CFT Lab

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a music marketplace where musicians, producers, singers, and songwriters can hire or get hired by those looking for a musician.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CFT Labs?

Our platform is our entire business, so everything happens online. We hired CFT Labs to build our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CFT Labs built our website from scratch and is now testing it. One of my requirements was that the site could be accessible and legible from a smartphone, so they’ve developed the platform like a web app. The team has used React for the frontend and Node.js for the backend, and they’ve used platforms like MongoDB and Firebase for the database and storage. 

Another vendor had designed the UI/UX, and I provided that information to CFT Labs so they could execute the design in the code. They’ve developed the entire user journey, where a client can look for a provider, communicate with them, fund a project, pay the provider, and then review them. Features include user profiles, QR code sharing, job title customization, and payment gateway integration. Currently, they’re testing the web app and addressing bugs and issues.

What is the team composition?

Rounak (Founder) is our project manager, and he coordinates the entire project. 

How did you come to work with CFT Labs?

Rounak is a friend of mine; I’ve known him for a few years, and he’d mentioned he was starting CFT Labs. When I got my business idea, I reached out to him, and that’s how our partnership began. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around $1,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ever since CFT Labs created the website, we’ve been able to get 5–6 service providers on board. We’ve also had a whole month of testing to find and fix any errors, which has helped us bring the product to its best possible version. Other than that, most of our success metrics have yet to be achieved. 

How did CFT Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We always communicate through WhatsApp because it’s the easiest and quickest way to get in touch. Initially, we created spreadsheets on Google Sheets to discuss errors and share screenshots. However, we eventually realized it’s faster to share everything through WhatsApp since I have one-on-one communication with Rounak. The CFT Labs team has an organized method of handing out tasks through a project management tool.

Meanwhile, their timeline management hasn’t been the best. From what I understand, this particular type of project is new for them, so they’ve taken about two months longer than expected to complete the website. However, I wouldn’t say this has been a bad experience because there have been many steps they couldn’t have foreseen. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed by CFT Labs’ affordable pricing. Additionally, they’re always open to trying something new — they don’t back off from something they haven’t done before. They went into our project in full swing and have gotten me the platform I was looking for. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should do a round of internal checks before asking for feedback from the client. During development, there were a number of times when I checked the page, and there were blatant mistakes that the developers could have easily seen if they had spent a little time checking. Additionally, once an error has been pointed out, they should correct it and then inform us so we can go in and check if the page is working. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be prepared with as much information about your platform as possible. Although projects evolve with time, try to do as much homework as possible before the first meeting and be clear with your objectives.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the C.E.O. of AH International Pvt. Ltd. AH provides single-window solutions for hospitality FF&E and OS&E requirements: sourcing and manufacturing products tailor suited to client needs for In Room, Housekeeping, F&B, Kitchen, Banquet, Front Office, Spa, Security, and Engineering departments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired CFT labs to develop a Custom Web app for us. Our company was aiming to streamline and ease the process of ordering equipment for our clients. We wanted to do away with regular note-taking of orders and go digital with the entire process to reduce our turn-around time.

SOLUTION

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

CFT Labs was recommended by one of our team members. After going through the initial round of discussions, we found CFT Lab's team to be very dynamic, proactive, and very good with communication.

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

CFT Labs had to develop for us a web app, which has client-side and admin side. From the client-side, our users could create an account, log in and then scan QR codes to get product information and add those products to the cart, and place the order. On admin, they had to develop a way for us to upload our product lists (excel files) and generate QR codes, view placed orders and user lists. The project was developed using MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js) Stack Framework.

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

3 people were working on our project: Frontend Developer, Backend Developer, and Project Manager. The founder of CFT Labs was personally involved in the development of the project and maintained a good communication throughout the process

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After the launch of our app, clients loved how easy it got for them to place an order at our store. We also could cater to more clients in a given frame of time and now clients could navigate our store by themselves and see details about products through the app.

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

We had weekly calls with the project manager, who communicated with the rest of the team. There weren't any major delays but if there were some deviations, we were informed ahead of time. We used Slack and Jira to coordinate and it all worked pretty smoothly for us.

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

The entire team was very professional and communicated exceptionally well. We were really impressed by the way the team was working with us as a partner to help us research and design the product, suggesting features to improve the product, and doing continuous research to make sure app was working smoothly at all times. The way they treated our project as if it was their own in-house project was surprisingly satisfactory.

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

The app was delayed by a week from the original timeline and had some minor bugs. However, CFT Labs acted very professionally and didn't bill us for the delay, and were quick with fixing the bugs.