Emerline

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company was founded on a simple idea: that investors of all shapes and sizes should have help finding good ideas - making the latest investment technology and insights accessible to all. We lower barriers and provide greater access to financial information and market insights. Together, we are building products and services that help make all investors better. Just as we focus on our customers, we also strive to create an inclusive environment where our employees can thrive and do impactful work. We are proud of the world-class products and company culture we continue to build.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Emerline?

Our artificial intelligence platform helps people gain insight into the best and safest ways to invest by analysing various data and providing predictions on where the price will go. The project is very large-scale and requires the constant involvement of specialists for its systematic improvement: the development of new features, the implementation of design ideas, and continuous testing to ensure the product's sound quality. We have our own development team, but since we tend to set and realise ambitious plans, we have faced the need to involve additional technical forces in the project: QA specialists, front-end and back-end developers.

SOLUTION

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

We chose Emerline for several reasons:

• The company has the expertise we need to develop fintech and investment solutions and work with the required technology stack.
• Based on feedback from previous customers, we realised that Emerline had established itself as a trusted technology partner. Having started working with the company, we've got convinced of this.
• The company has sufficient resources to cover our requests.
• It is convenient to work with Emerline: specialists are always in touch and almost instantly respond to incoming requests.

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

Emerline provides us with the following range of services:

• Team augmentation
• QA & testing
• Automated testing
• Front-end development (realisation of our design ideas)
• Back-end development (development of new features for the product)

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

Depending on the workload, from 4 to 9 front-end developers, 30-47 back-end developers, and 4 QA specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

During our cooperation, we have brought to life many ideas, the development and implementation of which required not only a high level of qualification but also constant involvement of specialists in the project, including the need to address urgent tasks that had to be solved right here and now. Thanks to the high responsiveness of the Emerline team, we can confidently follow our plans and set even more ambitious goals, knowing that everything will be done strictly as planned.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As mentioned above, Emerline specialists show a high level of responsiveness and responsibility. The project is very intensive, and we often need to fix some issues instantly. With Emerline, we can ensure that urgent, unplanned issues will be promptly addressed.

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

We really like the company's flexibility in providing services. If you need more specialists, Emerline provides them; if there is a need for fixing some urgent issue, the team is always in touch; if there is some non-standard task, Emerline will solve it. In other words, we can fully rely on the professionalism and responsibility of the provider, leaving ourselves the opportunity to spend time setting strategic goals for product improvement.

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

We are completely satisfied with our cooperation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We connect pilots with squadrons through the platform that covers over 175 flying squadrons and allows an easy application process.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When we reached out to Emerline, we already had a codebase but wanted to improve certain aspects of the solution. Because the scope of work to be done covered both backend and frontend issues, we were looking for a technology partner that would work with the chosen technologies and would be able to provide us with a small team in the shortest possible time. Emerline fit all those requirements.

SOLUTION

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

It was important for us to hire developers who have some experience in the development of solutions for aerospace. When we contacted Emerline, they provided us with a portfolio that showed their expertise in the industry. Because we had a codebase of the application, we also wanted the contractor to be proficient in the chosen technologies and capable of establishing all the important integrations.

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

Emerline made improvements to the backend and frontend of the application. Among the tasks were:

• Creation of public and private note system;
• Publishing of positions and their requirements;
• Creation of applicant roles;
• Creation of pages for squadrons;
• Redesign of user profile pages;
• Redesign of the application view page;
• Adjustment of the permissions in the application;
• Fixes to integration and e2e tests.

The team also helped us with a testing phase and we continue our cooperation in terms of support services.

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

The requested team for the project was made up of two experts: a frontend and a backend developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the goals set were met: the application was improved to the state of a fully functional, fault-free solution, within the comfortable timeframe and budget.

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

We trusted the team and they performed flawlessly. Reports were easy to understand and all the tasks were completed on time. To stay on schedule, we had weekly meetings and the team members were always very responsive.

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

It’s probably about trust. Emerline is a contractor that you can completely rely on knowing that everything will be done on time and at its finest. They also integrated seamlessly with our team and worked not only well with us, but with each other.

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

Emerline has been fantastic and I honestly can't think of anything that they could have improved on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO of a software and services company that provides large consumer goods manufacturers an AI-based category management and revenue growth management capability.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We help top consumer goods manufacturers and consumer brands transform their category and revenue cycle management by offering accurate optimization and decision-making using Artificial Intelligence.

When we reached Emerline, we were looking for Data Science and DevOps services. We came with two challenges to the vendor. Firstly, we needed experienced data scientists to build and implement the space elasticity of demand feature based on AI technology. Secondly, we looked for DevOps experts to help us organize a data import process by its automation and orchestration.

