Epic Apps

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a data-gathering platform geared at assessing and teaching soft skills to businesses and other partners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Epic Apps?

We needed help with app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They build our iOS and Android app. The team also designed the database for managing the data coming in through the app. They set up server storage, backup, video transcoding, and compression through AWS as well. For the iOS side, they used Swift 5.2, and Java for the Android.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people from their team.

How did you come to work with Epic Apps?

We were looking at several different app developers, but they had experience building a similar app. They’re also local to Denver, making it a bit more convenient to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $41,000, not including their support fee.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of service was really good. I’m not a software engineer, so it was important for them to communicate what’s possible and trade-offs between which different options we had.

How did Epic Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a good job of communicating the process and making sure we stayed on schedule. When they did ask me for input, I knew I needed to get back to them within 48–72 hours, or else I’d hold up the project. Things progressed really well, there were never really any surprises. As we iterated through the development and testing of the app, they were very good at communicating expectations. We communicated via phone and Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very good in the initial requirements development for the project. They did a good job of understanding what we wanted to accomplish with the app, which is important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did a good job solving any issues that came up.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to consider Epic Apps for their app development needs. It was really nice to work with the key decision-makers and get specialized attention.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for a national governing body for a sport.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Epic Apps?

We have about 150,000 members of one of our organizations and about 50,000 members in another organization. A lot of times, a child will sign up with different programs across the country. They will sign up for a program and be registered as a beginner, and they will take lessons at that facility and maybe renew on an annual basis.

We don’t have a great way of tracking their progress and seeing if they are moving up in levels or more recreational. We lose track of where the members are in their sport's journey after registering that first time. Once they join our other organization when they decide to continue and become more competitive, then we have a really good idea of where they are in their journey.

There is about a two to a three-year gap from when they first decide to start taking lessons to join our competitive test structure, and we don’t know what’s happening in there.

We wanted to create an app with a fun user environment that would tie into the athlete’s records.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app would encourage our program to offer more details about the person and their journey. It was also to encourage members to participate in challenges and share more information about where they are in their journey.

We hoped that the two combined together in creating this app would just create a better user experience for both the people running the program and the people participating in the program and would give us more data about the journey someone is going through moving through the pipeline. It is more fun and experience on their end and more data on our end.

The app was developed for iOS and Android. They helped us craft the interface. We had an idea of what we were looking for functionality-wise and maybe some apps that we had seen where we liked the way they looked, but we didn’t have any concrete designs in mind.

They actually created everything from the wireframes to the look and feel, and everything like that. At first, they started with a design that didn’t jive with us. Their first iteration was cute, but it didn’t really fit the vibe we were going for, so they actually went back to the drawing board and came back with a second look and feel that we really liked.

We had a bunch of back and forth with discovery and API development and really talked about that because we really needed to make sure that it would work first with our infrastructure because we have this entirely homegrown database; it’s not a turnkey solution. We spent a lot of time on that, and I think it was about six months of development. We did have a few additions after we were in that testing phase.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Kevin (Founder), and we just went through him. We didn’t work directly with any designers on their end. Occasionally, we would call the IT team, talking with people on their team and their developers.

We have a custom SQL database and a few APIs that connect to the app, so we had to get the developers on our end with their developers, but other than that, it was mainly myself just being the representative from our side working with Kevin.

We had a little bit of interaction with Scott (Co-Founder), who handles a lot of the finances. He helped to get the contract off the ground, and then we worked with Kevin after that.

How did you come to work with Epic Apps?

After we developed the framework for what we wanted for an app, we sent emails out. It wasn’t a formal RFP, but we had a plan in place. We looked up app developers and sent information out to several of them to see who would respond and who was in our budgetary framework.

Epic Apps were one of four companies we talked to.

We also liked that they were local as we are both in Colorado, and we liked that we had that face to face interaction too, which was a big thing. We wanted to talk to a local company, and we think that really helped us too.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we invested about $65,000. We have a change order with them now for some enhancements, which is about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we started working with them in late summer/early fall 2018. We really started hitting the ground running with things in January 2019. I would say we finished up in the fall of 2019.

After this next phase, we are working with them again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Even though we are a national governing body for a sport and we are part of that Olympic movement, we have never done a lot of tracking and analytics at that grassroots level. This has allowed us to see into what is going on with the athletes that are just starting their journey.

