AnyforSoft

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner of a digital agency providing development services

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Anyforsoft to develop Drupal websites

SOLUTION

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

I found them through the basic Google search as I was looking for Drupal developers from Eastern Europe.

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

It is an ongoing project built with Drupal. Multisite HR platform for vacancies and recruitment purposes. My role was a project coordinator. The vendor was in charge of back-end Drupal development.

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

There is a team of 3 people on average.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The outstaffing model allowed us to significantly accelerate development progress while reducing costs. The vendors' developers have completely fused with our team, giving us flexible and effective process management.

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

The project management is really good. Due to their high level of communication and well-defined goals setting and planning, we managed to always stay on time despite the large volumes of work. We used Slack and mail for communications between us, as well as regularly organized calls and scrum sessions.

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

We were amazed at how quickly the vendor's team identified and analyzed our business goals and needs and immediately adapted to them. Their dedication and context understanding lets us get a truly tailored solution.

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

I want to give it a try with them on a project basis and check how it goes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the resource manager at a software company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The Client had an urgent development request with really strict deadlines. Since most of our resources were busy at that time, we decided to hire Drupal developers from Anyforsoft. Our main goal was to fully satisfy our customer's wishes and preferences.

SOLUTION

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

We found AnyforSoft through the platform for development vendors.

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

It was a Drupal 8 project development from scratch for the environmental industry. 

 My role was as a resource manager. 

 The vendor was in charge of a back-end Drupal development.

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

The team of two back-end Drupal developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All deliverables were met within the specified deadlines. A vendor came up with a functional and practical solution to what we think our site should be. They have done a great job of balancing the technical aspect of the product with our creative ideas so that it’s easy and convenient to use.

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

Project management is at a very high level and the dev team is efficient and energetic. All tasks were completed on time and fully met expectations. Communication was well organized throughout the whole time of the cooperation thanks to which they have become a full-fledged part of our team.

To control the progress of execution we used project management tools, email, and periodically had phone calls with developers.

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

The simplicity of communication and execution speed distinguishes this company from similar ones.

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

Can’t think of any. The only thing I can advise them is to improve their brand awareness. It would be nice if more people knew about such a reliable partner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a freelance consultant that advises various software companies on project processes, resources, and technologies. The client for that project was a finance themed digital media company with HQ in New York.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Staff augmentation for Drupal web development of the financial media portal. The client had an old website built in WordPress that could no longer effectively cover all business needs.

The main goal was to create an MVP version of the new version of the website from scratch as soon as possible with the help of a third-party vendor, in order to gradually implement all subsequent improvements using internal resources in the future.

SOLUTION

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

As a result of resource and workload assessment, it was decided to use the out-staff model. We turned to several vendors at once, choosing between several Drupal development companies. AnyforSoft was among the first ones to respond and the client was extremely pleased with the results of their estimate. The key factor was the ratio of price to execution time.

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

After initial discussions and suggestions which led to some changes to the initial project, the team delivered the MVP version of the website built in Drupal 8 with implemented Thunder distribution and multiple UI elements, including a ribbon bar, menu, grid, dropdown, fully functional blog posts search, contact form and subscription service with a user account feature.

All content from the old client's website has been migrated and indexed.

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

Account manager, 1 UI designer, 3 front-end developers and 1 QA engineer who carried out end-to-end testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the migration to Drupal 8, it’s now much easier for the client to manage typical for the media industry large scopes of content which dramatically increased their team productivity. As well as, 8th version simplified transition to the next versions of CMS in the future.

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

Basically, everyday communication took place through Slack, as well as 3 times per week were organized sync-ups through Google Hangouts. Less commonly used was email.

The Dev team and the client were in different time zones, which slightly limited the communication window, nevertheless, the Account manager was available even outside of working hours when urgent questions arose. As a tracking tool client chose Jira.

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

We were really impressed with their proactivity. At each stage, they proposed how to improve and speed up the process without losing quality, which was extremely important in the context of the unfolding economical crisis.

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

Due to the difference in time zones, there were a couple of moments when it wasn't possible to find a time convenient for both sides for communication. But against the general background, this is too insignificant to pay attention to.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Management Assistant at a bio-tech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website were out-dated and we need to have it updated to match the new corporate identity. Since we don't have the expertise in house, we need to hired an external company to perform the service. Our goal is to increase site visitors and raise corporate publicity and reputation.

