What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Compass is a calendar/registration tool. While their work hasn't increased the number of registrants, it made it a lot easier for those folks to do so and be more dynamic with it.
They’re able to develop fast and deploy quickly, but also turn on a dime when we need to. Over the years, we've had to remove and add capabilities to the tool. Sometimes, we need to do that very quickly because programs change, the fiscal year swaps, etc. Our company is a big brand, so when we call and ask them to change something, they're all hands on deck. That's an important factor for us.
They also take the time to understand what it is we're trying to do. They think through what they're doing and what impact it will have. You've got to take the time to understand the business and what we're going after, not just the technology of how the project should work, where the buttons should be, and what the technical functionality is. They've spent the time to consider our target audience, what we try to accomplish with the tools, and what the user experience will be. The project is to get our partners connected to the valuable offerings of our distributors, and they did exactly that.
People are more focused on the data inside than the app itself. It's not a game; it's an app to help you find which webinar you're going to go to next. The app works, is consistent, solid, and delivers them the information they want.
How did Osellus Mobile perform from a project management standpoint?
I have the luxury of working with a project manager who interfaces with all of the teams, including those at our company, and drives the whole project, which is one of the reasons we selected Osellus and continue to work with them. Their project management person is really good. He thinks about things that we hadn't considered. If we had to rate them on a chart, their responsiveness would be on the high marks.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their ability to extract clarity on what they need to build is impressive. They're like our architect; we tell them what we're thinking about, and they come back with a design that matches our needs, which is powerful. I've never written or created a wireframe. They did it all for us. They're able to do more than what I ask them to do. They give better ideas than I have budget for. Osellus is good at taking our vision and turning it into a series of mock-ups, then turning it into an app, and thinking through considerations we might not have thought of, on how things interact with each other and what the user experience will be. We found that to be great.
I've worked with a few outsourcing companies, and we keep coming back to Osellus and keep them on these 2 projects for that reason.
At our company, we have design standards. They're able to take those standards and ask questions in a WebEx session and get what we want it to look like, and start to draw it while we were chatting, which helped us drive what the thing would look like. We didn't have any structure in mind as to how this thing should look. We wanted to get their assessment of how the data could be arranged and best visualized. We didn't do any wireframes; they created them on the fly with us.
All vendors, when you outsource things, you have to manage them. We don't need to spend a lot of time managing when we work with them. We give them our budget and our scope, and I'm comfortable and confident to let them go and do the work. That's why they've been doing it for us for a while.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Give them time to listen to your business needs and be clear about what it is that you're looking for because they interpret that into a technology build.
The app received strong feedback from testers and users; they enjoyed the usability of the app. Osellus Mobile delivered on their mobile app, and they were celebrated for their project knowledge and management, as well as their flexibility with changes to the overall scope.