dina (Digital Natives)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive of an IT company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company specializes in the operation and consulting of procurement-focused SaaS solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Digital Natives to accomplish?

• "My objective was to translate the old system into a new architectural concept and successfully deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) based on that foundation.

SOLUTION

How did you find Digital Natives?

We had worked together five years ago

Why did you select Digital Natives over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from Digital Natives were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of work involved leading the development of a new procurement SaaS platform based on an outdated legacy system.
I led a cross-functional team responsible for defining the concept, designing the architecture, and implementing the MVP.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We successfully delivered a working MVP that covered core procurement workflows, which was adopted internally for pilot use.

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

We followed agile principles with varying levels of success.
While not every sprint or deliverable landed precisely on time, we maintained steady progress and were able to prioritize critical features effectively.
Our responsiveness to feedback was strong, and we adapted plans flexibly as the project evolved. Communication with stakeholders was regular and transparent, helping us stay aligned despite the natural challenges of iterative development.

What was your primary form of communication with Digital Natives?

Virtual Meeting

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

I appreciated their strong improvement mindset. They welcomed feedback and continuously aimed to improve both the product and how we worked together.

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

Clarifying priorities earlier and aligning stakeholders more consistently could have improved delivery flow.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Assistant Research Fellow of HUN-REN Ökológiai Kutatóközpont

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Centre for Ecological Research focuses on a wide range of ecological topics, including biodiversity, evolution, and the impacts of climate change, to improve our understanding of wildlife and support both informed decision-making and public awareness. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Digital Natives to accomplish?

• Design and create an app suitable for tick reporting.

SOLUTION

How did you find Digital Natives?

Referral

Why did you select Digital Natives over others?

• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Digital Natives were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The main task was to develop an app that allows people to upload photos of ticks they find, provide details about the encounter (location, time, host animal, etc.), view submitted findings on a map of the country, and access key information about ticks in general. One of the app’s main goals is to monitor the spread of different tick species – including some that can carry potentially deadly pathogens – which makes the app especially important from a public health perspective.

Since the app is designed for the general public, it was important to make it visually appealing and easy to navigate, while still meeting the standards of scientific accuracy and guiding users logically and efficiently through the submission process. A major development focus was on making sure that people don’t get discouraged or bored while submitting data – especially since there’s no prize or reward for participating – so we worked hard to streamline the process and allow users to enter as much useful information as possible with as little effort as possible.

Another key point was future scalability: the app needed to be easy to expand with new languages and to adapt to other European countries and their specific needs. This is particularly important because the development was part of an EU-funded project aimed at enabling continent-wide tick monitoring and coordinated responses if needed.

An important additional element is the admin dashboard. We wanted to see all submitted data and photos in a clean and organized way. Through this interface, we can provide feedback to users and download raw data, which can be used for further analysis, statistics, and research. The photos are also intended to support the development of our own AI-based tick recognition system, which we plan to integrate into the app in the future.

All in all, this was a complex yet flexible development task – an app that had to be both aesthetically pleasing and guided by strict, well-defined rules.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The most straightforward and visible result was the large number of tick reports we received. After the development was completed, we launched a nationwide press outreach to announce the app’s release, and as a result, it was covered by many online and traditional media outlets. This led to a big wave of submissions, and it quickly became clear that users understood the app’s structure and were able to navigate the submission process without issues. By now, we have hundreds of contributors, and some of them have already submitted multiple reports, we’re starting to see returning users, which is a great sign.

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

Project management worked really well throughout. The team delivered everything on time and clearly communicated the timelines and progress. At each step, they explained things in a way that was easy to understand, so we always knew why something was needed and how it fit into the bigger picture. They responded quickly to our requests and questions, and were always open to setting up quick online meetings when needed to clarify things or plan the next steps. They completed our requests accurately, and if we asked for something that could be done more simply or cost-effectively with the same result, they suggested smart alternative solutions. They always let us know in advance about any time off and took our deadlines seriously. On top of all that, it was clear that they were genuinely enthusiastic about the project and the app’s goals, which made the collaboration smoother and much more enjoyable.

What was your primary form of communication with Digital Natives?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They communicated with us in a clear and honest way, always keeping in mind what would work best for us. On top of that, their friendly and flexible attitude made our work a lot easier.

