Andersen Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO for a startup in business planning. We use AI and advanced analytics to help businesses plan better.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

I was in touch with Andersen for the frontend development of our MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did some high-level planning of the resources needed and provided an estimation of the cost of the project. They helped design, frontend development, and did some testing. Throughout development, they used HTML 5.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one designer, one full-time frontend developer, tester, and project manager. Occasionally, they had support from DevOps.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

We found them on Clutch. I read their reviews online and did a vendor briefing. We reviewed ten different vendors for our solution. After providing our project detailers and receiving their estimations, we chose Andersen because the price was competitive. They also were proficient and offered great services. Overall, it was a great deal.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid €15,000 (approximately $18,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May­–June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was state of the art. The cooperation was very flexible and they were open to changes. When we asked from changes, we had several rounds with the designer. They were very fast incorporating those changes into the concept as well. Usually, the changes were implemented the same day or the next day.

During development, we had a great frontend developer who was very proactive and proposed multiple approaches to make sure we found the right fit.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

There was one project manager who was in charge of communication. We had daily standups, bi-weekly sprint reviews and sprint planning sessions. We were integrated into their Jira board, on which they tracked all the tasks there. We also worked closely with their development team because our CTO was watching over the development process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In their reviews, they were very honest about what worked and what didn’t work. They were clearly eager to improve the product and determine a better way to do things.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had one hiccup in which a developer asked for a more detailed description, we were charged additional fees. However, we’ve talked it over with them and those fees were removed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It was quite easy for us because we are also in SaaS. We had a ready plan and clear description of what we wanted, which resulted in a very smooth process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Choicely.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

We hired them to do development work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andersen has been helping us build an administration portal for our customers, which is an extension of our current platform. The team is using React and JavaScript, as well as basic HTML and CSS.

What is the team composition?

I work with a web developer, and I interact with Andersen’s management team occasionally. 

How did you come to work with Andersen?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $5,000 per month, so we’ve spent $120,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in the middle of 2018, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Andersen has provided good quality service.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to communicate what I need to the developer. We communicate via Slack, and we also use Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I get what I ask for and I’m in control of the process. I manage the project, and I prefer this direct approach to the process because is it’s easy to manage. The team has also been good at listening to my needs and meeting them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no criticism.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Andersen is worth a try. As with any software service, it’s about the customer’s ability to do the work that’s required to complete the project. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Freakologics AB.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

I was looking for development resources for a project with a Norwegian online gaming company focused on sports betting and casino websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andersen has provided developers for React.js, GraphQL, and Node.js. They were responsible for putting together the frontend of an online gaming website.

What is the team composition?

They have a team of two developers, one QA tester, and one project coordinator.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

I was scouting for different development agencies, especially in Eastern Europe, and I got some good references for a couple of companies in Kiev. I interviewed eight different companies, out of which Andersen was the most suitable.

They were a mid-sized company that allowed me to easily scale the teams up and down, and they also had the competencies we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re paying an average of $15,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Andersen in August 2019, and our engagement is ongoing. We finished development, and we’re entering the support phase. We plan to finalize the project in November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Andersen’s customer support service is fantastic. We’ve had some hiccups mid-project, but the account managers were able to accommodate our needs and readjust the contract.

They’re willing to help make our engagement successful. From a technical perspective, the developers they assigned were high-caliber, and they delivered really good work. I only have good things to say about the technical skills of the engineers. 

We’ve gone to their offices in Kiev three times, and they were super nice and made us feel at home. We were there for a week to meet the developers, and the facilities were great. This was one of the criteria I took into consideration when selecting a service provider.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m responsible for managing the project and making sure we reach the deadlines. It’s a pleasant experience to work with their account managers, and they’re always willing to help and accommodate our needs. 

They were willing to work extra hours in order to meet our deadline. We didn’t meet that deadline, but it was because of another company, unrelated to Andersen. So far, they’ve delivered what we've asked for, and everything was done properly from a project management perspective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always have open communication channels, and they ask us for feedback on the performance of their developers. They also consult with us on improving different parts of the platform. 

The communication is always friendly and professional, and it’s very pleasant to work with them. They’re not only technically-capable but also very nice people. They have a friendly and warm approach to discussions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their prices need to be a bit more competitive. I’ve compared them to other agencies in the region, and I’ve realized that Andersen is a bit more expensive. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Their office in Kiev is a really good environment, and all their people are hardworking and skilled from a technical perspective. I’ve seen junior developers go to intermediate skills very quickly there, so I’d say that people looking to develop their technical skills shouldn’t hesitate to work there.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A system integrator who develops IT systems for the benefit of commercial and government organizations. Project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Organization of testing an IT product that has developed in accordance with the Agile ideology. Andersen employees were tasked with organizing the joint use of automated and manual testing with the formation of a detailed general report on the test results in each iteration on a regular basis.

