INLOOPX by Avast

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of two forty four a.m. and the developer of Locale.  Locale is a mobile app that helps people manage their device settings automatically. Locale is the longest-standing app on the Google Play store, launching alongside Android 1.0 in 2008 as a winner of the Google Android Developer Challenge $300,000 grand prize.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with INLOOPX?

I wanted to create a major new version for the 10^th anniversary of Locale and wasn’t able to do all the work by myself. I began looking for a partner to scale my project up and that had the technical expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

INLOOP has helped with a variety of things: developing new features, fixing bugs, automated testing, reviewing code, and UI design. We plan on launching a beta version of Locale X this year.

INLOOP also helped me integrate the existing version of Locale with a mobile phone carrier in Japan who now offers my app to their users. The app allows users to create situations in which their phone settings automatically change. For example, they can use the app to make their phone automatically turn off their ringer when at work. It also has a plug-in API that allows other apps to interact with it.

What is the team composition?

For this project, I’ve worked with 3­–4 people.

How did you come to work with INLOOPX?

I knew the founder of INLOOP and reached out to him when I decided to start this project.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Launching the app on KDDI’s au Smart Pass store in Japan was a huge success, and INLOOP helped make that happen. They’re a wonderful team that’s helped me scale my project in a way I couldn’t have ever done by myself. I’ve worked with INLOOP on many different projects, and every time it’s been great.

How did INLOOPX perform from a project management standpoint?

We collaborate on nearly a daily basis. We go through a list of priorities, and INLOOP proactively addresses any issues that may cause complications down the road. We have a weekly phone call to go over higher-level components, making sure we’re on track to meet our goals. We’ve built a good relationship, which I value.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone at INLOOP, from the founders to the engineers, cares about quality. Software systems can be complex, and if you don’t think about quality from the beginning, it becomes difficult to create a good product. They’re able to keep up with thousands of different Android phone models and changes, which wouldn’t be possible if they didn’t do high-quality work.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Treat them like a member of your team, and they’ll be able to do great things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the mobile technical lead for a payments processor. We provide mobile apps that empower businesses to engage customers, grow sales, and build scalable mobile strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with INLOOPX?

We work with a large number of clients and often need to create multiple custom apps simultaneously. We engaged INLOOPX to help us fulfill our custom development workload.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When building a native mobile app, we start with a template and design how we think it should look. INLOOPX takes that initial design and implements the features and assets we want the app to have. They essentially take the ingredients we provide and mold them into the final product. We go through a similar process when assigning them existing apps to work on. They also provide bug fixes whenever necessary.

What is the team composition?

An assigned project manager is our primary point of contact. He leads their development team which consists of five iOS developers and five Android developers.

How did you come to work with INLOOPX?

The company started working with INLOOPX before I was I apart of the team. However, I know there was an attempt to work with a number of different firms, but INLOOPX was the successful candidate.

How much have you invested with them?

The engagement includes roughly 10 full-time developers over the course of multiple years, so I’d say the cost is safely in the millions of dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2015 and the arrangement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company has grown significantly since contracting INLOOPX. We’ve been able to quadruple the locations we have on our network as a result of some of the work they’ve done with us. We’re very happy with them and that's why we continue to work together.

How did INLOOPX perform from a project management standpoint?

We assign work to their team and track the progress during development sprints. It’s always a challenge to determine whether we’ve assigned too much work or not enough during the initial phases. They execute assignments and we sometimes have to pull in more work to keep them busy or carry over work to the next sprint. Either way, that’s how we usually get things done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their engineers are excellent. They’re very good at problem-solving on both a tactical and strategic level. Additionally, INLOOPX has kept this project steadily staffed for an extended period of time. We appreciate the commitment because it’s fairly common for a resource to get pulled off a project without a viable replacement. They’ve really leaned into this relationship with us to make it as successful as possible. The fact that we’ve been working together so long exemplifies that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I don’t have any meaningful suggestions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of the mobile banking and digital departments for MONETA Money Bank, which is exclusively based in the Czech Republic. We bring the banking business to digital, creating new channels on mobile and web.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inloop?

We needed help building our mobile banking app from scratch and moving ahead with our digital transformation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Inloop developed the frontend of our app for iOS and Android natively. The app has a fingerprint and face-ID authorization functionality. It can process payment transactions, real-time foreign exchange, and it has integration with Apple Watch. It will support Android Pay, and we are working on push notification support.

They have also provided consultation on new developments in the mobile app field, but the overall strategy and marketing are done in-house.

What was the team dynamic?

We have multiple innovation labs in our bank, each one with a dedicated member for particular features. We work on the Agile scrum methodology. Our business analysts, backend developers, and IT architects collaborated with Inloop’s frontend developers.

How did you come to work with Inloop?

We asked three companies for an offer for our new banking app and chose Inloop because of their experience. They had developed one of the best banking apps in Slovakia, so we thought they would be able to provide us a good service.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their services for the initial development was 70 million Czech crowns [$3,200,000]. The monthly cost is around 500,000 Czech crowns [$23,000].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Inloop in November 2015. The collaboration is ongoing for additional development and we have maintained the same volume of monthly releases.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure customer satisfaction through the Google Play Store and App Store feedback. Our app is the best app in the Czech market, and one of the best in Europe. We have a 4.8-star rating, and there have been few bug reports. The app won the best mobile app award for the Czech Republic. The engagement level is very high, with around 90% of our customers using it.

