Dikonia

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Project Coordinator for Swiff Marketplace New Zealand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dikonia?

Dikonia needed to develop the MVP version of a mobile application.

What were your goals for this project?

They needed to deliver the MVP and test its viability in the market.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We hired them based on their responsive communication and technical proficiency with the React Native framework.

Describe the project in detail.

Dikonia developed the MVP for Android devices in a series of stages. At the end of each stage, they updated us on progress and the timeline.

What was the team composition?

The team included project managers, developers, and QA specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app is functional and available in the Google Play Store. They did a fantastic job with backend development and the UI/UX design.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They understood our requirements and executed the project accordingly. Chhavi (Founder, Dikonia) and her team were responsive to requests and offered valuable feedback to improve the app. Their flexibility and creativity enabled us to fill gaps throughout development.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are communicative and knowledgeable. The team has a vast experience in developing applications for different industries, which enabled them to make suggestions for our product.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could have worked faster, but the team did meet the deadline. Dikonia was patient with our team’s workload and accommodated the time difference.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dikonia?

We needed to build a social media application to connect car enthusiasts. I had tried using another company in Eastern Europe, but it went badly. They already started with the wireframes, but only produced part of the frontend design. Aside from not doing any programming, our previous vendor was slow and failed to implement our markups.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dikonia took over the project, developing native apps for Android and iOS based on an incomplete Photoshop Document (PSD) file of the frontend design. Halfway through the coding, we decided to change the design again. Dikonia took our markups, revised the design, and modified the coding to suit. Using PHP, they also created a website that allows us to update the apps and modify content.

Our app allows car enthusiasts to organize meets and other events. Users can log in via Facebook, Twitter, or email. When they log in, they get an email confirmation of their signup. Afterward, they can enter their location and car details, including the year, make, and model. We had to factor in all possible answers, which was tedious and took months. Once a user enters all the necessary information, the application will notify that user of people close by. Users can invite people from a specific location or those with similar cars.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–6 people on the project. I mainly dealt with Chhavi (Founder & Partner, Dikonia), as well as two other developers. I do know that they had other developers in the background, but I don’t think they spoke English, so we didn’t speak to them.

How did you come to work with Dikonia?

I had worked with Dikonia in a previous job. They were quite helpful and accommodating, so I went back to them after things didn’t work out with the other company.

How much have you invested in them?

We invested around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2016, and the app went live in March 2018. We finished module 1, but we have put module 2 on hold for financial reasons.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app has been successful to a degree, but our marketing efforts have been rather poor. The app was buggy—I think the testing wasn’t done on enough devices. We tested on six or seven devices, and everything was working fine. However, the launched app broke down on certain models and different versions of Android and iOS. It was a bit frustrating, but Dikonia fixed it.

While I can’t say that the success of the app is directly related to Dikonia, they were willing to go the extra mile. If we designed something one way but realized it was a bad choice and asked for revisions later, they didn’t charge extra for the additional effort and time. They were willing to take care of it and help us achieve our goals.

How did Dikonia perform from a project management standpoint?

Dikonia met every single milestone that we have set. If they were unable to deliver on time, they kept us informed. They missed some deadlines, but that was because we made changes. I can understand that, as we were a pretty demanding client. I have to consider that we did push them quite hard.

We always had excellent communication, and we were in contact almost every day. Compared to our former vendor, Dikonia was transparent. I didn’t just speak with Chhavi; she also let me speak with her developers so that nothing got lost in translation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their constant communication and positive attitude. They got excited about our project and contributed ideas to it as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They probably underestimated the work needed, which became apparent towards the middle of the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the managing director of a technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dikonia?

We hired them to develop an iOS-based mobile app and the backend web portal through which customers can submit their mobile app ideas.

What were your goals for this project?

We already had a mockup of our mobile app and web portal, but we needed it brought to life. Their job was to code it and help us get it on the App Store. This included needing the app to connect to our servers and database, each customer having their own registration and login, including push notifications, and establishing PayPal payment processing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

A colleague of mine recommended Dikonia as he had worked with them for some mobile app projects. We had an introductory conference call to discuss their portfolio and capabilities, then we proceeded from there.

