Despark

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a UK-based charity focused on child health and equality that creates digital resources to support parents for better health outcomes. 

I am the deputy CEO and oversee all our operations. I am the lead for our work with Despark on a day-to-day basis, managing the project along with their project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Despark?

We needed to create an app for public health information. It’s a guide for moms-to-be that tailors the information it provides for each user, depending on the stage they are at in their pregnancy. In the UK, those who are most at risk of poor maternity outcomes are the people who miss appointments and don’t have access to information. The app is built to help those people.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Despark to develop our iOS and Android apps. We had a spec, from which Despark created wireframes and we worked through multiple iterations.

The app they created has several main features. Users register their information on the apps to help guide them through the antenatal and postnatal journey. It syncs with a user's calendar to include appointments. There are also features for users to log questions they need to remember to ask their doctor, and the option to ask the app the question and receive answers in text and video content. 

After the apps’ first iteration, we had teenage moms review it. They wanted something more personal and attractive, so we came up with the idea of having an avatar. One of the beautiful things which Despark’s designers did was to create these personalized avatars. 

How did you come to work with Despark?

Previously, we created DVD film content, then we won grant money to create a maternity app. We put out a tender, which included a large, 100-page spec, and shortlisted 3 different companies. Out of those, Despark won.

How much have you invested with them?

Our current retainer with Despark is almost £100,000 [$130,000] per year. It was more when we were doing active development work, ranging in the hundreds of thousands.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Despark around 2012, and the app officially launched in November 2014. 

We’re trying to get funding to develop the next version of the app. Despark has done some discovery work, but currently, we don’t have the finances to bring it to life. They know we're trying to find investment, and asked for a meeting to determine how they could help us win the tender and retain our users.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We keep track of our metrics through a training process and integration into care pathways and community networks. Currently, we have 1,200 to 1,300 downloads per week.

We also receive user feedback on a weekly basis, through the built-in function. People have found the app easy to use and engaging. We received some comments that the functionalities need to increase. When the app was created three years ago we had different expectations than now, this is why we want to build the next version. 

Generally speaking, however, the app was well-received. People love the avatars and the app’s look. It’s beautiful and engaging. Despark loved hearing about the impact we are having, and together we applied for industry awards, many of which we won.

How did Despark perform from a project management standpoint?

I meet Despark’s CEO every month in the UK. If he is unavailable, we will have a telephone or Skype conversation. We have weekly scrums between our project manager and theirs, in order to set the work program. We have a part-time project manager and a full-time backend developer on their team.

On a personal level, I really enjoy working with them. Despark’s team is strategic, approachable, flexible, and responsive. We aren't always easy to work with, as we’ve gone through lots of changes, but Despark did incredibly well in helping us grow our vision into a reality. 

Overall, Despark is wonderful to work with. I am a complete tech novice, and they’ve explained information in layman’s terms. In their communication with us, they have supported our ability to make good decisions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their discovery phase was reflective and user-focused. I haven’t worked with other developers, so I don’t know what other people do, but it was a collaborative process.

Despark’s designers are incredible. I look at competitor apps regularly and haven’t seen anything that came close to ours, which has an elegance to it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a bumpy patch, where communication was lacking on both sides. This improved and we adopted the system of regular conversations a year ago, when I came onboard. Despark were always willing to improve and were reflective of their practice. They're the kind of company which will work with the client to fix something that isn’t working

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Vercida.com. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Despark?

We were trying to combine 2 websites into 1—a careers website and a WordPress site, both of which had different functionalities. We needed to merge those sites into a bespoke solution that met our needs.

The first site was DiversityJobs.co.uk, which is a job board, while TheBigIdea.co.uk is an employer value proposition and showcase site. They both had different functionalities; the showcase site was able to present companies as employers of choice, based on their diversity and equality information. In order to give users a much better experience and not make them traverse from 1 URL to another, we wanted to combine those 2 sites into a bespoke product.