Even though we launched this unfortunately right at the start of a pandemic, we had to adapt things on the fly and turn on challenges and turn off challenges and find ways to take the app into something that works for the sport when they couldn't actually practice. That has been really hard for us, but what is great is that the framework for that app actually allowed us to continue to engage with our users when they weren’t allowed to practice.

We actually had about 1200 users right off the bat with the challenges programmed into the app. The fact that it could be used in that type of setting and still engage our users when they couldn’t even use it the way we initially designed for them to use it was really great for us.

We realized there were things that we wanted and we had a few add-ons that we stuck onto the end of the project before we rolled out, so it kind of delayed things a little bit on our end. It was slated to take about six months, but I think it took between nine months to a year, but a lot of that was learning throughout the process that we actually wanted to add things on instead and expanding our scope a little bit as the project went on and then also realizing the complexity of what we were doing.

We also had a few staff changes, so we would have to get people up to speed.

There were some issues getting the app into the App Store. We were trying to create a separate App Store account for this part of the organization, but because we are owned and operated by our other organization, we ended up having to go under that. I would say we had a two to three month hang up with us trying to figure out the best configuration for the App Store, so we did run into some issues just trying to figure out stuff with Apple. We ended up not being able to do what we were trying to do.

Our sport is kind of a complex world, and we haven’t seen an app that is similar to what we were trying to do before, so I think the team was really flexible in terms of working with us and trying to understand a sport that has so many nuances and has so many different users and so many different pieces of data and information coming in.

I thought they did a really good job of trying to step into our users' shoes and the parents of our users. Our main user is probably between the ages of 7 to 12. We designed the app so that the athlete and a parent could use it together to track their journey. I think they did a really good job of getting into the parent and the child's headspace and what the user was looking for. They dealt with a lot of curveballs along the way.

This was so foreign for us, so we didn’t really know what we were wanting; we just knew we wanted this thing that would help us see this type of data. We didn’t know what that data or the app would look like; we just had a wish list. They did a good job of helping us make that come to fruition. Their team was great at listening to our feedback and coming back with something that we felt aligned more with what we wanted and needed, so they did a good job of that.

How did Epic Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job communicating and meeting deadlines. We were actually the ones that pushed deadlines a lot. We have a lot of other projects on our plate, and there were times where I had to shift my focus and couldn’t focus entirely on the app, so I think they dealt with us pushing deadlines a lot.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are cost-effective, so I think their price is very reasonable. I like the fact that they weren’t trying to create an out of the box solution for us or trying to create something they created before; they really got inside the heads of us and our customer and were trying their best to really create something super unique and different that had never been done before.

I think the fact that they are a smaller company and we were working directly with the founder, working with someone who had a lot of passion and drive, and wanted to see this project succeed. It wasn’t just another project on their plate. It was also something very exciting for them that they wanted to work on. It was good to have that energy and drive on their end, so I really liked that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only constructive feedback I could give communication-wise is that everything was done via email, and it was very hard for me to keep up with a running email conversation. I would have preferred if everything was in more of a project management platform or a project management arena where something like Teamwork or Basecamp, which had more of a project management workflow, and it wasn’t just via email.

The conversation subject would change over the course of 30 back and forth emails, and it was sometimes hard to go back and reference the information we were looking for.

I have always liked this, and this is going back through my whole career, and when I am making design decisions for a look and feel for something, I really like to see an option A and an option B. When we are coming up with a look and feel for something, almost giving three different angles we could come from and then narrowing down to one is good.

When I am working with web design or any sort of creative product, I like that to see different options of a look and feel in front of me. I think that would have been nice. We were presented with one initially, and that was when we wanted to go back to the drawing board and change it. I think it would have been great if right off the bat, we saw three different concepts, and then we could choose the direction we wanted to go in from there.

I think that would have helped us narrow our focus from a look and feel perspective. I understand that is extra design work. I totally get that, but I think it would have helped us wrap our brain around the project's look and feel.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you go into the project, you definitely know your goal and what you are looking for this app to do. Know those goals right out of the gate and know your infrastructure and framework.

Know your backend system and what you’re working with, and really, really know your customers and what needs you are trying to fulfill.

