Impekable

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product management for a world leader in printed electronics. We provide smart solutions for brand protection and customer engagement. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We work in the nearfield communication (NFC) area, a technology that’s ever-present today in products such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. We’re trying to bring it to everyday items and turn normal products into smart products so that users can then interact with those and for brands to have a channel through which to reach out to consumers. This would be through the use of an NFC chip that we manufacture. 

We wanted to provide a platform where brands could manage these digital experiences, including the digital activation of their products and data insights on those. We reached out to Impekable for this purpose. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable has helped us rebuild our customer application from scratch, tackling both web and mobile versions. The web app is meant for brands while the mobile apps are for the customers of those brands. NFC communication on Android doesn’t require external apps; those are only required on certain iOS devices, and Impekable helped us out in this regard.

Given that NFC is a relatively new technology, we create prototypes and demos from time to time. These are concepts that we put in front of brands, demonstrating what kind of experience can be driven when someone interacts with a product. For example, someone in a store could receive a coupon, learn a story, or be given some information. Impekable has helped us ideate and develop some of these concepts, as well as create high-fidelity images. 

Furthermore, Impekable has handled all our design needs, since we haven’t had an in-house designer for a long time. We’ve used Sketch and InVision for sharing their designs as well as Zeplin for sharing all the assets and wireframe specifications. We’ve also used Adobe XD.

What is the team composition?

We have one designer from their team involved, who’s our primary contact. Depending on the workload, we may involve multiple designers from Impekable. We also have an in-house product management team that works directly with the designer. Once a high-fidelity design is produced, we share it with our engineering team.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

Before my arrival, the company had been using a different design agency. They started looking around, came across Impekable, and we went forward with them.

The overhaul went well, and some concerns around usability, design, and the color palette we addressed. Impekable conducted some great creative exercises where these items were reviewed by other people in the company as well, and the results were awesome. The company continued the engagement with them since then. When I came onboard, we were launching version 2.0, which was a complete refresh. All of that was done by Impekable. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Impekable was already working with the company when I joined in April 2018. I believe they started working with us at the beginning of that year. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of our earlier issues was user adoption. Those numbers have definitely gone up, and, even though it could be due to multiple factors, the key aspect was having a better-designed and more modern application. 

Overall, we’ve evolved as a company. We used to only provide hardware and software services, but now we’ve gone into solution services. Impekable’s keen design eye has definitely helped us evolve and have those conversations. 

Design is a key priority for us as an organization, and Impekable has been with us throughout this journey. We look forward to our work together going forward. 

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been excellent in terms of coordination, communication, and project management, both from a micro and macro perspective. For longer projects, we’ve been able to regularly involve the team at Impekable and work with them on planning timelines. They’ve been diligent, clear, and transparent in this sense.

Overall, it’s been a great process and we haven’t had issues like missed timelines due to design flaws or someone being unavailable. Impekable has been specifically responsive whenever we have additional design needs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Impekable has vast experience working across enterprise and consumer web and mobile apps. We’ve been able to collaborate well remotely through messaging and video tools, and they turn things around quickly. Over time, we’ve reached the point of not needing to go through many cycles as they tend to understand the problem and deliver quickly. 

Secondly, their quality of work is really high. This is important to us, given that we’re producing both a consumer and an enterprise application, which sometimes requires different skillsets. We’ve seen a high quality of work throughout. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’ve been doing well. They’re responsive to our needs and have stepped in at times when we had to move fast. While our requirements have changed, they’ve adapted to them, even with last minute things. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They’ve been able to create an application from scratch, as well as handle a complete overhaul. Impekable has a lot of experience, they provide high-quality work, and are really professional. They’re a great design firm to work with for someone weighing in all these aspects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the manager at a large retail company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We were looking for a way to notify potential customers about brand moments, so we reached out to Impekable to set up an SMS marketing campaign.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable set up an SMS marketing campaign that includes a web page where interested parties can sign up to receive text messages to be notified whenever we have certain brand moments. Working alongside our own design team, Impekable provided all development services related to setting up a server that collects cell phone numbers in a confidential manner, while enabling us to send out push notifications for specific events. They also collaborated with our legal team to ensure the verbiage on the site doesn't create any legal gaps that could potentially cause problems.

What is the team composition? 

