Lazy Ants

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of an online mortgage broker. We provide customers with access to mortgages through an online portal. I look after all of the technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lazy Ants?

The experience of getting a mortgage in Australia is quite traditional as well as difficult. It is generally a face-to-face experience through a mortgage broker. We were looking to bring that experience entirely online and we needed to be able to deliver the complex customer interaction online.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided us with development services. They did all of our website work and built the entire mobile-friendly platform, including the technology stack. We had a UX [user experience] person who developed all of the UX and took care system specifications as well. They used Node.js and the IBM Watson Conversation engine for the AI component and natural language processing.

The main objective of the project was building an AI [artificial intelligent] mortgage robot. Their role was to qualify people into or out of a loan with our company and then to collect all of the information they would need in order to apply for.

What is the team composition?

In addition to the UX person, we also worked with full stack developers, a frontend developer, a project manager, and a technology lead.

How did you come to work with Lazy Ants?

We had a referral from a friend who had used them before.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began in September of 2016, and the project was completed in August of 2017. We still have ongoing optimization and maintenance activities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The success of the business is down to the customer experience and the solution delivered. We had a fourfold increase in lead conversions after we deployed the platform on the website.

How did Lazy Ants perform from a project management standpoint?

It went really well. I managed most of the project across multiple resources but the project management of the development team was very good. They excelled at problem-solving. Fairly early into the AI evolution, they really had to work out how to do things they hadn’t been done before, and their ability to do that was second to none.

Development is a tough environment where things can slip, but they handled everything very well when it did happen. Generally speaking, they met deadlines when they needed to, which was great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their problem-solving skillset was impressive. They had the ability to take any problem, work it out, and solve it. Their speed of developing features was quite fast.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing really comes to mind. If someone is looking to employ an offshore development team, you need to be aware of the language barrier. It’s nothing that can’t be overcome, but it is good to be cognizant of it, particularly for a US-based company looking to engage with a Ukrainian company. I have a lot of experience in that space, but it could be challenging for first-timers.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them huge problems to solve and give them the space to work out solutions.