Contic

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a director at a genetics startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Contic?

We were looking to work with a development company that could code and design our main product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Contic is responsible for the UX design and development of our web and mobile applications. The team builds all the coding and technology behind our product. Initially, we explained every stage of the process to Contic and informed them about us and our products. The team has worked on various tasks involving text and graphic work. Contic builds an app for iOS and Android devices, and the app requests users to log in by creating an account and password. 

The app then displays a questionnaire designed by Contic for users to answer. The team has created the questions and the replies' different text boxes. Contic has designed the app's different screens, which include documentation, views, and guidelines explaining what we do and how our test works. Additionally, the team has created the visualizing reports the customer receives after testing, the app's pop-up windows, and diagrams.

What is the team composition?

We work with Contic's CEO, head of operations, two coders, a UX  designer, and a sixth teammate who supported the CEO on bigger projects. 

How did you come to work with Contic?

We found Contic through a referral.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Contic in the spring of 2024, and our project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company is just starting, and Contic has worked with us since the beginning. The team is good, and all their work has met our expectations. 

How did Contic perform from a project management standpoint?

Contic delivers work on time and is very responsive to our email communications. We're on call with Contic almost every day.
Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I want to highlight the UX designer because her work was amazing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't find any areas for improvement in Contic's work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Marketing of Pristine Condition International

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Pristine Condition International are a world leading organisation specialising in manual handling solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Contic to accomplish?

• Develop an AI app that understands our manual handling principles
• Go to market launch

SOLUTION

How did you find Contic?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Contic over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Contic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables
Contic's scope of work included:

• Develop an AI algorithm for ergonomic assessment that faithfully understands our principles 
• Construction of customer-facing platforms (Admin, Web, iOS and Android) 
• User testing and refinement

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The measurable outcome from this project was taking the AI app out into the field and testing whether it understood the principles that we teach to our clients.

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

Contic demonstrated excellent project management skills throughout. They never missed a deadline and were always clear on what was being delivered, when and what was required from Pristine Condition to help move the project forward.

What was your primary form of communication with Contic?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I cannot name just one item as I was impressed by a number of things, namely; Contic's commercial acumen, their understanding of our business and what we wanted to achieve, constantly bringing ideas to the table to make the project the best it could be, their daily updates, weekly reviews plus their general project management skills. Oh, and they are really decent people -- not to mention impossibly clever!
Partnering with Contic has been an absolute pleasure and I would have no reservations in recommending their services.

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

As part of their weekly review, I keep getting asked this question and so far, I cannot name a thing - which is unlike me.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Product of a mobile network provider.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We build mobile networks

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Contic to accomplish?

• User Research
• Product Development

SOLUTION

How did you find Contic?

Referral

Why did you select Contic over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Contic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We engaged Contic to run the user research workstream for our company. The deliverables were to:

• design a user research plan
• communicate the plan to our key stakeholders and get buy in across the company
• run the user research activities including user interviews, usability tests, market research and more
• provide recommendations on best practise and software to accelerate/ automate our processes
• create weekly user research reports
• run project ceremonies including planning, reviews and retros
• synthesise all data into a master report and project recommendations
• assist with the upskilling of the internal user research team to handover the function

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Market research reports
• Customer surveys
• User interview and usability test summaries
• User research reports
• Ideation and brainstorming reports
• PR and marketing recommendations
• Feature and problem solving recommendations

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

The Contic team provided outstanding project management, not only for the projects they were brought in to assist with but they also provided PM guidance and best practise we were able to apply elsewhere in the business. We set weekly goals in joint planning sessions at the beginning of each week, and presented their progress each Friday.

The Contic team hit their weekly targets without fail, and even called out when they had extra capacity to be able to take on more work in the sprint. Overall, Contic made a huge positive impact on our speed of delivery, and we continue to benefit from their advice to this day.

