baKno Apps

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an investor relations coordinator and project manager at SouthWestern Property Corp. We are a real estate developer based in Denver and do self-storage, multifamily projects, and value add. I coordinate with our investors and manage some aspects of our public image like the special website we have for them. I also do a lot of project coordination.

What challenge were you trying to address with baKno Apps?

We wanted to target new investors and not rely on the investor pool the company has been using. Our website was very old and not updated, so we needed to have a website that could attract and reach new customers and investors.

For real estate and real estate developers, one of the first things that your investors are always going to ask you for is your portfolio and track record. We needed a more interactive way to geographically show people our development in the country and different asset classes.

What was the scope of their involvement?

baKno Apps developed an informational website that talks about who we are and what we do. To make it interactive, one of the tabs was designed in such a way that we can input all of our different projects and include detailed information like the map location — latitude and longitude, different asset classes, a brief description, and pictures. It serves as our log history and tells how's the growth of the company through time.

We designed the website to have a portal where I could go in, put the projects we've done, and publish it online. Currently, they provide hosting and maintenance services for the website.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with around 5–6 people from their team. In the beginning, we had a meeting with the project manager and an internal chat with a programmer to talk about our ideas. There were also people in the background doing the coding, but I worked directly with the project manager.

How did you come to work with baKno Apps?

I interviewed a couple of companies based in Denver. Our website project was budget-constrained, and a lot of the quotes that we received were over $50,000–$60,000. However, those seemed high, because the website we wanted was pretty simple.

A friend referred me to baKno Apps, and I interviewed them. The quote they gave us and the projects they had were pretty good, so I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in September 2020. The project is already done, but they are still providing web hosting and maintenance services.

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

We work with a lot of outside investors from the US, and we've received a lot of good feedback about the website and the project. During our meetings, some of them tell us that they went to the website and they saw what we did, what our approach was, and that our numbers were solid. This allowed us to attract more investors.

How did baKno Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

At the beginning of the project, we had two meetings to tell them about the project. They worked on it for a bit, and then we started having Zoom meetings every two weeks to make corrections. In between those meetings, we talk about formal aspects through email.

If we need any direct communication, we use WhatsApp. We have a group chat with some project managers where we discuss more informal aspects like small corrections. They’re very responsive. If I have a doubt about something, they usually respond within an hour.

Another important aspect of baKno Apps is their ability to deliver everything on time and within budget. Other companies that I interviewed were so big that they weren’t able to deliver the project on time. I wanted the project fast, and it would’ve taken other companies over six months to get it done because they had another 20–30 projects before mine.

What did you find most impressive about them?

baKno Apps is super proactive about fixing problems. They test everything the whole time, send me updates, and give me different options to try. They’re not rigid or attached to doing things a certain way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I recommend baKno Apps to work a little bit more with designers. They have a good service in terms of how the website works. However, they need to improve in the design aspects of it and get updated with the trends, including colors, typography, and menus. They’re good, but there’s always space for improvement.

Any advice for potential customers?

You need to clearly know what you want and have examples of how you’d like your website to look. In order for them to give you what you want, you need to guide them a little bit.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager for a large scientific corporation. My division is more focused on the industrial space. We try to provide digital solutions and vertical-integrated solutions to an external audience.

What challenge were you trying to address with baKno Apps?

I tried to visualize a steel plant solution. I wanted to show a virtual steel plant in front of customers. We’ve received feedback that when we do a customer listing or exhibition, it’s hard to show how the steel plant looks.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us build a virtual plant and are putting all my digital solutions in about 20 products. It shows the solution in a steel plant. We can easily show it via a computer or iPad. It’s the second mobile app they’ve built for us. The first one was for mining, which they built from scratch.

In the second one, we copied what they previously did but implemented minor changes in the interface. It was based on the wireframes of the mining app and it was fine-tuned to our system. The total workflow is different and the learning is different. All the components and art are different but the concept is similar. We may do more with them in the future.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact is Andres (Founder). I know he has a team behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with baKno Apps?

I wasn’t involved in the first project they did for my company. But they left a good reputation so I decided to engage them for this one.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–September 2020.

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

I’d give them 9.5 out of 10 only because their prices are pretty high. They understand what we want to do and respond pretty fast. Everything is perfect. 

How did baKno Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management is pretty awesome. They’re patient and approachable. Their team replies in 1–2 days but no more than one week. This is very important to us. If they can’t give an immediate response, they give me a date when they’ll give the next version. The time zone is a little bit hard, but they make themselves available during my night time or their early morning time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everything went well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re pretty expensive. If we need to update something, there’s an additional cost. It’s totally understandable though because we pay for their expertise.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Ours is a Colombian corporation, facilitating and simplifying methods of electronic payments, transactions and digital information in both financial and non-financial areas.

We are the leading credit card processing network in Colombia, it has more than 350,000 affiliated merchants and more than 120,000 point of sales for electronic payment acceptance. The company has been a pioneer in the launch of mobile payment solutions. I am the CEO since 2014.

My responsibilities include making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of us, acting as the main point of communication between the board of directors and corporate operations and being the public face of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire baKno Apps?

baKno has been hired for many different projects. Web apps developments, Mobile apps developments and some technology prototypes as well.

What were your goals for this project?

Web applications hired to baKno not only have the modern design we look for, but they handle complex integrations to some of our legacy systems. Mobile apps are very well designed as well, with a modern look and user interface.

But most importantly, we hire baKno because they deliver quality apps fast, and this is very important for us to deliver expedite solutions to our customers.

How did you select this vendor?

We define an RFP that is shared with all vendors, and we evaluate all proposals received weighting different variables such as price, delivery time, conditions and track record.

Describe the project in detail.

One of the projects was a prototype mobile banking application. This mobile app was created to promote a new inclusion service provided by us. In particular, the application was able to perform mobile banking transactions even when there was no internet on the mobile device. This service has the potential to connect millions of current offline banking users in Colombia.

What was the team composition?

baKno has a local person in Colombia who acts as the Project Manager for all our projects. They have developers and designers who respond to our requests, by channeling all communications through this project manager.

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

We have several banks interested in our inclusion solution. We're perceived as an innovative company within the banking industry in Colombia.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication with our vendors is key. baKno responds timely to all our requests. We have direct communication with the PM, with periodic meetings and real time updates of our projects. Whenever there is a problem they are available to solve it.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're a small team, but they tackle big and complex projects, and the speed at which they deliver is amazing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Documentation is OK but there is always room for improvement.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Thermo Fisher Scientific is dedicated to improving the human condition through systems, consumables, and services for researchers. I am marketing Specialist for the Chemical Analysis Division in Latin America.

For what projects/services did your company hire baKno Apps?

Creating a comprehensive mining workflow to display all Thermo Fishers technology for mining applications with the objective to make it easier for our existing and potential customers to understand our most valuable offers that can adjust to their mining operations needs.

What were your goals for this project?

Having a dynamic app for mining customers and users

How did you select this vendor?

Thermo Fisher has been working with Bakno in the past for other communication dynamic resources

Describe the project in detail.

Creation of a dynamic UX for mining customers to explore Thermo fisher’s mining products and applications by recreation of a real mining workflow

What was the team composition?

We have been working essentially with a project manager and their team has been working giving us fully visibility and attention

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

We are still working on the app to get it launch and available for internal and external stakeholders

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very easy to communicate with the team and they are very quick to work on any changes and updates as soon as we requested them. The project manager always provides alternatives and realistic expectations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a lot of experience working on app development and work almost like an extension of our own team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are very satisfied working with Bakno.