Brounie

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Coordinator in Beghelli México. Beghelli is an European leader company in industrial lighting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I have worked with different software companies for the past years and honestly Brounie is the best at what they do. Brounie's knowledge in technologies allows them to deliver real and functional solutions to your needs, as their customer I can trust that they will deliver quality in everything they do. Brounie's team is dedicated, responsible, detail focused, a leader who will help you grow in a personal and professional matter and all of this is reflected in their character and work philosophy.

SOLUTION

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

They are experts on web development and are able to assist you through the process of creating your website accordig to your needs.

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

We delivered a layout of the website, and Brounie followed the desing and delivered exactly what we asked for. What is grat about working with them is that they recommend you improvements in technical features.

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

We worked directly with Borunie´s CEO, Jaime Ibarra. And for follow up with a Project Manager and We developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is easier to manage, and we are able to get feedback form the trafficand visitors.

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

Their Project Managers keep in touch almot every day while building the website, with constant comunication.

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

Their technology knowledge, and how they wree able to advise us on what will and will not work from our requirements.

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

Their follow up is very personal. They had some kind of template or checklist that provided a personal touch.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Editorial Codigo, a 20-year-old media and entertainment company. We publish several magazines online and host two annual art events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brounie?

I was trying to build an e-commerce store and wanted to work with an outside organization other than the design company we’d used for several years. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The idea was to design and program an e-commerce website from scratch, along with a CMS. After signing the contract, we had a kickoff meeting with Brounie. We met the designer and the account manager, and I prepared a detailed brief. I also gave them the sites I liked to serve as a reference. 

The meeting was fast, and they told me everything was clear. The information I sent was sufficient, and they said we’d see their first draft in a week. In other words, everything looked fine. However, from there, we met again a few times until they quit the project. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with their owner, who was also the lead designer, and account manager. Eventually, we also interfaced with a part-time designer. 

How did you come to work with Brounie? 

I searched online and found Brounie on Clutch. They had good reviews, and I like that they were based in Queretaro, which was a two-hour drive from Mexico City. I thought they’d be less saturated with work than designers and programmers in Mexico City.

I contacted them, and a quote came quite fast. They also answered our questions quickly. On top of that, their price was competitive and the timeline was ok. As a result, I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent close to $1,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from July–August 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

We had four design meetings where they never delivered what had been agreed upon during the previous meetings. I had 20 years of experience working with designers, so I knew what to expect from a designer after the briefing. I knew what questions they should ask, but Brounie didn’t ask any questions. In the end, the project was delayed for six weeks. 

When we met to see the first draft, I could see right away that they hadn’t looked at the references I gave. As a result, we scheduled another meeting to review the changes we wanted to make. From there, everything started to feel like a disaster. One week later, we met again. They still hadn’t made the changes we wanted, and the ones they did were poorly done. They didn’t follow any design rules; things were all over the place with no criteria. They couldn’t even finish a simple homepage because the spacing wasn’t even. I also had to remind them across five sessions to insert a WhatsApp icon on the homepage, but they kept forgetting. 

Eventually, I made a full list of what was going wrong and why. They never answered. I reached out to the account manager, and he told me they had no problem quitting the work. However, they wouldn’t give back the first installment I paid, which was around 30% of the project. Essentially, I received nothing for that money, only PDFs with super messy designs for the homepage and another page. The remaining 80% of the project was missing, including the shopping process, product, and customer files. 

How was project management handled?

Their project management was non-existent. I dealt with a designer and spoke to the project manager through Zoom meetings. Throughout the project, I asked them a bunch of questions, but they weren’t clear in their answers. They couldn’t explain simple things like what typography was used and why certain texts weren’t smaller than the title. 

Meanwhile, the designer, who was supposed to be the owner of the company, told me he was worried because we were starting to run late. I then told him I was worried because I didn’t see any design in what he was showing. We had an argument, and he put another designer in charge. The story went exactly the same for the next couple of meetings. On top of that, the new designer didn’t work directly with Brounie, and she was available only for a certain time every day. In other words, our project depended on the schedule of a designer that had another job. 