Christopher (VP of Engineering, Impekable) is our main point of contact, but we also communicated with Pek (CEO, Impekable) quite a bit in the beginning as well. 

How did you come to work with Impekable?

We were already working with them when I came on board, but I know that they were one of the only North American agencies we could find that had all the capabilities we were looking for. They were very responsive and willing to come in and pitch their services from the start. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since around June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very happy with the new marketing channel they've set up for us. Impekable's SMS marketing campaign has generated as much as 400% more revenue compared to other efforts.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well; we've never had any communications issues. We mostly check in through Slack, but I also have their cell phone numbers should I ever need to text or call someone on the team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their willingness to respond quickly regardless of the time of day sets them apart. They've also been very flexible despite some of our own disorganization and last-minute requests. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's always room for improvement, but I can't think of anything specific for the type of services we've worked with them on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We were a bit late in the game to find out all that they offer, but knowing about all of their capabilities can help understand and determine which services will be the best fit. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am an executive at an insurance agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We hired Impekable to build a unique iOS mobile application MVP to distribute and market our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After we relayed the concept to them, they got right to work and provided us with wireframes, which drove the development of an MVP. To put it more broadly, they helped with product strategy and design, and they vetted the technologies that we could consider. Unfortunately, we needed to determine if what we wanted to do was possible. We didn’t get to the point where coding was involved. Impekable was tasked with identifying the user experience and validating the process.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, a UI/UX designer, and a team of mobile app developers.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

During our interview with Impekable, they demonstrated their successful outcomes working with clients who work with automotive insurance. We saw the parallels between ourselves and that industry, so we were encouraged by Impekable’s experience and abilities.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April 2018–February 2019. We are pursuing the application’s full development with another vendor. We had no performance-related issues with Impekable—we felt that a different company was more aligned with our company from a relationship standpoint.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re not a company that has a lot of experience with iOS or mobile devices. It was helpful for us to have their expertise on hand to help validate our concept and move our project forward.  

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

We scheduled weekly meetings, and their team was always flexible when scheduling conflicts forced us to postpone those sessions. We have a very positive engagement with Impekable from that perspective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is a valuable asset during the translation of the process. We appreciated their ability to take our concept off of a whiteboard and put it into wireframes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any suggestions for improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Preparation is going to be critical with any vendor. When you engage with somebody, it’s essential to have a clear understanding of your objective and provide a guiding document so that your chosen vendor can understand the concept as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Adobe is a computer software company that specializes in creative technology, document management, and marketing solutions. On the creative side, I manage the developer platform and ecosystem of integrations for our Creative Cloud apps and services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

In the early, private beta release of our developer platform for Adobe XD, we wanted to highlight our software’s compatibility with third-party software. We worked with several developers on integrations, including a plugin that allowed users to leverage real data to populate design components.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable built an Adobe XD plugin that integrates data from Google Sheets. Their design team initiated the process by drafting high-fidelity designs that demonstrated the plugin’s user experience and onboarding workflows. To get a better understanding of Adobe XD’s API surface and capabilities, they attended our XD-Dev Days, which was a small, private event that we held for developers during our pre-release. Using both Google Suite and Adobe XD APIs, which are predominantly JavaScript-based, their development team built the integration according to the shared designs.

What is the team composition?

While we worked with Impekable’s founder to examine the project at a high level, we also had access to their director of business development and lead engineer to discuss design and development respectively.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

After reaching out to us for early access to Adobe XD’s developer platform, we followed up with opportunities to launch a new product at our annual Adobe MAX conference.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project commenced in July 2018, and the plugin launched in October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We debuted more than 40 new apps and plugins at Adobe MAX, and Impekable’s Google Sheets plugin was very popular. Integration with Google and its easily accessible, widely-adopted and free tool, Google Sheets, meant the plugin could be used by the vast majority of designers to design with data in Adobe XD.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

