Sand Dollar Design

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a nonprofit organization fighting against malnutrition among kids in Africa.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sand Dollar Design?

We were looking to build a mobile app that will allow us to create profiles and list schools and places where we provide feeding services. The purpose is to digitize our process and use mobile technology like location and data capture to better serve the children we feed. With this solution, we can improve the program and eventually develop products according to the changes we see in children. I needed Sand Dollar Design’s help to take our ideas and translate them into designs that would be useful for developers to create something.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sand Dollar Design designed the UI/UX of our mobile application. We started by creating very basic wireframes with our thinking of what we needed. Sand Dollar Design took those ideas and created a structure around them. Then, they made the designs. The team helped us source a mobile app development company to continue the process; they gave us a couple of options that would be the best for us and our needs.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 people from Sand Dollar Design at any given time. The team included Jaco (CEO & Head of Consulting).

How did you come to work with Sand Dollar Design?

I found them through a referral. Jaco and Sand Dollar Design had a very good reputation, so I felt lucky to be able to contact them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from April 2021–March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest testament to the quality of Sand Dollar Design’s work is how easy it’s been for us to work with the developers. The way they structured the design informed the development and made it much easier to build the app. Because we operate in rural areas, we also benefitted a lot from their experience in creating simple designs that would be easy for people to interact with beyond cultural barriers.

The team was also really helpful in finding a development provider. They recommended someone they had worked with before that would create a world-class product without charging too much, given that we’re a nonprofit. With this service, Sand Dollar Design took a very big load off our backs. 

How did Sand Dollar Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good at project management, delivering on time and within budget. Their communication was on point and very clear; I was never in doubt about where we were or how the project was going. 

Since I’m not very technical, I don’t like project management tools, so Sand Dollar Design communicated with me via email, which worked really well. Overall, I was thankful for how they adapted to communicate with me and handled the deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed that Sand Dollar Design was as passionate about my project as I am — that really made a difference. They went beyond the call of duty. Working with people this passionate was phenomenal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From my point of view, there was nothing they needed to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just make use of their services! There was nothing we needed to do to make sure we got what we needed. Sand Dollar Design just ran with it, made me feel comfortable and secure about the process, and delivered more than I could have asked for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Portfolio Manager for Design Systems and Standards at a leading telecommunications and technology company in South Africa, and my role is to assist in managing our UX Design Team and ensure consistent experiences of a high quality.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sand Dollar Design?

Sand Dollar Design provided UX/UI design resources to assist in creating new and improved user journeys for the website of our company's business sector.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Based on a well-established working relationship we already had with Sand Dollar Design.

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

Their scope of work included conducting user research, cognitive walkthroughs and other forms of usability testing, as well as designing various content pages and user journeys for the website based on input from stakeholders, users and analytical data.

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

On this particular project, we worked with two mid-level designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While I am unable to share specific outcomes of their contributions to the project at this time, their work helped ensure a significant boost in page visits and goal completion rates. The existing journeys were simplified for better ease of use, and new journeys were created based on sound design principles.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective and completely seamless. They plugged in from day one and you couldn't tell them apart from one of our permanent designers. They were dedicated and enthusiastic, and didn't shy away from raising valid design concerns - no matter how tense the situation or contentious the opinion.

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

Their enthusiasm and eagerness to contribute, learn, and grow as designers impressed me.

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

While their UX knowledge was on point, I would identify their UI design skillsets as an area of growth.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the director for a financial services eco-system in Nigeria

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sand Dollar Design?

UX design and prototyping

What were your goals for this project?

Creating a clickable prototype in Figma with key components that could be reused to keep iterating

SOLUTION

How did you select Sand Dollar Design?

I have worked with them in the past and I knew their quality of work was amazing.

Describe the project in detail.

The project needed a quick turn around for a high fidelity wireframe/ prototype. I was the lead UX on the project but needed to focus on other parts of the project. SDD was an obvious choice as I knew they could run with my guidelines and feedback to go and create the prototype I needed.

We spoke the same language and it was easy to engage with them. Although my need was only for prototyping they quickly jumped in to help me in areas they knew I needed support like researching competitors and finding other benchmarks I never considered.

