Before we talk about all the intricacies of mobile app development, here are some interesting facts that speak to their growing popularity:

• In a report by analytics platform App Annie State of Mobile 2022: The “big screen” is becoming obsolete, and mobile devices are breaking records for usage time, downloads and revenue.
• In 2021, users spent 3.8 trillion hours in apps – 4.8 hours per day.
• App spending globally was $170 billion – up 19% from 2020.
• Download volume is up 5% year over year to $230 billion.

The world does not stand still and every day about 5 thousand new applications appear in the App Store and Google Play. The possibilities of mobile applications are very high, with their help it is possible to improve any processes and provide a passive income.

Despite the diversity, the process of their development has the same algorithm:

1. planning and evaluation
2. analytics
3. prototyping
4. design development
5. development
6. testing and bug fixing
7. release
8. technical support and development

Stages of mobile application development

As you know, all the most interesting things start with an idea.

But even better, if everything starts with a problem, or rather, with the desire to solve it. The main thing is to check the relevance of the idea. Ask the opinion of friends. Look for analogues on the Internet, visit startup sites or crowdfunding sites, which we discussed in the previous article. You can use them to find out if there is something similar on the market.

Stages of mobile application development

Analytics

Analytics and planning are the foundation of all future work. They are the basis for all subsequent actions, as well as design, functionality, and the general idea.

Analytics includes data collection and processing. Here they often conduct various studies and gather focus groups, so that any decision can be justified.

The data obtained during analysis is converted into understandable visual forms: business process diagrams, mind-maps, customer journey.

The analytics process takes on average a week, but it all depends on the complexity of the project.

A part of the mind map

Planning and evaluation

This is where the detailed functional and design specifications of the mobile app are prescribed, and a plan for its implementation is approved.

The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that all team members have a clear understanding of what is going to be done.

This process takes up to 1 week on average.

Prototyping

Work begins with the visual part. At first, we create Wireframes – a draft of the product structure. After they are tested and approved, a prototype is built.

A prototype is a visual representation of the pages, which fully conveys the idea and shows the arrangement of elements on the screen. We use the prototype to show the customer the user’s path.

After approval of the prototype, we get the final structure. Now you can objectively assess how much time it will take to develop, and what other resources we need.

The prototyping process takes an average of 2 weeks when actively cooperating with the customer.

The prototype

Application design

This is where the graphics are designed: color combinations, types of screens, backgrounds, buttons, font compositions. At the same time, we check the ergonomics and usability in interaction with all elements.

Work on the design includes the following phases:

• Formation of a design concept and unique art style.
• Creation of UI – a set of ready-made elements and templates of user interface.
• Creation of a design layout – a visual image that shows the appearance of the pages after layout.
• Creation of a dynamic prototype – an interactive animated version to evaluate the quality of the interface.

Works on the visual part of the software take from 2 weeks to a month.

The design

App development for Android and iOS

This is the most important stage. The quality of development determines whether the application will turn out the way it was conceived. It also determines how easy it will be to maintain, update and scale. If you choose incorrectly the tools for development, you might have to rewrite the whole code.

Therefore, at the very beginning it is important to pay attention to the choice of one of two development approaches:

1. native – where development is done separately for each platform.
2. cross-platform its where universal code is used, which is suitable for all platforms.

In terms of adaptation to the platform, flexibility of settings and quality of interface, the first option clearly wins, but it will have to pay a higher cost. Cross-platform development is a faster and more economical option.

At this stage we write code, build architecture, Back-end and Front-end development and realize MVP (Minimal Viable Product).

Let’s explain in simple words what the frontend is.

This is what the browser can read, display or run. In other words, the frontend – the buttons, tables, blocks, details and other elements available to the user. That is, it’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

The backend is everything that runs on the server, that is, “not in a browser” or “on a computer connected to the Internet.” This is the server part of the service which is responsible for transferring information. The server stores data on customers, goods and the amount of stock.

Programming languages: Ruby, PHP, Python, Java, JavaScript / Node, bash and database management systems such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Cassandra, Redis, Memcached.

Programming takes from 1 month. On average 3-4 months.

At the end of this stage we get a mobile application in the first version, ready for testing. Files for downloading the application in the App Store and Google Play.

App development process

Testing and bug fixing

Users can have completely different devices – pads and phones from different vendors with different Android versions, screen resolutions, diagonal size, software and other characteristics.

To ensure that everything is displayed correctly and works on any device, and there is testing. Then we choose the most popular devices, with the oldest and the newest supported operating systems. It is also important to test the application on devices with customized firmware. For example, xiaomi, huawei, samsung.

There is a high-quality and meticulous checking of all the functions and code, searching for controversial points in the implementation and processes that can potentially cause problems for users.

Then we write UI-tests and prepare test documentation – checklists and test-cases.

All bugs are entered into the system, and after fixing the process is checked again.

Before release, acceptance testing is done to make sure everything meets documentation and client requirements.

What the customer gets: A ready-to-use application on different devices. Checklists and test cases for testing

Implementation time: The testing department gets involved at the beginning of the project to study the requirements to avoid contradictions later on in the project. Depending on the project, a tester can write test scripts, test cases, and checklists right away. Sometimes testing is done in parallel with code writing. That way, the tester takes part in all the stages of development.

