DataArt

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the former CTO at Bering, which is a data analytics platform for science. We gathered different datasets on scientific research, starting with biomedicine but expanding to include other areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Logicify?

We wanted to build a graph database that included hundreds of millions of nodes, but the challenge was a site with the infrastructure to house it all. It had to be in a cluster, it had to be in the cloud, but we needed to advance our backend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I worked on code with them, but they owned the infrastructure. It was our design, but they implemented it. They built the backend pipelines to retrieve raw data from publications and implement them into the graph. The backend could also parse a user’s search query, access the graph for that data, and present it to the user. Everything was Python-based and Django-based. They used Neo4j as the graph database management system, and they utilized Elasticsearch and Semantic search to allow searches using natural, non-technical language. Logicify used AWS for certain tasks, and they used Terraform to manage the infrastructure’s code.

What is the team composition?

In addition to our project manager, we worked with one Django and Python developer, two infrastructure developers, and a part-time frontend manager.

How did you come to work with Logicify?

I met their CTO and CEO at a startup accelerator program, and we connected immediately because we could both speak Russian. They came very highly recommended, and I liked them personally. I was impressed with their demeanor—they were very professional. And they spoke English perfectly, so we had no trouble communicating.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2017 through September 2017. We tapered off because we needed to raise more funds, but we’re still active with them and working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched yet, but they helped us grow our infrastructure tremendously. Their work increased the functionality of our site and how much data we are able to show. We had no graph database before, and now we have one that has 100 million connections and 50 million nodes.

How did Logicify perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn’t ask for a project manager as a cost-saving measure, but they provided one at no cost anyway. I was skeptical about it, thinking we didn’t need one, but he was helpful and professional. He kept the project on track with daily calls. They foresaw the necessity for a project manager better than we did, and they performed very well. They used Jira regularly and accurately so that I could track their logged hours and tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are fully modern and advanced developers. They work quickly, and they’re agile. They cost less than many other firms, but their quality is among the best. We always trusted them to accomplish their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could use more creative discretion in their revisions. Not all projects have to be done to the letter of our specifications if there is room for improvement. Also, they wrote quality code, but it could have included more comments to make maintenance easier in the future. That said, we were operating with a fast timeline, and they adapted to that schedule, so comments were not a priority.

Any advice for potential customers?

I haven’t worked much with their frontend staff, so I cannot comment on the quality of their designers, but if you come to them with a technology need and tell them your goal, they’ll be able to fill in the steps to get there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Hairstory. We sell haircare products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Logicify?

I initially engaged them to complete smaller projects that revolved around creative problem-solving by applying technology. For example, I first had to create a widget so I could make my reviews searchable. They did a great job with that, so I continued to give them work over the next year. Eventually, I hired them to rebuild my entire technology platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform consisted of white label software that we reskinned with our brand. However, it was entirely someone else’s engine and that made it difficult and expensive to customize. Logicify had a deep understanding of our platform because they had been implementing a reporting software capable of reaching into the database. They also had a working knowledge of our business processes and data structure, so we asked them to develop a unique platform.

To begin the research phase, Logicify conducted a detailed evaluation of other software platforms like Shopify and Magento. After considering the options, we ended up choosing an open-source solution.

During the sprint-based development cycle, they implemented everything on the platform and customized it to our business needs. They integrated the site with our new payment provider and plugged in tax software. They also coded the site to interact with our warehouse systems, order processing, data analytics, and reporting software. Regarding design, they made adjustments to the UI but essentially replicated our previous frontend so the site could retain a similar UX.

A crucial piece of the project was the development of product wizard that could help customers identify and purchase the right items for them. It’s a sophisticated set of functions with a notable amount of technology behind it. Logicify built it from the ground up and were instrumental in its UI design.

What is the team composition?

We worked with their CTO on the initial project scoping and currently have a project manager as our primary point of contact. We also interact with the development team.

How did you come to work with Logicify?

I had been frustrated with our previous technology situation for some time. I reached out to a technologist colleague who was looking to outsource a software engineering team. While he ultimately decided not to outsource, he interviewed Logicify and was impressed with they offered. He suggested I talk with them and the relationship evolved from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent around $300,000–400,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our current project with them began in November 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch the platform with nearly zero issues on day one. Logicify watched over the site for the first couple days and quickly addressed any error reports that occurred. They’re on top of every detail. As a result, we’ve experienced a huge increase in user engagement. Since the launch of the product wizard within the latest version of the platform, our bounce rate has fallen from 70%­–20%. The percentage of customer cart abandonment is down as well. We also expect to see an increase in customer retention, but that has yet to manifest.

