rates, etc. So always connect with more companies.
- Be sure to have clarity on your budget: Having clarity on your budget will help you filter out companies.
- Research online for company reviews: Although sites like Clutch.co can help you find companies in one place, you should check reviews from past clients to avoid wrong companies.
- Always Clear your doubts: There will be many hidden details you may not have considered or missed, So querying details on team background, project team details etc. helps!
RFP for mobile application development: Wrap-Up
Now you have a clear picture of the steps you need to follow to find the best mobile development firm to bid your RFP.
Would you like to know about how to write an RFP template? Download the template from the article and write your RFP as mentioned in the template.
Do you have any plans to build a mobile app? If so contact us, We have the best development team to help and work for you.
