20miles

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a Business Development Director. Our company is a manufacturer and integrator of technical equipment in the energy industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

We wanted to increase the independence of our engineers from their stationary workplaces. Create an environment for them so they could be more mobile.

What were your goals for this project?

We were looking for a solution that could provide centralized management of infrastructure and equipment. At the same time, we thought that increasing mobility of service engineers would have a beneficial effect on responsiveness and security.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met them at an exhibition of energy industry companies and they left realy positive impression. Several months later we started working together.

Describe the project in detail.

We came to the solution of creating a mobile platform for centralized data monitoring. Equipment provides data at all stages of the energy chain. 20miles designed the architecture and prototype of the system with which our engineers would be able to track all the nodal connections in the electric networks.

This combination gives us the opportunity to increase the control on all the indicators that our equipment produces in the network. As a result, we received a prototype of a mobile application for service and monitoring engineers. We think such a solution could become an effective assistance for engineers.

We were concentrating on increasing the safeness of the equipment. The energy industry is very conservative, but we can raise safety standards through mobile technology.

What was the team composition?

They engaged 2 Analysts, one Backend Architect and one Designer for prototyping. Also, they attracted hardware specialists to work with equipment.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We worked together directly with the equipment, so they had to immerse into the hardware specific. As a result, we have designed the architecture and selected the embedding points. Upon completion of the work, they presented the prototype to our engineers at the meeting and responded to our requests. The solution was approved, and we were satisfied.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They prepared a 2 months project plan and followed it. There were a lot of checkpoint meetings. They sent meeting transcripts to us after each meeting, which was very convenient. They made a Trello board, so we could control the progress of the project. Every 2 weeks the manager sent us reports of the work. Our employees speak highly about them. They were responsible and disciplined.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

For us it was great to work with them. I think this wasn't their biggest project, but they were really interactive through the engagement. They always provided a full report on their work and paid attention to us. There was no need to waste time synchronizing information with them. They always came first to us with updates.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There were no comments on them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-chief engineer of a service booking platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 20miles?

We had various products and features in our ecosystem and some of them had to be redesigned.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to partner with a company that would do data analysis for us as well as review the options in the market such as features provided by competitor systems, best practices, and current trends. We didn’t have the time to do all of that ourselves, so we hired 20miles to do that analysis for us.

Eventually, the engagement led to a second part. They provided us with the designs, requirements, and flows of one of the most critical features in our system. This feature is email and SMS marketing. For example, when we want to congratulate a client on their birthday or perhaps they haven't visited our salon for several months and we want them to start revisiting, we would send them an email with a promotion inviting them to visit the salon.

Those marketing emails and SMS messages were already implemented in our system, but they were dated. The designs were originally created seven years ago and were ugly-looking and not easy to use at all. We wanted someone to refresh that for us.

We didn’t want 20miles to actually create the system because we prefer to create stuff internally. We wanted them to design the system and do the analysis gathering, market research, and so on. Eventually, they uploaded the designs into Abstract which is the system that keeps track of all of the UI and UX designs in a versioned way so that we can see which changes have been made and when.

That was the main output for us. They also provided documentation in a digestible form that was a list of flows that the system should have. All of the key user stories were there as well as potential modifications so we can use the system for our ecosystem and also for selling as a standalone product for connecting to some other third-party CRM systems for example. They provided different use cases and tons of user stories.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked with two analysts from their team. I know there are other people on the team, but we didn’t really interact with them. Potentially in the future, we will engage with some other people from their team.

How did you come to work with 20miles?

We became acquainted with them at the beginning of 2019 when we were searching for third-party software vendors at the time. We were thinking that it’d be a good idea to send our requirements to someone and then they would implement them. At that time, it sounded like a good idea, but spoiler alert, it wasn’t.

Unfortunately, at that time, we didn’t have a chance to work with 20miles because they were overloaded with other things. We kept their references and later on, we remembered about them again when we wanted to come back to this project and to this redesign.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2020 on this project. It took about four months and it ended at the end of May 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had our system working in production for eight years, and during that time, we accumulated tons of data from our clients. Our team didn’t know what to do with that, and we didn’t know how to analyze the click rate because we already had a loose marketing system before. Those email messages had some clicks inside, and whenever a user clicks on the link, we recorded that, but we didn’t know what to do with that.

