GeekForce | Software Development

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am COO of fintech startup. We are proposing our sevices in several markets over the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development, and what were your goals?

We had a highly sophisticated aim and as a startup we have been using every possible way how to boost development of our product. The product we sell is pretty complex and requires different knowledge from creation of infrustructures on GCP up to analytical approach and ability to cope with different data.

Thus, GeekForce has been outsourced due to the easiness of cooperation regarding business technology dialogue and flexibility.

SOLUTION

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

In the process of searching for a good company, we have gone through 4 different options, one of them was Geekforce. Despite the better hourly rates the deciding factors were; flexibility, a relatively big team of specialists needed for our project, a team that can easily understand business language and after setting correct goals – achieve them step by step.

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

It is a multidimensional project that included many steps. Everything has started from the audit where and afterwards the following steps has been planned. After the audit the scope of work has been planned for the nearest 12 month with few milestones.

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

Mainly 4 of them. 2 data analytics leads, software engineer and CEO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still ongoing. Throughout this period of time we have had a significant movement forward and revealed multiple important aspects in tailoring of our product to our customers.

Geekforce was able to adjust to those changes and still helps us achieve what we expect for our clients.

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

Usually tasks are done in time and properly. There were very few cases when something did not meet our expectations. The main mean of communications is email, slack and ClickUP for task tracking.

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

The main elements are approach and ability to transofrm business tasks into tech tasks. When it comes to approach, we mean being flexible in everything from working hours to the rolling changes based on our clients' needs.

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

Preparation of supplementary documents like API documentation or some other instructions not always met our expactations. Despite some paperwork no larger issues has been identified.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

homly is a new iBuyer on the Polish real estate market - a company that buys real estate for cash, based on the market price, and the transaction takes place in a few days.

The iBuying service is gaining popularity in the USA and Germany - clients appreciate the possibility of selling real estate quickly, without the need for burdensome renovations, no visits from dozens of clients and commissions for agents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development, and what were your goals?

To develop an AI system that will acquire offer data, bring them to a standard format, and use them to build models for apartment valuations.

SOLUTION

How did you select GeekForce | Software Development and what were the deciding factors?

References from other clients, skilled IT team and price. Planned delivery time.

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

GreekForce designed a custom AI system that can evaluate properties. In addition, we have models that can price the apartment based on transaction data.

The entire infrastructure was built in the technology of microservices based on dockers. In addition, the website operates independently, which communicates with the above-mentioned system and property valuation automatically. The website uses technologies:

• Node.js
• React
• Typescript
• Mysql

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

2xdevelopers + 1 AI specialist

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was delivered on time, with even more functionalities than expected.

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

Communication tools: Slack and Asana. Weekly reviews - scrum with Agile approach.

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

Very good budget controll, timely delivery, Impressive dev skills and daily contact.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Da Vinci Studio. Our software house is a digital product agency with experience in mobile applications and website development for global brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development, and what were your goals?

We needed a reliable partner to be responsible for Augmented Reality (AR). We would have liked them to support us because they have great experience in this sector.

SOLUTION

How did you select GeekForce | Software Development and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for someone experienced, who offers high-quality products. I know a dozen companies that specialize in AR and their offer was the best for us.

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

The project was to connect between the analog and digital worlds. GeekForce was involved in the entire development cycle and they gave us excellent technical support.

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

We worked with two developers for AR technology, a project manager and a team leader.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

GeeekForce introduced a number of innovations and the team is an amazing group to work! They work hard during development sprints to hit promised deadlines.

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

The team analyzed our business and technological needs and was engaged throughout the partnership. We communicated on skype or slack and talked about issues.

They delivered us the projects using Scrum methodology, that’s why we were up to date with the project’s development cycles with the ability to make requirements changes.

They delivered us detailed reports so we knew what they were working on. I can say that GeekForce is a reliable company and we will continue to work with them in the future.

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

GeekForce understood our needs quickly. They are extremely competent in their role. Their team was really good from a technology perspective. Work quality also was impressive. Their work surpassed our expectations.

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

None. Our partnership went smoothly and with no major issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of Practastic.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development, and what were your goals?