What was the team composition?

There were two people involved. Jaco helped from a strategic angle in the beginning and provided great direction based on his own experience with projects of this nature. Jonathan was the UX designer responsible for the prototype.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The goal was to quickly create a prototype so that client could give us direction and start thinking of how they need to gear themselves towards the magnitude of the project. SDD was amazing in supporting me deliver work that exceeded the client's expectations.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a very open communication channel - we met daily and kept each other informed via Microsoft Team or Figma.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their openness to share information and their own experiences with clients like this. The quality of work delivered was exceptional.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement :) Maybe the same level of excitement/ energy for the project towards the end like there was in the beginning when we kicked off.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m part of the South African leg of a large telecommunications provider. I work in the digital lifestyle services division and my role is to oversee the portfolio of UX and product development for one of our video products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sand Dollar Design?

I contracted Sand Dollar Design specifically for usability testing with real customers on our behalf. The main goal was to gain customer insights in order to improve the UX of our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to gain an understanding of different designs we were implementing at the current time and some futuristic prototypes meant to address various issues on our platform. Since we do not have internal testing or interview facilities, that was one of our initial challenges. Thankfully, Sand Dollar Design provided interview rooms and conducted interviews with our third-party customers where they generated some great insights into our platforms.

In the beginning, the product we tested had been in the market for just over a year and our goal at that time was to test out a couple of new designs for it. All in all, we conducted four usability testing sessions. For one of them, I worked with a university to bring in tracking glasses which I think are a fantastic innovation in the space. We had a session at the university itself and we could track where customers were looking using the glasses.

What is the team composition?

Jaco (Founder & Head of Consulting) helped us out a lot and he had three resources on his side.

How did you come to work with Sand Dollar Design?

I had a previous encounter with the company and Jaco is well known in the UX circles. In fact, usability testing is one of the strong points of Sand Dollar Design. I knew the team had experience working with a CX/UX consulting company which I’d done a course with. From those teachings, many of Jaco’s principles are based on that. Thus, he comes with a large number of skills we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of the project was around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sand Dollar Design last May 2019 and we partnered with them until April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sand Dollar Design was instrumental in helping us gain industry insights and experience. The quality of the team’s work was phenomenal, especially the quality of content they created. In fact, they’re skilled at making presentations to customers. 

It can be hard to ask the right questions in these kinds of sessions and avoid leading questions at the same time. However, Sand Dollar Design did a great job of getting to the bottom of what we were asking for. They also reworded some of our questions to make it clearer. Moreover, the team also conducted a survey for us. They created usability personas for our user base and they were instrumental in getting all the information we required. Overall, the value of delivery was great for us.

How did Sand Dollar Design perform from a project management standpoint?

Sand Dollar Design was really good at communicating and keeping us on point across the process. They delivered the presentations at exactly the times they set up for us. We can’t say anything bad about Sand Dollar Design since they did a really good job.

They were quick to respond and they set up everything in the testing center, with no hassles or hiccups. Additionally, they were quick with feedback and they came with a nice report. They also set up a workshop to take us through the feedback which I appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a large amount of market experience and there aren’t many players that get a chance to work in our industry – it’s a definite plus point for Sand Dollar Design. We appreciated the way they engaged with our customers. Aside from that, they were also very affordable compared to other players in the market, it was one of the deciding factors of getting them involved.  

They went above and beyond what we initially asked for. Bringing in the university was never part of the scheduled deal and Sand Dollar Design organized that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no negative sentiments about Sand Dollar Design.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Sand Dollar Design works with the client which I think is very nice. The team came to our office and helped us construct a couple of things. If the client wants real value out of the partnership, they should make sure that the ask is correct and that Sand Dollar Design understands what’s needed. They did a great job trying to uncover that with a couple of debriefing sessions with us at our offices. The more we give them, the better the product is at the end of the day.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a senior business consultant with over 19 years experience in the ICT field. My company is a leading ICT business advisory services firm in Africa.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sand Dollar Design?

My department was tasked to deliver to our US client an Over The Top (OTT) platform capable of delivering streaming (live & buffered) media content. The platform needed to be high-quality visual effects for the end-users thus Sand Dollar Design with their expertise was required to assist.

