Digital Scientists

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of marketing for an airport parking company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Scientists?

We engaged Digital Scientists to redesign our mobile app to better meet the needs of our customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Scientists redesigned and developed our mobile app for iOS and Android, incorporating new features that allowed our customers to make parking reservations, manage accrued free days of parking through our loyalty program, and scan into and out of our lot using QR codes. They provided suggestions on ways to build out the features and make updates to it throughout the process. They're also in the process of connecting the app to Apple Wallet and adding other features as requested. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, as well as a few others on development.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

We found them online and reached out to their team during our RFP process. Out of all the vendors we considered, we were most impressed by their experience and what they'd been able to achieve for other apps they'd built for other clients.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested between $100,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on the app around March or April 2017, and the relationship is ongoing as we continue to add new features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Digital Scientists effectively implemented solutions that significantly improved our previous app. We've seen an increase in customer activity, downloads, and satisfaction overall. Now that we have a functional app, we're able to engage our customers on ways to continue enhancing it and improving our services.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

We've been very impressed with our project manager. Their team is very proactive about taking thorough notes and documenting their work, checking in with us regularly through phone, email, and within Jira. They've also visited our offices to help us brainstorm current and future goals, so it feels as though they take a strong interest in our continued success.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their primary focus is on helping clients achieve their goals, rather than agreeing to everything and collecting money. They provide invaluable feedback and continued support as if they're part of our own team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No–their services have been top-notch. The only thing I can think to recommend is for them to visit us more often to discuss future endeavors and provide additional feedback on features they'd suggest we add to the app based on what they're seeing in the market.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring as much passion to the table for the project as their team does. Also, be sure to have a thorough understanding of the target customer and audience before attempting to build an app to address their needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and founder of BoxLock. We make smart padlocks designed to protect deliveries from porch pirates and package thieves.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Scientists?

We'd developed an initial mobile application and backend experience. We were trying to evolve the pilot version of the app to more of a hardened production environment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed iOS and Android apps that integrate with the actual hardware product of our lock. They also developed the backend infrastructure—both from a software side and a cloud computing side—that supports the integration with the major carriers. Our lock works with UPS, USPS, FedEx, and Amazon. In terms of technology, they used React Native, Bluetooth, and AWS.  

What is the team composition?

They put a right-size team around our work to provide the needed level of support while being mindful of our available resources.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

An engineering firm we were talking to referred us to digital scientists by. We liked that they had experience with companies at a similar stage of the development lifecycle in bringing a product to life. We liked their approach, mindset, and philosophy around evolving that product into something that is managed directly by the company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking to them about a year ago. They brought our initial pilot version to life in 3–4 months, and then scaled it over the subsequent 5–6 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've done a fantastic job. By building key parts of the app, they've been critical in bringing this solution to market. We've gotten some great feedback. There’s been some critical feedback, but that’s not representative of the vast majority of users. The data tells us that usability is high and everything works smoothly.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

I'm very happy with their availability. They do a reasonable job of documentation. They do what needs to be done in order to align on the scope of work, without over investing in documentation for the sake of documentation. Routines are clearly outlined and helpful. I always have a consistent understanding of where we stand.

We used BlueJeans and Slack for communication, and limit the use of email. They've used a number of tools for feature management and the iterative process. Most of our work together has been virtual even though we’re in the same city.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great partners, and they play really well with others.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have clarity on what you're looking for, but be open to better ways to do them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO for a medical device company that makes a smart pill dispenser. It uses a biometric or fingerprint reader to control access to medication such as opioids.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Scientists?

The device has Bluetooth capability, and we needed a partner to help us gather and work with that data. We wanted different apps that patients and healthcare professionals could use to access the device.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Scientists used React to design Android and iOS apps for patients and healthcare professionals. Patients can see when they took their pill last and enable the device to dispense their medication using a PIN number. Pharmacists and technicians can program a prescription into the device that tells users how often they can dispense medication. They can also download and erase data from the device, along with a few other administrative functions.

Users can read data off the device by scanning a 2D data matrix, similar to a QR code. Digital Scientists also used Ruby on Rails to build a web portal that uses an API to transmit the data from the mobile app to the portal.

What is the team composition?

