Infinum

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of ProxyPics, a new startup mobile app that provides real-time multimedia images of anything you can drop onto maps.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We needed help building our mobile iOS and Android app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Infinum built native Android and iOS mobile apps. I gave them an idea of what I wanted and they took it from the idea stage, developed the wireframe, and built it out. Every week, we would go over project progress and details, I would give them input, and they would continue to develop while implementing my feedback.

The final product enables users to sign in and request real-time images from people near a location. That requires communication between devices, notifications, location settings, and camera access.

What is the team composition?

The majority of the time, I worked with our project manager. The team also included the owner and a backend developer.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

A friend of mine that owns a tech company recommended them to me. We looked at a few other companies, but Infinum seemed to really have everything together.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2017, and while the app is active and live, we are continuing to make updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app is easy to navigate and user-friendly, which was one of our main focuses in building the app. Most of the responses we’ve gotten from users are that—from the first time they open the app—it’s self-explanatory and easy to follow.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

They always met the established due dates. We would have weekly calls with the project manager, and daily communication over Slack or email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were always on time, which has never seemed to happen in app development projects for colleagues or myself. They were accommodating whenever we needed to make last minute changes. They were always willing to work with us.

They also work very quickly, which I think was in part because we worked through a project manager. We had tried to work directly with a developer before, but with a project manager, Infinum was able to easily translate our needs into developer terms.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This was our first time building an app, so to my knowledge they did everything the way they should have. I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you don’t have much technical skill or knowledge, I definitely suggest working through a project manager because there can be a language disconnect when working directly with a programmer or developer. That was one of the biggest benefits of working with Infinum and it made a world of difference.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital customer experience manager for the second largest telecom operator in our region. We provide internet and mobile services and digitalize of customer-facing touch points.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We launched a mobile self-care app five years ago. It needed to be redefined and repositioned to align with current trends.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Infinum designed and developed a beta version, UX/IX, and final app implementation. It’s mainly a native app for both iOS and Android. We used to make a version for Windows Phones but discontinued that investment. Hybrid elements include a redirect to our company website. Features include touch authentication, auto-login via mobile networks, promotional elements, troubleshooting, and point-of-sale locations. Users can access detailed invoices via an interactive menu.

A designer directed our one-month research phase. She interviewed users about the current iteration, read reviews in the app store, and organized workshops with our stakeholders. The team created wireframes based on this feedback and tested the new flow with real customers. After the user interface and graphic elements design stages, we started development. They also provide reliable QA testing.

What is the team composition?

The respective iOS and Android teams included a project manager, two developers, a lead and junior designer, and a QA manager.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

Their founders first contacted us when they were selling an interactive map.

How much have you invested with them?

The last redesign project cost €100,000 ($120,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve been our mobile development partner since 2009 or 2010. We started our latest project in June 2017. They delivered the frontend by the end of the year. We’re currently working on app stabilization. Our roll-out strategy plans to launch the app in May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Infinum’s sharp team of industry experts is a market leader in Croatia. I’m satisfied with the quality of their work. The app’s first version has been in production for five years. It has a 4.5-star average rating and 150,000 active monthly users. It’s been well-received so far. Beta testing yielded positive feedback.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

Since we work remotely, we exchange information over digital channels like Slack and a task management tool. They developed the frontend app in two-week Agile development cycles. Our dedicated team works together in one room, which allows for open communication. We hold workshops in-house as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Infinum is a young team with a sharp digital mindset. They approach our engagement of over five years as a partnership. The team always suggests improvements and proactively makes changes at no extra charge.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although I appreciate their youthful mindset, I come from a corporate environment. Sometimes, I’d prefer a slightly formal approach. It would be beneficial to assemble teams specifically tailored to different clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of N3TWORK, a mobile games developer based in San Francisco.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We needed help building a mobile application for Android and iOS, both native and web-based development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided the requirements for the skill sets we needed and Infinum assigned people from their team to our app. We led the overall technical architecture, UX, and UI for the project. It's a messaging app that has integrated media, stories, and videos.

We also collaborated with Infinum on the implementation for the client side as we were building our in-house engineering team. It was almost a year that we had their engineers working on the project.

