MobileStudio

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an office services company in Egypt. We had a side project, which is a Quran application. We hire technical agencies to develop our products that we sell online as a subscription to our customers. I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MobileStudio?

We approached MobileStudio to develop our side project app, which is the mobile app of the Quran in iOS Objective C and native Android. It’s a nonprofit app, meaning it’s something we do, and we don’t make any profit from it. We started with them on the user interface and the user experience. We do these things in-house to ensure we have a clear vision for our projects. Our main challenge was to develop the UX [User Experience] and UI [User Interface] designs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They added great value because they have developed similar apps. They helped us identify the user stories and features.

We were not very familiar with the Agile methodology. They had great experience in Agile project management, so they gave us 2–3 sessions about Agile project management before we started. Then we started to develop a solid project plan with a timeframe and milestones.

The app has many features, starting from reading the Quran and listening to the disciples in multiple voices in the app. You can listen, and you can read. You can set objectives inside the app, and the app will remind you to achieve milestones toward your objective. You can download everything offline, which is a good thing because we have a slow connection here in Egypt. People can download everything and use it on the go without any connection needed.

Also, the screen has a night mode in the app, which makes it more comfortable for the reader. We launched a campaign during last Ramadan, which came with some features. Users can add friends on the app and track the progress of those friends. Also, there are reports to see how many users are using the app.

We added a feature with linking which is where I can share a paragraph with you directly. When you click on the link you are redirected to the App Store to download the app and go to this paragraph directly. They added great socializing features in the platform.

What is the team composition?

There were 3 iOS developers, 3 Android developers, and 1 backend developer who is responsible for the API. There are a project manager and a technical person. They worked in cooperation with our UX/UI team. We are very integrated with them.

How did you come to work with MobileStudio?

We were in the same location, which is the GrEEK Campus, a hub for startups. It’s like a technology city here in Egypt for startups. They were our neighbors in the same building and we introduced ourselves to each other. After some time, I decided to call 5 companies who I knew and they provided us with their proposals. MobileStudio were not the least expensive, but the proposal showed us that they had similar projects, and they did similar work before, which was very effective to not start from scratch.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2014, and we are still publishing one update every 2–3 months. We have a list of features in the backlog, and we are completing 2 features every quarter. We are also giving them another version to work on that is dedicated to us with another interface as well. We are not planning to end the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the campaign at first and found some issues in the app. We started with 10,000 downloads before we got up to 100,000 downloads. Then we found a number of issues and sent them our App Store account, and they solved everything. Then we published the full campaign which had around 200,000 downloads. There weren’t many crashing issues from the App Store and analytics reports.

I measure the app’s success in reports. We had a lot of reports with a very low number of technical issues and great technical support. If some users are facing an issue, we send them an email, they reply, and they fix the problem.

How did MobileStudios perform from a project management standpoint?

They created a Slack channel to communicate with us during the process. They also used Trello for Agile management so we can see every card moving as it gets completed, and we can review every task that was completed. They comment and make queries in Slack. They have a business person who was very good.

We don’t communicate directly with the technical team. We communicate with the business people. They are people like us, so they understand us. That person communicates everything internally with the team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The unique thing about them is that they are very dedicated to mobile apps, which is different from other software houses that do everything. MobileStudio is doing just quality mobile apps.

Also, their communication during the process of building the app was impressive. They’re not just doing a project; they’re teaching the customers how to manage a project very well. They give them training sessions on Agile. They gave us 3 training sessions before we started to make sure we are aligned with what they are doing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If they had a professional UX/UI team in-house, it would be better.