TheGravity

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a fintech startup providing investment knowledge access to the wider masses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TheGravity?

We were developing a prototype and had strong skills in terms of financial engineering, marketing and more but lacked frontend development. We needed support in order to technologically develop the solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We put down specs on a piece of paper, but we don’t come from a tech background. We gave TheGravity an algorithm we developed in Excel and had them convert that into a truly functioning web version. There weren’t strict guidelines in implementing it. The platform was built using AngularJS and Symfony.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a Scrum master from their end and there were two or three developers involved in the background.

How did you come to work with TheGravity?

They were referred to us by a common friend. We spoke to the team and found them to be reactive and straightforward. They also had a lower cost than average. Their attitude made us prefer them over anyone else.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work was around €10,000 [$12,000].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with TheGravity in March 2016. We’ve gone past the prototype stage, which took 18 months to complete, and we are working on an MVP.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We provided them with designs we’d tested with users so KPIs were more a matter of delivering on time, which they did.

How did TheGravity perform from a project management standpoint?

They were good in terms of maintaining deadlines, keeping us informed, and making clear what we had to achieve. We communicated 3–4 times per week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve appreciated their patience and didactic approach. We were not the easiest client to work with, but TheGravity did a good job. They had a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve and applied rigorous thinking to it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

With waterfall software development, we need to be extremely detailed on what we want them to do and for what reasons. TheGravity could improve by serving more as a client source for suggestions in methodology and the creative process.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Brainstorm what needs to be done ahead of time and have a detailed view of it from frontend and backend points of view. TheGravity can be a great supporting team for a project rather than the core team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are based in Romania and we have an e-commerce website which has online sports goods and related outdoor products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TheGravity?

We were growing and we needed new things integrated and processes needed to be optimized. Even though I have an IT background and I built the website, TheGravity mentioned some things that needed work on the site. Before hiring them, I did the research on what to implement, but they also helped a lot.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When I first reached out to them, I told them what I wanted to have developed, what I wanted the site to be integrated with, and what our short-term plans were. They helped us prioritize everything and managed everything about the project including what to do first and why. They even came up with solutions for how to connect the warehouse management system that we used back then. They came up with the best practices of how we do things today.

Right now, they are still implementing things and we will have a new release in January. They have a lot of suggestions on how to handle an automatic process faster and cheaper. They built the functionality for the website, and when they did that, they had in mind how to reach our goals.

We used Magento for the website and for the backend, they used PHP. They used JavaScript to implement the third party systems that we use, while the frontend was in HTML.

What is the team dynamic?

I mostly talk to Danny [project manager, TheGravity]. I talk to him and another contact any time I need something. I tell them what I want and they let me know the cost. They also give suggestions on the project. I don’t know how many people are working on the project in total.

How did you come to work with TheGravity?

We are both from Romania. I was initially thinking to outsource to an Asian country because of the price. I was trying to think of how to make communication easier across different time zones, but considering that Romania has a lot of relatively inexpensive outsourcing companies, I started to ask around. I worked with some outsource companies in the past, but they don’t do anything with Magento or PHP. However, I’ve known someone who works at TheGravity for a long time and that’s how we found them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2009 and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Something we did that they suggested, was to externalize the depo that we use. Today, we are using a fulfillment company. 

In thinking about metrics, we don’t have any hassle with people right now. We have statistics coming from the company that is doing the fulfillment for us. Every connection on our software communication between them and our processes was done exclusively by TheGravity at their suggestion.

How did TheGravity perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints about that. We’re in constant contact with them. I tell them the features that I need or any connections I need with third parties, and they handle everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s easy to communicate with them because they speak my language and they’re in my time zone. They’re available when I’m available so there’s no hassle. Compared to what it would cost for me to do this project in Western Europe or America, their prices are affordable. I don’t have to investigate and figure out how to optimize processes myself. They’re a big help.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re in the process doing more automatized stuff. In a discussion with them earlier this month, we made plans to automate some accounting processes in the first part of next year. That will help us spend less on accounting.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to be straightforward with them and let them know what you want and what you are trying to achieve. Let them know what your worries are in terms of cost or development time. They will be straightforward in return.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cora is a Belgian-French hypermarket retail company with around 70 stores in our home countries and 11 in Romania. I’ve been working for the company for about 15 years, mostly in the advertising department that I run.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TheGravity?

