Appnings Software Solutions Pvt Ltd

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a manager at an IT and GIS (Geographic Information Systems) consultancy that works with various governments. My job is to provide consultations for GIS applications.

What challenge were you trying to address with Appnings?

We are currently working in the Middle East where people are still following more traditional technologic methods. It can be difficult to convince them to use the latest opensource technologies. We work with a lot of governments and they won’t go with an opensource. It’s very hard to convince them to get into cloud computing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appnings worked on the website and also made an app for one of our sites. The website was pretty simple. There was a little bit of animation, but mostly static pages. Most of the work they did was on the app. The app was for the government and had a very smooth design.  Since we’re in the East, most things are done slowly, but it was important for us to keep this project on time. 

At one point, we had a roadblock with the PHP, but they were able to move forward. They made suggestions based on what we had already and continued with the PHP.  It’s a native app and supports multiple languages. 

They later gave us a demo for future IoT and VR solutions, which we have not started yet. We do have another project coming up, in which we will use Appnings

What is the team dynamic? 

The whole team was responsible. I was in contact with 5 people. They have a technical lead, who is one of their senior managers, Gopal [Senior Software Development, Appnings] or Shivaraj [Co-Founder, Appnings]. They were both cooperative.

How did you come to work with Appnings?

We found them on Google while looking for developers for the Android app but ended up asking them to do our website first. I asked a couple of friends about them and was told they were great. They also have the ability to work in multiple languages, which helped convince us to use them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent more than 20,000 dirhams [approximately $5,500].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and the project took 3 months.

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

We get good traffic to the website. Frankly, we didn’t have any traffic before because we had local providers. We got good feedback on the app. It was especially smooth in terms of interface and look.

How did Appnings perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Trello for project management so we could always track what was going on. They were in constant collaboration with Google Sheets or Trello. Within an hour, we always knew what they had completed. The app project was handled very well and finished in a timely fashion. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve changed the system multiple times, in terms of design, methodology, and architecture. They were patient and communicative. I usually have to ask vendors for status updates, but I never had to with Appnings.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Because we work for a lot of governments, there is generally a lot of official paperwork. We aren’t used to working in a startup style without paperwork. They had put everything on the product development platform and didn’t have a lot of actual paper or documentation. I think they could improve that.