Map out that customer persona and the customer journey because I think it will help you figure out that process. We sort of lost sight of some of that in the discovery phase and realized what we were really looking to achieve later on.

I think if we had sat down and done a little more research and planning and thought on our end, I think it would have maybe saved them and us a little bit of time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're an audiovisual labor booking company. Our platform allows stations and companies to find the contractors they hope to work with. I'm the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Epic Apps?

We use spreadsheets, individual checks, and old-fashioned contracts. We asked Epic Apps to build a platform that would bring all those processes into the modern day.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The platform is a full online scheduling system that allows for online payments, invoice creation, and contracting. It's very specific to our niche industry. Everything is customized, but we'll integrate it with Bill.com. We'll also add our own merchant services and DocuSign contracting.

What is the team composition?

I'm not sure how many people were on their team, but we worked primarily with two people who delegated from there.

How did you come to work with Epic Apps?

We interviewed several companies, but we narrowed it down to Epic. They understood what we wanted to accomplish, and they offered a lot of suggestions and ideas. They quickly became a partner.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The contract started in May 2018. We're in beta testing now, but we're still working with them. We have a lot more planned, and we hope this will be an ongoing relationship for many years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Right out of the gate, the online invoicing and integration with Bill.com will reduce our staffing needs by about two full-time people. That will save us in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year.

How did Epic Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

Epic became a part of our team. They join our weekly meetings, and they're very involved. They plugged us into their Asana platform, which helps us track issues and log bugs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand what we're doing, and they don't just take orders. They make suggestions and steer us in new directions. They're invested in our outcomes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were less involved at the beginning, but that's since been rectified. Being this engaged is really helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don't have any specific advice. They're a great partner, and we're really happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager at JRF Ortho, overseeing the entirety of our IT operations. We’re a non-profit joint venture between two tissue processing companies. In our field, we work with tissue processors that are part of the organ donation space. 

We’re involved with lining up matches between patients on waiting lists as well as looking for surgeries and tissues that are available. Specifically, we focus on the cartilage space, meaning the cartilage and bone used in surgeries in the knees, ankles, shoulders, etc. We’re a group of under 25 people. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Epic Apps?

We communicated with the tissue processors by sending them basic spreadsheets that detailed what kind of tissue we needed. That would get out of sync. There were a ton of moving parts and changing data. 

Our team was also having trouble with sending and receiving photos of the tissues in a secure fashion while making it easy for the technicians doing the processing. We needed a platform that would address both issues and had the potential to grow with us. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I provided some basic wireframes that depicted how I wanted to build out the technology. They understood my vision, despite its complexity. Then, their team expanded upon my ideas, elaborating on the UI/UX. They wrote the product in Swift in order to produce an iOS app that could function on the iPads used by professionals in the field. The backend is a Ruby on Rails CMS platform. We just finished up the first phase of the project and are moving into stage two. 

What is the team composition?

I consistently worked with two resources here in Denver. They have a network of offshore developers that they utilize as needed. So, I’m not sure how many people worked on the project in total, but my points of contact were always the same. 

How did you come to work with Epic Apps?

I originally pitched this project to an organization that we’ve worked with before. They wanted way more money than I’d budgeted for it, so we started searching Google for other options. Epic Apps showed up in my searches with great reviews. I scheduled an interview with them. 

In our conversations, I was impressed with their ability to disseminate complex information quickly and offer up their approach if hired. When their quote came back, it was right where we needed it to be. We decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2018, and they’re still providing ongoing support for this project. Their team finalized the first version in August 2019, but we’re moving into phase two now. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final platform has been a huge game-changer, especially for the suppliers collaborating with us. It makes their process much more streamlined and straightforward. We’ve received positive feedback from those using the app too. Our team is also pleased with the app’s innovative solutions to complex problems.

How did Epic Apps perform from a project management standpoint?

Because I was working consistently with one project manager, I never had to repeat myself or follow up on anything. They were always on point. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated having a point person to go to for all issues. Having all the communication go through one channel simplified the process for me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t really think so. I had a great experience and would do it all over again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have the majority of your ideas hashed out before meeting with them. In my experience, the wireframes and requirements I brought to them helped me achieve the results I wanted.