Vokke

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder & CEO of Critical Info

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

A Saas platform for you to learn about end of life choices, document and share with loved ones. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build platform

SOLUTION

How did you find Vokke?

Referral

Why did you select Vokke over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Australian data servers & company

How many teammates from Vokke were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Planning & Design Phase
Requirements specification documentation
High-fidelity UI/UX designs for all key pages and flows
Process flow diagrams and technical documentation
Project charter, including:

Communication plan
Rollout plan
Data migration plan
 
Build & Development Phase
Iterative software planning and design (agile delivery)
Full-cycle software development
Software testing and QA
Cloud deployment of software components
Project management oversight and coordination
Includes access to:

Full-time senior developer
As-needed QA engineer, product owner, project manager, senior product manager, and solutions architect
 
Ongoing Infrastructure Management
Managed infrastructure hosting
24/7 infrastructure incident monitoring and response
Application monitoring and maintenance
Regular backups and backup verification
Disaster recovery (twice-yearly live testing with reporting)
Weekly threat intelligence review and proactive patching (CVSS ≥5)
Monthly OS patching and WAF (Web Application Firewall) log review
Security incident response (with detailed reporting and support up to 24 hours per incident)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

100% of deliverables reviewed and approved by the client
Completion of all agreed design and technical documentation
Monthly delivery of tested and functional features through agile development
Full-time senior developer capacity maintained throughout the development phase
Continuous availability of infrastructure support with 99.9% uptime target
Critical infrastructure incidents responded to within one hour
100% monthly patch compliance for infrastructure
Two successful disaster recovery tests conducted and reported annually
100% of high-risk security vulnerabilities (CVSS ≥5) patched within one week
Suspicious activity reported monthly through WAF and log review
No project delays due to failure to deliver within the agreed scope or cadence

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

Very responsive and supportive.

Explained everything in non-tech terms.

Delivered on time, sometimes even earlier.

Great communication and project management and commerical advice and support.

Excellent provider

What was your primary form of communication with Vokke?

Virtual Meeting

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

I was impressed with their communication skills and understanding of the overall objective of our business, not just the platform.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Bossini Kitchens

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacture and Installation of luxury Joinery & Furniture.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Convert all systems and processes into one single software

SOLUTION

How did you find Vokke?

Referral

Why did you select Vokke over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Vokke were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Our brief to the team at Vokke was to create custom software that would cover all aspects of the business. From customer management, to production management to after service care.

• Create Custom Software that would eliminate the need for other softwares
• Cover all aspects of the business from first customer enquiry to after service care
• Integrate with our accounting software
• Reduce complexity with a simple, easy to use UI.
• Reduce double handling of data input

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Reduction in double entry of data
• Reduction in spreadsheets and other softwares being used
• Increased transparency on data reporting
• Reduction in user time on admin related tasks
• Increased visbility on project status across multiple teams

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

The project management was incredible. It was a complex project and the Vokke team did a great job breaking the project down into small measureable steps. I always knew what was being worked on, when it was going to be deployed and when I was required to give input. They were great at communicating time frames and simplifying the technical jargon into terms I could understand. 

What was your primary form of communication with Vokke?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The business knowledge of the consultant Vokke has assigned us is very impressive, he was able to understand our needs and expand on them.

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

No, they were great. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of a SaaS company. We offer a website conversion enhancement tool that helps users attract leads faster.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vokke?

We needed quality and penetration testing services for our software. Although we do our own testing, we wanted to work with a partner we could trust to do testing as well. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged with Vokke to test our systems by using them and finding security issues or gaps. The team was tasked with finding areas of improvement in our software's security. We gained expertise from Vokke's ISO certification. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with Adrian (Director) and Jon (CEO).

How did you come to work with Vokke?

We had previously met the company and valued their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Vokke in the middle of 2023, and the project was completed in December 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measured success based on the feedback from our internal team. We provided a report to our internal team, and everyone seemed happy. We appreciated Vokke's clarity regarding expectations. The team was helpful and insightful. Vokke delivered on their promises and met expectations with no qualms.

How did Vokke perform from a project management standpoint?

