hedgehog lab

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The client is AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals. I’m a channel specialist dealing with all of our digital platforms between apps, websites, and video content. I specifically focus on apps and videos. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with hedgehog lab?

We have an app that was built in-house, and we needed to update it for the year. We also were taking on a lot of new projects, so we needed to be able to give that to an agency to take on the developmental role and free up some time for me to work on other projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They took what had been created before on both Android and iOS, updated it, and fixed some of the issues. There was a slight visual redesign that they facilitated, and there were some slight functionality changes to the layout of the app. It went from a menu interface to a timed interface. Also, they updated functionality in terms of how we send data to the app for our store search capability. They were able to facilitate setting up a new server that we could use as a destination for the app to pull our store information from.

We started out at the beginning of the year talking with them. Our update period is toward the end of the year, so we had a few months of planning and requirements discussion before the actual update needed to start. After we got through all of our planning, we went ahead and started the update. It took hedgehog lab a couple of months from beginning to end in terms of development time. There were just a few small things that needed to be changed because of internal feedback. The project took a total of nine months.

How did you come to work with hedgehog lab?

I work in Houston, Texas, and my manager is based in Newcastle, England. Originally, when I was looking for an agency, we wanted someone that either I or the manager can work with in the same area. I ended up finding hedgehog lab because they had offices in Austin and Newcastle. I thought that could be well-suited because if I needed to go to the office, it would be a few hours’ drive, and they would be able to meet with my manager in her office. We contacted them and found out that the Austin office wasn’t really used for development specifically. Everything was run out of the Newcastle office. I searched different agencies and went through a list of contacts that I had. We wanted a firm that wasn’t going to be extremely high-cost because our budget wasn’t huge. Previously, the app had been done in-house by one person. We also needed a partner that was going to develop on both iOS and Android, had some web server capabilities, and was able to work natively rather than making a hybrid app.

How much have you invested with hedgehog lab?

We’ve spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in the second quarter of 2016. The product was launched in January of this year. There were a lot of delays on our side. They finished most of their side of the project by November or December of 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

We don’t have any numbers yet because our company is very seasonal, so we’re coming up on our big buying season. In terms of time investment for us, I believe that previously the apps had been worked on over about a six-month period full-time. Hedgehog lab was able to get the coding done within a couple of months, so that allowed us time to work on other projects. They have a pretty robust testing setup compared to what we had before. We have minimal bugs and crashes now. I have had very few complaints from customers and internal users about any problems with the app. A lot of it is the same content and the same functionality as before but shown in a different way.

How did hedgehog lab perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked on Basecamp. I worked directly with them, posting back and forth to keep everything kind of in one place. We had a couple of phases in our project. At the beginning, the communication was off between us and hedgehog lab. Right at the time that we started with them, they were in a period of growth and were hiring a lot of people. For the first third of the project, there was a lot of problems with communication, but we finally got a test version sent out. After that, we all sat down together and realized that something had gone wrong. We worked with Kevin, who’s the lead client partner. He let us know that they were going to be making some changes in communication. For the rest of the project, we had really good communication. We had one main contact person and worked directly with Kevin as well.

The project was exactly what we budgeted. We did have some changes that needed to be made to the original requirements, which meant we went a little over. After the communication issues were ironed out, we were able to get more timely updates. We gave them a timeline, and they stuck to that.

What did you find most impressive about hedgehog lab?

This was my first use of an agency. I thought it was pretty impressive that they had a fairly small team of developers working on our app and got it done really quickly. They had a lot of talent working in their development department. We had one, maybe two developers working on each app.

Are there any areas hedgehog lab could improve?

We had those problems with communication in the beginning, but they improved right away when they realized something was going wrong. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of a financial services company, which operates two digital lending platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with hedgehog lab?

We were trying to build a new iOS app for our new product, which is a venture in the digital banking space.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We chose hedgehog lab as an end-to-end solution, who would deal with every aspect of the app design, going all the way through to the implementation, and then potentially maintenance going onwards. We provided a fairly broad spec and let them work on the UI [user interface], the UX [user experience], all the way through to implementation. They worked with our providers who supplied most of the back-office technology for the service. We’re now about two-thirds of the way through the project. It’s a native app for iOS, and it will be followed up by an Android app. hedgehog has also helped us with a lot of design aspects of rescaling a web app. We will continue to use them for some further business in relation to a web application for another project.

