SmartApp

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CMO of Sciforma

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sciforma is one of the leading providers of Portfolio & Project Management (PPM) software, delivering solutions to more than a quarter million users worldwide for over 30 years. Boasting PPM, SPM, and CWM capabilities, Sciforma’s solution helps teams plan and deliver on strategic initiatives by making data-driven decisions about their project portfolios, resources, and strategic goals—all in one collaborative, customizable platform. 

The company stands out from its competitors by providing the optimal balance of usability and robust functionality, as well as project team and executive-level portfolio management for solving challenges with strategic communication, planning, tracking, execution, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SmartApp to accomplish?

• Develop and maintain our multi-lingual Wordpress website
• Develop and maintain our multi-lingual Drupal website
• Develop and maintain landing pages on Pardot

SOLUTION

How did you find SmartApp?

Upwork

Why did you select SmartApp over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from SmartApp were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Smartapp developed and maintained several of our websites (Drupal and Wordpress) and business applications (Pardot) both in the back-end and in the front-end.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Every project that we trusted Smartapp with was delivered successfully. We consider them an extension of our internal team and rely on them for development and maintenance.

• Delivered on time 
• Delivered on scope and were able to make suggestions to improve the project's outcomes
• Delivered on budget

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project management is very fluid and we rely mostly on virtual tools. They are very organized and vey reactive.

What was your primary form of communication with SmartApp?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Smartapp' team encompasses a lot of skills and technologies. They are able to answer to our new needs with the appropriate resources. They are also very professional in their answers always showing us the high level picture, the reasons why we should take certain decisions, and the specific details to get there.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SmartApp could have done differently?

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a training manager for Automation Academy by WorkFusion, the leading provider of Intelligent Automation solutions for Fortune 500 enterprises, banks, insurance, and financial services companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp, and what were your goals?

SmartApp is currently responsible for Automation Academy, our Moodle-based educational platform, development as well as development of other internal/external portals and landing pages. Apart from that, SmartApp was in charge of additional services development, as well as web design and marketing team support.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

In preparation for the launch of our Moodle-based system in 2017, we were looking for the companies to help us with development and found SmartApp after doing some market research. Currently we are working with SmartApp team in Georgia.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

SmartApp helps with development on various directions. Utilising coding in PHP, SmartApp enhanced our Automation Academy website which is built on Moodle and Drupal. A couple of months ago due to SmartApp team professional efforts we successfully updated our Automation Academy LMS to Moodle 4.0 version and re-designed the website for better customer experience. Apart from that, SmartApp built new products—like a Use Case Navigator from scratch. They also focused on UX/UI design for multiple resources. Overall, back-end, front-end, testing, support - all this was solely made by SmartApp best-in-class professionals.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We've had a team of 6 developers, overseen by a project manager, on different projects. SmartApp has also provided us with designers, QA engineers, and SEO specialists as needed so in total, we worked with around 10 people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

After the launch of our recent ambiguous project for the Automation Academy - namely the update of our LMS to Moodle 4 version as well as deploying new AA design in July, the users and stakeholders continue to share the most positive feedback on new UX and on overall web-site performance. We see the outcome in the number of certificates obtained and numbers of shares, moreover we feel now more proud making demos of the Automation Academy to our customers and partners.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Apart from extremely professional approach of the SmartApp project manager, team of developers and QA engineers, we’ve always been especially pleased by their eagerness to accommodate our team needs. Every team member is always ready to learn and provide the required skills. We usually communicate with the whole team during our daily morning meetings, share evening statuses as well as post on-demand urgent and vital tasks in Slack to track their resolution. If you create the Jira task - you can be sure that all dev stages will be performed and passed with due quality and right within the estimated time frames.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Most impressive we find the SmartApp quick response to any issue and attention to every detail the customer shares. The team is always ready to hear the customer and patiently perceives any comments or adjustment in requirements. Their attitude to the project is unique in the way that you never see indifference to a task or question you set, just the opposite, - tasks and questions are handled with due attention and are investigated and estimated properly for future fixes.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I can only say that they know the field the best, and can be highly recommended for any project. Wish we could have more people involved into our project for to shine even brighter. We always have been transparent in our work, sharing feedback straight away and making retrospectives after the sprints to stay on track so as a wish, more than as improvement, I can state that the more employees SmartApp would hire, the more professionals the customers would be having on the market!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Head of Sales and Marketing Department of an IT company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp, and what were your goals?

