Appinventiv

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appinventiv conceptualized and created an educational video app that could auto-scale to accommodate large volumes of users. With the solution, users could collaborate with multiple vendors within the video cloud space as well as stream video.

Their team first conducted a study of 18–20 apps within our domain to benchmark industry best practices. The exercise was meant to help us understand common systems within our field and propose a solution that would suit our needs.

From there, they presented a system architecture that outlined the entire solution into dockers. When one docker would reach its max value, a new docker would launch automatically, allowing us to scale information based on the number of incoming requests. 

We tweaked their solution a bit before they started delivering on the different project phases. They used MongoDB as our database, developed a OneLogin Protect (OTP) component, and built the entire admin side of the app so that we could upload and update content.

What is the team composition?

They assigned around 12–15 resources, including UX designers, developers, and QA experts. I’ve been in contact with everyone involved at different points, depending on the requirements.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

I researched roughly 25 vendors across India and met with each in person. Out of all of them, Appinventive was able to grasp our user volume problem and gave us a scalable solution. 

They also understood that we were looking for a partner that could support us throughout the entire journey. We decided to hire them based on their cost, nimble team, and ability to deliver work on time.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019. They’ve been with us since the inception and have helped us launch the app in May 2019. We still rely on them to take care of ongoing needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

AppInventive was tasked with creating our cross-platform app using React Native. They were supposed to deliver a build at the end of each month, but we didn’t receive anything for the first three and a half months. 

By the fourth month, we still saw delays. They eventually provided us with builds, but they were mostly just UX pieces. Very little was functional, and, when something did work, it wasn’t how we’d wanted it.

In the end, we terminated the project and had another vendor take over. They audited the code and discovered that AppInventive had only programmed one API to connect the app and load over 400 different sections. The coding was so poorly architected that we had to start over entirely. 

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with about 12 people, including 2–3 project managers, 1–2 designers, and then several programmers. 

It felt like they had resources who were dedicated to responding to us because it would always be the same three people. Then there would be others that I’d never met in the group chat.

How did you come to work with AppInventive?

I found them through Clutch, and they had good reviews. But I didn’t realize that they were a sponsored vendor. The more I worked with them and the more research I did, the more I realized that they prioritized their clients based on project size. If you’re not spending at least $500,000 with them, you won’t have a good relationship because they’ll limit their scope of work. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent a little over $50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from May–November 2017.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Appinventiv has worked closely with our team to create a lighting calculation app for iOS/Android, iPad, and web. It’s quite a complicated project, so we wanted to make sure that the solution featured a nice-looking interface to streamline the UX. 

By using our app, it’s now possible to calculate a building’s lighting needs down to individual rooms with a single click. When a user logs in, they can access installation data directly from our servers to help evaluate their needs. The app will then determine the lighting requirements based on the user’s inputs, ensure that it’s within regulations, and produce a PDF quote. 

To do this, we collaborated with another software company to build a lumen calculation engine. Appinventiv’s team connected that engine to the app before linking it with our product information management servers. We’ve recently finished the first part of our project and are working with them on the second.

What is the team composition? 

There’s a tech lead who coordinates the project along with about 4–5 programmers. Additional resources join in from time to time, depending on the development needs.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

As I’ve mentioned, we’d worked with a local developer to build the first version of our app. However, it wasn’t as user-friendly as we’d liked, and the project was getting insanely expensive with every change. So, we decided to forgo that version and start over.

We knew that we wanted to outsource the work abroad. It wasn’t a question of finding the cheapest vendor but, rather, finding a company that conducted themselves professionally. After searching online, I shortlisted about 5–7 options that had a decent website and good references. I sent them a short tender to see if they could handle the assignment, looking at their time estimates and pricing.

Out of all of the candidates, Appinventiv gave a fantastic first impression. They delivered a professional PDF of their offer, which included all of our asks. They explained how the process would work, went into another client case that was similar, and came in for an interview. In the end, we chose them because we had the best gut-feeling.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $250,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2018, and it’s ongoing. We’ve finished the initial requirements and have requested more features along the way. We’re now entering the second part of the project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team is currently developing our Android application. Our product is a handsfree car application that drivers can interact with without getting distracted from the road in front of them. It includes many different functionalities.

Parts of the application are compatible with Uber and Lyft, since people who work for the rideshare programs are often using their phone all the time while driving to pick up riders and navigate using GPS. Our goal in building our app was to enable specific drivers like these to manage their day-to-day activities safely.

A graphic designer from a different company designed all the screens. I provided those materials to Appinventiv to implement according to the specifications. 

Right now, we’re still trying to figure out certain technical issues to clean up. Once we resolve these issues, we should be able to launch our app.
 
What is the team composition?

Appinventiv assigned us a dedicated teammate to manage all the resources. The team includes two developers.

How did you come to work with Appinventiv?

After contacting about 20 companies, I shortlisted five of them. 
We chose Appinventiv based on the quality of their prior work and the detailed answers they gave to my questions.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $20,000-$30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2018, and the work is ongoing.