Testing process

Mobile app release

When the series of tests are completed and the developers, analysts, testers and designers have handed in their work, the time comes to add the application to the App Store, Google Play, or another service the client desires.

It takes a couple of days to release and prepare for it.

What the client gets: the application is posted to the store and can be downloaded.

Technical support and development

After publication, the client and team move on to the next stage of collaboration – technical support.

This is where bugs that may appear in the course of use are finalized. And when all the bugs are fixed, a support contract is signed. Very often, at this stage, the client understands all the options for further development of their product and launches a new development phase.

Conclusion

Development of a mobile app requires coordinated work, and the level of expertise of each specialist is crucial for quality results.

The ITFox team employs 20 Middle and Senior developers.

It means that our experience will save your time and money.

Moreover, we provide the complete development cycle from analytics to release and timely technical support.

Plus, every client at ITFox has a personal manager who walks through all the stages of application implementation from start to finish. Another important advantage is that you pay only for completed and accepted work at any stage.

Would you like to develop a mobile or web application?

We invite you to discuss the details at a free consultation.

Today in this article as an experts with us will be the full-stack developer of the company “IT Fox” Nikita.

Launching your own startup is an exciting and expensive task.

One can only imagine how many promising projects have failed as soon as it comes to understanding the cost of production. However, getting funds for your project is quite realistic.

“According to a “Venture Barometer” analysis by Inc.

-89% of investors surveyed have invested in young projects: with one-third funding 10 or more young companies.

-77% of investors increased their investments in 2021, and 41% intend to increase them in 2022.”

Let’s imagine that the world would never have seen Google and SpaceX if the people we all know today hadn’t vetted their projects for viability. The history of most popular brands began as a simple experiment. Without serious investment, any project can remain just an idea.

“By the way, in 2021, the volume of venture capital investment worldwide reached a record $621 billion, more than double the figure of one year ago at $294 billion, according to analysts CB Insights on January 12, 2022. Slightly less than half of global investment in startups was in the U.S. market. According to Atomico, the total amount of venture capital funding in Europe is close to the level of Asia, where as of September 2021, the amount of venture capital investment was $110 billion, compared to $87 billion in 2020.”

Especially for those who want to know what to do to realize their business dream, we decided to write an article on how to attract investment in the project.

Where to Look for a Sponsor for a Startup?

Before we get to this part of the article, let’s discuss the most common source of funding – a loan from a bank. It is considered the safest way to finance a business.

Bank Credit

Even in this case it is good to have some start-up capital, so that the bank has a guarantee of your solvency.

What are the loans for business

In short, the purpose of use can be divided into three types of loans:

-To close cash gaps

-To replenish working capital

-To replenish fixed capital.

Determine the purpose, and then, as usual, leave an application on the bank’s website, a specialist will contact you and tell you what documents you need to prepare.

All banks have different requirements and restrictions, the main thing is to choose the most convenient variant.

Investment Companies, Venture Capital Funds, and Business Angels

You have probably heard more than once about investment companies and venture capital funds, and now we will look at how they differ from each other.

Venture Funds

These are funds which invest assets in companies or projects at the initial stage of their creation. Usually such funds are not engaged in portfolio investments, but in strategic investments in controlling blocks of shares and shares in limited liability companies. Incidentally, not every venture fund investment is successful. It is believed that 70-80% of investments give a loss. But the remaining 20-30% are so profitable that they more than cover the costs.

Each fund has certain criteria for making decisions. Everyone has different requirements to documents. The stage of development of the startup and the amount of investment play an important role in making the decision.

Each foundation has certain criteria for making decisions. Everyone has different requirements for documents. The stage of development of the startup and the amount of investment play an important role in the decision.

Business Angels

These are private venture capitalists who provide financial and expert support for the business, they are even able to attract the first customers.
Unlike venture capital funds, angels can enter a project even at the idea stage, and they also invest their own money.
It is clear from this that the amount of capital of a business angel is noticeably smaller than that of a venture fund, which attracts and actively accumulates funds from investors.
And while venture capital funds give preference to projects that can already somehow show financial efficiency, a business angel can simply invest in a project he is interested in.

Investment Company

We will call it IC. This is a company that provides private and corporate investors with a wide range of financial services and is an intermediary in the financial market.
ICs work on the same principle – they issue their own securities (shares) and raise funds from investors. The investment companies invest the collected finances in securities of various corporations. In other words, ICs actually finance different spheres of economy.
There are special ratings of ICs, where you can choose the safest organization.

Crowdinvesting

Familiar means of financing we have disassembled, and now move on to the most original and least known.
Along with the growing popularity of investing in projects, new options are emerging.

Today, it is not even necessary to leave home to find the right connections. There are online platforms or information clubs on the Internet, where you can not only find information about how to do business, but also get to know an investor directly.

Investments clubs exist not only on websites, but also in social networking groups and in thematic chats.
Crowdinvesting is another way to find an investor, even a group of investors who are willing to invest in your startup. The number of investors in this financing option is quite large.
The nuance is as follows: in exchange for their investment, the investor receives a share in your project or company. The risk level of such an investment is high.
The reason for the popularity of crowdfunding is that it is used by companies that have no financial history and cannot come to the bank for a loan.

