Provectus

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of NICKSON Living. We transform empty apartments into fully furnished homes with the click of a button.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

Following the launch of our beta site in February of 2017, we were looking to work with a company that could help us build a second MVP with increased functionality. Our previous site was built using Ruby, but we were looking to shift to a more accessible language for the new site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We don’t currently have an in-house developer, so Reinvently has provided a full suite of development and engineering services including all frontend and backend development, project management, quality assurance, and consulting services on new features. For example, before setting up our payment processing system, they walked us through the pros and cons of several popular software options including Braintree and Stripe. We send them drawings on PSV files that set parameters for the look and feel, and they do the rest. They’ve signed me up on GitLab for tracking changes and Digital Ocean for cloud-based support. They also set us up with Mandrill for automated emails. The new NICKSON site is being built on a Yii2 PHP framework with an admin panel instead of a CMS.

Once a user makes an account on our site, we provide everything they will need to furnish their new space. There’s a style quiz that determines which furniture and décor they’ll prefer, and after checking out, they sign an apartment access form that allows us to install their package. Features on the site allow users to browse our gallery, select a base package and any add-ons, and search/select a timeslot for delivery and installation.

What is the team composition?

We primarily interact with a project manager and an account manager. The team also has a quality assurance engineer, a frontend developer, and a backend engineer.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

We built our beta site internally and launched in February of 2017, and after it began to gain some traction, we started working with an excellent UX/UI designer who recommended Reinvently.

How much have you invested with them?

The full scope of the project is $150,000, and we’re about halfway through that scope.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September of 2017, and the work is ongoing. We’re currently in the process of building our second MVP and will ultimately work with them to build a fully featured site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site is still a work in progress, but we’ve gotten extremely positive feedback from internal reviews. The UX/UI designer we’ve been working with has also spoken very positively about the work that’s been done so far.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a great set up. We use Jira for task management and tracking, and we have weekly calls. They include various team members as necessary. Our account manager is always available via phone or text.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were extremely communicative and hit all our deadlines. Their meticulous project management allows me to trust them and focus on other priorities, which has been extremely helpful. The product we’ve worked together to build is unique, and they’ve been great about coming up with creative and innovative solutions to address our needs. They’re very effective in helping us consider all our options and make decisions that will directly benefit our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. They’re a great resource.

Advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a clear vision before going into the project. If you guide the train, they’ll take it into the station.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior product manager of our parent company, Platphorm, LLC. We sell a unique, pre-packaged platform to support for-pay information exchanges. I’m also the head of products for our smaller subsidiary app, Phrendly.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

We wanted to finish development of Phrendly, an online-only relationship mobile app. Our previous vendor was still far from delivering a product after two years of development, so we brought in Reinvently to build off of the code we had.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a web platform that we wanted them to replicate on iOS and Android, so we gave them the API endpoints to achieve similar functionality and provided a full suite of hi-fi mobile mock-ups. That was enough for them to start working and with their feedback, I broke up the initiative into many different phases. We started the engagement by assigning them a small "favoriting" feature that the previous developers never really got right. They did a great job, so we continued development.

They assigned us a project manager that took the reins in creating a project plan and communicating deadlines. From there, we were able to establish different milestones and allocate the proper resources. They found a lot of non-standard coding practices and ultimately revised everything. The first couple iterations of the app were a hybrid of native and WebView, but due to slowness from the non-native sections, they made everything native. We were ready to launch on the App Store within four months.

What is the team composition?

We were assigned an account manager, a project manager, three QA resources, two Android engineers, and two iOS engineers.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

Our previous CTO found them online. After considering a couple of different firms, we heavily considered Reinvently because of their reputation. The CEO came to our office and talked about what they had to offer. We decided to hire them because they’re a full-service provider.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2016. While iOS development has stagnated, Android development continues.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The iOS app has a 3.8 rating on the App Store with 1,200 positive reviews and the Android app’s rating increased from 2.5–3.5 since the engagement began. Both apps have surpassed 250,000 downloads and have 60,000 active monthly users. We can say with confidence that usage on our mobile apps eclipses that on our web app.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

I'm managing several different products at once, so having the project manager take charge of the entire initiative is awesome because it takes a load off of my plate. I don't need to constantly check in because I know she's always thinking about our best interests. Never once did I think they were creating more work needlessly.