We occasionally used Adobe XD’s collaboration functionalities to share progress, but we mostly corresponded via phone and email. They were responsive to our questions and receptive to our feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their affinity for high-fidelity deliverables made the onboarding process remarkably smooth. With their comprehensive designs, we got a complete view of plugin’s user experience before development even began. The speed and quality of execution was another project highlight.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They didn’t enforce a structured communication model, so it took a while for us to develop an efficient workflow. While their detailed design process enabled swift development, it also consumed a significant amount of time. Building upon low-fidelity design models could improve their time management skills. Additionally, the plugin could have gone through more testing to ensure high quality and low failure rates.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To get the most out of the experience, establish an effective operating model that works for both parties.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated by Mike Schwartz (Principle Product Marketing Manager, Adobe) on June 1, 2020. The original star ratings were: Overall - 4.5, Quality - 4.5, Schedule - 4, Cost - 5, NPS - 5. New content is below:

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Adobe is a multinational software company that develops some of the most widely used design and creativity tools in the world, such as Adobe Photoshop. I work on the Adobe XD Product Marketing team, responsible for GTM strategies and execution for Adobe''s UI/UX design and collaboration software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Impekable?

Adobe XD can be used for a wide variety of use cases - from website and mobile app design to voice interface and game design. To help illustrate the art of the possible and provide useful resources for designers, we engaged Impekable to create a series of design toolkits and demo files to provide to Adobe XD users.

What were your goals for this project?

• Help designers learn how to use Adobe XD for various use cases.
• Provide useful resources for designers, such as a library of design elements for designing Android apps.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Adobe had a positive existing relationship with Impekable and the quality of their work for the cost was perfect. The team had also recently expanded their client-facing staff, which made it easier to partner on projects together.

Impekable also provided several relevant client projects that increased our certainty that Impekable was the right fit. We evaluated a few other vendors and the professionalism, quality, and cost of Impekable made this an easy decision.

Describe the project in detail.

We engaged Impekable to create several design toolkits and demo files - two per quarter throughout 2020. Each project starts with a kickoff where we aligned on the concept, goal, and scope of the deliverable.

After the kickoff and initial project scope, we participate in weekly calls to review progress, surface issues, and provide feedback. There is additional collaboration outside of these weekly calls for more immediate asks.

Beyond simply creating these files, the Impekable team shared their expertise and findings along the way which has impact on the quality of the deliverables as well as on our product strategy. So helpful!

What was the team composition?

The Impekable team included a client management representative, a project manager, a design manager, and designers. The team size has stayed the same across the two modules of the project thus far.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The deliverables were shared on time and exceeded the initial requirements. We have not published these resources yet, but we have shared similar resources and know they are important to our customer's satisfaction.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very! The Impekable team and our team have formed a fantastic working relationship over the past several months and are excited to work together on future projects.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Impekable's understanding of our business and knowledge of the subject is so valuable. Not only are they willing to learn and go above and beyond, but their expertise and relevant references were so helpful in understanding their capabilities. Plus, the hands-on involvement from executives (including Pek) is very much appreciated.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that come to mind, no. I appreciate Impekable's partnership and truly feel that this is more than just a simple client/vendor relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a digital productions manager at a well-established network solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We've been around for a long time, so many of our marketing practices have become outdated. We were looking for a vendor to liven up the design of our website and provide a modern experience to our customers.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They asked us insightful questions and even worked out of our office for eight hours a day trying to understand our needs. Using a professional graphics design tool, they created mock-ups, wrote wireframes, and then finalized visual designs. They uploaded the designs to InVision or Zeplin, so our developers could simply get the code.

When we brought them on board, we intended to establish a long-term partnership. They're now working on a couple of other projects that require diving deep into the information architecture and developing an entire site from scratch.

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with Alison (Higuera, UX Designer, Impekable).

How did you come to work with them?

We evaluated a couple of vendors and looked at their portfolios. We were impressed by the level of work that Impekable had produced for other companies, so we asked them to come up with their vision of what our website should look like. We loved the modern, futuristic design they proposed for our home page, while also staying aligned with our brand guidelines, so we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2017 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The home page is live today and we're very pleased with the feedback we've received. The website is much easier to navigate and our customers like the new look and feel. The design is clean and simple, but at the same time aspirational. We've seen an increase in the number of page views, which we track on a weekly basis.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

Their designers are very hands-on and understand what our business needs. As a marketing team, we can take a step back and let the process run its course. With other agencies, we had to play the role of a project manager, but Impekable could handle the project without much involvement from our side. We gave them the timelines and, if there was an issue, we helped them prioritize.

