Snowman Labs

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The founder and CEO of a training and consulting firm that focuses on digital transformation.

What challenge were you trying to address with Snowman Labs?

We hired Snowman Labs for custom software development work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Snowman Labs developed a chatbot that could integrate with Slack. We used Python, and the team built off of my product roadmap. They built the chatbot to have the ability to run and schedule daily meetings for agile teams and send direct messages and reminders to members to fulfill the daily story. It could also send messages and forward files to the whole channel. 

The last feature we’re now trying to implement is an internal data analytics capacity for the chatbot.

What is the team composition?

Snowman Lab’s CEO tested and brought ideas into the development. There were two other people assigned to the project: a Python developer and a person who looks after the backend server and infrastructures. 

How did you come to work with Snowman Labs?

They were recommended by some friends of mine. 

How much have you invested with them?

I invested around $10,000 for this first phase. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I first engaged with them in May 2021 but the project started in September 2021. The chatbot was completed in October 2021, but the team continues to do maintenance and improvements to it.

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

We have a customer who’s currently testing the MVP, and they've said that the chatbot has completely changed their way of working. We have received amazing feedback about the product’s performance and how it has transformed agile team productivity. 

How did Snowman Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was perfect for me. Snowman Labs was top-notch. They had great internal processes and tools for keeping track of the project. We did encounter a bit of trouble estimating the work but that's only due to the complicated nature of the documentation. 

We communicated via Slack, which was an excellent channel for our asynchronous structure. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Snowman Labs forms great relationships with their clients. I felt like they really wanted to build out this software with me as a part of my own team. They did not just act as software developers; they were like our very own partners. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would’ve been nice to see them find a workaround to speed up the development. I was running on a tight budget, so we were only really able to get two developers on board. That aside, everything was good

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage Snowman Labs not just as a software development agency but also as a partner. They’re really good at bringing in ideas, taking the project to the customer, and making internal assessments, so it would be good to hire them in the fullest capacity. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an IT Superintendent at a banking institution, which sells financial services to investors, and is located in Brazil, state of Paraná. Our company currently has 715 direct employees and approximately 350 indirect employees, working through live and digital channels throughout the country.

For what projects/services did your company hire Snowman Labs?

Development of an application for Android and IOS mobile devices. The app allows the customer to open a checking account, carry out financial investment transactions, track their investments, view their current account balance and statement, make contact with their manager, instant transfers of financial resources to other people and update their data.

What were your goals for this project?

Expanding our digital customer base in other states in the country where we did not have a physical presence, in addition to ensuring an exponential increase in our investor portfolio through the digital channel, without having to expand the number of bank employees in the relationship with investor customers.

How did you select Snowman Labs?

Snowman Labs was highly recommended by some companies that carried out projects in partnership in our city. In addition, we researched information from other clients who were very satisfied with the partnership in the projects.

Describe the project in detail.

Design, architecture proposal and development of the integration bus and application for Android and IOS mobile devices. The services were carried out in conjunction with our business and IT teams, but the development of the design, integration services with our legacies, the mobile application and the service bus was carried out entirely by the SnowMan Labs team.

What was the team composition?

The product development team was composed during the project stages by the following SnowMan Labs employee profiles:

• 2 swift developers
• 2 Android developers
• 1 project manager
• 1 Java backend developer
• 1 designer

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

The results obtained with the delivery of this project were very expressive. In a few weeks, our portfolio of investors has increased significantly. It was possible to notice that there were opportunities that our institution did not exploit in the market.

In addition, we also noticed great satisfaction from our customers with the features that were made available in the application. We have identified praise numbers in Apple and Google stores. The project sponsors were very satisfied.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very satisfactory. Daily IT meetings and weekly alignments with the business areas were held. In addition, a specific forum was created with the sponsors for alignment regarding the progress of the project

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We realized that the SnowMan Labs team has always been very committed to building a product to provide an excellent experience for our customers. The team was very disciplined with the dates and commitments they made.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No additional comments

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m head of business solutions at a Brazilian marketing firm. We dedicate our work to find the best strategies and solutions to overcome our customers problems with cost effective and result driven approaches.

For what projects/services did your company hire Snowman Labs?

We needed to redesign the web platform, performing not only a facelift, but working on: Automate the process, improving the reports and information extraction to assist in data analysis and campaign development. Improve usability and include new features to enhance interaction with partners.

Creation of an app that communicated with the website, to facilitate access to information, increasing the user base, and taking the campaign closer to the partners. Allowing more presence and interaction with all the public. Assuring they would have all the information they needed, at the moment they need in order to perform the work.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to increase interaction and the amount of participants engaged every month with the platform (site+app), in order to be top of mind of business and solutions

How did you select Snowman Labs?