What was your primary form of communication with Contic?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The Contic team are particularly adept at problem solving, able to apply the learnings they have gained from working across many industries to troubleshoot any problem and come up with creative solutions. For us they were also an excellent culture fit, comfortable with uncertainty in a rapidly changing environment but also able to bring formal structure to help keep us on track.

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

The only improvements we could have made working with Contic would have been to remove any internal barriers or blockers elsewhere in our company to maximise their work. They did everything they could to drive us towards our goal, and we got huge value out of the relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at Everyone’s Invited, a civil and social charity. We’re an online safe space for survivors to share their stories of rape culture and sexual violence. We also deliver specialized education in schools to promote healthy, equal relationships.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Contic?

We needed to develop a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Contic developed our new website from scratch using AWS and GitHub. We initially provided them with an extensive brief about what we wanted. We included many details; it was very bespoke because we had particular needs. Afterward, we had a series of discussions with Contic to outline and go over what we needed.

One of the core features was providing a digital and anonymous safe space that allowed people to submit their stories. Contic developed an AI function that automatically removed identifying information from those submissions. On the backend, our team could access a forum/admin area to sort the testimonies and submissions we receive. We could also edit and process them to simplify the submission process. Finally, we could change different pages on the website from the admin area, and Contic built a donation system that linked our website to Paypal.

What is the team composition?

We were mainly in contact with two teammates, but we also spoke with two others.

How did you come to work with Contic?

A friend who works in tech recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2022–January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The output was excellent; Contic provided exactly what we needed. Our system is currently up and running, and our community can submit their stories. Now, we can also receive donations. All in all, the results satisfied all our needs and exceeded our expectations. We’re really happy with their work, and we’ve been able to pivot with a designer who came in later.

How did Contic perform from a project management standpoint?

Our interaction with Contic was great. They worked in iterations, and we were close, up-to-date, and aware of everything they did. We had at least two rundowns and check-ins every week; Contic reported on everything they’d done and their progress. Overall, they were very transparent. The team met deadlines except when we made changes and had to extend the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were transparent and kept us consistently informed. We liked how interactive the process was; Contic listened to our needs and paid attention to detail.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were happy with what they delivered.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I suggest knowing exactly what you need at an early stage. Make sure you figure out or anticipate what you want to prevent extending the project. Overall, communicate your needs with them and stay on top of things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a risk management company, and we primarily provide our services to Fortune 500 companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Contic?

We needed a vendor to help us develop an app that would interact with our drivers and record compliance, so we could have data to analyze.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started our engagement by identifying our requirements and scoping the deliverables — the third phase includes the practical application in terms of building the product. They’re helping us develop an Android and iOS-based app that allows users to share live-tracking data and information, such as licenses, vehicle mileage, photographs, and other qualification materials.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact points are Adam (CEO) and Dan (Agile Software Developer).

How did you come to work with Contic?

Contic was recommended to us by a friend.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested about £14,000 (approximately $17,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in November 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product is yet to be launched but internally speaking, we’re very happy with our ongoing partnership with Contic.

How did Contic perform from a project management standpoint?

Contic is excellent from a project management perspective, as the team is highly communicative and receptive to feedback. We typically interface through WhatsApp, phone, and Google Suite.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re very impressed with their professional approach to communication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more accommodating to the scheduling structure of a global company.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to keep your communications open and be more concise with what you want to achieve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a home support business offering dedicated support to the elderly assisting them to live independtly. Operating in Cambridgeshire we are looking to expand nationally, increasing our customer and staffing numbers significantly. The company was set up 6 years ago, my role within the business is company director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

As a growing business many of our processes were manual and labour intensive. Working with Contic they looked at out areas of pain, loss of efficiency and how we achieve our growth goals. They put together a plan to help us streamline the business with a CRM system linking into a website for the staff and team leaders to access remotely. Our main issues were related to rota management on a daily basis, communication with the team about rota changes, customers, locations, work completed and flagging issues to supervisors. In addition, we looked at linking this system to payroll and invoicing software to reduce time spent.

