Devision

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Vice President and General Manager of an education company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is the leading provider of edtech solutions to keep students safe, engaged, and well, with products designed specifically for K-12 schools. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Devision to accomplish?

• Develop modern webapp version of Flex software

SOLUTION

How did you find Devision?

Referral

Why did you select Devision over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Devision were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Devision developed a modern version of our web application "Flex," to handle our growth and additional product features. Designed to run separate front-end, back-end, and mobile app microservices on Kubernetes using scalable AWS resources. Also developed a separate common user management solution and internal product management interface.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Actual usage of our "Flex" product by millions of end customers. New features being released regularly.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team is very responsive to our needs, but on-time delivery of specified items has sometimes been a challenge. Our project has a lot of complexity so there are mitigating factors as well.

What was your primary form of communication with Devision?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They have an excellent attitude of providing superior services and work hard to ensure our satisfaction.

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

Sometimes they struggle to provide accurate estimates of amount of work required for a new feature based on our business needs, or to deliver that item on time and with minimal errors. However they are always willing to continue to improve their deliverables until they meet our needs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Im the owner of a Company that provides different outsourcing tasks for our clients, mostly in the administrative field but also in IT projectmanagement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The website was created by an other company. Unfortunately they did not reached our goals and lacked good quality in Software development. So we found Devision. The goal was to bring the software to a stable basis and to develop new features.

SOLUTION

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

Devision was recommended by an other company that had good experience with them.

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

After the initial meeting they were able to staff out projects with the right people with the development skills needed for our project. They set up the environment and planned together the next milestones to finish the software.

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

One full time developer and a project manager who was responsible for the resources on the vendors side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Even, the software had some complex process automation in it Devision was able to develop it in a good quality. The client also was very satisfied about the commenting in the code structure that even helps him to understand it and make some small changes if needed.

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

We had weekly stand ups where we discussed the current and featured task. The team was quiet small so we used a list of tasks and they had to estimate every task. This was the basic to reach the goal of the project.

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

They were able to take over the existing project, refactor it, and bring the product on a stable basis. There was also a change of the developer during the project. They were able to replace him without any problems.

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

For this project no.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm part of the Business Development team at a digital agency that has around 350 people. We mostly focus on custom mobile & web development, as well as design.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Devision?

Our company is growing rapidly, and occasionally, we have a hard time upscaling our internal development teams for new projects that are incoming. That's where Devision jumped in, and helped us extend our teams so we can service our clients well.

SOLUTION

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

It was a combination of several factors, but overall, their communication has been transparent, and friendly. Their Clutch ratings were good, their tech stack was pretty aligned with ours, and it seemed they could be a good fit.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We usually send them the technical requirements once we have them, and they check if they have suitable candidates, or are able to find them. We then go through a selection process on our side as well. Each developer gets assigned to their own project, so it varies on a case-by-case basis, and even after the project is finished, we try to find something else for them. The technologies worked with were Flutter, iOS, and Java/Angular.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We first discussed the details with their Sales, and from there on we had one or two calls with each of their people to assess their fit for the projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

They helped us with several technologies. They provided us with iOS, Angular, and Flutter engineers. Flutter was especially a pain point for us since there aren't that many Flutter developers on the market that we can hire internally, nor a lot of partners that were good with providing Flutter candidates.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I would say that their team has mostly integrated really well with ours. The overall communication was really good. We had some minor issues with some of the members, but these issues were resolved in a quick manner. Devision's sales and delivery teams handle these things quite well.

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

Their engineers are of solid quality, and they excelled at technologies that on occasion were really hard to find. Also, their sales & management are really good to work with.

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

I wouldn't really say so. Some minor issues that we had were easily resolved along the way, and at the moment working with them is mostly flawless.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

FPI Hotels & Resorts is a leading hotel chain in Bulgaria. I am the digital marketing manager of our company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Devision?

We hired Devision for 10+ projects. Most interesting one was for our property located on the Black Sea coast - Santa Marina Holiday Village in Sozopol. It consist of 70 villas and 1700 + apartments. We wanted to improve the online experience of the apartment owners offering new solution for booking/paying most of the services which we offer (tennis courts, swimming training, housekeeping services, etc.)

What were your goals for this project?

Better online experience of our clients. Improving the occupancy rate of our tennis center, swimming pools trainers, etc ..

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had previous experience with Devision and that's why we decided to hire them for this major project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed a new website where our customers could book and pay online tennis courts, swimming training, housekeeping services, soccer field, car rental services.

