FIRMINIQ

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the head of product development at a digital agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FIRMINIQ?

We required FIRMINIQ’s website development services. Our goal was to build a multi-regional website for the US, Canada, and some specific countries in Europe.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FIRMINIQ developed three separate websites for us from scratch. Initially, we provided them with the project brief, our requirements, and the UX designs generated by our in-house designers. Still, their team was responsible for the frontend development, and they also built a custom CMS for the backend using React Native. Additionally, they used MongoDB for the database and AWS for hosting.

This site is an online casino aggregator used to review online casinos worldwide. It supports different content for different regions so that users can see content relative to their location. After developing the site, FIRMINIQ offered maintenance services.

What is the team composition?

I worked with around 10 people from FIRMINIQ, including a lead architect, a junior architect, two lead developers, and a team of six junior developers.

How did you come to work with FIRMINIQ?

They were a recommendation by one of our clients who had worked with them before. We selected them because they had good testimonials and presented a concise picture of the project’s process.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in July 2020. By the time I left the company in February 2022, the engagement was still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our main success metrics were our website traffic and the number of qualified leads. The second month after launching the new site, we saw an uptick in our traffic, which led to conversions. We had an average of 7,000–8,000 daily visitors. Moreover, FIRMINIQ was able to implement everything we expected.

How did FIRMINIQ perform from a project management standpoint?

FIRMINIQ delivered on budget and was able to stick to the timeline they had promised. Thanks to this, we were able to launch within the time we wanted. We communicated mainly through phone calls and Slack, and we used GitHub as the code repository.

What did you find most impressive about them?

FIRMINIQ was very realistic about timelines, which was great. It helped us tell our clients exactly when we would launch the site.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, FIRMINIQ was hesitant to ask too many questions regarding our requirements. Later, we had to encourage them to dig further and ask more questions.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear with your requirements to help FIRMINIQ define accurate estimates and stick to what's agreed upon. Additionally, engage with them regularly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former executive director and head of software development for a device manufacturer. We manufacture blood pressure monitors and other healthcare and fitness devices. The company is one of the largest producers in the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FIRMINIQ?

We were going into the connected health space. We wanted device data to be available on mobile phones or remote patient monitoring, so we needed help with mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started our engagement with FIRMINIQ by giving them a small testing work. They did well, so we kept giving them more work until we moved to mobile app development. They’ve become our main strategic partner for all our development work. They’ve done mobile app development both for iOS and Android. The frontend services are on AWS cloud using Node.js as the language. Additionally, they’ve developed the whole backend on AWS.

FIRMINIQ also provides testing and QA services. They’ve set up a network operation center; they monitor it 24/7. Finally, they’ve worked on a remote patient monitoring project since late 2020.

What is the team composition?

The team started with around 7–8 people. At the peak, we’ve had over 60 team members. However, we work directly with the owner and the project manager.

How did you come to work with FIRMINIQ?

They were a referral by a friend of a friend.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them close to $2 million every year. For three years, we’ve spent around $5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in 2019, and it’s still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We mainly track two activities; one is the on-time delivery. We use agile development, so we have sprints. They’ve committed to the delivery and been above 90% on time.

The second metric we track on a high level is the quality of the deliverables, which is close to 99%. We haven’t had any issues with production.

How did FIRMINIQ perform from a project management standpoint?

They meet the deadlines most of the time and stay on budget. We use Jira and Confluence for project management. For test management, we use Zephyr. Additionally, we have a daily Scrum call, which helps us monitor and track the team easily. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their services is their most impressive trait.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should improve their selection criteria. Sometimes the profiles they select aren’t great, so we waste a lot of time taking interviews and rejecting people.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We aim to enable personalized medical care based on individually optimized medical plans, by analyzing health data and behavioral information. Toward this goal, we offer innovative products and services in three areas: Cardiovascular Health, Respiratory Care, and Pain Management. I oversee development of Cardiovascular Health mobile apps which contribute to healthy lives of our users in North America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

As a health device manufacturer, the software quality is the most important. Meanwhile, in order to catch up rapidly evolving market needs and technologies, engineering velocity and a high release cycle are crucial. On top of that development costs should be reasonable to provide users with affordable products. We’d like to achieve the best Quality, Cost, and Delivery (QCD) for our customers.

SOLUTION

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

They are one of vendors our US branch used to work with. When we, the headquarters, began to collaborate with the branch, we selected the vendor and concentrated our work on them.

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

Based on our requirements and plan, they design, implement, verify and deploy our mobile apps and backend.

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

Confidential.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

User ratings of our app in the US: iOS 4.6, Android 4.5

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

They are experienced in Agile and Scrum models, organize the team, and communicate closely through daily standup, JIRA tickets and meetings on request basis. They send members to onsite to fill gaps of communication and time difference with us.

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

They are honest and hard workers. We can discuss any issues frankly. Sometimes our requests might be tough and/or short notice, but they always listen to us and propose how to resolve issues constructively.

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

As their employee turnover is a bit high, new members always join the project. As it takes them some time to catch up, it affects schedule and quality. We know their turnover rate might be average in this industry, and they take a lot of countermeasures to retain their members, but we’d like to ask them to reduce the turnover rate more.