Fream

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Lagardère Travel Retail is a pioneering global leader in the travel retail industry. During the implementation of the app, I was a project manager responsible for the project

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for an innovative solution that would meet our expectations. Fream was the only company that was able to provide a modern solution to implement web based application for turning 360 imageries into collaborative presentations.

SOLUTION

How did you select Fream and what were the deciding factors?

Fream contacted us and suggested a solution that perfectly suited the model we were looking for. There was no other company on the Polish market offering such an innovative solution. The decisive factors were access to new technology, Fream's experience and knowledge, and affordability.

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

During the initial meetings we established objectives and workflow. After studying the whole process, Fream proposed a solution that uses a mobile phone, 360° camera, and web portal to view 360° documentation. Their team got down right away to iOS & Android App development.

As they have a proprietary 360 and VR solution, they ingeniously integrated Evryplace with our store database. They also devised SSO integration allowing for a secure platform sign-on and delivered Client-side deployed web platform for documentation review.

They used several technologies: Android, iOS, Java Enterprise, JBoss EAP, React and the results have exceeded our expectations as they simplified and automated many processes, thus immensely reducing the time needed to prepare documentation and devise sales or marketing strategies.

How many resources from the Fream team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We were in continuous contact with the Project Manager. There were also two developers and a graphic designer on board.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The delivered solution cut down two-thirds of the time spent on photographic documentation. Each photo is time stamped and assigned to a specific store’s documentation history and can be accessed using a web browser for consultation or auditing purposes.

As a result, our sales teams can now focus more on supporting store owners rather than manual documentation tasks. The documentation process which is essential to our sales and marketing strategies has become simple and intuitive and content is instantaneously accessible.

What’s more, the 360° perspective granted us an incomparable advantage in training new clients and monitoring brand consistency as well as it serves as a powerful tool in examining the effects of marketing activities in real world settings.

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

We had both in-person meetings and phone calls, but most of the feedback was through email. All topics related to the project were discussed on an ongoing basis.

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

The app works perfectly, and the implementation went smoothly.

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

No, everything went as expected.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Skanska Residential Development Poland is a developer executing high-quality residential projects on the Polish market since 2011. We draw from more than 130-year-long history of the Skanska Group and more than 100 years of experience in construction of houses and housing estates in countries such as the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Czech Republic.

In line with the philosophy of Skanska’s activity, we rely on sustainable construction. In particular, we put emphasis on designing facilities without architectural barriers for people with various degrees of mobility and at various ages. We ensure balance between buildings and green zones, as well as well thought-out design of common spaces for the residents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for a software company to develop an interactive solution that allows creating and deploying in their showrooms the customized, customer-facing applications to showcase the new developments - residential buildings.

In the sales process, it is crucial to match the needs of the client with the offer, especially during the face-to-face meeting. The solution was designed to support face-to-face meetings with clients, where the most suitable offer should be presented by the salesmen on the interactive touchscreens. The software presents up-to-date data, fed into the system from both the CMS and our CRM systems.

SOLUTION

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

The main goal was to find a software partner with a strong technical background together with the knowledge of property processes. Based on a request for proposal we chose a company which was ready to cover the whole scope of our needs including technical aspects, project management and the knowledge concerning the property market (with a proven track record of projects developed for real estate clients).

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

In a series of meetings and group workshops, we presented some of our innovative ideas, and Fream swiftly picked up our objectives and changed it to detailed specification and design of the planned project.

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

A project manager was our main point of contact throughout the whole process. There were also 2 full-stack developers and a designer working behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The visual applications are connected with the Skanska Residential Management System and work on touchscreen and iPad. The system allows us to present our developments in the form of an interactive 3D model, where all information related to apartments and availability comes directly from CRM. It allows for live updates on availability, live property comparisons, property reservation and print offers.

In addition, the platform allows us to add custom, graphical maps together with layers presenting the amenities of various kinds. Live filters allow you to quickly find the apartments that suit your client’s preferences, including the price, area, location or extras. The solution allows us to present more than one development in one application.