What is the team composition?

We worked with seven members of their team, including two iOS developers, two  Android developers, and one frontend web developer.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

One of my colleagues previously worked with Infinum and recommended them for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2017 and we're almost done with the project. There’s currently an iOS engineer and an Android engineer working half-time to complete the transition to our in-house engineering team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The software is still in private beta right now so we don't have metrics for the reception within the market. We wouldn’t have been able to get the product built and to this point without Infinum’s support. The quality of their work has been quite high. As far as any problems that have come up during development, they've been very responsive in working to continually improve the software over the course of the project.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

They initially had a project manager coordinating with us. We ended up integrating the engineers directly into our team, so we didn't use their project management for the bulk of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to understand and adapt to our engineering style and project requirements very quickly. That was crucial to us all being able to work together as one team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. The biggest challenge we had was trying to coordinate the product across four time zones.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about the scope and requirements of what you're looking to build. Then, communicate continually throughout the project about whether or not you feel the work is heading towards that goal.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of product development and marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We wanted to launch a mobile banking app and needed a partner for frontend development. We wanted to include the latest technologies and unique features to set us apart from the mobile solutions of our competitors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re experts on user experience, so they helped shape the project from the beginning. They advised us on design and then developed the frontend based on our specifications.

The app includes a number of functionalities. Users can view all of their savings accounts and any cards connected with our bank, and also monitor the status of any credit loans. They can pay any outstanding orders and create electronic documents to assist with bill payments. The app is available for Android and iOS.

We conducted a redesign last year. Users can gain access via fingerprint scan on the Android app.

We’re currently considering additional functionalities for a new app.

What is the team composition?

They have a team of developers and designers and a team for business development.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

They responded to our RFP. They were a young firm at the time and we were really impressed by their enthusiasm and knowledge. They are very different than their competitors.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015 and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re an excellent provider, so they delivered a quality product free of any errors that would leave our customers with a negative impression. This was the most important part for us. We saw great results upon launch.

User feedback has been very positive and our app is ranked quite high on Google.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

We outline our priorities and sit down with them to discuss our needs for the coming year. They’re very flexible and work with us in the event of any scope changes.

We’re always thinking of new features to include and ways to optimize our app. Infinum has always supported us and advises us on solutions to maximize our product’s efficiency.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're really cooperative and have a deep understanding of user experience. It’s been hugely beneficial to work with a vendor that can translate customer needs into a cohesive design. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we are satisfied and expanding our business relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a senior product manager at our company, which is essentially an incubator and accelerator. Fifty percent of our business is building companies from scratch and the other half involves helping existing businesses grow.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

At the start of this project, we had built an MVP in-house within three weeks. It was quite buggy, but it proved and validated our concept. We needed support to build it further.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

To start, they did a code review and brought our engineer to their office to answer a few questions. After that was complete, they performed an audit that indicated the greatest opportunities, risks, and what to fix. They made it easy to prioritize and pinpoint where to act first.

Once we had a plan in place, we went into an agile way of working. We told them that since we were a startup builder, there was going to be a lot of ambiguity. They handled that really well and only gave us one condition; if we wanted more resources on the project, we'd need to give them some notice.

Infinum rebuilt the entire app, which is now available for purchase on the App Store. Part of the process involved creating an instant booking flow. This feature allows users to input their card details, after which they'll never have to fill out another form on a supplier site to book flights. You connect your calendar and can search, book, and sync flights that work around your schedule.

What is the team composition?

About five people have worked on this project throughout the whole period. The main iOS engineer and one of the project managers were there the whole time. We also had some backend support and one technical director was briefly involved. Whenever we had additional requirements, we had someone step in.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

We went through a broker to find Infinum. We were looking for a user experience-centric vendor with a specific set of technological skills and significant experience with mobile. The brokerage gave us five companies, which we narrowed down to three. Each of them gave us a proposal and we liked Infinum's best. We went to see their offices, held a meeting to discuss strategy, and really liked them. That's why we ended up choosing them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between €70,000–€100,000 ($86,977–$124,254 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working together in September 2017. We paused the project in early February 2018. Now that it’s built, it's become its own business and we've hired a CEO. It will be starting again at some point, but we're definitely continuing with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I've worked with remote teams for five years and Infinum is one of the best I've ever seen. Their quality of work was very high and they’re proactive with solutions. They had a very hard job to complete within a very short time period. The team is really good at thinking like a startup, which worked out well for us.

