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Cloud-based App Development: Benefits, Development Process and Cost Explained

According to Leftronic, 90% of companies use some type of cloud service. Cloud app development demand increased in recent times. Because the number of businesses also increased. The cloud market is dominated by three players, Amazon Web Services (33%), Microsoft Azure (22%), and Google (10%). Moreover, the global cloud market is expected to grow to $166.83 billion by 2024.

Amazon is an undisputed king of the public cloud, but there are many other players. Presently, many businesses are migrating to cloud apps so they have the best mobile app development services.

have a look at the image below to understand the cloud infrastructure services market.

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So, the cloud computing market is increasing over the past few years. Several businesses use cloud solutions for data storage. Consequently, it increased the demand for cloud app developers.

In this blog, you will get to know what is cloud app development, its benefits, types of cloud apps, cloud computing process, cloud development cost, and much more. So, let’s get started.

What Is a Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing technology provides online services like data storage, servers, and databases. Let’s understand it better with an example. The expansion of businesses, mobile apps, software, and the number of users created the requirement for larger storage capacity. Because increasing data and traffic affects the performance of the software and ultimately businesses.

Thereby, migrating the system to the cloud came out as a solution. Because it makes data collecting more convenient for businesses. Now they don’t have to handle the data in TBs because cloud computing technology is doing it for them.

A cloud app stores data of various businesses online. These businesses can access their data at any time with the help of the internet. It reduces the cost of data management and handling because a third party is doing it for you. For example, many people use the Google cloud platform for a drive. You can save the information in Google drive when your mobile data storage is full.

Types of Cloud Apps

There are three types of cloud apps:

1. Private cloud: Private cloud-based applications are provided to one company and public access is prohibited for secured data.
2. Public cloud: This type of data storage exists for people to access information via any gadget at an optimal price.
3. Hybrid cloud: This type of cloud provider offer public and private services combined. It is important for the companies which want to distribute data among the on-device services and third-party apps.

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Characteristics of Cloud-Based App

Often, you misunderstand cloud app development with web app development. But both are different. Let’s read the characteristics of a cloud-based app to differentiate both.

• The data of the apps are stored in the Cloud infrastructure and cached on the user’s device as per requirement. It means, there is a need for minimum devices to run the application development.
• You can access the cloud application with an internet-connected device like a desktop, mobile, or tablet. As a result, the user can get independent of the browser capacity.
• The user can access the information while offline because the cloud infrastructure temporarily stores information in the user’s device.
• The cloud app user can set up the backup schedules for data optimization, compression, and encryption.
• Cloud-based applications provide access to third-party cloud computing services with API integration. So, the cloud app can be customized more easily than the web app.

Types of Cloud-based Services

There are three types of cloud computing apps. The cloud application developers use them as per the requirement of the business.

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1. SAAS
2. PAAS
3. IAAS
4. DAAS

Have a look at the brief information about the cloud applications type.

• SAAS

  It is a Software As a Service (SAAS). In SAAS application development the cloud-based app is used via mobile apps and web browsers. Customers can apply for the SAAS application development services online without installing and configuring from any device. Google apps, Zendesk, Salesforce, AWS, and other companies use SAAS.

  You can use SAAS for the below things:

  1. Automate the product and service sign-ups
  2. Manage file sharing, collaboration, and documents
  3. Provide email tools and auditing features
  4. Sharing calendars by the whole organization
  5. Organizing CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems

• PAAS

  Platform As A Service (PAAS) rents everything you need to develop an app. So, you can rely on the cloud provider for development tools, infrastructure, and operating systems. Often, you get hardware and software resources for application development on the cloud. This type of cloud application includes Windows Azure, Heroku, and Open shift.

  Platform As A Service comprises the below things:

  1. Operating systems
  2. Building tools
  3. A database running infrastructure
  4. Middleware

• IAAS

  Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS) provider manages your business infrastructure like networks, visualization, servers, and storage using public and private cloud. Moreover, to use the cloud infrastructure services, you can use an API or an admin panel as a business owner. In addition, Microsoft Azure or Digital Ocean provides resources for building a cloud app.

  IAAS providers offer many services. Have a look at them.

  1. Resiliency tools
  2. Tracking
  3. Log access
  4. Security instrument
  5. Load balancing
  6. Detailed invoicing

• DAAS

  Desktop As A Service is also a cloud computing service in which the service provider offers a virtual desktop to the users over the internet. It is licensed with a per-user subscription. Likewise, there are two types of DAAS desktops: Persistent and Non-persistent. Customers can choose the types as per their needs.

  Here are the types of services offered by DAAS

  1. Maintenance
  2. Backup
  3. Updates
  4. Data Storage

Benefits of Cloud-based Application Development

Many companies provide cloud application services. Google Cloud and AWS are popular names. It is because various businesses require platforms that can store the data online to run their business smoothly. Cloud solutions are undoubtedly beneficial for enterprises and organizations. It is because most of the data is taken care of by the remote servers.

So, there are many advantages of cloud computing platforms. Let’s know the important ones in the space below.

