Interview with Amrit Rathi, Founder - CitrusLeaf Software

Amrit Rathi  

Founder, CitrusLeaf Software

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

CitrusLeaf Software was incepted with the purpose to encourage the usage of the software as a means to optimize business operations. With an adept team of developers, we believe in bestowing the community with huge benefits of open-source software. We have provided multiple SMEs across the globe with high-quality software. Along with business software, the team is well-versed in delivering quality mobile apps on Android, iOS & Flutter to startups as well. I believe that most of the businesses are not achieving their true potential because of the lack of automation. Every business deserves purpose-built software to bring their hidden potential in the forefront, after realizing this fact, I decided to aid them with affordable & high-quality software solutions. Focusing on the needs of the enterprises and steady growth, I launched the CitrusLeaf to bring technological innovations in the industry.

What is your role in the management and development of CitrusLeaf Software?

As the Founder of CitrusLeaf Software, there are multiple roles I need to play at times. I function and strategize for taking my ideas & business toward success. As soon as I started CitrusLeaf Software, the challenging role was to bring awareness in the industry that acquiring software is not as expensive as assumed. Holding the Founder position, I strive hard to ensure cost-efficient and custom-made software delivery. As a leader, I also have to make sure that my team is always up-to-date with the latest yet stable technologies. Hence, at CitrusLeaf, we have set up a learning environment where we grow with each other by exchanging ideas and knowledge.

Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry.

Getting recognized as one of the Top 10 construction software providers in 2018 in India was one of our biggest achievements. Apart from this, we have delivered multiple successful national & international projects to cater to the client’s needs. Their success equals our achievements. Recently, we were recognized as one of the Top Futuristic Mobility Companies 2019 by one of the popular platforms.

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

We schedule the development cycle depending on the extensibility of the project. The development phases will include the operations in the following manner:
Requirement Gathering
Wireframe Development
Planning & Designing
Backend development
App/Frontend development
API Integrations
Testing & Deployment

We follow this development model with precise planning for each step. The project timeline is decided based on the dimensions of the project. We keep our client updated about the project progress report after the completion of each stage. Internally, we use Phabricator (a well-known project management solution used by Facebook, Google, etc) to plan and deliver projects.

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

This formula depends on the business requirements of the client, which requires a proper understanding of their future business goals. If a client requires a mobile application for Android and iOS both platforms, then we suggest them to go with the Flutter, a cross-platform app development toolkit created by Google. Depending on the extensions, integrations, and target audience, we draft a solution and present it to them. We firmly make the client understand the core objective of our project plan and how it performs the required operations.

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?

We do not support either of them as it totally depends on factors like time-to-market, the overall requirements. However, according to us, a better solution for a profitable business progression is app development on the Flutter framework. One can make apps for both iOS and Android from a single code base in Flutter. The quality of the apps remains the same, just like native apps. We are one of a few Flutter development companies and developing a lot of mobile apps based on Flutter. Flutter app development requires almost half of the efforts (involved) than regular app development, which results in better costing and timelines. Apart from Flutter, we’re also working on Amazon Alexa to bring voice capabilities to existing and upcoming enterprise software.

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

We have designed our pricing model based on factors like time duration, project complexity, resource requirements, functionalities, development platform, required extensions & integrations. We tender the invoice after analyzing the requirements of the project like UI/UX, Server-side, development, maintenance, and external integrations. The cost is also managed if the client has some parts already developed. For example, if the client has a backend pre-built, then we will do the rest of the development and will not include the backend’s cost. Apart from fixed pricing, we also have monthly and hourly cost models.

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

Our apps have helped many of our clients double their efficiency in executing their business operations. This ultimately resulted in excellent growth as well. On the startup front, apps developed by us for startups have helped them in raising external funds and in scaling to new heights. They rely on us for their complete technical requirements, and we make sure that they do not have to worry about anything.

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

While completing over 50+ projects, we have understood the level of excellence the client seeks in a software or application. The most important thing to develop & deliver a satisfactory and up to the mark solution is, understanding the business goals and requirements of the client. Stable software development is an important consideration to attain client satisfaction, thus we enforce a deep evaluation of every technology, paradigm, and pattern. We rely on long-lasting & sustainable software development. We have established a proactive and open-communication channel for our clients so that they don’t wonder about their ongoing project and stay updated about project progress.

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

Recently, we’ve seen unprecedented advancements in the technology landscape. With the rise of technologies like AI, ML, Blockchain, etc., it gets overwhelming sometimes and one starts wondering what to start with. To resolve this issue, we carefully watch and evaluate each technology as it arrives. For example, until Flutter arrived, we were very skeptical of using cross-platform app development tools like React Native. We believed that only native apps can give the best performance. But Flutter changed our mindset and now we’re one the leading Flutter app development companies in India. Similarly, there have been multiple instances in the past with different technologies where we closely tested them and watched their growth. When we felt that the community around a particular technology has grown enough, we started using it as one of our toolsets.

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

All of these three technologies define the future of the IT industry and the industries affected by it. AR, VR, and IoT are responsible for hyper-growth and scalability of business today. AR/VR creates a whole new experience for the businesses creating virtual interaction more realistic with sight and sound. Especially in the education sector, learners can now practically understand many parts of the curriculum quickly because they can actually see what's going on behind the scenes. On the other hand, IoT is making industries substantially smarter. They are widely used in manufacturing industries to make the whole manufacturing cycle efficient. One can now track the complete lifecycle of a product right from it being a raw material to a finished entity.

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

Ever-going technological enhancements will bring drastic change and innovation in the mobility industry. The easy approach for handling various operations from shopping to booking an online ticket is mobile applications. With more users coming online using their mobile phones, there’s a tremendous opportunity for growth.