BEON.tech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Evvnt. We provide an events marketing platform for event creators and media publishers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

We needed help with direct development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BEON Tech Studio provides developers to accomplish the tasks I set out for them. When I need a developer, they will hire one, and manage them against the project. We have a monthly fee, and we provide tools like Jira, hosting, and everything else. 

They’re working on our core platform, a “submit one, publish everywhere” service that is desktop-based and hosted on AWS. It has over 4,600 event listing sites and calendars that sit within an algorithm. When someone submits an event to our site or to a calendar—which we host with news, radio, and TV stations globally—the algorithm looks at which event listing sites will want that content, so that we can publish it. 

Aside from that service, the tech has to do a ton of other things involving payment and transactions through Stripe. We’re trying to make a one-stop-shop for event creators and publishers—our major stakeholders. They need dedicated interfaces with multiple tools and features to promote and publish events, including syndication, email, SMS, messaging, calendars, content widgets, add-event URLs, an editorial CMS, and a sales CRM.

BEON Tech Studio has been involved in a variety of tasks. They’re building out functionality to manage payments, billing, and invoices via Stripe transactions and Xero. We just finished migrating the primary task of developing our event creator and publisher environment. Technically, BEON Tech Studio is running the full stack. We’ve spent a lot of time training the developers and building practical technology. For each task, we provide wireframes and technical documentation alongside one of their testers. 

My goal for next year is to gear up the team size and move to a more advanced SaaS platform that uses AI for automated campaign creation. We want to replicate the kind of service you’d get from a major marketing agency, but at an affordable price point in the local market, for a local event. There’s a lot of pieces to our tech roadmap, ranging from very basic invoicing needs, through to product requirements.

What is the team composition?

Their organization provides me with a project manager, a tester, and a full-time developer. They’re the core of our development, project management, testing, and design. I aim to get 5–6 developers from them.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

We were relocating our business from London to the US. Our development resource at the time was in Poland, and the time zone difference wasn’t working for us. We were looking to find a resource in the US time zone that was still cost-effective. Buenos Aires was a good time zone and as affordable as Europe. That’s how we came across BEON Tech Studio.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $80,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BEON Tech Studio in April 2019, and they’re still our full-time remote development team. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Just as we started with BEON Tech Studio, we took a different approach to development, going from a two-week development cycle to releasing code twice a week, It’s an incredibly agile approach. We also moved the methodology to Kanban, which supported this constant release methodology. Through BEON Tech Studio, we get developers to develop code, and a lead tester to test it. When it works well, we can release lots of code very quickly. The testing doesn’t slow us down at all.

Overall, we’re churning out more code, allocating more projects, and progressing development at a faster speed. We have three times the code output today than when we had another 2–2.5 developers on the project. BEON Tech Studio plays a role in that, and so does our new methodology. The tester was also a critical part of our ability to output development. We’ve launched more projects and improved the technology more in the last 10 months than within the whole of last year.

As the CEO, I spend one hour every week doing training with a developer. That’s very unusual, but this way, they get to ask questions as we’re building their understanding of the platform. I believe that the team at BEON Tech Studio has bought into the purpose of our development. Because of that and their fluency in English, I can have a solid conversation with them about what we’re doing, and they will advise me on better ways of doing it. We have an unusual and exceptional relationship with the development team they’ve provided so far. 

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve had some challenges in this respect. The original project manager was one of the founders, but that wasn’t working, so they brought in another project manager. The project managers we’ve had, who were very good very quickly, were historically project managers in the organization. BEON Tech Studio has had to hire new project managers, have them learn their system, and then have them learn ours. There’s a slight language barrier with our current project manager. 

The project management could be a bit better, but because I’m so heavily involved in the project as a project manager and the CEO, it’s quite hard to take over my role fully. I’d love to step back and give them more project management ownership, but, at the same time, having someone spend 15–30 minutes every week, project managing a team, they’d struggle to project manage the team with the visibility that I have. I’m probably part of the reason it’s not as good as it could be—I have an overbearing role in the project. They’re still doing a good job.

