mTraction Enterprise (An Affle Company)

BACKGROUND

Please provide us with a brief description of your company.

We're an Australian-based photo-sharing startup.

What is your role at the company?

I'm the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Affle Enterprise?

We were looking for assistance in developing a proof of concept or minimum viable product for our photo-sharing app on a constrained budget.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Affle's scope was graphic design, front-end and back-end coding for the iOS app. We've since brought the graphic design in-house as we were not satisfied with what Affle was coming up with. That said, we've gone through a couple of graphic designers since then. It's a very hard thing to do remotely. All UI [user experience] was done in-house.

How did you come to work with Affle Enterprise?

We placed a job on Freelancer, and received about 70 responses. It was easy to narrow this down to three, and we paid each of them a fee to complete a small project – documenting coding rather than coding – and selected Affle on the basis that their work seemed the most professional. They were priced middle of the three, and we have not regretted our choice.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It's been slightly more than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The original scope commenced in December 2012, and was completed in June 2013. Since then, we have extended the scope three times. The final scope extension began in May 2015 and is expected to be completed in September 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What distinguishes Affle Enterprise from other providers?

The project has undergone a number of major scope extensions as we trial the app and develop enhancements. Once you are working with a coding team the frictional cost of changing to another team is very expensive, so it is easy for the incumbent to overcharge. Affle doesn't do this – they really do seem to walk the talk when it comes to treating the relationship as a partnership and wanting you to succeed.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

All communication is via the project manager, and these PMs have been excellent, but there does not seem to be anyone in Affle overseeing them and communicating proactively with me in an account manager role.

Also, accountants started badgering me for a final payment once the app version was launched in the App Store, whereas the milestone for final payment is actually successful testing of the App Store version.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're developing an app that is a new form of social media for people who share the same interests. It's like an updated form of a "chat room."

What is your position?

I'm the director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Affle Enterprise?

I had the idea for an app, but I didn't have the capabilities to develop it on my own, so I decided to outsource.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They handled all aspects of the design and the development. I told them what I wanted, and they built it for me.

How did you come to work with Affle Enterprise?

I was looking at a lot of different companies. I'm Belgian and, initially, I tried to find Belgian companies, but they were all expensive and none of them seemed to be excited about the project. I went to Elance, and I talked with a lot of different companies, most of whom were very poor, but I could tell Affle was different and felt confident in their ability to deliver.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It's about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in early February of this year, and are currently in the final stages of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results of the project? Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We haven't launched yet, so I can't provide you with any success metrics, but I'm happy thus far. While I have a technology background, I can't build apps. However, the process with Affle has been great. They've been incredibly helpful walking me through the project and have always taken responsibility to ensure quality and timeliness.

How did Affle Enterprise perform from a project management standpoint?

They have great communication. We primarily used the project management software Basecamp, but we also had calls as well.

What distinguishes Affle Enterprise from other providers?

They were a great partner. What distinguishes them is they did not meet any of the negative stereotypes of working with an offshore company. The communication was great, the quality was great, and the schedule was great as well. I'm very happy with my decision.

Is there anything Affle Enterprise could have improved or done differently?

There were a few times when they completed one stage of the project, and I wanted to go back and make some changes, and that ended up being more of a problem than I expected.

BACKGROUND

We are a nonprofit organization that provides free services to the Sikh community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We needed a company who could handle all of our Android and iOS development and maintenance needs. Responsiveness and professionalism were key attributes. Too many companies we used in the past had major problems delivering on our needs. We also tried freelancers that didn't have the experience or talent to get the job done.

SOLUTION

They provide native mobile development services for the iPhone and Android smartphone devices.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Overall, we were happy with the work by Affle until the end. They completed the work and stuck to the quote provided.

However, they always underestimated the time it would take to complete the work. If they said it would take one month, it would take three months. A big part of the delay was due to lack of good testing and review processes. Sometimes, the developer on the project was not very experienced with audio streaming issues. 

In the end, when we wanted to do some small feature updates and bug fixes, they suddenly informed us that they no longer could do any work unless we paid at least $5,000 more. They also said they would only develop new apps and not maintain old ones.

Even though they developed two apps for us, they would not support them anymore. I was shocked that they did not have any options to support existing apps. They just dropped us as a client, probably because they didn't have enough developers to handle us and wanted to maximize their profits.

This is not a good way of doing business. Now, I have to start all over and find a new company to handle our needs, which made a previously good relationship become sour. It is very disappointing because we had worked together for 18 months and invested more than $8,000 already.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

The company is called Netsite, and we have been in the website and ecommerce business since 1995. We had offices in India and Dubai. Now we work in the mobile space and enterprise applications for communication-based apps.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am a project manager at Netsite.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Affle Enterprise?

We work with Affle for a number of our projects, including on one of our primary projects. They do some work as an outsourced partner, such as mobile app development.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Affle does mobile app websites for us and some graphic design. They are the go-to shop for us.

What was your process for selecting Affle Enterprise?