SOLUTION

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

We were provided with a reference to reach Emerline for their solid expertise and highly qualified tech specialists. After interviewing them, we saw it for ourselves and decided to partner with them.

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

The scope of DevOps tasks delivered:

• Platform’s architecture and functionality analysis
• Several solutions for data import automation and orchestration offered
• Proof-of-concept for testing the suggested solutions To implement the space elasticity of demand feature,

Emerline delivered:

• Historical data analysis
• Decomposition of sales on trends and seasonality components
• Estimating space elasticity of products
• Using space elasticity information to support space allocation decisions in stores

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

The project is still ongoing. We have dealt with two members of Emerline’s team, including a data scientist and DevOps engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their DevOps engineer applied a systematic approach to solving our challenge. He did an in-depth analysis and provided recommendations on how to improve the data import process, make it more integral and reliable.

The vendor not only provided PoC to test our options but also suggested their recommendations, too. Emerline’s data scientist implemented the space elasticity of demand feature in the shortest possible time — in a month while we had expected it to deliver in 2-3 months.

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

The project is being delivered on time. Both specialists keep us updated on tasks delivered on a daily basis via email and Slack. To synchronize on a daily scope of tasks, we use Google Meets or Zoom for in-person meetings.

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

The team is very responsible and they stay in touch with us even on weekends. For us, it proves that they really care about the project’s success. All the team members demonstrated excellent skills of efficient communication.

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

Their work was excellent and they have become seamlessly integrated into our team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Head of Marketing Department at the company that offers development, implementation, and support of SAP solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When we addressed Emerline, our company needed a system for managing HRM internal processes. We wanted to create an application that will allow us to find contacts of teammates, manage leave requests, book desks in the office in a flexible way, and so on.

SOLUTION

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

Emerline had relevant experience. They presented us with some sound case studies of successfully delivered projects. They also came up with new ideas, best practices and solid experience that could be leveraged for our system.

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

Emerline’s team was involved in the project during all phases, including architecture, design, development, implementation, and support of the solution, both web and mobile (iOS and Android). They turned the idea into a fully functioning platform in less than 3 months, whereas the development process still goes on, enriching the product with gradual improvements.

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

Emerline project team consists of 10 IT specialists: front-end (react) engineers, iOS engineers, Android engineers, back-end (nodeJS) engineers, business analysts, UX designers, technical architects, project manager, QAs engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

e’ve received a fully functional application (web + mobile) that covers the following cases: finding the contacts of teammates, leave requests management (vacation, sick leave, etc), flexible desk booking (a co-working model), space management (buildings, rooms, areas, etc.), and time zone support. The app is integrated with the corporate Jira system, so it perfectly serves as an essential and natural element of the overall IT infrastructure. 65% of our employees use the application on a weekly basis. 25% of our employees use the application on a daily basis. The application already helps us to reduce costs for office space rental by 22%.

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

The team uses Scrum methodology for the development of the application. It gives us enough flexibility when setting the mid- and long-term milestones. The communication was remote, so we used tools like Slack and Zoom for interaction, and Jira together with Confluence for project management activities.

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

Emerline always met the deadlines. They are flexible and very creative. Emerline’s experts provides many ideas and IT solutions for our business goals. We continue working with the team and aim developing the product based on employees feedback and expectations.

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

Of course as with any other project, there were minor CR and comments from us, but the team quickly made all the necessary changes. The only advice is to provide quick feedback and work would be smooth with Emerline.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Monfluence is a company that offers a white paper e-commerce solution for digital firms, bloggers, photographers, and other producers of digital goods.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We contacted Emerline with an idea on a napkin. We were looking for end-to-end support with all services required for the creation of the demanded e-commerce solution.

SOLUTION

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

We chose Emerline because they showed us transparency in processes from the very beginning of our communication. The company has provided us with a comprehensive consultation, helped to validate the idea of the solution, and come up with a perfectly suited technology stack for the project. During the interview, Emerline also provided us with information on relevant projects competed for the ecommerce industry.

They have shown their strong expertise, experience in the delivery of complex portals, and enthusiasm to work towards our mutual success, so they’ve got the contract.

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

1. They provided us with business analysts.
2. They collected requirements for the solution.
3. Emerline reviewed competitors' solutions.
4. The team prepared a development plan.
5. They executed it using Agile methodology. 
6. After the production launch, they have supported us with bug fixes and consultations.

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

There were around 10 people in the development during its most critical stage.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On the basis of a comprehensive research, they provided us with a clear picture of what our customers expect from the solution, allowing us to minimize risks. We also adhered to their consultation services after the release.