Usually, I prefer to build my own team of remote contractors rather than using an agency. While many agencies limit your choices, it was quite different with Infinum. They were clear and upfront about what resources we were getting and why and offered us options, which was really nice. The iOS engineer is very experienced even though they didn't market it that way. They were very humble. Many things we do are quite complicated and they performed well with a fast turnaround time.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

I really like their system. All of their iOS engineers sit together and all of their JavaScript engineers sit together, so they can meet to plan work in separate project rooms. When they're actually working on development, they’re surrounded by experts who can help. For communication, we use Slack. We had two joint channels for project and development.

They also use a proprietary tool called Productive. It's perfect for working with an agency. Not only does it create normal tickets, but it also tracks time, which can be viewed in monetary form. It shows the cost of each ticket and how much work is done each week. This system has made it really easy to plan our finances.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to accommodate smaller-style, startup thinking was excellent. Many agencies assign a project manager who requires detailed definition and adds excess layers of complexity. With Infinum, we could make many decisions within one day. They are totally fine working with that ambiguity and are consistently able to wing it. That was something we really wanted and they definitely delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'm quite a critical person and I really can’t think of anything. I'm really happy, even with the project management. Usually, agencies will really grift you on that side, pricewise. The bill was tiny, which is great because we still felt like everything was managed and taken care of. It was a good experience.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of digital innovation for a consumer electronics company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We wanted to build an app from end to end, including an administrative interface, content management system (CMS), design, backend, and quality assurance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Infinum to build the complete platform, including a newly developed backend, for Android and iOS. Infinum wanted to build with cross-platform tools, but our company wants them to be native apps. The designers work specifically on touch point areas for users, and the entire system is being tested by them and overseen by us. We have a system architect and a product owner in-house who give Infinum the requirements and guide them through the development.

The app will be a mechanism for us to deliver content that relates to our consumer electronics.

Infinum doesn’t provide marketing, but they help with technical and usability strategy. We’ve delivered a few versions of the app, but only to test them because the work is still ongoing.

What is the team dynamic?

We have about 18–20 people on our team: a project manager, four or five Android developers, four or five iOS developers, two designers, three quality assurance testers, three or four for the backend, and two or three for the content management system.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

We found them through a Google search. Our previous partner was a bit too expensive, so I looked online, found a few options that I met with, and Infinum seemed the best fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little over €1,000,000 [$1,180,065].

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the first version of the platform in the timeframe we had planned. It’s only been downloaded about 15,000 times, but we’re intentionally keeping it small. Right now, we’re just testing it in a few countries to see what improvements need to be made. In general, the feedback is positive, and we’re meeting all of our key performance indicators.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a dedicated project manager who communicates with us daily, and that’s been a fantastic relationship. We use Rally to store our backlog and requirements such as user stories, acceptance criteria, test cases, and defect logs. Slack is our main communication tool, although we do have biweekly in-person meetings and use Microsoft SharePoint for document collaboration. The process is fully agile and through scrum.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The language barrier was a concern, but they speak English as well as we do, so that’s never been a problem. Their team is quite large, so we thought it might take a while to orient everyone, but they jumped right into the work without hesitation. Unlike other agencies that just do what you say, Infinum will ask questions and push back in order to develop the best product possible, which we appreciate. Whenever we need to scale up or down, they’re accommodating and do their best to match our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their team is pretty young, so some seniority might give them a bit more focus and direction.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

RASCO is a manufacturing company based in Kalinovac, Croatia. We specialize in municipal equipment for road maintenance, including snow plows, salt spreaders, crane mowers and vehicle upgrades. We build everything in-house, with the only imports being raw materials. I am a communications specialist who’s part of the marketing team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We needed a new corporate website. Technology had moved forward—everything from Google to social networks—and we needed to adapt to it and stay in touch with trends. It had to be written using four different languages, which was another challenge.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Infinum built a new website for us from scratch. It was a long process, lasting for around eight months. They went through more than 200 screen proposals for our page using InVision, going from black-and-white designs to colored versions. After the pages were developed, we uploaded our content to see what it would look like. It had a lot of media content, including high-quality pictures, videos, and PDFs. Infinum also provided other small services like a consultation for web tools.

