Surf

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of UX/UI division at Bank Zenit, finlab Tatneft. Bank Zenit is present in 45 cities of the Russian Federation with 11 branches and almost two hundred offices. The company is a subsidiary of PJSC TATNEFT and is rated among the Top 40 Russian banks in terms of net assets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf?

We needed to develop a unified UI / UX for the mobile banking app.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

It was a formal tender procedure. The terms were published in the public domain and Surf made the offer that fit best.

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

It is a mobile banking app where a client can make payments and transfers as well as check the accounts, deposits and credits. They can also view their spending analytics or find an ATM or a bank office on the map.

The Surf team did research and put together a UI prototype based on our wishes and existing data and using the bank's corporate colors and unified design elements. Thanks to this, the application looks cool and organically integrates into the overall style of the bank.

All new features are also implemented in the same style. What’s more, the interface was integrated with the Fast Payments System. This is a project set up by the Central Bank of Russia in order to make transfers between clients of different banks. It is developed as a part of the Open Banking initiative endorsed in Russia. The Central Bank sets strict design requirements for this module, so it took considerable effort for the Surf team to do it.

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

Art Director and 2 designers from Surf

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project that Surf made is in line with our vision and expectations. Many clients of the bank use the application and like its user-friendly interface. Moreover, it has high conversion rates. The app is under ongoing development with new features constantly added to it.

Specifically, now we are implementing about 10 new features, such as requesting information about banking products (credits, deposits, etc.) via the application without having to visit the bank, push notification service, and personal offers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our communication with Surf was quite productive. On a number of issues Surf showed their expertise and had some suggestions at hand on the best ways to implement a feature. Those suggestions were backed by analytics on user activity, thus boosting efficiency of the product and making it possible to make the right decisions at minimal risk of possible errors. Our cooperation has been going on for over two years, and that just speaks for itself - we have managed to build an effective workflow.

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

Development of a banking app is a complex and massive project. Surf has extensive experience in development and continuously impresses us with their expertise. The team has profound insights into the process. They offer interesting solutions and build on a number of similar cases in UI/UX development.

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

So far, cooperation with Surf fully meets all our expectations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Labirint is rated among the Top 3 bookshops in Russia and Top 25 online retailers on the Russian Internet. Dmitry Gordienko, lead backend developer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

We needed to tackle a few issues considering our delivery service: - the service delivering our goods to customers had to become more structured, - order status had to be updated in due time, - optimal route had to be mapped out for deliverers, - status and contents of an order had to be changeable. If a client refused to accept an order we should have been able to note that and quickly adjust the route a deliverer is on.

SOLUTION

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

We had already been working with Surf: they built our core mobile app — an online shop — and were following up on it. That’s why we didn’t think twice about what contractor to pick for our delivery system.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Surf analyzed the existing delivery system. Based on that they figured out how to integrate the web service with our database of deliverers. Over the six months they had created an app with our corporate design and fully in line with our current business process. The system is made up of the following: - A mobile app for Android tablets our deliverers have, - An admin web panel where the tablets were authorized. Deliverers don’t need to log into the app — it connects to the system with a device ID. This is what user journey looks like in this app: A deliverer is sent a list of orders, based on which they plan their route. The app creates an optimal route and helps you follow it.

In the course of their work deliverers change the status of an order, mark orders as delivered or declined, and adjust the route. Within the app they can also change the delivery date, confirm rebate, and change their schedule. Deliverers have accounts where the number of orders delivered is specified along with Top 5 employees according to a number of deliveries made. This very app was also adapted to drivers delivering goods to pick-up points. It is currently under ongoing development.

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

When the project started Surf assigned the following experts: 2 Android developers 2 Backend developers 1 designed 1 PM 2 QAs

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The system has improved the performance of deliverers and turned out beneficial for our clients.

Pros for deliverers:
- The number of deliveries per employee has grown.
- We now have an incentive program for the deliverers.
- Less time is spent on support for the deliverers.
- Deliverers spend less time collecting the orders they need to deliver from distribution centers.

Pros for clients:
- Orders can now be paid by plastic card.
- Orders are delivered faster.
- Clients can now receive automated notifications on the status of their order.
- Deliverers can be tracked as they follow their route.
- Order mixups are now less frequent.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Since we were already working with Surf, we had established effective communication. The Surf team has actively engaged with our developers, speeding up our progress. Thanks to that, for instance, it took us less time to integrate information about deliverers. Moreover, Surf was often proactive, suggesting interface improvements as well as the format and process adjustments to the mobile interface.

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

It wasn’t the first app that the Surf team has built for us. This time Surf proved their team is just as competent in web interfaces as it is in mobile development.

