The right software can change everything.
Atomic Object creates custom software products for the web, mobile devices, computers, and the Internet of Things. Since 2001, we've been helping companies innovate and grow with products that are beautiful, reliable, and easy to use.
Our team of designers and developers can bring your idea to life — from planning through implementation. We’ll help you mitigate risk, make smart trade-offs, and get the most value possible for your budget.
From our offices in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor, and Chicago, we serve a national base of clients — startups to the Fortune 500. Whatever your market, we'll help you change the status quo and set yourself apart from the competition.
Atomic is employee-owned.
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Portfolio
Steelcase, NeuroMetrix, Dexter Laundry, Deluxe Corp, Priority Health, Herman Miller, VanAndel Education Institute, ArtPrize, Drug Free Sport
Quell® Mobile App
The Quell Relief mobile app for iOS and Android gives users the ability to control their therapy and provides insights into their therapy, sleep, activity, and pain.
The wearable pain relief device from NeuroMetrix fights chronic pain by stimulating nerves in the upper calf, which send neural pulses to the brain. This causes the brain to release natural opiates that block pain signals and deliver widespread pain relief throughout the body.
Quell is a new alternative to treating chronic pain, and the first device of its kind approved by the FDA for use during sleep.
Volley Video Communication Web App
Volley is an app for asynchronous communication that allows users to send each other short videos, called “Volleys.” It aims to facilitate team communication faster than Slack or email with fewer interruptions than a meeting. In addition to video, users can send text and photos.
Volley piloted their iOS mobile app in the Fall of 2020, amidst Covid-19, as a way to help teams meet less and get more done. Before Volley, team collaboration consisted of drawn-out, in-person meetings and long, context-less emails. The Volley mobile app allowed users to create virtual teams and record short, threaded video messages using their phones.
Recognizing that the future of work is flexible and distributed, Volley tasked Atomic with creating the Volley web app. The web app allows Volley users to communicate cross-platform. The mobile app speaks to Volley's idea of the spontaneous work style of the future. But the web app enables a workflow that aligns with the current state of work— users who are already sitting at their desks but want to get more done.
When brought together, the web app and mobile app allow teams to work wherever, while getting the benefits of face-to-face conversations without the challenges of traditional meetings.
ArtPrize Android & iOS Apps
ArtPrize helps more than 500,000 visitors experience 1,400 works of art during a 3-week celebration in downtown Grand Rapids.
ArtPrize awards $500,000 in prizes to works of art selected by public vote and expert jury during a massive 19-day event. This requires a great deal of logistics, including mobile apps for 60,000 event-goers.
The ArtPrize app helps visitors find 170+ venues in the 3-square-mile ArtPrize district and vote for their favorite entries in real time. Atomic works with ArtPrize to update and improve their mobile app each year.
In past years, users could only register after they arrived in the ArtPrize district. This was difficult because the cell network is often overloaded during the event.
For 2017, the team designed a new registration process. Users can now create an account and confirm their identity at any time. The final step of registration happens automatically when they enter the ArtPrize district during the event.
Root Virtual Dialogue Web Platform
Root Inc. helps organizations with strategic organizational change. They create solutions for Global 2000 organizations to connect their employees to their strategies and culture, build skills, and keep people engaged.
Historically, Root facilitated in-person workshops using hands-on solutions like a Root Learning Map® experience to help their clients manage strategic change initiatives. As time went on, Root recognized that many companies were migrating to remote or hybrid work environments and created a digital experience to liberate them from unengaging video meetings.
With the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020 and their clients moving to a work-from-home model, Root needed a more robust platform. While virtual meeting platforms exist, Root aimed to provide users with an opportunity for two-way conversation, to engage with multiple perspectives, and to deep dive into their organization’s strategy, financials, or processes. They wanted to create something similar to a whiteboard, where everyone’s voice could be heard in a fun, engaging, and meaningful way.
Priority Health: HealthInSite Web App
Priority Health’s HealthInSite web tool lets customers search and evaluate aggregated employee claim data.
It reports on potentially millions of claims, gathering and displaying detailed cost information from across different parts of a customer’s organization over different periods of time.
Five years after Atomic developed the original HealthInSite in 2009, Priority Health returned to Atomic for a major redesign that would serve more clients, add more data, and replace slow legacy tools.
