What Is Application Development?

Back-end systems for inventory control, human resources, and accounting. Productivity applications for creating emails, documents, and spreadsheets. Customer-facing software, such as your website or mobile app. Specialized systems for IT teams, graphic designers, project managers, executives, and truck drivers.

You get the idea—it takes a lot of code to run a modern enterprise.

Most of the applications your business depends on were likely created by software vendors and are licensed, often in a software-as-a-service model. Think about your Microsoft Office, your Oracle NetSuite, or your Adobe Photoshop. Others were written or customized to your specifications, either by in-house development teams or by contractors. That second case is the focus of this article.

What Is Application Development?

Application development, or AppDev, is the process of designing, creating, testing, and deploying software. Successful application development requires people with various skills. An AppDev team might have programmers, software engineers, software architects, user interface designers, testers, quality-assurance specialists, and project managers.

At its core, application development begins with a problem to solve or an opportunity to seize. Because all software takes resources to create, deploy, and maintain, there must be a good likelihood that the benefit of the user case will be equal to or greater than the cost. Once the use case is agreed on, organizations allocate resources—money, personnel, and time—for the development project, which generally follows one of two paths:

Planned development. The entire application’s requirements are mapped out in advance and approved by all stakeholders. The software is then architected, designed, tested, and deployed for use by employees or customers. This process can be achingly slow for major projects, taking years to complete—and while that’s going on, requirements change and the applications aren’t as useful as hoped.

Iterative development. A lightweight version of the software is designed, built, and tested. It’s then incrementally improved, with new features and functions added in short bursts, often taking only a few weeks. Deployments happen frequently. This approach, often called agile, is more flexible and can deliver business benefits more quickly while being responsive to changing requirements.

Key Takeaways

• Job number one for application developers is to build software that fulfills the organization’s needs.
• Many enterprise projects use agile methodologies that emphasize iterative development, user feedback, and continuous improvement to adapt to evolving business needs.
• Effective data management is essential—applications should have robust data storage, retrieval, and analysis capabilities.
• Enterprise applications need to integrate with existing systems, databases, and third-party tools.

Application Development Explained

Application development is more than simply programming. Writing code using a language such as Java, JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust, or SQL is just a fraction of the process. Teams must ensure the application will support the organization’s business use case, whether it’s increasing sales with an updated website, improving operational efficiency with an app that provides real-time insights into inventory, or boosting employee satisfaction by letting workers access paystubs and request time off through a self-service portal.

Equally important are design criteria, including the following:

• Adaptability to changing business conditions—that is, to evolutions of the use case.
• Compliance, where the application meets internal or external requirements, such as to protect the privacy of customer information or ensure that data is used and managed in accordance with a nation or region’s legal policies.
• Extensibility, so that new features can be added without requiring a lot of redesign or development.
• Interoperability to enable the new application to share data and other functionality with other applications.
• Performance, which means that the application works quickly and effectively.
• Reliability, such that the application doesn’t mangle or lose data and work won’t be lost if a system crashes.
• Scalability so that the application can take on larger workloads or serve more users without breaking or a decline in performance.
• Security, because bad actors are always trying to find and exploit vulnerabilities in code.
• Strong, intuitive user interface design (UX/UI), so that users can be successful with the software without time-consuming training.

Responsibility for all the above is mainly the responsibility of the application’s architect, and these requirements must be understood by the entire applications development team.

Why Is Application Development Important?

Without applications, most businesses would be unable to conduct day-to-day operations. For many, applications are key to competitiveness, and the ability to rapidly acquire, customize, and create new software is pivotal to their ability to adapt to rapidly changing markets.

In some cases, a business can use off-the-shelf software or tailor a commercial application by extending its functionality using APIs (application programming interfaces) or SDKs (software development kits). But sometimes, there’s no commercial application that can do what you need or handle your company’s unique expertise or intellectual property. That’s when organizations that can develop their own applications achieve a competitive advantage.

How Does Application Development Work?

The application development process requires many steps and participants, from business stakeholders and champions to initiate and fund the project to technical specialists to create the software. Many ideas—and sometimes competing priorities—must be reconciled to deliver apps that are safe, secure, functional, and bring value to the business.

