Q: Do you outsource your design or development overseas or outside of Canada?

No, we don't. We’re proud to be 100% Canadian-owned and operated. From designers and developers to project managers and QA specialists, every member of the Brain Box team is based in Canada and works in-house. Though we are headquartered in Toronto, we also have talented team members located in Alberta, and we plan to continue to expand our Canadian team over the coming months.

Question 1

What is the difference between a web app and a mobile app?

Accepted Answer

Simply put, web applications are accessed on the web via your web browser. They do a lot of the things mobile apps do without utilizing some of the specific features of a mobile device.

Mobile apps are applications you access via a mobile platform. While you can load a web application on a Safari or Chrome browser on your phone, mobile applications must be accessed via an app you download through the Apple or Google Play store, depending on whether you have an Apple or Android device.

One of the benefits of web applications is that you can make changes to the app and deploy it quickly, and it will be reflected immediately on the web.

With a mobile app, if there’s a bug or a new enhancement, feature or upgrade, it has to go through a lengthy approval process by Apple and Google before a user can download the latest version of the app to get the update. To help clients save time and money, while getting the best possible solution, we try to exhaust all web application possibilities before considering a mobile option, unless there’s a requirement for a mobile app, like on-demand location or phone movement that uses the phone sensors, such as Gyroscope And Accelerometer.

At Brain Box, we work strategically with our clients to determine what type of application they need to build. We typically lean towards web applications first unless a mobile application is required.

Question 2

How much does a mobile app typically cost?

Accepted Answer

The short answer: it varies. The long answer: it could start as low as $50,000 and really has no ceiling. The reason why mobile apps are so costly compared to web applications is that mobile apps have to be custom-built and go through a lengthy design and development process.

But we don’t do that at Brain Box. Some companies develop code for both iOS and Android, which means writing two sets of applications, which costs a lot of time and money. At Brain Box, we use a framework for creating mobile apps that automatically deploys our code for both operating systems, saving our clients a considerable amount of time and money.

Question 3

Do web design and development companies use ChatGPT and AI?

Accepted Answer

They should be. And we do at Brain Box. From a development perspective, if we’re working on a test case, we use ChatGPT to write a bit of test case code. While it’s not great at writing complete code, it is useful for turning out short snippets of code, which helps fast-track the overall code-writing process.

We also use AI and open-source AIs like ChatGPT for doing research for clients, including competitor, market and industry research. This cuts down on our research time, sometimes by as much as 50%, and that time-savings results in a lot of cost-savings for our clients.

Question 4

What is the difference between working with a freelancer or a web consultancy?

Accepted Answer

The main difference between working with a freelancer and a web consultancy is the level of expertise and support you’ll receive.

With a freelancer (and those that provide both design and development services can be hard to find), you’ll only get one person's skills, experience and experience.

With a consultancy, you’ll work with a team of experienced professionals who bring a wealth of knowledge to each project. You’ll likely work with a designer, a developer, and a project manager who each bring deep, specialized skills to each role and can get the job done to the highest standard on a tight deadline.

At Brain Box, we’ve developed a design and development team that runs like a well-oiled machine. They take the time to understand the needs of your projects and turn out the best possible end product, while our highly-trained project managers ensure every project is delivered on time and on budget.

Question 5

We already have a development team, can your company design it and work with our internal team?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely. Brain Box has worked with a number of agencies and companies over the years to provide complimentary design services to support their in-house development teams. Our team of design UX and UI experts can create beautiful visuals that are functional and aesthetically appealing.

Because we have internal design and development teams at Brain Box, our designers are well-versed in collaborating effectively with external developers. They’ll package everything they need, ensuring they have all design assets required in the correct format so the project can progress seamlessly.

We also build a functional specification document, which we pass on to developers so they know exactly how the designs should be built according to the client’s requirements. This is a massive benefit to in-house development teams, so they know precisely how to develop the designs and can avoid making time-consuming and costly assumptions.

Question 6

Do you outsource your design or development overseas or outside of Canada?

