AKOS

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Joshua Van Valkenburg: I'm the founder of Dealer Backstock.
Carrie Richards: I'm the operations manager of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AKOS?

JVV: We contracted AKOS to build a web application for the recreational vehicle (RV) industry to bridge the gap we had between dealer-to-dealer communications and trading inventory. Our goal was to turn my vision into reality and develop an app that hadn't been created before, working with a team that could hold our hand from start to finish.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

JVV: AKOS uses different software to maintain efficiency during development, including Figma. 
CR: Our web app is designed as a third-party classified marketplace where dealers can list vehicles they want to trade with other dealers. Users can also shop, and the app has a search filter functionality and the ability to configure settings at the user level. AKOS uses Next.js and React for app development. 
JVV: The app is essentially a marketplace for RV dealers. AKOS is responsible for the app's design and development and has helped with the branding, too. The team has also supported us with product management, business consulting, go-to-market strategy, and trademarking.  

What is the team composition?

CR: I've mainly worked with Sahil (Founder & CEO), Toni (COO), and Aimee (Product Manager). However, I know other teammates have been involved in the project earlier before I joined the company.
JVV: Carrie just mentioned the key figures we work with, although several developers and designers work on the app behind the scenes. 

How did you come to work with AKOS?

JVV: We found AKOS on Clutch after interviewing several service providers.
How much have you invested with them?

JVV: Our spending is in the range of $200,000–$900,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

JVV: We started working with AKOS in September 2023, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

JVV: We've launched the app with great success.
CR: The app has gained around 100 users in the first 30 days after its launch, and we're now getting close to 300 users. 
JVV: Our industry is small, and these numbers are pretty remarkable. Additionally, AKOS has taken our idea with little input from us and ran with it to develop an app that far exceeds my expectations. 

How did AKOS perform from a project management standpoint?

JVV: AKOS would come in at budget if I didn't keep adding work every hour of every day for the team to deliver. Our original budget has been exceeded, but I contributed to it. We collaborate via Slack and Teamwork.com and have multiple meetings each week.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

JVV: We want to highlight Aimee's work. She's available during the day and night, and the entire experience has been amazing. All the work runs through Aimee, who ensures we have an efficient and smooth process. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

JVV: We entered this engagement looking for a designer and had no idea what to expect. The final result is much better than I imagined, and the team has offered a complete package. AKOS is a one-stop shop for tasks that weren't pitched to us at the beginning of the project but have come as a surprise as our needs developed. The team is there for us anytime we need to reach out to their resources, and they assist us in any way possible to set us up for success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

JVV: I can't think of anything AKOS can improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

JVV: My only advice is to work with AKOS.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at Xavier College Preparatory, an all-girls Catholic college preparatory high school.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AKOS?

We had previously worked with a bigger, multinational company on our site, and it was very painful dealing with them. We needed another company that could design and develop a new site for our school.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AKOS designed and developed a new, more user-friendly WordPress site for us. They were in charge of the initial planning stages — they helped plan out the site’s pages, organized the site’s content, conducted a content review of our copy, and helped narrow down the pages. They also created our first online payment portal, which we did not have on our previous website.

It was a fairly complex project because we have over 1,200 students, 200 employees, and over 75 clubs, and they also had to follow the guidelines within the diocese. We also needed to keep some historical data and pages from the previous site, so AKOS had to recreate and narrow them down to fewer pages.

The site is already completed, and they’re now handling its maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We initially worked with Sahil (President), but for most of the project we worked with Chris (Project Manager & Senior Programmer), Tanya (Chief Empathy Officer), who was in charge of UI design, and another web design person.

How did you come to work with AKOS?

I’d seen AKOS’ work with other organizations, so I was already aware of their company before we started working together. After going through a really deep vetting and interview process, we decided to go with them for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $75,000 for the site, and we pay them an annual site maintenance fee.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together on the site in August 2019, and it was completed in August 2020. We’ve since contracted them to handle the site’s maintenance so we’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

AKOS prepared a pre- and post-project survey that went out to our constituents to test the new site. There’s such a significant improvement in our site’s ease of use and navigation — we now have less than 100 pages on the site, which was down from 80,000 pages. Previously, it took an average of 6–8 clicks to get where we wanted to be. Now, it only takes two clicks, which is a huge improvement in the site’s ease of navigation.

AKOS also set up the site so that its lifespan would be somewhere between 7–10 years, which is a lot higher than the three years that the previous company we worked with gave us. So, even though going with the bigger company would have cost us 20% less initially, we would have had to pay 30–40% more in the long run for maintenance and redevelopment.

How did AKOS perform from a project management standpoint?

AKOS has performed really well. They used a project management tool throughout the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really appreciate that we got to work very closely with the senior people at AKOS. The change in working with AKOS after working with a bigger company was so eye-opening for us. They are just so much more responsive and their expertise really shined through their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had a great experience working with AKOS, and there’s such a significant improvement in the product we now have. So, I’d say that there’s really nothing they could have done better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The size of a company doesn’t necessarily correlate with their expertise, professionalism, or customer service, and I think that that’s something that you should consider in your evaluation process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Aurora Multimedia Services, a software texting platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AKOS?

We had a lot of documentation and ideas, but I needed help in development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our product is a texting platform. Users can log in, import their customer database, and send text messages. They can use the tool to send follow-up reminders and for lead marketing. 

First, we worked with AKOS to identify the platform’s UI, look, and feel. We provided them with some documentation detailing the app’s requirements and features. However, there were still a lot of gray areas for them to figure out. 

After that, AKOS proceeded with the tool’s back- and frontend development. They also built all our services and APIs. They’ve used Laravel and Agular in building the platform. It has a responsive UI design, and it’s compatible across devices.

The project is mostly wrapping up. We’ve been in production for a while now. Whenever I need a new enhancement, I reach out to AKOS, and they’ll deliver the feature to us.  

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with their CEO, a lead developer, and a developer.

How did you come to work with AKOS?

One of my employees encountered AKOS through a Google search. We interviewed them, and we liked their team. Their experience, skillset, and pricing made us decide they were the best fit for our project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The quality of AKOS’ work has been extremely high — there have been minimal defects, bugs, and issues. End users find the platform to be reliable. Before our partnership, we’ve had zero customers, but now we have 680 customers on the platform. 

How did AKOS perform from a project management standpoint?

AKOS is great at project management. We’ve only given them our ideas and documents, and they’ve planned everything, including milestones and components’ dependencies. 

They are doing an excellent job of communicating with us and letting us know where we are in the process and how long things will take. We communicate through emails, Slack, and weekly check-ins over the phone. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

AKOS’ flexibility is impressive. We change our minds quite a bit on the different features we want to build. Although some of those changes have been big, they’ve accommodated our requests.

Their work with us has been agile, allowing us to think of new features, be creative, conduct tests, and iterate quickly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

AKOS can improve on communicating the cost of tasks.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear documentation — they’re great at execution, and they can transform your ideas into high-quality deliverables. If you do that, your partnership with AKOS is going to be successful.