code.store

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the deputy general manager, in charge of marketing, product and IT.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire code.store, and what were your goals?

We had an in-house CMS which was quite old. We needed to upgrade to a new CMS (ARC XP), more modern and efficient in order to facilitate the work of our editorial staff and to improve the overall final user experience.

We wanted an external dev team with a knowledge of the new CMS to ease the process and insure we had a quick time-to-market.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for teams with a knowledge of that new CMS and were recommended the company code.store.

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

The scope of our colloboration was the whole migration to a new CMS, ARC Publishing, a US tool owned and developed by the Washington Post. The project was wide as it would become also our now front for our website. Code.store was quickly able to understand our ambition and our workflow, in a very small time window.

They did not only worked on the technical part of the project but also on the project management side. Regular meetings were organised with L'Express team, as well as training sessions for a quick grip of the tool by the whole staff (journalist, product people, developers).

Modern technologies were used (React, Serverless AWS) in order to fill our technical debt and enjoy all the possibilities offered by the new software. 

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

Code.store was in charge of all the project management, with one very effective people on their side being in charge of centralizing our discussions and being the interface with all the staff on their side (applicative architects, developers, QA...).

The management of Code.sotre was also very involved with our project and were regulary attending severals key meetings.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The deliverables perfectly match with our expectations. It was high quality and nicely structured as our team was able to take over the maintenance without any issue. 

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

We implemented weekly communication routines, which became daily as the delivery date approached. We had a verification environment which we could access anytime to follow the advancements.

We also had a ticketing tool in which we could add issues encountered. The timeline was co-constructed in a realistic way and currently challenged, giving us clarity to prioritize frequently. 

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

Flexibility. We had to adjust the scope and timeline of the project numerous time during our work together and code.store was always able to find solutions and adapt to our expectations. 

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

Maybe a bit more anticipation on the documentations needed to go on without them once the project is delivered. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the digital manager for a company called Le Shack, a startup event services company located in Paris, France. I'm in charge of selling our products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with code.store?

It was important for our business to have a digital platform, so we didn’t just want a website; we also wanted something that would allow our customers to book meeting rooms online — which doesn’t exist in Paris.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We called code-store to build this digital platform with a booking module to allow our customers to book everything online.

They built our first project from scratch, working with Maxime (Co-Founder & CEO) to design the customer experience. We also looked for existing modules we could adapt with the idea to develop our own booking module, but we couldn't find any we can interpret.

We're currently working on integrating the module into the site with additional locations.

What is the team composition?

I'm mainly in contact with a project manager and around five developers.

How much have you invested in them?

We've invested about €125,000 (approximately $131,700 USD) in this project so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2020, and the partnership is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's difficult for me to provide metrics due to the past pandemic but since implementing the new version of this module, we've increased our online bookings on a daily basis.

How did code.store perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management aspect is a bit complicated, but it was expected as it took us some time to define and plan the project together. We use JIRA to manage the project and we typically use Slack for daily communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We're impressed with the responsiveness of the team and developers. I especially appreciate the attentiveness of the project manager and how quick they are in resolving issues. Moreover, we like how they provide us with training and documentation, as it makes it easier for us to understand the process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In terms of planning to resolve bugs, it would be great to provide the client with more visibility on the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to write down all of your specifications accurately to decrease the complication of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a sales manager at Le Schack. We are a startup focused on providing restaurants and different kinds of meeting rooms for business meetings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with code.store?

Many restaurants or working spaces in Paris require customers to call or send an email to book private rooms. We decided to look for a company that could help us build an online booking platform for such services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired code.store to help build a WordPress-based digital platform with a booking module to allow our customers to book meeting rooms online. code.store is tasked with handling the site’s backend development, as the frontend is being developed by another agency. They developed a custom booking module to implement on the platform from scratch.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around five developers from code.store on the first phase of the project, and we’ve gotten more developers involved for the second phase.

How did you come to work with code.store?

I found code.store through online research.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around €35,000 (Approximately $37,000 USD) on the first phase and around €90,000 (Approximately $95,000 USD) on the second one.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen an increase in our online bookings. We receive at least one online booking per day, thanks to the code.store’s work.

How did code.store perform from a project management standpoint?

code.store has performed well in terms of project management. They’ve delivered everything on time. They’re incredibly attentive and quick to respond to our needs and issues.

We use Jira for project management and Slack for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed with code.store’s responsiveness and proactive approach.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could give us better visibility on how long it takes to fix bugs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to clearly communicate the specifications that you want for your website and to provide clear documentation of what you want to achieve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a mobile product owner at a financial institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire code.store, and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop a mobile app for our customers to be able to use their credit card (onboard and see/manage their spendings, along with other features). Due to cost constraints, we wanted to hire nearshore developers.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for nearshore app developers and shortlisted 7. We chose this vendor because of their legal presence in France and their flexibility on letting us chose developers individually.

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

The developers joined an existing team working in Kanban. The first version of the app had already been released on the stores. They used used Swift and RxSwift on iOS. Kotlin on Android. Wireframes and designs where provided with Axure and Zeplin.

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

They provided one iOS developer and one Android developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have released 8 version of the app since they joined. Continuously reduced the number of crashed and greatly improved the app rating.

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

Their ressource managers were very reactive and eager help. They were also very flexible with our needs/requests. During the hiring process, they really took our feedbacks into account

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

Their hiring process was really good. They were the only company that allowed us to pick a ressource on the market and not forced us to use the ressources they had on their bench. The way they managed the situation in Ukraine when the Russian Invasion started was tremendous.

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

The reporting on ukranian holidays and vacations could be improved

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Zenconnect is a network cloud manage service provider with solution like Cisco Meraki, Cradlepoint, Verkada. Zenconnect is developing his cyber security portfolio. I'm the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire code.store, and what were your goals?

We've launched a webstore based on Salesforce B2B, we have selected code.store to create an provisioning API for each product in our catalogue.

SOLUTION

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

We already worked on previous project that were succesful. Our deciding factors are skill, reactivity, ability to understand the requirements.

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

Provisioning API for a catalogue of product. The technologies used are APEX langage and Python.

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

Two people, the CTO and an developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First phase are already been delivered and the project is going on.

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

They use JIRA, Slack, github. They are very receptive and reactive.

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

They know about API, and they work pretty fast, they have good knowledge about objects and databases. They give good recommendations.

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

Improve budget tracking, evenso the price are very fair.