Advanced Software Development (ASD Team)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hospitable.com is a Saas product supporting short-term rental hosts listing their properties on Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com. I am the CEO and founder of the compay.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd)?

We needed qualified Laravel developers to help us integrate with several vendors and integrators to secure more features with "Internet of things" devices, such as smart locks.

SOLUTION

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

We have heard about ASD from other clients, and by looking for vendors with a specific experience within PropTech or Hospitality software.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Initially, ASD secured a project manager and a developer to run the project, with fast delivery. There was little work on my end to communicate requirements, and they were very autonomous, while still being proactive whenever there was a question. This allowed us to ship the first version of our product. We are still using them for the maintenance of that initial version, in addition to extending the scope with other vendors and integrators. ASD has currently a team of 5 people dedicated to us.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We have interviewed several agencies. We needed a partner that could communicate with us effectively, ideally have industry experience, and with enough developers that we can make sure the project will be delivered during the allocated timeframe. ASD was the correct partner in that regard.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have launched a new integration with the leading smart lock brand in the United States. Currently, 2;500 devices are connected to our application. Whenever they are escalated, issues are solved within 24 hours maximum. This resulted in our conversation rate increasing by 20 points.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

One weekly sync with 1 hour is sufficient to unblock 5 FT people working on this project. They are embedded within our Slack and internal processes. They have de facto augmented our engineering team, while remaining focused on this project.

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

It's easy for developers and dev shops to sell something overly complicated, or not react appropriately to some evolving needs escalated by customers and our product teams. Thanks to ASD we have been able to iterate on our initial scope and continue our collaboration.

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

ASD is now a team of 5 people independent; in the early days of our partnership I wish there were more people added to our project to ensure more support to the initial team. We requested it and 2 developers were promptly added to our team. I suspect their clients turn to them for cost saving, so I assume it's refreshing to have clients asking for more development hours!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-CEO of a travel content publisher.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd)?

We wanted to upgrade our website infrastructure.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired ASD to perform a complete website redesign. They didn’t do the design work itself, but they did all of the front and backend coding and implementation. They changed the look and feel, added new features, and so forth.

To jumpstart the project, we gave them very specific orders, and they’ve marched to them pretty diligently for the past eight months. They’ve used React, Java, and AWS.

What is the team composition?

We have one project manager. At the maximum, we’ve had four developers working on the site.

How did you come to work with Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd)?

We found them through Upwork, but I didn’t do the initial vetting. Previously, we had a developer work with us for a while, and it was understood it would be a temporary trial. The developer did a nice job, so we started requesting more people.

How much have you invested with them?

By the time this month is over, it’ll be around $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in November 2020, and they’re still actively working for us. The major redesign is mostly concluded, but we’ll continue with maintaining and developing new features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their adherence to the specs has allowed us to reach the levels of success we were hoping for. Our statistics have improved dramatically since we undertook this effort. The position of our pages in the search results, bounce rate, time on site, and all kinds of metrics have gone in the right direction.

How did Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd) perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a junior project manager, but my partner and I are very technical, so we work more directly with the developers. The project manager focuses on scheduling and giving updates, and we prefer it that way. Additionally, ASD has been flexible in allowing us to pick and choose developers for specific tasks.

We mainly use Jira and Slack for communication, and we’ve also used Google Meets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They clearly had the capability to undertake the project. ASD is able to get in and get the job done. Also, we give them high points for their flexibility.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Every project starts with a feeling of how long it might take, and companies always run north of that. This was no exception, so they still struggle to accurately estimate projects, which is a complicated thing to do.

However, ASD has done a pretty decent job compared to other developers we’ve had before.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

What seems to be working well for us is that we’ve taken an active role in management. We’ve gotten a sense of their individual strengths and weaknesses, so we now oversee who’s working on what.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical director of a bespoke software development branch of a technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Advanced Software Development Ltd?

We had a project to develop an ERP system for one of the national companies in Ireland, but our team ran into some problems with the subcontractors along the way. We brought Advanced Software Development on board to add new features and integrations, troubleshoot bugs, and refactor code.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our system is Laravel-based, so Advanced Software works in PHP and CSS. One of the projects we just completed involved bringing on the ability for users to manage VAT (value-added tax) rate.

The company has both British and Irish operations, and because Europe is going through Brexiteer, they need some additional functionality to be able to add, create, and modify forms and reports throughout the system, as they relate to taxes. The work they're currently doing for us include forms, reports, and database optimization. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Maksym (Project Manager) and Andrew (Backend Developer).

How did you come to work with Advanced Software Development Ltd?

We worked with a Ukrainian team that we’d found through UpWork for our company’s IT support business. I’ve been very pleased with Ukrainian organizations; their English is good, their technical skills are great, and they seem to be very eager and enthusiastic to impress. 

I shortlisted about three different companies, and I just went with my instinct during the selection process and hired Advanced Software Development Ltd.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about €30,000–€40,000 (approximately $35,600–$47,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around October 2019, and it's ongoing. The customer we write the system for has contracted us out for another six months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

If my customers are happy, I’m happy. My customers’ satisfaction has been very high since we’ve started working with ASD versus some of the other people we’ve worked with.

How did Advanced Software Development Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They do very well. Our development work is very demand-driven by the customer. The customer gives us a list of change requests, and I put those tasks in Trello. Advanced Software’s team gives me a time estimate as to how long it’s going to take to complete, and they almost always nail it. They were a couple of days late on this one, but I’m not faulting them because the target moved a bit. 

Maksym sits in on any of the interactions that I have with our clients and stakeholders. Their English is fabulous — they speak both technical and human languages. I’ve found that I’m actually left out of the process, which is lovely; I don’t need to be the go-between on a lot of it.

