10Clouds

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re the Swiss subsidiary of a global accounting firm and I’m the product owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

We needed help with building a new web application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

10Clouds built a new web application for pharma and neurology with proactive decision support for doctors and advanced analytics. The database existed already, but they developed it from scratch. 

The team used Node.js for the backend and Vue.js. They also did some design work. Some of the key features include patient data collection, reminder generation, and in-depth analytics of the doctors’ performance. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with front- and backend developers, an automated tester, a project manager, and designers. 

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

Our firm had already done a couple of projects with them, and we generally had really good experiences. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent €120,000–€130,000 (approximately $143,000–$155,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

They completed the project in eight months, from March–October 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product is now in user testing. During the project, we worked as one team. We had a good relationship built on trust. 

How did 10Clouds perform from a project management standpoint?

We involved our end-client in the scrum sprints. We had biweekly sprint reviews where our client gave us feedback and where we decided on what needed to be done next.

There was a continuous feedback loop. There was no micromanagement, and I trusted 10Clouds’ estimations. We use Jira and Confluence for planning and documentation.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with the backend engineer’s seniority and proactive suggestions. 10Clouds would come up with an approach and then we would build the whole architecture together. 

I had other experiences where we were expected to deliver everything to the vendor on a silver plate, but with 10Clouds, it was really an exchange. That impressed me and helped the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Every transition was a bit chaotic. At the beginning of the project or when it came to onboarding people, it took a while to get everything running smoothly. But once that was sorted out, it was all good. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have clear requirements and that 10Clouds understands the business context.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a video analysis and publishing platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

They’re doing the front- and backend development for our service.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The website they’re building has a Django backend and React frontend. Users can upload videos to our platform, which applies machine learning and computer vision technologies to break down the video into different clips.

The backend includes a video processing pipeline that was built on Kubernetes. It has a workflow manager that splits videos up, analyzes them, and stores the data. From there, the system brings the data back together for analysis.

The frontend provides a user-friendly UI for our customers. They can look at suggested clips and publish them on YouTube, Twitter, or self-owned and operated websites.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with about 25 people, including two people on the project management side, one person on the backend, one on the frontend, and about 10 other people.

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

We worked with 10Clouds on a previous project. Before that, our CEO worked with them on another project as well. So, when we started working on this project, we decided to work with 10Clouds and they seemed like a really good fit. We did a pilot project and it worked well, so we continued to use them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2019 and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have a great work ethic. Our priority right now is making sure everything is getting done. We change directions every few weeks, and they’ve been able to adapt. We just want to get the product out there, see how it works, and pivot as needed. They’ve done quite a lot in our engagement so far.

How did 10Clouds perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication has been great. They manage most of the day-to-day work under our guidance. We have daily meetings with biweekly sync meetings. They keep us updated on all Jira instances.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by their flexibility and expertise. Every time we present a new request or throw a new idea at them, they rise to the challenge.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing stands out.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and direct when you communicate. Make sure you establish expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of engineering at Plentific, a property management tools company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

We needed engineers to scale up our team quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided engineers to help us with the projects we had in our pipeline, fully integrating with our in-house engineers. The first project was helping create all the localizations in our platform. The platform allows property managers to post jobs for repairs and maintenance for the properties that they manage. 

What is the team composition?

We always had an average of five engineers for 18 months.

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

When we were doing our research, we shortlisted 3–4 companies. We went with them because of their online reputation and their past clients.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about £300,000 (approximately $396,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019 and wrapped up in October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were happy with how they were integrated into the team, even though they were part of another company. We measured them like we measured other parts of the team, focusing on the number of PRs created, the number of projects delivered on time, and the number of issues handled.

We’re very happy with our work with them. We definitely recommend them to other people to try them. Their seniority and experience were quite high.

