ByteLion

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Snag-A-Slip connects boaters with available boat slips and moorings, while also showcasing marinas via digital channels. The mobile-responsive website and mobile apps allow boaters to explore marinas by region, city or marina name and then search for slip availability based on travel dates, vessel dimensions, and power requirements. Boaters can pick their preferred marina based on amenities, location and availability and book immediately with any credit card. There are no booking fees associated with the service, which is available from Canada through the Caribbean. Snag-A-Slip mobile apps are available for free download on the App Store and Google Play. I am the Product and Technology Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bytelion?

Founded in 2015, we were achieving success in our first two years of business, but quickly outgrew our capabilities with the legacy website hosted in an off-the-shelf CMS. Additionally, we did not have a mobile app to offer our boaters. Snag-A-Slip hired Bytelion to build a custom platform for both web and mobile to provide our business with faster performance, world class design, and multiple third party integrations.

What were your goals for this project?

The solution needed to address existing UI/UX and backend issues associated with the current platform, as well as provide improved speed, integration capability, and improved user experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

As we searched for a new development partner, Bytelion was recommended to us by an advisor of the company. We considered several local and other development companies for the project, however, Bytelion provided the most comprehensive plan for how to move forward with redeveloping our platform. This has proved to be an excellent decision. Unlike many vendor relationships, we are not simply an account at Bytelion. Their team members take a genuine interest in our project, progress, and success; and they feel as if they truly are part of our team, which is what makes our vendor relationship work so well.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Bytelion started by meeting with us and reviewing our current platform, requirements, and wish-list in full detail. They did thorough market research and came armed with the latest trends, technologies, and best practices for creating a high-end user experience. We met with their team of designers to go through workflows, wireframes, and design mockups. Working in an iterative, Agile environment, Bytelion paired the power of PaaS (platform as a service) systems to create a platform that can support web, mobile, and multiple third-party vendors and systems. Bytelion implemented an architecture that includes well-designed, RESTful APIs to reduce the time to market and offer additional revenue streams across Snag-A-Slip’s reservation systems, search, SEO, and administrative work.

What was the team composition?

Our project team has had a varied team size, depending on the needs of the project, but Bytelion was able to provide best-in-class backend, frontend, and mobile engineers, as well as designers, quality assurance analysts, and project managers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With our new platform as well as the features added through continuous development, we have seen significant growth in users and bookings on our platform.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management at Bytelion is very impressive and utilizes Agile methodology. The team utilizes tools such as Jira, Confluence, Postman, Slack, Google Suite, Github, Basecamp, Aha.io, Test Flight, and more to work successfully in a collaborative and iterative environment. Clients have full access to their team members, and not just to their project managers. Bytelion works in two-week sprints, delivering timely and informative sprint reviews to their clients.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I find the team at Bytelion to be easy to communicate with, creative, and forward thinking. They continue to help our web and app presence rise, and we can point to significant growth based on the development work from Bytelion. I have found that Bytelion manages to hire extraordinary designers, developers, QA analysts, and project managers. Each employee I meet from Bytelion is talented, professional, and receptive to client ideas. Moreover, I have been thoroughly impressed by the level of technical aptitude and skill of every Byelion employee.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have no comments on areas for improvement at this time. Whenever any issues do arise, which is rare, Bytelion deals with them quickly and efficiently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the CTO of a patient management solution company at the time this project was done.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bytelion?

Custom software development

What were your goals for this project?

The project involved subcontracting software development work to complete a full mobile application and backend for a project with the CDC.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were highly recommended from other companies we trusted

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Bytelion did the full UI/UX design, project management, software engineering, deployment and ongoing support for this project in a very tight timeline with often difficult deliverables.

What was the team composition?

• three software engineers
• one designer
• one project manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Delivered on time and on budget with short timeline up front, getting the project out of a potentially difficult situation of unmatching timelines.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

PM was excellent. Progress against deliverables communicated appropriately, budget / expenditure professionally managed. We were aware of project status at all times, which is often difficult to deliver consistently.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were very impressed with the quality of software delivered, the thorough testing and QA methodologies employed, and overall project management.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Very little to improve; the project was an outstanding success.