The app is going to be used for digital banking in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It tries to give a fresh approach to people who realize their statement isn't as useful as it could be. Our app will send people push notifications whenever they make a transaction using their cards, it will categorize their transactions into travel or food, and it will alert them when they’re going to use an overdraft. It’ll compile all the fees they have in various areas and keep track of their spending. It will keep them informed and in control of their finances in a very clear and easy to understand way.

It’s also going to deliver, for the first time outside of private banking, a link for the consumer to consistently access a named individual at the bank. As a customer, if you ring technical support, you might get through to a call center. However, if you want to, you can call your account manager at any time, who knows you, and hopefully, you have a more intimate relationship with. The account manager can also deal with any complaints, issues you may have, or any lending decisions, particularly if you need a credit card or an overdraft extension. They are someone at the bank who you know by name and can talk to you reliably without going through to a different person each time. They have some power to make decisions about your account. That interface is managed by the app as well.

How did you come to work with hedgehog lab?

We initially contacted hedgehog lab after reviewing a white paper they did on trends in banking in the UK, which put forth some of their ideas. It also showed they were thinking about some of the challenges this industry is facing and the potential it had. They seemed like a great fit for what we were trying to do. We were looking at how we could apply up-to-date technology to this industry.

We put out a tender, and we had a long list which we narrowed down to five companies. We met with those five and hedgehog came at a very good price point. It was a project they wanted to be involved in, and that was reflected in the price point. We felt they had a keen interest in doing this from day one and wanted to be seen working on our project. We got the impression it was a personal interest of the guys behind the business. I think we got excellent value from them and what I believe to be a really good web development experience. This is not the first developer I’ve employed, but by far, the best work regarding performance and attitude. There have been issues along the way, but compared to other projects, it’s been a very smooth ride indeed.

How much have you invested with hedgehog lab?

We’ve invested around £80,000. [Approx. $103,310]

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around June of 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. There have been a few changes in staff, and I think the relationship has gradually gotten stronger the longer we’ve been with hedgehog lab. Recently, we got a new project manager who is fantastic. As the development work picks up, we’ve had a lot more insight into the team. I’d say that the UI process took longer than it could have. We possibly could have benefited from employing an external designer to work with their designer, but apart from that, it’s been relatively smooth.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We don’t have any post-launch stats, but we’re not at the end of this project. I can tell you how many days hedgehog lab has been developing for us, but that’s not very helpful. Hopefully, later, we’ll be able to come back and say they’ve built something that’s now used by X amount of people, but not yet, unfortunately.

How did hedgehog lab perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Basecamp primarily, but we have weekly calls with their project manager and weekly reports that are very succinct. It’s a very friendly and personal relationship with Tom, our project manager. He’s fantastic. We had a slightly more distant relationship with the previous project manager, who possibly had less time. Our relationship with the new project manager is better than the last one. Other than that, I think they’re possibly equally competent. Regarding personal approach, this guy is working in the way that we like to work. We have frequent email exchanges, and we’re on Skype all the time, so we have quick communication. We feel we can call whenever we want. We use Zoom for screen sharing on the weekly scheduled calls to update us on what’s been done.

The team at hedgehog lab is perfect for staying on budget and within deadlines. In the early days of the project, there were some delays. On the budget side of things, we’ve had no noises. Personally, I think we’ve gone out of scope in a few areas, but we haven’t had any worry about the budget. The things that went out of scope were possibly in the original scope of our tender and therefore should have been included.

It has taken longer than we wanted. I think we possibly could have had better UI design, which would have made that process quicker. There have been delays on our side as well, but now that we’re in development, we’re up to speed. We’ve got a project manager we like, and it’s running very smoothly indeed.

What did you find most impressive about hedgehog lab?

The team at hedgehog is excellent in a few areas. First, their general attitude; they’re simply happy, satisfied, driven people. I think they hire good people. They keep those people happy, and that is reflected in the attitude of everyone you deal with at the firm. Their culture is fantastic. Secondly, they are not clock-watchers. They put in extra effort to get a project on time. I think they share the vision first, and that has to be the way it’s being communicated to their team. From a people perspective, hedgehog is absolutely doing the right thing, and you feel that across every aspect of dealing with them.

