Appoly Ltd

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a mobile café company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appoly Ltd?

We wanted to develop a mobile app that would provide a unique customer experience. Based on the nature of our business model, we needed to go beyond the normal parameters of a café’s app. In particular, we were looking for a solution that included location tracking. When we first engaged with app development companies, many of them told us that our desired solution couldn’t be developed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

With the unique requirements of our project in mind, they handled all aspects of app development. In order to make it work, they created new van-tracking technology. The app, built with serverless technology, is available on iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

We had three main points of contact throughout the project: James (Founder), Gurd (Studio Production Manager), and Sean (Senior Mobile App Developer).

How did you come to work with Appoly Ltd?

After a number of developers were hesitant to take on the project, I did a Google search and happened to find them. Even from the very first meeting, I was confident they were the right partner for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about £55,000 ($76,100 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February 2019–February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s still early to draw conclusions from metrics since we had to pause operations due to the pandemic. However, we’re confident that the app includes the functionality necessary to really drive an increase in sales for our company. The franchise partners I’ve heard from have said they wouldn’t be able to run their business without the app. End-users have had similarly-positive feedback, particularly with regards to the coffee gifting and push notification features.

How did Appoly Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

Simply put, they were outstanding. We’re geographically close to them, so a lot of our work took place in face-to-face meetings. Most of our use of email and project management tools was just for documenting sign-offs on milestone completion.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their enthusiasm and can-do attitude really stood out. If there wasn’t a solution already in place, they were willing to innovate and develop a new one.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were great. We were genuinely delighted with the whole process, and we’re kicking off a new part of the project with them now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust in their experience and ability. Every piece of advice they gave us turned out to be sensible and pragmatic. There’s a lot of experience on their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of marketing and digital at Harding. We run shops on cruise ships around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appoly Ltd?

Basically, our challenge was about bringing customers on board to interact with our brand, stores, and events.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appoly developed our customer-facing app, taking it from our initial concept to the App Store and Google Play. Their team built it from scratch. They came up with the technical requirements, designs, and wireframes. Their team also created the database, and we’re able to enter product information into it.

Customers download it at the point of embarkation to use during the cruise. The product basically showcases the different brands, offers, and events running on board. Customers can add event times to their calendars and then, the app sends alerts to them to remind them of the event. It also doesn’t require WiFi connectivity because that can be a problem onboard the ship.

What is the team composition?

Between 2–3 people from Appoly worked on our project.

How did you come to work with Appoly Ltd?

Our core marketing agency recommended Appoly to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around £26,000 (approximately $36,200 USD) on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began during the second half of 2019, and we piloted the app on one ship in December 2019. It was rolled out to three ships in January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The goal was to enhance the customer experience onboard, so we can’t measure that through dollars. The anecdotal feedback, however, is great. We’re very happy, and the cruise line’s happy with it too. The app also has great ratings on the App Store.  

How did Appoly Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via phone, email, and face-to-face meetings. Appoly gave us frequent updates, and we had weekly status meetings. They played back our requirements by creating a proper brief. Their team also gave us a plan with timelines, so we knew exactly what deliverables we would receive and when we would receive them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Appoly quickly understood what we wanted, which nobody had previously done. They addressed the challenge of building a mobile app that could work without a connection to a WiFi network.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you’re working with any agency, it’s important to be clear about your objectives. Communicate your mental image of the outcome to the agency and provide them with detailed requirements.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a financial advisory boutique focused on large institutional investors, with presence in New York and London

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We envisioned a new product related to data services, in which we would create a platform to channel our two main databases related to the world's largest institutional investors.

I hired Appoly to translate all that data in a user-friendly and visually appealing website that would allow us to sell the services to asset managers and service providers alike.

SOLUTION

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

I searched online and drew on people I knew to speak to web developers, regardless of their location, and find a good match for us. In total, I must have spoken with 10 web developers, and Appoly was our first choice by far, for two main reasons:

• professionalism and responsiveness - they responded right away, organized a call to understand better the product and sent me a very detailed proposal that made clear they were right for the job; and
• budget.

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

The product was not easy to understand, especially for someone outside of the financial services industry, so the Appoly team spent some time in understanding the main objectives and desired outcomes.

We spent over a month discussing the functionalities and blueprint of the website. When we finally agreed on the design, the implementation was much easier and carried out with no issues at all.

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

A total of five - James (Founder, for budget related issues), Gurd (Office Manager, main project lead), Alix (branding), Dale (implementation) and Tristan (glitches)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From the point of view of data managers, the platform has made our life much easier and the process of updating our data daily is as smooth as it gets. From the user experience, the platform is very attractive and it is helping us in our marketing endeavors.

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

The Appoly team stayed very close to us throughout the project - responding emails on a daily basis, and spending the time to explain us any technological issue we were not familiar with.

Moreover, we had a hard deadline for launching our product and the team managed to finish the development a few days in advance, which in retrospect was not easy at all.

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

As the owner and daily manager of the business, I no longer have to worry about technology, glitches, formats or anything else technology-related. That is priceless.

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

Not really!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of IT at HIPPO. We’re a waste logistics business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Appoly Ltd?

