Thence: The Product Success Company

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Product Lead, a consumer lending firm headquartered in Kolkata. We provides instant loans for students and young salaried employees giving them a chance to cross the financial hurdles they face.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Thence : Product Design & Engineering?

Thence was hired to re-design the entire mobile App focusing on UX and UI keeping the brand identity intact. The focus was on improving the scalability, consistency and increase intuitiveness of the App. Our goal was to have a modern, user friendly app for the youth in India.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had reached out to several vendors online via LinkedIn and web searches. Most of the vendors were focused on client billing and project timelines. Very few understood the importance of UX research in order to understand the user pain points and create user value in terms of information dissemination through simple yet impactful design and interactions.

We had shortlisted 6 vendors. We had selected Thence based on the design framework and methodology, cost, past projects and their strong business proposal in terms of ethics and terms.

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

Thence conducted a thorough Stakeholder Interview to start with. That helped setting the business alignment on objectives with all the leaders. Thence's focus on customer value is paramount. Although, the project scope was huge and the timeline being very compact, they did not hesitate to follow the research process. They had conducted several user interviews to understand the user pain points and their perception.

Moreover, they used a lot of qualitative and quantitative data to understand our users, and their behaviors. They studied 3 primary and 3 secondary competitors to provide the landscape analysis. Their suggestions and recommendations on the players' strength and weaknesses helped us with our product benchmarking. Once the team was in sync with the goals, it was easier to work.

They had created 3 themes for the App for which we reviewed and selected the best which suits our brand message. Sometimes the flow of information between the teams were very intense. They had almost created more than 4-5 variations for each of the flows. The debates and discussions were really energetic focused on the goals and user value proposition. Once all the UX flows were ready module wise, the UI work went in parallel to optimize the time and resources.

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

Product Team worked directly with Thence's UX/UI designers along with a Product Analyst/Project Coordinator. There was one UX Lead along with a UI Designer who completed the entire project. This team was led by a Delivery Leadership team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are pleased with the deliverables and the execution. It felt at the start that 4 months would be very optimistic in terms of delivering the project but Thence pulled it off in well. We received good reactions and response from few of our customers as well.

We are in the process of developing the product in-house. All the key areas and concerns were handled seamlessly. The information architecture was handled in a very simple manner, demonstrating easy navigation and minimizing the interactions.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication between the team members were superb. It was very easy to work with the team. The Product Analyst made sure that the status reports are always on time. There were times when the team went above and beyond to make sure the project timeliness is maintained.

The brainstormed ideas were periodically shared, mostly over meetings and emails to keep everyone aware of the development. The team was aligned on the goals and that reflected positively on the product as well. The working relationship was good with the team, and we really enjoyed working with them.

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

Firstly, the entire team including the founding members are great to work with. Their unique trait for customer empathy helps build long term relationships easily. Their processes for delivering UX/UI projects are so structured that it inspires a lot of startups to build products likewise.

Their design capability was far superior in terms of quality among peers. They never compromise on quality owing to the client pressure. They always prioritizes end users which make them a great company to work with generating greater business value in the long run. We would definitely like to work with Thence again.

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

Desperate multiple positives, there are a few areas where Thence can work improve upon. Planning ahead in terms of team attrition is very critical to projects as this can throw off the timelines and can cause a few disorientation in the development trajectory. Attrition is a natural event in any industry and this in particular was very specific to our project that we had faced.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Northern Arc Capital (formerly known as IFMR Capital) is a Non-Banking Finance Company that provides access to debt for under-banked individuals and businesses in India.

Backed by Dvara Trust, Eight Roads Ventures, Leapfrog Investments and Standard Chartered PE, we lend, guarantee, co-invest in our structured-debt products, and we engage in placing debt for our clients.

Our pan-India debt portfolio is diversified across 29 states and 540 districts of the country. I am a Senior Director and Head of Digital Business here.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Thence?

For the digital design of our Lending Workflows and Products as part of our Digital Transformation

What were your goals for this project?

As a large lender most of our operations have been skewed to be largely in the offline mode. Our primary goal was to take our predominantly offline business to online. The project involved a complete redesign for extending an overhauled version of our internal technology platform to our clients as well as investors and thereby digitalize the entire lending workflow as well as our product offerings.