They’re always very helpful, organized, and adapted to our product management software, Assembla. By establishing a decent presence on there, they made everything visible and trackable for our team.

They also had a great process for resolving bugs. We always allocated at least half a week to QA and bug fixing. Tracking everything on Crashlytics, they were really diligent about finding the root cause of crashes. As a result, all the bugs were fixed within a week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a full-service provider that seemingly has expertise in everything. If we needed design support, they were willing to step in. They're extremely responsive and often answered questions at all hours of the night. Despite the time difference, they insisted on meeting at a time that was more amenable to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The experience thus far has been completely positive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Research reviews before outsourcing a partner. Also, establish your timelines, expectations, and expense restraints clearly to see if that partner can reach those goals. Have them deliver because their reputation is staked on it. Reinvently specifically, has done really well so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m CEO of Conure Music. We build an iPhone app that lets a user stream music without a monthly subscription or interrupting their listening with ads.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

We needed design and dev help to build our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reinvently built the entire mobile client. I provided them with documents that described the app, and they began the design phase with wire frames and polished UI drawings. After that, they built a test app to validate some of the complex capabilities we wanted the final app to have.

When those tests were finished, we began the full player, and that process included iterative design and dev phases. 

What is the team dynamic?

Our team includes two developers, a full-time tester, a project manager, and an account manager.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

I initially found them on Yelp while searching the internet for a dev firm. I met with and interviewed a few others, but I chose Reinvently because they showed deeper understanding of our product challenges than other firms. As a result, I trusted them and their skillset more than the other agencies that applied.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $400,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began around May 2016, and we’re still working on the final stages.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app isn’t available yet, but it’s already been beta tested, and we’re just waiting on some pending legal things to be completed. As of now, the app is a minimal viable product, and we’re aware of that.  Our beta users gave a lot of suggestions that are planned for future versions.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is detail-oriented and we always know how they’re spending their time. They’re flexible and willing to take our feedback, and they adapt whenever priorities or needs change. We have direct contact with the project manager, so it’s easy to make any changes to the project requirements.

We communicate on Slack every day, and we also use Skype, JIRA, Confluence for documentation. Our in-house developers have direct communication with their developers, so it makes for a smooth system. One of our co-founders works with their project manager as needed to oversee any of the dev work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're knowledgeable about development techniques, and they do a great job researching and adapting new software development kits [SDKs] and libraries as they come out. They’re quick and well-integrated with modern technologies like Slack and JIRA

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a few times when the coding style they used was different than what our developers here use. Their code is high quality, but could be considered more verbose than necessary at times.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that they know your company dev procedures. Align them with your workflow, and they’ll be able to adapt to how you work and be the most responsive to your needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a senior product manager for e-commerce and mobile applications for a clothing retailer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

We needed a mobile application for our in-store associates. We had built a version using a different partner, but the result was really not scalable; it had an outdated architecture, and the UX was terrible. We engaged with Reinvently, who redesigned our whole product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reinvently handled the entire platform creation, from UX design to frontend and backend engineering. Their involvement included conducting requirements reviews, defining technical paths, providing testing through a dedicated team, and supporting and launching the application. The whole lifecycle of product development was their responsibility.

We have a couple of B2C apps. One is for our loyalty program, through which customers can check loyalty points. We also have a second app, which allows customers to see the members involved in their wedding, the status of their tuxedo rentals, and related details. We have 3 other B2B rental apps for tuxedos, which have payment and tailoring functions.

They supported us mostly on the iOS platform, but we also built a hybrid app for iOS and Android. We haven’t used Reinvently for marketing or other related services.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

My boss had an existing connection with Reinvently and brought them on board.

