Synertic makes mobile app creation accessible to everyone

(PARTNER CONTENT) Synertic is a creator of “tailor-made” and “ready-to-publish” mobile applications. Created in 2010, Synertic has evolved from a simple services company to a publisher of Cloud solutions. Explanations with Bruno Doucende, President and founder of Synertic.

What are Synertic’s missions?

Synertic was born 2 years after the arrival of the iPhone, when mobile applications were still very rare. We operate as a traditional service company : companies approach us with a project to create a mobile application, via specifications or a call for tenders. Synertic then offers them a fixed price quote (describing the services and functionalities to be developed, the service schedule, the project team and the price) to carry out this mobile application project. If she accepts it, we launch the project.

In 2015, several small organizations told us of their difficulties in allocating a sufficient budget to develop relatively standard applications according to their wishes. We therefore decided to create an application generator, very easy to use in terms of configuration and customization, Shapper: no-code low-code solution for mobile application.

The idea being that these customers can develop and personalize their mobile application, managing all the content and functionalities themselves. At the time, no-code low-code platforms were not yet in the news, but Synertic was therefore well ahead in this area.

What can you tell us about this mobile app builder?

This platform, called Shapper (from the contraction “to shape” For “shape” and the acronym “app” For “mobile app”) was marketed for the first time in 2017. It has enjoyed great success with associations, federations, small local authorities, SMEs and traders. We also presented it to large groups that were already working with us (such as Essilor, Enedis or Pernod-Ricard), who saw a definite interest in developing business mobile applications, managed by the businesses and intended for their employees.

The Shapper platform has therefore evolved to integrate connectors, and thus interface with the information systems of these major accounts. This allows to retrieve information to display it in an application, or return entered data from the application on company information systems. SSO type connectors also allow you to authenticate through company directories via the login and password common to all company applications.

In short, thanks to Shapper, Synertic and this mobile app development can now be aimed at both a small merchant and a large group. Other more surprising areas of activity also use this platform, such as churches which are digitalizing the functioning of their parish.

What are the advantages of a solution like Shapper?

It takes on average 3 to 6 months to realize and distribute a tailor-made mobile application. Shapper reduces this time and costs between 5 to 10 times, allowing our customers to design and publish an app in just 2-3 weeks. In fact, anyone who masters their concept and our tool can finalize an application in one to two days. The longest part is the production of the content and the publication process on the App Stores (iOS and Android), which takes between one and two weeks.

Even when the application appears there, it is still possible to make changes (change the navigation, change a form, add input fields, etc.): this operation only takes a few seconds. As we said above, Shapper is a simple process for creating and operating your own mobile application, with a significant level of configuration. Many connectors can interface with different solutions.

This option is also much more affordable for small budgets. We operate in SaaS mode: therefore, apart from the initial support costs, Shapper is based on a subscription system only linked to activated features. Finally, our DNA as a service company allows us to offer, if necessary, additional development, to meet a specific need expressed by a customer.

What can you do with a mobile application generated by Shapper?

Shapper offers four categories of features:

• For users: they have the possibility of registering, having an account opened in their name or being associated with a directory. It is also possible to manage groups or authorizations to define who can access specific content;
• Make multimedia content available (text, visual, layout, PDF files, cartography, video, sound, image, etc.);
• To create forms and workflows: Shapper offers a whole range of possibilities in terms of input (text, numeric, date, photo, sound, video, file, geolocation, etc.) A barcode, QR code or chip scanning system NFC can also be integrated;
• To add specialized business modules: announcement system, push notifications, store, planning, reservation system, etc. These modules can be dedicated to various sectors of activity (e-commerce, associative, medical, etc.) and recently events (to manage before, during, or after the event). For example, a medical scholarly society typically generates applications via Shapper during its major annual events. The largest of these spans four days and brings together more than 40,000 participants: despite a massive increase in load and demand over a very short period, their application remained operational throughout the duration of the event.

How do you ensure the security of these mobile applications?

The notions of security and integrity are very important to us. My professional career has led me to support companies in securing information systems, and I have also worked on the digitalization of the medical sector. At Synertic, there is therefore great vigilance in the creation of solutions and applications, with secure programming. We raise awareness among our developers, so that they integrate all best practices and security standards. Synertic also monitors security, to find out about new types of attacks, or the security of smartphones.

This question of security is also found in the ShapperMed solution, derived from Shapper and hosted on HDS platforms (which guarantee the protection of health data), which therefore offers this possibility of application development for organizations under medical constraints.

What is the place of AI in this generation of mobile applications?

Generative AI will allow us to integrate new functionalities within these applications, such as Chatbots. We can also imagine that she could soon be directly integrated into the generation of a mobile applicationbased on the wishes expressed vocally or written by our customers.

Do you have any final words?

In order to demystify this concept of no code, I wrote a white paper on low-code no-code for mobile applications. I explain why you should equip yourself with this type of solution (For whom? For what?), and I list the questions that can be asked in the process (What are the advantages? points of vigilance. What are the keys to the success of a project?) Anyone who wants to get started can refer to it to find answers.

Find them CGU from SCRIBEO.

This content was produced with SCRIBEO. The BFMBUSINESS editorial staff did not participate in the production of this content.