Zazz

Please describe your company and your position there.

B A S T & Associates is an accounting firm that provides general bookkeeping, providing services as payroll and corporate and personal tax solutions specialising in small to mid-sized businesses. I am the co-founder at Bast and what I do is provide consultation to organisations for several functions such as Accounting, Auditing, taxation and management reports.

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

We decided that the best solution to the problem of managing clientele and scheduling accounting sessions would be to develop a mobile application that would allow clients to arrange meetings with accountants to discuss accounting needs.

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

In addition to Zazz being on the short list, we had spoken with numerous developers in North America. We decided to move forward with them because of their willingness to work within our limited budget.

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

The Zazz Development team provided us with an app life-cycle wherein the project would be broken down into 5 phases of work:

1. The first of which is known as the discovery phase.In this phase, The development team would assist with market research, product discovery, user persona, product strategy and feature roadmap prioritisation.
2. Following this stage is the design and prototype phase, the design lead would provide us with high-fidelity mockups using Figma, where the UI/UX seemed extremely accessible and uber friendly, which was one of the most important factors for us as we wanted to streamline the experience for our customers. They also assisted with content mapping and content design as well.
3. A week or so after the design phase, we entered the development phase, where the team worked on the system’s architecture, for the front-end development they used React, for the back-end development they used Node.js , API development & CMS development, and they applied scrum methodology.
4. The fourth phase of the life-cycle is where the team worked on some quality assurance and had done worked on the security measures testing on the app to ascertain any breaches are addressed and that the flow of the app is flawless.
5. And finally in the final phase of the life-cycle, they would provide services such as maintenance of the app, provide any updates to the app, debugging and launch the app over AWS cloud system.

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

The team consisted of:

• a project manager
• 2 senior business analysts
• a design lead
• four senior UI/UX designers
• two iOS architects
• two Android architects
• four senior iOS developers & Android developers
• One senior DevOps engineer
• two platform software test engineers
• two senior software engineers
• two senior cloud engineers
• senior back-end and front-end engineers

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

As soon as the app was released, we saw astounding amounts of downloads with a 5 star rating in both the Apple and Android app stores. This definitely increased the traffic and ever since the launch, people have commented that the app is easily navigable.

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

They were extremely flexible with any communication tool out there in the market. Communication with the development team usually took place on a weekly basis, sometimes more sporadically depending on the need, during the week through Slack and Zoom, in which the team shared ideas and we provided feedback.

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

The dedication, timeliness, and ease of communication made them extremely distinct and impressive. They thoroughly went over our requirements and made sure each and every point was covered and addressed.

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

As for improvements, we don't see much need for improvement at all. We are extremely satisfied with the final product, and we expect to continue this collaboration in the future.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a financial services company that provides many security options for investors, such as ETF, Mutual Funds, & Segregated Funds. I work as a specialist at Mackenzie Investments, wherein my role was to train new and current employees on transactions, new procedural updates, and to create job aids.

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

The goal was to create a way for investors to monitor their portfolios. The best way to entice investors to do is to download the app so that they can check their portfolios, daily changes to mutual funds, make new investments,

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

We searched for app developers in USA & Canada, we spoke with many developers. and shortlisted a few of them. We opted to move with Zazz because they were one of the most professional team we came across. From the get-go they gave us a roadmap and several different ways to stay in touch during the development stage.

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

The project roadmap that was provided to us had 5 phases of work, the first one being the discovery phase, where Zazz would help with market research, product discovery, and feature roadmap prioritization. In the design and prototype phase, they worked on user journey mapping, user experience mapping, visual user interface, content mapping and high-fidelity mockups.

In the third phase of project, which was known as the development phase, they worked on the system architecture, front-end development, back-end development, API development & CMS development, and they applied scrum methodology. In the fourth phase they would do some quality assurance and testing work to make sure everything is in tact. Manual and automation testing was done, unit testing, performance testing and security testing. And finally in the final phase they would provide maintenance of the app, updates, debugging.

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

A project manager was assigned to us, along with

• 2 senior business analysts
• a design lead
• 4 senior UI/UX designers
• 2 iOS architects & 2 Android architects
• 4 senior iOS developers & Android developers
• a senior DevOps engineer
• 2 platform software test engineers
• 2 senior software engineers
• senior cloud engineers
• senior back-end and front-end engineers

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

Within a few weeks of launch, we saw tremendous amount of downloads and achieved a 5 star rating in both app stores. This definitely increased the traffic and ever since its launch. People have been commenting and praising the fact that the app was very easy to use.

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

The team communicated with us on a weekly basis, sometimes sporadically if the need rose, during the week and they used Slack and Zoom. The team used this time to share ideas and we provided them with feedback.

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

They took the time to thoroughly go through our requirements and made sure every single item was covered. The dedication, the timeliness, and the ease of communication makes them extremely unique and impressive.

