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Get to Know RapidValue Solutions in Infopark, Kochi

Posted On: April 17, 2014

In this installment of the Infopark Startup Series, meet Rinish, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Co-founder of RapidValue Solutions.

Jennifer: Greetings Rinish, thank you for your time today. Please introduce the readers of Authentic Journeys to your company. 

Rinish: RapidValue is an end-to-end enterprise mobility solutions provider. We provide mobility solutions to the world’s largest enterprises including many Fortune 1000 organizations, Multinational companies and emerging innovative firms. We offer solutions & services for several industry verticals such as retail, education, healthcare, pharma, logistics, financial institutions, media and entertainment and across multiple devices platforms such as Android, iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone.

 

In addition to mobility services, we have recently launched a global product ‘eQuipMe’, a mobile field service suite which connects field service technicians and customers in real-time from any mobile device.

Jennifer: There are many companies out there vying for a space in the mobile app market. What sets RapidValue apart from the rest?

Rinish: Yes, you are correct; there are many mobile app development firms today. However, we provide end-to-end mobility solutions to enterprises. It’s a 360 degree approach we follow. We start with understanding customer’s business requirements and analyzing the corporate eco-system, recommend the right mobile strategy for them. We follow a meticulous process for the UX/UI design before building the application. We have a team of domain experts to understand and integrate the application to ERP systems such as Oracle, SAP and custom-built systems. We have a dedicated lab for testing all the applications before it is made live on the App stores. Post deployment, we provide ongoing support and maintenance to our customers 24/7 with an offsite-onshore model.

Jennifer: From the University of Phoenix to MedAmerica and Redbeacon, I was impressed to explore the diverse solutions and client list of RapidValue Solutions. While the end product for each is a mobile app, what similarities or themes can your team see in apps for what appears to be a very diverse client base?

Rinish: We are razor-sharp focused on enterprise mobility. Most of our customers’ requirement is to extend their web applications and back-end systems to mobile. Over five years, our domain experts have worked on 350+ mobility projects and during this process we have developed framework and pre-built modules library which are re-useable for new application development in iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows platform. This methodology has helped us to expedite the deployment process and provide a cost-effective solution for our customers.

Jennifer: As a customer of mobile apps, maybe I am like the majority of customers in that I don’t want to spend much money on an app. In fact, I prefer to spend nothing on an app. This is true for many people I know. Many apps also tend to be free, have free trial periods and so forth. As businesses may not always see a return on investment from apps, they may be hesitant to invest in something that doesn’t show a financial return. What kind of creative solutions has RapidValue Solutions thought of to help their clients monetize or create revenue from their apps?

Rinish: Our application adds value to customers in many ways. It is beneficial to their clients as well as their staff. Since mobile allow users to be connected with co-workers and customers from anytime, anywhere most enterprise are adopting mobile into their strategy. Some of the enterprise apps might not have direct revenue generation like in a mobile commerce which allow product purchases online or as in mobile advertising solutions. The enterprise mobile applications we build; improves staff productivity, reduces cost and saves time, thus provides high ROI.

We offer POC (Proof of Concept) model for customer who are still evaluating mobility solutions for their organization and not sure if they need it. In such cases, we build basic version of the application with key features and functionality in it and allow customers to use it for a month. If they find it beneficial we proceed with the final version. We have noticed that 90% of the times, customers have adopted our mobile solution after POC.

Jennifer: World-class products and customer service keep clients coming back and encourages them to refer you. This cannot happen without a stellar team backing up those products and services. I have seen the synergy of your team through the Rapid Values Solutions blog. In one of the posts on the blog, seminars on best practices are discussed. How does Rapid Value Solutions encourage brainstorming and innovation in employees? How is innovation valued in RapidValue Solutions?

Rinish: We have a dynamic team in Kochi and we believe in an employee friendly culture. Our young and enthusiastic team constantly comes up with innovative ideas which they share across different teams in the form of monthly seminars or workshops. This is conducted in the office. Our UX/UI design team conducts more frequency group discussions (3 days/week) on a topic presented by each team member in round robin fashion. Any good ideas are discussed with the manager and gets to the implementation stage. Our project managers and other functional heads are always eager to deploy new solutions.

Other than the technical seminars and workshops, we also celebrate ‘Pakalpooram’, a monthly get together of all employees in Kochi office to play games and engage in cultural activities. This is driven by a group of volunteers within the organization and enhances team bonding.

Jennifer: RapidValue Solutions has three offices – two in India (Kochi and Bangalore) and one in the US. What is the benefit to being located in three cities?


Rinish: We are looking to build a diversified team. We have observed, talent is spread across regions and to interact with clients, it helps to have a presence in customer location too.

Kochi is mainly the development center, Bangalore is Sales & Marketing and Sales and some project managers are based out of the US. Our team is able to work across different times zones and therefore our onsite-offshore teams are closely knit to deliver projects and provide client support on-time.

Jennifer: From the Indian perspective, what does it take to be successful in providing solutions to American clients? Is there any different approach that should be taken with American clients as compared to Indian clients, for example?



Rinish: RapidValue’s customers are spread across the globe. We have customers in the US, UAE, Europe and India. We focus on providing the right solution for each of them. 

Across each region, we have noticed difference in technology requirement. In the US, iOS and Android is more popular, whereas customers in India look for mobility solutions on Android (previously even BlackBerry). Mobility solutions requirement on Windows Phone OS and Nokia phones are more popular in European regions.

For us, every customer, located in any of the regions, expect the project to be delivered on time and require strong customer support during project lifecycle. This we are able to exceed.

Jennifer: Based on your own team’s experience providing value added solutions for American clients, what advice would you give to other Indian corporates or start ups in bridging the cultural gap with Americans?

Rinish: I would say, Indian companies and startups should focus on two primary elements. The first would be nurturing their talented employees.  Secondly, for retaining existing customers as well as to bring in new ones, they should follow an onsite-offshore model for deployment with a good field sales team based out of customer location. 

For more information on RapidValue solutions, check out their LinkedIn page.


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Rinish and RapidValue Solutions are featured on Authentic Journeys as part of the Infopark Startup Series. Images used with permission.


Previous startups in this series include: 
Litmus7  
Cabot Solutions 


This article is the intellectual property of Authentic Journeys Consultancy Pvt. Ltd. Copyright ©2014, Jennifer Kumar. All Rights Reserved. Do not reprint without permission.