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Push Interactions, Inc. |
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December 28, 2015 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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Mobile App Development for Enterprises with Emphasis on Security |
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Founder & CEO
Push Interactions, Inc.
Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published – December 28, 2015
CEOCFO: Mr. Jones, what is Push Interactions? Mr. Jones: We are a mobile app development company that builds apps for enterprise. We have done all kinds of work for all different kinds of industries. I would say our strength is in building secure mobile applications. We have done many banking related apps and have even done work for the Department of Defense.
CEOCFO: Was this a deliberate strategy or did it develop over time? Mr. Jones: It was not deliberate; it developed as things went along. We started in the education market by doing things that were very unique at that time, like getting students grades out of an Oracle database. That was something that most other apps did not do and could not do and that requires very high security and technical integration knowledge. I also have a security background from my time when I worked at Apple and I did a lot of security related work. Taking those in tandem, we grew from there and over time have been doing more and more security related things. We have done things where you take a picture of a cheque and you deposit it to your bank account. We also build all kinds of apps that require deep integration with other tools and that is what sets us apart from other developers.
CEOCFO: What do you understand about security that allows you to work with companies that really need it? What do you understand that perhaps others do not? Mr. Jones: I think what sets us apart in that way is many years of experience dealing with this type of thing. It comes from over a decade of experience. When I worked at Apple, I worked on things related to viruses and the authentication system inside the operating system. When you start from places like that, you can learn a great amount about security to help in building things in the future.
CEOCFO: According to you site, you have three core values being collaboration, performance and quality. Would you touch on what all of them mean day-to-day? Mr. Jones: Quality is our most important value. We only create quality applications for our customers and we want to make sure that they meet the needs of what the app is supposed to do. When we are talking about performance, we are also talking about the speed of the app, as well as doing our best to deliver quality service quickly to our customers.
CEOCFO: Why is it important to point out quality? Do people turn to you because they understand that you really do provide that? Mr. Jones: When we build our apps, we always make sure we build them using the best technologies available. We do not cut corners to deliver something on a cheaper budget. We want to maintain that quality. We will make choices that will take longer and be more expensive for the customer but at the end of the day, it will be a higher quality application. That is the tradeoff that we make. You can certainly go elsewhere and pay less but it will not be the same quality app. We do refuse work if we think the work will be low quality and we have turned away customers on this basis. We do not do low quality apps.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about collaboration and how you work with a client to help shape direction? Mr. Jones: We work with them to sit down and really understand what the app is and create some preliminary wireframes. We also talk with them frequently to ensure we understand what their app is supposed to be and make sure that everything we are building is necessary. That is, that we solve the problem they hired us to solve. We do this by delivering progress frequently, and adjusting from there.
CEOCFO: Would you tell us about how you navigate some of the challenges working with government entities? Mr. Jones: There are more regulations involved with governments and there are also requirements that are added to the project that are not there on a private company, not just on the security side. For example, if you need to conform to compliance standard such as a documentation requirement, you would have to add extra features to the app to make sure that its compliance format is correct for auditing purposes. You have to keep in mind when you are designing that you may have extra work that is needed for compliance with governments.
CEOCFO: Many people today look at companies that work with the government as less than sterling. Does it concern you that the reputation of government contractors and technology is not what it should be? Are there extra steps you feel you need to take as self-protection? Mr. Jones: I do not think so for us. We built most of our reputation on apps that are not government related. That is the majority of the work we do is in the private sector. We have certainly done work for the RCMP for example, but we are not known for that app or the other work we have done for the government. We are more known for the things we have done in the private sector.
CEOCFO: Push has received a number of awards. What is most meaningful? Mr. Jones: Of all the awards we have received, I think I appreciate the ABEX award the most, basically recognizing that we have really grown into business and have become a major exporter in our province. The ABEX is a province wide award and businesses of all sizes are eligible to apply. That award means that you have reached a level of recognition across the entire province. I know Saskatchewan is a smaller province but you are competing with all other business and industries, both large and small, for those awards. We have won national and international awards as well but the requirements are extremely high in order to meet that ABEX award.
CEOCFO: What is the geographical range for your customers today? Mr. Jones: We have probably about 40% customers in the United States and then 60% across Canada. Very few of those customers are actually local to Saskatchewan. Most of them are in larger centers like Toronto or Vancouver, and US locations such as California, Texas, and New York.
CEOCFO: Do people care where you are based? Does it help or hurt you? Mr. Jones: I think it depends on the customers, if it helps or hurts. I think that the fact that we do have offices in other places has helped us makes some sales. We have an office in Ontario for example, and I think that has helped us to make some sales we might have not have gotten otherwise. The same thing with our office in California. I think our headquarters being based in Saskatchewan can be a limiting factor for some customers but I do think that having those offices at another center has helped us a lot. I love the work we do, it can be remote and there is not a large drawback on it and most of the work we do with clients is remote. The communication piece is the only piece that can be difficult remotely and if we need travel to resolve any communication issues, we do.
Mr. Jones: We do a much better job documenting the needs of the client and understanding what they want. In the early days of the company, we made too many assumptions about how the app was going to work based on other apps that are out there. Nowadays, we spend a lot more time making sure we understand the customer so that even if they have something that is unusual or different from what we have seen before, that we still understand them and are not making assumptions. We are much better at getting those details than we were initially. When I worked in the industry for Apple and other companies, there was a great deal of quality control, and as the company has grown we have been able to implement more and more quality control, to keep improving the quality of our apps.
CEOCFO: What might be different a year from now for Push Interactions? Mr. Jones: I think we will be working with some much bigger clients in the future, companies that are known internationally instead of just nationally. I think that will be the biggest change. Hopefully, that will mean that we as a company will be more well-known because of the work we have done with these larger international players. I also hope we become known more widely for the quality of work we do.
CEOCFO: Is there a specific strategy to approach companies in that segment or is it more that as you are growing, you feel you will attract international business? Mr. Jones: We are already getting connected to and starting work for large international players. It is just a natural outgrowth of all the work we have done. We are on a short list of people that can do work in certain places and for certain companies. When you are in that higher echelon of developers, you are eventually going to get put on these short lists. I think that a year from now, we will definitely have some very large names on our portfolio. That will help to drive growth nationally and internationally.
CEOCFO: What would cause Push Interaction to come to the forefront if someone were searching for app developers? Mr. Jones: I think it would be the quality of the apps we have on our portfolio and it would be in the customers we worked with as well. We have built more than a hundred apps at this point and some of the apps are very involved and sophisticated. With high requirements in security and getting the details right, we are ready to tackle any project.
CEOCFO: What should people understand about Push Interactions that perhaps they do not? Mr. Jones: If someone wants to build a quality application that is going to be reflective of a quality brand and product, that is the kind of work that we do. We build something that is top notch. Our focus is where customers contacting us should be focused. If someone is looking not for quality but the cheapest app developer around - and almost certainly a bad experience - then they should look elsewhere. We are focused only on delivering the best quality solution. |
“If someone wants to build a quality application that is going to be reflective of a quality brand and product, that is the kind of work that we do. We build something that is top notch.” - Chad Jones
Push Interactions, Inc.
Chad Jones
1-877-921-7874
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Chad
Jones