Just as businesses needed to get a website in the 1990s or be left behind in the dust, they need to get an app today. A growing percentage of people prefer using apps to browsers. And apps allow for a business to build in focused engagement with users. But creating an app is an expensive, long, complex, hit-or-miss process. That's what Ambika Sharma decided to fix with her cloud-based platform, Instappy.
Not an app itself but a web-based application, Instappy works with templates that users can choose and customise for their own businesses. The result will be native apps for iOS and Android devices. Spelling out what native means in this context, it refers to the fact that the apps will work integrated with the host operating system and take advantage of its features and interface. The apps created using Instappy take their core from the OS and are not ported from elsewhere and force fitted.
Instappy is a full-fledged piece of software residing on instappy.com. But it is designed to be used by someone who doesn't necessarily understand software technically. And users are encouraged to give it a go on their own. "The ideal situation is if you try this yourself," says Ambika Sharma, founder and CEO of Instappy. "While we are there to provide support and even make the app the first time around, it is entirely possible for you to make it on your own." Some of Instappy's clients ask the company to build the app for them and then take over and update it on their own. "Not everybody knows what they want and what features are possible. So we are there to provide whatever they ask for while creating their apps," says Sharma.
Instappy has over fifty templates which a user can select from and begin building. Once the process has begun, the user can customise. That, of course, includes logo, colours, fonts, layout, etc. "It's simple drag-and-drop," says Sharma, "You can build a couple of screens and see how it looks to you. And then go on to unlimited screens."
To help the user, the app store also has a wizard which is downloaded to one or two devices. The user then enters the app credentials and customer ID and begin to see the app live. This is instant feedback and on how the app will look and allows for changes to be made fast. "From what you see, you can keep updating the app as you like," explains Sharma. "Do you want to do a full screen of video, or maybe half a screen or many screens -- it's up to you."
Once the app is built, Instappy also has software which will optimise whatever image is chosen as an app icon for integration into the app. There is also a library of icons available to choose from. In the same way, the software will also upload and optimise an image to work as a spash screen.
"There is no limit to the kind of content or the amount of content a customer wants to use with the app," says Sharma. Whether the client company wants an app with a payment gateway or need vast quantities of archived published content, or inventory -- the platform will permit this. A parallel is a Wordpress template, which will allow you to pull in content and customise the update. Customers can try out and preview the app before they pay.
Customers will find a sign-up section where they register. The details required are meant for SMEs. New customer testimonials can be found on the site from SMEs. Instappy's recent customers include CMO Council, a restaurant chain, a designer furniture retailer, an online fashion boutique and more. Having started in September this year, Instappy has already clocked over 2,000 customers in India and internationally. A basic app created with Instappy will cost $750 per year, payable one time, while customers who don't have retail inventory management involved will pay $260. More complex implementation can go up to $2600 a year including all support, a CMS panel and full analytics.
The Instappy team of 138 is based out of Delhi including creative teams, marketing, and tech support. The venture has been set up using personal funds of an undisclosed amount that Sharma describes as "substantial". The company that owns Instappy, Pulse Strategy, started in 2011 and developed the quick app solution over a year and a half. Co-founder Raj Vikram Singh is the CFO of the company. Ambika Sharma herself has worked with Dainik Jagran and subsequently has been involved with software development and digital technologies.
The next steps for the Instappy startup is to get feedback from customers and develop the technology further to make it faster and include more features.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
