Cinnamon

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

International organisation, programme coordinator.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cinnamon Agency?

Web design, development, and maintenance.

What were your goals for this project?

Keep current websites functioning well, launch brand new website for one piece of our work.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Found them via Upwork, through a competitive procurement process.

Describe the project in detail.

New website should use the current visual identity, designed by another agency. Content is based on an existing section of another website, which needed a comprehensive re-think about how to organise and communicate

What was the team composition?

Project coordinator, design team, dev and QA team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are only now launching the final product but it's such a massive step forward in design and organisation that I'm confident our target audience will more easily find the information they need to make system change in their home countries.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Super. I had one point of contact who was super tuned into all the details of the project and lead the whole thing from beginning to end with professionalism and efficiency.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Once the project coordinator was in place, everything went very efficiently and smoothly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Krome Photos. We provide image creation and editing services to families and businesses. Customers submit an image (photo) and we make recommendations on how to design that image. The customer can visualize their photo in the new design and submit a request for our crowd-sourced team of editors to create the final perfect image.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cinnamon Agency?

We needed UX/UI designs for both mobile and web apps. Our designs were dated, the flow was causing confusion, and we were rolling out several AI-based features. They would make it easier and fun for families to use our service.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to improve conversion rates from start to finish and lower drop-out rates across the board as customers progress through the app’s ordering process.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We’d used two vendors before but we weren't happy with their designs, costs, and delivery. We did a test with Cinnamon, and they did a great job at a cost-effective rate. We switched all our UX/UI work to them.

Describe the project in detail.

Cinnamon typically provides sketches with different ideas for us to review and select a direction from. The chosen version is then expanded into a set of finished designs and assets (images, buttons) and is delivered to the developers. The finished app looks identical to the designs.

What was the team composition?

We meet with a project lead twice a week, and a team of designers worked out different solutions. Several times we would ask for two or three different versions, or even end up going with a designer who had a different idea than the main group.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After one of our previous projects with them, we saw constant conversion rate improvement. We also introduced new features that changed how customers perceived and interacted with the service. All metrics improved significantly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have Skype calls twice a week. Before meeting with the developers, we share screens to pass ideas back and forth in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Working with a group of people when it would normally be one resource significantly improves the results. They provide different perspectives and designs. Their European perspective has also helped modernize our UX/UI.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that I can think of. We’re using them to make major updates to our apps.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Muddest. We’re a challenge platform that helps people organize obstacle course races, trail running events, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cinnamon Agency?

We needed an experienced design firm to create our platform’s frontend interface.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cinnamon Agency worked with us to design the entire UI/UX for our web application. They listened to our needs and put together a design that’s easy for our organizers to understand. Afterward, they helped us develop the site and implement their design on the frontend.

Currently, they're working on our mobile app for Android. By focusing development on the systems and functionalities we have in place, they’re building a stable and intuitive platform.

What is the team composition?

I work with 10–12 people. A project manager oversees the developers and tracks technical issues.

How did you come to work with Cinnamon Agency?

I searched for website designers on Upwork. After posting a job description, I was contacted by 10–15 different firms. Cinnamon Agency knew what they were talking about and had a good reputation, so I decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $25,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re launching the website soon, but they’re still working on the mobile app. They’ve completed the app’s high-resolution wireframes so we can get a detailed view of how the final product will look. That project is going great so far.

How did Cinnamon Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

They aren’t perfect, but they remain professional whenever conflicts arise. We communicate via Slack and email daily. Scheduled meetings are held using Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They see the value of making the best product possible. The team also has a lot of experience, and they love to share it with clients. They’re super professional with how they pitch new ideas, and their developers are quite skilled.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their project management could be improved. They could be more frequent with sending progress updates to keep the customer up to speed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the COO of GoKid. It’s a carpooling app to help parents connect with families they know and trust. I manage our product development efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cinnamon Agency?

We’d put together a design for the iOS version of our app, and we were working on the Android version. We needed a vendor to review the iOS design and convert any of the native iOS elements to native Android elements to make the UX as smooth as possible.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have a consistent look and feel across both versions while ensuring the best possible UX on all devices.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We looked at several agencies listed on Upwork. Cinnamon Agency seemed to be the most responsive and professional. They also provided impressive portfolio samples.

Describe the project in detail.

We shared our existing wireframes and specifications with them. Then, they switched the native elements from iOS to Android. The team posted their work on InVision, and we provided feedback. We went back and forth until the designs met our standards.

What was the team composition?

We met with the CEO, but the majority of our interactions were with a project manager and a designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the Android app in April 2018, and it’s received positive feedback. Overall, it was a short but successful project. The design continues to perform well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was great. Their team was responsive, proactively asking for our feedback as they worked so that they could make changes on a need-by-need basis.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They offered to meet in person, which I appreciated. That’s not something we experienced in our past partnerships.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, everything was good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of FamTime, a startup that offers inspiration for family-friendly places and activities in Sweden.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cinnamon Agency?

