Osedea

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing and Aïdi, a SaaS platform built for the construction industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

Our brand felt out of date, which showed through our main software product, our website, our overall look and feel, and the brand's direction. We approached Osedea to bring in an external perspective to refresh our branding, pump some life into it, and create a new foundation and direction.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Osedea reimagined our brand and delivered new brand guidelines and assets. They did some focus groups internally with the team and conducted workshops to help us understand what we wanted to achieve and where the boundaries were. We established guidelines on the scope of work and determined what we wanted our brand to represent moving forward. 

From there, they redid our logo, color scheme, font, and typography. The team also refreshed the visuals for the brand, including photography and materials. Osedea gave us direction on integrating the new branding into our social media strategy and website. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with four teammates from Osedea. A project manager kept the project moving, a senior designer led the rebranding effort, and an intermediate designer supported him in creating the branding guidelines. We also had another senior designer who wasn’t directly involved. 

How did you come to work with Osedea?

Our company had an existing working relationship with Osedea. We had used them for various smaller projects over the previous 2–3 years and had an idea of who they were and what they could do, but this was a bigger project and the first time we would leverage them as a design partner. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $75,000 CAD (approximately $56,000). 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from October–November 2022. Next, they’ll design our new website using our new branding. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Osedea’s process was really impressive. They did an amazing job using the workshops and focus groups on determining our needs. Although we haven’t fully implemented the rebrand, they gave us the foundation to work toward. However, we’ve started using the branding minimally in the visuals of our social media posts, and we’ve seen an uptick in engagement and impressions based on it. 

Moreover, our team is very excited about the new branding; it has increased morale. We aim to have it more public by the end of the year, and our people are excited to see it live and very much behind this change. Overall, we’ve had a very positive reaction internally. 

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

They were on time, on budget, and efficient, turning the project around quickly. Overall, we had no complaints about their project management. I give kudos to our very thorough project manager; she was present in most of our meetings to ensure she was tracking things. As a result, the engagement went really smoothly. 

They constantly communicated via email, sharing files about the timeline and budget. We also used Slack for instant requests, follow-ups, and reminders. For the budgeting and timeline milestones, we used Google Sheets. As for design, we used Figma for conversations and collaboration. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Osedea’s biggest strength was being a guide through the branding experience and process. Branding work can be very confusing due to too many options. Osedea did a great job keeping us focused and getting us to collaborate and give input effectively. They were very professional and organized while also being creative and generating conversations to move things forward. This approach resulted in a very smooth process that led to a really exciting, high-quality outcome. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their work was very clear and without any major improvement opportunities. If anything, they could be more specific about the outputs and what to expect at the outset. However, the delivery was so thorough and high-quality that it wasn’t a significant concern. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go in with good expectations of what Osedea can deliver in terms of branding. Be open-minded to their process and approach. If you work with that process, you’ll get an amazing output.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a developer advisor for a media company; we rate products through our website and application and share ratings with our clients and the public. I liaise between our CRM and CMS development groups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

We wanted to explore AI technology capabilities and solutions for image recognition. Our goal was to create a mobile application that could take pictures of products and recognize the product names, ingredients, and details for data entry purposes. We wanted the application to scan products and identify the types of ingredients in them and whether they were toxic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Osedea helped us build a proof of concept for the mobile application. They identified potential limitations and the low-hanging fruit of the technology. While building the proof of concept, we came across an application that analyzed ingredients in cosmetic products, which we used as a starting point. After finishing the proof of concept, we moved forward with the design and development stages. 

Osedea helped us build the mobile application and develop the optical character recognition (OCR) program. We shared our data and vision with the team, and they implemented the functionality we were looking for. The team recommended we use Azure for the OCR and AWS to store the application. Osedea went through two iterations of the application before coming up with the final version. Once they completed the final app, we launched it for iOS and Android. 

The application enables users to scan products in the grocery or at home to determine the ingredients' toxicity level. Once a user scans the ingredients for a product, the app translates the images into actual text, reads them against a database, and determines the level of toxicity using a green, yellow, or orange rating. For example, if a user scanned the ingredients on their sunscreen, the app would identify the ingredients and show the user the level of the sunscreen’s toxicity.

Aside from the scanning feature, the Osedea team also created a list of toxic ingredients for users to reference directly in the app. Furthermore, they added a marketing feature that lists website articles for users after they receive a toxicity rating. The articles explain their ingredients further and share details regarding other relevant topics. 

Since launching the app, they’ve done some design thinking to explore other functionalities and uses for it. For example, we’ve developed designs and clarified project aspects for university researchers to determine the toxicity levels in their food’s ingredients.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six team members from Osedea, including two designers, a project manager, and three developers.

How did you come to work with Osedea? 

