Morrow

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Head of Marketing at Celestion. A Loudspeaker company with about 40 employees in the UK and many more in our factory in China. We are UK based but have production in both the UK and China. We manufacture loudspeaker drivers that are sold through distribution channels and B2B to OEM customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire App Sapiens?

To design a WPA that would provide a limited portal into our internal advanced acoustic horn design software. The App was intended as a tool to initiate dialogue between ourselves and potential OEM customers.

What were your goals for this project?

We wished to use the horn App to fish for and reel in potential customers. Once they’ve seen our expertise in action, hopefully, they would want to know more and come and engage with us more fully about horn design and drive unit (product) choice.

SOLUTION

How did you select App Sapiens?

We searched for and contacted approx 12 companies. Through Clutch and in markets such as India where we understood Apps could be produced relatively inexpensively. It was clear from our first conversations that App Sapiens were keen to work with us, without being pushy and that their responses indicated that they had properly listened to, digested, and understood our requirements.

Describe the project in detail.

The project involved providing a way to communicate parameters provided by our customers, from the App into our internal software. The resultant horn designs and calculated performance then had to be returned to the App and displayed. Both input and output required communication management of the data and intuitive GUI designs.

What was the team composition?

Tom was our first contact. This then expanded into a team of 3 at App Sapiens talking with me as the project manager, alongside one of our engineering teams.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So far we have only released Beta copies but have already achieved the desired objective with a couple of our customers. Typical Beta responses have been "Overall, it looks to be very useful" "Gotta say, it’s a lovely piece of work" "The app is very cool. I like the 3d rotate & zoom"

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Super efficient, smooth, quick, and painless. From Slack through Zoom to telephone calls.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They genuinely listened to what we said and came back with appropriate sensible solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. If anything it was usually us holding them up.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the engineering manager at NOCD. We are a funded startup that helps thousands of people break free from their OCD. Our clinicians support patients directly through our apps. My job is to make sure the technical output of our services is excellent.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire App Sapiens?

We needed an internal app for our clinicians to use. The app would initially allow clinicians to chat with patients with the intention of providing more clinician support features at a later date. I had evaluated our technology options and wanted to use React Native.

Our internal team was very busy with the main app and lacked React Native expertise, so we decided to outsource to App Sapiens.

What were your goals for this project?

Our clinicians were frustrated by the existing web based solution, which wasn’t mobile friendly. The goal was to create something smoother for them. Chat is one of the main ways that clinicians support their patients so we really needed to create a frictionless user experience.

We also wanted a solid platform and codebase from which to build on. As such, we wanted React Native best practices and clean code from the beginning. In the future, we want to have a web version of the app available using Expo for Web.

SOLUTION

How did you select App Sapiens?

As I knew this project would involve Expo, I checked the Expo website to see which companies were listed as Trusted Consultants. App Sapiens was on the list, so I reached out and we setup a call.

Initially I had a 30 minute call with their CEO, Tom Riglar. Tom spent most of the call understanding our business and requirements for the app. He went away and wrote a proposal to address those needs and invited me to collaborate so I was able to tweak things over the following week.

Ultimately we chose App Sapiens because they were responsive to our needs and didn’t try and oversell. They let us work directly with the developers in a streamlined way.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we decided to work with App Sapiens, we had an initial 90 minute call. During this time, I showed Charles (App Sapiens’ CTO) exactly how our API systems work and how he should integrate with them. I gave them a document outlining technical requirements and then left them to it. I’m very busy with other parts of the business, so the fact that I didn’t need to handhold was really helpful.

Six days later we had our first weekly call. Charles has already coded the base of the app and was able to demonstrate basic working functionality. We then had a call every week where Charles would show progress and we’d address any blockers or unknowns.

The app was completed in 4 weeks as agreed with some extra features we didn’t originally account for. Tom and Charles have deep knowledge of the React Native ecosystem, so were able to guide us past the common pitfalls.

What was the team composition?

Initially we spoke with Tom, the CEO. During development we mostly dealt with Charles, the CTO, who carried out the majority of the development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app is now in the hands of the clinicians and the feedback has been great! The user experience is clean and sleek. It’s really allowed our clinicians to focus on doing what they do best: supporting our patients. The app was delivered within timescale, with extra features and under budget!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

In our first call, I told Tom that I wanted a hands off approach and they honoured this during development. I was presented with blockers immediately and shown progress in weekly calls.

This minimised the time I needed to spend on the project exactly as hoped. The created a dedicated Slack group for us to use and was always really responsive. I never had to manage them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They didn’t try and over complicate or oversell. There was always clarity about what was happening, so I could trust them to get on with it.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They didn’t have experience with Apple Business Manager so we had to work through that together. But even in that case they were able to propose alternative solutions so we found a way forward.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the senior developer for Ownable.uk. We provide a bridge between printed media and e-commerce, allowing users to easily locate and purchase products that they see featured in newspapers and magazines.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire App Sapiens?

