AppX

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of PadelBox. We’re a racquet sports competition company.

What challenge were you trying to address with AppX?

We have partnerships with clubs in different cities and remotely organize and manage competitions using an application. We needed another vendor to take over the app from the company that initially developed it because we had problems. We tried working with several companies, but the engagements didn’t turn out as expected.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The platform’s backend was initially built in Ruby on Rails, and the frontend was built in Ionic. AppX reviewed the Ruby on Rails code and refined it to ensure the app worked. Their team then began migrating the platform to React to make it easier to manage. Our app is based in browsers, which constantly change, unlike Ionic. By translating the app to React, AppX brought its functions and modules up-to-date.

In the coming year, their team will migrate the app to a platform entirely developed by them. They’ll host the app on their servers too.

What is the team composition?

Pedro (Executive Partner) is our main point of contact. We also work with a backend developer, a frontend developer, and a designer.

How did you come to work with AppX?

We engaged many different companies that didn’t meet our expectations. I initially sought to work with developers who left the company that initially developed the app because they had knowledge of Ruby on Rails and Ionic. Unfortunately, none of those developers had knowledge of the app. I worked with some developers on a freelance basis, which wasn’t sustainable. Someone told me about Pedro, and then I talked with him.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between €40,000– €70,000 (approximately $48,000–$84,000 USD) on their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019, and our partnership’s ongoing.

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

One of AppX’s main challenges was updating an app that another company developed. At this point, their team has migrated almost the entire platform to React.

Now that our app’s basically in React, the platform’s more adaptable to browser changes. We’re able to respond to challenges more efficiently. We’re extremely satisfied with them because our platform now works.

Two years ago, we had around 800–900 monthly users. We now have around 1,500 monthly users, and there aren’t issues supporting that larger user base. The app runs a bit slower, however.

How did AppX perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a great, professional working relationship. A number of times, Pedro and I have had discussions at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. He’s very responsive. I don’t communicate too much with the developers.

Their team’s flexible. When we face problems, they don’t tell us that they can’t be solved. Their team never says that we have to start from scratch. Instead, they learn about the problem and then present two solutions. AppX are great problem solvers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m happy working with AppX. We’re a small company, so this project is a significant investment. I’m satisfied with our investment because their team’s working on ways to save us time through the app. I’d be extremely happy to be able to invest more in them because of the great results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We receive more than we pay them. However, they could decrease their rates.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am managing partner of woosenter lda, woosenter is a company linked to the manufacture and trade of jewelry

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

for the construction of an online store and our objective was to explore this sales channel as much as possible so that the results obtained in our online store will have more and more significance in our annual turnover

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

we had a first contact with this team and we thought it was young and dynamic and that's what we were looking for.

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

they came to our office and surveyed our products in order to get a sense of our collection, then took photos (it was a work of several days due to the high number of references we have), and then built our store online and provided training for its operation.

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

It was a team of 3 people , designer , computer and social communication

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

bearing in mind that our product catalog is very logo and complex and also depends a lot on the various combinations that can be made with the wide variety of references we have , and for this reason we are now feeling the need to have a configurator in ours online store, yet we feel that our customers are increasingly consulting our products online

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

we are always trying to improve our online performance every day and we need a partner like AppX to provide us with support and advice on various tools we can use to achieve our goals and for this reason, we still have regular meetings today

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

availability and delivery to our project

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

yes , of course there are always things to improve and that is why we continue to work together

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a part-owner of a entertainment company headquartered in Portugal.

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

We hired AppX for programming a mobile app for both iOS and Android. We already had the design for our app, so our goal was to execute that idea into a simple and fast app. We also had several features that we wanted for our app such as a subscription-based mode, the rating system of each operating system inside the app and others.

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

So for a start we searched on google for several programming companies. From those we found, we saw the website and previous works each company did. We searched for mostly Portuguese companies as we are Portuguese and therefore we felt it would make communication easier. Although we also contacted companies from other countries.

The one's that we felt had the better website and previous works, we scheduled a meeting. From the meeting with AppX it was clear the knowledge that they had. They also seemed really simple and trustworthy people, we created some empathy and the budget made sense and so for us it was clear that it was the right choice.

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

We had several meetings where we discussed the layout of our app, we also showed the design we had, how much time it would take and how much it would cost. They were always fast to respond to any questions we had and, as this were the first app we made we also had some questions about the app business itself, how reviews were made for Apple and Android, how the pricing from different countries were made etc..

AppX was always happy and fast in responding which further eased on us on the idea that they were the right choice. When we made the agreement, they started programming and were always telling us what steps were being taken and we could see the progress as it was happening. They were also always available for meetings and responding to any questions we had. We felt that not only they were doing the job we agreed upon but were also always ready to help us in any way we needed, they helped us in creating our website for example.

We felt that our idea was really being taken care of as if it was theirs also! We had several testing phases, until we got exactly what we wanted. Any problems we had even after launching they were fast to clarify.

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

We had two contacts that we felt free to use. In the beginning, for the reunions where we talked about the timing, budget, what we wanted etc, we talked with two developers. As we already had the design made, when the project started one of these two developers was responsible for building the backend of our mobile app, this developer was the main person we interacted with. Although, we always felt we were comfortable in contacting both of them as they were fast and friendly throughout all the process.

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

Not even a month from launching our app we already reached TOP4 app in entertainment here in Portugal, 5-star rating and thousands of downloads! Receiving several compliments about the smoothness of the app as well as obviously the features that we the owners of the app thought of.

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

We had the privilege to choose in which platform we would talk through, as AppX was available to what it seemed all of them. In our case, we mainly talked in WhatsApp, we had several meetings through Zoom and when it was needed we always felt free to call them as they were always available to help. E-mails were also used in the beginning for scheduling meetings and later for payment information.

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

They were always available to help. Every doubt we had they were happy to help, and we were never held back in asking anything. The communication was great throughout. Even problems we had that were not related to programming they would always give us advice and information. When the app was launched they were still very available to talk to us. Overall, we were really impressed with how their team took care of our project as if it was their own.

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

To write something here it would be easier to have complaints to make but sincerely they always made what was promised and more. Therefore I can't think of anything bad to say, we were really happy with the work AppX has done.