Umber Learning Facility

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization mainly deals with ERP solutions. In India, there is a popular brand called Tally and we are the 5-star channel partners for Tally in Mumbai, Pune and the Maharashtra region in India. Primarily, all our activities involve selling Tally licenses and implementation and customization and providing complete end-to-end ERP solutions.

For the last year, we have been developing our own ERP solution that is promoted mainly for manufacturing and trading industries.  With Tally, we provide accounting and inventory control systems. These are all of our ERP software programs which are meant for handling the workflow automation for accounting, inventory, taxation, and all the business workflows.

We have been in the market since 1998. We have a total customer base of around 8,000+ mainly in the Maharashtra region. These 8,000 customers primarily belong to small or medium-sized enterprises. Tally software is very popular for them.

Our organization has 40 people at this stage. Our head office is in Pune in Maharashtra and we have a branch office in Mumbai. We have two offices at two different locations. I’m the founder and director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Umber Design?

When we initially developed our ERP software, it was a big system with a vast number of workflows typically for the manufacturing industry. We have our own development team but early in the development process, I was not happy with the frontend including the screens and the UIs. It was clearly lacking the look and feel of a professional ERP solution. That’s why we got connected to Umber, who are into the design systems. They are experts in designing and providing UI and UX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a meeting to assess what we do and what my ideas were. Umber Design handled it very nicely. They inquired about our product, its functionalities, and our target market. After they got all our information, they considered the aspects of where our product would be pitched and who would be using it, and then they provided us the consultancy services related to UX and UI.

The backend is My SQL, and the frontend is Laravel. Umber is giving us the UIs which are HTML, and they are doing the coding in the CSS. Our job is to provide them the screens, tell them the functionality of the screens, and the meaning of each and every field. The screens are then integrated into our software.

What is the team dynamic?

Mainly I was talking to Shetall [Principal Consultant, Umber Design] but also Tushar [Software Engineer, Umber Design]. They had their internal team I suppose as well.  

How did you come to work with Umber Design?

They came through reference. When we decided to search for someone who would give us the frontend designs to our ERP solutions and the screens, we assessed 3 - 4 different companies. I had a meeting with a firm which is near to Pune. First of all, they showed very little interest and their price was very high. The second firm we assessed over the telephone, but it was not very comfortable. The third firm was Umber. We had a meeting with them to judge how they would design our screens. I was pleasantly surprised that they were not keen to just know about the screens. They were keen to know about the product first, the philosophy, the culture, and the target segment. They had a complete idea about the product, and then they started. This is what was very appealing about Umber Design. We agreed on a price and we started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent 900,000 Rupees.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2016, and the project was completed last month. Their work may get extended with additions of modules. The product will probably be launched in September but we plan to continue working with Umber.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product is ready, and I am happy with the look and feel of the product, as well as its performance. I can claim the success when the first client implements the product. Wherever we show the product to our existing customers, they are happy. They showed a keen interest to use the product when it is ready to install.

How did Umber Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We divided the project into different parts functionality-wise, and we completed each module one by one. Sometimes we missed the deadlines. There were multiple meetings whenever there was confusion. Fortunately, they are in Pune and so are we, so we could resolve all these issues very quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The first and foremost thing is the approach. Their approach was different, and that’s why we selected them. They asked very clear and straight questions. Other companies wanted to know how many screens we needed because they charge by the screen. Umber said the number of screens would come later. They wanted to understand first of all how we want to enter the market, who our competitors are, and who our customers are. They were thinking from the customer’s perspective which is a distinctive factor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve in meeting the deadlines. There are times they give me a screen and it doesn’t match our requirements. There was a bit of a communication gap. They could improve in those two cases to make the delivery much faster.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

‎ I am the director of BestoSys Solutions Private Limited. Our company makes practice management software for doctors and dentists. Doctors who want to use our service subscribe and then they can use it online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Umber UX?

Most of our users are doctors who are not technically savvy. We asked Umber UX to help us redesign the interface of our app so that it could be used easily and intuitively.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had a meeting to discuss things in detail and exchange ideas. We wanted to make sure Umber UX understood the domain and the fact that our users are non-technical doctors. It turned out they had already worked on another app in healthcare so they had a decent idea about how doctors work. Umber UX then made the wireframes for the user experience flow. For example, they designed what a user sees on the screen in terms of layout, color scheme, and font proportion. The wireframe is a grayscale image, but for a few screens, we also wanted color scheming. They also helped us with that.

How did you come to work with Umber UX?

I had been looking for UX help for quite some time. I didn’t know anybody within my friends and references, so I just logged onto LinkedIn and searched for UX consulting. There, I saw the profile of one of the key people at Umber UX.  I connected with her and asked if they could help us with our app. We showed them our existing mobile app. Without any contract or agreement, they gave us a brief analysis of the things that could be improved. It was a very brief analysis, but I liked the way they put it together.

How much have you invested with Umber UX?

The cost of the project was $1,400. We are a startup, so we don’t have any funding or revenues as of now. When Umber UX was about to give us their price quote, we were really upfront about being a cost-conscious startup.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is completed. We have another project coming up and it was an obvious choice to return to Umber UX.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Umber UX had a really good questioning process that helped them understand the project requirements. They came up with the proper reasoning for anything they would propose. After some feedback and a few iterations, the final layout of the app was perfect. Also, we were able to redesign our app because of the cost advantage that they gave us.

Once we changed the mobile interface and redesigned the UX of our app, we also added a few things. Before the redesign, a doctor would log onto the mobile app to see their appointments for the day. Say a patient wanted to schedule an appointment. A doctor would have to look at their scheduled appointments one by one to figure out an available time slot. Umber UX came up with a time grid. Now, doctors can glance at the app and know their available time slots instantly. These changes were really appreciated by our doctors. There are more examples. We also included an option on the app that allows doctors to send Facebook invites or festive greetings to their patients. All of these things were hidden features inside the app that were not presented properly. Umber UX created a dedicated page that brings out all of these promotional things in a nicely laid out space. Overall, the feedback from the doctors has been really positive. They really liked that things are now more visible and intuitive on the app.

How did Umber UX perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s a small team, so there was not much of a management issue there. There were 2 or 3 people from Umber UX who worked very closely with us. I would expect a management issue with a team of over 10 people, but here it was small, so that issue never arose. We met around 2 times with Umber UX. We went to their facility, met their team, and had a long discussion with our entire front-end development team. The project complexity was not a big deal in terms of scheduling or project management, but it was still done well.

What did you find most impressive about Umber UX?

I like how Umber UX thought through the flow in detail. We have been working with doctors for a year and a half, so we thought we understood pretty much everything about their work and thought processes. But it was quite nice to see that the Umber people also came up with their own ideas. They even spoke with the doctors themselves.

Are there any areas Umber UX could improve?

This was a small project, so we were actually quite happy with the outcome. I can’t think of anything major. There might have been a few minor things here and there, but by and large, we were quite happy with Umber UX.