Zimalab

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of a merchandising and marketing company. We help brands merchandise their brand, with both tangible products and online services.

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

We hired Zimalab to help build a custom platform for a fitness client. This platform would need to be available for customers behind a paywall and need to connect to Shopify platform on the main website. The goal was to create a subscription based platform for video and written content, that was also flexible for new content to be added.

How did you select Zimalab and what were the deciding factors?

After interviewing many companies, we decided to work with Zimalab due to their portfolio and our conversations with them. They understood the project, were very well versed in the space, and came to us with suggestions to reach our goals efficiently and effectively.

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

Users are able to purchase various subscriptions on our current Shopify site. After checkout, they receive a Welcome email to access the plan they purchased and create a username/password to access their account.

In this paid platform, depending on subscription purchased, they would have access to video and written content. Zimalab was able to create this platform and connect it to our existing Shopify site for optimal userflow.

Zimalab set up an amazing framework for us to create new subscriptions and manage access to specific content throughout the site. This was also done in record timing of 3 months, even in the middle of a holiday season!

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

We worked with one project manager throughout the entire project (Kate is the best!). She was fully engrained in our website, worked with us hand in hand on every task, was knowledgeable and was always available when we needed her. Working on very different time zones was never an issue for us, as Zimalab provided the flexibility we needed.

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

Our client was very happy with the outcome and timing of this project.

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

Their project management was excellent. They were able to work through our preferred channel (Slack) for daily communication and kept all tasks organized in YouTrack. We also would have a weekly check in in which updates were provided, and timing was discussed.

They also provided us with the necessary training we needed to manage our platform and have always been available for questions or concerns along the way.

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

The project management and timing needed to execute this massive project was most impressive and put Zimalab above the rest of their competitors.

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

Absolutely nothing. We cannot wait to work with Zimalab again on another project

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an archive footage agency that licenses studio clips into TV productions and feature films globally.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zimalab?

We wanted to build a website that was a searchable portal of our content. We have short-form video clips that needed to be viewable on a website that clients can research and use metadata to find the clips.

The clips needed to be downloadable with a watermark on them, so that clients can use them in their edits for their TV programs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our website initially with part of the code we had, but then they created it from scratch. We have a post-production house we work with as well.

They upload the videos onto our website. They manage the bugs on the website. Now and again, we make amendments to it. We design with them still on an ad hoc basis.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of 3-4 that worked on the website's initial design and build. We also hired a project manager at the time who managed their team.

How did you come to work with Zimalab?

Our outside project manager had worked with them previously. They suggested them as a strong company to work with.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £15,000 (approximately $21,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Zimalab started in June 2016.

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

It’s an easy website for us. It’s searchable, and we’re happy with it.

How did Zimalab perform from a project management standpoint?

Zimalab’s team is quite quick on turning around delivery. It took 3-4 months to build the initial website. Now when we design, it takes them a couple of works. They message us on Wrike but also send us messages through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re good value for money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The language barrier can make the process slower at times. Maybe they should use something other than Skype. But they’re quick to respond. If I wrote them now, I’d get a response by tomorrow.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re very clear on what you want.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an online music teaching platform. This field is becoming more popular now because of COVID-19. We work in the Israeli and German markets, offering video courses and instructions for people who’ve never used an instrument before. We help them start playing and, eventually, they can play really well. We offer piano, guitar, ukulele, and voice lessons.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zimalab?

We’re always developing new products and features on our website to improve the UI/UX and sales funnels. We already had two full-time developers working for us, but they weren’t performing that well. We wanted some fresh people for the ongoing development and maintenance of the website.

We were using Symfony PHP 1.4, which is a pretty old framework that almost nobody knows how to work with. The framework doesn't provide updates, so we had to fix every security hole by ourselves. It was hard to find people able to work with this framework and do it well, but Zimalab was able to execute.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zimalab provided ongoing full-stack development for our website, initially on Symfony PHP 1.4. We were working with Zimalab on an ongoing basis then, doing various maintenance tasks.

We eventually decided to rebuild the site from scratch using modern technologies. 

What is the team composition?

The team changed, but we always had a project manager with really good English skills, with whom we could discuss everything. We’ve spoken with the developers directly on occasion, because that can save time when answering specific questions.

How did you come to work with Zimalab?

I first encountered them on Upwork or Freelancer. I interviewed them a few years before this collaboration, and I decided to go with another company at the time. I decided to give them a try after our second encounter, and we’ve been working together since then. Zimalab was referred to me the second time.

