BIT Studios

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP, Digital Strategy of an investment and asset management firm.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

A family-owned and operated alternative investment and asset management firm, specializing in the U.S. oil and gas industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire BIT Studios to accomplish?

• Build a custom App so that clients are able to view their investments
• Extend the app to provide an internal management tool
• build a marketplace to showcase investment opportunties

SOLUTION

How did you find BIT Studios?

Online Search

Why did you select BIT Studios over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from BIT Studios were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The scope of the project was to build an internal management tool that will enable the team to oversee all investment assets efficiently. In addition, providing an app to clients to receive educational material, oversee their investments, and access a marketplace to view the latest investment opportunities. Continuous integrations and development are taking place to improve systems, reduce long-term costs by automation, and increase efficiencies at the organization.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Company processes have increased in efficiency by reducing workloads. Client satisfaction proven by referrals continuous being generated. This is largely due to creating investment oversight and transparency in an otherwise hidden market. User feedback has been 99% positive.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Great and driven team. Not only does it feel like an extension of the business team, but the team goes beyond in working on features that will maximize the overall value of the company. When there are 'hiccups' - and there will always be in projects - the team is immediate in providing solutions to the problems.

The best part about it is that the team doesn't just build an app; they evaluate how a feature can affect the development short- and long-term process to ensure the app is robust and built on a solid foundation.

What was your primary form of communication with BIT Studios?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

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

My biggest worries were (1) having a remote team, (2) not being able to connect when it's an emergency, (3) response times being a challenge, and (4) language barrier. We had three different scenarios where immediate help was needed, and no matter the time, the team was on it immediately. Fastest response times I've experienced. The language barrier has never been an issue.

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

There have been continuous improvements during the relationship that bettered the communication of the project. This includes estimating stories and the length of a feature release. As it stands now, there isn't really anything I would say must be improved. This has a lot to do with the team being adaptable, listening to the needs of the customer, and finding ways to provide a better experience. Very agile team, with a lot of experience.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the e-commerce manager of an education platform. We sell items through our website, ranging from consumables in terms of chemicals and things like microscopes and Bunsen burners, among others.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BIT Studios?

We do a lot of B2B transactions, and we noticed that our website was slow and presented problems with checkout processes. We needed someone to re-platform our website to make it more functional and faster and develop more options for our customers to interact with.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BIT Studios took over from our previous website using Optimizely. In terms of functionalities, in addition to the regular e-commerce features to purchase items, they also created a content page where users can download PDFs, manuals, and digital books where we provide online learning and safety information for the items and chemicals we sell.

Currently, we have a stacked team that we can pull in to provide ad hoc assistance, like SEO and designs, among others.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with a business analyst and two full-stack developers. We also have a part-time tester for the bigger projects, and we additionally have a designer who works with us from time to time. 

How did you come to work with BIT Studios?

They were referred to us by someone who recommended their work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $1 million with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They lowered our website’s loading time by about 2,5 seconds, and our server’s response time dropped dramatically as well by three seconds — people can now go through our website much faster. Also, the number of people confirming their cart order increased by about 3%, which has to do with the site’s ease of use.

How did BIT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent; our project management is thorough, especially regarding business requirements and ensuring that items make sense for our consumers and us. In terms of UX design, they ask us a lot of questions to make sure that they’re doing what we’re trying to accomplish — they never move forward based on a hunch. Overall, they’re involved with what we do, and we can tell how much they care about our business and satisfaction.

In terms of communication, we have weekly standing meetings, which can turn into 2–3 sessions per week, depending on our current project. We also use email, Slack, and a ticketing system, which our customer experience team loves because it’s easier to track bugs for our developers to handle.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Their open communication is outstanding; they’re fully involved with our project and even tend to know more about our products and business because they’ve been with us for so long that they now have a knowledge base of our company, which is refreshing. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — I’ve been working with them for several years and have no complaints.  

Any advice for potential customers?

Talk to the company owner; he’s very involved and has all his clients in place. Have a dialog with him about what you’re trying to do so they can tell you upfront the project’s pros and cons.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a Creative Advertising Agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired BIT Studios to help us implement the design, assist on the UX, and code an extensive CPG website in Word Press. Our goals were to improve the design and usability, increase the website's speed, and improve the SEO.

SOLUTION

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

I selected vendors based on three factors:

1. A company that would not only build out our website designs, but would work to improve them.
2. A company that would work with us as a partner and work with us as if they were an extension of our team.
3. A company that billed fairly and would work within our budgets.

We decided on BIT because we have worked with them on several projects and we knew they could deliver.

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

This was a website redesign, so we first had them review the entire website, capturing what would need to be transferred and where we could improve. We reviewed our designs with their team prior to sharing them with the client, to ensure we were not missing or misrepresenting anything. We then provided them with final designs which they used to build out the final wireframe designs of the site. We then had weekly status meetings reviewing progress and goals for each week. Finally, when the site was close to completion, we tested and optimized the site.

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

We worked with Jeff, the owner who helped us speak to technology with the client. We also had a direct project manager who was in contact with our project manager daily. Along with that, we worked with 2 UX designers, a full development team of typically 2-4 people, and Quality testing team of 2-4individuals and one SEO expert.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site performs better across the board. It ranks much higher in load speed, SEO testing, and most importantly Mobile performance.

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

BIT has its own proprietary online project management tool in which we were able to prioritize and track all tasks. We also had weekly status meetings and were in constant contact.

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

Their project management tools and breadth of knowledge were impressive.

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

Nothing that quickly comes to the top of my mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of StipTrac, and we use phone technology to capture important documents for consumer loans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BIT Studios?

