Future Mind

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an e-Commerce Manager at one of the most popular drugstore chains in Poland. We offer a wide range of beauty products such as traditional cosmetics, as well as diverse professional makeup assortment and accessories. Currently we run over 260+ physical stores in Poland and we will increase this number ongoingly.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Future Mind?

We decided to collaborate with Future Mind to create a mobile app 

What were your goals for this project?

We have defined the main goals together with Future Mind in order to deliver the best solution to customers. These include:

1. Creating an app that connects all of our touchpoints and provide customers with an omnichannel experience,
2. Designing an application that helps company boost its conversion rate and also that is intuitive for users offering them a highly personalized experience,
3. Launching an application that aims to re-engage with customers and will be the heart and a brain of a new customer loyalty program.

SOLUTION

How did you select Future Mind?

We have chosen Future Mind because we’ve found out they provide high-quality software services and they are experts in mobile. They have worked with a range of retail chains over the years, gaining valuable experience and their expertise proves that they are capable of creating high-end mobile products for their clients. That’s why we wanted to cooperate with them on our project.

Describe the project in detail.

We needed experts to create a mobile app for our customers thus the main goal was to create a product that would be functional yet appealing for clients and would satisfy their all-important needs. Future Mind’s team started with the Product Design Workshop, in which we established a timeline for the project and determined the product’s functionality.

Therefore, Future Mind’s team helped us to define its functions and prioritize them using the so-called MoSCoW method. Based on the defined priorities we proceeded to the next step - mobile app design. They designed the app based on the data-driven approach focusing on our needs as well ensuring consistent experience across touchpoints.

At the initial design stage, Future Mind’s team created lo-fi mockups to confirm main principles with us and then hi-fi mock-ups which was the final product of this phase. In relation to the target group that pays attention to aesthetics, we kept in mind the fact that the UI design was very important.

Then, they started working on the app development process. When it comes to technical analysis and mobile app development, their developers have actively advised in the context of integrating with the Salesforce e-commerce engine. Their backend was based on Salesforce andTwo teams were involved in that project, and finally they created native apps for Android and iOS.

What was the team composition?

In total 9 people have worked on the project. The development teams consisted of 4 developers (2 x iOS and 2x Android). Also Business Analyst, UX, UI Designers were involved and Project Manager who supported us throughout the entire process of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. After several months of intensive work we are ready to present the main features of the application, they are as follows:
2. Simple and intuitive onboarding,
3. New built-in channel for one-on-one communication with the customers regarding offers, promotions, order status, in-store vouchers, and so on,
4. Enables loyalty management connected with an individual’s account, loyalty card, and so on, 
5. Simplification of the purchase process, such as scan and add to cart.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

To be honest, the workflow between them and us was quite good. Future Mind provided their consulting service at every stage of the entire process of mobile app development.

The Future Mind’s team was really flexible and focused on their work. It was important for us to work with a partner who could provide us a professional service which would be delivered flawlessly. We are more than happy that Future Mind’s team understood our business goals and implemented them in the right way.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

In my opinion Future Mind’s knowledge and experience are remarkable regarding the native mobile app as well as back-end development. Also I really appreciate their consulting team that helped us at every stage of our collaboration and willingly gave detailed advice on the project.

They supported us on the technical and product side during our entire cooperation. Another impressive feature of Future Mind was their partnership approach and their expertise which made us confident that they would deliver us a product of top-quality.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Future Mind’s team was in charge of the final result of the project. I took care of ongoing discussions regarding app development and solution selection. Areas of improvement:

1. they could have given us better advice on how to set up our internal team in order to make our collaboration more effective
2. we stumbled upon typical communication issues.

Nonetheless, I would recommend Future Mind to other comapnies.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the engineering director of an organization within an internet company that develops client software — both mobile and desktop devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Future Mind?