Even though we worked with them on maintenance, I wasn’t sure how good they’d be at building a project from scratch. They would have to think of everything and not just join an ongoing project. I eventually decided to go with them, and they built an awesome site.

How much have you invested with them?

The ongoing development costs $3,000–$5,000 per month (approximately $90,000– $150,000 in total), depending on the number of changes we want to do. The refactoring project cost around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Zimalab around two and a half years ago, and the collaboration has no end date.

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

We saw an increase in traffic and revenue after launching the new site. It loaded much faster, and it had an improved design that made it easier to use. We haven’t gotten any complaints about bugs or things that aren’t working.

We have thousands of users and tens of thousands of visitors per month. If we get any major bugs, we’ll get a ton of phone calls from complaining customers, so we know that the site is working fine.

How did Zimalab perform from a project management standpoint?

For the refactoring project, they gave us a complete description of what they were going to do, detailing tasks and who was appointed to them, milestones, concrete schedules, and steps that we could QA along the way.

I explicitly asked them to break down the project into steps we could check and measure, but I’m pretty sure they would’ve had a similar approach anyway. 

We had almost no delays, which was amazing considering that it was a one-year project. The project management was transparent, and we knew what to expect in terms of deadlines and deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When hiring people remotely, we can’t go to their desks to answer whatever questions they may have. Many times, developers at other companies forget something or build something different than what we were expecting.

90% of the time, Zimalab delivers exactly what we wanted without asking too many questions during the process. They discuss everything upfront, and, when they say a task is done, we know that it’s done. Not all other development companies are as transparent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re in Russia, and we’re in the Middle East, so it’s noon on their time when I come to the office. That’s caused some delays with communication, but we can’t do anything about that. This is my only problem with Zimalab, but I just go to the office earlier when there’s an important matter.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The client has to be very clear about what they want, and have the patience to answer Zimalab’s initial questions. They work in a very organized way, and they’re very accurate with what they do. It can become frustrating for some customers, myself included, but it means that we eventually get the product we wanted. The best way to work with Zimalab is to let them ask the questions and write the planning documents they want to write. Their method is a bit slow in the beginning, but it leads to very smooth development down the road.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a boutique consulting firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zimalab?

We needed a new security solution for one of our clients. Zimalab was hired to create a web model for the software. They built a portal around the software service.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a working software solution and they helped us make the web-managed version. I had some notes on paper and they helped me map those out in mockups and workflows. Their team went through the process in excruciating detail and mapped out the entire process.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a couple of people, but Evgeny supervised the whole projet as the project manager.

How did you come to work with Zimalab?

I found them on UpWork.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial project was about $16,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in March of 2019 and it’s still ongoing.

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

In the end, the work was spot on and within budget. The management interface is critical to improving our business efficiency.

How did Zimalab perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent and always delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were good at talking in a very tactful and informative way. Their technical skills and ability to manage different people were excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything to complain about.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Sit back and follow the path that you create together.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We started as a small project matching language school students with high quality, ‘hidden’ Spanish language schools. This has evolved into one of the leading networks of high-quality Spanish language schools in Spain and Latin America. Over this time we have never compromised on our initial philosophy: to offer an unforgettable experience by providing high quality Spanish courses in a unique cultural context. We have our own schools, as well as working with partner schools who share our philosophy and high standards. I am one of the founders of the school.

For what projects/services did your company hire Zimalab?

Development of a CMS system where the front-end matches the created design perfectly (pixel perfect) and where the backend provides a user-friendly system wherein we can easily add and edit content.

What were your goals for this project?

Main requirements CMS system / website; - multilingual - possibility to import / synch content from our wordpress blog(s) - possibility to import / synch content from our scial media channels - fast performance - responsive design suitable for all devices - pixel perfect design - user friendly - SEO friendly - different user roles back-end (admin, editor)

How did you select this vendor?

We opened the job to several vendors and received various proposals. We decided to select Zimalab because of the professional communication and the way they managed our expectations. They also were very clear in selecting the right platform to build our new application in. 

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We created the design for the new application in Zeplin with an external graphic designer and Zimalab took it from there. We've went together through every step of the development process. 