What was the team composition?

Several people from Devison team including Hristo Proynov as project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We improved our income from this extra services with 30% not later than 2 months after the website was live.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very effective team. Hristo and his colleagues were always available answering our questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have very fast communication.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is nothing they could improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in research and development for a company that offers products for home electrical installations. My responsibilities include development for our cloud platform, IoT services we currently have in operations, and the solutions we're building for our customers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Devision?

We worked on this project for an external partner. Many components were in a very new field for our company. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Devision provides ongoing software development for cloud services and provides state-of-the-art technologies. Depending on the specific service at hand, they’ve coded in a variety of programming languages. For the central component of our engagement, they used Microsoft Azure to build our basic cloud platform. They also develop software modules that run on our devices and have implemented services in PHP. Using the interfaces we provide, they’ve capably adapted to the existing technologies available on our platform. 

Currently, we're working on three active projects together. Each one revolves around home and building solutions. Based on how well they executed our first small project last year, we’ve moved on to more critical aspects of our business that involve live systems. At the moment, Devision is one of our strategic partners for cloud platform development. We plan to work with them for the foreseeable future. 

What is the team composition? 

Our technical partner from Devision is our main point of contact. He develops architecture and designs solutions. The greater team of lead developers we’ve worked with has remained constant over all four projects. When needed, we include additional part-time engineers.

Devision independently handles recruiting and selection based on our forecast about which relevant new technologies we should use. During our weekly meetings, we define the number of resources they should allocate for upcoming tasks. As we’ve established a closer partnership, we’ve scaled up from two full-time resources to a consistent team of 3-5 dedicated developers.

How did you come to work with Devision?

Our department's lead first contacted Devision two and a half years ago, before I started my role here. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on the first project from July 2017–March 2018. All three of our current projects began by the last quarter of 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although the new strategic projects we're working on with Devision aren’t currently the central part of our business, our digital efforts are becoming more and more important. It's difficult to measure our web platform's success because we don't sell our services. They are free of charge for our customers at the moment. 

We chose Devision to support one of the three main projects we’re currently developing. Based on their past performance, they’re the best team to take on this endeavor. They've managed to scale up as we allocate more responsibilities to their team. We thoroughly trust their competencies. At no point have they struggled to meet any of our requirements. They always have the technical knowledge necessary to fulfill our requests and take architectural responsibility for the solutions they build.

How did Devision perform from a project management standpoint?

Devision set up tools and used an Agile approach to organize our project. From the very beginning, they carefully structured the entire development. They were willing to integrate into our holding company’s business processes and offer the creative freedom to speed things up when necessary. They provide clear reports and deal well with unplanned tasks. 

Currently, they take care of the sprints, project management, and ongoing development. They performed well in terms of communication, responsiveness, and timeliness. We can always reach the developers. Devision provides instant feedback and completes solutions very fast. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Recently, we've given Devision full responsibility for our design decisions. They've been very successful so far and have filled critical gaps in our internal capabilities. Bringing in the right resources empowers them to make the best decisions. They've always been very transparent and discuss their choices with us. Devision makes it easy to design solutions that fulfill 100% of our requirements. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I strongly recommend including Devision in the initial design phase of any project. They're highly skilled at solution architecture. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at a pharmaceutical company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Devision?

We were looking for a developer to help us build our brochure application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using our design templates, Devision developed a simple brochure application for iOS and Android devices. They incorporated our company’s logo and general style in the interface. The platform provides information through both written and visual content. They also included a contact feature that lets users request additional medical information or submit comments and feedback. The application is live and Devision continues to provide maintenance and updates every six months.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Devision’s co-founder, a designer, and a developer.

How did you come to work with Devision?

After searching online, I found around three potential developers. In an internal meeting, we evaluated each candidate. Ultimately, we chose Devision based on their pricing, technical capabilities, and proposed solution. They offered an offline option for the application, which we wanted.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–September 2017. The first two months we worked on developing the app, but the rest of the engagement was getting the product approved.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of key performance indicators (KPIs), we mainly measured download numbers. It’s only for specialists, so we’re happy with its use in that specific market. We’ve also received positive feedback regarding the platform’s usability and performance.

How did Devision perform from a project management standpoint?

The co-founder was my main point of contact. He listened to my requests and led his team through a project management platform. We uploaded all the materials, then they submitted designs and we posted comments on each piece. The workflow was seamless and there were minimal delays.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are skilled in their work. Both the designers and developers produced high-quality work with minimal bugs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could better allocate their time. Occasionally, it would take them a while to respond because they are working on other projects.

