Interview with Samir Motwani, CEO - Rapidops, Inc.

Samir Motwani  

CEO, RapidOps, Inc.

Give us a quick overview of Rapidops Inc. When and how did you begin this journey and what were your motives to be successful in app development?

Rapidops was built to create digital products that can touch the lives of millions and help the companies grow, operate, and transform their business process at the scale and speed that was never possible before.

Hence, the motives have remained very simple if the client loves your work and becomes your advocate, you don't need anything else to succeed. Over the past twelve years, that has worked out well. We have outgrown from a team of 4 to 200+ and working with fortune 500 companies to deliver something that makes the difference.

What is your role in the management and development of Rapidops Inc.?

I take care of the execution of processes and operations at Rapidops to maintain a transparent and sound client-relationship. I am blessed to have worked with a team that backs this vision and delivers the results every time they are thrown a challenge.

On the floor, I keep myself busy interacting with my team of developers on the various ways or ideas that can make the usability of our digital products easy yet efficient.

Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry

Reaching in the list of INC 5000 (Ranked #1213) and being a tech partner of Fortune 500 companies is itself an achievement.

How do you schedule the development phases of the apps to promise the timeline to your clients?

We use lean and scrum development models only after a comprehensive analysis of the client’s requirements. We factor in the project’s complexities, dependency on various resources, and the risks involved in the development process. When our analysis gets done, and the SOP is defined, milestones are set with delivery dates and pricing comes in next.

Setting up milestones is critical to the development process as it is then reported to the client, and based on their feedback, the next milestones are set. We follow the protocols defined by SDLC (software development life-cycle), integrating it with our strategy for delivering better value to the client.

How do you help your clients in choosing the right yet profitable platform for app development?

We have partnered with small, medium, and large scale businesses. Choosing a profitable platform for app development is directly related to the app's objectives. We understand the customer's target market, competitors, the app's complexity, and the best possible user experience. Based on these different factors, we can always decide on the platform, which will be best suited for the client. The result is always about providing solutions that will be used by a digitally empowered user base.

Which would you suggest for a successful and profitable business progression, Native or hybrid apps? How do you define the factors that influenced you to make this choice?

Working for this long in the industry, we have come to know that it is tough to choose one over another. There are many factors like region, audience, and budget. You can’t merely say that this is what you need. We can suggest which apps they should go for based on our analysis and experience, but in the end, the customer is the king.

To answer your question, it depends on the client’s app requirements, the features they want to include in the app, the marketing tactics, time limitations, and their budget.

Going native is essential if your target audience is specific, but if they are low on the budget, we advise the clients to go for the hybrid solution. If that’s not the case, then no doubt we go for native app development for Android and iOS. The times have changed, and we are developing native cross-platform apps, which are hybrid yet offer native-like experience.

How do you scheme your pricing model? How do you fix your budget? 

You can’t pinpoint the pricing model for app development for a simple reason that it depends on what type of app the client demands. As I mentioned earlier, it all depends on the development model, the nature of the app environment (native or hybrid), and the app development cycle itself.

We suggest the best development platform after completely understanding the client’s requirements and the challenges involved. The only crucial thing is to be transparent about the costing with them, put everything on the table, and let them decide.

But the thumb rule of any pricing model should always be based upon the project scope, deliverable, and efforts required for deployment of a seamless solution. In simple words, the price varies based on the nature of app development.

How helpful are the mobile apps developed by your team, for enhancing your clients’ business? 

In these 12+ years, we have worked with start-ups to the big players in the market. We have helped our clients from designing their first-ever mobile approach for the brand to achieve higher revenues than their expectations by $2M (in a quarter).

Every client has different needs and success metrics changes based on their market reach and product strategy. We have developed the apps for Retail, Healthcare, Ecommerce, and Enterprise solutions with goals to achieve higher revenues, deliver better customer experience, or to ditch their legacy ERP systems and reduce the paperwork.

We work with a very clear mindset and vision; complete the work in-time whilst not compromising on the quality. This approach has been a game-changer for us and helped us exceed the client’s expectations.

We also guide them with our marketing skills, advising them to expand their app approach which in-turn helps in the growth of their business. We leave no stone unturned for providing a robust software solution meeting the market requirements and helping them gain momentum with their customers.

What according to you are the best practices to attain client satisfaction?

I must say that transparency is the key. You see, we are in the market to maintain a long-term relationship with our clients. With enough goodwill, we can, and we are still growing. The key is to have clear communication with the clients and take their feedback after achieving every milestone. This helps them to be in the loop and have a close watch on what is happening and where the funds are getting distributed. 

Providing ongoing support after the app/website goes live is another bonus point. We believe in growing with our clients, their success and satisfaction with the product we develop for them are directly related to ours.

How do you update your business system to be in pace with the technological advancements? 

The dynamics of the market change with different technological trends, take RIM or Symbian, for example. After having their fair share of the market popularity, they now cease to exist in the presence of Android and iOS operating systems.

I think being in the know-how of the latest technologies and trends is the key to stay connected with the technological advancements. We make sure that our technical team knows about the latest technologies trending in the market and learn them. Keeping that in mind, we also have weekly or monthly seminars (as per available time) for the team members. These seminars are basically to test the team's skills and knowledge and inculcate any new technologies in our organization's app development strategy.

What are your thoughts about AR, VR and the Internet of Things (IoT)?

As I mentioned earlier, keeping yourself updated is the key. The way I see it, we have not even scratched the surface when it comes to the utility of AR, VR, and IoT. These technologies are going to be an essential part of the future, and many automobile and retail companies have started implementing them as customer touch points. So, I won’t be exaggerating if I say that these technologies will change the way we see and feel products, the way we make purchases, or how we experience newer things in the future.

What do you think will be the future of Mobile technology?

We are already doing so many things with our mobile/smart phone devices, and I am simply at awe with the level of the multi-tasking these miniature computers do for us today. I am so thrilled about a future where you will see these computers communicate with you based on advanced AI and ML technologies. Yeah, I just gave the Ironman reference, but the future of mobile technology is indeed going to be that cool!

So yes, mobile technology will be making strides in a technologically advanced era.