DevRain

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an advertising company skewed towards below-the-line marketing activities including events, conferences and other promotional engagements. I am the owner and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DevRain Solutions?

We were organizing the Ukraine IT business conference for Microsoft, which involved building a web portal with different IT tools and functions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DevRain Solutions has worked on a few projects for us, on behalf of different clients. DevRain Solutions has primarily provided development services for us. They have recently developed an internal financial and accounting system for our company. Assigning such a sensitive task to another company is a testament to our trust in DevRain Solutions.

How did you come to work with DevRain Solutions?

Someone from Microsoft Ukraine recommended DevRain Solutions to us. We got in touch and started our collaboration.

How much have you invested with DevRain Solutions?

The price range is quite big, given that we've worked on both minor and large-scale projects with DevRain Solutions. The average cost has been between $25,000 and $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with DevRain Solutions 3–4 years ago. We recently completed a couple of projects in January 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My work experience with DevRain Solutions could be described in 3 words: fast, proactive, and high-quality. These are the main criteria I use in my collaboration with DevRain Solutions, and they are something which both my clients and I appreciate.

DevRain Solutions is not a cheap company by Ukrainian standards, but they can work fast and proactively. On a constant basis, they've provided me with the expertise I didn't have.

How did DevRain Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I don't become involved with project details very much. I care more about outcomes, financials, and customer feedback. My team has monitored the deadlines, and I haven't heard any bad comments or complaints in this area.

What did you find most impressive about DevRain Solutions?

I like the expertise provided by DevRain Solutions. As a non-IT person, this is very important to me.

Are there any areas DevRain Solutions could improve?

DevRain Solutions has a skew towards the IT side of assignments. If I have a task which is more marketing oriented at its essence, I have to give DevRain Solutions more explanations for what I mean and what I want.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Atmasfera360 is a company that has revolutionized the way planetariums and digital theaters can be engineered. We are dedicated to the design, development, and integration of innovative solutions that provide unique immersive experiences. Atmasfera360 is a digital planetarium and 360° full-dome visualization theater. It's a place to explore secrets of our Universe as well as to watch 360 full-dome movies.

I am the chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DevRain Solutions?

The idea of the project is to create a modern and easy website with information, schedule of films, and a ticket system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They offered ideas and did concept development. The project included implementation and deployment of the system. Now, they continue to fully support the system.

How did you come to work with DevRain Solutions?

I've had previous experience with Alex from DevRain for the Smart City project.

How much have you invested with DevRain Solutions?

The total amount of the project is about $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in November 2014 and it was completed in January 2015. Now they work with us on full support and additional development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Traffic to the site has gone from nothing to over 4,000 users and nearly 30,000 page views since launching.

How did DevRain Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, our goals were formulated and have been achieved.

What did you find most impressive about DevRain Solutions?

They have unique creativity and precision.

Are there any areas DevRain Solutions could improve?

No, nothing for now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a software development company.

What is your position?

I am the manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with DevRain?

We were using a PHP solution that had performance issues, which determined us to move development to .NET. We needed the right team for this.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

DevRain worked on .NET and Microsoft Assure development for us. They're also specialized in cloud-based solutions.

How did you come to work with DevRain?

We researched them online and had a good feeling about their work and how it was structured. We decided to use them for our development work.

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

The cost is $33 per hour.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first project started in January 2015. The work ended at the beginning of April. We're still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We are more than happy with DevRain. They've done a much better job than the other company we worked with. Whenever something needed to be fixed, they were fast to react.

How did DevRain perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate very well. DevRain provide us weekly status overviews, and we communicate through Skype and our project management tool.

What distinguishes DevRain from other providers?

They're proficient with Microsoft Assure and app development, for which we're planning a new project with them.

Is there anything DevRain could have improved or done differently?

I don't think so. I'm happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

dbaza health is a healthcare technology company offering a patient onboarding platform for managing and reducing the costs of chronic diseases like diabetes. Our mobile solution supports patients in building long-lasting, self-management habits. For payers and self-funded plans, we provide comprehensive patient profiles and help tailor the disease management interventions. dbaza health is a Pittsburgh-based company with offices in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

We have developed a platform for assisting patients with the management of their chronic conditions, while helping them reduce the cost of their care. It is our main product and it focuses on the education and engagement of patients with chronic conditions.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Executive Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with DevRain?

