Visiata

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital customer acquisitions lead for an e-commerce platform that allows people to personalize shirt pins. Someone looking to make a pin with the Canadian flag, for example, can come to our website, order it, and have it delivered directly to their location.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Half Tech?

The biggest problem we were facing at the time was gaining engagement on the platform. We didn't see too many clicks from the people coming to the site, and we didn’t know why that was nor did we have the data to understand why we had a high volume of views one month and the very little the next. We basically wanted a more holistic understanding of what was going on.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I reached out to them and explained our problem, and they helped us create a web app using React and MongoDB, with a backend dashboard that allows us to pull analytics from the website. The design is completely theirs, and they provided 5–6 different templates to choose from. All we had to do was give them our image assets.

Additionally, they created a prototype of a native iOS app so that we could show it to our executives. While there are still some mixed signals regarding whether to create an app or not, we will definitely contact Half Tech for iOS and Android app development. At the moment, we chose to only have our web platform on React because we wanted to have the simplest version that we could still show internally.

What is the team composition?

I was primarily in touch with Abu (Co-Founder, Half Tech), who worked as the tech lead. Some of my software engineers were in touch with the ones on their side, but I didn’t communicate with them directly. All the high-level communication was between me and Abu.

How did you come to work with Half Tech?

I was against outsourcing work in any form, but a close referred Half Tech to me based on a previous experience, so I took a look. I’ve worked with outsourced companies before, and the biggest problem I’ve seen is communication.

Once I had an initial conversation with Half Tech, I witnessed amazing communication on their part, and they helped us smooth over some of the challenges I had in mind for the web app. Their prices were also amazing; had we done the same project here in Quebec, it would’ve cost us much more.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Half Tech from April to July 2018. The deliverables took three months to complete, and we had another three months after that of testing and sending requirements back and forth.

While they’ve delivered the MVP so that we can run our tests on, I’m still in touch with Abu once a month in case there are other things they can help us with. He suggested using a Mixpanel module to understand the website a bit better.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now understand how many views were landing each day and can do A/B testing from our backend services. If we changed the design of the website or made it more user-friendly, we’d know if it led to more visitors.

Since the work is quite recent, we’ve yet to see tangible results from the project. If we do see some, we’ll definitely move forward with more integrations and native mobile app development. What I can say is that Half Tech’s work was as good as having it done in-house. Overall, the quality of their work was impressive and I don’t have many reservations about it.

How did Half Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed really well—better than I expected. The only obstacle we experienced was the time zone difference, which delayed communication a bit, but it's something neither of us can fix. Project management was based in Asana, and everything was communicated virtually between us and them, which was impressive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The entire design was user-friendly, intuitive, and creative in a simple way. We didn’t expect all our pages to look as polished as they do. Half Tech delivered on all fronts and provided detailed documentation to our development team was impressive as well. If we stopped working with Half Tech tomorrow, we’d still have all the information to continue running the project on our own, internally. Our internal QA team told us that their work was on par with our own.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There could’ve been more productivity tools leveraged. We use Slack for our internal communication and know that using it across countries would’ve resulted in better communication across both our teams instead of relying on emails and text messages. At the same time, I can understand that they might not have the financial capability to install the software we use.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Instead of casually browsing through things, it’s good to come up with a plan of specific deliverables. It’s better to have documentation of all the requirements and how long the process should take before even reaching out to vendors.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company manufactures and exports denim fabrics, producing collections for several brands. As the creative head, I analyze trends to understand how they affect manufacturing while also curating a culture so that people can understand where trends come from.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Half Tech?

To appeal to European markets, we decided to take a more design-oriented approach to our advertising, which was something that many people weren’t doing. We wanted a parallax-based site, integrating strong graphic design elements to tell our story. Half Tech came on board to develop the site before expanding their involvement to our internal system and tablet/mobile apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The engagement consisted of three projects and six deliverables: designing the site, setting up the financial detailing and archives for our internal system, and building the complementary tablet and native iOS/Android apps.

For the website, Half Tech’s team was responsible for the overall design and development. It was important to convey our story with a narrative-driven aesthetic, so they worked closely with us to understand our vision. Together, we selected the images, typography, and visual effects. This was a bit of a challenge because we were particular about our graphics and how we used them. After numerous iterations, the site is now nearly complete, however, we paused production because we wanted to find the right footage for our web page.

For the internal system and apps, Half Tech proposed and developed a set of custom mobile/tablet apps to manage client transactions. The apps sync with our internal system, allowing us to access the client’s email and order from a selection of fabrics. Once we process the transaction, it’s logged into our system for our internal team to review. We currently use the apps when attending conferences across Europe.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with 2–3 resources, including a digital front specialist and a business developer. Abu (Co-Founder, Half Tech) was the tech lead on their side and my preferred point of contact. He came up with the idea to use integrated apps.

How did you come to work with Half Tech?

I was looking for a local agency that could do a parallax-based site but couldn’t find any developers. Since I’d worked with Abu 5–6 years ago on a project, I reached out to see if he was up to the task. He told me about his company Half Tech, and we went from there.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January–September 2016, but the projected timeline was 5–6 months. We faced some delays because we went through so many iterations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although the competition is fierce, the response has been really positive. People have complimented our site for its creative direction, and other companies have approached me for advice on their sites.

How did Half Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Because a lot of people needed to review and approve the assets, Abu suggested using Asana to coordinate the projects. Aside from that, we communicate through email, telephone, and a few in-person meetings to go over iterations. The development could’ve been a bit faster, but that’s not entirely their fault; it’s just the nature of these projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I liked that they understood where we were coming from. I have a creative background, too, so I know how difficult it is to work with a creative engine while also navigating guidelines and managing expectations. Despite this, Half Tech was well-balanced from a technical and artistic direction. They were a young, enthusiastic company with a unique approach to marketing. The team was happy to tackle any problem.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While I understand that a technical team might only communicate as necessary, we needed quick, consecutive follow-ups. I would have appreciated more frequent updates on this front.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust Half Tech’s process and be involved; with a bit of time, this will help them better understand your product and needs. They’re the kind of team that doesn’t hesitate to make changes or provide different ideations to make sure that everyone is on the same page.