They had already worked in another app – for the same company and had the best offer, not only in costs but also regarding the time frame and solution they needed. So after receiving the proposal from all the company and comparing them, we choosed snowman labs

Describe the project in detail.

First, we establish which features should be included in the project (both site and app), the deadlines and responsibilities. In parallel, the design team worked on the visual line, wireframes and technological solution. We held weekly meetings to check the status of activities, answer questions and align pending issues.

What was the team composition?

When we started the project, we were introduced to the project manager. In addition to it, I held meetings with the designer and the developers, but only when there was a specific item to be worked and that needed closer attention. Furthermore, the project manager went over the needs and aligned everything internally.

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

We had a significant increase in interactions, comments and views on the platform. It became the main tool to relate with the team and keep them updated regarding the company, campaigns, results

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a very short deadline for the development of both the website and the app and it could not be postponed. The team worked well under a lot of pressure and managed to deliver. Our project manager was extremely dedicated, available and helpful, always trying to solve problems/items as quickly as possible.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team was very organized and had tools to make all the needs and steps of the process really clear and easy to follow up/accomplish, Which helps a lot to deliver quality results on time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

When we talk about development, the developer usually makes all the difference. Changing someone on the team during the process can lead to delays. We had some changes in the team over the course of the project, which was inevitable, but generated a little stress because of our deadline. But Snowman Labs managed to replace the person without prejudice to the final result.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a full professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná - School fo Medicine, involved in education and research in Microbiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Subject

For what projects/services did your company hire Snowman Labs?

To develop an App that would automatically interpret the zone of inhibition of bacterial growth and give its susceptibility or resistance interpretation

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to help and make it easier for clinical laboratories to interpret the new protocols just released in Portuguese to determine if a bacteria is susceptible or resistant to a given drug rapidly and safely.

How did you select Snowman Labs?

I had a position at the Innovation Agency at our University and received an indication of one of our mentors to check Snowmanlabs' skills. Since the beginning, they were very professional and right on time with their duties.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a very extensive Excel file (more than 80 pages), which had many values for testing different bacteria against different drugs, resulting in more than 1.000 lines, plus comments and notes in most of the 20+ sheets.

We wanted to make it more user friendly. Usually, we test 15 to 20 antibiotics per bacteria. Our App gave us the results in less than one minute, compared to 3 minutes of manual reading of the tables.

What was the team composition?

One project manager, two designers, two programmers, and one microbiology specialist (part-time).

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

The project was finished just in time. The App was fully functional. We did some validation with specialists and the system was considered very useful and user-friendly. We didn't upload it at the App stores because our institution couldn't afford the maintenance costs.

We are now negotiating with the Minister of Health if they are not interested in hosting the App and distribute it to all clinical labs in Brazil.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very, very satisfactory. We demanded a meeting at our site which is 10 miles away from their office, and they attend it. Their manager would call up our attention to the project timeline and schedule. They fulfill all the schedules established in our contract.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The way they engage to acquire knowledge in such a specific subject, and also they were able to recognize the intrinsic value of the App and how it would be helpful for lab professionals and felt proud to be part of this solution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Yes, for sure. The Brazilian Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Test (BrCAST) updates its files annually. So a new version of the App needs to come out each year.

Also, we think that the App could evolve to

1. take an image from the agar plate (where the bacteria are tested against the drugs) 
2. determine the size of the antimicrobial inhibition zone
3. automatically interpret it and generate a PDF with the results.

Today, only steps 2 and 3 happen.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I´m a Technical Director of a global insurance company in Brazil.

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

The project involves a development of a wesite with different functions and serviçes, including financial one. The website contents has a deep and a strong imersion in financials and tecnhical complexities, combined also with a short term to be designed on its first dlivers.

How did you select Snowman Labs and what were the deciding factors?

The decision was mixed by market referrals + transparency during the commercial steps.

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

The project involves insurane sales (quotations and issuances), dashboards, integration with 3rd parties in many sectors.

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

On the middle and final seps of the projetc´s first phase SnowmanLabs team were composed by 6 persons - from designers and IT developments + Snow´s C Suits.

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

the project was difficult to be designt reasoned on its technical complexity. The time was also an issue and we had some delays on the mvp, considering most of this complexities adaptations. But we could proceeed and nowadays SnowmanlLab support us with their team in the continuity of the system.

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

All of the project was fully designed during the COVID19 Pandemia. For this reason 100% designed on a digital basis, considering virtual meetings, chat rooms and phone calls. It could be easy dependind on the companies sector, but in our case (a traditional company) was a challenge.

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

Snowman Labs ability to understand difficult projects and work remotely are impressive.The project was very difficult to be designed and developed, but they did it.