Describe the project in detail.

We discussed our business and project requirements. We gave them access to our mockups and asked them to replicate them. We then built the backend infrastructure on AWS.

They then coded the app and sent us the links to install the development versions of the app during the build. They built the web marketplace as well, including the login, reporting, and PayPal purchasing functions.

We use Sendgrid for email notifications and PayPal for payment. Their developers built our app to connect to all of those vendor supplied functions. They helped us through the App Store submission process, which can be quite complicated.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager to communicate with. There were around five developers working on our app and web marketplace.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very happy with the end result. We received communications or updated build versions to the mobile app every few days, based on the progress they were making or feedback we were providing.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was quite easy and smooth. We post a question, comment, or reply on basecamp and the they would reply, usually the same day. The communication between us was set up via Basecamp as our central repository of conversations and files.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their friendly and open approach to discussing our requirements and the project as a whole. Their communication was very clear and easy to understand and there were never any miscommunications or misunderstandings. They provided regular feedback on the status of both mobile and web apps as well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They resolved issues quickly, but overall the project did take longer than initially discussed and agreed. Despite mockups being provided, we also lost some time during the iOS build process due to UI differences between the app and the mockup that needed to be rectified.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of a startup that is developing a mobile application and online service for the chauffeur industry. We’re starting in Australia and growing from there.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dikonia?

When we began work on the application, we faced lots of uncertainty about our business model, the technical solution and how we’d all be working together. We didn’t know how the solution would hang together technically or what problems we’d need to solve. We needed help transforming our idea into a workable solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with Dikonia from the beginning. In the early days, they provided us with a lot of possibilities so we could identify which problems we should tackle first. After this, we began the development cycle. Their team was heavily involved during the prototyping stage, creating detailed designs and screens based on the direction we provided.

The app serves the transportation industry. It features GPS tracking, payments, notifications, data entry, and account and profile management. There is also an admin portal on the mobile application side through which we can manage our business.

The app is available for iOS and Android. There are numerous third-party integrations.

What is the team composition?

At peak, Dikonia assigned a team of six or seven individuals. They were split across the platforms—iOS, Android, and web—that we worked on. One team member was responsible for infrastructure, and a lead tied everything together. This seemed to work well.

How did you come to work with Dikonia?

I had worked on a previous project with them three years ago. I was originally introduced to Dikonia by a common acquaintance who had worked with Chhavi Firani [Founder] and her team on a few occasions. We considered several alternatives, but I already had a relationship with the team and knew what their capabilities were.

​​​​​​​What is the status of this engagement?

I reached out to Dikonia around July or August 2016, and we started the project in September. We are currently planning the next build iteration. I’ve been working with them to set up a continuous delivery model, in which we would put an agreement into place and make small change requests to be delivered on-the-fly. We are exploring alternatives to big upfront contracts.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We completed the build phase just after Christmas, and are in public beta at the moment. 

How did Dikonia perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the reasons I moved to smaller pieces of work is that Dikonia works well with short-term goals. If we had a single task, there was generally no issue, but the whole project was six months late compared to our initial estimate. Dikonia was not the root cause of this; we also didn’t know the problems we’d be solving.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good technical skills, and their development team is proficient in the areas they’re developing for us. When they worked well, the team behaved like a well-oiled machine. I appreciate their keenness to get involved and their ability to turn urgent tasks around quickly. Their availability is an asset as well. If I had an issue, there was always someone online whom I could talk to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The challenges we faced are always areas for improvement. Going into this project, I knew that communication would be a challenge. Our native languages are different, which can lead to miscommunication. We have now agreed to confirm and reconfirm the meaning of a task before development begins.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If the client approaches Dikonia knowing what they want, their team will provide a solution with no issues. We didn’t know exactly what we wanted and relied on them to provide estimates despite this uncertainty. On their side, estimates tend to be more conservative because they factor in that uncertainty. The issues we faced were centered around how we worked with Dikonia. Chhavi Firani also said that our project was one of the most complex ones he’d ever worked on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of MyBoardingWizard, a cloud-based software for schools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dikonia?