In terms of tools, we use an Excel sheet for general team and project management. That works against tickets and tasks inside Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I like about BEON Tech Studio is that they hire interesting, talented, and thoughtful developers. They contribute back to the plan, as opposed to just coding. That’s very valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I told Damian (Co-Founder, BEON Tech Studio) that BEON Tech Studio is nothing without their ability to hire competent developers. If I get a bad developer, then BEON Tech Studio is a bad service. His first two hires have been exceptional, which means that my opinion of BEON Tech Studio is outstanding. If he goes and hires the next developer, and they’re terrible, it will change my opinion of that agency. 

To date, he’s provided me very good development, and it’s had a massive impact on our business. It’s a combination of methodology and good, reliable individuals who enjoy working. I hope that the next two developers they deploy in January come with the same skillset. It’s been very good so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Bushman Studios. We're an agency that works with a lot of small businesses—entrepreneurs who are looking to build technical products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

I was looking for a competent team to help me tackle these bigger projects I was starting to get. That vendor needed to come in and seamless take over a couple of my projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They've provided me with software development, product management, and UX/UI design. Though it’s been mostly straightforward development, they’ve been really good at coming up with ideas to improve the product itself. Across a couple of projects, we’ve pretty much conquered every kind of platform.

They provide wireframes on a project-by-project basis. Sometimes I come to them with just an idea, and sometimes it’s a little more scoped out. If the end-customer wasn't technically savvy, then BEON and I would come up with a technical outline, and then they'd go into the nitty-gritty documentation and the wireframes.

Our most recent project was a cross-platform solution for a Netflix-style company for documentary films. It’s a streaming video-on-demand platform. We're actually building an iOS app, an Android app (both phones and tablets), an Android TV app, an Apple TV app, a Samsung app, an LG app, and lots of smart TV apps. We are working on an Xbox app and Roku as well.

A lot of these platforms have proprietary systems for billing, so it’s challenging to synchronize across them. This is certainly the case when someone has canceled one service, or perhaps someone has subscribed again after canceling one service initially. BEON has done a really good job of figuring that out and making it work pretty seamlessly.

We now have apps across every platform, and that's evolving to new platforms on a monthly basis. It's been really challenging and exciting. The great thing about BEON is that even if they don't have actual experience with some of these platforms, they've been able to tackle them. They'll either find a developer who's had the experience with it or someone who is smart enough to figure it out.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

I was looking for a team that was reputable and ideally based out of Argentina; I have a lot of connections down there. That's how I initially got connected to BEON.

We met through a mutual friend in New York and discussed working together. I looked at a couple of projects that they'd done before and decided to test them when I received a couple of smaller projects. We grew from there, which happened about four years ago.

This video project is a big project, as I said, and it involved a lot of platforms, but I had no doubt that they would be able to handle it.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $150,000 so far on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since they took over the project, the growth metrics have been great. We've been growing month-over-month, and a lot of the technical stuff that they brought to the table has really helped shore up the platform. It was actually inherited from another tech studio, and the codebase was not in the best condition, so a lot of the stabilization BEON did really helped out with customer retention. We've been doubling pretty much every month for the past 6–8 months.

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

On the project management side, we use Slack and Trello. We also use LiveAgent for ticketing, Firebase, and Crashlytics. They’ve hit most of the deadlines, but when they can’t, you’ll get a plan to tackle it and an updated deadline which isn’t too far in the future. Missing the initial deadline happens with software sometimes. They’ll brief you on why it happened and get back on track.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Taking on the smart TV apps was a big challenge. There are not that many people who have done that before, and they were able to knock it out of the park. There were a few delays here and there with them getting used to the technology, but, in general, we're very happy with the way it worked out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, to be honest. I have no complaints working with them. Throughout all the projects they’ve done, they’ve been straightforward. They don’t beat around the bush. If they missed a deadline, they came to us first to rectify it. Otherwise, they hit the targets efficiently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and founder of Educasic.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

We hired BEON Tech Studio to build a web- and mobile app for a Connected Classroom that helps students in pre-K to fourth grade learn to read using a sight-based learning algorithm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Although we provided the wireframes, they developed everything else, including the front- and backend of the mobile and web app. They started by looking at what we needed through a ticket system and assigning tasks. They took a lean stack approach, consistently performing QA, conducting more tests, and making adjustments, before eventually launching production. 