We used Smartsheet as a point of reference on our side and we had weekly meetings with them. We also constantly communicated via email and phone, so there was never any ambiguity about the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took something that was conceived in the 80s and the 90s and brought it to the 21st century. They captured the essence of what we do and conveyed the idea that we're the premium brand in the networking space.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They're not the cheapest vendor, but they're incredibly efficient and effective. The caliber of their designers deserves the right price.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd definitely recommend them to small and medium-sized businesses that are looking to refresh the look of their website or build a new site from scratch.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of engineering at our company. We are a bank-owned entity and provide technical systems for the financial services industry in the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

I started working here when our company was on very tight schedule. We needed to augment our mobile development staff to hit timelines. I had two options. Hiring 4-5 full time engineers would involve a month-long onboarding process, at minimum. Rather than wasting that huge amount of time, we hired Impekable. As contractors, their resources could be productive from day one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable built our person-to-person money transfer app for iOS and Android. My team designed the systems and architecture early on. Their team’s services were purely technical. We had 10 internal staff and required 4-5 extra people to complete the job. Unlike comparable third-party apps like Venmo, we're bank approved.

Their developers are specialists in mobile development. Before they even started coding, they had to thoroughly understand how the interface facilitates interaction between multiple financial institutions. In terms of programming languages, they used Swift for iOS side and Java on the Android side.

What is the team composition?

James [CTO, Impekable] was our technical domain expert. We worked with several mobile developers and a dedicated program manager coordinated the project. I frequently touch base with Pek [CEO, Impekable]. He helped me resolve the very rare slip-ups we encountered.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

For clarity's sake, I worked with Impekable during my prior career at a startup. I’m consistently impressed by their technical talent and ability to handle complex projects. The average onboarding time in the industry ranges from 1-2 weeks up to a month. I knew their developers could be productive from day one. Several consultants from some of the biggest names in the industry had been working on our project for six months. I basically fired them all and replaced them with 3-4 resources from Impekable.

What is the status of this engagement?

The only reason we're not still working with them is our company policy that limits contractor engagements. Over a period of time, I hired full-time engineers to fill those positions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app is currently in production and has been received very well by the general public. They did a fantastic job. If I ever need similar work performed, I will definitely hire them again. Critically, they met our challenging timelines. That was our number one criteria.

Our QA testing indicates software bug rates, trends, quantity, and severity. Impekable built a high-quality product with few significant flaws. They quickly identified and solved any problems we experienced. As seasoned professionals, they matched the patterns from their previous experience to our complex platform. Less experienced staff wouldn't have been able to master this work.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

A highly structured routine helped us quickly complete this project. We conducted daily code reviews and standups. This helped us verify that the tasks we assign on a daily basis are being met. Every morning we assigned every in-house and contracted team member a specific task. By the end of the day, they were all required to report on that task’s progress and status. The program manager coordinated with their team and provided daily reports. Our QA department conducted weekly audits to gauge the quality of the sprint and code. We assessed Impekable’s staff the same way as the rest of our team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Impekable’s greatest strengths were their responsiveness and ability to be proactive from day one.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't know if this is possible for them to change, but it would be great if we could work together in person. They have resources located across the globe who work remotely, which works extremely well. I did, however, have to adjust our company policy that requires contractors to work at our office.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire them, seriously. Pek and James are extremely open and friendly. Sometimes, people tend not to give much feedback because they fear it might have a negative impact. They're great at taking critiques in a very positive way. Be proactive about what you want to be addressed, and they’ll get it done in a second.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a Co-Founder of Jswipe (acquired by Spark Networks), a Jewish dating mobile application. I oversaw product design, development, and engineering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We were in the market for a mobile app developer that could build out new features within our app (iOS and Android) in a way that could easily be handed off for use by our engineers. We had worked with other vendors in the past who were successful in creating aesthetically pleasing designs, but the assets created weren't prepared effectively for posting on our end.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Impekable's team created Paywall designs, as well as designed some custom features including “first class,” our premium product offering. Part of that process involved overhauling user profile interfaces and the process by which they were managed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account manager, a product manager, a designer, an illustrator, and someone in charge of UX/UI.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

Our lead engineer had been in touch with Impekable locally and recommended them to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them for a limited scope project from January 2016 to December 2016.

We were later acquired by a company that had their own resources to take over design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their team was successful in delivering designs that required minimal iterations. Our engineers were able to get the digital assets they provided live relatively quickly, unlike our experience with other vendors.

Impekable delivered multiple, fantastic options for us to consider—it's obvious they genuinely cared about the project and our goals.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive—they'd hop on the phone or respond to emails whenever we needed them. They were always ahead of us in terms of hitting deadlines. If anything, we held them back by taking too long on iterations. It was refreshing that they were actually designing faster than we could make decisions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed by their ability to create high-quality designs at a very fast pace. Their team not only puts a tremendous amount of focus on client projects, but they're also creative, thought leaders when it comes to design concepts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that it's their fault, but I'd suggest for their team to be more aggressive about getting all stakeholders involved in decision-making processes. We had a few moments of decision paralysis when reviewing all of the options Impekable delivered.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure your goals are clear to their team. They deliver extremely quickly, so in order to keep the momentum moving forward, try to get your feedback to them ASAP.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a machine-learning AI-based company and an advanced analytics firm. We do video analytics and focus on the security market space, including intelligence security. I am the chief product officer and co-founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

We had a project that involved an application with a web interface. Our engineers had started putting the UI [user interface] together and it was very good functionally, but not necessarily visually. We wanted someone to design the site and improve UX [user experience] and UI.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an engineering prototype already, and I had Impekable start doing mockups and design. I described the concept to them, and they came up with a bunch of screens that were very close to the final designs. We interacted with each other and went through iterations to come up with screens we liked.

We didn't have enough staff to build the frontend ourselves, so we used them to build part of it while our engineers built the backend. They took it from design to actual JavaScript implementation.

The site isn’t a consumer website, so it’s available only to users, rather than being publicly available. Our customers for this product would be intelligence agencies like FBI, TSA, etc. It’s very visual, with elements like embedded video players, photos, and search.

We asked them to use React because our engineers were familiar with that. They have talent in both React and Node.js. They use InVision to do the mockups and share screens with us so we can make comments.

What is the team dynamic?

We work with 1 primary designer and 1 primary developer. The designer is a special resource in their company that we don’t interact with directly. We don’t have a project manager.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

A friend referred them to me. They worked for another company whose founder I knew. They had a very good experience with Impekable, so I met with them and liked how they thought about the project. I looked at their other work and gave them a trial period. Things went very smoothly, and I just continued working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July of this year, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still at the proof of concept stage with our customers, but the qualitative impact is pretty dramatic. There’s a big difference between our engineering UI and the professional UI Impekable designed. We’ve had very positive feedback.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver everything on time. They are happy to work weekends and evenings to meet deadlines.

We initially used spreadsheets to manage our priorities, and they would update the status there. Now we’ve moved to JIRA to track progress, and they participate in our daily scrums. They are very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

On the design side, while they have a grasp of overall common design patterns, their ability to come up with alternatives is very impressive. On the developer side, their deliverables are extremely high quality and work very fast. They work extremely well with our engineering team. There’s very rarely any regression in implementation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I struggle to think of ways they could get better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do a combination of 2 things: Write down what you are looking for in terms of a story, and have frequent reviews with a designer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m new ventures lead for a high-value back office equipment supplier out of Japan. We usually deal with printers or what we call multi-functional printers, which is a mature business. I work from the Silicon Valley and we’re tasked with developing new business lines, developing new products internally, or making venture capital investments and new partnerships. Basically, we’re trying to discover the next billion-dollar business for our company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

One effort we’ve got is on the new product development side. A lot of our relationships are in the IT departments of our customers. One premise we have at our BIC [business innovation center] is that the work is SaaS [Software as a Service]-powered.

If you look at that from the IT department’s perspective, historically they’re used to managing a homogeneous software environment with a few vendors installed on machines, typically. Nowadays, with the whole SaaS proliferation, they’re having to manage a very heterogeneous software environment on top of that, and that’s creating a lot of new challenges for them. We took that, and through some research, discovered that companies that use the most SaaS are also the ones that rate highest in productivity, creativity, and loyalty.

Based on those 2 premises: that the future of work is SaaS-powered and that there’s a good correlation with productivity (and that this creates challenges for the IT department), we created a new product to help IT departments manage their multiple SaaS applications. As we had our own engineering group work on it and build it out, we had to bring in a UI consulting and development firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was very hands-on, as we had to figure out the specs and work on UI screenshots. We decided to build the product not knowing exactly what the feature set was going to look like, and they were a part of that discussion. It was a short duration until we had to create a working prototype. A lot of that was on the internal engineering team, but also on them for the UI. That was phase 1. Impekable did that.

It was somewhat of an awkward project. That’s why we needed someone very entrepreneurial. We just completed phase 2 with them, the beta. We had the specifications. We had frozen the specs, so to speak. Phase 2 was a much more normal process for everyone involved. It wasn’t technically complex because we had our own engineering team working on it. Impekable wasn’t building the HTML for us or anything like that. Their job was really making it intuitive and giving creative input on the design itself. They did very well on that.

The difficult piece in the whole project was working where the specs weren’t fully flushed out, like the very beginning of the prototype phase. A lot of designers would have had a very difficult time with that.

How did you come to work with Impekable?

Through a couple of references and consideration of other companies, we ultimately chose Impekable. The deciding factors were price point, experience, reputation, portfolio, and also their ability to handle the nature of the project. It was a unique rush job, not ideal from the designer perspective. We needed to get the prototype done, so we needed someone who could accommodate that and figure out the specs with us as we go, versus, “Here’s the spec. Now go build it.” We were looking for a very entrepreneurial team and they fit that the best.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together April 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The fact that they completed the job and that I’m leaving a review for them says a lot. It was a difficult project because the specs weren’t spelled out. Of course, you’ve got to determine the budget and the scope of work up front. We went through that process with the understanding that it was somewhat of a guess. We went well over the hours allotted, and the scope of work changed as we defined and refined the feature set of the prototype. They behaved very well in that regard. It was uncomfortable for everyone, but they worked very well in that environment.

We’ve had a very good phase 2 for the beta, which was much better defined at the get-go. The success here is that they’re a very entrepreneurial team. They’re willing to work with large and small customers, both on well-defined and not-well-defined projects. They’re very good at that.

How did Impekable perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through Slack and JIRA. The highlight is they were often transparently working on our site with their full team. Given the nature of the project, that was really essential. If we didn’t see them there, we’d do video chats. During the phase 2, the key designer actually spent most of his day, most of the week, on our site, which was very helpful. It makes the flow of the whole project that much more entrepreneurial and that much more accommodating.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve only been here for a short period of time, but certainly my general experience is that some companies require those upfront specifications, but some like Impekable can accommodate a lot more unknowns and ambiguity. That’s really where they stand out to me. Some firms really don’t do well in that. As far as the UI itself, they do a good job. We’re really pleased with the UI product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm building a platform in the HR management software space. We provide a platform for a 360 review in more of a fast-paced environment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Impekable?

A classical 360 review involves giving feedback to your peers, your subordinates, support staff, as well as your supervisor or administrative staff, so up, down, left, and right. It usually takes a very long time because there’s a lot of paperwork with very long-winded questions. It just sucks the energy out of everybody after they do one or two. We wanted to change that around, make it like a nomination. Once every week you basically pick someone you want to recognize for doing a great job in a certain way. It’s always the same seven ways, and you just put in a name for each. It’s very simplistic.

It can aggregate all that data and determine quality employees’ strength profiles. Later on, when you’re looking to promote or transition someone, or they request a career shift within the company, you’ll know ahead of time whether they’ll be a good fit in that department or position. It’s basically crowd-sourcing within companies – hopefully, many companies – what they can expect out of their work team, and what their work team can expect out of each other. The way to give an incentive to use it is that, as employees get feedback, they also accumulate points and credits that can be converted into gifts or company benefits. An example could be an Amazon gift card, Uber credit, a Starbucks gift card, or a straight cash bonus, vacation days, whatever the company wants to set up as their prizes.

There’s a big data analytics side to this that’s under development. It’s not part of the MVP, but we’re looking to use that to get a lot of insight, kind of a study as to how companies work on a human level, the human virtues and strengths that are valuable, and we hope to learn a lot.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a mutual NDA, and they were very professional about that. Then we started off giving them an outline, a patent-pending pseudo-code for where we want this app to go. From that, they were able to give us a solid quotation. Their terms and conditions made sense to us and we went forward. They essentially developed the whole app.

They started off with a story-boarded check-in with us to confirm their understanding of our expectations. They did a sophisticated slideshow mockup to give us a good idea of what the UX/UI would feel like. It took them some time to really understand what the patent involved and all the pseudo-code. Once they had a grasp of that, we had a separate meeting on how to develop the backend, how to cloud host this, and things like that.

From there, they primarily focused on the backend, and I agreed with that. They wireframed everything and communicated with me at least weekly on where the wireframe is headed, the problems they were running into, the questions they had about the vision, and where our pseudo-code wasn’t quite clear. We also worked on a few simulations on Excel, to see if the data would work the way we wanted. The Excel spreadsheet we created for them was also a form of QC. If what they were building came out with the same outputs and the Excel prototype, then we’re good.

After that, we revisited some of the more cosmetic or UX type of issues. It was an iterative process. We’re currently four months into the development, and they mostly lived up to the schedule. I’m very happy about that.

It’s hard for me to gauge the size of the team. I’ve been working with four people directly, but I’m sure there were a lot more programmers, engineers, designers, and artists in the background, so I don’t know the full head-count. I was working directly with a project manager, who also functioned as the UX/UI designer. I was also working with a coordinator to ensure everyone was on the same page. There was a programmer with whom I interacted directly, and I’m sure he had a lot of staff under him to get all the backend stuff going. I was also in touch with Pek [Pongpaet, Managing Partner].

How did you come to work with Impekable?

I started with Google, and Clutch pages showed up on top in that search. I went onto the Clutch site and browsed around, looked at your reporting process, and it made a lot of sense. I particularly liked the bar chart that shows the primary focus of the companies; whether they focus on design or programming, more web or mobile. That gave me a good understanding of the core capabilities I was looking to match up with. I found four app developers that made sense to me. I got quotations from three of them, but one was two months too late in giving me a quote. The prices from the three quotes were all over the place, although I’d given them all the same document and outline.

I visited two offices, and I really appreciated Pek’s straightforward demeanor. He’s very professional, but also open to ideas and friendly. It seemed like it would be a good fit. I liked the way he and his staff interacted. He seemed like a very good leader, and that made a big difference. The other company I visited was very showboat-y. I had two salespeople trying to talk to me at the same time, and it was constant advertising. I couldn’t quite dive into the project, there wasn’t a lot of listening, and the price was double what Impekable offered.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March of this year, and our relationship is ongoing. We’re live testing it now, and it’s achieved the minimum viable product status.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We started using it last week, so we haven’t gotten a lot of feedback yet. I’m meeting with Pek this afternoon to talk about any feedback that’s been posted. There’s probably a little more development left, maybe 25% more work to fix bugs, tweak an algorithm, change the location of a button, just some small on-boarding flaws or problems. That was essentially in our contract, but it’s always hard to define when you cut off and say you’re done and most of the feedback has been addressed. It’s a long-tailed thing when it comes to feedback, and we obviously cannot deal with all of them.

I’m sure there’s going to be contradictory feedback as well. Once we get the bulk of the feedback, we’ll have to figure out where we need to draw the line. I’m very cost-conscious, and I know that if we draw it out, it won’t be good for my time and it’s definitely killing their budget. So, I look to get a phase 2 underway. I’ll send another request for proposal out with outlines of features we need next. I think a lot of the selection of those features is going to be dependent on the feedback we get. As we wait for that, we’re working quickly to fix bugs before they become a real problem with users.

I’ve worked with many vendors in my day job. I would say that Impekable’s professionalism ranks in at least the 95^th percentile, top-tier stuff. They’re capable and confident, but not cocky. They’re communicative without being excessive or pesky. I’m just very satisfied.

What did you find most impressive about Impekable?

I was very impressed with one of the engineers I worked with. He was able to quickly take what I say, convert that into a scenario question, and ask me that question to confirm his understanding. That process helped us to avoid so much unnecessary reprogramming, going down the wrong path, or a misunderstanding. He just has a good way of reading the sentence backward to ensure the grammar makes sense, and it’s impressive. I haven’t seen anybody else work that way.

The project manager was very artistic and had a good eye for proportions, spacing, color selection. I think the questions she asked helped me to define the feel I wanted for the app. It’s was very enlightening, just to force me into putting an idea into three to five words. She was able to convert that into the same vision I had, which was very impressive.