Zibtek

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We have multiple businesses, but our lab company specifically partnered with Zibtek.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zibtek?

We needed additional iOS developers who could quickly start working on our project. Hiring new permanent staff members would have required a lengthy interview, hiring, and onboarding process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zibtek developed our social networking app for small group and individual private messaging. Our product is targeted towards individual consumers rather than businesses. It lets users send photo and video messages that they wouldn’t want to share on more public forms of social media.

One notable feature is a series of questions and prompts that encourage users to share stories, ideas, and experiences. It’s perfect for staying in touch with long distance friends and family, or reconnecting after being out of touch. This environment facilitates sharing more personal information than one would post on Instagram, Facebook, or Snapchat.

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, Cash [CEO and Founder, Zibtek] helped facilitate the project. As it progressed, our dedicated project manager took the lead. We started out with a team of three developers and ramped down to two resources towards the end.

How did you come to work with Zibtek?

I was familiar with Zibtek from our previous work together a while back. We selected them based on my longstanding relationship with Cash [CEO and Founder, Zibtek]. We met 4-5 years ago through mutual friends and I'd gotten to know and like him. When it came time to pick a solution for this project, he was at the top of our list.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost approximately $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Zibtek in August 2017 and finished this project in late January 2018. They helped us launch our version one in the app store. Right now, we're working on marketing and publicity. We want to establish more users before starting further development. Seeing how the initial version performs will guide our future investment decisions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Zibtek did a good job for us and built a quality app. We launched in the app store very recently. Currently, we’re testing the product with small groups of people we know. We only have about 150 users right now. We had to fix a few bugs, but that's nearly inevitable with any development team. The significant amount of development they completed would have been much more expensive in any other circumstance.

We appreciated the team’s positive attitude. They seemed genuinely excited to help us create all the products we envisioned. The developers they provided were nice, happy, and easy to work with. They secured a positive outcome in light of our goals.

How did Zibtek perform from a project management standpoint?

The team participated in daily standup calls with our in-house developers. We included them in our existing Pivotal Tracker account for design documentation. Our local developer used this tool to assign tasks for aspects like stories. We included their resources in our Slack channels to facilitate daily communication. The project manager was located nearby us in Utah and facilitated contact with the rest of his team. Meeting face-to-face to brainstorm and whiteboard concepts mitigated communication problems.

Zibtek managed the project well and delivered close to the original estimate. They were straightforward and honest whenever they lacked experience in a certain area or faced ambiguity with timelines. We appreciated that they didn't over-promise and under-deliver. They were good about keeping their promises from a timing perspective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Zibtek’s best asset was their reliability. They kept all the promises they made and consistently followed through. The team got things done within the timing we agreed to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only feedback I ever gave Cash [CEO and Founder, Zibtek] was related to the design parameters. We had to be extremely explicit about the deliverable we wanted. We gave them exact pixel designs for the build. When we gave them clear instructions, they efficiently completed the work very well.

I encourage them to train their developers in UX design to a degree. Even if they're not a full-time designer, this would help them understand best practices while coding. It would be great to have had them generate new ideas independently. That's the only place they lack some skill.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You will have much more success with any outsourced development team if your documentation is thorough. I suggest building flow diagrams, wireframes, and sketches for the exact UX specs. A detailed design document should explain how the app should function, why, and what you're trying to help the user accomplish. Using this method generated significant success with the Zibtek team. We struggled more when we were ill prepared and had missing documentation or unclear ideas.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a business that provides a software platform to athletics organizations, which helps with athlete development and preparation for life after athletic involvement. We have two kinds of customers: athletic organizations and employers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zibtek?

We don’t have a technology lead in-house. We were looking for someone that would be able to fulfill this need. We previously worked with different in-house and external technology resources, but we really needed to manage these resources better.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’m the product lead while they are the development lead for our software platform. They handle all the product requirements associated with development. The software is a multi-user, Java-based platform that has a learning management system that combines virtual career services with mentorship.

Think of an athletics organization as the central buyer, so they have an administrative function. Their athletes are the student users and they are using our system for assessments and learning courses. These courses are all assigned randomly through their administration. The platform is centralized to the learning management system, and it provides career opportunities with different employers that are interested in hiring them. Any individuals considered to be alumni stay engaged in the platform through virtual mentorship, which is another point of engagement for a current student.

What is the team composition?

