Arbisoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior product manager at JobCase, an internet tech platform that matches employers with job seekers. Our demographic tends to more blue-collar-oriented.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arbisoft?

As a social media platform that’s similar to LinkedIn, it’s very difficult to succeed in the space without a mobile app. While we were traditionally a web app, we were looking to break into the mobile arena. We didn’t have the inhouse resources for mobile app development, so we engaged Arbisoft.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our own designers developed wireframes and comprehensive mock-ups for the mobile app. The Arbisoft team took these specs and design guidelines and launched into development utilizing React Native. Their main scope of work has been translating the features that already exist on our web application to this new mobile platform.

Having said that, they’ve also provided feedback and suggestions for improvement for both design and functionality.

What is the team composition?

While I oversee most of the project management, we have a project manager on their side, and we have two engineering teams. I believe that it’s around 13–14 people in total.

How did you come to work with Arbisoft?

We were introduced through a few of our coworkers. They’d worked with Arbisoft at previous jobs. They seemed like the best fit for us because they had extensive experience in React Native and had done so many mobile applications. The references we received were also very strong.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in December 2019, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While I can only provide anecdotal feedback, the impact of their work has been significant. We’re close to completing our first mobile application, which we didn’t really have a strategy for in the past.

They’ve delivered feedback on certain features that already exist and have made thoughtful suggestions for improvement that we’ve already begun to implement. We’re grateful for the fresh perspective they provide.

Additionally, thanks to Arbisoft’s collaborative nature, some of our in-house developers are also picking up React Native. The educational outcome of our partnership has been excellent.

How did Arbisoft perform from a project management standpoint?

I think they’re very good on this front. As a product manager, I handle a large scope of specs and cannot always validate the entirety of their work Despite that, they excel at navigating some uncertainty and raising questions early.

For example, they won’t wait to get to a specific ticket or feature before asking us a question about it. They’re always looking at the larger picture and will bring up concerns a week or two in advance. I’ve always appreciated that.

We use Jira for project management, hold daily standups, and communicate on Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their teams really know what they’re doing. They’re very, very good at what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. I don’t think I can think of anything that they could do differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We came in with a clear vision of what we wanted, along with designs and specs. Arbisoft has performed very well under that scenario, given a clear direction and fleshed-out requirements. I’d suggest that you provide a pretty clear idea of expectations and requirements, because they’re clearly able to execute on them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project coordinator at an economic policy research organization. I oversee the collection of all of our data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arbisoft?

We wanted to use mobile games to measure socio-emotional skills. We needed someone to design an app that would contain all the games we wanted and allow us to access the user data.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The final app was just for Android and contains four different games that measure various socio-emotional skills. We provided the guidelines of the games, along with live examples of what they’d look like, but they built the app itself from scratch.

What is the team composition?

Their senior marketing and communications specialist was our primary contact. We also had at least one developer working on the project.

How did you come to work with Arbisoft?

They were referred by colleagues at our local office overseas.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $9,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from November 2017–April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development process went pretty smoothly. There weren’t many bugs and the final tool has been useful. We’ve had other teams approach us, asking to use it for their own projects.

How did Arbisoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They constantly kept us updated on the project. Anytime there was a misunderstanding, either with our instructions or with the work they returned, they were very responsive and made changes quickly.

For communication, we started out by discussing the project over the phone. After the initial setup, we moved more to email and also used Trello to manage the project details.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our project wasn’t especially complex, but they still delivered a high-quality product and their customer service was excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't think of anything for this project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish a good relationship with both the project manager and the developer. It’s also important to have direct contact with the developer, whether it’s by email or phone. It’s easier to avoid misunderstandings that way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a national trade association focused on changing U.S. energy policies to create a future of secure, clean, and affordable energy. I’m the VP of engineering and product development, focusing on leading our software development team to build a particular product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arbisoft?