Any advice for potential customers?

Clients should make sure Devision includes specific dates in their project timeline calculations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an education network with offices in different countries in Europe. We are presently working on developing a software platform that will allow us to manage course activities. We’re collaborating with Devision within the frame of this project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Devision?

The tool we’re building will allow us to automate our work process at a technological level. Currently, we’re relying too much on human involvement, but the software will allow us to transfer some parts of our workflow to procedures that we can manage and monitor electronically. It’s a two-sided objective: to improve our internal working process and support our workflow, and to provide access to this same software to clients and partners in order to improve our internal communication with them. The platform will take the place of exchanging emails and phone calls, which can be time-consuming.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first version of our tool was developed with another company. We started working with Devision on improving it, but we then realized that it would’ve been better to start again from scratch, so we assigned this new task to them. I am not very knowledgeable about the technology used for it. The platform will be developed as a web app, but it’s currently only an online platform.

The platform, working as an intelligent software, allows us to manage the set of services we provide to clients. We can investigate all our databases through it, and find the information we need in a quicker and easier way. At the moment, we’re relying a lot on Excel tables and other files and tools. With the platform, we will be able to access the information we need in no time by simply making the right queries in the database itself.

How did you come to work with Devision?

We were looking for the best and most cost-effective offer in Sofia. I personally asked for multiple quotes from the established developers and software companies in the city. I had a chance to meet numerous representatives, and Devision convinced us with their human approach to the project onboarding, professionalism, and cost.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s an ongoing project, and I don’t have the exact data.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Devision almost 2 years ago, at the end of 2015. The first part of the development was done on the existing software, to which they made some adjustments and improvements over the course of 7 months. Devision produced a better version that we’re still using. During the last 6 months, we’ve been working together on a new platform, starting from scratch. We have reconsidered our concept and objectives, and Devision guided us on thinking about what we needed and how that could be translated into a software platform. At the moment, they are also continuing to work on the previous version, performing small adjustments to keep it functional.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their contribution has been vital, given that we’re relying a lot on the platform. The next step will be an advancement in the services we’re providing, and we will be presenting the platform to our partners and clients as a revolutionary tool. So far, there’s nothing like it in our industry. We’re launching something that will hopefully be perceived by the market as a valuable and novel product. Right now, Devision has quite a large responsibility in contributing to this. The challenge is significant, and they have seized it. Devision is supporting us by taking this in the right direction.

This is an improvement, compared to our previous experience building the platform. We have seen progress, and there is a definite end in sight.

We are satisfied with the quality of work and expect that, once the platform is delivered, Devision will continue to be a strategic technological partner for our company. We will continue to work with them on other projects and rely on their help.

How did Devision perform from a project management standpoint?

Our process is easy to monitor and assess. Devision is using internal software for project management (I believe it’s JIRA). We can monitor the quantity, quality, and level of tasks we’re assigning to them and create more as we proceed. For each 10-day sprint, we will define a set of tasks to work on and have weekly meetings to validate the progress of their work and go over completed tasks. This allows us to have close communication as we progress. At the same time, we keep continuous phone and Skype communication with the developers working on the platform itself.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The human side of it—the fact that, despite the cold and technical nature of our work, Devision has tended to bring a human element to the table. That's valuable to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, we were assigned developers who couldn’t really speak English, which made the communication difficult. This had an impact on the kickoff phase of the project, and I have shared this with the CEO of Devision. It has since been resolved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Copybook is a global business network.

What is your position?

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Devision?

We've had our domain name since 1997. It always acted as our corporate website. We never directed our clients to it because, in the early days of the internet, we had set up multiple platforms for different industries, from air travel to armed forces. We attracted various companies to our different sites, which could then pay for advertising on our pages. Our sites' age started to show in terms of design and functionality. We didn't have a clear idea of what their direction should be at the time, but it soon became apparent that we needed to merge our nine sites together. Merging nine websites into one central unit in the Copybook domain, each from a different industry and each different from the other, was quite a challenge. It involved changing servers, hosting facilities, and redirecting from the old websites once the move had been made. Right now, going to copybook.com will give access to all of the industries we cater to.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

In our relationship, I am the one with all of the ideas. I don't have detailed knowledge about the technologies Devision have used but, but if I ask them to do something and they can do it, I won't really care about technical details.

How did you come to work with Devision?