Accepted Answer

No, we don't. We&rsquo;re proud to be 100% Canadian-owned and operated. From designers and developers to project managers and QA specialists, every member of the Brain Box team is based in Canada and works in-house. Though we are headquartered in Toronto, we also have talented team members located in Alberta, and we plan to continue to expand our Canadian team over the coming months.

Question 7

Why should I work with Brain Box over the other web consultancies?

Accepted Answer

One of the reasons Brain Box has been so successful is that we are industry agnostic. We haven’t niched down or siloed our services for any specific industry. We take everything we learn from each project and sector and apply it to every new project we tackle. This enables us to apply a fresh, innovative lens to our client’s challenges.

We also have an incredibly experienced team of professionals at Brain Box with a ton of valuable cross-over skills. They’re also experts at collaborating on projects to deliver unmatched results for our clients in record time. The strength of our team means we can work in a leaner and more agile way for our clients without the additional overhead that often comes with working with larger agencies.

Question 8

Why work with a web consultancy over a marketing agency?

Accepted Answer

If you're looking for support managing your entire marketing function, an agency is probably your best bet.

But if you’re looking to design and build something online from scratch, say a website, product, app or tool, that's when you need that specialized support of a web consultancy. Often, even if you decide to use a marketing agency to do this work, they will likely outsource it to a specialized web consultancy like Brain Box.

While we have experience (and love partnering) with agencies, we’re also happy to work directly with clients if they don’t have an agency partner or want to work on a project directly with us.

Imagine the design and development process like a triangle. At the peak is your project manager, overseeing all the moving parts. At the bottom left is the designer, creating functional and beautiful visuals for your build and at the bottom right is the developer, building the design and bringing it to life online. Each one of those positions requires a ton of cross-over skill, and each member of our team has experience in each of these functions, which help them collaborate effectively and streamlines our processes.

Where an agency might need six people to deliver on a standard project, because of the depth of our skill, expertise and knowledge, Brain Box can get it done with just three.

We’ve also made it our mission to hire the best people in the business - so there’s no fat to cut here. Whereas larger agencies might have 100 staff, we can get the job done with just 20 highly-skilled, insanely talented Brain Box pros.

That efficiency, agility and leanness means cost-savings for our clients while still getting an outstanding end product.

Question 9

How do you deliver on projects with tight timelines?

Accepted Answer

Before we start any project, we ask our clients a critical question: what are the must-have features, and what are the nice-to-have features for this build? What does this application need to be functional? What can’t it live without?

We challenge our clients to really consider what’s a must-have. Once we have a list of must-haves, we create a roadmap and ensure it aligns with our client’s schedule.

We then work to deliver the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within the first three months. Following that release, we complete sprint cycles to iterate the build over the following three months or more.

We continuously incorporate feedback from our clients as we find this approach allows them to interact with the applications and make changes based on internal or customer feedback.

This phased, iterative approach helps our clients see a return on their investment much more quickly (especially for those in the eCommerce space). When the project involves automating internal processes, this approach also helps clients realize operational efficiencies and time-savings rapidly. In both cases, our agile process means clients get a more finished product which has been optimized based on real-world feedback.

Question 10

How quickly can we get started on our project with Brain Box?

Accepted Answer

Right away. At Brain Box, we typically have resources available to support new projects. We generally require a week of lead time but can book new work immediately.

And we don’t throw a bunch of juniors on your account, either. Our team of superstars are veteran, senior-level professionals with a ton of experience. They thrive on a challenge and expect a lot of themselves. They also have the full support of the business to succeed at everything they do.

We work to live at Brain Box, never the other way around. We focus on creating a solid work-life balance for our team, which we know helps each member maintain their physical, mental and emotional well-being.

We hold our team members accountable for the work they do, but we also work diligently to praise them for a job well done. We want everyone to work on challenging, fun and exciting projects because we know that’s what keeps them motivated and engaged and helps improve their performance.

Because of this approach and investment in their professional development and training, our team often says that one year working at Brain Box is like three years working at an agency.

So if you have a project you need help with, get the best brains in the business working on it today.

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Brain Box by the numbers

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