unicrew

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a digital solutions company. We predominately build custom solutions for mid-tier business clients, though we do serve enterprise clients as well. We have a staff of about 80 people altogether, and we also have a development framework/Software as a Service platform that delivers full A to Z development framework for building anything online - from basic websites all the way to enterprise portals and e-commerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

One of the biggest challenges I have is managing capacity with whatever resources or human resources I have. I’m trying to convert the business from a fixed-cost model to a marginal model where I can, so we had two development tasks we needed help with. First, we had projects we had to develop for our customers using our platform, and second, we needed help bringing some of our product offerings to market in areas where we can offload non-core parts of our development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They're primarily a .NET shop, but they’re very effective using our platform to develop solutions for our customers, which we're hoping to push out through their network as well. Right now, they’re predominately working in markup and JavaScript frameworks doing frontend development. We're contemplating getting them involved with our PHP work as well.

What is the team composition?

I deal directly their two co-founders, and then my staff deal with different people within their organization.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

I met them at a trade show and they did a good job of staying connected and doing outreach. They did a great job with a couple of trial projects and we were happy with their code quality, so we kept working together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work isn’t really related to the growth of my business, but they are developing projects for customers, so if it’s a question of are they reliable? Yes, they are. Do they do good work? Yes, they do. And do I need to babysit them? No, I don’t. I’ve had nightmare scenarios with shops that have done work in other frameworks. But that’s not the case here. I’m secure in the quality of these guys’ work.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed everything really well over the phone and by using various PM software, email, etc. Good communication is the main factor that they have done well and made life manageable for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve done a fair amount outsourcing to a lot of different places, and so far, they’re far and away the best. The quality of their code and developers, as well as their communication, compatibility, and reliability really stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I could comment on thus far. I haven’t had any issues so I don’t see any need to expand on something that hasn’t happened.

Any advice for potential customers?

If you are as organized as they are you will do fine.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner and founder of a marketing management services provider. We work with several small companies in Canada and in the United States. We manage some large websites that have evolved into web applications and provide ongoing support maintenance. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

We were looking for a software development partner who could help us on an ongoing basis provide web app development. Previously, we had tried to build that capacity internally, but it was a very different business model than the way that we were operating. We discovered that outsourcing that development was the most suitable option.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Artelogic works directly our client on their web apps. For a particularly large project, they are developing an extensive web application with a custom CMS. It's an event creation/ticketing platform. They've also built a donation platform using PHP and a bootstrap framework.

They also provide ongoing maintenance for all our clients’ platforms.

What is the team composition?

They provide a dedicated project manager we talk to every day, an account manager we talk to for upcoming requests, developers that code the projects, and a senior executive.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

We had, over the course of last year, spoken with a few other potential partners. They, unfortunately, couldn't provide the level of expertise we needed and didn’t do well on our test projects.

We found Artelogic through a freelancing platform, and our initial conversations were fantastic. They communicated very clearly and excelled in our test projects. We instantly saw their level of skill, great organization, and helped us use best practices.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Metrics-wise, we plan out every month the minimum and maximum amount of time that we anticipate each tack or project will take. Artelogic is always on time every week with their deliverables and release dates.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

Our previous developers had no code repository and no best practices in place, but Artelogic uses a proper infrastructure. They set up Slack for communication, Jira to manage our tasks, and GitHub as our code repository. They also set up a development server for testing purposes.

Their team is very accessible, and we have regular meetings. Their communication is fantastic, and they provide us full transparency into their work.

Their process is the following: development happens on their developers’ server, the testing occurs, then the code is pushed into GitHub, and finally, put into the live site. We are finally processing the project the right way and if it doesn’t work out with Artelogic, we still have the infrastructure to keep working.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their quality of work in terms of getting a proper system in place, their level of communication and transparency, and their fantastic experts really impress us. They truly feel like our partners in this engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t see any areas.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are professionals at what they do. You might just get in the way and slow down the project. Just let them do the work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Moblers is a mobile app and software house incorporated 10 years ago. We do a lot of projects in different fields, from IT to mobile and web apps. I'm the CEO and manage the company most of the time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

Our team was already composed of Israelis, but we outsourced web development help from Artelogic for our client's project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were looking for a mobile frontend developer with abilities in mostly Angular. The client needed a web platform, which was a security system for IT. We needed an Angular developer to create the frontend for the admin interface. We use MySQL and PHP on the backend. In the future, we plan to use Cassandra for a big data database.

