Altamira

BACKGROUND

Please describe your firm.

We’re an online database and software service provider for investment bankers.

What is your role?

I’m the president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal working with GBK Soft?

GBK has done quite a bit of work for me during the past 15 months. They built a website and its functionality from scratch. They’ve also done a lot of site-wide improvements, plus a lot of detailed work for both MySQL or database work and HTML. They’ve played a variety of roles for our firm. 

SOLUTION

Can you describe the scope of their work?

It is all development work. There is no visual design, consulting, or training involved.

How did you find and select them with which to work?

I found them through oDesk. I did a phone interview with them. It helps that they have a lot of hours and high rankings in oDesk. That’s what allowed me to get them through the original filter since I only searched for experienced firms, and then I shortlisted them for a phone call.

Could you give a sense of the size of your work with them with either a general cost range or the amount of hours they spend on your work per month or per week?

On average, they probably provide 20 hours of work into our project a week, but it varies a lot.

Is work ongoing or completed?

It’s ongoing work. A lot of what I’ve asked them to do is completed, but there’s always something more to do.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics you could share or maybe just general feedback?

I think they do great work. I don’t have any statistics or hard number metrics. I give them a lot of tasks, and they do them. I haven’t given them something that they were unable to do. Some of the work is easy, and some of it is pretty hard.

Is there anything unique or special about them that stands out to you as different from other IT firms?

My primary contact, the project manager, Alexandra [Rostova], is a fantastic communicator and project manager. She is the main reason I work with them. I have a lot of experience working with offshore firms in the past decade. She is definitely a unique talent.

I’ve been pleased with their work. They work hard, they’re responsive, and Alexandra will get back to me anytime, even on weekends if it’s urgent. She’s a rock star.

Looking back, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or is there anything you would do differently?

I wish we could work in the same location, but remote work is standard. This is not a comment about GBK so much as it’s a generic comment about offshore services. Sometimes, I want a small fix, and it takes me longer to write up and describe to them what I want done than it actually takes to do the work. It can take an hour to do a five-minute project. That’s the one thing I would change but know its unavoidable working with offshore firms.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Elula, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Empowers students and families to navigate their educational journeys.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Altamira.ai to accomplish?

• Software development with AI integration.

SOLUTION

How did you find Altamira.ai?

Online Search

Why did you select Altamira.ai over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Altamira.ai were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Software development, custom AI tools, custom Tests and scoring.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Choosing Altamira for our software development needs was an absolute win. From the get-go, they started with a deep exploration of our project goals, ensuring we reached our objectives. Our teams were constantly involved, making the whole journey feel collaborative and streamlined.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Excellent, the team was always available to respond to inquiries. Project completion was on time and within budget parameters.

What was your primary form of communication with Altamira.ai?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

 Altamira’s team consistently provided updates and ideas that really added something extra to the table. To wrap up, Altamira.ai's commitment and eye for detail have entirely met our expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Altamira.ai could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Head of Services of a media company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Music publishing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Altamira.ai to accomplish?

• Launch our publishing tool

SOLUTION

How did you find Altamira.ai?

Referral

Why did you select Altamira.ai over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Altamira.ai were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The creation of our publishing tool as well as the seamless integration into our ERP system

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Altamira.ai helped us to shape the future of music by launching our disruptive publishing tool. What I appreciate most in working with them is their incredibly structured approach while keeping a strong focus on reaching our project’s goals. And of course all of that paired with highly talented and likeable people across the board.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Altamira delivered everything in time, in budget and with a high quality

What was your primary form of communication with Altamira.ai?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their structured approach

Are there any areas for improvement or something Altamira.ai could have done differently?

no

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was originally published on July 31, 2019.
Head of Services, Music Publishing Company

Publishing

51-200 Employees

Austria (40)

Confidential

$50,000 to $199,999

Sep 2016 - Dec 2017

Project summary

Altamira (formerly Altamira Softworks) combined disparate components of a website into a cohesive whole. They integrated e-commerce, WordPress, CMS, and SoundCloud elements into the system.