We had an idea for a product. We started working with Future Mind to support the development of mobile apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Future Mind provided both iOS and Android developers. To a degree, they also dedicated resources who helped manage the mobile project. Their team wrote specifications, built the apps’ UI/UX, and ultimately delivered native iOS and Android apps. Their team wrote the networking code that established the secure tunnel and DNS (domain name system) configuration for the devices. After shipping the product, they helped fix bugs and add enterprise features.

After adjusting the DNS resolvers, the platform opens a secure tunnel between the mobile device and the Cloud. It secures the communication between the device and the Internet, so wherever the client’s going. If a client’s going to a website that’s a customer of ours, the product enables a faster route. The app increases security and speed.

What is the team composition?

The team size varied but generally, we worked with anywhere between 4–6 people.

How did you come to work with Future Mind?

Future Mind was brought aboard by someone else before I joined the company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $500,000–$1 million on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Future Mind’s work with the company started around early 2019 but I started with the company in January 2020. The initial version of the product shipped in October 2019. Throughout 2020, we iterated on the products. We hired in-house developers, so we finished our engagement with them in March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Future Mind had highly skilled developers and project management resources. The quality of their work was great. They performed as we needed them to perform.

We read users’ reviews in the app stores, and the app's highly reviewed. Out of five stars, our product averages a 4–4.5 star rating.

How did Future Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

Unlike past vendors, Future Mind jumped in to use internal tools. We used Jira for bug tracking and an internal system. Their team joined in with the company.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with how they integrated and worked with us. Future Mind built certain aspects of the app while internal resources worked on different parts of it. They integrated with us, becoming a part of the team and the company. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Future Mind has integrity, so you can be open with them. The more you work with them, the more you’ll receive from them. Give them access to everything they need to do their job effectively.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Property Group Sp. z o.o. is a nationwide publishing group that has been present on a Polish market for 10 years. It owns innovative web portals that revolve around housing. Those who look for new apartments or houses can easily browse thousands of offers, while developers are able to promote their investments and venues.

All of the above features are possible thanks to advanced tech solutions, which help to “simplify” and organise the real estate market for everyone. My position is Product Owner/Product Manager fully responsible for new gethome.pl project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Future Mind?

The aim was to create GetHome.pl - the first website in Poland with real estate listings (houses and apartments for sale and for rent, from both primary and secondary markets) that would ensure the best user experience possible during the whole buyer’s journey - from finding the portal itself to choosing the most suitable offer for every user.

There are many real estate listings at Polish market but we consider them not very user-friendly.

What were your goals for this project?

To create the first marketplace in Poland that offers a comprehensive overview of properties for sale and rent. The main idea was to create listings without duplicate offers - which is real pain for users at Polish market. Ensuring the web portal is intuitive and easy to use - with a simple search and no duplicates, paired with the best user experience - with precise locations and no duplicated offers or ads.

Ensuring discoverability - the website had to be extremely SEO friendly and the speed of use as well. Choosing best technology stack which will also in minimise the costs of maintaining and developing the product further, making it easier to collaborate when using common programming languages.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

It was a bid process. Based on a previous experience in developing web applications, technology stack, and experience in developing property market products we have chosen few software houses and ask them for offers.

Future Mind provided us with the best offer and had the most experience in the required tech stack. We liked their approach to development and project management. Had good communication during our meetings.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Property Group Sp. z o.o. provided a website prototype - including a business concept, UX / UI in the form of hi-fi mockups and style guide, as well as requirements for the tech stack updated during the project. The Product Owner and, if necessary, dedicated tech, design and SEO specialists took part in the project from the Client's side.

We decided to use Python, along with its framework Django, for the backend layer. This was mostly due to the fact that Python works well for Rapid Application Development, which gives the developers a lot of possibilities when it comes to prototyping, taking advantage of ready-to-use components, and speeding up the development process.

Indeed - the first effects were visible almost immediately. At the same time, Django is a powerful web framework supported by a large and active community, not to mention substantial documentation. It also makes it easier and faster to build advanced web apps with less code. When it comes to the frontend, we chose React.js.