With other subbers we’ve used, everything has had to funnel through me, so it’s refreshing to not be hands-on with everything. I’m looking to take on a bit more software dev work simply because of them. I was looking at getting out of this line of work because I was so frustrated with the subcontractors I was working with, but finding ASD has given me new hope.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had another tax-related task that the client sprung on us on a Friday. We needed to make a big change to a system, but Andrew, our developer, was going on holiday. He still worked 7–8 hours a day. They knew it was crunch time and put all hands on deck. 

They got it done and had the features live by Monday morning. I was blown away that they put that kind of effort and work into it. They didn’t have an obligation to do that, but they did it. They pulled out all of the stops, which was impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at this point. It was a bit of a growing process when we first got to know each other. There was a bit of churn of developers on their side. However, once we had Andrew dedicated to the project, things flowed very smoothly. I’ve gotten no complaints at all over the past seven months.

It was a bit rocky at first, but we do have a fairly complicated system. Ramping up is challenging, and I think they were having trouble finding the right person for that job initially.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring the software project manager in early. When we first started, we didn’t have the project manager involved; I worked more directly with the developers. If you want to get the best bang for your buck, have the project manager involved from the beginning of the project. Getting Maksym fully engaged made a massive difference for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an owner and CTO of a B2C services platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Advanced Software Development?

We needed help with software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide software development and in some cases DevOps help. On the software development side, it’s for React and Node.js for a web application. They also provide React development services for a mobile application.

What is the team composition?

We work with seven people from their team, including a project manager and several developers.

How did you come to work with Advanced Software Development?

I read good reviews about them on Upwork and decided to give them a shot.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent $50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2020, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re great. The team has excellent coding abilities. My background is in software development, so I know their software quality is top-notch. They’re also great at coming up with solutions to problems we come across.

How did Advanced Software Development perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at meeting deadlines. We typically have a daily standup Monday through Friday. We all join online through video and voice chat. We also use Slack to keep in touch and Trello to manage the project. Their communication is on point.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re fun to work with, and they really get it from a technical perspective. I really enjoy working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes it takes a bit longer than I’d like to add new people to the team. That’s not really a criticism, since it shows how they’re only willing to hire high caliber personnel.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be descriptive in your project and what you’re willing to do. It’ll help them build appropriately while providing suggestions as well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a digital health company, responsible for a product portfolio in the consumer and clinical healthcare domains.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd)?

We hired ASD Ltd to develop a digital health service for consumers, pertaining to increased and self-therapy options.

What were your goals for this project?

To develop new exercise templates (Front-end) and upgrade the overall look and feel of the platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Based on an online research of various vendors, interviews and test tasks.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project utilized NodeJS and Bootstrap and included one full stack developer commitment about 20 hours per week over the duration of the project.

What was the team composition?

One full stack developer commitment about 20 hours per week over the duration of the project from ASD Ltd and a project lead from our side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development was high quality and robust and has enabled us to continue on the same platform also 2 years after the development was completed. We are also able to extend upon the developed code base easily, which is a huge plus.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management and timeliness were well executed. We were also happy with the response times.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

High quality work for a good budget, excellent responsiveness

Are there any areas for improvement?

We had a great experience with ASD Ltd and will continue to work with them also in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of CPF Concepts. We provide a range of business technology solutions and services to small and medium businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd)?

We needed development services for our company, primarily focused on web and software development services. They offered a scalable development team solution for multiple projects.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to develop scalable open source applications across multiple coding languages to provide business technology services and provide custom integrations to third-party platforms for customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The vendor selection process included an interview, discussions about the scope of the project, and review of customer feedback from previous projects. ASD Ltd. worked through a trial period and we verified their work. We interviewed multiple vendors under the same criteria, but ASD Ltd. stood out.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Our projects are structured to guide their development efforts. We begin with design mockups and other information for the development resources they provide. We have requirements for code repositories. They handle development and we perform testing and QA.

What was the team composition?

We work with different team members based upon the technical requirements needed for our solutions. We started with a single developer resource, and we have grown our team footprint to include a team leader managing the other developers and six developers leading different projects. The team leader provides the strategic support for us to include management of the developers and growing the team if we need to allocate more resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve increased our customer footprint by 25%. We have secured extended contracts with customers directly linked to the development solutions provided by ASD Ltd. Their support has allowed us to invest in research and development projects to provide cutting-edge solutions to customers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We have a very efficient project management process. We communicate through Slack, share information with Google Services and store code repos in GitHub. During the process, we maintain direct contact with their lead developer. We also have servers to monitor the progress of development.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We have been impressed with their developers’ technical skills. Their ability to scale to meet our growth needs has made a difference. ASD has also provided excellent customer service in managing our account and our suite of product applications.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re very satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Manager of the consulting company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd), and what were your goals?

We have various existing internal systems that need new functionality developed and fixing some ongoing issues as well so we were looking for someone with matching skills to do that

SOLUTION

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

We found ASD through a referral by business associate

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

Reporting and collaboration functions implementation using ASP.NET to document management systems and a financial data system.

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

2 people: 1 developer and 1 PM

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients are happier since the bugs are fixed and new functionality has been added

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

Communication is in Skype chat which is pretty efficient. Jira for task management

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

They can take on any existing system and enhance its functionalities.

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

Nothing at the moment

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of an initial coin offering (ICO) funding project. The company is called ZANTEPAY.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Advanced Software Development (ASD Ltd)?

We hired them to develop the entire project, including a customized backend. 

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were to establish the ICO and begin token building.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected them based on the price and quality they offered.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

ASD was responsible for creating a database and securing the backend. 

What was the team composition?

The team was structured well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business is growing.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They are available whenever we need them. Communication is effective using channels like Skype.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have provided unmatched support with a clear understanding of our goals.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Though there is always room to improve, we are very satisfied with the quality.