What is the team composition?

There were about three people on their team. Our CTO and I worked directly with their technical lead and their developers.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

We’ve worked with them in the past, and all of those projects went really well. They are wonderful. Since the beginning, we knew that they would deliver the best product for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $150,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2014 and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform has had a huge impact, especially for young students, kids with learning disabilities, and students learning English as a second language. It is being used by 30,000 teachers and 150,000 students and parents across the United States.  

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very attentive and communicative. They’re always readily available and they reply quickly. We use various communication and project management tools including Slack, Google Hangouts, Jira, WhatsApp, and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Not only are they the best and smartest in their field, they're always accessible regardless of what time zone they’re in. For example, they have a few team members in Argentina, but we are based in Pacific Time. Despite being four hours ahead of us, we are always able to reach them during our normal business hours. We also don’t have a language barrier between our team and theirs, so it’s very easy to communicate with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not at this time. They’re great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-owner of SoftServ, a mobile and web design, development, and consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

We needed a partner to provide full-stack web and mobile dev and design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked on numerous projects with BEON Tech Studio, usually providing lo-fi wireframes that they rely on to build hi-fi mockups. They’ve built iOS, Android, and web apps, using Swift, Java, and Angular respectively. Projects have ranged from a simple business website for a private equity firm to a logistics platform for the refrigerated freight industry.

What is the team composition?

Each project typically has one point of contact, but we can interface with whoever’s on the team.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

We met them when we were both contracted by a different company to build the frontend and backend of their mobile product. We realized that BEON Tech Studio meshed well with our company culture and had superior communication, so we eventually partnered with them for our own work.

How much have you invested with them?

The current project will be well over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our most recent project started in May 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t typically have specific KPIs, but whenever we outline deliverables and a roadmap, they keep on track. They’ve never had any issue completing our scope of work.

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re incredibly communicative and provide constant updates. They use Trello, Jira, and Slack to manage the project, and I’m able to communicate directly with our assigned point of contact or any of the developers. Whenever the owners visit the U.S., they always arrange an in-person meeting with us to review projects and make sure we’re satisfied.

Their project management is even better than some of the in-house project managers we’ve hired for our own company. They have complete transparency and the highest level of professionalism. For billing, they keep detailed records of what’s been worked on and how much time it took, which makes it incredibly easy for us to provide feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve worked with teams from around the world, and BEON Tech Studio has been one of the best. They work quickly and help keep us competitive in the market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any ways they could improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any advice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Muscovy Technology Group. We develop and deliver custom control systems for manufacturing environments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

We wanted to augment our development teams with additional resources. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We give BEON Tech Studio the wireframes and they help us manage web development projects for multiple environments. They handle everything from gathering the requirements and making recommendations to UI development and execution. They usually use .NET and C# for development. 

What is the team composition? 

We work with a project manager and about six developers. 

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

We evaluated about 30 different companies. Then, we narrowed down our list based on the reviews we read on Clutch and other websites. We were impressed with BEON Tech Studio's breadth of expertise and their responsiveness. Besides, they have reasonable rates, so we chose them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working with BEON Tech Studio in March 2019 and the relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Considering the quality of their work and the turnaround times, BEON Tech Studio has performed in the 96% of the subcontractors we've used thus far.

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint? 