In order to interest a crowdinvesting investor, you need to prepare a presentation of your idea and specify the amount of money you need. In addition, specify the investors’ remuneration and the frequency of payments. By the way, you will receive money not immediately, but only after reaching the target amount, because the crowding platform will need to pay a commission.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding platforms are another way to find an investor. It differs from crowdinvesting in that these platforms raise funds for different needs. Whereas crowdfunding is a narrower concept related specifically to investing, it also works on a special platform.

So, crowdfunding is the collective cooperation of people who voluntarily pool their money or other resources to support a person or organization in implementing an idea. For such fundraisers, the platform must declare a goal, determine the amount needed, calculate all costs, and information on the progress of fundraising is open to all. There are many proven platforms freely available to help people find funds for their goals every day.

Online Platforms for Investors

In addition to the platforms described above, there are also private platforms that organize fundraisers and attract investors.
This can be a website with a huge database of people and venture capitalists. Such services can help not only to find investors, but also help to attract new people to your project.

Some platforms have their own ranking of startups and allow investors to evaluate all the available projects.

There are such platforms that can show you all the successful deals made between investors and startup founders.

And with the help of others, you can even properly “package” your project and make it interesting for an investor. We advise you to take a closer look at such platforms, there you can get a lot of useful information for your startup.

We have prepared a list of such platforms for you, you can download it here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1La1t5Zmzunn9_ByaLpxJ_hluY2aRLVVy14vPUfEdvzA/edit#gid=0

And a list of helpful resources here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1skmykpeuW0MrDhXcVQILWen_YtkvWkjyB1EDeeO9DHA/edit?usp=sharing

Since there are so many startups and it’s not easy to stand out among them, there is another solution that will help you in moving towards your goal.

Paid advertising

A familiar way to get a customer’s attention these days is through paid advertising.
You can order it from opinion leaders in your niche, as well as use banner ads on the sites above.
You can also raise your visibility by taking paid promotion from them to stand out from the rest.
The main thing to take care of is to create a landing page or other concise and catchy page for your project.

But still, to really get an investor interested, not in words, but in deeds, it is best to make an MVP of your startup. Below we tell you what it is and how it is useful for those who want to increase their chances of getting an investment.

Create a Minimum Viable Product

MVP – Minimum Viable Product – a starting version of your future product, which allows you to collect maximum practical data on the interaction of the user with the product at minimum cost.

To help an investor understand how realistic and promising your startup is and what benefits it may bring, ideally you should create the MVP of your project.

If you only tell investors about the idea, your presentation will look less convincing, unrealistic, and maybe even infantile.

So before you start looking for investments, we recommend you to study the concept of MVP, and then test the demand for the product and see if the market needs it. At this stage, you can get not only the approval of potential customers, but also the first payments or preliminary contracts.

MVP applies to the creation of any product, but it is most often used in IT.

Comments from the Full-stack developer Nikita.

“In our company the process of MVP development takes place in several stages:

1. identifying the target audience. Often the audience which the client considers as target, in fact, is not. At this stage you analyze the customers of the product, and draw a portrait of the client.
2. Identification of the user’s needs. After studying the behavioral characteristics of the potential consumer, it becomes clear why he/she uses the product, and what problems he/she solves with it.
3. analysis of competitors. It is necessary to study the competitors to work on uniqueness, to offer something original and to make the product better than others. At this stage there is an analysis of all direct and indirect competitors.
4. SWOT analysis. This stage is an analysis of the external and internal environment, the strengths and weaknesses of the project, as well as opportunities and threats.
5. Customer Path Analysis is the step where the sequence of steps the user takes when interacting with the product is examined. The project team goes through all of the user’s steps to identify points where the user needs help or more information.
6. Definition of the main functions of the future product. After the analysis of the customer journey has been done, it becomes clear what the user lacks and how the product functionality can be supplemented. Thus, the product becomes minimally viable.
7. Then one of the methodologies of project development is preferred: Lean, Scrum, Kanban.
8. Product testing. At this stage, alpha and beta testing is done. All this is necessary to improve the product and eliminate technical problems.

The new product is tested by internal testers, members of the project team themselves, developers, and product owners. Next, you can let real customers try out the service. After that, collect feedback, make improvements and test again.New product is tested by internal testers, themselves members of the project team, developers and product owners. Then we give the service to real customers to try out. After that we collect feedback, make corrections and test it again”.

Here is an example of the functionality of MVP application for London Group:

Here you can see such functionality as:

-Authorization, user registration via SMS

-User Profile

-User roles (guest and waiter)

-User Survey Functionality

-Partnership Program functionalities

-Functionality of the unique invitation codes generated for each user for access to premium services

-Waiter interface with QR-code scanning functionality for receiving premium privileges

-Administrator’s panel with a list of users, time of visit, receipts, results of surveys, data on the loyalty program.

So, a huge layer of work is done for you. Now you know who will be interested in your product, how to improve it, plus you have worked out the customer’s path, which the investor will pass through as well.

You are confident in yourself, as you have tested the relevance of your own idea, fine-tuned the nuances and decided on the methodology of development.

The result:

The presentation of your startup is prepared at its best.

On what terms to work with investors

After your mvp has made a proper impression. It’s time to think about the main thing. How to build a partnership with the investor. This is a question everyone who attracts investments asks, and below we will tell you how investor and startup interaction happens.

Loan

90% of investors give startups a loan.
The standard scheme used by the majority:
Fixed interest (15 to 35% APR)
Monthly payments (from one month to one year)
The body of the debt at the end of the term (from 1 to 5 years).