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

Occasionally, as we were implementing the system, there came up bugs affecting the quality of the service. Sometimes it took several days to fix them. Having a 24-hour error control service would be nice.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on July 20, 2021.

Andrey Zakhartsev

Product manager, Labirint.ru

Retail

1,001-5,000 Employees

Moscow, Russia

$200,000 to $999,999

Feb 2015 - Jan 2021

Project summary

Surf developed an iOS- and Android-friendly mobile app for an online bookstore. The team integrated multiple payment and cashback functions and adapted a visual search method based on the SqueezeNet algorithm.

Feedback summary

Equipped with ample control of their expertise, Surf rewarded their client with a reputable app, which was recognized as one of the first Instant Apps in the world and deemed as the "Best Retail Application" for Android. They utilized a constructive approach, unfailingly yielding positive results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Andrey Zakhartsev, I am head of mobile development and product manager of Labirint. Labirint is one of the three largest bookstores in Russia and one of the top 25 online retailers in Runet.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

We needed to develop a mobile application for an online bookstore with a huge number of SKUs. We needed to realize in it different authorization methods, delivery and payment options, and a complex loyalty program.

SOLUTION

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Surf has developed a mobile app for an online store for us. It is available for iOS, Android and there is a version for tablets. A huge number of SKUs are presented in the app. They are collected in a huge catalog with multi-stage nesting. In the card of any book, there is a block of actions for it, you can read a small fragment of text from it.

The application has a complex loyalty program. Users accumulate discounts that can be superimposed on each other. In addition, you can get cashback. There is a quick search for several types of content: authors, books, headings. In 2018, a visual search appeared in the application. After seeing a book in an offline store, the user can point the camera at the cover and find it in our catalog. Visual search is based on the SqueezeNet neural network, which Surf has adapted to work on mobile devices.

We were the first in Russia who used Instant Apps. The user can work with the app without installation until placing an order. Users have access to authorization by 8 social networks, phones, and other methods. The application implements several types of payment and 7 types of delivery. The application on both platforms is updated every 2-3 months, the expansion of functionality continues.

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

The Surf team included 3 Android developers, 3 iOS developers, 2 designers, 2 testers, and a project manager. After the first release, we decreased the team to 2 developers, a designer, and a tester. I led the project from the Labirint side and also 2 backend developers were also involved.

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

In order to find the most applicable company, we reviewed more than 20 top-rated developers in 2015. Surf proposed favorable terms and also it was highly motivated to complete the project on time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

In 2021 our app became the top three eCommerce Checkout Rank from the leading rating agency Markswebb. The main rating criterion is the usability of ordering. In 2019, the application took 2nd place in the ratings of the Russian quality system. The result was based on research of Google Play and the App Store in Russia.

At Google I/O 2017, Labirint was the only app from Russia among the first 50 applications in the world with Instant Apps. In 2017, the application took 1st place in the Tagline Awards 2017 in the category “Best Retail Application” for design and development for Android. In 2016, the application took 1st place in the Tagline Awards 2016 in the category “Best Retail Application” for design and development for iOS.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The Surf team was proactive. They proposed a design concept even before the project start. Interaction with them was constructive and effective. All our comments were taken into account. During our long-term cooperation, the Surf team has proved to be a reliable partner, always ready to work for the result and striving to improve our application.

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

The Surf team has shown very high technical competence. Thanks to them, we were the first in Russia to implement Instant Apps. Also, we have got intelligent visual search based on machine learning. The Surf was able to fulfill all our requirements and set up a complex loyalty system, product search, and many other parameters. The application now even outstrips the web version of our store. The team is not afraid of difficult tasks and implements them successfully. They effectively built communication and took all our demands into consideration..

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

Our collaboration with Surf has been quite effective. However, due to the complexity of the application, as well as the certain turnover of staff in testing, sometimes there were quality problems.

Star Ratings

Overall rating: 5

Quality: 4.5

Cost: 5

Schedule: 4.5

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder at Kinescope - an ecosystem of video solutions for businesses of any size. We're a SaaS company focused on building video infrastucture for the web to to handle all things video for a wide range of customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

We hired Surf team to outsource the development of mobile video player SDKs for iOS and Android platforms. Due to a limited timeframe, we had to find a contractor experienced enough in mobile development and media applications to help us boost the project.

SOLUTION

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

We have been partnering with Surf studio before since we provided our cloud services for their customers. During such collaboration, we're happy both with the expertise level and communications. Taking into account a strong professional reputation we decided to hire Surf for our internal tasks.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a series of discovery meetings with Surf to determine overall workflow and decided to start with a Swift SDK. Julia was always easy-going and professional. We have provided a draft of the technical description and access to wireframes in Figma and together we Surf's developers we've shaped it and started the process. Surf team used the sprints approach and delivered the demo before the deadlines. They were always available in case of questions and help with implementation after testing was finished.