I'd rate them very high. We use Slack, Trello, and InVision to keep track of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

 BEON Tech Studio's internal processes are more stringent than what I've seen from other companies, which we appreciate. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. We're highly satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the managing director and CFO of a matchmaking company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

We were looking to improve our matchmaking services with AI-based app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Another developer had already built an MVP app for us, but we decided to go with BEON Tech Studio to make the full product. They expanded on our existing AI algorithm and conducted QA tests to verify that everything was working on the backend. In addition to adding the finishing touches, they were responsible for ongoing maintenance.

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, we worked with about four people within their organization. Now that they have completed the project, they have one person assisting us with maintenance.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

One of our advisors had success with BEON Tech Studio in the past, so they referred us to them. That glowing recommendation, as well as their experience and affordable pricing, was the reason behind our hiring decision. 

How much have you invested with them?

To date, we have spent $50,100.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started back in March 2017. They continue to make updates and resolve issues for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We would not have been able to build a web app with cutting-edge AI technology without BEON Tech Studio’s skills and resources. Having the matchmaking tool has been extremely beneficial for our business and sales.

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive to our needs, even though we are based in different parts of the world. Trello was our technology of choice for communicating and sending files, but we occasionally used Skype and Google Hangouts to video chat.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We got a sense that they were genuinely interested in our project, because they went out of their way to find solutions that would improve our product. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

BEON Tech Studio should consider expanding their team to diversify their expertise. We had to use other vendors for some tasks because no one on their team specialized in what we needed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

For any project, it’s important to make sure that there are enough time and resources to build the envisioned product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of a digital service that offers direct-to-consumer subscriptions for watching niche documentaries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

Our service operates across many different platforms and devices, so we needed a development team that could handle a wide variety of tasks. We needed functionality on Android, iOS, and Roku devices, as well as on a standard website, in order to ensure that we offered a quality viewing experience. We were particularly interested in over-the-top apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our initial Android development was done by two teams at a different firm, so BEON had to learn to decipher it when they came in. The original project had taken so long that the code was out of date and disorganized— the BEON team consolidated it and migrated it into newer, more-stable coding languages like Kotlin. They did this so quickly that we were able to deploy new features faster and release an additional Android TV app. On top of that, they’ve also helped us deploy captions on ur software and provided customer support to our users.

What is the team composition?

We interact daily with Damian, one of the co-founders, who serves as the project manager for our account. There are also at least five Android, iOS, and Heroku developers, although I’m not sure if that’s all of them.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

I knew one of the members of their leadership team from a prior project where he’d run the iOS development. Prior to hiring BEON, we’d always gone for fixed-scope projects with a set price, but we realized it was ineffective. On this contract, they’re working hourly just like in-house staff. Their team has the flexibility to scale up and down as needed, which really changed our development strategy. It’s much more affordable than our previous approach.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BEON in March 2019 and we’re still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re a new platform that’s only been offering service for less than a year, so bug-fixing is still a critical part of our routine in addition to pushing out new content. BEON has been really responsive on customer service issues related to bugs, which has helped us retain dedicated users and improve our ROI. They’ve repaired an iOS audio error and a bug in that caused users to lose items in their watch list. On top of that, they’re entirely responsible for creating our new Android TV app, so any growth there will be due to their work.

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re affordable, fast, and good communicators. Even though their team is overseas, we’re in the same time zone and their grasp of English is excellent. They’ve integrated well into our Slack channel and their whole team feels like it’s part of ours. Their co-founder handles every level of the project, even down to customer complaints, and he manages everything efficiently.  I also appreciate how they encourage us to release updates quickly to seek customer feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We once had a weekend incident where our servers went down at two in the morning. I came in on Monday expecting to start a disaster recovery, but BEON’s team had already restored server stability. They also provided a road map for making our platform run more smoothly in the future.

Our contract doesn’t have a line item for emergency services. They helped us because of the strong relationship we’d forged with them. They’ve never hesitated on any of the tasks they’ve been assigned. I really appreciate how hard they work. I’m actually nervous that they’ll become famous and get too busy to keep working with us!

