Zipper Studios

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of boogiT. We are running a small group of companies which provides IT services, last mile delivery, Call center around the world for HoReCa and FMCG businesses. Our team is spreaded around Romania in 5 cities with approx. 150 colleagues.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zipper Studios?

Zipper Studios had to develop an entire shopping cart which is used by more than 100.000 users a day. The features had to be implemented with a very high precision.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the project was to improve the entire shopping cart experience for the customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select Zipper Studios?

Zipper Studios came through a recommandation to us. It was the best decision to hire them as a team.

Describe the project in detail.

After we finalized the paper work between pur company and Zipper Studios, we started to work on the documentation (SRS). Once this step has been finished, we discussed how UI and UX should be.

During the development phase we had weekly meetings where we discussed the progress and blockers. Everything was smooth.

What was the team composition?

We had a mid Android Dev and a senior Android Dev + Tech Lead who supervised the project from A to Z.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After finishing the cart, we improved the time spent with approx. 25% which was above our goals.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Even from the beginning we established how the sprints should progress. We agreed in some SLA's which were highly respected.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The speed they had during the development phase was really quick.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We didn't had any issue. Everything was very smooth.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of a consumer products company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zipper Studios?

We only sold our products through our website, which was optimized for mobile devices. However, we wanted to launch a native mobile app to offer additional services and content for our customers, including an online shop.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zipper Studios developed the app and APIs. While they were completely responsible for the app’s coding and technical development, we created the final concepts and did the design in-house.
 
They developed a ready-to-run build of an iOS and Android app, which we launched ourselves. After four months, they provided the first deliverable. After that, we launched several updates and extensions.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 different people, including a project manager, a scrum master, and developers.

How did you come to work with Zipper Studios?

One of our employees had worked with Zipper Studios on several projects and recommended them. We set up a trial with a small app, and it worked well. We decided to hire them for our main app.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spent €50,000–€100,000 (approximately $59,000–$119,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–May 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have some in-house QA to produce manual end-to-end tests and automatic frontend tests. We didn’t find a lot of bugs; there were only a few minor ones that we found and fixed very quickly. We reviewed Zipper Studios’ code in-house, and we were impressed by their work — they delivered a very clean codebase.

How did Zipper Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

The dedicated project manager performed very well; he was always up to date. They always kept to their sprints, deliverables, and time frames. We did weekly video calls, and as the launch got closer, we did daily video calls. We used Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their quality of code most impressed us. There were only minor bugs in the deliverables. They also delivered on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything for them to improve. We were 100% satisfied with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Arrange to have dedicated developers, as changing developers midway through the project could lead to some misunderstandings. Having a dedicated team is the best way to achieve your goals.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of an educational SaaS for university-level students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The primary goal was to develop a mobile version of our web app that we had been running for several years. Additionally, we wanted to develop an admin dashboard for our app in order to make customer support and other processes more efficient.

SOLUTION

How did you select Zipper Studios and what were the deciding factors?

We needed support in the development from a company that could move fast and was very responsive and adaptive to our needs. We had meetings with several companies and sent out a test project to these companies. Zipper studio was particularly efficient in completing the test project and had a good approach that matched our needs, in terms of asking the right question and allowing for the right amount of creative freedom in the task.

An important factor was communication, and we discovered that Zipper studio, and in particular Radu Benga had very good communication with us by being cooperative and understanding our needs.

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

One of the projects was to make a new view for displaying study material, such as texts and videos. For this, the company used Figma for creating the mockups. The mockups were really Hi-Fi and ready to be implemented. The UX designer had a large degree of freedom in terms of design and layout for this project which rendered impressive results.

Later on, the company moved on to implementing the mockups using React, which was done in a satisfactory manner with clean and maintainable code. Most of the work on the other projects was done using React for the frontend and Node.js for our backend. Additionally, they managed to work with graphql as well and were very agile and efficient in understanding our existing code stack.