Regarding technical competence, I have to admit hedgehog lab is very autonomous. We do not have to be sitting there, holding their hands, and telling them what needs to be smartened up. Everything they’ve delivered so far has been very polished. They’ve been using their heads. They’ve done little UI touches that you could have specified in a lengthy document and done all the thinking for them. Instead, they’re just doing it properly from day one because they’re good people using their heads and their experience. They know the unspoken things of how it should look, how it should feel, and the little touches. That’s very refreshing to see because we’ve been with developers before who built something bare bones, and it comes out missing those little things.

Are there any areas hedgehog lab could improve?

The communication surrounding the UI at the beginning of the project was not as good as it could have been. We had to step in with some app design help at a late stage because the visual app design wasn't quite what we were looking for. I’m not sure if that’s down to particular people at hedgehog, but I felt that was a bit of a weak point. I don’t know if we could have had more meetings around that. The previous project manager had a slightly different attitude related to getting it done without much dialogue and rolling it out for us to look at. It could have been better to have more in-person or on the phone communication rather than in Basecamp. It’s not a massive issue because we got what we wanted in the end. I feel that ultimately, the way that hedgehog lab was thinking and acting over the UI was correct and very thorough. So, it was a minor issue.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Dooey, which is a new, non-linear messaging service that will launch next month. We got funding from Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s main economic development agency, to actually sell the app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with hedgehog lab?

The existing messaging platforms always have the same format of a linear conversation. When revisiting that conversation after being offline, you’d find it difficult to bring up the subject again or discuss a certain point. My idea was to review the conversation and branch off on a topic that’s important to the user, to discuss it further. That was the challenge I brought to hedgehog lab.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve designed and built the app from scratch. hedgehog lab has been working on it for over a year now since we got the funding. They came up with different scenarios, and we worked together to find the best way of building it out. Before that, we put together some wireframes and some design work so we could approach Scottish Enterprise to get the grant funding that we were after. hedgehog did all the backend development and the frontend design. Over the last year, we’ve worked with between six and ten people on their team. It’s quite a tight-knit team. We had designers at the start, and when they had finished, they moved on to different projects while the developers built it.

The branching concept is the main feature in the app, to enable users to branch off from the main conversation to a sub-thread. Also, users can have a social domain and a business domain, and they can search between these profiles. Each area has its own set of contacts and a general personal profile. It allows you to keep your social and your business life separate from one another. So, you can discuss work topics with your colleagues, then switch to the social side to talk to friends. Those are the two main features that were important to me.

The app is iOS, to begin with, but we’re working on an Android version that will hopefully be out at the end of summer. I’ll be handling the marketing, but they’ll provide some advice.

How did you come to work with hedgehog lab?

I received a recommendation from Fueled in New York and discussed the initial idea with them. They were interested, but the budget wasn’t there at the time to build it. They recommended speaking to hedgehog lab because they were fairly local to me. I knew of the work they’d done before, which was high-quality. I got a non-disclosure agreement signed with one of their directors. They really liked the idea, and we formed a partnership from there.

How much have you invested with hedgehog lab?

We’ve invested about £175,000 [$224,564].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February of 2015, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve done beta testing, and the feedback has been quite positive. We found one or two issues, but nothing that’s holding us back. On the whole, we’ve had very strong feedback. Users are pleased with the app and are finding it useful. It’s not offered to the general public yet, but we’re looking to launch within the next month.

How did hedgehog lab perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything is delivered within the specified timeframe and budget. They’ve been very punctual, and they’ve stuck to the budget as agreed. The communication has been great. We use email and Basecamp for discussing any issues that arise, but there haven’t been any major problems. During the design phase, they sent me emails with ideas and different options. The communication from the team and the project manager was very good. I couldn’t have asked for more. Every Friday, I get a breakdown of what’s happened in the previous week and the plan for the following week. They’ve kept me abreast of the situation, and I’m happy with the communication.

What did you find most impressive about hedgehog lab?

The strength and depth of their team have grown a substantial amount since I first contacted them two years ago. They’re able to provide lots of different insights. Their people have different experiences, and they bring in their own insight on what can be done better. They pass that on to the team working on the job, so the strength and depth of the team has been very strong and has impressed me the most.

Are there any areas hedgehog lab could improve?

I’ve not had experience with other software firms, but I’m totally impressed with the way they’ve handled the project. There’s no specific thing I would like to change. It’s been a very pleasing experience, and I’d choose them again.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We've developed a film discovery app which makes movie recommendations based on information from social media accounts.