The biggest achievement is that they were able to digest the tons of information that we gathered during those eight years. They were also able to look through all of the market leaders and competitors and extract the good sides of those. 20miles also matched them to our business to see what would and wouldn’t fit. They provided us with some proper requirements which we’re building right now.

It was super valuable feedback because we wanted to have an input for our yearly planning, and we got it right on time. We were able to plan this project and are currently executing that. We have already started and have built several streams of that already.

How did 20miles perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira as the main bug tracking system as well as all of the tickets. We also used Abstract where we gathered all of the information related to designs. Our teams used Confluence as well for all of the documentation. 20miles used Sketch to do all the designs before uploading them to Abstract.

We were pretty impressed with their project management because we had worked with many project managers in the past, but the experience we had with them was excellent. 20miles provided us with weekly updates on their work. If they were behind schedule, they gave us hints about that before the deadline. We received different reports from them about the progress and whether we were behind or not and whether the ETA changed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It is their sense of dedication and involvement. They really cared about us. Usually, we see people working for money, trying to bill as much as possible, and not paying attention to our business needs. 20miles was different. They went into all the depths of our business model. Their team understood what was good and bad for us. They were the best part of our internal team. 20miles were our top management guys who were really involved in the business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It is a bit hard to answer. There were a couple of times when they were a bit behind schedule, but they let us know in advance and always caught up. Given that they were proactive and reported all of that in advance without hiding anything, it was good. I don’t think that it’s a big thing. Bad things happen, and it’s good to know how to handle that rather than hiding it and not letting anyone know.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They were very engaged and went into all the depths of our business, so all potential clients have to give them the right to be proactive and express their own opinions. Don’t think that you know better. Rather, try to give them a bit of freedom and they might come up with some great solutions that’ll change something in your business toward the best results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of DanceFilm Group. We offer ballroom dance coaching.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 20miles?

Our company needed a mobile app developed, as well as some other technical support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

20miles helped us develop our Android and iOS-compatible app. The platform is designed for amateur and professional dancers as well as ballroom dancing coaches and provides information for dancing, coaching, competition and show videos. There’s a main panel, which allows us to manage the content within the app.

The team helped us perfect the application’s concept, collaborating with us throughout the project to complete it.

The 20miles team currently provides ongoing technical management and support.

What is the team composition?

We interact with two points of contact: a project manager and an analyst. Broadly, there are between 6-10 people working on the team at different stages of the project.

How did you come to work with 20miles?

We did a Google search for developers and interviewed a few different companies. We chose 20miles because we felt like they could execute our project really successfully.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little over $40,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2014 and are still collaborating.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

20miles is a very capable team, ready to handle any problems that arise and find solutions quickly. Overall, they’ve improved the quality of our application.  are very capable to handle any problems that arise, finding solutions quickly. Their work has improved the quality of the application.

How did 20miles perform from a project management standpoint?

The team provides consistent and competent analytics on the app’s performance, which we use to respond to information from users. This is a very important and appreciated aspect of our relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a very thoughtful team of professionals. 20miles has really become part of our world, understanding the industry of dance. With their knowledge, we can easily ask questions and discuss concepts with the team, and they can provide the best service possible to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While everyone has room for improvement, there’s nothing specific that comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company provides consulting and financial services. We specialize in international procurement and logistics and provide our services worldwide. We have more than 1000 clients and positive feedback about our work in our portfolio.

Our main product is the provision of consulting services, accounting and legal support. Around 2 years ago, we made a decision to expand the service we provide for customers by implementing the ERP system that we install at the enterprises of our customers and partners.

I lead the ERP implementation process for our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

Providing outsourcing and audit services, our clients often face the need to automate their processes, because foreign economic activity requires monitoring numerous information flows.

For many reasons, we had to implement our own ERP for our customers, as third-party solutions do not fit our business process and are not aimed at optimizing business processes. At the same time, it is critical to maintain a level of the data entry culture since the slightest violations cause unpleasant consequences for the company.

Due to such high requirements, we decided to call a third-party team that could conduct an audit for our IT product - ERP system.

The tasks of the auditor included analysis of the user satisfaction, quality and validity of the UI / UX of the system as well as speed and stability. Also, among the critical audit tasks was to monitor the quality of communication and business processes of interaction between the ERP development team, Product Managers and customer clients.