What is the team dynamic?

They supplied one developer.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

Our business development brought Vuhar [chief business development officer and co-founder, Artelogic] to meet me. We talked a few times and it went well. They met us in our offices and we began to work together from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $4,000-$5,000 with them a month, and so far we've spent around $13,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since August 2017. For now, we've suspended the project because our client has issues with funding but we're planning to continue next month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything was built the way we wanted to. Our client was very happy with the results. It went according to the project timeline.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was done entirely by us. We're the point of contact for the end client, but we had a good relationship with Artelogic's management, too. We use Slack for communication, JIRA for project management, and we ask questions via Skype. The developer is working as a dedicated resource.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The project wasn't a standard system, so we weren't sure if we could pull this project off. We did, and that can be credited to the developer who has been with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything went well. If it was a bigger project then maybe we would've found a fault.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

RWTH Aachen University is a research institute. We specialize in electrical vehicles, batteries, motors, etc. I’m a research assistant, as well as a Ph.D. student there.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

We were looking for somebody to make a tool to track the employees' time, as well as for programmers with experience in databases and a good handle on SQL tools. We wanted developers for web-based applications, not just mobile applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Instead of using spreadsheets or software, we wanted a custom tool. We work in many projects, and each project leader needs to know how much time their colleagues are working on certain projects and to track work requirements on an organizational level. With the tool, people can log in and, once a month, say how they distributed the time in their week. At the end, we get reports and can start seeing which projects are more important.

We wanted something with a certain level of automation. Our employees working on the projects and the ones tracking the projects and bookkeepers don't have to put much effort into this task. We found this tool to be the best choice.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

We found them on Upwork. Out of 10 candidates, we decided to choose Artelogic, as they were the most structured and experienced.

How much have you invested with them?

Around €5,000 [$5,800].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March of this year until April 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw around a 40% increase of how many project leaders are tracking the time of their employees instead of making guesses or delegating the task.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really good. Their response time was fantastic. They were organized and provided us with tools to track their progress in a transparent way.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Every time we needed to add some small things to make it work better, they adapted those requirements very quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s a minor thing, but they could improve their graphic design—not how the user interface works, but how it looks.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Adventure Rental System is a kayaking and paddleboard rental company in the Santa Barbara area. I’m one of the owners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

We needed help building our rental management hardware and software system.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

They were already working with waiverking.com, with Craig [CEO, Waiver King] who got us in touch with Tural [CEO/Co-Founder, Artelogic] and his team. We use Waiver King for our rental contracts and we’re partners in the rental software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a rental equipment and client tracking software system for us called Adventure Rental System. We built the rental system as a plug-in to the waiver system. We wanted to incorporate hardware like NFC [Near Field Communications] or RFID [Radio Frequency Identification] tags and using them to check clients in and out to begin a rental duration clock. When rentals come back in, the system calculates the ticket cost for them and charges them. The initial requirement for the system was to build the NFC or RFID tags into a time clock. It’s incorporated through wristbands. We use APIs through MINDBODY online, which is a studio POS CRM software system. This is all reliant on that and also Waiver King. There’s a lot of APIs that get the system to work without having to have a robust backend. We’re clients of MINDBODY and Waiver King is a tier 1 partner. So, they have the API with MINDBODY setup, and through Waiver King’s API, we have the ARS [Audience Response System] built on top of that.

What is the team dynamic?

I communicate mostly with project managers. Tural [CEO/Co-Founder, Artelogic] is the guy I was working with for the last couple phases. Then Halyna [Project Manager, Artelogic] is the new project manager. Sometimes I’ll be on Skype calls with other programmers, but I’m not really in direct communication with them.

How much have you invested with them? 

