Untold Studio

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I used to work as a senior manager in the digital department at United Natural Foods, which is the distributor of organic and natural foods to supermarkets. I managed all their websites and digital applications, such as the ordering portal and mobile application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Untold Studio? 

Our digital properties were on a variety of platforms and servers. We needed to bring them under one umbrella and be able to manage them with fewer resources. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Untold Studio helped us analyze our existing websites and applications. They came up with a plan and approach, including using Drupal as our sole platform. Then they helped us to convert everything so that all our brand sites were under one umbrella on Drupal.

We also worked with them to build out a supplier portal so that buyers could sign up to work with us. They offered strategic consultation about mobile development. Untold Studio provided additional technical resources as needed.

What is the team composition? 

I generally worked with 3–5 people, including Drupal developers, frontend developers, and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with Untold Studio?

I worked with Kevin (Co-Founder, Untold Studio) when he was working for another company. When he left to start his own company, I followed. They were the people that I relied on and had a good relationship with. I found them so valuable that I didn't want to lose that connection. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere between $500,000–$1,000,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement? 

Work started in early 2013. The engagement was still ongoing when I left the company about two years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Untold Studio always came in on time and on budget. I sometimes felt like I was taking advantage of them because of how often we changed the scope of work. They were so understanding and flexible. I really respected and appreciated that about them. 

Their work wasn't necessarily correlated to sales, but I was able to reduce staff down to 1–2 people to support our digital properties. Before we moved to one platform, it took 4–5 resources because there were so many different languages and platforms. 

How did Untold Studio perform from a project management standpoint? 

They were fantastic. Untold Studio made it really easy to use third party tools (e.g., Slack, Trello, and Jira) and share information without any issues. When I was in a real bind—if I lost a resource or something broke—they were the people I called to troubleshoot. They always got on the phone to figure it out right away; they never just put us in a queue. It was very personal and super supportive. Untold Studio got me out of several tough situations with tight deadlines. They worked nights and weekends to help as needed to support us.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

They don't bring egos into their work. Untold Studio has intelligence and experience but we never made me feel stupid. They felt like people I've been friends with my whole life who were there to support and help me. It's a great group of people with great personalities. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No. There was nothing that didn’t go smoothly. They fixed what other people broke.

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Don't think about them in just the project perspective such as building a website. Talk to them about your business problems, and Untold Studio will help you solve them. Don't try to put them in a box. Let them help you figure out the right technical solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a software engineering manager at Nokia Bell Labs. We're the research arm of Nokia, which is a multinational network equipment manufacturer of more than a hundred thousand employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Untold Studio?

We were looking to bridge the gap between our research and products. We needed a vendor to help us further develop our product concept.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our in-house team had developed a prototype of a software system, and Untold Studio helped us turn it into an actual product. The software includes a client side, which is a mobile application, and a web app. Untold Studio was helping us with the applications for iOS and Android as well as the web app. They used Swift for the iOS app, Kotlin and RxJava on the Android side, and React JS for the web app. In addition, they helped us with QA and testing.

What is the team composition?

We started with one and ended with six members of their team over the course of the relationship. They provided technical project managers, iOS, Android and web developers, all of which were integrated into our in-house team.

How did you come to work with Untold Studio?

One of our subcontractors was working with Untold Studio and introduced us. As time went by, we started doing more and more work with Untold Studio. We extended our contract with them several times and we were always happy with their work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $1–5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2016 and we just recently wrapped up the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very happy with Untold Studio's work. They have a lot of expertise with our platforms, so they could work with the requirements that were not very well defined. They were able to prototype different versions of our ideas, take into account our additional requirements, and then deliver a high-quality product.  

How did Untold Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed four different development projects and they did a great job. We had daily phone calls and we also used a messaging app to stay in touch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very flexible and easily adapted to the dynamic circumstances. Also, they're knowledgeable and experienced, so we could rely on them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Integrate them into your team and rely on their technical expertise. Let them showcase their strengths.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was a digital solutions architect for United Natural Foods, a natural and organic food distributer in North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Untold Studio?

Untold was hired to add an enhancement to our Supplier Portal that would, in essence, rebuild a legacy system, allowing suppliers to schedule their fleets for delivery at our distribution centers.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to build a frontend layer that could interface seamlessly with legacy systems and integrate into our existing cloud-based supplier portal. The new system had to preserve supplier credentials and permissions without requiring a large budget or deep changes to the underlying legacy systems.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Untold was part of an RFP that went out to vendors and partners. They were selected for their expertise and a demonstrated understanding of the concepts and the technology necessary to get the job done. They could also speak fluently to the needs of the project in advance.

