Interview with Valentyn Loiko, CBDO - Vilmate

Valentyn Loiko  

CBDO, Vilmate

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

Vilmate is a 100+ close-knit and highly professional software development team operating out of Ukraine. We have been engaged in delivering bespoke software to North-American and Western-European clients since 2012 and are equally experienced in Web and mobile development.
As a software development company, Vilmate has such distinctive features as an impressive and impeccable project delivery track record, a very large share of senior software engineers in our development team, an extremely low employee turnover and broad experience of delivering consulting solutions to clients in various business niches.


What is your role in the management and in the process of business development of Vilmate?

I have been leading our Business Development Department since 2015. New client’s acquisition, key account management, and outbound marketing.


Tell us about your biggest achievement in the industry

Since our company’s founding 7 years ago, we have seen an annual growth rate of 35%. Our client roster has been growing just as fast. Today, we pride ourselves on having created software that is used by some of Western Europe’s industry-leading retail and other brands.


How do you schedule the marketing phases of various projects creatively?

We rarely take over marketing responsibilities. Vilmate focuses on coding, QA and tech management of the client’s product.


How does Vilmate help the clients in choosing the right yet profitable platform for app development?

It really depends on the initial tech stack and particular niche of a product. We always try to bring in some relevant experience we had with similar projects in the past and create value for a new client. We indicate the most common bottlenecks and best practices when it comes to MVP prototyping etc.


Which would Vilmate suggest for a successful and profitable business progression, Native or hybrid apps? What are the factors that Vilmate considers to make this choice?

Both have some pros and cons. Obviously, it depends on a TA location, current state of a Web app and the overall budget. Hybrid app developers are in higher demand at the moment, mainly because the approach is cost-efficient and works perfectly for a startup mode. Although, going native is still advantageous in the long run - both for system stability and support.


How does Vilmate scheme the pricing model and fix the budget for a project?

We tailor our estimates, hourly rates and resources for each client and product. There’s obviously a range of rates we’re staying in. But inside of that range Vilmate tends to stay very flexible.


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

I think it would be ‘keeping the user-centered approach’. I mean, what’s the point of producing high-quality software if nobody will use it?


How do you update your business development strategies to be in pace with the ever innovating communication networks?

We use a lot of automated processes in business development. Always try to keep up with the latest trends and smart approaches when it comes to creating outbound strategies.


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

How one can evaluate something that became a crucial part of modern tech long ago.


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

Hybrid apps are changing mobile landscapes drastically. Mobile seems to be the most challenging part of contemporary outsourcing and service providers have to adopt/readapt/act very fast all the time.


Your thoughts on the future of marketing in this continuously digitizing business world

More automation, more ML targeting in pre-sales, more technical literacy required from sales representatives