We create technology that moves...
Apadmi creates technology to keep leading organisations and their customers moving forward. We do that by creating digital products which solve complex problems and deliver enriching experiences for people on the move across mobile, web and digital platforms.
Apadmi’s team of 200 in-house experts work with our clients to define their digital vision, design and engineer transformational products. Our work helps to solve business challenges for the likes of Domino’s, Co-op, NHS, Chetwood, BBC, SailGP, Wattbike and Chelsea Football Club.
headquarters
other locations
Focus
Portfolio
BBC, Argos, Lexus, Range Rover, NHS, Chelsea FC, SailGP, Co-op, The Guardian, United Utilities, and HSS.
My First Five Years
Helping parents to marvel in the moments, not just the milestones.
My First Five Years is on a mission to change the face of parenting. The start-up business collaborated with Apadmi to create a platform capable of collating thousands of child development insights while delivering an intuitive experience for busy, time-poor parents and carers.
Using scientific research to create individual recommendations, rather than age-related generalisations, the My First Five Years app makes complex knowledge accessible, without dumbing it down. It enables users to self-select a level of detail which is right for them with just their thumb (and potentially a child on one hip).
An MVP was extensively tested and subsequently endorsed by an 1,100 strong test group of parents before launch. The output is scientific information in parents’ hands, distilled in parent-friendly language, helping them to see their children differently and create a better experience as their child develops.
"Apadmi has been key to the development of My First Five Years and its people are smart and straight-talking. The team has collaborated with us to deliver on our vision of creating a product which distills 50 years of child development knowledge into an intuitive, easy-to-use app". - Jennie Johnson MBE, Co-Founder and CEO, My First Five Years.
Domino's App
Domino’s and Apadmi deliver increased sales and happy customers with updated app.
Apadmi was selected by Domino's UK & Ireland to support the food retailer in updating its existing app to deliver a more personalised digital experience for its customers.
A new native app was launched in May 2021 and included a range of additional features such as In Car Collection, group ordering, integrated Google Pay and the ability to save your own customised pizza.
With orders up and abandoned baskets down, the results were fantastic. In the weeks immediately after launch, the app saw its highest ever sales outside of peak season and with a 17.5% increase.
“The Domino's app is a more effective part of our digital customer experience thanks to our partnership with Apadmi. The ongoing collaboration combines business understanding with the technical requirements necessary to realise our vision of creating the best digital products to support our customers." - Kelly O'Connor, Mobile App Product Owner, Domino's Pizza UK and Ireland.
The Co-op App
Giving members a personalised shopping experience and £15 million donated to charity. Making a difference in millions.
We collaborated with one of the UK's biggest retailers to deliver a mobile account management system that drives scheme interaction, empowering members and boosting engagement through mobile.
Following a report produced by the Co-op, it was clear many members were craving a better way to manage their membership through a mobile solution.
The Co-op embarked on a journey to find out if a mobile app would help members to manage their memberships with greater ease and efficiency. Members told them they wanted a digital card on their phone, with the ability to access their loyalty scheme benefits all in one place. What would the Co-op get out of this? Greater engagement with happier customers.
"Apadmi is a part of our team. They’re a fantastic bunch of people and it’s meant working on the app for the past year has been enjoyable and fulfilling. Our goal is to continue to deliver more value to our members and their communities – the app and Apadmi have a huge role to play in that". - Louise Nicholas, Product Manager, Co-op Membership.
The Charles Stanley App
Partnering with a new generation of traders with enhanced app performance and new components for mobile customers.
Charles Stanley has been leading the personal investment and finance market since 1792, and had no plans of falling behind with its digital solutions. With two current apps in place, its goal was to not only improve its current products, but also appeal to a new generation of traders.
Current applications included My Charles Stanley, aimed at clients using their discretionary managed service and Charles Stanley Direct, for clients using online trading investment platforms. Apadmi was tasked with improving the current experience of both and outlining future functionality for continued success.
"Apadmi's mobile expertise and guidance has helped us to transform our mobile offering and make the most of the services we’ve created. Their streamlined development process ensured our apps offered everything we anticipated and more." - Paul Searby, Interim Head of Digital, Charles Stanley.
The SailGP App
A world-first fan experience app that allows fans to truly personalise what they watch, bringing them closer to their favourite sport than ever before.