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

For the first project, we worked with 1 UX/UI designer and one senior front end developer. Later on, we worked with only one full stack developer. Our main point of contact was Radu Benga, who acted as the coordinator and manager of the project from Zipper studios. However, most of our communication regarding the project was conducted directly to the developer which gave us more insights in to the work and more control over the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For the new mobile version of the app, we have received really good feedback from the users and we see a significant increase of the traffic coming from mobile devices, as this was almost unusable prior to this. For the admin dashboard project, we have managed to reduce the time it takes for certain customer support tickets by 90% since we have a better overview of all the relevant information.

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

We had direct communication both with the developer and the project manager on our own slack channel. We had regular meetings with the developer to oversee the progress and provide answers to any question that raised. For the technical project management, we used Jira and Github to keep track of the tasks and the code.

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

The company claimed to be a startup as well which proved itself to be useful as they understood our need of moving fast and changing of our criterias. The project manager really seemed to care abou the project and the product we are building which insipired some good discussion and exchange of ideas.

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

As it was our first time working with an outsourcing company, it took some time for us to get the process right and come up to speed with the development. We had some minor issues with bugs and unconventional code in the beginning, but this was quickly rectified as we addressed these issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering for Macadamian, a professional services company in the healthcare space. We offer consulting, UX/UI, and software development for medical devices and insurers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zipper Studios?

We were looking to scale our team for one of our major clients. The project was a mobile and web application, and a backend portal, for a medical device.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped on the mobile app side, working specifically with iOS.

What is the team composition?

We collaborated with one close contact.

How did you come to work with Zipper Studios?

I heard about them from others in the community. When we spoke with them, they presented themselves well and I thought we would work well together.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $26,000–$33,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The overall feedback has been really positive. Their was one person on our team and she was happy to be a part of the project. She contributed, was proactive, and had the skillsets we needed. She was nominated for her outstanding performance on one of our sprints.

Additionally, we were able to deliver the application on time and on budget.

How did Zipper Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

The team member we worked with was very communicative. Our project managers and leaders were happy to work with her.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really appreciated their collaboration. They were responsive, open, and able to solve our problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they need to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Maintain close communication with their leadership to make sure that they know the needs you have. If you continue to provide feedback, they know how to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the managing director of eFab and its product Developer Lab. We are a German digital agency and develop web solutions for customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zipper Studios?

We created together with Zipper Studios several web and mobile apps.

What were your goals for this project?

Satisfy our customers. Fulfill his requirements in time and costs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Zipper Studios was a recommendation of a good friend of ours.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

1. iOS App // prototyping // design // development // deployment @ app store
2. Web app for e-learning, based on WordPress
3. Time & Material for a dedicated web project
4. WordPress backend plugin development
5. Web app based on react for lead generation

What was the team composition?

Zipper provided the needed experts for the projects needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

With Zipper we are able to extend our team and offer our customers more services.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The specification was initially done by us. Zipper reviewed it and we worked together in Jira.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The hands-on mentality they display is amazing. Further Zipper delivers really good quality for an affordable price.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No We are super happy.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are the CMO and CTO of Codex, an AR adventures company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zipper Studios?

We were looking for designers who could provide a new scene for an application. The main goal of hiring Zipper Studios was to get their experts and professional developers to do all the technical work we weren’t able to do by ourselves.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zipper Studios implemented a design scene into our mobile app that allows users to play an adventure where they have questions and puzzles to help them learn. The team also helped with more complicated features that we wanted to integrate within our app. They worked on our application on their site using Java and Kotlin for Android and Swift for iOS.

Simultaneously, I worked on other parts of the application that they didn’t have to touch. We worked in parallel on those aspects. We had a backend implementation using Firebase for our monitoring systems to follow the users when they get through the adventures. We also used it to implement Crashlytics.

The main functionality they worked on was the account system, which they did entirely. In addition to implementing the new design, the team created the monitoring system that was already present on our Android version in the iOS version.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we worked with a manager, a commercial partner for the realization of the contract, one main Android developer, and one main iOS developer. When we had tight deadlines, Zipper Studios was able to provide another Android developer in order to meet the deadlines.

How did you come to work with Zipper Studios?