Since the chain is quite long, we noticed interruptions in the communication between the links. Before the global release of the product on the market, we set ourselves the task of conducting a complete and in-depth check of all parts of the service in order to have a better idea on ​​how the system will behave after release.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal from the audit team was to find all the nodes, processes and standards for which improvement before the launch was important, as well as to have an idea of the blind spots of the system that may become evident after a large-scale release of the product.

The range of such issues is very wide, it covers both the technical side of the product, its design, as well as communication and user support issues. We tried to fix as many bugs as possible that could get in our way after a large-scale release, and the 20miles team was responsible to find all the bugs that could affect the success of the product after the release.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We wanted to make the right choice as we were putting at risk our past efforts and work for 2 years.

We hired several consultants for the test, who were able to find those mistakes and spots that we already knew about. Therefore, we were not completely satisfied with the experience of working with an intermediate team.

As the second step, we got recommended to approach the 20miles development team, as they had very good recommendations from our partners from the financial sector.

The team immediately visited all of our customers and collected product feedback from them, interviewed users about the shortcomings and advantages of the system. When we saw the level of immersion in the details, we decided to entrust the team with all the parts of the audit, which removed a lot of difficulties from us.

We had fairly wide selection criteria: organization of the team (it was important for us to have 1 PM that would be aware of all product issues) and expertise in building ERP and digitising business processes (later we learned that the team had required experience in building ERP systems).

Describe the project in detail.

The product is a digitized business process of foreign economic activity, which affects all aspects of financial and legal activities. On average, one client represents 40 users of the financial, legal and treasury departments of companies.

The target customers of the product are companies with a turnover of more than 1 million pounds per year of foreign economic activity (export and import). ERP system supports the culture and correctness of data entry, and also makes it possible to build statistical and analytical results of the company as well as track risks.

The product is supplied to consulting clients as an accompanying tool, however, we plan to make it an independent product and publish it on the professional support market. The product is installed locally on the customer’s server in order to protect data; it is a native software for Windows and Mac.

What was the team composition?

While working with us, the PM was mainly the one who got in touch with us and it was important for us to build communication with the team through 1 person. To discuss the results of our work, team analysts who made a report and answered all our questions joined us at the meetings.

Also, the employees of our IT department talked with the technical specialists of the team. The guys from 20miles gave us 4 thematic lectures: methods of analyzing user needs, methods of competitive analysis, modern UI / UX in ERP, strategies and tools for promoting the product on the market.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We managed to get reliable and objective information about the quality of our work. Intensive lively discussions gave us a leap and we increased internal loyalty to the product, removed many blocks. Based on the results, together we drew up a plan for product improvements before release

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The 20miles analysts have always presented and explained all the results directly to those employees who planned to implement the changes. Despite the fact that we were provided with written versions of the answers, the auditor controlled the implementation of changes in the mode of live participation with the right employees.

Constant live discussions over the course of 2 months have become the norm. We gathered in a large meeting room and every time a lively discussion arose. Many issues of the interface, optimization of the business process, legal aspects of product protection and much more were discussed.

For us, this was a very valuable work experience, as we were able to look at our work from the outside.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were very lucky that the audit team had practical experience in the field of ERP, they were able to harmoniously unpack it. Our team wanted to apply in our work many practices that we have tested on ourselves during the audit and this has become an additional value for us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We really enjoyed working with the team, therefore, all the improvements will be on our side.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

In 2013, my partner and I while preparing for the Christmas and New Year holidays faced the problem that we needed to make a gift choices for more than 10 relatives and friends. We did not have much time to get too creative. We began to search for custom gift ideas in various forums and articles.

After not finding anything, we decided to analyze the search queries around gifts and realized that there are quite a few people like us on the Internet, but yet there was no solution for this. This led us to testing this niche by developing an MVP product and releasing it for the next Christmas. I am one of the founders of the startup working around product vision.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

We needed to evaluate the product and understand what functionality should be attributed to the MVP with a minimum budget.

We needed constant consultations and developers for iOS / Android applications who could fully develop the application, while maintaining the ability to change product requirements along the way.

We were not ready to organize any in-house development, therefore, we decided to give this work to the studio, and to focus on marketing and the product ourselves.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main tasks were to make it in time for the MVP release before the new year, conduct an advertising and marketing campaigns in order to test the product demand in the market and understand how this startup can be monetized.