At any time, we can add the new developments or new phases or update the existing development according to our needs - all that without the costly effort from the supplier of the system. Live filters allow our clients and salesmen to quickly find the apartments that suit preferences, including the price, area, location or amenities available nearby. The search results are displayed directly on the 3D model or in the form of an elegant listing.

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

We had weekly stand-ups with Fream project manager, who communicated with the rest of the team. If there were any delays, they let us know ahead of time so that we could prepare.

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

Fream is extremely reliable in delivering the required results on time. Plus, they actively cooperate with the client, in terms of adjusting scope to fulfill client's needs.

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

I do not see any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a CEO of Tascent, a company with a vision to transform the identity marketplace through the introduction of extremely usable, high-performance biometric products and services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Fream helped us with projects related to mobile biometric devices, primarily around application and SDK development - from early-stage prototypes through to sustainment of mature products.

SOLUTION

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

We selected Fream because they proposed developers with the right skillsets, at the right pricepoint, within the right timeframe - and we felt that the attitude of the company would fit well with ours.

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

The main area of work undertaken by Fream was mobile app and SDK development, for which purpose they provided motivated and well-skilled resources. (We will decline to state further details for reasons of commercial confidentiality).

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

The composition of the team has changed over the long period of engagement. Typically between 2 and 5 resources were on board with us at any given time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fream has been a key part of our product development team, helping us achieve our product development goals faster and more flexibly than we otherwise could have.

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

We are very satisfied from the project management side. With very little overhead, the team communicates effectively and integrates well with our own PM function. All administrative tasks are handled promptly and with minimal effort on our part.

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

Fream's ability to deploy both highly motivated and skilled developers is really impressive.

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

It's hard to find mobile developers, especially in today's market, and it would be great to have more availability of resources at times.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Basecamp Student Group is an international (EU+UK based) company that develops and operates private dormitories in several EU countries. My position as Director of Technology is to envision and execute on top of digital technology management strategy, with a strong focus on digital transformation at the company in all corporate and operational territories

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Fream was hired to help us at Basecamp define and implement mobile platform that can help us engage with the customers more directly through the apps and improve customer experience at various fronts.

Initial integration platform to glue necessary operational systems was created as a prerequisite for two client apps (mobile key and reception app) with customer-facing functionalities. We're currently defining future roadmap to include even more modules into this stack

SOLUTION

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

Fream was selected in the open RFI process (out of 7 candidates that were interviewed for the project).

Winning criteria:

• Strong technical competence and capabilities
• Flexibility both at technical and commercial aspects
• Proactive assistance and contribution to product development
• Cultural fit for Basecamp.

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

One Basecamp – Integration Platform: this component supports management and connectivity of customer-facing digital touch points that are directly and indirectly connected to other back-office and operational business solutions available at the company. Primary business value generated by the platform today includes the ability to automatically connect customer booking information with granted access to smart lock protected doors and areas.

Additional module included in this middleware also allows to manage customer agreements fully paperless. Basecamp Mobile Key App – Key to Basecamp doors injected into customers’ personal mobile devices. One Basecamp – Reception Assistant: tablet defined self-service kiosk solution allowing customers and Basecamp Managers process mutually signed documents in a digital way.

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

On Behalf of Fream:

• 1x Product Owner/Project Manager
• 2x Solution Architect
• 4x Developers
• 1x Designer
• 1x QA On Behalf of Basecamp:
  • 1x Executive Sponsor (Business Product Manager)
  • 1x Technical Project Manager
  • occasional assistance of business analyst
  • occasional direct cooperations with other vendors

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They increased business process efficiency through automation. Connected business processes across different IT systems, Basecamp Customers empowered to perform self-service and touchless operations at the property, which turned out to be extremely important during pandemic times. Tech-savvy and innovative approach that helps Basecamp maintain the competitive edge.

