Japeto

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the water resources manager for a county council.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fintek Software?

We needed to create a rainwater harvesting calculator for farmers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fintek Software has built a rainwater harvesting calculator for farmers. We used a Microsoft Excel tool with the necessary data sets and algorithms before they converted it into a more user-friendly, accessible, and attractive online platform. They will use an iframe to embed the rainwater harvesting calculator on our website.

The new tool contains rainfall data for the last 30 years. Polytunnel fruit farmers can use it to calculate how much irrigation water they can harvest from rain rather than from paid sources. The user enters the dates when they irrigate their crops and when they cover the crops with polytunnels. The tool calculates the expected rainwater accumulation in different areas; it provides data for a wet, average, and dry year. Farmers can use this information — along with the irrigation demands of their crop — to determine how much water they need to harvest and how that equates to expected financial savings.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with one project manager and one developer.

How much have you invested with them?

The value of the contract is £6,000 (approximately $7,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since August 2022.

How did you come to work with Fintek Software?

There was a tendering process. We created a project brief and received bids from different companies; Fintek Software had the best proposal.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fintek Software has finished the calculator; they just need to add it to our website. So, we only have anecdotal evidence of its impact. One farmer from our initial trial has told us that the calculator is very useful and much easier to understand than the old tool.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?

Fintek Software has been excellent. Everything’s been done on time or early. All of our feedback has been promptly incorporated. 

They communicate with us regularly and respond to all of our questions and suggestions. They even proactively started sending weekly email updates. Fintek Software also updates us on progress and suggests improvements in meetings every two weeks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they’re excellent.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Services & Volunteer Manager at a community HIV charity in London. it exists to ensure people living with HIV in London can access the nutrition they need to get well, stay well and lead healthy, independent lives. With the support of over 150 volunteers, we deliver meals and groceries, offer cookery and nutrition classes and communal eating opportunities to people living with HIV in London and their dependents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Fintek Software?

Our website was no longer giving us the functionality we required and was old and clunky. Fintek designed a new website for us, integrated it with our CRM and helped us learn to use and adapt it for our ever-changing needs as an organisation.

SOLUTION

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

3

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The Fintek team consulted with us on what we needed from a new website, and what we wanted it to look like. They helped us to choose a system that was easy to use and templates that were easy to update. They worked with us to integrate our CRM into the new website and make sure it was easy to use for our referrers and volunteers. They provide ongoing support with any problems that crop up, and help us to learn to make updates ourselves.

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

We work with Ingrid CEO and Jamie CTO

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our new website is so much cleaner, more modern and appealing. It is also more user friendly, both for us as the staff team and also for our volunteers and referrers who use the website to interact with us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Both Jamie and Ingrid have been so supportive throughout. They are excellent at communicating both in terms of efficiency and also translating IT language for those who are not IT savvy!

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

They understand our needs, spend time listening to us and I feel they really care about doing a good job for us.

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

Perhaps providing resources on how to use new technology for those who aren't accustomed to it and need ongoing guidance.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a startup SaaS company. We’re developing solutions for tackling the hybrid-working challenges by organizing the people’s time and defining what office space they can use when they go to the office. Our solutions are different in the market because we use an algorithm-based approach to organize people’s time and space usage, whereas most solutions in the market are just space-booking tools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fintek Software?

Originally, we needed help creating a POC and an MVP for our software solution, so we hired Fintek.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fintek initially helped us develop our POC and MVP. Since then, they’ve become our IT partner, helping us manage and update our SaaS product continuously and successfully integrating it into Microsoft Outlook and Google Calendar.

During the initial development process, Ingrid (Director) worked with me on defining the scope and deliverables, as well as on the frontend designs. As part of the design process, she took our existing branding and adapted it to the web app, ensuring that its functionality was easy and its UX design was clean. After the design phase, Jamie (Founder & CTO) was responsible for building the system’s architecture and developing the algorithms needed for our product.

This product facilitates office attendance management. Employees access a website to schedule time in the office, working spaces, and meetings, maximizing face-to-face participation. Regarding time management, employees can set preferences for office attendance times, and the algorithm suggests dates to attend the office based on aligning their schedules with their colleagues.

Regarding the space scheduling feature, our product takes a much more holistic approach to booking spaces by allowing users to see who’s attending each day and what spaces are available. It also assigns certain areas to allow teams that work well together to be seated together, thus helping use the space as efficiently as possible.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Jamie and Ingrid, but other Fintek team members work on the project in the background. Their team includes a frontend developer and a backend developer.

How did you come to work with Fintek Software?

When I was looking for a partner, I spoke to a few different teams, but I found Fintek to be the most engaging company out of those. I’m not a tech-savvy person, so Jamie took the time to explain everything to me in a very simple language and answer every question I had. He was also very patient in guiding me throughout the process, defining the way to reach the long-term vision I had for my product.

