itCraft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and project leader of a software house delivering projects for multiple customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

They built a multiple-component software system, which includes a complex governmental portal website for a local ministry. The portal website is visible to the public. We’ve worked with itCraft on several projects delivering software in the public area working with the government.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

itCraft provides development help when we don’t have enough resources in-house. They do the full software development cycle of everything from product design to development and testing. They’ve mainly worked on web applications. itCraft works on the IBM Db2 database, the interfaces for collecting data, and the web interfaces of each information system to deliver functionalities to customers. If it’s necessary, they analyze problems or fix bugs. They’re responsible for the entire product development. They’re required to understand the whole system and how its processes work.

What is the team composition?

I have three skilled people in itCraft’s team, and I’ve worked with their co-owner for negotiations. I’ve used five people from their team for my projects overall.

How did you come to work with itCraft?

I knew the co-owner because one of my friends worked for his company. When we needed help with a project, my friend suggested going to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with itCraft in November 2016. We hired them on a long-term contract. We don’t have any new projects for them at the moment, but we maintain a general collaboration agreement. They completed the last project in November 2018, which they currently support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Government projects are complicated, but itCraft performs exceedingly well, which is why we continue to work with them. They’re a talented partner, and we can count on them if we have a major problem to solve.

How did itCraft perform from a project management standpoint?

We introduced the Scrum methodology for project management, and we had daily Stand-ups with the team. They give us timesheets for the completed work. We’ve had weekly managerial calls. They’re perfectly responsive. They developed all the system parts and worked with us on a daily basis. We’ve never had a problem with communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good pricing, and they complete tasks on time. That was especially important for the type of customers we work with. When working with private companies, negotiating a deadline isn’t a problem, but, with public government organizations, it’s not possible without incurring penalties. itCraft delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The government company accepted the work done by itCraft, so I don’t have any concerns. They’re doing well. They deliver software based on requirements.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the co-founder of Simple Food Safety, a company that provides food safety related services to the health and aged care sectors. Our offerings include training, consulting, and risk management program development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire itCraft?

We hired itCraft to develop a cloud-based food management software that would change the industries’ current paper monitoring systems into a digital format while still meeting our government’s legislation.

What were your goals for this project?

Our objective was to develop a user-friendly software that the aged care and health sectors would recognize as a necessity. We wanted to provide the industry with a smarter and faster option to monitor daily compliance.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My colleague had used itCraft previously and spoke very highly of their work, so I went with them.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

itCraft designed, developed and launched a cloud-based food safety management software. They ensured that the final product could adapt to many different configuration requirements dictated by the user.

What was the team composition?

I worked exclusively with Rafal (Project Manager and Programmer, itCraft), who led the team. This was great because I only needed to consult with him, and he would take care of everything. In addition to being experienced and knowledgeable, Rafal remained responsive and professional throughout.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s been a long project, but itCraft has been great. The software will positively change the way our industry works on many levels and become the way of the future for our company, which is exciting.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team was responsive, supportive, and patient. They meet deadlines and communicated clearly and quickly. Rafal understood that I didn’t have any IT skills, so he made it a point to always explain everything in detail.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

itCraft provides great support and is very professional. Whenever I had a concern, they dealt with it extremely fast.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Respondent 1: Let’s Meet is a startup with a social application for users to communicate with each other.

Respondent 2: It’s for dating, sports, and to find friends.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

R1: We needed someone to develop our website and our mobile app for Android and iOS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

R1: Our main goal for itCraft was to enable people to communicate using video. They totally designed the project.

R2: They used Google Cloud.

What is the team composition?

R2: We had a project manager, and the whole team was about 10 people.

R1: We communicated with two or three people.

How did you come to work with itCraft?

R2: We learned about them through their website. Their website was the best of the ones we visited. I met with the owner of itCraft and immediately decided to cooperate with them.

How much have you invested with them?

R1: We spent $170,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

R1: We worked together from October 2017–April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

R1: Every month, we see progress. The app has more new users. Everything is on the right track.

R2: Everything is good and working correctly. There are no problems.

How did itCraft perform from a project management standpoint?

R1: They managed everything well.