As a mental health therapist I recognized there were a lot of missing features in current EHR platforms that therapists currently use, so I hired Geek Force to create a software project to help bridge the gaps.

Geek Force took initiative when dealing with researching claims and suggested a plugin that could automatically complete field data from the EHR of choice to the provider portals. This saved countless hours for my billing team in my other business because we no longer had to manually input data and took what is usually a 10 minute task for each insurance claim to a 30 second task.

I also have asked them to design an EHR software that is more user friendly for providers and provides more robust claim features.

SOLUTION

How did you select GeekForce | Software Development and what were the deciding factors?

I found Geek Force on LinkedIn. A consultant friend of mine who had designed an EHR themselves, advised me as to important questions to ask them.

Ultimately, I chose to go with GeekForce because they had great knowledge in regards to data security, could tell me where my competitors holes in their security were, and because they were responsive to all of my noob-like questions. I never expect their level of excitement and support for my product, and they want to see it succeed just as much as I do.

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

I can't speak much to the technology used other than AWS and Java, but we created a Chrome browser based plugin. We will be launching a subscription based model by the end of December, and there is a fully functioning website that allows for collecting payments, a database of customers, and ability for customers to input login credentials.

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

There were 4 people including the owner on the main core team, and there were about 3 or 4 devs working behind the scenes. I worked with Dawid, Pawel, Marta, Jakub, and Gosha.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am pleased with the deliverables so far. The team went above and beyond to address my questions and feedback and were very responsive with how I wanted my data to be entered and to populate.

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

Their communication was great and was 100% virtual. Their timelines are reasonable and were even more fast paced than sometimes I could keep up with as the owner.

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

They really care about their customers and their success. They see our working relationship as a symbiotic relationship, and I really felt valued as an individual by the company. They didn't treat me like a cash cow, which is the vibe I received from other companies I had interviewed.

I also appreciated when I told them everything I wanted built out both for the plugin and for the software, that they told me to slow my roll, and see how the product sells before wasting my money developing it further out, so they were very conscientious.

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

I believe this is very specific to my case, because I know how my software should function best from the user perspective, if they could have given me a bit more understanding of how the coding worked/functioned, I could have had less errors in my portion of the work I provided them. I don't believe most people would want or need to know this information though.

Overall, they were always able to correct any bugs in a timely fashion, and were receptive to feedback, so much so that I don't view this as a negative. In fact I plan on hiring them for future products.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a health and wellness tech company. We provide a mobile first platform as a single location for health and fitness, allowing people of all types to track their fitness and nutrition, find gyms, socially connect and transact with professionals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development?

To build the MVP of our software platform on iOS and Android. On the client side this involved native app development using Swift and Koitlin. The server side required extensive use of Google Firebase products and cloud functions in Node.

What were your goals for this project?

To launch a custom built MVP for international use. We required high quality UI, UX, and design elements. The apps needed be fast, native, user friendly, sophisticated and be styled specifically to our internal design guidelines.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed over 30 companies to build the MVP. Shortlisted contenders were required to build a small proof of concept which comprised of a part of the platform.

This allowed us to evaluate the working experience, communication level, understanding of our needs, coding sophistication, project management and quality control process.

GeekForce performed well in all these areas and were able to tailor a price and roadmap to our limited budget, prompting us to ultimately select them as the final choice.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

A custom platform in the health and wellness market, with native apps on both iOS and Android. Services and features provided so far:

• Source code management via Git.
• Project management via Jira.
• Communications via Slack and Google.
• Backend with Google Firebase products.
• Cloud infrastructure with Node.
• Native iOS app built with Swift.
• Native Android app built with Koitlin.
• OAuth and social integration.
• Native and custom camera implementation, for photos and video.
• Custom UI/UX components for both builds.
• Custom payments integration with Stripe.
• Routine QA and testing.
• Delivery of apps for private testing via Play Store and TestFlight.
• Convert Sketch designs sent by us to Zeplin.

Not all of these things have been completed yet and some are still in progress.

What was the team composition?