SOLUTION

How did you select Andersen and what were the deciding factors?

The company was selected based on the results of cooperation on previously successfully completed projects

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

Based on the results of several workshops, a product stack (Selenium, TestRail) was selected and approaches were developed for organizing testing processes. 

As a result of the work carried out, it became possible to conduct product testing with various sets of checks with the possibility of receiving a detailed and visual report with the test results by the Project Manager and technical managers

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

A team of 4 QA engineers was involved in the project

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The time spent on testing and evaluating its results has been reduced by at least two times. The process has become much clearer

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

YouTrack is used to manage the project. Regular Skype conferences are held

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

The qualifications of their employees and the degree of their involvement in the project set them apart.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior software engineer at Greenwald Industries. We create coin and phone vending devices for automatic laundry rooms. Our company works with customers throughout the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

We’re starting to move into the mobile app space, so we hired Andersen to build our Android app. They’ll soon be the provider for our iOS app as well.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

They created a laundry payment app that allows users to start washing machines and dryers from their phones and pay for the vend. 

In the beginning, we presented them with mock-ups of how we wanted the app to look, and their team enhanced them. Once we approved the designs to use for Android and iOS, they went off to build it.

They’ve assigned a project manager who leads the development team on their side. Since I work on the backend side to create the end points that the apps are interacting with, they work closely with me to ensure everything is functional.

What is the team composition? 

There are three members currently — soon to be four. I talk to Olga (Project Manager) daily, and then there’s Vladimir (Chief Resource Officer). There’s also a tester, and we’ll be onboarding an additional iOS resource.

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve done a couple of projects with us. The latest one started in January 2020 and will wrap up in August. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had lots of good feedback on the app. Our clients and their users are happy with it, which means they buy more from us. In that sense, the app is a gateway to sell additional products. And, we’ve had some large orders directly related to the app, which is huge.

As far as functionality, we haven’t gotten any complaints. They have a good eye for UI design and flow. Often, we’ll ask for one thing, and they’ll suggest something different that would be better — and, they’re usually right!

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve had a great experience working with Andersen. They’re always on top of things, bending over backward and working on weekends to help meet deadlines. We talk over Skype probably close to 6–7 times per day. Time zones can be tricky, so it’s really helpful that they answer at all hours of the day.

The general process is that I will get a request and create a ticket for them using their built-in system. Then, I walk them through it over Skype to make sure that they understand what we need and answer any questions. They’ll assign the ticket to a developer to process before giving me an updated version of the app to test.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s two things — the first is meeting very tight deadlines. They’re comfortable with putting resources on a task to make sure that we hit the turnaround that we need for our clients. 

The other is the quality of work. They usually get things right the first time, so I don’t have to keep retesting a build and sending it back for another version. That cuts down the time I spend redoing work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they provide exactly what we need. Obviously, we like them and will increase our usage with them. We’re actually moving everything from an old development firm to them as of next week.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Voxxify. We survey employees of large companies to help their management to find issues with IT.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

I didn’t have a strong development team and I needed to move from my MVP to a scalable, enterprise-grade platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, it was business analysis and UX design. They captured the overall business flow and process and set up the project backlog. Then they designed the UX for different navigable elements of the platform. Now they’re working on development. The first part will have enough features to demo to customers and the second part will be a fully functioning platform.

What is the team composition?

Initially it was a small team with a BA, UI designer and project manager. As we moved into development the team grew to include Java & React developers, QA analysts and DevOps.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

I got a referral from a fellow business owner.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020 and our project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, it was a very good quality service. The developers are very high quality, very knowledgeable. On the design side of things, they did pretty well. The design was good and I was satisfied with the result.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

The way the project was structured was very good. I joined the daily stand up for decision-making guidance, but they managed their team internally. I was very happy with communication and management.

It took a few iterations to get to a point where I was very comfortable enough I felt I had the information I needed to make decisions on funding and timelines. After a few sprints, we set a reporting cadence and the quality of the information was good enough for me.

They use Jira for agile development and Sigma for prototyping and design. Then we communicate through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re on top of their work and they flag issues early. They’re very friendly and personable, so they’re easy to work with. The quality of developers is excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As the founder of a startup, the budget is very important to me. Although they were very transparent on the budget and timeline, some more effort was needed to pull information and present it in a way that users understand.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set clear expectations of what you need in terms of budget and planning.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the development team lead for the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

We needed to find experienced developers and QA engineers in order to complete some customer projects. It’s essential for us to provide quality products to our enterprise customers, as we don’t have the option of making frequent updates.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andersen provides C# and AngularJS developers and QA engineers. They help us to develop the UI and core components of enterprise products.

What is the team composition?