8 Stages of App Development

1. Gather and analyze requirements. The complexity of gathering requirements generally aligns with the application scope. The process includes understanding the problem domain, such as the opportunity to be seized or problem to be solved. Requirements can include one or more use cases, which define what the application is going to do and who is going to use it.
2. Project planning. The requirements document is used to build a project plan, which will include a budget, a timeline, the methodology to be used, and a list of resources, such as the skills needed for the development team. It also details the software development platforms and tools needed and where the application will be deployed.
3. Design and architecture. This is where big questions, such as the modular flow of the application, are answered. The design takes into account all the above considerations as well as the technical factors needed to provide security, compliance, reliability, scalability, and usability.
4. Coding and development. Now programmers begin actually writing the software using the chosen methodology, programming languages, and tools. Depending on the methodology used, coding/development and testing may be done as separate stages or in parallel.
5. Testing. Every bit of code must be tested to ensure that it functions correctly, meets security requirements, and hits performance goals. Some testing is done on a line-by-line basis on the code; other testing, called user acceptance testing, is performed by business users who validate that the application does what they want and helps meet the use case.
6. Deployment. Once the application is complete—or complete enough to be useful—and passes all the necessary tests it is “thrown over the wall” from a development environment to a production environment, so that it can be used by customers, employees, and partners. Based on feedback, plans will be made for the next iteration of the application, which adds more functionality.
7. Maintenance. Most software degrades over time, as bugs and security issues are discovered, platforms change, and increasing use slows performance. The development team or a maintenance group addresses those issues and also handles such concerns as data backups or performance tuning. Maintenance also looks for ways to lower the operating costs of the application, which may include migrating it to the cloud or replacing it with newer, less expensive software or services.
8. Decommissioning. At some point, the application may no longer be needed or fit for purpose. Perhaps the requirement goes away, or the functionality is rolled into another application, or the use cases are reimagined and an entirely new application is created. Rarely can you simply turn off or erase an unwanted application, however. Instead, the data, user accounts, and features need to be carefully migrated to the new system, and then the old application archived in case it needs to be examined in the future.

Benefits of Application Development

Why create software? There are two main reasons: It’s your business, or it helps your business.

• Applications might be what your company offers to customers as your product or service. Think of Oracle, for example, or of your favorite computer game developer or a consultancy that writes software for its clients.
• If you’re not in the software business, you may need specialized applications to run your organization. That’s the type of application development we’re mainly covering here, although the information in this document is also applicable to businesses selling or licensing software to others.
• Buying or licensing existing applications is fast, and when possible, is an excellent choice. When the right applications don’t already exist, that’s when companies choose to design and write their own software, using either internal staff or contractors. Having their own bespoke applications lets a company seize opportunities, reinforce its brand, solve problems, and react quickly to changing market conditions. Having custom applications for use by employees and customers—whether running natively on a laptop or desktop, through a browser, or in a mobile app—also can provide a competitive edge. The custom application is an investment: This software is an owned asset and can be a significant part of its intellectual property.

Types of Application Development

Not all applications are built the same way. Huge software development projects involve a formal process that might take months or years to deliver a usable application. Smaller projects might be knocked out in a week—or in a day. The project’s stakeholders will work with the technical development team to determine the best approach.

Low-code/no-code

Not all applications require the full-on efforts described above. Think back a few decades, where power users—sometimes called “citizen developers”—created sophisticated spreadsheet macros to solve business problems. More recently, a type of development called low-code/no-code has emerged to allow business users to write applications using visual tools that allow them to use specific data sources, algorithms, and workflows. These applications run in the cloud and can be accessed by employees, customers, or other partners. Often, those no-code/low-code apps run in a standard web browser or on a mobile device, such as a phone, tablet, or kiosk.

There are many benefits of the low-code/no-code approach, including much faster development and deployment; the built-in security model of the hosting platform; considerably lower cost to build and maintain; and, of course, reducing the need for professional software developers while empowering employees. However, professional developers also like these tools to handle simpler problems that don’t require a full-on application development project.

While low-cost/no-code applications can’t rival the sophistication of an application built from the ground up by architects, designers, coders, and testers, they can outperform spreadsheet customizations and offer a sophisticated, easy-to-use interface appreciated by nonprogrammers. These apps can also be used to tie other applications together on an ad-hoc basis—perfect for handling short-term problems or seizing immediate opportunities.

The streamlined nature of these tools is also practical for experienced programmers. Check out Oracle APEX to get started with low-code application development.

Mobile

Mobile application development involves a wide range of tools, services, and products for creating and distributing apps. Google Android and Apple iOS are the most popular platforms for mobile apps, and they support a range of development tools and methodologies. Mobile applications are often designed using a microservices architecture, where the application is broken up into smaller tasks that communicate with one another.

Because of the ubiquity of Android and iOS devices and the always-connected nature of phones and tablets, many businesses have embraced mobile apps as a great way to serve both employees and customers. In the corporate world, employees use mobile apps for sales, enterprise resource planning, employee HR self-service, security, timecards, messaging, and more. While many mobile apps are created by specialist companies, you can also design, develop, and deploy them in-house for your employees and customers.

