Futuro Team

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a product manager at a company providing financial services for gaming idustry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We faced a challenge of redesigning our support infrastructure due to company growth. After few years of woking with a variety of interfaces we've reached the point where it was necessary to systemise our support workflow and increase it's efficiency.

SOLUTION

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

When the project started we've been looking not only for a team to deliver stuff we ask but for partners who can join us at the discovery phase so we can share ownership of some units and be sure we'll get the result. During initial negotiations we've loved how the process is going and solutions Futuro team provided us with. So we came up with this decision.

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

We started the project with composing our requirements inside the internal team. So right after that we came to guys thinking we have clear understanding of stuff we're going to deliver. Regardless this fact, during initial negotiations we've decided to make a round and start with a discovery process and re-evaluate all the stuff we've got. It helped us to cut off lot's of unnecessary features and saved lots of time and money. When we've stand up with basic requirements and consent on scope Futuro kicked-off an old good scrum process so we're able to show result to our stakeholders every few weeks. Most of the project was delivered using React Framework and GCP.

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

7 people:

• UI/UX designer
• 2 frontend engineers
• 1 backend engineer
• 1 business analyst
• 1 back-end engineer
• 1 QA engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've reduced onboarding time at support team by 30% and avg. specialist productivity by 15%.

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

I loved the combination of two thing which are important for me: Easy and friendly communication and ability to work and discuss directly with specialist with no middlemen. Professional project management helping me to track the project and report to my stakeholders.

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

Management style and flexibility were impressive.

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

In the end of the project, I think that there was an opportunity to deliver faster making the 1st deliverables even smaller in terms scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-owner of a web3 tech company. We help brands initiate NFT drops.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have selected Futuro among 6 other potential providers due to great references and a personal level of care by Futuro's team. They have suggested various new technologies to implement the solution we wanted to have. They have helped us with creating a solid backend for the NFT drops / checkout service.

SOLUTION

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

New technologies, personal touch, great references and good flexibility of the vendor to adapt to our needs.

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

Under NDA (not available to share publicly).

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

Two senior and two mid-junior people. Total of 4.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We could launch our MVP and serve our first clients, doing a total of 200+ NFT mints.

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

Responsive and one-time communication. The atmosphere is friendly and collaborative. They deserve additional kudos for notifying us in advance about potential delays (but then actually these few marked delays didn't even occur). They adapt well to the client's needs. It did work in our case super well.

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

They deal with a variety of good new technologies and are advising on different ways of implementation, taking our companies factors into account really well. Also the working atmosphere was fun!

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

It seemed like they've had a lot of other projects at the same time and I feel we were lucky to grab their last free available people. I don't know if we were lucky or if that's the norm. But all work was done.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My title is Senior Solutions Architect. I own the design of the PostBidShip platform. When we started working with Futuro, I was contracting with PBS. I later became a FTE in June 2019. While I was contracting, I designed the platform from scratch. To this day, that is my primary responsibility.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

At the time we started working with Futuro, I was still part-time as a contractor. Our primary goal was to get our React frontend built. But Futuro also had backend expertise which was a bonus to us.

SOLUTION

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

I was not directly involved in the vendor selection process. I don't have insight into how PBS connected with Futuro. I had some input into the decision. We had two junior-level s/w engineers, both doing backend server work. We had no in-house frontend developers. We hired the Futuro Team primarily to do our frontend React SPA. But another consideration was that Futuro also had strong backend engineers to help with that development. It was better for us to work with one outsourced team than multiple.

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

I can't describe everything in detail. This was a large project and Futuro has been involved with the implementation since near the beginning. Our backend implementation is C#/.NET Core deployed in Azure. Our frontend is a SAP implemented with ReactJS. The backend presents a REST API for all functions. The frontend interacts with the REST API for everything it does. Initially, Futuro provided expert-level backend development. Later, after I joined full-time, we brought all the backend work in-house. This was partly due to Futuro wanting their engineer to do more management of their other engineers. He was doing development for us but was really a very senior-level engineering manager, too. The entire frontend was developed by Futuro. Like the backend work, we had an expert-level Futuro engineer doing the initial design of our SPA. He later transitioned off our project once it was clear his level of expertise was no longer required. We have been working with another React developer for over a year. He is also very good. I do design work. Anything that is medium to large in scope, I create a written spec which is shared with the team. I get valuable feedback and incorporate changes. Often the spec goes through 6-10 iterations. When there is any complex interaction between the frontend and backend, I will document my initial thoughts and then have the Futuro frontend developer provide input from his perspective. That feedback helps shape the design before it gets too far along. We launched our platform in mid-2019 and have iterated through many enhancements since then. We track sprints with JIRA and use GitHub for code repos.

