Edicasoft

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a CEO of a small fintech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We are providing services from a third party and needed a web page and online portal for clients to access the services. Online portal is connected to service provider via API. We needed to develop a portal in a very short term.

SOLUTION

How did you select EdIcasoft and what were the deciding factors?

Edicasoft was recomended by one of our partners. One of the deciding factors was their ability to start the project right away and commitment to a tight schedule.

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

The project developed in two consequent milestones. Before each milestone, we had discussions about priorities and delivery timeline, which allowed us to make a final release in time.

The most part of the work is integration with third party API. EdicaSoft were discussing with API provider all integration issues and implemented all requirements from their side. Amazon AWS was proposed by EdicaSoft as an infrastructure of the project. As the project repository was selected GitLab with their CI/CD for code delivery.

The technology stack of the project is: Backend: Python with Django, DRF, Celery Frontend: Vue.js + Vuetify Services: Amazon Elastic Beanstalk, ElastiCache (Redis), RDS (PostgreSQL), SNS (for SMS notifications), SES (for emails), VPC + VPC Nat for the network security

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

We’ve been working with a team of 4 developers including Tech Lead and project manager, Python backend developer, VueJs frontend developer and QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been able to launch the project in a very short term, which was our main objective and concern. All the necessary features were implemented as planned. Edicasoft's team showed creative approaches and solutions and was proactive in resolving the issues during the project.

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

They use Asana to track tasks and do general project management, we had regular weekly meetings via Google Meet and were actively communicating in shared Telegram chat when it’s needed.

The team were highly responsive and we had no issues communicating with each other. The timelines were properly estimated and even if we had any delays during the project they were related to the complexity of the integration processes with third parties rather than to the team’s ability to provide results in agreed terms.

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

The team is very responsive. Been able to get the essence of each task and come up with a solutions. Considering that the most tasks were provided by person with no progarmming or IT background, been able to transform the business tasks into development of specific feature and provide the necessary outcome.

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

Although the overall deadline for the project was honoured, sometimes provided too optimistic timetables for separate tasks. Should be more active in direct communication with third party API provider, not to involve business development team in some technical communication.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

bepartner started as a web-based service (bepartner-global.com) to help Ukrainian entrepreneurs find a business partner, but it quickly expanded to a vibrant community of small business owners, investors, and startup operators, with multiple successful connections established both in Ukraine and across the border.

There are currently more than 3,000 Ukrainian businessmen registered at the site, actively working on over 1,000 startup and business expansion projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Migration of our MVP product to AWS, system integration and streamlining, new web service features, update of the site and service design

SOLUTION

How did you select EdIcasoft and what were the deciding factors?

We reviewed multiple companies and freelance web developers, and selected Edicasoft as they were able to provide the services we need in a professional manner, demonstrated an impressive portfolio of past projects, and were able to flexibly scale their services to our business needs.

Edicasoft is able to attract additional engineers for the complete spectrum of tasks (design, CI/CD, web development, systems integration, QA, and testing) on an as-needed basis. We also appreciate their advice on strategic technical planning.

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

Migration from a second-tier web hosting to AWS, set up of Gitlab CI/CD, development in PHP/Laravel stack, custom web site design, AWS MySQL integration, etc.

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

Edicasoft CEO and two engineers worked with us throughout the project and 4-5 additional specialists were involved in specific tasks

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The web site stability dramatically improved, staged deployment and testing was setup reducing the frequency of issues, issues addressed promptly, multiple new features developed, consistent planning and professional web design and development

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

We use a variety of tools too effectively communicate and agree on the project scope, including shared documents, messaging apps and email, Google video conferencing, Gitlab, Jira, Asana project management

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

We find Edicasoft's ability to adapt to the needs of the client most impressive - there is no task too small or too large they wouldn't be able or willing to do. We recently started discussing a business idea of utilizing blockchain-based technology for tracking syndicate investments in the startup projects and were pleasantly surprised to learn Edicasoft has the requisite technical expertise.

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

Sometimes imprecise assessment of time and costs of the development could be improved upon. That said, as Edicasoft got fully up to speed with the project, discovered and corrected multiple issues in the original messy product, this is less of a concern recently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I founded a new SaaS product, and I manage it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with EdIcasoft?

I was looking for a company that could do development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the frontend and backend of my SaaS application, and they also advised me on the product and user experience, and they built an MVP for me.

The technology stack we used was Vue.js for the frontend. There is part of the site that is static for SEO purposes, so we use Gatsby and a bit of HTML and CSS. We also used Python and Django for the backend part.

What is the team composition?

I was dealing with Igor (CEO/CTO) and Daria (Senior UX Designer/Frontend Developer). Igor was responsible for the backend development and Daria took care of the frontend development. They had another backend developer as well as another frontend developer on the team. I was mostly in contact with Igor and Daria, and they actually wrote down the tasks for the rest of the team. There were a total of five people that worked on the website.