Our project was creating a new website. Design was a very important issue for us so we started working on the design and would take that as the leading point to build the website from there. Our designer created a brand-new design, and we created the requirements for the new website. Based on the design and the requirements Zimalab proposed to build the new application in Symfony and explained us the advantages of this platform. We agreed. Zimalab setup a new environment at host provider Digital Ocean. From there Zimalab started with working on the front-end part of the website, they basically implemented our design in the front-end. We had to agree upon every page before continuing so we had a lot of interaction at that point. When the front-end was ready, Zimalab started working at the back-end system. Both the front-end and the back-end CMS system were built from scratch by Zimalab. When the CMS was ready, we were able to start filling the content in the Demo environment and then it turned out some things had to be modified. After modifying we were ready to go live. The website is multilingual and we were able to go live in phases, so first the English part of the website, then the German part, then French, etc.

Zimalab also helped with pointing the domain names to the new host, creating SSL certificates and gave us full support and bug-fixing for a month after development.

What was the team composition?

I've been in touch with 2 persons, the managing director and the project manager. The project manager was my contact person for all the day-to-day operations related to the development. The project was manager was in between me an the development team. I don't know how many developers were in the team, but that was not of my concern. For contractual matters I've been in touch with the company owner. 

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

We received positive feedback on our new system from our partners, colleagues and clients from the moment we went live with the new website. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was done in the Wrike application. There was a clear development schedule and a section where we were able to share and safe all the relevant information e.g. account details from connected applications (Google Maps, Juicer, Hosting details, etc.) Also modifications to the initial plan would be published there and for me as a client there was a section where I could ask questions. The project manager did a very good job to keep all the information accurate and up-to-date and responded to my questions quickly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

It was very impressive how they were able to transform the design into the front-end of the web application. It was really pixel perfect.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In the beginning the web application was performing slower than expected while fast performance was one of the main requirements. Especially the mobile version was performing slower than it should have been. There were quite some fixes necessary after the end date of the project to improve performance. This is something which should have been take into account better during development.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We manufacture transformer rectifiers for the cathartic protection industry. Our industry is dedicated to preventing steel structures from corroding. I’m an engineer for the company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Zimalab?

We had a remote monitoring and control web interface that was designed a couple of years ago. We wanted to start from scratch and build a new system that would be more capable of doing what we needed to do. So, we brought them on board.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project was very customized with a lot of details. It’s a remote monitoring system for the equipment that we build. It’s primarily used by our customers. We can put a bit of hardware in the equipment we build. The hardware communicates data to our web server, and then that data is accessed and manipulated by the interface that Zimalab has built.

Writing the specifications was a two-way street. They helped me clarify what was possible throughout the project, and I submitted mock-ups along the way. I designed a lot of the database structures, and they also had some input on that.

The project extended beyond what was initially expected because our requirements changed along the way. We added quite a few new features as the project progressed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 4–5 people from their team. In the beginning, it was just one point of contact. He helped me form the specifications. Then, we worked with a couple of developers and a couple of different project managers throughout the project.

How did you come to work with Zimalab?

I came across them on a freelancing website. The reviews people were leaving about their work quality and their adhesion to timelines attracted me toward them.

How much have you invested with them?

I think we started working with them in August of 2019, and we wrapped it up in January of 2020.

What is the status of this engagement?

We invested about $20,500.

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

The solution is up-and-running now, and we’re really happy with it. I wasn’t exactly sure what we wanted when we began the project. I’m not a web developer, so I was relying on a company being able to feed me ideas about what would be possible. So, we kept up continual feedback throughout the engagement.

How did Zimalab perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication was great, and I was very happy with the project management overall. I gave them space to work on the backend because I didn’t want to get in their way with constant calls. But when it all came together, they demonstrated how the frontend worked with the backend, and there was a lot of communication back-and-forth.

They had a system that we could log into, and I could pose questions to the team. Their platform for communicating with everyone on the team was very good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were great about turning around results as our requirements changed. They rarely said, “We can’t do that.” Their capability to accomplish a variety of tasks was one of the greatest things about working with them. At the beginning of the project, our point of contact always checked with developers to make sure that what we were asking was a capability. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m happy with most aspects of their operation. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should know what you want from the get-go. Zimalab is capable of doing many, many things. My only regret is that I didn’t have enough information for them to go off of.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a web architect for Geiger, a family-owned, promotional products distributor. We provide expert advice, support, and services to our clients, solving their marketing, promotional, and motivation challenges.

For what projects/services did your company hire Zimalab?