R2: We used email, telephone, and had in-person and online meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

R1: They’re cooperative. If we have questions, they always answer. They’re genuinely helpful.

R2: They’re a good company. We’re satisfied with their service. We’ll work with them again in the future.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

R1: It’s best to meet with the owners and speak directly with them before starting a new project. Getting to know what both sides want makes the collaboration work well. Their owners always have time for their clients.

R2: The owners are extremely nice. They have open minds.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-owner of a healthcare platform. We connect patients with doctors through a mobile application that allows them to schedule house-calls.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

We were looking for a company to develop our applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the whole project from the beginning based on our requirements; they were responsible for the technical part. They built four mobile applications in total, two each for the doctors and patients (iOS and Android). Users can schedule house-calls, pay for visits, and get documents from doctors. They payment system forces you to login with a bank ID to ensure user security. They also built a web app for patients that has the same functionalities as the mobile apps.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around ten developers and a project manager.

How did you come to work with itCraft?

They were recommended to me by some people. I talked with the owner and checked their online reviews and though they I could trust them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2016. We were live in the market—to test the reception—but now were offline for one or two months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

About one or two weeks after we launched the application, it was in seventh place in the medical category in Sweden.

How did itCraft perform from a project management standpoint?

We had really good contact all the time and we talked over Slack, phone calls, and in-person. There were no problems.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There was really nice communication between us. I was also impressed by the main architect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were quite a few bugs to fix when we got the application to the beta testing phase. They weren’t big, but maybe they could minimize those

Any advice for potential customers?

I would say that they can trust itCraft. There were no problems and we're really happy that we chose itCraft. It was a good decision.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a project manager for Yumer.euVELO. We have a food service application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

We needed help with app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It's an application where users can rate restaurants and aggregate opinions from Google to choose a place near them. I wanted people to be able to find a place within a specific price range or that's very well rated in their local area.

I had the idea, then they guided me the whole way. They showed me how to create and prioritize it step by step. They first analyzed my business needs and they created backlogs. Using scrum methodology, they developed it for Android, iOS, as well as a web application.

They also brought it to the App Store and Google Play store. In addition to development, they provided graphic design and UI/UX. They helped me with marketing and to set up Facebook ads.

What is the team composition?

We had 10 people who worked on the project, including UI and UX designers and developers. I also had a project manager who was great.

How did you come to work with itCraft?

My friend had worked with them, and I did some research. When I spoke to them they were really helpful and I trusted them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on the project from 2016–2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application is live and people are finding it useful. The quality was good.

How did itCraft perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was really good. They advised me and helped to drive the whole process which was truly helpful. Any bugs or issues were addressed within a reasonable timeframe.

We mostly communicated through Slack, phone calls, email, and occasionally, in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They kept to the deadlines and were responsible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I own SpecK. We’re developing a mobile app to help doctors organize their education process, rate their internships positions, and then share those ratings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

I needed an IT company turn my idea into a user-friendly and well-designed app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I gave itCraft a description of how a young doctor would go through their education. The team then asked me questions around preparing the solution, and they made a 20-page app description. They assigned all tasks to the IT engineers and the rest of the crew. I approved their proposal, and they produced a prototype version using Proto.io, where I was able to see how it would work. With my approval, they started development on the Android and iOS app. The app integrated with users’ Facebook accounts to let them connect with their doctor friends. I tested the platform at each stage, and I made payments after accepting the work. There were four or five stages in total and, during the process, they gave me a few ideas for making the app work better for doctors. For example, itCraft came up with the idea for an examination module, which displayed statistics for item users would have to practice again.

Recently, I’ve had discussions with the Polish government to combine my solution with the medical education system. itCraft participated in these meetings with me and discussed the IT aspects of the project. Currently, I’m waiting for documentation from a Polish medical association. Once I have this paperwork, we’ll launch the app in a two-week timeline.

What is the team composition?

I worked with eight IT resources and two graphics personnel, evenly split between the iOS and Android versions. We also had a project manager.

How did you come to work with itCraft?

