DevCube

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

OpsWorks Co. is a DevOps and Cloud Consulting company. Since recently, we are an AWS partner on Cloud Migrations. We specialize in migration practices, CI/CD set up, IT infrastructure automation, microservice infrastructure development, and security enhancement. My position is a Marketing Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired DevCube to develop a WordPress website according to a custom design that we provided. We needed a company with vast experience in WordPress; since the design was responsive, we needed to make sure the pages open correctly considering different screen sizes.

SOLUTION

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

We connected with DevCube thanks to a personal recommendation and became extremely satisfied with their services.

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

Before WordPress, we were using a CSV platform that didn't give its users access to the website's source code, so the possibilities were limited. When we have exhausted all possibilities of the platform, we started looking into the other options. Since the company is growing fast and investing more and more in its SEO, we needed a platform that would meet our SEO requirements on a higher level.

WordPress became our number one choice. It wasn't easy to find a WordPress developer due to different reasons. DevCube was a company that not only provided us with WordPress expertise but also the developer was highly qualified and helpful. The DevCube team developed the OpsWorks Co. website from scratch without any flaw, very professional.

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

The DevCube team allocated a WordPress developer, a QA engineer, and a Project manager to meet our needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the website went live, the SEO stats have considerably changed the pace of development. Thanks to the website support we get from DevCube, we are always up to date and ready to roll out a new site version. The loading time went down from 4 seconds to 2, which considerably affected lead retention on the website.

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

We coordinated the project via email and slack. The communication and interaction between our teams was easy and professional. The maximum response time was 20 minutes which kept the project up to the deadline.

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

One thing that impressed me the most was the responsibility of the DevCube team. Never have we had a non-response or no-can-do situation.

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

Services were provided professionally, which left us completely satisfied with the cooperation with DevCube.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an e-commerce retail company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCube?

We needed web developers that could fit our budget.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The initial reason for hiring DevCube was to integrate our web designers’ new design; they coded up everything and made sure that it was working properly in terms of buttons, mobile-friendliness, and speed performance. Currently, they provide several development tasks such as integrating new designs, back-end development, and upgrading systems in PHP and Laravel.

What is the team composition?

We work with around 5 people, but Igor (Project Manager) was our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with DevCube?

I found them online, and they happened to be established close to us. We had lunch, talked things through, gave them a test project, and that turned into several projects where we work together now. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and the project is ongoing. They’re our full-time partners, deploying around seven projects a month with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business has increased by around 10% since we started working with them.

How did DevCube perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with Igor is saving us hours of work time. He manages the five developers in terms of connecting calls and status updates. We’ve also created a cool strategy for deployment with Q&A and that sort of thing and that’s helping to complete all the projects on time. In terms of communication, we have daily calls and use Asana for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication and price are what distinguishes them from other providers. They’re inexpensive and responsible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d like DevCube to hire a person to provide QA for the work they deliver.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you clearly communicate what you want. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of Global forwarding, we are a logistics company and offer Ocean Transport, Air Transport and Trucking services to direct shippers

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have DevCube developing a rating engine system with a full back end for my admin staff and a front facing UI for my clients. Now we have become the Travelocity of transportation.

SOLUTION

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

Their price was very fair, they have an office in the US. Their team is very fast to react and help us with any issues we encounter. They understood our business very quickly.

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

There are honestly too many steps that were taken in this process, the team was super patient as we are not tech savvy owners. They implemented PHP, Wordpress, Java, SQL Database, hooked this up to google Map API's, hooked our rating to other outside API vendors, created an algorithm for the rating

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

• Project manager
• 2 support staff
• 2 testers
• customer success person

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After Launching our product, our customers were buying from us online, I was able to decrease staff and increase profits. Our customers are super impressed with our technology and rates.

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

we have 2 meetings a week, with the project manager and customer success member from Dev Cube, we also use Slack, text messages, signal and email to communicate. Also, their team uses Asana.

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

They deliver their promises and do not overcharge the bill.

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

I am very happy so far

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the regional director and chief business officer (CBO) of a clothing company. I work directly with developers and integrators. We’re the Latin American licensee for Technical New York. We’ve been 14 years in business with presence in four countries of Latin American, including Panama, Peru, Salvador, and Dominican Republic. We’re going to open Honduras soon.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCube?

