dina (Digital Natives)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a founder of a new technology venture looking at portfolio management software for the asset management and hedge fund communities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Digital Natives to produce the front-end web application for a prototype version of the software that would be used to convince investors to invest.

SOLUTION

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

We looked at a number of custom software developers in eastern Europe. We selected Digital Natives due to the professionalism of their approach during the sales process, and the confidence in them that ensued as a result, a competitive but realistic quote and friendly and knowledge people.

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

Following the kick-off meeting, a wireframe and specification of the API endpoints were provided. We then went through a few iterations of design based on the wireframes but concluded that quickly. Following that it was straight into development with regular releases made available for review. Final testing and final tweaks and we were done.

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

3: senior developer, UX/UI designer and project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project delivered a very demonstrable prototype which is helping us to raise funding for the full project.

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

From the outset a Slack chat channel was set up so all progress in the project was quickly communicated and issues/questions could be raised and discussed. Very efficient.

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

The prototype was delivered on time and within budget, and we built a strong working relationship with the team at Digital Natives, this being a cruicial factor int he success of the project.

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

I think for this size of project Digital Natives took a versatile and intelligent approach which delivered exactly what we were looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of TrustWim AG, a digital data solutions provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We needed their team to build our mobile and web-based applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had in-depth meetings with Digital Natives’ account manager, CEO, and CTO to discuss the implementation plan and plot our timelines. We then collaborated with their team to devise the initial design of our platforms. We provided them with most of the content and company information, and their team has implemented UI/UX solutions to integrate our content and design preferences into the apps.

Digital Natives developed our apps’ front- and backend using Figma, focusing on building core features such as a QR code scanner and display- and exchange functions. They also incorporated digital payment methods and ensured our users’ privacy with secure personal data features.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Digital Natives’ designers, project managers, and developers. Occasionally, we got in touch with their management team to discuss contract rules and payments.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We found their team online while searching for potential agencies to onboard for this project. Our team needed a provider with seamless UX skills offered at a reasonable price point, and Digital Natives met those qualifications.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from April–October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Digital Natives delivered excellent solutions that met our expectations, design- and functionality-wise. Their team built reliable and high-quality applications that successfully sailed through rigorous rounds of product testings.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicated via Slack and conducted regular virtual meetings. I couldn’t say enough good things about Digital Natives’ project management skills — they deliver timely and cost-efficient solutions and quickly respond to our needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with their capacity to remain committed to delivering quality development work while managing the entire project impeccably.

Are there any areas they could improve?

None. We set high expectations for this project, and Digital Natives met all of those.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent — it’s the only advice you’ll need after hiring their incredible team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a company called Sturm und Drang that specializes in marine electronic and propulsion systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to create a self service sales channel that we can market over google ads. Goal was to create a tool for the users that they can play with and if they are interested enough they will contact us to proceed with the sales. So this is basically an automated funnel

SOLUTION

How did you select Digital Natives and what were the deciding factors?

• cost / value ratio
• references
•  past experience
• toolset they use
• marketing driven approach
• professional workforce

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

Agile approach, regular online meetigs Tech stack:

single page application

1. react framework
2. prismic.io cms

CI process Deliverables:

1. depolment guide
2. admin guide
3. source repo
4. passed tests

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

• main contract was a project manager, that left during the process, the new PM adapted nicely
• also worked with the UX designer
• and with the programmer to track down bugs and clarify documentation

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the first few weeks we immediately received solid sales leads. We are happy with the outcome, it has been online ever since

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

Nostromo.io for task management and communication, Google sheet and an electronic signoff tool for document management We only exceeded the budget because of new requirments. The timelines were kept (apart from small delays due to the said new requirements)

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

Their toolset is up to date, easy to deploy, manage and later add new features to. They were helpful and provided extended support during the golive phase.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Maybe a little better time management

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the former CEO of a computer software and infrastructure development company. We were a startup of five people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

Digital Natives provided UI design and development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Natives worked on two of our products, including our website. Their designer designed our webpages, and they also handled site development. They created the HTML version of the site. 

We had JavaScript programmers on our side, so we implemented the logic into the site, and their task was to deliver the static site. The website was created in Hugo, which is written in the programming language Go. We used Go for all of our products.

What is the team composition?

As far as I remember, there were 3–4 people: a designer, a project manager, and two developers who worked on the site build.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We knew them because one of our colleagues worked there. We’d heard a lot of good things about them, which is why we chose to work with them.

How much have you invested in them?

