Bixly

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Magpie Health Analytics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had two primary goals for our project. First, revamp the Magpie Health Analytics marketing website. Second, create a website and customer portal for our product MScore.

SOLUTION

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

We have worked with Bixly in the past and they have always delivered top notch work.

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

Bixly worked with us to develop a custom website for Magpie and MScore.

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

We worked with various Python and web developers, devops, and project managers from Bixly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The revamped website looks great. Our customer response to the website has been great.

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

We work with Bixly in two sprints. With sprint review meetings. Every two weeks we prioritized the stories for the next week. We utilized Slack to communicate on a daily with ad hoc meeting if needed.

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

Very flexible to our design and scope changes. Helpful in presenting potential solution for various aspects of the project for us to consider. Willing to jump in and learn new tools as needed when were already using a email marketing platform which was new to the team.

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

Would love more design help, but that may have just been me - as I can be picky about look and feel.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of an IT services provider for large healthcare organizations such as hospitals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bixly?

We were looking for expertise in mobile UI design and implementation. A growing number of hospital patients are using mobile for their interactions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They took high-level design specifications and translated them into very detailed UI/UX designs as well as backend implementation specifications. They provided coding and UI design implementation teams to turn the designs into a functioning browser-based mobile platform.

The frontend was built in React and JavaScript and the backend was built in Java and Python with AWS hosting.

Bixly continues to provide maintenance. We always needed new tweaks and fixes.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was Adam (Chairman, Bixly). We worked with Diego (Developer) and another developer. When we were talking to customers and gathering product requirements, they were able to flex down, and then when we were ready, they added people to the team. They maintained enough domain knowledge to cross-train resources and get them up to speed very quickly.

How did you come to work with Bixly?

I found them through digital marketing when I was sourcing vendors. After doing due diligence with several firms, I considered whether to use a firm, use contractors, or hire my own resources, but Bixly rose to the top.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $300,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen widespread product acceptance among patients with high engagement rates. Health care has lots of regulatory requirements for data integrity and security, and Bixly was able to execute within those constraints while delivering within specifications and on time. Their attention to detail within our challenging domain has been phenomenal.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve changed parameters over time as both sides figured out what worked best for team communication and coordination. They brought a robust communication platform to the project as well as a set of best practices, many of which we’ve adopted and refined our own internal practices based on them. Their budgeting, timing, and communication have been fantastic.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by their ability to incorporate complex data and requirements into the UI and work within the API interfaces that we made available to them. In addition, their flexibility really stands out. I’ve worked with a number of different consulting firms and different tech stacks, and typically you’re on a fixed contract with no guarantee of continuity after it ends. Bixly really invests in making sure it’s a partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

More security and privacy will be a requirement for us moving forward, so it would be helpful if they invested more in training their staff on security-oriented development.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take their recommendations on communication and process. Don’t be afraid to fully leverage their UI expertise—it doesn’t have to be a confrontation with your in-house team. They’re very talented and good at consulting in that domain.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide certification services to operations in the US and internationally. We are currently accredited to certify operations to the USDA National Organic Program standard. I am the Director of Operations that ensures the company continues to positively and most efficiently move forward in business growth and development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bixly?

Websystem Database programming (new features, upgrades and maintenance).

What were your goals for this project?

To design and develop a websystem database that is user friendly and includes all the necessary features for our business. Continued maintenance of our custom database is necessary and Bixly has recently come full circle on that was well.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I believe an online search and based off of reviews, it was a long time ago and I did not spearhead this initial connection/relationship

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They helped us design and develop a websystem database that is user friendly and includes all the necessary features for our business. They have agreed to take on the maintenance aspect of our custom system.

What was the team composition?

We have about 2 to 3 people, a programmer, project manager and a Sysadmin.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's been a good impact, changes being made that need to be made in order to function faster and much smoother.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was very good. Bixly is quick to respond and provides updates on almost a daily basis.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They know what they are doing and are experts in their scope

Are there any areas for improvement?

Following up on / updating tickets or cards in Trello (management tool), would be an area of improvement. I feel there are times that tickets or cards that have been submitted by us or have been complete by Bixly just sitting there with no movement on bixly's part.

I don't really want to have to follow up with Bixly to make sure they see all the cards or tickets we put in or ask them to move their card or ticket to the appropriate column if work has already been completed.