What is your position?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with hedgehog lab?

We needed help developing our new app.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

hedgehog lab provided the entire design and development work for our app.

How did you come to work with hedgehog lab?

I first approached them at the middle of last year. I sent an email with my idea, and we met in Newcastle. Over the course of a couple of days, we discussed the idea and established how we could work together. From there, it was up to hedgehog lab to do the design work. I did some research for other available companies, but I had a good feeling about hedgehog lab from browsing their website and talking to their team.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total development cost was around $56,000 [40,000 GBP], not including tax.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November of 2015. The work for the app is almost complete. We're currently working on a few more tweaks, after which we will enter the testing phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

hedgehog lab has done an amazing job. I have already received interest for the app. They came up with some very interesting ideas and did a good job throughout our collaboration. We have a nice, easy-going relationship, without any corporate rigidity.

What distinguishes hedgehog lab from other providers?

I came to establish personal relationships with their team, from their designer to their developer and project manager.

Is there anything hedgehog lab could have improved or done differently?

I don't think so. They've been very informative throughout and have always kept us up-to-date. hedgehog lab was always quick to respond whenever we had a question or concern.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an umbrella company of a number of businesses. One of them is focused on diabetes, working with other institutions in order to provide advertising/healthcare services.

What is your position?

I am a cofounder of the company. One of the businesses of which I am in charge focuses on running a number of web properties and giving away free samples pertinent to the diabetes demographic like monitoring equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with hedgehog lab?

We handle between 30,000 and 50,000 people with diabetes per day within our various properties. We are looking to create an application through which we can talk to these people effectively, helping them track the metrics related to their condition, providing food options, and other information. Our preoccupation with developing the app is, in part, business-related, but also comes from personal interest with what's currently available on the market. A large segment of the diabetes market in the United States is not being addressed properly, in particular lower-income families who lack the resources for the newest iPhone in order to run a Silicon Valley application that may be quite data-heavy. We want to make things more fun, easy, and simple.

We wanted to find a way of getting people with diabetes to use our application in order to help manage their health. Some of the main problems facing people with diabetes, especially type 2, are their eating and exercise habits as well as other controllable factors. Neglect in these areas can lead to the development of type 2 diabetes and the worsening of the disease in time. Our challenge, from a business perspective, was getting them to do something to help themselves when they hadn't done so previously. We were looking to apply gamification principles that have worked well across other health and fitness apps. Although our audience isn't typically preoccupied with health and fitness, there are many things that concern them, such as having a good source of recipes that they can rely for their meal plan, which creates a fun experience with the process.

The business challenge was in getting consistent, habit-forming use out of someone, and the ultimate goal being improving their health. From a business perspective, it is in the interest of insurance companies that these people take an active role in their own healthcare.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The main overriding goal was ease of use. The application has to be self-explanatory, which means that, given the complexity of what we're trying to achieve, it needed to conform to what people were used to. We couldn't do any wacky UX [user experience] experiments, but needed to provide a fun and engaging experience. This was an overall directive given to hedgehog lab.

Another unusual requirement was that, given the way in which we plan to market the app, we needed to have Android and iOS versions developed concurrently. Android is scheduled to finish development one month after the iOS version, which is atypical in the mobile space. We will include the apps in our current marketing flow, which is not aimed at specific operating systems. If it was only an iOS app, we couldn't simply mention an app in general for people to download, when roughly 50 percent of our users have Android devices.

We spec'd out the application fairly well before approaching hedgehog lab in terms of the functionality we needed, but there was an entire process that involved taking our specs and turning them into a minimum viable product.

We have in-house developers ourselves, so we're pretty tech-savvy, but we lack expertise in native app development. We took an approach of how we wanted the app to look on a mobile device, without fully understanding mobile paradigms needed for a good user experience.

I flew out to participate in a workshop with hedgehog lab for about a week. We hashed out what the app was going to look like, based on my company's preliminary designs. We ended up with a much cleaner user experience as a result.

How did you come to work with hedgehog lab?

I engaged with many firms, probably upward of 30. I wanted to make sure that I'd be confident in my selection. We're based in New York City and have an office in San Diego, so we looked in both of those locations. We also looked in California, New York, and other places in the United States and the United Kingdom. We didn't consider any India- or Philippines-based companies due to work communication barriers.