How did 10Clouds perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via video calls, emails, and Slack. We had daily communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were quite quick to provide us with the right team that completely meet our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything went well. It took a little while to find the right people. There was some turnover with their engineers, and they could have managed their staff members a bit more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm at the prototyping stage for a new product for my company - an HR software product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 10Clouds?

I hired 10clouds to develop the initial design and clickable prototype for my product. I am also potentially going to hire them for branding.

What were your goals for this project?

My goal for this project was to develop a working prototype to take out to the market for feedback.

SOLUTION

How did you select 10Clouds?

I selected 10Clouds based on Clutch reviews and a cold outreach, but prior to that, I had reviewed at least 5 other companies. I was impressed with the reviews and quality of the sample deliverables they sent me.

Describe the project in detail.

I put together a project requirements document and had a few calls with the team. Edgar in particular was helpful in connecting me with the right team members, getting the proposals developed, and setting the project timeline.

I worked closely with one of their designers, Mikolaj, who was fantastic. He put a lot of deep thinking into not just the design but the product functionality and came up with a lot of the great ideas for the product himself. I really appreciated working with him.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with one of the designer Mikolaj who was fantastic.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We're at the early stages, so nothing specific to report yet, but I'm very happy with the product overall. There are a few aspects of the product design that didn't fully match my vision, but 10 Clouds was very open to revisiting and making sure the final design is what I had in mind.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was effective. We largely communicated on Slack and had periodic check-in calls.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I think their design skills are very impressive, and the thinking they brought to the project exceeded my expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I received 3 different quotes on the same design request, which made it hard for me to understand why the price would be different for the same requirements. Some of the communications around my requirements weren't fully incorporated, but 10 Clouds is very open to revisiting.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at G-Coin, a gold-backed crypto token platform that enables people to buy fractional shares of gold that are stored in a vault in Switzerland and then buy, sell, and exchange that token as a form of payment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

10Clouds is a core development partner for our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

10Clouds provides us with DevOps, Python, React, React Native, NodeJS, and QA engineers. They support us with key development capabilities we need beyond our own development team. We prefer to work with one trusted partner rather than piece together a team of contractors.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of close to 10 people right now.

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

Another partner of ours recommended them. We tried them out and were very happy. 

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we’ve spent more than $1 million at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them for almost two years now and intend to continue our partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

What I love about their developers is that they really take ownership of what they do. They don’t just do what they’re told to do; they really think about the product, code, and solution, and they recommend their own improvements. They even create improvements to the solution without any input from us, which just demonstrates more ownership on their behalf, makes our lives easier, and makes for a better outcome to the whole product.

How did 10Clouds perform from a project management standpoint?

We have both online and offline communication through things like Slack and daily morning huddles. They provide scrum master support for us, and that scrum master also works a lot with the team internally during their business hours to move everything along. He’s always up to date and knows everything that’s going on in the project. He creates agendas and meeting summaries to make sure that everyone is on the same page. He is constantly looking out for topics that need to tackled, discussed, or communicated about to move things forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everybody we’ve hired through them has had very high skillsets. They’re eager to learn and try new things. We frequently ask them to pick up work that they’ve never done before, and they’re very willing to work with us and take up the challenge.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I only wish that they offered more than just programming services, but I don’t think that’s necessarily in their business model. We’ve been hoping they could help us with certain marketing activities like marketing, creative or SEO. There has been some turnover on their side, but that’s expected with a lot of consulting companies.

Any advice for potential customers?

I’d say that you can trust their expertise and suggestions. They’re honest and transparent in everything that they do, so it’s easy to establish a good working relationship. They’re willing to grow and hire skillsets that they might not have initially. Even if they don’t have somebody available right now, they’re good about hiring skillsets that you might need on your project, so that shouldn’t be a stopper.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Higher Metrics. The engagement I’m working with on with 10Clouds is for another company called Moiety.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

One of my investors proposed a challenge for me to try and solve: simplify or gamify the job application process to make it more geared toward millennials.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

10Clouds is doing our branding. We’ve been building a clickable prototype for both the mobile and web app. They’re also doing a video reel. We plan to show the prototypes and video reel to investors, and then once we get financing, we’ll develop the web and mobile app with 10Clouds.