We've spent $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2014 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've seen a 15-20% increase in revenue, which is through the efficiency gains and the ability to accurately track time on a permanent basis rather than just by a quarter hour or an hour. The efficiency from the CRM standpoint has been valuable. I’m not sure how much time we used to spend trying to decipher people’s emails written on paper and put them into a database. That wasn’t very efficient and generally led to a lot of errors.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been really good working with them. They’re very responsive. In the initial stages, they were proactive at finding solutions to issues I wasn’t aware of that would come up in the development process. It was good to know that we’d be crossing those issues off before we had the system fully built. Communication was always really good. They’ll fix problems almost immediately if they can find the problem. They also have pretty good data on how to fix problems. Usually, I can give them the process that led us to a certain issue, and they’re really good at figuring it out from there. The development has been super intuitive and they’re helpful in the design and the UI/UX.

We communicate mostly through email. They use Google Docs for outlining project requirements.

A nice part about our development with them is they always check APIs and hardware and software requirements before we get into development to make sure that they will work. When we agree to a development phase, there aren’t any huge roadblocks that come up because of something we hadn’t anticipated or tested.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication and foresight are really good. We don’t have to wait very long for a response to an email. We get updates regularly. We speak different languages and they do a good job in communicating in English. You can get into projects where the developers will just take your design and build it but when you go to use it, it doesn’t work because nobody thought about the equations or the algorithms in practical use. Artelogic has been really good at seeing ahead of the ball and fixing any math equations that we hadn’t really properly considered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe if they had a design team that works to improve UX, but we haven't contracted them for that. I’m sure if we wanted it, they would have it available.

Is there anything that you would advise someone who is considering hiring them?

It’s helpful to speak a programming language with programmers. Be very clear about what your objectives are and how you hope to get there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Perseus, one of the operating groups of Constellation Software, one of the largest IT companies in North America. I am a marketing director, responsible for six businesses within the group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

We needed to launch a website for Perseus Group, which would help us find other software businesses looking for a parent company to buy them. We had the design ready for the website but needed a development team to build and launch it.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

They came through a referral. I already had a developer which had been with us for a long time, but they were already working on five websites for us. I had to find either a freelancer or an agency which could help us keep up. I asked around, and one of my friends recommended Artelogic, after having worked with them in the past.

I reached out and spoke with Vuhar Mamedov, their chief business developer, and went over the process. I liked the questions he was asking, and found that he knew what it takes to launch a good website. He gave me a reasonable quote, compared to North American standards. I did speak to another agency based in Canada, which came through a different referral, but their quote was three times higher, and I wasn’t ready to pay that much money. Their portfolios were very similar. Vuhar said they could build the site in a month, which was also nice; the developer I used to work with took three months to build similar websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Artelogic developed the PerseusGroup.ca website. It’s a responsive page which was customized to look great at every single resolution, from phones to mid-sized and large tablets. This was very important to me. The website consists of 15 core pages, as well as some content in addition to those. It’s based on WordPress, and Artelogic did a fantastic job on the backend, making it easy for me to change and manage content on my own. It’s a straightforward content website, with no integrations with other systems, aside from Pardot Forms, an automation tool for capturing leads.

What is the team dynamic?

My main point of contact was the project manager. On our weekly calls were with her and the developer. I liked this, since we could be on the call to make suggestions and discuss solutions, rather than going back-and-forth by email later on. Artelogic used project management tools for managing features and tasks, but I only sent feedback by email.

How much have you invested with them?

Artelogic’s work was around $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Artelogic in late-July 2017, and finished the site by the end of August.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s a brand-new website which didn’t exist before, so it would be hard to judge its success. All key stakeholders provided only positive feedback and that's my key metric.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team always sent follow-up emails, and stuck to the conversation. We spoke once or twice a week, in order to review the process. I always knew what they were working on. Artelogic actually launched the site a week early, so we would have enough time to go over it, and make some minor tweaks. We launched it on the target day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

All we can ask for from a development team is to do exactly what we want, on time and on budget. This is what Artelogic did, for every little feature we wanted. They did it a week early, giving us extra time to flesh out minor details. The cost remained the same, so there was no extra charge for my pickiness.