It came down to a number of things I was looking for, ones that hedgehog lab met in their entirety. One of those was their accuracy in making time and cost estimations. I was looking for firms with a lack of hubris. Many companies pitched extraordinarily heavy on how they're better than everyone else, which cannot be possible all of the time.

We were also looking for a company that would offer a warranty period for their work. I assumed that this would be true for most companies when entering this process, but it didn't turn out to be the case. Some companies charge clients even for fixing broken outputs if they are post-launch date.

Lastly, we wanted to ensure that they'd be willing to work with us. We feared a company that would just take our project, build it in isolation for six months, and present it. I didn't want to put money in a black box and hope for a good result. We had chats with their project managers in order to see what their processes were. hedgehog lab was willing to accept this, sharing any code that we requested.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total development cost was $250,000, not including marketing efforts.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with hedgehog lab in December 2015. The project has passed its design phase and is now in mid-development.

The scope of our app is very large. It's not a true minimum viable product, but rather the version 1.0 of an app. Development time is expected to be five or six months. We expect to launch the iOS version at the beginning of August 2016. The Android version is scheduled for the following month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Their design has been spot-on to our requirements. We didn't want a product that pushed the boundaries of UX design, but still wanted to have it be clean and modern, in keeping with the iOS 7 design. Their lead developer is very good with communication. He has come up with very reasonable data models for us.

How did hedgehog lab perform from a project management standpoint?

I'm very impressed with hedgehog lab's ability to stick to schedules. This all comes down to our project manager, who has given us a lot of confidence throughout. Everything has been delivered on time, except for a couple of minor delays, which hedgehog lab communicated in due time. We expanded the scope of the MVP during the discovery period, so the overall timeline was increased accordingly.

What distinguishes hedgehog lab from other providers?

Their CEO [Sarat Pediredla] assured us that, if they ever delivered a broken product, he'd personally jump in and start coding. I'm an active executive myself, so this appealed to me. Most other places we talked to felt very rigid and structured, giving us tight rules for what would happen if we stepped out of their contract lines. hedgehog lab has a bit more organic approach, which I thought to be good.

Is there anything hedgehog lab could have improved or done differently?

Their project manager is very good in terms of communication, but the people under him are less so. We have a good designer working for us, but I don't think he knows how to write. Whenever I received written communication from him, it looked like nonsense. This can be difficult to manage given that half of our communication is done through Basecamp. The following week will be interesting for us, given that the project manager will be on vacation. It remains to be seen how the rest of the team picks up his work.

There was a change in timeline for the completion of the iOS app that, although unfortunate, I thought was fair because of the complexity of what they were working on. It was frustrating to get our timeline pushed back a couple of months. This adds complexities in mobile development because, if our launch is going to coincide with that of iOS 10, we'll have to worry about iOS 10 compatibility, too. I may have other complaints once they've completed the project but, for now, I'm pretty happy.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a data center based in central London. We are a co-location building, so we are basically a property for 80 businesses. We have different types of IT businesses within our building. We have servers, and people can buy kilowatts and keep their IT infrastructure inside our building. We can maintain all of that ourselves.

What is your position?

I am a marketing assistant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Netsells?

We needed assistance with our website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Netsells actually did a lot of the back-end development for our WordPress website. They worked with one of our design agencies to build the website from scratch for us. Then they also maintained the upkeep for the WordPress website and the integrated build that we have there, such as HubSpot. They keep that up-to-date for us.

If we want new features added to our site, we have Netsells do it for us. We had a few technical issues, which I have worked with Netsells to fix.

How did you come to work with Netsells?

Netsells was introduced to us by our design agency because they use them quite a bit themselves. They referred us on to them because they do it in joint action with each other, so they do the design part, and Netsells does the back-end part for websites.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I would like to keep that confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

They’re still working with us. We still have an ongoing relationship with them. They maintain the website for us. Anything that we need coding for or anything in the back end, we work with them, and they are able to figure that out with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Netsells has helped us a lot with our website. We wouldn’t have the website that we have today if we didn’t work with Netsells and their partner design agency. We do get a lot of inquiries through our website. We always get complimented on how well laid out it is, as well. We do have a very well-working website, and we’re ranked quite highly with on Google as well. It all comes down to the look of it, so they’ve really helped our business along in that sense.

