# Smoketrees Digital

> Smoketrees Digital builds custom internal software systems that eliminate operational bottlenecks and give founders back control. One team covering app development, operational solutions, AI automations, cloud solutions, and data & dashboards for growing companies, mostly in India, since 2021. We work from HSR Layout, Bengaluru.

We are hired to remove operational friction from growing companies, not to develop software for its own sake. We work problem first, process second, software last: find where the work actually breaks, fix the process around it, and only then decide what needs to be built. Every system we build has to reduce dependency, increase visibility and hold up as the company grows.

## Track record

- 5 years in business, since 2021.
- 20+ projects delivered, across seven industries.
- 15+ active clients, most on long-term retainer.

## Services

- [App Development](https://smoketrees.in/services/app-development): Products your customers and your field teams actually use. Customer apps, ordering portals, booking flows, field tools for teams working away from a desk, built properly and tested against real usage, not demo data. Stack: Flutter, React, Next.js, Node.js.
- [Operational Solutions](https://smoketrees.in/services/operational-solutions): Internal systems that end the spreadsheet era. Reconciliation, inventory, approvals, live dashboards, internal tools, built around how your team already works and integrated with what you already run. Stack: ClickHouse, React, Next.js, Node.js.
- [AI Automations](https://smoketrees.in/services/ai-automations): AI applied where the manual work actually is. Document processing, classification, agent workflows, decision support, scoped to the specific tasks where a person is reading, sorting or copying. Model-agnostic, integrated into your existing systems.
- [Cloud Solutions](https://smoketrees.in/services/cloud-solutions): Infrastructure that scales without a panic. Architecture, migration, cost optimisation, monitoring, deployment and data pipelines, built to absorb the spike, not break under it. Stack: AWS, GCP, containerised deployments, ClickHouse.
- [Data & Dashboards](https://smoketrees.in/services/data-and-dashboards): Dashboards your team actually trusts, on a data layer that keeps every number current. Power BI, Tableau, or a custom build; we connect your scattered sources, model the data, and put it in the tool that fits. Stack: Power BI, Tableau, ClickHouse, React.

## Process

Full-system engagements run six phases over three to nine months. Smaller engagements run a compressed version: a diagnostic (one to two weeks, a paid diagnosis on its own that maps the workflow, sizes the financial impact and tells you what should be built) or a focused build (six to twelve weeks, one system for one bottleneck).

1. Discovery and Diagnosis (1-2 weeks): Interview the people who actually do the work, map current workflows, trace how data moves between teams, find the failure points, calculate what the inefficiency is costing. Delivers a diagnosis report, an ROI projection, and a go or no-go recommendation. If there is no clear path to measurable return, we say so and do not take the project.
2. System Design and Architecture (2-3 weeks): Design around the decision-making structure, not a feature list. Plan integration points with existing systems up front. Delivers a system blueprint, user flow maps per role, an integration plan, and a phased delivery timeline. Nothing is built until sign-off.
3. Development and Integration (8-16 weeks): Build in two-week sprints with a demo at the end of each one. Custom modules, integrations, role-based access, dashboards, automated alerts, with security and performance testing alongside. Weekly progress updates and a shared Slack channel.
4. Testing and Pilot Rollout (2-4 weeks): User acceptance testing, then a pilot group inside the organisation, adjusting based on real behaviour. Stay in this phase until adoption is proven, not until deployment is done.
5. Deployment and Handover (1-2 weeks): Rollout to all users, role-specific training, monitoring, backup and recovery, admin credentials transferred. The client owns the code, infrastructure and data, with no vendor lock-in.
6. Post-Deployment Support (3-6 months, ongoing): Monitor performance and uptime, handle support, track adoption metrics, fix issues, review whether the system is delivering the intended outcome.

Commitments: business first not tech first; no surprises, no scope creep on fixed-price projects; adoption over deployment; ownership and control with no lock-in; honest recommendations, including saying custom software is the wrong answer when it is; post-launch commitment rather than disappearing after deployment.

## Engagement models

- PROJECT: A defined problem and a system built for it. Diagnose, design, build and stay through adoption. Fixed price, defined scope, full ownership at the end.
- VIRTUAL CTO: No technical leadership in-house. We define the technology roadmap, make architecture and stack calls, review code quality, set development priorities, and keep technology aligned with the business.
- EMBEDDED TEAM: Capacity rather than direction. We operate as an extension of the client's team, handling planning, development, maintenance and improvements, with full ownership of the technology.

## Principles

Problem first (we start with your problem, not our stack); clarity over complexity (simple beats clever); ownership (we own what we build, from planning through delivery and after, and fix what breaks); long-term thinking (we build for the next two years of growth, not short-term hacks); honest about fit (if custom software is not the right answer we say so before there is a proposal on the table).