SailGP has a global fanbase who watch events from many different places and with varying levels of interest. Whether following from the shore, hospitality, VIP stadiums or virtually from a laptop or phone, with no traditional stadium or playing field, keeping up with the action can be tricky.
When Apadmi built the SailGP app, the sport was brand new and and wanted to showcase the action to sailing fans everywhere. So how did we bring these supercharged F50 hydrofoiling ‘flying’ racing catamarans to life digitally?
The SailGP app is the ultimate companion to the championship and combines 1,200 data points for each boat, allows 3 user viewing modes and 8 livestream feeds, which enables fans to completely personalise their race experience.
"We’re immensely proud of our mobile application. This isn’t just a first in our sport, we don’t believe there’s any other sport that gives as much data as we’re collecting to the public in a live environment and allows fans to customise their viewing experience." - Warren Jones, Chief Technology Officer, SailGP
The United Utilities app
A sector first in the water industry with a native mobile app which makes life easier for both customers and the business.
United Utilities is one of the UK's largest privately listed water companies and had two key problems to solve. Firstly, improve customer experience with greater access to billing information and clearer communication, and secondly create a tool which could be used by the internal operations team to assess customer satisfaction and track reports of water leaks.
As the first native mobile app for the water supply industry, Apadmi was breaking new ground in terms of functionality and user expectations for the sector. In-depth profiling of United Utilities customers and the resulting UX work led to an app which was intensely focused on improving all use cases. From submitting meter readings in the dark (with the help of an automatic torch) to reporting a leak, paying bills or getting in touch with customer services.
"Our innovative “Report a Leak” function adds context to issues, ensuring our team deals with leaks based on their severity, but it also deepens our customer engagement – a critical part of any business. We're thrilled with the uptake of the United Utilities mobile app so far - which has contributed to ncreaasing our digital customer base by 146,000 customers." - Denise Maskew, Customer Digital Manager, United Utilities.
The Perfect Play App
Putting coaches in players’ hands as Chelsea’s Perfect Play app takes augmented reality football training to the next level for fans around the world.
Chelsea Digital Ventures, the investment arm of Chelsea Football Club, had a vision to create an immersive and engaging digital coaching experience for young players over the age of 13, in order to train and inspire the next generation of footballers.
Apadmi worked on the concept closely with coaches at Chelsea FC to recreate real-life training activities, translate them into a digital format and create a bespoke framework for academy authored scripts.
The content was then brought to life in an app utilising computer vision, pose estimation and augmented reality, combined with built-in smartphone functionality to deliver immersive and customised football training sessions.
"Chelsea is an ambitious club, on and off the pitch, and performance is everything. We’re thrilled to be working with a partner who shares our drive and has the team to power our new digital products, with the right blend of mobile app developers, designers and web and system developers" - Duncan Ross, CTO of Chelsea Digital Ventures.
My Argos Card App
A convenient and interactive store card management app to view your My Argos Card credit and purchasing account. The My Argos Card is used by more than 1.5m customers to spend over £700m in Argos stores and online.
The Drum Voice on Alexa
Testing the limits of voice search, The Drum Voice Alexa skill gives you the chance to ask the Drum’s co-founder and editor-in-chief Gordon Young about voice technology, bringing his strong Glaswegian accent right into your living room.
DonorPath, for NHS Blood and Transplant
As part of the ongoing digital transformation within the NHS, we created an enterprise tablet-based app to revolutionise their internal processes, replacing paper-based, repetitive tasks that were wasting precious time.
Co-op NHS Repeat Prescriptions app
A mobile solution for more than just members, the Co-op NHS Repeat Prescriptions app allow customers to securely order repeat prescriptions in real-time via their smartphone, streamlining their online journey.
Lexus AR App
Lexus’ first augmented reality app allowed customers to experience features of the new Lexus UX model, six months ahead of its international release, at the Paris Motorshow in 2018.
BBC App Suite Development
Apadmi has worked on a variety of BBC mobile solutions, from their hugely popular iPlayer app for live TV streaming, to their Radio and Music apps which consolidate a wide catalogue of BBC content into easy-to-use, interactive platforms.
