Zco Corporation

BACKGROUND

Please describe your companies.

Our companies (GiGi, LLC, and Force Interactive) focus on quality applications that better the everyday lives of technologically dependant users.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am a partner and principal and act as COO for both.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the work with Zco Corporation?

With our GiGi application, we are looking to address two things: Security in communication and variety of style. With this app, you can text securely with other users. Each message has a timespan that can be altered. A message can also be deleted from all devices at any time giving the user complete security. GiGi also allows the user to send various media, such as Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, JPEGs, MP3s, AIFFs, and MOVs.

This way, the user can include all kinds of media in his or her conversations. They could send pictures and videos.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of Zco Corporation's work.

We've enlisted the help of Zco Corporation in this endeavor. Their input and involvement (from a developer level) have been spectacular.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Was the project successful?

We are very happy with Zco. We have used them on other projects and will not hesitate to use them on our future ones.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

The Morning Star Company is a bulk industrial tomato paste manufacturer in California with 300-plus full time and 1,500-plus seasonal colleagues. We have a unique flat lined management structure that required some custom BI [business intelligence] application and support system development. 

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the director of business intelligence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the work with Zco Corporation?

We needed a custom BI tool for recording colleague commitments and stepping stones for our CLOUs [Colleague Letter of Understanding]. We also had some data capturing application needs for iOS devices and desktop/web. All these systems, and future systems currently in design or under construction, are for internal use.

SOLUTION

What technologies were used for the project?

.NET, ASPX, iOS, SQL, and SSRS [SQL Server Reporting Services]. 

What was your process for selecting Zco Corporation?

While I looked at several application developers, many were overpriced and underqualified. In a matter of minutes on the phone during my initial exploration into Zco, they clearly understood the need and were able to provide a quote or timetable that was far better than any other company I had met. 

What was the scope of the project?

I started with a small project and, after great success, we moved into the CLOU application.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Zco Corporation perform throughout the project?

Excellent. The people at Zco are true professionals, and I would highly recommend anyone looking for a software developer to take a close look at what they have to offer. Zco is truly a value-added partner to our company.

BACKGROUND

Please provide a brief description of your company.

It’s IMQR. It ’s a website for entertainment professionals, actors and production staff where they can host all of their information, headshots, reels, and credits, things of that nature, be able to put them into an app-like form for mobile devices and it can let them do a Quick Response code so they can just print a business card with QR code and give someone access to their entire portfolio.

What is your role?

I am the founder and the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Please describe the business challenge you are solving.

We are bringing casting into today’s modern tech world. We are still doing everything the same way they’ve been doing it since the ‘20s and ‘30s. With today’s technology, the iPads and mobile devices, you can carry a lot more information, and you can pretty much have a crew, a backup crew, backup actors, and all their data accessible.

It’s the new headshot. It’s getting it off paper, making it digital, connecting all my other media to it: My reel, videos, credits, contact information, physical information, picture, and whatnot. 

SOLUTION

Can you describe the scope of the project?

We came to Zco and we said, “Look, this is a website that is doing the same type of thing but for musicians. I want to do it for actors and the entertainment profession. I don’t want it to be a social media site. It should be a workable tool for the professional for representation.”

How did you find and select Zco Corporation?

They did another project for me called Lobster Logic, a very simple app that I use in another company of mine. It seemed to work well and I had a good experience with them. I pitched them the idea of the IMQR site and they came back with a proposal, which was out of my price range, and then slowly they kept bringing down the price until they reached a not to exceed price of a little less than $100,000 and I said, “OK, let’s do the project.”

When was the project completed?

We stopped the work on December 19 [2013]. We ended our relationship with Zco at that point.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

It [website] didn’t perform at any level. It didn’t do any of the things it was supposed to do on any devices. Just nothing. The editing buttons don’t work. You enter information and it doesn’t appear. It changed when you go to different defaults when you close out. Things are missing.

Can you elaborate further about the gaps?

It seems they built everything custom and had difficulty integrating common plugins. We said, “Look, aren’t there any of the shelf solutions for this?” Their comeback was always, “No, that would be too expensive for what we’ve written. For example, they were going to do a photo uploader and we asked “Can’t you just use this photo uploader that’s already been built and just incorporate it in.” He responded, “No, it won’t work in our code.” “Well, can’t you use these different types of editing tools?” “No, they won’t work.” But, these components have already been invented and they should just lock into place. That’s what our new developer is doing.

So when you look back on the project, what are the key things that you feel that went wrong on the project?

I think the project manager on Zco’s side basically just left us in the dark. They didn’t have a plan. They were winging it and we weren’t experts, so we relied on them for guidance. They let the project just wander. The first draft of the project was a social media site. We clearly indicated to them we did not want a social media site. It took months for them to shake off the social media thing. We explained, “This is a tool, this is not a site to gather and chit chat. This is a tool for the working actor and professional to get jobs.”

Can you discuss performance to schedule?

It was supposed to be released in September [of 2013], and they got it on their servers in September, and it started to disintegrate. We had nothing but problems, and it was two months plus with the problems. Every time they would fix one thing, another thing would go wrong, and then they came back and started asking for more money. By that time, we had the code analyzed [by a third party] and realized it wasn’t going to work. There was no reason to continue because we couldn’t use anything they created either in the present or in the future.