I’ve already recommended Artelogic to a sister company in Perseus Group, which was looking for a developer. I’ve never had such an amazing development team working for me. I’m very excited about having found Artelogic, and I have two other websites lined up for them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Lookgood provides B2B services for nail salons. It’s a system where customers can book their nail service online, and then it will send a reminder to them. It also has some CRM system functions built in. It’s a subscription model. Our clients are nail and beauty salons and they like this model because it allows their end customers to book their appointments easily. I’m the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the product from start to finish. I gave Vuhar [Mamedov, co-founder] the requirements of what I need. There was a bit of tweaking here and there. They’re really professional. I appreciated how they thought through the process as well as the input from the business side. The system allows a customer to go onto the Facebook page of a nail salon click a "Book Now" function. They log in and select what service they want. They see the available appointment windows that are synced in real time with the backend system. These available appointment windows vary based on the services they select. After they book it, they receive a confirmation SMS. A day before the appointment, they receive a reminder. Then in the backend of the system, the therapist would be able to see when the customer last visited, what treatment they did, and when the next visit is.

When it comes to beauty salons, the backend becomes a little more complicated. We factor in the machinery. For example, let's say you only have one diamond peel machine. Even if you have 2 masseuse therapist or facial therapists available, but there’s only one machine that can be used, the end customer wouldn’t be able to select a slot if there is only one machine available. There are more input factors for a facial salon.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

I found them through Elance and saw some of their reviews. When I spoke about my requirements, they seemed to understand easily, and I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent $5,000-$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in March 2015, and the project was completed in 3 months. I still engage them if there are issues with the product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Each vendor makes 200-300 bookings per month.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very professional and on time. I’m very satisfied with their project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their project management as well as providing recommendations and advice based on their understanding of the business model. It’s not a situation where I tell them to code and they code it. They always give advice on what may come in the future. I appreciate their thought process behind that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’ve been quite satisfied. For any maintenance issues I have, they usually get back to me in 24 hours.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a financial advisory company working with early stage tech startups. We do everything from accounts management to EMI [enterprise management incentives] and R&D, as well as tax advisory and accounting infrastructure. R&D allows us to claim back corporation tax credits, using the right narrative. I am the head of products, and I work on systems to improve efficiency in the delivery team’s workflow. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

I realized that some of the work we were doing manually could be done better using a software solution. We’re a 100% Xero-certified company, meaning that all our clients are using the system. We spent time figuring out how software could be used to promote efficiency and automate many of the manual processes of our delivery teams.

After figuring out how we could drive efficiency, we started looking for development partners. I researched some technology groups and received an inquiry from the owner of a development agency in Ukraine. We started working with them for a few months in mid-2016 but ran into some communication issues. We were basically working with a developer but also had to coordinate with a project manager because the resource’s English level wasn’t what we needed for managing the project. As we went through various development cycles and made releases, we eventually came to the decision to stop working together. We hired Artelogic to take over the work. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had already built something using the previous developer. The software was MySQL-based, using ASP.NET MVC and C#. We needed someone to pick up what we had been working with and extend the functionalities that were already in place. I knew that this would be tricky, as I’m aware that many people don’t like working on existing projects. I was grateful to find a team that not only picked up an unfinished piece of software but also turned it around and improved it.

The system was meant to keep a percentage of the bookkeeping tasks by recording information in the backend and ensuring that it matched our invoices. Since we’re dealing with financial elements, security is important. Artelogic has put the best systems in place to ensure that all our data was encrypted correctly and that all user accounts were securely protected.

We had an issue in the form of a natural-language processing problem—reading transaction descriptions and trying to perform actions based on that information. This wasn’t my area of expertise, and I don’t believe they had worked with accounting data before. If they had, it wasn’t specifically in this category. This is still something we’re working on, and Artelogic suggested helpful solutions to overcome and improve the functionality using more complex technical methodologies.

What is the team dynamic?

I am currently working with 2 people from Artelogic’s team, the developer and their CTO, who are both excellent. What we’re doing is domain-specific. Even though Artelogic didn’t have a background in this area, they learned quickly and repurposed technologies they’d used before in order to solve the business problem. I was very impressed with this ability, as most of the people we contacted before implied that they’d need to spend a lot of time of trying to understand our business logic. I have a lot of roles in terms of this project, and I was happy to be able to rely on Artelogic’s skills and expertise to do what needed to be done.