It took me a long time to find a company that could do what I wanted, after going to companies in Silicon Valley and London. I was already using a development team of my own in Brazil, but unfortunately, no one had the capabilities that I was looking for. I thought I'd search a little closer to home and chose Bulgaria because of their lower prices. I had read that developers there do far better work than average, for less money. It was a natural decision for me to explore that possibility. I can't remember where I got Devision's name from. We did research on a total of 50 companies and got in touch with them. We passed 10 of them to the interview stage in order to assess if they could do what they said. Devision was leaps and bounds above the others. I always appreciate being able to get along with someone. It's just as important as having a good deal. Bad communication can be detrimental to your goal. In the end, we were left with only two companies which we thought could meet our requirements. Devision had the expertise, the likeability factor, as well as the pricing and geographical factors. They were relatively close, compared to a developer in the US, or to our team in Brazil.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We work with Devision on an hourly basis. My original estimate was for 10,000 hours of work for my project, which allowed me to bring the price down during negotiations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We're still working on different sprints for new releases. One of those is set for tomorrow.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Overall, the work has been brilliant. I have confidence that we're going to achieve our end-goal.

How did Devision perform from a project management standpoint?

When Devision tells me that they can achieve something, I have complete confidence that they can in fact do it.

I have a Skype conference with my team every week, in which we discuss the direction we're taking and when the next release is going to be.

What distinguishes Devision from other providers?

What I like about them is that they've been able to do the work which many other companies, including ones in Silicon Valley, said couldn't be done. The fact that I get along with their team and have a conference with them once a week is also fantastic. We have a clear indication of where things are going, although I do have to stay on guard in terms of what any new change might bring. Ultimately, Devision has been professional and very hard-working, which is typical for the eastern part of Europe. I would recommend them in a heartbeat without question.

Is there anything Devision could have improved or done differently?

When we merged our nine websites and repointed the old sites to our main one, I had no idea that Google would absolutely bury us in terms of statistics and searchability. I don't think that Devision knew either. Our entire Google rankings disappeared suddenly, which accounted for a massive hit on my company. This fault could be attributed to me, but I'm not a techie. As with a massive surgery, there would be a period of recovery during which time we'd have a standstill in activity. The technology and capability is there, but sometimes not all aspects are looked into, such that I, as the client, can get a clear picture of all the eventualities.

There are some communication issues which can be annoying. I would much rather prefer to be given a longer estimate that would be, in fact, accurate. I have no doubt that Devision can get the work done to a satisfactory level though.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

3B Nexus is an online video platform and communications portal for financial investors and corporations.

What is your position?

I'm the Director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Devision?

We wanted to find a developer which would be willing to work as if they were an in-house team member, giving us full control to the data and product, but still be independent. Usually, companies sell their services in this way, but when the work actually starts, they only give the client access to the developers themselves.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We started development for our product a few years ago, relying heavily on Flash technology. Flash is not well-viewed currently, so Devision was responsible with changing the infrastructure of our product from something which was becoming extinct, to using current technologies. This was not an easy task, but they've managed to do it.

How did you come to work with Devision?

We researched several different companies. Based on their websites and the recommendations we received, I decided to work with Devision.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We negotiated our own pricing, which is not offered as standard by Devision. It took some time, but they have realized that we aimed to create a relationship with them that would extend to a long period. We employ them as we would an in-house team.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for over a year. Our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've been happy with Devision's work and couldn't complain about anything.

What distinguishes Devision from other providers?

We're a small team, and as such, we don't spend a lot of time in meetings, making reports and ticking boxes. Our environment is not corporate-like. Because they're a small team, Devision has integrated well with us. They work well as a unit.

Is there anything Devision could have improved or done differently?

Being a young team, they can sometimes require a higher level of guidance. This can either be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your position. Their kind of team would not have existed 30 years ago, but it does work by today's standards.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the IT & Productdevelopment of an energy & natural resources company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We're an innovative energy company that plays a leading role in the energy transition.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Devision to accomplish?

• Update framework versions

SOLUTION

How did you find Devision?

• Clutch Site
• E-mailcampaign

Why did you select Devision over others?

Good value for cost

How many teammates from Devision were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Devision was asked to update our custom made software for energy monitoring purposes, by updating the Laravel and PHP versions. This included as well the technical updating as the functional testing of the updated software.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Weekly updates about the code and issues that became clear

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Perfectly transparent about the steps that will be taken. Results were good and ready in time.

What was your primary form of communication with Devision?

Virtual Meeting

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

They paid attention to both the code and the functional context of our product. This gives me the feeling that the developer (and the projectmanager) really understood the idea.

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

not really