Interview with Pathik Jayani, CEO - Blue Whale Apps

Pathik Jayani  

CEO, Blue Whale Apps

Give us a quick overview on Blue Whale Apps. When and how did you begin this journey and what were your motives to be successful in app development?

At its core, Blue Whale Apps is a digital innovation agency that specializes in mobile app design and development. We have offices along the east coast in Virginia, Florida and New York. One objective drives everything we create: Deliver high-quality software to our clients while ensuring projects run smoothly, strategically, and predictably.

Blue Whale Apps started in 2006 with just 4 people. We had no idea at the time the agency would grow to what is now more than 30 full-time employees and achieve such high levels of recognition within the industry and among our clients. Last year we were named the #1 Mobile App Developer in the USA by many of the leading review and research platforms worldwide.

The real credit for all our achievements goes to the passion of my entire team and their zeal to do outstanding work every single day. It has allowed us to develop the expertise to offer smooth business processes to users by adopting advanced technologies like AI, ML, and cloud computing.

What is your role in the management and development of Blue Whale Apps?

I am the CEO of Blue Whale Apps. As a technical director, I communicate with clients to gather project requirements and provide them with valuable insights and suggestions. I also ensure my team has the tools and talent it needs to continue being a change leader within the app development community. So far, this arrangement has worked very well for our clients, who continue to benefit from the innovations and cost savings we provide. I have also overseen the expansion of Blue Whale Apps since it began, and look forward to creating many more new partnerships from around the globe and specifically among Fortune500 companies.

Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry

Blue Whale Apps was named the#1 Mobile App Developers by the leading review and research platforms of IT firms in 2019, but I would also like to add that we have made a name for ourselves as the best go-to digital product development shop.

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

Our workflow has evolved to not promise an exact timeline. I see that as a recipe for missed deadlines and rushed work as you move through the development process, which always leads to sub-par results.

The value of software products is highly variable. Some functions are more important than others, so we prefer to use an MVP strategy for development with the most valuable aspects created first instead of all the nice-to-haves being developed concurrently. This ensures our clients get a working product that meets their immediate goals and runs smoothly while other functions are added later. It's about achieving a target amount of value within a set amount of time, rather than a set amount of functionality within a set amount of time.

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

Generally, mobile apps are built for iOS, Android or they’re designed from the beginning to be cross-platform. Every organization has different goals for what they want their app to achieve, so we start by identifying our client’s requirements and expectations and then offer advice on where to go from there. Many of our clients come to us with good suggestions regarding which platform to use, which is sometimes driven by the fact they already have a built-in code repository.

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?

Different projects have different requirements, but I prefer native apps over hybrid. Native apps offer an amazing user experience and they’re often more securing than the other. They’re also faster to respond to changes within operating systems and new hardware. In general, native apps give you a more robust capability to decide how to implement your product.

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

Our pricing model depends on the size of the team that’s needed for a certain amount of time. When we define the objectives for a project post analysis, our quotes include a timeline with assumptions and deliverables. But if a client has a clear idea of what they need and how they want it completed, including clearly defined deliverables, we can work within a designated timeline with fixed costs.

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

Blue Whale Apps clients have achieved billions of dollars in transactions. Our design and marketing team conducts competitive analyses and market research to ensure we create the best products to fit the markets our clients want to address. Through consultation and analysis, we create products for our clients that outperform their market-leading competitors.

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

Our experience has been that clients really want an agency that can handle any unexpected technical needs and manage them well. As long as we continue to do that, I have no doubts every client will be happy.

We do that by relying on our business analysis team. They help clients understand new opportunities, identify potential challenges, answer tough questions and maintain high ethical standards. Our team also provides research-based guidance, so our clients see performance that beats their expectations. We’re also focused on communicating with our clients as much as possible to eliminate guesswork and knowledge gaps. Ultimately, we build products that are the most likely to win in the marketplace. That’s what clients like.

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

We have a team of researchers who constantly find innovative ideas, new tools, and new technologies that we incorporate into our technical support and assistance efforts. Our development team is active in technical forums, which are a great place to learn new technologies and stay up-to-date with the latest best practices. We also send our marketing team to conferences so they can see innovations and bring us new ideas.

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

AR, VR, and IoT haven’t yet shown their full potential, but we’re excited about the possibilities. For example, AR can easily be adapted to mobile devices. So far, it has mainly been used for gaming apps, but there are a lot of ways it can be used to enhance business apps. VR has just started to show how it can be applied in the healthcare industry, but the biggest projects still seem to be related to the entertainment industry. IoT is going to completely change the automotive, healthcare, legacy and eCommerce industries as more businesses look into the ways it can be applied, specifically in relation to mobile apps.

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

AI-based applications and IoT are going to be integrated with mobile apps. There is a lot of room for growth there. The future of mobile technology is going be remarkable and exciting. It’s not going to slow down any time soon!