Atwix

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a large distributor of restaurant equipment and supplies. I am the head of ecommerce for the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

After an outage, we had to quickly spin up a new instance of our website on Magento. We hired a different company to do this implementation, but quickly realized we needed more expertise and help than we were getting. We brought on Atwix to solve several critical function issues as well as help assess and correct accrued technical debt.

SOLUTION

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

Atwix had a large number of credentialed Magento employees, many of whom have contributed to Magento source code. The "sales" process was not a sale at all - it was clearly a partnership from the get-go and the level of comfort established combined with the technical knowledge conveyed led to a necessary degree of comfort.

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

We have had several releases with Atwix, including: - Internal Search (ElasticSuite) - Buy Now Pay Later (internal terms offering)

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

Our contact during the sales and onboarding period was Ben (VP, Business Development). Our primary PM was Ivan, and primary developer was Volodomyr. There were many others involved in onboarding and likely behind the scenes work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because much of the work was around technical debt fixes, there's less ability to provide data at this time. However, cost estimates and timelines have been continuously accurate and hit.

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

Utilized JIRA for management. Every deliverable was hit within the stated timelines given for each step. All documentation was extensive and clear for end users to be able to conduct UAT.

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

They're a true partner. There are thousands of development shops - few stand out in the way that Atwix does with a customer-focused approach and simply trying to determine how to help solve problems and not sell additional hours and services.

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

Not yet - we've been thrilled with the relationship.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the project manager of a leading provider of assessments for IT professionals around the world. We provide premium certification practice tests and assessments for IT professionals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I’m the project manager of a technology training company. We sell training courses to get official certifications in any specific technology matter. Our partnership with Atwix started with the goal of improving the code quality and performance of our website which was being quite outdated with a poor user experience.

Our expectations are that by the middle of the year, the user experience is improved and our site performance is faster.

SOLUTION

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

After several years working with different partners with the aims of improving our website with no success, we found Atwix to have qualified people to work with our site framework and with an audit they did for us, they were able to identify and offer solutions to all the challenges we had been facing during the years.

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

Our relationship started with an audit on our site made by Atwix team. The results of that audit was a comprehensive and detailed report which identified all our site risks and gaps needed to be resolved in order to achieve our performance goals. The details of the report and the solutions given were key to select this company to work in our project.

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

A project manager is our main point of contact but there are several people working behind the scenes, including a technical lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The performance of our site has improved a little bit but the work is still in progress and we have big expectations for the coming months.

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

Communication is fluent with the PM who communicates and spreads the message to the rest of the team. Our communication is made through Teams, mainly, with several face to face meetings happening on a regular basis.

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

We are impressed with their experience and the quality of their work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Updated information on work estimations and expectations of the work done would be appreciated.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of operations for Final Draft, a screenwriting application. I oversee the web and IT teams, as well as the outside business applications that we integrate with all our different services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Atwix?

We were looking for a partner who could help us move our existing e-commerce site to a different platform or upgrade it to Magento 2.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a fairly big project. Atwix looked at our existing custom e-commerce website and helped us move it to Magento 2. Since Magento 1 was different from Magento 2, they had to build a brand new website from scratch. The team had to examine our codes and customizations before duplicating everything onto the new platform.

Atwix did a lot of extensive code research for the project. They interviewed our in-house Magento expert who was highly familiar with the code base and Magento 1. They asked her how our software systems were set up and what integrations we had at that time to figure out what they needed to port and what they could leave behind.

What is the team composition?

Atwix dedicated a team of six people to work on the project. They had front- and backend developers working for us depending on our needs. We also worked with their project manager and QA resources.

In the event that someone from the team had to take another task or was unavailable, they were prepared with cross-trained people who could cover that person’s tasks temporarily.

How did you come to work with Atwix?

We were at a fork in the road at the time when our in-house subject matter expert stumbled on Atwix. We were not sure whether we wanted to just upgrade our Magento 1 site or move all its content to an entirely new Magento 2 platform. It was their intimate familiarity with Magento that convinced us to choose their team from other integrators.

Apart from their work contributing a lot to the Magento community, they had back office access to the individuals working as part of the Magento team at Adobe. Upon sourcing them, we had some preliminary phone calls to discuss the project. Two weeks after that, we determined that they were the best fit to help us move forward with the project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started having our conversations with their team in October 2019. The project ran from January–August 2020.

We’ve expanded our relationship with their team, and they now help us with other in-house applications that we are working on.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had no downtime in the cutover — it was one of the easiest transitions we’ve had from one solution to another. We experienced working with other outside project contractors with varying levels of success in the past, but Atwix delivered the Magento solution we needed over the course of one night.

