Key facts
TYPE
End-to-End Development
PRODUCT
Mobile app
INDUSTRY
Technology Park
Summary
We have helped Zonamerica with our technical expertise and user experience advice, to connect with their community and transform the experience of working there into something unique and special.
01.The Client
Zonamerica is a business and technology park in Uruguay and Colombia, chosen by the Association of Free Zones of the Americas and the business magazine Di Magazine, published by the Financial Times Group, as the best Free Zone in the Americas.
More than 10,000 people in 350 world-class companies work in 30 buildings in Zonamérica in Uruguay. Some of the companies installed in the park are Assist Card, CITI, Despegar.com, Julius Bar, Merck, PWC, Raymond James, Ricoh, Sabre, Tata, Trafigura, and Verifone.
In early 2021, they were looking for a partner capable of carrying out multiple initiatives, which included mobile and web applications and usability evaluations of their current applications.
Montevideo, Uruguay
+350 companies
1.8% of Uruguay's GDP
02.The Challenges
The main tech challenge we faced was that we had to use collected data that was being verified and synchronized with other existing services at the same time. This implies we had to create a resilient app that should handle unexpected errors.
They needed, primarily, a mobile solution to connect with their community. The application would need to enable users to access, with just a click, the many activities offered by Zonamerica. They were willing to offer mobility at the park (scooters), activities (paddle, golf, tennis), and office accesses through a QR code, among other functionalities.
Connecting virtual reality with the physical one was the basic premise behind this project. The application should reach the highest standards in terms of usability, security, performance, availability, and accessibility.
03.The Solution
By analyzing their needs and business objectives we have decided to create a mobile app, ZonaGo, that integrates with different services robustly and consistently, without loss of performance.
The first features we developed were: a user profile, news section, and push notifications; then, we worked on building the Companies Portal, adding new features to improve mobility through the Park, and accessing offices through QR codes.
Managing and communicating with the electric scooters, while keeping it simple and friendly for users, was a challenge in itself. It implied hard teamwork and even getting advice from experts worldwide.
We started by enabling users to find the scooters, book, and unlock them.
The Project was delivered using Scrum practices. Starting with an MVP and following up with several releases, the app is available for Android and iOS.
Our DevOps team implemented a workflow to automate the deployment in Production and previous environments.
HIGHLIGHTS
10,000 Users connected through the app.
6People working in the project: Front & Back end Developers, UX/UI Designer, DevOps, Project Manager
TECHNOLOGIES
Mobile app
The app currently allows users to do many things just with their cell phone:
- Entering the park and offices.
- Accessing mobility options like electric scooters, chargers and minibuses.
- Signing up for events and activities.
- Viewing all services and facilities available on campus.
04.The Results
The mobile application has helped connect the company and technology park to 10,000 people who are 24-hour using the facilities.
It enables community growth, and it allows its members to keep engaged daily, transforming the experience of working in Zonamerica into something unique and special.
Currently, we continue working on developing additional functionalities, such as services' payment, and carpool access, among others.
Testimonial
Switch has helped us a lot along the way and has been a real partner. The team has added a lot of value, not just from the technical side but from the user experience field.
- GUILLERMO JACOBI
CTO de Zonamerica
