Appsvolt

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Piyush Kalthia: I’m the vice president of Kalthia Group. We own and operate 26 hotels and manage a number of offices, warehouses, and retail spaces.

Prat Shah: I’m a senior project manager in charge of all IT-related projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AppsVolt?

PS: As a growing company, we needed an affordable third-party developer familiar with the hospitality industry. In particular, we needed to build special reporting tools capable of compiling information from a variety of reports for our finance department.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PS: We needed an all-in-one real estate management application for our various hospitality-related businesses. Our stakeholders were primarily interested in managing financial reports, but the app also needed to include HR management so our front desk staff could book room service requests with our housekeeping staff.

AppsVolt created a cloud-based desktop application that can be used on any browser to display information in real-time. It’s also compatible with Android apps. They used .NET to create the backend framework and Azure for integrating our API with third-party brands.

The application essentially allows us to manage our various facilities. AppsVolt is currently working on additional enhancements and provides ongoing maintenance.

What is the team composition?

PS: I communicate directly with their project manager and business analyst. Our internal developer passes our requirements to their team.

How did you come to work with AppsVolt?

PS: They were recommended by one of our investors and their owner knows the owner of our company. While we took other vendors into consideration, AppsVolt offered substantially better rates.

How much have you invested with them?

PK: Their initial quote was between $45,000–$47,000, but we ended up spending only $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

PS: We started working together in December 2016 and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

PS: Users didn’t like the fact that our previous desktop application lacked customization. The new cloud-based app is user-friendly and includes simple drag and drop features. This usability cuts down on waste and increases our revenues. It was also AppsVolt’s idea to use .NET and Azure, which has improved our upload times.

How did AppsVolt perform from a project management standpoint?

PS: Because we have a small IT team, they manage all technical aspects of the project. They use agile methodology and their Scrum masters provide a detailed cloud document so our stakeholders can track their progress. We conduct weekly or biweekly meetings, but they’re available whenever we needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

PS: We’ve worked with vendors in the past that had difficulty staying on schedule. AppsVolt, however, executed all deliverables on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

PS: A few developers have moved into different roles over the course of our engagement. It would be nice if they communicated those changes and maintained a consistent team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

PS: Be clear about your goals. As long as you communicate clearly and provide a detailed list of requirements, AppsVolt will deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the IT Director at an international NGO based in India.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AppsVolt?

We do bulk buying, group insurance, and other activities for our members. We were looking for a social network and e-commerce application that our members could use to register and make purchases at heavy discounts.

We had a legacy application that was no longer sufficient for our organization. It was developed when we had only around 20,000 members. When we grew rapidly, we skyrocketed to around 1 million members. The app couldn’t keep up and we needed a better solution. We were looking for an organization that could help us build that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AppsVolt came up with various application tools for us. There's a multi-website WordPress application that can be used for all of our chapters. There’s a reporting system wherein we can dynamically generate reports with BI. We can generate dashboards for various types of users. There’s an application called FormBuilder built into it where forms can be generated with drag-and-drop features. There’s a kind of WeChat that members can use to purchase products and participate in forums and events. There’s also a mobile app version for iOS and Android.

It took around 1.5 years to develop this application. Now it’s all launched and they continue to manage it for us.

What is the team composition?

There were seven people on the AppsVolt team.

How did you come to work with AppsVolt?

The owner of AppsVolt got in touch with us.

How much have you invested with them?

Our investment was around 75 lakh (7.5 million INR or $115,700 USD). We have an ongoing maintenance and support agreement with them with a monthly budget of around 8 lakh (800,000 INR or $12,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around the end of 2016 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We have over 1 million users on our website.

How did AppsVolt perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily use Skype and Teams to communicate. For management or tracking, we used Google Sheets.

They were really proactive. Everything was on schedule as planned. We even had ad hoc requirements that they brought in extra resources to take care of. We are pretty happy with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great at designing and they love what they’re doing. Interactive and responsive applications are their core forte.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had frequent changes on our end which affected their budgets and timelines as well. If they could have been a bit more agile in terms of the development process, that would have been great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re really good and they know what they are doing. The only advice I would suggest to potential clients is to plan things at the start by scoping, detailing it out, and wireframing. We spent less time planning and, with a huge application, we encountered challenges as we moved forward. If we had had better plans, things would have been different. It’s better to spend more time on planning and initial analysis than to immediately get into coding.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a technology start-up with the goal of creating a healthier future.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appsvolt, and what were your goals?