We financed the startup from our own funds, therefore, our budget was limited and we counted on clear actions and a minimum development period. In addition, we set ourselves the goal to figure out which set of tools for promoting mobile apps we want to focus on.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After we developed the techdoc we started looking for developers of mobile applications, we placed a request on the developers’ site to get an approximate evaluation.

At first, we looked at several studios, but the guys from 20miles almost immediately offered us a product concept that coincided with our vision and we started working together. The skills of writing extra-class program code were not important to us, but the speed and full concept understanding were prioritised.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Our MVP was an iOS / Android mobile application that was complemented with ideas for non-standard and unique gifts for various occasions drawn up by our team and users. We wanted our users to offer cool gift ideas to the community themselves.

Any user could find the best gift idea by filling out a short brief questionnaire. Wishlist got expanded with gift ideas, it greatly helped to make pleasant things for relatives and friends, colleagues, while we did not focus on high cost or low cost we tried to affect the whole range of preferences for goods as a gift - this was our main value.

What was the team composition?

Most of the time, our project was led by a Project Manager and team analyst who searched for similar solutions and best practices.

We know that up to 7 people from the whole team were involved in our project, as needed. Sometimes the team switched to another project when we did not need the resources so that they did not stand idle.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the process of working on the product, we examined possible services that will allow you to choose applicable goods / services taking into account the interests of the user.

iOS / Android mobile application is a simplified social network, with the ability to find and explore the preferences of friends, be inspired in advance by ideas and understand the preferences of a loved one - to make the most accurate gift.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They were able to compensate for our lack of experience in developing mobile applications, explaining their examples the strategy for choosing MVP functionality.

Over time, we realized how important the opportunity for live collaboration is because from time to time, we worked directly in the developer's office, resolving emerging issues in real time with the team. We did not always fully occupy the team’s resources, but switching for us was painless, because we fit into the schedule, and the project manager tracked it well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were very surprised that the team at the very start of the project without any fixed agreements, took the initiative and advised us free of charge for several days.

We think that this initiative has become a determining factor for us, because primarily we were asked to write a techdoc and say what to do. At this stage we understood that real people work with us. The real team at 20miles showed initiative.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our requirements for product quality were reduced due to the MVP version of the product, therefore, we agreed in advance to reduce attention to the quality of the code as a priority of speed, therefore, it fully suited us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company focuses on software development: mobile applications, ERP, WEB services, their integration and promotion. I am the project auditor hired to track the project at all stages. My main responsibility is to give a quality assessment of the team’s work and provide support under increasing quality standards.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

We constantly have to establish corporate messengers for our clients when working on their projects. We often ended up with Slack solutions, however, the accumulating cost of implementation was growing rapidly and we thought about finding and implementing OpenSource solutions. We managed to find one - it was the Mattermost service, which by that time was participating in the Y accelerator. We really liked the solution and we decided to comprehensively implement it on some of our projects.

By that time, it all was developed using WEB tools and they did not completely satisfy us in terms of speed, so we contacted the guys from Mattermost to find out if they would mind if we developed the native version of Matternative. We received positive feedback and decided to develop such an application with the team. Before starting the development, we hired an experienced consultant who was supposed to evaluate our approach and quality in order to get an objective assessment of our work from the outside.

Therefore, in addition to developing a mobile application, our task was to develop internal standards that we implemented in real time. The Matternative project is an iOS / Android mobile application, an internal product of 20miles, developed according to the Open Source model. We did not create this product for monetization, openly published a code with the possibility of free distribution.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to get an objective assessment and improve our skills: in UI / UX, the ability to understand and implement user wishes, the level of management, the communication of project members with each other, the level of quality and speed of the solution.

We also wanted to challenge ourselves and make a contribution to the Open Source community of products by sharing the source code for free. And of course, introduce a corporate messenger developed by us.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

At first, we wanted to implement the project on our own, but later on we realized that we needed to hire a consultant from the side who has more direct experience and can maintain objectivity and a high level of demanding work.

We conducted a fairly large selection and settled on a candidate with an experience of 8 years in the development of mobile applications, which could demonstrate to us his strong experience in this industry.

