SoftOrbits, founded in 2006 by Eugene Ustinenkov, is an image data processing software development company that creates smaller-scale single-feature utilities to help amateur and professional photographers simplify long and tedious tasks. Nowadays, SoftOrbits boasts over a million yearly downloads, 300,000 users, and recognition from Softonic, CNET, and OISV.
Recently SoftOrbits introduced AI tools to seven of its products, increasing downloads by over 20% and attracting varied audiences: from beginners to marketing teams, influencers, and professional photographers. The team believes that the reason behind the successful implementation of AI features lies in the fact that SoftOrbits was extremely selective and spent a long time fine-tuning the tools to guarantee reliably great outputs.
“Right now it feels like hundreds of new AI startups appear every year, and lots of them focus on image editing. This has become a bandwagon, with most entrepreneurs having no real experience when it comes to photo data processing or any sort of proper understanding of AI in general. As a result, users get a vast array of options to choose from, but almost none of them can give them what they expect — a reliable high-quality tool,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits with more than 10 years of software development expertise.
While SoftOrbits predicted that neural networks would completely change the industry, the team waited for them to become advanced enough before implementing them into products. This approach ensured that the company maintained the highest standards for their software while also providing helpful functionalities to users.
“We knew that the technology wasn’t ready yet, so we waited. One might say that we missed the first opportunities to grow and expand our services, but we are convinced that even modern tools lack quality and reliability. Early versions were even weaker. We’re not looking for attention and aren’t willing to promise golden mountains — we want to build solid and well-performing solutions for our users,” explains Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits, Candidate of Technical Sciences
Another reason for the team’s success is that SoftOrbits chose to use AI to handle boring and routine tasks instead of promising that the technology could handle anything. Fixing lighting, color contrast, and creating atmospheric effects in a few clicks might not sound as impressive as some other features AI startups may promise, but these exact features actually help users save the most time and achieve the desired look for their photos. “Ever since we started the company, our goal was to simplify the editing process. We want to take the tedious and repetitive parts out of the equation, ensuring that nothing stands between the art and the artist. AI is exactly the right tool for that, although it is still in its early stages. Which is why we use it cautiously and only implement features we believe are stable and good enough,” says Eugene Ustinenkov, CEO of SoftOrbits and AlarmFront.
While the team behind SoftOrbits is invested in AI, it is not the only progression path the company envisions. Right now, SoftOrbits is in the process of transitioning to a different distribution model.
“We believe that SaaS is the future, and we’ve been considering this route for a long time. We want to provide our users with increased accessibility by enabling online access to our tools with no hardware requirements. While we’re still in the early stages, the process looks highly promising, so get ready for our new services in the future,” says Hannes Jansen, writer and editor at SoftOrbits.
Want to connect with SoftOrbits?
Whether you’re a client interested in SoftOrbits’ products or a business owner willing to partner with the team, you can reach out at [email protected] or visit softorbits.net.