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

Expert level senior React engineer Expert level senior C#/.NET Core engineer Senior level React engineer I don't know their formal titles I can only describe the level of service they have provided.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform has won several industry awards for effectiveness and ease-of-use. Futuro deliverables have always been excellent quality. Like all s/w there have been some bugs. But we find almost all of those in testing and the ones that have not been found in testing have been easy to fix.

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

We do the overall project management. We use JIRA to collect work items and organize related items into sprints. Engineers do estimates; general estimates, not very specific. Most deadlines have been met. When not met, the reason was typically because we had to be flexible and take on a priority fix or different small feature upgrade. We do daily team Zoom meetings (SCRUM standups) to discuss progress and daily goals. For constant communication and sharing of files, we use Teams. All this has worked well.

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

Mainly, it is quality of work product. We had previously worked with a couple of other outsourcing firms and were not pleased with those experiences. I think Futuro fit very well with how we were doing our development and had the expertise we needed.

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

I can't think of anything specific. We have been very pleased.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a co-founder of a startup that’s creating a streamlined communication platform for students and alumni. Our company is at a very early pre-product stage.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire FUTURO?

We hired Futuro to produce development-ready UX/UI designs based on our crude mockups and sketches.  

What were your goals for this project?

We’re developing our first mobile app and wanted to work with a professional design agency to create the UX/UI. The goal of the project was to have every screen and process for the app designed for our in-house development team. We wanted the design of the app to be intuitive and unique, especially for its primary use cases.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We looked through sample designs on portfolio sites and contacted over 10 vendors. We conducted phone interviews and received quotes from each vendor before eventually selecting Futuro.  

Describe the project in detail.

We started the project with a requirements analysis phase. During this step, we discussed the value that our application would provide as well as our position in the market. We then moved on to designing the UX of the app. Futuro analyzed our preliminary designs and conducted a market survey of the layout, functionality, and feature sets of apps that were similar to ours. The team recommended a specific structure and flow based on their findings.

Futuro created designs that fit with their recommendations, and we tested their wireframes on 10 target users. We then proceeded to the UI phase. The team presented several concepts for the logo, color scheme, font family, and overall aesthetic of the app. They gathered our feedback regarding their ideas and created several screens that displayed our preferences. After another round of feedback, Futuro designed the remaining screens of the application.

What was the team composition?

One project manager supported the project from the beginning to the end. We also had two UX designers, an art director, and several UI designers assigned to our project. The CEO of Futuro was easily accessible throughout the partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still developing the app, so we don’t have any demonstrated successes to share. Test users were excited about the application and responded positively to the wireframes.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Futuro gave us a detailed calendar for the UX design phase. We also had weekly meetings with the designers and project manager to review new screens and provide feedback, which they always incorporated.

We communicated primarily through Slack and had regular voice conferences to check on progress. Despite the time difference, Futuro accommodated our schedule, which we greatly appreciated. They were also very responsive to all of our inquiries.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team was diligent in designing details that we hadn’t even considered and frequently surprised us with their insights about the UX of our app. Also, we were particularly impressed by their responsiveness and attention to detail throughout the final days of the project.  

Are there any areas for improvement?

There were times when we wished that Futuro would’ve taken a unique approach while solving certain UX challenges. Their traditional methods made sense at the time, especially given our budget. We also experienced some back-and-forth when trying to identify the right visual design concepts. Overall, we’re very happy with the professionalism of their team and the quality of their deliverables.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Wastless, an Israel-based B2B startup that provides dynamic item pricing for supermarkets based on expiration dates.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FUTURO?