How did Netsells perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really quick with any kind of inquiry that we have, or if we need something fixed. They’re really fast and on the ball. All I have to do is send an email, and I’ll get a response pretty much straight away. If it’s quite a long project they need to deal with, they will keep me updated step-by-step with it. They are really on top form with that.

What distinguishes Netsells from other providers?

We really appreciate that they actually know our branding very well. If we’re asking for something, they’ll give their honest opinion and think whether if it’s within brand as well. Again, they work with the design agency; they really know the voice of our company, so they understand what we’re going for.

Is there anything Netsells could have improved or done differently?

There’s nothing that I can really say that they could do differently. It’s all working in partnership. I think we can all help each other out a little bit more, with having more things on the website or maybe just suggesting things for us for our website to run a bit better. That’s all down to open discussions as well, because we all have to have ideas with it. We’re very happy with the service that they have provided.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is Soda Visual. We are a commercial and lifestyle photography and videography company.

What is your position?

I am a director and photographer in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Netsells?

It was a question of how to display the work that we’ve done both on a project basis, case studies, and in a portfolio, that would work for all the things that we create. Because a lot of photographers have mostly images displayed online that are all landscapes or all portraits, we felt like it was a bit of a cheap way out, and that there must be some sort of design solution to this. This is what we were hoping to be able to solve with Netsells.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Netsells developed our website end-to-end. We gave them carte blanche. They designed the overall look. The only thing that we provided was the logo. We asked for the colors of the logo to remain as part of the design. Everything else was completely open, really. They first designed the home page, and once we were satisfied with the home page, then we expanded the design to all of the other pages, like our blog and other pages we needed to add along the way.

How did you come to work with Netsells?

We found them online. Later on, after speaking to them, especially Brannan, who came to meet us in London, we knew it was going to be right. We knew we were on the same wavelength. We knew that they were quite keen on the idea of going all out on the design, rather than just follow your clients’ hopes. What we find in photography is that our clients don’t know what they want, and when it came down to it, talking to the guys at Netsells, it turns out that we didn’t really know what we wanted, and we wanted some guidance.

We just wanted to have it done properly. They were not in a rush to get paid or to finish it as long as we were not going to give them a hard time every other day, so it worked out pretty well for us in that respect.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It cost under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s ongoing work. There are a couple of things that are still pending, which we knew was going to be the case from day one.

It is a bit of a problem in the sense that we don’t really have the funds to keep going. At the same time, the changes we need aren’t that upsetting or urgent. We’re a bit in limbo. There are some things that are for the second stage of the development, mostly in the back end, things like reordering items on the website, being able to leave things available but not showing on certain sections, forcing certain crops on certain types of images to be shown a certain way, etc. It’s all very little things that we are looking at doing.  For example, the blog is showing up but this is something we had agreed that we would all roll out in one go in phase two, so that it would cost us less money, and they would spend less time on it and get it all done in one go. It is an ongoing project in that sense.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Whenever we send people to the website, we get complimented both on the content and on the website. Generally speaking, I would say about once or twice a week, we’ll get someone asking, “Who did your website, can we get in touch?” In the last six months, we’ve been giving the details away quite a bit.

I have to admit we’re not getting the traffic or traction that we were hoping for. In all fairness, we haven’t actually had a launch. When we were going to do a launch in September, we were addressing some problems that turned out to be show-stoppers. We didn’t even have a soft launch.

How did Netsells perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, if I were to give it a mark, I would probably give them something like 90 or 95 out of 100. Netsells is very responsive, even though they’re not in London, they’re in York, which is about a two-and-a-half to three-hour drive from here. Dealing with things on the phone and over email has been very easy. They keep you updated on everything. They’re very strong when it comes to those things.

The problems we’ve had are no massive problems. They’re little annoyances. Every time we’ve brought up something that we wanted to change, they have no extra cost for us. The only problems we’ve had, I think, are based on misunderstandings. They’ve been very fair as to what’s in scope and what’s not in scope. I think that’s part of the reason why we’ve been able to keep it that cheap. It’s also the reason why we’ve managed to keep some things for phase one. That’s important; we can afford it, and therefore, we’ll do it. If it’s either something we can’t afford or something we don’t need right now, then we can wait either for funds or for confirmation if that’s really what we want to do.

What distinguishes Netsells from other providers?