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

No, there weren’t any. Brounie wasn’t professional enough to run a company, and they didn’t have the morals for it. Moreover, they were quite expensive for the type of work they delivered. The cost wasn’t much, but I was annoyed because they were conscious of what was happening

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay away from Brounie. If you’re engaged and monitoring the process, you should be tough with deadlines and first delivery. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a Senior Software Engineer at the Guanajuato State Legislature. As the state’s congress, we stay in contact with citizens and create laws.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brounie?

We needed help on various development projects including our website. On the site, we wanted to update the design, improve the UI/UX, and reorganize every section.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they presented us with different graphic proposals and they redesigned our website, which is on an open-source platform, with Ruby on Rails. They also helped us with the site’s load optimization in Linux and Nginx. They also used JavaScript, Jade, and OGS technology, as well as a hybrid server, to send information from the portal to mobile devices. They also developed a mobile app for iOS and Android using part of the services on the website.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around six different people.

How did you come to work with Brounie?

Even though I know one of their managers, they were part of a selection process that made them compete with other companies. We liked that they had experience with similar projects and that they were familiar with our inner-functions.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $50,000—$199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July until October 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site has more visitors than it did before and the app has been downloaded a lot. The site is easier to use and consult and has a much more modern look. It’s also much faster. They delivered everything on time and it’s great quality. We’ve been using it for two years already and we’re thinking of doing another project with them.

How did Brounie attack perform from a project management standpoint?

We always had fluid communication over slack and meetings every week where they would come to us. There were never any delays. They also used a platform called material design to share and get feedback on design iterations

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was surprised at how young they are because you don’t see that a lot. The became experts at a very young age, and are particularly great at developing and marketing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re very happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Jr Bran Assistant for Innovation & Acceleration. Responsible of creating communication strategies and product innovation to boost the consumption of processed pet food in Mexico

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brounie?

To understand the shopping behavior of pet owners, we needed to survey 2K customers in the supermarket. We needed an app to conduct, capture and report the information of the surveys. It had to be simple app that the team could easily use to capture the information with no errors.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We pitched the project with three different vendors. Each of them shared a proposal with time tables, the team they would assign to the project, costs of development and a draft of the design. Along with the Procurement team, we chose BROUNIE since it compelled with the time requirement, it had a very competitive costs and they showed a good understanding of the business needs.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We had several meetings by phone and face-to-face to explain what the business problem was and the questions we wanted to solve through the survey. As a brand, we explained them some challenges that our team would encounter on the field such as low Wifi connectivity. They structured a plan to deliver on time and making sure that all the concerns were solved. They kept record of all the agreements and there was constant communication between both parts. They shared with us demos to see the progress of the development and give them feedback before launching the app.

What was the team composition?

We had direct contact with a developer and an account manager. Although there were more people from BROUNIE involved, having touch points with these 2 persons made the process more efficient.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app was ready on time for our team to start doing the surveys with the customers at the point of sales. There was never a failure or errors while using the app. More than 2K surveys were held in the app. The data reflected on the platform where we could see and withdraw the results as soon as the team connected to internet.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Once the app was launched, we had calls every 2 - 3 days for follow ups. However, if there was any question form our side, we reached for the account manager and he would respond immediately and contacted us with the developers if it was necessary.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They understood business challenge and developed a feasible and valuable solution. Their speed to change and solve any concern or issue. The constant and transparent communication.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Associate Attorney

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

They develop our internal server for all our trademark status.

SOLUTION

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

We chose them because ther personalized service and the capacity to adapt to each project and specifications.

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

They were a young company, but they always had fresh ideas.

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

We have always worked with a project manager and his team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After we started with the project we were capable to detect our income of legal terms before they happen, also to get rid of the doubts of how far we were from each term and expirations.

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

They were always offering a new solution and working to improve constantly based on the rythm of our company.

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

We don´t have to look for them, they are always one step before our requirements and in constant communication to improve our platform.

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

None, they must keep working the same way they are.