How much have you invested with Reinvently?

The cost of their work has been around $1,000,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve continued to partner with them over the last 4–5 years in developing 5 different apps. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Reinvently delivered sound products with great UX designs. Our loyalty app has had around 74,000 downloads and 4 stars, while the second app has around 50,000 downloads and only 2 stars. The rest of our apps are in-store tools used by company members. We have a 90% adoption rate for 1 of them and 40% for another.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is incredible, and I’m very happy to partner with them. Reinvently uses an Agile philosophy, which helped all of us to deliver projects faster. We’ve worked through Scrum, which has been effective.

In terms of quality assurance, Reinvently’s team made an effort to understand our systems and processes and ensure that satisfactory products are delivered. If we don’t like the performance of a resource, we can have a conversation and ask for a change.

What did you find most impressive about Reinvently?

They go above and beyond to deliver high-quality products. Development teams usually require external designers, but Reinvently was able to tackle the whole scope and never complained. They gave us fresh ideas constantly, without making us ask them for feedback.

Are there any areas Reinvently could improve?

No, they’ve been great throughout our partnership.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a software company developing products for the B2B [business-to-business] space, with a focus on nutrition and food data. We also provide end-user applications.

I am the chief executive officer. and founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

We needed to build mobile apps and didn't want to hire full-time developers, as this wouldn't necessarily be a long-term need.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reinvently developed our iOS and Android applications using native technologies. Reinvently has assigned one iOS and one Android developer for our project, as well as an account manager.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

Reinvently was recommended to our company. I talked to them and found that they had good pricing and were very flexible. We had a 2-3-month test run and continued working together. I've interviewed cheaper mobile app developers but ended up staying with Reinvently because they have the right expertise.

How much have you invested with Reinvently?

The total cost of our work with Reinvently has been around $150,000 over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Reinvently 5 years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I've worked with engineers for over 20 years, and have come to know what to expect in terms of delivery times and end-results.

Reinvently works with us on an hourly rate, and we don't keep timelines, given that I've worked with enough engineers, and am able to break the work into smaller tasks with good estimates. The one metric which stands out to me was the number of bugs encountered in the final product. After testing, there will usually be around 30 bugs in each deliverable, which will require 1-2 months for fixes. With Reinvently , there are 3 bugs within each product, at most. The fixing process only takes a day or two, which has saved me money. Reinvently delivers high-quality products, and I like this about them.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

I handled much of the management with our engineers from Reinvently. They did assign an account manager, but I preferred to insert myself into the project, and appreciated the flexibility. I am convinced that Reinvently can offer good project management, but I haven't given them a chance to do it.

Reinvently's engineers have been very responsive, despite our time difference. There is usually someone available during our afternoons, which is nighttime for Reinvently.

What did you find most impressive about Reinvently?

I haven't worked with many mobile app developers, but I appreciated Reinvently's breadth of expertise. Whether I needed to implement a payment, account management, or a voice recognition system, Reinvently was able to do it without the need for further explanations. Reinvently has enough resources in order to communicate within themselves.

Reinvently sometimes recommended solutions which I didn't know of or thought about. Most of the time, the alternative proposed is right, which has been great.

Are there any areas Reinvently could improve?

I manage Reinvently's resources myself and don't employ engineers full time. During periods of inactivity, they need to find other work, so they become unavailable to me later on. I would suggest that Reinvently should keep backup engineers on their team, who are familiar with my projects. To some extent, this shortcoming was my own doing, given that I've interjected myself into Reinvently's processes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Emorald, Inc. is an IT [information technology] startup operating in the review market, alongside Yelp, Trip Advisor, and so on. We intend to compete through a somewhat innovative idea and product. I am a co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

We needed help designing and developing our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reinvently provided UI/UX [user interface/user experience] designs for our mobile application, using Sketch, while also developing its functions and features. They provided two designers interchangeably as well as a manager who maintained communication.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

We searched online for compatible companies and came across Clutch, where we read all the reviews. We came to choose Reinvently because we found them to be the best.

