Whalla Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We have about 2,000 workers. I am the product owner of a mobile application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whalla Labs?

I worked with them on a project for mobile applications. They were the software house and they did some research in UI/UX [user interface/user experience]. We wanted to have a good partner that could absolve some work from us. We decided to choose a small company that would give a fresh view of the market and users.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with Whalla Labs?

We sent a brief out and I found them from talking with other people who gave good recommendations of them.

How much have you invested with Whalla Labs?

The project was around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have worked together six months and are still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project was really successful for us and we are very satisfied. The project was difficult because we had to migrate the users from one format, like a digital PDF, to a mobile application. Our users are happy as well. We have shared our results with others in the company and they’ve been successful with other work in the company.

What did you find most impressive about Whalla Labs?

Their focus on UX is good because it’s very user-centric, and it’s very important to design things for users and not just for us to make money.

Are there any areas Whalla Labs could improve?

When we started, they were a very small team, and now they are growing so fast that there may be some minor project management issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're in the financial sector, and I'm in retail banking. The company is the fourth-largest bank in Poland. We have approximately 7,000 employees. I am project manager focused on projects dealing with mobile banking.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whalla Labs?

They were hired to make an audit of the code of an application that we developed, which was a mobile retail banking app for Windows phones. They did the entire app. We made some changes in the application mainly as it pertains to quality and speed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on C# and specific language on the Windows phone. There was something else from the backend side, but I don't remember what it was.

How did you come to work with Whalla Labs?

They were recommended by Microsoft because it was a Windows phone application. We were told they are experts here in Poland on Windows apps. Windows phones are popular in Poland. They had a lot of experience with coding that system. They came to our office and worked with my development team for 10 days.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February or March 2016, and they just worked on the first part of the project. We drove the project to the end by ourselves and launched in June or July of 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When they came to us, we identified a list of issues that we wanted to work on. They found many more issues while working with us that were development issues. When we started working with them, our app was crashing frequently and working slowly. Windows also had a problem with Windows 10 at that time, and they suggested many improvements we could make on our side to bypass those problems with Windows 10. From my perspective, we made great progress from the time they came to our office to the time they left.

How did Whalla Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

The overall feedback was great. We weren't that experienced as an organization. We had internal coders who had never done such a big project on their own. The influence from Whalla Labs was very important from the quality of the code and testing.

What did you find most impressive about Whalla Labs?

They were very communicative, which is important to us. They didn't just give us a report for us to interpret. The guy from Whalla Labs was giving feedback constantly and working side by side with [our] developers.

Are there any areas Whalla Labs could improve?

We were already in the middle of the project when we hired them, so we should've hired them earlier and for a longer time. It was expensive to work with them, so we could only hire them for 10 days.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our app is a Tinder for jobs. The app is helping people to find jobs without a hassle in the areas of cleaning, gastronomy, and logistics. It matches employees and employers and gives them the ability to decide if they like each other or not for a specific job quickly. I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whalla Labs?

We needed help bringing a mobile app to the users. We started in 2015 with the Android version and the backend of the admin panel. Right now, we are finishing the iOS version.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The services that they provided were related to design, detailed specification, Android and iOS apps, the backend API [application programming interface], admin panel, panel for employers and recruiters, and maintenance and scaling up infrastructure to the new needs.

How did you come to work with Whalla Labs?

We were looking for a company with experience in mobile app development. We wanted to find a company that would be able to provide us long-term support and help us on every level of our technical challenges, such as design, maintenance, and development for different operating systems.

Whalla Labs had many different projects – starting from startups all the way up to corporations – all with good references. They also focus on the UX [user experience]. During our talks, they always said what they were thinking. In most cases, software houses and agencies just do coding without thinking about possible outcomes in the future.

How much have you invested with Whalla Labs?

It was between $75 000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in February 2015 with the Android app. We finished it in June 2015. During the last year [2016], we focused on polishing it and making changes. Right now [as of November 2016], we are finishing the iOS version. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are happy with the Android app. We are implementing feedback from our users and clients on both the Android and iOS apps.

What did you find most impressive about Whalla Labs?

They tell the truth about our ideas. When they think that something could be done better, they tell us so. They are able to find working solutions when we want to do something nonstandard.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Grupa Wirtualna Polska (which could be translated as Virtual Poland Group) is one of the leaders among Polish internet players. The Group consists of three parts. Two main horizontal portals – wp.pl and o2.pl are the core of the business. The second part is several vertical, thematic news portals (such as sports news, business, lifestyle) and the third part is an e-commerce section (which includes mainly travel, fashion, and financial lead generation).

I’m the head of mobile products division. We primarily manage our mobile apps portfolio but have other responsibilities as well.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whalla Labs?

We wanted to design three Windows Phone apps and we were looking for a company with a development team that has a lot of experience on that platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope was to write from scratch our three Windows Phone apps. We provided API [application programming interface] and layouts from other platforms (iOS and Android) and left the rest to Whalla Labs

How did you come to work with Whalla Labs?

Whalla Labs is a certified partner for the Polish chapter of Microsoft, and they were recommended to us that way. We had a technical interview covering the whole development plan before we signed an agreement.

How much have you invested with Whalla Labs?

The full cost of our projects was about $50,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

These projects were finished about a year ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were satisfied with the results of their work – our internal KPIs [key performance indicator] were 30-40% better than we had forecast.

What did you find most impressive about Whalla Labs?

We had very good communication with the project manager and the CEO. As far as their work product, we once realized that there was a problem with the user experience and that we would need to pivot the project.  Whalla Labs made the pivot without any hesitation

Are there any areas Whalla Labs could improve?

Yes, I think they must improve their risk management for when the partnering company has an internal problem, such as when providing specific information or access to something.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Antidate is a dating app. I am the Managing Director and Product Lead.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Whalla Labs?

We wanted to release a new app into the marketplace.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had already released a version of our app with a different provider. We wanted to overhaul that app and launch a second version with a completely new UX code. It’s an iOS app at the moment.

How did you come to work with Whalla Labs?

After considering 3 or 4 different companies, we selected Whalla Labs because they demonstrated the best approach towards the project. Throughout the many elements of the project, Whalla Labs understood what we were trying to do and were able to add value to our approach in building the app.

How much have you invested with Whalla Labs?

The cost range of the project was between 30,000 to 50,000 pounds [approx. US$39,500 – 65,900].

What is the status of this engagement?

We launched 8 weeks ago and our engagement with Whalla Labs is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been pleased with the results we’ve been getting.

How did Whalla Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

While working with them, we corresponded with a project manager through email and Google Hangouts once or twice a week. From the beginning, Whalla Labs worked hard to put the right communication and structure in place.

What did you find most impressive about Whalla Labs?

Since we were working remotely with them, we enjoyed the fact that we could go see them at any point.

Are there any areas Whalla Labs could improve?

As a client, I always say Whalla Labs could have been faster and cheaper, but I do think we got value for our money. Regular communication is important because sometimes there are issues that you have to work out, like being realistic about timelines. Overall, we are really happy with their performance.