Arkano

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Director, Digital Experience of a design company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're a strategically-led, digitally-focused, branding agency collaborating with clients to optimize business outcomes and improve customer experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Update to .net libraries in a custom CMS for a large EMEA based financial institution.
• Functional updates to same custom CMS as needed

SOLUTION

How did you find Arkano?

Referral

Why did you select Arkano over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Arkano were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Parts of the underlying .NET framework for our clients intranet had gone out of date. This resulted in Azure Application Insights service being unable to connect to the Intranet application and the inability to track intranet usage metrics. Methods for building and deploying applications have also advanced. The purpose of this scope was to update all the Intranet application systems as well as address all backlog items.

• Modernize the build and deployment system to use GitFlow + Azure pipelines and continuous deployment
• Organize and clean up environments, including instantiating the staging environment
• Update underlying frameworks and other dependencies, as needed
• Identify functionality that should be updated, changed, and/or replaced, based on above, for a more stable and efficient alternative that impacts some of the issues (for example, alerts)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because it was an intranet, other than completing the tasks, there was no distinct KPI for measurement pre/post work.

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

Our project was quite small. Despite that, they were on top of all our needs. As is the case with all development, some items proceeded as planned, others had unforeseeable issues. But when issues arose, they were quick to find resolutions and if needed were always happy to jump on a call.

What was your primary form of communication with Arkano?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The thoroughness and sincerity with which they approached the project. As previously stated this was a small project. We asked Arkano to come into a system they did not design or build and fix someone else's problems.

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

Our project was handed off to a new project manager that did not have the same attention to detail as the first one. This resulted in some miscommunication and issues finishing the tasks. However, once the problems were uncovered, we were able to quickly arrive at consensus that allowed us to move forward!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and owner of MDD. We provide our customers with a platform for creating financial reports as well as associated services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arkano Software?

One of our goals was to create a team of our own to develop a new version of our platform. We wanted this team to be more stable than the Swiss-based developers that we had before.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Arkano Software provides us with custom software development. We started off with an analysis of the existing platform to do a prototype of the new version. They then started on the development which included planning, building the architecture, and coding. We had an existing source code and good documentation on Confluence, which served as the starting point for the project.

We had some ideas of the new technologies that we wanted to incorporate in the new version, which is now all handled by Arkano Software. They use MongoDB and .NET Core and hired external resources to better support the UI design. 

What is the team composition?

Over the past five or six years, we’ve had about 5–6 different people involved depending on the workload. This includes architects, coders, and a project leader.

How did you come to work with Arkano Software?

A friend of mine conducted research on the Uruguayan market, and he connected with a business developer that had several connections to various companies — that person ended up introducing us to Arkano Software. From a risk perspective, they seemed like a more stable company with a lot of resources available compared to other companies.

How much have you invested with them?

From 2015–2020, we spent somewhere between $250,000–$350,000 USD per year, and about $150,000 USD for the past 12 months.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started development in August 2015 and our partnership remains ongoing. We’ve started hiring fewer resources from their company in the past 12 months, but we still have a strong relationship with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On projects like these, there are always going to be issues such as being too optimistic regarding the timeline, which can impact costs over the long term — we had one or two critical moments over the course of our relationship where we didn’t meet a milestone.

However, we would work that out together so that we could meet our end client’s needs. Overall, you’ll face the same type of challenges with other providers but Arkano Software mitigated our issues in a really professional way. 

How did Arkano Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management used to be the hardest part of this collaboration, because we were heavily involved in all of the decision-making. Our wish was to have our own team, so I moved closer to them to establish a close relationship. Apart from that, they’re generally very good when it comes to communication and implementing changes.

Furthermore, we have daily and weekly meetings, demos, and a very specific way of documenting things. We work together in Jira and it’s not hard to communicate with them from a technology standpoint.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This is a bit difficult to answer because we worked with another company in the past from Switzerland. That team provided us with a more classic development project with clear definitions, and a 500-page document with all the specifications — kind of like a monolithic approach.

With Arkano Software, we really changed the model since we wanted to be heavily involved in the development process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on analyzing pieces of the project in the beginning in order to provide the right timeline, resources, or pricing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have someone on board that can speak the native language when you hire a foreign company. We found out that even though their developers could communicate clearly, we still could’ve gotten more detailed information regarding the development.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a custom software development firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arkano Software?

