Touchtap

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president of Tickets to the City. We're an online ticket service for small and medium-sized arts groups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Touchtap?

We needed a vendor to help us develop an app for iOS and Android. We worked with two different developers in the past, but we were not satisfied with either of them, so we started looking for a new company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted our clients to be able to scan barcode tickets at the door instead of using the box office. Touchtap developed an app that enables our clients to use cameras on their mobile devices to scan barcodes at various entry points. The app is compatible with both iOS and Android and they also helped us with the overall design. They used Sketch to share their designs and worked with us through various design proofs that we had. We were able to test the app before the launch and Touchtap helped us get it into the App Store and the Google Play store. They continue to update and support our app.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, an Android developer, and an iOS developer.

How did you come to work with Touchtap?

They were recommended to us by someone who had worked with them previously. We wanted to find a local company that could work with our budget. Touchtap understood all of our needs and had the expertise we were looking for, so we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them for about three months in 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got rave reviews from our clients. We haven't had any issues or bugs and everything has been working exactly as we had expected.

How did Touchtap perform from a project management standpoint?

We used email and phone to stay in touch and they were very responsive. I could reach them any time I needed them, so the process was moving along fairly quickly. They continue to keep us up to date with any changes that Apple or Google is making to our app.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills are exceptional. We've worked with many different vendors and communication was often an issue. With Touchtap, we felt like they were part of our team. They were easy to work with and we could communicate directly with our project manager and the developers if we had any questions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They're one of the best partners we've worked with over the past 15 years.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They're real experts. Communicate your expectations clearly and trust them. Our process with them was seamless and they've set the bar very high for any additional app development we'll be doing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the director of engineering at Musicbed. We’re a music licensing platform that allows users to search and listen to our catalog of songs and purchase licenses to use those songs in their video projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Touchtap?

We hired Touchtap to help train an in-house iOS engineer we had just hired. They also helped build a completely new version of our iOS app while walking our engineer through the process to help him understand how to maintain it. After our iOS engineer left Musicbed, we hired Touchtap to help us maintain and upgrade the app.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to upgrade our iOS app to Swift and build out a richer feature set to better match our web experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

One of our team members had done previous work with Touchtap and was very happy with the result.

Describe the project in detail.

Over a 12-month period, Touchtap helped us scope and build an entirely new version of our iOS app in Swift. During this time, they also helped train our newly hired iOS engineer who had no prior iOS experience. They delivered everything we asked for.

What was the team composition?

Only one member from Touchtap was involved in our initial build, but now we working with two members. We work directly with a project manager who keeps us on schedule, helps us understand bandwidth, and plans when our projects can ship. We also have an iOS engineer assigned to our account that’s knowledgable about our product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a huge success. Usage has increased, bugs have decreased, and users who were using our competitor’s app have switched to ours because of its usability.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It’s been amazing. Touchtap has been beyond flexible, ensuring we’re taken care of.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're able to care deeply about a project and business that's not their own. From day one, they’ve operated as part of our team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there. 

I’m the owner and operator of The Brooks at Weatherford. We’re a premier wedding venue in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Touchtap? 

We reached out to Touchtap to design a website that would help establish our brand.

What were your goals for this project? 

The goal was to create an appealing site that would represent our company well, showcase our location, and service visitors and prospective clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor? 

Our colleagues and business peers recommended them to us.

Describe the scope of their work in detail. 

We met with them often to discuss our ideas and hopes for the site. They listened to our needs and built a site that matched our requirements. This involved curating and editing content in addition to uploading photos.

What was the team composition? 

Our primary point of contact was Noah (Founder & CEO, Touchtap).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re so pleased with the look of our new site. Clients have remarked about its superior visuals, and visitors stay on the pages to read the content and browse through pictures. Not to mention, it's easy to navigate and well-crafted.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Touchtap was encouraging throughout the process. They respected our concerns and helped us represent our brand. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re a great company, and I can’t speak highly enough of their founder. He gives his all and employs a team of like-minded colleagues who focus on producing quality work.  

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I can think of. They’re dedicated to staying current and are constantly improving, growing, and learning.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and co-founder of VoiceLayer. We do push-to-talk as a platform so companies can integrate low latency, walkie-talkie functionality into their field service applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Touchtap?

We needed someone with the technical capabilities to help us develop our applications and our software development kit (SDK).

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve spent the majority of their time developing both an iOS and Android SDK. Since we're a platform as a service, the SDK allows other software development companies to integrate the push-to-talk functionality into their apps. They also provide support to our customers on how to integrate the SDK and troubleshoot problems at the application level.

They also work on mobile apps on both iOS and Android for walkie-talkie standalone use that are built on top of our platform using our SDK. It's real-time oriented to low latency and involves different kinds of audio functionality. They work in Java, Swift, and Objective-C, as well as in C on Android for some of the audio management. They coordinate with audio apps and maintain special connections that manage audio chunking and buffering.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with multiple people. We work most often with Taylor (head of engineering, Touchtap). While we've had two assigned resources when things were time sensitive, mostly we just use one resource.

How did you come to work with Touchtap?

We were actually interviewing to hire somebody full time. We did a full technical interview with one of their people. We had spent a long time trying to find the right person and he seemed like a great technical fit. So we ended up working with them even though we were initially looking for an in-house employee.

How much have you invested with them?

I don't know exactly, but it’s over $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2016 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our customers are very happy with the technical support Touchtap provides. They coordinate communication with our customers and provide technical support for both the initial and ongoing integration of the SDK into clients’ apps. They troubleshoot any issues in the SDK as well as any problems they encounter with the apps, helping us identify the source of the issue. They actually interface with our customers directly, which we allow because we have full confidence in the team.

How did Touchtap perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is great. There’s always some concern when working with a remote team, but we haven’t had any issues. They’re extremely reliable. We mostly use Slack to coordinate, and Pivotal Tracker for bug and task management. They're also very good at managing their staff hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical capability is most impressive. It's a very complicated project and we have a demanding CTO. They’ve taken on many challenges that go way beyond the initial remit. As different issues come up, they’re always able to take care of them quite effectively.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's not much I can think of. I’d like to have additional visibility into their resources so that I’d know if they have an additional person becoming available, which could potentially factor into my project planning. However, that's a pretty minor issue.