Ingrid was also very good at assisting me in defining my idea to find the easiest and most user-friendly solution for what I was trying to achieve. Their engaging approach made me feel comfortable that they understood what we were doing. Additionally, I felt confident that there wouldn’t be miscommunication issues, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between £70,000–£80,000 (approximately $86,000–$98,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fintek has been instrumental in getting our MVP to its 2.0 version, which demonstrates the progress of the solution. We’ve seen a lot of interest from potential clients in our solution, and we now have several customers using it as well. The increased interest from clients in our product shows that we’ve built something useful for companies. Speaking about the product itself, we’ve never had any important technical issues.

How did Fintek Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Fintek helps us maintain very high uptimes, and they solve issues very quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Despite being a small team, the breadth of skills that Fintek offers is impressive; they’ve been able to tackle a wide range of problems. Additionally, they’re very honest, quickly acknowledging in which areas they need to improve or don’t have the skills necessary.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Project delivery timelines are always challenging. We’ve had a couple of deliveries extend their deadline by a couple of weeks, so it would be good if they were more aware of possible challenges and delays. Other than that, there’s nothing I would have them improve; we’re very happy with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with a specific vision of what you’re trying to achieve, understand the technologies you’ll need to use, and listen to Fintek’s advice. They can provide a route to achieving your goals, but you need to understand that those goals don’t happen instantly. It will be an iterative process, so you need to be prepared for that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Spectra

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Spectra delivers supportive, knowledgeable, non-judgemental peer-based services to under-served communities

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Japeto to accomplish?

Develop a website for one of our projects

SOLUTION

How did you find Japeto?

Referral

Why did you select Japeto over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

To design and operationalise a website

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Website was launched and is fully functional and operating well.

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

The contact person we had from Japeto were brilliant. They spent a lot of time liaising with colleagues as to what the intended website should contain, look like, what was important, what functionality was required etc. 

They were incredibly patient with us as we had some staff sickness then absence which messed with the original deadlines but they were very flexible and understanding. Their cultural and political sensitivity was excellent also.

What was your primary form of communication with Japeto?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are very hands-on, direct, and no-nonsense, but while still managing to be great human beings who are good at translating technical specs into common language which was well communicated to non-teccy staff. Their services provided good value for our money.

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

There's nothing they need to improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Secretary of Harlow Pride

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide support, education and events for the local lgbtq+ community of Harlow

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Japeto to accomplish?

• To improve our image
• Deliver information
• Make us look more professional
• He’ll get us noticed

SOLUTION

How did you find Japeto?

They approached us

Why did you select Japeto over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Ingrid Folland was particularly impressive personable and understood our values and mission

How many teammates from Japeto were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Japeto provided a website from scratch. They uploaded all information we shared with them. They created online forms to send to our sponsors and contributors and then uploaded that information to the website. They created information on our most recent event making it look professional and appealing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our main event was changed dramatically and the website was a clear medium and platform that was used to get the information across to visitors and stall holders

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

Ingrid from Japeto was extremely effective and the website was built at amazing speed. Any corrections or additions were dealt with speedily and efficiently. They listened and acted exactly on our behalf as we asked.

What was your primary form of communication with Japeto?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The efficiency, personal contact, face to face relationship, support and professionalism. Messages responded to in exceptionally good time

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

There was nothing they needed to improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a manager at Central London Community Healthcare

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Community Healthcare within the London and Hertfordshire regions, including two sexual health services in South West London and Hertfordshire.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Japeto to accomplish?

• Create a sexual health chatbot for our two sexual health services
• Provide regular reporting on how this chatbot has been used by patients

SOLUTION

How did you find Japeto?

Referral

Why did you select Japeto over others?

• Pricing fits our budget
• provided support to develop chatbots based on existing sexual health bot

How many teammates from Japeto were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Two chatbots 
• one for each sexual health service with joint development work on generic sexual health advice and queries, and then personalities to service specific information 
• Chatbots to sit as widgets on each sexual health website 
• Regular reporting following information including raw data and analytics, continued development work based on this data

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

use of bot including amount of interaction, times of day bot was used, length of interactions 

reduction in wider admin time spent on tasks

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

Japeto were effective in supporting us to deliver the project and the bot have met the needs of the service. Our dedicated support within the organisation were very responsive and, where there were gaps in the information they had that we'd requested, they worked promptly to get this for us.

What was your primary form of communication with Japeto?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Japeto's informative reporting was impressive. They're also very keen to continue to develop their work which is great as working in sexual health requires being very adaptive.

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

Working in healthcare, particularly when looking at data, can sometimes be very complex and a lot of information is required to be provided by external organisations in order to get sign off on work. Japeto were initially quite inexperienced in having information ready to meet these requirements however it should be noted that they were very happy to find ways of responding to requests as quickly as possible.