Why we ‘help our clients become superheroes’ — without the capes

I’m a big fan of PC gaming and esports — so much so that I’ve become an investor and advisor to NRG, a leading global gaming company with a collection of competitive esports teams. By investing, I hope to help NRG’s business team to hire the top coaches, obtain the best equipment, and provide the resources to compete in global tournaments. I want this so that NRG’s players can focus on what they do best: competing and, ultimately, winning. Put another way, I want to help them become gaming superheroes.

In a way, it’s not all that different than what we do at ArcTouch. We build mobile apps and digital products for leading companies and popular brands so that they can do what they do best — compete in business and ultimately win. In fact, if you spend enough time in our offices you might hear our team members say that we try to “help our clients become superheroes.”

That doesn’t mean that we’re rushing to literally put capes on our clients. But it does mean that we’re going to do everything we can do to help our clients — and the stakeholders who chose to work with us — to succeed. Just like my esports players, I want my clients to become superheroes.

What’s in it for us?

Helping our clients become superheroes has become another one of ArcTouch’s guiding principles for success (along with “creating lovable apps,” because we strive to make something better than just a minimum viable app).

Over the past 10 years, we have recruited some of the best individuals in the industry to join us at ArcTouch. Inherently, we’re all professionals and want to be the best at what we do. Our engineers strive to deliver the cleanest, fastest code. Our designers aim for the most intuitive, delightful UX that users love. And our product owners want the apps they manage to exceed all the KPIs for success. You might even call these our superpowers.

But aside from wanting to do the very best at what we do, there’s a fundamental reason for us to do everything we can to make our clients successful: repeat business.

As a team, if the digital product we deliver ultimately makes users happy and solves a business problem, it will also help our clients be successful in their job.

Successful people understand that it takes help from supporting players and teams for them to achieve superhero status. And they build up a network of those supporting players — who are trusted and reliable — so they can work with them again in the future.

For us, that means more business. More projects with the same company — and also new projects at new companies. Often the people we work with move to new companies and reach out again to help them in their new roles. We’ve been building great app experiences since the dawn of the app store — but the main reason we’ve been around for more than a decade is that our customers keep coming back for more.

Let me share some examples.

HP and 3M: Two of our valued superhero clients

We’ve been working with technology giant HP since 2014. Our first project was a small one, supporting the company’s online printing service. About a year later, word about our work filtered through the organization. And a new R&D manager on the team brought us on to help develop a mobile app for Snapfish.

Later, that same contact brought us back for two more projects — including the HP Sprocket app — and one that’s currently ongoing.

Meanwhile, the manager was promoted because he helped lead these successful key product initiatives. We’re proud of both the market success of the projects and the personal success our stakeholder has had within HP.

Similarly, we began working with global consumer goods leader 3M in 2016. The initial project was for a new Filtrete Smart Air Filter. Using Bluetooth technology, the app communicates with the filter’s built-in sensor — and lets people know when it’s time to replace their HVAC air filter. The product was the first of its kind in the category, and an IoT success story that received acclaim from technology media. 3M even highlighted the project in its annual report. The product is widely available at leading retailers and receiving very positive customer reviews.

The success of that initial project led to a series of related projects, including more IoT apps, microsites for 3M retail partners, and this mobile-optimized product selector. At the same time, our main point of contact has continued to rise within the organization and take on more responsibilities.

It’s extremely rewarding to see the success of the projects we’ve worked on with HP and 3M. And we’re excited for our client contacts that have been recognized for their leadership and achievements, and are rising superheroes within their organizations. And, of course, we’re thrilled that our relationship continues to grow with these two pioneering companies.

Sharing our superpowers

I mentioned before that successful people have a pretty good idea of who helped them achieve superhero status — and they like to work with them again and again. And for us, that means repeat business.

But there’s something else. People who are successful often like to share their experiences with others. In the consulting industry, this means we get referrals. In this hyper-connected digital universe, the vast majority of our new business comes from these referrals. Our client superheroes tell their colleagues and their professional networks about our superpowers. And they might even share our great work in the form of a good review, just as both 3M and HP have done on the leading app developer directory, Clutch.

So, if you hear us say that we like to “help our clients become superheroes,” now you know why. We love doing this and want to make you one. We’ll use our superpowers — our coding excellence, our lovable UX designs, our mobile/IoT strategy, and our client services support — to help get you there. Even without a cape or mask.

Because we don’t succeed unless you do.