Atomic Object rebuilt HealthInSite from the ground up, creating an interactive, single-page app that allows users to find and sort data instantly.
Debt Management Plan Web Portal
GreenPath is a national nonprofit focused on financial wellness. They support people with coaching and education about paying off debt, making homeownership decisions, and building a strong financial foundation.
GreenPath's debt management plan (DMP) helps people pay off debt in 3-5 years or less. Clients make regular deposits into their GreenPath account, and creditors are paid on their behalf. In many cases, GreenPath is able to secure lower interest rates or lower minimum payments. This helps clients pay off debt faster and save money on interest and fees.
While working to improve the DMP, GreenPath learned that the first 3 months of the program are the most difficult. They decided to build a web portal that gives clients 24/7 access to information. Their goals included a better client experience, reduced dropout rates, and more team efficiency.
Banker's Dashboard iPad App
Deluxe Corp. created the Banker’s Dashboard web app several years ago to give CEOs and CFOs at community banks daily access to their aggregated financial data.
As iPads became more common at community banks, users started accessing Banker’s Dashboard via tablet web browsers.
Unfortunately, because the tool is so comprehensive, navigation was difficult on tablet browsers.
Deluxe asked Atomic to help improve their users’ experience by creating a native tablet version of Banker’s Dashboard for the iPad.
CQ Web Platform
The Cultural Intelligence Center (CQC) assesses and trains people in cultural intelligence (CQ)—the capability to relate and work effectively in culturally diverse situations. It was founded by MSU researchers and serves businesses, universities, government agencies, and non-profits.
CQC’s original online assessment tool was difficult to use and had limited payment options. It was also hard to customize, requiring custom code for each new client or specialized test.
CQC asked Atomic to build a replacement. The Atomic team also studied CQC’s workflow and created tools to automate it.
The new mobile-responsive platform:
- Leads users through accurate, secure assessments and generates beautiful PDF reports
- Compiles group data into graphs and reports
- Allows admins to easily customize assessments and reports
- Is internationalized, allowing CQC to offer services in 5 different languages and easily add more.
Brainspring Teacher Resource Library
Brainspring is a nationally accredited continuing education organization that offers courses, workshops, certification, and resources for teachers to provide phonics-based instruction to help students succeed in the area of reading. Brainspring teaches a multi-sensory approach called the Orton-Gillingham method, and provides teachers with a wealth of instruction and materials to facilitate learning in the classroom.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Brainspring’s courses were largely done in-person. As they pivoted to offer remote instruction, it was essential that the online resources provided to teachers be user-friendly.
During the research, design, and planning phase of their engagement with Atomic, Brainspring decided that the most valuable outcome would be a systematized, searchable resource library to offer teachers.
After consultation with Atomic, Brainspring decided to build a responsive web application that not only gives teachers access to the documents, but allows them to filter, search, sort, organize, and ‘favorite’ items. Their goal was to optimize teacher experience by creating a user-friendly resource.
Reviews
the project
Crowdfunding Software Dev & Support for Nonprofit Group
“They understand the key role they play in the success of our fundraising efforts.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the program director at Lighthouse, a nonprofit organization that works on homelessness and housing-related issues. We also work with people who are seeking housing opportunities or whatever their situation happens to be.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Object?
Our organization owns a crowdfunding platform called HandUp, which helps people who are experiencing economic hardships. Atomic Object has worked with us as contracted software engineers to continue improving this platform.
To provide context, HandUp was originally developed in 2014 by a public benefit corporation. It was also nationally utilized by people who want to share their stories or provide support. Lighthouse joined HandUp’s userbase in 2015, and we were approached to take over the site in 2017. They said that it would operate better as a program within a nonprofit organization since it would be able to apply for grants and funding streams. When we took on HandUp, we realized that we needed to outsource the actual software engineering aspects of it.
What was the scope of their involvement?
HandUp was initially built as a proof of concept (POC), and Atomic Object worked to stabilize it. They made the platform’s weak points more resilient and fixed the errors that appeared as the platform grew.
At present, Atomic Object maintains and rolls out new features for HandUp; they also fix bugs as they happen. The team has also initiated automated processes to make the platform easier to use. Their resources are also working on making it more user-friendly.
What is the team composition?