App Development for Jaguar Land Rover, Range Rover Evoque
Jaguar Land Rover needed a suite of corporate brochure iPad apps and reached out to Apadmi for help. In one project, the Apadmi team focused on developing an app that would bring information to life for journalists at a press launch of the new Range Rover Evoque. Another project was undertaken to help their salespeople promote the new model to customers in innovative new ways.
The Guardian Edition App
We worked with the Guardian team to produce a highly-visual app for Android & Kindle Fire that reimagined the traditional newspaper.
HSS Hire App
We worked with HSS to give customers more control, quickly, by developing an app that allowed tools to be booked wherever, whenever and with much more ease, providing customers with certainty at all times.
EE Staff Training Platform
EE needed an enterprise app to be rolled out across their national workforce. It would hold everything from health and safety assessments to engaging, educational apps. This all allowed them to keep consistent standards of training across the board using mobile technology.
Travel Counsellors' my TC app
Apadmi collaborated with Travel Counsellors to create my TC – an app that manages every aspect of your bespoke holiday package, from that initial search right down to the departure countdown.
PropertyPal App
With 70% of PropertyPal.com web traffic coming from mobile, they needed a suite of apps available on iOS and Andriod that made the most of phone and tablet functionality for a simple, intuitive UI and unique customer experience.
Skyscanner app
We worked with Skyscanner’s in-house team to broaden their mobile offering, creating an easy-to-use app that would simplify the booking process, while enhancing the user experience.
Reviews
the project
Mobile App Development for Online Retailer
''We’ve been happy with how they’ve performed.''
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the head of technology for the digital customer experience at The Very Group, a digital retailer based in the UK.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
We needed help with mobile app development.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We’ve been through two main engagements with Apadmi. The first project was bolstering our team because we found it difficult to hire mobile skills. Part of that engagement was also to help us create a test automation suite for changes we were making to the application. Then the second engagement helped us deliver a new loyalty proposition to the market.
The first engagement was augmentation, with our team getting both engineering and QA. For the second engagement, they were responsible for developing new features. They were doing design and development, and we were giving them UX prototypes, technical architecture drawings, and high-level solution designs — the work was for iOS and Android.
What is the team composition?
In the first engagement, we worked with two engineers and two testers. The second process was a larger team with eight people; it was a mix of engineers, a product owner, and a project manager.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
I had a previous engagement with them when I was at a different company.
How much have you invested with them?
We've spent £350,000 (approximately $456,300 USD) with them so far.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in August 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The feedback is all positive; they’ve been an easy and professional partner. They’re also responsive to our needs and adaptive — it was easy for them to come in and work within our team and culture. Overall, they've been able to produce good results.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
Project management is good; they give good updates and visibility to their progress and have supported us in an interim capacity. We're happy with how they manage everything.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their expertise in mobile app development is outstanding.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I don't think there's anything they can improve on — we’ve been happy with how they’ve performed.
the project
Mobile App Software Development Kits & Mgmt for SaaS Company
"There’s a lot of expertise and passion on their team."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the senior product manager at a company that aims to bring together service providers that will speak to the AML compliance journey. We look to aggregate business problems in a single place, solving them through technology solutions.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
There was a demand for document verification and facial comparison capabilities in the mobile space. We’re an API-based business, so we don’t typically work with mobile solutions. However, we wanted to build the development kits that would allow our customers to continue their services. We reached out to them to supplement our team in managing our expansion into the mobile space.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They were responsible for building solutions using React Native. The solutions were for both iOS and Android devices. In addition to building the software development kit (SDK) for each framework, they built and managed a sales demonstration app. That involved them loading the solutions they had built into a lightweight app so our sales team could demonstrate solutions directly to clients. There were a total of three SDKs and one sales demonstration app.
What is the team composition?
I worked with Christina (Account Manager), John (Senior Project Manager), and a few of their developers.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
We did a search for mobile development shops and interviewed about 10 of the best options. They immediately understood our mission and goals, so we selected them. The price they came back with was also very reasonable, so they were the natural choice in the end.
How much have you invested with them?
