Building a mobile app for your business involves some critical decisions. Especially if there is already a working website, and you want to extend it. We will assume that you already took careful consideration of the reasons to have an app. We will skip the Why question and go straight to the How.
First of all, you need to understand the current product. The main compatibility question lies with managing content across all platforms.
Understanding Your Current Setup
Review Your CMS: Ensure your current CMS can integrate with a mobile app through APIs. This will allow content to be managed in one place and reflected across both platforms.
Database Compatibility: Confirm that it can handle data between your web and mobile app.
There are multiple solutions on the market that be the right stack.
Cross-Platform Frameworks:
React Native: Uses JavaScript and can share code between your web and mobile app, making it easier to manage.
Flutter: Known for high performance and a consistent look across iOS and Android.
Xamarin: Suitable if your team is familiar with Microsoft technologies.
Backend Integration:
API-First Approach: Your backend should support APIs to manage content and user data for both platforms.
Middleware: Acts as a bridge to manage communication between your app and backend services.
Content Synchronization:
Headless CMS: If your current CMS doesn’t support APIs, consider a headless CMS. Think of them as a platform that only manages content. It doesn't care where and how exactly it will be displayed. Like Contentful or Strapi, which allow content delivery to any platform.
Webhooks: Use these to ensure real-time updates across both web and mobile platforms.
User Data Management:
Single Sign-On (SSO): Allows users to log in with the same credentials on both web and mobile.
Cloud Services: Services like Firebase or AWS Amplify can manage user data and ensure it syncs across platforms.
Performance and Scalability:
Caching: Improves data retrieval speed.
Load Balancing: Ensures your backend can handle multiple requests from both platforms efficiently.
React Native + Node.js + Headless CMS (Contentful):
Great for seamless API integration and efficient content management.
Flutter + Firebase:
Ideal for high-performance apps with real-time data capabilities.
Xamarin + ASP.NET Core | Open-source web framework for .NET Core + Contentful:
Best for businesses already using Microsoft technologies.
There is much more to it. And not only CMS, but integrating a CRM with customer data into the product can create a highly personalized user experience. To ensure the right decision is made, it is crucial to conduct a thorough discovery phase with the tech team. This process will involve exploring potential solutions in depth. It will help ensuring the implementation aligns with the overall goals of the project.