I’ve worked with a few people from Atomic Object, including John and Jonah (Managing Partners). I also work with Kory (Software Consultant & Developer).
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
When we acquired HandUp in 2017, we decided to seek software engineering assistance. That was when we found Atomic Object. We liked them because we weren’t far away from their offices; they were incredibly accessible. On top of that, they were patient in explaining technical things to us. That was why we decided to hire them.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent around $30,000–$40,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in April 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Since we started working with Atomic Object, HandUp has raised over $4 million to support individuals and nonprofits in the homelessness space. We’ve also engaged over 120 organizations — they’ve all utilized HandUp to raise funds for their goals. These nonprofits have met over 10,000 goals and raised over $7 million in total.
Most recently, the biggest success we’ve had with Atomic Object is related to the revamped donation process. We’ve been able to generate enough revenue through our transactions. This has helped us cover our technical costs, making the program more sustainable. In fact, we’re able to provide services such as our COVID-19 pandemic recovery and relief campaign.
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
Communicating with Atomic Object has been incredibly easy. They’ve been incredibly responsive whenever there’s a bug or crash that requires an urgent response. I mainly work with Kory, and we’re on Slack all the time as we work together. We also have a monthly sync meeting with the Atomic Object team to go over our goals. About once a year or so, I check in with John and Jonah to discuss the project’s progress and any plans we’re pursuing in the coming year.
Overall, they’ve made themselves available to us in a number of ways, and we appreciate their accessibility. Their resources are also highly consumer-centric. They take their time to provide assistance, and that has been an important part of our work — they not only deliver good products; they also do it with a good team of people around them.
In terms of tools, we use tools like GitHub, Pivotal, Zendesk, and Squarespace. We previously used a platform called Intercom, but it wasn’t the right fit for HandUp, so Atomic Object helped us to replace it with a different one. We now use Pivotal to track individual tasks and keep a running list of our big activities.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Atomic Object genuinely believes in our mission. They see the value of our work; although this is a small project when compared to their work with other organizations, they’re committed to it. They understand the key role they play in the success of our fundraising efforts to support people who are experiencing hardships and homelessness.
On top of that, they make complex things easily understandable for anybody who doesn’t have a computer science or engineering background. They’ve been able to not only bring themselves up to speed but also help us understand what they’re able to do and provide.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, there aren’t any. They’ve been great and responsive to our needs.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Know that Atomic Object is incredibly accessible; they want to answer your questions. Their resources are creative when it comes to coming up with solutions to problems. Their work culture and ethics are also great; they treat their employees well and promote a good working environment. The team also preaches work-life balance.
the project
Website UI Development for EdTech Startup
“Their project management was mature and reasonable.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CTO of a startup that serves K-12 education institutions, primarily public school districts, and charter schools. We have back-office software in the people management space, and our flagship product deals with tracking employee absences. It also matches and places substitutes in classrooms.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Object?
We hired them to help us build our product.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Atomic Object worked almost exclusively on the web UI of our flagship product using React, GraphQL, Apollo Client, and TypeScript. Their team developed the key features of our product, such as data and absence management. Our team had limited experience, so Atomic Object brought their React experience to the table. We also used some tools from their libraries to help us cogenerate a library for GraphQL. They also helped us find simplified ways of cogenerating interactions between Apollo Client and TypeScript.
What is the team composition?
Two developers worked directly with my team on a day-to-day basis. Meanwhile, my main point of contact was the project manager, who managed our business relationship and billing schedule.
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
Atomic Object was hired by the company that invested in our product. When I came onboard and merged with the business to rebuild the product, I inherited the team as part of the company’s investment in us. Meanwhile, I was highly impressed with their philosophy and approach. The team was truly mature; I enjoyed sitting down with them and talking shop, so we continued the engagement.
How much have you invested with them?
During my involvement, we invested around $300,000. Prior to that, the company that found them spent well over $1 million.
What is the status of this engagement?
They worked with us from September 2019–January 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Atomic Object was instrumental in our timely launch; we built the entire UI and 90% of the backend in only around five months. They didn’t work on any standalone feature that could be measured quantitatively, however.