How did you come to work with EdIcasoft?

I was looking for freelancers online as well as development agencies. I reached out to them and got a proposal. I did the same with several agencies. We did online Zoom interviews and I decided to go with them. They offered the best technology stack and knew to ask the right questions about the product. They made it comfortable for me to trust them which was the key reason why I chose them.

How much have you invested in them?

I invested around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in mid-July 2020, and we just recently finished at the end of September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s a bit early to say and I don’t have any indicators that I can measure other than just looking at page speed. I browse through the code and it is structured properly. I looked through the databases to see if all the architecture is structured in a reasonable and logical way. I haven’t had a chance to get user feedback and things like that yet.

How did EdIcasoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They were always available. We had two weekly video calls to go over the testing that was done. They brought up questions, I shared mock-up designs. The communication was great. They have good English skills.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They handled the development in the way I expected it to be handled. The fact that they were always available and could communicate everything to me was great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I am not sure. I don’t think there are any perfect projects, but there is nothing I can think of now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They suggested that we go through a design process before we started the development and in hindsight, that was a good idea that I didn’t take. I would follow their experience and suggestions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software developer, but for this project, I’m the project manager.

SMATOS is an abbreviation for subject management and treatment organization system. It was founded in 2010, and we develop software to manage patient treatment and therapy protocols in the area of oncology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Edlcasoft?

In terms of patient treatment management, our company needed a mobile application to manage appointments and care. After a patient has received radiation or chemotherapy, the patient will have aftercare, either with follow up care or other appointments to visit their doctor.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Edlcasoft did the complete design of the application.

The app contains some appointment management, patient calendar, and the form management. It depends on the treatment type that the patient receives, but they will get standard forms that they can fill in themselves.

Each form shows the actual stage of each patient’s care process. The hospital can get continual feedback from the patient about his or her state in the different stages of therapy. This is important information for the hospital and the doctor.

In addition to this, we’re going to show the patient useful contact information, and the actual news that is provided by the hospital or from the oncology center. The user can install this functionality on their mobile phone through our application. We developed all of this together with Edlcasoft.

What is the team composition?

Our organization develops backend, and Edlcasoft implements the frontend.

How did you come to work with Edlcasoft?

I was searching for companies like Edlcasoft, who have the right experience and could possibly implement a mobile app for Android and iOS. I spoke with my colleagues, who I worked with on another project, and they advised me to get in contact with Edlcasoft. We decided to go with them because they had the best offer.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2020, and the main functionality was done in five sprints. It was completed in June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

During the implementation, we had some special government security requirements. Germany has special laws around data security, and we have additional security requirements that will be implemented by the end of the month.

The developers needed to understand what was required and what customers needed to get from the application.

Another important part for us was that their team took care of the app design. Our organization doesn’t have the right experience, so it was helpful for us to get a complete design we could see and show our customers. We just gave them the requirements, and they did the whole design.

How did Edlcasoft perform from a project management standpoint?

During the implementation, we received helpful insights and hints from them regarding the best practices for the design and implementation of security requirements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The main thing was what they brought concerning mobile apps. Their special knowledge around security and communication between frontends and backends was impressive. I also appreciated their design input. Our entire team was grateful for their experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We tried to follow a scrum process, but we didn’t do a classic scrum. Our project was smaller, but I think for a bigger project, it would be necessary to follow a scrum process directly.

We didn’t have any problems with sprints, and I think it’s important that all the tasks were completed within the planned sprint.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Emergent Technology is in the business of elevating global commerce in emerging markets using cutting edge technology. I was the Senior Technical Product Manager managing our Responsible Gold Supply Chain portfolio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire EdIcasoft?

We hired Edicasoft for a number of projects where we needed outsourced expertise for a short period of time. These projects included ETL, Salesforce (Apex, Visualforce, etc.), and front-end development components.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to quickly deploy these supporting projects without impacting our core operations.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Edicasoft based on their reputation, responsiveness, and ease of doing business.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Edicasoft worked on several projects for Emergent Technology. The project I'm most familiar with was an integration between our bespoke KYC / AML system and our Salesforce instance. This allowed us to seamlessly begin KYC processes on leads when they converted.

What was the team composition?

The team composition was a small number of developers, a project manager, and a SME (provided by Emergent Technology).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project allowed us to convert several time intensive manual processes into one, mostly automated process.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was primarily handled by Edicasoft and was very effective. Edicasoft works well with ambiguity and their project manager was conscious of requesting clarity from our staff only when blockers were present.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Flexibility. Edicasoft was exceptionally flexible at working with our changing priorities. They were able to pause and shift resources from one project to another without issue. Edicasoft was easy to work with regarding payment terms as well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None from the projects I was involved with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of technology at The Go Game. We’re a team-building and event company that hosts teambuilding events and runs scavenger hunts and other games via cell phone applications with a backend database running the missions and routing. Now, we’re running virtual teambuilding events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Edicasoft?

