Ardent Peak

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I handle business marketing, sales development, and client management for Enke Dot IO, a location-based mapping system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardent Peak?

We were trying to create an iOS application that would show people what was happening around them, in real time, without having to follow a place or a business on social media.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had everything scoped out and documented, but we had nothing built. Ardent Peak designed and developed the app including the front-end, the UI, the database that supports it, and all our social media integrations. They also built the mapping system for us and connected us to Google’s API.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a team of around four to seven people, which included engineers and a designer.

How did you come to work with Ardent Peak?

They were referred to me by someone in the space, and were one of several vendors that I spoke to and got a quote from. They sent me an intro email, and I got connected with their business side, who led me to their technical side. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $40,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from March 2017 to July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everybody that I’ve talked to loves the UI and thinks that it flows nicely from opening the app, clicking on the camera icon, and pulling down a list of places. I guess user-friendly would be the product term for it.

How did Ardent Peak perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly communicated over the phone and by email, and I shared a Google doc with their technical manager. There was no project management tool like JIRA or anything, but they had a project tracker where we could see how long it took for things to be approved or signed off on, after they were put into the system.

They were very responsive and quick to solve problems. Every problem we had was responded to in under 12 hours. They were often done just 60 minutes later.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ardent Peak is just very easy to deal with. They’re one of the few vendors I can reach out to with changes in the evening, and expect those changes to be made immediately. Usually, they happen overnight or the next morning.

They were transparent with their timelines and let me know specifically when things would be updated and changed within the application. In most cases, it was under the estimates I wanted. In terms of quality work and timeliness, they were excellent.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ll say what I would to any vendor: make sure to have your idea fully scoped out before talking to them. Like most smaller IT companies, they don’t have internal product people. So, if you come to them knowing what you want done, they will help you do it very well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product manager for a startup company that develops digital displays. We produce screens similar to Samsung’s Frame TV. 

Due to our unique app ecosystem, our screens allow users to display entertainment, art, or whatever content they choose. We also partner with a digital advertising company to set up displays at subway stations, on buses, and other locations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardent Peak?

We needed to build a basic app to showcase our capabilities for an important client, but we lacked the necessary local resources to develop a high-quality app quickly. We have two in-house Android developers, but we don’t have any iOS developers or backend resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our devices have two components: a screen canvas and a web portal. The web portal enables users to program content on screens, but our client didn’t want to use our web portal. We needed to build a mobile app that offered the same functions without using the web portal. Key features included canvas content scheduling and “orchestration" (a function that coordinates and syncs images on multiple screens). We initially reached out to Ardent Peak to create the app’s proof of concept. Our collaboration evolved into a production-level piece of software that is still under development. They had to learn the inner workings of our custom built Android platform.

We plan to deploy the pilot app worldwide. They are working to make the app fully-functional and stable, continually redesigning it and adding new features. Anytime we get a complex request from a client, we outsource to Ardent Peak. They handle most of our development work; they are currently working on consumer apps that we will showcase at a conference next month.

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with their lead developer. He manages their five-person development team.

How did you come to work with Ardent Peak?

We needed help with app development. Previously, we had hired a costly developer, spending around $100,000 to build a menu app. A friend referred me to Ardent Peak; they were more cost-effective when compared to our previous developer. Additionally, their efficiency and quality of work were great.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the past year, we’ve spent around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2016 and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have metrics for their work because they’ve been working on an ad-hoc basis. We assign work to them based on the scope and importance of a project. Critical, difficult projects are typically assigned to them; smaller, less urgent projects are completed in-house to minimize costs. Our client is willing to move ahead with the app. We’ve had ongoing work with the client for the past year, which is a good indicator that Ardent Peak has provided quality work.

How did Ardent Peak perform from a project management standpoint?

They meet the deadlines they set. They’re able to manage an entire project. Their team makes an effort to answer all relevant questions at the beginning of a project, reducing errors or misinterpretations during development. We use Jira for tracking bugs and tasks as well as another Atlassian tool for documenting requirements and tracking timelines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our internal team often gave us negative responses to development requests, which is one reason we hired Ardent Peak. Their team was always able to answer our questions and provide solutions to our requests.

We appreciate their willingness to work and their ability to find answers to complex problems. There were initial tensions, but our internal team was eventually challenged to perform better as a result of our collaboration with Ardent Peak. Our company has grown as a result.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

We've had deployments that experienced crashes. However, we handle QA per our request, so it’s our responsibility to identify any issues before releasing a product.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They are an easy team to work with. My advice would be to provide all of your functional and technical requirements in addition to laying out your desired user flow, UI design, and user stories. Making your specifications clear from the onset will make it easier for them to estimate the amount of work required and to start development right away.