Enrique Franklin – Co-founder, HOPNBR

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of HOPNBR, a data-driven platform that gives merchants or venues in the hospitality industry a way to attract more clientele and process their payments. It also allows customers the opportunity to interact with other customers through the application.

What challenge were you trying to address with Azati?

We contracted with Azati to design and build our platform's mobile and web applications.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Azati is responsible for all technical aspects of the enterprise. In addition to the web portal, they have designed and developed our application for Android and iOS using React Native. The app includes payment processing capabilities so that merchants can work faster and track their sales performance in real-time. Customers can order and pay bills instantly and interact with other customers.

What is team composition?

Their team consists of six people, including iOS and Android developers, designers, and a business analyst that acts as a project manager.

How did you come to work with Azati?

Before working with Azati, I collaborated with some part-time developers, but I decided that if I wanted to take this to the next level, I needed a group of professionals. A friend recommended Azati after having a successful project with them. I found positive online reviews of their work, and I had a chance to speak with the owner and with the business analyst that is currently assigned to this project. They appeared to be quite experienced, and I had a good feeling about selecting them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent more than $100,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in February 2018, and the bulk of the development work was completed by July, about five months later. By that time, we had a platform in beta. At this point, we've just recently coordinated a soft launch.

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

The platform has been well-received so far. It has only been launched as a pilot project for now so that we can test it in a live environment and collect feedback. The app is available in the App Store and the Google Play market. From a technology standpoint, it's performing quite well. You'd expect some occasional bugs, but there has been nothing major so far. And Azati has been reliable in fixing them as they come up. The app has never crashed, which is a testament to the quality of the code they developed.

How did Azati perform from a project management standpoint?

They are professional in how they've organized all of the tasks. I only communicate with one person, the business analyst, and she's proven to be capable and available. We're in two different countries, so we've found it useful to work through text and WhatsApp. They've been in constant communication with me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have been available at practically all hours of the day. I never have to wait longer than an hour to receive a response.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Like any startup, we're still learning so much about ourselves at this early stage. I don't have anything negative to say about Azati because they've adapted to our style each time we've changed it in the past 10 or 11 months.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In the business world, we all have our set ideas, but I'd suggest being open to learning more from Azati' s team.