We found Osedea online while searching for a service provider to build a chatbot for our website. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested roughly $150,000 CAD (approximately $113,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Osedea in December 2020, and they finished the proof of concept in 2021. Then, they completed the development phase in roughly six months, and the project ended in March 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We began with a soft launch, so we’re still waiting to see a significant impact. However, the app has impacted our business positively, and we’ve received promising feedback from users. The app meets our needs and functions as expected, and our team has been happy with the quality.

Although the results are still a work in progress, the fact that we’ve been able to launch the app shows the public that we’re an innovative company that can keep up with the technology landscape. 

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

We were very satisfied with our project manager; they were helpful and communicative via Slack and email. Osedea met deadlines and delivered the project within our budget. They worked in two-week development sprints, which allowed us to watch the product evolve. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed by how closely Osedea listened to our needs and understood what we were looking for. They did a good job helping us clarify the highly technical aspects of our project, and the team was made up of experts with various skill sets.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since Osedea is a growing company, they have limited development resources, which made it hard to postpone tasks because the developers were squeezed on time. They could improve by expanding the team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend you engage Osedea for your project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Nalyze, a development company that creates data analytics products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

We’d been working on our product but were missing qualified talent. So, we hired Osedea to participate in product development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the beginning of the project, we provided Osedea with the product we’d been working on, along with documentation. Their team has worked alongside us in Python during the development.

How did you come to work with Osedea?

I was referred to Osedea by my personal network. I knew some teammates from the company. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a team of developers. 

How much have you inve​​​​s​​ted with them?

We’ve invested $67,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in January 2021 and is scheduled to finish at the end of August 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve measured their efficiency throughout the partnership, which is essentially how many tasks their resources complete in a week. We’ve seen their efficiency increase over time. At this point, their output is consistent with our in-house developers, which is good.

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

Our in-house team manages all the resources from Osedea. Typically, we communicate through instant messaging; we have occasional calls with their administrators. We also had daily calls with the resources from Osede. Every month, we’ve received a fixed invoice based on the number of resources we’ve used.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Osedea has adapted well to our project. We have a lot of different processes and technical services, but their resources are really adaptable. Even if they don’t know the framework or the tools we use, they’ll learn to adapt to the new way of working. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, it isn’t clear enough when the resources from Osedea will have small periods of inactivity around internal meetings or events. Communication about what could impact the work is a good place for them to grow. It occasionally felt like Osedea’s team wasn’t meshing well with our in-house team. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers should be clear about their expectations and the technologies they’re using. I’d also suggest evaluating the resources from Osedea.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a technology platform that provides kids with strategies to manage their emotions better.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

We hired them to help us build our MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For phase one, we met with Osedea and determined the type of technology we should use to build our platform, as well as the cost, timeframe, and resources needed. From there, they developed the MVP from scratch using JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

I had direct contact with the project manager and the developers. 

How did you come to work with Osedea?

We found them through a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000 CAD (approximately $20,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2019–September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Osedea was very helpful in directing us regarding what we should do and how to build the platform.

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

They were exceptional at communicating and sticking to schedule and budget. We used Jira for project management, and we typically communicated through email, video calls, phone calls, and text messages.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed by Osedea’s ability to respect timelines and budgets. They had the right people working on my project; the teammates understood it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There wasn’t really anything they needed to improve. If anything, they could have had more resources working for us. At a certain point, we were getting too big and needed more developers that they didn’t have because they were too busy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would 100% recommend Osedea!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a director at Aquado, a company that offers at-home swimming lessons. My role involves dealing with all the instructors and customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

Many customers register each year, and we used to do registration by phone, which took really long. We’d built a web application for registration and booking, but it wasn’t working as well as we’d wanted, so we connected with Osedea to improve our application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came to Osedea with all our app’s problems, and they came back with the solutions to those problems. The team worked on the app’s booking system, which is complicated because we have a customized calendar, many customers, and 90 instructors. Currently, they provide support for our application.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four teammates from Osedea in the first year of our engagement, and we’re now working with another four people. In total, we’ve worked with eight people, including a product manager, developers, and project managers.

How did you come to work with Osedea?

Although it wasn’t me who found them, I believe we found Osedea through Google research.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent almost $40,000 CAD (approximately $31,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to Osedea’s work, our customers have been able to book their classes with fewer issues than before. Moreover, the team is there for us; they solve our questions or problems when we have them. If they’re not problem-solving, they’re proposing solutions that could help prevent issues in the future.

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

We use email, Google Meet, and Slack for communication. For project management, we’re using ClickUp, though we used Google Drive last year. Osedea always communicates with us and lets us know what’s going on and how they’re doing. 

We give them a checklist of the things we want to solve, and they give us an estimated timeline and budget. We have a daily 15-minute meeting where they talk about the previous day’s work and what they’ll do that day. We also have another meeting to see if they’re on schedule or need more time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate that Osedea has many developers who are specialized in different things. As a result, our product manager can determine who would better fit each issue. 