What is the team dynamic?

We worked with three people in the beginning—a project lead, a developer, and a designer. They expanded the team towards the end, adding two more developers and an IT specialist who moved our page to a new domain.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

I knew their company from a previous engagement, but I also researched other companies. Infinum offered the best deal for our budget, based on their portfolio.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Infinum in January 2017, and we have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of work has been very good, and Infinum reacted quickly to any bugs we identified. The website looks nice and responds well. I do have Google Analytics data, but it’s not really relevant since the new website has only been online for two weeks.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication style is professional but also informal, which suits us since our internal team is younger. We’ve used InVision and Slack for the collaboration, communicating twice a day at times and never less than twice a week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve developed everything we imagined, which is impressive from a personal and professional point of view.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their design capabilities. The designer who worked with us was very young, so it’s possible that he simply didn’t have enough experience yet. However, he did a good job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Museum of Broken Relationships is a global crowd-sourced collection of remains from failed love relationships.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We have been on the market for 6 years and had not updated our website since the beginning. It was not responsive and was rather poor in terms of content, user experience, and so on. We decided to invest into a new one, so we searched for the best possible agency in Zagreb, Croatia.

We had worked with a different company for the initial website. It was a small group of 3–5 developers. They were great at the time, but probably not enough 6 years later because we became far more ambitious.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The basic goal was to create a new, responsive, and more informative website. We wanted it to be an extension of the museum in virtual space, to house a community, giving people a chance to interact with us, especially ones from parts of the world where we’ve never been. The museum has 2 permanent displays, in Zagreb and Los Angeles, but we have also been on tour around the globe for the last 10 years, with 50 exhibitions held in different places. Still, there are places where we haven’t been and never will be, so we were looking for some way of being close to all those people in the virtual world, if not the physical one.

There were different programming languages used on our site, including JavaScript, React, Ruby on Rails, and so on. We have worked with 1 project manager from Infinum’s side, who was the best part of the collaboration. I’m not sure how many developers were used, but I estimate that there were 5–10 being engaged at different times, from the beginning to the publishing phase. We stayed in touch with the project manager, the communication manager, the designer, and the head of the development team.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

We looked at 3 or 4 of the most popular and skilled agencies in Zagreb at the time. Infinum seemed to be the best option for us, so we started working with them. We were right in our decision.

How much have you invested with Infinum?

We have invested around 7% of our annual income in the project so far, between $45,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Infinum in late January 2016. The first phase of development took 9 months to complete, and the site was launched in the last quarter of the same year. We will continue the project with the redesign of our web shop, after which we’ll move on to a mobile app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new site instantly brought significant increases when compared to the same quarter in the previous year: +106% in sessions, +73% in page views, and +27% in museum visitors.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

I didn’t expect to be as satisfied as I am— Infinum is excellent, even in terms of deadlines and cost. I don’t know if the same is true everywhere, but in Croatia, even though developers and creative agencies can excel in many areas, when it comes to deadlines and budgets, there are always problems. In Infinum’s case, we only had one small delay in the summer, which was beyond their control. The projected cost was adhered to as well.

What did you find most impressive about Infinum?

They know what we need, sometimes better than we do, and how to make it better. We expressed what we were thinking about in short sentences, like having an extension of the physical museum in the virtual space. Infinum came up with the idea of highlighting breakups on the world map in the first or second workshop we held, which I found fascinating. This has been my general experience with them, and I’ve never had to explain the same concept for hours and hours.

Are there any areas Infinum could improve?