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

I can’t think of anything. The few challenges we faced were due to external factors outside of their control, and they handled them professionally.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Engineering of Incubeta

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Incubeta is a digital marketing agency committed to harnessing the power of digital to unlock and amplify business growth potential through creativity, collaboration, and determination.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Digital Natives to accomplish?

• Scaling up the developement team
• Providing quality technical team members

SOLUTION

How did you find Digital Natives?

Referral

Why did you select Digital Natives over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Digital Natives were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Engaging with Digital Natives for our software development needs was a decision that notably propelled our project's momentum forward. Their team, consisting of highly skilled software engineers and product owners, seamlessly integrated with our operations, that resulted a partnership rather than a mere contractual relationship. 
Their approach to flexibility, not just in terms of team composition but also in adapting to the evolving needs of our project, stood out. The engineers demonstrated not only good technical funcdations but also a keen understanding of our business objectives, ensuring that the technological solutions provided were both innovative and aligned with our goals. 
The product owners brought clarity and vision, guiding the development process with a steady hand, ensuring timely delivery without compromising on quality. This blend of expertise, adaptability, and commitment from Digital Natives significantly contributed to our project's success, underscoring the value they bring to the table.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their team's expertise not only ensured our projects stayed within budget but also leveraged cutting-edge technologies to propel us ahead of competitors. The collaboration significantly boosted our product development cycle, reducing time to market by 30%, and increased our operational efficiency by 20%. 

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

Their strategic input and agile management practices have been pivotal in achieving our key business objectives. All this made DIna an invaluable partner in our digital transformation journey.

What was your primary form of communication with Digital Natives?

Virtual Meeting

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

The skill and the quality of the output of their employees really impressed me.

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

Not that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO and CTO of a Hungarian software solutions provider with about 80 employees. We work with an IT infrastructure from planning to operations. We also have app development, IT infrastructure monitoring, and IT service management teams, so we also work on the methodology side.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

I started a product development project last year and reached out to Digital Natives to help with UX design. I knew that they had UX engineers on their team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had some requirements for the UI we wanted to create; it had to be fresh, flat, and easy to use. We also wanted it to be appropriate for large companies, enterprises, and even the government.

Digital Natives used Figma and some other technologies to create the UI/UX designs we required. However, I didn’t have full visibility of those technologies because I didn’t work directly with them on the technical side of the project.

What is the team composition?

I worked with four teammates from Digital Natives: two UX engineers and two UX designers. I also had contact with their CEO, who kept track of the project.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We already knew each other for a while. Although we had already had some conversations about a collaboration, this was our first large project together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2022, and the project was completed around summer 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Due to our requirements, it wasn’t easy to create the UI we needed. Still, Digital Natives absolutely accomplished it and created a stunning product.

We hope that this solution will have an absolutely positive impact on our business. Thanks to Digital Natives’ designs, we’ve been able to show some slides to our customers, who have absolutely liked our idea and designs. Our plan is to go live with this platform in July 2024.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

Digital Natives absolutely stuck to our project plans, and their communication was excellent. Overall, it was an excellent partnership. Our project manager used the PMBOK methodology and some agile practices for project management. He also used our company’s setup for QA.

We tracked the weekly progress and the project timeline, which was successfully fulfilled. Moreover, it was very easy to navigate on Figma, as I could find everything by myself. Additionally, my frontend developers could use it quite easily as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This was the first project on which I could work with UX engineers and UX designers, and it was a stunning experience for all of us. We had the chance to meet very talented teammates from Digital Natives and create a UI that was both very nice and easy to use.

Moreover, the Digital Natives’ team was absolutely professional, and we could work together very easily because their ideas and mindset were very fresh.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything Digital Natives could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a department manager for a company that manufactures and distributes laboratory consumables. The laboratories use our products for different tests, examinations, and analyses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We were developing a website, but our development company didn’t provide design services, so we needed help with the UI/UX design side of the project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Natives designed our website. This project was linked to a rebranding project for our business that we had recently undertaken. We had created a new branding for our company, so we tasked Digital Natives to redesign our website by implementing the new branding. Moreover, we wanted to take this opportunity to improve its functionality.

Initially, we had a briefing meeting to discuss the project. Then, Digital Natives did a UX audit of our existing website and came up with a series of recommendations for the new one. After that, they took our brand guidelines, information, and requirements to start working on the redesign process. Digital Natives redesigned the key pages of our website one by one, according to our requirements, and they also created new sections as needed.

