Gecko Dynamics

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gecko?

We needed help with web development and design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We built a booking system for one of the largest airlines in the world. It was to allow their clients to be able to interact with a booking system. We built the front end and back end of it in Java. They did 100% of that work and they started it all from scratch.

They also built our content management system that allowed designers to be able to work inside their Adobe workflow. They delivered both a front-end and back-end solution that helped us make a reliable product. We’ve also built over 100 other websites with them using custom development techniques. We’ve done SMS projects with them as well.

What is the team dynamic?

I interface with Alexey [CTO, Gecko Dynamics] twice a week and Sasha [Gecko Dynamics] probably once a week or so. Other employees of mine interface with them more often.

How did you come to work with Gecko?

An old business partner recommended Gecko to me. I was considering other companies, but I chose Gecko because their experience was the unique combination that our company needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested over $1,000,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2009 and the work is ongoing, involving multiple projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been able to stay profitable on every one of the projects we’ve worked on them with. They’ve delivered on time, to the point where we’ve worked with them for a very long time.

How did Gecko perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good. They give us access to their project tracking tool, Jira. Everything that goes inside of Jira is a transparent view of the work. We can prioritize all the backlog of work and we get to see what they’re working on and setting the timelines. They have teams that work in different locations. Usually, we’re getting responses 24 hours a day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re the best Java developers in the world that I’ve seen. From an integrity point of view, they’re the most standup guys. There have been situations where there’s been confusion and they’ve been willing to take a loss when they shouldn’t have. They’re in it for the long-term relationship and not just the quick project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t see any need to improve.

Do you have any advice to potential future clients of Gecko?

As with any development project, understand the scope and try to get as involved in the process as possible. If you’re going to own your product, don’t just throw it over the fence. Sit there and work with them on it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Lead product manager of an information technology company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We design and build mobile and web solutions that turn ideas into measurable results, strengthening businesses and creating loyal users through innovation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gecko Dynamics to accomplish?

• We hired Gecko Dynamics to help us build an IoT monitoring solution for our prior client. We needed to build a mobile app for monitoring systems in real time.

SOLUTION

How did you find Gecko Dynamics?

Referral

Why did you select Gecko Dynamics over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Gecko Dynamics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The team helped us build the main monitoring features. They worked on device data connection, real-time data processing, and logic for alerts and monitoring.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project was delivered on time and the client was happy about the speed.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes, all tasks were delivered on time, and they were connected during all previous negotiations.

What was your primary form of communication with Gecko Dynamics?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were proactive and easy to work with from the first discussions, and helped to improve the solution.

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

We are satisfied and would recommend them as a development partner and IoT solutions provider.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product manager / Lead developer of Nowa inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a leading manufacturer of water damage prevention solutions. Our entire history is linked to very specific expertise: water. For more than 15 years, we have been protecting homeowners from water damage. We make it a mission and an obsession. For our customers, the impact of being accompanied by a specialist is significant: access to constantly improved products and services, an unmatched experience, and the strong commitment from NOWA certified experts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gecko Dynamics to accomplish?

• Develop from the ground up the infrastructure necessary to maintain a large volume of IoT-like devices.
• Develop and maintain a state-of-the-art backend and frontend for a in-evolution hardware.
• Develop a multiuser mobile APP for the systems.

SOLUTION

How did you find Gecko Dynamics?

Online Search

Why did you select Gecko Dynamics over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Experience with similar projects

How many teammates from Gecko Dynamics were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Gecko Dynamics developed a state-of-the-art backend and frontend covering all the requirement of a modern IoT-like hardware. This included conception, build-up and support of highly scalable AWS cloud infrastructure. Finally, the team at Gecko Dynamics developed a hybrid multiuser APP integrating the cloud functionalities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Achieved milestones and MVPs. In-House and customers feedback validating project success.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Many times, at the beginning. We didn't deliver on time / or as expected and went over budget. We (as a client) adjusted the way we collaborated, communicate better and overall, just learned to set our expectations accordingly. Importantly, along the way, the team at Gecko have been very comprehensive and helpful in providing better collaboration solutions and adjusting to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Gecko Dynamics?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are very knowledgeable. They have been very serious about critical issues and have reacted incredibly promptly and sometimes proactively to important or potential issues.

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

We, as unknowing or otherwise untrained, clients often fail to properly describe or conceptualize our needs/requirements. We understand it's our responsibility to ensure proper description of our requests, and we've learned and adjusted the way we've done it along the way, but sometimes, I feel, some tasks we're either not properly described or in any case not properly understood and were still developed in a way that required them to be redesigned, refactored or simply redeveloped.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Software Development Manager of Auto-Star Compusystems Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Auto-Star started as an automotive company that developed inventory management software for mechanics and car dealerships. Since that time, Auto-star has evolved into what it has today, providing the best retail POS technology to the grocery, pharmacy and natural health markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gecko Dynamics to accomplish?

• Help with developing a cloud-based point of sale system

SOLUTION

How did you find Gecko Dynamics?