## Industries

- [D2C and Omnichannel](https://smoketrees.in/industries/d2c-commerce): Reconciling settlements, returns and inventory across Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Meesho, Nykaa and owned stores, where money leaks in the gaps between channels.
- [Manufacturing](https://smoketrees.in/industries/manufacturing): Live dashboards and data pipelines that replace paper and untrusted ERPs, so floor problems surface before they cost a batch.
- [Fintech](https://smoketrees.in/industries/fintech): Reconciliation across gateways and ledgers, validation that scales with volume, and DPDP Act compliance groundwork, built for the Indian payments stack (Razorpay and others).
- [Healthcare](https://smoketrees.in/industries/healthcare): Internal tools connecting disconnected patient-data systems, plus the DPDP Act compliance layer for sensitive health data.
- [Ed-tech](https://smoketrees.in/industries/ed-tech): Dashboards that pull student, engagement and revenue data from scattered tools into one current, live view.
- [Ticketing and Events](https://smoketrees.in/industries/ticketing-events): Fast wallet-pass entry, infrastructure that absorbs event-day surges, and live dashboards for gate and sales data.
- [Real Estate](https://smoketrees.in/industries/real-estate): Internal tools and dashboards that turn manual property estimation and valuation into a fast, repeatable process, with document data extraction underneath.

## Case studies

- [Reconciling 1,00,000+ units a week without chaos](https://smoketrees.in/work/primarc-reconciliation): Operational Solutions, D2C. Marketplace stock across five disconnected systems reconciled automatically; reconciliation time cut from 3 weeks to 20 minutes.
- [Automating high-volume commission and refund calculations](https://smoketrees.in/work/primarc-commission): Operational Solutions, D2C. Commission and refund maths that had outgrown spreadsheets, automated with a full audit trail; 67% less manual finance effort.
- [Plain-English analytics dashboards](https://smoketrees.in/work/nlq-dashboards): AI Automations, Operational Solutions, D2C. Natural-language-to-SQL dashboard engine that renders a shareable chart from a sentence in under a minute, expected.
- [Gift-card brand validation in two minutes](https://smoketrees.in/work/earnest-validation): AI Automations, Operational Solutions, Fintech (Earnest Fintech). Automated pre-activation validation of gift-card brand configuration across providers; 3.5 hours cut to 2 minutes.
- [Gift-card inventory reconciled across every provider](https://smoketrees.in/work/earnest-inventory): Operational Solutions, Fintech (Earnest Fintech). Real-time reconciliation and standardised SKU mapping across 5,000+ gift-card SKUs and multiple provider APIs.
- [Data-backed property buying decisions](https://smoketrees.in/work/lmtree-decisions): AI Automations, Operational Solutions, Real Estate (LMTree). Property-matching decision engine cutting buy/no-buy decision time from 3 hours to 5 minutes, 83% less manual research.
- [AI product intelligence for fashion](https://smoketrees.in/work/fomofy-ai): AI Automations, D2C (Fomofy). Virtual try-on, skin-tone colour intelligence and an in-progress outfit creator, improving discovery and reducing colour-related returns.
- [How we reduced event entry wait times with Apple Wallet integration](https://smoketrees.in/work/apple-wallet-event-entry): App Development, Cloud Solutions, Ticketing and Events. PassKit-based digital tickets with cross-platform delivery via Gmail/Chrome for Android, cutting entry wait times by 50%+ and avoiding a separate Google Wallet build.
- [Fomofy: a fashion app that learns your taste](https://smoketrees.in/work/fomofy-app): App Development, D2C. Flutter shopping app for iOS and Android with a personalised feed built from style, size, body type and skin-tone signals.
- [MeriBachat: every brand's savings in one app](https://smoketrees.in/work/meribachat): App Development, Operational Solutions, Fintech. Flutter app aggregating 500+ brands' savings and gift-voucher offers, plus a distributor platform with automated payouts.
- [OMBHU: construction materials across warehouses](https://smoketrees.in/work/ombhu): App Development, Operational Solutions, Manufacturing and Construction. B2B ordering platform routing custom TMT steel orders to the best-fit warehouse with real-time inventory visibility.
- [Tixverse: digital ticketing at event scale](https://smoketrees.in/work/tixverse): App Development, Cloud Solutions, Ticketing and Events, Canada. End-to-end ticketing platform with seat selection, secure QR validation and real-time dashboards, live in Canada.
- [Nextsteps: exam prep that fits in a pocket](https://smoketrees.in/work/nextsteps): App Development, Ed-tech. Flutter USMLE exam-prep app with subscriptions, a large question bank and deep performance analytics, live on iOS and Android.
- [kidsCur: a child's health record in one place](https://smoketrees.in/work/kidscur): App Development, Healthcare. Flutter app giving every child a digital health repository: vaccination schedules, growth tracking, records and appointments.
- [PayNoBrokerage: property without the broker](https://smoketrees.in/work/paynobrokerage): App Development, Real Estate. Flutter app connecting property owners and seekers directly for rentals, resale and plots, without a broker.
- [Rustic Wisdom: a wellness app with its own identity](https://smoketrees.in/work/rustic-wisdom): App Development (Design), Healthcare and Wellness. Full product design for a wellness companion app, delivered ready to build.
- [A custom Shopify theme for brand-led commerce](https://smoketrees.in/work/shopify-theme): App Development, D2C, Shopify. Fully custom, performance-optimised Shopify theme with brand-driven layouts and conversion-focused flows.
- [How we saved time making estimates easy for a property buying company](https://smoketrees.in/work/property-buying-estimates): Property Investment, India. Centralised data platform, comparison engine and price-range recommendation, cutting per-property evaluation from 2 hours to about 2 minutes.