The accountancy tool had to replicate logic and knowledge, which isn’t easy to communicate online. We’ve had no situations of the system doing the wrong thing, which is mainly due to the great communication with Artelogic.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

Once we decided to stop working with our initial partner, I started looking on Upwork for development firms. I made a shortlist and received a few proposals, ultimately coming across Artelogic. I spoke to Oleksandr, their CTO; based on that call, I knew we could work well together.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t manage payments, so I’m unsure about the amount. It could be around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Artelogic in February or March 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have around 30 accounts on the system. The solution just launched, and we plan to increase the usage to hundreds of thousands or even a million accounts over the next year. I’ve not seen any issues after increasing the size of our transactions.

We need to tackle the first part of our goal by completing many different modules in succession. We’re currently testing the system with different transactions and clients, basically looking at the current efficiency rate and using that as a benchmark for carrying out various other modules.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

We have daily standups and track all tasks for the existing work through a Trello board. This lets me know our status at any time without having to ask constantly. We speak at a set time every day to catch up on any existing issues and prioritize tasks. When something has been worked on, I am notified right away and can test it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication has been effective and clear. I didn’t find it lacking at any point. Artelogic made sure that everything was communicated well and that all issues were embraced and dealt with accordingly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re working on an uncertain project idea, and we’re a relatively new accountancy and finance company. I can’t point to anything that Artelogic could do better. Everyone knew what they needed to do, and we all shared the goal of completing the project to a sufficient degree in order to prove it works. We’ve achieved this.

Do you have any advice for prospective customers?

Consider making sure that tasks are clear. It’s easy to get lost in suggesting features and improvements on a call or Slack chat, but everything must be tracked correctly using a project management system. Otherwise, items get lost in translation. From the few people I’ve spoken to who’ve worked with remote teams, if the communication is not effective and no one knows where the project is going, the work can extend horribly long. If there is a single source of truth we can fall back on (Trello, in our case), there’s little room for error. Taking the time to provide Artelogic with the information they need, as opposed to expecting them to know what we’re thinking, makes the project easier. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.
I am the Owner of Matok Realty & Management Inc., a full service real estate and property management company in northeastern Florida. We buy and sell real estate for customers and manage rentals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?
We needed them to upgrade our websites that they had built previously and to integrate ACI for property listings to send information to prospective buyers. We wanted a new system that better displayed the data and was more user- and mobile-friendly. The most important things were having a map search and being able to send information over to the customers easily.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.
We wanted to have a map search and real time listings with daily updates from an MLS feed (a realtor association that updates daily with new homes, pictures, and information) on the website. We wanted to expand our search so people could search using more criteria, and we wanted people to have a profile, save their search, and receive emails based on their search. On this current project, they’re [Artelogic] handling all aspects of the website, including setting up hosting, etc. This website uses the Spark API (a PHP-driven platform from another larger association that has real time data through an API), which enables the map search and the listings. An integration with a RETS feed (a custom XML feed from one of the realtor associations), enables the reception and display of the listings. Logic was then added to make this work with the Spark platform.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?
I chose to work with Artelogic because of my past experience working with them as a project manager with other companies.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
We’ve probably spent around $12,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them in 2015 and have been working together since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?
Based on our previous system, we were getting to a point where we had around 1,500 new visits a month with about 10 people signing up and actually receiving listings and information. Everything has been redone, and we’re waiting to start a new marketing campaign.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?
I’m very happy with the communication. They were able to figure out what I wanted quickly, to meet my needs, and envision what I would have wanted.

What distinguishes Artelogic from other providers?
I was really happy that I didn’t really have to do any revisions or anything like that. I think they were pretty good at gauging my needs. They definitely gathered enough information during the QA phase, which was very good.

Is there anything Artelogic could have improved or done differently?
I don’t really see much they could have improved.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide a SaaS [Software-as-a-Service] enterprise solution which will be used in order to disrupt the moving and household industry. We aim to change the way in which moving is done in the US and hopefully worldwide by introducing containers which perfectly fit inside of freight trucks. Our solution is better than movers loading and unloading trucks and producing damage to the goods.

