Platform apps and template apps can bring different advantages for your company. Understanding the differences between them and deciding which app is right for your company is crucial to delivering the best solution for your brand.
When jācapps was formed back in 2008, we built every app from scratch. Development took a long time, repairs and updates were tedious, and flexibility was minimal. As we became more sophisticated, our development leaders had a vision to create a platform that would enable us to not only build, service, and update apps faster, but also provide an incredible amount of flexibility to our clients in layout, design, features, and functionality.
Concurrently, other developers were working on their own version, and a few have created a “templated” approach. In this model, app design, features, and functionality are uniform. The only thing different is the content in the app (text and graphics, images, links to social media, etc.). Two approaches – both are credible and deliver on the promise to clients. Our approach is a modular, customizable platform. The other approach is a template.
Here are three key reasons for why we believe the modular platform app approach delivers more advantages to clients than a template app:
1. No Two Companies Are the Same
Sure, several apps may feature advertisements, social media, feeds, and more. But each business is its own brand. An app for the city of Wichita should reflect the city’s image and its community, and shouldn’t look like an app for a religious non-profit organization in Madison. Some organizations have sponsors that should be featured. Others should highlight social media. A template app can’t provide that flexibility. A platform app can.
2. Different Formats Require Different Functionality
When our partner company, Jacobs Media, began conducting the TechSurvey, it became clear to us that different audiences of different formats interact with businesses in unique ways. For example, Twitter use by fans of sports radio stations is through the roof, so our sport station clients can feature their Twitter feed on the main screen of their app. Towns have the ability to promote community events and downtown businesses through advertisement panels on their app home screen, and news organizations can feature a headline news feed on their main page.
3. A Platform App Can Best Reflect Your Company’s Branding
One of the main advantages of a platform app is that it can be “programmed” to be responsive to what the company wants to highlight. So, if a business has an upcoming sale, the app can instantly be changed to feature a promotional banner, and then taken down once the sale has passed. Announcements, promotions, events, and fundraisers can be showcased, and removed when the they have concluded. Templated apps are static, and cannot promote the business in as timely and effective a manner as a platform app.
Introducing Wallaby
Platform apps provide clear advantages to businesses compared to template apps. Which is why we’ve developed Wallaby, a platform app of our own.
Wallaby is a modular app that can be quickly customized to suit a company’s image. Whether a business wishes to highlight upcoming events, trending news stories, or their social media presence, Wallaby has the ability to adjust to the organization’s distinctive needs
There are many reasons why a flexible platform such as Wallaby is the best solution for your mobile strategy. We have been fortunate to work with hundreds of companies over the past 10+ years, and they have inspired us to design our platform with the unique needs of their business in mind. The result is the most flexible, customizable, and reasonably priced solution.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of the jācapps platform, contact us at [email protected].
Originally published by Jacobs Media
