nomtek

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at Switch DXB. We’re a health, fitness, and well-being platform. It’s a marketplace that aggregates several different health, well-being, and fitness providers across the city of Dubai.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with nomtek?

We wanted to build our first mobile platform from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We spent the first two months not developing any type of tool. There was a lot of business planning and defining of the product, the roadmap, the productization of features, and the best approach. At the forefront was the process of making sure that at every stage we were learning something.

Then they built the backend infrastructure, the data architecture, the user flows, and the processes. There are two iOS apps and a web portal. The most complicated component of the application is the provider availability management and pricing. It gives the merchant the control to be able to set their own schedules, their own timing, their own pricing, their own bundles, and their own promotions.

Another key component of the app is based on video content. They’re very conscious of the importance of building trust with users. They integrated video throughout the user experience in an intuitive and responsive way.

What is the team composition?

There were two backend Ruby on Rails developers, two iOS developers, two QA resources, one UI resource, one UX resource, one user research member, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with nomtek?

I found them through Clutch. We benchmarked five different countries, each with several providers. We went through a stringent process. From the outset, we recognized nomtek’s deep understanding of tech businesses. Their approach was very collaborative, structured, and business driven.

How much have you invested with them?

$300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2017 until February 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In our third week, we recorded 150 users, which is a good sign. We had three merchants who initially only added some services, then soon after added all their services within just the short time they’ve been using the platform.

Things are updated within a day. We’ve only had a few tiny issues where things weren’t working 100%, but overall it was bug-free. The QA was done very well.

How did nomtek perform from a project management standpoint?

We valued the project management from the start. We’re really big believers in continuous emphasis on collaboration and have a continuous chain of communication. We visited their offices several times in the past six months and they’ve been here twice. We have daily and weekly sprint calls and planning calls. They have a dedicated project manager who keeps us updated. There are multiple platforms that keep us organized, including Jira and Slack. It’s all very well structured.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know what it takes to build really successful projects. They hire the best people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could try things a lot quicker. Their processes are structured and sometimes that doesn’t enable the best level of experimentation.