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

There is not much to improve at all. We are extremely happy with the final product and we expect to continue this partnership moving forward.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product director for Alpha Match, a one-stop shop for pets. I’m responsible for the development of the app, as well as the communication within the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zazz?

We needed someone to help us with web and mobile app development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They first reached out to us with a proposal for the requirements of the development and moved forward with them from there. The technologies they used for the build were Swift, Java, Angular, Node.js, and AWS.

They’re currently providing us with social media management, SEO marketing, and ongoing support and maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We initially talked to the director of Zazz, but we’ve since been interfacing with the technical lead, DevOps engineer, several developers, and a product manager.

How did you come to work with Zazz?

We came across them while researching for vendors, and chose them because they seemed like a good match for our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $60,000–$80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in February 2021.

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

We’ve been getting a lot of positive feedback from customers, so I’ve been very satisfied with our continued engagement.

How did Zazz perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good from a project management standpoint. They’re transparent with their process and they always keep us in the loop even when there are delays. Additionally, they don’t overpromise on their deliverables and they consistently find solutions to our concerns.

We typically communicate through email and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their transparency and knowledge. During the initial meeting, they understood what we wanted and presented us with something similar to what we were expecting.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s been a very good partnership so I don’t have any complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend going through the requirements more thoroughly, so the discovery phase can move forward efficiently.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO at Royal Concierge and Security, which offers residential security services to condominiums. We are based out of Toronto.

For what projects/services did your company hire Zazz?

We wanted to offer additional services and employ the power of artificial intelligence to enhance our offerings. We contacted Zazz to build an AI-based mobile app combined with motion detectors, sensors, and security cameras that would help us reduce human errors and protect our clients from potential break-ins and other emergencies.

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

Google search. They were recommended to us. We contacted Zazz to get a quote. They gave a comprehensive proposal that showed that they have substantial expertise in artificial intelligence technology. They had what we needed, so everything worked out.

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

Zazz brought its knowledge of machine learning algorithms to the table. They had an adept team that created complex algorithms from scratch and built unique features for the mobile app around AI. They took care of everything, from recognizing the internal capability gap to choosing the most suitable tech stack for the project. The data integration team cleansed the data and prepared it before implementing machine learning into the app. They created a balanced system built according to our requirements.

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

There were ten people on the team. A technical project manager, six developers, one AI consultant, and two QA specialists. The project manager was the main point of contact because he managed everything and liaised between the developers and us.

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

They delivered an AI-based security system on time, with the features we wanted while meeting our requirements from a quality standpoint. 24/7 security alerts, smarter cameras, daily reports of camera activities, and voice-controlled entry approvals are some of the features integrated into the system. It eliminated the human fatigue factor because AI works flawlessly, no matter the weather conditions, thus enhancing the comfort and convenience of our clients and reducing security threats.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Zazz has an excellent project management team. We don’t have to follow up with them. In our weekly meetings, they shared the project development progress and incorporated our suggestions while ensuring they were aligned with the technical aspects. They knew what was needed to create an outstanding AI application.

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

Zazz is a reliable company and they impressed us with their technical know-how. They came up with great suggestions and ensured everyone was on the same page when it came to making changes to the app.

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

Since they worked tirelessly to meet our strict deadlines, we understand they had a lot of pressure. So, considering the volume of work to do, we would say that they did great. In our opinion, there’s nothing much to improve, and we have no complaints.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Design Engineer at Alexander Dennis Limited, a transportation company based out of Larbert, United Kingdom.

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

The most common problems passengers face are frequent delays due to maintenance, security concerns, and suboptimal allotment of vehicles to different routes leading to uneven distribution of passengers in certain places.

We wanted to solve these problems by incorporating IoT sensors and applications to improve the operations of our transit system and enable efficient commutes. This would help in mitigating security issues, tracking bus locations, and ensuring the buses are following the standard transit capacity.

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

We contacted many companies involved in IoT development. After getting many quotes and going through several proposals, we picked Zazz because of how detailed the proposal was.

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

Zazz’s team was supportive and had extensive knowledge of the Internet of Things. They worked with dedication and commitment while ensuring they created solutions that added value to our business. They asked relevant questions, gave recommendations, and brought their experience and expertise in IoT development to the table. The project began with the ideation of what was needed, in-depth analysis of problem areas, and choosing the right technologies for creating a robust architecture.

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

Initially, we worked with the Sales and business analyst team. Then, a few senior developers were brought to discuss the technical requirements. Later, we had a Senior Technical project manager, 7 Senior Software developers, two cloud architects, and two quality analysts on the team because we wanted top-quality results.

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

They delivered the MVP on time, which helped us gain actionable insights and enabled us to implement specific changes to the final product to yield fruitful results. After the final touches, we got the IoT system where they put functionality and usability first while keeping our requirements in mind.

