CXR.Agency

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an immersive tech company that focuses on education and training.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CemtrexLabs?

We were trying to accomplish a scalable white label solution that would increase the efficiency of the product not only for our internal team, but also from a UX standpoint. Essentially, we wanted to give businesses the right tools to administer low-level tasks, that come with managing inventory and immersive content.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project started with an in-depth discovery session where we worked with their creative director and visionary office, as well as some of the lead architects and 3D artists. After we ironed out the deliverables, timelines, and goals, we then put those concepts into execution and developed this project from the ground up using various SDKs and software tools.

What is the team composition?

We worked with roughly around 7–8 people from their team. We had a project manager, a lead architect, technical artists, 3D artists, and a couple of developers.

How did you come to work with CemtrexLabs?

They were highly recommended by my mentor. We worked hand-in-hand when I moved to New York then he introduced me to Lucky (EVP of Sales & Marketing), who told me about his company and how they might be able to help me.

We thought that they truly understood what our vision was and what we were looking to accomplish — it gave us peace of mind that they were the right team to work with.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent roughly around $130,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re a very young company and we only had one client prior to working with CemtrexLabs. When we engaged with them, we were able to garner more than four times the customers. Apart from that, we analyzed the cost analysis of hiring full-time employees against an agile development team, and the latter turned out to be a much more efficient route. Working with CemtrexLabs probably saved us at least $300,000.

How did CemtrexLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great from a project management perspective, as they were very organized and transparent. We had a technical internal team, but we just didn’t have the human capital to facilitate what they were doing — thanks to CemtrexLabs, we were informed about the specific aspects of what we were working on.

Furthermore, their project management style was very transparent, and the sprints and deliverables moved efficiently. We mostly communicated through Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that they have a very unique approach when it came to AR/VR development. They were very well-versed in the nuances of this emerging industry, which was important to us, because traditional software development is very different from augmented reality development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to pinpoint since we were very happy with the overall outcome of the relationship, which we still have to this day. However, if I can recall,  there were a couple of pieces of software they were unfamiliar with at the time — but to their credit, they were able to adapt and learn from that experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I believe you need to have a solid understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish because CemtrexLabs won’t be doing the work for you. They pride themselves on collaborating and bringing out the best in any project. Even if you don’t have the answers, make sure you at least have a solid foundation of what you’re trying to achieve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder and CEO of SaaS startup

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Build Webapp from scratch for all UI, UX, design, and development services.

SOLUTION

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

3 main factors: They have a great website so I figured they could build me a good one too, they communicated the best during my selection process, and offered the most reasonable price

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

Started literally from scratch. It was an idea I had written down and I tasked them with using their tech stack to build this from the ground up. We created a webapp that has 5 user types, search algorithms, and other various logic components. Key deliverable was a live, fully functioning version of the website that was only a thought in my mind 16 months ago. Second contract included updates and refined the product offerings.

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

I only worked with one person on a regular basis, who was the liaison between me and most of the team- Project Manager. I met regularly with the main project managers from each department at least once per week.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Considering that I only had written instructions for what I wanted before I submitted the assets over to the team to start reviewing. They did a great job handling a non-technical founder such as myself.

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

Timeliness: Short-term deadlines were usually met, but the broader contract final deadline was very delayed. The first contract was extended by 149% of the original contract duration (additional 155 days), and the second contract was extended by 90.5% of the contract's duration (additional 76 days) Project management: Start with what I wanted to build, clarify points, start UI/UX, refine design, develop functionalities. Communication tools: Teamworks online communication platform

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

I found it very impressive how well they were able to work with a non-technical founder and build something from just an idea and a few Word/Excel documents into a fully-functioning webapp

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

Improved transparency, communication, and support. I may never find this, but I'll always hope to find an agency that can truly act as my own internal team. For example- offering suggestions and relating new functionalities to other parts of the webapp. I also say transparency because I am confident that they withheld on going above and beyond to create a better application for me because they didn't want to go above budget. However, I would've liked to know what it would've costed for extra things like: Not using stock imagery, creating a better UX for sign ups and certain menu items (I often found myself googling how to improve UI/UX to give them suggestions), spending time figuring out bug fixes (I ended up fixing one on my own), etc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former managing director of a co-working company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CXR?

People weren’t coming to our spaces due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so we needed to develop something that could convey the quality and design of our office spaces through a virtual experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CXR designed a VR that we send out to potential clients. It showcases the whole space with different click-through points. People can navigate through and feel like they’re walking off an elevator, into the lobby, and other aspects of our buildings that capture our facilities’ general look and feel.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was Lucky (VP of Sales). There were also around nine people from their creative side involved in the project.

