Gramercy Tech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the business analyst of a media and entertainment company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We host events that include lists of VIP guests, so we wanted to provide an app that would allow them to access their itinerary rather than having to print it out.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Gramercy Tech integrated an existing mobile app for iOS and Android with Concierge to allow us to sync our guests lists. VIP users are able to log into the app and access their itinerary for a specific event as needed. They also incorporated features that allow us to send push notifications to users.

What is the team composition?

I'm unsure how many members of the team we worked with on the project, since we didn't work with them on building the app itself.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since around January 2017 and just renewed our contract with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Gramercy Tech successfully delivered the integrations we needed to better serve our VIP guests. We've seen a significant number of VIPs downloading and using the app, and they seem very happy with its functionality overall.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They handled the project very well and kept me up to date on its status as it progressed. Once a feature was ready, they'd send it to me to test and they resolved any bugs quickly as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don't say no to a challenge; they incorporate our feedback and figure out how to implement certain upgrades even if they're outside of their expertise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. The app itself is pretty basic, and they've been great to work with overall.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a salesforce administrator at an insurance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We needed help building a mobile application for our convention.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built an app for iOS and Android that enables our attendees to receive schedule updates and collaborate. There are also maps of the hotels and convention centers, push notifications, and an interactive quiz game. Another interactive component is the meetup. The users can look up on their phone and select different topics they're interested in, connecting to other people with the same interests in the vicinity of where they're located.

What is the team composition?

We were regularly in contact with 10–12 people.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

I wasn't involved in the selection process. I primarily worked with them from the systems side, helping to integrate the app with the Sales force component.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between February 2017 and September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the app is excellent and the customer service we received from them was fantastic. They're a very collaborative team that was responsive to our feedback and addressed any issues quickly. They were always able to meet our needs and come up with a good plan or solution.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They're great communicators and always kept us up-to-date with the progress. We had regular conference calls to discuss the status of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very enthusiastic and passionate about what they do. They were on-site at the convention, showing off the new technology. They were excited to interact with their app, feeling proud of what they had accomplished for their customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We were happy with everything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of digital at a pharmaceutical advertising agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We do a lot of convention work for our clients. We needed a company to help us with interactive experiences for those conventions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with the designs and the requirements. Then, they created a Google Cardboard VR experience, which included sharing 360-degree video content. They used a CMS that allowed them to build VR experiences for Google Cardboard. We've been working with them for three years and plan to work with them on future projects.

What is the team composition?

We interacted with 2–3 people on a regular basis.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

One of our clients had worked with them and recommended them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our most recent project started in July 2018 and finished in October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They brought a lot of fresh, out-of-the-box ideas to the table and delivered a high-quality product. Our clients are very happy with the end product and want to keep using it at the next year's convention, which is a good sign. The product was used heavily by the attendees of the convention, so it was a big success.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

I wasn't involved in the day-to-day project management, but they delivered everything on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We worked with senior people, so their advice was always reliable and good. We never ran into any bugs or QA issues with them. They really pay attention to all the details of what they're doing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m executive creative director at M ss ng P eces, a digital production company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We needed to outsource a difficult technical challenge for a client.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Recently one of our clients hired us to create an event to celebrate its history at the opening of a hotel at JFK airport. We had the idea for a large-scale, outdoor AR experience. Gramercy Tech used AR technology to allow people to use their phones to see a life-sized passenger jet right in front of them.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one project manager, one producer, and one developer. There may have been additional people working on the project behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

Somebody on my team knows somebody that works there. We were introduced to Jay (managing director, Gramercy Tech) and I realized that I knew his prior work. There was instant trust. We did a project with them and it went pretty well.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project took place from August–October 2018. Now we've got another project in development with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There's a lot of companies in New York that can do these kind of projects. Gramercy Tech demonstrated creativity and commitment. They do groundbreaking work, which is crucial in our industry. There were long days, long nights, and periods of intense stress on this project. The main producer and main developer were amazing in working on site with us. They were fully invested, which is all we can ever ask for in a partner.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was completely involved in the production process. We invited them to our Slack channel, which is our chosen communication channel during production. We also gave them company email handles so that they could join client conversations. We trusted them to have a seat at the table when talking to our client.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a wide understanding of complex AR technology. Plus, they’re emotionally and creatively invested in making our project the best they can.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of an events and communications company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We needed to create an iPad app for one of our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Gramercy designed and developed an iPad app for one of our clients. It was an entirely new initiative for the client that helped show the impact of certain data and reports for their sales force.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Jeremy (CEO, Gramercy Tech), a project manager, and one main developer.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

We found them by word of mouth within our industry. Others said they were good partners and nimble to work with. They seemed to understand our client's needs and were very responsive.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on the project for about 10 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client was extremely happy with the app Gramercy built for them. They were able to showcase it at their booth for a trade show and received a lot of great feedback from users. Gramercy has helped convince our client to be more open to different solutions, while giving us a stronger technology presence with our client base overall.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They never missed any deadlines and were great about staying in contact with us throughout the project. It felt like we were all working on the same team from start to finish. I could pick up the phone and talk to our project manager whenever I needed to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Jeremy and his staff are very affable and professional with clients. They present impressive and unique solutions—their cutting edge technical expertise sets them apart.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the lead program manager for a video game development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We needed Android and iOS development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a native mobile solution on both iOS and Android for an annual convention that we have.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four or five people from their team.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

We used Gramercy for other IT services during the events that we do and we were told that they also do app development by someone within our company.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent between $300,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project from March to November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a video on demand package that we sell which include the video content that comes out during the convention. Gramercy greatly contributed to the largest year-over-year increase in sales that we’ve had since the event started 10 years ago.

