Development for Multiple Android/iOS Native Apps
- Mobile App Development
- $1,000,000 to $9,999,999
- June 2013 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
“Their technical response and depth of thinking have completely amazed us multiple times.”
- Advertising & marketing
- Berlin, Germany
- 51-200 Employees
- Online Review
- Verified
VT Netzwelt designed and developed two iOS and three Android native mobile apps with corresponding APIs. They provided database administration, QA testing, and Agile project management.
VT Netzwelt delivered high-caliber, scalable products that are highly rated in both the App Store and Google Play. The team expanded in-house capabilities to increase the pace of development and shorten time-to-market. Innovative and knowledgeable, they solve complex challenges with ease.
The client submitted this review online.
BACKGROUND
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am the CEO of Offerista Group GmbH, which operates multiple apps with a joint install base exceeding 25 million users. One of our easy-to-use applications helps customers obtain more information about a product by scanning the barcode printed on the product packaging. These details include nutritional information, the ecological carbon footprint, lowest prices, price fluctuations, aggregated ratings, and general background information about the manufacturer.
Our other app helps brick-and-mortar stores reap the benefits of digitalization. It publishes digital brochures and offers. Using location-based services, it attracts customers from relevant target groups. Expanding the customer base that visits stores increases sales.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
For what projects/services did your company hire VT Netzwelt?
We needed to develop a variety of new spin-off apps that capitalize on the product information search technology that drives our existing products. Tight deadlines and an ever-growing story backlog kept prolonging our project schedules. To tackle this challenge, we commissioned VT Netzwelt to extend our IT team and help us launch the products faster.
What were your goals for this project?
Our goal for the project was to develop five mobile apps that each connect to our product data backend. By commissioning VT Netzwelt to develop these products, we anticipated a significantly shorter time-to-market. We also needed to build new APIs following a stringent MVP development approach and adhering to the latest Android requirements.
SOLUTION
How did you select this vendor?
We actively sought recommendations from our business network and shortlisted 8-10 vendors who came highly recommended for an initial review. VT Netzwelt was among the organizations on this list. Based on location, relevant experience, work portfolio, and company size, we narrowed the list to three options who we invited to our office for technical workshops.
As each agency discussed how they would solve specific technical problems, it quickly emerged that VT Netzwelt showed the highest degree of client-orientation, strategic problem-solving skills, and technical capabilities to best fulfill our requirements. We especially valued their transparent, accessible, and highly Agile approach to software development.
As the next step, we asked VT Netzwelt for three references from their existing clients and contacted each one to get a first-hand experience. Once this was also cleared, we signed an LOI and NDA, and we assessed their financial stability.
Describe the project in detail.
The project involved software design and software development for three Android and two iOS native mobile apps using an MVP design pattern. Our dedicated agency provided the UI design. VT Netwzelt also built the REST API web services for each Android app from scratch and refactored and enhanced two other API codebases for the storing of user-specific preferences.
The apps’ modularity allows us to add new functionality faster with less effort and conduct more thorough A/B testing to increase user interaction and gain more monthly active users. Combining automatic testing with the latest app development techniques should also reduce ongoing efforts for regression testing in the future.
What was the team composition?
The size of the team changes from time to time depending on the project requirement. On average, the team included a project manager, two iOS developers, three Android developers, two mobile app testers, and a database administrator.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Our experience with VT Netzwelt over the past five years has exceeded our expectations. We managed to develop the applications in record time, even accounting for last-minute changes along the way. Similarly, the time-to-market for new feature additions (or occasional bug fixes) drastically improved.
The new apps have an average rating of 4.34 in the Google Play store and 4.5 in the App Store. The products receive fewer customer support requests, which reduces overheads in our department and helps us enlarge our product management team.
Overall, we are more than happy with VT Netzwelt which why we’ve extended our relationship throughout the years. They have demonstrated excellent management and development capabilities while sticking to agreed timelines. They even go the extra mile by working on weekends or outside of office hours to meet time-sensitive deadlines. The team is highly responsive, committed, and above all communicative. They always provide prompt feedback on our inquiries. We hope they keep up this good work so our relationship will continue to benefit both of us.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
We mostly use Google Hangout, video chats, Skype, and email for communication methods. VT Netzwelt maintains the code in GitHub and Gitlab uses Confluence and Jira for documentation and the epics and stories.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
I’m most impressed with VT Netzwelt’s problem-solving capability when confronted with difficult challenges. Their technical response and depth of thinking have completely amazed us multiple times. They continuously recommend better solutions than our own suggestions and have caught eventualities and conflicts in the requirements we didn’t notice.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
The only possible improvement I could think of would be a quicker ramp-up time when adding resources to manage a sudden spike in the size of the backlog. However, we completely understand that this limitation comes from employees’ availability and long-term commitments with other clients, so it’s not really a “flaw.” From time to time, additional resources are already available when we need them temporarily. We’re thankful we can avail of this support on a priority basis.
RATINGS
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Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"We are super happy! An independent third party periodically conducted code audits, and the outcome was very positive."
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Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"What sets VT Netzwelt apart is how agilely they accommodate changing requirements at a quick pace."
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"Their costs are very competitive, especially considering that manual QA overheads, product and project management are covered in the daily rate."
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
"We’ve already referred them to at least two clients as well as our sister company.