InfinixSoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a company that creates marketplaces for college campuses. We help college students launch businesses within their community. We also work with entrepreneurship educators and centers to guide students through business creation on campus.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InfinixSoft?

We hired InfinixSoft to build the first version of our mobile app. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, InfinixSoft’s CEO set us up with a project manager with a team of advisors. Then, we set up a project roadmap. They used JavaScript to build the app for iOS and Android devices. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and 2–3 developers. 

How did you come to work with InfinixSoft?

We were referred to InfinixSoft by another company. Their price point was suitable for our budget. We had a meeting with their CEO, and we pitched the idea to them. That was the start of the engagement. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $60,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from May 2018–January 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measured success based on the product’s completion and the number of bugs present. However, we were only getting the product out there, so we didn’t have a lot of downloads yet. 

How did InfinixSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

InfinixSoft used Basecamp as their project management platform, and we mainly communicated over email and Skype about bugs and other things that needed to be fixed. Meanwhile, their budgeting was ok; it met what we expected. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their price point was great, and they were work-oriented. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The timelines weren’t great. The project definitely took longer than expected. Overall, they needed a bit more direction in their work, but once they had that, they got the work done. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand what you want to build, and have a clear vision of the project. Make it as minimal as possible — fewer screens are better for the MVP.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of SEM Nexus. We’re a digital marketing agency with an emphasis on mobile app marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire InfinixSoft?

One of our clients needed mobile app development help.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build a relationship to help us fulfill a broad range of app requirements given to us by our clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Someone recommended them to me. I know our clients are in good hands when we bring on InfinixSoft.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We’ve worked with them on multiple projects for our clients including mobile app development and desktop software development.

What was the team composition?

My points of contact are Tommy (Partner, InfinixSoft) and Ivan (CEO, InfinixSoft). They have their own team of in-house developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

InfinixSoft has sent several apps to market for me, and I hope to send more apps their way shortly.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Tommy is my usual point of contact, and we have seamless interactions. We normally communicate over text.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re able to take on a large range of clients, especially considering their size. They have an incredible capacity for scale.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could enforce their timelines more strictly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a small team focused on branding, web design, and graphic design. We've been in business for a year.

What is your position?

I am a partner in the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with InfinixSoft?

We needed a complete solution for a print application.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

We worked on an app and an online solution for selling art. Some of the features in the app itself were inspired by mobile games, having interactive finger movements, scrolling, and so on. InfinixSoft was able to make this work for us.

They gave us some ideas in terms of UX [user experience]: what would have a modern feel, what is up to date and works well, and so on. We already had a full design to work with, however.

The work they did was extensive on the back-end portions, including integration with another platform that we're using for the app. They employed a couple of full-stack developers for this.

How did you come to work with InfinixSoft?

My partner researched them online. She ran into one or two apps that InfinixSoft developed, and they were recommended by a business acquaintance in a Miami tech hub. We initially opted for a different vendor. The collaboration didn't work out and InfinixSoft was brought in. They brought the work to the point at which it should have been six months prior, building us a minimum viable product.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total budget for the project so far has been between $25,000 and $40,000. It's possible that the total expenditure so far has been less than that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since August 2015. The software is now at an MVP [minimum viable product] level, going from beta to version 1.0. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

At this moment, we're in the finishing stages for the application and don't have any significant metrics.

Their approach has been very hands-on. They were open to new ideas and understanding in terms of our conceptual goals for the app.

The app itself has a couple of features that, although not completely innovative, needed a more demanding approach in terms of coding. InfinixSoft were open to complying with our needs in that respect, rather than pulling us back to a run-of-the-mill or off-the-shelf solution. Even with the time constrictions that we put on them, they delivered something with which we were happy.

They understood our position in terms of the delivery to our client. What we needed was a product to be taken to market and, during the next six months to a year, be refined and taken to a second or third version. We needed something basic that got the concept across, on which we could receive feedback. InfinixSoft didn't opt for any cutting-edge technologies, but did exactly what we asked them to.

How did InfinixSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We had constant brainstorming sessions in order to exchange ideas about where the app stands and address any bugs that came up.

