FS Studio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Advanced Development of JLS Automation

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Designs and builds hygienic robot automation systems for food manufacturing.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire FS Studio to accomplish?

• Simulation & digital twin platform development

SOLUTION

How did you find FS Studio?

Online Search

Why did you select FS Studio over others?

They understood what we were trying to create and why.

How many teammates from FS Studio were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

FS Studio assembled a scrum team of developers to help us create a digital twin and simulation platform for our robotics systems.  The team built smart USD asssets which can be adapted quickly for custom automation lines.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Bi-weekly sprint reviews.  

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

Due to the nature of our project, we wanted to avoid using the Waterfall Model. Instead, we adopted a more flexible approach, meeting every two weeks to review the work completed during the previous two weeks. During these meetings, we outlined the next steps in development and prioritized tasks. This approach allowed us to adapt and be responsive to evolving needs, which we greatly appreciated.

What was your primary form of communication with FS Studio?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

FS Studio has a diverse team with a wide range of skills and expertise across various platforms. Whenever I had obscure technical questions, FS Studio could usually connect me with a team member who had experience in that specific area. The team found a clever way to address a specific and difficult problem on our project which I was uncertain if we could solve.  Congrats to the team! The FS Studio team was prompt in ansering questions and replying to emails and messages.  

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

Brief updates between sprint reviews would help me better understand project status. With more frequent communication, I could assist the team more effectively when they encounter issues or technical challenges. Later in the project, we increased communication and established a good rhythm.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Global Director - Technical Training

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire FS Studio to accomplish?

• Manage the VR platform, logistics, and hardware.
• Specify the hardware and software required to build a virtual training platform.
• Build the "base model" inside a virtual world that will act as a launchpad for the VR experiences

SOLUTION

How did you find FS Studio?

Referral

Why did you select FS Studio over others?

Great culture fit, Good value for cost, Referred to me, Company values aligned

What was the size of FS Studio’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

The full product would be an educational platform that use Virtual Reality (Quest 2), spatial computing and simulation to empower and educate internal and external electrical technicians and electrical engineers in the methodology of mitigating arc flashes and outages from switching mechanisms to protect and maintain the electrical grid of a Data Center. 

This will cover breaker technologies, molded case circuit breakers maintenance, low voltage breakers, arc flash incidental energy, etc. and also the general requirements for electrical safety related work practices. The goal is to accelerate and speed up the training initiatives internally and inherently prevent and reduce and mitigate safety related concerns

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• SOW specifications and the demonstration of functionality as described.

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

Project was managed professionally. Each area of the project was separately addressed and reviewed for progress. This included such areas as user experience, functionality, and adherence to any compliance factors. Project was delivered on time including revisions (added to the scope of work). Response was almost immediate and very quick turn-around for requests.

What was your primary form of communication with FS Studio?

Virtual Meeting

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

Each individual was adept at their area of focus. There was a feeling of mutual satisfaction with building something new and innovative. We're able to keep value included while innovating with new technology in a unique way.

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

Ensuring that each employee involved in a project understands the rules around change management to a SOW and that changes must be approved. Any work outside of the SOW must clearly be identified and approved. This should be clearly understood and enforced on both sides of any approved SOW.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO for OYO Fitness, a developer and manufacturer of fitness devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FS Studio?

We’d funded the second version of our handheld DoubleFlex (Personal Gym); both versions were the same physical product, but the second integrated a chip and sensors that communicated with an app. We had a printed circuit board (PCB) team and firmware developer, and we needed to find a firm to build the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After we hired FS Studio, I flew out to their office for two days to flesh out the details and concerns of our project. The app is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) compatible, and FS Studio worked closely with the firmware team to make sure the data was being sent and received correctly. They basically built an internal API between the firmware and app, which both delivers workouts and provides feedback to users. It’s currently only for iOS, but we’re planning on developing an Android version in the future.

Besides the coaching app, they also built a QA app that our PCB manufacturer uses. They’re able to test the PCBs to see if they work and if they’ve been installed correctly.

What is the team composition?

Our main points of contact are the project manager, a technical supervisor, a graphic designer, and a programmer. Each of these individuals has a team under them, and we also occasionally work with their CEO.

How did you come to work with FS Studio?