Vokke delivered work on time and met expectations. We communicated mainly via email, and we also had video calls.
Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

Both Adrian and Jon were fantastic to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was mostly impressed by Vokke's knowledge and skills. It was great to work with a team that truly knew what they were doing and was truly confident — that was the biggest advantage for me. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of any room for improvement because Vokke met all our requirements.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I suggest having a chat or phone call with Vokke. Listening to the team's insights and opinions is worth your time, and you'll appreciate it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Practice Development Manager of a financial services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provides integrated accounting and wealth management services to help individuals and businesses achieve their financial and lifestyle goals12.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Improve infrastructure, security, user experience, and functionality of our client engagement and portfolio construction advice tools

SOLUTION

How did you find Vokke?

Online Search

Why did you select Vokke over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vokke were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Migrating the Game of Money platform to a new hosted service, increasing security capabilities, and making infrastructure changes to improve performance and stability.
• Completing necessary development for the full rollout of the Game of Money platform, including addressing items raised during the pilot phase.
• Updating the CARE Calculator with new Strategic Asset Allocation (SAA), indicative portfolio details, and buy/sell costs of the portfolio. 
• Enhancing the CARE website by allowing admin users to update documents, removing outdated options, and creating account hierarchies for self-licensed users.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Adviser Usage:We had a significant increase in the number of advisers using the online Game of Money tools with their clients post the project. This included advisers new to the tool and those who migrated over from using the old excel based calculators.
• Client Satisfaction: Advisers have reported their clients are more engaged with the new tools, resulting in a higher conversion rate of clients proceeding with adviser and an increase in the scope of advice the adviser is able to provide to their clients.

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

Vokke's project management was characterised by timely delivery and a responsive approach to needs. Their project management was effective in delivering the key items on time and responding positively to the project's needs, contributing to the measurable outcomes that demonstrate the project's progress and success.

What was your primary form of communication with Vokke?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What stood out most about Vokke was their dedication to truly understanding our needs, not just as a client but as a partner in the project. They went beyond merely delivering a service; they immersed themselves in our objectives and challenges, ensuring that their contributions were not only aligned with our goals but also enriched our platforms with their insights and expertise.

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

Not that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Cofounder of SellSmart

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

SellSmart is on a mission to revolutionize the way agents and homeowners prepare properties for sale.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Design and Build our MVP

SOLUTION

How did you find Vokke?

Referral

Why did you select Vokke over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vokke were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We built a two sided marketplace which enabled homeowners to interact with service providers. We integrated with a number of other companies, including equifax and zai payments. It was an end to end journey encompassing job management and payments.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have a consumer app, a supplier app and an administrative portal to oversee the ecosystem that is the SellSmart marketplace.

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

They were a really great team to work with. Our project manager always took the time to understand what we were looking to achieve, ensured we didn't overbuild and provided strategic insights into alternative ways to achieve the best outcome. Really responsive, easy to reach. Great team.

What was your primary form of communication with Vokke?

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

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

Their team are so lovely, it feels like an extension of your own. They are invested in your projects success, as opposed to just building the biggest thing. They bring different perspectives to the table and service when there is a concern/issue is prompt - which is excellent.

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

I think it was more learnings as to how a startup tech company should best interact with their developers to ensure optimal outcomes. Unlike big companies with big projects things in startup world change regularly. So I think maybe learnings on how to best navigate that process for a startup would be helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm currently the business transformation manager at a construction company in Melbourne, Australia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vokke?

Our engagement with Vokke has varied over the years. Initially, we were trying to transform from being a paper-based company to a digital company. The idea behind this was to support our company, which has grown steadily over the last 3–4 years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have gone through different stages of engagement. The first one was about building the ERP system that we needed. The platform was hosted on AWS, and it was coded in JavaScript. Along the way, I provided the mapping processes of our company and the bottlenecks that we were trying to address. Together, we designed the specification and scope of the project. After I approved that, we went ahead and executed the project. Then, we reached out to our contractors and suppliers and brought them into this platform. Some of these contractors were internal while others were external, but everybody had to jump into the platform.

We’ve also gone through automation projects. Our customers usually sent their purchase orders in PDF format, and Vokke helped us automate that process. On top of that, we also went through a big project in 2020 to update the contractor side of our software, where we wanted to make ourselves compliant with the safety measures and requirements of the construction industry. 

At present, we don’t have an end date for our engagement with Vokke because we’re evolving. When we started the company, we only had 3–4 people. However, we’ve been growing so fast and our business model keeps changing. Now, we’re 16 in the office, and we’re about to enter new markets and opportunities. We’re going to undertake another big change in the system, so our partnership with Vokke will continue. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Jon (CEO) and Adrian (Director). We also worked with their head of operations. 