How did you come to work with CXR?

I worked with them on different projects in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000 with them,

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from March–June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The deliverable was great, and we felt confident in removing the physical tour and turning it into a virtual one. We felt comfortable with their work, and it came out excellent.

How did CXR perform from a project management standpoint?

They were communicative, and we could always rely on them to meet the timelines.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication distinguished them from other providers; they were responsive, so we didn’t have to wait long for them to respond regardless of the question. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — it was a great overall experience. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Have an understanding of the direction you want to go with the project — that’s helpful. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of marketing for a hair and beauty marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

CXR built a VR experience for us with the goal of driving leads by giving users an life like sales experience based on the typical in store experience where users where in a beauty store.

SOLUTION

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

We put out an rfp to 7 predetermined digital agencies. Our factors were based on bandwidth, experience, successful previous products.

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

CXR created an in app experience that reimagined the in store experience a customer goes through. Visitors are able to browse products to read the labels, there are check points where users can are approached by employees to answer questions. There is also a check out line for users to make their purchase.

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

We had 2 project managers, a ux/hi designer, an architect and a number of front end and back end developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app allows us to see in real time what products our customers respond to.

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

CXR runs agile sprints and we’re able to adapt to our communication tools a la slack.

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

Cxr was able to modify the product to fit our budget and then over delivered on our needs and timing.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of 19th & Park, Inc. We’re a creative marketing and production company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of 19th & Park, Inc. We’re a creative marketing and production company.

SOLUTION

What challenge were you trying to address with CemtrexLabs?

We’ve worked on a ton of different projects together. They’ve done web development, AR/VR development, and web app development for our clients. We’re now starting our sixth project with them this year. ­­­­

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we know we want to begin a project, we bring them on board right away. They help us look at what we’re trying to achieve and outline the design and development phases. With their help, we identify what approaches we can take while staying within our budget. approaches we can from a design and development standpoint take while staying within our budget. Once we align ourselves on the budget and timeline, they execute.

For web development, they usually work in WordPress. From the architecture and  UX/UI design to full-on coding and deployment, they’re completely involved in the process. They hold our hands and walk our clients through the deployment. They even handle hosting and have changed IP addresses for our clients.  

Recently, they developed an AR experience to support a new film. They helped us create filters and launch them across Facebook and Instagram. They took key art from the film and readapted those assets to create a consumer-filtered journey experience from a microsite into social media. It was a name generator that populated a filter.

What is the team composition?

Lucky (Executive VP of Sales & Marketing) is my go-to contact. Our team generally works with Ramesh (Senior Project Manager) and Andrew (Creative Director). There are a few other people who are always on our calls.

How did you come to work with CemtrexLabs?

I was introduced to them through mutual friends.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $250,000

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2016 and we’re still working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of revenue operations at a restaurant reviews and recommendations platform. Primarily, I support our sales team with direct and indirect deals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CemtrexLabs?

We contracted them for a custom landing page.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed a vendor to produce a microsite for one of our large clients. The final product needed several different pieces of modular, mobile-responsive content. We also needed it to make updates in real-time for a two-week restaurant activation. As part of this, we contracted three restaurants from across the country to have a takeover day, encouraging a return to work lunches and emphasizing the importance of taking a break. 

CemtrexLabs provided us with the staff and resources needed to deliver on all things necessary for the project. Using AWS and creative we provided them for the frontend, they produced a website to facilitate this project. They handled the front- and backend development work.  

What is the team composition?

We worked with their engineering resources, a UX design specialist, creative teammates, and project management resources. Their engineers included a G-Suite expert.  

How did you come to work with CemtrexLabs?

They reached out to us in a prospecting effort, offering services we were looking for at the time. Then, we developed a rate card for the different scenarios we needed for our clients in terms of website design and functionalities. Once we got a client on the hook, we were able to begin immediately because we had the pricing and roadmap we were looking for. We had all the information available to get started on this project at the right time, so it was an easy choice for us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $20,000–$25,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We connected in June 2020 and wrapped the project up in November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project showed the world that we’re more than just a restaurant review company; we can handle impressive website projects and social-first integrations. Plus, the business impact we made for participating restaurants during the pandemic was second to none. We helped keep businesses open during a time where many small businesses were closing their doors. This project was extremely successful in driving sales and keeping restaurants in business.

From an internal sales and marketing perspective, the project demonstrated our capabilities and potential offerings for other similar programs. We still use the site as a pre-sales tool, showcasing our past work to prospective clients.     