We did an extensive online search and found a number of companies, and Affle was one of them. We filtered down to three firms. It took several months because of the size of the project, and we wanted to be sure we were dealing with someone who would be dependable. We studied them closely and did a lot of research. We have a lot of experience with offshore firms, and we knew what we were getting into. We looked at their website, Facebook, and other sites.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

The cost range was between $150,000 to $200,000 for this project. So far, we’ve worked with them since August of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They give us very good support. In one case, a team member went home for personal reasons, and another team member immediately filled the position. They are always there for us. We have a partnership relationship, compared to a typical contractor relationship.

If a contract calls for it, they deliver the code when they invoice us, which is standard. Because of the size of the project, they are willing to quote to us on an hourly basis. They are very transparent and we have a good basis of trust. You can tell by the hour who is working on the project, and we’re very comfortable working with them.

If we have any questions, they bring in resources at their own cost to explain it to us. We get daily updates from them, and I know who worked on what piece of the project each day. We are engaged via email and Skype. They are part of the team that we can depend on; more of a partnership than a contractor. We have another project coming up soon that we plan to talk to them about.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

They can improve their website, which they said they were working on. I mentioned it to them directly. In terms of our project, they’re on time, and everything works fine. I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

Last Door is an addiction treatment center. We're a nonprofit organization that has been around for 30 years. We have a youth program for 13 to 18 year olds, and an adult program for 19 and older. We work on various projects to help people stay in recovery. We decided to create a mobile app for people in recovery to use as a support tool, social media tool, relapse prevention tool, and personal growth tool.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the director of community development. Our clients come from across North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Affle Enterprise?

We wanted to bring together social media and support services into one functionality. There are a lot of social media apps that are just for social media, and there are a lot of support tool apps. However, there wasn’t anything that blended the two. We wanted to do that, where we think social media is a support tool for people. That was one of the main goals of Unity app.

The second goal of Unity app is in response to the many social media and support tools. Unless you know someone, you aren’t included in some of the conversations also a lot of the support tools are just you helping yourself with a computer. The app has geolocation software that connects you to like-minded people around you, so the right person can provide you with the right help when you need it. The app has a lot of features on it, with a lot of opportunities for you to use it for different features.

SOLUTION

Can you describe the scope of their work?

We got along very well. I came up with the sketches and the ideas, and what the user's experience would be like. They turned it into reality and functionality that would work on both iPhone and Android. They did all the code, and they turned my stick people into artwork.

What was your process for selecting Affle Enterprise to work with?

The first version was done by a different company and, unfortunately, that didn’t work out. We lost some money there, but we were already far enough into it that we decided to continue with the idea because it was a good idea. That was a local company here in Canada. We started looking for a different company that could continue the project. I probably reviewed 20 different companies and called about 20 different references on websites. Client references were often illegitimate and made up, many companies couldn’t be trusted.

Then, we found a company based in California, and they seemed very good until I tried to research the apps they developed. Then, the horror stories came out that they just took deposits and didn’t do any of the work. That was a six-week process, which worried me.

I came across Affles' website through somebody that had been cheated by one of the other companies. We connected on Facebook, and he said that the original company had ripped him off, but he found another company in India. He suggested I look into their work. I called Affle, and it all worked out. It took a year to get going, and then two and a half months to find a company. That was after finding a lot of bad companies.

We got prices from reputable companies in Canada, but the price was out of our range. For the minimal work, it cost five times what it cost me to get it done in India.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

By the time it's all done, it will be about $60,000.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

It's a work in progress, and it's still not completed. We're at a live stage. They said it would take them two months, and it took them three months. The reason it took longer was because of new ideas added on. They were right in line.

Can you assess their performance?

I'm totally satisfied with Affle.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

With the company that we hired to create the app, about 90 percent of the people hated it. The user experience was dead. This version, without having the science behind it, I’d say that about 90 percent of the people love it.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They’re very good about communication, and they get back to you within 24 hours. They’re very honest in saying whether an idea is good, or if it's ridiculous. They’re not afraid to challenge us if it's warranted, or if it's not practical.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

At first, we had a bit of a language barrier, but I got used to it. They were very good at working with the time zone difference. I don't have any complaints.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

It’s a partnership business where my partner and I want to develop a couple of applications that we could use in the context of our work as social workers. We originally sought to take the ideas to a couple of other developers, but those organizations didn’t fit us. None of the not-for-profit, welfare-type agencies were interested doing the app development. So, we decided to do it ourselves.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am one of the partners and was the primary one responsible for the work with Affle.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the app?

All three of our apps are about protecting children, and giving children and young people the strategies to protect themselves and their bodies better. We work with children who have been abused.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of Affle Enterprise work?

We went to them with the concept, and they built the concept. They filled in the colors in the app. We’ve done three apps. We did two with another company, so this is our third and the first we’ve done with Affle.

What was your process for selecting Affle Enterprise to work with?