This option is optimal, because the body of the capital in full is in the business, and during the term of the contract it can be rolled over an unlimited number of times. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the interest rate on the loan should be more favorable than that of the bank, otherwise the meaning of interaction with the investor is lost.

Without collateral under the personal guarantee

The second option is also quite common. In fact – it’s a guarantee. The owner or manager of the company gives a personal commitment to the investor to fulfill his part of the financial arrangements, and all this is recorded legally.
What’s the nuance? Guarantors are liable for company obligations with all their property, including future profits.

Surety issues are regulated by articles 361-367 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Additional clarification can be found in the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Commercial Court No. 42 of July 12, 2012 “On certain issues of dispute resolution related to surety”. Banks often require a surety not only from the CEO but also from the owners or even family members of the CEO and founders. In this case, the guarantor will have to be jointly or subsidiarily liable for the loan debts, even if there is no longer any connection between him and the borrower.

Business share

This option assumes that the starter gives the investor a share of the project. The size of the share must be calculated on the basis of the potential profitability. It should be at least 50% per annum, i.e. the investor should return his money in 2 years or sooner. It is also possible for an investor to receive a higher percentage before returning his investment, and after the percentage decreases. For example, at first 40%, and after the return of the investment – 20%.

It is best to enter into a partnership with an investor, giving up to 49% interest. Ideally, invest part of the project with your own money to be the main owner of the business. Share in the business is formalized by the creation of LLC (hereinafter – the company) with the corresponding shares of the founders, or an investment agreement.

And most importantly:

if you have chosen the option of a share in the business, do not assume the obligation to return the money. Protect yourself and talk to a competent lawyer.

How to formalize an agreement with an investor?

Only companies can formalize their relations with the investor. A sole proprietorship can conclude an oral transaction with an investor, disputes over which will be complicated for both parties in the future.

In Russian law, the term “investment agreement” refers to different ways of making investments in a business.
The most common are:
– participation in the authorized capital

– loan
– convertible loan
– purchase and sale of treasury share
– financing under a partnership agreement.

Let’s break down each item in more detail and make a step-by-step plan of how to execute each of them:

Participation in the Authorized Capital

This method is quite simple. The main thing is to observe the nuances: for example, be sure to draw up a protocol of the general meeting.

A step by step process:
– The investor writes an application for admission to the company and making investments. Such an application does not need to be notarized. In the application the investor indicates the size of his share in the authorized capital, which he wants to acquire, the size and composition of the contribution (money, property, property rights), the schedule of planned contributions.

– The participants hold a general meeting. For the decision to be taken, it must be unanimous. At the end of the meeting, minutes must be drawn up and notarized. In the minutes indicate: the amount of the share capital after the increase, the amount and composition of the investor’s contribution, the order of contribution, the amount of the share acquired by the investor and its nominal value, as well as the new amount of shares of all participants.

– Contribution by the investor. The period for making the contribution is no longer than six months from the date of the decision of the general meeting.

– Additional contributions by third parties are recorded on the basis of applications. Depending on the region this protocol can also be certified by a notary.

– The General Director of the company must sign an application for state registration of the changes made to the articles of association of the company. Contribution in full is confirmed by the participants in the application.

– Within a month after making a contribution to the company’s settlement account the state registration of the changes takes place. The procedure is considered to be completed from the moment the entry is made in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities.

Loan

How to process. The process is not complicated, here are the main points to consider:

1. The investor and the company conclude a loan agreement. The contract specifies the amount that goes to the company, and the type of loan – target or investment.
2. The amount and procedure of interest payments, terms of repayment and transfer of the loan are specified.
3. After signing the contract, the investor transfers money to the settlement account specified in the contract.

Convertible loan

How to execute. The process is described below:

-Discuss with the investor the terms of the future deal: the parameters of the loan, and possibly future conversion. Then draft the following documents: a) Decision of the general meeting of participants of the company on consent to conclude the convertible loan agreement b)The convertible loan agreement.

-After confirmation of all the nuances the investor submits an application for admission to the company and an application for making a contribution, which should include: the maximum amount of the investor’s contribution; information on the fact that on account of making a contribution the investor’s monetary claims to the company on obligations from the convertible loan agreement will be set off; the maximum amount of the investor’s share in the company’s charter capital after its increase.

-At the general meeting of the participants the decision to agree to the conclusion of the convertible loan agreement and the increase of the company’s charter capital on the basis of the investor’s application shall be unanimously adopted. The minutes of the meeting shall be notarized. It is important to take into consideration: if the requirement of obtaining consent is not observed the contract may not be recognized.

-A convertible loan agreement is concluded. Here it is necessary to specify the terms and circumstances, upon occurrence of which the investor has the right to present a demand to increase the charter capital of the company; the amount or procedure of determining the nominal value of the share, which the investor will receive in case of conversion of the loan, the amount of the contribution to be made.

-The contract is further certified by a notary.

-The notary within two days submits an application to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities with information on the convertible loan agreement.

Purchase and Sale of Treasury Share

How to draw up a contract. The stages of the transaction, which you need to pay attention to:

– Clarify whether the statute allows for the disposition of a treasury share to a third party.

