Telescopic

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Impact and Digital Delivery of a non-profit company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a charity working with children and families to improve school attendance and maximise educational opportunities and improve life chances.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Review and restructure how data is collected and stored by SHS
• Reduce the administrative burden on practitioners and the central team
• Provide a tool which facilitates practitioner workflows and consolidates data collection in to one platform

SOLUTION

How did you find Telescopic?

Referral

Why did you select Telescopic over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Telescopic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of the work was to implement a low code application solution for data inputting, linked to live reporting dashboards. The project had three main phases / key deliverables. 

1. Planning phase, which included consultation workshops with teams to identify workflows and system process needs
2. Execution phase, which involved creating the app and database and migrating data
3. Testing phase, which involved UAT and QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main measurable outcomes were:

• creation of an app for data input
• users report back time savings and alignment with workflows for data inputting
• live reports for regularly used metrics

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

Project management was excellent. We had clear communication on project progress and timelines. They were excellent at guiding us on any risks or scenarios to consider when we presented them with functionality requests, eg. risks or scenarios such as data duplication or security. They were quick to respond to any requests or questions we had and were fully transparent along all steps of the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Telescopic?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I was most impressed by the efforts they made to ensure the solution proposed was the best for our needs - functionality, workflows and budget. They made sure in their planning phase that they met with those who would be using the system to fully understand their workflows and relate those to the project deliverables.

They were also open to feedback as the project progressed which allowed us to agree ad-hoc enhancements, some in budget and some at extra cost. Their approach has made us feel confident in their technical expertise, and the end solution has met our expectations. Very impressive team work - Telescopic really do collaborate with us the client.

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

We are currently exploring a new project with Telescopic, so that is evidence of the success of this project and how little they could have done differently. There are no areas of improvement that I would suggest currently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Commercial Director of British Fencing

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The National Governing Body for the Olympic and Paralympic Sport of fencing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To get an app developed by another agency working and over the lin
• To help streamline our digital objectives, to provide a realistic roadmap
• To deepen and widen our customer database

SOLUTION

How did you find Telescopic?

Referral

Why did you select Telescopic over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Telescopic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

British Fencing app data CMS The mobile application need some modifications, however the main aim was to keep all API endpoints as close to the existing data structure as possible, so that it was not necessary to implement big changes in the mobile application itself 

• Set up of a multisite instance for the Explore Fencing application / available on Desktop 
• Allow adding and management of individual games. Set up custom post types and taxonomies for Explore Fencing games including 
• Set up API endpoints 
• In more detail: 
  • Transfer users into Wordpress database 
  • Set user permissions 
  • User login API 
  • Forgotten password API & email 
  • Get Games API / Set up Games custom post types and taxonomies
  • App user management 
  • Test and then deploy

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Had a super easy to use backend CMS to create content and users 
• The CMSis API ready meaning connections and efficiencies for integrating into other processes 
• Desktop version of the app that could be accessed anywhere and by anyone that drives engagement and new business opportunities 
• A key asset for our licensed partner programme as we distribute all lesson plans and resources through the app

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

Used monday.com and connected into Slack. Made collaboration really easy and efficient. Project Manager Tom was proactive and responsive, supporting senior leaders of Telescopic so we always felt in the loop. All developments and decisions were communicated, so no perceived delays. 

There were instances where more time was needed and this was articulated and time spent explaining the why behind the further development, which we were happy with. We felt included in the development but not overwhelmed by the level of communication. 

The project management style I felt was extremely consultative and they were able to learn about us and join up the dots on this particular scoped-out project as well as add value to other projects that were or would be happening.

What was your primary form of communication with Telescopic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their ability and desire to convey the development and technical issues in a way that a lay-person could understand. They respected and understood we did not have an IT expert or CTO so took the time and effort to use examples to flesh out their strategic thoughts on the project, so met us as a client where our knowledge base was with a bucket load of patience. 

Thus, overtime as an organisation we have learnt more about digital transformation in what is a long term approach to partnership working. I appreciated their candidness and constructive feedback on our work as well as coming up with development pieces of work that met budget expectations and development stage gates that would dovetail from the last piece of work to the next new part.

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

They are an agency that seem to be growing and communicated this to us, so I know they are building out there team successfully. There were no issues with communication, but I do hope that the team being built will enable the great co-founders the time to be even more strategic with clients and not have to over deliver operationally to meet their own high standards on customer service.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Director of TARKA London

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We run developmental exercise classes for children.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Build and design a new website

SOLUTION

How did you find Telescopic?

Referral

Why did you select Telescopic over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Telescopic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Consultation with us to identify requirements and develop full project scope within the set budget 
• Market survey and presentation of implementation options 
• Full specification of website and booking tool including user journeys 
• Light-touch rebranding - modifying existing brand assets, researching and establishing typography and colour palette for digital use. A full rebranding exercise, including creating new brand assets, print materials and evaluating the brand will entail extra cost. 
• Digital design for desktop and mobile devices 
• Front and back end development, including integration and configuration of chosen booking/scheduling tool 
• Server, hosting and devops configuration 
• Quality assurance testing 
• 1 month bug fixing guarantee

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Regular meetings throughout the project where I could see milestones were met and always on time. Very good communication from the team. Clear structured plan and steps for the project.

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

They responded very well to our needs, and we certainly felt listened to. The milestones were met on time which was very reassuring for us whilst the project was taking place.

What was your primary form of communication with Telescopic?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

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

I think what stood out the most to us was how clear and structured their process was from the beginning. If I was ever unsure about anything, I knew that I could just pick up the phone and they always had an answer for me. What I also really liked was that their team always looked ahead, warning me that in X amount of time they needed something from me, which meant that I could manage this project alongside my other work, rather than suddenly being landed with information and content they needed from me- this was a massive help. 

They are also just a really lovely and approachable team. They would always offer their advice and opinions, but I never felt like I was being pushed into a corner.

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

No! They were at the higher end of our budget, but having a great working site that our clients find incredibly easy to use was worth the money.