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

A project manager was assigned to our project and Julia covered all aspects of communication perfectly and was responsive. Additionally, we had separate contact for the financial aspect and direct chat with the developer's team so we felt like they are build-in into our team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Within 3 months after release, we have positive feedback from our enterprise customers surprised with how fast we're able to roll out a set of SDKs for a range of platforms.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The project manager was amazingly available in case of questions and proactive. In the meantime, the benefit we appreciate is the development team directly accessible in the group messenger. Everything was delivered on time, both financially and legally. It was all in order and transparent as well.

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

Strong mobile development expertise, pleasant communications style, and support with the implementation.

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

Probably providing all financial and legal documents in a single point of access like Dropbox or Google Drive. In terms of communication and professional area, they deserve the highest ranking - just keep this level up to date.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Market Manager at a service dealing with mobile app promotion.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

Our service helps promote mobile apps and analyze results as well as grow and monetize products. We wanted our clients to have a mobile app providing them with quick access to end-to-end analytics and KPI monitoring. On top of that, we needed this app to become a quick and simple way to add money to an ad account balance.

SOLUTION

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

A few of our top clients recommended Surf. The company had built mobile apps for our clients and left them very happy with the collaboration. Besides that, what we had in mind was an app built with Flutter and it just so happens that Surf are quite knowledgeable about that and have a lot of successful cases. So, it all just fell together!

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We decided to divide the whole process of development into three phases: The first one was a user account where you could add money to the ad balance. The second one was a section where you could monitor the KPI of your projects. And the last one had end-to-end analytics. Once each of the phases was complete, we published a beta app for the test group of users to try.

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

Surf put up the following team to work on our mobile app: a designer, 3 flutter developers, a QA, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

By launching the mobile app our service has gained an enormous competitive advantage. Our clients find it convenient. Moreover, LTV and Retention Rate have grown substantially for the service as a whole ever since the app was launched.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The process was very efficient. Surf became a part of our team. We used our Jira and Slack. We had standup meetings together. In short, we have bonded with the Surf team over the span of this project.

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

Their experience and their focus on values crucial to the business. As for the technical side of it — extensive expertise in Flutter.

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

I’ve got nothing to say.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a real estate startup headquartered in Moscow.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

We make a listing service with new buildings and real estate developers. The service helps users make an informed decision about buying an apartment in a new house: learn about all the advantages and disadvantages, choose a cost-effective option.

At the MVP stage, we had a website with a mobile version. For the further development of the project, we needed a mobile application. With this project, we turned to Surf.

SOLUTION

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

We held several meetings with companies from the top 10 mobile developers rankings. Surf's offer turned out to be the most interesting.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We needed to make the first version of the app which would completely repeat the functionality of our site: a real estate catalog with detailed descriptions of the houses under construction, filters with various parameters, and also a catalog of apartment layouts, a map with the locations, photos of the construction progress and shooting from a quadcopter of a construction site or a built house.

Surf offered to develop a cross-platform application on Flutter in order to quickly release the first version and decrease the number of developers. Excellent! We liked this offer very much. Development took several months. We worked in two-week sprints. At the end of each sprint, Surf made a demo test build for us.

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

The Surf team was 1 designer, 3 Flutter developers, a QA, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have successfully launched the first version of the mobile app. It has a very high Retention Rate. In the first 4 weeks after the release, the number of applications from customers increased by 27%. I consider this a great success! We plan to develop the app further, add new features. I think that in the next versions the indicators will only grow.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The Surf team worked very quickly. Every two weeks we received a demo test build of the application. Communication took place mainly with the project manager on weekly calls, because it was more convenient for us.

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

Fast development while retaining high quality. I was the most impressed that there were practically no bugs in the app.

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

I have a good impression of the collaboration. Now I find it difficult to advise what can be improved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Business Development Director of a Fintech Company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

We are building a product of our own — a platform for omnichannel interactions designed for financial organisations and banks. We needed the platform to have a mobile app.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for a mobile app developer with experience in fintech development. Surf turned out to be just the candidate we needed. We were impressed by their successful cases: several apps built for banks and investment platforms.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Our platform offers customer journey analytics & omnichannel communications for banking products. We already had the backend and the API and had also launched a desktop web interface. All Surf had to do was build a mobile app. First, the design and functionality of our platform had to be adjusted to fit a mobile app. Then, a cross-platform mobile app had to be built with Flutter.