– Determine the price. It must not be lower than the face value, if it was paid by the participant who left, or not lower than the price for which it was bought out by the company. It is possible to set another price, for this purpose it is necessary to make a unanimous decision at the general meeting.

– The conditions of distribution of corporate control are defined in details. The degree of influence on decision-making within the company is determined due to the fact that there is a new participant in the company. It is fixed in the agreement on the exercise of participants’ rights or in the charter of the company.

– Tax consequences are taken into consideration. By selling a share, the company receives income in the form of its redemption value. This means that profit tax will have to be paid on the difference between the cost of acquiring a share and its sale.

Financing under a partnership agreement

How to execute. The process is described below:

1. You conclude an agreement on the joint activities of the parties.

2. In the contract you must prescribe the term of the general partnership, the names of the parties, the duties of each partner in the general partnership.

3. separately in the contract it is important to spell out the amount, type and timing of contributions of the parties.

4. Choosing a partner to be in charge of general affairs.

5. You make contributions in the way prescribed in the contract. For example, in money to a checking account.

Every year, all countries issue regulations which support initiatives of technological start-ups.

For example, in Russia, according to the January 27, 2022 meeting on the implementation and results of initiatives for socio-economic development until 2030, one of the key initiatives was to support technological startups at all stages of their development – up to the launch of innovative production and attracting major investors.

In the U.S., universities play a special role in the development of entrepreneurial culture: almost every university supports student startup projects and, through partnerships with local foundations, opens doors to big business for them.

Chile offers $40,000 in free grants and $145M in grants and loans.

Israel is offering $450M in seed funding and R&D Engineer/Researcher projects, which focuses on research and development of innovative products, technologies and processes.

Friends, we hope that in this article you learned not only where to look for an investor and on what terms to cooperate with him, but also think about other important points. To start a great business, you need to be well prepared for it.

We wish you good luck and invite you to discuss the details of your mvp.

“Success depends entirely on preparation. Without it, you will inevitably fail.”

Confucius, Thinker and Philosopher of Ancient China

If you have any questions, we are happy to answer them!

Today in this article as an experts with us will be the developer of the company “IT Fox” Julia,

Technical director of the company “IT Fox” Vladas,

Project management director of the company “IT Fox” Andrey.

Nowadays, the restaurant industry is becoming more and more digital. Most establishments have modernized, or at least started to use technological innovations in their processes.
Typically, restaurant owners are modernizing their business by creating a mobile app that allows customers to order takeout, or creating corporate software that improves the restaurant’s operations by simplifying internal processes.

Some restaurateurs focus on building relationships with younger audiences through positioning, while others expand their reach through promotions and push notifications in loyalty programs.
All of this, in turn, is a competitive advantage over other establishments.

Below are a few more statistical factors in favor of a restaurant app being worthwhile:

• The global food service industry’s projected worth was $3 trillion in 2020 and is expected to reach $4.1 trillion by 2026, with an annual growth rate of 5.4% (Global Industry Analysts, 2021).
• Foodservice makes up 40% to 50% of total food spending in the US, but this range goes down to 10% to 15% in developing countries (Global Industry Analysts, 2021)
• Sberbank CIB, as part of the “Ivanov Consumer Index” survey in June 2021, surveyed 2,300 people from 164 cities in Russia. It turned out that the share of orders directly from restaurants is growing. In Moscow, the number of customers among those surveyed increased year-on-year from 36% to 47%. Across Russia, the figure rose from 42% to 46% over the same period.

So, representatives of London Restaurant Group came to us to find out if it was possible to create an app where they could bring their loyalty program to mobile, which entailed writing two more programs to help their business. This is how our cooperation with LRG – one of the most popular restaurant chains in customer region.

At the first consultation, which, by the way, is free for anyone, we figured out:

-What a loyalty program application can be

-What kind of difficulties will our clien face

-What he lacks for the launch

-What development technology suits his requirements?

-What will be the cost and duration of work.

Usually restaurant apps help employees and managers interact with each other, as well as maintain relationships with customers, but sometimes their functionality goes beyond the usual, and we love and appreciate such moments, because at this point begins the creativity and paves the way for progress and somethiing completely new.

Case Study №1. Multi-platform mobile app for restaurant “Loyalty Program.

Our client needed a mobile app for IOS and Android, which would help their VIP customers join the loyalty program. Since the main customer segment is wealthy people, it was necessary to create an appropriate design.

Stages of restaurant app development.

Comments from the developer of “IT Fox” Julia:

“The work on this application can be divided into 3 stages, as we are now completely updating the application at the request of the client. At the beginning of the project the main task was to create a private application for privileged customers of Bar London only, where they could find out the news and get a discount. The technology of mobile development was chosen on react-native.

Here we developed a rather laconic design in all tones of the club”.

A version of the application design in the tones of the club

Basic functionality of the application.

After the preparation and analytics phase we implemented the following functionality:

– registration via sms

– individual account with two roles:

guest account (personal info and QR-code), a waiter account (QR-code scanner and guest information)

admin panel (web interface with the list of users, time of visit, invoices, etc.)

Process of application functionality.

Comments from the developer of “IT Fox” Julia:

“The second stage of our development is to add a virtual loyalty card to Apple Wallet and Google Pay to create the possibility of buying tickets to the events and implement QR code scanning from the tickets by the waiter. While filling the mobile application with functionality, introducing new ideas and design, we decided to switch to Flutter mobile development technology.