The larger organizational goal was to ensure complete digitization while product/platform specific goals ranged from optimizing the lending workflow to process applications faster and handle more application volumes.

SOLUTION

How did you select Thence?

We were looking for Design Agencies with a proven pedigree and an extensive portfolio in FinTech and specifically had exposure to the Capital Markets space. Thence's prior sector and domain specific case studies played a crucial role in the evaluation, as it gave us the confidence that they could understand the business better than the other contenders. We extended the evaluation further by working with Thence on a paid pilot to ensure they can meet our selection criteria.

In the evaluation, along with evaluating the flexibility of the partner, one of the key project objectives we wanted to achieve was to ensure we could offer a consumer grade product since we're a wholesale institutional lending company in our dna, we were clear that we didn't want a cumbersome B2B ERP solution as the output from our partner and wanted to bank on Thence’s experience in coming out with products that work seamlessly and can deliver the wow factor.

Describe the project in detail.

The key goal of the project was in creating a digital debt platform for financial services industries of India. The platform would be a one-of-its-kind platform where structured finance products and wholesale credit products would be offered and the ease of lending and doing business would be streamlined.

The larger aim with this digital platform was to cut down lead time to close transactions, improve transaction volumes and ensure platform scalability.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a dedicated team that consisted of their Product Analysts and Designers. This team largely ensures delivery while the leadership team works closely with us on the strategic front.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ever since we've gone live with the platform, every single term loan from Northern Arc has been digitally disbursed on the platform designed by Thence. We have over 75 NBFCs using this platform with 100% adoption.

With the entire workflow from documentation to e-stamping digitized, today all our term loans are digital term loans. This is a 360 degree change in terms of how term loans are offered in India. The overhauled platform has cut down lead time by 25% of the earlier workflow. We've also gone live with the pilot of another product, the Investor portal, and we’re hearing good feedback from the community.

Based on this positive reception, we intend to roll it out to an extensive investor base. Apart from the above outcomes, we also consistently hear that the product designs are fresh and vibrant which was one of the key objectives for us to achieve working with Thence since comparisons are often drawn to larger consumer tech products like PayTM or Google Pay.

The scalability and innovation in design, for example in dashboards, has also been constantly appreciated. Overall, it's been a sea change in the way we do business.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The attitude shown by Thence has been proactive and very hands-on in understanding the ongoing requirements and getting into the depth of the problem statement and subject matter.

The core team and anchors have been consistent throughout the project duration and that has been a key for the continued and ongoing engagement.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

On one hand, their intent to understand the problem statement and subject matter and their demonstrated ability to get into the complexity of the domain by constant probing, really stands out. On the other, they have also always been open and flexible to accommodate multiple rounds of discussions and feedback.

And if we do get stuck, there is always involvement from the leadership at Thence to clear the lockjam - this has been critical in cutting down the lead time, clearing confusions, and moving ahead with the project.

This constant leadership connect has set up the foundation for the association between the organizations to grow.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Like all good work only invites more expectations, we expect whatever we've done together as the minimum benchmark to meet and beat by Thence and would like to see them continue to contribute from a strategic standpoint offering their expertise along with their delivery capabilities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am co-Founder and CEO at India Outbound leisure travel technology startup - Vacays. Our product services the FIT leisure travel market using its proprietary Artificial Intelligence algorithm. Our primary platform is Mobile app

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Thence?

Our product is B2C and our offering was very complicated and included multiple offerings including flights, hotels, local transfers, tours and activities and Local events all intelligently bundled into one cohesive vacation using the AI algorithm. We hired Thence for complete UI/UX overhaul for mobile and web platform

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the UI/UX to be intuitive and user-friendly with minimal interactions required with user, even though service offerings was multi-dimenstional, inter-twined and complicated.

Objective was for the used to be able to create a self-service muti-city FIT customized vacation in less than a minute and offer complete customization on the itinerary in a seamless manner

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We spoke to multiple agencies through web search and our network of contacts. However we found most of the vendors just interested in billing and had limited UI./UX design capability e.g. they did not understand the concept of minimal user interactions and were tending to overload the screens and applications.

