Osellus Mobile

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the vice president of client delivery of Lucidia, an integrated marketing communications shop. We consider ourselves more of a solutions provider than a typical marketing agency. We do a lot of work in financial and hospitality spaces, working with our clients to figure out the best solutions for them not just from a marketing perspective, but also from a process operations perspective as well. We get involved in different aspects of client business to make sure they're achieving their goals and objectives. I lead our client delivery team who deals directly with clients and manages internal resources and vendors.

What challenge were you trying to address with Osellus Mobile?

We were looking to build a loyalty program for one of our clients. It became obvious early on that the best way to approach that would be through a mobile app. That's not an internal strength of ours, so we looked for an external partner to work with to accomplish that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app is a member-facing application. It can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and it's the member touch point of our loyalty program. Members can view and manage their loyalty points, redeem offers, and look and manage their achievements. When they earn an achievement for a financial reward, that information is pulled from the database and goes to the app.

It unlocks certain achievements which have a specific point value, and members can use those points through another part of the app where they can search unique offers that are available through the program like rate benefits and fee waivers for their accounts. We knew we needed to do the app for both Android and iOS devices.

They started from scratch. We started with creative wireframe screenshots, which they were very comfortable working with. We didn't have not too many hiccups along the way. They were able to take that vision and build it out in a technical nature. They recommended certain things that they thought might be more helpful from a user experience perspective, like layouts in the app that would make it a better experience overall. There were a couple of instances where we were very happy to move forward with their recommendations. 

What is the team dynamic?

We dealt with two people, Negin Hodaie [Project Manager] and David Wong [Business Systems Analyst]. I worked with David closely. We communicated on a daily basis for the majority of the project; he made himself very accessible.

How did you come to work with Osellus Mobile?

We reached out to a few different vendors, and Osellus came out as our lead choice to work with. We're very comfortable with what they offered and the people that we spoke with, so we ended up moving forward with them. One of my colleagues came across them and set up the initial meeting. It turned out, after we reached out to them, we found that they operate in the same building as us, which is very convenient.

How much have you invested with them?

From a development perspective, we're in the range of $25,000-$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since August 2017. They've delivered everything on time as promised. We had some hiccups from the client's side in launching and delivering the solution on the planned timeline. We've just received final user acceptance testing on the client's side, so we're ready to go live in the coming weeks.

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

We had several numbers of the client team who have been part of the ongoing review and testing of the app, and they've all had great things to say about the usability. Right from the beginning, we wanted to make sure it was easy for people to use. We're talking about a broad range of users in terms of age. We wanted to make sure we were targeting it to a very broad audience, so it had to be as simple as possible. They helped us achieve that with some of their recommendations along the way, and just following our initial strategy as well.

How did Osellus Mobile perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive and amenable to changes. The turnaround time on project changes was very quick. They're very proactive in making sure that we had what we needed to do testing and that we were aware of when new versions of the test app would be available for review. Overall, I'm very pleased with the project management on their side. If we have a quick question, it's usually through email. Every time we came out with a new version to test at different stages of the development, they would come in person and help us walk through some of the updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their knowledge and management of the project gave us a lot of confidence in terms of what the end result would be. We would be very happy to use them again for other projects, and we have already talked to them about potential projects. We're very happy with the work that they've done. Even changes that hadn't been requested on time or were not part of the overall scope, they've been very good to accommodate and make those changes in a short timeframe.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven't really thought of it, to be honest. Most of the delays have been on the client's end. From their perspective, it's not like they haven't delivered on any of their promises. Overall, it has been a good experience. I can't find any negatives to speak to.

Advice for potential customers?

As long as you're very clear in the beginning about what the end result needs to be, coming with an open mind and using their experience, they can help you transform your initial idea and strategies into an easy-to-use experience altogether for clients.

They were able to see our vision and point out things that needed to be reviewed or thought about differently. When you come to the table with a project, don't come with it 100% baked in terms of your mind and strategy. Be open enough to allow them to help lend their expertise to the process.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a senior mobile architect and engineer at a small insurance company that provides services to a variety end users, including commercial clients and individuals.

What challenge were you trying to address with Osellus Mobile?

Our CIO was looking to develop a mobile presence with an app that provided a variety of features and services for our customer base. We needed a vendor that could build the app from scratch, meeting our evolving requirements and vague wireframe instructions.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Osellus provided design, development, implementation, and production support of our mobile app for Android, Windows, and iOS devices. The app allows customers to make payments, check their policy details, look for repair shops within our network, and request roadside assistance, in addition to other functions and features.

Working with fewer instructions and wireframes than typically provided for these types of projects, Osellus also provided recommendations of how to approach meeting those needs.

What is the team dynamic?

To initiate work, we’d send a request and deposit to formalize a contract, and then were assigned to a project manager. Depending on the size of the effort, we worked with 1-2 developers per platform. The assigned project manager would take responsibility for any of my requests, but I sometimes connected with the offshore developers directly as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s been an ongoing relationship since 2010.