More often than not, when customers purchase their cars, they need check stubs or utility bills. However, car dealers didn’t have the ability to maintain an open line of communication with them. As a result, we wanted to build a platform to allow consumers to install an app so that they’d have an open line of communication with car dealerships.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BIT Studios developed a web and mobile app from scratch. We originally met Jeff (Founder & President), and we wrote down our ideas for the platforms they were going to develop. They then created MVP versions of those two platforms so that we could have a stripped-down version of what we wanted. After some time, the team had the prototype up and running very quickly. They were able to tweak it before we had to spend money fixings issues down the road that could cause major coding issues and would substantially drive our bill.

Some of the features BIT Studios integrated were enabling our customers to upload documents in real-time using their mobile device and at the same time, enable the receiver to view those documents in real-time so that they’d be able to easily approve or decline them. The main idea for that was to cut down the trips that customers had to make to their car dealerships. The team also incorporated a GPS in order for stakeholders to keep an eye on their merchandise until the deal was funded.

What is the team composition?

It was a very large project, so I’d have to say we probably worked with over 10 people.

How did you come to work with BIT Studios?

I found BIT Studios on Google when I searched for software engineers or web developers. Nobody would return my calls, and it was only their team who got in touch with me. In the end, Jeff met us in person, and we felt comfortable working with their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We probably spent $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2019–October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since they built a custom platform for us, we didn’t have metrics set for the project. However, as far as app and web downloads were concerned, we only received positive reviews from customers. For the user feedback from the car dealerships, they also loved our platforms, and they liked that they were easy to use.

How did BIT Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

We had awesome communication throughout the partnership, and we documented everything together through Google Docs and other similar platforms. We kept in touch through phone calls, WhatsApp, and email. Additionally, we liked that we met them multiple times to go over our needs, and we went through their progress at least once a week. Overall, they were very organized, and they ensured that they responded to all our requests.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed that they took everybody seriously. As a result, they were responsive from the get-go compared to other companies who didn’t reach out to us after we reached out to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they didn’t have any areas to improve. It was normal that we wanted them to finish the project as quickly as possible, but we understood that web development needs ample time to be completed. Overall, we didn’t have any complaints because we knew that they built as fast as they could.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay on top of progress meetings and just stay engaged with them. Once you lay out a game plan, BIT Studios is capable of giving you your expected timelines.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a full-service residential real estate company servicing the Chicagoland area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We sought to create a better online transaction management software so that our real estate brokers could enjoy a better process of compliance review and deal approval.

SOLUTION

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

We interviewed several software development firms and appreciated the pragmatic, personalized approach. Bit Studios listened carefully to our needs and helped craft a project plan that fit our budget and strategy.

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

Bit Studios helped create a full online real estate transaction management software, as well as a real estate marketing website. Overall, we have two separately large deliverables that improve the efficiencies of our business. We are able to generate more leads and smoothly complete our real estate transactions.

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

We had anywhere from 2 to 6 people working on a project at any given time. This would include the project manager, software developer(s) and a high level manager to ensure we remained on track in budget and timing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had many positive outcomes from our deliverables. More leads and improved efficiencies. Our user base of over 300 agents has provided largely positive feedback.

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

Their project management skills have been terrific. They are very communicative and usually on time with estimates.

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

The project managers developed a keen understanding of our niche industry which helped them better manage the project and create a better product.

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

No, I am pleased.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At the time the project started I was the company Product Manager. I have a background in Engineering and Physics. Over the last couple years I've worked myself into the role of Marketing Manager at IKONIX and am in charge of not only product road mapping but promotions and creative direction.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop a SaaS platform to replace our antiquated software for automated test and measurement control. The current LabView SW we implemented served it's purpose but it's "clunky".

We wanted a universal platform where users could access their instruments and test data, anytime, anywhere. We leveraged BitStudios to help us develop the first iteration of this platform.

SOLUTION

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

Several reasons we decided on BitStudios. First, the president Jeff, was efficient and responsive during the entire discovery phase of the project. He laid out the plan, timelines and accurate quotations. Second they were local and easy to work with. They also have a good track record developing this type of technology.

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

1. Develop compatibility with 2 of our instruments series
2. Ability to remotely program instruments
3. Cloud storage of all test sequences and test data
4. Creation and customization of print reporting.

They used Java for instrument communication and Ruby on Rails for the platform programming itself. Google Cloud used for all storage.

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

Jeff - president and overall project manager 1 full stack developer 2 designer developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The goal was to create an MVP. We reached this goal on time and under budget. By the time we launched the platform it functioned without bugs and was fully compatible with our 2 instrument series. All test sequences and data are stored directly to the cloud and users can access this from their account at any time.

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

Regular weekly check ins on the platform called DailyFrenzy. This platform handled all tickets and dev issues. Also used Google Chat to communicate with the PM and Google Meetings for our weekly check ins.

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

Flexibility. They were able to easily pivot in new directions when needed. They were flexible on spend and burn on the project. I had a set budget and we were able to speed up/slow down as needed depending on where we were in dev and what we had left over in budget. Their flexibility allowed us to complete on time and under budget.

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

I think the only hang up was turn over at BitStudios. We had to transition in several new people when others left the company. This caused us to have to ramp up the new employees on project details.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

SaaS software to protect electronic funds transfers. Executive Chairman

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Custom software application to confirm identity and bank account credentials.

SOLUTION

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

Experience, project management, deployment of resources.

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

Multi-faceted tech stack needed to accomplish our objectives.

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

Up to six. Designers, engineers, QA etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Prototype to in market MVP want very well.

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

They did a great job in managing the project and aligning expectations.

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

Honest and transparent communication and expectations on timing, cost and deliverables.

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

With new products, emphasize the need for market conduct analysis to ensure product market fit.