We worked with SmartApp to redesign a corporate blog and transfer it to a new CMS - WordPress.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched on the web for the companies working with WP and that have nice design portfolio. Processes, code and design quality, and attention to deadlines were the most important deciding factors.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

At first, we received a very detailed estimation and proposal for the blog design and development. Then, the project began and was managed as it should be - requirements clarification, a few rounds of design, development, testing, data transfer. Everything was smooth and logical. From the project management point of view, they professionally managed the timeline, budget, and risks.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consisted of:

• PM
• Designer
• Developer
• QA engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Thanks to the redesign of the blog (including the right technical optimization), we managed to launch content marketing activities resulting in +15% traffic increase every month. Previously, our CMS and technical errors were the blockers.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We used Jira and Confluence to coordinate project management tasks. Addidionally, we had a chat and regular status calls with the team to be able to track the progress.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Tech and communication skills of the team are great. Whenever we had comments or questions, the team is there to help us right away.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Everything was great. We continue working on other projects togather.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder & CEO of Ubiquitous Preferred Services, a people development firm. We focus on training professionals by upskilling them and retooling them for changes in the marketplace. Our company also provides consulting services, assessments, strategies, and coaching for leaders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SmartApp?

Our clients love our work, and they needed us to scale up. To address that, we decided to partner with a company to build an e-learning platform that would distribute microlearning on-demand with easy access on any device.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SmartApp has developed our e-learning platform from scratch. First, we worked together on our style guide and deeply explored the requirements. They helped us decide what technology to use that would reduce the amount of custom development needed so they could focus on UI/UX design. The team also created the technical specs. From there, they did everything from wireframes to mockups to an MVP. Then, they did user acceptance testing before publishing it live. 

The platform is a web app with a responsive design that works on all devices. SmartApp focuses on development and design to build the functionality and features the solution needs. We have a separate initiative around the content strategy. They’ve provided us with a video for every piece of functionality they’ve built, and they’ve kept the architecture refreshed. Some functionalities include implementing Amazon services, Credly, and Facebook handles. The team ensures those features appear in an infographic and architectural diagram. For example, they added a CAPTCHA feature that helps us reduce the number of fraudulent user registrations.

During a feedback round for phase one, customers said the videos should start automatically on the web app, so Smart App has just added that as a new feature. Currently, SmartApp is in phase two of the project; they’re developing native mobile apps. They also provide us with marketing services, including SEO and ensuring we run effective ad campaigns.

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with three people from SmartApp, including a project manager. However, the full team includes around seven people, according to our Trello.

How did you come to work with SmartApp?

I found them through an online search. I submitted a brief to three companies that reached out to me, including SmartApp. They were the right choice for us based on their response, ability to think outside traditional designs, the caliber of companies they work with, and their pricing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2022, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the metrics I look at is how much change goes into the project and the impact on cost and the timeline. SmartApp has been on time and on budget. Additionally, they’ve delivered everything in the scope, including some add-ons that I requested within the same timeframe. Our users like that the videos come through the platform pretty efficiently since it adjusts to whatever the bandwidth is. 

We’ve been able to have healthy debates with the SmartApp team about things like the privacy policy and where we should add acceptance from a UX perspective. We’ve addressed those issues and ensured users can get registered fast. Currently, the setup takes less than 90 seconds; a user can see the site, register, and access content within that timeframe because they can use whatever handles they want. However, we want to reduce that time to 60 seconds if we can. 

