MobileWays - Mobile App Development Studio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Divami Design Labs. I take care of any strategic partnerships and alliances.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire MobileWays - Mobile App Development

We hired them to develop the two apps’ iOS and Android versions for an end-client; we planned to design the UX/UI. Both apps were for Personal Finance Management (PFM) and Account Aggregation (AA). The PFM solution (with the help of AA) presents a consolidated view of consumer’s financial data and provides one-click access to all financial accounts—savings, current, business, Demat, and mutual fund accounts—held at different banks or institutions.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build and release the platform and applications with an amazing UX in a very short time frame. We wanted the mobile applications to be pixel-perfect, corresponding to the designs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

This application was our second project with MobileWays. We were very impressed with their skill and commitment during the first engagement, which made them the natural choice for this project.

Describe the project in detail.

We started with an overview and brief knowledge transfer towards the end of the design phase. Our deliverable to them was a full set of Wireframes and high-fidelity UI mockups. We then specified the complete API documentation, but requested the MobileWays team to come back with any changes to the mobile platform, which they did within the first couple of weeks. Next, they built the apps in Agile to help us visualize the full product. There were also multiple third-party integrations.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two iOS developers, two Android developers, a project manager, and two QA specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The apps received positive feedback for their quality and performance. Their success enabled us to start our extension product, which we’re currently building.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had daily calls to review their progress and plans. They created a detailed but cautious schedule with targeted dates for different features. Our team communicated requests early—based on MobileWays’ timeline—to avoid delays. Overall, they felt like an extension of our own team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team was passionate and committed to delivering ahead of schedule. They had in-depth knowledge for both iOS and Android, and were eager to explore new ideas. For a challenging third-party library integration, MobileWays successfully navigated its intricacies with an outside vendor.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. They always exceeded expectations in every regard and I wish them great success.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the owner of a sleep app startup. We have a presence on YouTube where we produce videos that help babies sleep. We’ve currently expanded our company to include two sets of mobile apps for Android and iOS.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire MobileWays - Mobile App Development Studio?

As I’ve mentioned, we made YouTube videos to help babies fall asleep. However, it was impractical for users to play the videos in the background due to excessive data usage. As a result, we needed resources to build native apps for Android and iOS that could play our content.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted well-designed apps with no performance issues that could help us increase user engagement. We also needed a quick turnaround.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We contacted a number of developers found via Clutch. Of the vendors, MobileWays was the most enthusiastic and had the best ideas in terms of delivery.

Describe the project in detail.

In the beginning, we explained our objectives and the apps’ desired functionalities, which they turned into suggestions for appropriate approaches. They then developed our ideas, designing the initial layouts for us to approve. Once we agreed on the final look and feel, they built four apps for Andriod and iOS. The first set of apps was a free solution that used Wi-Fi to work in the foreground. The second set was a pro-version that worked offline and could operate in the background.

What was the team composition?

In the early phases, we primarily worked with their CEO before later coordinating with their lead iOS and Android developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve recently published the apps, so we don’t have any hard metrics. However, we’re anticipating strong user engagement.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We communicated easily via email and spoke occasionally by phone. If there were any dependencies from our side, the team communicated them to us in advance. As a result, we had adequate time to address them without impacting the schedule.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I appreciated their quick turnaround times and in-depth knowledge aboutiOS and Android development.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There were no real issues in our project, and they performed above expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Gallihunt Information Services Private Ltd is based out of India. We are a local market-discovery portal that connects local establishments with individuals who are looking for a service or product. This is a map-based entity which puts local establishments on Google Maps and gets the data to end-users. I’m the founder. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MobileWays?

We needed help to develop the Android version of our app. There are other discovery portals in India since not everything that is available on the street is available online. There are many stores which are offline, and users can’t find them. Our goal was to make these offline stores more visible. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the development and testing and helped us get the app into the Play Store. MobileWays was not involved in the designing process. We did that internally. We’d took the designs to MobileWays, and their team has given their feedback on the design. They justified a lot of things and made enhancements to the existing screens. They went out of their scope of work and gave suggestions. There was a time when we were struggling with actually making our APIs more secure, which was not in the scope of work for MobileWays. But, the experts there have helped us with making our APIs secure, and they gave us some protocols which we can implement in our work.

They did whatever was good for my business. MobileWays has always gone beyond and above, ensuring that my requirements are met along with whatever I was actually looking for. From the technology point of view, we have built the APIs and given those to them, and they have coded them for the Android version. They integrated our APIs so nicely into the code. They performed their own testing, and there were times when I was actually satisfied with the product, but they were not. There were things I didn’t catch myself, but, because they are the subject matter experts in the field, they were holding the product back because they were not 100% satisfied with it. So, until they really reached that point, they wouldn’t let the code be put on the Play Store. They completed version one according to plan in 2016.

How did you come to work with MobileWays?

I was working with another design agency, and MobileWays was connected with them. I could have gone with anther Android development company, but I saw the portfolio of MobileWays. I went to their office, saw their products, and met the team.

How much have you invested with MobileWays?

We’ve spent 200,000 INR [$3,090].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January of 2016. We’ll be working with them on the second version of the app as well. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have not really marketed on a big scale because our interaction with end-users is offline. Until the second version is out, we are not really scaling and marketing. As of now, we have close to 500 downloads in the last five months or so. I have not seen any bug reports because there are multiple devices. But, when I see the Google reports, I notice many, many versions and many, many devices running this app. There’s probably only one bug. I do not remember if it was because of the Android code or the Google API. We will fix that in the second version.

