Artecha

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and Founder of Neural. Neural is the first Italian network totally dedicated to research and development. Neural mission to outsource the research and development departments of technology companies. We build and develop synergies across markets for start-ups and established corporates with R&D professionals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Artecha?

We wanted an interactive mobile responsive web platform in cloud, with either native or cross platform solution. Artecha team designed and created a user-friendly platform, that enabled our users to navigate in cloud, upload their project needs and get support to identify the most suitable profile

SOLUTION

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

We were reviewing several agencies and conducted some interview to see their skills and whether they will be able to meet our needs. We made our choice in favor of Artecha, since they were offering free consulting from the team in London and cost-effective services solution from the data engineers (in London, Milan and Kiev).

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After we contacted Artecha team, we realized that they will be able to implement into life our concept. We came up with the mockups, discussed all the needed features and expected users stories. In a month time their business analyst team came up with a wireframe of the screens. After that they shared the mockups and ultimately the prototypes.

Our initial will was to develop the platform with our hosting (not AWS and Azure). Artecha provided us with the different options and pros and cons. They have done a very good job and provided us with a cool platform with unique features in a simple way. It was an end-to-end solution, we just had to share our vision and our idea and their team did all the rest.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

The all team from Neural was engaged. We had a project manager allocated to our project, and 1 data engineer and front-end developer, a data analyst and 1 tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform developed by Artecha helped Neural to go live and launch the business within the planned due date with a solid IT architecture.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a very effective communication flow. We were having SPRINT on a weekly basis through Teams calls and emails. Their project manager was always available to answer all our questions and liaise with the rest of the team (staff augmentation). Artecha managed to meet all the set deadlines.

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

They showed a high level of professionalism from the very beginning. They were providing all the detailed explanations about the features of the platform and also proposed some very good changes to the MVP the final stages. We identified some bugs prior the launch and the QA and Testing team very quickly identified the issue and revised the MVP fixing the issue. We were really impressed by their readiness to fix some ongoing issues after the launch.

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

I was really happy with the result and our interaction and I will definitely use their staff augmentation services again

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder and managing partner at HK Digital, a growth hacking consulting company offering disruptive and innovative marketing solutions to SMEs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Artecha?

We needed to build and maintain a Machine Learning model which would analyze SMEs' databases and design tailored marketing campaigns a dedicated vertical.

We hired Artecha to develop this custom software which can be integrated with our clients’ CRM system. Artecha's team delivered everything related to design, back-end and front end.

SOLUTION

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

We found Artecha online as we were searching for a company with an HQ in UK, but operationally based overseas. We sent them our requirements and after reviewing an array quotes from various vendors, we selected Artecha since they were providing a more price and more marketable proposal than the alternatives.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

During our initial conversation, we shared the details of the project specifications with the Business Analyst, Data Scientist and Project Manager. After validating the concept, they came with a first draft of the Machine Learning model (the model used Spark< MondoDB and Hadoop while the AI features used Pytorch).

There was also an integration with a number of APIs and plugins involved; everything was quite smoothly managed. Overall, all requirements were designed according to the specs and the business case.

The Artecha team delivered everything related to the front-end and back-end of the platform, as well as the design.

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

We were working with a team consisting of Data Engineers, Data Scientists, and Data Analysts. I was liaising with an appointed Project Manager, but also communicated through the different channel (Slack & Asana) with the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the help of Artecha, we built a disruptive technology that will help us achieve significant results in terms of our growth hacking within our verticals and personas.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Artecha was using Scrum, so the team members were working in parallel. From a communication perspective, we were contacted every 2 weeks (sprints), to follow all the updates made. Overall, all deadlines were met on time.

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

We at HK Digital were impressed by the Artecha's focus and commitment. They understood all our project requirements.

I believe that their approach of understanding data and technology as an opportunity to improve others' positioning in the market is what creates their competitive advantage. This is what I really appreciated and believe makes Artecha stand out from the rest.

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

Even though there is always an area for improvement, I can’t say anything in terms of Artecha. They provided a great experience and the results reached are higher than we expected.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and Managing Director of the company. Our online platform aims to help landlords and home owners to find the freelance real estate agents in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Artecha? 

The idea was to develop a fully integrated Prop Tech app that could handle data processing, payments and also documents scanning solutions. Artecha has designed and developed our end-to end web portal which allows landlords and home owners to find the freelance real estate agent. We didn't have any existing platform in place, so this was a brand-new venture.

SOLUTION

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to design and develop a marketable solution in line with the UK quality standards but also with the specific market requirements. We didn’t need just experienced programmers capable of coding, but also tech specialist who could understand the marketability of our value proposition and the targeted operating model of the business for the short and medium-term.

We trusted Artecha opinion regarding what they think was best for the platform, and we agreed to use the technologies they recommended. They also provided the UX and UI input, covering a huge scope of work for us.

How did you select this vendor?

We were working with another organization, which sponsored our initial build with some of the interfacing, social media, etc. They recommended working with Artecha based on the things we were looking to accomplish.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We needed support since the discovery phase stage, we had the business idea with a draft of the concept but we required some validation. Artecha came along and performed complete due diligence of the concept, identifying the available entry points in the industry and defining the suitable personas.

After that, we passed onto the Branding phase where together with the Artecha designers we identified the Brand Identify. This was followed by the wireframing exercise which included the UI and UX effort and resulted in the preparation of the prototypes.  

Once the team (including the management and the scrum muster) was happy with that, Artecha launched the back end and front end activities with its engineers. The development was  carried out through weekly SPRINTS and daily communication on the available channels (Slack and Jira).

Before going to production the build went through an extensive phase of QA and Testing (including Beta testing). We have not encountered bugs so far.

What was the team composition?

Artecha allocated a full-time team to our project, the team was made by 1 Project Manager, 1 Designer, 2 Back End developers, 2 Front End developers, 1 QA and 1 Tester. 

In addition to that sometimes Artecha Business Analysts will join to advice on features and or validate milestones.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our platform works good and looks really great. We have positive feedback from the users we’ve tested with. Also, we often hear that people like the interfaces and visual components. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The Artecha project manager was very experienced,  the team was delegating tasks efficiently while producing high-quality deliverables and the communication was effective and quick (through Slack Asana and Jira).  

The PM team always set reasonable deadlines and they were also able to bring up things we hadn’t thought about, which saved us a lot of time and effort.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The first version of the platform is now completed and will continue to evolve as it receives feedback from users. Artecha team is made of experienced consultants and brilliant entrepreneurs who understood how to help a small business in bringing the idea into market as quickly and efficiently as possible. They deliver professional results.

Are there any areas for improvement? 

This was our first time working with a third party provider and it’s been a very positive experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a head of marketing at a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Artecha?

We wanted a website that would represent our brand accurately. Our website was slow, unreliable, or hard to use. We found Artecha, met the team and realized these were the guys that could help us to move our business to the new level. They started from the assessment of the current environment and technology stack, spoke to our board members and formed the recommendations. After that, we launched the project that resulted in a totally new look of our website.

What were your goals for this project?

To breathe life into an old-school website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Recommendations

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

UI/UX consulting, web development, WA, project management services: everything to create a new website.

What was the team composition?

5 people: QA, software developer, Ui/ux designers and a PM

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything went great.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The entire process went smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We could track the progress of development throughout the whole time. The team reported on a weekly basis and we could make corrections on spot.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not that I see