To be honest, for my business partner, I think it was a question of their willingness to do what we’ve asked without having to ask too much input on our part. They asked what they needed to ask early on, and they brainstormed the best way to tackle our website.

For me, the fact that Netsells was really honest stood out. We let them be as creative as they wanted to be, and they delivered a great product. They were very straightforward and transparent.  

Is there anything Netsells could have improved or done differently?

There was not a single problem along the way. There was a few mistakes, a few things that got fixed in a timely manner, but there was no real big issue.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a platform that matches up motorists with car parks.

What is your position?

I am a cofounder of the company, responsible for the technical side of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Netsells?

Netsells was hired to transform what was a dated, old, very neglected website into a new, functional, advanced site. We needed a sophisticated back-end and a great user interface – they've delivered on both counts. Along the journey, there have been some big legacy issues to overcome. The design was overhauled completely – in effect, the project was almost a complete rebuild from scratch.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Netsells was responsible for the whole project. They've designed and developed the front-end design and have integrated that front-end design into the back-end. They've overhauled all the back-end as well by completely reworking all the admin features. Everything you see on the website in terms of the design of all the pages and the functionality that powers the website has been completed by Netsells. They were responsible for the whole project.

In terms of the CMS [content management system], it's a back-end CMS called Hatchly. It's a custom-built CMS. Technology wise, it is built in Laravel – a PHP framework.

How did you come to work with Netsells?

We found them through a Google search. Our website was built in Laravel, so we carried out a search for Laravel web developers and came across Netsells. We're based in London and they're based in York, but what attracted us to them initially was just the fact that they specialized in being a Laravel development agency rather than an agency that tried to claim to do a bit of everything.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It has cost between $50,000 and $200,000 to date.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've worked with them since the end of 2014. We work with them in an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

On a visual level, we've received a lot of feedback in terms of the website looking completely different compared to what it did a couple years ago, so that's the first impression feedback we get. The website is much faster than it was. It used to take a long time to load. If you had a slow Internet connection, it would struggle. In terms of the conversions side, it's much stronger compared to where it was last year. Conversion rates have more than doubled. Obviously, that's not all down to the website. It's also down to more specific marketing and bringing on more parking spaces. Every month, we sit down and work together on new testing changes and roll them out across the site with a view to increasing the conversion rate.

How did Netsells perform from a project management standpoint?

Netsells is a great team to work with. The project was managed by Brannan [Coady, managing director and cofounder of Netsells] and Alastair [Foster, project manager of Netsells]. They were responsive. We can call them anytime in the evenings if there's something urgent that needs to be done, and they're happy to meet whenever you want to meet. Most of the communication is done remotely. From all the web developers I've worked with since 2006, they're by far the most responsive. You can always call or text, and they'll get straight back to you.

What distinguishes Netsells from other providers?

Netsells cares about the projects they work on. They don't operate a factory model by trying to churn out websites as quickly as possible before moving onto the next client. Instead, they take a lot of care in the projects they take on. It's like having an in-house development team in terms of how they manage it. They give you ideas and feedback throughout and they're partners in the whole process. You feel that they're almost on the journey as well, rather than just caring about getting a website rolled out quickly so they can move on.

Is there anything Netsells could have improved or done differently?

No. I can't think of anything. They've been good.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is Peak Cottages, a UK-based holiday letting (rental) agency with properties in the Peak District, Derbyshire, and the surrounding areas.

What is your position?

I’m the Co-Founder and Director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Netsells?

We approached Netsells in early 2015 to redesign our website from scratch and make it mobile-ready.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of the work.

Netsells designed and developed a fully responsive website, which integrated with our booking management system [SuperControl]. It was an application program interface [API] integration, and they completely redesigned the front end of the website. They use Laravel, which is a PHP framework, and SuperControl.

Netsells also manages the search engine optimization [SEO] marketing of our website.

How did you come to work with Netsells?