There was also an overseas developer assigned to creating the API [application programming interface]. The back-and-forth communication has been great on their end. InfinixSoft always lets us know what the extent of their involvement was and what was being assigned to the API developer.

The way in which they work is clean and well documented. They keep an open line of communication constantly. There haven't been any instances in which we put something forward and met any resistance. Working with InfinixSoft has been a positive experience.

They use Unfuddle STACK for project tracking. We keep track of current tickets through it, but most requirements were written down on an Excel sheet by us, which was then integrated into InfinixSoft's workflow. We also used Trello to keep track of the project on our side.

What distinguishes InfinixSoft from other providers?

They were the first professional development company that we've worked with. I don't have any points of comparison, with the exception of other freelancers we've used. InfinixSoft has a tight operation. They strive to understand a client's business and make the right adjustments.

They've always given us the necessary information upfront, including pricing and what they can achieve for us. There are no surprises or disappointments.

InfinixSoft are very hands-on and approachable. As uneducated as a client may think a question is, InfinixSoft are more than willing to explain anything in layman's terms, using a common sense approach. My suggestion to any prospective customers is to have a normal conversation with the team at InfinixSoft. They will explain how they can develop a solution in a way that anyone can understand.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We developed an app on iOS and Android for booking online beauty appointments. It features discounts, and suggests various hair salons, barber shops and spas in your area.

What is your position?

I'm one of the founders and the chief marketing officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with InfinixSoft?

When we first launched the startup, we were trying to make sure that our business model would work. We wanted to develop a mobile app and actually test it in the market. We thought it would be better to outsource the development to a company with experience in the mobile market because it would be more affordable than using local talent.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

They developed the mobile app for both iOS and Android devices, and also our website, and backend elements using PHP. InfinixSoft completed all the custom coding.

They assigned two iOS and two Android developers, one web developer, and a project manager. They weren't working exclusively on our project, but allocating their time as needed.

How did you come to work with InfinixSoft?

We met them through business friends from another startup. They hired InfinixSoft for a project they needed to outsource because of staff limitations. They suggested that we explore InfinixSoft for our project work.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We spent around $5,000 for the first version of the app. Overall, we've spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are still developing some new features with them, but we started hiring our own developers since our business expanded. It's not to do with InfinixSoft, but with us. We needed to have an in-house team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The first version of the app was launched in 2014. It was very good in terms of design and on par with Android and iOS guidelines. The only minus would be that I don't consider the graphical aspects to be at the standards that we have in development; but it was great, though.

We have over 20,000 downloads. The iOS version is rated four and a half stars, and the Android four stars. Most reviews and comments on the stores are to do with the business, and less with the app itself.

How did InfinixSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Timelines have been the major issue. Most updates we developed with them were postponed by around two weeks. They didn't ask for more money, though, which was nice.

Is there anything InfinixSoft could have improved or done differently?

There are three main issues. Firstly, they need to have a criteria for estimating timelines put in place with their project managers. They do not deliver on time.

Secondly, I think the graphic design should improve. They don't get involved enough in following the client's specifications. That's what happened in our case. We outsourced everything to do graphic design with someone else, and gave it to InfinixSoft to implement.

Thirdly, they're expanding and becoming a well-known name in Argentina. I don't think they have enough personnel to handle all the new work they're taking on, and I don't know if they're working on it.

I've recommended InfinixSoft to a lot of friends and entrepreneurs. Five or six ended up hiring them. I think that they're now trying to become more involved with their customers, and not be just another IT company. They're trying to find out about specific business models and how they can improve an idea based on them; then they will sit down and start developing. I would recommend them to inexperienced entrepreneurs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We provide software for the real estate industry in Colombia. We have an app available for Android, iOS and the web. The app provides brokers with facilities for publishing properties through mobile.

What is your position?

I am the manager and legal representative.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with InfinixSoft?

We were looking for a company with experience in foreign markets, rather than a local one. We knew that InfinixSoft provides services for over one hundred companies all over the world. They offer design and development services for our application.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

They put together a development team that worked on our apps. The team is composed of about ten people. I don't personally work with all of them. I have a relationship with their manager, their Chief Executive Officer, Chief Technology Officer, the Android and iOS team leaders, but not with the engineers themselves. The project managers delegate our work and serve as the intermediaries.

