Interview with Naval Madaan, Chief Operating Officer - OTS Solutions

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

OTS Solutions is global Digital Technology consulting company headquartered in Dallas TX with offices around the world. We at OTS believe strongly in innovation and lead by providing technology solutions to real life business problems to increase quality and efficiencies in processes. We believe in providing a rare mix of technology and business experience and knowledge at our client’s disposal to help them lead and stay ahead of the curve at all times.

OTS was incubated in 2002 and I started my journey as Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2013. I am responsible for handling the Daily Operations across multiple branches. Being technology and strategic advisor myself, I always make sure to stay ahead with cutting edge technologies and help the client in developing the market ready product.

Being technology driven ourselves and the diverse experience we have gathered, have always helped us to stay ahead of our competitors in app development. User Experience, Security and Application Performance are our main pillars of success in App Development.  


What is your role in the management and development of OTS Solutions?

I am the Chief Operating officer in the organization. I help the management in strategizing and planning the over-all operations across the branches. As part of Development - my major focus has been in strategic hiring, pre-sales, client engagements, project deliverables and process improvements. As part of client engagement, I assist in resolving the key issues they face within project development.


Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry.

As a company, there have been multiple milestones which we have achieved in 17 years. But if I would have to articulate the important one would be:

Reaching a milestone of over 100 employees in 2013.
Establishing our offices in New Jersey in 2014 followed by in Dallas in 2018.
In 2018, starting a completely different brand of services for Startups – JumpGrowth.


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

OTS has been a pure Agile Shop for the clients. As part of agile practice, we are following Scrum and Kanban methodology in product development. Complete product is developed in iteration known as “Sprints” with eachSprint of 2 to 4 weeks depending on the estimation for the complete project. OTS has implemented TDD (Test Driven Development) architecture for the app development with each sprint required to deliver a potentially shippable product increment. This means that at the end of each sprint, the team has produced a coded, tested and usable piece of software. At the end of every sprint, a sprint review meeting is held to review the progress and collect the feedbacks from the client.

Complete Product Development is tracked through a RoadMap plan and Budget Tracking sheet to provide more transparency to the clients in terms of cost and timeline.


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

OTS works closely with every client in understanding the business and project perspective which they are trying to accomplish through the platform. As part of our pre-sales process, based on the initial calls & discussions – we create a SOW which cover the main aspects on project functionality, business objectives, audiences, security & testing requirements. For app development, we always recommend doing UI/UX Design (wire-framing & prototyping) phase which helps the client to visualize the product better.


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?

The decision to choose hybrid or native is based on goals and priority of the organization. Use case, nature, and environment of the application can also influence the decision. Following are some of the main factors which help us in suggesting the correct choice:

Complexity: For most complex applications, performance for hybrid app is similar to native app but when 3D, HD games, high graphics-oriented apps, and other performance centric, hybrid approach might not go well. OTS recommends using Native Approach in case of high complex application.

Native Device Features: Hybrid app can ably access the entire native device features like touchId, media etc. but is dependent on native plugins. Sometime entire new device feature might not be readily available as native plugin. We can write our own, but it adds complexity to the development.OTS would recommend Native Approach in case of many new native device features if involved.

Cost Efficient: Hybrid provides single code base for all the platforms, which means write once and run anywhere but for native app scenario, we need to build and maintain separate app and code for each platform. Hybrid helps in delivering the most cost-effective app for the client.  Being single code base, it helps in reducing the maintenance cost for the progressive app development.

Thus, Hybrid has been the most recommended approach for app development by OTS.


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

At OTS, we have been offering the below pricing models to our clients.

Fixed Price (Agile) – This is normally preferred when the requirements are clear, and we are developing the apps from scratch. Product is developed using Scrum Agile Methodology where every sprint (iteration) will deliver an iterative product. In this, the billing is done on every sprint basis. Budget and timelines are tracked against the initial proposal through RoadMap and Budget Tracking Sheet.

Fixed Price (Milestone Delivery) – This is developed using conventional waterfall methodology where the product is delivered in milestones with billing mapped to each milestone.

Time and Material – This is preferred for all the maintenance projects adhering to Kanban Agile practice. The tasks planned for each sprint can be exchanged as per the client priorities. Billing is planned as per sprint basis. All the tasks estimated per sprint will be tracked against the Budget Tracking Sheet.


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

OTS has been helping clients in transforming their business ideas to a successful app. With diverse experience in cutting edge technologies (like NLP, AI, AR, IOT, Microservices etc.), OTS acts as a consultant, suggesting some niche features which can act as a differentiator from the competitors. OTS has been extensively using AWS, Azure, Microsoft, Google, IBM services in the development of the apps. All the apps architecture is developed to support more than 10k+ users from the launch day.


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

OTS has an Innovation Team whose primary focus is to make technological advancements in the company as per the market trends. The team is aligned to create POC’s, provide technology trainings, and keep themselves updated as per Apple & Google Guidelines. Our Innovation team is working around the corner in technologies like Augmented and Virtual Reality. Team also helps in the analysis of new opportunities coming from Pre-Sales team.


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

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.

Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that can be like or completely different from the real world. Applications of virtual reality can include entertainment (i.e. gaming) and educational purposes (i.e. medical or military training). Other, distinct types of VR style technology include augmented reality and mixed reality.
Technically virtual reality is any kind of synthetic emulation of the real world. Even if you’re playing Doom on your PC, you’re playing inside a virtual reality, since you’re emulating that you’re in a maze and you’re killing monsters. It is surely not the most immersive kind of VR, but it is still VR.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
Examples: Nest Smart Home, Kisi Smart Lock, Canary Smart Security System, DHL's IoT Tracking and Monitoring System, Cisco's Connected Factory, ProGlove's Smart Glove,Kohler Verdera Smart Mirror.


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

Basically, I think the future of mobile technology would be things like.
Virtual Reality, Iris Scanner, Bezel Free Screens, 4K display resolution, video recording, and of course a long-lasting battery! It will be completely hands free with a HUD system in the glasses that will be a smart phone combination. The camera will be capable of first-person view. You would sit in front of a green screen for conference calls or video chat and it will feel more personable.