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project management was mature and reasonable, though they didn’t truly have any project management responsibilities that specifically involved me. Their developers integrated easily with our team and our loose process. They were also highly flexible as they adapted to our fast implementation cycle.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The knowledge of their entire group was impressive. The Atomic Object team was able to draw knowledge from other developers and teams as they worked closely on Apollo Client and GraphQL.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Atomic Object was thorough but a little slow. I pushed for speedy implementation and decision-making because I saw that they had a slow, methodical approach to the project even before I came on board. The project wouldn’t have succeeded at our preferred scale if they continued at the rate that they were moving.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Atomic Object has a good methodology for discovering business requirements and designing deliverables. However, they’re not cheap; they’re going to be more expensive if you don’t know the software you want to build up front. As a result, you should bring much of your software knowledge and experience to the table. Although the team is open to adjusting to your needs, it's difficult for any software developer to build without understanding the deliverables.
the project
Outsourced Software Developers for Automobile OEM
“Their attitude and ability to share knowledge with our team was excellent.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a supervisor at an automobile OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). I manage two products in our ecosystem.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Object?
We were tasked with taking a research project and turning it into production software in a short amount of time. We realized that we didn’t have enough time to complete it in-house.
What was the scope of their involvement?
It was a location and map-based project. The team brought in very experienced, high-quality developers that were able to look at the POC and our requirements and help build the required solution. They were involved in all of the planning, architecture, and development.
What is the team composition?
We worked with seven developers and two project managers.
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
They were recommended as a good company with a high skill level. They had definite expertise in the technology we needed and the area we needed. The way they worked was also very good.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $1.5 million–$2 million range.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in March 2020, and we wrapped up in June 2021.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They completed the new software feature successfully. They definitely met our requirements from a quality standpoint. The team also helped us meet our tight deadline. Their attitude and ability to share knowledge with our team was excellent. They’re very easy to work with.
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
We had daily standups to talk with the team. We used Slack for communication, and we also had monthly check-ins with the account management team to make sure everything was going well.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their ability to learn things quickly stands out. They were able to ramp up quickly.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There was a bit more turnover than I’d like to see on a team of our size. That being said, this project happened during COVID-19, so there were a lot of things changing at that time.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
If things aren’t going as you had hoped, don’t be afraid to ask for something different or new. We did just that on the project management side, and the team was very flexible.
the project
Consulting & App Development for Mental Health Nonprofit
“Overall, everyone on their team was an outstanding contributor.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
Healthy Minds Innovations is a nonprofit that provides products and services in the mental well-being space. Primarily, we’ve developed an app that provides training in terms of mental well-being skills. We’re also closely affiliated with the University of Wisconsin Center for Healthy Minds.
I’m the VP of customer engagement. As such, I have plenty of conversations and contact with outside organizations that are looking for services, which are quite varied from research projects to straight-up customer relationships.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Objects?
We were a small team of 27 people, and we had a fairly significant number of departures from teammates — we lost around 7–8 people. That included software developers and project managers who were involved in the app we were developing. In other words, we had a big gap in resources, hampering our ability to continue supporting the app and adding new features to it.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Our engagement with Atomic Object had two main components. In the first one, one of their senior members guided us around managing our team as we lost senior managers. He also assisted us in our hiring process, helping define job descriptions and vet candidates to fill the gap in our team. Overall, he provided general consulting advice on how to keep our operations running smoothly while we rebuilt our team. We also wanted to restructure our organization, so they helped us think through optimal ways to organize our team in the area of software development.
For the second component, Brian (Software Consultant & Developer) joined our team and worked alongside our existing staff. He ran through a series of sprints with us, which were typically a couple of weeks long and varied widely in nature. His tasks included fixing bugs, digging into new features, and solving problems. Sometimes, Brian worked alone. However, he was often involved in pair-programming with our members. Moreover, he worked full-time, so he was in all of our daily standups — he essentially served as an extension of our team to bring stability and his expertise to the table.
One of our biggest projects with Atomic Object was developing a web portal that allowed customers to register accounts and sign in on a platform. It consisted of several sprints’ worth of work and involved connecting 2–3 data streams into a unified format. This way, the data could be assembled and organized. Plenty of work was needed to make this feature work, and Atomic Object helped us tackle this large project while they were on board.
What is the team composition?
We mainly worked with Brian and one member of their leadership team, who advised us on how to structure our organization.