1. Cost-reduction
2. Flexibility
3. High Scalability
4. Data Coherence
5. Security
6. Sustainability

Let’s read about each benefit in the detail below.

• Cost-reduction

  You have to pay for the only necessary cloud space, feature set, and service when you take cloud services. You will not have to pay for the entire app building resources instead you have to pay for what you use. So, pay-as-you-use is a beneficial structure because it lowers the cost. Although different cloud service providers charge accordingly, the price is low thus anyone can afford it easily.

  Have a look at the cloud cost comparison below:

• Flexibility

  Cloud development provides freedom to organizations. Suppose, you need more bandwidth, so the cloud services provider will supply you the same instantly. For this, you will not have to follow the up-gradation process to your IT infrastructure.

• High Scalability

  Cloud application development provides high scalability so that businesses can deal with the growing data and workload. The cloud app can adjust to the current business conditions and work accordingly. Likewise, scalability makes handling the data easy for you and leaves worrying about the limited space. Well, some cloud-based service providers charge more as you need more space.

• Data Coherence

  Uniformity across the shared data, logical connections, and completeness of the data make up data coherence. Businesses will not have to worry about inconsistent data or incomplete data if they use a cloud app as per their needs. Moreover, it will avoid human mistakes and maintain information coherence.

• Security

  When you seek a cloud app development company, you will not have to worry about the security of the data. It is because the cloud service providers have a host to monitor the data on a regular basis. Even, most people don’t know where are the cloud server station. Keeping the stations unknown is also a part of keeping your data secure. Keeping the stations unknown is also a part of keeping your data secure from data breaches and other security issues. Moreover, cloud software development complies with government security standards. And, data recovery is also fast.

• Sustainability

  Artificial Intelligence is used for chatbots and assistants for a better user experience. You can use a better CRM system and get customer retention for your business. Moreover, conversational AI on cloud platforms makes the data accessibility process fast, easy, and efficient for the users.

Tech Challenges in the Cloud-Based Application Development

Cloud app development teams have to face various challenges while developing a cloud app. I have divided these challenges into eight sub-categories. You can read about them and understand what type of issues can come in the software development for the cloud platform.

1. Scalability
2. Security
3. Resiliency
4. Data Management
5. Reliability
6. Design and Implementation
7. Performance

Scroll down to read about each challenge in the space below.

• Scalability

  Many cloud vendors promise to provide scalability, but you should check yourself for their commitment. The proactive technical realization of the cloud developers helps them to produce a scalable application that can handle enough data. It is important because when the popularity of your app increase, your app must be ready to handle the extra data flow.

  To ensure scalability, you can go with the hybrid cloud architecture because the hybrid cloud model can scale up and get down when needed. Likewise, discuss the scalability with your software development team.

• Security

  As you read above, most people don’t know where are the cloud servers on the earth. It is to secure the data from damage, breach, and hacking. So, it is the biggest challenge to choose the right place for cloud storage. Handling a large amount of data comes with many challenges thus businesses can be vulnerable to cloud security risks. So, the development teams and cloud service providers should ensure the data is safe.

  For this, you can use SSL protocols and numerous encryption standards like Data Encryption Standards (DES), Advanced Encryption Standards (AES), and Triple Data Encryption Standards (3DES) and protect the information. Moreover, the cryptography approach also helps to establish the security of the cloud app and data.

• Resiliency

  Resiliency is crucial to detecting failures. The multi-tenancy uses shared platform services. It enables recovery from failures. In case, data is lost due to any reason, quick resiliency can avoid any hassle to bring the data. That is why the cloud application team focuses on the resiliency of the data. Likewise, it makes the system robust and businesses also don’t have to worry.

• Data Management

  Data is hosted in different locations. The cloud service provider has to be ready for the ever-growing data to handle and store effectively. It sometimes increases the expenses. Moreover, regulatory compliance is also important so that the regulators continue to update the compliance framework. Likewise, automating the data in a complex environment is one of the biggest challenges for data management.

• Reliability

  You should select a trustworthy cloud framework for your cloud development process. It will keep your app far from mistakes. When you hire a cloud application development team, make sure they are experienced and have a professional degree. The cloud vendors’ degree of security and their qualification is crucial to match the company’s requirements.

  Many businesses use AWS cloud services for cloud app building because they find it the most reliable cloud framework.

• Design and Implementation

  The loosely coupled service design can create problems. Cloud apps need to be tightly coupled with effective designs. It is because poorly coupled designs can easily be challenged in the cloud environment. So, make sure the cloud application development firm focuses on the design and its implementation for better cloud apps.

• Performance

  If your solution takes more than 3 seconds to load it can lead to client dissatisfaction. That is why performance is crucial for a positive customer experience. Many cloud app developers use content delivery networks to speed up content distribution. In addition, you should thoroughly research your cloud vendors’ infrastructure to be sure that your app performance will be stable and robust.

Cloud App Development Process [Steps]

Cloud software development is different from web and mobile development services. You have to make a plan that goes perfectly with your cloud app development idea. Decide on the resources and requirements proactively. First of all, you have to choose a cloud provider like Google Cloud, Amazon web services, or any other.