We found them on Clutch, and we chose them because their previous work aligned with our vision. On top of being one of the most affordable vendors in East Europe, Zipper Studios also had good quality reviews. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $21,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019 and the engagement is ongoing. Due to the Coronavirus crisis, our iOS developer was free because he didn’t have any more projects. They decided to let him continue working on our project for free, which was really nice of them. This is the only developer that we’re still in collaboration with now, but we’re aiming to continue working with Zipper Studios.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They executed the new design and features very well, so we’re satisfied with their work. The only smaller issue we had was during the mid-to-end phase of the project. We still had quite a lot of bugs, but they managed to help us fix them.

How did Zipper Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills are really good. We mainly communicate via Slack where every member of the team is present, and they are all quite easy to talk to. Zipper Studios is always incredibly reactive and responsive, so our collaboration has been a positive experience. 

Throughout the project, I had discussions with them so that we could implement flexible management and review the system with them. Also, I was born in the same city as they are which created a bond between us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The work they do for us is tailor-made in the sense that they’re really interested in our project, getting fully involved with it. The team tries to get the global picture and put themselves in the project directly instead of just delivering development requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any downsides. All the bugs were solved before we ended our latest contract.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be communicative and reactive. If you start with a positive relationship, their work will follow without a problem.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Truly Elementary, a social networking platform that gives you recommendations for various services. The app allows users to tag and endorse their friends for the skills they're able to provide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zipper Studios?

We engaged Zipper Studios to support us with mobile app development. We’re a small company of three and lacked the necessary development resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zipper Studios developed our cross-platform iOS and Android app. We provided them with wireframes, which they materialized into a click-through prototype on Adobe XD. After we approved their final designs, they launched into development using Flutter.

What is the team composition?

A team lead managed two programmers. One was in charge of the app’s interface, and the other was in charge of the functionality and backend.

How did you come to work with Zipper Studios?

We struggled to find a vendor who could provide cross-platform apps. We spoke with 4­–5 companies, and Zipper Studios seemed competent and organized. They came to the meeting with a solid plan and deadlines, which we appreciated.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2019­–January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very pleased with the app that Zipper Studios created. They were able to speedily transform our wireframes into a fully-functional app. While the app hasn’t been officially released yet, it’s gotten great feedback from friends and family, who say that it’s very intuitive. We’re thinking of reaching out to them again to further enhance the app with new functionalities.

How did Zipper Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Zipper Studios was excellent at managing the project, which they executed well within the ten-day deadline that they’d originally set out. They were in constant communication with us, and we collaborated on GitHub, Slack, and Trello. They leveraged these tools very well, which really made our cooperation a breeze.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely organized, and they deliver what they set out to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We experienced some issues with Flutter, which is a new technology. Having said that, Zipper Studios did a great job of handling these challenges.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you know what you want before you start. In any case, they’ll be able to accomplish the goals that you agree upon.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the unit manager at Fortech, a software services, outsourcing, and software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zipper Studios?

One of our clients is focused on mobile advertising, so we needed to augment our mobile development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

With Zipper Studios' help, we were able to augment our team really quickly.

What is the team composition?

There’s one iOS developer and one Android developer.

How did you come to work with Zipper Studios?

It was challenging to find the appropriate talent for this project. Someone from our HR department recommended Zipper Studios. We had some interviews with the proposed people from their team. We also had interviews with the customer that we’re working for. We decided to start the collaboration with Zipper Studios.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have too much visibility into the results and quality metrics; I only have the customer feedback, and they’re quite satisfied. The integration with the developers from Zipper Studios was quite seamless. They became productive in a short period of time. The product Zipper Studios is developing is quite complex. It’s really hard to find a good mobile developer with experience in SDK development.

How did Zipper Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

They don’t have any responsibility on the project management side; they’re only responsible for keeping us informed about their progress and the interactions that they have with the customer. They manage their responsibilities well. We communicate via Skype and phone calls, and sometimes through email and face-to-face interactions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The way they interact with the customer impresses us, as did the way they were able to convince the customer that they were a good fit for the work. They’re very strong on the technology side. The integration with the team and communication are key aspects of the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We’ve been satisfied. They’re a good choice for anyone.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a service delivery manager for a consulting company. One of our service offerings is mobile app development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zipper Studios?