Some of them failed to understand the priority and hierarchy of information and thus their capability to represent all the information in simple structured screens was very limited. We found Thence approach very interesting and enthusiastic where they were keen on driving the product out rather than just accomplishing billing miles under their belt.

We also looked at some of the work Thence did for large B2C companies which gave us lot of confidence to work with them

Describe the project in detail.

Thence worked with us in detailed workshop where Product philosophy was discussed and dented in great detail until all team members had deep understanding of the same. They also did a market study of competitive offerings in the marked which helped them understand what we were trying to accomplish.

Once the Thence team was on the same page regarding the product philosophy, it was much easier to work with them. Key challenge was to work out the UX philosphy and they experimented a lot, worked out 4 high level UX options and shortlisted 2 of them, which were presented to us.

Once we reveiewed and seleted the UX option things started falling in place. Post that it was just a case of spending some more time to tinker with the detailed screen UX designs Thence was coming up with, until we got the final product out

What was the team composition?

We had a delivery head who was part of all meetings. There was a project manager/co-ordinator who would co-ordinate on a day-to-day basis, a UX designer for Mobile and another one to transform that onto web , a UI designer and a UI tester

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within 45 days of the launch of the project, we were very happy able to see the shape of the product coming out. In fact it was much better than what we had expected before the start of the project.

All key concerns we had were handled seamlessly including minimizing customer interactions, prioritizing information hierarchy, High volume of information presented in a simple manner and most importantly key interactions with user were made very simple

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We developed a good working relationship with Thence in the pre-sales period, which easily got transformed into a working relationship with the project team. Team was more than happy to do multiple iterations if required and was very keen to learn about and fix issues in the proposed designs.

In fact Thence waived of significant number of hours of billing, as the output did not fit the intended outcome, all without batting an eyelid. This demonstrated that they were completely focused on the customer outcome rather than just racking up billing hours. We enjoyed working with Thence on our project

What did you find most impressive about this company?

First and foremost the founders are amazing human beings and easy to build a relationship and work with. Secondly they are visionaries and focus on building long term relationship with their clients and would often sacrifice their efforts to get the customer what they want.

Another important thing is that they have vast experience on working with large B2C businesses & startups. We took their advice very seriously on the platform priortization

Lastly and most importantly their UX/UI design capability is unmatched. They will never give up, throw tantrums, or try to rip you off. They are with you forever, regardless of your situation even when clients face financial pressure. We will working with them again

Are there any areas for improvement?

Thence is fairly young organization and they are pretty good. There are some areas of improvement.. They can have better questionnaire and take certain inputs from customers regarding the existing platform capabilities, validate their assumptions before they start working out the design philosophies.

This would help them so that they don't head out in the wrong direction and are able to optimize the efforts they spend.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner of Gilda Venture Capital. We’re a new venture capital company in India. I spent 12 years in Dubai, and our group’s head is actually still there. We started our Bangalore operations two years ago. As part of our international expansion, we want to play in the space of fundraising for startups. We have two projects: a traditional venture capital fund and a platform where we connect lead and angel investors to Indian startups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thence?

We were at the product development stage of our platform and since I’m an ex-entrepreneur of an ad-tech company, I believe in the power of UI/UX. Instead of addressing that later on in the life of the business, we wanted to do it straight away.

Our team engaged Thence when we were still at the concept stage. We made up our minds to launch the platform in the form of a website and mobile app for Android and iOS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Thence designed our website and apps. They created the initial digital marketing collateral we wanted. Our team had several hours of exploratory and business discovery meetings with Thence’s three founders. Alok (COO) was the one who led the project. They took a lot of time and brought in the right team members for the various parts of the discussion with us. Once they had a clear understanding of what we wanted to achieve, they scoped out the work and shared the document with us.

We agreed on a scope of work after a few iterations, then they started customer research. There are two types of our customers: startup entrepreneurs and angel investors in the Middle East. We conducted a predesign survey with both sides. This was intended to get an understanding of whether our audience was using any of our competition’s products as well as what they liked and didn’t like about those products.