Can you elaborate on the third-party testing?

Yes. We brought in a third party whose principal work is in writing code for bank security. He took us on as a secondary project. He looked at the code and it appeared to him that there was no way that it could be auto tested. It simply wasn’t built for auto testing. When my project manager and I saw the September launch, we were finding all these obvious problems: Misspellings, things not working, and so on. We were thinking to ourselves “has this thing been tested?” It didn’t appear that it ever had been.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Member of Carwashapp.com

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

SaaS for the car wash industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Zco Corporation to accomplish?

• Progressive Web App

SOLUTION

How did you find Zco Corporation?

Online Search

Why did you select Zco Corporation over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Zco Corporation were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Designed and created a Progressive Web App to serve the car wash industry.  Phase one far exceeds the other offerings in the industry.  Far exceeded the customers requests for design and features without increasing the budget, really spent the time and effort to pack the app full of features and brain power.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Goal one was to sign up car wash members at the test location.  Now at 70 members and growing.  Make app self sufficient and put the control in the customers hands, totally achieved.  Goal two was to have the car wash owner be able to control their experience with the app, very successfully accomplished.  Goal three was to have a dashboard that app owner could observe and assist in car wash owner signups, automated to make signups quick and easy for everyone involved, totally achieved.  Create a road map for the app systems growth based on car wash owner feedback and requests, app is able to grow and expand to handle these items.

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

Very responsive and accommodating, to schedule and overall design parameters, really from day one where determined for my project to succeed.  Exceeded my expectations on so many levels.

What was your primary form of communication with Zco Corporation?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

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

They really care about their customers, and their staff works well together, which shows in the finished product.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Paws QuiVive, LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Paws QuiVive mobile app delivers wellness checks to your device at intervals selected by the User; if the User fails to confirm their wellness, the app notifies the User's Emergency Contact. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Zco Corporation to accomplish?

• Build the app
• Maintain the app

SOLUTION

How did you find Zco Corporation?

Referral

Why did you select Zco Corporation over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Zco Corporation were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The SoW was gamed out as multiple milestones and Zco Corporation delivered each milestone if a timely manner, with exceptional responsiveness to the client. In addition to performing high level testing, Zco kept the client apprised of future needs and is pro-active in managing the app. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• The launch of a first-in-kind health monitoring app. 
• Zco Corporation grasped the project cleanly and quickly from our initial delivery of work flow.
• They asked spot-on questions prior to beginning development.
• Zco Corporation was three steps ahead in letting Client know what preporatory steps Client needed to take to keep the project running on time. 
• A very postive experience! 

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

Each milestone was delivered on time. When an action was needed from the Client to keep the  project running on time, Zco sent detailed instructions to Client. Such attention to detail, was very very helpful! 

What was your primary form of communication with Zco Corporation?

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

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

Zco Corporation was highly responsive to unforeseen developments as the process unfurled.

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

I wish they also did marketing! 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Product Development of a real estate company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The first demand based marketplace for real estate.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Zco Corporation to accomplish?

• Develop Web App
• Develop Mobile Optimized Web App

SOLUTION

How did you find Zco Corporation?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Zco Corporation over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Zco Corporation were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Develop a web app and mobile optimized web app for a unique real estate marketplace. The platform was designed but requires thought on how to execute the UX. Key deliverables were a working web app with functioning apis and matching systems.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working site + meeting timeline deliverables.

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

Zco's been amazing. The team works fast, efficient, and does overtime when needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Zco Corporation?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The efficiency and cost effectiveness. The team's work ethic is amazing.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Physician and quality control leader of CheckMySpot

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an app based teledermatology skin lesion screening service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Develop our innovative mobile app teledermatology platform.

SOLUTION

How did you find Zco?

Online Search

Why did you select Zco over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Excellent account executive and programmer communication

How many teammates from Zco were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Development and refinement of hybrid mobile app and custom software admin and provider website. Key deliverables included above. They also coordinated all API's and formulated a growth and expansion plan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

User friendliness, error rates, timelines.

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

Highest recommendations for the Zco Project management team. The were on time, responsive and had excellent communication. Easily understood our intent and seamlessly integrated it. We were a difficult project as we developed an innovative service that evolved as it was developed. Zco met the challenge!

What was your primary form of communication with Zco?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Communication, responsiveness and innovative solutions.

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

Zco nailed it! No comments for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am leading the development for our mobile app, it was built from scratch

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were targeting to launch our mobile app from scratch in 3 months, so we hired ZCO to help us, and we made it

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Interviewed a lots of vendors, ZCO is very professional, and also the engineering quality is good

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

Build Android app from scratch, we plan engineering spec and design

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

4 android full-time engineers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. Delivered in time 
2. Good quality 
3. Responsive

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

We setup weekly meeting to discuss engineering tasks, our in-house engineers created tickets and deliver engineering spec to ZCO

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

The engineers we got were outstanding and had a strong sense of ownership. Even we are in different timezone, they will stay late if needed.

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

May need more documents on code structure