The decision was influenced by the our great experience with both SEO and React itself, which proved to work better than i.e Angular in previous projects. These technologies also formed part of the our’s tech stack, which in turn minimises the costs of maintaining and developing the product further, making it easier to collaborate when using common programming languages.

Since primary and secondary markets are quite different, we needed a solution that would help us categorise the offers any way we want it, while keeping the search for listings as efficient as possible. That’s why we decided to take advantage of the search engine Elasticsearch. This largely influenced the speed of the searches and thus, the user experience.

One of the other major challenges for GetHome, however, was the existence of duplicates when it came to the listings (which affected the credibility of both the offers and the whole portal). Therefore, finding the way to track those duplicates was one of the our main priorities during the development of GetHome.pl.

Developing such a precise mechanism required taking into account multiple attributes of the properties and handling a lot of exceptions.

The listings of the same properties are now “merged” and displayed within one view, which is why the user doesn’t find the same house or apartment multiple times. As we have an in-house SEO team, we were also fully aware of Google Search which is one of the most effective channels for acquiring new users.

That is why proper optimisation of the whole website for search engines was the main requirement when developing it. We kept that in mind from the very beginning, assessing the impact that any changes and improvements might have on search results.

What was the team composition?

In the beginning we had two back-end developers (Python/Django) and two front-end developers (React.js) as well as Project Manager assigned from Future Mind. They were backed-up by some of our top developers as consultants when needed in discussions.

After launching MVP we’ve work with one back-end developer, one front-end developer and Project Manager. Few months ago our internal team took over the project but we are still cooperating with two back-end developers from Future Mind.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There is a lot of competition on the secondary real estate market. On the one hand, the market for internet portals is dominated by several major players, on the other - numerous real estate offices are also increasingly active on the web.

It would seem that there is no room for another online "intermediary". But we did it with a success. An important advantage of GetHome over the competition is the lack of duplication of ads for the same property.

Thanks to all mentioned solutions used, as well as the lack of advertising on the portal, the process of buying, selling or renting real estate is extremely transparent, efficient and trouble-free, both for the buyer and the entity issuing the offers. For now, we are not focused on drawing profits from GetHome, but instead we invest in development.

By 2022, GetHome is expected to become the most effective channel for acquiring real clients for brokerage houses. The first steps in this direction have already been made. Currently, almost 600 real estate offices cooperate with GetHome and the number is growing rapidly. We’ve got more than 50,000 users monthly with stable and rapid growth.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I found it effective - as much as was needed, on the one hand not overwhelmed by frequent status meetings, on the other hand I was always informed on the status of the project and felt things are under control.

We used different tools and channels to communicate: e-mails, Slack, conf calls, f2f meetings, they were available any time I need it. We used Redmine, a project management platform, to manage Product and Sprints backlog and both sides used it with care, everyone knew what to do and priorities of tasks.

For reporting spent time we used Redmine and Harvest. I got hourly reports regularly and as often as I needed them, also on demand. They have good communication skills, are responsive, open for dialog and suggestions, and take an elastic and creative approach.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Fast and focused on goals, good quality of the code, good understanding what needs to be done, good can do attitude. I would say, like it’s written in Agile Manifesto:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
2. Working software over comprehensive documentation
3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
4. Responding to change over following a plan.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The main thing that I might called imperfect was that on the one hand we wanted to work quickly and agile, but on the other hand we didn’t fully follow the methodology sufficiently, which affected the schedule and budget.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of FleetConnect. We offer fleet management and monitoring platforms for vehicle monitoring and mobile workers.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Future Mind?

We wanted to create a new solution for fleet management.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team started from scratch. At first, we worked together to understand all necessary requirements and in designing architecture. The web interface is the main platform, but we also developed the solution for both iOS and Android.