It was $30,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them on long-term tasks in August 2019, and it lasted about a year. They did smaller tasks for us before 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Digital Natives was good. I would recommend them to others. After the delivery, we didn’t have too many problems.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly meetings and used Jira for project management. We had some problems with the project manager, but we were able to manage that and, in the end, we were satisfied with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

My company needed design and development resources, so their ability to provide those was the biggest value. The way they delivered the project and managed it was okay.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I believe they offered one design resource. If they had other designers, we might’ve had more choices. However, this wasn’t a big disadvantage, as we were satisfied with the designer we worked with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are pros — I would recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CTO of Antiloop: a company that develops experiences with new technologies for global brands. We manage software development, design, and concept work.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We needed help with software development for our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Natives helped to develop a platform for a big telecommunications company that directed a campaign, which was complex as the audience had to share certain content with their social networks. The campaign was a competition and Digital Natives built a platform to track the performance of shared content. They helped to design the UX and provided consultancy.

For another project, their team used React and Ruby on Rails to develop a website for a major branding company. They created features that enabled users to upload different content such as images and ideas. Their team also built functions for users to search and filter content.

What is the team composition?

During the project for the telecommunications company, we worked with a team of 6­–8 people. To develop the website for the branding company, we worked with four people from Digital Natives.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

I met Digital Natives in Budapest. I knew the agency’s founder and worked with current staff members previously.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We collaborated from 2013–2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Digital Natives did good work in regard to UX design and development. Their team was keen to resolve whatever problems there were to fix.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was one of their greatest skills. They followed a scrum methodology. Their team was flexible, well prepared, and met our expectations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

While they’re a smaller company, their team had a good level of development and soft skills. Code B was flexible and proved a cost-effective option compared to other agencies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t have any problems working with them but only junior teammates worked on the important tasks at first. We asked them to change that, which they did.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend hiring them. As with any company, try a small or medium-sized project at first to test the chemistry between teams.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company I worked for is called NN Insurance Hungary, and it’s a national insurance company working to develop the Hungarian insurance market. My title was head of marketing technology, so I was responsible for all of our digital developments, online communications, data management, and online sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

The project we worked on with Digital Natives was an on-demand life insurance offering. We wanted to create a mobile application where you can switch on life insurance for as short a time as an hour and then switch it off once you don’t need it anymore based on different extreme activities like skiing or mountain biking. That way, you don’t have to have insurance for months just for those individual activities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were our sole development team for the application, so they handled everything from design and prototyping to the final product QA. They participated in all of our architecture and legal planning discussions and helped us produce the app on native for both iOS and Android.

We provided internal IT for the security of the product, and they handled all of the project management. Their team also worked with another vendor for some of the frontend UI/UX of the project, but the bulk of the work really fell to them.

What is the team composition?

We worked with between 4–8 people from their team, depending on the part of the project. Most of our communication was with the project manager, but from time to time we would speak directly with the developers as well.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We ran a vendor procurement search and found 2–3 options that we liked. From there, Digital Natives stood out the most in our interview process, so we decided to work together with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The development ran from around October 2017–August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of quality, they did a really great job. Everyone was very pleased with the product that they delivered. We had some issues after the launch related to internal security configurations, and Digital Natives was very flexible about helping us solve those issues even though they were not generated on their side.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

They handled the project management even better than we did. Their team was always on top of milestones and deliverables and maintained consistent communication through JIRA and several other project management tools as well as Slack and our face-to-face meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They demonstrate a much higher level of ownership over their product than you normally expect in an external vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think their team could probably do a little bit more to accurately estimate the amount of time and money necessary for the project, but we didn’t have any major surprises.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to have a very specific scope in place before the project kicks off and to adhere pretty strictly to that scope throughout the cooperation.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of digital at a retail bank.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We needed an agency to revamp the surface of our mobile app. Since it was introduced to the market in 2015 or 2016, the design of the user interface and usability of the app expired.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at Digital Natives redesigned the mobile app for iOS and Android, focusing on the layout. They gave us UX/UI tips on how to improve the application. They also spent a significant amount of time with field experts to understand our technical and legal requirements.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We had a very governed procurement process that involved external companies from the market. Digital Natives were selected from five vendors. We received feedback from other companies that worked with them and chose them because of their reasonable price and past projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Digital Natives in 2018. It was approximately four months of work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In a year, the usage and subscribers of the app doubled. We now have 200,000 customers and 150,000 daily users. The application is reliable and easy to use. Customers like the UX/UI of the app.

