Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the company?
The company; NectarBits was established in the year 2009 and I am the Founder of the company. Our main focus lies in mobile application development along with which we also provide our services in web application and Web development. The platforms we use in the projects are Android, iOS, and Windows. Prominently, we focus on mobile app development projects so out of total projects 70% of the projects are from mobile application domain and remaining 30% are from the web application and Web domain where we take into consideration the PHP framework.
What was the idea behind starting this organization?
We had an objective of delivering quality projects to our clients and to accomplish this we started our organization at a very primary level with a small group of developers. However, through our endeavor and technical skill set, we are able to climb up in our growth chart.
Our primary aim is to develop strong, trust-based relationships with our clients because we believe this is the best way of ensuring long-term success on both sides.
Mention the objectives or the parameters critical in determining the time frame of developing a mobile app
First and foremost, the requirements of the clients are evaluated on the basis of which we determine the time frame. The higher is the complexity of the project, more time will be required to develop the mobile application; nevertheless, on an average, two to three months are required to develop the mobile application. The same scenario is with the web application and web development, it depends on the complexity required by the clients; when the idea is a single line requirement we do offer business analysis followed by the feasibility study. Once that is done, we give them a proposal or a work breakdown structure which includes information like how many hours of development would be required on the front end, back end side, mobile application development and designing, the project manager to do the project management, and involvement required from Quality Assurance side etc.
How much effort in terms of time goes into developing the Frontend and Backend of a mobile application?
The front-end development takes 60% of the whole time required to develop a project whereas the back-end takes 40% time, but this will again depend very much on how complex or detailed the selected Technology and CMS is.
What is your company’s business model–in-house team or third party vendors/outsourcing?
We are having a highly qualified in-house team of twenty-five members in it to fulfill each and every stage of the project. We are an end to end service provider for Mobile App Development that includes; business analysis, wireframing, prototyping, UI and UX designers, iOS developers, Android developers, back-end developers, QA team and we have devices to test the application in live environment that includes all variants of iPad, iPhone, and most popular set of Android devices. Till now, we have not outsourced any single project.
How is your business model beneficial from a value addition perspective to the clients compared to other companies' models?
For us, quality service is of utmost importance. Once a client approaches us, we strive to offer them a service which adds value to their business. We never compromise on the quality of the project. Our company consists of experienced professionals who are passionate about what they do and that is what helps us to add value to the projects we deliver. Moreover, our analysis for the project requirement includes detailed understanding of the scope of development and an exceptional UI/ UX design, which will help the project outshine the market competition.
What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive?
We have developed a lot of project till now but predominantly, we have catered to industries such as education, travel, hospitality, real estate, banking, and social media platforms.
When we started our organization, there were 3 clients out of 10, who would come back to us, nevertheless, now we have 60 to 70% of clients coming back to us for our quality services.
What are the key parameters to be considered before selecting the right platform for a mobile application?
Mainly, Client requirements help us select the right platform for developing a mobile application. At times clients already know which platform they want to build their application on, Android or iOS. However, if we are asked to suggest a platform we consider geographical location of a client. For example, if the client is from India, we prefer Android platform and if the client is from the U.S.A or U.K, we prefer iOS as there are more iOS users in those countries.
Which platform do you suggest your clients, to begin with when they approach you with an idea (Android or iOS) and why?
We prefer iOS platform as the feasibility of the project increases and also a number of people trusts on iOS platform. The user base is extensive, the revenue model is profitable, and also the usability is excellent under iOS platform. Usually, it has been observed that people first search the application on the app store and then on the play store.
Which platform is best to use to build an app? What are your recommendations?
We believe Native is the best platform to build an application as for long-term performers, 98% of our projects have been developed in the native environment. It is the best platform for clients and also it provides a better user experience. We use Objective C and Swift for iOS and Java for Android. Sometimes we do receive requirements to do other platforms and technologies, in such cases, we try to explain to our clients why native technology is better and reach a consensus. Additionally, functionalities and other technical benefits are more compared to the hybrid platform.
What are the key factors that you consider before deciding the cost of a mobile application?
Firstly, the requirements of the clients are taken into consideration then how much resources would be deployed under the project, how many experienced professionals will be required to dedicate for the project, the kind of research required for the project, and the size of the project. These factors help us in deciding the cost of the mobile application. If the project is complex for which a highly skilled and experienced developer is required the costing might increase.
What kind of payment structure do you follow to bill your clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, Pay per Milestone?
We have different payment models; first is where 25% of the total cost is paid up front, 45% in the midway of the project and remaining 30% after the completion of the project so, we can say it is paid per phase completed. Second is the hourly model; where the client is charged on per hour basis. The third one is partnership model; where a client hires a team of developers for that particular project and the team hired is solely dedicated to that project.
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?
Yes, we do have a basic budget requirement of 5000 US dollars.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2016?
The minimum price range of our project in 2016 was 6000 US dollars whereas the maximum was 30000 to 40000 US dollars in 2016.
Which business model do you suggest to your clients enabling them to generate revenue from mobile applications? Why?
It depends on the category of the project that the client wants to develop. The best model, in my opinion, is the Freemium/user acquisition model. It allows the users to use the application for free. If they want to generate revenue they can add advertisements in their application. After it, they can go for in-app purchase and paid application.