One of the challenges when starting product development outsourcing is being precise in stating what you want to do. Since there is no face-to-face communication with the developers, we have to change the way in which we communicate altogether. That is always one of our main challenges, but we've been outsourcing for many years, and thus have mechanisms in place.

Whenever we start collaborating with a new company, we have to adjust the communication structure: how frequently you communicate, what is the length of the communications, how many tasks you assign at one time, what is the standard of checking the work, and other elements.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We wanted to work with DevRain because they're not just techies who work on implementing a set of tasks based on your specs. They can do this, but they also give a lot of insight into the best approach from architectural and product development perspectives.

We evaluated our existing platform, which we'd built using .NET and Microsoft Assure. It was fully functional, but it required re-tuning and a lot of additional development. DevRain seemed to have a lot of experience with these technologies. They helped us with the architectural experience and built additional features for the product.

They have experience with designing and building APIs [application program interfaces], which was critical. One of the largest components of the projects involved making an API through which we could connect the platform to the client's CRM [Customer Relations Management] system..

How did you come to work with DevRain?

We had done a lot of work with them on Upwork. That's also how we initially found them: we posted several project descriptions, and they responded. We had several Skype calls in which we learned about them and their team, what they'd worked on in the past, and their proposed approach for building our project. We will usually offer a test project, followed by the real one. Everything went well, including their written and verbal communication level, so we gave them a try.

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

We've worked with them through several projects and we also contract DevRain for maintenance work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for the past three years, and have no plans to stop.

We currently have a local team in Pittsburg, and only outsource certain tasks to DevRain, balancing between them and our own team. We're planning on setting off a product which will be larger in scope, and will use more of their resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They stuck to every deadline that they set for themselves, which is encouraging. The product was delivered as expected and the quality of work is very high. We launched a new version in September 2014 with only a handful of bugs.

They understand the software development process and constantly check and double-check their own work. We didn't see any kind of sloppiness in the work they've done. Even a trivial task will be accomplished professionally, on a high level.

The system is currently stable, and any issues are resolved within a few hours by DevRain. They take responsibility for their work.

What distinguishes DevRain from other providers?

In the software design and development market, paying a lot of money doesn't give you the guarantee of a good product. It's rare to find someone who is good at what they do, from my 25 year experience. When you find an intelligent, hard-working, experienced and talented developer, you must appreciate them. DevRain are constantly learning the new and better ways of doing work, including Microsoft development platforms.

Is there anything DevRain could have improved or done differently?

The first projects we worked on were well-defined in terms of scope, offering good understanding for both parties and little ambiguity.

The next set of projects will be bigger in terms of scope, and could present communication issues, which is a topic we have discussed with DevRain: how to be more precise in writing documentations and so on. We come from a government mindset, where everything is documented and you have to be specific and precise. DevRain work a little differently, but at the end, our requirement for communication is kept.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a software developer.

What is your position?

I am the development evangelism lead. I am responsible for creating a development partner ecosystem.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with DevRain Solutions?

We were looking for a developer for Windows Phone applications.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

DevRain has developed apps for us and our partners on the Windows Phone 7, 8, and 10 operating system versions.

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

Pricing depends on their negotiations with our partners on a project-by-project basis.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've had a partnership with them for three years. It's an ongoing relationship. We recommend them to our partners looking for app development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

DevRain has developed a number of successful applications for us, which have stayed on the top of their individual categories for extended periods, based on consumer ratings.

How did DevRain Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We've never heard any complaints from our partners about their work. 

What distinguishes DevRain Solutions from other providers?

Their CEO is an active community leader in the Ukraine and beyond, which sets them apart from other developers. DevRain has competent Microsoft technologists in their team, making them one of the top developers for the Windows Store. They have also expanded their capabilities to other platforms. 

Is there anything DevRain Solutions could have improved or done differently?

There isn't anything. Their competency level is something that sets them apart from their competitors, so it's something they should maintain.