By the end of 2020, we will have spent between $200,000–$250,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve been working with them since March 2018. They continue to update our kits with the latest technology. We have two quotes with them currently. The initial kit was completed in about 12 weeks.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They’ve gone above and beyond their agreement on paper to make sure that our solutions are up and running as quickly and seamlessly as possible. We’ve been very happy with their work. The solution looks like it will go into profit in the next few months, so they’re certainly checking boxes in that regard as well.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
Communication has been strong. While deadline management was a little slow in the beginning, they were able to quicken their pace after getting some institutional knowledge. They haven’t missed a deadline in the past 12 months, so they’ve definitely improved over time on this front. We communicated and managed the project over Basecamp. There, they track requests and answer questions. We also communicate over calls and email.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They integrated into our team so quickly that our engagement became a partnership, beyond an outsourcing arrangement that I may have been used to. There’s a lot of expertise and passion on their team. We’ve developed a strong relationship that allows them to provide us with honest feedback, which we appreciate. They have an understanding of the space that helps them make recommendations on how we can improve upon our solutions. They’ve certainly gone above and beyond.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Basecamp may not be the right tool for long-term tasks. Additionally, it would be helpful for them to be a bit more responsive to framework updates. It would be great if they could publish their testing of our solutions because we don’t have much visibility into that currently.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Rely on frequent demonstrations to ensure that the project doesn’t begin going down the wrong path.
the project
Mobile App Dev for Consumer Co-operative
“It feels like they’re a part of our team; they’ve really blended in with us.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m head of product for Co-op. We mainly sell food but we also have some adjacent businesses in funeral care, insurance, legal services, and so on. I work in the digital department. We span all of those different business units, building digital products and services. In my role, I support the customer team.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
We were playing with the idea of developing a mobile app. Upon the initiation of our engagement, Apadmi helped us solve our problem of building a proof of concept as well as helped us prove or disprove the need for an app.
What was the scope of their involvement?
The proof of concept was a positive test. Apadmi brought the app to life, and the full application launched in September 2019. We did a relaunch with proper marketing in September 2020. The app is available on both iOS and Android.
The core feature of the app is digital offers. Members receive offers and coupons on the things they buy. It’s totally digitalized the couponing process; they don’t have to bring paper coupons with them to the store anymore. Since then, we’ve added some community elements to the app as well. Members can back local causes so a percentage of what they spend goes to their community.
We’re also building some more content-driven things around recipes, in-store deals, and articles. In September 2020, we upgraded all the hardware in the stores to better read phone screens. We also digitized the membership card as well.
They provided a project management capability when we relaunched the app to unify everything across all the teams. We also use some of their product marketing capacities. Their team helped us crack the app stores as well as worked on our ratings and reviews.
What is the team composition?
We work with an account manager, lead iOS engineer, lead Android engineer, software support engineers, and a QA person. We’ve used other people on a consulting basis as well.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
We went through an RFP process and went to tender with various competitors. They all did a presentation and were scored on a variety of things. We wanted to choose a business with similar values to ours. The fact that Apadmi was based in Manchester was a big plus. It was nice to know we could easily meet in person.
How much have you invested with them?
We invested between £1 million–£5 million (approximately $1.3 million–$6.7 million USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
The initial engagement was from April 2018–September 2019. They did a relaunch in September 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our metrics are where we set out to be. The relaunch in September 2020 has helped us grow by about 140%. Our customers are using the app and returning to use it, which is exactly what we want.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
They hit both of our deadlines comfortably. Communication is always great. They’re open about how feasible timelines are as well as collaborative in getting a solution to reach a certain outcome. We correspond mostly through Slack and Microsoft Teams.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I’m most impressed with their openness. It feels like they’re a part of our team; they’ve really blended in with us. They’re not afraid to say if something is a bad idea, suggest new ideas, or push back and challenge us. It’s clear that they have our best interests in mind.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, nothing comes to mind.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Spend some time getting their team up to speed on what you want to achieve.
the project
Mobile App Dev for Dating App Startup
"With Apadmi, you’re paying for guaranteed quality."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the co-founder and creative director of JigTalk, a dating app. We’re an iOS and Android location-based app that is free to download. You match with other users based on your discovery criteria.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
I needed someone to develop our iOS app. We needed it built to scale so that off the back of their development cycle, we could start building our own internal development team.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Apadmi developed our iOS app to a point where it was releasable to the public. We validated the app with a really roughly built cross-platform beta product before approaching them.