We used Website Guru and did a project overview. We short-listed it to four different companies for the quote process. We made a decision from there, looking at their ratings, and their previous customer reviews. We looked at some of the apps that they did design work for and developed.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

Their range is about $7,500.

When was the app completed?

September of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

They were excellent. They did very well. There were a couple of things. The computer program that they used for the project management was awesome, and it meant that the time difference never had an impact on either of us. It also meant that where there were differences in how you conceptualize language. It was really easy to follow up every telelink with more communication. It was excellent.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They were really willing to say when something wouldn’t work and why. When we told them exactly what we wanted to be done they said they could make that work. They were very responsive, really targeted around the timeframe, which was good for us because we wanted our app to be ready for release at a specific time, for Child Protection Week in Queensland. They were really professional on all levels.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

I don’t think so. There were some things that were clearly about a different understanding of language. They needed to make some avatars for the app, and we wanted them to be culturally inclusive. For people of color in Australia, they just made them dark-skinned, but gave them with blond hair, which obviously is not accurate. Once we said that wouldn’t work, they got it right. They are very customer focused. They delivered on all of their promises and represented themselves to us accurately.

BACKGROUND

Can you provide some background info about your company?

We’re doing two platforms, iOS and Android. We’re doing concurrent development of a mobile application that provides generally real-time location-based information.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your main goal or objective going into the project with Affle Enterprise?

Our main goal was to produce the first application of that general category. We wanted to find a company that could deliver from design through actual launch on both platforms.

Did you not have the resources in-house or did Affle Enterprise bring in specific expertise?

We had a very modest budget since I was financing everything myself. Over the course of eight years, I’ve tried many different domestic developers that I felt could do the job. They are all too costly. They didn’t have the complete skill set to complete the project. After a while, the projects would fall apart.

In general, I was looking for a company that had the complete skill set from graphic design to architecture design. I needed a company to do UI design and graphic design also.

When I contacted Affle, they were advertising that they’d done over seven hundred mobile apps. They offered a price that I could reasonably pay, not just for creation but for ongoing development. We are currently starting version two of the app.

SOLUTION

Could you tell me more about the capabilities of the app?

We’re using Google maps for the location-based aspects of the app. We take their location via GPS. Later, we use an open source database to find places that are near that location. We can put additional data attached to that GPS into the system. We read the users GPS location and then provide them with useful information in their area. 

The other component of this is crowd-sourced from user information. This app is more searchable. We’re doing more narrowed, structured data versus unstructured like tweets or Facebook. The business can put in discounts, as can any user. The other component has an interface similar to Instagram. The user takes a photo, attaches it, puts it in a category, attaches information to it and it gets mapped.

Is the project still ongoing?

Yes. We’re just starting version two, Flash Deals. The new version is more robust. Users simply point and click so it’s really quick and easy for consumers and businesses. In terms of structured data, there is additional filtering so the user can get a more specific deal tailored to them. 

Can you provide a general cost estimate for the project?

With Affle, I was also looking for someone who provided me true testing versus just semi-testing. I did a whole month of testing compared to the normal one week. They were giving me two to three revolutions daily on bug fixes. That is quite unique.

They’ve done a great job. Affle went over the original estimate because they did extra work, which was reasonable. The initial estimate was $9500. We did two feature enhancements that cost $2,000 more. The total price was approximately $12,000 for the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

When working with Affle Enterprise, was there anything unique or special compared with other developers that you’ve worked with?

They’re Indian developers so I was worried communication would be a problem. However, their communication was very good overall. It was easy to contact them, which is not the case with other Indian developers that my company tried in the past.

Their graphic designer was patient with us when we asked for changes in the look of the app. He was willing to do some minor adjustments to satisfy my requirements. Affle has a really quick turnaround and great work. They are easy to work with. There was no pushback, delays, or arguments.

There were minor communication difficulties in the beginning. We had to get on the same page and learn to understand each other’s language. Things weren’t perfect in the beginning but they were willing to talk on the phone and smooth out differences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your process for selecting Affle Enterprise?

First, we selected India from a list of potential countries to work with; these included China, Eastern Europe, the United States, and Singapore. We then listed the companies in India that provided this iOS app service, and we checked their iPhone app portfolio and used some of the apps on our side. We discussed cost, resource flexibility, and quality with a few of the companies.

SOLUTION

Can you tell me about the scope of the project?

They developed an iPhone App from scratch, both on the server-side and the user-facing side.

What parts of the project was Affle Enterprise involved in?

Everything except design.

What technologies were used?

iOS development and server-side programming.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results of the project?

They successfully launched the iPhone App in March.

How did Affle Enterprise perform?

They were nice to work with, good quality and cost-effective, but the development time took much longer than the estimate.

Looking back on the project, is there any area that Affle Enterprise could improve or you would do differently?

It seems that they had some issues regarding time and project management. The main iOS engineer worked hard for this project, which was good, but other persons and resources such as the server side engineers and so on were not as involved in this project as the iOS engineer was. I want them to work little more carefully on the design part.