How did you come to work with Vokke?

At that time, we tried a few off-the-shelf solutions and engaged bespoke software developers. Then, somebody referred Vokke to us, and we thought they were good. During the discovery phase, we knew each other better. There was good faith, and they seemed to have a good company culture that we aligned with. They also seemed to be an ambitious business. Ultimately, since they were growing as we were growing, we decided to partner with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested between $100,000–$600,000 AUD (approximately $77,000–$466,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project officially started in January 2018, and it’s ongoing. The discovery phase lasted from October–December 2017, where we laid out our requirements and bottlenecks. Then, they started building the ERP system in 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are able to run our business on a digital platform. Due to our business intelligence (BI) project, we also have much more information about the business in real-time that facilitates decision making. Our company has been steadily growing over the past years and the software solution has been key in supporting that growth. We’ve also been able to work from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. For context, we’ve been considered essential workers in Australia because we’re in the waste management construction industry. While we’ve seen other companies struggle to work from home, we’ve been able to do it since day one. 

As a general comment, I’ve always had a sense of true partnership with Vokke. They know our business inside out, and their ethics are impeccable. As a result, we always have options in terms of project delivery. For instance, they give us different choices in terms of pricing relative to the services they provide.

They also provide a lot of feedback. They’re honest, especially when a feature I’m requesting doesn’t make sense in the long run. If the results aren’t going to be what I think they will be, Vokke recommends better options. 

How did Vokke perform from a project management standpoint?

Vokke’s project management is excellent. They communicate with me along the way, and the communication has kept getting better during the last three years. We communicate using their portal if not through email. The collaboration portal is on their website, and they have a support desk where everyone can log a ticket for them to fix issues. 

On top of that, they listen to my feedback. If I tell them that something isn’t working for me, they adapt very quickly. Then, they propose new solutions. Moreover, they’re transparent in terms of deadlines. Adrian and Jon are good at keeping timelines in place. They help me deliver on time and on budget while keeping track of monthly expenditures. Overall, they allow me to keep my projects in check. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We get very personalized attention and services. They dedicate time to understand our problems so they can solve the issues we have at hand. Their attention to detail is outstanding; they care about understanding the problem, which is rare. Other suppliers bring us faster solutions but not better solutions. With Vokke, we always get both; I don’t need to sacrifice speed for quality. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The approval of the project’s scope took a little too long because we were writing on a document back and forth. Currently, we do two-hour meetings where everything is solved. It’s so much more efficient than how it used to be. Other than this, I don’t have anything they can improve moving forward. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As a client, spend time understanding the problem so that when you engage with Vokke, you’re clear on what you’re trying to solve. Break it down as much as you can because the solution you’ll get is going to have a much better quality than if you don’t spend the time understanding the problem. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Awesomme is an affiliate marketing company for wine retailers. It provides customers with advice on the best quality, best value wines available in Australia. It will shortly release a dynamic food and wine matching service with global applicability. This will open up additional revenue sources. I am co-founder, director and head up our IT function.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vokke, and what were your goals?

The business goals are to develop Australia's leading wine search engine, maximise the level of software automation to support the wine search engine, minimising the need for admin and clerical data entry and support, develop rule based software that can accurately asses a wine quality and a wine's value for money based upon volume sampling of data, develop a system that can scale globally, and create an extensible system with foundations for additional business development.

Our previous software developer was unable to grasp the business model, which means the development stalled. Vokke immediately understood our goals and was extremely adept at turning the business goals into a cloud based B2C service.

The Technical Goals are to understand the awesomme business proposition, document the conversion of business goals into specifications that a user could understand, Convert the specifications into cloud based software solutions, convert the specifications into cloud based software solutions.

Also, maintain tight cost controls throughout the development cycle, keeping the customer informed of progress vs time and budget, Provision of thorough testing and QA, and Delivery of a cloud solution that exceeded customer expectations.

SOLUTION

How did you select Vokke and what were the deciding factors?

I interviewed one of the principals of Vokke and was impressed by the breadth of expertise covering the entire development life cycle, particularly their ability to grasp complex business goals and simplify the transformation into specifications. This led to cost savings for us as there was little if any rework required. They have an ethos of get it right first time. Vokke were given a small task, a few weeks work, as a test to see if they could deliver, which they did.. within timescale and budget - the quality exceed out expectations.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The methodology is an AGILE approach with periodic sprints. Currently up to sprint 23. The initial step was an overall strategy defining the information needs of the business, against that strategy the development steps are, User Requirement capture and specification including customer feedback sessions to ensure accuracy and completeness. 