We didn't request testing from them, but the apps they developed have excellent functionality, nonetheless. Their code is very reliable.

How did you come to work with InfinixSoft?

We have a relationship with a company in New York that gave us a reference for InfinixSoft.

We work with seven or eight other companies for security, marketing, analytics and statistics. InfinixSoft are the ones working on design and development.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have spent between $10,000 and $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They completed the project in November of 2014. They now provide us support and updates for the apps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've been nominated for the best app of 2015 in Colombia by the Ministry of Technology. A local newspaper called “El Tiempo” praised our product for being high quality. The comments and reviews in Google Play and the iOS store have been excellent.

How did InfinixSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a very good delivery time, and our overall experience with them has been great. We use Jira together with Scrum Methodology, and Trello. Jira was used for most of our project.

What distinguishes InfinixSoft from other providers?

They have a very talented team of developers and designers.

Is there anything InfinixSoft could have improved or done differently?

I proposed the implementation of marketing services on their end. They only offer design and development. In this kind of project, we also need a digital agency for marketing. It would have been nice if they had all the capabilities we needed to successfully launch the app, but for their part, they did very well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company developed a free iOS app that allows a user to record a six-second message for a friend and choose when and where that message will play for the recipient. To give you an example: one of the stations that we started out with is Z100 in New York. You can record a message and schedule the day in which you want it to be sent to Z100 online. Once you've scheduled it, the intended recipient will receive a notification through text message. They can then tune in to Z100 on that particular day in order to get a shout out.

What is your position?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with InfinixSoft?

Most of the app has been developed by independent contractors. The person who was basically my project manager put together the team that helped me with design and everything else. We developed an app that was almost ready to be submitted to the App Store.

There were features and added functionality that I needed on the app, and I needed to create an HTML5 tool that would show me the inventory of requests. There is a limit to how many I can run on Z100. InfinixSoft built this for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

They submitted to the App Store and helped me get my final approval. Since then, they developed the HTML5 app that I needed and have continued to help me improve it as well as integrating more functionality into the main app. If it works out, ultimately I will want it on other platforms, specifically Android.

I chose iOS because I believe that the iPhone is more common among our target market: the users of this app will likely be females, 12-to-18 age range. This demographic is much more active on iOS, rather than Android. 

Working for us were the project manager, one web developer, one Python developer assigned to the app, and a brand and identity designer putting together the wireframe of how it would look and feel – the UX [user experience], if you will. Four people in total.

They started the project in March [2015], and we had something ready for the App Store in September [2015].

How did you come to work with InfinixSoft?

I'm ultimately planning to build another app – small business-oriented. It will be a dumbed-down version of an ad server front end for the common, small business owner. With it, they can record an eight-second sponsorship message and specify where they want it to run, for how long, and how many impressions they want to buy. That's my ultimate monetization strategy. I sat down with a few shops in New York who were bidding on the job. One of the ones I was talking to about this, brought to my attention that I was going to need the aforementioned HTML5 app. That became the more important job at that moment as opposed to the small business app. I talked to the same shops about this new project. Most of them needed a bigger job to justify the overhead of the shop. One of those guys told me that they'd done business with InfinixSoft in the past. They're good guys. They do smaller stuff. They're out of the country, but they speak English and would do good work. When dealing with outside contractors, you can't be sure. They're much less expensive and are willing to do these types of jobs. I spoke to Ivan Soroka, and he came in with a much more reasonably priced bid. He got the job done, and he was very accommodating when I needed to make changes. We considered one other offshore company in Israel. They were a bit too expensive for us.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We've spent about $20,000. The local bids were closer to $35,000. We saved a considerable amount by going with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's being improved all the time. The initial product, which gave me something to demonstrate on, was done in about 30 to 40 days.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I have a small amount of feedback from users, in the note of "this design is confusing," etc., so requests for change in functionality or explanations around some of the design. That was more my doing, not InfinixSoft's. I planned out exactly how I wanted it to look and feel, and they built it as described. Sometimes, what you envision makes sense to you and not to others. I can't put the usability on them.

How did InfinixSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a good job of translating what I wanted into a functional product. And if I needed something fixed, they were quick to fix it. Modification has not been a problem with them. If I had to say one thing about them, other than price, it's that they are very flexible when it comes to modifications. You always expect that there will be bugs, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. We never had any critical defects in the app.

