ZAGA

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing consultant.

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

I needed a new website, along with some connected rebranding.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They initially supported us in defining the scope of the project. We had general business requirements for the websites, and they defined the exact scope of their work: simplifying the brand and determining additional colors and fonts — basically, a style guide. They then helped select the technologies we would use to host and manage the website. Finally, they trained our resources. All this was in addition to the creative design and development involved in building the site itself.

We had an existing website, but we created another website in parallel on a different domain to reflect our new public name. The site was built with SEO principles in mind through an on-site audit of our architecture. They also optimized the site for W3 accessibility requirements.

The work started with a simple brief of what we wanted to accomplish and what our priorities were. They adhered to those, and we were happy with what we followed through on. I’ve had other companies build websites before, and the build the shell of the site based on the pages and navigation you need. ZAGA not only did that, but they also populated the website with content. We had content for certain sections, and they did a good job of creating a resource that allowed us to deliver them content for them to upload. This allowed us to easily make adjustments to copy and images where needed. It was a very easy launch process.

There were a couple of areas that we didn’t have content for, and they developed it there — little images and things.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a primary point of contact who acted as the business leader and project manager. There was also a secondary contact, who updated us on day-to-day tasks and milestones, as well as design and development resources.

How did you come to work with ZAGA?

I’d worked with them in the past at a pervious company and kept in touch with them over time. This project made sense to work with them on, as their team was available.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was around $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2021–January 2022.

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

We’ve been tracking lead generation, traffic, and form submissions on the website. The forms allow people to request demos and consultations.

How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great. Our communication was light — keeping it within Google Sheets and Google Drive. We didn’t feel it was necessary to have shared access to the project management tools on their side. As far as milestones, we tracked them along a schedule and had regular calls, texts, and Zoom meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The way they were able to simplify the project for us stood out. Our site was fairly simple, so there wasn’t any need for complicated project management tools. ZAGA recognized our needs and took a flexible approach, and that was a big benefit. They were responsive communicators as well, replying with an hour or two.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did a really good job with our requirements. There were no blatant issues or parts of their approach that I would change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready to move rapidly through the project by making yourself available to ZAGA. If they need assets, have a primary point of contact on your side that’s available to respond. We even split it up, having one point person for copy-based assets and one focusing on creative and design assets.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization develops solar projects in renewable space. We buy plots of land and construct solar projects on them. I’m a software developer and work as the representative to help manage the technology of our platforms.

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

We wanted our solar developers to quickly access key data points on their projects, so we’re working with ZAGA on a multi-year engagement design and build a custom, proprietary project management platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ZAGA is mainly tasked to architect and build our project management platform. However, we rapidly outgrew the scope of the work to include building and maintaining the corporate marketing site, which is the first thing customers see when they google our company’s name. On that site, we are booting up a CRM system to track the contact information of different people involved in solar projects.

ZAGA is essentially acting as a ‘wonder tool’ for our custom software needs. They’re handling all the crucial front-end developments that our employees and potential clients could use regularly. 

Over the last year, however, our plans for custom software development have diminished and the company’s direction on technology has definitely changed. We recently went through multiple rounds of layoffs, so the work we’re doing with their team has also spun down quite a bit. Despite that, though, they continue to support us in every way imaginable.

Now, ZAGA is currently working on a couple of bug fixes for our platform. They continue to manage our marketing website.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with around seven different people from ZAGA at various points of our relationship. We used to engage with a large group of engineers, but now we only have 1–2 who are working with us. I personally know Sergio (Tech Lead), who is one of the main full stack developers, and Alejandro (Founder & CEO)

How did you come to work with ZAGA?

I was brought onto this project in 2017. By that time, ZAGA had already been working for a year with our company. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’m not aware of much about the first year of ZAGA’s engagement with the company, and I don’t really have an eye on the financial aspect of the project, but we are spending around $100,000 per year at our reduced capacity. I imagine it was higher during the earlier years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement probably around the middle of Q4, in November 2016. We’re still working with them.

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

We don’t have a lot of hard metrics, but overall, ZAGA’s work for us has been very successful. Their frontend development work is pretty top-notch and the platform that they’ve developed is very capacitive. It can handle a lot of different requests and has a lot of flexibility. We’re bound to have problems in custom software development no matter what we’re building or who’s building it, so it wasn’t spotless, but we definitely got a lot of really cool tools built.

Our company has thrown a lot of shifting requirements their way but the team is very quick and responsive to address our needs as they came up. They’ve been an absolutely fantastic partner to work with and we learned a lot from them.