How much have you invested with Reinvently?

The total cost of Reinvently's services has been between $7,000 and $9,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Reinvently in March 2016. We have gotten in touch with some venture capitalists, who urged us to build the app ourselves, so our relationship with Reinvently ended after the design stage in June [2016]. We expect to launch the app within 1 to 2 months on the iOS platform, with a public-facing beta phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are no success stories that stand out at this point, but the feedback for Reinvently's work has been very positive among our testing groups.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked through a flexible contract with Reinvently. They were able to deliver on time and budget to a large extent. We use Basecamp for our collaboration as well as email and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about Reinvently?

I find Reinvently to be very creative and experienced. They've helped us establish some features that turned out to be very helpful in the testing phase.

Are there any areas Reinvently could improve?

One of our only concerns came because of how busy Reinvently is. Our project was somewhat delayed because of this, but I don't blame them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We have an online web platform. I am the founder and chief of happiness for the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently​?

Our company was looking for a development partner in Ukraine. I wanted to find and work with a company rather than hire freelancers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used Reinvently exclusively to develop an iOS mobile component of our web platform. Reinvently provided 1 designer, 1 developer, and 1 tester for our project.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

I was looking for the best available development company in Ukraine.

How much have you invested with Reinvently?

I cannot share financial data, but Reinvently has provided us with several hundred development hours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Reinvently in 2015 on a time-and-materials contract. The design portion of the project was completed at the end of that year. Development started in March 2016 and we are now wrapping up the work. We are discussing other projects with Reinvently but they have only worked on our iOS component so far.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The fact that we've done continuous work with Reinvently is the biggest measure of success. Reinvently fit within a very good range in terms of value and quality of work. I will be more than happy to continue our work.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

We interacted with the whole team from Reinvently as needed and with the project manager on a regular basis. I experienced the project management competency to be very high and everybody was always focused on efficient results. Most of the communication was done through Skype and we have also met personally. For the most part, I'd say that they delivered the work on time. Reinvently provided a bug testing platform and we used Jira for tracking the project. We also used wireframe tools for designs. We had full control over the process.

What did you find most impressive about Reinvently?

I don't have much experience with other mobile development shops. In comparison to other IT teams that I've worked with, I appreciated Reinvently’s approach for beginning a project. Their method for delivering value and building a partnership is very professional and transparent. Reinvently gave me the confidence that our project would turn out well.

All of their developers were highly competent, motivated, responsive to customer requests and always remained nice to work with. They were very familiar with best practices and contributed considerably during the process. Their administrative process works like a clock.

Are there any areas Reinvently​ could improve?

There were moments when I expected more input at an architectural level from Reinvently.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Reinvently​?

I would recommend anyone interested in mobile development to start work on his ideas with a Reinvently designer. Discussing the options for development based on a solid design will be the most efficient way to engage the team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are the external business unit of a larger company, focusing on what we generally describe as boutique mobile software development for large clients. We handled design, implementation, testing, and the release of software for other companies. After we were acquired, we continued to focus on similar types of engagements.

I was the director of engineering for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

We were looking to increase our engineering capacity due to the fact that we were getting more work than we could handle using just internal resources. Our partner needed to provide developers on-demand, as well as offer us permanent resources, that we could use for long periods of time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our engagement with Reinvently was a bit unusual, compared to most of my previous experiences. Rather than handing fully-defined projects to Reinvently and having them handle the implementation, we relied on Reinvently to provide resources that would augment our existing development team.

We worked with Reinvently on a wide variety of projects. One of the largest was the development of an iOS music streaming application for one of the largest consumer electronics manufacturers in the world. Reinvently was instrumental in helping us successfully deliver and support that project.

We've also used Reinvently for internal prototyping. They've been able to provide us development resources as needed, in order to accomplish those goals. Reinvently has also been involved in a number of advertising projects which were also successful.