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

The Surf team had a designer, an analyst, 3 Flutter developers, a QA, and a project manager, working on our project. Our team also had a designer, a product manager, 4 backend developers and a QA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We’ve successfully launched the first version of the app and tested it out on a few of our clients. The clients were actually very pleased with the functionality and usability of the app. Now we’re scaling the app up to accommodate all of our users.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We’re very happy with our teams working together as one. We’ve been working in fortnight sprints. At the end of each sprint we were shown all the features created in it. All discussions were held in our slack channels while tasks were managed in our Jira project. It was pretty easy for the Surf team to get integrated into our development process.

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

What impressed us about Surf was the advanced skills their developers have.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the company manufacturing refractories and insulation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

Our plan was to automate our in-house processes, i.e. allocate tasks, write reports, and fill out checklists in an app. We also needed a solution where we could write down the results of our self-inspections and keep track of manufacturing compliance.

A lot of our employees work in production and need to move from one area to another. That’s why we wanted to create a solution they can install and use on their own smartphones.

SOLUTION

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

We went through a series of interviews with several mobile developers, but Surf showed the greatest interest in our project. During the negotiations they already had a prototype ready and it was fully in line with what we had in mind. So, we had no doubts about which contractor to choose.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

It’s a corporate application our employees install on their mobile devices. Our operations staff can fill out checklists or write reports and submit them for review straight away. They don’t even need to be on a computer — all of it can be done on their phone right in the workshop.

Heads of different functions can review reports and create summary sheets based on that data. They can also allocate tasks manually or automatically and keep an eye on the progress. Whenever a new task appears, an employee receives a push notification. The app is powered by a cross-platform technology — Flutter — so it works on both Android and iOS devices.

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

Surf provided us with a team of 2 Flutter developers, a designer, a business analyst, a project manager, and a QA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Thanks to automation, employees receive tasks 25% faster. Twice as little time is spent filling out and reviewing checklists and reports. What’s more, our management can now quickly access summary reports and get the idea of what’s happening at the site almost in real time.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Our collaboration has been very efficient and fruitful. Surf has an excellent way of interacting with clients: no matter what stage it was — development or rollout to production — we were always aware of what was going on and what to expect. The team took all of our comments into account and was ready for discussion whenever we needed it.

The company kept proving they have extensive technical expertise. For instance, they suggested we use Flutter, which saved us roughly 30% of the budget.

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

Their proactivity and extensive technical skills are commendable. Surf often anticipated our questions and suggested improvements to the project even before the idea hit us. Moreover, Surf has got extremely savvy experts and a huge experience.

They don't just develop an app — they suggest ways to improve or optimize the whole process. For one, they suggested introducing a BYOD (bring your own device) concept — employees installed the app on their own smartphones which saved us the trouble of buying corporate mobile devices.

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

I hope Surf remains as skillful as they are because IT technologies seem to evolve in quantum leaps. Right now it’s a great pleasure to collaborate with Surf. It’s been very efficient, and I can only wish the team to keep up the good work!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m Head of Design and Development of Online Products at JSC Tander (Magnit (™)). Our company owns the largest retail chain in Europe — Magnit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf?

We needed to design a user interface for our mobile app. The app was going to have a loyalty program for customers of our supermarket chain.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We published a tender for UI design of the app. The concept that Surf proposed turned out to be the most interesting one and reflected what we had in mind the best.

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

Together with Surf we have been working on this app for over 5 years, constantly upgrading it. At first it was a simple app the main goal of which was to digitize the loyalty program. Basically, it meant that instead of plastic cards customers would be able to use a virtual loyalty card in their app. Then we kept adding new features to the app: personal coupons and offers, quick search for promos and sales at nearest supermarkets. Recently we’ve added a valuable function — a payment service Magnit Pay. Now the users can add funds to their accounts in the app and then use it to pay for the goods getting more bonuses and discounts. What we’re striving to do is expand the capabilities of the loyalty program and gradually turn the app into a super app.

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

2 UX/UI designers, a project manager, and a business analyst

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Users have commented on the usability of the design. It has really driven the growth of our loyalty program. There are currently over 10 million people taking advantage of our loyalty program and the share of purchases made with the loyalty card is over 50%. This means, the supermarket can identify half of its customers and acquire a huge amount of data helping us make effective business decisions.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have established an effective workflow. Designers made a prototype for the first version of the app and ran UX tests on a focus group. As a result the final version of the design was created. Later on when we were upgrading the app, Surf’s designers and analysts thoroughly examined the user analytics, proposed hypotheses and ran A/B testing.