Our site is both a corporate website and a B2B e-commerce store, so companies can buy our products online. The e-commerce side of it was an important feature we wanted Digital Natives to keep in mind because we have more than 1,000 products on our site.

On the corporate side, the site also has information about the company, news, and events, as well as our contact information. It also features our scientific publications and products catalog.  Overall, it’s quite a comprehensive website.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a design team from Digital Natives. Our two main points of contact were the project manager and the lead designer. However, I’m not sure how many people were on the design team.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

They were recommended to us by the company who was developing our website.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around €20,000 (approximately $21,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We had our briefing meeting in July 2022 and started working on the project around August 2022. The whole redesign process took about two and a half months; Digital Natives finished the design process in November, and we finally launched the website in December 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website redesign was one of the key elements of our rebranding because it’s the most visible part of our business. Thus, we not only wanted it to have our new brand, but we also wanted it to be beautiful and easy to use to provide a flawless UX. The result fulfilled our expectations, and the new website has been very well-received by users, who have provided very positive feedback.

Thanks to our new site, our traffic has increased, and we haven’t lost any customers. Moreover, it was very important for us to switch websites overnight to avoid impacting customers, for which all the features on our new website had to work well once it went live. Thankfully, we haven’t received any complaints about the purchase processing or any other feature for that matter.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

Digital Natives met our deadlines and delivered within budget. Our communication was very good, which was important due to our tight deadlines. Throughout the process, we had weekly updates on Wednesdays. However, if I had any requests throughout the week, they incorporated those requests by the next meeting at most to avoid losing time.

As for collaboration tools, we mostly communicated with Digital Natives via email, and we held our meetings over Microsoft Teams. Additionally, they presented the website designs each week on Figma.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Digital Natives was very nice and professional. Our communication was very easy, and they understood our needs and requirements very well. Initially, I told them that we didn’t need a complex redesign; we just needed to focus on our website’s key elements. They understood this very well and highlighted our site’s key points. Moreover, they didn’t lose time providing something we didn’t ask for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Due to the fast pace of the project, Digital Natives accidentally overlooked some requests from the previous week and had some minor confusion regarding those requests. However, they always corrected their mistakes quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with Digital Natives; we had a very good experience. Still, I don’t have any particular advice. I can only recommend them to similar companies with similar needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of International Growth Partners. We developed a SaaS product, which is a conversational commerce as a service product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We spoke to Digital Natives about hiring developers that we could fully integrate into our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Natives provides us with developers with the appropriate skillsets to help with our software development efforts. We started the engagement by laying out the structure that we wanted to build to ensure that it was feasible. After that, Digital Natives supplied us with four developers that matched our requirements. We had a one-day onboarding session with the developers to make sure that they fit our company’s culture. From there, we fully integrated the developers into our tech stack and team.

We build everything in Svelte, a JS framework. On top of that, everything we do is edge computing-based, so we use Cloudflare and Cloud. The product itself is a conversational commerce suit, which is focused on producing automated sales advisors. It collects the user's product database and shop connector, among other things, and it enriches that data in search campaigns as well as social campaigns. That data is then compiled into a learning model that Dialogflow and other systems are capable of deploying and also using.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four developers from Digital Natives.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We found Digital Natives through a referral from one of our investors.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately €250,000 (Approximately $250,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re currently in the process of rolling the software out with two of our pilot clients. Overall, we’re very happy with the results.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

Digital Natives has performed well in terms of project management. They lead a simple, straightforward workflow, and they’re highly involved in our sprints.

We use Trello, Notion, and Pivotal Tracker for project management. For communication, we use Zoom, Google Meet, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

At the beginning of the project, we had a project manager who was experienced in AI. He was able to provide insights and recommendations for the solution. This was a good thing to make sure that the product and tech roadmap that our CTO designed is going in a direction that someone else who is pretty skilled on their end would also consider appropriate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They had to replace one developer, which was crucial for us at that time. This ended up adding a week or two to the development time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of IT at Good360 Australia. We’re a nonprofit organization.
 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We hired them to design an MVP for a mobile app that we were looking to develop.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first went through a discovery phase to define the scope of the project. After that, Digital Natives proceeded with the work, focusing on the UI/UX design of the mobile app — we had two different user journeys within the app. Also, we provided them with basic wireframes and ideas, and they used those to come up with the initial scoping of the design wireframe. They used Figma to present the designs.
 