How did Inloop perform from a project management standpoint?

They have performed great, are responsive, and I have no complaints. We have a dedicated team leader from their end, who participates in all of our standup meetings and adopted our procedures. We use JIRA for reporting tasks and collaborating.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate the mindset of their members. They are great workers and a match for our own team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of the mobile application and web development department at Tatra banka, which was established in 1990 as the first private bank in Slovakia. We focus on delivering new and innovative products and services in a banking environment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inloop?

Our mission has always been to break the boundaries of banking. Innovations are deeply rooted in our DNA. In 2014, we were looking for an IT partner who could help us with our new mobile banking application and move our mobile banking to a higher level. Tatra banka 2.0 was published in 2015 and from then on we have been continuously working with Inloop on all of our mobile banking applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with the core mobile banking applications for both iOS and Android. Then, we added new platforms (Windows Phone, Windows 10), new applications (e.g. MobilePay - our wallet for payments at POS terminals), and new innovative projects like demo applications for augmented reality (Tatra banka for Microsoft Hololens).

How did you come to work with Inloop?

Every company involved in the tender process had to fulfill our strict criteria in areas like past experiences, price, and recommendations. Inloop won because they were best.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in the middle of 2014. The project was delivered in February 2015. Immediately after the project was delivered, we created an agile team composed of our internal employees and three employees from Inloop. The agile team continues to work together today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our application won 1st place in many local awards, including Techbox, Android Code, Smart Bank, and Apps Rulezz.

We regularly measure customer satisfaction (Net Promoter Score – NPS) with our app and we have very positive results – more than 80 points. We have very positive feedback from our 250,000 active users.

How did Inloop perform from a project management standpoint?

Currently, the Agile team is working on two week iterations. We use short daily status meetings to communicate and to check the progress. They delivered everything on time and within our budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Inloop is a young company with many highly skilled and motivated people. They are still helping us to find the best solutions to fulfill our requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is nothing to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the director of the applications team and was in charge of building wearables for a semiconductor company. The wearables required a mobile app in order to pair with and control the device.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inloop?

We reached out to them because we were short on staff and had an aggressive schedule, so we needed an outsourced partner to provide mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The wearables we were building were to be used in the Olympics but were also available to major vendors in the U.S. Inloop provided an end-to-end service, from understanding our business needs, the functionality of the wearable and best use cases, to development, implementation, and testing. We had most of the UX [user experience] defined but they provided additional guidance, options for scalability, and ways to optimize the apps.

They helped us in understanding the issues that beta customers had and developed the whole app in a very short period of time. In 2 ½ months, we had running applications.

What is the team dynamic?

I had a very big team, which they were a part of. It was originally three people assigned to the Android app and five on the iOS app. A few of them flew in from Prague so they could be next to the team, and worked side-by-side for about three months. After that, they continued working remotely and only came over as needed.

How did you come to work with Inloop?

We found them from a recommendation from someone on my team that had worked with them before. There were a lot of other contracting companies that we had worked with, but because of Inloop’s nature, their terrific reputation, and personal approach, we actually went out of the way to secure contracts with them and get an exception because they weren’t on the pre-vetted list. We worked with them loyally for the whole time I was with the company.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost over $2 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working together in October of 2015 until August 2017. The engagement lasted over two years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They developed the app end-to-end and it was thoroughly tested. Most of the bugs were related to other components such as the cloud or the device; very few were in the app and they were fixed as soon as they would come. Everything was delivered as specified.

One of the issues we encountered was that our specifications were very detached from the real-world experience; the people that provided the specs didn't actually play with the app on a phone. Inloop provided guidance on UI/UX and what the app should look like. They also customized some app ideas for potential vendors even before we asked them to. Everything was delivered on time for the Olympics, where the product was greatly used.

As far as their level of expertise, it's off the charts. They're tech-savvy, knowledgeable people and are always involved in conferences. They solve everything and deliver results.

How did Inloop perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very easy to manage, not requiring any hand-holding, and have their own project managers. There's a project manager that came over that understood the problem and helped to guide the conversation—he was the bridge between the two companies. We used conference calls, JIRA, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is easy and pleasant to work with, treating every problem as if it’s their own and working with you to resolve it. They're very timely, even with schedule changes, and will go the extra mile to give you multiple options of design to choose from. They really are invested in the work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

None.

Do you have any advice for potential clients of theirs?

I recommend approaching multiple vendors but include Inloop as an option. I think they will be able to see the difference for themselves. I would definitely recommend them to anybody else who is interested in mobile apps.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run mobile engineering for Avast, a security software company that provides multiple products in the consumer and enterprise spaces.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inloop?

