Woodapple was started in 1998 as Woodapple Design by professionals from the design school IDC, at IIT Mumbai. In the initial years we gained a strong reputation for compelling concepts and visual design, in the digital media with a slew of world class clients and projects in elearning. We received extensive opportunities in creative expression of our implicit belief – 'Form follows Function'.
Very shortly we made foray into the web in the year of the dotcom phenomenon, and eventually matured into a services organization in the enterprise segment with a focus on corporate websites and knowledge management initiatives and intranets. These were the years of building a strong technology arm to match its impeccable design capabilities, achieving a wholesome texture as an organization that had robust capabilities in both. This maturity provided a resilient platform that yielded valuable returns in the content and knowledge management services space. We also built frameworks and our own products which were deployed across numerous websites. At this point our design capabilities also acquired the crucial dimension of usability and user interface engineering.
As a natural progression, Woodapple added content and editorial services to complete its suite of offerings, in the process becoming a unique player that did what few others did – design, technology and content, with a strong emphasis on business consulting as a precursor to any of the 3 service areas. This turning point was eventually captured in the company’s byline ‘Design derived from content’ that acknowledged and emphasized the relationship and the synergy between these 2 aspects which it sought to fulfill in its work. The approach to our projects is always solution centric, which makes the exercise of problem definition very crucial. In doing that Woodapple seeks to study the client and the proposition, the challenges, the users, their behaviors, their business needs before designing a customized solution.
Grounded on these key pillars of content, design and technology, Woodapple has built numerous initiatives from scratch, right from concept to realization and management. Our offering into ‘managed services’ meant that besides creating online properties and entities, it developed a strong process of maintenance and management. This area was a different ballgame altogether, and through rigorous learning we fine tuned aspects, big and small that went into efficient management of large, dynamic information environments.
Somewhere in this vast expanse of codes, programs, style sheets, brand guidelines, research and writing, Woodapple’s core started firming around people and relationships. About integrity in service and an honest approach towards work. We realized early that a successful project isn’t only about brilliant consulting or great research or impeccable software, but the people behind it. We learnt about the importance of the smallest of tasks undertaken by the junior most resources. We learnt that a sincere and great approach by some good people in the organization chased shoddy attitudes and beliefs away.
We discovered how self organization works - how people organize themselves around a central idea, a goal or a belief, realizing step-by-step the true essence of an organization. Behind successful project execution are people with great attitude and sincerity who often believe in the same thing. We figured early into service that what appears as two sides in client vendor relationship are always sides of the same coin if it is a winning story. The challenge was to recreate success with great teamwork, within an expanding network of associations – clients, vendors, employees and partners. It wasn’t a coincidence that the first product was named after this spirit – Teamworks 2.0, to be followed up eventually by Networks 2.0, both capturing important milestones in the maturity of the company. With Networks 2.0 and Blogworks 2.0, Woodapple entered the domain of social media expertise, eventually becoming a brand about ‘People behind the Networks’, with a singular theme of sharing and collaboration through open systems.
Because our expertise lay across varied fields, many people from different backgrounds walk into the company to create a mosaic of a decentralized and distributed system. We have tried to foster a practice of inclusion, an approachable hierarchy without necessarily calling it flat and keeping things simple.