We also wanted to understand what our users’ expectations of our platform were. Once that information was captured, the Thence team sketched some initial designs, giving us a couple of alternatives for fonts and colors. We worked step by step.

Their team only designed our website and apps. Development was done by another company. Thence worked in synergy with that company to deliver the end product. Building the fundamentals of the SEO efforts was also done by another agency.

What is the team composition?

Two of their three founders interacted with me, and there was a project lead. We may have met a couple of other people in the conference room during the design stage, but mostly worked with Alok and the project owner. He handled the frontend client conversations and brought in the right people when it was necessary.

How did you come to work with Thence?

I identified 13 design and UX agencies online and after evaluating them all, I ended up choosing Thence.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $26,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Thence in November 2018. The first two weeks were spent negotiating the scope and the execution part took about three months. We wrapped up in March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The city in which both of our teams work has far too many design and development companies. It’s a very saturated market. One thing that stood out during our evaluation period is that Thence’s team members are authentic people; that feeling lasted throughout our engagement.

Thence discussed what would and wouldn’t be the right fit for me, without displaying any vested interests for the options. They educated me on why native apps would be better in terms of performance and UX, as well as what cost I’d have if I took that route. Their team provided handholding and enabled us to make the right decision for the business.

What’s more, they were always available. It seemed to me that they categorized the work between teams very well, and I never came to the point where I didn’t know who to call for what. Alok was there all the time.

There were occasions when my development team was lagging behind, and they pushed some tasks over the weekend. Alok asked his team to work on Saturday and push those designs to the development team. I consider that to be very positive behavior.

How did Thence perform from a project management standpoint?

They used some advanced project management tools, through which we could see the project’s progress at any point in time. My team and I could see new designs and screens posted on that platform at the end of every third day. The development agency also had access to the tools and could look over anything they wanted. It was a very seamless collaboration.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Thence came across as real, genuine people. They never sounded sales-like, and their business development jargon wasn’t too difficult to understand. Their team was very collaborative, and they took a lot of time to understand what we were looking to achieve. It was clear they weren’t trying to write a purchase order for themselves.

Compared to my experiences with previous projects, that sincere attitude is what really drew me to Thence. My comfort level in dealing with the people there was really high. Their design abilities are on par with other agencies, but I’d definitely give them extra marks for their client management skills.

Thence is a young team that is invested in their people. Their recruitment process is very robust. They have a well-understood, driven culture and believe in thoroughly training their people. Thence is also one of the first design agencies to start a UX lab, and they’re very forward-looking as a team. They aim to have a futuristic approach to design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Alok and his team were there during the little hiccups that did happen during the course of our engagement. There was nothing that went unresolved. Of course, there were some operational roadblocks at times, but the team always came together.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

My advice is to approach collaboration with patience. If the future client is expecting to meet the agency for 30 minutes and come out making a decision, I wouldn’t advise that — as an entrepreneur and definitely not for design.

It’s an iterative process, and no client should base their decisions on the previous work that the agency’s done, because it might’ve been done by a different team. The size of the company is not something to be in awe of because it’s not a relevant evaluation.

Thence has a business discovery workshop, and people working with them should come with enough patience and time to make a fair evaluation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder of Pidge, a hyper-local company, having two distinct arms. One is the B2C arm, which is an on-demand and secure delivery courier service where any customer can download the app.

The B2B arm is more focused around fulfillment for different kinds of clients where it ranges from large clients doing hyperlocal logistics such as meat delivery for examples like artisans and independent practitioners with more ad-hoc needs.

So, that's kind of the spectrum of the clients that we serve. There is also a significant rider element. Our service is differentiated because of the customer service and that comes from having employed riders versus the gig economy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Thence?

We worked with Thence for UI/UX design of our MVP.

What were your goals for this project?

Creating a new product from an idea is a different kind of challenge. So, We were looking for a good partner agency that could have the expertise of translating an idea into a product efficiently. Someone with enough knowledge about the market Landscape. Someone who could help us through three significant implications like, speed, diligence, and cost.