We wanted to cultivate a new online image that was both fresh and serious but lacked the in-house talent to do it. As such, we reached out to FUTURO to design our informational site, from the dashboard to the overall visuals and presentation. Their scope would later expand to include development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, we went back and forth to refine the initial site designs. Once I gave my feedback and approval, they developed the platform and created animations. It’s an informative site that provides facts about the environment and data on food waste. By using a new, fresh look, we’re able to present ourselves as a B2B company while still maintaining a startup feel.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 people from their team, including a lead designer, lead developer, and Artem (Co-Founder and CEO, FUTURO) who was very involved.

How did you come to work with FUTURO?

I’d worked with Artem while he was with his previous company and liked his work. When he started FUTURO, I considered them for this project and looked at their references, initial designs, and color schemes. They also gave me a decent price. Although I originally wanted to handle development internally, it wasn’t really a viable option for us, and other options were more expensive.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May–October 2018, but we still collaborate with them. The site launched in early October to meet press release dates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m happy with the final deliverables, and we’ve received several compliments on our site. Many international and Israeli publications have also featured us. Currently, we’re still working with FUTURO and will continue to do so for as long as we can afford it.

How did FUTURO perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated daily through Skype; I could ask for something at any given moment, and they would get it done on time. Occasionally, I could be difficult to communicate with, but they never got upset and remained professional throughout.

What did you find most impressive about them?

FUTURO employs a great team with a good eye for design. It can be difficult to put a thought to paper, and it usually takes about 5–6 iterations to produce a final design. But FUTURO understood my vision and always hit the mark on the first or second try.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only drawback is that they’re overseas. I would have liked to have had a dedicated team member assigned to us so that they could live and breathe our brand. However, this isn’t a service they currently offer.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Find people who can understand and execute what you want. I’ve already recommended FUTURO to colleagues looking for design work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Ontel. We provide software and construction management services to telecommunications contractors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FUTURO?

We were looking for a vendor to help us update an existing user interface of our app as well as the look and feel of our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we had a meeting where we discussed the scope of work and what we wanted to incorporate. They developed the wireframes and worked collaboratively with our CTO to address all the technical details about the design and implementation. Then, they updated the UX/UI for our app and our website. It's a hybrid application for both iOS and Android and our website is built in Readymag.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people.

How did you come to work with FUTURO?

I found their portfolio on Behance and got in touch with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between May–October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After FUTURO updated the user interface of our application, it'll stand up against any of the majorly funded companies that we compete with.

How did FUTURO perform from a project management standpoint?

We talked at least on a weekly basis, but we communicated daily during certain phases of the project. We used Slack, web conferences, phone, and email to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to work with an existing product line and enhance it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. They did a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you know what you want to accomplish. They'll bring value to your project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO and Co-Founder at AVA Technologies Inc. AVA Byte is the world’s smartest indoor garden, designed for the connected and conscious Millennial looking to unlock their green thumbs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire FUTURO?

Our product is an IoT smart home consumer product. We needed a robust app designed to our high aesthetic standard. FUTURO managed the app’s UI/UX including animation and icon design. They helped us sort through and create all the visual screens to give our development team a clear direction.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to map out all the possible screens for the app. Since we didn’t have UI/UX design internally, we didn't know what all the necessary screens would be. We wanted the app to be truly useful and beautiful to set a new standard for the indoor smart gardening world.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered three different design agencies. I first saw FUTURO’s work while browsing Behance. Our CTO and I thought that they provided the best value for high-quality work based on the portfolio and cost.

Describe the project in detail.

The scope of the UI/UX project was to map out all the screens we could possibly need. There were many times we felt unsure, but FUTURO walked us through the process of figuring out what to include. My role was more to give business direction to achieve our overall objectives. Our CTO provided the technical guidance. My co-founder, the CDO, managed the overarching branding, look, and feel. FUTURO was responsible for helping us curate, design, and refine the screens. They also provided the overall app brand guidelines.

What was the team composition?