In September, there was an unexpected iOS version that impacted the app’s rating. When we introduced it to the market, we received a 4.5 rating.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

There were no problems with project management. It was smooth, and their team was flexible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a smart new company that has a significant amount of experience. Their team can concentrate on their clients without experiencing too much overload. During projects, they focus on the customer and strive to understand all of the requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While everything with the mobile app went well, there were some misunderstandings due to the limitations of the development platform. I don’t fault them because that’s the development company’s responsibility. The mobile design is stronger than the web component.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s essential to spend enough time with them so that they can understand your processes. Ask them to bring their experiences with other projects over. The most important thing for a client to do is talk a lot with them to get a great result. You have to have daily conversations with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My current project is a company I founded that connects truck drivers with trucking companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We were looking for a development partner to deliver our digital product that helps manage trucking operations. We had an internal milestone but didn’t have the in-house manpower to hit it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our web-based trucking platform, using React and Node.js on the backend.

The application connects trucking companies with their drivers on the road in addition to streamlining operational processes. The latter involves decreasing empty kilometers and increasing the trucks’ capacity utilization rates.

They paid special attention to the UI/UX components of the product. They also provided analyses and helped define our target groups.

What is the team composition?

The team consisted of 4­–5 people. There was a project manager and two front- and backend developers, each.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

I’d hired them for a previous project at a different company back in 2013. I’d initially found them through a Google search. I took them on for this project because we had built a positive relationship throughout the first engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from June 2016–August 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They successfully delivered a complete MVP by the end of the engagement. The team endowed it with the desired features, and the product worked well.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

Digital Natives collaborated effectively with our internal team. They had some initial difficulty in understanding the domain of our work. The business requirements were complex and hard to grasp. Having said that, we didn’t experience any major issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

On top of having technical competence, they’re also skilled at helping clients understand the transition phases of development. They help you understand and create the bridge between abstract requirements and an actual digital product.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

While we experienced a few communication challenges with one team member, we came to an understanding most of the time, and there were no process issues. Their procedures were largely effective.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend them because their service offering is very comprehensive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an executive at Boxy Zrt., a logistics and supply chain company. We provide logistics fulfillment services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Natives?

We needed support in developing a business portal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Natives developed our business portal, which is integrated with our core business systems. The team has been responsible for the development and enhancement of our business portal and its integration with our core systems. They’ve also provided a user interface for clients to initiate and control transactions and receive financial analytics.

The portal includes features such as master data maintenance, handling inbound and outbound deliveries, providing stock and order lifecycle information, and financial analytics.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with five teammates from Digital Natives.

How did you come to work with Digital Natives?

We had a meticulous selection process, and Digital Natives was chosen from several competitors. We also had a previous professional experience with them from past projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2022, and the main project went live in January 2023. We’re continuously working on tweaking and changing our portal since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The milestones were the usual project milestones, such as design, build, testing, training, go-live, and support. The impact of the delivery of the designed functions has been that we now have a portal to provide to our clients.

How did Digital Natives perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was alright, but it was a bit too rigid in terms of scope and project methodology. Everything else was okay. We communicate via email and phone through a project manager.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We're impressed with Digital Natives' expertise regarding portal development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should strive to build a partnership with their clients by being more empathetic and flexible.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Solution Manager of Yettel Hungary

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Yettel is a telecommunication company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Design our parking solution in the application

SOLUTION

How did you find Digital Natives?

• Referral
• we knew them from previous project

Why did you select Digital Natives over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• 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.

We integrated the parking solution from our legacy parking app into the main Yettel app, to have everything in one place for our customers. Mobile parking is growing within our customer base, so we wanted a new refreshed/redesigned parking experience. 

Digital Natives helped us to reach this goal. With this integration we also brought in the mobile payment related transaction history into the app. Parking has many features like standard Start-Stop Parking, Indoor or closed parking and Timed parking, which are helping customers to make their life easier.

Another key feature is that we enhanced our widget solution and extended it with parking follower mode, customers can follow their parking status even on lock screen as well and they are able to start or stop the parking with only two clicks, which makes the solution super easy to use.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Without any advertisement almost 30k people visited the parking dashboard in the first 10 days, 3000 of them saved a vehicle in the settings and 1000 successful parking transaction happened within this period. In the meantime we had our legacy up and running for parking and there the average visitor number is 30-40k per month.

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

Project management was quick and effective. Communication was very smooth, we could talk through a slack channel, and figma comment. Even with some short deadlines, they could manage to deliver on time all of our needs. They also had improvement ideas about our needs, which made the product better.

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?

Smooth and quick communication with high workload

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

There is always some room for improvement, but I could no mention one specific. Keep up the good work. I am highly satisfied with the product we have today.