They worked on several development and IT projects for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were in the process of implementing a whole new database for our backend system of missions that build the game. They also developed our client portal where clients entered information about their even, including custom trivia. Finally, they built our e-commerce program. Now, they manage our app and upgrade software for iOS and Android. They also managed the old software and upgraded it with new code.

They built the portal entirely from scratch with a new design. This involved managing our relationship with HubSpot and scheduling through Airtable. They had to keep all those systems communicating between our game runners and the clients. Another part of the features was that clients could enter information that would be automatically entered into the game.

Additionally, they worked on rewriting the launch code of our game so that our code was more stable. Before, we had a lot of instances of large games of hundreds of thousands of people would crash. They streamlined how the sign-in process works so we were able to manage larger games without lag or complete failure.

They’ve also redone the code for our gameshow software, building a new UX/UI for the client-facing presentation of the gameplay software. Before COVID-19, they were in the process of bringing out entire mission game-writing software onto a new platform. Unfortunately, we’re not running that specific game right now so we’ve shifted our priorities.

What is the team composition?

I had two-point people, and then I sometimes worked with a third person. I know there were other people with specific focuses behind the scenes for things like iOS, UX, and graphic design. Initially, I met with Paval (Senior Software Development Engineer, Edicasoft) and Daria (Lead UX Developer, Edicasoft) too.

How did you come to work with Edicasoft?

Before my time, they were working with another 3rd-party engineering shop. Igor (CEO, Edicasoft) left to form Edicasoft and we followed him. We were very impressed with the work he did at the previous company and we wanted to continue our relationship with him.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent anywhere from $5,000–$15,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together with Edicasoft since October 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with their services. Our software is far more stable now. Before I came on, there were lots of emergencies with game runners were out in the field without a working system. Now, we have a much better product that offers more features. It’s also easier for game runners to incorporate client data, which leads to a better experience for everyone involved.

They’ve been very flexible with their time. They’ve been dedicated and willing to work at strange hours. Twice they’ve even come over and visited us. We’re very fond of them and their part of the work.

How did Edicasoft perform from a project management standpoint?

With us, we use Jira and Slack. Jira is for milestones and high-level tasks, and we shout out problems and bugs in Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked for a number of companies that have user overseas engineering teams, and, typically, there’s a longer delay. You kind of have to add one day to everything you need done because of communication and being offline at different times. They’re both very competent and fast, as well as generous with their attention to their client. A lot of times, because we’re running live events, they have to be very flexible when something goes awry so we don’t have a thousand people standing around. This isn’t something you’d expect from any overseas engineering department.

When you’re not doing something standard, then it requires a lot of flexible thinking. Software for scavenger hunt management isn’t something you can go buy off-the-shelf. It requires a lot of creative thinking to solve our unique problems. There could have been issues understanding that from a cultural, language, or process standpoint but they were always able to communicate clearly with us and vice-versa.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For a long time, we felt like we were their favorite client, so as they grew we had to wait in line a little bit, which was perfectly reasonable and fair, but we still miss those days. I selfishly would have liked that to continue, but best of luck to them staffing so everyone continues to feel like their favorite client.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t think I have any pearls of wisdom, other than keeping the communication channels open.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Haden Kirkpatrick and I am the CEO of Odin Money. Odin Money is a financial fitness and wellness platform with a full suite of banking services. We use a combination of gamification, machine learning, and brilliant design to help people build financial fitness and wealth.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire EdIcasoft?

Edicasoft helped us as a full-service offshore development firm. They managed all aspects of the go-to market process for our MVP and phase 1 roadmap, including design, front and back end development, machine learning optimization and tuning, dev ops, and general platform development and upkeep. Furthermore, Igor and his team helped act as a prime SI for the platforms we were licensing, and helped create the product business case for the development/cost side of the process.

What were your goals for this project?

Timely development of our product. The regular release of key product updates and experience optimization. Machine learning and tuning.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our CTO had previously worked with Igor and his team and had great success using their services.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

See Above

What was the team composition?

We staffed 3-4 front end developers, 1-2 back end developers, and 1-2 UX designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Without Edicasoft, we simply would not have made it to market. Igor and his team were fantastic at getting our MVP to launch and were very helpful in the optimization of the product experience. Edicasoft always delivered on time and under budget.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Igor acted as the dev-ops manager for the whole process and coordinated seamlessly and effectively across the entire product/project sprint.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of the product they delivered was top notch and best in class. They did A+ work with offshore rates, delivering one of the highest quality to cost ratios I've ever seen.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that I can see. Igor and his team go above and beyond their core role, acting as much as product consultants as offshore dev/design resources. They are all around brilliant!