Feedback summary

The team completed the project seamlessly and delivered it on time. The revamped site received 25% more visitation, and the length of each visit increased as well. Altamira (formerly Altamira Softworks) attends to each minute detail of their projects to ensure customers receive the best service possible.
BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m in charge of services at a music publishing company in the contemporary classical music area. We distribute music for several composers, worldwide. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altamira Softworks?

The greatest challenge was that during the last seven years before I came into the company, there was a lot of effort to make a website, have a connection to the internet to show data about our composers to the world. We had a lot of systems glued together and we needed to streamline the whole process and relaunch our digital presence. When I started, we had 14 different tools, and every tool held a stake in our web presence. Now, we have one tool which handles everything.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had shop-ware, a WordPress component, a content management system, a service for displaying sample pages, and a SoundCloud integration.

We merged these solutions together and created a PHP solution that pulls the data out of our internal service.

What is the team composition?

I worked with at least four people, with one main point of contact who was also a lead developer.

During the project phase, it was a fulltime coverage, so they were really responsive 24/7. After the project was done, they provided an SLA (service-level agreement), where they provided at least 20 hours of work per month for us.

How did you come to work with Altamira Softworks?

I worked with them at another company, previously, where I got to know them. We made a pitch for this project, and we invited 5-6 companies. Altamira clearly stood out, which is why we decided to go with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project spanned from September 2016 – December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have 25% higher visitation on our site. We increased both the number of visitors and the visiting time for our site.

How did Altamira Softworks perform from a project management standpoint?

They were astonishing. If we had time issues, it was on our side. They were really responsive to our deadlines. There are often a lot of internal processes that have to happen before we can react to our quotas, which accounted for the delays on our end.

The most important thing for me was that I always knew what was being worked on and the next steps that were required. It was a transparent process, which is what I valued about our relationship with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re perfectionists in some cases, which sets them apart because they always strive to deliver a product that's right. They always add an extra effort to the project, and put in a lot more thought into it than just fulfilling what was asked for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. I would only suggest they join our company full-time! They’re a good corporation and I would suggest everyone come out and give it a try because I’ve only had good experiences so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Speaking English with them is a plus. Having enough resources on your side, including having a specific point person to manage the project on your side, is important as well.
Star Ratings
Overall rating 5

Quality 5

Everything we ordered we got.

Cost 5

Schedule 5

We had no problems with deadlines.

Willing to refer 5

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of 2beGROUP s.r.o.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a marketplace and SAAS provider in travel industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Altamira.ai to accomplish?

• DEV resources for our core team
• Partner for quick prototypes
• Build up a dedicated development team in another country

SOLUTION

How did you find Altamira.ai?

Other

Why did you select Altamira.ai over others?

Close to my geographic location

What was the size of Altamira.ai’s team?

2-5 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with Altamira.ai?

Virtual Meeting

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Recruitment for a new tech lead
• Dedicated sotware developers for our core team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• performant DEVs are hired and integrated
• Prototype is online and up and running

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Everything is done on time.

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

Speed.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Altamira.ai could have done differently?

Not really.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the project manager at a small marketing firm in Brooklyn. We also have a small in-house daily print publication that gets distributed to the local Jewish community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Altamira.ai, and what were your goals?

We were looking to develop a custom software to manage our publication - clients, ad reservations, billing, reporting and layouting. We hired Altamira for the discovery stage of our project, to determine the timeline and budget of our project.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for a highly experienced software development team who would be able to help us with the decision making in the discovery phase, since we don't have much experience with developing software.

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

Altamira helped us figure out the technical stack that should be used for our software, they started on wireframes and a very detailed specifications document. They also helped us narrow down the features and functionalities that would be developed in the first phase and what would be left for the second stage of development.

