Aspirity

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a portfolio manager, working primarily with syndications and alternative investment funds within the Nordic real estate market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Aspirity to develop a modern in-house platform whose goal is to store information from users and APIs and prompt the users whenever action is required. Specifically we had the need to store key information regarding lease contracts, company and tenant specifics and loan and financing terms in one interface.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for developers locally and internationally and had online meetings with a few of them. Aspirity understood our needs and also suggested alternatives that would be less costly. Further, they made an offer to prototype some parts of the platform at a discount to test the collaboration. Our major concern when entering into an agreement with international developers were the language barriers. However, the concern proved to be misplaced.

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

The process started with us explaining our needs and preferences in detail regards to the features of the application, scope of work and preferred development frameworks. Aspirity begun prototyping the platform. We always had access to the prototype and could guide them or correct them in real time using instant messaging systems like Telegram or Slack.

After the prototyping work started developing the system. We already had a Headless CMS back-end which Aspirity would connect the front end to, while also making improvements on the back end. The work has since been conducted in sprints with biweekly evaluations.

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

Project manager

• UI/UX designer
• Two developers
• Quality assurance

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is ongoing

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

In the prototyping phase and before, we had frequent meetings to discuss possible solutions to the problems we faced. In the development phase, we communicate on the go using Slack and Github in addition to biweekly meetings with the full team.

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

Positive and service-minded people with good knowledge within their field. Aspirity has on several occasions suggested solutions that were superior to our own suggestions while giving us the full control over the decisions.

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

In retrospect it would be great with a budget that was linked to the different stages so we could track progress in more detail. This was not suggested by us, and I’m sure Aspirity would have no problems with this.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a technology product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aspirity?

We’re building a digital product from scratch. I needed a developer to support us with the UX and technical aspects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Aspirity is helping us build a web product using our provided documentation and requirements. We’d already completed the backend, so they’ve been responsible for developing some of the more complex functions by leveraging APIs and integrating plug-ins. 

What is the team composition? 

I work with a product manager, two frontend engineers, and two designers.

How did you come to work with Aspirity?

I reached out to them on LinkedIn, and they immediately went above and beyond. It was clear that they read through every line of my product requirements. They came back with a set of smart, insightful questions along with suggestions for our MVP versus what we could expand on in later releases.

It just showed that they were engaged with our mission before they’d even signed on. I’ve built many digital products in my career, both at the startup and corporate level, and I hadn’t really seen that before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$15,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in March 2020, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I measure their success based on how efficient they are (the cost to value ratio) and how well they work with me as a team. I don’t like people who just take orders because that’s not a true partnership. I need them to think through the request and come up with suggestions.

It’s about how engaged they are. They give us feedback and are prompt in getting us deliverables. I also look at the quality of the work, which is based on how happy our clients are when interacting with the product. 

How did Aspirity perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at communication. We mostly coordinate through Slack and email but also use Zoom for video chat.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s not very often that you find people who actually stand behind that mission that you’re looking to build. I feel like Aspirity is the best fit to be our technical partners because they embodied that vision.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been great to work with. Obviously, not everything is smooth sailing. When things have gone awry, they listened, never complained, and quickly changed course to make things right. Even when the challenge was my fault, they never said, “You told us this.”

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just take a chance and engage them because they’re very hands-on. Aspirity is willing to take on your project like it’s theirs, so you’ll get the most out of the team if you treat them as partners and solicit their feedback.

This group will always be my first go-to if I’m working on a new product. They’re fair on pricing, and I love the fact that I always have an escalation path because their leaders are very accessible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of SoftSol, a software solutions provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aspirity?

We were looking for a UX/UI firm that specialized in developing UI.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided mockups based on their overview of our product. From there, they developed the UX/UI for the final product. 

They used some online tools for mockups. This included CSS 3 and Bootstrap. Their team implemented the required technology to make the UI screen responsive on both mobile devices and laptops.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with four or five people, including executives, project managers, a UX specialist, and a lead developer.