What were your goals for this project?

Deliver end-to-end high-quality streaming platform with family-friendly entertainment content.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our other colleagues worked together with Sand Dollar in another project at a client. And they recommended them for our project.

Describe the project in detail.

Once Sand Dollar came on-board, and after just 1 iteration discussing the client's requirements they were able to provide feedback. They were able to awe us and the client with the wire-frame designs and interactive content development on web and iOS.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of the business owner (who took personal interest in ensure high-quality designs) and one UX designer /developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client was totally impressed with the outcome. And having to visually see their wishes become true with this platform, they saw great value and they wanted to continue working with us for other phases of the project.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were constantly communicating throughout the project. Feedback and responses were given within time thus making it easy for critical decisions to be made without delaying the project timelines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are subject matter expects when it comes to user experience and design. I was blown away by the psychology that goes with understanding and anticipating user behavior. Over and above their 'ubutu' spirit certainly will make me recommend them in my future projects.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I was satisfied with the work delivered throughout.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Product Owner in the IT Engineering department for Mukuru Africa. Mukuru Africa is a Financial Services Company enabling their Customers to send money to loved ones all across the globe with a main focus on migrant workers in Africa. Our main business stream is Remittances within and across country and/or continent borders, but we are expanding in Value Added Services such as purchasing Electricity vouchers or Airtime as well as Funeral Products. We are constantly engaging with Partners across Africa to establish cross border relationships, benefiting our Customer base to obtain a further reach to loved ones. Our footprint is starting to find a foothold in the emerging migrant markets of Asia, specifically Bangladesh, Pakistan & China. Allowing our Customers financial freedom within their diaspora environment, stands central to our Customer offering and drive. Our Customers are largely un-banked and under serviced financially, so creating various platforms and channels through which our Customers can take control of their finances is our main drive and focus, from a Business and IT Engineering point of view. As a Product Owner in the IT Engineering department, I oversee the development Teams which is responsible for enabling Customer interaction via Mobile applications - iOSand Android. The development is split into two focus streams; in-house development of our Agent Mobile app (Android driven) and out-sourced development of our Customer Mobile app (iOs & Android). Delivery of UI, UX, back-end integration and API delivery all forms part of my delivery responsibilities. I oversee the development, testing, design & quality value streams of each mobile application and ultimately sign-off and implement the solution(s).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sand Dollar Design?

Sand Dollar Design have been contracted to assist with the: (i) Heuristic review and design suggestions for the Mukuru Agent Mobile app (Android), after initial build, as well as usability testing before Production release (ii) UI & UX design from the start of the Mukuru Customer Mobile App (iOS & Android); Design direction throughout development of the MVP as well as future proofing the app for iterative releases after the initial; and Usability testing and design improvements before any Production release.

What were your goals for this project?

From the Agent app perspective - Mukur African currently run two different mobile apps for their Agent Army, a registration app (onboarding Customers) and a maintenance app, providing typical Contact Centre servicing via one-on-one interaction.  The main goal of the Agent App is to provide a single solution to the Agent Army through which Customers can be onboarded and fully serviced administratively eg. change to their profile data, order creation, up take of any of the Mukuru Value Added Services.  The app must also be a managing tool for the Agent whereby the Agent would be able to track his daily work assignments, sign up for training, log issues etc. 

The main goal for the Customer App is to replace the current app in the market with an app offering which will place the Customer in full control of his financial wellbeing.  The app is aimed to have access irrepective of boundries allowing a customer to interact with Mukuru from anywhere in the globe.  The Mukuru Customer App will carry functionality that will allow:

- a User to download the app

- sign up to use the App, including password managment

- update data fields & add documents to enrich Customer profile (Personal details e.g. telephone numbers, income etc)

- Create & update Recipients to his beneficiary list (people he can send money to)

- Create Orders (send money), inluding payment

- track allocated limits/balances remaining for sending money 

- check rates for order create (e.g. Send R1000 to Botswana, Recipient get Pula800 - show rates & pricing)

- check Pay in/ Pay Our Partner footprint, per Country

- find Mukuru Contact details

- learn through FAQ's

- sign up for Mukuru Value Added Services

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

An RFP process was followed in the requirement processes.  Mukuru Africa did research on App development companies who have exprience in developoment of Financial apps which is Customer facing/ engaging.  On selecting the group of app development companies we wished to engage with an RFP document was sent to them, outlining what we as a company would like to be delivered. The RFP document did not only contain a development directive, it also included a request for field expertise and guidance from the prospective vendor with regards to the development directive.

