The number of mobile app users in the world will pass 6.9 billion in 2024, according to Designli, a mobile development company.
As the number of global app usage continues to grow, developers are looking for innovative ways to make better apps for users.
One such developer is Kantemir Vologirov, who is focused on building apps that make users’ lives more convenient. Kantemir’s tech journey is all about innovation, with a focus on building mobile solutions that address user needs and are both scalable and innovative. He created the discount aggregator app, Saly, which went viral in the App Store, and worked with global brands like L’Oréal and Danone at Customertimes, a global consulting firm. He has also led the success of the popular app, Prequel, which is used by celebrities like Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian. He is currently building AgroMonitor, a new mobile app to ease the suffering of U.S. farmers, leadings integration projects at Marketplace Technologies LLC, a subsidiary of Russian retail behemoth Magnit, and buildings retail solutions.
Now, he shares these strategies, which he has honed over time and thus necessary for his success.
Solve a Real Problem and Make It Simple
The first thing to do if you want to build a successful app is to identify a real, tangible problem that your users currently have to solve. That was what Kantemir’s Saly app did—make the process of accessing discounts from a variety of retailers simple. “When a user is overloaded with information, they need a tool that brings clarity and simplicity,” he explains. The app was a huge success, making it to the top 100 on the App Store after attracting 10,000 users due to Kantemir’s ability to aggregate all discounts on the same platform.
Now Kantemir is applying that same principle to agriculture through his U.S.-based company, Vologirov Digital LLC, and its new app, AgroMonitor. The aim of this iOS and Android app is to solve problems facing U.S. farmers by offering real-time data analytics and predictive modeling tools. Providing farmers the ability to optimize their operations—from pest management to resource use—through data obtained from satellites, IoT sensors, and drones, AgroMonitor will help farmers make smarter, data-driven decisions, which support productivity, reduce costs, and enhance sustainable farming practices.
Kantemir emphasizes that complexity should remain behind the scenes and that the user’s journey has to be seamless. “It’s essential to remember that users don’t care about how your technology works; they care about how it makes their lives better,” he believes. The main job for developers is to streamline the user experience, remove all friction points, and make the app intuitive.
Start Prioritizing User Experience from Day One
A good app is far more than simply a bunch of features; it is also about the experience a good app delivers to its users. Kantemir learned this from day one when he worked for Prequel Inc., where he played an important role in building the popular visual effects app celebrities including Ariana Grande and Kim Kardashian have used. “The real challenge was making these visual things work at scale across all devices,” he reveals.
According to Kantemir, Prequel’s success was as a result of its intuitive interface, and that must be the top priority for any app developer. Whether the app has features that are unique or innovative, if the app is not easy to use, people will abandon it. From simple things such as navigation flow to complex ones like load time optimization, the focus is always on user experience. Prequel’s app was marked by its filters and effects, but it was the smooth user experience that kept millions engaged.
However, the importance of testing, refining, and improving based on real-world user feedback cannot be overemphasized, as they ensure that every interaction within the app feels natural and enjoyable.
Design for Growth
One of the most common mistakes developers often make is creating an app to solve a problem at hand without thinking about how to scale it in the future. If you are building a tool for 10,000 or 10 million users, it doesn’t matter—your infrastructure needs to grow with demand. From his time at Customertimes, where he worked on a global custom offline client platform for Salesforce used by L’Oréal, Danone, and other companies, Kantemir learned the value of scalability. “The question is, ‘How are you going to anticipate the growth and build the systems that can deal with it without sacrificing performance and user experience?’” he says.
This is important, especially when talking about apps tied to large corporations or enterprises where you need operational efficiency across as many regions as possible. Although there are a couple of things that Kantemir was trying to achieve with the technology, he wanted instead to make sure that regardless of the size of the user base, the technology would be fast and reliable.
Kantemir also faced a similar challenge when he undertook to integrate KazanExpress into Magnit’s broader retail platform—not simply to combine one platform with another, but also to make sure that the millions of retail clients of Magnit would have a flawless experience throughout the country’s largest retail chain. “At the same time that more users are both expected and coveted,” he notes, “scalability doesn’t always mean being able to support more users; it’s about maintaining quality as you grow.”
Keep It Relevant But Innovate
Relevance is key to innovation. Innovation is vital to keep users engaged but must always be founded on relevance. Adding features solely because they are new won’t just lead to long-term success. At Prequel, Kantemir pushed his work on visual effects to the creative boundaries, but anything he was doing was always connected, in some way, to what the users wanted: fun, easy-to-use tools for making a photo or video awesome. “By innovation, I do not mean how many new features you can put in an app,” he explains. “I mean new features that make sense to the user and when they need it.”
By keeping user needs at the center of innovation, Prequel didn’t just get users; it retained them. This lesson is valuable for any developer: stay focused on the core functionality and ask how new technology can enhance the user experience all the time.
Don’t Stop Improving Post-Launch
One key trait of any successful app is that it will evolve after launch. This is because user expectations evolve fast, and the tech landscape always changes. As a result, Kantemir’s work does not stop at the time the app launches. Since the development of the app never stops, he always tries to improve and iterate it. Therefore, he advises: “Post-launch, it’s important to gather user feedback and update it to accommodate how users want to use the app and keep up with technology.”
For any app to remain successful, it needs to adapt and respond to user behaviors, technological advancements, and market trends. This approach also improves user satisfaction while keeping the app always fresh and competitive over time.
Kantemir Vologirov’s approach to the development of such an application provides valuable lessons for anyone planning to build a mobile app that makes a deep impact in a saturated market. With a focus on user experience, scalability, and innovation, Kantemir has built apps that address real-world problems, engage with users, and remain successful in the long run. Going forward, these principles will remain crucial in building excellent apps that meet and exceed consumer expectations.