The goal was to build two apps, one was the Consumer App and the second was the Rider App. For both the apps the challenges were similar, creating the flows and processes in a unique way that has never been seen or experienced in the market before. But the structure of the two was different. The other task was how to eliminate the general complexities that customers face and to deliver a great UX.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

When I was looking for an agency, I had one question in mind, how does each agency approach these three - diligence, ambiguity, speed; and how they understand my thought process. This approach helped me to narrow down to three agencies, Agency A, Agency B and Thence.

The difference that I saw was: Agency A had a very isolated approach towards UX/UI, Agency B was more focussed on selling the project based on pedigree rather than process. While Thence, on the other hand, laid out the entire design process in front of me before asking.

Their way of explaining primary and secondary research processes, stakeholder's interviews, and other bits and pieces that when put together make a cohesive structure was phenomenal. These attributes and their way of approach attracted me a lot and created a strong sense of confidence in me that Thence is the one for my project.

Describe the project in detail.

The objective of the project was to build two apps from scratch. One was the consumer’s app and the other was the rider’s app. The products were to be built in such a way that it would remain in the memory of both our B2B and B2C prospects with respect to ease of use.

What was the team composition?

The team at Thence on our project comprised of Designers and Product Analysts led by their Delivery Leadership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Initially, we had deliverables before at the early stages of the project. But as we move on into the process and as the product grew, those initial deliverables also started to grow.

Thence was very good at adapting the evolving deliverable set by meeting deadlines and without compromising on quality. This was quite helpful and turned out to be the biggest quantification of success.

At the end of the engagement period, we had a full UX/UI set for the core code flows and many other supplementary features that allowed us to create a product and have it marketed into the market. With the designed product, within three months our repeat factor of users has gone up.

We are witnessing people coming to us from our competitors and telling us in as many words why we are different and efficient. The entire time frame from registration to first order is a maximum of 3 mins for 50% of the customers.

The product is so flexible and modular with a clear call to action that it tells the customer that they are on the app for a purpose. The product has been conducive to the changes that later came in from the market feedback. All these demonstrate product success.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication was transparent and quick. The constant availability was admirable. Thence made the whole process easy, flexible and faster for us as well by meeting the deadlines that in turn helped us in achieving our business goals.

Thence acted as an agency that was actually interested in business success rather than an agency who was trying to prove how good they are with UX/UI. The most appreciable was the way Thence was patient and flexible to the changes throughout the process.

In the end, they delivered a good project while maintaining a healthy relationship. This builds up confidence in us that we can approach them again in the future.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about Thence is one, their strong approach towards design and two, their sensitivity to clients. Thence does demonstrate empathy in their building process rather than being self-centered, this is very important to have and Thence has inculcated it in themselves strongly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is no such blanket area of improvement. There is one but only specifically with our project with respect to the sample size skew during the evaluation of the scope of the project, however, considering the limitations that we were working with this was only natural.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of PLMP Blockchain. We primarily make blockchain applications and have offices in Singapore and Bangalore.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Thence?

We hired Thence to help us redesign an existing blockchain wallet.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided a holistic UX service. They assisted us with the design after my team explained our vision. We were presented with 3–4 options for the look. They provided some UX guidance and incorporated it throughout the application. Their team also provided analysis on how the different designs would be useful for potential users. They handled the design, wireframes, and animation for the wallet. The final product has between 130–140 screens.

What is the team composition?

I worked with three people and spoke with one of the co-founders.

How did you come to work with Thence?

I came in contact with Thence through a mutual contact. After we discussed their services and I saw the previous work they had done, I knew I wanted their team for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $9,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The designs fulfilled our expectations, and we were impressed. They delivered a complete final product.

How did Thence perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was excellent. Their team was always accessible. Although we set aggressive timelines, they met every deadline even if it required working later than expected. Their team has a strong relationship with each other, and they were extremely accommodating. Any criticism was well-received. They were also willing to explain how to improve UX and other aspects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They kept up with trends. They’re one of the best when it comes to knowing the market and how to create an appealing product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

More scalability would have been helpful. If they could expand their capabilities in terms of frontend and backend integration, it’d be more convenient.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Enter the project knowing what you want. This will help improve the flow and timeline of the project. Both teams need to put in the effort and Thence will guide you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the assistant vice president of marketing for Gaussian Networks, a gaming company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Thence?