FUTURO’s team included five people total. We mostly worked with a project manager, UI designer, and UX designer. Later on, an illustrator and animator came on board to help us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a very smooth transition from the UX/UI design phase to development. FUTURO made sure our developers had everything they needed. There were no unanswered questions or concerns about changing the design into code.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our overall experience was pretty good. We would use FUTURO again for future work. We stuck to the timeline and communicated well. They offered innovative ideas, asked good questions, and answered all our queries promptly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

FUTURO always stuck to the timeline and budget. They even worked during weekends if required. Their commitment to delivering quality results was great. Rather than trying to force anything, they always took our recommendations. They provided insights when they agreed or disagreed with specific suggestions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We had a great experience!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the chief creative technologist for Tradelize, a trading platform for professional traders. We provide investment tools and mobile apps. I lead the creative and technological parts of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FUTURO?

We needed the development of an administrative panel for our ICO (Initial Coin Offering).

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They designed and developed the administration part of our platform. They created the token-sale administration part. It allows to receive tokens and work with different crypto payments.

We have the ability to receive payments and send tokens back to the people buying tokens from us. This is the main feature of the administration part. I can see how many tokens I have and what cryptocurrency I’ve been using.

The project is mainly completed, but we still need to add some APIs. We're considering whether to do it ourselves or use FUTURO.

What is the team composition?

We're working with a project manager and two developers from their team.

How did you come to work with FUTURO?

We were looking for people who could build our tool. I knew Artem (Co-Founder and CEO, FUTURO) through other projects we’d worked on. We had some communication and they gave us a good price. We started working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work was around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them one month ago. We still need to make some configurations on the product so we're still in communication with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform works well. We still need to take care of marketing from our side, but this isn't dependent on them. Hopefully, we'll have a success story after we’ve seen some results.

How did FUTURO perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through Telegram and email on a daily basis. They work 24 hours a day and respond quickly, even though we have a time difference. They quickly resolved some bugs and made tweaks during the development stage.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated the speed with which they completed the project. Most of the development was done within two weeks—I don’t know how they did that, but they did.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always improvements to be made when it comes to development. There are always bugs that need to be fixed fast.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I've worked with multiple startups and ICOs and I’m sure that I will collaborate with FUTURO on my next project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was a web development consultant for The Grator, which is a new media online platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire FUTURO?

We needed UI/UX design for our platform.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create an identity and website that will help us stand out us from other media. Also, we wanted to ensure users would focus on our content when using the platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us.

Describe the project in detail.

They first created an eye-catching identity to match to our brand’s name. Then they started with the UI/UX design of our website.

What was the team composition?

The team included a branding designer, a UI/UX designer, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had some ideas in mind of how the platform might look. They exceeded our expectations with what they developed.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their team worked hard to reach our deadlines. There was a small delay, however it didn’t have any impact on our overall deadline.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were able to rely on their experience to handle the project while we worked on our business.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I was totally satisfied with the job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I lead the data science department for an educational company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FUTURO?

We were trying to build an analytics application for the education industry. We wanted to collect data from different schools, colleges, and universities and generate insight to give them back to the education end users. We have an in-house development team but needed an outside resource with expertise in Angular.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were primarily involved in frontend development using Angular since the design portion had already been done by another vendor. Their main responsibility was to create the API documentation because they were pulling data from the backend.

Our solution is a software as a service (SaaS) platform and CRM system that collects data from different sources. Once the insights are generated, all the users can view them.

What is the team composition?

There were two to three people on average.

How did you come to work with FUTURO?

We knew their CEO from a previous engagement we’d done with another vendor. The relationship with him was fruitful and the work was of high quality. He delivered on his promises, and when he started FUTURO, we continued to work with him. We did consider five to ten other agencies, though.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent between $30,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2017. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product isn’t live yet, but we’ve been super happy with our collaboration with FUTURO. Their quality is very good, they manage expectations well, and they meet all deadlines. Everything has worked out better than what we expected. There have been a few bugs, but far less than with our previous experiences with other vendors.

How did FUTURO perform from a project management standpoint?

They did pretty well in this aspect. The project manager and CTO had a tight grasp on the project and estimated its timeline perfectly. We did weekly sprints; at the end of each sprint, we’d have a deliverable ready for testing. We also had a check-in call every other day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They meet our expectations. Whatever gets decided gets delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Whenever their CTO gets involved, he adds a lot of value. If they could do that more often, it’d be phenomenal.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it. FUTURO helped us a lot. Plan the entire engagement in sprints, though it can sometimes a bit vague, at least there’s direction. We know what to expect on both sides and both sides meet the expectations.