We've used Reinvently as equal team members. This allowed us to be elastic from an engineering capacity, as well as extending our productive engineering time to 24 hours. We hand-selected engineering resources after the first round of screening done by Reinvently. We described the types of technologies we were looking for, the level of experience and any other factors. Reinvently typically provided us with around 6 candidates which we'd interview over phone or Skype, sometimes also assigning them test projects. We never ran into any issues during this project. Once we selected a person, we'd work with them just like any other team member.

Across all the projects we've engaged Reinvently on, we've used around 6 developers. My direct involvement with them would vary depending on the project. Some would involve a strong project lead, while on others, I interacted directly with our Reinvently resources.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

I wasn't working for the company when the initial introductions were made. Our general manager got in touch with Reinvently and handed them off to me for high-level discussions meant to determine whether or not the engagement model would meet our needs at the time. We always wanted to have a team augmentation model, as opposed to an outsourcing one. Reinvently was very receptive to that, but one of the additional difficulties that it introduced was communicating in English with non-native speakers. Communication was very important to us, and Reinvently was able to find us candidates with whom we communicated effortlessly.

We defined what the resources' background needed to be and on-boarded them just like any other team member. We generally involve developers in standup meetings and involved them into the planning conversations as if they were in-house developers. Reinvently slotted into our business, just like another resource.

How much have you invested with Reinvently?

The total cost of Reinvently's development has been close to 1 million dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Reinvently for almost 5 years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been able to deliver products and projects that would have been impossible to take on otherwise. We've also had the luxury of maintaining projects using Reinvently, thus freeing up our internal resources for more ambitious and forward-looking work. Our model includes the initial planning, development, and release, after which the Reinvently team is put in place for maintenance and updates, giving us an enormous amount of flexibility. We can now look more into new technologies for our internal resources, taking advantage of them without being bogged down by the realities of maintaining a product directly.

The fact that we were able to transition maintenance to Reinvently speaks to the level of trust that we have in them. We knew that the support and maintenance provided by Reinvently would be on par with what an in-house developer would provide. Reinvently's dedication to the work was equal to any one of our internal team members.

How did Reinvently​ perform from a project management standpoint?

We never ran into any development issues while working with Reinvently. There were occasional resource issues, in terms of personality conflicts and lack of communication, but we had the luxury of letting Reinvently know of the issue and getting alternatives. We did this as many times as was necessary, in order to obtain the resources that worked well for us. We've used Jira for general issue tracking, as well as Agile planning. We initially used Basecamp for our collaboration with Reinvently, but have switched over to using Slack through an internal decision. Reinvently made the change with us.

What did you find most impressive about Reinvently​?

Reinvently was very flexible when it came to accommodating our style of engagement. I've worked with a number of third-party development groups in the past. My biggest problem has always been that I didn't see a sense of investment from the partner. They delivered the work based on specifications, but weren't willing to communicate any unclear parts, and sometimes didn't do a very good job in general. Because of that, I came to want more integration into the outsourced team, which Reinvently had no hesitation in providing. Once that structure was put in place, the resources provided were always 100% invested in the success of our projects.

The nightmare of work coming to a halt at any roadblock, due to the 12-hour time difference was never present with Reinvently. We simply saw them as coworkers with a different accent to ours, and who came to work much later than us. I can't speak highly enough of the flexibility that Reinvently provided.

Are there any areas Reinvently​ could improve?

During our relationship with them, Reinvently has been aggressive in seeking our areas of improvement. We've had an evolving relationship, which always headed in a positive direction. Reinvently did whatever was necessary, including resource replacement at their cost, in order to satisfy our needs. We ran into some snags, but they were no different than any other working relationship. At no point did Reinvently make us feel restricted to their way of doing things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Research to Practice provides a cloud-based solution to public schools in the state of Missouri, helping them manage their therapy services for special needs kids. We also build services for schools on behalf of Medicaid, enabling them to be reimbursed for the costs associated with those services.