What is the team composition?

We initially worked with two people from their side, but after the discovery phase, we only worked with one.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

They were recommended to us by our Magento development team. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project together from November 2021–February 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched the app yet, but we had a good working relationship with them. They were always very engaged and willing to accommodate our change requests. Also, we were pretty happy with their designs, which received positive feedback from our internal team.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

They met every deadline and communicated with us through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their ability to implement updates quickly. They were also good at listening to our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come up with what you want and try to communicate that clearly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of Swapp (https://joinswapp.com), a car rental and subscription platform operating in Europe and Middle East.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Swapp had an already established business of monthly car rentals and we wanted to extend our offering to cover daily rentals as well. We have asked Digital Natives to build a web frontend based on the designs we provided and connect it to our backend.

SOLUTION

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

We looked around for agencies with track record of building customer-facing digital services that are designed for mobile web first. Digital Natives came across as a competent group of developers who can not only develop a solution but do it with a user-first approach, thriving to create a great UX.

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

We started working together with Digital Natives by providing them our proposed design and access to our infrastructure. We had weekly meetings where we aligned on what they should build next for the frontend and what backend services we are building internally alongside. They were flexible to change plans whenever we requested. When they had questions they reached out on chat in a timely and effective manner. They were also autonomous enough to be able to progress without much help.

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

A project manager and 3 frontend engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After connecting the frontend developed by Digital Natives to our backend systems, we were able to launch our Daily car rental service in Dubai integrated with one of our partners, Careem. We saw quick adoption, 100+ rentals just within the first few 2 weeks.

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

Project management was smooth, we had a tracker with delivered items we could check along with the code as they were developing. Communication relied on a weekly briefing and some ad-hoc meetings plus written chat.

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

They were asking the right questions and when encountering a problem they presented alternative solutions. They provided simple and fast solutions, which were much appreciated than complex and slow.

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

Maybe a little more push from them to release as early as possible to a limited set of users so we can get real user feedback.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital channel and sales director at a telecom company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We decided to rebrand our company. We needed a digital partner to support us with branding and web design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Natives created our digital design system and several visionary designs for our application and website. They were responsible for the translation of the brand assets to digital. Another agency created the brand guidelines. We had a vast portal for each country, and they rebranded all of them. Digital Natives provided the initial design and guidance and supported each country in the localization process. They created Engish masters that we adapted to the local needs when necessary.

We started with a discovery phase with data analysis and customer analysis, where they better understood our customer base, their behavior, and needs. We focused on the home page, sales journey, and application. We wanted them to develop a functional design proposal that also aligned with our new brand values, so they used a value-based design approach. The team only worked on the design part.

Our design requirements were mainly in line with the new brand values. We wanted something simple, easy to use, and playful. Previously, our brand was less exciting; we wanted something vibrant for our customer base. The usability aspect also had to be considered so it could work and increase the conversion rates.

We followed them throughout the process. By the end of our collaboration, they finished a whole digital system, including all the necessary aspects so our internal users could create independent landing pages, campaigns, and more. In addition to this original scope, they also made several assets — such as icons or dark mode for the application — and supported us in creating the landing pages for the launch campaign we had for our new brand. Also, we collaborated on some B2B aspects that we applied later on.

What is the team composition?

They have a dedicated team of 5–8 people. The account manager is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We searched online and created a pool of potential international vendors. We asked for end-to-end information and then went through a classic RFQ process. In the end, they turned out to be the best suitable for our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €200,000 (approximately $209,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2021. The project has ended, but we’re still engaged in other activities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The timely delivery was crucial for us because we worked with a rigorous deadline — we needed to achieve it. Also, everything needed to be user-friendly. We set up a KPI for customer effort score. They measure the easiness of the journey, performing well. On the other hand, our colleagues can easily understand the concept, and we’ve received excellent feedback from internal users.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a perfect partner. They meet all the deadlines and are super flexible. We communicate through Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Initially, we were worried about their size and whether they could handle our vast scope. Although they’re a boutique agency, they show amazing quality. Moreover, they’re super motivated to work with us. Their support is outstanding, and they’re professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their team fluctuated, which caused some operational challenges at the beginning of the program. Not everyone on their team was prepared for the international operation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very open-minded. Trust them.