We also address the capacity problem. There aren’t enough drivers for all trucks, so we tap into freight lines in order to transport items from terminal to terminal, allowing local dealers to drop off and pick up deliveries as well as help consumers with the loading and unloading. Basically, we are eliminating unnecessary handling of items. If someone is loading their goods into a container, those goods won’t need to be moved again piece by piece. This makes it much quicker to load and unload, it’s less damaging, and containers also have many tracking sensors on them, including ones for GPS, humidity, and so on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Artelogic?

I have been working with them for many years. Artelogic is my number one resource, especially for projects of such magnitude. They’re helping us put this system together.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Artelogic has provided programming, QA, and design for pretty much all the module applications we’re using.

Our system uses ASP.NET MVC. We use Microsoft technologies and operate in the Windows environment. We have five cloud servers, including two web servers, two database servers with load-balancing and failover, and a Linux server on-premise behind a firewall. We use Microsoft Server as a backend and Amazon Web Services for storage.

We have apps for iOS and Android for both customers and dealers. Customers are able to download them and initiate the inventory process. We then know how many pieces they have based on which we will offer quotes. Dealers are able to see what job orders are assigned to them, their details and inventory, and change statuses. All apps were developed by Artelogic.

For the last 5 or 6 months, we have been working on a new calculator which allows our beta tester to go in and generate live quotes by collecting data from each dealer, and also by pulling API data from freight companies. The system allows users to choose which freight company they want to use for transportation.

Right now, we don’t have a consumer-facing model. Our beta tester is a container company and we are a software company. We’re trying to merge with them. At the moment, their dealers are testing everything themselves. Once everything is covered and the pricing becomes consistent, the next phase will be to create a consumer-facing model which will allow people to book moves just like they would book airline tickets. The system is already doing this on the backend.

How did you come to work with Artelogic?

I posted a request on Elance for an upgrade from classic ASP to ASP.NET. I’m an ex-programmer and there were certain things I could not figure out. I was getting 30–40-hour quotes, but then Artelogic offered to fix my problem in 30 minutes without upgrading to .NET. I accepted the offer and continued to work with Artelogic from there. I liked the fact that they were honest, offered good quotes, and had skill sets right down my alley.

How much have you invested with Artelogic?

The cost of their work has been above $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Artelogic in 2009 and we continue to build the system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have raised $1 million for the beta testing solution. So far, we’ve spent a little over $300,000, and have seen beta users starting to book moves as of two weeks ago. If this merger happens, we will raise another $10 million for building containers. So far, the experience has definitely been positive. It all depends on whether or not we will merge with our beta tester.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very organized and use JIRA as a platform for managing phases and iterations. We use Moqups.com as a visual aid and we mostly communicate through Skype. We have 2 dedicated people on the management side from Artelogic who are constantly involved in calls and manage pretty much everything internally. We’ve come a long way since 2009 — the workflow is much more stable and there are processes in place in order to ensure that everyone is doing what they’re supposed to do. Everything is being tracked.

For anyone that needs to find a company they can trust for major enterprise projects, Artelogic can bring plenty of experience for putting together a team and putting the right communication and management modules in place.

What did you find most impressive about Artelogic?

It would be very hard to point to one thing. For systems of this caliber, the main aspect is ensuring that the communication is flowing well, especially when working with different cultures. The tools and systems are completely different in the US compared to the ones in Ukraine.

Artelogic adapted to a number of concepts they were not familiar with and have communicated these to the developers, making sure that everything would be done as expected. Anyone can program, but maintaining control of such a project is not easy. It can become monstrous, and we need to make sure that the system won’t crash.

Are there any areas Artelogic could improve?

They’ve always gone out of their way, but having physical representation in the US would bring Artelogic to the next level as a company. I cannot point to many things on the business development side. Artelogic is great and I will continue to do business with them.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated on June 25th, 2018 by the client. New content is below.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is Akbosh Media Network. After working on the first project with Artelogic for a couple of years, I left the business to start my own company, Auto Transport Plus. I’ve engaged them for smaller-scale development and online marketing projects since then. Our current focus is Cloudvanlines.com. 

What challenges have you been trying to address with Artelogic?