Once we had our infrastructure in place, we started the process of agile development with their team. The product, which is deployed in thousands of vehicles, is equipped with GPS and GSM modules that send data to our team, which we then collect and transform to users.

The system has a second component designed for the drivers, which include several informative functionalities.

Currently, Future Mind is working to develop more features.

What is the team composition?

There are about 10 people on Future Mind’s team, and most of them are tech developers.

We're in contact with three backend and two frontend developers, as well as two developers for Android and two for IOS. We also work with a project manager.

How did you come to work with Future Mind?

Future Mind had worked with one of our colleagues in the past, so we knew what the team was capable of delivering. They also provided us with the best offer and had the most experience in the area.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $300,000 on this engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project began in October 2018 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team at Future Mind delivered all the capabilities and functionalities we imagined, and even a few we didn’t.

After over a year, we’re still closely in line with the budget and timeline we’d established at the beginning of the project, and our product is selling.

How did Future Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

When we first started this project, I was focused on the team’s technical skills. I’m very satisfied with their knowledge and their willingness to provide insight and collaborate with our team. We’ve had many constructive conversations around the project and architecture.

However, though I hadn’t considered it as much at the beginning, the project management aspect of Future Mind’s skills is also excellent. Our project manager has done a great job at mitigating any differences of opinion over the last year of our engagement, and I’m impressed with his abilities. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive aspect of our engagement so far has been the architecture of the apps. The team at Future Mind has dedicated a great deal of time to implementing flexibility and elasticity to what they create, so we can easily keep up with new requirements from our customers.

We’ve been very pleased with the team’s approach to testing and quality assurance throughout the project. Even when I press them to finish certain elements within a short timeframe, Future Mind is always focused on delivering high-quality products. 

They test everything, from functionality to integration and more, so a lot of the frontend development could take place without errors.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Project Manager at Generali. Our company has about 1400 employees and provides insurance policies for our Clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Future Mind?

By the request of the Board of Generali, new Mobile Application for Agents was to be designed and implemented. Due to lack of the developers and knowledge in-house, we decided to perform the tender in order to choose the most appropriate Supplier.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the project was to deliver the Mobile Application for Agents in order to increase the level of the sale of policies.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We provided the tender in order to choose the most appropriate Company. We have recieved many bids from different companies, described the selection criteria and selected Future Mind as the supplier of the Mobile Application basing on their knowledge and experience in this area, qualified Team they have on the board and references they provided to us.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was divided into 3 phases:

1. AZTEC and OCR scanning data and filling the fields with this data
2. Reports Module
3. Documents upload and Notification module.

Before starting each phase, we performed detailed business analysis together with FutureMind in order to design the best possible solution. It is worth to add that FutureMind had many innovative ideas regarding designed solutions.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of:

• 2 Project Managers - one on Generali side and one on FutureMind side
• 1 Analyst on Generali side
• 5 Analyst-Developers mainly on FutureMind side
• 2 Testers, one on each side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within 3 months after we finished our project, we noticed 8,000 downloads of Mobile Application for Agents which is a very good result. We also received very positive feedback from the users.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

FutureMind was very responsible during the whole project. The requested work was delivered by FutureMind in determined time frames. There was absolutely no problems with the communication with FutureMind.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their unique knowledge of mobile application solutions is a major strength. Due to this fact, our Mobile Application for Agents is very popular and gladly used by our Agents.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are very satisfied with the service provided by FutureMind. The project was graded as successful by all the Stakeholders.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are developing an app called Tradewize for the analysis of retail investor behavior.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Future Mind?

We were looking to develop technology without having to put our own development team in place. We were looking to outsource the development. We needed an iOS mobile app developed and a significant backend to be built with Python and based on the AWS [Amazon Web Services] platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted them to develop the whole platform from the backend and the iOS app with relatively loose specifications because we were still defining exactly what we needed for the app. For the initial development, they put together a proposal for us on how they might do the development and what the approximate cost might be. We decided to move forward with them.