## Blog

- [How Manufacturing Companies Gain SKU-Level Margin Visibility](https://smoketrees.in/blog/sku-level-margin-visibility-manufacturing) — Business Solution, Adarsh Singh, 2026-04-29
- [Tally + Excel vs Custom ERP Layer: The Smarter Path for Growing Manufacturers](https://smoketrees.in/blog/tally-vs-erp-for-manufacturers) — Business Solution, Abhijay Kishore, 2026-04-22
- [Inside a Finance Automation System That Reduced Effort by 67%](https://smoketrees.in/blog/inside-a-finance-automation-system-that-reduced-effort-by-67) — Business Solution, Anshuman Chhapolia, 2026-04-14
- [Refund Logic, Commission Errors and Why Your Reports Never Match](https://smoketrees.in/blog/refund-logic-commission-errors-and-why-your-reports-never-match) — Business Solution, Adarsh Singh, 2026-04-08
- [Why Growing Manufacturing Businesses Can't See What's Happening Inside Their Own Operations](https://smoketrees.in/blog/why-growing-manufacturing-businesses-cant-see-whats-happening-inside-their-own-operations) — Business Solution, Anshuman Chhapolia, 2026-04-01
- [Why Marketplace Reconciliation Breaks for D2C Brands](https://smoketrees.in/blog/why-marketplace-reconciliation-breaks-for-d2c-brands) — Ecommerce, Anshuman Chhapolia, 2026-03-24
- [How Financial Automation Eliminates Revenue Leakage in High-Volume Ecommerce](https://smoketrees.in/blog/how-financial-automation-eliminates-revenue-leakage-in-high-volume-ecommerce) — Business Solution, Adarsh Singh, 2026-03-17
- [The Hidden Cost of Running Your Business on Paper](https://smoketrees.in/blog/the-hidden-cost-of-running-your-business-on-paper) — Business Solution, Abhijay Kishore, 2026-01-14
- [When Off-the-Shelf Software Fails: A Case Study from Tixverse](https://smoketrees.in/blog/when-off-the-shelf-software-fails-a-case-study-from-tixverse) — Case Study, Anshuman Chhapolia, 2025-12-25
- [The Calendar That Makes You Walk More: A Smarter Way to Track Your Daily Steps](https://smoketrees.in/blog/the-calendar-that-makes-you-walk-more-a-smarter-way-to-track-your-daily-steps) — UX Design, Abhijay Kishore, 2025-11-18
- [Driving ROI with Intelligent Email Marketing & Sales Attribution](https://smoketrees.in/blog/driving-roi-with-intelligent-email-marketing-sales-attribution) — Business Solution, Anshuman Chhapolia, 2025-11-17
- [Beyond the Basics: Subtle Principles That Elevate Design](https://smoketrees.in/blog/beyond-the-basics-subtle-principles-that-elevate-design) — UX Design, Abhijay Kishore, 2025-09-15
- [Foundation of Good Design – Core Concepts](https://smoketrees.in/blog/foundation-of-good-design-core-concepts) — UX Design, Abhijay Kishore, 2025-09-15
- [Apple Wallet Integration with Node.js and pkpass](https://smoketrees.in/blog/apple-wallet-integration-with-nodejs-and-pkpass) — Development, Anshuman Chhapolia, 2025-08-19
- [Advanced Full-Text Search in PostgreSQL](https://smoketrees.in/blog/full-text-search-using-trigram-and-tsvector) — Development, Adarsh Singh, 2025-08-19
- [Why Stacked Cards Just Work Better Than Lists for "Next Task" Views](https://smoketrees.in/blog/why-stacked-cards-just-work-better-than-lists-for-next-task-views) — UX Design, Abhijay Kishore, 2025-08-11

## Company

- [About](https://smoketrees.in/about): Track record, engagement model, principles and origin.
- [Process](https://smoketrees.in/process): The full six-phase delivery process, engagement shapes and timeline.
- [Services](https://smoketrees.in/services): Overview of all five capabilities.
- [Work](https://smoketrees.in/work): Full case-study index, filterable by capability and industry.
- [Industries](https://smoketrees.in/industries): Overview of all seven industries served.
- [Blog](https://smoketrees.in/blog): Writing on operational software, automation, ecommerce and design.
- [Contact](https://smoketrees.in/contact-us): Get in touch or book a working session.

## Optional

- [Sitemap](https://smoketrees.in/sitemap.xml): Full list of indexable pages.
- [Robots](https://smoketrees.in/robots.txt): Crawler rules.