Online Search

Why did you select Gecko Dynamics over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Gecko Dynamics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

I am going to summarize. The scope was very large. We wanted to simplify and replicate a lot of the features we have in our legacy POS system and have them available in a cloud-based POS system. Our main goal was ease of use and an attractive design. Some of the key deliverables were product management, customer management, promotions, till software, integration to our debit/credit service as well as an admin application to spin up new sites for new customers and maintain existing customers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

For us we were looking at completion rate, budget utilization and the satisfaction of various stakeholders here at Auto-Star with the software they delivered.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

There have been three different project managers so far on their side. I have enjoyed working with all three of them. Items were delivered on time the majority of the time. I was always informed early if things might miss the delivery date. They always respond quickly to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with Gecko Dynamics?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The knowledge of their various developers has been very impressive to me.

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

I feel like sometimes they rely too much on text communication which results in some back and forth that wastes a bit of time when a quick virtual meeting might get any confusion cleared up much faster.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of the company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Software to create a virtual avatar of a user.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gecko Dynamics to accomplish?

• Clickable UX prototype
• Software development

SOLUTION

How did you find Gecko Dynamics?

Referral

Why did you select Gecko Dynamics over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from Gecko Dynamics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with Gecko Dynamics?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Gecko Dynamics first developed a clickable UX design, moving forward they will be developing the software. 

Key deliverables include UX/UI designs and mobile applications

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A good representation of how the software will look once created and see how it will function.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Very quick delivery, all needs were met, and great communication.

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

We praise their personal approach to each project, it felt more like teamwork rather than a task.

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

No real areas which could be improved

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Engineering

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Tour Operator

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gecko Dynamics to accomplish?

• Design a B2C-friendly website landing page
• Design a Product Details page for each product listing

SOLUTION

How did you find Gecko Dynamics?

Online Search

Why did you select Gecko Dynamics over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Other

What was the size of Gecko Dynamics’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our worked with Gecko Dynamics to redesign our landing page and product details page. We had a website that our customers knew and used, but we wanted to brighten the design so that it could be a website that they loved. Gecko Dynamics went above and beyond, delivering a unique design that was suited for our business.
We've talked to several design agencies in the US, Canada, etc. that are similar or bigger in size to Gecko but didn't quite find the right fit.

Gecko Dynamics had the right talent to show us a vision of our website that we knew could delight our customers. The people we worked with at Gecko really listened to our requirements and understood what we needed. Then they iterated with us and pretty quickly, we had a great direction for the website redesign. Couldn't be more happy with Gecko!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• A figma file that we were able to use for redesign of our website

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The staff at Gecko were super easy to work with. We had a good cadence for collaboration and no detail was missed. They understood our needs well and we never felt like they were trying to rush things. They responded very well to our needs in a timely fashion.

What was your primary form of communication with Gecko Dynamics?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The designer we worked with has a true breadth of talent. Their Dribble page is a good proof of this. Because we are in a unique industry, our design requirement was very specific, not a typical B2B design scenario. The designer understood this very well and we're super impressed with the result. The account manager we worked with was a pleasure to work with as well, super easy going and very clear about what the steps were in our collaboration. Happy to have gotten to work with both of them!

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

Because of time difference and remote collaboration over Zoom, it'd be nice to have better alignment on when the next meetings or touch points were going to be. Most of the time, they were clear but other times, Gecko could have done a more comprehensive job in making sure exactly what the next step would be. But overall, they did a good job here.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Im a co-founder or Probe helping companies understand their business

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Gecko Dynamics?

Redesign of our web page and case-studies with customers

SOLUTION

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

I've liked the portfolio of the designer we wanted to work with, and thats how we found them

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

They have redesign our web-page and created a couple of web layouts for case studies. They were able to iterate on the feedback very quickly and we are super happy with the engagement overall

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

One as a senior designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've got our design and layout in Figma and this made it very easy to implement in code on our end.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Ability to have a direct communication with the designer doing the work was amazing. Enjoyed this a lot

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

Skill and seniority of designer we worked with

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

Not really

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We're a digital marketplace for ready to install smart energy systems based on PV. I am a Digital Innovation Manager in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Gecko Dynamics?

Energy System configurator

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to quickly build an MVP for the energy system configurator in order to gather market insights and customer feedback for further development and improvements of the tool. We needed a simple web application to guide the user through selection of components and design on his personalized energy system.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them via research on the web.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed both front end and back end of the tool.

What was the team composition?

UI Design, Wordpress Development, Javascript development, QA all well coordinated by the Project Manager on their side. Team size was stable and seems to perfectly fit the needs of our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The solution was built quick, was reliable and clean(no bugs). It met our goals and was delivered on time.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Great project management and coordination. Project Manager was motivated, proactive and friendly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their flexibility, team motivation, and speed were impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

no

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of Trail Tips, a mountain biking instructional app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Gecko Dynamics?

I hired Gecko Dynamics to move my app’s content over to a server.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to update my app’s content without having to update the app on the app store.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I emailed a few different developers, and Michael (Head of Business Development, Gecko Dynamics) was friendly and helpful. Gecko Dynamics seemed like the best fit for our work.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a preliminary Skype call to discuss the project, and then Gecko Dynamics completed the content transfer from my app to a server. They implemented any changes or tweaks that I wanted.

What was the team composition?

We worked with Michael and Igor (Project Manager, Gecko Dynamics).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Gecko Dynamics completed the content transfer, and they were incredibly helpful and knowledgeable throughout the process.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was great. Michael was my initial point of contact, and then I worked with Igor, who managed the development team. Even though the project has ended, Igor told me I could email him if I have any questions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were responsive to my questions and proposed great ideas and solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I don’t have a single bad thing to say.