After working as a programmer for 15 years, I decided to start outsourcing all of my development tasks. I didn’t fully trust anyone at the time and figured that in the worst-case scenario, I could continue the work myself. Since I first hired Artelogic to fix my website, they’ve become my primary resource. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Most of our projects have used a SaaS model. Until recently, we used Microsoft tools which align with my background.  We’ve recently pivoted from .NET to ASP.NET MVC with Microsoft SQL Server as the database. Artelogic built the entire platform for this transport-car brokerage firm, which operates in the U.S. We shifted the model to SaaS to increase sales and added components for transporters, customers, and brokers. 

Cloud Van Lines launched in 2013 after investment and development inconsistencies. Now, we’re rolling out a new system that aims disrupt the household moving and storage industry. This phase involves buying our own containers and placing them across the U.S.

A notable mobile app Artelogic built was for a buyback program. Manufacturers like Ford, General Motors, and Ally Financial give cars to rental companies and repurchase them after users are finished with them. Our app helps inspectors evaluate minor damages to determine whether vehicles qualify to eventually be pushed to auctions and sold.

What is the team composition? 

When we started in 2009, Artelogic only had a couple of employees. They currently have over 30 people on their team, 15 of whom have engaged in one of my projects. Since last time, project management and development resources changed. Using a thorough review system, they take their time before making a hire. They let go of that employee quickly if issues arise and continuously follow up with us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $300,000 across all the projects we’ve done since my last review. 

What is the current status of this engagement?

We’ve paused development a couple of times but are currently working on Cloud Van Lines. Many development companies from Ukraine and Russia approached me after the first review, but I don’t plan to use them anytime soon. I have a group that works well, so there’s no reason to make a change. 

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

After Artelogic developed our BuildMyMove project, we raised $1.5 million in investor capital.   We’d started with $100,000 in capital to position ourselves to attract new investors. This influx of funding after the first development they completed grew our business from three to 70 people within an eight-month period.

Our most significant success yet was selling Auto Transport Plus for a seven-digit figure. We were bought out four months after completion and invested much of that revenue into Cloud Van Lines. In a little under two years, we showed the investors who gave us $1 million to roll this out that our model is profitable. Thanks to Artelogic, we have all three parts of our project in place and can launch our service in full force. The system works, and users can now place orders.

I’m consistently humbled by Artelogic’s performance. Projects of this caliber are hard to outsource. Teams come and go, and this type of work almost never gets done. They’ve kept their priorities straight as they’ve grown and always deliver. I’m lucky to have found them.

How did Artelogic perform from a project management standpoint?

They have an effective method of breaking down projects. We understand each other’s style and communicate clearly and well together. They’re a well-organized team that accomplishes tasks as promised and is always there for me. Most of our communication is one-to-one, but we use Google Hangouts for group discussions. We supplement Jira, our primary project management tool, with Google Docs and Dropbox for tasks like mockups. 

We often speak directly with the developers for updates. I was glad to see that even under new management, we never experienced a slowdown.  I understood the position the new developers were in as we taught them about our system. I give them kudos for how well they’ve adapted and dealt with the learning curve.

What do you find most impressive about them?

They’ve grown significantly since 2009. After learning from our explanations, they understand our business much better now. Many concepts were utterly new to them at first. For example, there are no moving companies in Ukraine, where they’re located. Instead, people usually ask friends and family to help them out. 

Pretty much everyone on the team now speaks English. Only the leadership used to, so I’d dealt with every task through one key point of contact. In the last 1-2 weeks, though, Artelogic’s developers even Skyped people from the U.S. side of our project to give demos of work they’ve done recently.

Artelogic is skilled at other technologies besides .NET. They’ve also done WordPress integrations using PHP on a smaller scale so far. I used to refuse to use anything but Microsoft. When they got too busy to provide enough of those developers, I gave PHP a try, and they delivered just as well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, none that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Don’t hesitate to bring Artelogic in as more than just a developer. New clients should be open about the company’s goals. Share internal challenges so they can allocate the necessary resources.

When we lost one of our investors, I kept Artelogic in the dark because we didn’t want to stop the project. At the same time, we couldn’t afford to have them continue development. This pause was a hit for them. They had to allocate teammates to other projects or let them go if there were none available. When we resumed the work a few months later, we had to start small since it took time to find new developers. We should have been more forthcoming about the possible challenges we faced.