SWARM

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former mobile product manager at a data insights company. One component of our service was providing usage and download insights for mobile apps based on data from various sources. One of those sources was our in-house portfolio of mobile apps and SDKs, for which I was responsible.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SWARM?

We engaged Swarm for the engineering and design requirements and development of our portfolio of mobile apps and SDKs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SWARM helped us strategize for growing the user base for our portfolio of mobile apps and SDKs. Their work included user research, mobile design and development, as well as assisting with issue resolution and bug fixing. We occasionally also leveraged their expertise in defining and executing our marketing strategy for the mobile portfolio.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about five senior employees, including UX designers and mobile engineers.

How did you come to work with SWARM?

SWARM was engaged by our chief product officer prior to my joining the company. As such, I inherited the engagement, which was very fortunate for me as I could hit the ground running with their help.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $16,000–$20,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in January 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We relied on them exclusively for our mobile needs because they were such a great partner. They helped us overcome roadblocks and were instrumental in our success.

How did SWARM perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Trello and Jira to track tasks and accomplish goals. The team was nimble and agile, and everything was well documented.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They helped us with projects outside of their purview, such as our marketing plan. We had a great working relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Oral communication was occasionally an issue. But their written communication and meticulous documentation more than made up for it.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If your organization is new to mobile development, work with SWARM to determine your needs. They can help you build out your mobile project and meet your goals in an agile and iterative manner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a new social platform currently available on iOS. We provide a couple of new features which differentiate us from the other social platforms on the market. The main ones are that users can post in their own handwriting and create their own emojis. We're trying to add extreme personalization for our members.

I am the founder and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SWARM?

We knew that the fundamentals of messaging could be done easily, but we didn't know whether the two unique differentiators we were trying to add were technologically feasible. They were able to answer an incredibly important question, product viability.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our challenge hadn't been done before, but SWARM did a superb job of testing our platform over a quick one-month run. I've worked with overseas contractors, and there was not a lot of transparency upfront in terms of discovery processes. SWARM prioritized the most important part for us, which is viability.

The second phase was a general wireframing and information architecture process, during which we saw how all the pieces fit together. We went into a design and actual engineering phase, followed by quality assurance and upkeep, making sure that all features were working within industry standards. SWARM provided full services for the production of our app. Our platform is iOS-exclusive.

How did you come to work with SWARM?

I work in New York City and have been involved in past tech startups. I reached out to local connections and got some recommendations. SWARM was referred to me by a successful NYC tech startup founder.

How much have you invested with SWARM?

The full scope of the project was between $50,000 and $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SWARM in March 2016. The project was finalized in October of the same year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app has five stars on the App Store. We've received some brief write-ups in publications including Product Hunt, which is focused on new products, and reached the front page of Reddit. We've seen a mix of traditional media attention and generic user review feedback, which was also positive.

How did SWARM perform from a project management standpoint?

SWARM assigned a project manager for us and set up tools for keeping us up to date on the design and development progress. We were brought in for every stage and could post feedback on what we did and didn't like. We knew what our deadlines were for each task, and could communicate directly with each team member.

What did you find most impressive about SWARM?

SWARM was able to undergo a technological feasibility/discovery process. They have a lot of depth in terms of tech talent, and I don't believe that another firm would have been able to tackle many of our more technical questions.

Are there any areas SWARM could improve?

No. It was a seamless, straightforward process, and I'm satisfied with SWARM.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

EmojiFace is an app startup that allows users to take a photo of themselves and turn it into an emoji that looks like them. Users are able to send this emoji on any application.

What is your position?

I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SWARM?

I needed help improving the app. What I had built was very basic and wanted to bring them in to design and build out a better version.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They did both design and development on iOS. I didn't want to do Android yet.

How did you come to work with SWARM?

