We live in a connected world wherein customers can easily toggle between different devices to access an app and interact with a brand.
For example, customers can start their purchasing journey using an Android phone and end it on an iPhone without disruption.
Such a smooth flow helps brands provide a cohesive customer experience, reach customers wherever they are, increase conversions, and deepen relationships.
However, building a multi-platform app has its own challenges, ranging from lengthy development cycles to ensuring compatibility with multiple hardware platforms. It becomes even more challenging when brands want to release numerous features simultaneously for different platforms.
This is exactly what one of our clients, a global B2C company housing various iconic brands, faced when they decided to migrate to a multi-platform ecosystem. Let’s find out how they overcome this challenge.
As a global B2C company housing iconic brands, the client sold a range of equipment to millions of B2C customers. These customers belonged to different skill levels, from hobbyists to professionals. Thus, the app had to be tailored for customers with varying proficiencies.
Additionally, the client envisioned the app as a future-ready companion app for their equipment suites. They wanted the app to support customers across long product lifecycles, multiple stock-keeping units (SKUs), and hardware generations.
They also wanted to seamlessly deploy the app across iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows platforms to reach out to customers wherever they are present.
Here’s how we helped the client achieve its business goals:
Since the app was to be used by different target groups and by millions of users using mobile phones, tablets, and desktop platforms, we built a multi-platform ecosystem and not just an app to support customers throughout their lifecycle. We ensured the ecosystem was compatible across multiple hardware generations and SKUs. We leveraged .NET MAUI to develop a unified app for iOS and Android (mobile phones), Windows and macOS (Desktop applications), and iPad and Android tablets. We shared the codebase to release all the features simultaneously across all platforms. This enabled us to reduce the development efforts by 45% and provide a consistent customer experience across multiple platforms.
We built robust USB and Wi-Fi connectivity to facilitate interactions between the client’s devices, systems, and the ecosystem. The integration supported firmware upgrades, barcode-based machine identification, and diagnostics, and provided a seamless interface with peripheral machines like printers and cameras.
We leveraged Prism MVVM to build a modular architecture for a subscription-based feature deployment. We also used OpenCV and SkiaSharp to render high-performance graphics and synchronize cross-device designs for various standard and proprietary file formats like SVG, PNG, and PDFs.
Since there were millions of user accounts, we used Auth0 to establish user authorization and provide role-based access to the ecosystem. We used telemetry through Firebase and AWS SDKs for real-time analytics, and cloud-based storage for real-time data synchronization and personalized content delivery. Additionally, we implemented an in-app purchase infrastructure to enable the client to nudge customers to make in-app purchases through iOS and Android apps.
To provide personalized recommendations to customers, we embedded an AI Assistant module. This AI-based module delivered tutorials on using the ecosystem, checked the compatibility, and recommended accessories to customers based on their purchases.
We are further building a roadmap to make the ecosystem future-ready. The roadmap includes:
Customer-centricity is paramount for a business that boasts popular consumer brands and millions of customers. The client set a new benchmark in customer experience with the multi-platform ecosystem, system integrations, AI-powered personalization, and a consistent experience across all platforms.
If you, too, want to set a new benchmark in customer experience, delight customers, and stay ahead of the competition, build a cohesive experience with a multi-platform ecosystem.
For more information on how to get started, contact us.
