Altasoft Software Solutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m currently a consultant at HTSS. We’re a software solutions company in Romania, based mainly in Bucharest. We have over 400 employees at this point, working on software for the medical and pharma industries. I've had this position for four years, and I handle everything from recruitment to onboarding employees on our company culture and goals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altasoft Software Solutions?

We wanted to build a team from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Altasoft helps us bridge the gap of necessary persons that fit our profiles, mainly software developers. The market in Romania is down in terms of offers, so they provide us with resources from other countries, such as Egypt, Russia, Belarus, Ethiopia, and so forth. They provide personal profiles and take part in the recruitment process.

In summary, Altasoft finds people in their company that have reached the end of life on their projects and have the necessary skills for our projects. The main objective is to integrate Altasoft’s resources into our team, so it’s outsourcing, not recruitment. We’re not hiring them per se; they lease the person into our project, and we do all the project management in terms of sprints, hours, and so on.

Currently, we’re building a hotel management system. It’s a big and complex project.

What is the team composition?

The team currently consists of about 12 developers, and 5–6 are from Altasoft. They’re mainly backend developers working on .NET Core. Additionally, they have expertise in microservices and different databases, which we use depending on the project needs.

We also have someone from Altasoft focused on frontend development. She’s mainly working with the Angular 2+ framework.

How did you come to work with Altasoft Software Solutions?

They got in touch with us. Altasoft kept buzzing us, saying they had people and could help us whenever we needed it. One day, we asked them to send us some profiles and set up technical interviews with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have a long-lasting partnership with Altasoft. We've known the people there for about three years now. They changed the legal entity, but they’re still working at the same company.  Initially, we started working with them around December 2019, and we’ve kept on coming back to them for more resources, depending on our budget and needs.

The current project started around February 2020 and has a lifecycle until 2025. We have a few milestones to complete until then — we’ll probably go live with some of the main functionalities in September 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve discussed the project with our solution architect, and he’s very pleased with all the developers that joined the team from Altasoft. He mentioned that they’re eager to learn new technologies and adapt to the specific industry and business, which is why we like them. We also enjoy spending time with the team to train them or discuss the project’s future.

Moreover, Altasoft’s developers have above-average skills, so they’re mid or senior-level regarding software development.

How did Altasoft Software Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We can’t provide clear feedback on this point because we’ve just started using the agile SCRUM methodology in 2021. It’s been hard because this person had to evolve from a project manager to the product owner or manager role, and we didn’t know how to handle that person within the team.

However, Altasoft has met our deadlines and delivered everything our product manager has asked for. Also, they’ve outdone themselves with client demos, and the feedback has been very positive. Overall, they’ve delivered everything we’ve had to build.

We’re a Microsoft-oriented company; we have Teams as the official communication channel and Azure DevOps for product lifecycle and deliverables management. Additionally, we use email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have connections in countries that are harder to reach, and their team has excellent professionals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing from my point of view.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be open-minded. At first, we were very skeptical, but they kept being persuasive until we said okay. If you’re looking for software developers, having alternatives from other countries will help you ramp up your teams or start a new one from scratch. In Romania specifically, the supply of people with the necessary skills is very low.