They can be quite an expensive option for an entrepreneur in the museum business from a small country. We are planning to develop a web shop with Infinum — even though they are expensive from a Croatian point of view, the results are worth the money.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Na Zvezi is a Slovenian company developing an operations management solution for online gaming. We have developed several products using our proprietary platform, all related to the sports betting and online casinos market. They are mainly intended for the European market. I am the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We needed to develop and application. Infinum is our supplier for the mobile application part of our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided our APIs to Infinum, both for our platform and for our AMS [Account Management System]. Infinum used our documentation and development environments in order to build an Android and iOS sports betting application.

We did a lot of research analyzing our competition and developed the concept behind the application together with Infinum. Infinum used their experience to help us build a very good product.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

We found their company through a Google search. Infinum happened to be located in one of our neighbor countries, Croatia. We had several offers on the table, and after having very detailed interviews with each provider and their team, we decided to choose Infinum.

How much have you invested with Infinum?

Our budget for the mobile applications was around €600,000 [$630,000]. Infinum's hourly rates are between €70 and €100 [$73–$105] per hour, per developer. This is an idea of how much time and effort was put into developing our applications.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Infinum almost six months ago. We have an ongoing contract for maintenance and upgrades. We work through a retainer fee, as well as time and materials for anything which extends beyond our normal agreement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We think that, at the moment, there is no better product on the market than ours, for this area.

Infinum adapted to our way of working, which was an important factor for us. We didn't know the company and didn't do a lot of research around it. The development was much more complex than anticipated. We estimated that we'd be spending around €200,000 for the apps, but Infinum came up with many new ideas which we adopted. I am thankful to Infinum for this, as it would have been possible to develop our product for 30% of our cost, but not with the same level of quality and at the same speed. Speed was crucial for us, since we developed a sophisticated product in a short time, from scratch.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

We decided to put project management in Infinum's hands. The timeframes we agreed upon contractually came with penalties if Infinum did not meet our deadline. Infinum finished the work without any issues. Infinum has a huge team, and they were able to use additional resources in order to speed up the project if needed.

What did you find most impressive about Infinum?

I appreciated the level of optimization and quality assurance provided by Infinum. Infinum optimized our product for less processing and power consumption and had excellent quality assurance protocols in place. We don't have the in-house capacity for testing our product, so we expected this from Infinum since day one. Infinum took the task very seriously.

Are there any areas Infinum could improve?

We haven't touched very deeply yet on the marketing features which are to be implemented in the apps, so I can't comment in that area. Still, based on the good experience I've had with Infinum until now, I can assume that the development of these features will run well. We needed to have a firm grounding before building additional features, but we will enter a new era with Infinum.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Virtual Post Mail is a service which scans people's mail, allowing them to receive it through the cloud. I am the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Infinum?

We were looking to revamp our entire mail management site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Infinum designed our platform from initial user functionality prototyping and sketching. We were planning to develop the site using our own programmers but decided to give Infinum a try for the frontend. We handled the backend ourselves.

How did you come to work with Infinum?

We came in contact with one of Infinum's designers via Dribble. Coincidentally, they happened to be a customer of ours.

How much have you invested with Infinum?

The cost of our project with Infinum was between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Infinum in January 2016. Most of the development was finished in October. We plan to use Infinum again in the first quarter of 2017 for redesigning our website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Infinum's design was good, but it was also challenging. I'm a software engineer myself, which made presenting my vision more difficult. Things were squared away, and the final product quality was good. Infinum also did a good job development-wise. Because I have experience on the software side, managing that portion of the work was much easier.

How did Infinum perform from a project management standpoint?

Infinum could improve in this regard. The project manager who was assigned to us was fairly new and didn't follow up in the manner promised to us. I've needed to talk to one of the senior people from Infinum, who squared away most of my issues.

What did you find most impressive about Infinum?

I've appreciated the fact that Infinum's senior designer was actively involved in our project. Most agencies have a senior designer who talks to clients but isn't the one actually doing the work. The same thing happens on the software side, which is why I've tended to stay away from agencies. Infinum has been good at actually assigning the people who initially talked to me for the actual development of the project, and not passing the work down to junior developers.

Are there any areas Infinum could improve?

Outside of the project management issue I've mentioned, I can't think of anything. The development workflow was great, and Infinum did a good job of accommodating me. For a Croatian company, the team speaks English very well.