We interacted with a product manager who had design and development teams.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

We received referrals and also did our own research into Atlanta-based dev companies. Digital Scientists didn’t just focus on the development but wanted to understand how our product fit into the market as a whole. We appreciated their passion and interest, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2017–May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have much quantitative evidence because we’re still early in our marketing. However, Digital Scientists created innovative designs, which have made our admin app simpler to use and easier to navigate. We’ve received positive feedback from numerous end users on the UX/UI of the apps.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management could use some improvement. I told them that, and they adjusted accordingly. They responded well and resolved problems relatively quickly. We had a few in-person meetings during our partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They approached this project holistically and not just as a coding task. They did their own market research and came back with perspectives on competitive products that we hadn’t even thought of.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could spend more time fleshing out their solutions before implementing them. A few fixes weren’t thoroughly thought-out, which resulted in us having to rework them because of gaps in our understanding.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the vice president of marketing for Gables Residential.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Scientists?

First, Gables Residential had a very outdated website. It was not responsive and it was very clunky, so customers did not have a very good search experience. At the same time, there were 120 properties that we needed to display on the website. We had to be very thoughtful about how we were going to show each property and  the amenities it had. The updated website should include features that are important to a searcher. A user should be able to compare different units, different amenities, even other properties. For example, we wanted to improve the experience of a multifamily searcher looking for an apartment. In addition, we wanted to be one of the first to offer online leasing. Somebody looking for an apartment could go through the leasing process on our site without even having to go to the actual location. We wanted the website to become the one place where everybody felt they could turn to and get the information they wanted.

When I joined the multifamily section in 2009, the marketing teams that supported us were not looking at analytics. They weren’t looking at who was searching and what pages they were staying on. Attribution was a really big issue as well since it was important to the business. When we advertised on Rent.com or Apartments.com and somebody came to the site, everyone tried to grab a piece of the pie. We needed to map the customer journey, from search all the way to being able to lease online. These were the challenges that Digital Scientists helped us address.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Scientists handled our website design, including the creative work for the site. In the discovery phase, they studied the features that we wanted to include and determined if they were relevant. Then, they set up reporting structures through the analytic piece. Digital Scientists helped us optimize our SEO and figure out which SEM would maximize traffic to our site. That was a big thing because we wanted to grow our organic traffic and cut down on our advertising.  

The second part of it was the analytics side. We wanted to know where we needed to spend our dollars and how efficient our website was. With the help of Digital Scientists, we were the first in the industry to create the analytics for lead attribution where we could look at the path of somebody visiting the website. A time-date stamp showed when a searcher came in, what source they came from, and the first and last points of contact. It made us realize that, for the most part, most people searching will go into at least 4 to 5 different sources in their search. That crucial information helped us set our marketing dollars and see which ones were working.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

I think Digital Scientists was a recommendation; they knew somebody within the company. They might have done a small project years before, but certainly not to the scope and the level that we needed then. Digital Scientists was 1 of 6 companies that we originally looked at and who went through the traditional RFP process. That’s how we ultimately decided on them.

How much have you invested with Digital Scientists?

We have spent more than $200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

 I believe I started the relationship in 2010 and it was ongoing when I left in 2013. Even though we got the website up and going, we still had the monthly maintenance and analytics reports. The engagement continued even after the website and the analytics tool were built.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Within the first 6 months, there was an improvement in the quality of our leads. The conversion of our leads and the amount of organic traffic also increased. I want to say that in the first 3 or 4 months, it was up by 35%. That was a phenomenal number. We did not have mobile before, but our mobile got up to 46% in the first 6 months. We were web-friendly, we weren’t truly mobile, but that also increased dramatically.

Digital Scientists also allowed us to look at the journey of the searcher and see the various sources they were using. That allowed us to say to vendors like Apartment Guide and Rent.com: “Now, instead of paying you a subscription, we want to pay you per lease.” I can tell you, I can really be very succinct in the attribution of where the leads came from. Ultimately, we were able to trace it back to the first attribution that brought them to the website. Instead of paying expensive subscriptions, we came up with a cost-per-lease model that saved us a ton of money. During the first year the site went up, we saved over $1 million in advertising costs because we were only paying for leases that we got.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

They were amazing. What I loved was that it was a one-stop shop and I didn’t have to outsource. They had both the creative team and the analysts we needed. The whole team was there, which made it really nice. We had weekly calls scheduled once it was up and running, and that was great because we were in contact all the time. I think the way they managed it was very thoughtful, very process-oriented. Instead of a bunch of emails going back and forth, we utilized technology to communicate. We uploaded everything to a central repository where we could work on the same documents and update them. That made it really easy to collaborate.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Scientists?