The project auditor we hired at the start worked on a daily basis and together with our team, giving lectures and Agile meetings, which allowed us to see our work from the outside, to feel the need and desire to raise standards and make this part of the team’s philosophy.

Describe the project in detail.

Matternative is an iOS / Android corporate mobile messenger. It allows you to create correspondence between project teams with the ability to share files and links inside the messenger.

The messenger easily ties to the corporate file storage, which helped to store files and messages in a single secure server environment and provided essential sense of tranquility, because It was accompanied by weekly backups and had no restrictions on the size of the team, groups, participants or the number of messages.

We achieved a very short project implementation cycle, which significantly reduced the launch time of all new projects. It has become a worthy alternative to Slack.

What was the team composition?

During this project (about 5 months) I contacted all team members: iOS / Android developers, Project Managers, Analysts and Designers, Techdoc writers and testers every day in the office. It was a team of 8 people who worked on the project, and during the lectures, all the other members of the team were joining us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In total, our solution was used by more than several tens of thousands of users (we can’t establish the exact number, because we intentionally do not maintain a user base). We have received hundreds of grateful letters from different countries. We did not offer donation options, but were pleased with the many thanks.

It was important for us to achieve our audit objectives: track all KPIs and understand how we can make a qualitative leap forward. In practice, we managed to convey to all the team members the value of the growth vector and all members of our team agreed with these ideas, especially because each of them participated in the formation of standards and philosophy, this united the team quite strongly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We started with global product planning, held several meetings with the team in order to analyze the functionality in detail. After that each member of the team presented their assessment of the tasks, which was discussed and distributed between the rest of the team. Everything was fixed in the configured task tracker, after which the priorities for each feature were clarified. During the development process, the auditor monitored the KPI of our work and we discussed what could be improved, how to rebuild the process and make it more efficient.

After the 2nd month of work, we were able to stabilise the quality level and track our indicators, because each person had their own plan and moved independently within it. The whole team worked very synchronously according to the development plan. Each new version was presented to the focus group, we tracked errors and crashes, examined the wishes of users and compiled a wish-list, which we later voted on.

Sometimes we talked and consulted with the Mattermost team, but remained a completely independent initiative. At the end of the project development, we conducted a large-scale retrospective, which consolidated the implemented standards and an understanding of the necessary improvements on the following projects. Our entire team fully supported this approach and was interested in monitoring our own effectiveness. Everyone noticed significant improvements in productivity and these results gave us motivation to grow further.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As an internal auditor, I felt the potential and strong desire of the team to look for ways to improve. At each meeting, the developers were very responsive and shared their problems. Such openness involves all team members in the process and a synergy effect arises. I had a clear belief that this team could do everything.

Are there any areas for improvement?

All our work on this project was built around the search for improvements, therefore, I can not describe here all the results achieved. But I can say that we went through all the difficulties quite confidently and I was satisfied. I don’t think that I can leave something here for improvements, because the team has moved much further without me.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is engaged in the production and supply of agricultural products. Our production consists of several large factories for the production and regional distribution of agricultural products, which together form our agro-holding.

I am holding's product manager and my responsibilities include formulation of business requirements for holding’s supply and provision.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

Our departments interact with hundreds of suppliers of raw materials, equipment and components on a daily basis. Such a large flow of data and operations is not possible manually, so in 2012 we developed the Procurement Marketplace, to which our suppliers and partners got connected.

To make a decision, we are guided by data, therefore, we collect end-to-end analytics on all our resources. The last few years we have seen a steady growth in the usage of mobile devices that are used to visit our resources.

We analyzed how this affects our users and decided to create a native mobile application for the existing Marketplace. We set a number of tasks for the developers:

• Explore and extend user analytics
• Design a mobile API
• Develop and publish an iOS / Android mobile apps

What were your goals for this project?

Investigate the collected data and the process of user interaction with the Marketplace, design the optimal use case based on the data, develop a mobile application based on the data and on the existing experience of the WEB site.

Achieve mobility, optimize uptime, improve the comfort of Marketplace usage with the help of mobile application for smartphones and tablets.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The holding department held a tender, highlighted a short list of developers according to criteria that were important to our company. Our choice was made on the basis of relevance to the corporate criteria of the holding, the training of analysts and the proposed concept by the team based on the data that we published at the start of the tender.

Describe the project in detail.