How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

We reconvene every couple of weeks to go over sprints and deployments and use Jira for our story management. Alejandro has been great to work with and is just a real stand-up guy. He definitely has a good handle on client relationships and making sure that everyone’s needs are being accounted for, including those of his own employees. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

ZAGA’s communication is very strong. They are based in Columbia and English is not their first language, but their speaking skills are top-notch and they’re excellent at writing out stories, tickets, and issues. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think that what they’re offering is really great but they could push back a bit more. What happens is they’ll just take whatever’s given to them and do the best they can with it. They have a lot of really talented designers on their team and we feel that they could provide strong insight on how we can architect solutions. This would serve both to their benefit and to the benefit of any client they work with. 

Outside of that, though, they really know their stuff and have a lot to offer to pretty much anybody that they’ll work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep the communication lines open. Definitely keep ZAGA connected on all of your questions, concerns, and ideas about your ongoing project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the global digital director for IT for a vision care company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

We were looking for good opportunities to sell our products in the COVID-19 pandemic, so we wanted to find a quick way to set up a storefront using Shopify.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had to reinvent our mechanisms to make sure that our customers would be able to purchase our contact lenses. From that business need, ZAGA helped us build, develop, and deploy a Shopify platform for our customers. Moreover, they handled all the customization and configuration aspects of the entire project.

ZAGA used their good knowledge of the platform, and were really helpful in navigating through the technological complexities. However, the platform is really simple and straightforward, there was just some level of complexity of what we wanted based on our requirements.

What is the team composition?

Santiago (SVP & Product Strategy) was my main point of contact from a technological standpoint, and I also worked closely with Alejandro (President & CEO).

How did you come to work with ZAGA?

We discovered that they also provided some services from a user experience perspective. We figured out that they were fit to complete this project, because they could help us combine user experience and design, with the technology component of the platform.

Based on the feedback from our marketing team, ZAGA is a company that shows a willingness to do things well, and focus on the customer. Additionally, they were also more cost-efficient compared to their competitors in the US — they had a competitive price for what we wanted to deliver.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested somewhere between $60,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership ran from March–May 2020.

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

The partnership was really awesome. We were able to set up a customer front in less than five weeks. The project was finished quickly, it was inexpensive, and it was the perfect criteria for us to implement a POC in the market. The pace and level of response were incredible, as well as their level of flexibility in trying to fulfill our requirements.

How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

They had the project under control. Our partnership was a 5-week engagement, so they worked really fast and were flexible enough to adjust the plans in a short time. We mostly communicated through emails, phone calls, and text messages.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really love their entrepreneurial spirit. It was perfect for the type of project that we did. They were able to think outside the box and pivot when it was necessary. They were really part of the team and I felt that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. They’re still growing and they will learn as they age. However, it’s also important that whenever they’re presenting themselves to companies, they have to have that level of confidence. They surpassed that confidence level with us, but by all means, this would be a great development opportunity for them to grow.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a subscription e-commerce platform and I’m the VP of Technology.

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

We wanted a frontend engineering and graphic design partner that could also assist with our QA automation endeavors.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we have new clients come on the platform, their team works off orders that we articulate. They create wireframes, mockups, full graphical design layouts before getting approval from our clients and from our internal team. 

Sometimes, they work directly with our clients, and other times, it’s through one of our representatives. It depends on how close the relationship is to the client.

What is the team composition?

At the moment, they have 8–10 people working with us, including UI designers, graphic designers, engineers, and QA automation staff.

How did you come to work with ZAGA?

When I first started at the company, they were already working here. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since we started back in January 2016.

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

Since day one, ZAGA has been our graphics and frontend design arm.  We don’t have metrics, but we think they’re professional, creative, timely, and dedicated.

How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good at it; they’re agile at project delivery, and their methodology helped us expand to other areas and groups.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re nice and likable. We think they’re easy to work with, professional, and reasonably priced. They’re also flexible about requirements. They’re a powerful team with the strength of a larger company without restrictions. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. 

Any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. They’re a polished and professional company.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO for a virtual kitchen service provider.

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

We were experiencing a demand for custom software to have a space for our operations. ZAGA was brought in as a provider of staff augmentation services as needed by our company to achieve our goals.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ZAGA is developing an internal platform. They are creating a public domain platform that acts as a marketplace. On that platform, restaurants and other stores can be listed to sell their products. This allows consumers to interact with those restaurants and providers.

Aside from the development of the platforms, they do design work for the UI/UX and provide us with staff members for our operations.

What is the team composition?

My first interaction with ZAGA was through Alejandro (CEO). We work with developers and designers as well.

