UXDA

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of Digital Experience for GCash, the Philippines’ #1 e-wallet. We provide financial services such as sending and receiving money, online payments, bank transfers and the like. We have also expanded to other services such as lending and insurance.

For what projects/services did your company hire UXDA?

To further the expansion of our services, we have been looking into offering investment options for our users, specifically for Funds, Stocks and Crypto and we hired UXDA to help create for us a full investment experience, mainly targeted towards first-time investors who are not very knowledgeable but are curious about how to grow their money.

How did you select this vendor?

Together with our Platforms team, we researched and found seven possible vendors who we could work with for this project. Our criteria mainly focused on a balance of expertise and cost.

We met with all the vendors, discussed their case studies to see not just their output but also their thought process and we came to the conclusion that while UXDA was not the most affordable option, we would be able to work best with them to achieve the experience we desired for our users as we saw that they placed great importance in understanding and anticipating the needs of potential users.

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

Before the actual design process, UXDA met with various people from GCash - Experience Architects, Designers, Product Owners, Business Intelligence - to learn about the various customer segments we were targeting and the different types of products that would be housed in GInvest.

Using this information, they conducted their own research and overlaid their findings with our own data to create personas so we would be on the same page as to who we wanted to talk to and how best to deliver great experiences for them. We went through about 3 months of process mapping and experience flows and once sorted and agreed, they began developing lo-fi screens.

We would receive these screens on a weekly basis and either meet to discuss feedback or exchange comments directly on Figma and via email. Post-approval of these screens, they would then create the hi-fi versions. This was not a linear process.

Several chunks of the experience were done in parallel. We are now coming close to concluding the project and majority of the screens are already finished and the remainder of the work to be done is focused on things like badges and animations.

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

My team worked with their UX Architects and Designers.

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

Throughout the project, we were always on track in terms of timelines and I believe that we have had a very harmonious working relationship with UXDA. The flow they have developed for our customers is easy and close to seamless, and the designed screens are beautiful and well thought-out.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had great communication with them. All the reports came in a timely manner, agreements were properly documented and they were just very easy to work with.

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

More than delivering great screens, I was most impressed by their attention to detail in terms of learning about our customers. This was not an easy feat considering we were only working together online and our culture and country’s economic state is quite unique.

I believe they also fully understood our intent which was not to just deliver a product, but something that could truly help uplift and change people’s lives in the long term.

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

none

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Operations for a quantitative hedge fund based in Chicago.

For what projects/services did your company hire UXDA?

The investor onboarding process for hedge funds is a complex and fragmented process and prone to error. We wanted to streamline this process to provide our investors with a positive experience from the moment they first interact with us. We hired UXDA to help create a platform that our investors would enjoy using and find value in, all the way from onboarding to tracking their investments with us over time.

How did you select this vendor?

We searched online and selected our top few vendors and interviewed them. UXDA's stunning design and experience with financial systems were what stood out as a top choice for what we were looking for.

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

UXDA conducted thorough interviews with our team to fully understand the exact step by step of our investor onboarding experience. From there, they created a user flow experience in Figma that my team could collaborate and comment on to ensure all wireframes were accurate and approved prior to moving forward with design and branding.

They produced multiple iterations based on our feedback and provided easy-to-use spreadsheets to track the progress of the project over time. They were agile in pivoting priorities based on the needs of Magma and easy to get in contact with via both email and Slack.

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

My team worked primarily with the UX/UI designer on video calls with a few other developers included on the Figma tool.

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

We are thrilled to have a beautifully branded and easy-to-use concept from UXDA. We are now working on the development of this platform with our developers, we just launched the first version of the portal last week and are looking forward to sharing it with our new investors.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The PM was easy to get in contact with, especially considering the time zone difference. We met regularly on video and UXDA was always prepared with an agenda to keep meeting on track. We also communicated asynchronously via Slack and email which allowed the team to collaborate outside of the meetings to keep the project progressing.

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

UXDA did an outstanding job reading our 300-page document and putting it into a simple, step-by-step process without our help. I was truly impressed with how well they did on their first attempt to create a user flow for Magma.