We were looking for a team who had deep expertise in web crawling, specifically with automated systems that extract content from hundreds of external websites. We needed someone with the flexibility to quickly scale up a team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve helped us develop individual web crawlers for collecting and sourcing data (e.g., PDFs, website text) from a range of important policy websites. Web crawling is the process of building automated bots to collect data from public websites in a structured format. We go through this process on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, so it takes a lot of expertise to orchestrate the entire system. We also have to validate that the data sets are complete and accurate before storing them in one place and performing post processing.

They’ve also added QA engineers to the project to help us with auditing our data ingestion system. They’ve helped us make decisions around certain technologies from a project management and technical leadership standpoint. They’ve augmented our team for short-term, complicated needs that require a lot of people.

They’ve done all of the software development. They’ve used the Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure and a range of Google Cloud services. We’re used Scrapy for web crawling and they’ve also helped us with our Python and Ruby on Rails application. They’re familiar with technologies like MongoDB and Elasticsearch.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with one of Arbisoft’s team members longer than anyone at our organization, so I think of him as part of our team. He’s been leading the relationship we’ve had over the last five years as a trusted team member for our big product. I’ve also had a relationship with their CEO and founder. We had about 10 of their people initially, but now we have two as part of our core team.

How did you come to work with Arbisoft?

I had a chance to meet their CEO when we were trying to make a decision about which company to use for this particular work. He’s a very smart guy and someone had also recommended him. One of their biggest contracts involved supporting a prominent search website that utilizes web crawling, so that reassured us that they were the right team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2013 and the relationship is ongoing. The relationship began with one specific project, but it’s branched off to others over the last five years. They’re an asset to our company and part of our software development team, assisting us with any problems we have.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had zero revenue when we first engaged with them, but we’re now at about $1 million in annual recurring revenue. This is largely due to the system they’ve helped build and the data they’ve helped collect as the core value proposition for the product we’re selling. For context, we now have more data than the largest online encyclopedia as a result of leveraging Arbisoft’s expertise.

How did Arbisoft perform from a project management standpoint?

I trust my main contact with a lot of things that are critical to our application. He’s led the development of our platform’s major components. The project management is fantastic. We do a video call every morning and also use Slack and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with their ability to scale up additional staff. They’re definitely web crawling experts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They do really great work. The only challenge we’ve faced is that their team is based in Pakistan. Dealing with the time difference sometimes makes synchronizing our communication difficult and there’s also an occasional language barrier. However, we answer this through extra iterations and more communication to ensure that we’re on the same page regarding what we need to implement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re very clear about goals and the metrics you’re using to measure performance so that everybody on the team understands what they are and why they’re important. This will set you up for success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of PayPerks. We’re a financial education and rewards platform that seeks to drive positive change for financially underserved consumers and create value for the institutions which serve them. We sell solutions and services to financial institutions, government agencies, and other organizations that serve the financially underserved that are then marketed to cardholders and customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arbisoft?

We wanted to find a development firm to be a long-term partner. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We consider Arbisoft a part of our team. We utilize multiple resources from them in different quantities and configurations. This includes agile project management, frontend and backend development, and QA testing. We have to support a wide range of older desktop and mobile browsers, so we have them do both automatic and manual QA tests. They work with Python, Django, React, and JavaScript.

They’ve worked with us since the very beginning when my co-founder and I were just starting out and grown with us since then. Initially, our Arbisoft team worked with me to build our beta product and then after a pause, and we signed our first revenue deal and raised more money, we resumed our work with Arbisoft while also growing our team in New York. We work on the same code base and the same story ticket system together. There’s no strict division of work between our companies, other than we don’t allow access to our production environment and customer PII outside of a smaller group of full time employees and our DevOps team.

What is the team composition?

There’s a project lead developer and a number of backend developers, frontend developers, and QA engineers.

How did you come to work with Arbisoft?

We asked around our network for a reputable development firm. My co-founder knew someone who worked with them. Arbisoft then provided references to other clients and I spoke directly with the technical decision maker at those clients. Everyone was very pleased with their Arbisoft experience, and the existing clients were growing their relationship with Arbisoft.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $1 million at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2010 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Arbisoft is an integral part of our team and we probably wouldn’t be here today without them. Some of their team has worked with us for 5–8 years and we’ve built a trusted business relationship. We share successes together.