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

Since the app hit the market, we’ve received positive customer feedback through testimonials online. While few defects have been reported in any of the app stores, Osellus has fixed any that have in time for the next release.

How did Osellus Mobile perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very responsive. Some communication is done through phone calls, but mostly through email.

What did you find most impressive about Osellus Mobile?

I'm very impressed with how much work they can produce with the staff they have. Osellus has been able to fill in the gaps where vague instructions were provided, going above and beyond what I would normally expect from a vendor.

I've been impressed with how clean the code has been and how willing the team has been to work with us. It's been a very fluid process even as our requirements evolved.

Their developers were able to come up with clever ways of resolving issues and I appreciated that they often challenged some of our requests if they felt there was a better approach. Osellus actually gave good constructive pushback when appropriate.

Are there any areas Osellus Mobile could improve?

I think they've done more than what we've asked, so I don't know if I can think of any.

Providing a means of having more dynamic content would have served our company a little bit better, but that’s not their responsibility. For instance, if we want to change a phone number, we don't want to have to deploy a whole new app; there are other ways to go about it, but that’s on us to give clear instructions and make sure requirements are stated upfront.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a provider of telecommunications and computer technology. I work in the global distribution team, so I'm responsible for a variety of efforts as we expand and develop our global distribution network.

What challenge were you trying to address with Osellus Mobile?

Osellus helped us build 2 tools that we use with our partners, Disti Compass and Disti Locator.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built 2 applications for us. The apps are available on iOS and Android.

The first one is Disti Compass, a globally available mobile app that has a web portal associated with it. It allows our distributors to promote and advertise their enablement events like webinars and workshops that our distributors offer to their resale partners such as training on software, service, etc. They can also advertise, promote, do registration, take attendance, and use telemetry on the partners that are viewing the content.

The second tool is called Disti Locator, a resource tool that's available on the web as well as mobile. It’s like a directory of our distributors globally. Osellus helped us build a brand new tool. We had a static one which was just a list of company names and telephone numbers. This one allows the distributors to create their profiles, provide a much richer level of data, and allows our partners to browse and look for capabilities. Let's say a partner is very interested in data center technology; they can search for distributors that focus on data center technology and other aspects of their business. It allows partners to find the right resources and distributors based on their needs. There are layers of approval built into the system.

What is the team dynamic?

There are around 15 people that work on it. We have one point of contact from a project management perspective, but we also have others for accounting, etc.

How did you come to work with Osellus Mobile?

I was doing a vendor search through our system. They did some other work for us years ago. I discovered they were close to me, so we could physically get together if needed. We're on WebEx, and we connect via other means on a frequent basis.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent a couple hundred thousand dollars with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since 2012. They've been working on that project with us for several years. This last year has been about Disti Locator. We started with them on a mobile app, and we had feedback from users that it was great, but they'd also like to see it on the web. We gave them that project as well because they were able to port it nicely over to something that looks similar but yet took advantage of more screen size and the capabilities of the web browser. It's not just been the same project for multiple years. We've been evolving it continuously over that time. Osellus just completed the Disti Locator program for us. It's been rolled out.

The next thing we'll start on is global localization, which they've been helpful with as well. They have a few multilingual team members, which makes a difference. We're active in 19 languages, and the look of the app can change when you take an app and you localize it in all those different languages.

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.

Please describe your organization. What is your role and responsibilities?

I'm the chief technology officer for sQuid Card, based in London, England. It's a multi-wallet card payment system. We use it in schools for parents to put money on for children to pay for school meals. We offer it to the government who can then offer it for free school meal allocation programs. Lastly, we use it for school attendance purposes in Kenya, to ensure students go to school. 

What was your goal for working with Osellus Mobile?

We launched the payment platform with bank standards so we used the bank type cards and terminals. We found that those terminals were expensive and, if they did break, the repair was costly. We moved away from the bank style terminals to an Android device. We found a relatively inexpensive android tablet manufactured to our speculation in China, and we've launched that in Kenya and the U.K. Osellus Mobile was contracted to build the mobile app for us. 

What was your process for selecting Osellus Mobile?

I had heard of Osellus Mobile through a friend of mine that had developed with them before. I live in Canada, so they're local to me, and I met with Omid Hodaie [founder of Osellus Mobile]. We talked about the project and the architecture of the card. We talked about the business challenge, they made a proposal, and it just came together.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative? When was the work completed?

In dollars? It was $75,000 to $150,000.

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

We have a technical team based in London. I'm in Niagara. Osellus is in Toronto, and they've got offshore developers. It was a great relationship. They're very responsive, communicative, and articulate and the turnaround time was pretty spot on. It took a while to settle the app in Kenya, which was the first launch because the Wi-Fi and cellphones signals aren't as good as you'd expect in North America. But, we found a cellphone SIM card that was very strong, and it was implemented successfully. I think we are somewhere near 5 to 6 million transactions already since March.