They initially reached out to us, and we put them on our shortlist of teams we wanted to work with. We provided a two-page overview of our project to all potential partners, and they built their bids on that. We decided to hire FS Studio because of their extensive BLE and IoT experience and they seemed to understand both the technical components of our project as well as the overall vision.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2017. The project has taken longer than expected, but it’s not their fault.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app works across our entire product line, which customers love. It helps us compete against larger companies, most of which have apps for their products, and it’s a great marketing tool. The app has been an excellent addition to our portfolio.

How did FS Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They work in two-week sprints, and we had a call every Monday for the first nine months to review any issues. We’re in constant communication, and they willingly adjust to our changing needs. For example, we had to redo the tooling on the physical product, and even though that wasn’t their responsibility, they still worked with us to fix the problem.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were fantastic at helping us debug the app, and they have a flawless and transparent workflow. I’d love to work with them again; they’re a fantastic team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Focus on the scope of work and making sure everyone is on the same page. If not, some things may be lost in translation.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Antenna. We’re a video game streaming company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FS Studio?

I needed to outsource an engineering and design team to build a prototype for my web-based application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My product has three main components: the app itself, recommendation features, and filtering abilities. The design team focused on how to make sure the app was user-friendly. The engineer used JavaScript for development and leveraged material UI as our library for the frontend. He set up our AWS and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud instances. We had several discussions about what would work best for the project in the long run, and we decided to use a react native framework so that the app would work seamlessly on both mobile and web devices.

What is the team composition?

We made the decision to work with a small team that could quickly go through an iterative process. I worked directly with an engineer and two designers. Both designers had a rapid turnaround on deliverables.

How did you come to work with FS Studio?

I reached out to a lot of vendors and received roughly 35 responses. I chose FS Studio because they were one of the few companies that had a technical background—as opposed to a gaming one—and an engineer located in the US.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $30,000–$35,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together May–August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Developing the prototype has enabled me to have a jumpstart the project and identify what I need moving forward with the app. There are still things that we need to polish, but we didn’t expect a perfect product for the prototype. I like the look and feel of what they created and the copywriting is excellent. They met my expectations, and because of that, I can move forward.

How did FS Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We decided to use a small team so communication and documentation were excellent. There were a few times that the communication wasn’t perfect, but that was on both sides. Because of the project size, we used Google Sheets for most of our project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

FS Studio has a solid team that gave helpful feedback when applicable and met all of our requirements. I’ve worked with other outsourcing studios or third-party vendors that read the requirements and just gave me exactly what was on the page. Their team worked with us and brainstormed to identify what would help the project long-term.

Are there any areas they could improve?

That’s tough for me to answer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I underestimated the amount of work that came with opening a business alongside managing a project, so I would suggest that future clients invest in a project manager.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a creative agency. We work with clients, brands, and startups to develop their creative strategies, which range from campaign work all the way through to site work. When we need to do site work, we work with development partners that have skills in the technologies that are relevant to the project.

What is your position?

I am one of the co-founders and the COO [chief operating officer].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with FS Studio?

We were working with a startup company. We had created branding and positioning for the startup, and we needed to create a complete website for them. It was a relatively small website, maybe no more than 10 to 12 unique pages, but it had e-commerce requirements, so we worked with FS Studio to build it out. I don't have information on the technologies they used to build the site. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They did all the front-end and back-end programming, and we dealt with the visual design. We gave FS Studio PFDs that were cut, and they implemented those. I believe they helped with the technical architecture for the backend, and they took lightweight business requirements or functional requirements from us, and they solved for it directly.

They've added a lot more capabilities recently, and we're just learning about FS Studio's capabilities, like big data analytics and app development. To date, we have only executed web development projects with them. We don't have any projects right now where we would incorporate these new services, but we are particularly interested in having them augment our capability when it comes to crunching big data.

How did you come to work with FS Studio?

It was actually through word-of-mouth. They were a recommendation from other people in the same space.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Because of the model we use, our clients are paying for their services. We're hiring them for our clients, so the cumulative amount there might be $200,000 to $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think we might have a few projects going on with them right now. I know there was a slightly larger project where they helped us build an internal HR site for a major brand.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I don't have any metrics right now.