How did SmartApp perform from a project management standpoint?

Our assigned project manager is wonderful. We use Trello for project management and communicate through email, Zoom, WhatsApp, and Google Docs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate that SmartApp challenges my ideas. They have a creative spin where they look out for the platform’s best interest and bring ideas to the table that we may not be thinking about. Additionally, I really like the team’s punctuality — they’ve never been late to a meeting.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their customer management. Sometimes I come up with many ideas, which can be overwhelming, and the key is to avoid allowing that to distract them. The project manager does a great job with this.

Additionally, I should have asked that we implement a container solution early on. This way, if something went wrong with the system, we could easily pull it from a container and reimplement the system in moments. That was a technical miss more on my part than theirs. However, we’ll implement this feature in phase two.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be clear on what you want. Then, give SmartApp autonomy and flexibility to work in your best interest.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

TheBankingOffer.com is an end-to-end training platform for undergraduate students interested in careers in investment banking. We combine a self-serve learning platform with 1:1 mentorship from professionals at the top firms across Wall Street. I am the founder and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp, and what were your goals?

Our website was developed on a very tight budget previously for our MVP year in 2021. After generating significant revenue off the low-cost MVP, we decided it was time to recreate the website for a much more advanced lead funnel & fulfillment platform.

Our price point is anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 per student, which is a very high-ticket price point and requires an extremely polished UI & feature set for the end customer. Our partner needed to be able to deliver on design quality & functionality that warranted such a high price point on a self-serve platform.

Specifically, these were the challenges we needed SmartApp to solve for us:

1. Creation of a streamlined learning platform that mimicked Khan Academy & CodeAcademy's UI and features set
2. Re-designing & re-recreating our branding and positioning from the ground-up for all lead-funnel pages, including more advanced lead funnels such as a personality test
3. Analytics, reporting, & optimization based on traffic & site interactions to make conclusions on our A/B tests and support final development decisions with data

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We hired SmartApp as our full-stack, end-to-end web development, e-commerce, and mobile development team. We were looking for a team that could be a one-stop-shop for us and coordinate across all the complex back-end tasks that we wanted to complete.

There were options available for us across different development specialties, such as WordPress, Moodle, and graphic designs, but we wanted a one-stop shop that would streamline all of our design and development needs. In addition, we wanted a vendor that was flexible and willing to grow alongside the company.

We were/are a young and fast-growing company, and we needed assistance making critical decisions through the earliest stages of the development process. We also had unpredictable cash-flow at times, and needed development to hit deadlines that enabled customer fulfillment as we recognized revenue.

In this regard, there were two key factors we were looking for:

1. payment flexibility & structured payment plans and
2. thorough advice & decision-making support about which products & features to prioritize & execute.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Scope of work:

1. We had a thorough conversation about the business itself, our products, and our timelines. This was very encouraging as SmartApp spent a lot of understanding the underlying problem we were trying to solve instead of just offering to execute what we felt needed to be done
2. We provided a detailed background on the current backend, the current development process, and the hurdles we had experienced to date
3. We explained all of the individual details and features that we wanted completed for the project
4. martApp provided recommendations & revisions to details & features, asked clarifying questions, and through a few rounds of back-and-forth, finalized the list of features that we wanted
5. We coordinated on prioritization of all features over 8 phases of development based on necessity & budget
6. We finalized pricing & payment structures and the project was kicked off. All projects were managed using Trello, which was very effective for streamlining our communications
7. The first phase of project execution was finalizing designs. This was primarily through Figma
8. Then, after development against designs, we coordinated on final touch-ups and QAs in the staging website

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

90% of work was coordinated through a single project manager that understood our project end-to-end, making it very convenient for us to execute the project. There were some light communications with at least ~5 others on the team between graphic designers, developers, QA leads, etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The website has received incredible feedback from our students and has helped us really differentiate ourselves from other sin our industry.