I needed to create a below the line (BTL) application for our anniversary through which we could endorse our fidelity cards and update client data. The main objective was to bring more activity to the stores and update our data.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I gave a brief to TheGravity who came back to me with an app and a solution for the devices I needed to scan. It enabled us to scan customers’ fidelity cards and update their data, rewarding them with fidelity points. The team set up an algorithm that gave customers a chance to win between 10 and 10,000 fidelity points based on traffic and the budget we wanted to spend on the action.

We had a second project with TheGravity. We wanted to ask all our colleagues what ideas they had about improving our client interactions, as well as what management could do in order for employees to feel better about their work. We had a discussion with TheGravity and clarified some specifications for the platform within a few weeks. They collaborated with our IT colleagues around stress tests and importing employee data in order to make personal profiles for everyone.

For the first project, I knew what I wanted and what needed to be delivered, but the second one was more complex. We wanted to crystalize some objectives and gave the team a less structured brief. They came back with pertinent questions that sometimes opened our eyes. The 5 managers from our side involved in the implementation group discussed the questions together. The web design process went smoothly. I gave them guidelines from our creative agency, which they implemented quickly.

What is the team composition?

Our own decision group had 5 members from different cities.

How did you come to work with TheGravity?

I received a referral for their company while looking for a partner to program our BTL-action app. I called and asked if they had the ability to build the app. They told me they could do it in 2 weeks, so I accepted.

How much have you invested with them?

It was a significant amount, in the tens of thousands of euros range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with TheGravity in August or September 2016. The first brief for our second project was made in November 2016. By the first of January, we had already clarified all the specifications we wanted. We had a clear quotation, and we could approve a budget. The app and platform are complete. We wanted to make a continuation of the project but are still considering it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There wasn’t a lot for me to add or modify on TheGravity’s work other than fine-tuning. I work with a creative agency and know how important it is to understand the client and deliver a quality output.

The platform did very well. Within 2 days, all our 4,500 employees were required to submit an innovation idea on 5 specific topics. We were hoping to see at least 6,000 ideas, but we received almost 25,000, or 6 per employee. We were laughing with one eye and crying with the other since we had to evaluate all those suggestions. Since TheGravity had access to all the data, they offered to create a filter based on keywords I provided, in order to see what the trends and big ideas were among our employees. It was smart of them since it meant that we could do further business together, and it was something I appreciated. It was also interesting for us.

How did TheGravity perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a smooth collaboration. We gave them a brief, and they came back with follow-up questions. The demo app was delivered far before the deadline for us to present to our board. This was the reason why, 2 months later, our president asked me to work on another, internal communication project for which we needed a platform.

TheGravity brought both their IT team as well as business people, who addressed questions about the process and acted as devil’s advocates thinking about all the possible issues that could occur. The scope was huge with 4,000–5,000 users who could post their ideas, and we wanted to do it right. The team helped us even when we didn’t pick up all ideas.

We used telephone, Skype, and email for communication, the latter for more structured messages. TheGravity also visited our headquarters twice.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are reliable, provide great customer service, and are generally smart, funny people who can do a job quickly and well. What I’ve loved the most about collaboration and what convinced me to choose them was that everything went smoothly. If we had a problem, I could be sure there would be a solution. Nothing was complicated with TheGravity, and they were always available.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything went well. A partnership is like a marriage and there can be problems now and then, but TheGravity really listened to us. I have nothing bad to say about the collaboration, on the contrary.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If you come up with a structured idea, it is impossible to not to find a solution for your business if you work with TheGravity. The most important part is that they are very involved in the project and come up with fresh, innovative ideas. Be prepared to work with a partner, not a supplier