Our client was about to lose access to their data and Power BI reports because their contract was expiring. We offered to help them consolidate their data and migrate their reports to a new database. Our timeline was really short, so we needed more resources to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Arkano Software to split the database work between our team and theirs. They worked with us to migrate the data from an existing server to a new database.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people on their team.

How did you come to work with Arkano Software?

I was talking to another company, but they didn’t have the experience that we needed to complete the project. They referred us to Arkano Software, so I reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent close to $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted for 2–3 weeks in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything went really well. At the time, this project was critical for our client. Luckily, their contract was extended, which resolved the problem. As a result, we didn’t need to finish migrating the data.

How did Arkano Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They worked with my team directly and their communication was seamless.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I didn’t hear about a single issue while we were working with them. Overall, we’re happy with their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a few challenges when we dealt with billing. They could offer easier payment methods for US-based customers. Still, they were accommodating. Eventually, we figured out that we could use a credit card or PayPal, rather than a wire transfer.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As long as you have clear requirements, your project will go well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

President and Founder, GlobalNow Inc. GlobalNow is a provider of reliable global individuals and resource teams that solve business problems. Our NearShore subsidiaries and global resource network allows us to address the following critical requirements:

• Ability to supply high quality talent as needed on a short term and long term basis
• Ability to manage resources in a fashion that ensures successful project delivery
• Ability to efficiently cross borders (culture and geographic) when appropriate
• We provide great talent from the areas of software development, functional software testing, QA automation, and software penetration testing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Arkano Software?

We hired Arkano to develop a solution that allowed to measure in real time the level of engagement of groups of people in front of a video conference.

What were your goals for this project?

In the first stage the goal was to develop the MVP and the functioning at backend level of the machine learning model with TensorFlow. In the second stage, we needed to implement the solution as SaaS, from product subscription to monetization of API consumption.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Because of Arkano's experience in the development of diverse technologies, particulary TensorFlow,Video Analytics, Machine Learning and Azure platform.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

First it was developed a MVP to determine the level of engagement of the participants during a video conference that allowed to analize the faces of the people in each frame.

Considering the micro facial expressions with a model trained in TensorFlow,determining in this way: happiness probability, anger, fear, among other feelings. The solution can be visualize through a website that allows to see the results almost in real time (with a delay of 1 to 2 seconds).

Then, the solution was taken to a Software as Service (SaaS) model, so that clients can subscribe to the API, send the video frames from their own systems and have the result of each analysis.

This stage includes the integration with other Azure services like API Management for subscription management, PayPal for collection and Dynamics for CRM.

What was the team composition?

A technical leader, an UI/UX Desgner and a PM from our side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the development of the first stage, we were able to demonstrate the potential of the product to different investors, gathering through them the capital necessary to execute the second stage (currently underway).

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The management has been excellent, there have only been some delays when it has been necessary to clarify some objectives and requirements. The communication has been fluid, receptive from both sides and we have fully relied on Arkano's technological recommendations, whcich has favored the proper functioning of the entire project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their expertise and ability to use multiple tools and technologies to meet our goals is impressive. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

Some aspects of the second stage could have been considered and developed during the first stage,this would have optimized some processes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own a small development company that mainly serves clients in the U.S., Canada, and England. We specialize in web and mobile development. I have been working with Arkano for years now.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arkano Software?

We had several projects with them this year. I work almost permanently with their team. We have worked together in several projects, including the frontend development of web apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

On the frontend, we work with Angular. For the chat box we use Microsoft Bot Framework and .NET. We use Power BI for analytics.

What is the team composition?

We have someone working full-time. Depending of the project, we add more people. On average, we have maybe one-and-a-half people.

How did you come to work with Arkano software?

They've been on the market for about 10 years, and I've known them since the beginning. Since I knew their work, I just called them and we started working.

How much have you invested in them?

From the beginning of this year until now, I've spent between $40,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first time I worked with them was about five years ago at another company. They started collaborating with my company in September 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main advantage of working with them is that they're a lot larger than my company. That allows me to take projects that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to take.

How did Arkano Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Generally, they augment my staff and I manage the projects myself. But we've worked with their project managers before, and they were good. They always deliver on time, but that's not how we work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're personable. To me, they're more than providers. They're my partners. They have always understood that relationship and supported me a lot. Plus, I trust their Microsoft expertise. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their sales approach. I take care of sales myself, so that doesn't have a negative impact on my projects. However, they could sell their projects better.