SOLUTION

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

Contic took the time to listen and really understand how we operated as a business and where are pain points were whilst considering our long term business goals. They also took into account our non-technical staff when making their proposal to us. Reducing the impact on our staff with new technologies but also maintaining our business vison was key in the decision making process.

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

Contic were asked to create a product that integrated a rota, CRM, invoicing and payroll systems and communication channel (slack) They first took the time to understand how we worked with our current systems and what challenges we encountered, once they had a clear vision of our working systems and areas of pain they put together weekly sprints over a period of 5 weeks to work through each area. We had daily updates and weekly meeting to talk through progress and areas of concern from either side.

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

There were 4 people in the Contic team, a project manager, an agility coach and 2 technical staff.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

we are now working with a new rota system, CRM and have integrated all areas to link into our invoicing and payroll systems. Contic also made some helpful suggestions with regards to Bots for company notifications, announcements. They worked with a pilot team within the business and were incredibly helpful understanding the staffs lack of technical knowledge. Responding quickly to concerns, creating how to videos to share with out team.

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

The project team were great, we have several meetings a week to discuss progress, we also had daily communication regarding progress and goals achieved. Any challenges we encountered were addressed and given deadlines to complete. Communication was excellent, clear and regular.

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

The transparency of they way they work - if a goal took slightly longer or was more challenging to resolve they were very open about this. We were particularly impressed with their ability to change how they worked to suit different areas of the business allowing them to achieve goals in time. After working with Contic for 2 weeks we and concerns about a particular system they were introducing and felt it was not correct for us. We outlined our concerns, within the hour we had spoken with Adam, had a new solutions and system. They thrived on feedback and new direction without issues and found solutions quickly. It was a breath of fresh air to work with a company with this ethos.

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

The only thing I would suggest is instead of using email and slack for updates to use one method to save doubling of efforts.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of R&D at Vault. We develop software that enables people to speak up regarding misconduct in the workplace. Our vision at is to create a world in which every workplace is inclusive, diverse, productive and safe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed support on our technology platform and we couldn't hire a team fast enough. Contic came in to the company and hit the ground running delivering value very early enabling us to hit release deadlines. They have also help us with suggestions on process and changes to speed up aspects of our development lifecycle.

SOLUTION

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

A great team that is agile and dynamic to their approach.

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

Contic joined us as an in house team and they soon settle into the culture of the organisation. Working within our agile process they picked up work from the backlog and continue to do so with effective detail.

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

One lead full stack engineer, two full stack engineers and an agile coach.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our velocity has increased with the Contic team often performing at the top.

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

Very clear and insightful meetings with the lead engineer. Often he would make great suggestions relying on his technical expertise. These suggestion often made it through to production. Their team as a whole is very uplifting and a joy to work with.

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

They ability to onboard quickly, add value and embed within the culture of the teams. They also very keen to knowledge share with is paramount for us working with any contracting company.

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

Nope, they've been a great pleasure to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Graphic Designer of OBI

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The studio department within the wider OBI group are inspired storytellers, creators and brand experts within the commercial sector of Manchester

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Contic to accomplish?

• To code a landing page, closely following our designs

SOLUTION

How did you find Contic?

previously worked with them

Why did you select Contic over others?

• High ratings
• Company values aligned
• close relationship

How many teammates from Contic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Contics job was to take our existing Adobe XD designs for the City Tower landing page and bring them to life through web development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The process, from start to finish, proceeded exceptionally smoothly. In comparison to our prior experiences with various developers, Contic exhibited a notably higher level of productivity and efficiency. Their rapid response to email inquiries was impressive, and their willingness to seek clarification on uncertain matters contributed to a notably smoother process.

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

Their communication skills are head and shoulders above what I have been used to in the past. Quick response time and always there for when you need to have a call about the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Contic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

n/a