How did you come to work with Aspirity?

Alex (Founder) contacted our CEO. They discussed the project and came to an understanding to work together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on the project from Mary 2019 – December 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very pleased with their work. 

How did Aspirity perform from a project management standpoint?

They have good communication skills and meet deadlines. We communicated via Zoom conference calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated the quick turnaround on the proof of concept. They’re experts at what they do. The team is creative and technically sound regarding UX/UI design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There could be an improvement in communication regarding the way they work. They work in Agile mode doing two-week sprints. We would’ve liked to see a screen or two completely developed before giving feedback to lock it down, and then move to the next one.

There was some miscommunication and downtime on their end when they finished a sprint and waited for feedback, as nothing was happening on their end during that time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do very detailed planning and lay out everything in the beginning. It would be helpful to the process since they’re offshore and communications aren’t face-to-face.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a cloud-service provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aspirity?

We needed help with frontend development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform has several web interfaces with our customers, developers, and partners. Aspirity developed the frontend of our customer portal.

What is the team composition?

The number of people from their team has varied, but it was usually between 3–6 people.

How did you come to work with Aspirity?

Initially, we thought of developing the portal ourselves with our in-house frontend developers and purchased a framework as a starting point. When we looked up the author of the network, we found out that Aspirity was part of it. We spoke about the project and seemed to understand each other.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the collaboration in November 2018, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are highly satisfied with our collaboration. They’re able to keep up with our team’s pace.

How did Aspirity perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management perspective, they are quite well structured. It’s easy to see who is dealing with business issues and who is dealing with technical issues.

The Apirity team has been responsive, efficient, and easy to contact. They quickly address and resolve any issues that come up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were quite ready to get into the details of our business and understand our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, I have had a positive experience. As a customer, we always want the cost to be lower or more work to be done for what we pay for, but there are no specific negative comments I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the innovation director of a newspaper distribution company. We’re owned by media companies and do the physical distribution of newspapers and e-commerce parcels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aspirity?

We needed help with web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a new platform for us, which is based on a new business area of online popup shops—it’s technology for facilitating and integrating the shopping experience with our advertising arm. Our newspapers have advertisements and a platform that integrates plug and play shopping experiences with them. It’s a cloud-hosted web application with a backend database for customer orders, and they’re involved in its maintenance as well.

What is the team composition?

We’ve done a dynamic month-to-month allocation, with somewhere between 5–10 people per month involved in the development.

How did you come to work with Aspirity?

We looked at several providers, both local and international, as we wanted a combination of flexibility regarding team members as well as a good price point and experience. We gave a pilot project to several companies, and based on those results, we decided on Aspirity.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $500,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The software they delivered is being used commercially and has opened up new services and a new revenue channel for us. The software has been performing very well as the basic development is good and of professional quality.

The most important factor is always their ability to be creative and have a dialogue on the business domain. They’re able to challenge our initial ideas and improve them with contributions of their own. They don’t develop simply what we want, but they actually deliver an improved version.

How did Aspirity perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Trello and Confluence. They’re flexible and manage the requirements, which allows me to be quite unplanned in my communication. I have a one-on-one dialogue with their team leader, and they sort out the details of planning.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have the ability to be creative, to discuss alternative solutions, and to have a two-way dialogue rather than a monologue.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the issues we discussed a lot with them is the deployment and hosting as we’re hosting the system with somebody else, while Aspirity does the deployment for us. That process is kind of new to them, so it’s been a bit of learning curve but overall has gone well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and the founder of a startup called Quadim.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aspirity?

We contracted with Aspirity to build the web application prototype for our business as we looked to find more investors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our prototype does not yet have a backend solution, but Aspirity developed a product for us that we could click through from page to page.

What is the team composition?

I regularly communicated with two members of their team. They made their designers and developers fully available to me.

How did you come to work with Aspirity?