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

Surf is highly experienced in everything to do with UX/UI design of mobile apps. I was happy about the way they can engage with the user audience, the close attention they pay to user analytics and user interviews — all of that helped us continuously improve user experience of our app and deliver great results.

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

We’re very pleased with our collaboration with Surf. We can’t really tell what could be improved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product manager at Performance Food. Our company is a foodtech startup. At the moment, it is the largest grocery delivery service in Russia. We specialize in preparation and delivery of healthy meals made of natural products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

We needed to develop a mobile application with a modern user-friendly UI that would help improve the level of service for our premium brand customers.

SOLUTION

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

We chose Surf because this company has a lot of experience in developing foodtech applications. We were confident that Surf would be able to develop a convenient and effective mobile application for us.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Our nutritionists develop individual nutrition programs for clients, based on the desired results, taking into account the state of health, occupation, lifestyle, habits, and even hobbies. The diet helps our clients achieve their goals in due course and in a healthy way, improving their mental and emotional well-being. The mobile app is a convenient tool to manage your subscription to a personalized nutrition program. Users can adjust when and where the food should be delivered as well as switch to other food programs or extend the existing one. It is also possible to manage several food programs at once if the user orders several diets, e.g. a diet for the whole family.

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

3 developers on iOS and Android each, 1 QA, a designer, an analyst, and a manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Surf has developed a great mobile app for us. It has significantly improved the quality of service for our premium customers. Customers can now manage deliveries and resolve support issues right in the mobile app. Thanks to this, the average bill and LTV increased and new customers came. The application has predictive analytics, enabling the client to determine which of the users is losing interest in the service so as to retain them before they leave. Based on analytical data, the application puts together personal offers for each user: from discounts and promos to changing the menu. This feature has also boosted Lifetime Value.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The cooperation process was very clear and transparent. We were always aware of what lay ahead at the next stage. The team adapted to our requirements and wishes in a flexible manner and promptly made the corresponding changes. In addition, we were very impressed with the suggestions that Surf made based on their experience.

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

Surf has vast experience in mobile development in a wide variety of areas. Therefore, their level of expertise in technical matters and communication is very high. In addition, the way Surf regards clients is very similar to the way we do. They strived to provide us with a product of the highest possible quality.

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

The collaboration was productive and very effective, and it’s hard to tell what needs to be improved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Producer at Medium Quality, an entertainment video content company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Surf, and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop our own mobile video platform that would make it easier for subscribers to access our content, make us less dependent on YouTube as a content distributor, and would also allow us to monetize views and publish new content formats.

SOLUTION

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

Surf is the first and only company we have partnered with in mobile development. As soon as we started discussing the project, it became clear that Surf is the best choice in terms of resources and process management. The company had everything we needed: designers and expertise in both front-end and back-end development. In addition, we quickly came to a complete understanding of how the final product was supposed to look and function. Therefore, we had no need to look for other contractors.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Surf has provided us with a video streaming service, giving our users access to more than 40 shows. We have implemented many additional features for users: they can subscribe to their favorite actors and comedians, get access to exclusive content or paid previews of the shows a week before their official premiere. The mobile app is developed with the Flutter framework.

This helped us shorten the time to market and launch the product as quickly as possible. With its help, it was possible to reduce the development time by 30%. Surf has developed a platform with all the infrastructure: backend, CDN, and admin web interface to help manage content and monitor statistics.

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

On the Medium Quality’s side, the team consisted of a creative director, a product manager, and content managers. Surf provided 2 designers, 1 front-end developer, 2 back-end developers, 2 DevOps, 2 QAs, 4 Flutter developers, 1 manager, and 1 systems analyst.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have successfully launched the MVP. Users like the UX and quality as well as how fast the player responds and downloads the videos. The definition is adjusted to the Internet speed, the videos are cached. The videos can also be streamed to a TV screen. The mobile application has a user-friendly interface. Now we are actively upgrading our product together with Surf: we are working on user engagement and expanding our audience.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Surf has mature and streamlined communication processes. The project manager, analyst, and designer worked with me directly. There is a general channel to which all the team members are added. Once a week we had a mandatory conference call, where we discussed progress, our plan of action, deadlines, user analytics, and the backlog. In general, it has been a positive experience. Their team is always easy to reach, quickly responds to feedback, and adapts to process changes. All communications are extremely transparent: at each stage, we knew what was happening, where we were going, and when we would come to it.

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

What surprised me was that Surf has deep expertise in everything related to mobile development, is dedicated to their projects, and able to constantly improve the product. Even after the release, we continue to work on the application together, updating and improving it.

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

We continue to cooperate with Surf and we are completely satisfied with the level of competence and the way processes are perfectly aligned within the team.