How did Logicify perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re consistently on-time and within budget. We communicate via Google Hangouts and Slack. They accommodate the time zone difference by having stand-up meetings with us end of every day. This allows us to hear from every developer and ask questions directly. Their whole staff speaks English, so we’re able to build relationships with them easily. They frequently work into the evening hours to complete the tasks we assign.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They thoroughly understand and anticipate business issues to then work through solutions proactively. They don’t just wait for us to come across a problem to fix it. Considering different scenarios during the development process enables them to deliver products with far fewer bugs than vendors we’ve worked with in the past.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re conservative when setting timelines, but I respect that because the quality they deliver is very high. They figure out a way to provide everything I ask from them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time at the outset to make sure the Logicify team understands your business needs. Build a relationship by jumping onto Google Hangouts and talking to them. That’s what we’ve done and now there’s mutual respect and admiration between both parties.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of eChalk. We are a software company that builds systems for K-12 schools in the United States. We build online learning communities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Logicify?

We didn’t have the expertise in-house to build the MVP versions of our applications. We wanted to develop a learning management system—an online and blended learning environment for schools, which consists of calendars, homework assignments, real-time assessments, and grade books that can be viewed by parents, teachers, and students at the same time. Additionally, we wanted to develop a CMS for K-12 schools. We envisioned a platform that enabled as many editors for portions of the website as necessary because they need to be able to delegate and distribute that responsibility, while also tracking the activity of certain groups.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were involved from the beginning in the backend and frontend engineering and project management. They were instrumental in helping us with the organization of our Agile methodology and processes, and they helped streamline and lead our scrum meetings. In the building of our platforms, we have C# all throughout the backend. Our frontend, however, is split between AngularJS for our learning management system, and we use ASP.NET MVC for our CMS. For our data tier, we use PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and MemcacheDB. Also for the backend, we've built the entire product line in the Amazon Cloud, so we've used a bunch of their tools: their SNS, Amazon DNS services, Route 53, and the S3 storage. We've also done work with Beanstalk and Terraform to control and build environments properly.

What is the team composition?

At the height of the project, we had 22 people on the team, and 17 of those came from Logicify. We've been assigned project managers and junior project managers.

How did you come to work with Logicify?

When we first found them, we were looking at a small MVP, a small Node.js project, for a freelancer to do. Logicify gave us an outline of what they’d like to do with it, and we worked on a trial basis to determine if we were amicable business partners. We were impressed with the outcome of that project and have been utilizing them much more since then, particularly on these large projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2013, and they provide ongoing development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had extremely low defect rates, and we do not have customers calling with problems. Our support desk tickets have dropped dramatically since implementing the new product. We’ve been very happy with the quality of the work we’ve gotten from Logicify.

How did Logicify perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been keeping us focused and on track. They're making sure we're asking the right questions for what we want out of our project. They are based in Ukraine and Poland, so we use Jira for our project management, and we use Confluence for our documentation. On a day-to-day basis, we’ll use Skype, and we use Google Hangouts for our stand-ups. At times we've met in person in New York for bigger summits or kickoff meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

All of the developers have hit the ground running, and the quality of the code they have produced for us is the most impressive thing. They're building things the right way—they do not take shortcuts and they don't build sloppy code.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, Logicify has always answered the call for what we’ve required.

Any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to treat them as a partner in the process and not as the additional hands to do the code. Look at them as a holistic team that can work with yours and provide QA and development at the same time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president and owner of Virtual Native, which provides an array of services, from digital marketing to web application development and everything in between.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Logicify?

Originally, we were working with another team located in India on an AngularJS project, but the engagement was not a good match for both our company and our client. To save our relationship with the client, we looked for another vendor with better QA standards.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Logicify worked on a complex application built for new merchants within the payment gateway space. After providing the requirements, they created the frontend interface for logging in, as well as the application itself, using Jason, Java, and Angular to communicate with the client's backend. They provided about a thousand hours of service over a period of eight or nine weeks.

What is the team composition?

We worked with five people, including a project manager, some Angular programmers, backend developers and architects, and an HTML developer.