We were looking to develop a portfolio of mobile apps to cover a range of business requirements from fleet management to different customer segments. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Appoly first developed an Android app for our drivers. Our fleet vehicles collect kitchen and bathroom installation waste, and we wanted an app that lets a driver look at their daily schedule, modify it, capture photos of the waste collected, and interact digitally with our transport hub in our head office. That’s a closed community so we could dictate the technology in use there. 

We also wanted to develop a solution for customers, who include retail businesses, kitchen and bathroom installers, and large corporate businesses. The app allows our customers to interact with us digitally instead of calling our contact center. Each audience has their own requirements, and we have to support both iOS and Android. 

In both projects, Appoly helped us with every aspect of creating the app, from design to development to testing and support.

What is the team composition?

We have a client account manager who knows the full range of apps in our portfolio. James (Founder) is the key contact for us, and Sean (Senior Mobile App Developer) is on the mobile side. We can talk to each and every member of the team. There’s no hierarchy. 

How did you come to work with Appoly Ltd?

We knew James and were very aware of his capabilities and ambition. We were keen to work with him when he set up his own business. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over £100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in July 2018 and is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest one is that we have an app developed for our professional kitchen and bathroom fitters who work on behalf of our major clients. Our major clients use the app to pass on a diary of works so that we can see their schedule of activity over a given period. Individual installers no longer have to call in to go through details like address, type of waste, etc.; they can do that all digitally. 

The digital process is 10 times faster, takes a huge load off of our contact center, and lets us track our business more accurately. We have new business insights from the app’s real-time data stream. Overall, it smooths the process for our installers so it’s easier for them to do business with us.

In each project, Appoly contributed ideas and listened to ours, suggesting ways to implement them. They have a highly responsive support provision in place, which we appreciate. We continue to invest in these apps to develop new features and refine the flow of existing features. It’s an important relationship for us.

How did Appoly Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a good, close relationship with Appoly. We have coffee-machine conversations to talk about the industry and trends in R&D. We’ll even go to them with off-the-wall ideas and have great conversations. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their enthusiasm and collaborative style stand out to me. Appoly wants to be partners rather than a mere supplier. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re experiencing some growing pains, inevitably. as they get more success, they’re finding that certain areas come under pressure. For example, it’s hard to comprehensively test things before they go live. I’d recommend they focus on a more comprehensive regression test before release. That sounds harsh, but I acknowledge the difficulty of working in that domain and the quality of Appoly’s support provided afterward.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a Digital Marketing and Web Development agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appoly Ltd?

We have been working with Appoly for several years where they provide us with development and on-going support for selected projects where we needed certain expertise or on-going support.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for the project was to deliver a new front end for one of our eCommerce clients as well as helping migrate them from Magento v1 to Magento v2 in a seamless fashion. The overall objective was that this move with a new front-end design plus extra functionality and speed would deliver better conversion rates which it did.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We new James the owner of Appoly from his work at a previous agency as well being recommended to them from several mutual contacts.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We collated the brief and already had newly approved web designs by working with our client. Appoly were then briefed on the main requirement to migrate everything from Magento v1 to Magento v2.

Once the designs were all signed-off Appoly were able to build the new designs onto Magento v2 and then bring across the database, images and so on from the previous hosting server.

Now over 2 years later, Appoly are continuing to host and support the project for our client and make changes and updates on a regular basis.

What was the team composition?

Appoly have a sizeable team but for this project the main team members involved were James and John on development. We preferred having to work with less people as this made communication far easier and meant that the product was delivered ahead of schedule and to the client's satisfaction.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The client was so satisfied with the website and the results they were getting from an increased conversion rate that they cancelled their contract with their previous digital marketing agency and asked us to manage their search marketing. As a case study the client has also enabled us to win further eCommerce projects.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management and liaising with the client was covered by us. On the development side Appoly's communication was excellent and everything was delivered on schedule.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The thing we found the most impressive was their attention to detail and ability to help strategise the main development as well as suggesting new updates and development to enhance the project. Many agencies we've worked with before don't take time out after the main project completion to suggest further additions that can be made by Appoly do.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only area for improvement would have been for a bit more communication after certain updates were made so we were aware real-time but this was just a minor point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Clipfix is a mobile app, that introduces home owners to tradesmen via video, to help the homeowner save time and money when fixing problems in their house.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Appoly Ltd?

To help design and build the apps and the back end.

What were your goals for this project?

To make it as user friendly and as quick as possible.

SOLUTION

How did you select Appoly Ltd?

After seeming DD, I came across Appoly and their fantastic owner James. Speaking to him and talking through the app and the problems, it became very clear that he was fully behind it and believed in it, so it was a no brainer to work with him.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a series of meetings, to design the app, UX, UI, wireframes, and then the build. The team was always friendly and no job was ever too large.

What was the team composition?

We started with the UX and UI, with a great project manager, the job was then passed onto the developers when the designers had finished.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We've had very good ratings on the app, and everyone who has used it has loved it.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We used Slack and Indesign to keep everyone in the loop.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

James 

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, on both sides.