Things to Know Before Hiring On-demand Taxi App Developers

Here’s How You Get the Best Developer for Your On-demand Taxi Hailing App

Ride-hailing apps like Uber have removed the hassle associated with getting a ride to your destination. A few simple taps on a smartphone bring the vehicle to you, so it’s little wonder that the global user base is expected to touch nearly 1.4 Billion in 2023 and reach 1.45 by 2027. All you have to do to capture this lucrative market is get the best-performing taxi application developed. If you do not have an in-house expert for this task, you can hire professionals from an on-demand app development company to build an Uber-like app.

You can get a feature-rich app that caters to your customer’s needs while allowing you to have control and awareness of your network.

For a customized and professionally-developed application, you must select the right on-demand app development partner that can cover your requirements. Below are the factors you need to look for in a potential hire to get the perfect taxi app developer.

Table of Contents

History

Your potential candidate agency’s history will reveal whether they are a good fit for your app development project.

One of the best sources for this is its past customers. Go through the testimonial section of your potential hire’s website and read through what their previous customers have said about them. You could try contacting them for more clarity and learn about the agency’s performance in detail.

You should check the agency’s About Us section for awards or certifications. A certification like ISO for quality of service and data security is a significant factor in their favor. The same applies to any awards they may have won for their past performance or gained some recognition/recommendation from a top-level company for completing a challenging project.

There are also customer and expert reviews to consider. Visit sites like Google, where you can find such reviews and ratings. Check the comments section to see what people have to say about the company, as well as the official review section to learn about them through experienced reviewers. The more positive the feedback, the more likely you can consider the agency or individual developer.

Lastly, you must talk with a representative of theirs about their past. It’ll provide some information that you can use to evaluate them. Cross-check their claims as much as possible. Don’t be hesitant to ask them about anything you find unsatisfactory. Only proceed once you’re truly satisfied with their responses to your query.

Location

You may overlook this factor, but where the on-demand app developers are located is essential, especially when you do not have an in-house expert for this task. It helps you determine how effective your project’s outsourcing will be. It will primarily affect your overall cost as different locations have different rates. Select an app development company with a branch in a developing country if not based there.

There are multiple advantages to this consideration. By working from a developing country, the agency will be able to give you cost advantages due to currency exchange values. They can give you the advantage of economies of scale since they will have many experts on their payroll, along with multiple projects, that help to level costs.

You get more advantages if the agency has developers in multiple countries. People continuously working in different time zones can significantly reduce your project completion time. They can also help with the localization of your app, modifying it to better suit local regulations and tastes, thereby aiding your easy expansion into new markets.

Technologies Used

App development technologies are constantly updated, and your app should incorporate the best available if you want it to be competitive. On the front end, these technologies manifest as features and design elements, while on the back end, they are the development platform, language, cloud storage, etc., that help run it.

Every taxi-hailing app should have the following set of features:

GPS integration for locating and tracking vehicle and passenger
Facility to register for using the app for both customers and drivers separately.
A payment gateway that enables the digital transfer of money between all concerned parties.
Communication tools like chat and call for easy and instant communication between all stakeholders, including notifications.
Data security is built into the app to secure all personal information provided.
An interface that is visually appealing, easy to access, and does not demand a lot of the mobile’s resources. The operation must be smooth while providing all the necessary features and not demanding much from the device for it.

There are additional latest features that you can consider, too, like Voice Assistant integration, multi-business integration (think food delivery along with taxi hailing, similar to Uber Eats), etc.

Personnel Capabilities

On the heels of figuring out your potential app development partner, you must get a good idea of the personnel who will be working on your project. This is important as the skills and experience of the developers go a long way in determining the outcome of your project.

Confirm to the maximum possible extent the qualifications of the people they will be assigning your project to, along with their experience level. Learn about their hiring process and overall company culture. Note their employee training process as well since they must be familiar with the latest trends and technologies in the field.

Ask how many people will be added to the project, as it determines how quickly your project gets done. For example, the availability of app developers for hire in India with industry-best skill sets is quite high; It’ll help if you can persuade the agency to add more people if it’s based in developing countries like India.

Data Security and Privacy Measures

Outsourcing can turn out to be a nightmare if you don’t have a clear understanding of how the agency handles your data’s security and privacy. Hence, ensure that you have a data-sharing policy in place before you start your search for a partner. Discuss this issue with their representative to know what data security and privacy software they use.

Also, learn about their physical efforts for the same, like limited authorization to certain data, their data backup practices, and their troubleshooting/mitigation strategies for any eventuality. Only proceed if you’re certain they can deliver on these to the highest level.

When choosing to outsource to developing countries, such as hiring a mobile app development company in India, check to make sure that the region’s regulatory framework regarding this is in line with the same at your end.

Service Packages and Payment Structure

Agencies tend to offer their services in the form of packages as it helps keep their operating costs low. Confirm if your potential hire’s packages are good for the features you wish to have in your app. Pick the tier that will suit your needs, and learn if it’s flexible. If so, confirm the additional features you can add on an a la carte basis and those you can remove.

Have a look at what their competition is offering at the same price point. You can even use this information as a bargaining chip to lower costs during your negotiations before signing the contract.

Another critical factor to confirm is how they expect you to pay and if that payment mode works for you. Some may insist on an upfront payment model, while others go the subscription route stretched over a fixed interval like hourly, monthly, etc. Select the company that can fit your budget.

Post-development Support

Your hired agency must provide post-development support for your app as it needs to be constantly monitored for optimal performance and updated to keep up with changing market demands and technological advancements. Confirm their post-development support policy to see if they meet your app’s support demands.

Learn how they will communicate with you during and after the development phase, how often they will do it, who will be meeting who on either side and what will be discussed during these meetings. The support should include performance monitoring, user feedback management, new feature addition, updates to the app store, security updates, and constant bug fixes.

If you’re using a chatbot, confirm if they can keep that up to date as well and if yes, then whether it’s a part of the regular package. Ensure that they can deliver regular and comprehensible reports of the data analysis they perform on their end. Learn about possible rate hikes and their frequency so you can prepare for them in advance or decide to select a cheaper service provider.

Conclusion

The convenience and safety of having a cab show up at one’s location and being able to pay in multiple ways are adding the wind in the sails of the ride-hailing industry. With the right feature-rich and well-performing app, you, too, can become a capable contender in this industry and reap its benefits. All you need to do is hire the right kind of on-demand app developers for your mobile application, and your business will reach its intended destination of objectives fulfillment quickly and safely, just like how it’ll help your customers reach their destination.

Also Read: How to Fix Common Sound Issues on Mac