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d like it if they added a stronger consulting element to their services. Although they’re not experts in our specific industry, they have a broad view of it and exposure to other clients, and it would be nice to see them incorporate that into our project discussions. For example, I’ve encouraged them to challenge me on our feature orders—to reconsider our work priorities or speak up if a new technology stack or approach is better than the one we’ve chosen. They’re already strong when it comes to encouraging me to make new releases quickly, so this would improve our service even further.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Not that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My business is called Attachment Cloud. It organizes email attachments and makes them easily searchable.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech?

I wanted to build an MVP from the ground up, turning basic wireframes and a product description into an actual entity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, I provided their team with my existing wireframes and workflows describing the product. Then, our project manager transformed each option into a story detailing the tech build-out. From there, it was an agile development. Their team would build, and we would release that story. We would then review the product in a question-and-answer session before continuing the work.

BEON Tech provided me with a web-based product, and we are prepared for a full beta launch. In the future, we may expand to a native app.

What is the team composition?

Our initial points of contact were Damien (Co-founder, BEON Tech) and Michel (Co-founder, BEON Tech). They oversaw the entire project, but project managers handled the day-to-day responsibilities.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech?

I was referred to them through a friend and reached out, describing what my goals were. They were confident they could complete the project, so I decided to give it a shot.

How much have you invested with them?

I have spent between $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in January 2018, and the work is ongoing. Since this is a side project for me, we’ve taken short breaks and started working again recently.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's still too early to measure BEON Tech’s impact, but their team does great work. They delivered far more than I expected.

How did BEON Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was super responsive. They set up an online project tracking system using Jira and I often communicated with their team using Slack. We are in different time zones, but they still respond to me very quickly. I never went longer than a business day without an answer from them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BEON Tech takes a very integrated approach to their work. They’re a true product development team, not just an engineering shop.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be upfront with them from the beginning about your expectations for the project. Then, follow through. Give them feedback if they’re expecting it, and inform them if they will be expected to run the project without it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Patriot List. We’re a secure P2P market platform that was created for members of the military and veterans who verify their identity through the Department of Defence and the Department of Veteran Affairs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

I needed a smart and capable development team that could understand my vision and build a prototype to get it out into the marketplace as soon as possible. That included both the web platform and the Android and iOS applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re my development team, with the work ongoing. They’ve built both our iOS and Android apps as well as the website and the full backend stack, including the full database architecture and everything else. I designed the application, so I work in conjunction with them to make those designs a reality. They amplify them and make them better.

Unlike in marketplaces that revolve around cash, BEON was able to integrate both Stripe and Braintree to develop a payment processed system that allows users that are buying and selling expensive things to have an escrow capability. If the money goes into the account, the seller knows that the money is legitimate. They can then make the exchange, and the money gets transferred. The buyer has 24 hours to get it checked out.

The team has recently built the website to be fully functional—with everything connected together. Previously, users could see it, but transactions were only done through the mobile app. All the databases and backend systems are connected now, and they branch off with access points to iOS, Android, and the website. We’re doing QA with the website at the moment.

What is the team composition?

I have a project manager and direct access to both of the founders of the company. I work with the developers who do everything from design to front- and backend development.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

A good friend of mine introduced me to Damian (Co-Founder, BEON Tech Studio) and Michel (Co-Founder, BEON Tech Studio). I had looked at many different companies and decided that BEON was the way to go.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from 2014–2015. Since then, they’ve provided maintenance support and additional features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Members of the military and veterans have never had a marketplace that was built just for them, that worked globally and was connected to their geolocation. This platform now allows them to make secure transactions within the community. We’ve had a lot of great support from our customers, and BEON were able to build the platform in a great, efficient way that became really user-friendly.