SOLUTION

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

We were recommended via a contact to Anyforsoft as a Drupal specialised website developer. We checked other websites designed by Anyforsoft and were persuaded that they are able to fulfil our needs.

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

We had a kick-off meeting with our desired website pages and content and style. Anyforsoft developed a demo environment and we reviewed the design. After that we started to fill the content, where we had some feedback and experienced some problems.

After several rounds of feedback and update, the website was completed and good for running. The project ended with the website online and a warranty period of 30 days.

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

The project manager was the main contact person through the project phase. The business development manager was in touch when initiating and ending the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had daily communication with the project manager and the main communication tool was email. They were able to communicate the leading time clearly and keep the timeline as planned.

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

Anyforsoft created a mock website while developing, so that our website was still able to run during the development phase, while working on the new update in the background.

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

It would be better to have structured communication and regular project meetings.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Managing Director of a digital agency and we work with a variety of SME & charity clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had 3 projects that had a similar build architecture and we wanted to find an experienced and reliable supplier to assist us in delivering these. It was very important that the quality of the build was high as we would ultimately be maintaining it for the long-term, with good communication and meeting deadlines.

SOLUTION

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

I have been quite active in attending various Drupal community events and would always enjoy my interactions with the team members. I always met with friendly people that I could share some fun conversations with.

These relationships became friendships and the feeling of trust was embedded within that. They were always helpful and I was looking forward to working with them for over a year, then finally the right project came along. The main deciding factor was their availability, responsiveness to communication, and professionalism. As the expertise we required with PatternLab & Layout Builder was relatively new and niche and AnyforSoft had previous experience with them, it was a really good fit.

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

After an initial kick-off meeting, for the first week, we had daily standups and then decided they were no longer needed as communication on JIRA & Slack was enough. For design components, we broke down deliverables into different phases including:

1. designs converted to Pattern Lab
2. sitebuild and backend development
3. theme integration
4. technologies used included Drupal 8 (Symfony & Twig) & PatternLab (HTML, Twig, CSS & JS).

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

Our main contact was with our account manager who also assisted a little with project management and scheduling time of the developers. We worked with two frontend developers who worked on Pattern Lab. We also worked with one full stack developer who did some backend work & theme integration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have learned about a few new contrib modules and some ways to improve the architecture of our projects. At times of higher pressure and workload, I was impressed with how flexible the team was to accommodate our requests.

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

We were all happy to work in a light touch, ad-hoc basis. When either I or one of the developers would reach wanting to clarify something, we would schedule a voice call or screen share when convenient for all.

Many times this was immediate or very close to, which is great when project priorities and needs change. Their communication style has been friendly, helpful, but also they're never afraid to speak their mind when they believe there is a better way to do things which I always appreciate. Tools we used for project management & communication were JIRA, Confluence, Slack, Google Docs & Zoom/Google Meets.

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

They provide great communication and are flexible to different ways of solving your problems as if they were theirs. And understanding our joint success helps all of us gain more business from my clients by doing everything possible to please them.

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

No, I just wish they'd made it easier for me to remember them sooner so we could have worked together sooner as I've worked with some less reliable suppliers in the past.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a BizDev Manager at Rolique. We are a web and mobile development agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AnyforSoft?

We were in need to partner with the service company that could help us quickly extend the team with PHP specialists (Drupal, Symfony) for three projects. AnyforSoft agreed to help us with this.

What were your goals for this project?

One of the projects was a SaaS platform for the cleaning business and the goal of the project was to complete an admin part. The goal of the other two projects was to provide continuous support and maintenance of the existing projects.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We worked with a part of their PHP team when they were owned by another company. After they joined AnyforSoft we wanted to continue cooperation with this team and started negotiation process with AnyforSoft. They were open to establish a partnership with us as well as retain the previous team setup at our projects. We were impressed with their loyalty!

Describe the project in detail.

The first project - support and maintenance of the series of Drupal projects (long-term). The second project was a SaaS platform for the cleaning services. We needed to finalize an admin panel built with Symfony (short-term) The third project was also about the support and maintenance of the ski services platform built with PHP (short-term).