Not only was the UI and feature set very unique & effective, SmartApp actually helped us change our market positioning itself and unlock a new market segment. In general, we see SmartApp as a business partner now instead of just our development team.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had daily communications with the project manager, who kept us posted with all progress and updates across their entire team.

She understood that we were busy working on several things ourselves, and would summarize everything for us and keep progress-tracking extremely organized so that we could manage the entire development process with only 10-20 minutes per day or every other day. Primary tools we used to communicate were Figma, Slack, and Trello.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

There are 2 things that made SmartApp extremely impressive:

• Versatility: Their experience across so many different plugins, development styles, and e-learning features made them extremely easy to work with, because they were a one-stop shop for all of our concerns.

Could you help us develop a gamified profile section in the learning platform that syncs across quizzes completed? Yes! Could you build a personality test lead funnel? Sure! Can you convert this into a mobile app? No problem! I never got a "no, this can't be done" on any of the ambitious tasks that we had in mind.

• Business Acumen: I've worked with development teams that take instructions and execute with confidence.

SmartApp takes it a step further. They are true e-commerce experts, understanding the intricacies of lead funnels & different marketing tactics to improve our site's conversion. Their advice & recommendations through the design and development process proved monumental to us.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Early in the development process, the Trello board became overwhelming with so many moving parts going on at the same time. We communicated about archiving projects so that only the 3 to 5 high-priority, current projects would be visible on the Trello board to make it much easier to execute our projects and keep our eyes on what really mattered most.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

VP, International Bus Dev for an educational content provider

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp, and what were your goals?

The old website was created in-house by people who were no longer with the company and thus the site was not supported or updated. The site was outdated and not device agnostic. We hired SmaprtApp to develop a new, modern-looking website adopted for mobile browsing and complaint with the latest privacy and accesobility regualtions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a vendor with significant web development experience, with expertise in WordPress, PHP, and SEO optimization. SmartApp was recommended to us as a reliable and knowledgeable vendor. Their quote was also within our budget.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We gave SmartApp our requirements, they reviewed and came up with a few questions. Then we had a kick off meeting, followed by a few iterations of wireframes and moved to sandbox.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with the CEO of the company and the Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

After the launch of the site, we saw a significant increase in traffic which resulted in a higher purchase volume.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Weekly ZOOM calls, bug reports, sandbox access. Very quick and appropriate response from SmartApp.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We are very pleased with the quality of work, as well as the responsiveness and skills of the team

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We are pleased with our partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Owner and CEO of a company that publish crowd-sourced reviews about businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp, and what were your goals?

We hired SmartApp to assume dev responsibility for the launch new website for a company that publishes crowd-sourced reviews about businesses. Our goal was to launch with their assistance and scale the company.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched extensively online and found SmartApp to be highly professional and attentive.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They designed and developed a Custom-based business management solution. We started with a discovery phase to go over our business challenges. Then, SmartApp gave us workflows and design mock-ups to approve before starting developing. They have incredible designers! We used two-week sprints in our work and the whole team was available whenever I needed it. After each sprint, they made a demo. After the completion of the development, there was an implementation phase that took one month.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

SmartApp has provided us with support from their CTO and Technical Team, Project Manager, Business Analytic, Design Team, SEO Management team, and several developers. If necessary, I had access to all members of their team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We went from pre-launch to a product in the market with thousands users!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We used Slack, Jira, as well as Confluence to coordinate project management tasks. Until this point, our team had no experience with either of these tools, and SmartApp has been wonderful at helping us to understand and maximize our use of these tools.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

SmartApp has been amazing to work with. Super reliable and would go above and beyond to help us resolve issues. They are always professional and trustworthy, and they deliver on their promises.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

At this time we're highly satisfied with their work!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Pavel Kharytonau IT Business Development Manager BelITSoft - Software Development & IT Consulting

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp, and what were your goals?

