[x]cube LABS helps enterprises leverage digital as a strategy: Nilesh Jahagirdar

cube LABS, a division of PurpleTalk Inc., is a leader in digital innovation and strategy consulting. Established in 2008, it has deep expertise in all things digital -- social, mobile, analytics, cloud, wearables, and IoT.

It has delivered over 700 solutions across industries, won 25+ International awards, worked with 500+ clients, and created value over $2 billion for clients. cube is also one of the first 12 agencies globally to be approved by Google as a Certified Developer Partner.

Nilesh Jahagirdar, VP Marketing, cube LABS, tells us more. Excerpts from an interview:

DQ: Tell us about cube LABS, and the services that your company offers?

Nilesh Jahagirdar: We established cube LABS in 2008 to help enterprises innovate and disrupt markets by leveraging digital as a strategy. From a team of just 6-7 members including the co-founders, we are now 700+ associates globally. We were one of the first iPhone development companies globally. The cube team offers deep expertise in all things digital, and has delivered over 700 solutions across industries, won 25+ International awards, worked with 500+ clients, and created value of over $2 billion for our clients.

The services we offer, include:

• AI/ML
• IoT
• AR/VR
• Blockchain
• Game development
• Product design
• Digital strategy consulting
• CX consulting
• AWS Tech-Lambda, DynamoDB, Gateway, RDS, EC2
• Mobile/Web app development.

DQ: What were the company's goals and objectives when it was founded?

Nilesh Jahagirdar: Regardless of the business they are in, all companies need digital technology-powered solutions such as mobile applications, cloud computing, data analytics, and more to survive and grow in this day and age. However, many of them lack the expertise and resources to develop them on their own. They must look for partners to build the solutions for them or risk becoming obsolete.

Our goal was to step in and take over the entire strategy, product planning, design, development, and support, which takes a lot of overheads off our clients and helps them get future-ready.

DQ: What are your growth plans for the coming years?

Nilesh Jahagirdar: We want to continue scaling our operations to advance our position as a high-growth leader helping companies embrace digital innovation. Within the company, we operate a number of centers of excellence where our associates are working on new innovations in the areas of Big Data, IoT, cloud, and more. We also want to ramp up our hiring this year and the next, to keep pace with our growth and expansion plans globally.

DQ: What were the major challenges the company has faced till now?

Nilesh Jahagirdar: There are several challenges. The first challenge has been acquiring talent. When we were starting up, getting access to and attracting quality talent was the key challenge. This was back in 2008 when there were no iPhone/Android developer profiles. We realized that as one of the pioneers of mobile app development services, we would also have to create the talent pool.

We achieved this by collaborating with academia, and institutions imparting technical education. Not only did we teach prospective developers the nuances of mobile app/game development, we also created the curriculum and trained the trainers in order to create a steady stream of young, enthusiastic talent who can build the platforms and services of tomorrow.

Another challenge is retaining talent. Additionally, retaining talent is also a challenge for most new companies, but we were able to minimize the impact here by creating an atmosphere of continuous learning and development from the get-go. Our associates never work with a narrow focus, but get involved in developing entire frameworks, handling key deployments, and working closely with clients consistently. The challenges they take on and the exposure they receive ensure rapid growth and a high level of engagement as no two projects are the same and there is always something new around the corner.

As a result, we have consistently managed to attract and retain top-notch talent, as well as scale the team to over 700 professionals.

We also have the challenge for design thinking. The challenge was to develop and nurture a sense of product/UI/UX design among associates, as well as clients. Our functional area being quite new at the time, many of our clients did not realize how good design would be at the center of successful products in the future.

We overcame this by demonstrating how a well-designed product aided customer journeys right at the pre-production stage, to convince clients. Additionally, our expertise across retail, social networking, mobile app design, gaming, and others have ensured we’ve cultivated a strong design discipline which is evident from the many design awards we have won for our products.

DQ: How is your company helping businesses to become digitally-driven disruptors?

Nilesh Jahagirdar: Our approach is highly collaborative and driven by research. Before taking up a project, we start with extensive market research, an in-depth assessment of the client’s digital readiness, and establish clear goals. Once we onboard a client, they can rest assured that some really savvy digital experts will be working with them to build digital products, create entirely new digital revenue streams, and complete digital infrastructures.

DQ: What are some of your recent achievements and awards?

Nilesh Jahagirdar: Recently, cube LABS was featured by TimesTech as one of the leading companies in India for AI services. We were also featured among the top 20 mobile application development companies in Dallas, Texas, USA, by Expertise.com. We were one of the first 12 companies, globally, to be approved by Google as a certified developer partner. A few of our other awards include:

• Graphic Design USA - Health & Wellness Award
• Davey Award
• Annual Communicator Award
• Marcom Gold Award
• W3, Silver Award
• Alberta Business Award of Distinction
• Core77 Design Award
• Hermes, Platinum Award
• Mobile Game Excellency Award from The Communicator Awards
• HOW Award
• The Dallas Society of Visual Communications Award.