I was responsible for managing over 100 outsourced projects and the feedback I received from our internal development team was that Gramercy was highly collaborative and felt like an extension of the team. We’re in the process of engaging with them again this year.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They hit all of their deadlines. We had daily stand up calls and used Slack for our collaboration, as well as Jira and Confluence for some of the more formal stuff.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The biggest thing for me was their level of collaboration. They were basically an extension of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of electronic media, engineering, and support for one of the largest scientific institutions in the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We needed web development for our institution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have several hundred interactives using a range of technologies. We had several that were designed and implemented on software platforms that no longer exist. Gramercy ported a gravity simulation from an obsolete platform to HTML5, which was a fairly intensive project. They had to effectively port the software experience but also had to figure out all of the gravity simulation math. It worked out great.

What is the team composition?

There were two people on the programming side from their team, but I didn’t interact with them directly. Someone else from our side was in contact with them.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

I found them through a serendipitous social interaction. I described the project to them and they were eager to work on it, which was great.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have physical artefacts, models, and other kinds of historical displays. We also have many, many decades of electronic displays. Their work allowed our old exhibitions—whose learning objectives and interactive experience were still critical to the visitor experience—to move forward and be on a supportable platform moving forward. They took something that had been written in a proprietary environment and gave it new life.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

We used email for this project. It was a pretty simple project and it worked fine. They were flexible, delivered on time and on budget, and their communication was excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was a painless delivery. They took care of business and got it done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. There were no issues at all.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the corporate events manager for a financial services firm. My team creates live experiences and provides educational content for both retail and institutional groups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We needed a way to showcase our new technology to businesses and individuals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They coordinated a VR bike tour competition. The event became a fundraiser for our company’s charities. Their software and creative teams collaborated to activate five bikes in a comprehensive VR experience.

What is the team composition?

There were between two and three developers working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

We met them via colleagues at a conference. Their focus on customer relations made them a great fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent approximately $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started in November 2017 and ended in February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We raised $16,000 for five charities in two-and-a-half days, which exceeded our expectations. The event generated buzz on social media in addition to meaningful dialogues between the sales team and clients. These conversations covered upcoming advanced technologies in the financial services industry.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re among the best project managers I’ve seen. The implementations and activations were professional and accurate to our guidelines. They completed the activation in three weeks; we initially expected a 10-week timeline. The other deliverables were timely or early. We communicated via phone to maximize efficiency.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took extra steps to understand our mission. The team then suggested new ways we could help clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of PensaNYC. We sell a desktop digital fabrication tool that is used in different applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

We needed help with software development for a customer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Gramercy Tech helped us develop the front- and backend of a software that talks to our motor controllers and moves a machine that takes a vector file and bends it out of wire to make retainers for orthodontic applications. The UI and the backend are all built in JavaScript to speak to our motor controllers that are embedded in our firmware.

They used three.js in order to render the shape that we are using. The UI can spin, pan, and zoom a 3D shape, which you can also modify, adjust its parameters, etc. Ultimately, that gets piped into a math engine which converts it into motion for our machines. Our machine takes G-code, which is esoteric code used in computer numerical control machines, so Gramercy had to spin that code out as well so that our firmware can take it from there.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

We needed full-stack capabilities and basically, someone to understand the user and how to implement a lot of the UI elements that we wanted. We also needed someone that would understand all the technical aspects of the work. Gramercy Tech was capable of this.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $150,000–$200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together at the beginning of 2017. They continue to add features and handle customer requests on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve handled the complete rebuild of the software for our machines and we’ve had positive results. Our sales are doing well and people are really happy with the ease of use, intuitiveness, and overall better control over the machine. It also fits into their workflow much better.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They integrated seamlessly with our tools which included Trello, Slack, and Jira. This was useful because I didn’t want to jump onto a whole new system just for them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They embedded themselves into our team, which was necessary for this process because my hardware engineers were developing simultaneously with them, so there was pressure on both sides to make adjustments.

It needed to be an embedded situation rather than one where we hand off something and have milestones every three or four weeks. It was really great to have them in-house, which enabled the constant communication between the different teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it went really well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the executive vice president of Pine Rock Inc, a global communications company specializing in live engagements, meetings, and event production and creation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gramercy Tech?

One of our clients, a leading eyeglass company, was exhibiting at a trade show called Vision West. They were introducing a new line of sunglasses at their exhibit and wanted to find a unique way of grabbing the attention of attendees. We proposed using facial recognition software to fit people for glasses, so we needed to find a vendor who could help create that technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Gramercy designed facial recognition software that allowed our client to custom fit sunglasses to any person on the spot during the conference.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about three people directly, including an assigned project manager.

How did you come to work with Gramercy Tech?

I was introduced to Gramercy a couple years ago and attended a demo of some of their virtual reality technologies. I was very impressed with their capabilities and the people at their company, so I reached out to them when this opportunity presented itself.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost about $50,000 or more.

What is the status of this engagement?

They delivered the technology in less than two and a half weeks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In less than three weeks, Gramercy delivered a flawlessly performing technology. Our client received over 1,200 visitors participating in the technology at a huge event.

How did Gramercy Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is very client-focused, bright, and innovative. They were extremely responsive throughout the project, delivering in a remarkably short timeframe. We were in constant communication through phone and email, but also visited their offices locally a few times. They were also great about working with us on any additional requests as requests from our client arose.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Initially, our client was very nervous about embarking on this new technology. From the moment we pitched the idea to Gramercy, they exuded confidence and enthusiasm and delivered exactly what they committed to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In this particular situation, no.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want, so you're able to debrief Gramercy's team with as much information about your vision as possible. Make sure you're clear about your goals, objectives, budget, and any other characteristics of the project to allow their team to come up with solutions within your set parameters.