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When we first started working with Bilberrry, our platform was a little outdated.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.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of Blueprint Registry. We are a marketplace for life events, including wedding, baby, and graduation registries. We’ve been around for three years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Bilberrry?

We had a beta version of our website, but the code base was pretty bad. Our two previous development teams weren’t doing good work, so we needed new developers to build and maintain a new version of the site.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re maintaining two separate websites for us. They used the existing code base and architecture from the beta version to iterate on the website, and they’re also rebuilding us a new version of the site. It’s all custom PHP.

Bilberrry has developed a couple interesting features for us. One is an everyday import feature, which was a complicated technical endeavor. Users can register with top national retailers with whom we’ve partnered, give us their ID, and our site automatically syncs that account with ours.

They’ve also helped us optimize our payments, building features for honeymoon, graduation, and down payment funds. Their UI/UX work, for both the frontend and backend of the site, has been aimed at our features for group gifts, sharing, and contributions.

What is the team dynamic?

We started out with a single project manager, Adam [Brazg, Cofounder, Bilberrry] and two developers. As we scaled up, Ross [Dzikovskyy, Cofounder, Bilberrry] became our single point of contact, and we now have four developers.

How did you come to work with Bilberrry?

One of our previous development teams was too expensive and wasn’t producing good work. The second team was even worse than the first. I then met Adam and Ross through a referral and engaged with them.

When we look at firms, we do extensive due diligence and RFP. We gave them a test case to work on, and they did a great job. We felt that their philosophy in terms of building and iterating matched ours. They do what they say, which is actually really rare in the development world.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Bilberrry since February 2016, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website wouldn’t be alive without them. We have no other development options, so we owe a lot of our success to their work. In fact, we’ve doubled in sales without any additional investment in the past 18 months.

How did Bilberrry perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good communicators. We work through their project management system, Trackolade, for tickets and development initiatives. We do real-time communication through Slack, and we talk on the phone. We meet with them periodically in their office.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, they’re able to very clearly articulate how decisions will impact developments: “If you choose X, Y will probably happen,” etc. At a resource-constrained company like ours, we need to understand how all those decisions impact each other, and Bilberrry is very good at explaining that.

More importantly, they can build anything. There hasn’t been a single thing we’ve asked of them that they said they couldn’t build, which is incredible. They’ll tell us how many developers it will take, and the cost.

Other developers we’ve seen have said they could build something, but never completed it, giving us “maybes” or reasons why they shouldn’t be building it. That’s never happened with Bilberrry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think it would be helpful for them to more clearly explain how they are different from other firms, maybe on their website or in their proposals. For example, our past two firms gave scope estimates of what a project will take to build, but it costs time to give that estimate. Bilberrry’s philosophy is different; instead of wasting time scoping, they’ll start working on the actual project, and then tell you how long they think it will take. This allows them to excel at being agile. It’s a subtlety that I think they can explain better, because it’s a real advantage.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder & CEO of EatDirt.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

EatDirt delivers the freshest produce alive with containers that keep it fresh longer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Bilberrry to accomplish?

• Develop infrastructure for webapp
• Implement web designs and develop backend website
• Inform UI/UX for webapp (consumer ordering and order management)

SOLUTION

How did you find Bilberrry?

Referral

Why did you select Bilberrry over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Bilberrry were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Bilberrry services included in scope:

• Product Strategy and Roadmap Prioritization
• Project Planning and Tracking
• User Story Creation & Grooming
• Epic & Sprint Planning
• Architecture and DB Design
• User Interface Design
• Back End Development
• Front End Development
• DevOps Infrastructure
• Manual Quality Assurance
• Code Documentation
• Production Deployment
• Post-production Hypercare Support

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Completed development and testing (and subsequent deployment to production) of complete backend/frontend development for website, admin panel, and consumer interface/webapp.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Excellent project management; timeline was met as expected, even as needs fluctuated. The team has been extremely communicative regarding all development updates and timeline progression.

What was your primary form of communication with Bilberrry?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Extremely personable and the ability to meet fluctuating technical and nontechnical needs.

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

No -- only great feedback, and would highly recommend.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are developing LBE experiences and games. I am serving as a Director, Software Engineering building various software platforms for LBE.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

To help skin/build a frontend UI for the confidential project based on existing backend/API

SOLUTION

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

Based on some online search and few discussion calls.

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

Building ReactJS responsive UI.

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

3-4

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Amazing outcome with a project delivered within a very tight agile deadline. We kept changing the SOW, but the vendor was able to deliver and match rapidly changing requirements. Project was delivered in time and was of a great quality.

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

Agile Srum. Emails, Slack, text messages, very responsive vendor.

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

Responsiveness and willingness to change - agile.

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

nothing really - we are very happy with vendor.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a freelance graphic designer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bilberrry?

They’ve developed WordPress sites for a range of clients including online marketplaces, multinational corporations, agriculture firms, and B2B services.

What were your goals for this project?

I want to successfully translate designs into code in a timely manner, meet tight turnaround times, and hand clients a website that is intuitive and easily maintained.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I first worked with Bilberry as a creative director at an ad agency, and continue to work with them now that I’m freelancing.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

The team effectively communicates what they need from me, in order to deliver a successful result, at the start of the project. They’ve always been very efficient with web development, making any needed adjustments and meeting deadlines, and being proactive about any potential issues.

What was the team composition?

I work mainly with a project manager, and occasionally with the development team to fine-tune designs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

My clients have always been extremely happy with the web development work, and have often come back for additional projects.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team has developed their own project management software, Trackolade, which makes it easy to keep track of where the project is, and who is working on what.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team excels at communication and is very responsive.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Very little could be improved because they do quality work for a great value.