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

I cannot describe now if we could did something different to support better small delays that we had during the project designs and develops, I could say that this is was part of mutual knowledge.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of a company created to develop ideas that can be turned into startups.

For what projects/services did your company hire Snowman Labs?

We hired Snowman to develop a new app with many innovative features, to be launched soon, thanks to them.

What were your goals for this project?

Develop the app's MVP from ground up.

How did you select Snowman Labs?

We searched for companies with expertise in Flutter and Snowman was by far the most experienced and focused developer in this technology.

Describe the project in detail.

Our project had a extensive list of required features such as: The need to be fully functional offline. Be very responsive and ready to scale. Have sync in real time between multiple users.

What was the team composition?

We had two full stack developers and one Po assigned to the project.

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

We were able to overcome some development barriers that we struggled a lot of time before hiring them. The architecture of the project was very well done and organized.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our developer was able to improve a lot working beside them, even considering the fact that he was new to Flutter and now can take charge of more complex issues without much trouble.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

How easily theirs developers overcame some complex issues of the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that I can think right now.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a financial product manager at RCI Bank & Services. The bank is in 36 countries around the world and is responsible for car finances from Renault and Nissan brands. We have more than 20 years in Brazil and 2 years ago, the headquarters decided to launch this project here. Currently, in Brazil, we have around 200 workers.

For what projects/services did your company hire Snowman Labs?

Snowman Labs was hired to develop Mobile and Web Banking, starting with us since the beginning of the project. Working with Agile Methodology, we could launch small versions to the customers a few months after starting the project and since then we are improving the tools with new features

What were your goals for this project?

We need to put RCI Bank Brazil as one of the best saving banks in Brazil. So it is very important to offer our customers the best customer journey as we can. About financial goal, we are forbidden to talk about.

How did you select Snowman Labs?

We have worked together before in a different company. When we selected the possible providers for this project, we put Snowman Labs and the others in a table measuring each one in different strengths and weaknesses. After that Snowman Labs was selected in agreement with headquarters to be our provider. Both previous experiences with similar projects and methodology used were important points to select them.

Describe the project in detail.

Working since the beginning with agile methodology, we can be working together improving the tools (Mobile and web banking). In March 2019, we launched a small version to our customers, and now, around 1.5 years after, we have a highly praised and complete platform, which our customers can be saving their money with a good experience. Usually, the improvements developed are delivered correctly in the first version and are not necessary to rework the features. This is a great point!

What was the team composition?

1 back end 1 Android developer 1 IOS developer 1 front end design team is allocated when necessary.

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

We have more than 100.000 downloads and over 4-star ratings on both IOS and Android. We can see a lot of good feedback in the stores and also when we have some problem, we correct it fast.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working together for more than 2 years, I have total confidence in the team and the reverse is also true. This confidence makes the workflow easy.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of their work and the commitment to the project. The developers are enthusiasts and celebrate each newly achieved goal.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I am very glad about this partnership and I hope to maintain it for long years. We always have some point to do better, but, knowing a lot of companies like SNOW, I am sure that we are in good hands

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Inspired Performance Institute. We work with people who want to perform at a higher level. Our methodology was developed from a trauma base that if we have unresolved trauma, it affects our performance. We have a technique that reduces or eliminates the effects of previous traumas in people's lifetime which then allows them to excel in performance.

What challenge were you trying to address with Snowman Labs?

We had a problem with our online platform and were trying to figure out how to deliver our course. We do our programs either one-on-one or through an online platform. We were struggling to come up with a good platform that’d be effective and functional. That’s why we brought on Snowman Labs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handled web design and development for our online program. We had produced a series of videos that culminated in a four-hour program. We had difficulty finding a platform that could deliver the videos in a seamless fashion.

Snowman Labs first established that we needed to update our website. Then, they brought in the platform Kajabi. At that point it wasn’t the right fit for our needs, so they decided to build a custom platform. During that time, Kajabi improved its services, and then the recommendation was to go back to Kabaji because it’d be a better long-term solution.

Snowman Labs provided a bridge that allowed the platform to be delivered and functional. Now, it’s on Kajabi so it can be developed on a much larger scale.

What is the team composition?

Danilo (Co-Founder & Co-CEO) is our main point of contact and there are other team members behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Snowman Labs?

A friend of mine knew the difficulties we were having and introduced me to Danilo through the University of Central Florida Incubator Program. I met with Danilo, and we instantly hit it off. I liked him and could tell he knew what he was talking about.

He handled a lot of the little things we struggled with and cleaned them up quickly so that became the selling point to open up more of an opportunity with Snowman Labs,

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $40,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in January 2018.

