Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the company?
B2C is a leading mobile development company known for developing stunning native apps to cross-platform apps giving innovation yet another dimension. We are specialized in the delivery of full-cycle, end-to-end mobile solutions and services for successful brands and start-ups and help them leverage emerging technologies such as IoT, e-Healthcare, Big Data, and Wearable, Beacon technology and many more.
I am the Co-founder & CEO of B2C Marketing and MD at B2C Info Solutions. My forte lies in strategy formulation for capturing and building new revenue streams, value articulation across technology products and solutions. I am also responsible for making corporate decisions, and I make sure that each of the employees working here is empowered with right resources, right team, encouraging them to build cutting-edge creations as and how the clients want.
We have our headquarters in Noida and branch office in Bengaluru, India; we’re a company of 50+ specialists.
What was the idea behind starting this organization?
I started B2C 6 years back with a vision to serve my clients for whom we are designing Websites with another brand named V4U Design. We quickly understand that it’s a big opportunity and we planned to act on it. We immediately started and hired Mobility experts (iOS and Android Developers). We understand that Mobile Apps are getting popular. The core idea was to offer Mobile App development services at small scale to these clients, but slowly we scaled up to a level where we could serve larger enterprises & start-ups.
What are your company’s business model–in house team or third party vendors/ outsourcing?
We have a strong in-house team of Business Analyst, designers, developers and testers / QA. We have 50+ professionals working from 2 different offices. We hire quality resources from top universities around the country in India. Our focus is to retain quality talent inside the company for a longer duration. We train our resources to work closely with start-ups and enterprises understanding the business requirement and deliver modern-day solutions digitally. We do have channel partners outside India as well where we work with them on top notch and innovative technologies. We primarily focus on project management, execution, and reliability.
How is your business model beneficial from a value addition perspective to the clients compared to other companies' models?
We follow a strict development methodology to provide value add services to our global clients. We have set models which work typically for most of our clients. We work on both fixed and hourly based projects. We are very much open to work-out an engagement model that justifies the development and delivery of the solutions based on the end client’s business requirement. The projects which have a concrete scope of work, we suggest clients work on Fixed cost model. However, the requirement which is not clear initially, we recommend strongly to move on an Hourly or monthly basis where we bill the client on time & material basis.
What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive? If yes, what ratio of clients has been repetitive to you?
We have worked with clients belonging to a variety of industries like Education / E-learning, E-commerce, e-Healthcare, Transportation, Logistics, Retail, Telecom, Automotive, Real Estate, IoT, Wearable and Beacon Technology, etc.
70% of our business comes from existing clients. We have an excellent retention rate.
Mention the objectives or the parameters critical in determining the time frame of developing a mobile app.
Time-frame of any Mobile App depends upon the scope of the project. We do a lot of brainstorming with clients before finalizing the project. Indeed, we try our best to clarify every query and doubt before submitting the time-lines. Moreover, we work on detail scope doc and approval from the client so that the development team has complete clarity on the timelines and scope and there is no communication gap between client and team in run time.
We generally follow two different models – Fixed cost and Hourly based model. If the requirement of the project is concrete we suggest the client go with Fixed cost model. However, if the project scope is not clear from the client end, we recommend going with time and material basis. This helps the client to understand every module and track the productivity as well.
How much effort in terms of time goes into developing the front end and back end of a mobile app?
Usually, the mobile app project takes around 2 – 4 months to deliver. Front-end and UI is the most critical part of the project. However, back-end plays a crucial role in maintaining the best user experience. The other factors can be – third party API's integration. The back-end consumes tentatively 35% of the total project timeline.
What are the key parameters to be considered before selecting the right platform for a mobile application?
The key parameter to choosing the right platform is to understand the target audience and geographies client wants to cater. In recent time we examined that clients want to develop apps on both the platforms, i.e., iOS and Android. Following are the parameters we need to take in consideration before proposing the platform:
- Client’s business model
- County client want to target
- Revenue model
- Client budget
- Project Timelines
Which platform do you suggest your clients to begin with when they approach you with an idea (Android or iOS) and why?
The market share for iOS and Android is almost equal. We need to understand the client requirement, target audience, business model and expected revenue. We cater to the clients globally, and the criteria depend upon various factors. The budget and target geographies play an essential role while we suggest the best solution to the client’s requirements. We also take suggestions from our market researchers so that we could guide clients accordingly. We can start with a single platform or with both, but it does change with the client’s target geographies and set a budget for planned phases.
Android or iOS, Native or Hybrid — which platform is best to use to build your app? What are your recommendations?
It totally depends upon on the type of app we are building, the audience we are focusing and geographies we have decided to target. We work on both Native and Hybrid app development. The selection of these platforms completely depends on our client’s choice, budget, and app functionality. Indeed, Hybrid app is not as expensive as compared with Native. We suggest going with Native if the App caters to enterprise level challenges and equips with a lot of third-party integration. The selection of technology also depends upon utilization of device properties like GPS and Off-line database management.
What are the key factors that you consider before deciding the cost of a mobile application?
We analyze the complete scope of the project and iterate a few levels of the project through constant calls with every client. After having detailed discussions with the client, we make sure that we have understood the complete scope of the project including the challenges and technicalities we need to take care. Once we have the complete clarity on the scope, we move towards timelines and resource allocation. Every client is different, and so is the functionalities of the app. Based on the proposed features and budget, we match the matrix with the man-day’s work required, and on that basis, we work out the efforts and timelines of the project. We are very flexible in dividing the scope of the project into different phases based upon the marketing plan and budget allocation.
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.)
We have 2 different models – Fixed Cost Model (Milestone Based Payment) and Hourly Based Billing (Time & Material Based Payment).
For Fixed cost projects, we take partial upfront cost and rest we divide the complete payment into multiple milestones. Payment is attached to successful completion of a particular milestone followed by client’s approval on the same.
For Hourly based projects, we run the weekly or monthly billing based upon the number of hours spent in a particular week or month. We maintain a time-sheet for each project, and on that basis, we generate the invoices weekly/bi-weekly or monthly. We have a standard hourly rate which varies with the developer’s experience level and technicality involved within the 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 usually take projects that are above $5000 USD value. However, we are very much open for projects with less than $5000 USD value considering the concept of the project add value to our portfolio and gives us the opportunity to work on latest technology trends.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2018?
The price range of the projects we work on is $5000 - $200000.
Which business model do you suggest to your clients enabling them to generate revenue from mobile applications? Why?
There are various business models in the market which we suggest to our clients. Advertising is one of the best ways since it gives your brand the platform and the deserved footage. The other models could be In-App Purchases, Referral model. The revenue stream also highly depends upon client business goals.
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