Appmagic.pro

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder, owner, and CEO of a travel agency that facilitates pilgrimages. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HappyByte?

We hired HappyByte to optimize our online shop but then extended the scope of work to include app development.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start of the partnership, HappyByte optimized our online shop on WooCommerce by WordPress. Their team focused on improving the speed by hosting the site and optimizing its configurations and plug-ins. 

Once the site was optimized, HappyByte started developing a mobile application for us. We haven’t had to provide them with any documentation because HappyByte is the product owner — we’ve had long discussions about our goals to develop the concept. They’ve designed the app in Flutter. Their team has handled everything related to app development, which includes several services I’m not a part of. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve interacted with three teammates, including Ben (Co-Founder & CEO) and two project managers; there are several programmers working on the project. 

How did you come to work with HappyByte?

I knew Ben before we hired them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around €120,000 (approximately $124,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began around January 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The easiest success measurement is the increase in sales from the optimized site; the speed has improved a lot. 

The app has launched on the app stores, and even though we haven’t promoted it to our target audience yet, we’ve gotten about 50 downloads a day. Once we market the app after fixing bugs and optimizing it, we expect to have many more downloads.

How did HappyByte perform from a project management standpoint?

The first project manager assigned to the project did a good job, but we’ve since gotten a new project manager who is very organized and helpful. Their team is good at understanding my needs. 

We use Slack and Jira to communicate and manage the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve recommended HappyByte to several colleagues — I’ve been very satisfied with their services. I appreciate how much they’ve taken ownership of the product. They do more than execute what I ask; they help me determine what I need. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wasn’t totally happy at the start of the partnership, but HappyByte improved quickly and provided me with a new project manager. I’d also appreciate lower prices. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers need to let HappyByte help them make decisions. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO at camping.info. We are an online camping platform which lists 23.000 campsites among Europe. We have a very active community which is submitting thousands of reviews and pictures every year. Besides all that information we also provide a booking system to book your next campsite online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HappyByte, and what were your goals?

We wanted to provide all services which we have on our website also in our native apps. Besides that we wanted to establish a business model behind the app in order to refinance and finance the (ongoing) development.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

HappyByte was able to provide all needed tasks for a reasonable price. Since HappyByte already had a camper app it was a plus that we could exchange industry insights and create a win win situation. Also the CEO of HappyByte (Ben) was more acting as an entrepreneur and understood very well our approach and the necessarity to make money with our investment into a new app.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The team at HappyByte covered the whole lifecycle of our app. At beginning we concept the app and its business model together from the scratch. Afterwards the development took place completely covered by the product and project management of the HappyByte. After the app was releases HappyByte also took the leading role in the app marketing and app store optimization.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

During the concept the team consists of a senior consultant and UI/UX designer. The inital development was covered by three developers and one QA-Engineer. Since the production release there is one developer who updates the app regularly. Additional one app marketing consultant is taking care about ASO and ASA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The success of the app is far beyond our expectations. The distinctive app marketing experience at HappyByte ensures very good download numbers, which together with the business model of the app provide very pleasing financial results.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The communication with HappyByte is very slick, friendly and always focussed on results. Very helpful is their approach to track KPI of the app and how they are reported to us.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

HappyByte never acts as an agency towards us; they work as if they are creating their own app. Over the whole period of development HappyByte gave me the feeling that they really want to deliver good quality and they brought in many ideas from other projects, which was very valuable.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No. HappyByte was delivering more than they would have to deliver for the very good price they made. They seem to invest in projects in order to build a long lasting business and that is why we still work with HappyByte.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and CEO of Fortissimo srl based in Merano, Italy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HappyByte, and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop the prototype of an app to bring kids closer to classical music, as we want to build in a second step the gamification app which interacts also with an online platform (web app) for teachers.

Our goal was to create a prototype in order to test it with kids (6-7 years old) and to find out if what we developed is accepted and used by them.

SOLUTION

How did you select HappyByte and what were the deciding factors?

We searched an app development company who can give continuously support during the development process (concept, prototypte, MVP, betaversion, app) in order to invest the money to create a profitable and scalable business model as we are a start up company.

We had contact with two companies. The deciding factors were the experience in supporting a project from scratch, the experience and the cost estimate.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a series of brainstorm meetings to define the technical specification with the app structure and technical requirements.

On this basis HappyByte created the wireframes and two possible design solutions and subsequently the prototype. We had weekly one-hour meetings. The app has to be available as mobile application on iOS and Android as well ad a desktop version for pcs.

How many resources from the HappyByte team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A product owner, a designer, a project manager, a technical developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We tested the prototype with 2 classes (40 children) and got very positive results. This helps as to get public funding (government grants, EU-funding) and also private funding. With these fundings we can create the whole app.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The product owner was very competent and involved the right people for the project. In frequent updates we could easily communicate (via email, slack and whatsapp) and got immediate answers for our questions and requests.

We used agile project management tools which helped a lot to respect timelines and estimated costs. Everything was delivered on time and we received ample warning if a deadline wasn’t going to be met.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They were flexible, passionate about the project, friendly, and provided different solutions. What we appreciated a lot is that the developer contributed a lot to the realized structure.

They were also patient in finding solutions to complex topics where we had some insecurities. We managed always to find very good solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I have no suggestion.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Im the CEO and Co-Founder of Teamlounge. We enable employees and managers to exchange in short talks while working hybrid.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HappyByte, and what were your goals?

The Teamlounge app is the core of our compan. We wanted to create a plattform for enterprises to enable real water-cooler talks. We were looking for a partner with experience in mobile app development who is fast and cost-efficient. We launched a fist version of our app to the public market 3 months after start.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We liked the solutions HappyByte has developed and a personal recommendation by a business friend helped to decide.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Based on the with an app agency created story list and scribbles HappyByte started in sprints to develop the app for iOS and Android. The app is based on flutter with a firebase controller and a Jitsi video layer.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The amount changed between 2 and 5 people with app development and QA. Project management was done directly by Ben Heisch.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We launched a first version after 3 months. The evolution with market feedback worked quite well. Severals technological challenges had been successfully solved.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had intensive discussions about the UX of features and turned them into a consistent software. The timeliness was good . The time report detailed and easy to understand.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The team was able to exploit new possibilities of the technologies super quickly.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Even with Flutter it was necessary to go through the UX for Android and iOS separately as they somethimes behave different based on the differences of the two operating systems.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A leading Vanlife and Camping app in Germany. I co-founded the company in 2018.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire HappyByte, and what were your goals?

We were looking for a specialized app development company which could also support us through the whole app lifecycle.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

HappyByte was recommended to us as an experienced app development company in the tourism sector.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The project was about the development of a camping app for the vanlife scene in Germany. The app is available for iOS and Android.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Mainly we worked with two developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

HappyByte delivered the first version of the app very fast (within 2 months). Luckily we acquired very fast users to the MVP what motivate us to continue the project until today (4 years later). Since then HappyByte shipped many improvement and new features on our requests.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Mostly communication via slack and regularly meeting via google meets. The project was managed agile with a kanban-like approach.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The whole team at HappyByte is always very fast in reacting and delivering updates.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

HappyByte could offer additional service to advertise an app.