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
I became familiar with Atomic Object through my previous employer. We built a software team, and the first person we hired introduced us to Atomic Object. Over the years, we worked on a number of projects. When I joined my current company, I continued our working relationship and recommended them as a great resource. Our team also looked around for other options, but we ultimately decided that Atomic Object was the best provider for us.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent around $150,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our engagement with them ran from January–June 2021 or around 5–6 months. However, I’m sure we’ll have other opportunities to work with them.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Having Atomic Object as part of our team helped us shift from doing simple maintenance — where we merely maintained our app and fixed bugs — to making actual progress on a long list of features that we wanted to add. Rather than being stationary in terms of development, we dug into a to-do list and knocked things off one by one. For instance, the web portal project was a fairly extensive piece of work, and they helped us complete that during their time with us.
Overall, they were highly talented. Although they were more expensive than other firms, they provided more than enough value for our money. As a nonprofit, we didn’t have deep pockets and a lot of revenue. Upon reflection, we felt that Atomic Object was well worth our investment
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
Atomic Object’s project management was exceptional. We used our own tool to track our workload, and they integrated with that smoothly. Every Monday morning, they’d provide us with a summary of our work together, including the time spent working, billing reports, and budget updates.
As a result, we knew exactly where we stood in terms of how much of our budget was left, how much had been used, and how much time we had left for each of the people they provided us. Overall, they had great communication, and we always knew where things were, especially in terms of budget.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We were impressed by a few things about Atomic Object. On a high level, we admired the way they were organized as a group. They structured their organization in a way that looked after their people, ensuring that team members did great work as they tackled meaningful and valuable projects.
Overall, everyone on their team was an outstanding contributor. As a result, we had a great deal of confidence and faith in their ability to jump in and help us out whenever we needed their assistance.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The process of assigning people to our team was a little nerve-wracking. They were obviously juggling a number of commitments each week, so there were uncertainties around who was doing what. Though the Atomic Object team was good at communicating, we couldn’t plan our engagement until the assignments were finalized and we knew who was joining us the following week.
We couldn’t do much about this. However, projecting assignments a bit further into the future with more visibility into potential options would be nice. That being said, once we put everything into writing, our engagement went smoothly.
the project
Custom Software Development for Aerospace Supplier
"We were impressed with the quality of the codebase and the expertise of the developers that worked on our project."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I'm an engineering lead for a global automotive and aerospace supplier. I manage a small team of developers that provide internal applications and tools for other engineers in the company.
For what projects/services did your company hire Atomic Object, and what were your goals?
We have a critical legacy application that is used by lots of engineers internally. It was written in C++ and suffers from problems with usability, deployment of updates, and inability to easily add new features. We hired Atomic Object to help us convert this tool into a browser based web application.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We had hired Atomic Object several years prior to work on a database design and to temporarily augment our staff for a new product we were developing. They had provided quality personnel and expertise at that time, so we did not hesitate to want to hire them again.
We gave them our requirements and they sent back a project proposal that was thorough and within our budget.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
Atomic Object was hired to provide a ready made tech stack and to train our developers in the practice of web development. They worked well with our developers and were able to successfully integrate into our existing DevOps infrastructure.
The teach stack consisted of git, Node, npm with Yarn , React, Redux, Redis caching, Apollo GraphQL, Docker on Linux, and Visual Studio Code.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
There were a total of 5 consultants. A lead architect and system designer, a lead UI/UX designer, two web developers, and a project manager.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
We accomplished the main goals of the engagement, which were to design a web based user interface to the existing tool, and to train our developers on how to continue to develop that tool after the engagement was over. We worked in two weeks sprints and successfully maintained project velocity and merged PR's on time according to our project plan.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.
Atomic provided a project manager that oversaw the team on the Atomic side and interfaced with our project manager at a high level. They used Pivotal Tracker. We had daily standups, end of week reviews, and sprint planning sessions every Monday. We also constantly communicated using tools like Discord.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
We were impressed with the quality of the codebase and the expertise of the developers that worked on our project. They were thorough, professional, and up to date on the latest trends and technologies. We also appreciated their approach to user interface design, called Human Centric Design.