We prospected for the website. They were all either direct contacts or through one of my other contacts. We tendered between six and eight agencies, and we interviewed the top three. Netsells was actually introduced to us by one of the agencies I had reached out to tender. They didn't think it was a suitable project, but they recommended Brannon and Netsells to us. They ended up in that top three that we interviewed. We picked them by unanimous decision.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The actual website was above $15,000 but less than $30,000. I think if you factor in the SEO work, we probably spent about $30,000 with them, and we intend to spend roughly $18,000 quarterly with them on an ongoing basis.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The amount of traffic we've converted has increased by 120%. The conversion rate average was 0.6% before, and it's 1.95% currently. We've been live for seven months; we launched in late July. Funnily enough, when we took them on with the SEO work, we'd actually just had a penalty from Google, so they were starting from quite a low base but they have, very quickly and drastically, reduced the deficit. It probably is a bit too early to tell. At the moment, we're trying to get back to a level we were good at rather than expand on it.

How did Netsells perform from a project management standpoint?

Originally, the Managing Director [MD] managed the project directly, and then one of their new hires was assigned to the project, which gave us a designated project manager. Equally, the MD was very involved throughout. We completed the website early. The aim was August and we delivered on July 8th of 2015. They delivered in three months, so they were very early.

We met with them, maybe once every two weeks. From our point of view, I was assigned to the project as well, so I worked with them very closely. They kept us in the loop throughout. They met with us on a regular basis. They delivered very early, matching the full specification.

What distinguishes Netsells from other providers?

With Netsells, you get a lot of  added value you get beyond what you pay for, especially from Brannan, who's the MD. Netsells is very collaborative, and they talk in English. We're not blessed with the in-house expertise, and it's very easy to just be blinded by what people are saying. They're always very clear and succinct and easy to work with too; hence, we ended up going with them for SEO as well.

Is there anything Netsells could have improved or done differently?

No, I don't think so. We delivered it in an agile environment, so the intention is always to improve on what was there before. We didn't have any complaints at all about the work they completed for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We’re a startup. We are creating an iOS application for iPhone. The app is targeted at the fitness community.

What is your position?

I’m the only director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with hedgehog?

We are trying to build a niche social network around the fitness community allowing multiple fitness disciplines including runners, weightlifters, CrossFit, etc. It’s a platform on which users can connect, socialize, and follow each other.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

November is month four of development, from start to finish. I’m not the developer. hedgehog has gone from me giving them a few pieces of paper, to going and meeting with them, and then doing a project kickoff meeting which was very useful for getting some ideas on the whiteboard for the iOS application. So now we’re into the fourth month of development, looking at a soft launch in December and a full launch sometime mid-January.

How did you come to work with hedgehog?

I just stumbled across them, to be honest with you. I live in Newcastle, and obviously, their development team is based in Newcastle. I started from scratch and did my research. Ideally, I really wanted to work with somebody around the area. I started talking to a company in London and they recommended hedgehog. Their developers are based in Newcastle, just five minutes down the road from me. I didn’t choose them purely because of that, but it is a plus point.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is almost completed. As I said, we are planning for a full launch in January.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any results from this engagement?

Overall, I’m very happy with their performance. The guys are always easy to get a hold of. They’re very quick to get back to you if you send them an email, and I’m not their only client. I work in a similar environment with multiple clients and it is tough to get back to everyone straightaway, but I rarely wait very long for anyone to get back to me which is positive. The outputs of hedgehog's work have been fantastic. What I’ve noticed at the moment is that the style guidance, the wireframes that are being produced, and the initial designs that were created have been excellent.

When they did the initial design of the application, especially giving it some color and some of the branding, I went there thinking it might need a few major tweaks but actually, very little needed changing. So I was very impressed on that side of things. Once they get into their realm of what they’re all about, which is developing and branding, they’re excellent. All the outputs of work I’ve seen have been absolutely fantastic.

What distinguishes hedgehog from other providers?

They were very helpful on a strategic level. I went in the initial meeting thinking that we needed to launch it on Android and iOS. They helpfully made a very valid point. They gave me some statistics on user experience on iOS compared to Android, how many apps were being used, how long an average user is spending on an app, and iOS seems to be a major frontrunner. Their guidance was helpful because they were quite right and we ended up deciding to first launch in iOS and then we can launch on the other later.

Is there anything hedgehog could have improved or done differently?

The only very small weakness is on some of the initial sign up documentation, and I know it’s very hard to do that for an app. You want it to be as agile as possible and they’re a big advocate of agile development. It’s sort of trying to get the application noted down and show exactly what the application will do. That needed a few iterations before I was happy with it, but I think that’s natural. I wouldn’t see that as a massive negative. That wouldn’t put me off working with them at all. It’s just the approach you have to go through.