KIT LABS INC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO and Co-Creator of Socreates

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Mobile App and Web based application that provides customized guidance on mental health and emotional wellbeing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KIT LABS INC to accomplish?

• Build a Mobile App for Android and iPhone
• Build a back-end database powered by algorithms
• Build a web-based platform for desktop users

SOLUTION

How did you find KIT LABS INC?

Online Search

Why did you select KIT LABS INC over others?

Great culture fit, Good value for cost, Company values aligned

What was your primary form of communication with KIT LABS INC?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

We hired Kitlabs at the beginning - when we first launched our start-up - they created a comprehensive workplan to build the 3 apps (IOS, Android and web-based) and were fully responsible, accountable for all aspects of its build including:

• design architecture
• coding
• server design and infrastructure
• backend database infrastructure and management
• user interface and usability design
• quality assurance / QA testing
• data privacy and security
• crisis management
• customer support. If you have a project where you need an outsourced team of highly competent and talented individuals.

I highly recommend Kitlabs. They won't let you down. And you will wonder how you could have survived and thrived without them. I am a serial entrepreneur. And I can confidently say it is the best business decision you can make is to choose to work with them!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Great customer/user reviews: IOS app rated 4.9, Android 4.7
• Over 100,000 downloads; very few crashes / user problems
• Ease of working with Kitlabs team - they are reliable, prompt, personable and overall pleasure to work with

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

We have worked virtually with them for 3.5 years - and it has been so smooth. We have zoom calls on Monday to set the agenda, Friday calls to review progress, and are in constant communication over skype chat.

We use a project management software to delineate the scope of the work and criteria/requirements. They always deliver, have great attention to quality, and overall are a pleasure to work with. Highly recommend Kitlabs to anyone and everyone who is considering working with them!

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

1. Highly professional both in terms of talent and personality (no drama).
2. Always go above and beyond with respect to quality.
3. Provide us scenarios and options when we need to make a critical decision - which is important for the business to thrive.
4. They take care of your business like it is their own baby.

They care, and it shows up in their work quality and professional working relationships.

Are there any areas for improvement or something KITLABS INC could have done differently?

Kitlabs perhaps could market itself better so more people know how great they are! I wish more people knew about KitLabs - it would save entrepreneurs/business owners a lot of hassle, drama, headaches if they had worked with Kitlabs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of talent acquisition for the human resources division of SamSols.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Krescent IT Labs?

We did a rebranding of a website and Krescent led the process for us.

What were your goals for this project?

Needed to revamp a site. The main goal was to make a user and SEO friendly site that directly/indirectly improves ROI and generates more revenue.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found them through a third-party talent provider. I first picked Krescent because their price was extremely competitive. Since then, I’ve used them for multiple projects and they have never disappointed me.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

I sent Krescent some sample templates of websites I thought would work well. They provided feedback and provided reasons on why one of the templates was best for my business and its users. Their team worked with the website every day to make improvements.

What was the team composition?

I work with four people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I beta-tested the website with quite a few people and it's the best website that I’ve ever had. I gave Krescent a lot of early feedback and they were able to implement improvements. Even if there were things that they couldn’t change, they would tell me that it wasn’t possible with the platform and refund my money.

Our company wants to make a few last minute improvements to the site, so it hasn’t officially launched yet, but will be ready soon.

​​​​​​How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Three or four of their employees communicated with me throughout the project. Their English was fantastic and they were great at communication. Their team always responded, even if just to reassure me about a question. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their customer service and honesty set them apart from the competition. 

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No, there are no areas to improve. They worked really fast and well. I think they’re great at what they do. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an education startup providing a physical product with a substantial backend infrastructure in terms of feedback and scoring mechanisms. We have started a marketing campaign and plan to go live within a month.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Krescent?

We needed good IT talent for the development of the backend apps integrated into our physical product. Being a financially constrained startup, we needed to look for the best value possible. We needed to find a small team that could deliver a high-value and high-impact project in a short timeframe and within our budget.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged them to not only build our apps but to have a long-term collaboration with us. Krescent developed the front and backend of our iOS and Android app. They also handled the API integrations with our device.

What is the team composition?

We have typically worked with 2–3 people from their team. They have assigned additional people for short sprints when we had an urgent need or when we needed to perform testing. At peak, we worked with 10 people from Krescent.

How did you come to work with Krescent?

We were looking for a long-term collaboration and reached out to 3–4 agencies. The ability to interact with the development team was one of our selection criteria.

I was introduced to Krescent by a friend. They had a strong team and previous experience with mobile app development and testing. They were able to provide dedicated resources, which mattered in terms of data security. We also needed to scale the team. They ensured us that they could onboard developers who could become productive from day one. Their pricing was also a strong selling point.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work has been $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Krescent around November 2016. The collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have an agile approach with a core team that is augmented with resources on an as-needed basis. Our engagement has evolved from a time and materials basis to a managed services model. We have been able to shift the ownership of releases from our side to Krescent. This is a strong testimonial to the trust they’ve gained from us; we rely on them to handle release planning and take care of associated issues. We look to them as our IT arm and delegate any challenges in this area to their team.

How did Krescent perform from a project management standpoint?

Krescent’s project management differentiates them from other development teams. They leverage the latest tools and create tasks based on high-level objectives, breaking them down into actionable items. We have been impressed with this level of detail, given that we had created some very abstract tasks. Coming back with a detailed scope required an understanding of our strategic business initiatives.

We haven’t experienced any turnover in our team since the start of the project. We use Jira for task tracking. Using tools like Jira also contributes to keeping the process sanitized. Krescent was a younger company when we started working with them, but they have since taken our inputs and aligned themselves to an agile approach. The tracking mechanism across the team ensures that the developers adhere to standards.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good handle on program management. We told their team from the start that we didn’t have the bandwidth to train them and they’ve been able to match our velocity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have been talking to them about code management techniques and have proposed implementing tools like SonarQube.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

A good way to leverage Krescent’s team is to give them a small group of concepts and ask them to deliver value over short-term, high-impact projects. We found them to be highly agile when using this approach. They have a strong team that is able to adapt to different landscapes very quickly.