Our existing API didn’t follow common REST principles and contained fragmented data based on business-logic conventions, which confused both internal and external developers. As a result, it took several hours to update our entire product catalog. We brought Zimalab on to develop a well-structured RESTful API.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a new API to improve the agility and time-to-market of various e-commerce and sales initiatives and update our product inventory faster. It had to be as fast as the previous one and be easy for developers to understand and use.

How did you select this vendor?

We posted a job on Upwork and Zimalab responded. They were interested in the work and had the necessary technical experience, work history, and ratings. After meeting with them on Skype, I felt like I could trust them as a development partner. I also chose to pay hourly to reduce the cost of terminating the agreement early if they ended up not being a good fit.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided them with everything they needed including the existing application, API specification, ERD diagrams, and a data mapping document. This gave them a good understanding of our requirements, constraints, and overall objective. Before starting development, they went through a Q&A session with our product team to fill in any blanks.

We needed to de-normalize the structure of our PIM system's proprietary data export, parse the business rules, create a valid and structured product model, and deliver a range of features for developers to utilize. Zimalab helped us understand the use cases, prioritize features, and deliver a working application that met specifications.

What was the team composition?

The project kicked off with myself and their CEO discussing requirements. I was assigned a project manager who worked with a dedicated developer, and their CTO was brought on briefly to communicate architectural strategy and database modeling.

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

We have only recently started to integrate the new API, but developer feedback has been very positive. The new application has positioned us to not only survive a PIM system replacement but also to develop this product further as a replacement for our current PIM. Finally, Zimalab sped up our catalog update by more than five times our target goal.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Once a project manager was assigned, we worked through a project management web application to post messages. At first, I had to repeat myself or remind the project manager about what was discussed, but things improved over a couple of weeks. We eventually moved over to a Skype group and communication became a lot easier. Throughout, Zimalab has been great about communicating the status of the project.

I was also able to work and communicate directly with the developer halfway through the project. The transition of people entering and leaving the project was fluid; the right people were talking to each other at the right time without anyone wasting time or waiting on anything.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I’ve worked with three other vendors on similar projects, and Zimalab has shown the greatest initiative and understanding of our business conventions of any of them. They’re highly analytical and competent.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of anything Zimalab could do to improve. They’re adaptable, receptive, and extremely capable. If something isn't working well for us, they respond. If they think something isn't working well for us, they adapt anyway to make it better.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of a technology company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Zimalab?

We hired Zimalab to help us deal with a complex development project. Our company was creating new software and needed specialized technical expertise. 
 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zimalab assisted our in-house team with developing a sophisticated directory software. As a tool, it solves a common data management problem for marketing and PR professionals. Starting as an auxiliary basis, they provided expert resources who could work with the highly specific operation of the Symfony framework we use. 

Even though they joined later on in the process, they jumped right in to pick up the project mid-development. From the time were introduced to the product launch, Zimalab never missed a beat. At this point, we've transitioned them to our exclusive team for this product. We've completely phased out the involvement of a different local vendor we used to engage. For more than three years now, Zimalab has had exclusive responsibility for this product development.

What is the team composition? 

Our three-person team from Zimalab included an account representative and a couple of developers. Katherina (Account Manager, Zimalab) is a great point of contact. I've also interacted with the owner, Evgeny (CEO, Zimalab). 

How did you come to work with Zimalab?

I looked for a team that included specialists for Symfony, the particular framework we'd used to develop the product. We needed a flexible team who could augment our existing capabilities. It can be hard to bring someone on when you don't know how well they'll work, but Zimalab has been a great partner since we hired them. We trust them enough to task them with taking over the product completely. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent tens of thousands of dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in June 2016. They Spent six months augmenting our in-house team. Starting in January 2017, they took over full time. 
 

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

Zimalab has completed the major part of the product's release. Now that we're in the maintenance phase, they're continuing to tweak it for improvement. We've seen great results so far. 

Remarkably, Zimalab goes beyond simply building our request for features. They are very keen on proposing unique solutions and offering informed suggestions. We often follow their advice, but even when we don't, it shows that they're very engaged and interested. I consider Zimalab part of the part of the team and value their input. 

How did Zimalab perform from a project management standpoint?

Zimalab's project management style is excellent. They're always proactive, available, and helpful. Our communication is absolutely wonderful. We haven't had a single issue or complaint. 

