Cognize

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Katowice – the Garden City is the main cultural institution of Katowice City. The Silesian Blues Trail is a unique project in the world, where history of music is told by the people who took part in the making of it.It is a project that introduces places (bars, clubs, concert venues) in Silesia, where polish blues originated. A centerpiece of Silesian Blues Trail is an app that guides fans and broader audience through iconic places.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire grupa KMK?

We’ve hired grupa KMK to design and develop multiplatform mobile app.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to design an engaging experience that will stimulate users to travel around key spots in Silesian blues and get familiar with the story of it. The app should work both on iOS and Android and had to be created within limited budget.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Grupa KMK has been one of recommended companies that had relevant experience and portfolio.

Describe the project in detail.

Grupa KMK conducted concept workshops, advised on technology and architecture of the final solution. Designed UX and UI, developed and placed the app in Google Play and AppStore.

What was the team composition?

Project Supervisor - IT and Development; Project Supervisor - UX/UI, Developer, UX/UI Designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application, which is the basis for the Silesian Blues Trail has been working since the end of 2016. This project has contributed to Wojciech Mirek’s – the person responsible for the project from the Garden City – being awarded the title of the Person of the Year in 2016 in Katowice.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The starting point of the project was the extraordinary content – memories of blues icons telling about the clubs that make up the map of blues in Silesia. Grupa KMK took over Project Management after first meeting. Two Projects coordinators - one overlooking technology, scope and schedule; second Coordinator - working with the design team to provide best possible experience and UI. The project was fast-paced and delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We felt like the team members of grupa KMK shared enthusiasm for the project and took responsibility for overall quality of the product.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Stronger emphasis on marketing of such a product (mobile app).

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a regional marketing manager for UGI East, a part of UGI Corporation. The company operates in the liquified petroleum gas (LPG) and energy market across the whole world. UGI East operates in the Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Romanian markets. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with grupa KMK?

We were creating a new website for the Polish brand, as well as conducting research about how customers were seeing us and how we could properly communicate our product value to them. So, it was not only UX, but also some behavioral aspects of the website. It was a complete approach to the creation of the new website, not just the technical part.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We conducted research, created some personas based on that, and then decided how to build the website based on Joomla. grupa KMK created custom coding, including a module that allows us to launch small landing pages without their involvement, based on our online campaigns and promotions.

Later on, because we were pleased with how the website looked and performed, we copied the template to other markets, including Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. We’re now analyzing the Hungarian version of the website. grupa KMK is collaborating with us on a daily basis, providing updates, working on changes, software issues, hosting, and stuff like that.
    
How did you come to work with grupa KMK?

We sent out a call for tender and approached around two dozen companies across Poland— some that we knew and some that were recommended by our employees and external partners. grupa KMK gave us the best offer and approach. They were eager to collaborate with us and able to think not only about the technical aspects but also behavioral ones. That caught our attention, so we decided to collaborate with them.
 
How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $30,000–$40,000. We have a monthly fee with varying hours for coding, graphic work, management, and so on.
 
What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017. They’re currently responsible for five countries, and we have continuous work for website optimization and updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re planning to launch a new version of the website soon for the Hungarian market. We have an ongoing contract for continuous improvements.
 
How did grupa KMK perform from a project management standpoint?

grupa KMK provides reporting through which we can track hours and assets that they’ve worked on. We have monthly reporting covering the broad scope, in terms of timeline and budget, and we use Asana for live tracking. We always agree on timelines beforehand.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

When we put out the request for tender, every candidate was focusing on some fancy solution with features we really didn’t need. A lot of our business is done offline, and the communication needed to precisely target people in villages and small towns, many of them older and not internet-savvy. 

grupa KMK understood our company and took a personalized approach to the project that addressed our needs. They made tailored solutions for us, not a templated response that they’d clearly used with other customers.
 
Are there any areas they could improve?

I wasn’t involved with the technical part of the website; that was handled by the specialists in our team. Every solution can be done better, but I can’t think of anything specific right now.
 
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should be honest and open in terms of what they’re offering to their users or end clients. Listen to what grupa KMK has to say, but also be open to challenge them. If you tend to make simplifications, pay attention to this and avoid any shortcuts to fully benefit from what grupa KMK can do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

It's a stroller manufacturing company. I'm e-commerce manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire grupa KMK?

Design e-commerce solution for b2c.

What were your goals for this project?

web development and the e-commerce it architecture for b2c

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We met KMK on E-commerce fairs. Decison was made after serval of meetings.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

graphic design of the web, magento implementation, implementation of multi-language web, additional web function implementation

What was the team composition?

1 pm, 1 web manager, 1 graphic designer, 2 web developers, 1 copywriter, 1 account manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to KMK we established e-commerce business selling our products in Poland and worldwide

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Responsiveness was great, communication was fluent supported with Asana. Mostly deadlines were met. They were able to prioritize tasks well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Communication and effective problems solution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

bigger It developement team to realize urgent tasks faster