Each vendor had to send a proposal reply on the RFP by a communicated deadline.  The proposal was reviewed taking into account; proposed design as per the development directive, proposed changes to the development directive taken from field experience, cost and timeline of delivery.

In a majority of the review criteria Sand Dollar Design came out on top and we as Mukuru Africa felt that they really took to understand our particular market really well, highlighting issues such as remoteness, lack of mobile network coverage, cost of data as some of the key elements Mukuru Africa Customers will be faced with.  The proposed solution which was presented by Sand Dollar Designs spoke to a broad spectrum of Customer that Mukuru Africa service; from the well versed in technology Customer, to the Customer that can interact with Mukuru on a daily basis via the traditional Selfhelp technologies (USSD, .Mobi, Whatsapp) which will definately benefit from an app, simple in design yet comprehensive in self service processes.

Sand Dollar Designs were very realistic in their proposed solution and process of enagagement relating to their costs, which made them stand out from the rest for us.

We did research some of their previuos testimonials and concluded that out initial impressions of them as a vendor is what is preceived & experienced of them in the market - very direct and to the point, highly skilled & efficient, with enough room for expanding into the nice to have's without unrealistic attainment.

Describe the project in detail.

The project is actually made up of two projects, as stated earlier:

- Agent Mobile app: the app was already developed inhouse to the point were it was ready to be released into Production.  Sand Dollar Designs was contracted then to provide a heuristic review & design insights with the specific intent to use the App as a communication tool with Customer engagements.  As Product Owner I drove the project deliverables & deadlines with the Sand Dollar Team taking instruction.

Customer app: from the initial RFP document and accepted proposal, the development scope for the app was workshopped and brainstormed with Sand Dollar Designs and a think tank from Mukuru Africa.  

The development scope spanned IT Engineering development, Marketing, Business Development and Customer Journey value streams.  In each Sand Dollar Designs was consulted on, solutions reviewed with and scope refined to MVP vs. nice to have vs. iterative release.  Sand Dollar Design was also tasked with assisting Mukuru Africa in designing a brand for the Company, to be driven through the app and various other Customer facing interfaces.  This was done in close collaboration with the Marketing Team of Mukuru Africa.  

After initial agreed solutions was signed off on, Sand Dollar Design was tasked to draft the actual app designs and refining process flows.  Solutions were provided via wireframe & Zeplin designs that was open to a review process for Mukuru Africa project Team. 

After sign off the designed solution, the designs were passed on to an internal development Team who built the API infrastructure and endpoints to be used by the app development vendor.

Sand Dollar Designs was also used in sourcing an App development vendor to built the app, using the prescribed framework.  Flutter was the language choice chosen for the built, accommodating iOS & Android.  Sand Dollar Design assisted with identifiying native paths to follow in the design ie. date picker ensureing the same quality experience for both language users. 

Development have been an ongoing journey and Sand Dollar Designs have been part of that throughout.  Reviewing and providing guidance on initial builts as well as doing usability testing.

The feedback from the usability testing was presented to Mukuru Africa with a view of what needs to be fixed before going to Production vs. tolerable to be fixed after deployment. 

Sand Dollar Design already provided some forward thinking proposals for follow-up iterations, expanding the app offering and using Customer usage of the app to better the service offering.

For all engagements and deliverables work scope documents were drafted, agreed to and signed off by both parties.  The scheduling of the work have been driven by a Agile SCRUM approach with two week Sprint cycles.

What was the team composition?