I speak with our account manager at least three times a week. Our frequency of communication depends on where we are in the software development process and the type of work we're doing. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Responsiveness and their expertise made the strongest impression on me. I've greatly valued Zimalab’s engagement and the level of interest they've shown in our project's success. These are very important characteristics to have in an augmented team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m perfectly happy with Zimalab. I don't see any problems. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly encourage potential future clients to work on a product with Zimalab. I trust them completely. 
 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of a software business.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zimalab?

I needed an external resource to write a shop management software for one of my customers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I defined the project for them and then they started developing the software. Zimalab is using cloud-based PHP software on the backend. They connected it to an SQL database. We bought a JavaScript template that they use on the frontend. It also has a responsive design so it can be used on any mobile app platform as well.

There’s been different phases to the project and they’ve created multiple iterations. The process continues to be that we define the software and give them requirements, and they do the development. There’s no specific launch date. As it becomes available, we launch and test it. It’s an ongoing process.

What is the team composition?

I only interface with a project manager. I don't know how many people work on our project.

How did you come to work with Zimalab?

I found them on what’s now called Upwork. I looked at the profiles of hundreds of candidates but they are the only one I picked. I thought they’d be the best for the job.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Zimalab has created a very successful management software. It helps our customer manage their shops. They don't have to physically go to the shop to find out how they're doing. They can click on a button and know exactly how they're doing and see an estimate of how they will be doing next month. If something has gone wrong they can easily nip it in the bud. It helps with managing and controlling the environment of the shop. It saves time by automating processes that would otherwise require phone calls and paperwork. It’s efficient because they have access to all their data on their phone.

How did Zimalab perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well. I communicate with my project manager every day. I've worked with two project managers and they’ve both been on top of things. They knew what they had to do. I only need to tell them something once and they get it. They're very good at understanding the requirements and then going ahead with the implementation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They deliver software products properly and with the fewest bugs that I've ever seen. No software is delivered 100% bug free, but Zimalab has the fewest issues once the code is dropped.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. I've been quite happy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to go for it because they're a good partner.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a website that allows users to create a gift list by adding items from any online store.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zimalab?

We needed an agency that could complete the design of our site and develop it together with a functioning script to something that would function seamlessly and be aesthetically pleasing to users.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began the project with meetings to clarify the requirements and plan the different iterative phases. A graphic designer had already created the design templates that we wanted to use, so Zimalab began with a design phase, and then had a development phase, and finally the launch.

In the design phase, they replicated the existing templates to create a website prototype in InVision so that we could work with it and make sure it met the requirements before going into the development stage. In that stage, they built the script that can grab prices, images, and product details from other retailer’s sites. There are still a few websites that the script doesn’t work with, but we have launched and are making improvements.

They also built a backend admin panel that allows us to see and manage user accounts, gift list creation and gift purchases.

What is the team composition?

There were two main points of contact throughout the project, and each was a project manager during different phases: one during the design stage and one during the development and launch stage. I never spoke directly with any of the developers.

How did you come to work with Zimalab?

I was searching for freelancers on Upwork and narrowed my search to vendors that had 90% and above job success score and had worked at least 10,000 hours on Upwork. I interviewed a few agencies and most seemed to not understand the requirements and asked questions that weren’t relevant to the scope. So I was excited when Zimalab appeared to understand the requirements quickly without much explanation. That made the decision of who to go with fairly easy for me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $9,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2017, the site went live in February 2018, and I have been working with them on improving and maintaining the site since then.

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

Zimalab delivered a beautiful functioning website and importantly the script that is currently integral to the usability of the site also works. The script does not work on all sites, however this limitation was made clear to us by Zimalab. We have maintained a relationship with Zimalab to fix any bugs that have been found since go-live and of course build additional functionality.

How did Zimalab perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicated with the project managers a minimum of twice a week, and that was via email, Skype, or Wrike. I always knew the project’s status, every phase went as planned, and we met our launch deadline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is what impressed me the most. The project manager we worked with during the development and launch stages was especially responsive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although we engaged in a lot of discussion with Zimalab at the start of the project, we feel there could have made more suggestions about how the site functionality from a management perspective could be better. For example, suggesting some sort of CMS system to manage text and/or images in key parts of the site.  

Additionally, I think their testing phase could be more vigorous. There were bugs or issues that I found that I considered obvious and should have been spotted by the Project Manager during testing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clear articulation of requirements is crucial. We would also discuss with Zimalab if any additional features/requirements should be included in scope. It is worthwhile hearing what ideas they have as they are an extremely skilled and well experienced agency that can definitely improve on your original requirements.