We approached them to refine what we currently had but we went back to the drawing board and built it for scale with longevity in mind. They did a full code review and found it was actually more efficient and better for the user if we built it from the ground up.
When we first went to them, we only had a breadcrumb of what we knew our app was. It was only through a lot of time allocated from Apadmi that we honed it down and really stripped things back to optimize it for the user.
Howard (CEO) played a critical part in linking us with local investment in the north of England and connecting us with countless leads of which many we managed to convince to back us. Marcus (Chief Strategy Officer) played a huge role in advising us with our budget allocation as we expanded into new markets.
Additionally, Apadmi helped us with backend scalability. We also worked with their CTO who helped us to scale ourselves to be ready for hopefully huge numbers in the US.
What is the team composition?
We worked with three developers, three UX teammates, and their marketing branch who helped us with our London launch. I personally interacted with leaders in each of their fields such as their head of UX, head of design, head of marketing, head of experience, and head of strategy.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
We were referred by a friend of ours who happened to know Howard. My co-founder then went to meet Howard for an impromptu meeting just to talk through where we were at with the company and get some advice.
After talking to multiple agencies, we knew that Apadmi was the perfect partner to help us scale in the long-term. We knew they wouldn’t treat us like a cash cow.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $250,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked with Apadmi from November 2017–November 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They really played a pivotal role in getting this project off the ground. We owe them a lot. Our London launch was very successful, and Apadmi laid all the foundation for us immaculately.
Their work allowed us to build upon their development with our internal team after that. Apadmi played an important role in linking us with a wide investment network which was critical for growing the financial resource to scale.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
Project management was completely transparent. We could see it through a very granular level. They very often would rejig their calendar to see if something wasn’t on track. On a few occasions, they shoveled things around for us.
We actually moved to Manchester to be closer to their office because they wanted to meet in-person so often. I grew to be very friendly with not only the developers but the project management team as well.
We had daily, open contact so that they were absolutely sure that they were building something we wanted. Throughout development projects, things change. You see problems and improvements you want to make on the fly.
So, we needed to be agile. I’ve worked with agencies who make you reassess the entire working agreement and then things go on a standstill. Apadmi was invested in having as best of a product as needed. They made it happen and went above and beyond for that, which is why I speak so fondly of them.
What did you find most impressive about them?
In terms of the development understanding and moving with the times and staying on top of best practice on both Android and iOS, they were top of their game. The team knew it so well.
They had a really good system in terms of the developers teaming up with the UX teams so that everybody was on the same page. They didn’t team up on projects that they didn’t believe in.
I haven’t encountered Apadmi working on a project that they weren’t talking passionately about and roaring with hunger to do well. They were aware of all the best practices.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I can’t fault them on anything. It was a phenomenal experience.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Embrace them as a partner and not as an agency, and treat them as a friend and a family member because they will want to do the same for you. Embrace the cost of it compared to a cheaper agency either nationally or internationally because, with Apadmi, you’re paying for guaranteed quality.
Take into account the expertise they give in all the different areas, and keep an open mind. They understand problems and they help you solve them as best as they can rather than just doing what you ask.
the project
Mobile App Dev for Retail App Business
"The design team worked well to understand our specific requirements, making it easier to brief the development team."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I was initially the product director, but I’m now the COO of a retail shopping app.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
We hired them to develop our iOS mobile app.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We provided all of the wireframes and Apadmi turned that into a more polished design. They then developed the iOS app. They added functionality that allows users to save their ideas as they were moving from one website to another.
The app collates the shopping discoveries and allows users to go back to them when they’re ready to buy. The team also built a social network within the app.
What is the team composition?
We worked with 7–8 teammates including a project manager, an account manager, a designer, and developers.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
I’d known one of the founders for a number of years and I talked to him about our plan. They presented their value proposition to us and they were incredible, so we decided to go with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $350,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from November 2017–November 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The app was received extremely well in the market and it enabled us to attract a number of investors to the business as well as retail partners.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
The project management was good, and they were very transparent. The design team worked well to understand our specific requirements, making it easier to brief the development team. As with any large project, there were ups and downs, but nothing too hard to deal with.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They had a well-oiled machine in terms of development and quality of output. They set each project off well in terms of fleshing out the sprint plans. Additionally, the design element was good in terms of bringing our vision to life and then feeding that into the development.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Given it was such a big project, sometimes communication could’ve been a little better. Other than that, everything was fine. The quality of their work was fantastic.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be clear on what you want to achieve and don’t try to come up with the solutions on your own. Let their experience do that for you. Set up roles and responsibilities well at the outset, which Apadmi tends to do well anyway.
