Ratio

Could you provide a brief description of your company and your role there?

I’m no longer with the company that worked with Ratio. At the time, I was the president of the cooking division and digital media at a publishing company.

Could you describe the business challenges you were trying to address when you began the relationship with Ratio?

We had made a strategic decision to get into mobile as a digital point of entry as opposed to Web. We decided that the way that we wanted to do it would be to build a mobile app platform, and then roll that out with additional apps of our own as well as white labeling apps for other clients.

Did you contact Ratio because you didn’t have developers in-house?

That’s correct. We had no development staff in-house.

In which platform was the application built?

We launched with iOS. We then released the HP operating system, but HP later shut that down. We built it on Android, and then we put it on Windows 8. We were on all three major operating systems, all built by Ratio.

How long has this relationship lasted?

When I left, it had been three years.

Were they involved in the full design and development of the app, and any kind of training or support for it?

Yes. They have somebody there that’s really pretty unique to the industry. His name is Russ Whitman. Russ is the chief strategy officer. What makes Russ unique is he has both a business and marketing background as well a technical background. So, he literally can write code if he had to and talk down at the code level, and yet, he can also talk from a strategic business perspective. Yes, Ratio was involved in all phases of the project, from concept through execution and delivery, and then maintenance.

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

We were selected as a Top 10 App by Apple in 2011 in what they called the App Rewind. We won one Appie two years in a row, 2012 and 2013. We were featured at the international announcement that Microsoft did in Barcelona when they announced Windows 8. Then, we won a number of other awards. It was very highly acclaimed on all three platforms. We were featured as Free App of the Day on Amazon. So, lots of accolades.

We white labeled several iOS apps and then we white labeled our Windows 8 app for Lenovo. The reason that stands out is Lenovo is the largest computer manufacturer in the world.

How would you describe their performance?

Excellent.

Is there anything else you’d consider unique or special about them that distinguishes them from other companies?

I can’t speak for today, but at the time, I didn’t know any development houses that really were proficient on all three platforms.

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve on as a service provider or that you would do differently?

Agile software development by its definition has pluses and minuses. Agile by its nature is fast to market and iterative, whereas waterfall is very slow to market, but tends to be more documented. I wouldn’t say anything that would be unique to Ratio. I think as an industry, there’s pluses and minuses in any software development. But, from an industry standpoint, I think they were excellent.

Did they use the agile method?

Yes, they could have done it either way, but we preferred agile. We developed using the agile method.

Could you provide a brief description of your organization and your role there?

I am the director of digital media of BYU Broadcasting. BYU Broadcasting is a broadcast organization that runs several television stations and radio stations. I’m developing websites and apps that stream live TV and on-demand video. Ratio has been a key partner of ours in helping us develop out our app ecosystem.

Could you describe the business challenges you were trying to address when you approached Ratio?

We were looking for ways to get our content on the game consoles, specifically the Xbox 360. Ratio's development team helped us develop this app. We developed the backend. We had setup an API [application programming interface] and Web services that deliver our content. They took those Web services and developed an application for Xbox 360, and really just helped us navigate that whole app development and publishing process with Microsoft. They’ve been very helpful in that regard. 

How long did project take?

That project took just about a year. We consider them ongoing partners, not only maintaining and updating this app in time, but also pursuing further applications that we will develop with them.

How did you select them as your solution partner?

They had a very unique skill set. In finding developers who really know how to work with live video streams on the Xbox 360, there are only a few of them that I would trust that know how to do that. At the beginning, we were taking a bit of a risk, but by the end of this project, we had become very comfortable with how they do things and how they manage their projects. They’ve been very straightforward and very honest. They’ve definitely earned our trust.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms or personnel work hours?

It was in excess of $300,000 for this project.

When was the project completed?

April 22, 2014 was when we first launched on Xbox 360.

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

The app we made with Ratio is a very good app. It doesn’t crash. We’ve had thousands and thousands of people download the app, and who are now using the app. No complaints at all about the app, it’s very stable and solid.

Is there anything you’d consider unique or special about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve used?

Their project management process is very rigorous. They do a very good job of constantly communicating the status of the project and tracking that. Technically, they’re very sound. The same goes for their design sensibilities and skills, really the whole process. Design through development and implementation was good. I’m not saying you don’t run into challenges, but they deal with those challenges very straight up. You’re never left wondering what’s going on.

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve on or that you would do differently?

No.