Neubloc's total focus is on providing our customers with the resources needed to meet their requirements whether this is the latest website, software application or embedded systems. But nothing says you're cool more than having an application recognized as #1 in its category on the iPhone store.
In today's fast pace world where the IPhone is changing the way we all approach everything from making phone calls to making reservations, Neubloc's customer Mitek Systems has broken new ground with their Mobile Receipt application. Mitek's Mobile Receipt application is currently the number one selling business applications at the iPhone store. In 2008 Mitek recognized that they had the domain expertise to provide an additional feature that would make banking much simpler for the customer. They immediately initiated the development effort to design the first mobile banking software that allows customers with camera phones to make payments and deposit checks. "We wanted to turn camera phones into scanning devices," says James Debello, Mitek's president and CEO.
The objective was to provide bank customers with the capability to key in the deposit amount and then snap a photo of the front and back of the check. Before transmitting data to the bank, the software needed to optimize the image and confirm that it met the image quality standards. The application also needed to embody Mitek's existing signature validation technology. Mitek knew they had the domain knowledge to bring this concept to market, but they also recognized time to market was critical and the resulting application would need to work on four disparate platforms - Windows Mobile, Symbian, BlackBerry, and IPhone. They quickly recognized that to accomplish this in house would require a substantial increase in their in-house capabilities and this would delay product launch and significantly increase development cost. The alternative was to find outside help.
Finding the right help was not an easy task. Mitek needed a supplier with familiarity of mobile device platforms, strong branding, expertise in graphical design, and a source of oversees development to keep costs down yet local presence to ensure close coordination with project managers. Neubloc was the answer to their needs.
Neubloc's software development structure is tailor made for challenges such as Mitek's. With development centers in the United States, Poland, Macedonia, Ecuador and Argentina, Neubloc can provide local product management as well as reduced costs associated with offshore development. Additionally, with developers in multiple time zones they are able to keep a project moving virtually 24 hours a day.
In response to Mitek's needs Neubloc simply initiated its standard RightSource Roadmap™ project management process. The first step in this process is to assign a highly qualified principle architect in the local area with the primary responsibility to bridge Mitek's requirements with Neubloc's off-shore development team. Neubloc knows that onsite management is important in communicating and makes sure the architect is at the customer's site on a regular basis and that there are daily conference calls with the overseas team. The team quickly identified that the initial release should be on the Windows Mobile platform. "We chose this platform for the initial application since it offered a quick development environment and a good number of phones to test," explained Armando Viteri, Neubloc's president and CEO.
In completing the project Mitek utilized a broad range of Neubloc services to design and develop the solution. Neubloc provided the front-end mobile and online user experience, system architecture design and quality assurance testing.
As a result, of their well established development process Nuebloc delivered the proof of concept two months after contract award and rolled out the first product release in just over six months.
Today Mitek System's ImageNet Mobile Receipt product is available for Microsoft Windows Mobile, Blackberry and IPhone platforms. Mitek's CEO, DeBello praised Neubloc's contribution. "Neubloc performed on time with high quality. We achieved all of our product goals and were the first to market which gave us a significant advantage with our targeted customers."
While we at Neubloc are proud and thankful to Mitek for giving us the opportunity to contribute to their success, we are not surprised. Our RightSource Roadmap™ process is a tried and true approach to outsource software development. We invite anyone who is struggling to bring complex software development products to the market to contact us. For information on how your product becomes the #1 application in your market click visit us at www.neubloc.com.