Despite working together during the COVID-19 pandemic, they dedicated an entire team to help create a brand new e-commerce store for us. We had a highly-customized e-commerce solution that they also integrated with our WordPress site. Although we had a small internal team, Atwix helped us do all of these successfully.

How did Atwix perform from a project management standpoint?

It was easy to integrate our two teams and set up a cadence. Atwix was based in Ukraine but embedded themselves within our team with no issues. They mostly used Jira, but they set up a Basecamp account because our internal team was using it. 

We had weekly meetings with the project manager to go through what work would be completed in the previous week and what the sprint was for the upcoming week. We discussed those and other updates via Slack or Basecamp. There was complete transparency.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Atwix’s expertise set them apart from other contributors. We were mainly impressed with the feedback from the clients they previously worked with and the size of their projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a really good relationship with Atwix, so I don’t think they could have done better than they did.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go into it with an open mind. Although there could be a stigma with working with overseas teams, I truly have to say that this was the best collaborative experience I've ever had. They speak English, so the communication is very easy — don’t be afraid to ask them questions that could benefit your project. When we started, we were not sure how to communicate some issues like our time zone difference, but upon going over those with them, we found their team to be very flexible.

Since they were Ukraine-based, we started our meetings earlier so we could talk through things with them in real-time. We also set up Slack channels to communicate when necessary, especially when we needed to address something quickly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of IT. We are a manufacturer of highly configurable & quality electronical products for office cubicles, home office, airport, or other areas where power connectivity is required to source personal devices, computers, etc..

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We partnered with Atwix to leverage their Magento expertise, high level of professionalism, and attention to ensuring our business needs were met as we embarked on opening up an eCommerce solution to unlock our customer's ability to operate 24x7 and have the same great selection of configurable products.

SOLUTION

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

We had started our project with a different vendor that failed on all counts aspects of the implementation and it was almost by accident that we found Atwix. As much as it was by chance that we found them, it only took one call with the founder, Slava to know this was going to be a perfect match based on his expertise, deep understanding of business needs, and compassion for the situation our failed attempt left us in.

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

We installed Magento which is written in PHP, but interfaced to our ERP leveraging REST API to help ensure an optimized communication between systems.

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

The initial project was really more of an "all hands on deck" by Team Atwix to help ensure the project got off the ground running. As it stabilized we went to a more traditional PM and Main Developer as our day-to-day partners.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are not finished with the project, but the traffic continues to grow and we are including some additional enhancements to further 'open doors' for our B2B customers.

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

We used Atwix Basecamp which worked very smoothly to keep current tasks visible and serve as central repository for communication exchanges.

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

We are pleased with their depth of knowledge, willingness to work through our business requirements looking to leverage standard functionality over customizations, professionalism, strong PM communication and clarity to hours spent.

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

The challenge was more on us and the need to have more lead time for understanding standard functionality before venturing off on customizations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Comdiel, a telecom company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Atwix?

We hired Atwix to complete a Magento migration.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Atwix developed three websites and is now executing a Magento 2 migration for the second one. The launch date is scheduled for June 2019. Atwix also helps with marketing solutions.

What is the team composition?

We work with two project managers. They have a team working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Atwix?

I knew the owner before he started Atwix.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2010 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The functional website has seen an increase in online orders. Customers are happy with the solution because it successfully displays our products.

How did Atwix perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is organized and proactive. We communicate via Basecamp and Skype. They speak English very well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very knowledgeable about Magento and provide helpful suggestions for utilizing the platform. We have complete confidence in their ability to resolve problems. Likewise, Atwix has completed all implementations without issue while fostering a high level of trust.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I would want them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. They’re very flexible.

BACKGROUND

We are a Magento-certified reseller and provider of custom e-commerce solutions. I am the VP of partnerships and communications. I handle all external communications involving [our product].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our goal is to provide extra value to our Magento clients. 

SOLUTION

This project involves e-commerce Web development. They develop custom solutions for our clients, and we refer clients back and forth. They provide support and consulting as well [to the] many clients we share.

We have worked with them since early 2012. It's been more than three years of strong work. The average project is more than $50,000, and the work has totaled in the hundreds of thousands.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

We are extremely happy with the partnership and trust Atwix completely. Our end clients have all been happy, so we get the work going. Atwix is extremely client-oriented. They always go beyond expectations. I have no improvements to suggest for them or advice.