Describe the project in detail.

The project relied on building out micro-services, Angular2 code, and an enhanced CI/CD pipeline for smooth delivery. They worked in our existing LAMP environment, using the latest tools (Composure).

We used our standard agile iterative software delivery model. Cooperating with the legacy team, Untold was able to deliver on time and adapt to necessary changes as they were revealed during iterative testing.  

What was the team composition?

We worked with a small team of 2–3 developers and a project lead from Untold.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project launched on time and budget, with all bugs resolved by launch.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was extremely effective. They were very responsive and melded well with both our internal agile process and our legacy team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They had a deep understanding of the technology and delivered very clear instructions during deployment. They were smooth and hand-offs regarding management.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They were a small team, so I would take that into consideration for future projects. Otherwise, I had zero complaints.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the partner, executive producer, and creative director at Upswell, a digital storyteller that works primarily with media and software development for interactive experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Untold Studio?

We were building an app for prototyping and demonstration that would help our end client (a fortune 500 telecommunications company) test research ideas. We’d reached the limits of our internal dev team’s capabilities, so we needed a partner to help with the rest. We eventually shifted the work and project management completely to Untold Studio.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Untold Studio managed and did dev for an iOS, Android, and web platform that integrated with numerous APIs and interacted with data from various sources. They also integrated the app with other third-party services and implemented message services like email and chat. Beyond those features, the team also added an intelligent search function.

Our internal team managed the project from a high level, overseeing the overall resourcing and administration of the contract. Untold Studio handled the technical management and implementation of the app. They also trained new developers that the end client brought on in order to manage the app internally.

What is the team composition?

The provided a technical project manager, lead iOS developer, and lead web developer. There was also a team of developers under them.

How did you come to work with Untold Studio?

One of our employees had worked with them before and referred them. We interviewed them and saw that they had good credentials and the technical capabilities that we needed, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $1.75 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January 2017–May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We couldn’t have done this project without them. They managed the entire technical workflow that we didn’t have the resources to accomplish. The end client was happy with the product.

How did Untold Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed the work using standard agile dev tools, like Jira, Scrum, and burn reports. They met daily with the end client’s product owners and maintained open communication. We used Confluence to share documents across all the teams and Slack to facilitate communication. They excelled at project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provided experienced iOS and Android developers who were well-versed in agile development practices. The team was flexible and collaborative, working with numerous external teams to complete the project. They were organized and had critical thinking skills that let them manage their time and resources extremely well. Compared to many other firms, they were much more knowledgeable and capable of accomplishing our project goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know how they could’ve improved. They had a talented dev team.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Allow them to be a full consultation service. They can provide impressive strategic solutions and technical know-how if you let them. Be open and transparent about what you need because they’ll do their best to meet expectations and will let you know if they can’t do something.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of Wanderwell, an independent travel insurance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Untold Studio?

We hired Untold Studio to take over the development and maintenance of our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team worked to solve any bugs on the backend, working in Angular and Django frameworks.  They integrated our site with a transactional email API service and a Facebook Pixel code. The team also updated our site with new insurance plans and rates, as well as a privacy policy. Throughout the partnership, they identified and solved any errors encountered by customers or internal stakeholders.

What is the team composition?

My main points of contact were Steve Winters (Co-Founder, Untold Studio) and Kevin McConnaughay (Co-Founder, Untold Studio).

How did you come to work with Untold Studio?

We found them because we were located in the same coworking space in Portland.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $15,000 – $20,000 in their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2016. Our partnership ended in August 2018 when their largest client asked them to work almost full time for 6–8 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Successful purchases on our site increased, and unsuccessful transactions decreased. The backend also ran more smoothly, supporting a better UX for both internal stakeholders and customers.

How did Untold Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They always provided an estimate of the required resources for each project stage, and they never missed a deadline. In fact, they usually had resources left over and were able to perform additional work. We collaborated on the phone, email, and quite often in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team emphasized building a relationship based on a foundation of trust. We appreciated how they always claimed responsibility for any errors and solved them free of cost.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We gave them feedback on their SEO work, and I’ve already noticed that they’ve made these improvements for other clients. I would love to work with them on future projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to be responsive to their questions and open to possibilities. They are industry experts who will provide a wealth of suggestions after they’ve built a relationship based on mutual understanding.