The project consisted of several parallel processes in which specialists participated on each issue. We quickly established interaction at the departmental level, discussed analytics, its relationship to our user’s behavior.

We jointly developed a risk model, a financial model, so that our IT department has an understanding of how to work with the product in house.

Product development required the synchronization of the interests of a large number of users, since the product is online on the on hand and also incorporate architecture, interconnected with the company’s corporate business processes, it required developers to pay attention in both directions.

At the first stage, the already developed backend’s architecture of the wholesale purchase system was analysed. Based on the existing backend and mobile application standards, an API has already been designed to interact with the system.

At the second stage, when creating the design concept, studies of all internal business processes were carried out.

In the third stage, we created the MVP version of the mobile application to implement it in production. At the fourth stage, the full version of the procurement system through mobile devices was fully developed and implemented.

Finally, at the fifth stage, the team transferred all the source code, created documentation and provided free warranty support for the newly created system for several months.

What was the team composition?

At various stages of the project, we interacted with Analysts (primarily at the initial stages), with the Backend architect (during the design of the API), and most often we communicated with PM, who organized the entire development process, made a presentation of each new version of the product, and passed the iteration of work.

We know that around 10 members of the 20miles team were involved in the project, which did not change during the full project’s length.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a result, the product is an iOS / Android mobile application for suppliers, through which purchases and offers of a partner are placed. The mobile application covers the need for mobility from placing a food offer and submitting an application for participation in a tender, to tracking purchase rates in real time.

The mobile application gives independence from the personal computer, which is especially valuable given the large territory and work associated with the warehouse.

Several thousand tender purchases are registered monthly in the system, and this is a large amount of data that requires cross-cutting analytics to track blind spots and places for improvement.

The mobile application opened for us the opportunity to get more data that we use to improve interaction with users of the system. Such product made it possible to optimize the average time for placing an order from 28 to 21 minutes, which saves at least 1726 hours annually.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team visited the production facilities several times, got familiar with the business processes in our company, studied the procurement process and based on the gained knowledge - designed the concept of the product.

This was subsequently implemented with all the nuances of internal technical architecture of our procurement system as Backend was on our side. Our technical experts and marketing analysts have achieved the necessary synergy with the team and managed to successfully develop the system.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed by the initiative of the team and the team’s propensity to make decisions based on data.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We did not have any dissatisfaction in the work of the team. In the process, on our part, additional requests arose, to which the team eagerly responded.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an entertainment startup. The startup was born as an idea to form a digital market for club visitors and establish interaction with them, increasing the service of entertainment companies. I am the founder of a startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

We decided to introduce the team right at the start of the project in order to receive feedback from developers when the concept was created.

As a result, within a 2 months sprint, together with the development team we explored the nightlife of St. Petersburg, visited clubs trying to find out the nuances and interests of the visitors.

After collating all the data together we approached MVP iOS development.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed support and full developers’ involvement in creating this startup. The primary aim was to develop an iOS mobile app.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Few years ago we posted a few questions online and got a few teams who got back to us. The 20miles team were the most initiative amongst all which led us to starting a project with them.

Describe the project in detail.

After registering in a mobile app, the system anonymously defined users’ preferences to allow them to explore the entertainment life in a “where to go” format.

In this mobile app there is also a QR code that can be used on the entrance to receive an offer that the club or entertainment venue provided. All data was stored anonymously and we haven’t stored any specific personal information as it wasn’t needed for our functionality and made the development cost go down.

One of the particularly interesting features that we found was that people tend to go to different places in one day without staying in a specific one for too long.

What was the team composition?

We got assigned a PM, mobile app developer (iOS), backend developer, analyst, designer and technical writer, who helped us release out tech documentation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After hours of mutual market analysis and convenient visits of restaurants and clubs we managed to formulate business requirements and create product concept. After that, the team implemented the idea within an iOS app in an MVP form that we used to present to our partners and clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Despite that fact that we were not too proficient in IT, guys managed to give us the basics and showcase the principles that it faced with other clients. The workflow was very smooth, we used online group call with appear.in, but spent a large amount of time in face to face meetings and outside for the research.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We received a very positive and high level of interest from their team to boost product’s analytics. This was crucial to us to bring the idea to life not just from technical point of view, but also critically assess the business side of a startup.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Hard to find anything specific for the team’s improvement, but after inside reflection we found a few areas to improve in our startup. The main one we identified was within the marketing and promotion fields to make the product more popular.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company focuses on logistics for over 10 years, we transport goods over long distances. I am a CEO in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

In 2015 we thought of an idea inside our company to create a startup that would organise logistics of small cargo in the business model that Uber uses. To bring this idea to life we were required to find a team of developers, who could develop such mobile app.

