Interview with Nikhil Verma, Head of Sales & Client Success - OnGraph Technologies

Nikhil Verma  

Head of Sales & Client Success, OnGraph Technologies

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

OnGraph is a leading tech company that has been developing cutting edge web and mobile applications for over 11 years now. The company was conceived in 2008 with a vision to build a team of experts who are passionate about innovation in technology and building world class apps. The motive behind OnGraph’s journey has always been 100% customer success, delivered through an All Star Team in the area of cutting edge and highly evolving internet technologies. OnGraph has always kept itself on top of evolution cycle and has been one of the front-runner companies in adopting new technologies & trends as and when they become evident.

What is your role in the management and development of OnGraph?

I head the Sales department at OnGraph and my primary responsibilities include growing the company by acquiring B2B accounts for both long and short term. Apart from finding new avenues for lead generation and learning from experience to build better strategies for higher conversion, the most important and satisfying part of my work is building long term client relationships which involves making clients comfortable, being a good listener, establishing clear communication, taking ownership and acting upon feedback. Other than this I keep myself aware of the quickly changing technology landscape and making sure OnGraph’s team has the right skill-set to cater to futuristic inventions and emerging technologies.

Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry.

OnGraph has grown to double the team size in the last two years and that is testimony to the quality projects we are delivering across technologies. Talking specifically, I think we have done pretty well in building complex systems for Market Research firms from scratch. These systems involve multiple user integrations and have very specific reporting requirements for each of the
Stake-holders involved in the research process. We have mastered the logics and algorithms required for such systems pretty well and that’s why we are still continuing to collaborate with and support market research firms for over 6 years now.

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

We start by defining the scope of the project followed by dividing it into modules of interdependent tasks. We then club the modules into milestones keeping in mind resource leveling for minimal project inter-dependencies. This allows us to make sure that we will have enough resources for the most critical tasks at all times. Each milestone is then evaluated for time required for implementation. We then add a buffer period for high risk tasks and some additional time to cover any unidentified risks that may cause an unexpected delay in meeting project delivery timeline.

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

We consider a lot of factors before we suggest our clients the right and profitable platform for development. We take into account the target audience and geographies to understand their preference of platforms. Technical requirements such as integration of features, user experience, performance and security etc. make the most important factor in choosing the right platform but in my experience a lot of times budget and time constraint can also radically limit the options we may suggest to our clients.


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?

Essentially this depends on client requirements but as technology is advancing quickly hybrid apps are a better choice for most requirements. Hybrid apps eliminate platform dependencies and are easy to maintain and upgrade. They also deliver on performance and scalability issues as the clients business grows. Unless the client already has a system in place and needs an upgrade or maintenance or has a specific requirement of connecting the system to a hardware device we mostly recommend implementing cross platform apps


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

We have flexible pricing model and we propose the best one that suits our client’s needs. If the scope of the project is well defined we prefer using a fixed price model but if we think client may have evolving needs over time we propose monthly pricing model. We also engage our clients in hourly pricing if the project is short term or if client requires our help intermittently and not on a continuous basis. After we evaluate the scope and divide it into milestones, we evaluate the time, team effort and skill level that will be required for implementation to fix the budget.


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

Most of the apps developed by our team are central to the business of our clients for example e-commerce apps, booking or scheduling apps etc. These apps are either the face of their business or are internal apps that help them streamline their day-to-day business process in the most efficient way possible. Also our apps are designed with a futuristic approach and technologies that can support a client's growing business needs such as performance, scalability and multiple integrations etc. We achieve this by developing a thorough understanding of client's business and developing best possible solution that optimizes their whole process. Sometimes this means bridging the gaps between multiple existing systems and often times this leads to reduced costs for our clients in the long run.


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

In my experience you have to keep a 360 degree approach in ensuring client satisfaction. Since every client is unique and has different expectations from the development team, establishing clear understanding of the client expectation in terms of deliverables at the beginning of the collaboration goes a long way in ensuring client satisfaction. Secondly, it’s important to communicate both the good and the bad outcomes during the development process on a continuous basis. Even better be proactive by delivering the bad news along a solution to fix it. This allows the client to build trust in you and your capabilities in handling the unanticipated issues that might crop up without a forewarning. Third and equally important is to ask for feedback and act on it or make changes to get better with each project.


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

We have a dedicated research team to study the ever changing technology landscape and latest requirements in the market. The team also finds the best possible ways to train our team in the emerging technologies whether it’s through online courses, workshops or hands on training etc. Over the course of my journey I have seen that this helps in developing employee skill set and allows them to grow within the organization to take up more challenging roles. This approach of growing together and putting an equal focus on individual growth has helped OnGraph deliver on its promise of delivering world class apps.


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

These are undoubtedly one of the most popular technologies right now and there are a lot of hypes around them as businesses are trying to incorporate these technologies in their business operations. However I believe we have just scratched the surface so far where VR is mostly being utilized in gaming industry and AR being more popular among marketers and businesses. When you add IOT to the mix, you ground the world of AR and VR by physically connecting the real and digital world. I feel the future beholds these apps becoming a staple in our day to day activities and will allow us to interact with these technologies just the way we interact with physical objects.


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

I believe wearable technology,  IOT and M-commerce are beginning to become the new wave in mobile technology. Smart watches and glasses have already made their way into the real world and opens up an entire new world of smart wearable gadgets. Smart domestic objects will all be part of IOT and will be controlled by mobile devices. M-commerce will simplify all purchases over digital channels.

Above all I think enterprise management will become mobile dominated and will be used to streamline business processes.