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

If I had to pick something to improve, it would be to have decreased the amount of grammatical errors and typos on Figma. My team spent a lot of time editing the phrasing on our screens to be more concise and to edit spelling errors. This is a challenge considering our platform is in English, not Latvian.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and founder of a global financial technology company, that is building the digital infrastructure for the private wealth industry.

For what projects/services did your company hire UXDA?

our web application had an outdated user experience and a 5 yr old design. We hired UXDA to create a new design and improve the user experience

What were your goals for this project?

create a design for a new version of our system within 4 months so development could begin and the first product launched would be complete within 12 months of hiring UXDA.

How did you select UXDA?

Their team had specific industry experience. I didn't have to teach them our industry - very important.

Describe the project in detail.

UXDA was responsible for understanding my vision and taking the vision to create a new UI/UX. I would create sketches in powerpoint, explain them, and the rest UXDA did.

What was the team composition?

I believe we had a team of 3 to 5 people from UXDA. I was the only person on my team dedicated to the project which meant UXDA had to do most of the work.

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

we are currently developing the application based on completed designs. Early indication is very positive from clients who have seen the new look and feel.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Fantastic. One of the best I have had. They were quick, detail oriented, and had strong follow up.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their knowledge, focus, and flexibility were all impressive. The people are smart, nice, and fun to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

actually no.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a mobile banking startup in its early stages.

What challenge were you trying to address with UXDA?

We’re building prototypes to attract investors in order to build the app and subsequently attract clients. We had lots of ideas for potential features but needed a partner to organize our thoughts into an actual prototype.

What was the scope of their involvement?

UXDA conducted industry research to discern the best industry practices. They also conducted research on a local level by interviewing people belonging to our target demographics.

Adhering to a structured research methodology, they also interviewed stakeholders. Lastly, they implemented a number of design documents along with the final prototype.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was a project manager who drove most of the process. They had an engaged and talented team.

How did you come to work with UXDA?

I was put in touch with them through a personal contact.

How much have you invested with them?

We operate on a success-fee based model, but we’ve spent somewhere between $25,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2019 and wrapped up in September of the same year.

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

The team exhibited an impressive level of engagement with the project. Their intelligence and experience, coupled with their enthusiasm, really made for a great experience. The designs solicited a very positive emotional response from the select few that we’ve shown them to.

The team has followed a unique methodological approach while maintaining the flexibility to take our needs into account. They delivered the final product while giving us materials to scale the product accordingly.

How did UXDA perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Invision for sharing prototypes, and WhatsApp for communication. We didn’t use any unusual software.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take ownership of the project because they want to be proud of the end result. They put their creative sweat into the engagement to create something truly great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This wasn’t a problem for us because our target demographic does not consist of English-speakers. However, some companies might appreciate an improvement in English-language deliverables.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared and willing to brainstorm together. Share as much information and as many ideas as possible, because the team can only do as good a job as the information they’re provided.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the innovation manager at ITTI Digital, a company developing software for financial institutions.

What challenge were you trying to address with UXDA?

The business goal was to create a new interface, keeping in mind the user experience. We already had an application that solved our business requirements, but it was more than ten years old.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at UXDA was tasked with designing the whole interface of a new application we were building. Based on our previous app, we started from scratch before UXDA took over the UX/UI design. We created the designs little by little, beginning with the wireframes.

Before the design took place, we completed a lot of research. We conducted interviews based on questions that they sent us and sent them back the answers. They also researched our competitors and how we used our older application. We produced a motion video as well. It displayed how the application was going to function.

What is the team composition?

There were multiple people on their team with different roles. I mainly worked with their UX architect, who had a team of UX and motion designers. I believe there was a specialist architect as well.

How did you come to work with UXDA?

I saw a tweet from Alex (Founder & CEO, UXDA), in which he talked about a new design for banking applications. The design was not what we’d usually find in the market. Following that, I investigated the project more while evaluating competitors using Clutch. Because of their focus on designing financial applications, I chose UXDA.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with UXDA started in January 2019, and the design project wrapped up last month.

