Antenna Consulting Ltd.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product owner at a digital mining solutions company. Our IT solutions drive productivity and quality across mining, geospatial, and industrial landscapes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Antenna Consulting?

My company needed help with various strategic projects on our roadmap. Since our company has been around for several decades, we needed to ensure that new software was consistent with customer expectations of existing products. Also, creating good mining software requires balancing diverse customer requirements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked on three separate projects. The three consultants collaborated with our product managers and customers to understand the industry and customer requirements. The consultants pursued market research and created wireframes, layouts, and workflows. They translated our customer’s needs into designs, which they presented to our team before proceeding with development. They delivered UI/UX frameworks and designs. For one of the projects, Antenna Consulting mapped out user experience and created a workflow optimization tool for our customers.

What is the team composition?

We engaged with three consultants.

How did you come to work with Antenna Consulting?

I previously worked with a UX consultant from Antenna Consulting and hoped to bring them in-house. Although that consultant was unavailable, Anthony (President & Managing Director, Antenna Consulting) recommended other consultants with skill sets that matched our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $70,000­–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project started in the spring and ended in the fall of 2018. The second project lasted from August­–November 2018. Finally, the third project commenced in December 2018, and Antenna Consulting finished UI/UX in February 2019. Although we don’t have any active projects at the moment, we will likely re-engage them when we have completed our 2019 roadmap.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to take our most recent project directly into development because Antenna Consulting delivered such high-quality UI/UX design. They ensured that their software implementations were compatible with our existing infrastructure. As such, customers have responded very well to the updated software.

How did Antenna Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Anthony was readily available and closely monitored the quality output of his consultants. When my team had issues or questions, the consultants responded immediately. Such rapid response times meant that roadblocks and challenges did not deter our deadlines. We communicated via email.

We used Jira and Confluence to record all of our designs. Although Antenna Consulting used another type of UI/UX software to generate designs, they worked with our software and embedded all screenshots into Jira and Confluence. They created a Confluence summary page with all of the UI/UX designs and wireframes, and they organized everything by project in Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We wanted to progress quickly, and the consultants learned the complex mining industry and our software in very little time. Antenna Consulting was incredibly adept at accommodating conflicting customer requirements and building functional workflows. The consultants worked concisely and delivered what was expected from our customers. We appreciated their quick and efficient manner.

We now have three people who know our software very well. The consultants are like internal resources that are available on demand. As soon as we organize our yearly roadmap, I know Antenna Consulting will be prepared to work with us.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would appreciate further input on how our software can evolve from the perspective of UI/UX. However, I’m sure they will provide this if we work together in the future.

Any advice for potential customers?

While Antenna Consulting is great at asking tough questions of customers, internal product managers need to facilitate this. Leveraging these relationships can reveal valuable insights that will ultimately benefit the software.