What is the team composition?

I work with seven people right now.

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

I found them through Clutch. I was originally talking to companies here in the states; I was hesitant to go overseas. I was just about to kick everything off with one company but then got an email from them saying they had just taken on a new Fortune 500 client, so they were going to put my project on the back burner.

I decided to call 10Clouds because their reviews were great. With the other company, I just got the sense that they didn’t care about my small company. From day one of working with 10Clouds, I felt like I was Bill Gates. They knocked it out of the park. After the first couple of phone calls, it was a no brainer; these were the guys to go with.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $30,000 so far. All in, it’ll be about $31,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

My initial discovery session with them was May 2019, but we started the branding and prototyping in January 2020. The work is ongoing. The prototype will be done next week and the video reel June 1.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With everything going on with COVID, a lot of stuff has gotten pushed back. We started our work together before the outbreak really took off, and we’ve only been delayed a week – and that was because of me trying to get some documents together. We just completed the branding yesterday, and it looks great. There has been no slowdown, which has definitely been a testament to them.

All I had to do was unload my ideas on them, and they delivered amazing branding. My investors have been blown away, which is especially great since they’re older, and this is geared toward millennials and Gen Zs. I’ve shown the app to millennials, and they all wonder where this app has been.

How did 10Clouds perform from a project management standpoint?

They are amazing. There are some really great companies in America, but 10Clouds has blown them out of the water. They manage a bunch of people in different time zones – they’re out of Warsaw and I’m in Dallas. Olena (Agile Project Manager) literally changed her schedule because I’m in America. Even if I write her an email late at night, I get a response, and by the time I wake up the next morning, action has been taken, everyone has been queued in, and we’re up and running. It’s really impressive how they manage their people.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I talked to a lot of companies that said they love working with startups, but the walk didn’t match the talk. Something I’ve found with 10Clouds is that, throughout the project, they’ve made it as unintimidating as possible. They’ve shown unbelievable enthusiasm. I’ve been telling other entrepreneurs I know that if they want to partner with a team, they can’t go wrong with 10Clouds. They genuinely make you feel valued and like a true partner, no matter how small you are.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. We haven’t even had a hiccup; it’s crazy how flawless this has been, considering we’ve never developed an app. I wouldn’t change a single thing about them.

Any advice for potential customers?

I have a friend who’s the social media manager for a really big energy company, and I was showing him the mobile prototype last week. He was very impressed and asked how it was working out with 10Clouds being abroad. I told him that you get unbelievable quality and much better prices and service. My recommendation is to hire them as soon as you can; just set up a phone call, and let them do what they do best.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior product manager at an accounting firm. I’m a part of the experience center, which is the more of the digital arm of the company. I’m a product owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

We were building a platform that enables financial service providers to register and get a license to operate in our country. There’s a new law that states you need a new type of license.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We developed the platform for our client together. The backend is Python, and the frontend is React. The frontend is more or less forms that the end-users can fill in. We integrated Jira so our client could process requests coming from their financial service provider clients. There was also a payment integration.

What is the team composition?

There were changes over different iterations, but there were always around five developers.

