Two months ago we conceptualised an iDea for one of our clients – Cochrane International – manufacturers of the fantastic ClearVu (www.cochrane.co) fence range. A company which has over the years shown innovation not only in the drudge industry of fencing, but also simply in terms of adoption of technology to make them better. Case-in-Point: their latest iPad application which we conceptualised and developed in a mere 2 months (From iDea to iPad application in 2 months). It is also a first for an iPad app development in South Africa
What we did was really a study in true rapid development frameworks. Using one of our offshore resource teams, we discussed the overall project with them essentially to get a feel if the designated team could perform the task at hand. The requirements were gigh for this project, however, we were given the latitude to develop on the basis that we met the project objectives for the first release. Also, time was a critical issue with the launch due to coincide with a major company event. Once the technical issues were ironed out – it was literally to the drawing board, late nights and lots of coffee as we pushed through to a series of wireframes from which the beta could be built. We went through our normal process of being able to deliver an ipad application (which was built on the native iOS and not using PhoneGap). Design was left to the creatives with our focus being on the functional aspect – we don’t get too hype with the pretty pictures – we’re here to deliver functional software, however, we let the ponytails into the development cycle in the early stages so there is parity throughout the project.
It was then time to pull the trigger on the development and we managed to get our first beta out in just under 4 weeks, which gave us time to tweak and to readjust the development schedule – which proved to be necessary because of a new requirement which came into play after the start of the project, but something which we had catered for – something we have gleaned from experience over the last 12 years – always think out of the box – let the client think inside of it.
We launched on time and within budget are are now rolling out version 2 with version 3 slated for launch early in the 1st quarter of 2013.
A nice way for us to end the year.