Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the company?
GRT was founded in 2012. Since that time we have built a very strong technical team and an excellent reputation on a market. My role is initial contact with potential clients, clarifying requirements and helping them to shape the idea to make it even better than it initially was.
What was the idea behind starting this organization?
We believe that technical solutions should greatly enhance everyday’s life. Our goal is to create products that matter. To achieve this, we maintain the highest quality standards, constantly working with our clients to improve the viability and usability of their products.
What are your company’s business model–in house team or third party vendors/ outsourcing?
All our developers are in-house developers. We are not sending our work to any 3rd parties, because we take full responsibility for the quality of the end product.
How is your business model beneficial from a value addition perspective to the clients compared to other companies' models?
Unlike many other companies who are hiring completely new developers for each new project, we always start a new project with developers who have proven their skill inside a company. We know what they are capable of and we know they can handle the task. We can extend a team by newly hired resources, but team lead will be a proven developer with a good history of done projects.
Mention the objectives or the parameters critical in determining the time frame of developing a mobile app.
The most important factor in determining the exact time frame required for development is the completeness of technical documentation. Depending on the size of the app, a different set of documents are needed. For smaller apps, it is enough to have a basic description from the client and a list of features specified.
For the larger products, it is ideal to have the following documents:
- Technical specification
- wireframes
- user stories
In specific cases, we prefer to create functional designs if the flow of the application is very complex.
How much effort in terms of time goes into developing the front end and back end of a mobile app?
This is very individual, as each app is unique. Of course, there are patterns that allow us to give an approximate estimate on certain types of apps, but for a final quote, we prefer a more personalized approach. We talk with the client and find out his needs and what works better for his specific case. Based on the answers, we build a schedule and form a cost.
What are the key parameters to be considered before selecting the right platform for a mobile application?
Main parameters are the complexity of the mobile application, target audience, and region. For example, if the application is targeting a specific country and 90% of users in that country have Android phones, it makes no sense to create an iOS application, at least in the first iteration. For the bigger apps, we strongly recommend using only native applications. In general, if you plan to have a big audience and want to have a 4.6+ rating on the store, go with a native app.
Which platform do you suggest your clients to begin with when they approach you with an idea (Android or iOS) and why?
The platform depends on the market where the app will be sold and the target audience. We investigate the market where the app will be used and promoted and based on usage and market share give our suggestions on what platform is better to start with.
Android or iOS, Native or Hybrid — which platform is best to use to build your app? What are your recommendations?
We prefer to work with only native apps. Cross-platform has shown a lot of weaknesses, and recent researches showed that major companies who used cross-platform are going back to native mobile apps. Cross-platform applications can still be used for small applications though.
What are the key factors that you consider before deciding the cost of a mobile application?
Cost of development in the majority of cases is based on the time required to complete the application. Another factor is the complexity of the app. If the application is simple and can be done by a less skilled developer at a lower rate while keeping the same level of quality, we offer this option to the client.
What kind of payment structure do you follow to bill your clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, Pay per Milestone (could be in phases, months, versions, etc.)
All the above, plus hourly-rate and pay-per-month for longer projects. We are really flexible here and understand that each project is different and every client has a different situation. If the agreement is fair and mutually beneficial, we would be glad to discuss it.
Do you take in projects which meet your basic budget requirement? If yes, what is the minimum requirement? If no, on what minimum budget you have worked for?
We prefer to work on projects from $5k, or 2 months of work. However, we consider other options also.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2018?
From $3k to $40k.
Which business model do you suggest to your clients enabling them to generate revenue from mobile applications? Why?
The monthly subscription is one of the most reliable monetization way and one of the least annoying. If you have a good product, people will pay monthly to use it. Using a subscription model will allow you to generate revenue from one app much longer, than from a one-time purchase model.
Another good option is in-game purchases, but it doesn’t work in every type of application.