There is a lot of software for schools to manage their students, but very limited software for boarding schools to do the same. We wanted to develop a software suite that boarding schools could use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done all the software development for more than three years. It’s quite an intense software suite because it’s cloud-based for users, but also has phone applications that interface with the web app to allow boarding staff to manage students.

They built a custom system for us. I used Basecamp and PowerPoint as a way to get my ideas across to them, and even though PowerPoint is quite simple, it was useful for our purposes. After they received my detailed PowerPoints, they were able to design the software and its functionality.

The software’s main function allows boarding schools to log in and load all the students onto a database in order to manage them. They can pull up different student reports and load an app onto their iPhone or Android to conduct roll calls. Once the roll call process is finalized, it gets uploaded to a cloud and becomes available in real time to any staff member who has access.

Students and parents can apply for leave, which gets processed for the boarding staff to approve. The software also acts as a student safety device. If the student encounters any problems while on leave, it has all the information on it so they can get help and tell people where they are.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with Chhavi [Founder & Partner, Dikonia], who is my main contact. I’ve also had three people who are all some form of project leaders in different departments as the project has progressed. They are all still there for me to communicate with. Chhavi makes sure everyone knows about the project in case someone leaves. It’s been pretty consistent. We communicate almost daily.

How did you come to work with Dikonia?

I found them on Elance and chose them based on what was written on that website along with their own. They work in U.S. dollars, but their prices are somewhat better than what U.S. companies offer.

How much have you invested in them?

I’ve spent around $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in June 2013, and currently have an ongoing maintenance contract to continue making updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve been in the race with competition, but I haven’t been ready to go to market because we’re developing a bit slower than what a well-funded project might take. I’ve been happy with Dikonia because they’ve done what I’ve asked. We’re at the point that if we were ready to go to market today, we would be ahead of our competition.

How did Dikonia perform from a project management standpoint?

They are good. I was new to development, and although we had to adapt as we went, the process was pretty much seamless. They did a good job of working through and understanding what I needed. They were quite responsive.

There was a time when I felt we weren’t connecting fully. I spoke to Chhavi and we were able to sort it out within a week or two. That was the only issue we had. We both go to work and do our thing and communicate with each other, which works for us. We overcame that issue like it was never a problem.

We’ve always been pretty good with deadlines. Occasionally, I might be holding them back because I don’t reply to them in time, which causes things to get pushed back by a few days or a week. In return, I’ve occasionally waited for them for a few days. However, this has never really been a problem because it doesn’t happen very often.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their staff is good. Any team leader I speak with understands what I want, and it isn’t too often that they have to ask me to elaborate on a problem. We communicate well, so it hasn’t been an issue.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m quite happy with the work they do. I’m not looking around for anyone else to do the work for me.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Eviva services is an electrical contractor who does wiring for various commercial clients, public buildings, airports, etc. I am the director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dikonia?

We were using generic software, such as the Microsoft Office suite. As our company grew, we were having trouble tracking data and maintaining its security. We wanted a software package that could be built upon to serve our needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The solution they provided does a lot. Its primary function is to do job pricing. We can track materials and labor costs for each project and invoice clients quickly. That means we can bring in money faster. We can also track purchase orders in the system, to include when and where we bought items.

I told Dikonia what I wanted them to do, and they scoped out a packet that they thought would meet my needs. We’ve worked together on a continual basis for the past three years, and the software has completely evolved as we make changes and improvements.

What is the team composition?

At its largest, the team can grow to eight or ten, but on average we work with about three people.

How did you come to work with Dikonia?

I was looking on Elance, which is now Upwork. I got several bids, but Dikonia came in with the best portfolio and understanding of our needs. They are the third company we’ve used.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000–$35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2013. They generally do a lot with us, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve helped me reduce my staff to two people, since so much of it functions automatically now. From a personal perspective, everything is much quicker and more effective.

