IMOBIT

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our Polish company ENERGOTECHNIKA-ENERGOROZRUCH S.A. has been in the power engineering business since 1988. It was transformed in October 1996 into a joint stock company. We render services in the area of project development, modernization and commissioning of power plants and heat and power plants.

I have been working for ENERGOTECHNIKA-ENERGOROZRUCH S.A. as a Contract Implementation Manager. I’m responsible for designing, preparation and supervision over the implementation of the investment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

In our projects we make many advanced thermodynamics calculations. We want a smart application:

1. Which can do this for us much faster.
2. Where we can repeat calculations many times with the same / different input data for the same / different projects and / or configurations.
3. Which provide us a simple interface to design the boilers of the power plants. This would save our time and money and make us more competitive.

SOLUTION

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

IMOBIT was recommended by another company we cooperated with. We’re tested them by giving a part of our documentation. In very short time they learned it and prepared a simple prototype to show us the proposition of final product.

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

With the assistance of IMOBIT we divide our technical documentation into stages. Every stage has a list of functionalities (backlog) which we can test independently on our real projects. They develop every stage within the scheduled time frame and give us appropriate version of application to tests. Our engineers tested it and gives a feedback to IMOBIT.

We’re continuing cooperation in this model to this day. IMOBIT used .NET framework and MS SQL in their solution.

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

Their team consists of 1 Senior Developer and 1 Software Architect / Senior Developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It is not easy to estimate such costs. These are the costs of manpower or hiring dedicated employees. Unfortunately, I can not give such a value because it depends on the number of podpsanch projects. It is estimated that 1 employee will be saved for about 1 month of work on each project.

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

The project management was great, especially with regard to our unplanned in many cases upgrades of technical documentation. For us it was an innovative project, and we’ve learned many things during this cooperation. Communication with IMOBIT was and still is excellent – we used e-mails, phone, and real-life meetings.

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

Easiness in acquiring and understanding huge amount of thermodynamics and physics knowledge. Understanding the customer point of view and adapting to its needs. Comprehensive service and professional approach to solving problems.

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

Nothing comes to my mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO at a Polish company Setivo. Our company designs and manufactures devices dedicated mainly to fleet management. Our company has 13 employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire IMOBIT?

We need a mobile application which will communicate with our devices and additionally provide an intuitive interface for users (car drivers).

What were your goals for this project?

First of all, we want a stable, reliable application, with a good implementation of communication protocol.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

By networking - IMOBIT was recommended by one of our friends.

Describe the project in detail.

We deliver the draft specification to vendor. Within the first two weeks we discuss it with their analyst who accurately follow our draft and reported some comments, potentially problems and improvements. After some adjustments in specification, the developing process was started. Approximately every two weeks vendor delivered us some part of functionalities, which we were testing and submitting our comments. We also made some modifications in our specification during this process which were usually reflected by vendor in next software revision. After about 4 months product was finished. After next month we came back to IMOBIT for some small modifications.

What was the team composition?

IMOBIT assign us one developer and one technical analyst which was adequate to our needs. From our side there was a project manager who controlled everything.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m afraid I cannot give the details, but it was a success – we deliver a lot of our final products based on our device and software developed by IMOBIT.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication with IMOBIT was great – they were available for us at different hours depended on our needs. They are open-minded and very elastic.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Great communication with all team members. They have a deep knowledge of industry protocols and software-hardware integration – this cooperation gave us a significant feedback about some issues we didn’t find before.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They are some cheaper vendors on the market, but we want very good quality software and we were very satisfied with they work. The effect fulfills our needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager of an automotive company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with IMOBIT?

We wanted to develop a custom platform but didn’t have developers in our company. Our team decided to look for a vendor that could create the software for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

IMOBIT developed our software in C#. It’s the biggest product we’re using in our assembly area. We have around 50 versions for different customers and different projects. IMOBIT is continuing to create different versions for us, based on customer requirements. The software connects to our ERP to check parts against shop orders. If there’s a problem with a product, we can use the bar code on that product to determine which parts were used for it, and so on.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 5–6 people from IMOBIT. Adrian (CEO) is my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with IMOBIT?

We looked for companies on Google. IMOBIT was a small company back then, and we thought that they’d be less expensive. We started with a small project and expanded the collaboration over time, as both our companies grew. I believe they have about 8–10 people on their team now.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them between 300,000–500,000 Polish zloty per year (approximately $71,000–$118,000 USD). We may have five projects in one year and only two the next; we pay them on an hourly basis.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with IMOBIT around January 2013, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re really happy and plan to implement the product at other branches of the company. IMOBIT is a good company, and they’ve contributed to our growth.

How did IMOBIT perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great in terms of communication and keeping deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re always available. On occasion, we’ve had some problems during after-hours. We would contact IMOBIT over the phone, and they’d have the issue resolved by the next morning. I know I can get ahold of them any time, including over the weekend and during holidays, and that’s the most important thing for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything’s okay. I can always get hold of Adrian or one of the developers, and we work together.