The development process started out as fact-finding from their point of view as to what we needed. The first part of the work was to get a platform up and running that could showcase our ideas and demonstrate them to potential customers. Our users will sign up for the app and link their brokerage accounts to our app, which will allow us to interrogate and understand the transactions that they are making in the stock market. Although we don’t publish any of their direct information or any financial details, it’s very important that access to that information is very secure. Future Mind put in place and advised us on the security and how they would keep that portion of the platform well away from the public access to our app.

They also advised us on the design patterns used for the UX/UI. More recently, we’ve asked them to work on an Android solution.

What is the team dynamic?

The size of the team varied depending on our requirements. There’s usually a project manager that looks after the organization of the development team at Future Mind. At any one time, I would expect to have one or two iOS developers working and one or two backend developers working on the project. Now that we’ve recently asked them to work on an Android solution, the team size is around three with this workload. The total would be a project manager plus up to four engineers.

How did you come to work with Future Mind?

I have several contacts in this field. I was introduced to the technical head of Future Mind when I was looking for design resources. We had a meeting and decided to engage them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The sprints are delivered on time. They have come within or very close to the budgets they initially set for the task. If they have run over, it’s probably because the requirements have changed. We feel comfortable when we go to them with a piece of work. They work hard to deliver within their quoted timeframe and budget.

We get crashes occasionally. Future Mind has a system that monitors them and allows them to identify quite quickly the source of those bugs or crashes. They’re able to fix them very quickly. If we encounter a bug, we have a service level agreement in place, which determines how quickly they intend to fix it. They’re pretty good at responding to those requests.

How did Future Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

They use an Agile model and have two-week sprints. We work for two weeks based on where we are in the development. Then we have a review at the end of two weeks to make sure that they’ve accomplished what we aimed to achieve in the sprint and to verify their work and sign that off. Then we move onto the next sprint. At the beginning and end of a sprint, we have a video conference with participants in the UK, Poland, Hong Kong and Boston. We find a convenient time and get through the sprint.

They use a system called Redmine, which documents all of the sprints and covers all of the tasks on that particular sprint. It allows us to contribute technically if there’s a question that’s opened externally to us as the client. That works very well. If we need additional calls, they’re open to that. We have a dedicated project manager who is our normal interface to everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our project manager, who handles our interface, has a broad knowledge of all aspects of development. It helps us to have that good single point of contact to manage our project. He interfaces well with the rest of the team and makes sure everything is executed correctly. The project manager that we have is very impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their knowledge of the finance industry lags behind ours, and so there has been a learning curve for them in dealing with financial data, which is what our app and platform are about. This has meant that, on occasion, they might not have understood some of the subtleties with the algorithms that we use to achieve our end goal, and this can lead to unexpected behavior or bugs when we get to a new release of the software for testing. When we saw that happening, we made sure that better unit and functional testing was put in place so that the occurrence of these unexpected behaviors was reduced.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Relayr is an Internet-of-Things platform connecting several devices for industrial solutions and offers a full stack, from device management to analytics. I am the head of multiple customer-facing projects, working with different vendors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Future Mind?

We needed to design and develop a mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We put together the architecture for the Android and iOS app, which they challenged and improved. We moved on to the app development and the backend service from scratch. It is an interface to an IoT Edge device that serves as a retrofit kit for household appliances. They created the backend that provides communication with the 2 mobile applications.

What is the team dynamic?

We had a strict interface with their project manager and CTO in the beginning, as well as contact with 3–4 developers directly. There were 5–6 people in total working on this project.

How did you come to work with Future Mind?