How did Arbisoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We use online collaboration tools to participate in daily stand-ups and sprint retrospectives with the entire development and QA team. Our approach has evolved and changed over time, some sort of mix of agile and Kanban. We write engineering requirements using Jira or Pivotal Tracker and the engineering team as a whole tracks their work in these tools. We now document more detailed requirements, like API specs in Confuence. Their executive-level staff is attentive and available to resolve issues if they arise, although as Arbisoft as grown we need to make sure we empower our team there to reach out internally as needed. We don't find the time difference to be an insurmountable problem, although sometimes it would be easier if we could all be in the same room. So to that end, have visited our team at Arbiosft multiple times and find that even an infrequent face-to-face connection improves the overall working relationship and team communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re committed to being part of our team and really care about not just the success of the project or the delivery of ticket, but the success of our business goals. Thinking about our work on that level allows everyone to be better aligned and more effective. I don’t think that level of dedication and care is all that common across development partners, even if sales people tell you it is. Additionally, they have a low turnover rate and cultivated a healthy internal company culture that translates into their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have our team improve on independently as a team, but we have things which we are continuously working on improving together as PayPerks (e.g. our entire team, including me), such as communications, architecting, requirements and story writing, and so on. These are things we will always be working on improving, especially as the nature of the specific projects we are working on at the moment changes and we need to adapt together. It’s a bit hard to do that remotely, but we are getting better. In addition, everyone has individual areas for improvement, and now that we recently grew our team at the end of 2017, we will do a better job setting expectations and providing feedback more consistently and regularly. In the grand scheme of things, we do a lot with a very lean team, and that’s impressive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of LENDAID, a consumer search engine for mortgages.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arbisoft?

We had a lot of big data to manage, and millions of points of data to consider in terms of real estate transactions, addresses, lender/loan officer information, etc. I needed a developer to build a robust search engine that could manage all that data.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the search engine and came up with an algorithm to make the database searchable for consumers. They were outstanding getting us ready for launch. They can accordion their services, and we went through a number of iterations before we launched, including a partial redesign when we brought in a design firm. After the prototype was finished, we continued to refine it.

I plan to keep them on as part of my support team, and we’re discussing other resources they offer. We’re now working with their SEO team.

What is the team composition?

Throughout the whole project, I had at least one person assigned to me. One of the beauties of working with them is their flexible resources. They could expand the team on demand.

How did you come to work with Arbisoft?

I was working with local developers who didn’t have the skill or depth to pull off the project. A friend who had worked with them at a larger company recommended them and put me in touch with Yasser (CEO, Co-founder, Arbisoft).

How much have you invested with them?

The original project started around $20,000. We’ve spent around $75,000 and anticipate a future run rate of $4,000-$5,000 a month for maintaining the site.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in October 2016 and recently launched the site. They still provide support services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re only two weeks live from the launch, so it’s too early to have a clear idea of the results. I certainly attribute the robustness of the search engine to them and I’m glad to have found someone with their resources. They’ve worked with large companies, and their name gives clout to my business. They delivered a high-end product and feedback has been great.

How did Arbisoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Trello to communicate and prioritize tasks. Everybody is readily accessible. If I need resources, I can give them the heads up and there they are. I’d apply a timeframe and they’d meet it. I give them high marks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m really grateful I found these guys. I had no technical knowledge and had the ability to tap into their expertise for a technically challenging project. I can’t imagine doing this without them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t really have anything they could improve. The biggest challenge with outsourcing is usually the time difference, but I could communicate with them at almost any hour. It wasn’t a major impediment. Their written communication is generally stronger than their verbal, but ticket tracking is good. It’s been a learning process for me in terms of managing that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Using their written communication and tracking is essential.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of QA for Kayak.com, a travel meta search engine that provides different types of information about travel.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arbisoft?