the project
Mobile App Dev for Online Pharmacy
"They’ve been a good partner and are flexible in terms of adapting to our working methods."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the delivery manager of a member-owned cooperative that deals with retail and prescription delivery.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
We do not have a full-time mobile development team. We selected Apadmi as our mobile development partner. They were selected to help us build a mobile prescription ordering app as part of our plan to re-enter the pharmacy market in the UK.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Apadmi developed a new iOS and Android mobile app from scratch, working on the frontend. They added functionality that allows users to order their prescriptions and have them delivered to their homes. Additionally, the team provided some input on the design.
What is the team composition?
At the peak, we worked with five engineers and QA teammates. At the moment, we’re only working with two individuals.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
Apadmi had been selected as a development partner for other work, so it was a natural fit for us. They were the winner after a competitive bidding process.
What is the status of this engagement?
Apadmi’s contract started in October 2018, and I joined the project in November 2018. Our engagement is still ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve been quite satisfied with Apadmi’s work. They’ve been a good partner and are flexible in terms of adapting to our working methods. Uptime and customer satisfaction have been great.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
We are managing the project on our own, Apadmi primarily provides the engineering. They work alongside our developers using our tools.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Overall, they’ve been a good partner for our organization and continue to be.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I have no suggestions.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be clear on your requirements and the way in which you want to engage. If you outline those expectations from the outset, it’ll help both parties.
the project
App Development for Wealth Management Firm
"The main thing I like about them is how easy they are to work with; we can always bounce ideas off them."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a digital project consultant at Charles Stanley, a UK wealth management firm.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
We had been working with a different development team, but the quality of their work had been significantly going down. We needed to find a new agency to remedy our current app and help with our list of future functionalities and tasks.
What was the scope of their involvement?
To start the engagement, we had a remediation plan to fix the existing bugs, improve the coding, and essentially reset the foundation of the application. Now, we’re building functionalities into the app, starting with share-trading capabilities to allow users to initiate trades without having to use the site. We’re also working on a payment system to enable debit card use on the app.
They’re also supporting a full UX redesign of both of our apps, one of which is a read-only platform. Both are native apps for iOS and Android.
What is the team composition?
Around 10 people from their team had been working with us, depending on our needs. There are UX designers, a lead relationship manager, and a project manager as well.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
The contract with Apadmi was signed before I came on, but they are a leading agency in the UK. They’d worked with big clients before in other industries, so they seemed like a good fit for us.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent between £100,000–£150,000 (approximately $124,800–$187,300 USD).
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve had an ongoing engagement since October 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
It’s a bit difficult to measure the impact of the share-trading feature because we haven’t rolled out the ability for users to use their debit cards yet, which is needed for ultimate usability. However, people are still using the tool and we’ve had zero bugs, so far. The adoption of this new version has gone well and the app is working absolutely fine. It works much better than the previous version, so we’re happy.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
They’re great. We have weekly catch-up sessions to give and receive updates, which are helpful. Our teams use Basecamp to communicate and keep our dialogue continuously going. Our communication primarily takes place through messages and phone calls, but they’ve come for in-person workshops and sessions.
We have a very smooth relationship. Their team is highly engaged and flexible enough for us. If we can’t make up our minds, they steer us in the right direction without being pushy.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The main thing I like about them is how easy they are to work with; we can always bounce ideas off them. Their flexibility with the requirements is also great. They don’t just hold us to the original scope, so we can expand outside of that if we need to. It is very much a joint partnership between us, not just a supplier and customer.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I honestly can’t think of anything for them to improve. Any problems have been on our side while we adjusted to the engagement.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Sitting down and talking to their team will help. They have a wide range of skills and are leaders in their industry, so be collaborative with them to get the most out of it.
the project
Web Dev for Tech Marketing Company
"They're great at introducing new concepts and ideas to improve your business."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm one of the founders of Bidooh Limited, an app tech company. Our end to end, turnkey advertising platform allows businesses to easily advertise on a network of screens in real time.