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

They were an existing supplier. We did a previous project with them and had a good experience, so we went back to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent under €120,000–€130,000 ($130,400–$141,200 USD) so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2019. The first MVP came in August. We stopped our work then, but we started up again in January.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client was very happy. I’m a bridge between development and the client. If the requirements are met and the features are working, then it’s positive. The client also gave the whole project team a good grade. It’s always important that we progress and deliver value over time. Every sprint feature was developed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the trust and relationship we started to build with them. They added additional seniority on the team. If I work with a partner, I need to be able to rely on them. In terms of issues, we had clear communication and knew what to do. They also proactively came up with options. They’re always thinking about the project, sometimes challenging us rather than just delivering something.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was a little unclear in the beginning about how we should work with them and onboard new people. They improved it when we onboarded a new team for a bigger, new iteration, though, and it went well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have an agile mindset. It’s best if you have a team and a capacity set and then define the features during the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of engineering at Emergent Technology Holding, a supply chain company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

We hired 10Clouds for staff augmentation services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

10Clouds provided us with a team of developers based in Poland. Whenever we needed developers quickly for special projects, we turned to them for our software development needs.

One project involved a multi-tier application. Their team developed the backend using Python Django, Java, GraphQL, and specifically Apollo. The frontend was built in React and React Native. They also provided DevOps and product management support when needed. Their team did full feature development with their independent teams, as well.

What is the team composition?

At different points, we were assigned 15–20 developers. Right now, we’re at a lower number but plan on ramping back out.

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

I was referred to them but ended up choosing them because of their flexibility when it comes to staffing.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with 10Clouds began in January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In every area, the team at 10Clouds is full of highly-qualified, experienced developers that work at a competitive price. The developers also are professional and customer-oriented. The quality of code was very high, with a focus on unit testing and fully automated continuous integration.

There are no issues. If there were any problems, they would solve them quickly. 10Clouds is a strong Python shop but also specialize in React and other frontend technologies. They’re also skilled in web design.

How did 10Clouds perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication skills are very high. The team at 10Clouds performs above expectation. They’re easy to work with. I’ve been in engagements with businesses all over the world, and 10Clouds is the best company to work with. They are amazing with project management, product analysis, and account management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team at 10Clouds is willing to go above and beyond to solve any problems. Along with being excellent at communication, they pay close attention to the account management side. Their general attitude is that of partnering rather than providing a service. They’re invested in the success of the project. Their development quality is also extremely high.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m happy with everything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Kickoff an engagement with an onsite visit. After you have a core team, have a face-to-face meeting. Their developers are very capable, so try to give them as much information up front and let them give their input.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A tech startup, incubating multiple web-based data analytic products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 10Clouds?

We hired 10Cloud to develop our first product's MVP 1.0. This was a data aggregating and analysis web app

What were your goals for this project?

1. Meet the Nov 1 MVP Launch deadline with functioning MVP.
2. Demonstrate our data analysis pipeline architecture
3. Use the MVP to solicit user feedback

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We did a global search, and down selected the leading 3 vendors. We then conducted interviews via VTC to determine fit and capability and responsiveness.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

10Clounds was responsible for the implementation of our product MVP concept. We provided product vision and product ownership, and the developed and deployed the web app on time, and within a very good budget.

What was the team composition?

The team had 7 people: An account manager, a project manager, a Ui/UX designer, a front end developer, a back end developer, a senior developer, and an QQ/QC person

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project exceeded our expectations, and we are able to meet a very aggressive deadline. We did exceed our initial budget, but this was largely due to the addition of new features mid-project, based on user feedback. We continue to gather significant user feedback, which is will be the basis of our 2.0 iteration.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was great, and followed a strict agile/scrum process. Very disciplined and very transparent, and allowed us to hit a very aggressive deadline

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Great team to work with, very professional and capable. They were easy to communicate with and delivered on their commitments. They are very flexible and willing to do what it takes to get the project done.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We had a few hiccups on mapping the design approval workflow, so making sure everyone understands that from the beginning would be helpful. Budgeting forecasts, always a tough thing, could be slightly improved. Ours was a very fluid project, and so this would have been tough in most cases.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a stock footage company that supplies clips to the global stock footage market.

There’s a high demand for video clips from stock footage distributors and the industry in general because of growing video trends, but to prepare the footage for market takes a lot of processing. Usually, the content creator doesn’t have the expertise or resources to get the footage in a sellable condition. What our company does is process raw footage to get it ready for sale for some of the world’s top stock footage distributors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 10Clouds?

