Vog App Developers

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a company called eJourney Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vog App Developers?

We needed to develop a safety app that handles journey management and working alone for the gas and oil industry. It was a new project for a totally new company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vog Apps built our safety app in both iOS and Android. They were able to integrate additional functionality through partnerships with another firm. They have also redesigned our website.

We met with Vince [President/Owner, Vog App Developers] at the outset to share our ideas and give him some basic information about what we were building. He wasn’t a health and safety professional so I gave him lots of information and resources to get up to speed. Within 24 hours, he came back to me very knowledgeable. He understood the process and what we were trying to achieve. He had built the backend mapping, basically a flow diagram of how the app works and how the backend system works.

They provided user experience interface diagrams and test versions, updating based on our feedback. They were able to negotiate a license for us with another app provider to integrate a mapping feature that is used to find lease locations in oil fields. They integrated that functionality seamless into our app.

We tested the app internally with our partners for more than 2 months before we launched. They continue to make some improvements on the backend and other minimal changes.

What is the team dynamic?

There was a project manager that was involved early on but left the company. Vince has been my point of contact ever since. I’ve worked with other team members including the different people who built the backend and the iOS or the Android versions.

How did you come to work with Vog App Developers?

We came across them via word of mouth. My partner’s wife is friends with Vince’s wife and I realized he built apps. We sat down for coffee and I had a good feeling about him as soon as we met. He’s high energy, smart and knowledgeable. You can tell right away that he understands technology, and he was very interested in what we were doing. After that meeting, we sent him some info to get up to speed and get started.

I had worked with another app developer in the past. Over a year and a half, he never gave me any deliverables until I was going to let him go. The deliverable I received was ridiculous: it was clear he wasn’t listening to anything I wanted. I was impressed with Vince that, after our initial meeting, he came back with a full understanding of what we were trying to build. If he was willing to educate himself like that, to that length, so quickly, then I had the right guy.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent more than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around November 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our user base is growing. We have a couple thousand users right now. We have about 16 companies on board with 6-8 more on trials right now. With 2 companies that just signed up with 4,000 and 6,000 users each respectively we’ll be over 10,000.

The app has the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of users. One client in Australia who is currently trialing it has 500,000 people. They love it and we fully expect to get the whole team on, which would be incredible for us. It’s all based on the efforts that Vince and his team have put in.

Our website redesign continues to floor people. They built it quickly, in what seemed like 2 days, and it works very well. It looks incredibly professional. Just last week I was showing it to my brother-in-law last, who owns a large company, and he was impressed with how nice it is.

How did Vog App Developers perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re in constant communication with me. We use a combination of everything – phone, email, text, personal meetings – to communicate. We'll do at least a monthly review in their office with the team to go through the app and give feedback. As we were building, they came back to me consistently and had regular scheduled meetings with me to review what they'd done, what the functionality was. Vince almost flooded me with information of what he was doing.

They’ve responded to our needs all along the way. I could phone him at midnight and say, hey this needs to do this or we need to think about this. He would put it in his system and his team would get it done. Vince delegates tasks to his team but he’s personally committed to staying involved with the project.

To tell you the truth, I probably over engineer things and they've built it the way I wanted it. They finished the first app two weeks ahead of schedule so we were able to start testing and could highlight things that needed corrected. When we explained issues that some users were finding, they made changes immediately to streamline and make it easier to use. After those changes, I’ve heard feedback that the layout is very intuitive, including the way they’ve structured the buttons, and it’s easier to use.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think it's the attention that they put on each client. If every client receives the attention and the focus that I have, I think every client would walk away thinking they’ve gained a lot of value from that relationship. I know I have. They're not a big company where they assign some mid-level guy to manage your account. I feel like I have the whole company's attention and if I need something completed or fixed as soon as possible, it's handled right away.

I was also very impressed by how Vince embraced the opportunity to learn something new and take on a different type of project. I can't really speak to the other apps that they’ve built but I know this is a very heavy and difficult one to build. I was excited about how enthusiastically he took on the project, understanding and learning it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They didn’t charge me enough. I've shown the app to other app builders that I know and trust, and they have said they wouldn’t build it for less than $600,000. They have invested too much time in it based on what they charged, so they’ve probably done themselves a disservice there. But I think it’s because they see the value in building something new in the health and safety segment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They could try to institute use of a project management tool to use together, as a place to track all the inputs and information for the project. Vog Apps tried to introduce one to us to use but we ultimately went back to text, phone calls and emails. A tool to track project management could be beneficial to clients going forward.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

we are owners of a DVC timeshare Resale and Rental ecommerce business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vog App Developers, and what were your goals?

We have a new company and we hired VOG to come in and make some website adjustments and enhancements.

SOLUTION

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

We were referred to VOG from another company that we were doing business with. The deciding factor was our comfort in speaking with them and knowing they had our current and future business needs covered. We felt they were genuine in wanting to take care of us.

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

I am not very tech driven. They had a great understanding in PHP and Wordpress which was very useful since our site was created in these 2 platforms.

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

We have had 3 main contacts, the owner, Project manager and developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

it is too early to answer this question.

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

Communication has been excellent. We have had video conferencing, phone calls and LOTS of email communication. Communication has far exceeded our expectations.

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

Professionalism, Personal comfort in communication.

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

They far exceeded our expectations, keep doing what you are doing and your future customers will be happy.