The team has been:

• An account manager (we have had 2 so far).
• A project lead directing works and the main point of contact technically.
• Between 2-4 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The GeekForce team has slowly been helping our business realise the MVP we envision. They have worked consistently towards this purpose, despite a global pandemic breaking out during development. This has allowed us to move closer to market with a complicated product.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management has been performed by the team leader Mateusz at GeekForce in co-ordination with us. This has not always been perfect, but we have worked together to improve the process and fine-tune aspects on both sides. Overall I would say that our team leader has been very good to work with and has been receptive of our suggestions for streamlining the development process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The coding ability of the team we have been assigned. As a technical founder with over 15 years of development experience myself, finding cost-effective developers who can duplicate the overall concept of a large project is hard.

They need to be able to see the bigger picture, structure/organise code to scale towards that vision and deliver a high-quality working product. A team with these qualities is hard to find. Our platform is challenging, and so far they have continued to deliver to our high standards, which is impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Faster delivery of milestones. The timeline originally proposed is well past due and we are still in development. This has meant an opportunity cost for us as a business, as we have not yet completed the MVP and got to market (at a time where our industry has boomed due to the coronavirus).

It has also affected our relationship with investors and prospective customers. Improvements to optimise the process took longer than necessary, but to be fair, this is our responsibility as much as GeekForce and becoming familiar with a new business/team takes time to groove in a smooth flowing operation.

Despite this, our project is not simple and these sorts of delays are actually routine in any large endeavour, in any field (not just tech). GeekForce has continued to work to improve delivery over the course of development and so far have not wavered from the overall goal of MVP.

They have also added additional resources where possible. While it would be great if the projected targets from GeekForce could have been met, their overall approach is more important than a poor product, rushed to market.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO of GlobeDreamers - the most complete platform which offers all the possible means to finance the responsible travel projects. Our travelers are mostly based in Europe, but we're planning to expand our activities worldwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development?

We've decided to offer one more tool for our users - an Android/iPhone app, that would allow them to share various content (articles, photos and videos) with their backers, as well as to receive and execute positive challenges, to attract more donations.

What were your goals for this project?

We have been chosen as a partner for an important travel project with one of the largest French schools in March. We've had to agree on the MVP version and the most important features to implement - and have set a course for further tasks.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have looked at various companies in France, US and Russia - but contrary to GeekForce, none of theme were willing to take up a project with such a close deadline, while keeping a reasonable price.

Describe the project in detail.

We've been in constant contact with the developer, who has been really insightful ! Having done all the tasks for the MVP version much earlier than our agreed deadline, he actually gave our tech team some "food for thought" on how we can further develop our API in the future.

What was the team composition?

With our CTO working on the technical issues, I have been in constant contact with the app developer for the app matters, and with CEO for all the financial questions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I would be glad to update this section later, since the COVID-19 outbreak has quite messed up our plans... But i'm still really glad to have a decent working app! :)

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We've been in constant contact with the developer in Telegram, where he was sharing constant updates and "beta" versions for me to test. Overall, I was truly impressed by his speed and responsiveness! He actually managed to do 1-month worth of work in ~2 weeks.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The flexibility of their solutions, their efficiency and their reasonable pricing - this mix has impressed me most of all. They are up-to-date on all the most recent frameworks, they think of their clients while providing the solutions, and, most of all, they are putting all the efforts in order to comply with the client's situation, whatever it is: pricing, deadlines, technologies to use, etc.

Are there any areas for improvement?

If, when growing, GeekForce keeps their quality standard in the future - it would surely be their recipe for success!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a B2B SaaS company building tools to monitor and protect its brand. I am Co-Founder and CPO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development, and what were your goals?

Since the labor market for software engineers was and is still very dense we wanted to augment our software team ASAP. So we hired some developers from Geekforce for different teams and projects.

SOLUTION

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

We got the vendor through a reference. Deciding was the cost/value balance as well as the quick time to value and flexibility of Geekforce.

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

Multiple Features: the guys have been working for us for over 1 year and still are. Some of the things they were working on were data acquisition, and the creation of data pipelines using mainly python.

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

Over the full-time, I guess around 10. Mainly Python Backend Engineers, but also Java, and QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The ratio of bugs coming from data acquisition decreased over time. Don't have concrete number.

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

We have a daily, we have slack, we are using Shortcut as a task tracking tool etc.

