Bitcube

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of an organization that operates inside a platform. We specialize in cultural analytics and help companies through digital and organizational transformations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitcube?

They joined us early on as we moved from concept to design. We wanted to launch our public-facing web properties and start developing our core enterprise platform MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did all of the development for our initial MVP and are my top-to-bottom stat providers. We used a Google Cloud platform as our core infrastructure. They do all our SaaS development, frontend, platform as a service, SecOps, and application support. They also do all the UI/UX work on our core platform, and we're just about to launch our native app. The original designs were built by an external agency, but Bitcube has done a lot for us since we started working with them.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of 10-12 individuals, led by a project manager.

How did you come to work with Bitcube?

I was introduced to them by one of their board members. I worked with them at a previous position, and a personal reference was important to me. I also ran a business in South Africa early in my career, so I knew the environment and the culture. The time difference between their office and mine is also very small.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent a little over $500,000 to date, not including our active service contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around November 2016, launched the site at the beginning of March 2017, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We track traffic and load times, and we measure application support. We run on a two-week sprint cycle, which is about to change to one sprint per month. A lot of our metrics are based on the speed and quality of the code, and everything they've done works very well for us.

How did Bitcube perform from a project management standpoint?

I'm very happy with their project management. We have a good relationship with them, and they now do ideation for our business. They bring opportunities for me to explore. They're doing a stellar job, and we get on very well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are my first development support partner. They listen intently to my needs, and understand what I'm trying to achieve in the long-term. We also have a very good relationship. They treat us as partners, and we trust each other.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I've always got more things I'd like to do, but I'm really happy with the partnership.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get to know their leadership team, invest time in them, and build trust. They have a good understanding of our goals, and that personal level of communication pays dividends.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Bruce’s Doggy Day Care, the U.K.’s largest market-leading provider of dog daycare in the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bitcube?

We needed to find a CRM system that we could scale for our sector. There were off-the-shelf tools available for pet care and dog daycare, but they were very much based on small businesses. We have multiple branches and needed something that was able to work at a bigger scale and adapt to our business model.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an ambitious scope for a cloud-based CRM system for internal users, an iOS app for our customers, and an iPad app for our drivers picking up people’s dogs. For the iOS app and iPad app, we worked with a separate designer who worked along with Bitcube. However, Bitcube now has their own design team, which we’re utilizing in place of our previous designer. They’re now putting together a whole specification for a separate project that involves the redesign of the customer experience for the web app. They’re going to scale it up to tablets and desktop.

The iOS app is a customer frontend where we can upload the photo of the dog and tag it within the system. Clients can use it to make bookings, check on the live status of their dog, manage their information, set up their dog’s profile, and see invoices.

The iPad app is used by internal staff—mostly our drivers. The dogs need to be placed in a logical and sensible order so that it minimizes travel time. The app enables the drivers to check in and check out dogs, and they can easily update any information provided about the dog in real time. This way, there’s no information lost between the customer, the driver, and our offices.

The CRM was completely custom-made. I looked at children’s nursery software beforehand because these have the capacity for multiple branches and thousands of children, so I had an idea of what I was after. It was a very ambitious project that took 120 days only for documentation, however, Bitcube handled it all.

We’re now working with them on a monthly retainer that’s 70% for new enhancements or functionality and 30% maintenance.

 What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with eight people but have a single point of contact.

How did you come to work with Bitcube?

I have a mentor who is a CMO for one of the top 100 companies in the country. He strongly recommended Bitcube to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $50,000–$199,999 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2015 and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

About 80% of our customer base use the iOS app or the web portal. The majority of them log in at least once per week. The most recent survey showed that over 75% were satisfied with our service.  

How did Bitcube perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is good. We work through sprints and everything goes through QA on their side. We review the backlog weekly and set priorities as well as test any deliverables. We also do an annual plan where we map out the coming year.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service and technical capability are brilliant. Furthermore, their prices are competitive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They went through some growing pains three years ago as they were scaling their business. The project management process I described wasn’t in place when we started, but the experience we have now is completely different. I visit them annually, and I could really see how their business is growing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I strongly recommend them. Before we started the project, I was wondering if they could pull it off and was a bit skeptical. It turned out that they could do everything that they claimed they could. Everything is far better than I expected.