Based on that we needed to provide a UI with two roles: user and administrator/waiter”.

Role assignment plan

As the specificity of customer region is that they mostly go to the same places, it was suggested to give guests the opportunity to send an invitation code to their friends.

Also, we suggested:

-Record users’ food and drink preferences.

-Add comments about the users (problems, habits, etc.), so that the customer can become really useful to his client and gradually become better for him.

Here we changed the design and made it more concise and comfortable for the user’s eyes.

Interesting “features” and additional functions of the restaurant app.

Comments from the developer of “IT Fox” Julia:

“In the new development, the customer did not limit himself to one bar, but decided to add the complete network of his restaurants in another regions to the app and unite them under the LRG brand.

Now we have a task to integrate all the restaurants, connect Yandex navigation and Yandex-taxi, and develop a logical and clear mechanism of bonus loyalty. And we’re also working on connecting R-keeper, which will allow you to pay your bills with points”.

Integration process with R-keeper

Work results.

Mobile application, which was initially developed as an MVP to test the idea of converting the loyalty program to mobile format, today turned into a convenient and useful application, which was greeted with enthusiasm by the customers.

In addition, the app received high praise for its design and was featured in the list of best apps by design.

The advantages of IT-Fox in application development.

We have analyzed the market of application development service providers and now we can say why IT Fox is better than others:

– When you start a project, you are allocated a personal manager who will go with you all the way from start to finish. He will become your right hand and guide you through the world of mobile apps. He will plan everything for you, help you achieve your desired result, and provide you with a weekly progress report.

– You only pay for completed and accepted work, while many other teams will ask you to pay quarterly, and the work itself may stretch over several months.

– We also love what we do. We have true professionals working for you in our team, who are ready to tackle interesting projects.

– The level of training of our employees is only Middle and Senior. It means their great experience will save you time and money, while their passion for their own business will allow them to be one step ahead of the circumstances.

Case Study №2. Application “Foto Box” for the chain of bars and restaurants “London Group”.

Comments from the Project management director of the company “IT Fox” Andrey.

“In the process of developing a loyalty app, our client decided to improve the food quality of their restaurant. The customer shared with us that additional control over the appearance of dishes would greatly help the business.

We were tasked with coming up with a concept and developing a mechanism to record the look of the food coming out of the kitchen before it reaches the client’s table. At first the idea was something out of the fantasy world.

But if there is an idea, then there are options for its realization. And we developed an information system (IS), which here for simplicity we will call “application”.

Project goals and objectives.

The application works in conjunction with R-Keeper and several sensors that capture and transmit data to the IS:

– dish presentation

– weight

– temperature

After that the received information is estimated and compared with the standard, which is set in the system.

Imagine that you have the most demanding employee in the team, who closely monitors the quality of food in the kitchen and does not skip it further if he is not satisfied with something. He’s also incorruptible and has proof of inappropriate quality in the form of pictures. You can’t come to an agreement with such an employee if a dish doesn’t fit the restaurant’s standards.

“FotoBox” interface

Application functionality implementation process.

Unfortunately we can’t disclose the implementation process of the app as its most interesting features are under development and are kept in secret, but we will tell you all the details as soon as it becomes possible.

Results of work.

In addition to improving the quality of the dishes, the app has also given the customer the following features:

The incoming chef will now be able to embed himself into the team in short time, as he has detailed information on how the dish should look, what it should be served, the temperature, and how long it should take to cook. 

Now the appearance and quality of the ordered dish always corresponds to what is stated on the menu.

As a result – increasing brand awareness.

Interesting “features” and additional functionality of the restaurant app.

We also suggested extending the administrator interface with a filter for the history of serving dishes and the ability to sort them by name; and with a view of such parameters as cooking time and order waiting time.

Case Study № 3. Restotchet application for London Group Bar & Restaurant chain.

Accounting for revenues and costs in the restaurant business is a special case: in addition to standard revenues and expenses need to consider costs for the production of dishes on technology charts, moreover, every month you have to make complex calculations of staff salaries.

In addition, restaurant managers are often faced with the problem of centralized accounting for different types of costs: there can be many restaurants and each has its own characteristics, and the head is important to understand all the flow of funds and see the big picture for all establishments.

If you do your accounting in excel, there are bound to be differences in the format of the reports from different restaurants, and sometimes the format of the report at one restaurant differs from month to month. Bringing all these numbers together in a final report is a very difficult task.

“Restotchet” was created to centralize all costs and revenues in a single format.

Implementation process.

Comments from the Technical director of the company “IT Fox” Vladas.

“I should say that the first stage of preparations to implement this application started a few years ago. At first a prototype on 1C platform was written. 

Over several years we stuck to it in London Restaurant Group system, made a few hiccups, spent weeks coordinating reports, improved UI and solved the issue of integration with other systems”.

Results of the work.

The output was not just an application, but a software package that solved business problems and, most importantly, could act as a prototype for the future universal complex Restoretcheck. The new software complex uses modern technology, is easily accessible from any browser and integrates with the main information systems of the restaurant business.

Advantages of restaurant apps.

Let’s summarize and see what our client gets after implementing their apps :

-New sources of income, after launching Foto Box apps and restaurant business cost accounting software.

-Added brand loyalty and increased average check

-Enhancement of the flow of funds within the company

-Increased level of accuracy in reports

-The client saves money and nerves, as a result of which the responsibility of staff and the level of trust within the team grows.