We applied the skills of a specialist and expert of SmartApp in our Project to ensure that the project gets delivered on time, within budget, and to the required quality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

This vendor was recommended to us by our another software development company that we regularly cooperate with.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

SmartApp supplied us with the skills of a qualified PHP(WordPress) Developer for a corporate website with a showcase, resellers, and general information about the company

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

On this specific project we had one PHP (WordPress) Developer who supplemented our own team of developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The developer did a great job. Our client clearly had no issues with his work, and was quite happy with the developer's performance, productivity, and work ethics. In addition, it was very nice to deal with SmartApp company management.

They acted professionally, and were quite willing to help when their input was needed. The work of the developer, and of his management definitely met my expectations, and helped me to help my customer meet their deliverables.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We PMed the project on our side.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Highly professional approach, work ethics, efficiency in dealing with requests, flexibility in resolving any potential issues before they appear.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Have not identified any yet

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the marketing manager at Rampiq agency. We've decided to develop a new website to present our services. Our main services are Digital Marketing: SEO, Web Analytics, PPC & Content marketing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp?

New website design

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Quality & ability to meet deadlines were the major factors. SmartApp grasped our requirements & wishes for the job rather precisely - so after the first call we already understood that SmartApp can “pull off” our project in the way we need it.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The main goal of the project was to create a design that positions our marketing agency on the U.S. market. The design project included key pages (such as Home, About, etc.) as well as pages for every specific niche our agency focuses on. First we received overall concepts to choose from, and, after approval of one of those, the team proceeded with the design for the rest of the pages. We would like to mention the graphics & attention to detail the SmartApp team demonstrated. Every image and element was customly made/adjusted to our website’s style, so everything looks organic and smooth. Also SmartApp helped us to create our brands’ UI/UX kit (fonts, colors, styles,etc.) that we will definitely use in our marketing materials.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a client’s manager, project manager & 2 design specialists. They were easy to access, we could organize a call in 15 minutes - it was absolutely no problem for them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Absolutely - you can visit our website rampiq.agency to see the final result.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As mentioned above - the team’s availability satisfied us to the full extent. We were glad that SmartApp team was available on every step of the project. If we had commentary/feedback/adjustments/questions the team assisted us promptly.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

As a client we felt that SmartApp’s processes are set up & adjusted perfectly to meet the client’s goal in the designated deadlines.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No, everything was perfect. Thanks again!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CEO of a logistics company. We work enterprise-level clients in the logistics and food space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartApp, and what were your goals?

SmartApp was hired to help develop and design our company website from scratch.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

SmartApp team was recommended to me. In addition, they have invested many hours in designing and discussing details even before signing the contract. They are amazing.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had several meetings where we discussed the details of the project, outlined the stages and the process of work. From there, the team delivered mock-ups and wireframes for our site. After team designed and developed an informational WordPress site. They updated the content to reflect our company's services and created a landing page with a contact form.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team we work with is varied in size depending on the stage of the project. Initially, there were seven people we worked with, including a project manager, marketing specialist, designer, three developers and QA. Periodically the upper administration of SmartApp might sit in on a stand-up or reach out to me directly to see how things were going. Within the last six or seven months, we scaled down to four members of the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

All deliverables were completed on time and to spec. I would say that even more has been done. SmartApp dived deeply into the details of the business and added several new and good ideas. I am very pleased with the work of the team.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had two-week sprints and we did all the work in Jira. Slack and Zoom were used for communications. This is why I love them. Most importantly, they are always in touch and always have a focus. I was pleasantly surprised.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

From early on, they bought into the concept of what we were trying to do and wanted us to be successful. It feels like every person on their team is invested in us. To see the knowledge they’ve gained about our specific niche business has been really assuring. It’s not just another project for them.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not that I can think of. It’s been a great relationship.