Apps in Ghent
App development in Ghent for teams on the road
An app your staff or clients open every day, in their language, connected to the software behind your business.
An app is only as good as what sits behind it
App development in Ghent rarely starts with the app itself. You want drivers to request leave without calling, a technician to finish a job sheet on the phone, or clients to follow their own file. That only works when the app talks to the rest of your company.
This page is for international companies in Ghent with teams that work in more than one language. It covers which kind of app you need, how to build it for a multilingual team, what the stores cost besides the build, what Belgian privacy rules ask about staff data, and the mistakes we see most.
Which kind of app do you need?
| One codebase for iPhone and Android | No app store needed | Updates reach everyone at once | Icon on the home screen | Works offline | Listed in the App Store | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web appin the browser | yes | yes | yes | partly | partly | no |
| Installable web applike the DA Logistics driver app | yes | yes | yes | yes | partly | partly |
| Native appseparate for iPhone and Android | no | no | no | yes | yes | yes |
Web appin the browser
- One codebase for iPhone and Android: yes
- No app store needed: yes
- Updates reach everyone at once: yes
- Icon on the home screen: partly
- Works offline: partly
- Listed in the App Store: no
Installable web applike the DA Logistics driver app
- One codebase for iPhone and Android: yes
- No app store needed: yes
- Updates reach everyone at once: yes
- Icon on the home screen: yes
- Works offline: partly
- Listed in the App Store: partly
Native appseparate for iPhone and Android
- One codebase for iPhone and Android: no
- No app store needed: no
- Updates reach everyone at once: no
- Icon on the home screen: yes
- Works offline: yes
- Listed in the App Store: yes
Our own assessment. For an app for your own team an installable web app almost always does; a native app pays off when customers must find you in the stores.
Start from who opens the app
The figure above checks three kinds of app against six needs. In practice the choice comes down to the user:
- Choose an installable web app ifthe app is for your own staff on the road: drivers, technicians, cleaners, sales reps. You send a link, they add it to the home screen, and every update reaches everyone the next time they open it. The DA Logistics driver app works this way.
- Choose a portal on your website ifclients want to follow something: a file, an appointment, an order. A client portal or a booking system does the job of a client app without anything to install.
- Choose a store app ifcustomers must find you in the App Store or Google Play, the app has to work offline where there is no signal, or you need the phone's camera, Bluetooth or notifications to the full.
- Choose no app yet ifwhat you need is a form. When turning a site into an app makes sense is in turn your website into an app.
One app, the languages of your team
International companies in Ghent rarely have a team that speaks one language. Drivers, cleaners and technicians often read Dutch, English, French, Turkish or Polish at different levels, and an app in the wrong language gets used wrongly. Build the language in from the start: every label, button and message in each language your staff need, chosen per person at login. The DA Logistics app runs in Dutch, English and Turkish, and a driver logs in by tapping his name and entering four digits.
| Who | Does in the app | What the office sees at once |
|---|---|---|
| Driver | asks for leave, reports a refuel or receipt, reports damage with a photo | the request in the right queue, oldest first |
| Technician | fills in a job sheet, logs hours, gets the client to sign | a job sheet ready to invoice |
| Client | books a meeting, follows a file, uploads a document | the request attached to the right file, no email |
Job sheets that feed invoices are in work order app; hours in time tracking app; shifts in staff scheduling software.
What the stores cost besides the build
| Cost | Web app | Store app |
|---|---|---|
| Apple developer account | not needed | 99 dollars a year |
| Google Play developer account | not needed | 25 dollars once |
| Commission on sales inside the app | none | at Apple 15 percent while you stay under 1 million dollars a year |
| Review of every update | none | every version through Apple and Google |
| Maintenance | one app | two apps, plus new iOS and Android versions every year |
What an app costs on each route, and why quotes differ so much, is in app development cost.
Staff data: what Belgian privacy rules ask
An app for your team handles your staff's personal data, and Belgium's data protection authority has clear positions on the two cases we meet most.
| What the app does | What the authority asks |
|---|---|
| Tracks the location of a company vehicle | tell staff beforehand and in detail; a line in the work rules without explanation is not enough |
| Location outside working hours | not recorded at weekends, on leave or sick days; the system must switch off outside work time |
| Runs on an employee's own phone | keep company data apart from what is private, and do not simply inspect everything on the device |
In a 2025 decision the authority ruled that an employer may not keep location data for periods outside normal working hours. Build that into the app: a button to start and stop a trip, not a tracker that is always on.
Mistakes we see with business apps
Before you brief anyone
Does the app need to work without a signal? A web app can hold a job sheet or a report on the phone and send it once the connection is back. For cellars, tunnels or work abroad we plan that from day one.
What happens when someone leaves? An administrator closes their access in one click, and every session on their phone ends with it.
Should a package do it instead? Check that first in build vs buy software. For hauliers the app is one part of transport software with planning and fuel behind it; where the app reads receipts or documents, AI automation can take over the typing while a person approves what costs money. A single page with who uses the app and what they must do is enough to start; the software requirements template gives you the headings.
Flemish money for an app nobody has built
If your app does something nobody in your sector has built, VLAIO, the Flemish innovation agency with an office at Gent-Sint-Pieters station, can check whether it is a development project: 25 to 50 percent of accepted costs, with a minimum grant of 25,000 euros. An ordinary business app does not qualify; what does exist is in Flanders digitalisation grants.
Screens drivers open every day
Open every day in a driver's hand
At DA Logistics some thirty drivers report leave, receipts, appointments and problems with their truck from their own phones, without calling the office. The same setup fits any team on the road.
App development
Building your team app with VBS
We start with who will use the app and the three things they must be able to do. Within weeks a first screen is on a test link your team tries on their own phones. We build the app together with the platform behind it, in the languages your staff read, with a login that fits each kind of user, and two-step login where data is sensitive, as in the Business Centrum admin platform. A second company can run the same app on the same core with its own profile, as Zuco Logistics does. Our full approach: app development and, for the office side, web application development. Book a call.
An app for your team in Ghent?
Tell us who will use the app, in which languages, and what they must be able to do. We reply within 24 hours.
Rather get in touch right away?