The On-Demand Services App Case Study – Ajebuta
Introduction
The services industry is booming. With rapid urbanisation and a significant chunk of the population joining the workforce, there is a greater demand for day-to-day services that can be delivered at the doorstep. Consequently, there is a high demand for services such as hairdressers, cloth makers, electricians, plumbers and carpenters, pest exterminators, dog walkers, cooks and maids, chauffeurs, cobblers, service providers for appliances and home electricals, and basically every service that can be delivered at someone’s home, at a convenient time, with movable tools.
The trend is being reflected in the number of on-demand mobile app development projects that DCI has been working on in recent years. We have worked on numerous on-demand handyman, location-based mobile apps on the lines of Urbanclap and Taskrabbit. Such apps are a great hit both in Android and iOS ecosystems.
The client approached us with the idea of this great app where people can search for the needed services right from their mobile app. The listings should show according to their location.
3 types of people should be able to use the mobile app: Businesses and people looking for such services, businesses and people wanting to provide such services, and the admin that can oversee that everything runs smoothly and as per the terms and conditions of the mobile app providers. The on-demand mobile app for service providers and consumers needed to be hybrid (usable both on the mobile phone natively as well as through the browser), with the web panel (accessible through a browser) for the admin.
Features
- Professional and elegant UI/UX that would be easy to use by all the users across the spectrum.
- Seamless navigation to find the right listings in the least amount of time.
- Detect user location at both the ends of the spectrum for mapping the need with the availability. Visibility is restricted to approximately 3 km.
- Hybrid and web interfaces for users and admins.
- User registrations for multiple roles such as users (individuals and businesses looking for handyman services in the on-demand app), service providers (individuals and businesses) and the admin.
- Dedicated dashboards for all the users to view order and service history.
- Ability to book appointments using a digital calendar inbuilt within the app. Users should be able to book appointments for immediate delivery, within thirty minutes, within one hour, within two hours, the next day, the next week and other durations.
- Notifications & reminders for users and service providers.
- The ability to cancel requests by the users or accept/reject service requests by the service providers.
- The ability to maintain credits by adding cash and the ability to add cash-credit when running out of credit.
- Different access permissions according to user roles.
- Password retrieval in case the existing password is lost.
- Listing search with multiple criteria such as name, service category, service name and previous service history.
- The ability to leave reviews & ratings.
Challenges
It is but natural that an on-demand app of such magnitude will have some challenges that are in fact opportunities for a seasoned mobile app development company like ours. We were greeted by the following challenges:
- A seamless interface across-the-board.
- Cross-platform ability of the mobile app including Android, iOS and web with minimum differences in usability and features.
- The integration of the digital wallet/credit system and the automatic maintenance of the credit according to services accepted as well as services cancelled/rejected.
- Integration of high-tech mapping for location tracking and matching users and service providers in real-time. Listings for users and service providers who are not in the designated vicinity must not be visible.
- Different user management dashboards for consumers, service providers and the admin.
- Provisioning for multiple categories and subcategories for various services.
How we took up the challenge
As a premium mobile app development company, DCI thrives on challenges. We see every challenge as an opportunity to provide exceptional services to our global clients and bring to them transformational solutions that help them accelerate their business goals and strive towards organizational aspirations.
We have a well-tested and well-established process of handling critical projects such as the on-demand mobile app project. Our team spent a lot of time brainstorming with the client representatives. They gathered lots of data from the target user base to get a grasp of what problems they are currently facing and what solutions they expect of an on-demand mobile app such as the one requested by the client. This gave us a clear idea of how to approach the challenge and how to provide the best possible solution to the clients as well as their users.
For mapping solutions we used Google Maps. For the database we used MySQL. For the features needed by the client, we found that the React Native and Laravel stack to be the most appropriate choice because the client needed a hybrid mobile app with support for Android and iOS platforms. At the initial stage we created a wireframe so that our development team and the client were at the same page regarding the visual flow of the mobile app as well as the input output processes.
Once the client gave us the go-ahead we proceeded to develop the prototype. It gave the client a concrete idea of how the app is going to materialize and how it would feel when the users actually started using it. Once everyone was on board, our development team went ahead with developing the solution.
As our standard approach, at every crucial stage we sought input from the client as well as provided our own input. We prefer to keep our communication process as clear as possible.
We were able to develop and deploy the mobile app within the timeframe given by our team members.
Results
The on-demand mobile app is available for download now both from Google Play store and Apple’s App Store. The client has been able to add scores of services through the admin panel. Service providers themselves are adding their services to be hired in hordes. People in various localities are able to book services and avail quality services at home, experiencing great convenience as a result. The rating and comments section is especially appreciated because this enables customers to choose the best possible service and it also acts as an encouragement for service providers to provide exceptional services.