What distinguishes InfinixSoft from other providers?

The former project manager we had was very rigid when it came to certain things. The project management had to be done through GitHub exclusively. I was not trained with it at all, and I know very little about code and development. Whenever I asked for clarifications on a subject by email, I would be asked to submit a ticket. I didn't know how to do that. I asked InfinixSoft if we could avoid using GitHub, and they offered to design a Google Docs spreadsheet, populate it with our various tasks, and add to it as we liked. We could then share back and forth, and, if we had questions, we could make comments. He dumbed the process down for me, which I really appreciated.

Customer service is also a huge plus. Ivan [Alejandro Saroka, CEO and cofounder at InfinixSoft], in particular, was great with me. My prior project manager was the definition of a prima donna.

Is there anything InfinixSoft could have improved or done differently?

I'd be hard pressed to find something. They're primarily from Argentina and also have offices in Miami. There are people in the organization for whom there's sometimes a language barrier. It took me five minutes on the phone with one person for them to explain to me that something looked weird. I couldn't figure out that he was saying the word "weird." I'm sure he'll improve the more work he does with people in the United States. Ivan is my primary contact there, and he does speak English fairly well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I've worked with startups for a long time. Our team started a development studio and at some point, we decided that we wanted to become a startup ourselves instead of building them for other clients.

What is your position?

I’m the chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with InfinixSoft?

We developed a startup called Orbita, a travel website, on which we worked for four years. We then switched to a new product called Ringo, a quick messaging mobile app. This is when we contacted InfinixSoft. We needed them for mobile development of the new project. We wanted to use them as an extension of our team.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

The app is available for iOS and Android devices, both of which were developed by InfinixSoft. They were our legs on the technical side. There was one developer for each platform on their end, and a team manager. Their chief operating officer was also involved in the project, to make everything run smooth. We worked closely with Ivan and Alejandro, the heads of Infinix, who oversee the strategy of the company. It was a very integrated partnership.

We interacted both directly with the developers for day-to-day things, and with the project manager for planning and strategy.

How did you come to work with InfinixSoft?

We've been active in the Argentina industry for more than fifteen years. We know everyone here. We knew Alejandro, and when we started on the new project and needed a mobile development company as a partner, we met with Infinix. We knew they were up to the quality we needed, and being in Argentina made it easier for us to work together. It was a very happy, mutual partnership.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

There was an investment that spanned the development on our side as well as for Infinix, of about $500,000. Aside from that, a different portion of the investment included them as part of the startup and the work they did for the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We launched the first public version of the app in September [2015].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

From our side, we were very happy with the partnership and the work they did. We were featured on TechCrunch this year, on more or less the first day we launched the first version. We received great, great feedback at the conference. We spent three days in the Argentinian pavilion, and it was very rewarding to see how people liked it. They complimented us for the idea, the movement of the app and the design. That was our biggest benchmark in terms of feedback from users and people from the industry that know a lot about this field. It was very well-coordinated with our launch, so it was a good way to test it.

How did InfinixSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

In a startup, you need to be very flexible, and on top of the situations that your project develops. They were very capable of doing that. We had very good communication and an overall pleasant experience.

We've used various tools for project management: Google Docs, Trello, and some others.

What distinguishes InfinixSoft from other providers?

This was one of our first experiences with working in a partnership of this type. We usually do everything ourselves. It isn’t easy if you're used to working by yourself, and having complete control, but InfinixSoft proved to be very reliable. I would definitely recommend them. I think they have a very capable team, both technically and commercially.

For us, as a Latin company, it was very easy to work with them language-wise. We also work with companies from America and other parts of the world, and InfinixSoft is also used to this. Any startup has to adapt to more than just its physical location, and that was not a problem for them.

Is there anything InfinixSoft could have improved or done differently?

I'm very demanding, both with Infinix, and my own team. At some points, you do feel there could be more than what you're getting. That's more because of my perfectionist mentality. Every time we needed to make a shift or think of a new way of doing something, they were very flexible with us. Any partnership will have complicated moments, and we’ve had many such experiences in the past; this was a good one.