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

Apart from simply following instructions given by the client, Fream and Basecamp Team members were participating in every stage of the development. We were truly collaborating - each part has made valuable contributions and presented ingenious ideas.

It was a dynamic process in which we have shown amazing flexibility and were adjusting our actions to meet all the needs of our client, even those which sprung up after some time. We were working on a fixed-price basis and that is why it was more clear what should be achieved.

All the issues and plans were talked-through and thoroughly discussed before setting out the work. To avoid mistakes in budget planning and execution both sides ensured that we developed effective methods of communication and management. We were having several types of regular meetings with the Fream team.

Fream’s project manager was attending weekly update meetings with Basecamp representatives to progress the project and discuss open points.

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

Integration of numerous technologies required many different suppliers to be involved. It could compromise both time of the development process and efficiency. It involved a lot of quality control, change management and effective communication across multiple parties to avoid delays, crossing the budgets and dissatisfaction.

Given the short realisation time, Fream has proven (not without effort though), to be extremely disciplined and bring out-of-the-box solutions at the same time, which let us meet the deadlines and requirements, and occasionally impress with extras. It demanded outstanding prioritizing and decision-making skills, especially when defining the product’s final outline.

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

Considering Basecamp's own internal readiness and defined expectations, no comments for this item, although continual improvement of the ongoing processes especially related to continual deployment and maintenance services are currently being discussed (part of business as usual plan)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for DeLaval Int. AB a Company where DeLaval provides integrated solutions designed to improve dairy producers, milk production, animal welfare and overall quality of life. I am a Sr. Technical Expert on Herd Management providing expertise in Business & Development Solutions towards our Developement Team and providing Solutions to our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Fream for a project requiring complex mobile applications development, both Android and iOS, for farm management with online & offline support, where must be integrated with our current solutions.

SOLUTION

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

Fream has already developed for DeLaval other systems with success.

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

We started our collaboration with a kick-off meeting focused on understanding our needs and brainstorming on how to address them with technological solutions. Then, we established regular meetings on a weekly basis. Fream has already delivered the first version of the iOS and Android mobile app and is currently working on the second one boasting even more functionalities as our needs evolve with the changing market.

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

We work with 8 Fream team members. A project manager is our main point of contact throughout the process. There are also 3 android developers, 1 ios developer, 2 testers and a designer working behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Once we launch DeLaval DelPro Companion we inmediatly start how our customers started to use it, since it is making their life much esaier to do Herd Management and Complement our current DelPro FarmManager. The feedback from our customers using it has been very positive and we continue adding and improving functionality where Fream is doing the development.

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

The dominant management style in the project is agile. We have regular, weekly, meetings with the Fream team. In order to coordinate processes and make sure that everything is in line with our expectations they used various communication tools such as Jira, Teams, Google Play and TestFlight.

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

Their commitment since day one and interest in learning our business are the aspects of our success:

From the development/integration perspective and from the end-user (our Farmers) where it was very useful while developing a solution where the Developers truly understand the uses cases from the end-user perspective, even they were very interested to join me on several farm visits to really understand and feel the work from the farmer perspective and get a much real-life idea what we need to develop to make the best solution.

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

There is always an areas to improve, but so far things has been working very good in this relation that it is a bit hard to find something that really needs to be improve in a way that will really makes a difference to make the outcome better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Product Specialist Software and Digitalization at DeLaval. DeLaval is the worldwide leader in milking equipment and solutions for dairy farmers, which make sustainable food production possible, ensuring milk quality and animal health. DeLaval solutions are used by millions of dairy farmers around the globe every day. DeLaval was founded more than 130 years ago in Sweden, when the visionary Gustaf de Laval patented the cream separator. Today, DeLaval has 4,500 employees and operates in more than 100 markets. DeLaval, alongside Tetra Pak and Sidel, is part of the Tetra Laval Group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Work in a dairy industry can be quite challenging. We needed technological solutions that would help us grow and gain a competitive edge. The DeLaval MAtool was meant to be a configuration, service and troubleshooting tool for a new generation of Delaval products. Our aim was to automate processes at the farm, thus decreasing the time of operations.