What was the team composition?

The team setup was changing depending on the projects' needs and phases. They provided us with three engineers for the two short-term projects and two engineers for a long-term project. There was also a QA involved in the process occasionally and a Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were very responsive and pro-active during the negotiation process. It helped us quickly and smoothly expand our team with the resources and start working on the projects. They are diligent and flexible, ready to go the extra mile for effective cooperation. We are happy with their performance, management, and communication level.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

There was a Project Manager who was responsible for the communication, reporting, process, risk and delivery management. We communicated regularly in Slack with their Project Manager and were always aware of what's going on in the projects. All issues were timely communicated and resolved, and all the work processes were simple and clear.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We are really impressed with their dedication and loyalty. They are proactive and we can always rely on their commitments. All team members are skilled and do their job well, and we appreciate it a lot.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I don't think so. We're super happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Stage Entertainment operates within the music business. We perform musicals often in our own venues within Europe and the US. On our websites, we inspire customers to go to a show and sell the tickets. I’m responsible for the development of all country websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AnyforSoft?

Our company had been locally organized, meaning that all different countries —Spain, Germany, France, and the Netherlands— handled development locally. Every country developed its own website using its own provider, CMS, analytics implementation, etc.

It was my project to migrate everything to a central platform. The agency that made this happen is AnyforSoft.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AnyForSoft was our development party on the project. I played the role of the head of product, while AnyForSoft provided a proxy product owner/project manager on their side.

AnyforSoft made sure on their side that all business requests for new features designed by our agency in the Netherlands were developed in the correct way. They also provided all support for the website, making sure all sites are performing correctly.

AnyforSoft also handled stakeholder management. They had to manage questions and requests from different countries, as well as deliver support on how to set up and use the new CMS.

What is the team composition?

I was always in contact with the project manager/proxy product owner on their side, and he was responsible for making sure that all new requests were being developed. They had a team of frontend developers, backend developers, and testers.

There was a total of 9 fulltime people on their side. We had an account manager, a project manager, an architect, testers, frontend developers, and backend developers.

How did you come to work with AnyforSoft?

My predecessor met AnyforSoft at a Drupal conference. I took over the collaboration from him.

How much have you invested with them?

We started small, and we added more resources over the course of the project. The exact amount is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with AnyforSoft in November 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The impact of the new CMS has been huge. In the past, all countries had different CMSs and tooling, which cost a lot of money. Each component had to be made five times for each country.

Now, we can use e.g. the same header everywhere, and we can also reuse different components. We no longer have to develop a new website each time when we have a new show.

There is more harmony and efficiency, and we have higher-quality components than before. This also allows us to work better together across the company. In the past, we were more locally organized, and we’re working more together now, on a global level.

How did AnyforSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job on that part! It was a very difficult project that involved the migration of seven websites to one platform, each one with different needs and coming from different cultures and different local plannings that were constantly changing.

The project manager on AnyforSoft’s side did an amazing job in communication, constantly balancing between the wishes of the business customer and the needs of the development team. He communicated well with the stakeholders about all the changes being done and about the process, and he gave the demo's every sprint to all stakeholders. It went very smoothly overall.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re willing to learn, and they work extremely hard. They’re ambitious and loyal, and they want to make an impact for the customer as well as the business. They’re really service-oriented, and they have a drive to go far. They’re open to feedback, and they try to adjust and become better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As an agency, AnyforSoft became better and better during the project. We worked in an agile way, with constant sprints and support. They had to learn to work in this way, and it’s something that was pushed by me. They didn’t really have a choice, but they embraced this way of working and thinking.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

There are different kinds of agencies with different expertise. AnyforSoft is really good in Drupal development at its core. I have no experience with their designers, so I cannot say something about the quality of that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

projektmagazin is german speaking leading specialist portal on the subject of project management. The web-based portal has been appearing since the year 2000.

Visitor traffic and number of subscribers: over 100,000 visitors (IP addresses) and a total of 24.000 subscribers (as of October 2019). Our target group: project managers, project leaders and C-level executives. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AnyforSoft?

We hired AnyforSoft in September 2018 during our running project about the relaunch of our website from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8 because our existing german Drupal agency declared bankruptcy.