What were your goals for this project?

In the past we never had to develop any IT products, which made us think that we need to find an experienced team that could collaborate with us, design and develop this product. We needed developers’ help in identifying business requirements, technical documentation and further support in developing the product from scratch. What we value the most is experience in analytics and efficiency. At the end of the day, we needed to develop an iOS, Android mobile apps. The 20miles team also provided technical support and provided advice on promoting the service.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I have filtered and shortlisted a few teams from an online rating of mobile app developers. This team was the final one I selected. At this time I cannot recall the exact amount of companies considered, but at the end we were selecting from the 4 most applicable ones.

Describe the project in detail.

Mobile app consists of 2 account types: for the carrier and for the client. The client needs to input the cargo parameters, coordinates and destination. The carrier, on the other side, need to respond to the request and set a price. Such model is very similar to the Uber concept, but focuses on logistics.

What was the team composition?

iOS: 1 Android: 1 PM: 1 Analyst: 1 Designer: 1 Technical specification: 1 Tester: 1

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After publishing an app we had more than 6,000 users registering each month, which demonstrates that app could handle high load easily. And for all possible bugs that appeared with the first feedback, the team efficiently solved all issues and updated an app.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

When we were working together, the team really pushed analytics and improvement of this idea. The findings then were integrated in a product using Agile method. After the app's release, the team stayed with us to solve our user's problems.  Analysts from the team cooperated with us during the stage when we got investment for this project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

While working together we structured product analytics, closely worked and discussed results and user requirements. Usually, within 2 days we could receive a massive analytical report on business requirements and could react quickly to make a decision, which was very efficient.

Are there any areas for improvement?

An improvement could be made at the stage of registering developer account for us as it takes quite some time, especially with iOS.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our startup is formed around secure, corporate messenger that could locally integrate into client's hosting. I'm a project manager and is responsible for communication with the development team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 20miles?

Our background and business experience brought us to a conclusion that there is a need for a secure internal messenger that would be used with confidential information. For our project, it was crucial for the team to have an experience with messengers development that 20miles had. We had design concept ready, but we wanted to improve it and use it as a foundation for an iOS and Android apps.

What were your goals for this project?

First - improve existing concept to a level where it could be used as a development task. Second - develop a product for all relevant operating systems: iOS, Android, WP, Mac OS, Windows PC with the relevant backend.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have made a shortlist of developers using public information and after analysis of 10 teams and initial discussions, we have made a decision to select 20miles and started our cooperation.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They provided excellent analytics and consulting services, reviewing our existing documentation and the concept, providing feedback and pivoting it before the development started. In regards to the software development itself, we followed Agile approach and the development for all platforms happened in parallel. The team also prototyped and designed the product throughout mutual discussions and research.

What was the team composition?

The team had approx. 14 people involved, we were allocated with a PM and 2 developers for each platform. Two developers were doing both Mac & iOS. They also had their own QA team, who tested the service and a designer, who created our visuals. The team size was pretty stable throughout the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development has been challenged by the fact that we had development processes in parallel for 5 different operating systems. We adjusted business requirements and implemented them on all platforms.

This required more attention and concentration on specific tasks, but despite the difficulties the product was created and massively helped us in receiving market feedback to plan and adjust our future software updates.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

During the development stage we tested the product on the clients’ sites with the team. We faced a large amount of questions from infrastructure settings to deployment of the product into a live version. Such work required a high level of cooperation between both teams, but we managed to work efficiently together.

In respect to tools, we mainly used Skype and face to face meetings, we also had read access to their GitHub to track progress independently. The deadline for our initial release was met.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team managed to take a lot of analytics, remember all the nuances and details of our business requirements and track our progress efficiently.

Are there any areas for improvement?

For projects like ours it would have been beneficial to organise a service that would manage portfolio when the user’s number increase significantly and the client get hundreds and thousands of internal projects. This however is more relevant to our own planning, rather than their service, but might be a tip for others.