Innovify

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of TetraNoodle, which provides startups with consulting work, CTO services, and ongoing technical education for their products. Since 2001, we’ve successfully equipped small businesses with the tools they need to optimize their technology and move forward quickly. Our affordable tried-and-tested solutions have already resulted in hundreds of lucrative projects becoming a reality. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

We were trying to scale our business by hiring dedicated iOS and Android mobile developers, which are very costly here in Canada. We already had our technical architecture in place and wanted a smart team to extend it. The goal of our partnership was to reduce our ongoing product development cost for clients.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were in a tough position of having a 12-week window to go from nothing to an iOS baseline. Some of the other app development teams we talked to couldn't deliver in that time. Innovify was able to answer every question to my satisfaction. They are also cost-effective. I initially gave them a test project, which went seamlessly, so I expanded their involvement to more projects. We’ve worked with them for a couple of years now, and we’ve found them to be a responsive agency. Their knowledge in the digital space is strong, especially in the projects we’ve worked on together.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

In terms of digital deliverables like mobile applications or custom software and web application development, we started by hiring a U.S. partner. This firm was fine initially, but they didn’t seem as responsive, economical, and dedicated to the work as time progressed. So, I looked for a new digital vendor and found Innovify online. I must have looked at 15 or 20 companies and spoke to a few of them. I searched for agencies in the U.K., India, and Eastern Europe.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have spent around $150,000 for this project and beyond. They are not expensive at all. I still feel they underprice their resources.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in January 2016. The work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m using them for all of my digital work right now. I even transferred some of my existing work with my old partner to them as well, which made sense.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

I couldn’t estimate the number of man-hours used for my applications. Innovify has given me estimates after requesting an application, which I approved. The communication is great. They have tools for project management, testing, and coding standard measurement. We’ve communicated through those, as well as through email, Slack, video conference, and in-person meetings. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate Innovify’s ability to listen and guide us when we’re struggling and to accommodate resources as needed. Those aspects set them apart from other firms. Their development team and AWS-certified DevOps cloud team is active and quick at implementations. They set up, developed, configured, and got the system online in hours. We are really happy with the quality of work and their interactive approach. I am quite impressed with the way they handled complicated parts of our project.

To date, I’ve had no issues with their work in terms of programming, account management, and cost. I gauge my suppliers by two main criteria: their responsiveness (whether they’re able to resolve an urgent matter within a day or two) and cost (how they are pricing their projects up front). As the project develops, obviously, there will be changes to the structure and content, and sometimes agencies tend to take advantage of that process and increase the budget. To their credit, Innovify has stuck to their original quote when possible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything right now. But, we definitely would love to have them in the same time zone. I am sure that would make us more efficient. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our business is a long-distance rideshare app that connects people traveling to the same destination, so they can share the cost and environmental impact of travel. I am a co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Innovify?

My co-founder and I are non-technical, so we hired a technical advisor to help us set up that side of our business, and he introduced us to Innovify. We’re a startup, so we had some starts and stops in the development process. We were doing a big push for a while, and then we would hold for a bit. We needed a team to pick it up when we needed. We were honest with them from the beginning about eventually having our technical team in-house, but it was a very good option for us to have an agency we could use for the time being.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s a mobile app, and right now it’s only developed for iOS. We are planning on doing an Android version with them as well. They really helped us from the get-go. When we went to them, we had a very basic prototype. We had a sense of what we wanted our app to do, but they really helped from day one. We got it designed by another firm in Vancouver, where our head office is, but Innovify was there to provide feedback and make sure the design would work with their development.

They’re really good about providing feedback on features we want to add. If we made a suggestion that didn’t make sense technically, they were pretty honest with us about pushing back on things they didn’t think would work. They were able to provide an alternative solution to what we were originally thinking. They’ve taken pretty much all the project management on the development side onto their team.

In addition to the ride-sharing, which comes with location development, we have user profiles and user reviews. We have an in-app chat system, and they integrated an API for that. They integrated the Stripe payment system for us. It’s a quite complicated system. Because we have to transfer funds from one user to another, it was not a straightforward process. It did take quite a bit longer than we anticipated, but at the same time, it was a bit of uncharted territory. They also got the app submitted to the App Store.

When we did our MVP, we had one project manager. The team size went up and down during the project, but it was generally a team of three or four. Once we launched the MVP and the work slowed down, it was less. We did switch project managers from time to time, and that was probably our biggest headache. It was just because we didn’t have enough work to give them, so we lost our lead project manager in the midst of it. We’ve since got him back. They took our feedback when it wasn’t really working out with our direct contact there, and now we have the original project manager back. The team has changed here and there, depending on what they’re working on, but it’s been anywhere from two to five people at a time.

How did you come to work with Innovify?

Our technical director has worked with them before, and he recommended them. We had gotten quotes from a couple other firms, but they were way out of our budget. Innovify was the only one that came recommended and was affordable to us, so we went with that and it’s worked out.

How much have you invested with Innovify?

We’ve invested around $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working together in May of 2016, and our relationship is ongoing. They’re just doing small maintenance for us right now, and we plan to ramp up in a few months for the Android app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This is the first app I’ve ever worked on, so I have nothing to compare it to. However, it’s been a pretty smooth process. There have been some bugs and glitches, but I’m pretty sure that happens across the board.

How did Innovify perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at staying on budget. We were really clear about that from the beginning. There was one instance when they went way over their hours, as the job was bigger than they originally thoughts. We did get a large bill that we weren’t expecting, and they agreed that we could pay a portion of it for right now, as it was a mistake on their end as well.

The delivery has mostly been good, but I think the biggest thing for us was the payment system. It took a lot longer than we thought, but it was quite complicated. We also lost our project manager in that time, which I think contributed to the delay as well.

I think our first project manager was fantastic. I would give him a 10 out of 10. Then, because we had slowed down, we got some junior developers that were trying to project manage, and that was probably the hardest part for us. Now we have our project manager back, and he’s great. We use JIRA for tracking, and they keep it up to date with what they’re working on and quoted hours. For communication, we use Slack and Google Hangouts. I have a call with them once a week, or more if necessary. We touch base on anything we need to, and we talk over Slack in between.

What did you find most impressive about Innovify?

I didn’t feel like they were just trying to get the job done, and that’s it. I felt they actually cared about the project, and they came with their own ideas. They made suggestions on integrating some features I hadn’t even thought about, and the whole team contributed ideas that they thought would be beneficial. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness they put into that. They’re all really polite and accommodating.

Are there any areas Innovify could improve?

When they’re working with a client, I believe it would be good if they could keep a consistent contact point. That would have helped us a lot. I think the breakdown in communication between project managers did cause a few headaches.