We wanted a mobile application developed for iOS and Android. We would do UX design and backend development in-house and hired Cinnamon Agency to build out the other areas.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started iOS development in March 2017 and the Android version in April 2018, once we had the first version in place. We do project management in-house and Cinnamon Agency serves as a technical partner. They provide expertise on best practices, development scope, and app implementations. After we give them wireframes and pixel-ready designs, the team builds the native applications with Java and Swift.

Cinnamon Agency has created mapping and complex deep linking features. Users have the ability to search a particular city to view offers. They can also turn on the GPS to see their location and immediate surroundings. The team is now finalizing the app and doing maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with one project manager, one iOS developer, and three Android developers.

How did you come to work with Cinnamon Agency?

My colleague found them on Upwork. We did a small pilot project that we gave to a couple of agencies and selected Cinnamon Agency.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We released the iOS version three weeks ago with a soft launch. The app has earned positive feedback, 1,000 downloads, and a five-star rating from 20 users. The overall backend integration was complex, but Cinnamon Agency delivered a solid client-facing side for the app.

How did Cinnamon Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, Cinnamon Agency is a great partner; they do sprints at fixed prices. We manage the project because we only wanted their core iOS and Android developers, who needed to work directly with our specifications. The team has great communications skills and does regular check-ins to ensure we’re on track. We communicate via Google Hangouts in between meetings and also use email, Slack, and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with several companies and Cinnamon Agency is easy to communicate with because they provide accurate timeline estimates.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did make improvements during the project. If a developer wasn’t familiar with a certain technique or problem, they figured out the solution. They improved during the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am CEO and owner of a leading provider of meter-reading software in Switzerland. More than two million meters are equipped with our solution, and we have more than 200 clients, both small and large power companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cinnamon Agency?

We wanted to develop a mobile meter-reading solution for Android devices. We had no experience in this area so we were looking for external developers. We started working with a team in Vietnam, which wasn’t very successful. We found Ivan Kovac’s [CEO, Cinnamon Agency] company in December 2015, and they helped us finish our complex Android project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave Cinnamon Agency a concept of what we wanted, which they translated into what was possible within Android architecture. We didn’t have an idea of how to implement our desired functionalities onto the operating system.

The app provides an ERP billing system on the client side. From it, we receive all information on client meter numbers by address. These are imported to a server solution on our side, and, from it, displayed on mobile devices through web services. On the mobile side, there is an overview consisting of the client name and address. We have GPS functionalities, through which users can see the placement of meters on a map, and navigate to different places.

While in front of a meter, there are several possibilities for reading it. One is with the help of a Bluetooth adapter. The application connects to it in order to exchange commands and read the meter. Another possibility is connecting to a radio receiver, from which we can read meters without going into a house. There is also the possibility to reading out meters manually when there is no digital interface present. For old analog meters, users can enter numbers manually. There is a plausibility check in this case—whether the number is lower than the last one, or whether it is too high. It’s also possible to take pictures of the meters, for fraudulent activity. Those pictures are stored on our ERP or the client’s server, along with a meter number and date and time stamp.

The apps needed to be very stable, given that employees going from house to house are generally very busy, and don’t have a lot of time to waste. We also have backups for the data being collected by employees. The power companies are sensitive to this, as they cannot issue bills without that data.

What is the team dynamic? 

We worked closely with Cinnamon Agency, using tools like Slack. As the CEO, I was not directly involved, but I could follow the exchange of information between our chief developers and the Cinnamon team.

I don’t know what the full size of the team was, but we had a main contact person. We had one or two developers, one of them was part-time.

How did you come to work with Cinnamon Agency?

We found them online, but I don’t remember the name of the platform.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work has been around €80,000 [$95,000].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Cinnamon Agency in December 2015. We are still in development, but don’t have a lot of work at the moment; it’s mostly maintenance. We will continue with Cinnamon Agency when we have additional functionalities to add.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients have been very happy with the application. We’ve been surprised to see that there was no need for training on it; we could give the app to users, who could use it without instructions. They were used to working with smartphones and appreciated the tool.

How did Cinnamon Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication and response time are both very good. We haven’t had to wait more than one day for a solution if there was an issue.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their response time is very good, and Cinnamon Agency has good knowledge and ideas around things which didn’t work and we needed to find another solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Cinnamon Agency was excellent for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and founder of messageLOUD, a service designed to prevent distracted driving. At the moment, it’s in the form of an Android application. The iOS version is coming out in around 2 months.

The product is a text-to-speech application that activates itself by detecting the Bluetooth connections inside users’ vehicles. Every message that comes in after that point will automatically be read out loud, be it an email, a WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or Skype message. To the user, it’s very simple, but the backend functionality is the result of thousands and thousands of hours of work.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cinnamon Agency?

We needed assistance with continuous upgrades for our Android application. The original developers were awful, and I fired them as soon as I was able to.