We hired them to assist in the development of a fitness mobile app to encourage users to adopt healthy habits.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I discovered them while searching on Google. After a couple of rounds of meetings over Skype and phone calls, I decided to entrust them with my project.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The goal of the project was to create a fitness app that would encourage users to exercise and track their nutrition intake and nicotine use, if any. The application can track steps, heart beats, and the user can add their daily exercise activities, etc. The app allows users to connect with health coaches and take consultations.

Users can improve health and overcome habits, including unhealthy eating or reducing the use of nicotine, etc. Users can take part in 1 to 1 challenge with friends or family and earn badges for hitting milestones.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consisted of 4-5 members, including designers and developers, who worked together to develop the app for both the Android and iOS platforms.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Competence, speed, pricing, and service quality all had a significant impact on our business. We were able to complete projects much more quickly and at a lower cost. They brought our visions to reality in a timely and cost-effective manner that would not have been possible under previous circumstances.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The experience was excellent. They are using JIRA for project management and have created stories for tasks and modules and shared them with us. As a result, we could track development progress and plan our budget. We also set up a Skype group between us, the project manager, and the developers to provide a clear and quick communication channel. It allowed us to focus on getting things done.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We're impressed with their competence, the quality of their work, and dependability. Also, Appsvolt quickly understood the project and made suggestions in order to compete in the long run. The team quickly grasped the technical process and suggested alternative technologies.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

There is nothing to say about our project. They are doing an excellent job of developing and maintaining our application. This helps us focus on our core business.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of valet car parking finder application. We are a startup company & based in NY city.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AppsVolt?

We hired Appsvolt for developing a mobile application. It was for finding a car parking location in the city. The USP of the app is they also find you a valet company/driver who can pick up the car from your location and park.

What were your goals for this project?

My goal was to provide a unique solution for finding a car parking with the "Valet" feature. There are many car parking finder apps in the market but none give you this kind of feature.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I drafted the rough idea and posted to several portals. Received a very good response and talked to few of them. At last, choose the Appsvolt as the vendor as they created an application flow and presented to me so that I can see how the final app will look.

Describe the project in detail.

There are many apps for finding near by parking lots thought people finding diffcult in reaching there and taking much of time for reaching the parking place. Apart from that, there is no medium of travel from parking lot to designated place. I personally find it difficult so drafted an idea where people can find valet to park their vehicles on parking lot and deliver a car from parking lot to their place. 

This application for people frequent traveller to new cities or who has problems in finding parking lots. They can simply hire a valet driver from the application - valet will pick-up the car and park to near-by parking lot. And once work done, user need their car back at the place, he/she can request a valet. 

We are charing through different subscription plans, valet will receive their part after completing the job. Both, valet and user can provide feedback/review at the end. 

What was the team composition?

Statred with 2 resources and added 3 during full-fledge development. Currently 2 resources working on this for maintenance and support. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

success

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Wonderful. From my end, I am managing the project. Initially, we frequently connected on phone/skype calls and once the NFP done, the development was smooth. We have weekly calls for update and release. They were very prompt in raising a concern and always keep me in loop while development.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're very professional and punctual. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

Working with them for 4+ years and didn't find anything for this.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of a dental software company. We’ve been in operation since 2003 and now serve 1,200 clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AppsVolt?

We hired them to develop a data entry app for patient records.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We met through a mutual friend. Initially, we asked them to create a prototype for comparison with another company that was also bidding on our project.

Describe the project in detail.

They created an iPad app that makes it easy for dental patients to provide personal information. Aside from entering their health history, patients can also capture images of their insurance card and sign on the form. The app has a secure connection to Windows Desktop.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager to coordinate the design specs and development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Everything was completed on schedule. The app worked as planned.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was quite smooth. We communicated via Skype and email.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We had a knowledgeable project manager and an excellent developer. They worked closely with us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It would be good to have better monitoring tools for various tasks.