Zimalab

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.

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 the founder of an online educational marketplace. We connect students with tutors for online or local learning.

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

I hired Zimalab to renovate the platform. This involved changing the business model, implementing new account features and a complete redesign of the site.

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

I used Upwork to shortlist web development companies. I selected Zimalab primarily based on their reviews and experience with the Symfony framework. I was also happy with their hourly rate.

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

Initially they implemented a complete redesign of the branding colours. Once I was happy with this, we then proceeded to implement new features as outlined in multiple PDF documents.

These changes involved removing the old business model and redesigning the messaging process, implementing a video gallery for tutors, allowing teacher and organisation registration, designing profile bages, integrating social links, redesigning the layout of profile pages and all account pages etc. Front-end and back-end development was done on the Symfony platform.

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

Throughout the two years, my main point of contact was with two project managers. There were two developers who worked on the project throughout this time.

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

I was very happy with the end result. All requested changes were implemented successfully as per my designs and notes.

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

Zimalab was incredibly responsive and my project manager responded within 1 hour on average - most times within minutes. We used Skype chat as our main channel of communication.

I requested that we use Bugherd to report feedback, new tasks and bugs. This tool allowed me to provide valuable feedback on their work with screenshots and attachments. It also allowed us to prioritise tasks and sort tasks into todo, in progress, ready to check, done etc. which was helpful. Overall, I was very happy with how the project was managed and communication was excellent.

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

The most impressive element was their excellent response rate. As mentioned previously, most times messages were replied to within minutes.

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

A few times I didn’t fully understand a few of their messages due to the language barrier, but they were quick to rephrase their message and explain what they meant. Apart from this, I was very happy with everything and would highly recommend.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of an online digital products company. We supply small to medium-sized businesses with GTINs which enable them to sell their products via online marketplaces and most offline retailers.

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

Our websites were created about 6 years ago and had become unable to cope with the growing demand of our digital products.

Since we did not have any in-house developers, we hired the Zimalab team to re-develop 3 websites - each in a different currency and targeting different geographical locations - and also build an automation functionality into the sites.

The project involved re-hosting of sites, integrate Paypal/Stripe payment gateways, build back-end interface to manage all aspects of customer orders, stock, front-end customer login/account section and more.

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

We posted a job on Upwork and Zimalab responded. Zimalab had excellent 100% reviews in all aspects, however, the deciding factor was that they had previous experience of creating a digital website. They understood all my requirements and answered all my questions in a timely manner.

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

Before commencing any work, I went through the long list of requirements with Zimalab. After this, we had a Q&A session to basically fill in any blanks. I had three websites fully re-constructed.

Before Zimalab has started work, I had no automation in regards to the delivery of digital products, no customer login account/history and no automated stock management.

All these tasks were previously done manually. My project was rather complicated as each digital product we sold was unique - so each and every customer would receive a file same in structure but different in content.

Zimalab understood this requirement really well and was executed perfectly. In addition to the automation (from order being placed to delivery) of digital products, various forms (contact us form, feedback form plus other forms) were implemented into our websites.

A stock management system was created for us in the back-end, which enabled us to very easily upload new products/files etc into the website. A new login/account section was created so customers can view their order history & re-download etc.

A feature for custom orders was also created and implemented into the websites. Before completion, the Zimalab team had created demo sites on their servers, so we could test out functions and features as the project progressed. Testing was on-going and vigorous before going live.

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

There was a project manager who was in daily communication with us initially, two developers working on the project and a 'tester' who managed the on-going testing of the sites.

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

Repeat customers were very happy with the new login/account section. This resulted in a significant decrease in time spent on customer service (customers chasing orders etc).

Sales were positively impacted. General management of the whole business was significantly reduced.

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

Once a project manager was assigned to us, we had daily contact via YouTrack. After some weeks when the project was well underway, contact reduced to every 2-4 days.

Contact was to clarify features/functions/content and so on and well as to give us a regular update on the project progression.

Any questions/changes required I had were responded to very quickly by the team - sometimes within minutes and at times within a few hours - despite the local time difference.

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

Most of all - they had the expertise in building/designing ecommerce websites. From front-end to back-end. It was a major project.

Probably like with any major project, there were a few bugs in the system upon going live - which were very quickly identified and resolved.

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

I can't think of anything which could have been done differently. Bugs in the websites after going live were very quickly resolved - despite the time zones differences.

I will be using Zimalab again in the future to either add more features/functions to my current sites or for any new web-based projects.