Another part of our activity is related to schools lacking in therapists, mostly rural or intercity ones. We provide on-demand therapists through telemedicine, delivering services to kids from therapists who are remotely located.

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently​?

We've been running our business since 2008. Starting around 2 years ago, we noticed that an increasing number of therapists were using our systems through mobile devices. We figured out that, in order to make their lives easier and more efficient, we needed to have a mobile application, not just a browser-based one. This meant creating a specialized UI/UX [user interface/user experience], among other things. We set out to find a vendor who could deliver that solution for us. The choice to not hire in-house developers was based partly on cost, and on the fact that we're located in Missouri, not in Silicon Valley. The availability of required talent is fairly limited locally. We had a choice between hiring remote developers within the country and looking at offshore choices, which is where the cost aspect becomes prevalent.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reinvently has developed our mobile application. We have also used them for some backend work, which was primarily related to the mobile part of our platform. The focus of our project with Reinvently has revolved around UI/UX and data aspects.

The core features developed by Reinvently included the onboarding of therapists, managing their schedules and caseloads, delivering the actual therapy sessions, and documenting their outcome, which is an extensive regulatory process in its own right. We also provide the implementation of video-based therapy.

The team from Reinvently has varied in scope. We've worked with anywhere from 2-5 resources, including project leads, UI designers, developers, and business analysts. We've had a multidisciplinary project.

How did you come to work with Reinvently?

We talked to a total of 8 companies, narrowed our choice to 3, and ultimately chose Reinvently. Our initial introduction to them was made through the chief technology officer of another company that had used Reinvently and was very happy with their services.

How much have you invested with Reinvently?

The total cost of Reinvently's services has been between $150,000 and $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our product has been live since May 2016. Reinvently has just updated our app, providing additional features. We're now in the process of testing it and it is set to go live in August.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best commentary that I could make about Reinvently's performance is in comparison to our other competitive bids for the project. They ranged from $300,000 to $800,000 and were estimated to take anywhere from a year to a year and a half to complete. The first phase of our project with Reinvently was accomplished in just under 5 months, for a fraction of the cost estimated by their competitors. The range of difference is telling, in terms of both time and money, for what I feel has been a very successful project.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

Reinvently always delivered within time and budget. This was one of the main things that impressed me about them. When I added additional features, they would be absorbed into the main schedule. When Reinvently wasn't able to do this, they were very clear in their communication about the extra time required.

Reinvently uses several internal processes for project management. We collaborated through Pivotal Tracker extensively, at my request. The tool is used within my company quite a bit. Reinvently also provided additional mockup tools like Inspire, and also had a detailed publication process for ongoing progress.

What did you find most impressive about Reinvently?

I've been very impressed with the fact that the entire team from Reinvently is proficient in English. Interestingly enough, one of the reasons for choosing Reinvently is that I do speak Russian, but there were people on my side who didn't. I became concerned that I'd become a translation bottleneck. Communication in English with my staff was not a problem, either in a spoken or written manner. I never felt that I was working with an offshore team. Reinvently was highly professional, had well-established processes, communicated in English, and provided a great deal of transparency, enabling me to know what our progress was. Reinvently provided me with a very well-put-together team.

Are there any areas Reinvently​ could improve?

Reinvently was very reluctant to offer fixed-bid work, so we had an hourly contract. I was told that a big portion of their projects involved startups who don't have a great deal of certainty about what they want and how they want it. In that model, it's difficult to maintain a true fixed-bid environment. My company was a bit different in the sense that we've been around for a long time and have an established working system, so we could have worked well on a fixed-price contract. Reinvently could do itself a great favor by engaging in fixed-price work, given that they ultimately ended up offering us a great cost anyway. This is more of a business model observation than an improvement suggestion.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Optimal Asset Management has a focus on portfolios for large institutional clients. These include pensions, endowments, and other large tranches of money. We are moving towards the investor advisor space, which is a much larger market in terms of total dollars.

I am a product manager in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reinvently?