The systems analyzed travel habits, traffic congestion and population density to transform our services using GPS and mobile network data, and combining it with sensors to improve safety, convenience, and comfort of our passengers. We received positive feedback after successful implementation of the IoT system.

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

Generally, we connected with them twice a week, mostly Mondays and Thursdays. They shared the app/Software development progress and asked for our feedback to implement it when we meet next week. They were good with deadlines because they never missed one.

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

Zazz knows what they do. Their powerful project management team took a positive approach to everything while offering top-notch solutions. The senior leaders are understanding and professional. They delivered what I expected.

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

There’s not much to improve. They are good at overcoming obstacles and take every task with zeal. We expect to see the same passion and dedication moving forward.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at Ceridian, a cloud platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zazz?

We were hosting a new service for one of our businesses. It was on Microsoft Azure, and we wanted to migrate it to AWS. We needed DevOps consultation on how this migration could have been taken care of without affecting any of our current users, and we also needed to follow industry standards for maintaining the various services in different locations.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zazz came in as an extension of our in-house team to add support to what we were doing. They provide us with hosting technical support for cloud infrastructure, mainly focused on DevOps consulting, cloud migration infrastructure automation, and continuous integration and delivery of pipelines.

What is the team composition?

We work with around 8–9 engineers from Zazz. There is a senior technical lead, a senior technical project manager, and a business analyst who takes care of all our requirements and analyzes them into the user stories. I’m the person directly involved with their senior-level team.

How did you come to work with Zazz?

Initially, we were looking for vendors in Seattle and other near locations. We had multiple rounds of meetings with other companies and vendors, and we shortlisted Zazz.

We left an inquiry on their website and they got back to us with a solution. We had multiple rounds of initial interactions with their sales director of operations and the engineering team executive officers.

The main aspect we liked about them was their technical expertise. They had a very solid understanding of what we wanted and of cloud infrastructure migrations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We’ve completed the MVP, and it’s live. Now, Zazz is working on the last sprint — the migration was really successful. All our other team members and stakeholders are happy with their work.

How did Zazz perform from a project management standpoint?

Zazz’s project management is good — we don’t have to follow up with them, and they're always very accurate. They have a couple of dedicated senior technical project managers and a business analyst who gets in touch with our team. We have status calls, and they give us daily updates.

They're organized, and we use Slack for communication. For continuous integration, we leveraged Bitbucket and Atlassian. For bug tracking, we use Jira, and we gave them access to our company’s account.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The way that Zazz comes back with solutions is pretty impressive. We're typically focusing on user engagement and user retention while they're helping us with the technology that we needed to incorporate into our business. Whatever issue we've had, they have a solution for it, and it works out well. One of the things that we like the most about them is the technical expertise from their tech leads.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing Zazz could improve on — I haven’t faced any issues with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Zazz’s services are a little expensive, but at the end of the day, the services they provide are worth it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product officer at a startup that offers a Bluetooth-enabled smoker.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zazz?

We needed a partner to develop an iOS and Android app that worked on both mobile devices and iPads. We also wanted someone who could build the backend system for our product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app they built allows users to control a Bluetooth-enabled smoker from their phone.  Users can turn the barbecue on and off, adjust the temperature, and set a timer based on doneness. They integrated a feature that allows the app to send push notifications when the meat is done. Besides development, they also did the UX/UI of the app and designed our logo, as well. They built the test cases for the mobile apps, and testers from their team and ours are doing QA. For the backend, they integrated it with Magento to manage the orders on the e-commerce store, which will launch soon.

How did you come to work with Zazz?

We knew one of their developers through a friend. We interviewed a few different candidates, but Zazz was the best option.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership lasted from October 2018–March 2019.

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

Zazz has done a much better job than many other firms I’ve worked with. So far, there’ve been few bugs in the product.

How did Zazz perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was transparent, and they consistently met deadlines. We used Slack to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were process oriented and took our feedback seriously.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could shorten their requirements-gathering process to start the project sooner.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Have your requirements set before you engage with them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Product Development Manager of Orbiton Company. Our business is based on developing psychometric software. Our main objective is the development of innovative software apps that are required by different companies. Online tests are conducted through our software comprising around 15 minutes.

For what projects/services did your company hire Zazz?

Our main challenge was dealing with the bugs in the development of software. We were in search of an app development company which was more expert and professional and can help us in modifying and improving our software.

What were your goals for this project?

As we already knew that there were a lot of bugs in our software and our goal was revitalizing our existing software for making it a consistent product

How did you select this vendor?

