The aim of this session is to help small business owners like you to discover the advantages of moving into the app space, find out how an app can benefit your business, drive revenue and/or streamline your internal processes. The session aims to demystify apps in the same way as websites were demystified in the early 2000’s. At the end of the session, I hope that each business owner will have a clear idea of the app that will work for their individual needs, how to procure the right app development partner, and how much they can expect to invest in app development.

Course Outline

1. Apps – a brief history
2. The app market – the 4 types of apps
   1. Games/Utilities
   2. Branded e-commerce and customer relations
   3. Generic package-able apps
   4. Internal systems
3. A technical overview (without the jargon!)
   1. Native
   2. Static
   3. Hybrid
4. Why an app? Not just a website extension!
   1. Define the functionality
   2. Making it useful for you and/or your customers
   3. What is an API?
   4. Sketching out your idea
5. Marketing
   1. Push notifications
   2. User management
   3. Brand perception
6. How a small business can go about developing an app.
   1. Finding a developer
   2. Understanding Costs
   3. App store options
7. Q&A

Should I attend?

If you are a small business owner with an interest in utilising the latest technology, this session will interest you.

Do you have an idea for a marketable app, but don’t know where to begin?

Optional:

You do not need to bring a laptop, tablet or mobile, but this is an interactive workshop, so having a smartphone and or laptop might be useful to view some example apps first hand.