They are very conscientious, very detail-oriented, and very attentive. Digital Scientists employed this incredibly brilliant staff. If I ever had an issue, I had cell phone numbers. I could call on weekends and they were always available. It gave me peace of mind that if anything came up, I could always get ahold of them. They’re just very responsive, very prompt, and always accessible. The team was always looking for opportunities to improve the way we were doing things. Just because it was built didn’t mean that was the way it was going to stay. They were always looking at new technology and keeping up with our site to stay modern.

Are there any areas Digital Scientists could improve?

We’d given them a very tight deadline and it took a little bit longer than we anticipated. I think they wanted to please so much that they agreed to a tight deadline without knowing how picky we would be. It was probably because of the multiple rounds of revisions we needed on things. That would be the only thing that they could improve, setting realistic expectations. Instead of cowering down when the client says they have to have it, they need to say, “This is what it’s going to take to do it.”

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Huddle Tickets works with high schools across the country to provide free paper tickets on behalf of corporate partners. For example, we work with Dick's Sporting Goods to provide free tickets to schools around their stores. We work with about 8,000 high schools on an annual basis and provide 150 million free tickets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the scope of their involvement?

We've had a paper ticket program for more than a decade, and we needed to make that come alive for our clients. We wanted to create a digital ticketing system that was tailored and customized specifically for high schools. We needed to update some of our operations and become more of a technology team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Scientists built an in-depth roadmap based on our initial conversations. It was something that we could refer to throughout the process. They did a great job of capturing what the web technology would look like and feel for individuals. They helped us think it all the way through – from building the initial shell and roadmap to the actual technology. They developed the app, website, and complete functionality that allowed us to help run at turnkey.

One of the new features is that it does not take a scanner to get into an event in one of our environments. With classic digital ticketing, you often had to spend hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars on a professional scanner. In contrast, our users can simply present their phones at the gate. After two taps, they can get into the game. Schools don't need Wi-Fi and hardware. It's an easy, turnkey way for them to have digital ticketing without the additional investment.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

Digital Scientists was recommended by a couple of different groups. We had considering around three or four different partners. From our initial conversations, Digital Scientists showed a high level of detail and ownership. That was apparent in the plan they sent in response to the proposal, which what helped them stand out.

How much have you invested with Digital Scientists?

We spent roughly $300,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Digital Scientists in the summer of 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our goal was to turn around an MVP, or minimum valuable product, within a few short months. That would let us test at the end of the high school football season in autumn 2015. Digital Scientists turned that around for us. It was great and functional. They gave us a great test of our product and platform, and then we've been working with them for the last year to build out additional features. We had a quarterfinal football game in Georgia last fall and it was a $50,000 gate. About 4,200 tickets were sold for that game, 2,800 of which were online digital tickets. Of the $50,000 gate, $34,000 was transferred safely and securely to the GoFan platform. That helped validate the idea that digital ticketing in a high school space can be successful. It can be beneficial for the schools involved. We've heard nothing but great feedback about user experience, both during our MVP and the first few weeks of this football season. We had amazing feedback from the fans.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

Digital Scientists does a great job of scheduling our meetings with them. They're more than willing to come onsite since we're not too far away. They're also open to us going to their office. Their team is always candid about what they're working on and what needs to be improved. That allows us to trust them to take ownership of our product and platform.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Scientists?

I think the biggest thing for us was that we needed a partner that we could trust. That's something that Digital Scientists earned quickly. You could tell from the different individuals who touched our product and platform that they had a level of ownership. They wanted to see it succeed just as much as we did. You could tell by their diligence and attention to detail that they took pride in the product. It was easy for us to trust that process.

Are there any areas Digital Scientists could improve?

I don't see any need for improvement so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the director of digital marketing of NAPA Auto Parts for five years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Scientists?