Sand Dollar provided provided the following Team make-up:

- UX Strategist/ Engagement Lead

- Senior UX Designer

- Junior UX Designer

- Visual Designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Agent App = the heuristic review done by Sand Dollar Designs, after 90% of the development was done, provided the Mukuru internal development Team with a platform from which the Agent app could be finished and launched without any roll-backs, urgent process bug fixes and/or interpretation performance issues.  The Agent app have been in the Market for 10 months, with 01 month running paralell with the existing Registration app in the market.  The design of the Agent app encouraged uptake through the Agent Army with less than a 30day turn-around period, providing Mukuru Africa to switch off the older Registration app 02 months before the intended switch off date. 

The design direction and guidance provided in the intial review by Sand Dollar Designs also paved the way for adding bigger features to the Agent app much quicker than originally planned and enabled the roll-out to new Countries at a much faster turn around time.

The key in the design direction and heuristic review is the generic approach taken in the proposed designs, allowing the internal development Team to reuse design approaches throughout.

Customer App: the full scoping & designing of the Customer app was done in a mere 02 month period.  The way the Sand Dollar Design Team approach the work is working on critical full value stream processes one at a time and then drawing generic usability from these critical processes through to the sub-ordinate flows.

This systematic approach to full value stream delivery enabled the outsource development vendor to build fully workable processes as a single delivery.  With clear critical paths built it makes the identification of dependancies on other processes clearly visible and also drives priority to a certain extent.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their is a very effective workflow between the Sand Dollar Design Team and the Mukuru Africa App development Team.  The use of Slack & Whatsapp as communication channels, with a formal email to confirm discussions have proven very usefull.  Access to designs on Lucidchart & Zeplin have to shared and treated with the required confidentiality. We agreed early on who the main contact person for each Team is, but also stressed the fact that discussions are open between all Team members, where possible.  

Input from all levels of Team members is heard, discussed and applied where applicable, but central to our working together is the mutual respect shown by both sides of the relationship. We are fortunate in that Sand Dollar Design can visit our offices frequently and they they are open to video confrencing to get decisions out quick.

Where official sign-off is required, strict timelines are in place and adhered to.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What is most impressive about Sand Dollar Design is the way in which they approach the pre-work for a proposed solution.  With our two different apps, they egaged on a very low level with the Mukuru Team to really understand:

- who the Customer is, that is going to use the app (Agent & Customer)

- what type of data Mukuru Africa require from the app to make sound Business decisions eg. new features or products

- what Mukuru Africa want to tell the world about themselves

The care and understanding that they took to get direction on the above provided us with exceptionally strong initial proposed solutions.

Reworking the prosposed solutions and getting final sign off was a very quick and seamless process and that is due to the detailed solution which were propsed in both instances.  The proposed solutions did not just span process and the ensuing screens, it already provided a rich all encompasing experience.  As Mukuru Africa we could imagine ourselves in the shoes of our Agents & Customers interacting with the mobile app under favourable and less favourable conditions.  

As a unit, they portray a highly skilled and professional outfit with a down to earth, open for business demeanor.  They are diligent in following up and deliver some extra mile efforts without being asked.

Are there any areas for improvement?

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a shareholder at a hiring software startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sand Dollar Design? 

We engaged Sand Dollar Design to help with the UX design for our software. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sand Dollar Design mapped out 64 user screens that were attached to the process flows of our software. The process flows followed candidates from the sourcing phase all the way through to placement. 

They did multiple rounds of testing for usability and provided updates according to the feedback received from those testing sessions. 

They also advised us on branding which went beyond their typical scope of work. Their team had enough expertise to support our work. 

What is the team composition? 

We worked with Jaco (Head of Consulting, Owner) and two of his team members, one was a backend developer and the other was a designer. 

How did you come to work with Sand Dollar Design?

We heard about them from a colleague that I worked with at one of the major South African banks. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2018-February 2019. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a result of their work, we had detailed wireframes that we gave to an IT company so they could develop the software. This streamlined the process a lot and made the development phase much easier.

How did Sand Dollar Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good. It was easy to communicate with them over the phone, and their team regularly came to us for in-person meetings. They were flexible, knowledgeable, and responsive. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were reliable. They did exactly what they said they would do and delivered on time. I also enjoyed their responsiveness and the ease of communication. I felt that they were invested in the success of the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

For a startup, the cost of the project was high. However, it was a worthwhile investment. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be transparent and honest upfront. Let them know what you want and what your constraints are.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Ingenious Evolution. We run a consultancy that manages funds.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sand Dollar Design?