SOLUTION

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

We have trusted Fream several times already and they always rise up to the challenge, presenting outstanding quality and great understanding of our business needs. They developed other systems for our customers and we were always satisfied with the delivered product so the choice was obvious.

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

We attended face to face workshops before the pandemic. After initial meetings about the business needs and objectives, regular, weekly, update and planning meetings were established with the Fream team. The development process is managed in an agile manner. From time to time additional meetings with different DeLaval teams are held so as to integrate and share the data within the company.

Fream already delivered the first version of the mobile android app and the outcome is as always tailored to our needs. Right now we are adding support for different kinds of products.

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

We collaborated with 4 Fream team members: 2 android developers, 1 KAM/PM and a designer working behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

DeLaval MATool and the new generation of supported products have decreased the time of configuration to more than half, comparing with the time needed to configure old generation products with previous configuration tools. MAtool is utilizing the capabilities of the new generation of products to the maximum.

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

Working with Fream is all about incremental cooperation with a creative and responsible team. To navigate throughout the process and keep us updated Fream employs a variety of communication tools such as Jira, Teams or Google Play.

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

What is definitely impressive is their engagement to their mission and their passion for achieving DeLaval's goals. Frequently going above and beyond.

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

In the beginning of the project, the main developer was assigned to other projects as well, so his time was shared. After we told them that it's important to have him focused on our project, they were quick to assign him 100% on MAtool.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a start-up company focused on real time image processing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have developed a real time 360 degree stereo video and depth estimation platform. It delivers best in class video and depth maps in milliseconds on a mobile GPU. However, the entire interface was command line driven, which made it difficult for users to access and unbox the technology.

We wanted a browser-based interface that would (a) make it easy for users to get started and learn the platform and (b) provided a robust interface to operate our cameras and systems. We believe this will make it much easier for us to add new customers and grow our business.

SOLUTION

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

They found us initially through linked in. What sold us was their level of technical depth in browser based stacks, prior experience with similar technologies, and their proposal. It was clear that they had listened to our requirements, and were willing to work with us one step at a time to develop and refine the interface.

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

We provided a general specification for our MVP. We iterated with them to get to a clear understanding of how to build out the interface with them step wise, and how to work with our developers to bring up and test the interface.

From there, we established a sequence of milestones based upon the refined MVP, and worked with the incrementally to build out the browser based application and associated stack.

The major technologies used included: node.js, React. Other components included (REST API), Sequelize (orm), three.js (3D display), passport (authorization), Socket.io (web socket communication).

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

We collaborated with 4 Fream team members. At the initial phase of ideation and specification, we attended meetings with the CEO and two developers. When everything was clear we started collaborating more closely with one of the developers. The management of the process was overseen by our director of software engineering. Fream’s tester supported us throughout the development process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall the results are fantastic. First, and most importantly, the work is rock solid. Other than a few minor bugs which we cleared out prior to the first release, everything works reliably with great performance.

Second, we now have a browser based application interface to our software that lets our users get up and running in seconds. Third, the browser works on PC and cellphones (android and IOS). This means that with our development systems for image processing (which include both our software and a camera system with wifi), customers can remotely operate the cameras to do real time streaming of video and depth estimation.

Fourth, our system provides an SDK for user application development. With the Fream browser interface, this makes it that much easier for users to develop their own applications.

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

It has been great at all levels. Their CEO is easy to communicate with to manage time and schedules. Their developers have been easy to work and communicate with. When they ran into a technical challenge, they worked right through it with us. They met all of their schedules - if anything it was us who held things up at times. And their business and accounting teams have been professional and timely.

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

This company has everything you want in a consultant. They are technically competent, results-oriented, easy to do business with, and scrupulously honest. I never felt like we were at risk, or that I had to worry about the relationship. Finally, they are really easy to communicate with, and genuinely nice people.

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

Nothing comes to mind today.