Database

Enterprise applications run on data like sales transactions, product price sheets, HR materials, emails, banking records, customer contact information, and company financials. The most efficient place to store enterprise data is in a database, so it can be readily retrieved, searched, updated, protected, and analyzed.

Both off-the-shelf and custom applications can access databases through highly efficient query languages, standard data exchange formats, and robust programming interfaces. However, some high-end databases, such as Oracle Database 23ai, can actually run applications within the database engine itself, which often provides applications with fast, secure, and robust access to that data. Development tools can target the database engine itself for such applications, an approach that has the added benefit of enabling database administrators to manage and tune those apps after they are deployed.

Microservices

Applications designed in a cloud microservices architecture tend to be easy to maintain and deploy and very robust. There might be hundreds or thousands of tiny microservices, each a building block written to efficiently perform a single task and to communicate with other applications or microservices using simple communications protocols.

Microservices-based applications are highly scalable, too; the cloud-centric design and architecture mean that if a particular service is heavily used, the cloud can simply make and run lots of copies as required—automatically. In addition, because individual microservices are focused on a specific task, they are easy to design, code, test, and deploy.

AppDev Methodologies

The development team’s approach to building an application is the methodology. The term includes design philosophies; project management approaches; and interactions between the development team, customers, and other key stakeholders. Sometimes the methodology dictates, or at least informs, the decision on technical tools that will be used by the development team.

No matter which methodology is chosen, there are two truths: The goal is always a successful project, and everyone involved will have an opinion. Broadly speaking, modern software development methodologies fall into two basic categories: waterfall and agile.

Waterfall

Waterfall development, also known as the monolithic or classical model, focuses on a linear progression of steps: Gather requirements, design, code, test, approve, deploy, maintain. Each step is performed thoroughly, and you proceed to the next step only once the previous one is complete. Once a step has been completed, it is rarely, if ever, revisited, which means that waterfall development can’t adapt to rapidly changing situations or evolving enterprise needs. That makes waterfall approaches best for projects that must be right the first time—such as the software that goes into a car, nuclear power plant, or medical device.

Agile

Agile development takes the opposite approach. Agile focuses on the rapid implementation and deployment of applications by building a small, minimally viable product (MVP), and then making iterative improvements to add new features and functions, address shortfalls, leverage new technologies and ideas, and improve performance.

There is no one agile methodology; in fact, there are dozens, each with its own history, adherents, and rationale. In the case of test-driven development, for example, before coders create a new piece of code, they first write the automated tests that will ensure that the new code works correctly. This helps ensure that all the code is tested before being incorporated into the latest iteration of the application.

Most agile methodologies require that each iteration is very short, often just a couple of weeks in duration. During those iterations, called sprints, the development team focuses on adding features or functionality to the application.

Rapid

Sometimes an application is conceptually easy to design and deploy, such as a forms-based app, a report writer, or a query tool for a database. In those cases, a full-blown application development process like waterfall or agile may be unnecessary. That’s where rapid application development, or RAD, comes in. RAD falls into the agile bucket and is characterized by easy-to-use tools that let a very small development team—or even a single person—create a user interface, code the internal logic, and link into enterprise data sources.

Historically, RAD development was used to create a visual mock-up of a desired application so that developers and stakeholders could agree on appearance and functionality before the “real” programming effort began. That led to another term for RAD, rapid prototyping. However, with the advent of low-code and no-code tools, RAD development has proven useful for simple applications that could be built and deployed based simply on that rapid prototype. What’s more, development time may be slashed to days, which delights business users. If an application can be built with a RAD approach, it often should be.

Key Differences

App Development Use Cases

Here are three examples of different enterprise applications built with specific methodologies to best suit the use cases.

• A healthcare company uses low-code/no-code development to manage clinical trials. The company uses a low-code tool, running in the cloud, to cost-effectively develop its own user interface. By developing its own platform, the company can better monitor its deliveries, thus improving customer service. The application can scale to thousands of users and projects for key clinical study monitoring information. After adopting a low-code approach, the company saved significant costs over the course of five years through more efficient operations and reduced application management effort.
• A logistics company builds mobile apps that integrate with Oracle cloud-based supply chain applications. Previously, applications ran on a desktop PC in a browser, but as the company deployed more mobile and handheld devices, it needed more flexibility. With the mobile app, warehouses and product distributors can scan and process inventory on the spot against their supply chain management system, improving the accuracy of data and speeding the ability to act on that data quickly.
• An employment services firm runs its job training, up-skilling, and talent development services platform using a microservices architecture running in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Today, hundreds of thousands of people use these platforms daily, enabling them to find, apply, and prepare for gainful employment. The platform supports 5,000 simultaneous users and processes up to 10,000 requests per minute; whenever a new version of the application is ready, managed cloud services automate updates quickly and with zero downtime.

