Zeppelin Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the partner & founder at a yarn producing and sales company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zeppelin Labs?

We hired Zeppelin Labs to develop two websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team built two wholesale e-commerce platforms, one for the US and the other for Europe. The platforms sync with QuickBooks.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people.

How did you come to work with Zeppelin Labs?

One of our partners had already worked with them and referred us. After contacting them, they showed us samples of how the website would look. We liked those, so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost between $60,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results were excellent. We had a great reaction from our users. The platforms sync well with QuickBooks, which was extremely important for us. Everything was more than we expected.

How did Zeppelin Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They stressed about keeping updated, sending reports frequently. Our approach was more relaxed, but we continued receiving detailed reports from them. As for the timeline, it was flexible as we had our old site running.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What surprised me was how well they managed the integration with QuickBooks. Besides that, they also managed to deliver a beautiful design. Our clients love the design & functionality of the tool. The team at Zeppelin Labs is exceptionally knowledgeable.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Motociclo is one of Uruguay’s biggest retailers, with more than 30 shops all over the country and over 80 years of experience. At the time, my role was logistics manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zeppelin Labs?

We needed a custom software solution to optimize special use cases that our main WMS (warehouse management service) couldn’t perform. We needed a user-friendly program for everyday operations and users from all backgrounds. Our provider had long development cycles and took too long to meet our needs. Daily operations were sometimes delayed because our tools took too long to operate.

What were your goals for this project?

Our requirement was printing multiple label types and sizes from every device on our network, including PCs, tablets, and handheld devices. A user-friendly design that all personnel could operate was important, and importing spreadsheets from Excel was a requirement.

The system needed to run on all the printers distributed in our shops and warehouses, to be accessible from browsers, and to pull information from our WMS. We expected this system to speed up our in- and outbound package processing. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We used personal references and contacted Zeppelin Labs after a referral. We also considered our current provider, but time was key. Myself, the head of our IT department, and our supplies purchasing manager made the decision.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

We invited them to our warehouse to explain our problems, and they made an initial proposal. After one or two iterations, they presented a final proposal for the software solution. They delivered the first version with basic functionalities after two weeks, after which we started giving constant feedback. This continued until the program was finished to our satisfaction.

Then they came to our office, did capacitation for our personnel, and gave us user manuals for future reference. They provided requirements definitions, software development, deployment on our servers, and technical support.

What was the team composition?

Zeppelin Labs assembled the team. We were only in contact with their lead software developer and salesperson.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product met our expectations and overcame the problem. Our users were happy, since the product transformed a tedious task into a simple, two-step procedure. Months after the software was in production, we saw the potential to expand its use without any further development.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Mail and phone communications were effective and constant. Since they provided an outside view of our process, collaboration was key to succes.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by their availability and willingness to help. We operate six days a week and 24 hours a day, so we had issues on weekends. They had no problem working outside regular work hours.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Their price estimates were a slight issue. A specific feature deviated from the standard, took more time, and added costs.