Their designer met with our internal customers to get direct input on what they wanted to see in the redesign effort. This was invaluable, as it provided a direct window into the usability problems of our customers. So far the feedback on the new design is extremely positive.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Budget constraints on our end forced us to have to remove a dedicated tester from the project in order to extend the time available to the software devs. As a result, there are a few places where unit tests are missing or need to be improved, but so far we have not found any serious bugs or design flaws that a full time tester would have caught.
the project
Web Services for Policy Dashboard Transformation
"Atomic Object was very willing to augment the project team with additional resources as needed."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am a Senior Project Manager at Fremont Insurance.
For what projects/services did your company hire Atomic Object, and what were your goals?
Our Policy Dashboard supports our Independent Agents with functionality to view, edit, and report on policies, claims, billing, payments. It needed transformation into a Web Services platform with improved information security.
How did you select Atomic Object and what were the deciding factors?
Atomic Object was selected for their expertise in Web Services, industry knowledge and experience, and to support our local businesses and economy.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
We started with project discovery and brainstorming meetings to drive out project scope. Then a team of BA's, Designers, Developers were assembled from Atomic Object and Fremont Insurance. The project was co-managed by a PM from each company. The site was delivered in an Agile methodology, and deployed to our Agent workforce using Amazon AWS.
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Atomic Object provided two project managers, one web designer, and four web developers.
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
From the user experience perspective, the site has been well received. There were some bugs to work our after deployment, and Atomic Object resources were vital to the quick turnaround of these bugs.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.
The Atomic Object project management team used an Agile approach to the project deliverables. The primary means of communication involved Slack and Pivotal Tracker was used for the project information.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Atomic Object was very willing to augment the project team with additional resources as needed. One of the challenges they assisted with was providing web developers during a time when we had no web developers on the project due to higher priorities for our developers to work on.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
No.
the project
Web & Mobile App Dev for Power Management Company
“Their developers are much better quality than others I’ve come across.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the head of human-centered design at a multi-national, international power management company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Object?
We needed to deliver a new mobile and web app experience for one of our product lines as quickly as possible. We also had a specific budget we needed to fall within.
What was the scope of their involvement?
First, they helped us identify our issues, risks, and challenges. Next, we covered architecture and development in iOS and Android. We also did web app development. Then, we did code reviews and design work as necessary. The team was able to chip in and add resources on an ad-hoc basis for different phases of our project.
What is the team composition?
We worked with one delivery lead, and three other contacts.
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
We decided to work with them because their quality was extremely high. Some of our other vendors had lower costs, but had different impacts to schedule. We were willing to try a higher quality vendor to see if we could get a better product delivered in less time.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $125,000–$175,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in September 2018, and we wrapped up in August 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Their timing was impeccable. It was one of the faster projects we’ve ever completed. The amount of re-work that needed to be done was far less than in other projects.
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
They were really strong. During our two-week sprints, they were either on time or early. The team gave us weekly updates on the hours and the investments, risks, and accomplishments to be very clear and transparent. Overall, they were on top of the ball.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their communication really stands out. The team is able to project what’s going to happen accurately is invaluable. Their developers are much better quality than others I’ve come across, too.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Their cost is a bit high, but you get what you pay for.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
My advice is to make sure you have a plan in place to hand off the work that they accomplished into your organization. They’ll have high-quality work, but you’re going to need someone to implement it on your side. It’ll make the process a lot smoother.
the project
Custom Dev for Commercial Vehicle Product Firm
"They were flexible and willing to adapt to changing circumstances."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m an engineer at a commercial vehicle product firm.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Object?
We had a customer request for a sensor system.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They provided embedded software and application development services. They used C for all app development and also supplied some frontend work.
What is the team composition?
There were initially two people assigned to the work, then we rolled it down to one person.
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
I knew of the company from old classmates and acquaintances who worked there. They are highly regarded.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent around $300,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The work began in June 2019 and ended in April 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We didn’t have many metrics, but anecdotally they were flexible and willing to adapt to changing circumstances.
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
Their communication and ability to meet deadlines were good. They used JIRA for tracking and Basecamp for collaboration.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their quality of work is very high. I was happy with what they did.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Make sure to be honest and open in communications. Be good at being flexible so you can get value through transparency and honesty. You don’t need to spend so much time writing specific instructions because they’re good at understanding what you’re trying to accomplish.
the project
Web App Dev for Family & Childcare Technology Company
"Their natural ability to talk to us in a language we could understand and guide us through decisions was phenomenal."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the co-founder and CPO of Find MeTime. We’re a family and childcare tech company. We connect parents to short term, hourly childcare services.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Object?