I believe I found them on Clutch. I called and had a great conversation with the founder of SWARM. I had the most faith in them because they were high-end without being incredibly expensive. I felt it was the best deal for the price I was paying and the quality I could get out of it.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I spent about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I'm working with them on one-off projects now. I'm currently in the process of raising money to build out a new version and will be using them when I have that money.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We had a lot of growth after we released their version. We were probably at 100,000 downloads before and now we're at 400,000.

How did SWARM perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great with regard to project management. SWARM was the best among any firm I've worked with. Their scheduling, response time, and general communication were all great.

What distinguishes SWARM from other providers?

Their design is above and beyond anyone else I've seen in New York. That's their strength.

Is there anything SWARM could have improved or done differently?

No. It was very smooth. I didn't have any issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is called Matchbook. We have an iOS app that lets users save restaurants – either restaurants they love or want to try. It's about closing the gap between the restaurant owner and the patrons. 

What is your position?

I'm the lead software developer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SWARM?

We were having problems with user retention. We wanted to find ways to get users back into our app. SWARM has been really great and helpful in improving our retention rate.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

SWARM provides mostly strategic guidance and a little bit of UX/UI [user experience/user interface] design help for us. 

How did you come to work with SWARM?

We are actually based in a co-working space with SWARM. We both are in the same area. After talking with them, we were sure they could help us.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I don't have those numbers for you.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We are rolling out some emails to the users. We've been getting good responses. We actually submitted the second one yesterday. The first one we sent was around 20 percent. That was a month ago. We have more than 20 percent this time. It's improving already.

What distinguishes SWARM from other providers?

SWARM is a great small team. It's great to interact with them. 

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

From the experience we had with them, we're happy. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Product Lead for a print publishing platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We engaged SWARM to assist with our video delivery website. We are a major print publishing platform and used WordPress as the web backend to host videos for the web portion of our OTT service. We hired SWARM to improve the user experience of the WordPress site as well as look for opportunities to improve both with the interactive design and code for the site.

SOLUTION

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

We were aware of SWARM’s reputation for partnering closer with clients not only to deliver engineering solutions, but to deeply integrate with our teams and look for ways of improving the overall design and function of our web channel. We liked SWARM’s holistic approach of considering all areas of the project and their ability to offer expertise across all points.

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

The partnership began as a 12-month contract with ongoing support for our website. We wanted to work with SWARM to improve traction for the site specifically around retaining current users. SWARM did two months of up-front UX work, during which they planned out scope for improving the site in iterations. It wasn’t a full site redesign.

Instead they were looking at ways of improving on what was already there. Working with their product and product engineering teams, they were able to uncover underlying issues with the architecture of the site and work to improve them to increase quality of the UX without a drastic change to what users already expected. We see SWARM’s work on the site as incredibly valuable from a strategic standpoint.

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

We work directly with their account manager and product design lead each week on setting goals. At various points in the project there have been additional product managers, product engineers, and analytics leads to help with specific aspects of the work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are working with their team to co-create success metrics around bounce rate as it relates to speed and reliability on the site. SWARM readily addresses bugs and fixes on a weekly basis which helps with uptime on the site. With continued work on the site, we’re looking forward to measurable performance increases now that we know what to look for.

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

Because we are in an ongoing relationship with SWARM, they meet with us once a week to address long term strategy. The work is broken down into two week sprints generated from a backlog that we co-created, refined, and approved with SWARM.

In addition to a weekly check in call, each week SWARM provides us status updates via email as to the hours used and tasks completed so that we are aware of the work that was performed that week. For issues that crop up outside of the long term planning, such as bug fixes, SWARM is available by email and phone to address concerns readily. In emergency situations they’ve addressed issues within minutes.

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

We really like the prompt speed in which that SWARM addresses issues. It’s nice to have a partner that is able to both think of the long term and also is available at the drop of a hat to address an issue. We have also been impressed by the breadth of knowledge and services offered. They provide a high-touch experience that you don’t always see in this industry.

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

Smaller fixes were addressed quickly, but we had to work to develop a feedback system to ensure the fix was communicated to all stakeholders.