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

Everything came down to the UX. Once we switched over to what Snowman Labs was doing, the UX dramatically improved. We weren’t receiving customer service calls where users were locked out or couldn’t get in. That number significantly decreased, and that was our best measurement.

How did Snowman Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is good, especially considering the distance. They're always available, and they assigned a point person for us to go to if we can’t get ahold of Danilo. Their team was realistic in their deadlines and met them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with their integrity and pricing. They're honest and upfront about what something will cost. What’s more, they always look for ways to find a better solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Danilo communicates easily with us but it’d be nice to communicate with the other team members; the language barrier makes that difficult.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set up regular meetings because that affects productivity. You don’t have to meet every week, but establish a schedule to keep everyone on task.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and CTO of GotChosen, an ad tech company. We provide a B2B technology product for websites, through which companies can increase revenue or generate incremental revenue.

What challenge were you trying to address with Snowman Labs?

We hired their development team to help us finish a part of our product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Snowman Labs helped us with frontend, backend, and mobile development. The mobile development was for Android and iOS.

What is the team composition?

We had up to seven people from Snowman Labs working on this project. We also used one of their designers for a period of about three weeks.

How did you come to work with Snowman Labs?

A consultant recommended three companies to us. We got in touch with all three and chose Snowman Labs.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Snowman Labs from February 2016–August 2019. It was an almost three-year partnership.

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

It was a very good collaboration, which is why we kept them for three years. We have in-house developers, so Snowman Labs was helping us, not taking on the full project. Initially, we were planning to stick with them for 6–12 months but ended up extending the period. They’re a good company to work with.

How did Snowman Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They used our Jira, Confluence, and RocketChat. We held weekly and sometimes daily meetings as well as managed them via those tools. Our teams communicated through phone and video calls. We were handling all project management, and they didn’t assign us a manager.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I don’t know what kind of system they’re using now, but at the time, we asked them to create a custom model that'd keep the same developers for our company. We vetted different developers and basically locked them in with us, so they couldn’t be rotated to other projects. It was a way for us to effectively allow their developers to learn our technology, and with that learning curve, to provide a better service.

Snowman Labs gained experience on our code base and grew with our company. It was as though they were our own developers in terms of product knowledge and interaction with our team. They connected with us on our own chat system. It felt like they were part of our team, and that was the key element of the partnership.

When outsourcing services, the worst scenario is when a developer is changed after taking two months to familiarize themselves with our code. We asked Snowman Labs to lock in the people who would be working with us, because we were investing money in them to learn our codebase, so we could have the best use of their resources during the partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We couldn’t have had anything better than that model. It was very successful. After a period of time, they actually moved the developers working for us to their own office room so they weren’t distracted by someone else’s projects. That was very cool and it increased the effectiveness of this partnership.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Caribros. We are an incubation company and we do consulting. We prepare and hold events for other agencies and companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Snowman Labs?

Sometimes we have software projects that need to be done. My clients are technology companies, and they are the one company that I rely on when I need to do a specific event, and they do everything I need to be done on the technology side of things.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the UX/UI for the whole process of the event, from the event campaign, to creating the layout, to creating the app we have for the event. They created a map and loaded everything on it and make it work. We have had to change some UI to import things, and they were able to do that for us. They created the apps for us for iOS and Android, put them in the cloud, and published them to the App Store and the Play Store.

We are currently co-creating a new experience for digital events, where we are creating a kind of matchmaking tool for our products and offerings so users can have more information about the event. They have developed new ideas and have brought them to fruition.

What is the team composition?

We have been in contact with 4–5 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Snowman Labs?

They came recommended to us by the Soft Association of Brazil. They were part of the group that the Software Association was promoting. They proposed new ideas to us from the start.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working together since October 2017.

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

We were able to engage more people. We use the app not only as a thing that we show everyone but also as a marketing tool. We were the only booth on the show floor that had an app, and everyone was curious about it. We generated QR codes for people to download.

I think we probably had 300 downloads which was much more than we expected to have. One thing that was really good was the app had a web cycle within the landing page. I don’t exactly remember last year’s metrics, but there were thousands of clicks on the landing page and it was really good for us.

How did Snowman Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was small, so we didn’t use any project management tools on our side, but I don’t know if they use it on their side. It was a very close relationship, and it was a sprint where everything was done in a month. They were really quick at developing it for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Over the three years that we have been collaborating, everything they created and designed was always surprising. We were always out of the box and had specific constraints from our funding partner and from the event manager, but they always made it work. It was always considered one of the best layouts that were presented. They made the UX light and easier to use, and people liked it a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was only one error throughout the process, which was incredibly minute and they quickly fixed it. The color was in RGB, but it had to be in CMY, and there was a difference in color on the interface. It was really small, and I was the only one that noticed that.