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

We had a wonderful team that consisted of a project manager (Martin Oravec), business analyst (Oleksandr Linares Moreno), developer (Oleksandr Dykyi), and designer (Pavlo Tolok). They were very invested in the success of our project and very easy to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Altamira team was a great team to work with and tried really hard to fully understand the needs of our project. They took our concerns and feedback very seriously and they stuck to the estimated timeline and budget. At the end of the discovery phase, we had an estimated timeline and budget for the entire project, with different options, based on different decisions we would make going forward.

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

We had two weekly meetings set up where we would discuss the work that Altamira had already accomplished and the ongoing work that would be done in the coming week. Once a week they also presented an updated budget. We communicated via email and Microsoft Teams in between meetings, and they also updated the specifications sheet constantly. Martin was a great project manager who was very much on top of the team and easy to communicate with.

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

Their dedication to the success of our project was very admirable. They invested themselves fully to understanding our needs and tried to solve all of our problems to the best of their ability.

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

I can't think of anything they could've done differently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a CEO at Vivino China

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Altamira Softworks s.r.o., and what were your goals?

We wanted to refactor the app, work on BD structure and improve app performance

SOLUTION

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

I know Altamira for a long time. We've worked on another project in the past and I was always happy with the level of their developers and client oriented approach

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

It is a a hybrid app developed on Flutter and Node.js, our goal was to improve it to make UI closer to the native applications.

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

We took 2 Flutter developers and 2 Noce.js developers, plus part time project manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Definitelly it took around a month for the team to be integrated, however withing the next month results were visible. I got a number of good recomendations and saw examples of best practices how to perform refactoring.

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

Project managment was on our end, so we asked only for the skilled resources

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

Altamira provides a hight quality specialists to so the deliverables submitted were on a good level. 
Additionally, they communicated updates regularly. It was not the first project we did together. However, their competence and dedication to the client's success resulted in a seamless and trusting relationship.

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

Sometimes rates might seem high in comparison to Asian and ME markets

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a founder of my small company DCAS LLC.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Altamira Softworks, and what were your goals?

I wanted to develop a mobile app designed for truckdrivers. My goal was to create mobile app, which offers generally social net for truck drivers. The app should help them in daily contact and comunication between each other.

SOLUTION

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

I found Altamira on their website and i choose them according to their skills showed on past projects and cost estimate.

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

We had some discovery meetings to set up our goals and objectivs. We’ve started with detailed specification and wireframes. We continued by building the individual steps based on the specification, starting step by step from basic beta version to production version. They consulted everything with me and always advised me very well.

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

Everything i consulted with the project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application is not running yet, so i can’t write about that at this moment.

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

Communication with project manager was easy and effective. We’ve comunicated mainly by email, but as well we make many online meetings. (Just online due the pandemics). He had a proffesional approach, always ready to attent my requierements.

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

What I most appreciate is their patience and professionalism when I want to change some elements on the app. Their predictability “one step ahead” also helped a lot.

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

In my case everything was fine.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Frontoffice and Investment Department at an Investment Firm regulated by National Bank of Slovakia. We are managing clients money based on Contract on portfolio management, investing exclusively in market traded instruments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Altamira Softworks, and what were your goals?

We needed a software for our Backoffice and Middle office accounting/registry, where we are registering all the assets held on accounts of our clients, daily asset pricing, generating Account statements for our clients, generating reports for our regulatory body and much more. The IRS software is also connected to the online Client Zone, where clients can login and see their investment account balance.

SOLUTION

How did you select Altamira Softworks and what were the deciding factors?

Altamira Softworks created from scratch our custom IRS - Internal reporting System based on which we later created together an online onboarding procedure for onboarding clients online together with online Client Zone.

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

Project is still ongoing and Altamira delivers all the requested new features and changes. The software was developed fully from scratch based on our needs, i.e. custom database structure, custom GUI, custom features and reports, etc.