We sent out an request for proposal, asking for a fixed-bid offer. We found them through contacts in Poland. We liked their work and invited them to make a design pitch and project delivery plan.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost was around $80,000 overall.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2017. The current project was completed at the beginning of August, and we've no further work in that direction.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application was intended for the operation and onboarding of an Edge device used with household appliances. We’ve had a few bugs, but Future Mind provided a 6-month warranty, during which we can get them fixed immediately. The app has been overall reliable. Our internal cloud engineers have given excellent feedback on their work, saying that they’ve never seen such well-structured work in API design.

Our client mentioned that Future Mind’s speed of work was very good and that they’d like to work together in the future.

How did Future Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

We moved quickly from first contact to getting started and delivering the first milestone. We had barely 3–4 weeks for the task, so the results were impressive. The team was professional, reactive, and structured. We mostly used Slack for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The technical work, design, and willingness to deliver good quality were excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

We didn't set aside enough time to test the devices with the apps, which led to a delay. People need to be reactive on both sides. Future Mind was, but we slowed down the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our Switzerland-based company has been around for over 30 years, and we are present in over 60 countries. We have over 12,000 worldwide employees, and I’m the B2B product marketing manager. We compete in both the B2C and B2B segments.

Our main goal was to enable anyone to create the perfect cup of espresso coffee just like skilled baristas. Our concept has redefined and revolutionized the way millions of people enjoy their espresso coffee today, and has shaped global coffee culture. Thanks to continuous innovations and high quality, our company has evolved from being the pioneer and trendsetter for portioned coffee into a worldwide reference.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Future Mind?

We needed to build a mechanism to support our recurring promotions. Customers who purchased a machine during the promotion period could use a form to register the machine, then receive promotional coffee sets. Each promotion had its own key visual, so the tool had to be developed in a way that allowed for its graphical and functional customization for both promotional products and permanent store assortment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Future Mind used XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript for frontend development and Python and Django for backend development. They built a backend that allows for handling and customization, provided graphic design, and created promotional materials.

The website has been used for cyclic consumer promotions. Users who were offered gift vouchers could collect via the website, and, depending on the promotion, select from an assortment of coffee accessories at a reduced or free cost.

What is the team dynamic?

The relationship between our marketing department and Future Mind employees developed throughout the project. They act as an extension of our promotional outreach, as well as an advisor who assists us with their knowledge and experience in terms of digital solutions for customer service in other projects.

A dedicated team took care of every element of the project, and used an approach we felt comfortable with. Future Mind also assigned a dedicated project manager to us who coordinated the work, and was responsible for communication. The cyclical nature of the co-operation meant that, after a while, we understood each other without having to constantly communicate.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between U.S. $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2013, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We handled more than 6,000 orders in total. I don’t recall any negative feedback from customers. The service was simple to use, and allowed clients to quickly accomplish the goal. Future Mind carefully tested every promotional website before launching it.

How did Future Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Basecamp to track progress, make arrangements regarding function and appearance of promotions, and leave comments. Future Mind remained reliable and involved throughout every project we’ve worked on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their company presents deep knowledge and applies perfect practical skills, all while offering new initiatives that enhance project functionalities. They’re a very friendly company, and also recommended improvements to our system.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We enjoyed this co-operation, and were highly satisfied by their organizational consistency.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are building an online collaboration tool for the healthcare industry. Our app would allow doctors to communicate with each other regarding cardiovascular issues. The product is compliant with HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996], with all protected health information being kept safe and secure.

Our main product is for reporting, while the one at hand is a supplemental communication tool. This collaboration app contains multiple pieces. Its main features are chat rooms that are created between doctors wanting to collaborate on a particular finding from a report, like a cardio issue that requires the input of peers. Users can launch the app from within the reporting tool, share their screens, have phone conferences, take pictures of their desktop, and attach images. I was the project lead for the app development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Future Mind?

Our product required an iOS app, given that Safari does not support some of the functionalities we needed, namely the WebRTC component for screen and video-stream sharing. We also needed push notification capabilities, which are also not available on Safari for iOS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Future Mind built a native app based on the one created by our main provider, Selleo. We had a proof of concept for the app, which they took and cleaned up. Future Mind provided 1 Swift developer and 1 project manager. They took part in our sprint planning meetings and made sure we were asking all the right questions.