Is there anything unique or special about Osellus Mobile that really makes them stand out?

Something that stands out is how Osellus Mobile works with their customers. Their technical team has been exceptional.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

No.

Please describe your organization.

Pitney Bowes has been in been in business for 95 years starting in the mailing industry. We have evolved in time and now provide physical and digital communication systems and solutions that handle mail through to email, market intelligence, and location intelligence. People are most familiar with us for our mailing systems and our document management solutions.

What is your role and responsibilities?

At the time we were working with Osellus, I was VP of marketing.

What was your goal for working with Osellus Mobile?

We were challenged with getting content to our reps to engage clients. We were using an Internet site where we were housing a lot of material – videos, collateral, brochures, and case studies. We needed a way to get that content to our reps in the field faster. We needed to do it in a way where we could maintain it easily and keep it up to date. Our reps were also telling us that there was too much content for them to understand what was needed. We needed a way to organize that content, too.

Please describe the scope of their work.

We had a desire to produce an iOS-based application that would be used on iPads. We also wanted to deploy a Windows version with the exact same content. They developed both. Supporting that is a content management tool or a Web-based application that allows us to maintain the content within the app remotely. It allows us to change and modify the look and feel, it also allows global deployment, so that we can have content owners within certain markets managing their content for individual reps. 

What was your process for selecting Osellus Mobile?

We looked at a number of other companies. We needed someone with experience for the iPad. We had an experience from a prior development with Osellus. They'd done some work porting an application onto the iPad. We were familiar with them from a service point of view. We needed someone who could respond quickly to our needs. We had a tight timeframe.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?

This partnership was $200,000-plus.

When was the work completed?

We started in July 2013. Our first deliverable was in mid-September 2013. We had releases into 2014. Once we deployed in six markets globally, more countries came on board. We now have 12 or 13 countries on the tool. We have an ongoing maintenance agreement with Osellus Mobile.

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

We had some direct benefits from developing this app. We measured the monetary value and to reduce the number of physical demonstrations. The number of demos did actually reduce, but actually the savings from shipping that equipment out and having it returned back to us was more than enough to pay for the development. 

Is there anything unique or special about Osellus Mobile that really makes them stand out?

The approach Osellus Mobile took to understanding our needs. Osellus Mobile was very good at suggesting things that we hadn't considered. Like making sure content that was available to our reps was up to date, but not interrupting a demo from a client's point of view. Our actual thought was we wouldn't allow reps to get involved in the process. We have reps that have been here 30 years that say this is the best tool they've ever seen. We've had reps that have been here three months who've been through extensive training but, once they got the tool, they understood it. Now, we're using the tool as a training aid as much as a selling aid. This application is now used at every trade show. As we engage clients at the trade show, this is one of our primary tools that we use at trade shows to show our solutions to our clients.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

I think the only criticism is we've had some challenges with the Windows app. That's an area that took more time that we hoped to resolve. The mobile iPad app was very fast – developed very clean and elegant. I think the Windows environment just brings its own set of challenges. We resolved it, but it took longer than we wanted.

Please describe your organization. What is your role and responsibilities?

I'm the president of SwissVBS. We are a leadership and management development company. We've been using mobile technologies for the last three or four years to help develop various content that our customers can use at the point of sale for new products and services. 

What was your goal for working with Osellus Mobile?

We've been using the Web as the point of delivery for our products and content. We customize a lot of this so it sits behind the firewalls of the customers, but we develop the conceptual framework. The Web was our mode of delivery and, moving into mobile, we needed a good partner that would become an extension of our team and be able to develop the concepts we were selling to our customers.

What was your process for selecting Osellus Mobile?

We looked at doing the development in house. We looked at other vendors and potential partners, but we ended up with Osellus Mobile because they had a clear process on how to get involved. From beginning to end, Osellus Mobile was very clear and on target. Their pricing was fantastic. But, most importantly, they were very flexible to our needs. They knew our end goal was to provide to our customers. They figured out a way to be nimble and make it happen.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative? When was the work completed?

At this point, it's $200,000 plus. Our work with Osellus is ongoing. We're heading into our third year with them.

Is there anything unique or special about Osellus Mobile that really makes them stand out?

Osellus Mobile's flexibility to adjust and work within this very nascent industry. There aren't any experts in this industry in my opinion. It is too new for anyone to be experts. But, for them to take a humble approach, and consult with their clients and figure it out and be solution based is very critical. So, it's not the traditional business where everything is already in place. You need a true partner to go with you into unchartered waters and figure it out, and that's what they did.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

I think just like anything else when there's something new and innovative, you always worry about delivering. Can it be delivered in the timeframe and with the resources available? So far, Osellus Mobile has always delivered. So far, so good.