How did you come to work with ZAGA?

I was referred to ZAGA by an internal member of our company. They were added to a list of qualified partners with whom we could embark on this particular project. Through our due diligence, we found them to be the most capable and suited for our needs.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

ZAGA has been an excellent partner. They have the bulk of their client's best interest at heart at all times. The quality of their products and work is consistent with enterprise-level development that large institutions would want to achieve.

As far as the KPIs and the quality of the outcomes, they develop a very high-quality product and services on behalf of the consumer.

How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

When ZAGA’s resources manage the project from top to bottom, the outcome is on point. They have experienced individuals with the ability to dissect large ideas. They break them down into smaller components so that they can be fully fleshed out or documented.

They then put them into a product management lifecycle or into a software development life cycle as well. They also use different development methodologies like AGILE. When they manage the whole process, the results are remarkable.

As for communication, ZAGA is very flexible. We communicate through video calls, phone calls, and use a variety of project management tools, including Slack and Jira. They are capable of interacting with us in a way that fits us better.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ZAGA’s customer service is really their most impressive quality. They understand that the relationship with the client is very fragile, and eventually, some situations based upon certain environmental variables could start to break that relationship down. They do a remarkable job of maintaining the relationship.

Other organizations will always try to go back to a contract in order to defend against a particular situation, but we don't experience that with ZAGA. Their first response to anything is to try to figure out the issue and solve it together — they're very professional about that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven't found any areas of weakness at this point, so I can't share anything meaningful they could improve.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO of a pet adoption startup. We maintain a marketplace of approved breeders and help connect prospective pre-screened owners to a healthy, ethically-raised puppy. To this end, I’m responsible for product development and systems.

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

We were looking to expand our development team, but we were having difficulties finding developers that fit our budgetary needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve contributed over 10 resources to our development team. They handle front- and backend custom web development. For frontend work, they operate in HTML, React Native, and React Mobile environments. For backend work, they use Laravel PHP. They also handle product work and project management. We had them start off with a couple of their own projects, but about four months ago we fully intertwined them with our internal team.

What is the team composition?

The total number of team members they provide us varies from month to month. We have 10 resources with us full time but have gone up to 12 on occasion.

How did you come to work with ZAGA?

The managing partner of our private equity firm used them at one of his other companies. He thought they would be a good fit for us, so he made the introduction.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested over $1 million with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since January 2020.

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

They really want us to be happy and have a very good process for onboarding people. We’ve always found the right person within the first two or three candidates they sent to us. If a team member of theirs isn’t working for our project, they’ll step in and try to coach them. They’re not afraid to terminate the relationship if necessary, though.

How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good communicators, and their project management is fantastic. I’ve never met a development team that hits every deadline, but their team is nearly perfect with on-time delivery.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with dozens of firms over my tenure, and they’re near the top. They provide proactive updates and screen candidates really well so that the people we bring on are really good fits for our team. They’re also eager to learn and work with us, which has made it easy to have them integrate into our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve had a hard time finding backend developers that fit our Laravel PHP needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You have to be honest and transparent about what you want and where you’re going. They can help you with the big picture if you let them in. They’re warm people, so they’ll go above and beyond to help you if you let them build a comfortable relationship with you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an administrative manager for a large venue security company.

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

When I joined the company, we were using antiquated software for several functions. As a large company, I knew we couldn’t continue operating with this software. After some internal discussion, we decided to seek out a custom software solution to replace what we were using.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The custom solution they’ve provided helps us with invoicing. With the fluid nature of event security, we needed a flexible platform for tracking employee hours to allow for quick-turn invoicing. The solution also allows us to keep track of revenue and expenses in the moment, rather than having to wait until the end of the fiscal year to have an accurate snapshot of the company.

Internally, we didn’t have much technical knowledge, so a big part of the project was having their team come in and partner with us rather than just working with us. We’ve able to balance ideas off of them throughout the engagement.

What is the team composition?

It’s changed over time. In the beginning, we had three developers, one project manager, and a UI/UX specialist. At this point, we work with one developer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with ZAGA?

I reached out to a project manager I had worked with previously when we were looking for partners for this project. Through her network, I found Alejandro (Founder & CEO).

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $250,000 with them on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since September 2019. At this point, the core platform is built and we’re just refining it.

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

Before implementing the new platform, we didn’t have any way to measure hard metrics so I can’t provide any historical touchpoints. However, we’ve been able to digitize processes running from hiring to payroll using this new solution. This digitizing has driven vast improvements in our team’s efficiency.