After this, select the most appropriate software development services. Moreover, you must have an investigating mindset to find out, whether the resources you are using for the cloud application are going to scale your business or not. Moreover, there are many trends in cloud app deployment, one of them being cloud-native application development. many businesses want a cloud solution of this type. So, the type also affects the development process.

Follow the below steps to make your journey of cloud app development easy.

1. Market Research & Analysis
2. Hire a Development Team
3. Think About Architecture & Features
4. Define Tech Stack
5. Choose App Monetization Model
6. Design the Application
7. Development & Testing
8. App Deployment

• Market Research & Analysis

  What problems and pain do your customers have? Until you find it out, you will not be able to develop cloud solutions that can resolve the problems. So, analyze the market requirements and understand which apps need cloud deployment. Simultaneously focus on the goals and objectives of your business to find the right cloud technology. Moreover, market research and analysis will help you understand the future pain points of the customers. By doing so, you can create effective and valuable cloud-based software.

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• Hire a Development Team

  Professional developers with an efficient skillset can decide which cloud environment would be right for your app. They can develop a cloud-native application as per requirements. Find a reliable cloud app development company to hire professionals. You can hire developers in three ways.

  1. 1. 1. 1. In-house Team:

           

           Glassdoor

           

           LinkedIn

           

           Indeed

        2. 2. Freelance developers:

           

           Fiverr

           

           Upwork

           

           Freelancer

        3. 3. Outsourcing Companies:

           

           Clutch

           

           itFirms

           

           GoodFirms

            

• Think About Architecture & Features

  Some cloud aspects like the Service model, app architecture, and cloud migration are crucial for the cloud-based application. You should discuss all these aspects with your cloud-based solutions provider. A simplified cloud architecture makes application development easy and quick. So, the professionals suggest using advanced cloud architecture built on microservices. Likewise, you can choose cloud deployment services (IAAS, PAAS, SAAS, DAAS) as per the features and architecture.

• Define Tech Stack

  Cloud deployment tools, business tools, data, and app development tools and technologies are used for cloud app development. You can define the tech stack for the digital transformation of your business. Have a look at the technology stack for the cloud-based application.

  1. 1. 1. Tools for databases and security

        

        ClearDB

        

        Cloudant

        

        Akamai

     2. 2. Tools for business

        

        Jenkins

        

        DataDog

        

        Cloud9 IDE

        

        New Relic

        

        Bitbucket

        

        Sauce Labs

     3. 3. Tools for databases and security

        

        G Suite

        

        DocuSign

        

        Jira

        

        InVision

• Select An App Monetization Model

  Now you can choose the app monetization model because you know what your audience will pay you for. Different companies use various models to earn money through an app. I have highlighted the main ones here.

  1. Advertising
  2. Freemium
  3. Subscriptions
  4. In-app purchase

• Design the Application

  Designers build user-friendly UI/UX designs in a way, that the end users can interact with the system easily and effectively. The users can see the changes, comment, reach the particular page, and eventually the solution on the time. For this, developers can use the Figma tool or any other designing tool while developing applications. Many businesses hire professionals for cloud migration of their existing systems also. In which some changes are done in the front-end and back-end of the app.

• Development & Testing

  App and web development companies use Scrum or Agile methodologies for the production of cloud-based solutions. This type of method is crucial for cloud-native application development because it offers higher customization and allows effortless processing. Testing of an app is not a post-app development task, it rather takes place during the app development. Because the development process is divided into some chunks, so you test what you have developed. So, you should find a cloud-based services provider that offers designing, developing, testing, deployment, and maintenance services.

• App Deployment

  You can launch your cloud app on the App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android). You can quickly publish the app on the Google play store. Because it works on automated testing which is helpful to speed up the launching process. But Google doesn’t tell you the reason why your app was rejected. The case is different in the App store, you will be asked to perform specific changes for approval of the app. Always remember, that the deployment process can require more development and modifications in the code.

What Is the Cloud Application Development Cost?

Many factors affect cloud development. So without understanding these factors, you can’t know the app development cost estimation. Have a look at these factors below.

1. App Type
2. Size and Complexity
3. App Design Cost
4. Product Development
5. Features and Functions
6. Technology Stack
7. Time Frame
8. Fees of Developers

These are the main factors that affect software development. Scroll down to get a rough idea of the costs for cloud-native applications.

• Developing cloud applications in SAAS cost as low as $500 to as high as $500,000. Because the cost depends on what you are trying to build.
• The development time also affects the cost. The more time required for app creation, the more the cost would be.
• For the medium, to advanced applications, 800+ hours are required. This type of app can cost you around $25,000-$50,000.

The above prices are just estimated. You get to know the exact price when you consider all the factors and talk to the experts of cloud providers.

Final Words

Technource has been offering cloud development services to its clients. It delivered many successful projects. It signs NDA to protect your app idea and offers web development services as well. Moreover, it works with emerging technologies and the latest tools and frameworks. So, if you are looking for a reliable cloud development company for your business app, contact Technource for the best and on-time solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions