InboundMuse

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager of Amigos Express International Limited, a food franchise company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InboundMuse?

We needed help with development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

From scratch, they built a full system for us that’s integrated with our website, as well as with our cash register. It’s a big build, and they’re still working on the drivers’ app, which will be incorporated with the full system. We’re going to have a full globally integrated system now.

It’s helping the operators and the outlets. It has a backup stock system on cash and reports. They’ve helped us to the point where we can reduce our workforce.

What is the team composition?

I deal with two people directly, though they have other staff members. About 4–5 people have worked on it.

How did you come to work with InboundMuse?

We heard about them through word of mouth. After getting a quote from them, they told us they could work on an iCloud-based system, which we were very interested in. They seemed were competent.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $60,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Whatever we needed for our outlets to work efficiently has been done from their side. They’ve created such an amazing system for us. They’ve done a very good job.

How did InboundMuse perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good. They do testing before and tell us how long it’s going to take to actually integrate the full system or change something. They’re on time, and if we have problems on a weekend, they’re available. Their backup support is 100%, and they’re a very professional company. They were there in meetings with other companies that we were collaborating with as well. They’re always flexible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a company to work with and will help and support you throughout your project. We’re glad to be working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve. We’ve had our ups and downs, but they weren’t because of them. They got someone from abroad to help them and did everything they could in their power to eliminate the problems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Revolution Market Capital, a FinTech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InboundMuse?

We hired InboundMuse specifically for blockchain related applications in the FinTech space.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have multiple ongoing projects including a blockchain-related cryptocurrency solution. InboundMuse utilizes the Ethereum blockchain and development tools such as MetaMask and wallet applications. The team has finished a series of milestones and we’re about to wrap up the first project.

What is the team composition?

I’ve interacted with two people. There are 4–5 others working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with InboundMuse?

A mutual friend highly recommended InboundMuse. I specifically wanted a development partner in Malta.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent under $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018 and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our team doesn’t have a final set of metrics because we’re still in beta. InboundMuse delivers on their promises in a timely manner. We’re confident the results will go above and beyond our requirements.  

How did InboundMuse perform from a project management standpoint?

InboundMuse proactively maintains our relationship. They respond quickly to our requests; we haven’t had an issue with outstanding queries. The team is efficient and communicates well with our preferred tools; we primarily use WhatsApp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team identifies and implements cost-effective solutions. Likewise, the deliverables are always common-sense but also technically sophisticated. What’s more, they are patient and enjoyable to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m very impressed with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of ConsultingPlan Europe, a company that uses AI technology to supplement financial investment practice. Our technology analyzes current news, Google trends, and other technical market figures to facilitate profitable investments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InboundMuse?

I needed a resource to help brainstorm during the planning stages. I also needed assistance in finalizing the algorithms and building the software itself.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started by discussing my idea at length and brainstorming various strategies around developing our software. They went on to oversee all aspects of development, which included the implementation of natural language processing for online content.

How did you come to work with InboundMuse?

I had many friends who knew about InboundMuse and provided a lot of positive feedback. I was also impressed with their website, so I contacted them and provided them with a lot of information around my business ideas. They returned with basic analysis and a price quote, which led me to work with them.

How much have you invested?

I have invested over £30,000 ($40,500 USD)

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2017. After a shift in strategy on our part, we completely restarted development in January 2018. The project is currently 85% completed and should be set by June 1. We have just begun the testing phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

InboundMuse sends me weekly data reports that detail their progress. The data they have sent shows that we have made consistent improvements throughout the process.

How did InboundMuse perform from a project management standpoint?

We speak over the phone weekly to address any questions and provide updates on project status. They've provided substantial feedback during the project.  When one-off questions come up, I can reach out via email or phone and always get a timely response.  We do not use any project management software between our teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've found that larger development companies are often inflexible around scheduling and project scope. InboundMuse has been very accommodating during the development process. They work around my schedule and have been very pleasant, even when there are delays on my end. As previously mentioned, we adjusted our overall strategy partway through the project and their response was "no problem."

I've gotten the impression that the team understands my goals and knows how to execute on exactly what I'm looking for. They've provided innovative ideas on how to improve the software that I hadn't thought about. I've been very surprised with their quality of work.

Are there any areas that could improve?

It would be great if the company had invited me to visit, see their office, and meet some of the team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear idea of what you want from the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Advanced Metadata Group has worked closely with large technology companies over the last 20 years to organize their data with metadata management. Our work involves categorizing data into fields and offering it to the next layer for analysis.  

Altada Technology Solutions is an artificial intelligence (AI) company that was set up to wrap a layer of AI-driven analytics on that metadata. We analyze, cleanse, and prepare the output of our own organized data in order to provide remediation recommendations. It’s very much a data-driven organization with a core competency around the creation of AI-driven solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InboundMuse?

We were interested in some of their core capabilities: Kraken, their digital marketing-driven platform, and AI skills.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked closely with InboundMuse to observe their capabilities with the Kraken platform. Over time, we realized they had deep capabilities in AI and also found them very good in terms of visual interface design and data visualization.

Much of what we’ve done with their Kraken platform has been around the data visualization and representation. We’ve used their team to dive down into the granularity of how our solutions need to interface with APIs through bringing data in from other systems.

Our CTO is an accomplished architect with a lot of experience in the AI field, but we didn’t want them to get too involved with the code. We needed to pass off those ideas to like-minded and similarly skilled individuals who could architect down to the next level of detail.

InboundMuse’s team was adept at interpreting high-level architecture instructions and taking them down to the next level of detail in order to comprehend how they would work in reality and in conjunction with other systems.

The interface design phase focused on how we would represent that architecture to the end-user—to hide some of the complexity but still allowing as much control as needed while simultaneously enabling the AI to do its work. Our intention was to make the average user comfortable.

The end product is a self-service data governance and compliance solution. There will be a quite vigorous piece of legislation coming into play in Europe in May 2018 called GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). It controls companies’ ability to store, manipulate, analyze, and report on personal information, essentially handing back the control of digital information to individuals. A person will be able to request of any company, at any time, what personal data they’re holding and for what purposes.

This is the initial compliance regime that our platform was designed for. Users will be able to interrogate the entire data landscape of an organization based on names, social security numbers, telephone numbers, and other criteria. The platform will then return the personal data held for that individual. The AI component helps parse similar telephone numbers, addresses, different spellings of the same name, and so on.

We haven’t really utilized their team’s inbound and digital marketing skill sets. I know they can provide this, but our main focus has been around AI and blockchain architecture. The scope has been very much on the technology side. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with their CTO and CEO on the AI platform’s architecture. We’ve used five more of their members at various times, but I haven’t interacted with them directly.

How did you come to work with InboundMuse?

We’d known them for a long time. Our CTO worked with their CTO and Tyron (CEO, InboundMuse) in previous years, but I first met them in April 2017 when they helped contract our AI solution. We quickly saw that they had interface design capabilities and could address our organization’s marketing needs. They’re familiar with the best ways to represent data.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around €60,000 ($75,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2017 and have continued on a contract-by-contract basis. The current work was finished in January 2018, but we’re talking to Tyron about the next project which will involve development and integration of a blockchain solution with our current platform.  

We’ll release the compliance product in four weeks’ time. It’s a modular platform for which we’re adding different compliance regimes. We’ve completed the GDPR component and are starting work on anti-money-laundering along with other elements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were very much able to interpret out CTO’s instructions and make them more detailed. The team was results-oriented and never missed a deadline. We utilized agile methodology and worked closely with the team to ensure that all the key performance indicators were delivered on time. InboundMuse hit all the marks, remained responsive, focused on the customer’s best interests, and delivered every time.

We’ve onboarded people to a couple of proof of concept versions. They’ve liked the platform’s interface and have found it easy to use. People have seen the real power of the solution beyond the science portion. It allows them to observe and make queries on what data is held within an organization.

They’ve also mentioned that the platform makes the process very simple, which is good. We wanted to design it so that qualified people (e.g., chief data officers, data stewards in an organization) could use the platform without having to understand what’s going on in the background. We’ve given them a Google-style search box in which they can enter any type of information.

Simplicity in front of complexity is one of the main hallmarks we wanted to offer, and InboundMuse was able to deliver it. They designed a platform that’s powerful in the background and also simple for the user.

How did InboundMuse perform from a project management standpoint?

Tyron served as our customer liaison. He’s a very sharp and customer-aware person. He wanted to know what our requirements were and has also come on site to engage with our team.

Their CTO also came to Ireland from Malta on two occasions. He spent a significant amount of time with the team in order to get to know the process and individuals.

I’m not sure what they used for project management, but we did use Trello for communication. It served as a nice way of keeping up to date with projects and different deliverables. Tyron used Visio quite a lot, but I was the receiver of the end product and therefore didn’t get too involved in the design process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The customer service was top-notch. Tyron never stops working for the customer. He had our best interests at heart and was omnipresent in the project. He grew to be a part of our team rather than just a supplier. I’ve worked with many contractors over the years, but found InboundMuse exceptionally good to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They proved to be the right choice. I couldn’t point out any areas for improvement. I look forward to working with them again.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

People might think that Malta is a far-away place or that the geographic component plays a big role. We had absolutely no problem in working with them. Tyron was happy to fly to our office and they remained extremely responsive despite working through a remote model. Any customer in any location should give InboundMuse a shot. They’re a nimble, hands-on, customer-focused organization.