The app itself was unbelievably complex. Getting across all messaging types was a challenge in itself, especially for some of the older Microsoft Exchange systems. Another challenge was that not all vehicles are the same in terms of Bluetooth functionality. The app also had to prioritize well, given the interaction of the phone with different things — the car’s radio, ongoing phone calls, the car navigation, Spotify or other streaming services, and so on.

The only messaging services that have a standard API are Gmail and most of the other major email platforms. The Google one is particularly good, while the Microsoft Exchange one is particularly horrible. The most complex integration was with WhatsApp. Outside of text messengers, it’s the second-biggest platform overall. WhatsApp is huge in Europe, actually surpassing SMS. We needed to have a lot of work done in making sure that the integration with it went smoothly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cinnamon Agency started with an initial app. They have been upgrading it for around a year. Their team has been the primary party responsible for the continuous upgrading and maintenance of the app. Cinnamon Agency’s work hasn’t been so much troubleshooting as producing features and new releases. We also have robust bug reporting and a general roadmap in place. We’ve typically worked with 2 people from Cinnamon’s team. They have brought in other resources when there was a need for skill sets that weren’t found with the 2 primary developers.

How did you come to work with Cinnamon Agency?

I found them through Upwork. When employing people through that platform, we need to go through a multifaceted process. The first part was practicality; I didn’t want to work with anyone further east than GMT +2. Cinnamon Agency is based in Croatia, which fits within that requirement. The other requirement was English competency. Fortunately, their principal, Ivan Kovac, as well as the main developer, are both fluent. I’m able to talk to them normally.

Beyond the practical aspects, it was a case of giving Cinnamon small tasks and building up to bigger and bigger ones while I evaluated their competence. This has been an ongoing process. It has come to the point where their main developer or someone else in the team could take care of everything we need for a very complex application.

How much have you invested with Cinnamon Agency?

The cost of their work has been above $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Cinnamon more than a year ago, around February 2016. We will be reaching the roadmap end within 2 weeks. I am the CEO of another company, and we’ve employed them to build an app for it as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The most important metric to share is that we have a net promoter score of 25. A score of 0 would be neutral, anything below that is negative, while any positive marks are favorable. Typically, the best apps out there have a score of about 20; it’s very hard to get above 35, even when the developers are keeping score. We’re also sitting at 4.1 stars on the Google Play Store, which is another important metric. We have more than 55,000 downloads, and the average user is using our app for more than 1 hour per day while driving.

How did Cinnamon Agency perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management has been excellent. We’ve primarily used Redmine, a bug, feature, and support-management platform. We would typically communicate day-to-day things over Skype.

What did you find most impressive about Cinnamon Agency?

When I have a deadline, they would work extra hours on the weekend and after hours. I don’t know how big Cinnamon is as a company, but they give the impression of being a smaller team that’s focused on customers.

Are there any areas Cinnamon Agency could improve?

They could improve invoicing, which is a little haphazard. Things don’t come through on the same day. I don’t really mind this, but it is an area where they could do a more consistent job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the CEO of a consumer products company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a messaging app aggregator best known for putting iMessage on Android.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

To build from scratch a chat super app that bridges all other chat platforms.

SOLUTION

How did you find Cinnamon?

Referral

Why did you select Cinnamon over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Cinnamon were assigned to this project?

11-15

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

We worked with Cinnamon to build our front-end of our app, but also they helped with a lot more than that and got involved in the back-end and other features. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Getting the app to launch in Alpha and then Beta.  Creating a separate version of the app for a customer quickly.  Solving extremely difficult programming challenges.  

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

We had weekly huddles and lots of check-ins / daily communication.  

What was your primary form of communication with Cinnamon?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They have the ability to add qualified resources and adapt to challenges.  

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

Potentially just setting expectations/timing better, but in programming that is extremely difficult.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We make software that supports the casting industry throughout the US. I am a founding officer in the role of COO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cinnamon Agency?

Our casting director accounts were old, tired and lacking good design. After careful consideration we hired the Cinnamon Agency to redesign it and help with some UX immprovements.

What were your goals for this project?

A ground up redesign to provide the user with easy of use while not changing the experience too dramatically.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our CMO used Cinnamon on some projects historically.

Describe the project in detail.

We created a page by page account map. Once created we explained the usage of each page in detail as well as listed pain points and areas that need improvement. Once the project kicked off we did almost a daily review of submitted work and provided feedback

What was the team composition?

Myself, the lead beta tester and the casting support manager participated in the project. On the Cinnamon side Mladen was project lead and Amela did most of the design. A few other designers helped on and off.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Every page, pop-up, button, modal, warning in the user account was designed from start to finish and completed. As we program the page we may find a thing here or there although I do not expect to find much that we need to revisit.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a great daily workflow and comments and feedback were transparent for all to see

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have the skill and organization to really think through the project details prior to doing the work. This ensured the best results with minimal redesigning.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I provided some minimal feedback to the project manager about small ways to improve future experiences and he immediately acknowledges them and will implement going forward. The areas of improvement dealt with project scope and setting expectation. No one was at fault.