GBCORP BLOG · IT SERVICES
Develop, Deploy and Maintain an App: What Each Word Means
Three verbs, and most companies are good at one. Development is where the portfolio comes from. Deployment is where the store rejections live. Maintenance is where apps die quietly. Here is what each word should mean before you sign.
Someone searching for a company that can develop, deploy and maintain an app has usually been burned by one that could only develop. The app arrived, the store rejected an update, nobody answered, and a year later it was uninstallable. GBCORP treats the three words as one job, and the fair test of any supplier is to ask what each word includes in their quotation.
What each word includes
| Word | What it must include | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Develop | Scoping week, written scope, fixed price, design, build in two-week sprints, live test build, code in your name | Something that works |
| Deploy | Store accounts in your name, listings and assets, submission, review handling, web go-live on your domain, cloud project in your name | Something people can install |
| Maintain | Monitoring, security patches, platform and store rule updates, bug fixes with response times, analytics, releases priced one at a time | Something still alive next year |
Develop: the visible part
Every company shows this part. The questions that matter are whether the price is fixed before work starts, whether the scope is written down screen by screen, whether you can open a test build every two weeks, and whether the code, cloud project and accounts are yours from the first day rather than at final payment.
Deploy: the part that gets skipped
Store review rejects apps for privacy labels, login rules, payment rules and content policies that change every year. A company that hands you a build and says “you publish it” has left you with the hardest part. GBCORP publishes under your own developer accounts, handles the review conversation, and puts the web version live on your domain, because the job is not done until someone can install it.
Maintain: the part that decides everything
Operating systems update. Stores change rules. Libraries need patches. A payment provider changes its API. Without maintenance, an app that worked in January is rejected in June and crashes in December. A maintenance plan names response times, covers the platform updates, and includes analytics so the next release is chosen from what users do. GBCORP offers it as a monthly plan or hands over to your team with documentation; either way, someone owns the app.
Questions that test all three
- What is the fixed price for release one, and what is in it?
- Who publishes to the stores, under whose accounts, and who answers the reviewer?
- What is the monthly maintenance plan, and what are its response times?
- What happened to the last app you built, and is it still in the stores?
- Which apps do you run yourselves, in production, today?
- If we leave, what do we take with us?
How GBCORP covers the lifecycle
One team across 17 countries develops, deploys and maintains every app it delivers, and runs its own products on the same pipeline, so store rules and platform changes are handled for clients the same week they are handled for GBCORP. Releases are priced before they start; the support plan is a known monthly figure; ownership sits with the client from day one.
The numbers to expect
Scoping in a week; a first release in eight to twelve weeks at a fixed price, deployed to both stores and the web inside that price; a maintenance plan at a known monthly figure afterwards, or a documented hand-over. A white-label app, where one fits, covers all three verbs in a flat monthly plan from day one.
What deployment involves, in detail
Developer accounts created in the client’s name with the client’s identity documents. App identifiers, certificates and signing keys generated and stored where the client can reach them. Privacy labels and data-safety forms completed truthfully against what the app does. Screenshots and listing text in every launch language. Login and payment flows checked against the current store rules, which change yearly. Submission, the reviewer’s questions answered, and resubmission if needed. The web version built from the same code and put live on the client’s domain with security headers and caching. A company that lists all of this in its quotation is a company that has done it.
What maintenance costs if it is missing
An operating-system update breaks a login screen and the app is uninstallable for new users until someone notices. A store policy changes and the next update is rejected, so a fix cannot ship. A payment provider retires an API version and checkout fails on a busy day. A library patch is missed and a security scanner flags the app to a corporate customer. None of these are hypothetical; they are the normal calendar of an app’s second year. A maintenance plan turns each into a routine task done the same week it appears, which is why GBCORP treats maintenance as part of the job rather than an upsell.
Questions we hear first
Can you take over an app someone else built?
Yes, after a review of the code and accounts; modernisation or a rebuild is quoted where the review shows it is cheaper.
Do we have to take the maintenance plan?
No. Hand-over with documentation is the alternative; what matters is that someone owns the app.
How fast are fixes?
The support plan names response times by severity, from hours for a critical failure to days for a minor issue.
Do you maintain the web version too?
Yes. Web, iOS and Android come from one codebase and one plan.
Where to start
The GBCORP app development company page describes the lifecycle; the GBCORP Custom App Development product is the priced starting point. For the partner-versus-vendor test, read seven revealing questions for an app development partner.
GBCORP operates across 17 countries on 4 continents through six pillars: AI & IT, Innovation, Sustainability, Infrastructure, Business Lounge, and EV's & Solutions.
