In brief
A reasonable app development budget depends on scope, technical requirements and resources. The available information is insufficient to judge the HK$4.5 million Baduanjin app; clear communication and realistic budgeting help prevent unfinished projects and costly remedial work.
Recently, it emerged that the Innovation and Technology Fund for Better Living had allocated HK$4.5 million last year to the North Point Kai-Fong Welfare Association to develop a “Baduanjin mobile app”, drawing criticism from the public.Mobile app development — how should its value or cost be assessed?
Insufficient Information to Reach a Conclusion
Most people would presumably think that developing a “Baduanjin mobile app” could not possibly require the substantial sum of HK$4.5 million. However, when starting from scratch, costs can include hardware and software investment, hiring professionals to design and code the app, gathering information and paying copyright fees. A judgement cannot be made in just a few words. With insufficient information available at this preliminary stage, it is difficult to assess whether this app requires that budget to develop.
The funding approval information provided by the fund alone is insufficient to assess the programming complexity of the mobile app. The client’s requirements, the number of revisions, and the time and staffing needed are also unknown, so it is impossible to say definitively whether the price is reasonable.
The process begins with questions covering various aspects of the project to assess the client’s technical needs and understand their requirements for the mobile app. Pricing depends on the scope of the app. If it requires extensive backend operations (Backend), more resources will be needed to support it. Once a quotation has been provided, work begins on layout design (Layout Design), user interface design (User Interface design) and programming. Once the entire mobile app is complete and has passed user acceptance testing (User Acceptance Test, UAT), it can be officially launched on the market.
Finishing Someone Else’s Unfinished Work Can Be Harder Than Starting from Scratch
Many people undoubtedly underestimate the difficulty of developing an app. Building one from scratch is difficult, but completing or fixing someone else’s unfinished work is often even harder—a point many people fail to understand.
IT development labour costs in Hong Kong are high, and a project usually requires a team to complete it. Development companies naturally need to assess their own costs before providing a quotation. If a client builds an in-house team to complete a project, the costs may be even higher. Worse still, team members may lack the experience and skills needed to finish the project, or they may resign after just two months, making costs even harder to control. This is why many businesses choose to outsource projects: at least they can keep costs under control.
Software development projects with excessively low budgets often end badly. Some inexperienced development companies quote low prices, only to realise later that they are losing money, leaving the project unfinished. This is a common situation. Projects without sufficient resources often remain unfinished and fall far short of the client’s expectations. If clients discover halfway through development that the software’s design does not meet their requirements, everyone’s time is wasted, and fixing the problems will cost more than it normally would. Before commissioning a development company, clients must therefore communicate their requirements clearly and agree on a genuinely reasonable development budget.
Original article URL: https://goo.gl/X9263i