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

After each delivery, we made a presentation to the local team. All of the reactions were excellent. The result was the video was quite spectacular. Everyone reacted positively and were eager to start using the system.

How did UXDA perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Google Meet for meetings, Slack for chatting, and Basecamp for file sharing. Having interviews was sometimes difficult due to the distance and the language barrier.

They sent us weekly progress reports. The reports detailed what was being worked on, how many hours were being dedicated, and what the next goals and deliverables would be. The whole process with UXDA’s team was clear.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were the first company we’ve used for UX/UI design, and it was a perfect experience. Not only did their team give us the deliverables we wanted, but we also learned a lot about the whole process. We learned that, besides design, we could focus on the UX and what the user wants. It was a different approach than what we were used to. With this new process, we considered the feelings and necessities of the user of the system.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While I think Basecamp is a bit of an outdated application, it did meet our objectives.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s good to have an understanding of what you want to achieve. It allows UXDA to solve the tasks faster.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Famacash.

What challenge were you trying to address with UXDA?

We needed UX design services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have our own developer to implement the design, but they created it based on original research. They also produced multiple user profiles for us.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 people including an information architect, creatives, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with UXDA?

I found them online.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent close to $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since October 2018.

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

We haven’t deployed the solution yet, but everything looks good at this point.

How did UXDA perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very good. We collaborate over Basecamp and Skype, and they maintain a project schedule. We have weekly meetings to discuss deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They excel at taking ownership of and managing the process. It’s like they’re our own employees.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they're pretty good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re great to work with and they deliver good results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a strategic project manager at a banking group.

What challenge were you trying to address with UXDA?

There is an extremely fierce competition in our region the field of digital banking. In order to stay competitive, our bank has decided to do a complete overhaul of our digital services and products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with UXDA to redesign the frontend of our digital banking system. They initiated the process with stakeholder interviews to get a better understanding of our goals. Once our preferences were identified, they developed UX-optimized designs for desktop, mobile responsive, iOS, and Android.

What is the team composition?

We talked with UXDA’s CCO in the beginning, but we started working with the project manager after signing the contract.

How did you come to work with UXDA?

We reached out to them after seeing the design that they produced for our backend developer. Although they didn’t participate in our tender process, their portfolio was a lot more diverse than the six companies that submitted their work to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between €70,000–€80,000 (approximately $80,000 – $91,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

They started redesigning the platform in May 2018. As of November 2018, 99.9% of the work has been completed.

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

Our stakeholders are thrilled with the platform’s innovative design and straightforward functionality.

How did UXDA perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t have any complaints about their management efforts. When we made last-minute adjustments to the timeline, they were able to produce deliverables at a rapid without compromising their quality.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In addition to their wealth of design knowledge, UXDA has a deep understanding of the digital finance industry. There were times when their concepts were too difficult for us to comprehend, but they were always able to articulate their vision in a manner that made sense to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our only criticism is that they charge an extra fee for Skype sessions.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a financial loan platform. We specialize in hospitality, transportation, and business loans.

What challenge were you trying to address with UXDA?

Our online application portal was predominantly designed for the hospitality sector. Once we started branching out into the transportation sector, we realized we needed a custom solution tailored to that industry. After some research and internal discussions, we hired UXDA to assist the UI/UX design of a new broker portal.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They held a couple of meetings with us to make sure we were the right customer for them. They assessed our needs and how they could potentially benefit us. Once that was established, the relationship felt very natural with few surprises. They conducted relevant market research and asked us valid questions. This enabled us to provide them with valuable feedback and even made us question some assumptions we’d made regarding our expansion.

We started the engagement by showing UXDA what the platform currently looks like and communicating the feedback we’ve received on it. We also described the specific challenges our in-house team experienced while designing the new interface. We do our best with a small group, but we needed UXDA’s assistance complete the project.

They had a clear project plan from the beginning. We didn’t have the management resources to allocate to this project, so it was up to UXDA to decide a strategy, plan design stages, get feedback from brokers, and conduct usability testing. They presented the results and everything was executed flawlessly.