We wanted to make a smooth process for the final customers in regards to Shopify’s apps. We had several ERPs connected to all our systems, but they’re not compatible with Shopify. We needed to make an integration between our systems to Shopify, so we can have a live inventory. It was a hassle.

Besides that, we had the product creation side. In Shopify, you could add the products manually one by one, or you could upload them and be charged. However, since we weren’t connected directly from our system, we needed a middle card to upload the references and bring in all our information.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DevCube has found that we can connect and merge all the warehouses we have in our system to a smooth and single inventory in Shopify. DevCube is also helping us to migrate all the information of our product creation from our system to Shopify. 

In Panama, we have a huge cultural difference: people don’t read the emails they receive. If the information it’s not relevant for them, they don’t open the emails even though it’s about their purchase order. As a result, DevCube has worked on a connection through an application called TextBook, which triggers a message to our customers for every purchase order they place in Shopify. They can track their order and see what’s going on with it. 

DevCube is doing carrier integration, as well. It’s called Servientrega. They’re developing a code, so it can go directly from Servientrega to Shopify. Every time the carrier marks a status in the order, it triggers a message for the customer to inform if their package is coming through.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with three people from DevCube: the boss, a developer, and a project manager. We haven’t asked them to hire more people because we’re good at the moment.

How did you come to work with DevCube?

In Panama, it was very difficult to find developers or people that have good knowledge of Shopify and the connections we wanted to do. We found DevCube through a person that used to work with us. He was looking for recommendations in Shopify Plus of experts in search and development fields. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with DevCube in August 2020. We’re planning to work on more projects with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Shopify has a lot of apps, and we have to pay for them every single month. We’ve been able to pay them by making direct connections and development through Shopify for inventory stock and product creation.

Before having the inventory connection, it was difficult to track an order. Every time a customer placed an order, the item was marked out of stock. We had to contact the customer, and we were very upset. Now, after the integration, the inventory has around 90%–95% views on our stock items. Our revenue has increased because of our healthy inventory. We usually have a conversion rate of 2.5, but now it’s between 4–4.5.

The customer service complaints about purchase orders have been reduced by 60%–70% because of TextBook. We’ve also found that through WhatsApp it’s easier to contact customers and tell them what’s going on with their order.

Our managing consulting services (MCS) has increased the likeliness of customers recommending us from 40%–45% to 70%–90%. That’s a big difference since we started with TextBook’s integration. Everything that we’ve been doing with the carrier integrations have helped a lot, as well.

One of the highlights of the development is that I don’t have to do the products manually. I upload the references in the CSV file and it brings me all the information needed into a Shopify format file.

How did DevCube perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through email when I have any requests or requirements. We set up a fifteen or twenty-minute call where we check pending projects and new steps, including what we have and need to do. If I have an emergency, I send DevCube an email and text them on WhatsApp.

DevCube’s work has been very helpful — the Textbook integration was done in about 2–3 weeks. We don’t have any complaints. They've made all the changes we’ve asked them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

DevCube is very responsible and attentive. They never say no to anything. Even though some idea isn’t possible, DevCube tries to look for a solution and walk us through it. DevCube is very productive. They don't walk around things or take too much time. DevCube understands our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

DevCube could improve on their professional look, because the way DevCube presents their project’s documents is very informal.

Any advice for potential customers?

DevCube will give the solution that you need. If they don’t have it on time, they’ll give you any insights, ideas, or probable solutions for the project. DevCube will be great people to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Fran Metrics. We do a lot of bookkeeping on a higher level reporting basis and offer data analysis and software platform services to franchising companies and their franchisees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DevCube?

Before DevCube partnered with us, the old way to collect and analyze this data was based on knee-jerk reactions, observations, and online reviews. We were looking for the ability to have all of the offerings in one place for our clients.

We needed a web portal where we could sign in and consolidate all of our services into that one software platform. We wanted to update it as we grow, to make it more user-friendly for our clients. We also needed help with custom software. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DevCube developed a web portal to collect, consolidate, and benchmark non-financial KPIs for the franchisors and their franchisees. The web portal helps them analyze their cost of goods sold, labor costs, and even their EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), and shows them what rank they are in the franchise system.

For instance, if there are 30 units in the franchise system, and they’re number four, then they know they’re doing poorly and are on the bottom of the pack.