They are essentially our full-time development staff. We’ve had the same project manager and the same development team throughout the course of our engagement. We have fluctuated between having two or four full-time developers; this changes on a monthly basis.

How did you come to work with Zibtek?

A friend introduced us to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $200,000 last year, but this year we should spend around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Customer satisfaction and use have increased significantly. In 2017, we had 16,000 courses taken. To date, we’ve had 60,000 courses taken, which is an extremely positive indicator for platform use.

How did Zibtek perform from a project management standpoint?

During our prior collaborations with third-party teams similar to Zibtek, they lacked effective project management. Zibtek combines first-class developers with a strong project management team to create a fantastic work experience. Their developers are not only efficient but also offer expertise. Their project management and development operations allow us to make the most of our investment, time, and resources.

We regularly use Slack, typically meeting every hour. We have conference calls several times a week, which involve the project management team and our development team overseas. We also use email to communicate. I get daily updates that provide insight into what the team has accomplished that day. These updates highlight needs and blockers that we have to address, and highlight the work required to finish the sprint we’re working on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Even though they’re an outsourced development team, they are ingrained in our team and work culture. For example, the lead project manager from their team executed a product demo during its development phase to prepare our sales team for impending updates. Everyone knows who they are, and they get back to our team members. In contrast to our previous parochial and rigid engagements, they are involved and engaged. They really focus on their customers. They work relentlessly on any bugs or issues to make sure things get fixed.

Their CEO is very intelligent and knows what it takes to establish a successful startup company. We’ve talked about what it takes to thrive in the startup world, which is what attracted me to work with them. They’re not a traditional outsourcing agent because they try to help grow your company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, but I don’t know their full range of capabilities. They probably have more product management capabilities than they are sharing with us, so we could learn a little more about what they have to offer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t get scared away if you aren’t technically minded. I’m not the most technically minded individual, but they don’t shy away from working with people who aren’t as technologically inclined. You’ll be better off if you engage in deeper conversations with them sooner rather than later.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a software development company, dealing in software related to the drug testing industry for regulated and non-regulated drug tests. I’m a project manager of a back-office solution we have.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zibtek?

We have some client facing software needs in a web browser. We needed someone to help engineer a client facing site for our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed the product to be web-based and suitable for handheld devices. We began with the original requirements and some basic designs. They provided design and solutions for the end product. It’s now in production and we’re working on enhancements.

One requirement was to make the interface compatible with both a standard browser and with a handheld device. We had to be able to pass authorization forms by email and text to handheld devices. They used MVC [model-view-controller] for the project.

What is the team composition?

They provided a designer, a project manager, and—when necessary—technical input for some special needs that we had.

How did you come to work with Zibtek?

I wasn’t involved in that decision.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We gave them a number of requirements and they worked through those. They’ve always been timely on their deliveries and when we’ve needed estimates or requirements, they’re always able to deliver. If we have difficulties, they pull people in and work over the weekend in order to resolve any critical issues. They’ve been good to work with.

How did Zibtek perform from a project management standpoint?

We get a daily update from their project manager with a synopsis of what was accomplished and what wasn’t completed yet. We do a status call once a week too and, in general, the communication is really good. We use wireframe documents and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like their documentation and their daily communication. They communicate well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. It’s been a good working relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have your pre-designs ready with documentation about what you’re going to do. It makes it more efficient when you hand that off to another entity to do coding.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

When I worked with Zibtek, I was the CTO at Crest  Financial. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zibtek?

We had a custom-built CRM that we used to manage our lease portfolio, and the number of our customers grew to the point where we needed more resources. We were looking for a company to help us with development work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a standard Scrum process and they were working directly in my codebase, so I could easily review their work. They supplied Microsoft full-stack developers, who helped me with everything: coding on the backend and frontend, adding new features to the custom-built CRM, and fixing bugs. They used a standard Microsoft MVC, C#, SQL Server stack. I had a backlog of hundreds of issues, so they got down to work as soon as we added them to the team.

What is the team composition? 

At first we had two developers, but eventually there were four developers working on our project. 

How did you come to work with them?

