Interview with Andry Ivannikov, CEO - RentaTeam

Andry Ivannikov  

CEO, Rentateam

Give us a quick overview on RentaTeam. When and how did you begin this journey and what were your motives to be successful in app development?
I've been in IT for 20 years, beginning with my own projects and progressing to work in large Russian and international corporations. In addition, in 2014, I founded the company RentaTeam. Why? Because we had prior experience, and the team and I wanted to create mobile applications in the manner we believe is necessary and correct. I wanted to share my knowledge and help businesses and individuals.

What is your role in the management and development of RentaTeam?
Initially involved in current work issues, I am now involved in strategy issues, hiring and training key employees in the company, operational management, and financial planning.

Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry.
Our accomplishments are primarily the accomplishments of our customers. There is no greater joy than seeing our customers' businesses grow as a result of our products. For example, the largest Russian company DoDoPizza from the last exhibition with an application that we worked on earned about 1.5 billion rubles and reached the top in the App Store. Online platform YouDo have achieved significant results on the Russian platform and is among the top companies. We are currently working on an application for KFC. We can't discuss sales data, but we are very happy about their growth in sales through the app and excellent user reviews and feedback from our client.

How do you schedule the development phases of the apps to promise the timeline to your clients?
We understand that deadlines are important to our client: the sooner the client's product enters the market, the sooner he can test it, start earning money, and occupy their market niche.

Therefore, at the very beginning of negotiations with the client, we discuss the terms and stages of work. Already in the process of developing an application, we evaluate how well we meet deadlines every two weeks. We try to avoid deadline disruptions, but for complex situations involving deadlines, we have a developed algorithm of actions.

We always keep in close contact with our customers so that they are aware of where we are in the process. They can contact us at any time and request a work report.

In short, we work in two-week sprints, assess risks, plan time carefully, and track work progress.

How do you help your clients in choosing the right yet profitable platform for app development?
It all depends on the purpose of the project and the potential audience. If, a company is developing an internal corporate project, then native development is not needed. Here we recommend a cross platform tools, because it is cheaper, easier and faster.

If the product is for B2C and has a complex interface, we prefer native solutions. Sometimes we reach a compromise solution: we assess the functionality, complexity, and complexity of the graphics, as well as the project's audience.

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 look globally at the interface tasks and customer coverage. If there is a complex animation, then this is the stop factor of hybrid and cross-platform solutions. The presence of interaction with the phone's sensors can also be inclined towards native applications.

B2C often has experiments with platforms. In hybrid applications, it is difficult. The budget is also important here. If the budget is small, it is better to use cross platform solutions. Native apps increase your budget by 60%.

How do you scheme your pricing model? How do you fix your budget?
We have our own business model. Based on this, we calculated the cost of one hour of development. We also consider the market situation and the benefits we can provide to the client. The value of our experience for a specific client, as well as how much the project interests us, are important considerations here. As a result, the client's final price is determined.

How helpful are the mobile apps developed by your team, for enhancing your clients’ business?
We proceed from the client's goals and from what product metrics are important for the client. The client's goals are the most important thing for us.

What according to you are the best practices to attain client satisfaction?
There is one main method - to listen to the client and find out the client's goals. Try to do the maximum so that the client achieves this. We do everything that is within our area of competence, and even beyond it. If we see how we can improve the product, we always express our opinion and give advice to the client.

Our PM regularly collects feedback and adjusts the work of the teams in order to achieve business metrics.

How do you update your business system to be in pace with the technological advancements?
Our clients turn to us for modern, atypical solutions. Often the client comes with a working product, but with old technologies and architecture. And they need technical expertise in new solutions that are popular or are just gaining popularity.

In order for our teams to meet these requirements, developers need to be supported and trained. Our team leaders monitor everything new and we have a mentoring system . Meetups are held regularly and something new is constantly being introduced. First, we study the theory, test it on our own projects, and only then we introduce it into the client's business projects , but only in non-key tasks. If everything works successfully, then we begin to introduce our clients into the businesses. So we implemented Flutter some time ago and developed several projects.

What are your thoughts about AR, VR and Internet of Things (IoT)?
I think that the hype has subsided. These tools have become a common phenomenon and a method of solving problems. If earlier they were used only to be in the trend, now the relevance of the use of these technologies has greatly increased.


What do you think will be the future of Mobile technology?
I will note 2 opposite trends - this is an even greater simplification and acceleration of development and at the same time complication.

The first trend is solutions based on zero-code. Zero-code is only gaining momentum, and soon large companies will go into these solutions and become mass. This is a great tool, it can solve a huge number of tasks. Now there is a lot of code that is duplicated from product to product with minor changes. For mobile developers, this is a significant advantage and allows you to achieve the client's goals faster and cheaper. This allows you to spend time only on what is really difficult and important.

The second trend is the complication, when the task is not closed with standard products. There are more and more frameworks and technologies. And the approaches are getting more and more complicated every year. And at the same time, there are solutions that allow you to do complex things quickly and easily.