What is the team composition?

Karlis (UX Architect & Consultant, UXDA) primarily ran the project. He collaborated with us on the creative direction and did most of the design work. We also interacted with their chief commercial officer.

How did you come to work with UXDA?

I searched google for UX providers that specialize in fiscal platforms. UXDA appeared in high in the search results. I looked through their client profile and noticed that they designed some products within our industry that had impressed me in the past. I didn’t bother looking any further. I knew I wanted them on this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from January­–April 2018.

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

The final product hasn’t launched yet. We’re about a month away from an official internal launch. We’ve shown demos to our business development managers and everyone is ecstatic. UXDA delivered a product that we’re proud to show clients. We’re currently in the final planning stages of our next customer portal and we’ve already approached them to join that project as well. We haven’t considered anyone else. They did such a good job that we’re happy to give them more work.

How did UXDA perform from a project management standpoint?

We asked questions and scheduled meetings via email. The meetings took place over Skype where we’d ask further questions and make sure everyone was on the same page. As the engagement progressed, they’d use those meetings to showcase the deliverables. Karlis was an absolute delight and accommodated our significant time zone difference. He was always excited to work on our project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They weren’t just interested in completing the project and collecting a paycheck. Instead, they tried to learn everything they could about the market to discover how to best solve our problem. They even sought input from other industry professionals to anticipate the needs of our clients using the system. UXDA went above and beyond.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d like to see them integrate more web content into their deliverables. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared to think about your problem and the start the engagement with a possible solution in mind. Don’t just unload a multitude of issues on them from the beginning. A collaborative approach brought out the best in our product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product development for CR2 Channel Banking Software. We’re an independent software vendor selling software for channel banking along with mobile apps and ATMs for the Middle East and Africa. 

What challenge were you trying to address with UXDA?

We wanted to find a firm that had significant experience, a good reputation, and a portfolio in the channel banking space. We needed to update our mobile app. Because we’re a software vendor, we need to compete with other vendors in the same space, so the product had to be excellent. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a call initially to talk about how we would work together, and they proposed an effective process. We decided we wanted to meet them in person. We met near their offices and went through our requirements. We agreed that we would come up with a couple of designs for internet banking, and they worked with our existing system to design a new user interface [UI] and follow that up with a similar mobile app. They looked at multiple skin variations. In the end, they provided a UI case, wireframes, and Photoshop and illustration work with video and animations.

They assigned Arita as our account manager, and we dealt directly with her and gave her constant feedback. We had fairly regular phone calls where we would ask questions or clarify items for their team.

The target market for our product is retail bank customers. We offer payment services that are easy to extend where banks can interact with their own payment systems. We have design tools to help them build and modify the app beyond what we deliver initially. They can extend their view of the mobile journey beyond the product we give them as a reference implementation.

UXDA didn’t work on anything besides the design and frontend of the app, but they did similar work for the frontend of the online banking site, which provides responsive internet banking for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.

How did you come to work with UXDA?

Two or 3 people referred them to us, and we did some research online. We contacted them to make an appointment to talk about the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000 and $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2017, and we collaborated on an aggressive timeline for 3 months. The project has been completed, but I contact them with small tasks now and then. 

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

The app hasn’t been launched because we still need to build it using their designs. We intend to launch near the end of this year. We asked UXDA to generate some videos representing what the app would look like in action, and we’ve been able to share that with a number of customers and sales folks. Their feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. In a few cases, we generated considerable interest.

How did UXDA perform from a project management standpoint?

They were superb. We didn’t have any issues at all. We worked with an account manager, and she dealt with every question to make sure we were happy. She listened to any negative feedback we had and immediately followed-up to ensure changes were made.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed by their specialization and the fact that they have all the tools, equipment, and processes to do what we wanted. They aren’t a generalized design agency. I thought their process for feedback and follow-up was superb. The whole team knew what they were talking about.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of the e-business division for Citadele bank, responsible for the bank's e-channels. We provide daily banking services and private-capital management for private individuals and businesses in the Baltic countries.