There were two things that we needed to address. Number one, we needed a mobile application. Number two, we had a very large IT [information technology] organization that had a lot going on. We needed a company that was agile and open-minded. They needed to work with our IT department through their processes, technical challenges, and so on to get an application out the door.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an older mobile application and Digital Scientists did a review of that. Afterward, they created comps and wireframes to lay out the new application. They also wrote functional and technical requirements for that. They worked with our IT organization to get reviews and approvals for everything. The app was built in conjunction with our IT organization. In the end, Digital Scientists delivered a great application. They also helped merchandise it on the app stores for iOS and Android.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

I think one of the guys in IT gave me their name. We went through and reviewed five or six companies. We interviewed them and got proposals from them. Then, we determined whom we liked the best and hired Digital Scientists based on that. We actually had them come in several times on a project basis, so we hired them multiple times.

How much have you invested with Digital Scientists?

We've spent over $150,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Digital Scientists from 2013 to 2015. I think we started working with them in 2013 when they did the first revision of our application. Then, in 2014 and 2015, we started rebuilding our overall website. They worked with us during that time to make the mobile application compatible with the new website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Digital Scientists increased our application ratings and our application downloads pretty significantly. Before, the app had a low rating, maybe 3. I think we ended up at a 4.5 after the total three years of working with them on the app stores. They did such a great job of fixing many issues, and they made it easy for customers to find our app in the app stores. We got a lot of good feedback. We had had a lot of negative feedback from customers previously, and our feedback improved tremendously.

Take note that we didn't have a budget to enable them to do everything that needed to be done and everything that they recommended. They're highly creative guys and came up with many ideas. We just didn't have the money. They also stressed the importance of putting in metrics for making sure that we were successful. They wanted to be held accountable for ratings and downloads, which I thought was smart on their part.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was solid, and it was good. We had weekly calls and Digital Scientists would give us a high-level project plan. I'm not a fan of massive, enterprise-level project planning. We just had weekly milestones that they stuck to. Probably the one thing that made it a challenge for them was that our IT organization was so big. We're 300 to 400 people, and they're a smaller shop. But, they were able to handle it well. Sometimes, they used up more hours than they had allocated. They hadn't anticipated how much time it would take to deal with the enterprise architecture approval board and stuff like that. It was never anything major. But, that's just a challenge of a smaller boutique specialty shop working with a big company. Digital Scientists provided an appropriate level of governance for our projects together.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Scientists?

They're easy to work with, and they're good guys. They can take the good feedback along with the bad, such as when we had issues or something wasn't working. Digital Scientists has a nice setup with the guy who runs the company [CEO Bob Klein]. He actually has a twin brother, so they had twin guys – Bob and Tom. They were the relationship fellows, the strategic fellows that I'd talk with. Another fellow named Vishi [Gondi, chief technology officer at Digital Scientists] ran everything. As the marketer running digital for 6,000 stores, I didn't have a lot of time for chitchat. They did a good job of not exposing me to their entire organization. Digital Scientists funneled operational stuff through Vishi. Meanwhile, strategic and high-level business stuff went through the twins.

They're small but mighty. There are good things about that, and there are bad things about that, but we knew that going in. I was very happy with Digital Scientists. I wish I had more money to spend with them. Nobody's perfect, and neither am I but I thought, for the services that they were providing for us, they did a very good job.

Are there any areas Digital Scientists could improve?

We're in Atlanta and the Digital Scientists office was literally on the opposite side of town. I would've liked to have seen them more often. But, I always felt guilty to make them travel for two hours just to come see me. I just like seeing people I work with face to face. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

‎I was the director of marketing of Hubbell Power Systems. The company is a manufacturer of materials that go into the energy and telecommunications space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Scientists?

We wanted to develop an app to bring information closer to the distributors who sold our products as well as the end users of our product. We were new in the app world, so we had zero experience doing an app. Our distribution partners need the ability to select different products from our vast database. Meanwhile, our end users need to have specific information about those products. We looked around for a developer to build a catalog app and bring all that information into one place.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Scientists guided us along the entire venture, from conceptualizing the app, building it, making it work, and maintaining it in the marketplace. Initially, we went through a discovery phase. They asked us to step back and identify what we wanted to accomplish. Then, we dialed back into that specific catalog app and the user experience associated with it. Digital Scientists gave us good strategic direction. They were very helpful in directing us to make sure that a catalog app was what we really wanted.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

I happened to live in Alpharetta, Georgia, where Digital Scientists was located. We went out and found four or five app developers in the general Georgia-South Carolina area. We got proposals from several companies and then selected Digital Scientists from that evaluation process.