My QA team's focus is on testing new features that are being developed, which includes a tremendous amount of regression testing. We were getting bogged down and couldn’t test any of the new developments because we’re fast-moving and have desktop releases almost daily. We looked for an external firm to help us run our tests to free my team up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My team creates detailed test plans for the features, and Arbisoft runs them. We have a schedule for what tests gets read and run each day, and Arbisoft gives us those results in a timely fashion. We vary which tests get run and in what environment (different browsers, devices, etc.) in order to maximize the coverage. This frees up my team to go and test new features.

What is the team composition?

I have two teams at Arbisoft: one for the desktop side and one for the mobile apps. Each team has a project lead with 4­–5 individuals on each one. We meet on a weekly or biweekly basis, so Arbisoft really feels like part of our QA team.

How did you come to work with Arbisoft?

The head of our engineering team mentioned Arbisoft as a good option that Kayak could use in general, but we saw an obvious use for them in QA. They work with other departments at Kayak, too.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with Arbisoft for at least the past five years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest benefit from Arbisoft is freeing up our internal QA team to work on other projects. We can go about our work knowing that, if there are issues, Arbisoft will find and address them.

We’re extremely confident in their work.

How did Arbisoft perform from a project management standpoint?

My project leads are always on top of their teams. If anyone is out sick or has an emergency, I never worry about tasks being forgotten. Someone is always there to pick up the slack. They have great people in charge.

They communicate well, letting us know of any issues or problems that arise. We use qTest and Jira to manage tasks. qTest allows us to store test plans and results in one place. We use Jira to track bugs. It streamlines our work and lets us review issues quickly to determine the next step.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Arbisoft is a tremendous asset. They’re willing and eager to take on any new tasks. For example, we wanted their help looking through our log files to identify issues, and they started right away. It took some training, but they like to learn new things and help us however possible.

They frequently go above and beyond, too. We’ve had problems with the releases before, and Arbisoft will stay late into the evening to make sure it all goes through.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. We wouldn’t have used them for so long if we didn’t like their work.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Have a clear plan and know how you want to utilize them. Often, offshore resourcing goes wrong because it’s too nebulous and hard to track. If you have a detailed plan, Arbisoft is excellent at executing and giving you what you want.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of engineering at Wanderu, an online travel agency serving the ground transportation industry. Customers can use our service to book bus and rail travel in 40 countries around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arbisoft?

Initially, we needed help with our carrier integration efforts. In order to be connected to the Wanderu platform, we have to connect to the various APIs of different bus and rail systems around the world. We later needed to augment our mobile apps team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We incorporated Arbisoft into our engineering team. They didn’t have a separate set of projects, but they worked in tandem with our in-house team. Tasks included integrating new carriers, fixing bugs, and improving internal tooling and/or processes. Arbisoft helped us effectively scale that operation so that we could have more parallelization across our integration efforts.

For the mobile engineering side, we tried for a while to hire an iOS engineer here in Boston but we were unable to find someone with the right mix of engineering skills, so we turned to Arbisoft to help. We had them bring the iOS app’s booking flow into parity with our Android app, and that requires a fairly significant engineering effort over the course of a couple of months. Arbisoft is helping us keep our future iOS development pace on track with our in-house Android dev.

What is the team composition?

For carrier integration, we have a team of four engineers including one senior engineer who reports to my carrier team lead in Boston. On the mobile app side, we just have one engineer.

How did you come to work with Arbisoft?

Our CEO knew the former CTO of Kayak, who recommended Arbisoft. They’d been the provider for Kayak’s travel partner integration efforts, so they seemed like a natural fit for our project. We didn’t look much into other companies, especially after our initial engagement went so well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in Fall 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Arbisoft has helped us bring on more partners more quickly because we’re able to augment our internal team and get work done faster. Arbisoft’s software has shortened the time between signing a partner and getting them live on the site, which is incredibly important for a small and new startup.