What challenge were you trying to address with UXDA?

We needed to create a mobile banking app which would help customers work online, and also attract new customers. We had an existing app which offered 2 main services: checking an account’s balance and its payments. It had been built in-house, and we weren’t sure that it was the best solution we could offer to customers. Our challenge was to build the best mobile banking app in the region, which would help our customers switch from online banking to mobile banking and attract new customers. We reached out to UXDA, asking for an independent view.The app had to be simple so UXDA had to deal with the complexity coming from the fact that app had a significant role in attracting and onboarding new customers as well.

What was the scope of their involvement?

UXDA was originally asked to audit our existing app, as well as conduct interviews with customers, in order to gather independent feedback on how it worked. For the second initiative, UXDA helped draw out user journeys and created wireframes. They again spoke to some users, but to a more limited extent. The main interviews had been conducted during the audit, and nothing much had changed.

We had a brainstorming session in order to set expectations for the new app. UXDA performed market research and reviewed our documentation. We were asked what our company wanted to offer to customers, and, based on this, UXDA started to prepare user journeys. We reviewed them over Skype calls every other day, going through what had been completed so far. They made corrections when needed.

We didn’t work in the same office, even though I would have wanted to have more face-to-face conversations, but we were able to work as a team over Skype. Unfortunately, after 2 months project was stopped, but it was due to other internal decisions made by the Bank.

How did you come to work with UXDA?

We already had previous experience with UXDA (they did our current mobile app audit) so we decided to go a step forward and let them help us to create the new app, so as to not make the same mistakes we had with our current app. We initially found their team 2 years ago, after I found their website accidentally, and saw that we were located in the same city. We met each other and had a discussion, but we didn’t have any projects at the time.

When we started to consider an audit, we decided to give UXDA a try. We liked the company and their experience, and it was important for us to obtain a quick result on the second engagement, so we didn’t go into a long tender process for choosing among multiple companies.

How much have you invested with UXDA?

The cost of their work was between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the first project with UXDA in autumn 2016, and worked for 2-4 weeks. The second project began in January 2017, and was stopped after 2-3 months, around March, because of an internal decision. Both my team and UXDA’s were disappointed, and we did try to resume it, but it didn’t happen.

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

Our management was happy with what had been done, but, due to other priorities, the work was set aside. It will probably resume at some point. The final deliverable was a design concept for the app’s main user journey around account balance checks and payments, which are 2 important areas for our customers.

We implemented many of the changes suggested by UXDA, even before the audit came to an end. We saw an increase of mobile app users and the number of payments done through the app, month-by-month. This may not have been wholly because of the work we did with UXDA, though.

How did UXDA perform from a project management standpoint?

They did well, but I would have liked to have more face-to-face, on-site conversations. We are UXDA’s only local customer, so they mainly work remotely, and are used to this type of daily business.

The scope of the project was challenging to fit within the deadline, so we decided to reduce the scope, in order to at least get a significant result for the management, before the work would be paused.

What did you find most impressive about UXDA?

We were impressed by UXDA's passion, speed, and their ability to deliver quick and reasonable solutions in situations where we seemed to be stuck. Taking the scope into account, the project deadline was very challenging. As the deadline approached, we had to decide if we wanted to prolong the project or reduce the scope. We decided to reduce the scope.

I don’t have a good comparison point, but I would definitely work with UXDA again if I had the opportunity to. They are experts in banking and finance, and it is their main strength. It was easy to work with the team, and we could achieve things quickly by not having to explain the meaning of each service. With other companies we’ve used for projects like our website, it was tough, and it took a long time to explain that a bank was not an e-commerce shop.

Are there any areas UXDA could improve?

They are experts in banking, which is very good, but, on the other hand, if the client wanted to step outside of the daily banking routine, and offer something new to customers, UXDA’s team finds it harder to think outside the box. They were afraid to offer some radical changes, ones which banks don’t usually approach. This was what we particularly asked for and expected from them, and I told UXDA numerous times that they should forget the classic bank model.