This is the way our client has come all the way from the loyalty program idea to the truly unique software, which will benefit his customers and bring him passive income.

According to AgFunder, investment in consumer-facing food technology grew to $15 billion in the first half of 2021 . The field is still at the peak of its popularity, and it will continue to develop its infrastructure, and gain loyal customers in the future.

Not to miss out on the wave of success, we look forward to hearing from you about your project.

What can your idea lead to? Call us to find out!

Today in this article as an expert with us will be a developer of the company “IT Fox” Julia.

Hi everyone, here is IT-Fox – the IT and WEB application development team.

Today we decided to tell you a story about how we developed the Get Coach fitness app, which soon got a 5.0 rating and attracted more than 250 trainers in 1.5 months.

Artem Nazaretyan came to us with a cool idea for a startup, who understood from his own experience the secret of visible results from working out. Artem said how difficult it was to find a good personal trainer who will really help you achieve the results of the classes, but most importantly, Artem understood that the result will be visible faster when all the processes are organized.

Artem described the situation:
Imagine that you found a cool personal trainer Nikolai in a social network. After that you corresponded for some time there, did the first training, and then you exchanged contacts and started communicating in messenger.

Then Nikolai sent you a nutrition program to e-mail and… Now some of the data, including the exercise program, your first measurements and the nutrition program are everywhere but not where you want to find it.
And so you think what exercise and how many times to do today, and the next time too…And another day Nikolai forgot his workout diary and the next time the workout is no longer planned and consistent, and therefore the result will be the same.

Also, in addition to this there were known problems:
– Researching a trainer’s social media, you have to spend a lot of time looking at the trainer’s portfolio
– The cost of personal or online training can be up to $70
– Gym is paid separately

Description of the app

Artem’s idea was to create a fitness workout app that would be useful for personal trainers and help to
track users’ progress systematize his own work and it will be useful for the user, as it will provide him:
-the ability to easily find the right trainer
-see a workout program
-see a nutrition program

Why are fitness apps still popular, and why are we excited to take on this task?

The answer is very simple – sports and the desire to get in better shape are gaining in popularity every day.
In addition, taking care of your body is equal to working on your health and well-being, so improving the quality of life is now a good trend.

The main objectives of the project are:

– Convenient tracking of users’ successes.
Absolutely anonymous user can add his “before” photos to see the dynamics and estimate the result of the “after” photo.
– A flexible system of “subscriptions”.
You choose the appropriate price, just specify the one that suits you.

Also you could choose the ready-made offline and online training programs or the personal nutrition and training program.
– Variety of fitness activities
Nowadays, the smart fitness trend, which carries the key goal of psychological development, has won the hearts of many people.

And to make it easy for people to find such a trainer, we have added several directions so that everyone can find one. It is much easier, using filters, to choose a trainer with a similar philosophy and attitude to the sport, just by ticking a box. Otherwise you will have to search a lot of sites and look through a lot of accounts in social networks.

Safe Deal 

In this day and age of DDoS attacks, scammers can get to your data, hack it, and get all of your personal information, they can sell it and use for their own purposes.
An important part of any app we create is designing a secure transaction.
You can be calm about the impossibility of leakage of your data – we will take care of it.

Systematization of the coach’s work 

– If you’re a coach, you can fill out your profile and link to your website or social media profile.
– Demonstrate the range of all your services – fill it out in detail and the chances of being selected will increase.
– Maximum convenient for you will be to track your workload – to see the number of requests and the status of payments.

– Flexible choice of rates – you can test the program for free for three clients.

What platforms were you developing the fitness application for?

– The mobile application was developed for two platforms IOS and Android.

This is what the task board looks like in Trello (a project management tool). When you start a project, the technical director and the project manager create task cards, assign responsibilities, and add the necessary labels.

The implementation process 

Comments from the developer of “IT Fox” Julia:
“We had a serious and difficult task: to make the whole cycle of work to match the client’s requirements with the base of trainers, and most importantly, to make further client management and communication between them smooth and convenient. The client had his own vision of the process, which we adapted to the UI we had written.

The client’s desire and satisfaction are most important to us, and we tried to make these processes as comfortable as possible, in spite of the cross platform”.

Interesting “features” we came up with during development:

– FAQ with basic questions. At first sight – this is standard functionality, but it is so comprehensive that a new user can easily figure out how the application works on their own.

– A so-called “quick start” is available to everyone – this means that without paying – all users are given access to Get Coach after filling out a profile. Those who want to work out – access to a personal trainer and nutrition programs, compiled by a renowned master of sports. In general, we provide everything to be able to start a full training session right away. And coaches who are looking for clients

– Access to the management of 3 clients without payment.

– The ability to use one app as a family app – and it’s beneficial. For example, you and your girlfriend can take a large training package in half.

Comments from the developer of “IT Fox” Julia:

“There were a lot of nuances in the development process. The business logic and the idea of the application itself are very interesting, but there were “weaknesses” that had to be worked out and provided for.
We dealt with questionable moments with the process of forming an application and selecting a trainer, we thought a lot about how this process will take place on the trainer’s side so that adequate and convenient logic is not lost and there are no “holes” in it, we tried to provide for everything that could happen in different situations, so the application will respond correctly.

