It can be a daunting exercise to predict the cost of developing a mobile app. Factors such as integration with back end systems, adherence to regulatory requirements etc can jack up the cost of development.

Red Hat recently announced in its blog post , Red Hat has created a simple Mobile App Assessment Tool that breaks down the elements associated with developing a business mobile app. This tool is designed to give a high-level overview of the complexity and resource requirements of individual mobile app projects based on responses to 10 questions included in this exercise. The tool enables lines of business, IT decision-makers, and mobile development managers to explore the use cases for mobile, as well as the elements of development, integration, and deployment that should be considered for each mobile app project they plan. The output is a report that provides a score of the complexity of the front-end development, back-end integration, and deployment, offering an estimation of developer resource requirements.

Enterprises feel the need for moving the enterprise mobility budgets and decision making away from the IT department, the blog post explains. IT and business collaboration has become crucial for digital transformation initiatives. Red Hat had previously issued research alongside Vanson Bourne which showed that, for 42% of enterprise respondents, responsibility for tracking mobile app development success would move towards the line of business this year.

“As decisions on enterprise mobility initiatives shift from IT to lines of business, we see the responsibility for tracking the success of mobile app projects shifting as well,” the post reads. “While the business can provide value in prioritizing mobile use cases and features, determining technical complexity and cost can be challenging for line of business managers. When considering factors that vary from back-end integration to front-end features and how the app is to be deployed, mobile app development becomes more than just a simple touch interface.”