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

The process was fully transparent. In addition to weekly sync meetings, we were able to communicate with them on a daily basis.

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

Because LeverX Group is made up of two brands, Emerline that provides custom development services and LeverX, an official SAP partner, engineers can implement the best, proven, and reliable practices of building e-commerce solutions.

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

Even if there was some space for improvement, it was completely outshined by transparency into processes, strong communication skills, and in-depth professionalism of the project manager.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Venture Capitalist w/ background as tech entrepreneur (co-founder of unicorn software co)

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I've used Emerline for a variety of web development use-cases for my portfolio companies. Typical engagement will be a front end and back end engineer team working on an MVP or v1.

SOLUTION

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

I interview ~10 offshore contract firms and found Emerline to be the most professional, competent, and personal.

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

As a SaaS investor and early stage builder, Typically has started with a scope and deep dive of the current tech and designs. The teams from Emerline have always been awesome about establishing requirements when none exist, or locking in on current requirements and suggesting improvements based on the speed and tech limitations.

We've always followed a reasonable sprint cycle and there's been willingness to conform to as much agile structure as needed. Have typically had teams from emerline also set up CI/CD and the devops infra for deployments. They've also always been amenable to using my tech recommendations and pushing back when they need to. Overall- good quality and delivery of well working software product has been great. Very happy.

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

I've worked with a handful of different small teams from Emerline. These had included frontend engineers, backend engineers, data scientists, architects, and business analysts.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the projects we used Emerline for have gotten successfully pushed into production. Have had limited prod errors. Good track record of delivering features that have been on target and pixel perfect.

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

Have also been organized using JIRA Open to Slack or Discord and have generally been great about delivering on-time.

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

They leverage their internal network of engineers well to solve problems. Also great communicators.

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

Have been one or two cases where production issues could have been fixed or communicated in a bit more timely manner, but this is probably more of an expectation setting gap.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO of UK based consultancy that work with Scale Up businesses to transform their IT and Product delivery.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We required a large team of experienced developers who could work alongside existing developers to accelerate development and take on substantial blocks of work.

SOLUTION

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

The firm has a good sized development team, with a broad range of technical skills from Analysis, Design, Development, Testing, DevOps and Support. We ran a small POC and they performed extremely well.

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

Following a 2 week POC, we entered a Discovery Phase. The team worked with the local staff to scope the project, estimate the work and prepare a set of sprint objectives for the course of the 6 month project.

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

We worked with 7 people over the 6 month period - this included developers, system designer, a BA, a UX designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client was delighted with the team, and we have continued to extend the product adding new features and taking on more responsibility for development.

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

The team work in an Agile fashion, using Slack for constant communication - almost as good as being sat next to them. They run daily stand-ups and end of sprint retrospectives & planning.

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

The team were very quick on the uptake, with exceptional technical skills. All the staff were confident in asking questions - with good English - and were comfortable calling out when something was unclear.

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

There are some projects where high quality needs to be balanced with the short-term goals. We learnt to specify that some technology was a tactical solution that could be developed without a long-term view.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder of veterinary technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Emerline provides ongoing backend & frontend work.

SOLUTION

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

Emerline is incredibly professional, both in managing expectations & in the work that they provide. I chose them because they're trustworthy & came highly recommended from another founder. Emerline has exceeded expectations.

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

Emerline provides ongoing frontend work to our web app, including building out an onboarding flow, capturing pet & parent information, and improving on video & chat communications in app. Emerline also provides backend work.

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

3 frontend developers who worked full time while working with us. 2 backend developers who worked full time while working with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They deliver on deadlines & build great work. I'd highly recommend Emerline.

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

I provide a list of tickets per sprint & we discuss if the amount of work is reasonable for the sprint timing. If not, I adjust the tickets for the sprint. They have never missed a deadline.

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

They're very responsive, even on weekends, and it seems like the developers genuinely care about the success of the project. Everyone has been excellent at communicating.

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

No, Emerline is great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a large LegalTech startup based in London

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Emerline?

Our product is a bootstrapped MVP which means that the initial designs were created on the fly with no real system in place. This meant that adding new features often meant providing our developers with rough sketches of how things should look. The product was being developed in an inconsistent manner and we had no process in place for designing features or improving the overall product design.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

In late 2019, we had an in-person visit by Emerline at our office in London. We initially just wanted to get to know the team and to get a sense of what services they could offer to our startup.

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

We engaged Emerline initially to develop a new feature relating to payments. They did a fantastic job of understanding the business case, sketching out workflows and producing very professional looking designs. Not only did they design the feature we needed but they created a design system including colours and reusable assets.

