Uniparticle

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the IT Director of Hegazy Group. The group is multiple subsidiaries managed by the same board and working in variety of integrated complementary businesses such as poultry, feeds, slaughter house, chicken and food manufacturing, large animal, meat, retail and distribution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had website for year. It was static, outdated and with old technology. We had a vision to build an e-commerce website. We aimed to do it into 2 phases. first phase was to use innovative technology to re-build our website while taking in consideration our vision of extra development. 2nd phase is to upgrade our presence accomplished in the first phase into the e-commerce.

SOLUTION

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

Unparticle was chosen in competition among other competitors. They gained our initial trust according to our selection objective criteria and was awarded the website phase I development contract. Criteria had addressed past experience, their demonstration to the required scope, their understanding to HG vision and addressing their anticipation to the level of development.

Their project management ability was also examined through their submittals and ability to address project management activities properly.

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

After kick-off meeting, we agreed on project plan. Uniparticle provide access to the PM tool. Mutual assignments started to get exchanged electronically. Goals and objectives were already agreed upo. Uniparticle started to by delivering mock-ups which were agreed upon. That was followed by wireframes for our site.

We went several iterations, their team designed and developed and they updated the content they received from us to reflect our company's service and created a landing page with a contact form. process is repeated for the internal pages, ultimately, we reached an acceptable level.

We then started to revise back end, authentication, administration. Uniparticle developed the required manuals in combination of videos and document writing. They developed an electronic mean in the back end of the website to facilitate delivery and reachability. The company was proactive in satisfying our needs, be patient when we got delayed to it, ultimately held several session to demonstrate deliverables and training both IT and business teams to utilize the website.

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

we were merely dealing with the project manager as focal point. We did not know exactly how much team was behind her, but when ever she needed help, she indicated that she would go to the technical team and come back to us. Team was relatively transparent to us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our measurables outcomes were mostly internal. each part of the project component got measured differently. The design part was measured by several involved stockholders. Project duration was measured against schedule considering the cause of any variances.

The deliverable were measured against contractual obligations. We used Google Analytics as indicator for our website utilization. It would be a following step to measure the effectiveness of our web presence by our marketing team

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

Primarily, Hegazy group received a PM tool at Uniparticle side. There were schedule and follow-up. HG did not really suffer from a delay from Uniplarticle part. It was the opposite. were we felt a good, consistent follow up to the project activities while preserving focus on us a customer and on our target.

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

Discipline. Customer care. Organized project manager, sympathizes to our changing needs, prompt and accurate responses to our meetings and agreements. Professionality

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

Frankly, this is one of the few times we like a partner performance. Not really.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Discovery Education, an educational technology (EdTech) company that provides a digital curriculum and resources for schools, school districts, and ministries of education worldwide. My role is senior director for projects on the international team, so I work directly with ministries of education and organizations to provide our products and services for those partners to implement change and education reform in their territories.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uniparticle?

On the international team, we needed a lot of adaptive work for our partners and needed to develop products and platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Uniparticle develops products, software, services, and applications for us and provides product support globally. They've worked on several products with us from scratch. We have our requirements for design and usability, and the team follows them for every project. 

For example, they've built a custom website from project initiation; we divided the scope and product requirements. From there, they ran ideas by our team, developed the site, and did product testing. They launched the site and now handle maintenance and iterations. The team has also built mobile apps for iOS and Android. Additionally, they create interactive content for us. They've built online simulations where users can click different buttons and see what happens to teach cause and effect. For example, they've developed a water cycle simulation where users can click to see what happens to the ground when it rains. 

The team also maintains our internal platforms and provides editorial support for the products that we use internationally. Uniparticle supports multiple languages for various products. They're also in charge of the connection to AWS hosting. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with 30–50 teammates from Uniparticle. Our contact points are Abdulrahman (CEO & Founder), Youmna (CTO & Founder), and another person.

How did you come to work with Uniparticle?

We found them through a local referral. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent close to $400,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around June 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Uniparticle has been fantastic. We've been able to launch the custom products they've developed in two Middle Eastern countries, and one of those products has over 80,000 users already. We're also launching another new product as we speak. 

As for the interactive content, the team has been able to localize over 100 of our products, and they're developing new ones. Thanks to Uniparticle's editorial support, we've seen significant cost savings by utilizing them instead of our internal teams for the product build, which has also helped with process improvement. As a result, we've been able to launch our products in Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, and Arabic in 5–10 countries. 

How did Uniparticle perform from a project management standpoint?

They always meet the deadlines, communicate well, and stay on budget, so we've never had issues there. They're also very flexible and agile; even when we're adding, adapting, or adjusting the scope last minute, they can pivot and adjust. 

They use Jira and Trello for project management. We communicate via Zoom, WhatsApp, and emails, and they use Slack internally with their engineering teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uniparticle feels like family; having a good and strong relationship with the team has been really important to us. They also really know the market and what our users want. Moreover, the team stays on top of trends and is very innovative. Therefore, their design and adaptability stand out — they're always suggesting product improvements in line with the market. They perform far beyond our initial expectations and what other vendors can offer, so we'll continue working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing they need to improve comes to mind. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to meet with Uniparticle in person and communicate regularly. I'd also suggest providing clear product requests; although we don't always do that, the team is flexible and adaptable. Still, it would be better if you could give them specific requirements to ensure they're aware of what's coming down the pipeline from a workload perspective so they can plan and adjust.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and Founder of Playdate, the UK’s first dating app for single parents

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a new tech team to take over the app’s development including optimisation, feature updates, upgrades, and UI/UX enhancement

SOLUTION

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

They were recommended to us by another trusted business that uses them for the same purposes.

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

They have been provided access to the apps existing backend and front end, many bugs and issues were detected by their team which they immediately fixed and recommended other major changes. They are now working on a new backend and a new enhanced UI/UX to make the app more competitive and optimised.

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

We have 3 team members working on our account, the MD and the CTO and a graphic designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have successfully launched and published our first app update on both app stores and fixed all bugs and are now working on the next release

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

They use Jira to communicate and update on status of projects and deadlines

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

Their response rate and efficiency

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

No