The challenge was basically our capacity of development—we had different projects running in parallel but the market in which our divisions are located didn’t provide enough skilled engineers for direct recruitment. I had to search for people outside of the company and reached out to Inloop, which I knew from before.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They help us with development on a team augmentation capacity. We have internal engineering teams working on particular projects and the same responsibilities are delegated across Inloop’s people. Once they join a particular team, they're given initial training (which can take from two days to two weeks), after which they will become a solid part of the team with the same responsibilities and output expectations.

They’ve been helping us on a short to mid-term basis with many mobile applications in our consumer portfolio, which can be found in the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store.

We once also used their quality assurance specialists for a couple of projects, and while they provide other services, we’ve used them mainly for these two areas.

What is the team dynamic?

They handled partial project management for cases where more than one person was provided and there was a need for coordination between them.

How did you come to work with Inloop?

Their CEO is a friend of mine and I had worked with them in the past for my own company, which was later acquired by Avast. We had a great experience, so we naturally continued together once there was a need for extra capacity at Avast.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of their work has been above $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Inloop in January 2015 and the relationship is ongoing. My previous collaboration with them dates back to 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I only have empirical observations since we don’t keep very detailed measurements. For the two most recent projects, the Inloop engineers were able to process the same or a higher number of story points (the unit by which we measure the volume of development on a particular sprint) per person, than many of our internal engineers. We were provided with senior engineers, but another explanation for this output is that they can really focus. That focused approach for any kind of problem gives them performance benefits.

The typical case is that whatever they contribute to the scope, the work is completely and thoroughly done and doesn’t require many additional comments from the rest of the team during code reviews in a later phase of the project.

The quality of their work is high and many of their engineers are able to not only perform the tasks assigned by the team’s product manager but are also a part of the creative discussions, creating plans for the technical resolution of some issues and the design of certain functionalities. Inloop can offer more than manpower—they’re a strong contributor on our projects.

How did Inloop perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve provided immediate responses during our planning stages. While I prefer having phone calls, they provide answers to everything we discuss within a couple of hours.

We communicate with the engineers directly using Slack, email, JIRA, and over the phone. If it makes sense, their engineers will also come on site and spend some time with the team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The history of our collaboration has been very long. The beauty of this company is that not only can they perform the work well, but they can also cover a complete project from the bottom to the top—from design to integration and maintenance.

I’ve never used them for complete project delivery at Avast, but we had this experience with my previous company and not many software houses can do it. Inloop not only offers people that can blend into the customer’s team, but they can also handle complete project delivery equally well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should treat Inloop as a partner from the early stages of the collaboration, not just as an extended capacity provider. The team can be surprising and offer services beyond the original expectations. The more information they’re given, the more they can offer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior designer at a major telecom company in Slovakia. I focus on our TV business, specifically IPTV, satellite TV, and OTT [over the top] content. I act as the solution architect for innovations coming to our company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Inloop?

We started with our OTT service, which streams TV over the Internet. We needed a new application for Android. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed to integrate a specific player in the application to protect content streams using a technology called DRM [digital rights management]. We are using metrics, digitalized management, and a visual player. There are many functionalities showing an EPG [electronic program guide] with all channels, favorite channels, and live channels so that users can leverage this application to record something on the IPTV setup box. Later, we started a bigger project with Inloop regarding the backend.

We also introduced the OTT service on the Android set-top-box, which lets customers plug the black box into their TV sets over HDMI and watch OTT service.

We agreed that they will cooperate by working on the backend of our complete middleware design. I personally defined the design architecture of the modules and how it will communicate with the database, end coders, DRM servers, search engines, and so on. 

What is the team dynamic?

Daniel [Co-Founder & Android Developer, Inloop] was part of the project, and we were very impressed by his team’s knowledge and prompt delivery. The total included about 10 or 15 skilled people. Three resources are working on the backend. Some people are coming into the project, and some are leaving the project.

How did you come to work with Inloop?

They became Inloop after a company split. After they won the tender, we visited their office, and they showed us a lot of neat ideas. They really focus on new trends like virtual reality and keep track of emerging technologies. I was impressed by this innovation because most other development companies don’t share the same focus. Inloop isn’t just interested in making money but in thinking about the future.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in the beginning of 2015.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After the launch, people were happy with the application, and it earned around four stars on Google Play. From my perspective, we were satisfied with the experience and the management of the project and the developers. 

The user experience [UX] is delivered by our designer, so Inloop follows our design rules and delivers good quality. From this point of view, I am satisfied. Once we put it in production on Tuesday, it worked, so that’s ample proof.

How did Inloop perform from a project management standpoint?

I was impressed by the supporting tools they incorporated. They use Slack for communication and Jira for reporting. I have a good overview of the process, what they’re working on, if a problem has been fixed, and so on.

Inloop makes sure that the job is done well and with proper documentation. They archive our communication so that we can distinguish different types of requests. We have separate channels in Slack for different topics like the iOS application and the backend project. We can track when we send a request, when they reacted, and what they wrote. They are tracked by their managers, so the developers know that they need to act quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They excel at innovation. They want to deliver high-quality code, which is why we’ve cooperated with them for so long. They focus on the task at hand and deliver. I have experience with other vendors and can attest that the quality—not the price—is often the most important aspect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should be stronger in their negotiating ability when discussing CHR.