How did you come to work with Future Mind?

Our main developer recommended them to us, but we also checked other U.S.-based companies. Some were internal recommendations, and we had worked with 2 of those groups before. However, Future Mind’s pricing was around 2 ½ times lower than that of a local provider. Because the main team had done such a good job, we took their recommendation.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had a 3-month run time for the project. It’s currently in maintenance mode, and we’re preparing to deploy it. We’re handling bug fixes internally, but I will definitely reach out to Future Mind if there is a need.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was evident that Future Mind had built iOS apps before, and they had good knowledge in the area. From a code perspective, Future Mind’s work has been high-quality. There was test coverage put in place, and they made sure tests were run properly. I have learned a lot in terms of the development patterns put in place.

The iOS app needed to integrate and work well with our main web product. We needed to change some of the backend to accommodate the app and vice versa. This meant that communication between the teams was important. Fortunately, Future Mind was in the same vicinity as Selleo and could communicate directly with them. I acted as a middleman between them at times.

How did Future Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

The language barrier was a bit tough with their developer, but the project manager did a very good job on this front. Both spoke English adequately, though. Future Mind took part in the same stand-ups and sprint reviews as our main developer. There were no conflicts or frictions.

What did you find most impressive about Future Mind?

The workmanship was excellent, as were their depth of knowledge and professionalism. Future Mind came in, gave us tons of change recommendations for certain areas, did the work, wrote the tests, and hit deadlines. Everything went well with this project.

Are there any areas Future Mind could improve?

This is probably the hardest question so far. I can’t think of anything.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Future Mind?

I haven’t seen their Android work, but I recommend hiring them for iOS. Just be aware of the time zone and language barriers. It’s a good thing that there are enough similarities between U.S. and Polish cultures for them to predict what a particular app is supposed to look like and what its purpose is, more so than with Indian companies. I highly recommend Future Mind for remote work over some of the others I’ve seen in the past.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We provide brand protection systems using RFID [radio-frequency identification] and NFC [near field communication] technology. The aim is to protect physical products against counterfeiting and to provide a level of intelligence to everyday products like wines and spirits, lubricants, pharma products, and others.

What is your position?

I am the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Future Mind?

We were looking for a company that could help develop the software needed for working with RFID tags.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They developed our RFID system, created the customer interface for our website, and designed the look of our portfolio documentation and business cards. Future Mind has also developed a mobile application for interfacing tags with our system.

How did you come to work with Future Mind?

One of my company's co-founders worked with them in the past. Future Mind created an e-commerce platform that he was happy with. Also, they had a good reputation within the startup scene in Poland. Future Mind developed the mobile application for the Polish Post. We decided that they could help us with our current project and contacted them.

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

The total development cost of the first project was around $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have completed one project with them and decided to start a second one, which is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The system is working perfectly and it has been well received by many global companies. We've received good feedback about the user panel and the general functionality and speed of the system. It implies simply placing a tag on a product and bringing a smartphone in its proximity. The NFC will supply information about the product's authenticity.

We've encoded thousands of tags since the system's launch and never had a problem with its operation.

How did Future Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, I'm satisfied with Future Mind. Our communication was good, and they helped us not only from a development standpoint, but also gave us good ideas on how to bring our ideas to the market.

What distinguishes Future Mind from other providers?

Future Mind is a good asset within the conceptual part of product development. We've been so satisfied with the outcome of our first project that we've decided to use them for a second one.

Is there anything Future Mind could have improved or done differently?

Every company has something that can be improved upon. They were late by two weeks on a deadline for implementing the specific tag coding, but this is understandable given that we've made a product that's unique on the Polish market. There was no expertise in this area, so Future Mind had to study implementing the encoding and using the RFID tags in our application.