Technical specification and Database design enhancement to support new requirements. The Software construction and Internal QA by Vokke. The User acceptance testing against business requirement, fix and re test any issues found during initial UAT. Deployment and Post deployment review.

Next Sprint then follows. From a business perspective the key deliverables were made up of four main subsystems. The Data Management sub system, this provides software to maintain transaction data business rules and create reference data against the validated against the original strategy. The reference data is quite complex as it maintains data integrity for the rules that dictate, for example, how food can match wine - this is non trivial.

A cloud based web service comprising full function searching, slicing and dicing, and filtering against multiple criteria with cross validation needed across the each filter element. The third part of the overall system is full integration with 3rd part data providers using published API, and finally there several internal data integrity services which ensure internal consistency and also consistency with the multiple 3rd party data suppliers.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Business Analyst. (user requirements specifications) Information Analysts ( data management and database design) Software Development team. Quality Assurance team. I would estimate over the 3 years plus we have interacted with about ten people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Whilst we are in the middle of a 5 year project, the business plan we have is currently on track, and we have achieved our goals. Others will require the remainder of the project timescale. There is no better wine search engine in australia. We are currently implementing our SEO strategy to maximise the user base. Vivino is currently the world leading wine search engine... I invite you to compare it to our (Vokke developed) offering.

The sophistication of the admin support system ( developed by Vokke) allows us to operate with less than 10 clerical staff. We are currently embarking on the global delivery of a wine and food matching service, which we believe will be a unique offering, the system is such that it supports both extension and expansion without any difficulty - in fairness the initial Overall Strategy we developed with Vokke has been critical to this achievement.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Initially we explored the usefulness of 3rd party tools, we ( not Vokke) prefer to use Video conference, Email, and the occasional face to face meeting. Written specifications and diagrams are often used to support walk through and feedback sessions. It is all about choosing the best mechanism, sometimes its words, sometimes textual, some times diagrammatical and some times all of the above.

The project management style is extremely collaborative, we share problems and issues, ideas and solutions. There are no barriers, the environment is one of trust, honesty and openness - this did not happen overnight, but is the result of us working as one team.

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

Trust.

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

From my perspective, the answer is no. I would say, after being in IT since 1977, and having filled most IT posts from programmer to Oracle consultant to National IT Manager, for a major Superannuation Company and having developed my own successful IT company back in the 90s.... the only hindsight I have is I wished I had found a company like Vokke 30 years ago. From the Vokke perspective. the answer is yes, they did not charge me enough.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Operations of PELOTON PARTNERS PTY LTD

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Consults to Financial Advice Practices

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Digitise our process
• Gain efficiency
• Provide and ongoing client solution

SOLUTION

How did you find Vokke?

Referral

Why did you select Vokke over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from Vokke were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Simplified interface and extended usercases

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

End to end client use cases, simplified interface and online dashbaords

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

Things were fluid / flexible, some deadlines ran over, these were due to scope creep on our side, inaccurate forecasting on non-developing resourcing required and some re-work.  Saying that, the pace of change was good.

What was your primary form of communication with Vokke?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were personable and flexible.

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

Phone access for remote staff would have been good at times.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Fetch'd

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Fetch'd provides pet owners with trackable data holding pet tags.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• TO develop a trackable pet Tag
• To be able to upload profile pet photos editable at any time
• To provide Pet owners with real time notifications.

SOLUTION

How did you find Vokke?

Online Search

Why did you select Vokke over others?

Great culture fit

How many teammates from Vokke were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Vokke to deliver the architecture planning to develop Fetch. 
• Deliver a login process and ability to store data. 
• Deliver a process to upload photos at any time. 
• Deliver suitable security to protect personal date and Fetch's Integrity. 
• Deliver a GPS location system within web app 
• Deliver and generate individual QR Codes 
• Deliver real time notification

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

That we were able to complete Fetch'd and go live in June 2023 fully functional

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

Delivered items in a timely manner and were always contactable via email or phone for questions.

What was your primary form of communication with Vokke?

In-Person Meeting

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

We were impressed with their openness to new ideas and out-of-the-box approach.

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

Nothing comes to mind.