We hired App Sapiens to support our React Native app through a key product development phase. This includes improving the developer experience, providing platform stability, bug reduction and developing new features.

What were your goals for this project?

The app is our primary customer-facing interface so it has to be rock solid. The initial requirement was to support the app during a fast growth phase, and from there we wanted to stabilise the platform and future proof the code base. As the project rolls on we are increasingly looking to expand the feature set and improve the data science across the whole product suite.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had worked with Tom in the past, so knew he had a proven track record with React Native apps. He introduced us to Charles who had some ideas about how to achieve longer term stability in the app. We had a face to face meeting with them where we discussed various ideas for improving the app. They were upfront about the challenges and solutions and willing to be flexible to fit with our timelines and budget. After that meeting, it immediately made sense to select them as a long term partner to support the app.

Describe the project in detail.

The core functionality is shopping for items discovered in printed media, for example a beautiful lamp or a luxury rug. Once the user is inspired by an item, they can buy it directly from the app. We've created a premium design for the app which requires quality implementation in order to create a top end look and feel for the user. There are also several integration challenges, including HTML rendered descriptions, Firebase analytics, interactive animations and videos. A lot of the recent work App Sapiens has been focused on has been behind the scenes. For example they've been reducing build times, which minimises our costs and enables us to respond quickly to new feature requests, and they've also been modernising and future-proofing the app to make it easier to expand the feature set and onboard new developers.

What was the team composition?

Tom is our main point of contact and deals with most of the tasks. Charles is on hand for specialist Expo and UX advice. Between the two of them they've been able to deal with any query that we've raised.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The most significant success has been the migration to Expo. App Sapiens are officially partnered with Expo and so were able to handle the migration quickly and seamlessly. The end result is that the upgrade time to new React Native versions has gone from a few engineering days to around 30 minutes, and the time it takes to get new code from the developer on to a users device has gone from a few days (in the case of Apple) to a few minutes. The big boon for us is that we can trust App Sapiens to deal with anything app related in a timely and cost effective manner. By fully managing the challenges of app development, App Sapiens has allowed us to focus on our business and product goals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication is very smooth - Tom has a weekly call with us where we discuss the challenges of the week and ensure that everyone is on the same page. After the call he sends us a weekly report detailing actions and the time-sheet. They have also added us into a dedicated Slack channel where we can communicate 24/7. We receive a monthly invoice with a full itemised breakdown so we know where our budget is being invested.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As a relatively young company with requirements that can change quickly, it's important to us that we manage technical debt as the product evolves. Therefore, their commitment to producing clean and well-architected code assets for long term maintainability is impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No concerns at this point. We're looking forward to working with them over the long term.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Are.na is a visual organization tool designed to help you think and create. It lets you build simple collections of content by adding links and files of any kind. Connect ideas with other people by collaborating privately or building public collections for everyone. With no ads, likes, or recommendations, Are.na is a more mindful space where you can work through any project over time. It's a place to structure your ideas and build new forms of knowledge together. I am one of the co-founders and the CEO of Are.na.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire App Sapiens?

We hired App Sapiens to help port our iOS app to Android, as well as upgrade our internal dependencies and add new features.

What were your goals for this project?

Initially our goals were just to replicate the functionality of our iOS app to Android. We have a ton of people who use Are.na on Androids, and we'd love to provide them a better experience. However, after working with Charles and Tom for even a short while, it made sense to keep working together in an ongoing capacity.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We initially put out a call for applicants on the Expo slack. Charles and Tom immediately stood out with their straightforward and helpful communication style. Tom presented their company to us, described the way they worked and there really wasn't much deliberation. After talking to them on a video conference call, we made the decision to work with them right away.

Describe the project in detail.

We started out with a straightforward port from an iOS app built on React Native and Expo to Android. Prior to that work, Charles and Tom identified some recommended work that would help bring our dependencies up to date and provide a better experience for developers working in this project.

That work happened very quickly, and once it came time to move on to developing the Android app, they worked super quickly. To this day, we are still working with Tom and Charles on developing new features and implementing improvements.

What was the team composition?

Primarily Tom and Charles, with the additional help of another developer that they hired later.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are on the cusp of launching the Android app, but so far internal tests have gone without a hitch. We released another feature that they developed (dark mode) and got nothing but positive feedback.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Perfect. We have a weekly call and a shared Trello board. Communicative but not at all overbearing. Whenever we have an issue, they respond immediately.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Honestly, Charles and Tom make me want to step up my communication game. They are so present and clear whenever I speak to them, and their organization strategies go a long way. I would unhesitatingly recommend them to anyone.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They should charge more :)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the main programmer with a company local to Dalhart, Texas called PivoTrac Monitoring. We place telemetry devices on irrigation equipment like sprinkler pivots, wells, and engines. These devices enable farmers to look up the condition of their sprinkler circles through a website, send out commands, and receive notifications when equipment fails or changes its status. I do all of the computer, website software, and database work in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with App Sapiens?