How did MobileWays perform from a project management standpoint?

They were following the Agile methodology. That is pretty good because they build one step, and once I give my feedback, they are going to build on top of it. Once the product was shipped, within 15 days there was another Google enhancement that came in for applications that are map-based. MobileWays volunteered to come to me and put the enhancement on the app. That was so nice of them.

What did you find most impressive about MobileWays?

I haven’t worked with many people, so I cannot really compare them. The work they did with the leadership and management was so good; they really care about their clients. They have good developers. They understand your requirements very well. They don’t really just do what you want them to do. They would sometimes go above and beyond and make suggestions. People like us who run the business may not really know the intricacies of mobile development, so they would sometimes voluntarily say something that we might have missed. They’re a great company with great people.

Are there any areas MobileWays could improve?

Everybody will have certain improvements to make, but I can’t think of anything. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Givhero. Givhero is a new and innovative way of fundraising for non-profit organizations. We are developing a mobile app which helps users raise money for their favorite cause.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MobileWays?

Givhero as a platform needed an app that users can install on their smartphones. We wanted to get off the ground fast and our team was new to mobile app development and MobileWays' expertise in this domain was a perfect fit for our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MobileWays is developing our iOS app and Android app. They have assigned five full-time developers for iOS and two for Android.

As part of the project, they are building most of the frontend and integrating it with our back-end API. They will also help with the App Store submission and review process.

Their approach is quite good. They’re using our internal project tracking tool, which makes the process easier for us. We have weekly sprints, and MobileWays has assigned their own unit-acceptance testing team.

How did you come to work with MobileWays?

We researched few options online and looked at their teams. After interviewing almost six different companies, we selected MobileWays because of their team size and fit. They were neither too big nor too small, and we found them to be hands-on and approachable. We started a conversation, looked at their background, and reviewed a couple of apps developed by MobileWays.

How much have you invested with MobileWays?

The cost of MobileWays’ work has been between $50,000 and $100,000. The number will keep growing as we add more features.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with MobileWays in November of 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

Our app isn’t yet live, but I’ve been satisfied with its functionality. MobileWays has been easy to work with and doesn’t have a big-organization ego. Their team is the perfect size for a startup like ours, which has made the collaboration better. The service they are providing is cost-effective.

How did MobileWays perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a single point of contact, and it’s been easy to talk to developers directly. There was never a layer of separation between us and the resources, which reduced our communication time and general miscommunication. We use various SaaS tools to manage our project and MobileWays is very flexible in terms of using any tool.

What did you find most impressive about MobileWays?

MobileWays never tried to sell anything to us and provided straight answers for whatever we asked. I’ve never liked the sales attitude present with other companies, but MobileWays is different in this sense. They’re always straightforward in terms of estimates, and it’s been generally easy to work with them. MobileWays is flexible in implementing any small changes we request without creating a new estimate. It would have otherwise been difficult to pinpoint everything on paper from the start. It’s a growing product, but, as long as MobileWays is in control, they’re usually willing to make changes.

Are there any areas MobileWays could improve?

As of now, I have no complaints about MobileWays. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

CreditVidya is building a BigData platform to assess risk of individual customers. I am the Chief Technology Officer of the company and have been part of the team since 2014.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MobileWays?

We needed to create mobile apps as a customer interface. These apps would serve as a source of customer data, which we could use to analyze risks of overdraft, assess credit card applications, and so on. Finding in-house app developers is time-consuming and costly, and it could also increase our time to market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked MobileWays to build a proof of concept. Once it was delivered, we engaged them for the development of multiple Android applications for our company. Initially, we gave MobileWays a set of rough requirements and discussed them in detail with the project manager for a proposal. Once we were okay with it, we drafted a detailed version.

MobileWays used an Agile methodology and gave us the latest version of the work at the end of each week for review. At the end of two months, we had a product ready to go live. After they delivered the first version of our app, we started building our own Android team comprised of two developers from MobileWays’ team. They worked remotely on a time and materials basis. Our two developers each worked 40 hours per week.

How did you come to work with MobileWays?

We looked at mobile app development companies and found MobileWays to be a leader in our area. They’re based in Hyderabad, where our local office also is. We wanted to work with a local company because that would allow us to visit each other’s office and have face-to-face interactions. The feedback is much faster this way.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with MobileWays in early 2014. The collaboration ran for a year and a half, ending in December 2016. We have hired our own developers and don’t have any active engagements with MobileWays.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our ScoreUp app was completely built by MobileWays. It’s had close to 100,000 downloads, which is close to the figures for our other apps. User feedback has been good. There will always be people who aren’t happy with certain aspects, but our rating on Google Play is close to 4.

MobileWays collaborated well with our design team, and there was no miscommunication in the process. They delivered a picture-perfect replica of the version we designed. Even when we discovered misalignments, MobileWays was more than happy to correct them.

How did MobileWays perform from a project management standpoint?

MobileWays had a very good Agile process, which fit our startup. We didn’t have too much documentation for the work and had a good blend with their team. We used Trello as the main tool for sharing screens and descriptions.

What did you find most impressive about MobileWays?

The speed at which they delivered was unparalleled. Other developers required a two or three-week initial process, but MobileWays delivered the first draft within a week. Once we had an actual app in our hands, we could evaluate it and make changes from a business standpoint. The speed of the work and feedback process was amazing.

Are there any areas MobileWays could improve?

They have very good design capabilities, but this area could still be improved.