Enterprise Monkey

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director for Know Your Horse, which is basically an online communication tool that connects horse trainers, owners, and breeders through an application and website.

What challenge were you trying to address with Enterprise Monkey?

We needed to develop our website and application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with an initial wireframe, and we worked together throughout the development process. They also help us with social media management and other marketing strategies. They developed our site and app, which is compatible with both iOS and Android platforms. They were very helpful throughout development, and they also worked on our logo design. Our frontend product wasn’t what we expected, but we were very pleased with it and their backend work.

What is the team composition?

They have about a 10 person local team. They also have a 25 person team of coders based in India. I mainly dealt with Aamir [CEO, Enterprise Monkey], but he recently got married and took some time off. He assigned dedicated people to our project that would handle issues and queries while he was away.

How did you come to work with Enterprise Monkey?

I didn’t find them through a Google search or an advertisement. Aamir and I were both trying to catch this train home from Melbourne, which ended up being canceled. Everyone crammed into buses to get home, and I ended up sitting next to Aamir. We chatted, and he met my wife. He was a lovely guy, and I started talking to him about the business and what I wanted to do. A couple years down the road when we had raised enough capital for development, I reached out to him. Before hiring them, I compared their prices to others in the market, and most places charged a little higher than Aamir.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $200,000 AUD ($159,960 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around April 2017. The app launched on the first of October. We still chat, and we’re going to use them for other development projects such as social media marketing strategies. They offer us an IT perspective for business analytics and growth.

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

We have a full engagement document that includes all the project details and specifications, which we went through together and determined what they could deliver. The document is 10-12 pages with around 100 different key points we wanted for delivery. It served as the measuring stick for their work, and each month or quarter I received deliverables from them. The functionality and reliability of the mobile and web platforms they developed were a slam dunk. For what we needed at the time and for what we were expecting, their work was a ten out of ten. This has led us to engage with them in other projects.There are always things that could be improved and tweaked, but our beta tests were satisfactory. We’ve had users suggest that they shouldn't have to log in or save their password. We've taken their critique into consideration, and Amir has adjusted our site and app accordingly.

How did Enterprise Monkey perform from a project management standpoint?

Aamir is a trustworthy, reliable guy. Other than the time he took off to get married, he was available all the time. He worked through the night in some cases. At one point, he spent five or six hours on the line with India to make sure they got work done, and he would communicate their progress with me. Regardless of the time zone difference between his local team and his team based in India, he didn’t wait to get work. He was totally professional and dedicated to getting the job done. We mainly communicated over the phone. We had a set schedule of deliverables, and we ran a payment schedule against KPIs, which they met. Having a structured payment table and a strict schedule was extremely helpful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They didn’t just accept payment, do their job, and move on, but they were part of the team. I work with them almost every day, chatting about how we can make things better and get the word out about our product. They're very interactive, which I can’t appreciate more. I’ve had some experience with other IT companies, which is why I speak very highly of them. Unlike other companies that come in to simply do the job, these guys are in it for the long haul.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I think they could improve on is their English skills. Aamir has a lot of non-native English speakers on his team, so sometimes there were communication barriers, particularly during fieldwork when we had to upload videos to our site. Another frustration we’ve experienced throughout our collaboration is the wait time for approvals from Apple for the iPhone. With Android, you can adjust things always automatically, but it's just a process with Apple, which isn’t Enterprise Monkey's issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Lay out your KPIs. You can’t go into this kind of collaboration with half laid plans and hope your product will be built. Be sure about what you want them to deliver, and remain open-minded. For example, a big change that occurred during this collaboration was that they changed our logo. We didn’t expect this to happen, but I’m really happy that it did. Work with them on design aspects like color schemes and logo composition, and they’ll guide you to what’s most appealing in the industry. If you go in with a plan and agree on it, I have no doubt Enterprise Monkey will deliver.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the director of Alex Unexplainable, a business that provides magic entertainment for private and public events.

For what projects/services did your company hire Enterprise Monkey?

I needed someone to liaise and collaborate with a branding company on a new name, logo, and identity, and then create a website based on those developments.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to create a new brand identity to improve corporate engagement and develop a high-quality website.

How did you select this vendor?

I met with Brandon (Head of Growth, Enterprise Monkey) and discussed what they could offer us. I decided to move forward with them after that.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They launched a new, fully responsive website off the brand identity work they were given.

What was the team composition?

I was in touch with four team members, but Brandon was my primary point of contact.

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

I'm quite pleased with our development’s results. Enterprise Monkey ensured that my new site retained the search engine authority my previous site achieved. The site only went live recently, so I haven't been able to measure any changes or impacts on my business yet.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their whole team communicated and responded to change requests extremely well. Once work got underway in earnest, they executed changes effectively. Our project manager ensured that everything ran smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I had access to all their developers and was able to easily communicate changes in a detailed and precise way using InVision and Slack.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Overall, I was happy with the results of their work.