About a year ago, I started making a mobile app for our company because we thought a mobile app was necessary. While we had a responsive website, it didn’t provide the functionalities we wanted our customers to have. I started looking into building Android and iOS applications with React Native.

After six months to a year of working on this project off and on, I just didn’t have the time to make the app into what we wanted it to be with our company growing the way it was. I could put something out there, but it wouldn’t be what we really wanted for our customers. I just didn’t have the time to do the research for the quality product I wanted, so I looked for a third-party developer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I had written this code over the course of about a year, as I was learning it. Thus, a lot of it was not built very well.

When I first engaged App Sapiens’ services, I gave my source code to them and they made some changes to what I had as a demo of what they could do. I liked the result, so I engaged their services to take over what I’d done.

They took all the code I wrote and basically started a new project. They used the same logic mine to talk to our API server and get results and logins, but they redesigned everything else. They rebuilt the app from scratch using better libraries, a more consistent codebase, and cleaner code. Both iOS and Android versions were made at the same time, using React Native and native libraries.

They also redesigned the entire UI. App Sapiens is a very specialized team. They took some problems I had with the app’s navigation, and rebuilt all of it, making it very simple, clean, much more intuitive to the user, and easier to navigate and figure out. It’s just a friendlier interface between our clients and our servers.

What is the team composition?

There were two people working with me in the beginning, and they assigned another after I specifically asked for help with some backend server code. He had more of a background in Node.js servers and gave me some help there.

I’ve been talking to two main contacts, the lead programmer and the CEO. They share coding tasks, and I’ve been relating to them equally.

How did you come to work with App Sapiens?

At the time, I was looking for help, but not hired help. I had previously worked with contractors, and I contacted half a dozen companies and explored lots of websites. I’ve worked with my company for 13 years, and I’d been the only programmer there.

I was looking for help to get by a couple of technical issues with some places where I got stuck, and I contacted one of the members of App Sapiens about a month ago, asking him to help me out. Programmers frequent forums and help each other out. I asked him if he’d be interested in doing more work, and he told me he was part of a company called App Sapiens, and directed me to contact them. I sent them some information about what I was looking for, and they offered to take on the project.

The threshold of bringing a programmer I didn’t know on was a difficult one for me to cross. I looked for help simply because I had too much to do than time to do it. I’d spoken to a few companies and freelance programmers a few months before I found App Sapiens.

When I found their programmer on a forum, we’d gotten to the point where I convinced my boss that I needed some help to do this. Originally, I was just going to hire someone to help me with the UI.

I believe I first talked to Charles (CTO, App Sapiens), but it might’ve been Tom (CEO, App Sapiens). After I’d tried them out and saw how efficiently they could do it and how engaged they were with me about it, I was put over the edge and had them do it all.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $5,000–$6,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with App Sapiens around a month and a half ago, in early-July 2019. I have a year’s worth of projects that App Sapiens could take on. We released the app because we needed to get something that at least covered the basic functionalities of what we do. However, we have more planned for the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve developed the first version of the app, and we’ve released it to very good feedback from customers. We’ve had 4–5 times more installs than I anticipated over the last week. We let some of our more enthusiastic clients test the app, and it spread by word of mouth from there. They built it like an app made for themselves, and it was night and day from what I had.

It’s a tremendous improvement over what I had written, but there are many more functionalities we want to build into the app.

How did App Sapiens perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed excellently. What we do is specific to the agricultural industry, and to farming equipment and mechanics. I had to explain to them why this or that was important, basically making this area on industry digestible to people who sit in front of computers and write software. I had several conference calls with App Sapiens, and I wrote some of my own documentation to explain to them what was valuable to the person working on a machine in the middle of nowhere, trying to get it to water correctly. They were able to readily capture that and present it the way we wanted.

After I explained what I wanted, they were very easy to work with. I could talk from the standpoint of a programmer, but not of a team programmer, and tell them what I needed help with. They were willing to help at whatever level I wanted to engage them. This went from advice or a patch of code here and there, to redesigning everything.

We shared a Bitbucket code repository. Whenever they made a pull request, I was able to look at their code and see what they’re doing, as they’re doing it. We set things up on a Trello board, which allowed us to prioritize tasks during conference calls. They’ve been very willing to communicate. I’m constantly on a Slack board with them and I can review their code anytime, along with what projects they’re working on and what their estimates for particular items are. They’re on-hand, and I’ve never had to wait for any feedback from them.