From a franchisor’s perspective, they can also see exactly what metrics need support. If they’re analyzing 20 KPIs, the franchisor can see the franchisees that are suffering in any specific category.

Version one of this software platform has been released already, and our clients are using it. However, it’s a constant work in progress — every penny we get from the software platform, we re-invest it.

DevCube also has helped us build up the software for what we call the in-person filled audits. With this software, franchisors are able to walk in, record responses, take pictures of any deficiencies, and look over time into their franchises. They can see what they look like, evaluate them, hold them, score them, and make sure they’re compliant — we call it an evaluation because we think the term audit has a negative connotation.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 3–4 people from DevCube. I’ve only had direct contact with at least three people, and one of them is my main point of contact with whom I share my vision — he delegates and makes sure that everything gets done. They also have other developers and backend developers, but I don’t communicate with them regularly.

How did you come to work with DevCube?

I found DevCube on Upwork, and read some reviews about them online. I talked to a handful of people and development companies that I was looking to use. However, I definitely felt good about their process and how they operated. Their pricing fit into our budget, and they filled our needs in all matters. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000, and I imagine that amount will double by the time we’re done working together. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with DevCube around May 2020, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback from our clients has been wonderful. There haven’t been any issues with the ease of use from the client’s perspective. We’ve had issues with data not getting in the platform quick enough or not formatted correctly. However, that’s not DevCube’s fault. We are the ones sourcing and bringing in the data, so that’s not on their side. We had a problem one time with user logins, but we always expect some bugs when it comes to technology. 

We’ve had the vision of doing this for a while, and had potential clients that wanted it before us. We’ve moved a lot of our clients from an existing white label software into this new one, and our marketing has now ramped up. Now that we pay for this service, and it’s better to use we want to get our clients to use it — we feel like we’re competitive now thanks to their work. 

We actually just signed a major client contract that’s in the process of getting set up on our platform, just based on the fact that we had this new software.

How did DevCube perform from a project management standpoint?

DevCube entered our Slack channel, and we communicated through that. We also put some information through Asana so their team gets notified.

Their response time is always good, so if I have any questions, the project manager reaches out to me the same day or sometimes instantly. He is always on the ball, and the results are always what we ask for. It took us a while to figure out how to communicate at the beginning but it’s turned out to be better than I expected

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive characteristic about them besides the technical aspect, which I would assume anybody in this field should be good at, is their responsiveness and attention to detail. If there’s an issue with the site that I want to get fixed right away, waiting two days for a response would frustrate me. With DevCube, they're very accessible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that they could improve — they’ve worked as expected.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you provide enough detail on paper. Have your plan drawn out very specific, and have your vision complete and documented. Create templates and detailed notes of what you want your project to look like — that will help DevCube a lot in the process.

Otherwise, they’re going to develop something different from what you had in your mind. Even when you think you have everything, you don’t. DevCube can come back to you and ask you a question that you should have an answer for. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Firecommerce is an IT development company that is mostly focused on Ecommerce development. I am an executive.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

DevCube and Firecommerce have already a few years of partnership. Mostly we hire DevCube whenever we require synchronization between Shopify stores we develop and SQL / Dropbox. But they also provide us many other ecommerce development services on our projects.

SOLUTION

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

We have started our cooperation through UpWork a few years ago and still work together.

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

DevCube has created a synchronization tool for 5 online stores for the following integrations:

• SQL/Shopify integration for Products Creation (SQL View)
• SQL/Shopify integration for Sync Price (SQL View) 
• SQL/Shopify integration for Stock Sync (SQL View) 
• Dropbox/Shopify integration for Images Update

They also included DevOps support like:

• Preparing an AWS Virtual Machine where the sync tool application will be deployed.
• Setting up VPN connection between Virtual Machine and SQL
• Setting up CRON jobs

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

The team was consisted of a Project Manager that was also testing the final results, 2 developers and a DevOps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have always achieved the proposed milestones.DevCube has not only completed the Sync tool that automates all updates and DB synchronization regarding product creation, information and images. But also helped to launch stores like Vida de Perro, Soho Market, EPK, Naturalizer, Bakers.

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

We used email for comunication and whatsapp. they have project managers that take care of everything

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

DevCube team where always open and flexible to any new requirements. Their team members even stayed till late nights to support appearing issues when there were times of emergency. They never rest, until everything is up and running smoothly.

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

So far I have no points to mention here.