How did FS Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

With every project and every vendor, there obviously are times when things don't go exactly according to plan, and we've encountered those situations as well. They are very responsive and very thoughtful and sophisticated in their senior leadership. At the same time, some of their staff members seem to be much more adept at doing large-scale back-end projects than working with smaller scale campaign-based, creative-based projects.

What distinguishes FS Studio from other providers?

FS Studio has deeper technical chops than other development shops, so we trust them when it comes to front - and back-end development. We think their ability to scale resources according to project requirements is remarkable for a development agency that works with creative agencies. A lot of the other development agencies have far less bandwidth.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

When we're launching campaigns, sometimes a big part of my job is holding the client's hand and walking them through what might seem pretty mundane to a more technical person. I think that part has been getting stronger, but was not as strong as it could be. That would be an area of improvement, and I think that FS Studio has been improving.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

As with anyone working on backend development, it's worth finding a way to build a long-term relationship because you want to make sure these people are going to stick around for the client.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I work for a company called LeapFrog Enterprises. What we do is produce educational hardware, software, and toys for kids anywhere between the ages of six months and eight years old.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the vice president of global content development. My job and my team's job is to produce all the content that goes out into the world with the LeapFrog name on it, whether it's producing physical books or the content that goes on our toys, or digital apps and games for our proprietary platforms, or for Apple, Android, or Amazon devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address with FS Studio?

The first thing that they were working on for us was refreshing the look and functionality of our developer studio website. Because we produce a lot of our products ourselves, from the hardware and software perspective, we maintain a developer portal that serves as an archive of documents, SDK [software development kit] versions and things like that, that our developers have access to. It had gotten outdated, and the FS Studio guys were brought in at first to refresh the look and feel, add some new functionality there, make it look a little bit more modern, and add some more modern functionality to it. That was our original work with them, and then quickly it blossomed into lots of different kinds of projects, and they've been a valued partner of ours for several years now.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work in detail.

One of the first things they did for us after the developer studio website was build a prototype for us to download mp3 files for the audio jack on Apple and Android devices. So, we have a line of plushes called Scout, and Scout has connected features where you can personalize the plush with your child's name, favorite food, favorite color, and things like that. It had been dependent upon a PC client for doing all of that, for handling the connection between the device and the customization.

What we wanted to do was make that a little bit more nimble and provide the same functionality, but for mobile devices. Some members of our internal engineering teams had doubted that it was a viable solution. FS put together a nice prototype for us to show that it was a viable solution, and that's the way that we have ended up connecting that particular product and maintaining the feature set, while adding this new functionality.

From there it has grown into lots of different things. In time, they have developed a really clear understanding of our proprietary software, proprietary firmware, and they have done some really integrative core technology development for us. Last year, we worked on a product called LeapTV, which was a home gaming console designed for young kids, and one of the features of LeapTV was that it had a camera attached to it. We wanted to use the camera for a couple of different things. One, for allowing the kid to become the star of the show, putting the kid within the game content itself. Then, we also wanted to use it to provide some light tracking, so that we could turn our controller into a wand essentially, and make kids be able to use that as a baseball bat, or a sword, or whatever. FS built what we ended up calling LS Vision, which was basically that functionality for our hardware. On top of that, they also helped pitch it. When we were starting to get behind last year on LeapTV, FS brought in additional engineering resources to help shore up our internal firmware efforts.

We've been working with them for the last year or so on a tool that allows us to take all of our proprietary firmware-based content, which we call Brio, and port it over to Android. They've built a porting solution for us that allows us to take basically whatever components of our library that we want, and put them in an Android environment or a new tablet that we're working on. So, they've really gotten involved in some high-risk and high-reward products for us, which showed a great level of technical capacity and technical innovation.

The custom development they've been doing for us would have been largely on the Web, and then moving into Brio development for our devices. They modified OpenTV to produce LS Vision, and then now working in Android and building an Android analog of our SDK to enable the Android porting layer that they've been working on for us.

They are also building some software for us as well. We've got what we call reward stores on all of our platforms, and FS has built the store itself handling the transactions as well as developing the user interface (UI). So, they are now moving beyond pure engineering and into UI/UX [user interface/user experience] and interactive content for us.

How did you come to choose FS Studio?