The challenge was that nobody had done this before in our industry, so the coding needed to be done from scratch, as we couldn’t go out and buy a white-label product. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The website was coded using several products and programming languages, without a ready-made CMS like WordPress. We wanted the website to present engaging content to users based on their reading habits. If, for example, a mother or father was returning to work after parental leave, once that person started reading articles based on interest around employers, the site would start presenting more relevant content to that individual. The site configures itself, personalizing each user’s experience.

Another important feature was merging the diversity and equality needs of the employer into their resourcing or recruiting needs. In order to do this, we placed the diversity information at the center of job descriptions, so that users would consume that content when reading the descriptions. The content became personalized to that individual and changed their perception. Despark did this beautifully.

We had already done research using our previous site, so we were clear in our brief. The UX was designed by Despark, who also worked on our branding and font. We knew what name we wanted and had some presentation ideas. They nailed it by giving us many different examples of how the site could look and letting us choose a design.

We thought that Despark had bitten off more than they could chew with this project, but they’ve actually come up with the goods, even though the process took a bit longer than expected.

What is the team dynamic?

At its peak, 8–9 people were assigned to our team.

How did you come to work with Despark?

They were sharing an office in the U.K. with a company that we’d used to develop our previous site. That company explained that this project was too big for them, so they steered us towards Despark.

How much have you invested with them?

The final figures will be between $90,000 to $110,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Despark in June 2016. The site is a perpetual work in progress. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although the site’s live, we’re trying to integrate with a few external providers, so we’re not going to start traffic-driving until next week, when DiversityJobs.co.uk will be switched off. In terms of the organic traffic finding its way to our site, users are spending 2 minutes longer on the new site than on the previous site. There is a lot more stickiness to this new product.

How did Despark perform from a project management standpoint?

The relationship was great to begin with, a bit muddled in the middle, and fantastic at the end. Despark visited our office, and we went to them a few times. We initially met in their Covent Garden office in London for the sales process. We have used everything from Skype to Basecamp and Google Hangouts to coordinate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We noticed that the previous sites Despark had worked on were humanitarian-based, including an app for a company that helps women and babies. They had the right feel in terms of ethics, and we didn’t see Despark as a money-grabbing agency purely out for personal gain. They cared about what was going to be delivered to the world, which matched our own operation and goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This is a difficult question because we don’t have a means of comparison. Despark handled the work well, and their CEO is a fair negotiator. The time of build could have been estimated better at the beginning, but this ultimately cost them, not us. We worked on a fixed fee, and Despark delivered for that fee. Despark did a good job, and I’m happy with the results. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Healthyco is a mobile application which helps patients consult foreign physicians and get а second opinion about a health problem. Through the product you can find foreign physicians, schedule and pay for appointments and perform online video consultations with them in just a few taps. I am the co-founder and CEO of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Despark?

We hired Despark to develop our mobile app for iOS and Android using React Native. Following the wireframes and design created by another consultants with the help of our product team.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to keep the delivery within the initially agreed budget and at the same time do not change the currently outlined and defined scope dramatically - keep the focus and key features of the product. Despark did great job with this following Scrum based approach with interactive daily stand-ups and productive sprint prioritisation and review meetings.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We know Despark is a one of the leaders in the local market when it comes to delivering bespoke digital products. We also think that their experience in the health and startup space is very key when selecting a partner to spin-off the first version of a digital product.

Describe the project in detail.

We provided Despark with a full set of wireframes and design files which were created by our product team. The main challenge was to collaboratively work on adjusting the scope based on our set budget without loosing the product focus and goal. Despark were using React Native to deliver two mobile applications - iOS and Android, following a Scrum based approach. In the process we were doing daily stand-ups to dynamically adjust the product scope so that we keep the originally planned budget and timeline intact.

What was the team composition?

One senior Frontend React Native developer, one Full Stack Developer and a Project manager / Scrum master

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We were able to deliver the initially agreed scope within the budget with a small additional fee which covered the unforeseen problems

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our workflow was perfect.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The passion about technology, healthcare and attention to detail

Are there any areas for improvement?

The communication was sometimes a bit slow