Bilberrry

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We help build custom quality control programs for restaurant and retail companies. My main role is business development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

When we first started working with Bilberrry, our platform was a little outdated. We wanted to make it more user friendly and build it out so that it could take on future growth.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The main project was to do an entire rebuild of the platform that would make it easier to add new clients, and allow us to manage it in a way that we can make changes here and there without reaching out to developers all the time. 

We partnered with Bilberrry on our proprietary dashboard, which serves as the reporting platform for the quality control checks. It’s essentially a training tool for operations to make sure they’re holding up to their standards. We send in third-party auditors to restaurants and retail locations on a monthly rotation. We assign those visits from our website, and the field auditors accept and then carry out the visit. They then log back onto our website, where they fill out a detailed report; those reports are sent to the client on the backend of our dashboard. They can view a reporting tab, trend report, summary report, etc., to see how they stack up against their own restaurants or retail locations. In addition to the build-out, they provide ongoing maintenance through Trackolade.

The platform can be mobile, but we designed it to be more user-friendly on a web base. We use the Amazon Web Services framework, AWS.

For this project, Bilberrry has helped us build out integrations with Sendgrid and MailChimp. We use Sendgrid to send out assignments to our field auditors, and to send reports to the client operations people. We use MailChimp for recruiting. If we need people in new locations, we send out mass marketing campaigns through MailChimp, and then encourage people to go to our site and apply.

They also built a separate payroll function within our site so we can export to an Excel CSV and upload it to our ACH Treasury software. That’s not a full integration.

What is the team dynamic?

Adam [Brazg, Co-founder, Bilberrry] was the project manager throughout most of the interaction. Typically there would be one lead developer who oversaw the project, and at least one or two other developers working under the lead. I would typically communicate our needs or changes to one developer on Trackolade, and if it was a pretty big task, the lead would see it through. If there were a lot of tedious steps or small tasks, they would pass it along to one or two other developers. The lead developer would review it before it was done on the production site so the other developers could make changes and get approval.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

A mutual friend introduced me to Adam, who talked to me about their process at Bilberrry.  I mentioned some of our needs and struggles, and how we were looking to update our website and dashboard, and they were able to easily help with that.

How much have you invested with them?

It was a pretty big project, so we’ve probably spent over $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together from May 2014, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve gotten feedback from field auditors who find the system Bilberrry created much more user-friendly than our previous system. We were also able to onboard a new client and get a program up and running for them at a much quicker pace than we could have on the old system. We are still successfully serving that client.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is pretty good overall. It was as simple as posting a task to Trackolade. More often than not, I wouldn’t need to follow up, but sometimes I would reach out about getting a particular task done faster.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have some really good developers who are able to find a solution for your needs, and they think of the business use cases as well. In the past, if I asked a developer to do A, B, and C, they would just do A, B, and C. Bilberrry, on the other hand, wouldn’t just go in and build it; they would challenge you to think about the future outcome. They might offer an alternative, or suggest a preemptive change to avoid going back and making changes later on. They truly partner with you to help you get the best product, rather than just doing what you ask.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have a good relationship and I trust the team, but I would have liked a little more clarity on what work is being done, how long it’s taking, and making sure it’s being allocated and accounted for property.