How did Arbisoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t put a strong focus on project management because we don’t give Arbisoft defined projects with specific features. We just need them to keep the integration effort going and work with our partners directly when there are technical integration issues.

Our time zones briefly overlap, but Arbisoft has been great at staying a little later into their day to work more closely with us. We typically connect in the morning, East Coast time, and catch up and answer questions. We use Slack heavily, and we have weekly team video conference calls.  The mobile engineering team is a bit less coordinated because there’s only one team member, but it’s quite similar.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication, both written and verbal, is excellent. They train and assess their engineers well, so they always meet our needs and can begin an engagement right away. We’ve never had a bad experience with any of their team members.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

For some engineers, perfection can be the enemy of good. I encourage them to make incremental steps and iterate on them, but that’s sometimes hard. We’re okay with minimum integration so we can ship the product, as long as we continue to make updates as needed. They tend to want to completely finish a product first, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but we have to remind them that, sometimes, the basics are fine.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If you have a large time zone difference, you’ll need to establish a good communication process and pipeline so that they don't run out of work partway through the day. Find ways for them to always be able to pick up additional effort from the backlog or make sure that their queue is well stocked. Give them the guidelines for what's important to your business, and then let them run with it; they'll do a good job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

predict.io is an intelligent offline data management platform helping retail brands drive revenue by anticipating and generating customer demand. Founded in 2014, the company is headquartered in Berlin and operates globally. Our team aims to eliminate unwanted ads and reduce ad fatigue for customers through safe, transparent, and reliable business practices. Meanwhile, brands and marketers can better understand how their customers go about their daily lives using our platform’s location-based data. The company is committed to compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), whose mission is financed by trusted institutions such as High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the European Commission.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Arbisoft?

We hired them for the development of a B2C app with machine algorithms that work with real-time sensor data.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to launch quickly and maintain the code over time, with more focus on machine learning.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Arbisoft was referred to us after we had a bad experience with another vendor.

Describe the project in detail.

We went through various iterations until the iOS prototype went live, then added more people to the team in order to launch an Android version of the app. We continue to work with Arbisoft.

What was the team composition?

We started with one employee, a full time equivalent (FTE) iOS engineer. At its peak, our project involved six FTE staff with a mix of different skills.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have successfully launched the product and made significant revenues. About four years later, our company is thriving and has received numerous prestigious industry awards.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their team is very closely integrated with our own, and they’re great at communication.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a great mindset. You can feel that Arbisoft treats staff with respect and hires open-minded, can-do developers. I wholeheartedly recommend them to anybody who understands how to work with a virtual team—a lot depends on how you work with people who are thousands of miles away.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We’ve always maintained a great working relationship, even during times when mistakes were made. We’ve always found a solution for everything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Toothbrush, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We build software for solving everyday problems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Arbisoft to accomplish?

• Build the PhotoBase Mobile Application

SOLUTION

How did you find Arbisoft?

Referral

Why did you select Arbisoft over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Arbisoft were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Building a production-grade consumer mobile app, PhotoBase Cleaner, that helps users declutter their photos library.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app is live in the App Store and working as expected with iterative improvements

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

Very responsive, we had daily syncs and updated the status of the project to meet deadlines and expectations.

What was your primary form of communication with Arbisoft?

Virtual Meeting

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

They were flexible, professional, and responsive, and overall delivered high-quality work.

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

Suggest more improvements to make to the app. Be more proactive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Data I Am

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Ai-powered data loader for Salesforce. Cleans messy spreadsheet data and loads it into Salesforce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Arbisoft to accomplish?

• App development
• Website development
• Infrastructure management (Ops)

SOLUTION

How did you find Arbisoft?

Referral

Why did you select Arbisoft over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Arbisoft were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• Technology research
• Design and development: App
• Design and development: Website
• Infrastructure management (Ops)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Product launch
• Website launch

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

• Only slight delay was anticipated that was corrected very efficiently with added oversight of highly experienced senior team members

What was your primary form of communication with Arbisoft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We're impressed with their motivation to deliver the work.

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

N/A