But, thanks to our Tester and Project Manager, we found ways to solve these points, and it turned out to implement all the wishes of the customer with fewer losses”.

 A mind map of the registration process and functionality from the trainer-user side and the user as a client

Why is Get Coach better than its peers?

Comments from the developer of “IT Fox” Julia:

– Verified trainers
The client is very serious about creating a database of trainers, so you will find qualified trainers in the app in different price segments who are seriously vetted.

– Tracking your results
You keep statistics of your progress with photo/video confirmation, you get a personal training session, which is corrected by analyzing your progress. You can track your progress by yourself in your office and enter the data without sending statistics to your personal trainer.

– Highly personalized.
Get Coach has a lot of filters and useful information. You get a nutrition program, chat with your trainer. Everyone will pick the right goal for their needs here, at the creation stage of the application, whether you just want to eat right, lose weight, gain mass, or improve your mental health.

– Helping users find their first free program
We’ve introduced questionnaires to help customers understand “how it works,” and made the onboarding it’s a feature that teaches users how to use the app in the first phase of the launch.

How we make Get Coach better

During the development process we were so passionate about the result, which by the way often happens to us, that we suggested introducing some more useful features:

– Synchronization with smart watches and fitness bracelets, which further allows you to track the effectiveness of your workouts, for example, you can know the number of steps, your heart rate and overall activity.

– Automatic calculation of kcal, based on energy expended and lifestyle in general, the app determines the amount of calories and you already know how much and what you can afford for dinner.

– The rubric “Articles” – here trainers give useful information and share their experiences with users, this attracts additional attention to your person, as a real expert in their field.

By the way, there are additional ideas that are being implemented and developed now, so you will learn about them a little later.

The results of work

After launching the app, we helped Artem solve the following tasks:

– Already in the first month of operation, more than 250 trainers in 20+ areas registered in the Get Coach fitness app.

– More than 500+ downloads on Google play and also on the App store.

– We have achieved an excellent score of 4.9 on Google play and 5 on the App store.

– The application is successfully monetized and generates revenue for the customer.

– For most coaches Get Coach has become the main and constant source of clients, who do not need to search for

themselves and conveniently control everything in one place.

If you have any questions, we are happy to answer them!

Contacts

Thank you to our client Artem Nazaretyan, the founder and Marketing Director of Get Coach

Imagine a situation: you’ve been working on a mobile app for months or even a year. You, your partners, or your team double-checking and testing the code, agonizing over the design to get the perfect product in the end. And then it’s in the AppStore, and you eagerly monitor the stats to see the desirable downloads. But… no miracle happened.

A day or two or a week goes by, but the app still isn’t of any interest to users. And that’s the real shock. It turns out that all the efforts were spent in vain, and as a result you released a product that does not interest anyone at all.

Yes, it can be perfectly made; it can have the most convenient functionality on the market, it can correspond with all the popular trends for startups. But the product can simply not meet the needs of consumers. And by the way, that’s the main reason why most startups fail.

So what should be taken into consideration in order not to fail at the very start? Here are 5 key questions you should work through before launching a startup.

How to create a mobile app that’s helpful to users?

The key to creating a product is not its design and functionality, but its ability to solve a user’s problem. Because this is what will ensure that your app is downloaded and actively used in the future. Everything else is a matter of convenience and a nice look and feel.

The only verification of the very utility of your product, its importance for the customer, ways to solve existing problems and customer satisfaction increase the chance that the product will successfully enter the market.

How to understand what the user’s needs are?

The best way to determine a user’s need is to come up with a theory and then validate it. For example, if you want to create an app for delivering fresh, peeled vegetables, you need to understand how many of your consumer need all the features of the delivered product. Whether there is a real need for vegetable delivery in your city/neighborhood or neighbor. And whether it should be fresh and peeled vegetables, whether the consumer is ready to incur additional costs for this service, or it is enough to limit the standard set of characteristics. And perhaps it is necessary to give the consumer the right to choose in what form the vegetables should be delivered.

To do this, it is not enough to hear from the people around you something like: “And it would be great if there was such a service. You need to test the theory by providing, for example, a product demo for the focus group.

How to prepare for hypothesis testing?

In order to solve a user problem, you need to find it and analyze it. And here it is important to stick to the scheme of any business idea:

• Identify the target audience and the problems to be solved.
• Define a list of theories
• Find a way to confirm or disprove the theory.

Can’t you do without all of these tests when creating a product?

If you want your product to be in demand, you can’t do without it. If you’re creating something for yourself, then of course there’s no need for all these theories, checks, and all this headache.

As the survey of successful startups of 2019-2020 shows, the longest, most meticulous and intensive work was just at the stage of proposing theories and their confirmation and at the stage of creating a detailed and technological demo of the product. And the final result could often be categorically different from the original version.

So, is creating a demo and initial testing enough to bring a product to market?

Absolutely not.

First, because it’s not enough to identify the user’s need and offer them a solution. You need to constantly monitor how valuable the solution is to the user. Whether they are willing to come back to your product, recommend the product, and so on.

To do this, it is important to track feedback, create product evaluation tools, allocate a field for user recommendations.

Second, the more users your product has, the more the original audience problem can change. The audience gets bigger, and the product needs to be refined and improved.

That is, you need to keep testing new – improved and refined – versions of the product in order to understand how much and for which category of users they are relevant.