How much have you invested with Digital Scientists?

We have invested $50,000 to $200,000 with Digital Scientists.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship with Digital Scientists lasted about 18 to 24 months. The life cycle of that app – from conceptualization through development, testing, implementation, and a year's worth of maintenance – was about a 24-month cycle. I would say we started the project in 2013 or 2014 and we released the app 18 months later. They are still doing work for Hubbell Power Systems today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We tracked user adoption of the app. Specifically, we tracked how many people downloaded the app in the Android platform and Apple platform. We looked at that take-up rate. We had a goal to get 500-plus users on the app, and we quickly eclipsed 1,000 in the first six months.

Then we also measured user feedback, if there were any problems to resolve or suggestions. There was a tool directly embedded in the app to bring feedback to both us as the owner of the app and through Digital Scientists. We measured how many problems we saw, which were very few, and what kinds of ideas for new apps did we get. Ironically, we had very little user feedback, which was a positive sign. The app worked. They used the app and had few problems using it.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a gentleman on our side who led the development of the app and project management, but the majority of the work was done directly by Digital Scientists. They handled the project management. We simply interfaced with them, gave guidance, and answered questions. They had their own group of developers. They also had a project manager assigned who led us through the regular task management, updates, and feedback loops. We had to provide certain data and databases for the app, so we had much work on our side to do. We did some database clean up. Once we were able to turn that information over to them, it was pretty much in their hands.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Scientists?

I think there are several things that distinguish Digital Scientists. First of all, Digital Scientists brought a lot of knowledge and kept us always focused on user experience. We wanted the app to do everything, but Digital Scientists did a good job of keeping us within scope. I think they did a great job there. Second, they were very creative in their problem solving and in their approach to building the app. They found ways to do little new launches within the app. They also recommended features and functions. The third thing that impressed me was from a project management standpoint. While they didn't hit every target date, they were very well organized and provided great feedback along the way as they developed the app. We've done other app development, both in-house and with other folks. The experience with Digital Scientists met every expectation we had. They were easy to work with. They were not the cheapest alternative, but they were by far the most comprehensive alternative out there. Without any reservations whatsoever, I can say that they did a phenomenal job.

Are there any areas Digital Scientists could improve?

If I were to change anything, that would be the maintenance phase. I think the maintenance phase got a little confused with the next phase of development, and they packed that all together. I would have preferred to see them break out a true maintenance-only piece, separate from the development of future features functions. I wish they had split the contract approach at the end differently, but that was not a negative in any way.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

MyUS.com is an international package consolidation company, and I am the former chief technology officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Digital Scientists?

We needed a mobile app with a great interface for our customers all around the world.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Internally, we developed the back office desktop and web apps. I engaged Digital Scientists to enable that on a mobile device, on both iOS and Android platforms. We wanted to allow the customer to interact with the back office functions and manage their account.

One of the main features is one-click shipping, which allows the customer to ship their product from our warehouse to the destination country with the ease of just a single click.

How did you come to work with Digital Scientists?

I interviewed three different firms. One of them was doing our desktop application, and Digital Scientists provided the best solution for what we needed from a mobile app standpoint.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have spent between $50,000 and $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was an eight-week project, and we ended up finishing around 10 weeks because of things on our end. I am no longer with the organization, but I think they still have a relationship with Digital Scientists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

At the get-go, we were very definite on our project timeline and milestones, and I'm glad to say every one of them was met within time and on budget.

Our customer base was also happy with the result. We had needed an app for a number of years and, when it was finally released, it was welcomed with open arms.

How did Digital Scientists perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. They managed the entire mobile app process, which was one component of the overall project overhaul. Everything went as planned. There was just one project manager, and we had weekly all-hands-on-deck project calls within that 10-week period.

What distinguishes Digital Scientists from other providers?

They're a true partner, and that's was what I was looking for. As a subject matter expert on app development, Digital Scientists provided valuable input for our project both from an engineering standpoint and on the UX [user experience] side.

Is there anything Digital Scientists could have improved or done differently?

No. I don't think so.