AppleTech

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President and Founder of Next Phase Rugby. We specialize in collegiate rugby recruiting. The Next Phase Rugby platform helps rugby players find suitable schools to reach their potential in the classroom and on the rugby pitch. Through the platform, coaches can promote their programs and identify players who positively contribute to their institutions and rugby teams.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop a mobile app and web app to connect high school rugby players with collegiate rugby programs in the United States. We also wanted them to create a website for us. Our goal was to have a cost effective, user friendly interface and robust functionality to attract both players and colleges.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We selected this vendor for a few reasons. They were very professional in their presentation of their services, spent time explaining the process and consulting us on our needs and were a very cost effective solution.

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

The objective of the application is to provide end-to-end solution for schools/colleges/universities to find rugby players and for students to search for collegiate rugby programs. The application will allow profile creation for schools and students. AppleTech Consultants will design and develop web, android and iOS mobile application.

1. Ease of Use: The application will be designed to be easy-to-use so that users who are not savvy with using such application can use it with minimal or no training.
2. Web Responsive Design: The web application will be responsive so that the features are accessible via browser on various devices including desktops and phones.
3. Mobile App Design: The design consistency will be maintained for both Android and iOS apps. Screens will be design in a way to avoid excessive scrolling. Finger friendly design will be done for mobile apps so that various gestures such as swipe, taping, zoom in/out can be used to perform various actions on screens.
4. Access: After entering login credentials, a user will remain logged in the mobile app even after closing the app.

Tools & Communication — We will be using a combination of tools and processes to ensure that the project coordination is highly streamlined and the stakeholders have all the relevant information available at finger tips. A Trello Board for Product Planning & Features Release Board allows viewing various items in swim lanes of categories that could be tagged based on the product plan schedule.

Proposed Technology Stack Technology

• Details Data Repository
• MS SQL Server Data Exchange Standard
• RESTFUL API Security Standards
• oAuth Cloud Server
• Microsoft Azure Cloud or similar Backend Technology
• C#, ASP.NET 2.2, Entity Framework

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

We worked directly with the president who was the lead architect, 1 project manager, 4 developers, 1 UX/UI designer, 1 QA tester

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched our app and website and within 6 months we have well over 1,000 users and the largest collegiate rugby database in the US. We have a 5-star rating on the apple store and have signed several partnership deals due to our technology. We have enough of a revenue stream that we are able to at a minimum break even already.

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

Management style was very much hands on. We had 2 meeting per week via google meeting, communicated via email daily and they were very responsive to our requests. They also offered valuable advice when we needed assistance with decisions on the functionality of the app.

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

Extremely easy to work with, extremely flexible, cost-effective and professional.

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

I don't think there were any concerns of note.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of an EdTech company that delivers a Learning Management System to schools and universities worldwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AppleTech Consultants, and what were your goals?

We had burnt our fingers with trying to outsource mobile app development and were looking for a vendor that would join us on our journey for a long-term thing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We interviewed them as part of our vendor review process and their strong portfolio was one of the deciding factors.

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

Scope & Steps: The original scope was to develop the mobile apps for android and ios but they also pitched in for getting the designs and flows done. We have a small agile team that uses scrum boards via Trello and the AppleTech guys were invited to that. Standard code control was done via Git. Deliverables: Delivering the mobile apps and publishing them to the respective stores. Technologies: Native app development platforms for android and ios mobile apps.

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

Worked with 5 people including the founder himself as he was the Project Manager. The other 3 were: ios Dev, android Dev, Tester, Designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Measurable Outcomes: Our apps were needed to be developed in a really short time and they did well to pull it off by dividing the releases in phases while helping me identify the key features to be delivered in the initial phases.

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

Approach: AppleTech was kinda bookish with their project management style and initially it became challenging to manage that. But the rewards were really good and started showing up eventually the value of old school processes. Every meeting got documented and every decision made it to the Agile Board. Tools: Atlassian Trello

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

They were always willing to take the extra mile. Be it going with the right design principles or coming up with a new UX that would actually increase their work. All in all, they worked as n integral team with us.

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

Not much with the processes but the cost was initially a concern to me. Later on, it looked like it was worth it.