We’d worked with a freelance developer to launch our MVP. After being live for a couple of months and gaining users, we realized we needed to make some adjustments based on our customers’ needs and habits.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We engaged Atomic Object to help us release version 1.2 of our app. The team helped us build several new features, including increasing our search flexibility. The initial product, which is exclusively a web app, was created in PHP, using the Laravel framework.
Along the way, the team collaborated with us on ways to expand the architecture and plan for long term growth and the updates that will come with it. The advice they offered extended past appropriate future technologies to even include strategies on how to recruit and interview an in-house engineer.
What is the team composition?
We worked three people in total: two full-time developers and a delivery lead who was available as needed.
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
Atomic Object was a partner of a company I previously worked at. Though I hadn’t worked with them personally, I knew they were a team who could deliver fast, quality work, which was exactly what we needed.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent a little under $70,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project took place from January–March 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The app is live, but it’s difficult to track metrics right now, as social distancing has limited childcare services greatly. However, we’ve presented the app to some of our investors and strategic collaborators, and they all love it. The increased functionality has had a great impact on the user experience of the app overall.
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project management style was the best part of working with them. As a designer myself, I was heavily involved in the project, and we collaborated directly throughout the project. Atomic Object set up criteria and procurement tools early on, which allowed us to have an effective workflow. We used Basecamp for communication and Pivotal Tracker for task management.
Though the team didn’t come into the engagement with an extensive background in Laravel, they picked it up very quickly, asking the right questions of our freelance developer who built our initial MVP.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their natural ability to talk to us in a language we could understand and guide us through decisions was phenomenal. I always felt included in the conversation, and despite their expertise, they never patronized me. Atomic Object provided our organization with so many educational moments without it ever feeling like they were doing so. It was always a seamless part of their communication.
Further, when I give a development team my vision for the frontend, it’s often a long time before I can see it come to life. Atomic Object stood out in that they were always able to develop a high-quality product, while balancing our need to be scrappy as a startup.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, not at all. They’re doing everything right.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Figure out what you want your role to be in the engagement. You can maximize what you get out of the relationship with Atomic Object depending on what you put in.
the project
UI/UX Design for Education Department
"Like a good contractor, they made me feel like we were the only customer they had."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work for a state education department.
What challenge were you trying to address with Atomic Object?
We needed help with designing a platform to support our schools.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Atomic Object first created focus groups to develop a series of user personas. From there they begin to build the platform with a series of wireframes, starting from scratch. That took six months. They also provided development support to help the dev team take what was in coding in the design process and translate it into the platform.
What is the team composition?
We had a main point of contact on the team as well as a couple of programmers and developers.
How did you come to work with Atomic Object?
We’d partnered with an educational organization made up of intermediate school districts to develop platforms and applications to support the field. Together, we worked to develop an application to support our schools and provide teachers with up-to-date, accurate data. Atomic Object helped design the look and feel of the platform. When we had another, bigger platform to develop, we brought on Atomic Object again.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $70,000–$80,000
What is the status of this engagement?
The project started in August 2019 and ended in January 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Atomic Object produced the product on time when we agreed. They were responsive as we were doing an agile method of development, which involves a lot of give-and-take. One of the advantages of having a company like Atomic Object is that they have the vision of what technology use looks like and in the future. They’d give advice about what my suggestions would feel like to the user, but left us to make the ultimate decision
How did Atomic Object perform from a project management standpoint?
They hit deadlines perfectly, and the communication was constant. There were very few times where I had to wait more than an hour for a response via phone call, text, or email. We also had access to Zeplin and another project management tool in order to see the work being done.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I’ve never worked with another provider. However, what made me very confident about Atomic Object was that, like a good contractor, they made me feel like we’re the only customer they had.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The time they took to make user personas was just way too long. I feel that time could have been cut in half.
Any advice for potential customers?
Have someone who is 100% dedicated to the project and available to answer questions. That helps keep the processing going.
The group’s crowdfunding platform has raised over $4 million to support nonprofits and individuals in the homelessness space since working with Atomic Object. The team has also revamped the organization’s donation process. They’ve been responsive and committed to providing assistance to the client.