Moreover, they’re able to find solutions within our budget. Since we’re not a big company, we can’t put that many resources into our applications, and the Osedea team makes an effort to find fixes that work with our budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have a developer available every day. At the moment, they don’t have a solution to support us if we have an issue during the project’s off-time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to talk to Osedea ahead of time to make sure they’ll have time for you and that you’ll be free to work with them. They ask lots of questions and want you to be involved in the project, so you must make time for it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-owner of Emyx Technologies, a project and timesheet management software for construction companies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

We wanted to develop a prototype for the second version of our product. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Osedea developed a complete UX/UI prototype of our mobile and web applications. My team provided some basic documentation for the website. The mobile app was targeted at employees and ran through an existing API; the web app is for employers. The app was used to track employee and project schedules. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 teammates from Osedea, including the project manager and a UX developer. 

How did you come to work with Osedea?

I found Osedea through LinkedIn. I knew someone who worked there and reached out to him when we debated whether to do development in-house or with a different firm. In the end, everything seemed to work out between us, so I hired them to do the prototyping.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $40,000–$45,000 CAD (approximately $32,000–$36,000 USD) with Osedea. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Osedea from August 2020–January 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We developed both applications from the prototypes Osedea developed; we were delighted with their final deliverable. Their team had a lot of great ideas and was always up-to-date with the latest development changes. We were a great match: they knew everything about development, and we knew everything about our business. 

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

Osedea was great at meeting deadlines, if anything, my team was late with deliverables. Whenever a team member from Osedea was out, they’d bring someone on quickly to ensure there were no project delays. We had weekly and daily meetings during the project; we talked to the project manager daily in a scrum meeting. We also communicated with Osedea through email and Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed that Osedea could stay up-to-date on the changing UX/UI development world. They were also very talented; their team made the app very user-friendly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I have nothing for Osedea to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d suggest that future customers have open communication with Osedea — customers need to be precise in their vision and feedback. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a research assistant in an academic group whose aim is to monitor the evolution of the food supply in Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted a proof of concept of an app that could:

1. Help consumers make food choices that are beneficial to their health and respect the environment.

2. Highlight local producers.

3. Allow the user to enter a product into the database using photos of the barcode and the Nutrition Facts table.

SOLUTION

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

Another team from our organization as well as our partner in this project have already worked with OSEDEA. Both told us that it would be possible to make progress in our project with their expertise.

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

First, OSEDEA took the time to fully understand our needs. The 2-week proof of concept confirmed the feasibility of the automated reading of the information on parts of the product label. The daily meetings made it possible to complete this step quickly while remaining well focused on our objectives.

This was followed by a half-day design thinking workshop where the structure and content of the app was largely determined. Following this workshop, there were 2 weeks of design sprint to produce the wireframes of the app as we imagined it together during design thinking.

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

Rahat led the proof of concept to establish the feasibility of automatic reading of the Nutrition Facts table and ingredients list. Thierry acted as project manager and Juan produced the wireframe for the app. Martin led the design thinking workshop, which helped decide together the important elements to include in the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since this project is still in development, there is not a lot that we can share. Other challenges still need to be overcome before making this app available to the public.

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

The daily meetings ensured that the work progressed quickly while remaining focused on our goals: two aspects that can be difficult to achieve simultaneously, but OSEDEA convincingly succeeded in doing so.

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

Their professionalism and adherence to deadlines were remarkable.

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

OSEDEA being a company headquartered in the province of Quebec, it would be nice to have the opportunity to do all the meetings in French.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director and product owner of a company specialized in the traffic counter industry. We sell counters mainly to retail stores in order to collect and analyze data of how many people are coming into the shops. With that information, we’re able to provide recommendations to the sales manager regarding how many sales representatives they should have on the floor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

We wanted to create a mobile version of an application they did for us in the past. We wanted to be able to offer it as a COVID-19 service, where stores could see their traffic in real-time and ensure the proper amount of people were inside.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did a three-week discovery sprint where they learned our exact necessities and what could create value for our customers. We did some remote sessions where they asked us about our needs, the market we were aiming for, our main goal, and the type of product we wanted to deliver at the end. 

They came up with a progressive web app that you can use on mobile devices, but users don’t have to download the application to use it. In terms of technologies, they developed the app with UGS. They also used Figma to develop the UI that they provided at the end.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Thierry (Project Manager) and a UI designer.

How did you come to work with Osedea?

We’ve worked with them in the past. A former employee of ours recommended them to us back then, and we found good reviews about Osedea online. We wanted their expertise on this new product, so we contacted them to discuss our first draft of the work together.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We work through March–April 2021. We’ll probably continue to work with them in the next few months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application will be released next week, so we’ll start to collect feedback from customers then. When we showed the final results of the dynamic prototype to the president of our company, he was very satisfied and complimented the work done by Osedea. When they promise something, they always deliver a quality product on time; it was easy to build confidence with them.

