WeDevelop LLC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a wholesale distributor of construction materials, leaders in the field in Argentina. I am in charge of marketing and new technologies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired We Develop LLC with the intention of developing a sales APP for our customers and internal vendors. We aim to be the first in the field with technology of this type, and continue our work together to innovate.

SOLUTION

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

We worked with them previously on another project which turned out excellently. There are two decisive factors: the excellent quality of the product, and the predisposed work team

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

We had a clear scope of work. We knew the features we wanted and together with We Develop we analyzed them in depth, and after 2 weeks of analysis we started development. They integrated the app with our ERP, and there our clients can place orders, budgets, see their checking account among many other features. Approximately 1 month ago we launched with the test app for internal use of the company.

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

we had a clear scope of work. We knew the features we wanted and together with We Develop we analyzed them in depth, and after 2 weeks of analysis we started development. They integrated the app with our ERP, and there our clients can place orders, budgets, see their checking account among many other features. Approximately 1 month ago we launched with the test app for internal use of the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app is still in testing, but so far we have received very good reviews.

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

We will always be grateful to our project manager. He was a great guide throughout the project, achieving excellent communication between us and the development team. They have good team dynamics, and they deliver work quickly. And very important, he always spoke to us honestly regarding working times.

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

The work team. There was an incredible work synergy between all of us, we always treated each other with respect, understanding each other's times.

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

If we stop to think about it, there are no improvements to propose, they are a company that has everything measured and adjusted.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a technology company that provides white-label offerings for the health and wellness industry. Starting in 2017, we work with a variety of boutique fitness studios, personal trainers, and military organizations. I’m the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WeDevelop?

We built a product but were struggling to scale when customers were rapidly onboarding at the start of COVID-19.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their CTO had worked on our product in the past as part of our team before he became independent. For this project, he had to rebuild several sections of our technology. He was able to quickly wrap his head around our technology and determine a roadmap for bringing our product to market in a way to better meets customer needs.

We were originally an aggregate platform that allowed people to offer their fitness and personal training classes all in one place. When COVID-19 hit, customers wanted white-label options. They helped us pivot to that.  

What is the team composition?

We’ve had three core, consistent engineers. However, we’ve scaled their team up to 10 resources depending on the scope of our need. That helped us manage cost and allowed us high-quality resources on an as-needed basis. For instance, we may request an additional iOS developer when focusing most heavily on mobile app development.

How did you come to work with WeDevelop?

I approached their Abel (Co-Founder & CTO), who I had worked with in the past, to see if he could support our project. He quickly took it on to help us achieve our desired scale. 

How much have you invested with them?

On their services, we’ve spent between [confidential cost] on their work. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started collaborating around February 2020, and our work is definitely ongoing.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When working with them, I had confidence that we could effectively deliver the product through sales and marketing pushes. We set shorter milestones to ensure that they were able to deliver our required features on time and on budget.

Because they’re innovative and expert communicators, they’re often able to help me find better ways to meet customer needs than we previously considered. That opens up conversations about customers,  allowing us to design better features on an agreed-upon timeframe.  

How did WeDevelop perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira and Slack as our primary communication tools. That allowed me insight into their progress and timeline. Additionally, we have a weekly meeting with them to review features and progress.

There, we set priorities as necessary. I’m able to track long-term features and goals in Jira without impacting the team’s day-to-day workflow. Jira is a robust platform, and they’re competent project managers that use modern tools to facilitate efforts. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a well-rounded team, which is conducive to troubleshooting, having difficult conversations, and getting timely responses to urgent requests. They’re uniquely easy to work with because they’re true relationship-builders. It’s apparent that they work as a unit with respect to each other’s skillsets.

Especially during COVID-19, it’s important to be able to have conversations on a human level for understanding and efficiency. They’re great at being transparent in communication, which I’m very grateful for. They have a supportive, collaborative culture.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It took us a while to determine the limitations of using iOS for this project and should have made the call to pivot away from iOS sooner rather than later. That’s the only business problem we’ve run into with them.