We were addressing the design of a new e-procurement portal and needed to simplify the engagement of external suppliers.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I briefed Sand Dollar Design on the outcomes we needed to achieve with the project. They were able to translate that into deliverables. 

What is the team composition?

We work with three people.

How did you come to work with Sand Dollar Design?

Jaco (Head of Consulting, Owner) and I have known each other for a while. I’ve watched some of the work he’s done at other businesses and just engaged him on a number of topics. We happened to discuss the project, and he had some ideas. Sand Dollar Design had a variety of attributes that stood out, but I was most impressed by their ability to strategically review and use a consulting mindset while still being technically competent in UX design. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in February 2018. It’s a long-term project, so Sand Dollar Design supplies ongoing support and is still delivering outcomes we’re contracted to deliver.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure their success through the deliverables and their cost, quality, and time. These are the outcomes we need to achieve that result in a happy client. Sand Dollar Design is able to navigate these factors within reason. They’ve made a tremendous contribution to accomplishing the deliverables we need to achieve.

How did Sand Dollar Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very professional. I’m happy to not have to micromanage the process or the quality we need to meet. I can communicate the expected deadlines and outcomes, and they generally meet them. We use Trello a little bit and some Excel-based project plans.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I come from a management consultant background, and I find it painful when consultants try to push an outcome rather than a solution to a problem. Sand Dollar Design uses critical thinking that solves a problem rather than pushes a product or design. I appreciate that about them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d only recommend that they do more of what they’re good at. They communicate frequently enough, but maybe they can up that to the next level. In general, though, I’m satisfied. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Have clear deliverables, deadlines, and expectations for their communication. All those things allow for a painless process in achieving the desired outcome.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business process and support lead for Life Healthcare. We are one of the largest healthcare providers in South Africa.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sand Dollar Design?

We wanted to create a clinical information system– an electronic journey to make the management of patients through the emergency unit quicker and easier. We needed help with the research and user experience part of the development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped with researching the process we wanted to follow, business requirements, available systems, UX design, and gave a mockup of how it should look. They helped create a user experience specific to the first phase of patient management. 

The app was designed to make the “door to doctor” time shorter to minimize patient complaints. It would integrate the South African standard of quality into our system, ending the need manual for calculations. 

Their team assisted in quality design, integration testing, and user testing. Another service provider was employed to develop a system based on the specifications designed by Sand Dollar’s team.

Now, they’re working on user experience in a new system for a pharmacy department, for inventory management.

What is the team composition?

There were 5-6 people working on the project. When we went to the 2nd phase, they also brought in experts to assist us with developing the physician experience.

How did you come to work with Sand Dollar Design?

Sand Dollar was already chosen when I joined the project.

How much have you invested with them?

I wasn’t involved in the financial discussions, but I believe we invested between $100,000 - $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working on the project in November 2017, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There was a definitive deadline by which we had to produce the first phase. Sand Dollar was always on the mark with delivery. The design they presented was fresh and relevant, and everyone was quite impressed.

How did Sand Dollar Design perform from a project management standpoint?

They were always easy to communicate with. They were responsive to emails. We never had trouble getting ahold of them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I love the quality of their proposals and presentation. They did excellent research on our industry and it showed through the design presented to us. We loved working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were issues with another vendor being unable to provide a WiFi solution that delayed the project, but that was no fault of Sand Dollar.

If I was involved in another project with them, I would like them to assist in research to find the right service providers to develop the software and to design according to their requirements.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise hiring Sand Dollar to help with total management, rather than just having them look at the user experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the CTO of a financial services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Banking

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sand Dollar Design to accomplish?
Develop a new UX

SOLUTION

How did you find Sand Dollar Design?

Referral

Why did you select Sand Dollar Design over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Sand Dollar Design were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Create a reusable template to apply across our entire system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a great figma design file that we can use.

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

The project management was great, we were notified weekly via a variety of methods to ensure the project was still on track.

What was your primary form of communication with Sand Dollar Design?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their great communication skills and their ability to help out with small items that were not defined in the formal scope.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Sand Dollar Design could have done differently?

None at all!