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work and professionalism distinguishes them from other providers. They’re honest and have respect for timeframes; they made sure to deliver the expected results on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Be open-minded. They bring new and nice ideas to the table.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the client relations manager for ROBIC, an IP law firm that covers trademark, patent protection, and litigation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

We didn’t have paperless billing and were printing a lot of invoices. It required a lot of time and effort and it wasted a lot of paper.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At first, they helped us replicate our process for approving invoices electronically. We have three different processes that we needed to put in place depending on what type of invoices we were doing.

After our first draft, we realized that recreating our system electronically was ineffective, so we had to rethink the way we operated. They helped us through that process and developed a second platform that fit our needs better. Now all of our invoicing processes are online.  

What is the team composition?

I worked with a couple of programmers and a project manager directly. On top of that, the president of Osedea was very involved in the project.

How did you come to work with Osedea?

We met Osedea at an event at which startups pitch ideas to solve our problems. Their proposal aligned with what we were looking for and was much better than other companies we considered. They were able to pinpoint what our problem was.  

How much have you invested with them?

Our initial contract was $35,000 CAD (approximately $28,000 USD), but we asked them to do some additional work. We ended up spending an additional $14,000 CAD (approximately $11,000 USD) in support. In total, we’ve spent about $71,000 CAD (approximately $56,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in October 2016 and the final platform was delivered in April 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was a big success. We’re able to bill clients in about half the time it used to take. We also wanted to show that we were a paperless company, so this increased our visibility. Clients were happy to see we were going that way.

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a great relationship with Osedea. They took the time to sit down with us at every point during the project to make sure their work aligned with what we hoped to accomplish. Since the project ended, they’ve continued to stay in contact with us to make sure everything is running smoothly. I know we can count on them. They’re available at any time, and if there is an issue, they can fix it.

We added new requirements a few times throughout the project, so it was difficult for them to meet our deadline. Still, they were very organized and they reminded us about the deadlines we had agreed upon. If they missed a deadline, it was probably our fault and not theirs. They were on top of everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re dynamic and innovative. They had great ideas and they opened our minds to new possibilities. We received the best service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did everything we told them to do, but they did miss a few small things in the UX.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

New clients should focus on the results they want rather than how they plan to go about the problem. Initially, we were so focused on recreating our process online, we lost sight of our intention to improve it. Osedea made great suggestions, so new clients should listen to their input.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an IP-focused law firm that does trademarks and patent protection. We also have litigation. I’m a client relations manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Osedea?

We were not paperless for billing, which required us to do a lot of printing to approve invoicing. It also took a lot of time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At first, we wanted to replicate our process for approving invoices in an electronic format. There was a standard workflow. There were three different processes or rules for approving invoicing, but we learned that this was a mistake after the first draft. Therefore, we went back and rethought the way we worked. Osedea helped us through this process and created a second draft. Our whole process is now done online on a platform they created for us.

What is the team composition?

I dealt with a couple of programmers directly, as well as a project manager. The president of the company was also very involved and still is.

How did you come to work with Osedea?

We met them at a start-up event in Montreal. They listened to our needs, and their proposal was closest to what we asked for. We wanted something dummy-proof and clear, and their concept was in-line with everything we’d given them.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial contract was $35,000 CAD (approximately $27,600 USD), and then we went over asking for extras and doing a second draft, so we added another $14,000 CAD (approximately $11,000 USD). In total, now, we’ve spent around $71,000 (approximately $56,000 USD) CAD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2016 until April 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was a big success in that we’ve seen a 50% decrease in the time it takes to go through billing. Second, as a law firm, we wanted to be able to show clients that we were a paperless company, so this has helped with visibility.

We had a great relationship with Osedea throughout the process. They took time to sit with us at every step to ensure they were in-line with our expected results. They’ve stayed in contact even after the project to make sure everything’s okay. We could count on them at any time, any hour.

How did Osedea perform from a project management standpoint?

There was a bit of a deadline issue at the end from our side adding on extra asks. They were very organized and reminded us of agreed-upon deadlines at every step.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a dynamic team and have really good ideas. Additionally, they’re young and they have new ideas about how people work. Even their office is innovative. I love how they see things. They opened our eyes to new possibilities.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m not able to say, as I mostly dealt with their president and had A1 service. But, if I had to pick and choose, I would say they could improve their validation of the UX. They did everything we told them to do, but they lacked on some little stuff.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I had the chance to recommend Osedea to another law firm for the same project, and I told that person we focused more on recreating what we had than improving it. I would tell someone else to let Osedea suggest what you do, rather than telling them what to do. Try to improve what you have.