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

• 1 Senior Developer
• 1 Junior Developer
• 2 Project Managers
• 1 Owner

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The software helped us to comply with regulatory requirements for internal software and also to serve our clients based on the market standards. Also thanks to the Client Zone, Altamira helped us to create another communication channel and also a way, how to easily onboard new clients.

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

We use Trello, Github and Zoom for the Project management.

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

They were ready to solve the problems on the go.

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

Better testing.

BACKGROUND

I'm product owner of the website of innovative insurance company. We offer various type of product such as health insurance, insurance for vehicles, traveling and life insurance with strong focus on digital services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our website had pretty good numbers but with more and more products and services the structure become inappropriate. Among other things, the website was slow by today's standards and responsiveness was weak. We were looking for a partner who will find a new CMS suitable for the delivered design and help create a fast, secure and responsive website with a wide range of possibilities for expansion with various digital tools.

SOLUTION

We selected Altamira in a tender among companies from different countries in Europe such as Netherland or Czech republic. Key factors were price, experience with complex websites, approach to the project and local support. Altamira analyzed the specification and visual outputs from an UX agency. After Wordpress setup, they prepared most important page templates so that our internal team can start creating content of the website.

This way we created an MVP of the website. Altamira developed the rest of the scope and fixed bugs. At the begining of the project we worked with the project manager who lead their developers. As the project neared its end, an account manager joined us to speed up work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

The new website is much faster thanks to simple code and automatic content optimization. With appropriately selected plugins and with predefined templates with the possibility of customization, we save a lot of time in content administration. Whole project divided into sprints was managed remotely online using Jira, Slack and MS Teams and it worked very smoothly. When you look for a solution with their people, you feel like they are your internal employees. They are focused on your success, budget and timelines.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Senior Business Development Specialist in the fun newly developed company that is set to change the way people do their laundry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GBKSOFT?

I needed to develop a solution for both iOS and Android devices. So I hired GBKSOFT team to do front-end coding for my laundry & dry cleaning app.

What were your goals for this project?

To get an app delivered fast.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I contacted GBKSOFT team after I’ve seen the blog on their website. I have scrolled through a few articles and was quite impressed by their quality. These guys seemed to be professionals who know what they are doing and talking about. So I made the decision to contact GBKSOFT team and see where the conversation would lead us. The team turned out to be friendly, open-minded and had an experience with the projects similar to mine. And that is exactly why I decided to go with GBKSOFT.

Describe the project in detail.

My initial idea was to create an app that will help to simplify ordering laundry pick-up and delivery services and reduce the time users spend on routine order making process. So my application should allow users to create an account and easily manage it whenever they need laundry & dry cleaning services. Clients should just drop-off their clothes that require cleaning and use the app to place an order in a couple of clicks. It is as simple as that!

What was the team composition?

As I have already mentioned, I needed GBKSOFT to perform front-end development. So I have cooperated with a bunch of high-class specialists such as iOS developers, Android developers, QAs, business analysts, scrum masters, and designers. Everyone involved in the development of my app was very understanding and quite dedicated.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fast responses.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was well-organized and both teams successfully accomplished all goals. I would also like to note that the communication was very effective. GBKSOFT team contacted the team of backend developers and they cope with all challenges together without me being involved (and this saved my time greatly). The work of GBKSOFT designer also deserves a compliment. She reviewed my old designs and offered a new concept with great UI and UX that made my app even more intuitive and user friendly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

GBKSOFT stands out from competitors due to the high quality and transparency of their work. Their estimations were precise and took into account every possible detail. So during the development process I have always been aware of the stage at what my project was, and I knew how much time it would take for a team to accomplish a certain task. GBKSOFT has many advantages and one of them is the presence of a qualified business analyst who helped to save money on some development stages and create a solution keeping the end-user in mind.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I cannot suggest any improvements simply because I am not an employee of a software development company. The only thing I can say is that GBKSOFT is a great company which unites many different professionals and I would like to cooperate with them further if I have any new projects in the future.