Application Development Best Practices

Applications can empower customers and employees, expand the business, or simply address pain points. That being said, application development can also be expensive and resource-intensive—and if the new software has security flaws, can represent a risk for the company and its customers. Here are some best practices that can help minimize risk and maximize success.

1. Scope the job properly. Successful development projects solve a business problem or realize an opportunity. Creating an application is an expensive undertaking, so it’s worth spending time on a comprehensive requirements document.
2. Move fast but keep the end goal in mind. The sooner the application can be used, the sooner the business can realize the benefits. An iterative, agile approach to development emphasizes flexibility and continuous improvement. It involves developing features in short sprints and gathering user feedback regularly. This allows for faster course correction and ensures the final product aligns with user needs.
3. Prioritize code quality, security, and standards. Development teams must emphasize security as well as scalability and performance and ensure software is readily usable by the target audience. Strive for a clean, intuitive interface that efficiently guides users through tasks and minimizes frustration.
4. Keep the journey going. Application development processes need to be able to react to changing business needs. Ensure the development team or a maintenance group addresses any issues that arise with an application and are responsive to such concerns as new data sources or performance tuning.

Artificial Intelligence and App Development

Generative AI is being used for many text-oriented tasks: Summarizing reports, writing sonnets, drafting customer service emails, making chats more contextual. Turns out that GenAI is good at writing software code, too: A programming language is a language, and from a software perspective, it’s not very different from English, Spanish, or Mandarin.

When it comes to application development, GenAI is good at translating a developer’s written intent, expressed in a conversational human language, into completed, ready-to-run code. Based on early experiments, this AI-generated code is functional, efficient, and secure. This is most apparent in parts of the code that are tedious to develop, such as database access code or the boilerplate text that is used to set up microservices.

Another area where GenAI can help developers is in examining human-written code to look for errors, spot potential vulnerabilities, and point out where the programmer didn’t follow best practices. Expect AI-based assistance to become a standard feature of mainstream software development tools and platforms.

Future of App Development

Software development is an evolving practice. As noted, GenAI will be a huge help by freeing developers from tedious tasks. It will become a staple for application development and will be embedded into mainstream development tools. New architectures such as microservices will allow new applications to be built quickly by leveraging a modular approach. But there are other trends that we have noted.

Security stays top of mind. Bad actors will continue to threaten organizations, so applications must not only be designed and built for security, but they also need to be continually updated as new attack tools come online.

Mobility is here to stay. For many people, a smartphone is their primary computing device, which means that organizations must be comfortable building mobile apps or designing for use on a mobile browser.

Dev democratization. Employees will continue to demand no-code/low-code tools that allow them to develop their own applications quickly. How will you encourage this without sacrificing quality or security?

Cut Costs and Development Time with Oracle

Oracle offers a wide array of development tools, services, and platforms that can accommodate any application development project. In addition, Oracle delivers the industry’s most complete collection of ready-to-use business applications that can be customized and integrated with your own applications to help address your needs.

Where to deploy? Oracle offers the second-generation Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), which has the databases, developer services, integration services, and storage you’ll need. Those are augmented by networking, analytics and business intelligence, low-code/no-code tools, and new AI services that can be leveraged by business applications. Add to that Oracle’s application security, compliance, and cost-management tools, and you’re ready to go.

Compared with other clouds, Oracle offers better price/performance, lower storage costs, and 48 commercial and government regions around the world to better meet your needs. Not looking for the cloud for your next project? Check out Oracle’s on-premises systems, including the Oracle Exadata enterprise database platform.

You can examine the tremendous range of Oracle’s developer technologies, and then see how you can build, test, and deploy applications on Oracle Cloud—for free.

Application Development FAQs

What does an application developer do?

An application developer builds business applications—or more accurately, is a member of a team building those applications. A developer needs to have technical skills, such as knowledge of agile methodologies; one or more programming languages such as Java, SQL, Python, and JavaScript; and a solid understanding of software architectures. Specific responsibilities can include architectural design, coding, testing and debugging, user interface design, database integration, report writing, and software maintenance.

What are the steps in application development?

There are eight main steps in application development; some of these may be done in parallel, and depending on the methodology, may be performed iteratively.

1. Gather and analyze requirements
2. Project planning
3. Design and architecture
4. Coding and development
5. Testing
6. Deployment
7. Maintenance
8. Decommissioning