How did CemtrexLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was delivered on time, and the communication was flawless. They used Teamwork, which allowed us to keep track of emails and updates. We communicated through a video conferencing tool. 

The cost came in slightly higher than anticipated, but that’s because the scope of work changed. We needed to increase the scope of work for our client, so they abided by the budget given that change. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They completed all deliverables in a timely fashion and were proactive in communicating any delays or changes based on our requests. Whenever we hit a snag, they were transparent and contributed several options to help us solve problems. They were also able to ping individual team members to help with certain action items to keep us on track. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a few instances where they were nickel-and-diming us for add-ons. I would have rather incurred the extra fees over time and have been charged one sum instead. This isn’t the nature of the business, though, so I can’t complain. We just ran into some unexpected cost requirements.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend them for their technology and website solutions. They understand our competitive landscape, so they knew the needs of our clients and sponsors. I’d recommend them to anyone looking for a custom web design and functionality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Experiential at a full-service marketing agency that provides entertainment, influencer, experiential, and creative marketing services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CemtrexLabs?

We hired them for app, web, and AR development

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I provided them a few briefs, notes, and imagery. They worked on a variety of projects — mostly AR experiences — to promote sweepstakes we were holding. They developed web pages that explained the sweepstakes and allowed users to enter. They also helped us manage the backend.

What is the team composition?

I dealt with 2–3 people on their team.

How did you come to work with CemtrexLabs?

I was introduced to one of their leaders. I talked to them for a few years before we began working on this project. I often ran concepts by them to determine if we could actually execute them. Finally, due to COVID-19, our clients began looking for more digital experiences, so it made sense to begin working on these projects.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May–July 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very attentive. I was satisfied.

How did CemtrexLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well and were on top of things. They did their best to meet our timeline and didn’t charge us additional fees to work quickly.  They were able to complete most of our projects in 1–2 months each. All of our communication was through a project management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very confident and they have a solution for everything.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were some communication issues surrounding billing — the initial estimate was just for development, and I didn’t realize that there would be additional fees. I wanted them to handle every part of the project, so I was surprised by licensing fees when I wanted them to register our domain.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you lay out the details and outline what everything will cost ahead of time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief media officer at a holding company for print publishers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CemtrexLabs?

We just acquired a new magazine, so brought in CemtrexLabs to help us migrate the website onto a new CMS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

As an outsource development firm, we hired them to run the project end to end. Essentially, they created the project scope, timeline, and they had to move the website from one CMS to WordPress VIP. This included all of the media assets that go with that, like video and image content. At the same time, we had to integrate about 30+ platforms that operate the site, like ad and revenue-based platforms, analytics, social media, CMS ad serving, all of that needed to be moved.

They also ensured that the site looked and functioned exactly the same. We didn’t want any downtime on the site post-migration. We had to cut over without the consumers knowing.

They ensured that our SEO was set up properly as well so we didn’t have any broken links from other platforms. Because of that, everything had to be tightly coordinated.  

How did you come to work with CemtrexLabs?

This is the third project I’ve worked on with them. The first time I hired them, they had the best price and delivered on time. We ran the same diligent process this time, and they were 50% of the price of their competitors. Still, they delivered a great product on time.

What is the status of this engagement?

They only had four months to do the entire project. It lasted From October 2019–January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project allowed us to have full control over our digital infrastructure and platform, where we generate about a third of our company’s revenue. By delivering on time, we were able to take control of the site, integrate new revenue platforms, and generate new revenue.

They provided a lot of guidance on how to things properly so it wouldn’t impact our links and SEO. They helped us every step of the way.

How did CemtrexLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very buttoned-up. They’re an overseas company, but they had local support, so we couldn’t really tell the difference. Occasionally, we had to accommodate their hours, but overall, that helped us work around the clock.

They were on top of everything. Every task was tracked, managed, and checked off once it was completed. All bug fixes were handled rapidly. On the day of the launch, they sent someone to our office to make sure we had a seamless cutover. Overall, it was very efficient. They worked in an agile methodology so they were very flexible to make sure everything was delivered on time.

Our internal product manager worked with them to ensure that they had access to everything they needed. They used a cloud-based communication software, so we informed throughout the project. As a manger, that really helped me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The key element with them was that they set a budget and a target for the timeline, and they delivered on it. I’ve worked with a lot of other development shops, and they flip dates constantly or don’t deliver on time. Really, they’re not as efficient as these guys. On the other hand, CemtrexLabs kept us on track and made sure we hit our deadlines. They were really professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There may have been some communication about our ad tagging structure, but it wasn’t entirely their fault. They worked through it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need a full-time product manager to manage the relationship and to make sure you’re coordinating internally. You need to be very responsive to them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time of my engagement with CemtrexLabs, I was the Interim Director of Technology for Abu Dhabi Media, a media organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CemtrexLabs?