Their team had contacted me shortly before I started the business, and from that interaction, I got a good impression of their portfolio.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent less than 50,000 kroner ($6,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May until June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback we have received so far has been very positive. I wholeheartedly believe the prototype will enable me to quickly secure funding.

How did Aspirity perform from a project management standpoint?

I had an idea of what I wanted, and they were able to convert that idea into something tangible. We worked well through Skype and emails, and generally, they worked quickly. For a remote working relationship, it was very positive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a very personable team. They always strived to make sure I was pleased with their work. I always had confidence in them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their English was generally good, but we had a few miscommunications. If I were to use them again, I’d likely go to Russia to meet with them and work face-to-face.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of IT for an insurance company. We provide complete services to lenders, real estate brokers, and loan officers for the issuance of title policies, closing and escrow, and search of public records.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Aspirity?

We needed help with multiple developments. We had to update an old quote engine written in an outdated language, and we also had a client requesting an API.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Aspirity used .NET to develop a more modern platform that clients can access through a web portal. It was integrated with all our services to add value internally and to our clients. They built the customer-requested API and helped with a new informational website for our company.

We’ve had other integrations with some loan origination systems that allowed our business to grow immensely. Aspirity helped manage all those integrations to make sure we could leverage our systems, what they offer, and ensure that we could capture business that way.

We still use Aspirity to improve some of the projects we’ve worked on. They act as our business analyst, which saves us lots money.

What is the team composition?

At its largest, there were 6­–7 people on the team: a manager, team lead, senior developer, two other developers, and two QA engineers. If we needed special knowledge, they’d bring someone in for that part of the project.

How did you come to work with Aspirity?

Our CTO chose them. He’d worked with them before, so when he saw our tech challenges and the budget, he knew Aspirity would be a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

Last year, we spent $140,000-$150,000. The years prior were more than that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Clients say the quote engine is fantastic and works great. They can’t believe some of the integrations we’ve built for the loan originations systems. Its features strengthened the relationships with our clients, so we’re happy with it. Only a few other companies offer integrations, and they’re all generic compared to ours; it’s a custom integration because of Aspirity’s knowledge, prowess, and talent. In fact, the platform’s so good that other companies have asked if we would sell it.

How did Aspirity perform from a project management standpoint?

Their service is phenomenal—I can always count on them. Even though they’re not located in the U.S., they’re always available during our business hours, which gives us peace of mind. Their ability to meet deadlines depends on the quality of the requirement gathering; when we’ve given them solid, well thought-out requirements, they nearly always meet deadlines. Even when we assign them multiple tasks, they manage priorities and expectations. They fix anything we bring to their attention.

We use Trello to track the requirements, development, QA, user acceptance testing, production, and any fails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have superb customer service and technical expertise. They took the time to learn about our industry and understand its processes. In order to better grasp the big picture, they ask questions and go beyond what’s just in front of them. They provide a lot of insight on how to improve things.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The communication could be a bit better; a lot of their people don’t speak or write English fluently. The team manager, team lead, and top people do, but the actual internal team doesn’t. Issues usually arise when an emergency comes up and I have to interact directly with the developer. They’re attempting to improve that, though. They hired someone who speaks English who I mainly deal with.

The difference in scheduling and time zones has sometimes been a bit challenging, especially when we’re approaching a deadline. But they do their best to accommodate.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the found of Quadim, a company launched through the Founders Institute. We are currently in the process of developing a new platform focused on team creation capabilities. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aspirity?

I hired them for frontend design.

What were your goals for this project?

My goal was to create the system blueprint in preparation for future development. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met with a representative in Oslo and was immediately impressed.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

We have just completed the first step, which includes a mock system for securing funding and sales. The project has been very successful thus far and I am happy with the results. 

What was the team composition?

The team consists of a frontend and UX designer, an account manager, and myself, but I primarily work with the designer. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

No, as we are not yet finished.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I have appreciated their dedication in assisting me.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No.