Their owner and I used to work together at Crest Financial, so when I needed developers, I naturally thought of them.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid $4,500 per developer per month, so the total was about $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working with them in October 2012 and we stopped using Zibtek in October 2014, when we hired in-house developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We tracked their commits, the tickets they completed, the number of bugs they fixed, and the number of cycles between them and the QA. They integrated with the rest of my team, so it was easy to distribute work to them. A week after our initial phone call, it was as if my team doubled in size and the productivity skyrocketed.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

I did the project management myself. I interfaced with them daily via a Skype channel that was constantly open so I could give them feedback instantly. We also used Jira, email, and weekly calls to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with the speed they got into my codebase.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communicating across the ocean was sometimes difficult, even with Skype and phone calls. We were one of their first clients, so they probably refined their process by now. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't separate them from your team. Let them be another member of your team and they'll do great work for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My prior company, LiftMetrix, was acquired by the social media management software tool HootSuite. We help small and large companies publish their social media. When LiftMetrix worked with Zibtek, it was an analytics company focused on social data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zibtek?

We had been short on engineers. While in the process of hiring, we thought we could fill that gap with staff from an outsourced firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team completed the job from start to finish, optimizing along the way. After Zibtek pulled data from social networks, they cleansed, stored, and packaged it for use on the frontend. They build a lot of backend systems for us to digitize as well. Developers did full end-to-end coding for the frontend and backend with a focus on the latter. They understood how to optimize API calls, write that efficiently into a server, and make it usable to us at scale. After reading the documentation, they asked us which programming language to write it in. They found the best way to reduce the number of API calls and store that data in the backend server.

What is the team composition?

Jared Cambra was our business and project management point of contact for three simultaneous projects. He worked with a development team, and assigned a specific engineer for each project. When we got into the technical information, our team spoke directly with their engineers.

How did you come to work with Zibtek?

Zibtek reached out with a cold email, which we don't often respond to. They had a good pitch and had found us in a time of need. First, they did a short two-week test to demonstrate their capability. The monthly results were good, so we kept them on. Though we ended up hiring more engineers in-house, we liked having outsourced developers who we didn't have to necessarily manage. We found special and new projects for them to maintain, and continued our engagement for almost three years. That was a much longer relationship more than we ever expected.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in mid 2015, and they're still on retainer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best thing about Zibtek is their communication. It doesn't feel as outsourced when our engineers speak directly to theirs. They function as an extension of our team and we direct them on a daily basis. This dynamic allows us to manage them as if they were in our office. Secondly, they're diligent about getting things done. They work off hours from us, but accommodated the overlapping hours we requested. It always seems like they're working more than we necessarily pay for. Either they're very skilled and efficient coders, or they're going above and beyond to put in extra time for us. We typically find that they finish projects or short-term timelines more quickly than we'd expect.

How did Zibtek perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Slack for daily standup and communications, and assigned tickets through Jira. They handle everything related to that and consistently hit deadlines. Jira also works as a communication tool, since it allows us to set our expectations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their general attitude and communication were their strongest assets. The team was consistently motivated and seemed excited to work with us each day. It felt like having an employee who came in every morning enthusiastic to learn and crush their work. Their attitude yielded really good timelines, deliveries, and communication. We never had any problems arise from working in different countries and time zones. They were the most enthusiastic employees we could have hired.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they’d expressed stronger opinions at times. They looked to us for most project management and tech decisions, including due dates and what coding language to use. We often move quickly, so I'd love for them to tell us their ideas and be more assertive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s best to open up a communication dialogue directly with the engineers and to work through Slack. They are as communicative as any in-house employee, and can act as an extension of your team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CFO of Molio, a video marketing and branding company that develops software platforms for showcasing work and for e-commerce needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zibtek?

We needed to build an e-commerce platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on an e-commerce platform for us using C++. The platform has various landing pages used for A/B testing. We would have users land on different sites and measure the conversion rate based on the pages’ content. They helped us make those ongoing, rapid changes, in order to capture as many conversions as we could.

We had a large volume of orders, so order information needed to process properly in our fulfillment software. They set up the data for one system, making sure it would flow properly into our other system through API integration.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with Cache (Founder, Zibtek), who served as our project lead. People from my team worked directly with other individuals from Zibtek, both in the U.S. and India, where they had four or five individuals who handled much of the coding.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2012 and concluded our work in December 2015. Over this period, we typically used them heavily for three to four months, then slow down progress to determine our next steps before continuing work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any quantitative metrics for their work, but they were able to bridge the gap with their offshore team exceptionally well. Their U.S. team worked to ensure that the project scope and requirements translated properly to their overseas developers. We were consequently able to avoid wasting time and effort during development, and the final product matched our expectations.