We had an internal gaming client who needed UI/UX redesign for a website. We engaged Thence to work on those designs, along with UX research and interaction design.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to identify customer needs and customer journeys and address bottlenecks in UX. We also wanted to position them as a top brand and facilitate easy navigation within an improved website architecture.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We wanted a vendor with design expertise and experience. Thence impressed us with the list of projects they had handled.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we started the project, we divided it into four phases. They first built customer profiles, then did quantitative analysis, including heat maps, surveys, and A/B testing. They built and tested a prototype before rolling out the final product.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, who was part of a team of three.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site remains in development. We’ve conducted UX testing with a focus group, which showed over 50% improvement in retention and engagement KPIs. The qualitative feedback from the business teams and users has also been encouraging, and the new UI really speaks to customers in representing a contemporary online gaming brand of this pedigree.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had two calls a week with the project manager and one client visit every month to see the progress of the project. The project manager was accessible all the time and response time was never an issue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They established high standards for quality and attention to detail, along with a customer-centric approach. That helped us match our client’s goals and elevated us in the market.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re very satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of GoldenPi Technologies. We have an online platform for retail investors to invest in fixed income instruments in India. We get data feeds from financial institutions that are fed into the system using an algorithm. It then displays the overall fixed income products to retail investors in an easily consumable way.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WinkTales?

We needed someone to design the layout of our website and work on the structure of the whole thing.

The presentation of our product is very important because retail investors often shy away from complex financial products. It’s imperative that the layout of the mobile-friendly website allows retail investors to easily understand the investment options and proceed with their investments.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the UX design for us, beginning with a lot of research. They also did some user-level testing with a set of mock customers and took their feedback. From there, they came up with some really innovative ideas around how the investment options should be represented and what level of detail should be shown.

Once we had that, their software and design team moved ahead to build the web pages, including providing frontend code. They sent it to us for review and we shared it with our customers to get feedback. There was a back and forth element to this process.

We did a couple of iterations and now we are running one of those. We’re now revamping the entire website and working on more advanced elements.

What is the team composition?

I interface with the design head mostly.

How did you come to work with WinkTales?

We started scouting, online and in our network, for companies to help us design and build our product. A few people from our network pointed out that WinkTales is quite good in this area. We looked at their work, among others, and shortlisted two or three options.

We ultimately chose WinkTales because of their previous experience and the fact that they were well established. They were very communicative during our discussions about the designs which put us at ease. Without charging anything, they gave us some ideas to experiment with and think about.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s been good. The number of visits to our online platform definitely has increased, while the number of repeat visitors has also significantly increased. We have approximately 60%–70% repeat visitors on our website.

WinkTales put in a lot of effort into the details of the platform, including what should be shown where, the coloring, the theme, the font, and more. Some of our existing customers and some really big financial institutions have given really good feedback on it.

How did WinkTales perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically work on a feature-by-feature basis. There’s a prioritized list in a product backlog that we share with them and discuss. We also visit each other in our respective offices during this process and use email and the phone.

The project management has been good. They’re very approachable and clearly identify certain points of contact in their team. Beyond that, they keep to their promised delivery schedules and are able to take on any changes or pivots smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very approachable, which makes communication easy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At times, they could improve their research into a project’s domain, in order to improve their designs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Express your requirements explicitly so that both parties are on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an associate partner in the India business of a multinational technology company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WinkTales?

We needed a team with design expertise and a user-centric philosophy to help us design and deploy two mobile apps in our internal play store. We wanted both products to work efficiently and have a strong focus on the user. Our consultants shouldn't have to spend more than five minutes a day using them

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Along with UX/UI design, WinkTales conducted UX research that was critical to ensuring the apps deliver on their objectives. These finding played an essential role in our project. WinkTales designed both apps to be seamless and intuitive so they can provide necessary information efficiently. This was both our core challenge and primary differentiator. 

The first app we created helps our consultants assess the maturity of clients who work in business areas of interest to us, like the Internet of Things. The second one aggregates news about our clients from various online publications to give our consultants an overview of this activity.

What is the team composition? 