Our product chain must be ultra-efficient; otherwise, our profits disappear. It's a big challenge to optimize all of the variables throughout our technology stack that are needed to sustain our business.

Some years ago, we realized that to attain the ideal level of efficiency to function and scale, we needed to go into the cloud. Once we were in the cloud, there was a lot that needed to be done beyond building, including maintenance, security, storage, and automation.

At the same time, we had our own proprietary frontend with a processing system for files and metadata. It's a system that includes human teams that interface with multiple technologies. In order to build a system with a more efficient user experience, we need a lot of development.

For our business to succeed, we need an ultra-streamlined platform. We were looking for a development company with expertise in video and media as well as cloud architecture and frontend development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Until now, the bulk of 10Clouds’s work has been development. They’ve handled some tech debt, refactored what we already had, built new architecture, and made sure security was locked down. The team has also done a lot of work on our frontend. 

They helped us build out our roadmap, and we’re now at the point where we’re starting to pivot toward that roadmap. We have a solid foundation to start building some exciting new features that we’ve been planning for a while.

What is the team composition?

Our 10Clouds core team has 5–6 people, including a project manager. They all attend our daily scrums. At times, the team grows up to eight people, depending on the work.

How did you come to work with 10Clouds?

We had a lot of different partnerships and have tried different approaches. We wanted a deep bench that we could draw from to put the right components in place, and that ended up being 10Clouds. They came highly recommended by someone who works at a very high level in the media space. We had a conversation with them and then moved forward.

How much have you invested with them?

Our company has probably spent $250,000–$300,000. Our monthly spend is between $20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work with 10Clouds began in January 2019, and we’re continuing to work with them to this day.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The difference between when we started working with them and now is night and day. We’ve been able to start accepting new contributors in a certain part of the business, and we’ve picked up some other enterprise clients. It’s been a really exciting time to be working with 10Clouds. We had a product launch, and we launched on schedule–what more can I say?

How did 10Clouds perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been a pleasure to work with. In the past, I’ve hired other formulas, including hiring other offshore vendors who ended up costing me money. The budget was certainly a factor in hiring 10Clouds, and I’m able to do more because of their rates, but I’d say the most important thing is their expertise. We wouldn’t be working with them if they didn’t have the level of expertise and professionalism that we demand. Otherwise, they’d be costing us money and risking the business.

Our partnership works pretty well. I think any type of vendor relationship comes down to personal relationships, i.e. how they connect with your team, how they communicate, and whether there is a level of trust. We’ve been able to establish a relationship that certainly makes everything go smoother. 

They’re six hours ahead of us, which took some adjustments on our end. However, there are some advantages to the time difference. No vendor wants a client hovering over them. We have daily scrums, morning our time and mid-afternoon their time. This seems to work well for everybody since they can relay what progress they’ve made that day, ask questions they have for us, and provide updates. We also discuss what they’ll be working on when we’re sleeping.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their expertise makes them stand out from other service providers, as does the type of people within their organization. They’re the kind of people we like working with. 10Clouds’s team is flexible and understands that clients sometimes have changing or last-minute needs. I see them as a real partner in our success, and that’s why we continue to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d say not in the context of this project. We’re pretty much on track with everything. During the first couple of months, both sides had to make scheduling and communication adjustments, but that comes with engaging a new vendor. They worked to understand the project scope and what our needs were. We got through that phase as expected. 

Any advice for potential customers?

This is general advice, but definitely make sure that project management is in place, whether that’s an individual or a team on your side or theirs. When you deal with any type of developer, clarity is the most important thing; without it, they’ll go down rabbit holes. 

Make sure your product and goals are clearly defined. The project manager should always have a firm grasp of what the team is doing and the progress they’re making. As things come up, which they always do, you need to be able to trust the project manager. With strong project management in place, productivity will be high.