What were your goals for this project?

• complete migration of existing content of webseite Drupal 6 to Drupal 8.
• new development of the whole website based on our user stories

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met them in September 2018 at the Drupal Con in Darmstadt, because we planned in the beginning of 2018 to do togother this project. But they did stop the cooperation because the leading developer left the company. But then we met in September and they told me they have now the appropiate staff and they can take over the project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

• Backend and frontend development based on our user stories and based on our new Layout in InVision.
• Complete Migration of existing website from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8.
• Access System for our subscribers with different roles.
• Interface from Billwerk with shop to new Drupal 8 Page.
• Severall special requirements form editorial team for NL-production and articel production based on Drupal theme Thunder.
• Integration of Google Dashboard also possible for Ad Customers

What was the team composition?

AsF: 1 Projectmanager, 2 Backend Developer, 1 Frontend Developer, 1 Quality temporary: 2 tech leads from former agency

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The impact of this project in tremendous for us. because we are an online portal for projectmanagers and the website is our business model. we had an high pressure to switch from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8, because there had been no security-updates for Drupal 6 since october 2015. And we have 24.000 subscribers on the site.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The whole project was done in SCRUM. we had a daily meetings via Google hangout with the projectmanager from AfS, the developers and two person from us, our product owner and assistant. the collaboration worked pretty good. It took around 4-6 weeks until the team was into the subject.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

AfS had a pretty fast underdstanding of our business and our processes. and were willing to take over a running project. Their staff has very good communication skills and drupal know how. It's a pleasure to work with them. They give you the feeling that they really care about you and your project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Sometimes the processes aren't propperly. But we always told them right away and they try to find very fast solutions for this. And they are always willing for improvements

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own a Drupal agency that provides web services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AnyforSoft?

We needed Drupal partners to increase our capacity.

What were your goals for this project?

Since our project utilized Drupal 8 and had complicated elements, including API development, hiring experienced developers with management skills was crucial.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

AnyforSoft reached out and offered their development services. They shared the details of their experience and suggested a trial period so we could verify the quality of their services. After the trial period, we were more than satisfied and started a full partnership.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Dedicated AnyforSoft developers are deeply involved in our process. One of our main shared projects is an intranet for a large company, based on Drupal 8. To create this product, we used AnyforSoft's back- and frontend resources.

What was the team composition?

We work mainly with developers, who are not only skilled in Drupal but also capable of managing their activities and taking responsibility for the final results.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

AnyforSoft doesn't just do routine work; they also create reasonable solutions and plan in advance.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We manage the projects. We mostly communicate on Slack, and the developers always react quickly to our requests and questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their transparency and Drupal knowledge are worth noting. They're also open to feedback from both us and the client. They place individual tasks in the context of the whole project and the client's requests.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, our collaboration is extremely positive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CTO of Dropsolid and am responsible for technical mentorship, and product and technical partnerships with other companies. Organizations rely on Dropsolid and its open digital experience platform with Drupal at its core. Together, we create effortless digital user experiences that increase customer lifetime value.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire AnyforSoft?

We hired them to augment our team with remote talent for a fixed price web project.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to be able to deliver a project with our quality standards, using an overseas company that’s willing to adhere to our strict specifications.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found them at a conference called Drupal Europe. The speed in which they produced a proposal was a critical deciding factor. Their price to value ratio was also impressive.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The projects we’ve done together are confidential but they required an outsourced team of senior profiles in the Drupal technology ecosystem.

What was the team composition?

The team we have is 60% local and 40% remote. AnyforSoft came with profiles that are fit for these teams so that they can act as one. In total, they’ve assigned two developers and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was initially not delivered on time as we had agreed in the beginning, but we did finish the project in the end. AnyforSoft went the extra mile to make sure we could keep our promises to our clients. Outsourcing talent has a major impact on our profitability. It comes with its challenges, but overall, it does work and allows us to stay competitive in the market.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Initially, we weren’t getting the level of service we expected but they changed things up and got things under control. This is as much a learning experience for AnyforSoft as it is for us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The level of commitment towards their clients is remarkable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They can improve their internal training programs, making sure to keep their staffs’ skills fresh. Dropsolid is very demanding when it comes to communication, so this is something they need to focus on as well.