How did Zibtek perform from a project management standpoint?

I don’t know what tools they used internally, but we had regular meetings with the development team and project leads. On a monthly basis, we met with senior-level people, making sure that we had the right roadmap in place. One of their managers came on-site to our office at least once a month. They never wasted effort or went down the wrong path. We mainly used email and Skype to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to grasp what we were looking for. I was able to explain the needs of our business, and their team translated our needs for development, making sure coders delivered what we specified. We don’t have a lot of internal software people, so their partnership was beneficial to us. Despite my limited understanding of the software development cycle, I didn’t hire someone on our side because I could trust them to provide an end-to-end solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the challenges with a partnership that includes an offshore team is making sure that resources are available when needed. There was turnover in the team, so we didn’t have the same resources available at all times. However, I don’t know if they could improve on this without costing additional money.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to lay out a good business strategy, and trust them to translate that into what is possible in the software world.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

While working with Zibtek, I was the CTO at QuotaDeck, which is a firm that crowdsources introductions between companies and clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zibtek?

We needed a staff of programmers to join our team and assist with software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on multiple projects with us that consisted of development on both the frontend and the backend of PHP-based platforms. For example, they developed a PHP-based web app for us.

What is the team composition? 

Zibtek provided us with two India-based developers, an India-based project manager, and a stateside project manager.

How did you come to work with Zibtek?

We vetted a few developer firms and decided on Zibtek because they had the most experience and delivered the cleanest code. It was also a plus that we’d get a U.S.-based project manager.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $9000 a month over the course of two years. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with then from about 2014 to 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We tracked their daily and weekly progress using the Scrum approach. The code quality was good — about 4.5 out 5 stars. The speed of their work was about 4 out 5 stars.

How did Zibtek perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, they performed at about 4.5 out of 5. We had weekly deliverables, and they would always deliver on time. 

To communicate with them, we used Skype and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were able to ramp up our developer staff at about half the price we would’ve had to pay had we hired locally.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I’d suggest is to ensure their stateside project manager is conducting QA.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared for a language barrier and time zone different. It’s an expected reality when you’re outsourcing, but it’s something to keep in mind when deciding between a local or overseas firm.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of an advertising & marketing company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We facilitate the interaction between businesses and their customers in the form of advertising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Minimal viable product

SOLUTION

How did you find Zibtek?

Referral

Why did you select Zibtek over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

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

Create a minimal viable product that would allow your product to achieve proof of concept.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product and all requested features/functionalities were delivered.

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

Our project manager was phenomenal. He envisioned our idea for our app and its functionalities and moved efficiently to complete the deliverables. Great communication too, we were constantly getting updates on their progress everyday.

What was your primary form of communication with Zibtek?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their speedy product development.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP, Director of Operations of (a/an) Education

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an e-commerce marketplace for training classes, specializing in the construction and restoration industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Development of proprietary online systems
• Website maintenance

SOLUTION

How did you find Zibtek?

Online Search

Why did you select Zibtek over others?

Good value for cost

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

Our project encompasses maintenance updates to several websites we own, and building custom solutions and integrations for our backend operations. Key deliverables have included building a custom checkout cart, student invoicing and tracking tool, student certificate search database, and automated integrations with our online store, LMS, and CRM.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Delivery of bug-free update

What was your primary form of communication with Zibtek?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Our project managers and developers have always been very responsive, completing our requests promptly.

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

Daily communication of progress and roadblocks

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

NA

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder & CEO of a clothing trading app. I lead marketing and product development

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zibtek?

We hired Zibtek to build our first app integration

What were your goals for this project?

To build our app MVP

SOLUTION

How did you select Zibtek?

It was a referral

Describe the project in detail.

We needed to build our initial app and Zibtek was hired to build our idea from scratch and produce our first MVP

What was the team composition?

We given a project manager and a team of developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to successfully build our first integration and take it to consumers for initial testing. We had a positive working relationship with the Zibtek team that ensured positive outcomes.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was great. Whenever we ran into issues we were able to quickly resolve them.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Zibtek's prices are very reasonable for app development. They were able to successfully development our first app integration and keep it on budget!!

Are there any areas for improvement?

Always make sure to keep clients aware of what they are being billed for!