What challenge were you trying to address with Adapmi?
Our main goal was making the advertising market more accessible for smaller media agencies Right now, small companies find it too difficult and expensive to advertise on the big screens.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We laid out a vision for this new piece of software, which is a greenfield project. After we recreated the project description, they were responsible for writing the project requirements and definition document. They developed the system over 8-9 months, and are continuing to add improved features. Their most important contribution has been web and mobile technologies.
How did you come to work with Adapmi?
We've had a good relationship with the company's founders over several few years. We found them via Apadmi’s venture program, which they use to invest in innovative companies.
How much have you invested with them?
1,000,000 pounds sterling.
What is the status of this engagement?
The status engagement began in January 2017. As we continue working with them, they’re developing against our product roadmap.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We launched our product in September 2017, and already have four clients with two installations over two screens. We’re generated significant revenue from their work. Internally, the feedback has been very positive from our team.
Our clients are really happy with the product and are using it daily. Using our system, smaller companies can run ads on the big screen for as little as one penny. Rather than having to go through an agencies or middleman, they can access our platform outline.
How did Adapmi perform from a project management standpoint?
The team was responsive and on top of the project. All the work come back on time and under budget.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I really appreciate their dedication to our vision. The team was really on board with the success of our project.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be as open as possible with your requirements. Engage them, and ask them to actually advise you. They're great at introducing new concepts and ideas to improve your business.
the project
Mobile App Development for Store Card
“Our collaboration has led to a number of successes with the mobile app— I wouldn't change a thing.”
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the channel manager for Argos Financial Services, a specialist division of the Sainsbury's Group. I’m responsible for the commercial development of the My Argos Card mobile app. The Argos Card is a store card that allows customers to purchase Argos products with an associated credit deal. It is used in Argos stores and across Argos channels. Meanwhile, the app allows our customers to manage their accounts and make payments with maximum flexibility. It is available for iOS and Android devices.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
At that time, Argos Financial Services did not have a mobile app, which meant that customers had limited options. The lack of a mobile app was also seen as an inhibitor for growth. We wanted to give customers a self-serve digital channel for managing their card accounts. We wanted to develop a mobile app that would improve customer experience, drive customer engagement, increase customer loyalty, and improve our operational efficiency.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Apadmi did technical development for the app, including UX/CX [user experience/customer experience] design and testing. They showed incredible skill and flexibility, which has led to a highly productive working relationship.
Currently, we benefit from their support and expertise in a number of areas, including market insights, project and change management, and new opportunities. They also give technical support, resolving incidents and helping determine feasibility.
What is the team dynamic?
We have a collaborative relationship. As a supplier, they would do what we ask, but we try to listen to them because they are the mobile app experts. When they push back, I know it’s a bad idea. We never make decisions blindly because they give us good advice. Plus, the team is friendly and provide great quality. They’re a really nice company to work with.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
I joined the team after the project was started, so I’m not familiar with the selection process. The people who were involved say that they represented the most value for money without compromising quality. They’re also based in Manchester, which is a positive for us since they’re much cheaper than the London alternative.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in January 2017, and the app was launched in March. The engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The app has been a phenomenal success, becoming the biggest payment channel within our company a month after its launch. It has an exceptionally low crash rate and exceptionally high customer volumes. Not only that, we are also up for 3 retailer awards next week.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
They are consistent. We have a dedicated project manager, and he handles everything for us. We use JIRA and Confluence for managing the development. We communicate via Basecamp and email, along with weekly conference calls at the start of the week. Every Monday, we agree on what to do for the week ahead. Every Friday, they issue a project report that summarizes what they’ve done in the past week, including budgets and timelines.
What did you find most impressive about them?
There’s no doubt that they are experts in the field. They also help us think outside the box since they dabble in all sorts of technology and new ventures outside of mobile app development. For example, they prototyped an Elixir integration for us. While we’re not planning to launch it to market any time soon, this shows that they have the ability do that. It would be short-sighted to ditch them now that they’ve done the mobile app.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can’t think of anything to change. A lot of the failings were because we didn’t listen to them.
the project
App Development for Property Portal
"Apadmi never fails to impress and has never had any issue with providing a great service."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
PropertyPal.com is the largest property portal in Northern Ireland and beyond. We manage adverts for property across 650 estate agents and property developers from residential, commercial, agricultural, auctions, new developments, land, and sites for buying or renting.