This meant that it would be easier to create the next design based on the system. Emerline provided us with access to a Figma file which they continuously updated as they went along. Our developers refer to this Figma file every day.

Once they had completed the initial feature, we asked them to do another feature and another. Over time, we moved from project-based quoting to a ad-hoc arrangement where we are only billed for the time we use. The rates are very reasonable and we get the value of having a UX designer in our team without having to create a full time role.

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

We've worked with 4 different people from Emerline including a business analyst and some designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a great design system in place thanks to Emerline. We use this as a basis for all product designs and so UX/UI is now a real strength of our product and it sets us apart from other competitors in the space.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very good. We have regular meetings which Emerline records and then uses to complete the tasks as per the brief. Recording the meetings was something they suggested and it seems to work out well because it means the meetings go fast and they never forget to do anything.

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

I really appreciate the fact that they generally beat the estimates they give us. If they say that something will take 10 hours, it often takes far less and they charge us for the hours it takes not the hours they quoted. This sort of honesty is rare in our profession and its a big reason that we continue to use Emerline. As a manager I know that with Emerline we're getting great value at a great price.

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

One of our favourite UX designers that was working for Emerline recently left the company. So we are sad to see her go and she knew so much about our product and our needs. Still the replacement has been well trained and she's doing well too.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company deals with various types of extensions. We produce extensions for one of the most popular e-commerce platforms, Magento, as well as Shopify. Also, we offer a wide range of services for both platforms, from development to support. I am the chief marketing officer. I manage a marketing team of five people, and handle various types of marketing analysis and planning.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emerline?

We needed a reliable developer to create a custom CRM-based solution for our internal marketing needs. The problem was that we have many customers on both e-commerce platforms, and it can be difficult to manage all of them. We also need to segment them at an advanced level. We were trying to evaluate some existing e-commerce CRM solutions including Salesforce, but we didn’t manage to implement one, so we decided to hire a development company. Our team doesn’t deal with solutions of this type; we use different technologies, so we needed an external company.

The solution is all about customer segmentation. We have two types of customers, one for Shopify, and one for Magento. Some of them purchase our bundled products, and it can be quite difficult for us to develop marketing strategies without proper segmentation. If, for example, a customer was to purchase our SEO solution, and also purchased our advanced customization service for the module, we wouldn’t be able to reach out to them and offer a simpler SEO solution. Some of our products are quite complex, consisting of various modules which we can sell either separately, or in a huge bundle. Moreover, we can offer different services, and need to segment the whole customer base according to various criteria. It’s quite advanced and complex, which is why we need this solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emerline developed our solution using Python, JavaScript and MySQL. This is the extent of my knowledge, as a marketing person.

How did you come to work with Emerline?

I know some of the developers from Emerline personally, which is why I was assured that they were good professionals, and that I could trust them.

How much have you invested with Emerline?

From what I know, the cost was a little over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Emerline in December 2015. The project ended in October 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were satisfied with the quality of the solution. During testing, we did discover minor bugs, but they were fixed within one to three months following the end of the project.

We needed segmentation to be a main component of the CRM system, and this is what we’re using it for. It was a main issue for us to segment huge customer databases according to various criteria.

The platform has helped us streamline our whole process for email and general outreach campaigns. In terms of numbers, from my standpoint, I have found the open rate of email campaigns to be greatly improved. Varying from month to month, we have seen 17-20% increases. The solution worked for us, and delivered good results.

We not only have better open rates, but have also improved all other criteria related to email and outreach campaigns. The system is being used by myself and a couple of colleagues, including the person who handles all our outreach campaigns, and the salesperson in charge of customer communication. He needs to approach them the right way, based on our customized promo and email campaigns. We need to make sure that we’re reaching the right people.

How did Emerline perform from a project management standpoint?

During the whole communication process, we mainly used the Agile approach, with meetings once every two weeks, and they delivered everything professionally, and answered all our questions. Emerline communicated with our product manager, who was in charge of the project, and also with me, given that the solution was being developed for my needs and those of the entire marketing team.

I have used GoToMeeting and Skype for communication. Emerline also has a Slack channel where they added me and their project manager.

Everything was delivered on time, with minor exceptions, and Emerline worked quite professionally. We haven’t had any challenges.

What did you find most impressive about Emerline?

Everything they do is done nicely, and without any delays or mess-ups.

Are there any areas Emerline could improve?

As far as I know, Emerline is a young development company. They should hire more staff, given that, although the work was delivered on time, there were delays of a couple of days when we needed to fix something urgently. Emerline’s team had their own tasks, and it was difficult for them to come to us right when we had some important questions to answer. Overall, they have very good potential, and Emerline may become one of the leading companies in its region. In any case, I wish them good luck.