How did Dikonia perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good at understanding what I want. I was a little concerned at first that there might be a language barrier, but Chhavi [Founder & Partner, Dikonia], who leads the work, is fantastic. She interprets everything I require, and always has the right idea. If something doesn’t come out perfect the first time, she’ll go back and get it to work the way we want. Most of our communication is through Basecamp and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very understanding, and listen to what I want. They’re focused on the outcome, and adapt software solutions to meet my needs, which is quite unique. They’re not pushy, and don’t try to sell things I don’t need. They keep my best interests in mind, and are very good at working through issues. If something doesn’t work the way you want, they will work with you until it does. They’re always very open and honest.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only problems just come down to geography. Sometimes it’s difficult to have a Skype meeting because of the time difference. Other than that, there are no real issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Eny Media is a small web design company that designs websites for restaurants. I’m the manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dikonia?

It’s easier for me to hire freelancers to help with the projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed a website for one of my customer’s restaurants. The website takes and processes orders for users. When a user signs up on the website, they can place their order and it will print out on their printer. The website is built using PHP and MySQL.

They are currently designing and developing our in-house management software. It’s a pretty simple project. That is also based on PHP.

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

There were between four and five resources assigned to my project. I was only in contact with the project manager.  

How did you come to work with Dikonia?

I found them on Upwork. I chose a company based on first come, first served. I pick whoever responds first to my messages to see if they’re timely. I talked to them and looked at their previous projects.

How much have you invested with Dikonia?

I’ve spent between $30,000 and $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in February 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t keep track of any metrics. They’ve done pretty good. There are times where there is miscommunication. If I send an email and they don’t understand the project, we do demos and video conference calls to point out what we need. We are not in the same location so we have to do the conference calls to resolve the misunderstandings. We have our QA team that tests the software. Anytime we have a problem, we contact Dikonia and they address it pretty quick.

How did Dikonia perform from a project management standpoint?

They are pretty good. They are very responsive to any feedback and requests.

What did you find most impressive about Dikonia?

They are pretty responsive.

Are there any areas Dikonia could improve?

There are in a different time zone so I need to call them at midnight sometimes. I’ve only done two projects with them, so I don’t know of anything they can improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are landscape architects and urban designers, and we also incorporate wayfinding and signage. So, we’re a consulting firm of around 165 people in five geographic locations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dikonia?

We had a need to better manage our HR and project management processes. We wanted a web-based platform that would improve transparency and efficiency or reporting and provide a simple to use platform. 

We reached out to a partner because the cost of off-the-shelf products was exceptionally expensive, and no one platform could fill both our growing HR and project management needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We determined that the most effective solution for us would be to do something in-house, for both addressing our needs and being more cost-effective. We have basically a cloud-based solution that we’ve been working on for about four years with Dikonia. They implement everything we need behind the scenes. We tell them what we need done or features we need incorporated based on our own experiences and feedback we have from our staff.

We developed an in-house piece of cloud-based software that allows us to better interact and manage our day-to-day HR needs. It doesn’t remove the need to meet with people, but it streamlines the process in HR management, makes it more transparent in terms of visibility up the line to managers, supervisors, and even company directors if they choose. On the other side of that, it empowers our people by providing individuals and team leaders with visual transparency about their projects, how their financials are operating on each project, how teams are operating in terms of usability, availability, and how each project is performing financially. That then rolls up to each individual geographic location for each of our directors.

It’s a multi-scaled tool that provides a high degree of user functionality. We’re currently completing what we hope will be the last major development of that platform, which is about to start next July. We’re currently preparing the brief for that.

We wanted to create a piece of software that no one had to read a manual to use. We knew that, if you had to read a manual, it’s probably going to fail. Users can go on the platform and work it out without a lot of training, although we do have an induction process. It is very simple and intuitive to use. It does a lot of things behind the scenes that are semi-automatic. When somebody enters data into the HR platform, or a manager responds, automatic notifications can be set up to be sent by email to the right people. People are aware of things happening in the business that should happen, so it takes away a lot of the pain of calendar reminders and checking up on things.

