No need of tour group, no guide and no brochure, 13 fascinating townlets are in hands.
“Townlets in Hangzhou”, the mobile application product based on IOS platform which clusters most glamourous images of Hangzhou, jointly created by Insigma Hengtian and Propaganda Office of Hangzhou Municipal Communist Party and Zhejiang channel of www.people.com.cn, has been brought online.
It is an era when mobile internet is booming like storm, Insigma Hengtian, as a company offering specialized IT service, is stepping into mobile application market. How is he going to arrange mobile internet business, or to gain competitive advantage in this market? With these questions, I had an exclusive interview on Mr. Zhou Bo, president and CEO of Insigma Hengtian.
“Outsourcing service”: Could you please talk about how you feel about releasing “Townlets in Hangzhou”, the mobile application product? And what experience does it bring to users?
ZHOU: Insigma Hengtian is honored to create this iOS-platform-based mobile application together with Zhejiang channel of www.people.com.cn. On one hand, it influenced policies on developing recreational agriculture and tourism in Hangzhou, raising prestige of Hangzhou with out widow’s mite. One the other hand, we took this opportunity to share gorgeous scenery of Hangzhou with users all around China, indicating we are proud of working and living in Hangzhou.
Hangzhou is titled “paradise on earth” and praised by numerous ancient men of letters, it is also a smart land with splendid scenery and intellectuals. There are many beautiful antique townlets around the city. As people get increasingly busy due to urbanization, these quaint townlets brings people a stream of coziness.
Our software shows elegance of the townlets to users with prose and selected pictures. The application adopts an antique interface which is like a tranquil path stretching in front of the users, and attracts them into words and lines. I believe people will see Hangzhou from a new perspective after using the application.
Outsourcing service”: As what I know, Hengtian had developed other mobile application products before “Townlets in Hangzhou”, could you please make a brief introduction about mobile application team and previous products?
ZHOU: Our team started in 2010 and we have published several mobile application products based on iOS and Android Platform. So far the team has taken shape and is expanding.
Before “Townlets in Hangzhou”, we had tailored many applications for customers, besides, our team independently developed “HT FC”, a financial calculator software; “JI YI BI”, a personal financial tool; “Global Defense”, a game software; and “Fruit ABC”, an education software and so forth. Successful release of the “Townlets in Hangzhou” means Hengtian mobile application team has embarked on a new level.
“Outsourcing service”: as smart phone, tablet PC and 3G network become popularized in recent years, universal shipment of smart phone in 2011 was up to 0.48 billion, equating to one third of universal shipment of mobile phone. What opportunities and challenges did the development of mobile equipment technology and mobile network bring to Hengtian’s business development?
ZHOU: You are right. It has become indispensable for people to surf the Internet anytime and anywhere which follows tremendous market of mobile application product. Hengtian, as a company offering specialized IT service, is naturally sensitive to where this technology market is going. As Hengtian’s enterprise motto says——“embrace changes”, this trend brings us larger development space and takes our business out of traditional IT service.
Of course, opportunity coexists with challenge. First of all it is fierce competition: market of mobile application product is an emerging market, a mass of products will swarm into the market for benefits; we are facing huge challenges to gain a foothold here. Besides, Hengtian always insists offering superior and specialized IT service, we have to consider how to ensure our quality in the new field.
“Outsourcing service”: just as what you have said, present market of mobile application product is fierce, for instance, several applications similar in function compete with one another. How could you emerge from such a hard market?
ZHOU: This is also the question we are considering and discussing. I think, to occupy a territory in this market, first, we must know what the market needs and where our users are; second, give full play to our existing advantages to ensure quality; third, we must be innovative; finally, take it seriously on design and beauty of the product.
We are bound to have a clear market positioning before designing and developing an application product, to stress cultural and market differences, to care about characteristic of the users, and to grasp what the users need, so that we know how to satisfy them better in development and research.
Hengtian specially provides for international financial institutions with high-quality software applications and services, and cooperate with several financial giants, so we enjoy exceptional advantages in financial world. Experience in financial information technology will doubtless bring us strong business and technological support in researching and developing related mobile application products.
Innovation is one aspect of Hengtian’s corporate culture. We encourage staff to be creative, we also have an innovative team to exchange creative ideas regularly, there are always a lot of brilliant ideas emerging in discussion. Besides, we aperiodically organize innovative competitions to inspire innovation.
Finally, we need to put more energy in application design. I believe everyone notice that the appearance of mobile applications influences downloads tremendously, novel and beautiful app icons attract more users. Meanwhile, we need to care about design details in using, dong our best to provide the users with exquisite user experience.
“Outsourcing service”: the noun “cloud computing” presents more and more frequently after pop into our eyes, mobile equipment application and cloud computing penetrate into IT area continuously, did Hengtian have some practice or attempts?
ZHOU: We did have some. As science and technology develop, mobile devices like smart phone and tablet personal computer become popularized and cloud computing can store information any time and any where, so I believe developing and optimizing the two aspects will be the trend of mobile technology. IT companies must follow market changes and improve ourselves to meet increasing demand of customers. To keep pace with this trend, Hengtian begins exploration on mobile equipment application and cloud computing, and it has already bear some fruits.
For example, we have exploited products and solutions based on iPad investment and assets management for a foreign customer who has engaged in financial industry for over 30 years. In the process of product research and development, our abundant financial business and cloud computing knowledge brought the customer great value. To develop back-end support software of it, we are structuring a special server with expertise of cloud computing. First phase of the project has been successfully published. Now we are at the second phase and we are expecting a chance to develop Android version of this product.
“Outsourcing service”: what is Hengtian’s planning on the business of mobile application?
ZHOU: We must have a long-term plan for considerable development of the business of mobile application. There are several aspects:
First, human resource. Talent is the most important asset of Hengtian, we need support from talents when developing products of mobile client application which is a new line of business. We need to cultivate applicative talents who are highly qualified, internationalized and innovative to fit and promote mobile application business. Hengtian has set up a long-term, comprehensive and sustained talent strategy, to satisfy increasing demands from customers and high-end R & D talents. Ensuring high quality human resources while business and personnel are increasing is one of the key factors for Hengtian to deliver supreme products and services.
Second, market. We should be market-oriented when developing business. As mobile application market expanding, we are bound to put more investment in mobile application business. We are going to closely follow market information on new business of mobile application, grasp market artery and communicate with experts in the industry to get firsthand information.
Third, technological innovation. As what I mentioned before, innovation is a driving force for a company, how Hengtian values technological innovation will be reflected in new area development.
From Hangzhou Services Outsourcing Magazine