We have a conference call once a week, to make sure we’re all on the same page about what’s important and what needs to happen. We’re on opposite sides of the planet, but I’ve never had to wait long for anything, either in terms of pushing a change or completely redirecting how something’s going. They’ve been able to very rapidly respond to what I would perceive to be major changes, while this was being developed, and that aspect’s been very valuable to us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

App Sapiens isn’t just about writing software or making a good app. They had an attitude of being on top of what we wanted most. They wanted to make what our vision of this was, come to pass. Nothing intimidated them about any of the projects I wanted to do. They were aggressive about researching libraries, and they were knowledgeable and professional. Their focus was on doing what we wanted to see happen.

They make suggestions, many of which we’ve incorporated into the app. They know user interfaces, and they know a lot about what’s available.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’ve had zero issues with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to present all the information about the project upfront. Clients should describe everything they want from the outcome, why it’s important, and why a certain feature should have precedence over another one, including from the point of view of the end-user.

In industries like ours especially, there aren’t many companies doing what we do, and there’s not a whole lot to build and learn from. We had to explain an almost unique concept, and lay everything out for App Sapiens to assemble the resources they knew they were going to need to pull it off. They did pull it off.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I run a web/mobile app development firm, we develop all manner of solutions based on various frameworks, node, mongo, angular, php, mysql, react, expo, ionic, etc. Every project is custom tailored to the needs and specs of the client.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire App Sapiens?

We have a mobile project (developed in Expo.io) that was nearing completion but we ran into a problem with notifications not working on certain platforms and after debugging for days, I realized we could benefit from some expert advice from an experienced software house.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to deliver the project with notifications working smoothly as notifications were an essential feature of the app, without it, the app was all but pointless. Our goal in hiring App Sapiens, was to outsource solving this difficult and time-consuming problem so we could continue to progress and complete the remaining features to get the project finished on time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

App Sapiens offered to help when we asked questions on one of the Expo development forums and after speaking with them for a while, they seemed like a good match for what was needed.

Describe the project in detail.

The project required getting user feedback at regular intervals based on the user's past history of using the app, without notifications prompting users at the precise times we needed them to provide feedback the app couldn't function. The iOS app wasn't sending notifications correctly and so, the users were unable to test and use the app. We hired App Sapiens, to review the app and all related notifications code, to troubleshoot and debug the pain points that were causing these issues.

What was the team composition?

The team was made up of two expo developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to effectively troubleshoot and solve all of our notification-related issues. In addition they made sure to apprise us of our situation and how best to prevent similar errors in the future, including how to safely ship the fixes without impacting previous working versions of the system.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were amazingly accessible, responding via email, whatsapp and eventually creating a shared slack channel where we could syncronize and work in tandem to confirm the solution and resolve all remaining issues.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were willing to make themselves available to me despite scheduling conflicts and time differences, such that they ended up working over the weekend in order to allow us to meet our deadline with our clients. I really appreciated how accomodating both Tom and Charles were.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I look forward to working with them in the future on larger projects to be able to identify these kinds of issues, but at this time I didn't run into any friction that would've suggested how to improve working with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder and CEO of TicketSource

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Free, professional-level online ticket sales system that’s incredibly easy-to-use and affordable to all.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Produce a new and improved ticket scanning app
• Implementation using modern dev standards (React Native)

SOLUTION

How did you find Morrow?

Online Search

Why did you select Morrow over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• React Native development

How many teammates from Morrow were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Morrow were tasked with understanding our well-established user base and interpretting our users' list of requirements for a new and improved ticket scanning app, from UI/UX schematics to a fully realised app for Android and iOS.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Through several discussions and iterations, Morrow produced detailed UI/UX schematics and turned them into a fully realised ticket scanning app.

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

Morrow was very responsive with scheduled weekly progress meetings, along with day-to-day communications whenever needed. Their approach to business is always friendly with an emphasis on transparency and proactively moving the project forward.

What was your primary form of communication with Morrow?

Virtual Meeting

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

Morrow's project management was first class with the development roadmap very clearly laid out and updated every step of the way.

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

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm head of engineering at Avid Gaming. We develop and support Sports Interaction. We are a part of the Entain group

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Morrow?

We needed to quickly build hybrid apps for iOS and Android. Our development team had good backend and web skills but did not have deep native (or React Native) app skills. We hired morrow to advise and to augment our team with skilled and experienced React Native developers

SOLUTION

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

They have strong React skills, they work with Expo, their rates were reasonable, and their flexibility was perfect.

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

They provided 1 developer and a project manager. This developer solved many issues and gave recommendations that saved us a huge amount of time.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

n/a

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

we had builds of hybrid apps with complex native requirements ready to release in a little over two months. We followed up with two patch releases

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

we work mostly remotely. They joined our daily stand-ups and we communicated mostly through Slack

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

good developers and flexibility

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

n/a