The head of our developer services team had known Tim Martin [CEO at FS Studio], and reached out to him when we started to work at refreshing our developer portal. The work they did there was excellent. Because what we do is so specialized, and because a lot of our software and hardware is so specialized, having somebody who knows how things work and being able to go back to them repeatedly as a partner is incredibly valuable to us. As our aspirations and ambitions grow for what we want to do every year, we need to reach out more and more often to outside service providers. Having somebody who knows how you work and who they're working with intimately, makes the selection process on vendors so much easier, especially when they deliver so consistently.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this engagement?

I don't know off the top of my head. It really varies by product.

How long have you been working with them?

The relationship with them has been ongoing for about three or four years at this point.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

What I would point to is the fact that these platforms exist at all. The fact that LeapTV made it into the marketplace last year, with all of the functionality that we had wanted it to have, is a testament to not only their raw development ability but also the teamwork and collaboration that they bring to their projects, the level of communication that they bring to their projects. LeapTV especially was a really challenging project, and their role in it was so central to the success of the platform. The fact that it's in the marketplace, I think, is a testament to their skills. It was an ambitious undertaking and we couldn't have done it without them.

The one that we're about to hopefully wrap up in the next few weeks, they're essentially providing the entire content library through the construction of this porting tool. We're doing some native Android development for some content, but the vast majority of the content that will be available to customers is being provided via the service that FS is producing for us. So, again, we wouldn't even have a functional platform if not for their efforts.

In terms of internal stakeholders, the fact that we've continued to go back to FS for repeated work, and not just more of the same, but with increasing complexity in each project, shows that they have earned our trust and delivered as they've promised. They are also now working with more than one team within LeapFrog. They are working with my team, the global content development team, but they are also now supporting out internal engineering teams in a couple of different capacities. They've built trust outside of my department within LeapFrog, so that's a great sign for them.

I think in terms of customers interacting with FS's work, you have to look at some of the reviews for LeapTV and look at the marketing material for LeapTV, the best feature on the platform, the camera-based gaming, the games where kids themselves become the center of the action. That was all through FS Studio. It's really the most compelling feature of the platform, and that's all their work.

From a project management perspective, they've been superb. When issues have emerged, it's rarely been their fault. It's usually because of internal issues here at LeapFrog, complications that we've created. What I can count on is that they will always communicate clearly about where they are, they will always take their dates extremely seriously, and they will always drive to deliver on time and on budget. In cases where things have lagged, it has not been their responsibility.

In hindsight, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider, or are there certain things you'd do differently as the client if given the chance?

No. I have a great amount of respect and admiration for the work that they do, for their willingness to dive in and find solutions, for their ability to communicate on increasingly complex technology endeavors, and their desire to get the work done with such a high level of quality. They've been a great partner of ours, and my goal is to maintain that partnership going forward. 

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

With anybody, I think it's all about having clear expectations upfront, a really clear scope of work, making sure that you have skilled folks on your side who are responsible for managing the engagement with FS, so that FS can do their best work. We've been working with them for so long, and everything has always turned out well for us. Just make sure the lines of communication are open and that the scope of work is clear and understood.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Affinity Labs

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Affinity Labs is taking a collaborative approach to web 3 development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire FS Studio to accomplish?

• Building a virtual world prototype
• Create hype video

SOLUTION

How did you find FS Studio?

Online Search

Why did you select FS Studio over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from FS Studio were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• create virtual world
• 3d models
• color theme
• virtual walk through
• Hype video

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• weekly progress meetings to communicate updates
• weekly progress meetings to demo what was built
• weekly feedback and input for development

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

• Extremely responsive
• Very organized
• Large team of support in each weekly meeting
• Delivered project ahead of schedule

What was your primary form of communication with FS Studio?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were very professional, organized, and had great communication throughout the project.

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

I was satisfied with how they operate!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Blue Ring Imaging

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

AR/VR visualization for unmanned vehicles

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire FS Studio to accomplish?

• Build a Unity app for ML2
• Integrate GStreamer

SOLUTION

How did you find FS Studio?

Referral

Why did you select FS Studio over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

What was the size of FS Studio’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

Unity app development

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• They did a great job!

What was your primary form of communication with FS Studio?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Yes

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

Easy to work with and do what they say they will do.

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

NA