Anadea

BACKGROUND

Our company is a sports participation-focused company that allows people of all ages and abilities get involved in sports. I am the co-founder and manage our technical solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We had grown significantly using various 3rd-party solutions. However, we reached a point where we needed something more custom to cater for future growth and set ourselves apart from any competitors. We predicted a growth in the following year of more than 100 percent and needed an online platform to allow for this.

SOLUTION

We undertook an extensive period of evaluation to choose a suitable technology partner. This involved sharing the technical specifications and then having further discussions about the partners approach to the project, timeline, and cost. Throughout this process, we found many providers that were willing to do the project for a cheaper price, but none that understood all the requirements and were realistic with timelines and cost like Anadea.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

The project has been an overwhelming success. The project initially began at a much smaller scale than it turned out to be. Throughout the process, we were able to work with the team to assess new solutions and plan suitable system architecture. At all times, the communication was extremely good and the technical skill of the team excellent. During the months of the project, a great rapport was developed with all team members and made for a very successful and enjoyable partnership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company has developed an app for the golfing industry. I am a co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Anadea?

We wanted to build a minimum viable product which we could start testing with users.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We handled the design and I wrote the backend portions. Anadea developed our app for iOS.

How did you come to work with Anadea?

We contacted a few development shops in the US and the rest of the world. We liked some of them, but they proved to be too expensive. A friend recommended Anadea to us and we decided to take a chance.

How much have you invested with Anadea?

The total cost of our project with Anadea has been between $10,000 and $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work with Anadea is ongoing. We started working together 2 months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We're very happy with the results so far. Anadea has done an excellent job. I'm a developer myself, so I know what to look for.

We haven't done any user testing yet, but we plan this for next month.

How did Anadea perform from a project management standpoint?

I appreciated Anadea’s way of working. They focus strongly around user stories, rather than planning out all the work from the start and quoting us for the length of time. I preferred not establishing the total duration from the start. Anadea assigned a project manager to our project, which worked out very well.

What did you find most impressive about Anadea?

Anadea had a good understanding of what we were trying to do.

Are there any areas Anadea could improve?

The English skills of the developer assigned to us could improve. He can handle written communication, but he doesn't speak well. Anadea is also not as creative as I would have expected a US-based development shop to be. They've done a great job at implementing our designs to the letter, but I would have preferred alternative suggestions based on user perspectives from Anadea, and seeing more initiative from them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is a startup that seeks to provide software applications via the internet to the healthcare industry. 

What is your role at the company?

I'm the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Anadea?

We are seeking a solution to improve our daily work process. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The project is agile development process that included: 

• Discovery – planning and analysis, collaborating with my team and me to create user stories, user flows, UI/UX [user interface/user experience] mockups and wireframes, data requirements, and system requirements. 
• Development – created calculable spreadsheets, implementation of system requirements back-end, functionality and features, created and implemented UI/UX, databases, user roles, and permissions.
• Deployed – Staging and productions servers, pushing data to repository. 
• Delivered – Project releases, also known as sprints.

How did you come to work with Anadea?

In the beginning, I had more than 100 inquiries but, in the final stages of my selection, I had two candidates, I've narrowed them down based on their relevant experience with industry specifications.

Next, I considered companies who had knowledge of other industries' processes. Further, the qualification that I sought was diverse group of programming languages used. Finally, I happened to have been in contact with a reputable developer from Wunderlist the day I made my decision. I had already made my decision it was going to be Anadea, but the Wunderlist developer had solidified my choice when he suggested, "they seem to be the most competent between the two."

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The estimated project cost in its entirety is roughly estimated at $150,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in September 2015 and will be completed this summer [2016]. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What distinguishes Anadea from other providers?

There have been many times that I've praised Anadea for using critical thinking skills during the project that I had overlooked or didn't consider. They have a deep understanding of my objectives and truly develop the project with purpose and meaning, and they exceded my expectations.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

I'll have a better perspective when project is completed. So far, at this project stage, understanding my role as a project owner was a bit of a learning curve. After months in, I had to understand what each team members' roles were. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a startup offering an iOS and Android application. We plan to establish headquarters in the United States in order to find a local partner who will promote the app.

What is your position?

I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Anadea?

We needed help building our prototype.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Anadea built the first version of our app, allowing us to raise funds and employ more engineers on the project.

How did you come to work with Anadea?

When I started the project, I was looking for very good engineers. Online research doesn't give a good picture of what companies are trustworthy. I used a website called Elance at the time [now called Upwork], looking to interview the top 25 companies listed there. One thing that stood out about Anadea was that they had built a website for a big American real estate company. I contacted their client and was told that they're still working together. Choosing to work with a developer in Ukraine instead of simply employing an engineer in New York was proof of that client's trust in Anadea's work. I interviewed them and explained my project.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total development cost so far has been more than $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for a bit more than two years. The collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

So far, I've been satisfied with Anadea's work. Depending on the kind of money the client is willing to invest, Anadea will find an appropriate solution. I didn't have much money when initially starting out but, thanks to their help, I succeeded in building the prototype through which I raised more funds. We introduced more engineers to the project one year ago. Both of the applications have now been approved by the app store, and we plan to make them public within the next month.

How did Anadea perform from a project management standpoint?

The work process is clear. Five years ago, I worked with another development company based in India. When I asked them for a particular functionality for the product, they said yes and let me know when the work was done. The process was not transparent. Anadea provide me a web tracker upon which I can see all of the elements being built in real time. I know who is involved and, if the development time will take more than promised, they will explain why.

What distinguishes Anadea from other providers?

Working together is very comfortable, and I have control over what I am doing. After working with Anadea, the collaboration with the Indian company made me feel like I was blind.