How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re awesome. When I wanted to use BugHerd to track bugs in the solution, they were completely open to it despite not having any experience with the tool previously. We also use Slack for day-to-day communication. As the relationship has grown, they’ve added me to their internal Jira communications. We have calls when needed as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The technical knowledge and expertise they’ve provided have been great, but you can get that from many agencies. Their communication and relationship management skills are what really really stand out. I have a really comfortable relationship with Alejandro. It feels more like a friendship than a client-type relationship. Our families have met, which I’ve never had happen in a professional relationship before.

They’re clearly loyal to us, and I can tell they put a lot of stock into our engagement. We lost over half our business overnight due to the pandemic and had to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. During this process, we had vendors hounding us for payments. We never heard anything from ZAGA, though. When we ended up reaching out to them, they let us know that we could pay them whenever we were ready to do so. With how integral their platform is to our business, they had the power to end our company right there by demanding money and pulling out of the engagement. However, they chose to extend us a lifeline. That’s made a world of difference for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of one thing they could have done differently or better. I was anticipating some friction, as you do with any engagement, but there haven’t been any issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you work with them, I don’t think you have to do anything special to get the most out of the engagement. Their accommodating nature and proactivity in completing tasks make any partnership with them so easy. I would recommend them to anybody and have already done so.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a startup. We create software and 3D assets for games, movies, visual effects, or virtual reality.

What challenge were you trying to address with ZAGA?

We’re creating a game that will hopefully help streamers to avatar stream. This is a fun way of streaming in which PC gamers, streamers, or content creators who are typically streaming on Twitch or Youtube can show an avatar of themselves, instead of their real face.

What was the scope of their involvement?

ZAGA is working with us to develop the PC streaming application. The game is based on Unreal Engine from Epic. There’s face tracking from Faceware, and then the payment system we’re using is from Xsolla.
 
The fundamental thing about the app is to make a 3D avatar come alive, so it needs to be face-tracked. On top of that, we had to create an interface that allows users to change the settings and customize their avatar — so they can have the avatar and put a hat, mask, earrings, tattoos, or whatever they want on it. That customization is also a key feature.
 
What is the team composition?

My direct contact is with Alejandro (President & CEO), but at the moment we’re working closer to Gloria (Project Manager). 
 
How did you come to work with ZAGA?

I knew Alejandro already. We started working with him in 2005–2006 on previous projects, so I’ve known him for a long time. We had built a great deal of trust, so that is one of the main reasons for choosing ZAGA. We also know that they deliver and that when things go wrong, they will fix it.
 
What is the status of this engagement?

We began working in October 2019, and the project is ongoing. We hope it will be done by March 2021.

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

Our application is very visual, so metrics of success basically come down to the visualization of the avatar. It needs to be realistic, but that is partially our responsibility since we create the content. However, coding has a lot to do with the avatar’s movement and face tracking. So it’s not about hard, measurable things; it’s about the professionalism of the UX. The look and feel of the design need to make us look like a larger company than what we are. 
 
How did ZAGA perform from a project management standpoint?

I must admit that the project management has been up and down. At the moment it’s very good; we have a project manager that’s taking control of everything. However, we’re at our third or fourth project manager at this project, so that hasn’t been ideal. For the most part, we’ve had good project management, but there were moments when we had deadlines that weren’t met. Some of those were on our end, but sometimes it was on ZAGA’s end — to me, it doesn’t matter. As long as we were able to pivot and work more efficiently following issues, it was alright.
 
As for communication tools, we’re using Slack and Discord.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

They don’t behave like a vendor; they behave like a part of the team. They really care about what we’re doing, and they take responsibility for it, so that is the flip side of their project management. Our minor issues were resolved fairly quickly because they’re not a company that lets you down.
 
Additionally, Alejandro has many years of experience, and that really sets ZAGA apart.
 
Are there any areas they could improve?

Throughout the project, my only concern was the project management, so there can be some improvement in that. Ideally, you have one project manager from the get-go, and we didn’t. I think sometimes the project managers are just filling out what’s been done and what needs to be done when they also have to be quite firm and confident. As project managers, they should step in and change things to make sure that nobody’s slacking, and adjust scope or time in order to finish.
 
Any advice for potential customers?

First, my recommendation would be to just have a conversation with Alejandro about your project. If he and his team can’t do it, he will tell you so and give you great advice. He won’t push you into a project or into something you don’t want. Also, if you, later on, discover that ZAGA isn’t the right fit, they will be very cooperative in figuring out the solution, whether it’s with them or someone else, so there’s a high degree of confidence.