On the other side, it just gives us an ability to actually see information that we previously couldn’t at our fingertips. We can run a multiple of reports on clients, projects, individual and team performance with the click of a button. It does a lot of things we used to try to do in Excel, but not very well, as we grew. It also makes sure that, across a company that’s spread into five physical locations, all the information we get back at head office is always consistent. It’s really about transparency and consistency.

For our very first release of the software, Dikonia did the design. Subsequently, we modified that and took it to a slightly more of a user experience with a graphical interface. It looks like what you’d expect software to look like today. Our first release four years ago was very simple. It was still very functional, but it didn’t have the kind of interface we have today. I believe it just uses PHP and MySQL.

We have some slight latency issues with some of the data that’s presented graphically, as it’s pulling a lot of data off the cloud and trying to generate graphs and image-based data. We’re looking at maybe converting it to a different platform, and the developers told us in the very beginning that might be needed if it got to a scale where the database was very large. After several years of use, we have quite a large database.

The platform has API interfaces so we can get data straight out form our platform to our accounting software. Dikonia also developed mobile apps for various components of the software that we have not launched yet. It’s not just a desktop interface. Although the mobile apps are not actually launched, you can actually get the Android app, but not the Apple one yet.

How did you come to work with Dikonia?

We located them online. They were open and very easy to talk to and collaborative. They understood our needs.

How much have you invested with Dikonia?

We've invested approximately $40,000 USD to date.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October of 2014, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still evolving the project. It is a work in progress, but it's implemented fully across our organization. It is widely accepted by the younger staff. Less well accepted by older staff but that is a generational issue, not related to the software.

We implemented two major fully integrated systems “for dummies” that has achieved quite wide take up across a geographically spread organization with in excess of 150 people.

How did Dikonia perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re quite happy with what they do. They deliver usually on time, and sometimes they’re ahead of schedule when we have major upgrades. We’re fine-tuning now, so for most of the modifications or changes, they’re able to implement and get it right the first time. Sometimes the communication from us isn’t fully clear, or they misunderstand our meaning. I think that happens because we’ve been working together for three years, and each party knows the other quite well, so we don’t go into lengthy briefing like we used to.

For example, if we have a major upgrade or a major chunk of work, we will prepare a proper brief, they will respond to that, so we know exactly what we’re going to get at the end. We’ll know how long each piece of work takes, and together we will prioritize delivery. It will roll out very smoothly on a test server. So, on that front, we’re very happy and we think they’re excellent. When we get it sloppy, because it’s an internal project, it probably doesn’t have the same rigor that we would apply to a client-based project. That’s when we find we get problems, because we’ve been sloppy. We’ve sent off an email without a quick fix. We haven’t really specified exactly what we wanted, and we don’t get back what we want.

I think our learning has been that, provided our briefing is very clear and there’s an interrogation of that to ensure understanding on all sides, they’re excellent. If we fly a little off-the-hip and have a quick update, it doesn’t always come out as we expect.

They have requested a number of tools, but I can’t remember the names. They’re basically online tools that people use for developing software. However, we run and operate the bug fixes by an Excel spreadsheet, so it’s like a ticketing sheet, which is very simple. The developer did offer a number of platforms, but we had already come so far down the track when this was talked about that we were really just doing incremental upgrades and development. The bulk of the stuff behind the scenes had already been done.

What did you find most impressive about Dikonia?

They are responsive, understanding, and reasonable in commercial terms. They respond positively to critique.

Are there any areas Dikonia could improve?

​​​​​​At times, we have found that their internal testing and proofing could be improved. We now always upgrade or roll out major new changes to a test bed server and run this for a few weeks to a month before updating to our live server. This has ironed out software bugs. We basically run the testing and have a period of bug fixes, which Dikonia undertake at no charge.