How did you come to work with Logicify?

I believe they approached us about a year and a half ago. We gave them some smaller projects to work on to see how they would deliver and decided to work with them on this larger project based on their performance.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2018 and completed the work in April.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In addition to delivering the project on time and close to budget, the code was clean and mostly bug free. The quality of work they provided led to a relatively short QA testing period.

How did Logicify perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive throughout the engagement, utilizing Zoom for meetings, Slack for chatting, and Jira for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to understand the project quickly. They also communicated well and professionally directly with our client, despite the client's lack of organization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I don't have any complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend going into the relationship with a clear scope and schedule. They have very talented resources, but aren't a big company, so it's important to give them some lead time so they can schedule it in appropriately.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the former CTO of BlastOut, a mobile app which allows users share photos and comments for events in a localized space using geolocation/geofencing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Logicify?

We needed Logicify to develop the backend of our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, their account manager met with us to understand our business problems and tailored a plan specified to our needs. Then, Logicify developed our server-side components that powered the platform using Node.JS and a Django web framework. They configured the servers to be compatible with our geolocation and photo-sharing features.

Their team also helped us with our redesign of the app’s UX/UI and managed the project behind the scenes.

What is the team composition?

I worked mainly with the account manager and the project manager.

How did you come to work with Logicify?

We put an SOS out on a free-lancing platform for a backend developer. Logicify contacted us back and immediately impressed us with their thorough communication. They took the time to understand our problems and we could tell they were very technically competent.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $70,000–$80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in April 2013 and ended the engagement in August 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app was very well received by event organizers and event goers. They addressed any bugs immediately and made sure the code was maintainable and testable—which was an unusual, but welcome addition from an outsourced partner.

How did Logicify perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager set the scope of the work and we used Jira to track the process. They communicated with us via Skype daily, lasting 10–15 minutes or more. We shared status reports from one side to the other and we always well updated on developments and anything that was going on. They were always available for any questions or requests.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed by their communication standards and their painstaking commitment to integrate into our workflow.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were by far the best-outsourced company I’ve worked with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are consummate professionals, so don’t be afraid to let them take control of some of the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of EPIC Conjoint. We are a cloud-based market research company specifically developing an application to conduct conjoint analysis. Our target customers are large B2C brands like banks, telecom and insurance firms.  Conjoint analysis is when companies test pricing and product features within a market sample of customers before launching.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Logicify?

We needed help developing the cloud based iOS and Android applications, complete with rigorous statistical algorithms and analysis capability.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Logicify conducted backend and frontend app development on both iOS and Android platforms and assisted with the user algorithm graphing capabilities. App development included a feature that allows respondents to complete surveys on any platform or operating system.

What is the team composition?

The team, headed by a project manager, consisted of around eight to 10 members, including two engineers, graphic designers, and a quality assurance expert with a Ph.D. in mathematics. The team grew and shrunk with the project’s various phases, which, from a cost perspective, was reassuring.

How did you come to work with Logicify?

They and three others were all referred to us. We sent all four bidders requirement documents, and Logicify quickly set up a meeting with us.  Logicify researched our firm and industry well beforehand and were very keen in understanding our ambitions and the context of our customers. They pointed out that they had also worked with another survey company based in the States.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested more than $100,000 total.

What is the status of this engagement?

The minimum variable product (MVP) began in mid-February 2017 and was delivered in mid-July of that year. Since then, we have gone through three additional iterations enhancing the applications and foresee this partnership as lasting long-term.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have had good sales numbers thus far and there have been no noticeable problems from users, thanks to an intuitive and foolproof front-end design.

How did Logicify perform from a project management standpoint?

Logicify performed fantastically.  The project management was top-notch and knew exactly what a startup like ourselves needed. They used Jira and Slack plugins to create a very visible and transparent method of communication, providing me, who does not come from a tech background, with the transparency I required. Bugs were very infrequent, but when they occured, Logicify’s reaction time was really quick; they often were investigating the problem before I was even aware a problem had occurred.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were interested, passionate, and keen to getting their heads around a relatively new subject for them, that being conjoint analysis. They proactively challenged us in the right ways, constantly suggesting and recommending how we could do things even better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we had a very good relationship with them. It’s like I have at team I can call; they’re very approachable and very responsive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They appreciate detailed specifications and face-to-face meetings, so if you can make those accommodations, you'll be on the right track.