I was helping restructure the digital department of our company. We had a few applications that needed to be developed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CemtrexLabs was responsible for building several applications, as well as mobile and wearable development. The team worked on both design and engineering components under a strict timeline. There was a particular emphasis on UX.

The CemtrexLabs team supported two core projects. The API, developed for a news service, had both CMS and feed ingestion components.

After the news portal launched, we integrated an application that allowed users to vote during a popular television show on their mobile phones. The results would be displayed on live broadcast graphics.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six or seven people at any given time. We had one or two mobile developers for each application, the CTO, a full-time API person, and two UX designers and two QA people. We rotated team members as needed.

How did you come to work with CemtrexLabs?

CemtrexLabs was highly recommended to me by another firm who’d used their services in the past. I met them, and we ended up building a relationship. 

We knew we would have to single source the project, as we were working on such a short timeline, so we needed someone who we trusted to take on the work.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $250,000–$500,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from April - July 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of metrics, we didn’t track traffic and performance as major KPIs, largely because we are a relatively small nation and we knew there would be a finite number of users downloading the news application.  

We were really impressed by CemtrexLabs’ UX and creative capabilities, especially given the nature of the app as a traditional content managing, newsgathering, and publishing platform.

The team ended up building out not only the mobile CMS but also the scheduling for the broader editorial teams that were linked to their social media profiles. 

CemtrexLabs’ skill allowed us to finish the project on time without any issues. We would be happy to work with their team again in the future if the opportunity occurs.

How did CemtrexLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

I have my own project management system where I like to do documentation in a very specific way, and they were happy to accommodate me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CemtrexLabs’ flexibility was impressive. The team had the ability to persevere through the challenges of developing the applications up to standard. When it was necessary, they did live DevOps for us at extremely inconvenient times of the day.

Are there any areas they could improve?

CemtrexLabs is ambitious to a fault, which is generally a good thing. If you have a client that needs someone to understand the risks involved in a super-compressed timeline, CemtrexLabs is great to work with because they will actually do it, but I think you need to have a certain type of personality to take this on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more you know what you actually want to build upfront, the more successful the project is going to be because you can drive it forward very quickly and won’t face scope creep.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-owner of a contracting company based in Long Island that works primarily in the tri-state area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CemtrexLabs?

We needed assistance developing an app that has a dashboard for ourselves and one for our customers, who put in sporadic requests at odd times throughout the day.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CemtrexLabs developed both an iOS and Android version of our mobile app. The team helped us develop the wireframes, whittle down the design, and include all our needs. We needed the app to set reminders for our customers. After a customer requests a service, the application sends reminders and pictures. The app also has mapping services and linked to a variety of users throughout our supply chain.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was Mahesh (Project Manager, CemtrexLabs), but we also worked closely with Andrew (Creative Director, CemtrexLabs) who sat in on every meeting. We also worked with Lucky (EVP of Sales & Marketing, CemtrexLabs) and his brother Ash (Chief Design Officer & Director of Operations, CemtrexLabs). We had at least five people consistently working on the project, but when all is said and done, probably 20 people worked on the project. 

How did you come to work with CemtrexLabs?

We spoke to five different companies before going with CemtrexLabs. We were introduced to Lucky and Ash through word of mouth and sat down with them. It was just fantastic right off the bat, there was a synergy between our companies. We are both companies run by brothers and their price was extremely reasonable so it was a perfect fit for us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $60,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with CemtrexLabs ran from June–October 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While the app has not officially been launched, we have previewed it to a few of our customers and they were all thrilled with it. They’ve never seen anything like it service-wise. Customers loved the look and simplicity of it. Which is exactly what we wanted, a simple and effective platform.

How did CemtrexLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

Cemtrex was willing to work with our schedule. We don’t have work orders given to us days or weeks ahead of time, everything is absolutely last minute. In terms of scheduling, we had a meeting once a week, but they were very flexible about rescheduling. We’re not very tech-savvy, but they worked to talk us through exactly what was going on in a language we could understand.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CemtrexLabs helped bring our idea to life as opposed to just building off a blueprint. They added a lot of value to the platform. Everyone at the company was a pleasure to deal with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything went swimmingly. They gave us every tool to communicate with them and were always available to us. Everything came out perfect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No matter how big or small your idea is, sit down with Lucky and Ash to talk through the idea. They will provide you with every conceivable outcome or finished product they could provide for you. They broke down a few different tiers of products they could deliver based on our price points. They’ll take care of you.