Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the company?
Digital Artflow is a web development company that deals with visually-oriented interactive applications. The company is headquartered in Bucharest, Romania. I am the CEO and one of the co-founders of the company.
What was the idea behind starting this organization?
The company was founded in 2009, considering a single objective, that of providing visual-based web applications for various industries, such as interior design, manufacturing, clothing, real estate, aerospace, etc. Since then we have been developing product configurators, CPQ systems that integrate 2D and 3D visualization for the enhanced product experience.
What is your company’s business model–in house team or third party vendors/ outsourcing?
We have a complete in-house team, from project manager to developers, system administrator, and graphic designers. Because we build visually based applications, we sometimes outsource 3D modeling and rendering services to freelancers or trusted companies we work with.
How is your business model beneficial from a value addition perspective to the clients compared to other companies' models?
There are not many companies specializing in visual quote-to-cash applications, and the market is not yet very competitive. We have our own pre-built solutions, from where we can start developing various applications using the latest technologies and which help us to offer affordable solutions and deliver on decent terms.
What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive?
In general, our main industries where we offer solutions are in interior design, food equipment, hospitality, manufacturing, clothing, and aerospace. Our company mainly works with long-term customers, building years of collaboration.
Mention the objectives or the parameters critical in determining the time frame of developing a web app.
We use a number of factors to determine the time frame for developing a web application. Each inquiry is closely evaluated to first find the exact requirements and then to see what resources we can use to build the required application. Based on these factors, we can determine the time frame in which the application can be developed.
How much effort in terms of time goes into developing the front end and back end of a web app?
For interactive applications, the front end is very important especially for the complex ones. For end-user applications, we invest a lot of time in creating an experience that is as easy to use as possible. For internal user applications we rely more on offering as many functionalities as possible in the back-end, at the end it depends a lot on the role of the application.
What are the key parameters to be considered before selecting the right platform for a web application?
When we use our own platforms, such as Simplio3D, InnoPlanner, or WardrobeCPQ, the whole process goes much easier. If we need to develop something from scratch, such as a CRM system, then it really depends on requirements and budget.
Which platform and technologies do you prefer to use in development of your web apps?
We usually use our own platforms which are built with the latest technologies such as: three.js for 3D rendering applications, pixi.js an HTML5 engine, WebVR, WebAR and we use various APIs and WebServices for integrations. We also use Laravel for custom internal systems and Magento or WooCommerce for e-commerce projects.
Do you offer website design templates or customised website design, and do you have a responsive website design?
We usually use website design templates and less customized website design, but all of our projects have a responsive design implemented.
Which Content Management System do you prefer to use (Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal etc)?
When we need to implement a Content Management System, we used WordPress, especially for WooCommerce projects.
Do you provide website maintenance services?
We provide a professional hosting & technical support subscription plan. This way, clients don't have to deal with technical aspects like deployment, any special server requirements, and for any technical problem that may occur it is covered by the subscription.
What are the key factors that you consider before deciding the cost of a web application?
The main key factors we use to define a budget for a project are the level of complexity of a web application and the platform used in the implementation. In the case of projects where we use our own platforms, the costs are much lower.
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.)
Currently, we have 2 payment structures: fixed budget and per feature (development ticket). For the fixed budget, we need to have a well-documented project before anything else and payments can be made in milestones and implementation phases. Payments per feature are usually used for occasional requirements.
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?
The minimum budget for a project if we use one of our standard solutions is $ 5,000.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2019?
In 2019 we had projects from $ 10K up to $ 50K.