One of Zazz developers and our employee had a familiar friend, and he suggested us to consider Zazz for our project. After our first meeting, we were highly convinced by their professionalism. They reviewed our software thoroughly and recommended us to rebuild some of the apps in future.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We have been working with them on multiple projects for web & mobile platforms involving react native, angular & node.js. We also use their QA engineers for automation & manual testing using Selenium and JMeter.

What was the team composition?

There were eight members in total assigned to the project and a project manager responsible for supervising all of the activities.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Their work has impressed us incredibly as we are working with them for more than five years and haven't encountered a single bug since then. Our uptime percentage has improved tremendously, which has made our clients very happy. There are no complaints from our clients about the bugs or crashes, and we haven't required any maintenance after partnering with Zazz.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The workflow was handy as it helped us in sharing our issues and their suggestions instantly. We have used emails and social media platforms for interaction. Moreover, bi-monthly meetings were also an essential part of the whole project to test the new developments.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their young and energetic staff is the most critical factor for us. Zazz always comes up with smart solutions for our problems and tries to solve them in less time.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They are working in a highly protocoled manner, and I suggest them to work with the same passion. We have decided to continue our work with them in the future as the whole journey was smooth and without any trouble.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Financial management for start-up in Toronto, ON, Canada.

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

We hired Zazz to develop a native app for iOS and Android where the used blockchain technology along with Public and private APIs to consolidate financial and non-financial data for our end-consumers.

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

We searched for app developers over multiple platforms like Fiverr and LinkedIn, we came across Zazz. From the very first meeting with the product manager, we realized that Zazz was the right choice. The reason behind that, their development was done internally and we were looped in continuously on every update.

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

Our assigned product manager was with us throughout every step and deliverables. The first phase was discovery, here Zazz provided us with a empirical results based on market research and they also did the product discovery, and feature roadmap prioritization. In the second phase, design and prototype, they provided multiple UX/UI design and high-fidelity mockups.

In the development phase, they worked on the system architecture, front-end, back-end and API development. In the testing phase, they conducted a quality assurance and security tests to ensure the app was working seamlessly. In the last phase, they helped deployed the app in timely manner and optimized our AWS to run efficient queries to minimize our cost and improve the call-back period for the end-user.

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

A product manager was assigned to us, along with 2 senior business analysts a design lead 4 senior UI/UX designers 2 iOS architects & 2 Android architects 4 senior iOS developers & Android developers a senior DevOps engineer 2 platform software test engineers 2 senior software engineers senior cloud engineers senior back-end and front-end engineers

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

Within the first few weeks of launch, there was an uptick in the amount of downloads for both stores, iOS & Android. We have also achieved strong feedback for our users (average rating 4.9).

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

Zazz team communicated with us on weekly basis. they were flexible to use any technology to keep looped in including Zoom, Slack and others.

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

We were highly impressed with how knowledgeable and transparent they were during the entire project development phases.

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

Nothing to improve and their team was very friendly and I hope to work together more in the future.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of Midas Tech. We are a company based in Montreal, Québec. We provide IT Support Services, like Data and Voice Cabling and Video Surveillance solutions.

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

Midas Tech aims to create safer homes, workspaces, and businesses for our clients by implementing robust video surveillance solutions. However, we felt that something was missing, and we must keep pace with the changing digital landscape and adopt the disruptive technologies that are reshaping the security industry.

Apart from the regular surveillance, we wanted to significantly improve security by using computer vision and automation in deep learning driven by sensors and powerful processors of IoT. We wanted a sophisticated system that allows machines to see and analyze images enabling more insightful responses to emergencies and accidents, for example, detecting fire and identifying suspicious behaviour.

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

We heard really good feedback from a vendor for whom they built an IoT system. We went through Zazz’s portfolio, and it stood out to us. So, we hired them for our project.

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

Zazz’s IoT team worked closely with our in-house team. They employed their knowledge and understanding of the Internet of Things to create an all-inclusive dashboard for information collection from sensors and analysis, a cloud-based ecosystem for storing data, and mitigate the security risks of the IoT network by ensuring port security, disabling port forwarding, and using firewalls. They paid attention to every minute detail and kept everyone on the same page to avoid confusion and errors.

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

The first point of contact was the business analyst team that helped in consulting on various aspects of the project and analyzing our requirements. Later, we worked with one project manager, four senior developers, and one quality analyst.

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

We have seen 40% increase in our sales and after our partnership with Zazz we have been able to partner with many big names of the industry because of the robustness and the quality of our product.

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

Zazz’s strategic approach ensured the project was completed on time. They have a very strong project management team that was easy to communicate with and responded to our feedback promptly. They were proactive and delivered what they promised. They mainly used emails for deliverable and Zoom for meetings.

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

We were impressed with their knowledge and how positive they were regarding the project. They were so resourceful and flexible that we didn’t have to worry about anything.

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

Not anything that I could think of. My experience of working with Zazz was nothing short of exceptional.