Project Discovery Phase

The discovery phase is the first step in successful digital product development.

Your idea begins to take shape in the form of a plan that covers business goals and user needs. It is the stage where we create design with a human-centered UI, usable prototypes, and deliver peace of mind to our clients. You can’t predict the future, but with project discovery phase service, you create it with your hands, the way you want it to be.

A lack of clear IT project objectives tends to result in a 70% IT project failure rate, according to CIO research. Additionally, lack of clear planning is one of the top five reasons why development fails to meet deadlines.

Companies that utilize a discovery phase have 80% fewer requests for clarification from the dev team. In addition, businesses observe a 25% reduction in revisions and bug fixes post-launch.

No business owner wants to wake up to a development invoice that is three times higher than initially projected. And will you have proof that it could be done in a more cost-efficient way?

How many functions does the iPhone have? How many of them do you use every day? 5% of product features are used 95% of the time. We help in setting priorities to reach the desired outcome.

Investors invest in people, and only then in ideas. Success is not a matter of luck, but instead the result of effective organization. Show the board that you are prepared and can be trusted.

55% of clients would pay 10% or more for a good or service to get a superior experience. It is recommended to familiarize yourself with the implementation of new features to meet user requirements.

Make the development process predictable and easy to understand. A proper Discovery Phase allows you to proper evaluate the time required to launch the product and conduct early tests if needed.

• You risk exceeding your budget and do not finish the least usable development phase
• Working with a tech stack that is less scalable and more costly
• Missing deadlines and endless revisions
• Make an impression of a less trustful business opportunity in the eyes of your investors
• Failing to grasp the bigger picture of the project and be prepared for possible downsides
• Start working with a vendor and find out that you don’t match. In the end, you have code that is written by different companies and even languages.

Step one involves scheduling a few knowledge transfer sessions to gather and analyze information relating to fundamental goals, general scope, and targets. We record every meeting — this process requires minimal time and expenses.

Next, our team conducts a technical analysis of your product concept to propose relevant technologies, tools, platforms, and services. The timeline for this process highly depends on the complexity of your business model.

As a result of the requirements collection process and technical audit steps, we can accurately define the scope of the work. Now it’s time to formulate a list of features that the digital product will contain, including the exact tech stack required to make things happen. Additionally, we define any measurable criteria relating to the project’s successful outcome.

Next, it’s time to create all visual references (Screen Mockups, Wireframes, Prototypes) based on the requirements of your project in accordance with the best human-centered design principles.

Based on the results from the steps above, we estimate the time and costs involved in delivering the defined scope. In addition, we create a roadmap for successful process development management, which includes an estimation for each milestone and feature — no hidden costs.

You’ll receive a set of crucial documents with a complete description of the product concept, including all implementation processes: requirements, functionality, team, design, tech stack, and financial aspects.

Our KPIs allow us to prioritize task development. We can deliver a detailed feature breakdown and the associated costs. Depending on the approach selected for the project, we can provide you with detailed instructions for Waterfall or high-level documentation for Agile development that includes a few iterations ahead.

We propose technologies to be used alongside a list of libraries, APIs, etc. This also includes interactions between modules and third-party integration: core banking systems, white label products, KYC (Know Your Customer) id services, data management, transfer, etc.

Did you know that every $1 invested in UX results in a return between $2 and $100? We can provide it at different levels of fidelity, so it can be chosen by the team or client what is necessary depending on the project’s needs.

It’s in our best interest to find an optimum solution that is not only obtainable, but also manageable. The commercial proposal covers financial, functional, and time aspects.

The roadmap will give you a step-by-step guide of each stage and milestone. So you will know how, what, and when.

You will be advised on what skills are required from your team, and how large your product development team needs to be to fulfill objectives and meet deadlines.

A custom solution for IoT remote monitoring that would allow the care team to obtain all the necessary metrics and make people comfortable with health data measurement.

Discovery phase challenges solved:

• Creating the roadmap of product development which included health measurement tracking from different activities and wearable devices;
• Identified the list of features that become core of the app;
• The product had to be senior-friendly, so Empeek developed a human-centered design that would reflect the unique needs of the end-users;
• Choose React.js, .NET, and AWS as the most suitable technologies.

A comprehensive system for accessing, tracking, and managing drug testing data. The developed product assisted in completing over 1 000 000 drug tests in the Transportation and Oil & Gas industries.

Discovery phase challenges solved:

• Designing a plan that meets all requirements from legislative to customers;
• Established a drug test code system and provided sensitive data protection;
• Identified that competitors offered quicker response time while the client system was restricted to office hours and local machines;
• Empeek designed an architecture for a web-based system that combines data from companies, employees, laboratories, and medical review officers.

A mobile app with a global aim to reduce stigma around mental health care. The program is based on years of research to help people relieve stress and anxiety and live the life they want.

Discovery phase challenges solved:

• Based on data received from the client, we identified three core user groups which were a medical provider, peer leader, and patient;
• We discovered that there was a need to develop different user areas and functionality;
• During knowledge transfer sessions, we identified five domains of mental well-being that had to be reflected in the app: body, thoughts, feelings, actions, and relationships;
• The program is an addition to traditional therapy in many medical practices across the US, which helped us create a list of core user requirements.

People are at the heart of every project that we get involved with, whether it is maintaining a motivated and productive workforce, or developing products for you and your users. Without this, business and growth are simply not possible.

We are interested in the long-term impact your product will bring. We want to make sure that your product works. We built our business based on values, not on transactional cooperation.

The key to success comes from a talented workforce. We hire experienced Business Analysts, Project Managers, UX/UI designers, DevOps specialists, QA experts, and software engineers to run comprehensive requirements discovery for our customers.

Every customer gets the full scope of research and deliverables requested. We don’t take any shortcuts.

A data-driven software development plan. Our business analysts use reliable data sources to gather the information required for a successful launch.

We ask the right questions. We adopt your communication channels and take a personal approach to our relationship.