Is there anything Anadea could have improved or done differently?

I don't see anything to be improved.

BACKGROUND

I’m the founder and managing director of [a Dutch-based travel company].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We needed help developing our application. The requirements and our goal for the system were smart list of training trips beginning from the most popular ones; filtering feature for the available trips with an infinite scroll; placing an inquiry for a trip tied to a specific arrival date; messaging system between a website visitor and a merchant; template language for deal pages; currency convertor with live exchange; rates imported from the ECB [European Central Bank]; user reviews for listings; and handy admin back-end with a workflow for new deals.

SOLUTION

The stack of technologies was Ruby version 1.9.3, Rails version 3.2, and MongoDB version 2.2.0. MongoDB proved to be a reliable choice, both flexible and easy in use. Also, our idea of engaging tutors came out as a very effective method, and we assigned tutors to many other of our projects.

We chose Anadea because while evaluating all the received proposals during the supplier selection process, Anadea stood out as the best option from the start.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

After successfully delivering the application, we [strongly] believe that they are the best choice. I highly recommend Anadea to others and would urge all customers in the U.S. to work with Anadea.

BACKGROUND

[We are] a niche publishing company. We develop, translate and publish books, tests, teaching materials and journals within the fields of psychology, pedagogy and leadership, and management.

[Our company] is 60 years old and is known for products of high quality where theory meets practice. I’m the business development manager and am responsible for the strategic development of the company as well as the overall product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our goal was to find a company with strong technical skills. Having no in-house technical competencies, we had to find a company that could understand our ideas and wishes and give us qualified feedback on how to develop the best possible products with the best possible functionality and design both back-end and front end.

A company who could actually advise us with better ideas than the ones we presented as they were not afraid of questioning our solutions.

SOLUTION

[Our website] is the transformation of our very popular analog teaching material  for schools, which is geared to schoolchildren between kindergarten and eighth grade. We want to transform our material into an interactive e-learning platform that fuses progressive educational practices with modern Web technologies and makes learning Danish grammar and spelling efficient and exciting at the same time.

We started by developing the foundation of the system and launched [our online product] for the third grade in January. We plan to launch the system for grade four through six in the third quarter of 2015, followed by the rest of the system in 2016.

We selected Anadea via Elance. Their response to our description of the project was very thorough and professional, and we decided to visit the company to present our project in order to decide whether Anadea was the right company for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Indeed, we are satisfied. They handle everything very professionally, stick to deadlines, always work on the best solution and are there for us at any time.

Prepare your project and make as detailed a description as possible. Meet with the team in order to discuss any uncertainties before beginning the engagement, and ask for a detailed estimate with everything included.

BACKGROUND

I head a development company that specializes in large scale Web and mobile applications for the Australian market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

My goal was scale. I need a flexible workforce for large projects that can scale as resourcing requires. At any point in time, I have five developers with different skills deployed to a single project, with multiple projects being coordinated at any one time.

SOLUTION

The main project currently being undertaken is a real estate Web and mobile app that enables owners of properties to self manage their property.

I selected Anadea from a personal recommendation from an entrepreneur who used Anadea for his project, and I had heard they had a background in Rails development, agile development, and had the capabilities I looked for.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

I am absolutely satisfied with Anadea's performance. Keep in constant communication with them. They are proactive and for a project to work well, you need to keep up with their speed and tenacity.

I rate them highly and recommend them to others.

BACKGROUND

[We are] a global managed services business founded in 2000. I'm the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

I have many projects running with Anadea including prototypes for new business concepts; longer term software development of one of our core software platforms; development work; and design.

SOLUTION

I wanted to test Anadea after meeting them. I decided to start with a smaller design project.

They were extremely responsive and attentive to my requirements. They suggested and facilitated a Skype call to discuss and flesh out my requirements, which I found to be very proactive and worked with my style of work. I was comfortable with Anadea from the beginning so I grew the engagement to be more of an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

I am extremely satisfied, I've been using them for a number of years now and am very happy. I get daily project updates from each of the teams working on my projects, which is very helpful being on the other side of the globe. I would highly recommend them to anyone.

I think these guys are fantastic. Try and keep up with them as a client, they work so fast and have great documentation and requirement gathering solutions.

BACKGROUND

My company is still in its infancy and is too young to talk about. I contacted Anadea to develop my social network website. I am the founder of this project, no one else outside of Anadea is involved.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

My goal is to create a bustling social network. I am halfway there, but will need to come up with more money to continue development.

SOLUTION

They helped me built a robust social network Web platform. I found Anadea through Elance, where they maintained a high reputation. Then, I contacted them independently. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

I am very satisfied with their performance, from the front office down to the developers. They spoke English pretty well and never did I feel that they were hard to reach. They were very organized with their work, and I was updated with project developments in real time through their custom made project management dashboard.

I especially liked Dariya [Lopukhina], who works as an office manager. He is fluent in English and offers great service. I do not have experience with other developers, but I would give them 5's across the board. They were great to work with. I was surprised and impressed.

BACKGROUND

We are making administration simple for community sports and recreational groups. My role is CEO and Founder. I am responsible for doing a little bit of everything for my firm. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We came to Anadea after a long search and after testing a large number of other outsourcing groups. Our goal was to rescue our project that was in a state of chaos after a sour experience with expensive local developers. 

SOLUTION

They developed our Ruby on Rails Web platform. We sent out a project description to dozens of offshore firms. We didn't want to work with expensive Australian developers who weren't very good anymore. After testing Anadea extensively with smaller projects, we decided to hand them the full initiative. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

As with any commercial relationship or remote project, communication is everything. Be clear with what you want, communicate in a respectful way, build rapport, and become a team. I fully recommend them to anyone and have already told my friends about Anadea.