We have been working on developing a software tool which will help us reach out to investment advisors. It's a more retail-esque solution than our white-glove, personalized proposals for institutions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Reinvently on developing a software tool which allowed us to more easily reach out to investment advisors, showing them how investments could work for them. In the past, it had been difficult for investment advisors to diversify in a way that could effectively allow for factor investing, due to some evolutions in available exchange-traded funds. With our technology, we will help change this for our investment advisors, democratizing the process.

We hired Reinvently specifically for UI/UX [user interface/user experience] design. We contracted their lead designer, who was fantastic, and there probably were offshore designers involved in the process. Our lead designer was very responsive and a pleasure to work with. He helped us get to where we wanted, acting as the perfect consultant, offering advice and opinions where need be. We had a very productive relationship.

We came to Reinvently at a very early stage in our process. The project was accelerated, given that we had a design deadline of four and a half months. Reinvently let us know that this was not a best practice approach, but they were willing to work with us.

Reinvently didn't have a background in our industry, or with the types of users we'd be reaching out to. We had an extremely collaborative process, in the beginning, shaping what type of users we thought we'd be going after, and how the software would interact with them. Reinvently's involvement was much heavier in the beginning, and we saw many changes within the first month. 3 weeks into the project, we hired a full stack developer and a frontend developer, which were unplanned at the time. We simply found people that fit our needs, moving away from what was supposed to be a more expensive contract, to a more narrowly-focused consulting one. Reinvently and their lead designer worked with us in getting our frontend developer up to speed. As the contract moved on, Reinvently's involvement moved down, as our frontend developer became more knowledgeable of the work.

Reinvently's team consisted of our lead designer, as well as an offshore resource, who collaborated with me, our developer, and my boss, who is the product owner.

How did you come to work with Reinvently​?

I was involved in the selection process. We reached out to about 15 firms, interviewing half a dozen. Reinvently was one of the few ones willing to work with us on what was a very tight schedule. Reinvently was keen for business and they were a very young and hungry smaller firm. They offered us a competitive rate and came to meet us in person in Palo Alto, which was a big benefit, leading us to choose Reinvently instead of another firm. Being able to have face-to-face interaction when we needed it was important. We had worked with remote companies in the past, but being able to drive down the street was something that we were willing to pay more for.

We had 2 interviews with Reinvently. They brought in their lead designer, with whom we'd be working almost exclusively, as well as the chief executive officer. This showed us that Reinvently was invested in our project and we liked their team.

How much have you invested with Reinvently​?

The total cost of Reinvently's services so far has been $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Reinvently in May 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Reinvently was very good at helping guide us towards best practices, while also listening to our needs. We talked to other firms which were very inflexible in this regard. Reinvently's team made sure that our pains were being voiced and worked in wherever possible. Having a designer with more than 10 years of experience work with our front-end developer equated to a huge knowledge transfer. Reinvently was happy to work with us when our own staffing changed, leading to fewer hours that would be engaged with them. Reinvently had a very strategic outlook on our potential relationship. This approach is a big value-add for Reinvently. They worked hard to maintain our relationship.

How did Reinvently perform from a project management standpoint?

We used InVision for most of the demoing, and Sketch for wireframe builds. We communicated through Cisco WebEx and Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about Reinvently?

I appreciated having the lead designer from Reinvently work with us on-site, while also interfacing with other designers offshore. Reinvently executed this approach well. I've talked to other people who have tried this model, with less success.

Are there any areas Reinvently could improve?

At times, we were receiving invoices from a few different parties. Reinvently's invoicing could have been a little clearer, but this was due to the fact that we weren't very proactive in ironing out the process. It would pay Reinvently dividends to be more upfront on how they would like to handle billing and putting us in touch with the people that are going to invoice us.

Any prospective clients should strive to meet the team that they are going to be working with. Many companies will be coy about the resources that they plan to introduce, but it's important to actually interview the people that will be working on the project. On larger projects, this may not be possible, especially when hiring more than one contractor at the same time, but the client should at least meet the top people involved.