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

The best is the brilliant cooperation with Pawel, who is always available, sympathetic, and motivated. When we were unsatisfied we could replace the developer in no time with a new person.

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

Sometimes the quality of the developers was not as expected. Maybe a better screening would be good before referring it to heir clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a small web development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with GeekForce | Software Development?

We usually provide standard solutions for our clients based on Laravel and some CMS platforms. However, one of our clients requested to develop part of their platform in Moodle. Given that we didn’t have experience with Moodle, we reached out to GeekForce to provide us with Moodle development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

GeekForce helped us develop an e-learning platform for our client in Moodle. Initially, we met with their Moodle developers and provided them with our client’s brief so that they knew what we needed them to do. From there, they gave us an estimate of how much time and effort the solution required, after which we started working on the project. In addition to Moodle, they used Laravel as the framework for the database.

What is the team composition?

We mostly communicated with Pawel (Director & Co-Founder), and we also worked with a developer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with GeekForce | Software Development?

We have a team responsible for researching partners on various databases whenever we need to collaborate with a third party on a project. They were the ones who found GeekForce.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid them around €10,000 (approximately $11,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August–December 2022. Currently, we’re in talks for a second phase of the project. In addition to this project, we’ve also attempted to collaborate with GeekForce on other projects. However, we haven’t reached an agreement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to GeekForce, we managed to complete the project and improve the product to deliver a good result for the client. The product itself worked well.

How did GeekForce | Software Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, GeekForce delivered on time and within budget. Although there were some delays, those were caused by rounds of feedback and requirement definition. Therefore, those delays didn’t relate to GeekForce’s work.

As for communication, GeekForce was very responsive. We had several communication channels, including email and virtual meetings. We also had a Slack group through which we communicated rapidly and directly with their developers and the management team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The developer that GeekForce assigned was very technically skilled, so he understood us perfectly. Additionally, our communication with GeekForce’s management team was very good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would have been great if GeekForce’s developers had enhanced the project’s scope. Their development work was very straightforward; they developed exactly what we asked for, which was a downside. Still, we know that it’s hard to find Moodle developers because Moodle uses its own plugins and tools, so not too many developers know how to improve its capabilities.

GeekForce’s work model is similar to a staff augmentation company’s. They basically assess their client’s needs and find developers who can address those needs. Thus, an area in which GeekForce can improve is having a better understanding of the client’s needs to offer more tailored solutions. Moreover, it would be great if GeekForce’s management cooperated closely with their developers.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Collaborating with a third party on an end client’s project creates more layers and reduces flexibility. If you’re using that approach, it's best to work with the end client to define requirements very clearly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development?

Development of risk assessment tool based on the online data.

SOLUTION

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

Based on the most balanced price/skills/knowledge/experience

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

Firstly, they researched in details a topic of risk assessment tools. After that, we conducted several workshops in which we decided to plan 12 months cooperation.

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

5 people

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to implement our solution to the client in the financial sector.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our cooperation was very efficient in the terms of the workflow between us

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

Experience and knowledge among the team of GeekForce

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Oction is a cloud-based service to easily create object data out of video and make that data accessible.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire GeekForce | Software Development, and what were your goals?

Our goal was to implement a protoype for the iOS app and the web-based cloud backend.

SOLUTION

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

Online research for mobile app and web-development companies and comparison. Deciding factor was that the vendor has sufficient skills in all required areas: web/cloud development, artificial intelligence (object detection) and mobile app development (iOS).

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

Implemtation of a protoype that shows the full end-to-end process, from recording a video stream, object detection, storing it in the cloud to making the recorded object data accessible.

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

Project Manager and two senior developers for the web-module and for the mobile app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The working protoype helped us a lot to demonstrate the capabilities of our solution, to explain it to customers and to attract venture capital investors.

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

We had multiple 1:1 sessions to define the scope of the prototype. The requirements and user stories were entered and prioriized in a JIRA board and the development was handled using agile methodologies.

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

We were impressed with how fast they were able to understand our needs and were able to deliver a working prototype. Especially due to the fact that this project required a broad range of skills that could not be covered by one developer.

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

none