We had a lack of resources in the mobile app development domain and needed to fill the gap.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zipper Studios helps us with mobile app development. Their resources fill the gaps for our different teams. We’ve worked with them on a variety of mobile applications. They have implemented new functionalities to existing apps. They don’t develop the apps from scratch, but the functionalities are new.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2–3 people so far.

How did you come to work with Zipper Studios?

They were already onboarded when I joined my company. After they assessed our needs, they provided us with the right individuals. As a result of this good interaction, we expanded and added more people from their side.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results have been great. They do well, both as a part of our team and at delivering individual results. We’ve been able to fully rely on them for deliverables.

I’m not part of the engineering management department to know their KPIs. However, I’m very connected to the customer experience and the acceptance rate, and all of the projects we’ve involved them in have passed with flying colors. The end customers have enjoyed working with them and seeing the results of their work. Internally, team members are very appreciative of their work, and people want to have them on their team.  

How did Zipper Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

I played the role of project manager for one of the projects with Zipper Studios, and having them involved was a relief because, if needed, they could be quite independent and proactive. We don’t have to micromanage and ensure things get done; we just set the objectives and communication channels, and they take ownership. Other than asking questions, they’re very independent. When we have issues, we talk via phone or email. They’re very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Every contact is strategic for them. They give 150% if it’s necessary. They want to make sure they’re putting the right person in the right place so that it’s successful, and I see the results of that. I enjoy working with them. Other people could benefit from this experience. They’ve been successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could perhaps have better reporting on exactly what they’re doing. We could have created a visualization or a dashboard for everything that was done. We do have the necessary infrastructure to measure what everybody is doing, and they keep up with that. They always have their time up-to-date, and we know what they’re doing. They’re good at entering details. Maybe on our side, we could better enjoy the benefits more of working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take your time getting the project details to them before starting the engagement. The more specific you are about what you need, the better Zipper Studios can place the right personnel to reach the objective.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the delivery manager for a software development company. For more than 25 years, we’ve been developing and selling software products to certain niches. Our customers are all over the globe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zipper Studios?

We generally work with large companies that have big products. Occasionally, these projects require work that falls outside of our core business services; in these cases, the client works with an external company. 

A customer in the US needed an add-on product that was separate from what we were doing, and they needed it to be delivered quickly. They already had an iOS app, and we needed somebody that could do a one-on-one port and build the app almost exactly the same way for Android. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zipper Studios helped us develop an Android app. They only did the development part, but they provided helpful commentary about the design.

They worked in collaboration with our team. It was a small app, and they covered everything in terms of features. The app can show certain information, get data, manipulate and view documents, and more. I can’t disclose more because the app hasn’t launched yet. 

What is the team composition?

There’s one developer that I directly interact with. He’s one of the co-founders.

How did you come to work with Zipper Studios?

I think I met them at a conference, or somebody introduced us to them. I’d had their contact information for a while and reached out. Zipper Studios had the capacity to help with our development needs. 

We had a few other options, but during the selection process discussions, we discovered that Zipper Studios had the proper level of knowledge, and their combination of involvement and skills was the best. Their pricing was good, too; they weren’t more expensive than the average.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first version of the app will launch at the end of this month. I’m definitely pleased with their work. The preliminary feedback from beta users is really good. 

How did Zipper Studios perform from a project management standpoint?

Their level of engagement and the way they collaborate is quite well received. They’ve provided some sort of a guideline or reference plan for executing the product. We have constant communication over that. They want to make sure that they’re on the right track. I’m pleased with project management. We use Jira and Confluence.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good technical expertise and understand business needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m pleased. We’re doing the things that we agreed to, and things are on time and budget.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As long as you agree on scope and make the deadlines clear, they’ll definitely come up with the technical solutions and sustain the collaboration. You won’t have problems with Zipper Studios. They’re a good, independent source for providing help.