We mainly interfaced with Prabhasa (Co-Founder, Director, and Head-Delivery, WinkTales). The UX team we worked with was comprised of a researcher, designer, and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with WinkTales?

As we were scoping for agencies, we enlisted the help of our platform to find the right team. After discovering WinkTales, we shortlisted them and took it forward from there. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere around $20,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2016–April 2017. Each application took three months to complete, and we finished them one after the other. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From an impact perspective, both applications have been well received. We've seen great reviews coming in from my internal team of consultants. They've expressed that our apps help them conduct presale conversations and keep them updated about what's happening with their clients. The assessment app has garnered positive feedback from our clients, as well. They appreciate how quickly it enables us to provide recommendations for increasing their capabilities in a particular space.

How did WinkTales perform from a project management standpoint?

WinkTales worked hands-on and worked diligently to adhere to their timelines. Since this particular engagement was just for two products, we stuck to e-mail as our form of correspondence. They provided consistent status updates and advised us on best practice.

Rather than into looking at our project as one large problem statement, they broke down the entire process into smaller milestones. Using this organized process gave us clear visibility on where we stood and what the next steps looked like. I found that commendable on their part.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We greatly appreciated that WinkTales invested due diligence in our engagement. Even before hitting the drawing board, they had their homework done and exhibited a strong work ethic. We felt confident about their design capabilities, but the research they conducted really set them apart.

This stage was especially critical because we're designing apps for use by multiple stakeholders. They translated those takeaways into actionable design hypotheses that they then executed and validated. WinkTales hands-on methodology throughout the entire design process is what really delighted us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's not really anything that comes to mind. If I had to say something, it would be to suggest they invest a bit more on the UI side. That isn’t a red flag, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d avoid rushing through the process. The phase-wise manner the team uses works well. We initially had a specific timeline in mind. Once WinkTales walked us through the entire workflow and their approach, it made sense to allocate the time they requested. I understand that deadlines need to be met, but I suggest starting early on and giving WinkTales due time to deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a home décor company. We sell paints, kitchens, bath items, wallpaper, and furnishings for homes.I’m the senior systems manager for consumer engagement platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WinkTales?

While we have a specific focus on user experience for consumers, we found that we could improve user engagement for employees and partners in a range of our mobile applications and portals. We needed to create a more engaging design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve had three or four engagements with WinkTales in order to solve our design problem.

We have an app for field contractors who are expected to respond to customers within a certain time. The app houses project management tools and allows users to generate custom reports at the end of a project, giving us visibility into completed work.

We needed a professional frontend for driving our business needs. It needed to make it easier for users to enter data and conduct interviews. We spent a lot of time with users trying to understand how they manage their work.

WinkTale’s team performed their own research with our users and came back with suggestions.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Alok [Founder, WinkTales], who delegated design tasks to his team. We communicated almost every day.

How did you come to work with WinkTales?

I found them through a common contact. We looked at three or four established candidates as part of our evaluation process. WinkTales was a new entrant at that time, but they came back with the highest number of ideas. Their turnaround time was almost instant compared to larger companies, which was a deciding factor in choosing them. They could provide a more engaged collaboration despite being a newer company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2015. We have an ongoing collaboration and have met recently for a new project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Users’ experience within the app is a key performance indicator for us. We’ve seen 99% engagement on it due to the app’s design. The apps we’d created in the past with different partners had an engagement rate of 30–40%. I attribute this increase to WinkTales’ design and technical skills.  

How did WinkTales perform from a project management standpoint?

Our experience has been great in this sense. Alok is prompt and always puts the customer before everything else. Their ability to stick to timelines has been great. We’re always demanding and asking for last-minute changes, but they manage to turn everything around.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Promptness and speed of delivery are what differentiates them from everyone else we’ve worked with. It’s also why we’re continuing to work with them two years later.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should increase their bandwidth in order to take on more work. WinkTales is clear in terms of how much work they can handle and have been growing gradually over the last year.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should become involved in the thought process early on. The more you collaborate with WinkTales’ team, the better the output will be. The company stands out from larger vendors who have formatted design questionnaires. We’ve appreciated the inclusive experience, but other clients may not be comfortable with this style.