We use six developers and a QA engineer from Andersen, and we have 25 internal developers.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

We found them 5–6 years ago. I don’t remember who initiated our contract with Andersen. We had several custom projects with them before initiating them into our enterprise projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Andersen in October 2018. We started with two developers, and we expanded the team in February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Andersen has successfully delivered on time since we started working with them. We calculate quality through the number of defects reported by our internal QA engineers and those from Andersen, and the quality delivered by Andersen is the same as that of our own engineers. This is a good sign for us. Andersen’s engineers stick to the estimates they give, and they provide meaningful explanations for those implementation and verification times.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a large development team, and they’ve helped us meet all of our deadlines and business goals. The communication is open and transparent. Andersen’s engineers immediately report any problems they identify, and they try to mitigate risks and identify how we can solve problems. I don't significantly differentiate between my engineers and those from Andersen. We work as one team and follow the same process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They can do any work that we pass to them. Even if they don’t have experience in a particular area, they investigate it and come to us with a solution or recommendation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have periodic meetings with their engineers to discuss any problems, and we’ve solved any issues during those. Right now, I have no additional feedback for Andersen.

I’m satisfied with the engineers working on my project right now, and we’ll continue working with Andersen if we decide to expand the team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CTO at a software development company headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Our company has about 50 employees. I lead R&D department in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Andersen?

We didn’t have inhouse mobile app developers at the early stage of the company’s development, so we need to outsource mobile developers from Andersen to develop mobile clients for our product.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to develop and release iOS and Android clients for our EdTech service.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We conducted a market research and selected three contractors we are interested in. After a series of interviews with engineers, we selected Andersen as the main contractor.

Describe the project in detail.

The main goal of the project was to develop android and ios applications for our EdTech service, which had only a web client until 2018. My role in the project was to manage and coordinate the design, development and testing teams. Andersen engineers were responsible for the development of Android and iOS applications.

What was the team composition?

We assigned one android developer and one ios developer for this project. The size of the Andersen team didn't change over time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have managed to release iOS and Android apps on time in accordance with the product launch plan after 8 months of hard work.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Andersen engineers were easy to communicate with. We had daily skype standups with Andersen team. We set and tracked tasks in Youtrack task manager.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Andersen mobile developers are highly skilled and they have met most of our product requirements without comments.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything can always be done faster, but we were satisfied with their work. We made very interesting product with their help.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director for a global financial solutions provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

I started a year and a half ago, and our company wasn’t an experienced tech provider, so a lot of development was done with some external companies. We didn’t have enough manpower or know-how in this area of software development.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us create an HTML prototype with backend functionality to showcase the final product and features. We needed a proof of concept we could show potential clients to showcase that the product we were developing was solid and user-friendly.

What is the team composition?

I work with a team of four people.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

Andersen was already working on other projects for my company, so it was natural to bring them on for this project as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2019 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work is above average. The quality of their work is excellent. They’re very professional, well organized, and a pleasure to work with.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

On a scale of 1–10, I’d have to give them a ten. They’re outstanding.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The whole process has been fantastic, from planning sprints, identifying next steps,to our daily interactions, they’re wonderful. They are free to approach me, if they get stuck, they call me. They’re very pragmatic and well thought-through.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything negative to say about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would highly recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work as a Scrum Master in a tech startup that produces mobile apps and SaaS services for the hospitality industry and restaurants.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Andersen?

We hired Andersen to aid us in developing mobile apps running on our SaaS backend.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were to get a working service up and running quickly, we had a clear concept and a semi-working backend that we chose to develop in-house.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our company's CTO was familiar with Andersen from his previous jobs. Other companies were considered but Andersen was chosen based on knowledge of their skill sets.

Describe the project in detail.

We had produced wireframes and a backend API for the app, requirements were not well documented and a lot of work and planning was done ad-hoc. This was not a problem as Andersen provided very skilled and independent react-native developers for the Android and iOS versions of the app. Documentation has been provided simultaneously to the app development.

What was the team composition?

Initially the team consisted of one project manager and three react native developers. For this and concurrent projects the team has grown to seven people including more react native developers, one Business Analysts and QA personnel.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don't have any metrics yet but are very happy with the work. Nigh-on impossible deadlines and a lot of ad-hoc requirements have all been taken care of swiftly. Our company is growing quickly and we have initiated several similar projects running in parallel, even this has been a smooth process.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow has been effective and Andersen have proactively suggested improvements in many of our work processes to aid us. We use Scrum/Scrumban methodology and Atlassian JIRA as our main tool. Language has not been a problem, communications are handled in English.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I'm most impressed by their skill to quickly get on board with new projects and requirements. If we need a new resource, Andersen are able to find the right person for us very quickly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There were some frequent personnel changes at the start of the project but luckily this did not cause major problems.