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

I would 100% give them two thumbs up. We worked together on Trello which is the most efficient way to work with developers. They use it in their internal system to share updates and get everything built on schedule, then inform me when things are ready. They’re impressive people, and everything has been going smoothly so far.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to quickly understand what my customers want and then integrate, build it, QA, and get it to market. The speed has been amazing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it’s been a great relationship and I have nothing but good things to say.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear with what you are trying to build. Make sure you have thought through the design, screens, and how the functionality should look. They’re expert developers and designers, but they need to have a clear understanding of what the outcome of the product should be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of SpaceDerby, an Airbnb for parking and event spaces. Users can list and book any available parking on any given timeframe basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BEON Tech Studio?

We needed someone to help with development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our website, CMS, CRM, and booking capability. They took it from idea to transaction capability in a manner of a few months. It’s a web-based platform, but it accepts mobile bookings as well.

I did some outsourcing on some logo development, but they contributed as well. They created wireframes and scoped out UI/UX, user path and experience, and how many different web pages we would go through. They also did everything in terms of the original graphic interface. I sketched out some designs, but they took the idea and came back with a full UI/UX deployment. We did everything in a LAMP stack.

They came up with an inventory management system as a way for us to allow our partners to create inventory, list that inventory, allow for scheduling of when that inventory is available, and differentiate pricing based on time frames and dates. It also allows for the ability to change and amend pricing at a moment’s notice.

From a consumer side, it allows a customer to search and book available parking inventory from a number of different locations. It allows them to go through and see pricing and availability, and it offers segmenting for different types of vehicles. They managed all that inventory and managed a full CRM system. The system includes customer data such as name, address, license plate number, email, and communications between our company and the customer, as well as our company and the inventory provider.

They integrated processing and booking capabilities such as credit card processing, billing receipts, transaction data, etc. It’s a fully comprehensive system and multi-device capable in a way that has allowed us to continue forward.

They also created an initial set of mobile apps, which we opted not to use later for business reasons, not due to any issue with them.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with their two principals at least once every two days. I frequently interfaced with a developer, and their graphic designer also worked on the project.

How did you come to work with BEON Tech Studio?

They were strongly referred by a longtime friend of mine who was a CTO at a couple of companies. He had used them in the past and was happy with their work. After a series of interviews, I knew they were the right fit for the role.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March—June 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We joke that it’s the 100-day platform because they did everything in about 100 days. We’ve been able to provide real-time inventory to what is typically a very chaotic experience. Their work has allowed customers to plan ahead and know where to park at an event with multiple lots at multiple prices. It was a real benefit for customers as well as a real benefit to parking lot operators because they were able to plan their inventory and manage against that.

One interesting use case was that one of the specific venues we service is at a race track. A lot of the patrons have special needs or handicap parking, and they appreciated being able to reserve a parking space in an area that allowed them to access the facility easily.

How did BEON Tech Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered according to requirements on a tight schedule. They’ve been very open in terms of communication. I can always get in touch with them when I need to. They also were very responsive when we launched the platform. They were quick to fix any bugs that arose. It’s almost like they’re a part of the internal team. They’ve always been very professional in that regard.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have the ability to drill down and really understand the use case and the desired result. They weren’t there to arbitrarily throw tech at us. They really wanted to understand the business case and the customer experience before they made any recommendations on the platform. They were well-versed in multi-modal formats. They don’t specialize in mobile or specialize in online applications—they do it all. The fact that they were able to come at that from a comprehensive and experiential standpoint is what made a big difference.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s a matter of educating a customer on what to expect after they’re done, whether that’s ongoing support from BEON Tech Studio or instructions on operating the platform after they’re done. However, they were still pretty diligent about sharing a lot of things in that regard.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Really talk through the use case and what the desired customer experience is. That will help them flush out not only the types of technologies and applications that they might apply to the project but also which staffing they will apply. They have a number of different experts across different verticals and technologies. It’s really about just being as comprehensive as possible so that they can apply their best people and their best recommendations.