Avoid These Pitfalls! Know How To Build Better Super Apps For The Indian Market

Allan Harold Rex - Growth Manager, CAW Studios

In India, constructing and promoting super apps encounter significant challenges. The primary hurdles are intricately tied to the cultural and economic landscape of the country, compounded by the complexity of managing large tech teams spanning various vendors and development studios. Although it is a twofold problem with multiple factors shaping the narrative, at CAW, we have aimed to emphasize the technical aspect of the issue. While this may not serve as a definitive guide on how to navigate the Indian market, it is crucial for both large and small players attempting to enter this market to comprehend this context.

Socio - cultural- economic problems.

Low Perceived Value of Software:

The Indian market generally holds a low perceived value for software. Reasons include a lack of a culture of paying for software, a prevalent "Online vs Bazaar " mentality, offline practice of bargaining for supplies, prioritizing money savings over time savings, a greater trust in people over software, and a tendency to compare software value only to the low cost of labor.

Culture of Non-payment for Software:

Many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) or even households in India have a culture of not paying for software. The prevalence of pirated versions of popular software is common, contributing to a mindset that expects software to be free. The conditioning of users to free software bundled with new computers or available as free smartphone apps further reinforces this expectation.

Online vs Bazaar Mentality

The "Online vs Bazaar" mentality prevails among Indians, leading them to make purchasing offline. This is often driven by the perception that the cost of purchasing offline is relatively low, and a preference for purchases at bazaars which will supposedly offer better avenues for bargain and also the option to be selective in their purchases, thereby selecting better quality.

Suppliers Monopoly:

In India, there is a tendency for specific suppliers to be prioritized, leading many buyers to excessively depend on them for their purchasing decisions. This reliance spans across various sectors, from FMCG products to offline software vendors. Ultimately, this inclination boils down to factors such as trust, reliability, and the interpersonal connections established between individuals.

Culture of Money Savings Over Time Savings:

Indians tend to value money savings more than time savings, impacting the adoption of SaaS products that focus on efficiency gains and time savings. The culture of manual processes, especially in accounting and billing, prevails, even when SaaS solutions could significantly reduce the time required for such tasks.

Trust in People Over Software:

There is a prevailing trust in hiring people over relying on software to complete tasks. Traditional business owners may perceive software as a potential loss of control and prefer human involvement in operations.

Comparing Software Only to Low Cost of Labor:

Business owners in India often consider the value of software only in terms of savings from labor costs, overlooking other merits such as traceability, scalability, and zero downtime. This narrow consideration leads to objections like, "Why pay for software when staff can do it?"

Technical problems in the Super apps of India.

Integrating New Features - Beat the Jugaad

As your app expands in India, introducing new features becomes crucial. However, navigating this process can be intricate due to challenges unique to the country, such as a vast population, tight profit margins, and the concept of jugaad (innovative workarounds). In this context, maintaining code continuity poses a significant challenge, especially considering the common practice of different developers contributing lines of code over time.

Similar to the global scenario, the addition of new features can significantly impede your release cycle. The process becomes even more complex in India, where developers often grapple with the need to allocate substantial time to ensure that the introduction of new features doesn't disrupt existing functionality. As highlighted earlier, fostering a clean code architecture is pivotal in this context, preventing the occurrence of duplicated code that may lead to unintended consequences when building upon existing code. This becomes particularly pertinent in a landscape where innovative problem-solving, or jugaad, is often employed, emphasizing the importance of a structured and well-organized codebase to mitigate potential challenges in the app development journey.

Festival Seasons that Test Performance

The pivotal question at hand is, "Can your code efficiently fulfill its intended purpose?" The effectiveness of an app is contingent on various factors, particularly the volume of data it handles. For instance, an app facilitating real-time functions, streaming video, or location-based features like ride-sharing, falls into the category of heavy data applications. While such apps may function seamlessly with a small user base, challenges arise as the user count increases, leading to potential network bottlenecks and performance limitations. This becomes particularly evident during festive seasons in India, such as Diwali sales or significant events like the Big Billion Day, when multiple millions of users log into your app simultaneously. The surge in user traffic can strain the backend infrastructure, resulting in a compromised user experience.

Furthermore, the volume of data transmitted from your app to the backend is a crucial consideration. Sending each log as an individual HTTP request may be manageable with a modest user base, where, for instance, 1,000 users make 100 requests a day. However, envision the scenario when the user count spikes to 1 million, with each user generating 100 requests daily. The scalability of your app's backend to handle such a surge is a critical aspect that directly impacts performance.

Managing and owning data - a tech catfight.

In the Indian landscape, where proprietary SAAS companies and tech teams collaborate on intricate product development, the process is further complicated by extensive tech discussions. This dynamic often leads to bottlenecks and internal struggles regarding the allocation of functions and control over specific sets of data. The intricate nature of collaboration and decision-making within such teams intensifies the challenges associated with product development.

Delving into the specifics, developers need to consider how data flows within their app, especially given the complexities arising from collaborative efforts. Questions regarding the centralization of data in a global store, its distribution to different app segments, and the division of responsibilities for individual views become paramount. In the Indian context, these discussions can escalate into disputes over ownership and control, resembling a catfight over who holds authority over particular functions and data sets.

Considering the intricacies involved, it becomes essential to analyze and optimize how data moves within the app. Identifying opportunities for improvement and consolidation can enhance efficiency. Simultaneously, planning from the outset for potential breakpoints in scalability is crucial. Anticipating these limitations in advance allows for the implementation of queues or asynchronous systems right from the start. Establishing a robust scaffolding to handle data flow not only streamlines the development process but also provides a foundation for ongoing improvements in response to evolving needs.

Automating Teams vs Core Product Teams.

Accept it, Indian software companies are plagued with this paradigm. In India, it is common for companies to have separate product and automation test teams, which can lead to more disconnect and chaos in the creation of super apps. This is because the development team and the testing team are working in silos, which can cause delays and errors in the product development cycle. The product team is often too busy building new functionality and cannot afford to be slowed down by writing automation. Automation is also seen as a specialized skill, and a separate team is used to help catch up. This can lead to automation being an afterthought, begun after a considerable amount of code is already written. To avoid these issues, it is important to have a unified team that works together to develop and test the product. This can help ensure that the product is developed efficiently and effectively, without delays or errors. By working together, the team can plan for future additions, keep data flow in mind, and create a good architecture that can help the app scale. This will help companies in India create successful super apps that meet the unique challenges faced by businesses in the country.Talk to us

Tired of Jugaad Fixes for Your India Super App? CAW Studios Builds Bulletproof Solutions.

Super apps in India face unique challenges: a vast user base, jugaad innovation, and festival traffic spikes. These can turn your code into a tangled mess, performance into a rollercoaster, and data ownership into a catfight. At CAW Studios, we build robust, future-proof super apps that thrive in the Indian landscape.

Here's how we solve your India headaches:

Feature Integration Nirvana: Our clean code architecture and structured approach prevent jugaad-born chaos. We seamlessly integrate new features without disrupting existing functionality, even with multiple developers onboard.

Festival-Ready Performance: We build for scale, anticipating data surges during Diwali or Big Billion Day. Your app won't buckle under pressure, delivering a smooth experience to millions.

Data Flow Harmony: We untangle the tech catfight by optimizing data flow and ownership. From global stores to segmented views, we create a clear, efficient system that empowers collaboration.

Unified Teams, Seamless Development: We ditch the siloed approach. Our teams combine development and automation expertise, catching bugs early and ensuring quality builds from day one.

Don't just survive, conquer the Indian app market.

Contact CAW Studios today and build your digital dream, the right way.