My role is as project manager and I’m responsible for third party provider relationships and projects.
What challenge were you trying to address with Apadmi?
PropertyPal previously had an iPhone app available in the App Store. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the previous company was not able to continue to develop and maintain the app to a standard that was expected. The reviews of the old app were on a downward slide since the introduction of iOS 7, so the decision was made to remove the app from the App Store. PropertyPal needed a development partner to create a new iPhone app and subsequently an Android app, and continue to maintain these into the future.
The objective of this project was to create an aesthetically and functionally pleasing iPhone app that provides users with the ability to quickly and easily find properties and contact estate agents with regards to property listings. We wanted to drive more users to the mobile app. Traffic to the website had moved steadily more towards mobile and therefore the new app had to retain that customer base and be of exceptional quality, which would further increase the users.
What was the scope of their involvement?
The scope of work was for Apadmi to create an iPhone app. They developed the frontend based on the APIs that we provided. When we found their work to be satisfactory on the iPhone app, we asked them to develop the Android application for us as well. The functionality is based on the services that we provide from our website. We are similar to Trulia but based in Northern Ireland. We have an interactive draw search feature which allows users to see searches and save properties as favorites. They can also contact agents directly. The apps also have a Facebook signup login integration.
Apadmi put us in contact with some marketing agencies. They worked with us to put out some press material and some industry publications. Apadmi also managed the project timeline for developing the UI [user interface] of the iPhone and Android apps as two separate projects.
How did you come to work with Apadmi?
We discovered Apadmi after searching for the UK's top mobile app developers. We invited Apadmi along with 12 other companies to submit a proposal based on an RFP [request for proposal]. Apadmi's presentation was selected for a shortlist based on many factors, including but not limited to cost, quality of work, and ability to deliver. Once shortlisted, further meetings were scheduled to discuss the project in more depth and to ask questions to their development team in order to judge their suitability as a long term partner. Apadmi’s team's attitude, knowledge, and personalities gave us the feeling that they were the right company to work with. They have not failed in this aspect.
What is the status of the engagement?
The initial project duration was 11 months, in which both iPhone and Android apps were successfully launched.
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
The iPhone app store ratings immediately increased based on the quality work. Feedback from users and estate agents alike had all been very positive. The impact of the iPhone project resulted in PropertyPal almost instantly requesting Apadmi to continue with the development of the Android app. The apps stability continues to provide PropertyPal with a solid foundation and presence in the mobile app space.
How did Apadmi perform from a project management standpoint?
Apadmi delivered on time, on budget, and matched the expected KPIs [key performance indicators] set out by PropertyPal during the RFP creation. Apadmi covered the agreed deliverables, and within the budget, they managed to deliver beyond the scope. Some change requests were absorbed into the project schedule/cost, which is unique for any development agency.
The projects ran very smoothly. Apadmi never missed any delivery dates throughout and exceeded quality expectations. The subsequent Android project required very little interaction as Apadmi was able to shorten delivery dates and again deliver beyond expectations.
What did you find most impressive about Apadmi?
They seem to be on the same level as we are. They’re able to work hard and laugh at the same time. They’ve very pleasurable to work with. They never seem to come back with any reasons why they couldn’t deliver. They were able to take on any challenges we gave them. As we progressed through the Android development, we could joke that our team meetings had become slightly boring as we had no issues to resolve, which is unusual for most projects. We had a good relationship and there was a good execution of the two apps, which were developed to a high standard. They were able to deliver the Android app ahead of schedule, so we were pleased with that.
Apadmi's team was a pleasure to work with; everyone from sales, project management, development, and testing were great. Although the design team was not officially engaged in the project, they helped review user flows and assisted in the transformation of the iPhone design to Android. We could not have asked for more from a dedicated delivery partner.
As the apps continue to require maintenance, Apadmi never fails to impress and has never had any issue with providing a great service.
Are there any areas Apadmi could improve?
No. Everyone is happy with how the project finished.
The client is delighted with Apadmi's straightforward and professional work, producing good results. Their communicative and transparent approach is key to a solid project management experience. The client also praises their overall development skills.