I read one of their articles, about making applications. When I accidentally met itCraft at a Polish startup event, I talked to them about different kinds of projects. They were professional and I decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–June 2018. Although the app is finished, we’ll continue the collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The solution was spectacular looking. We received positive feedback from external stakeholders. Whenever I shared a screen from the app on Facebook, all our followers reacted with “Wow!” emoticons.

How did itCraft perform from a project management standpoint?

They always responded within thirty minutes. The team was also upfront about an idea’s viability and whether there was a viable alternative. The communication between me and the project manager was very good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The design exceeded my expectations for looks at user-friendliness.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no idea what they could improve in their work. They accomplished things that I thought were impossible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an experience design director at Deloitte Digital CE. We’re a consulting company that offers experience strategy, UX design, and end-to-end implementations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with IT CRAFT?

We were asked by the Polish Football Association what they could do to get more people playing amateur football. Our challenge was to create the digital and non-digital strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with documentation and then we had a few very intense workshops. Based on the workshops, we started working in a very agile way. They helped us design a very large digital ecosystem: the websites, mobile applications, responsive websites, and it also IT architecture. We did the whole IT landscape and how to approach mobile, what the kind of APIs they should use, etc.

We mostly worked on discussing what kind of mobile approach we should use. There was a lot of discussion between iOS, Android, and progressive web application approaches. The other was how to set up the microservices architecture and service bus for the client. Then we designed the APIs using Swagger.

What is the team composition?

There were three to four people. We work with a lead architect and a few other architects.

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

We had around four companies to choose from, but we decided on IT CRAFT based on a recommendation from our friends.

How much have you invested with them?

$75,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2018 and the work is ongoing. The first phase was completed in June.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s exceeded expectations.

How did IT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very professional. They were accountable, on time, and delivered good quality. They reacted to changes when needed. We mainly used Confluence and Jira, but also used email, Skype, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their mobile expertise is impressive. They have good knowledge of progressive web application approaches.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CSO of Zeme Technologies. We’re a waste management company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

Many of our clients have multiple locations and benefit from a centralized waste management process. We wanted to build a client portal to allow our clients to see the status of waste pickup in a particular location. We were looking for a vendor to help us develop a web app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We shared our vision with itCraft and they made some recommendations, pointing out the weaknesses in our brief. After we had a few meetings where we discussed the challenges, they started building a web application for us. The client portal lets our clients see a map that is connected to the software we use on the backend. The map shows the pickup status for various locations and the type of waste. Clients can find different documents, such as monthly pickup plans, invoices, and the environmental documents they might need to present to a government institution. In addition, clients can order a pickup online and receive an automated confirmation.

What is the team composition?

We mostly worked through a project manager.

How did you come to work with them?

We found them online. itCraft was just the right size for us and we liked their approach, so we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2018 and the project was completed in June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app works as expected and helps us automate the process. I was able to free up around 30% of my customer service specialists, which is a big deal. Our clients are still testing the app, so we don’t have any feedback from them yet.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

I was very happy with itCraft. They were responsive and we talked 3–4 times a week via email or phone. We also had face-to-face meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very creative and flexible. They came up with a solution that was based partly on their own customized code and partly on G Suite solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were slightly off schedule. But I've heard that happens all the time with itCraft projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I truly recommend them. We had no experience working with IT vendors, so our brief wasn't very professional. They worked with us and brought our ideas to life.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the IT manager for Fracht AG. We organize international transport by sea, air, and land for imports and exports to and from Switzerland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

We wanted to push new functions for our five-year-old iPhone app and expand it. We also wanted to develop the Android version.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They redesigned the application, added new functions to the original five, and developed it for both Android and iOS. New functionalities included a transport dictionary, currency converter, time zone converter, and a road holidays feature. They also redesigned for all of our international locations.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a co-owner, who served as our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with itCraft?

We considered companies in China, Poland, Germany, and Switzerland, before our Polish office recommended itCraft. We then requested proposals from the prospective companies. itCraft’s work was the most professional for quality and cost estimates.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around 50,000 Swiss Franc ($50,309 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2016 and the project ended in February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Currently, we have eight apps on every platform. iOS downloads have risen to 34,000 from 11,000, when the engagement started.

How did itCraft perform from a project management standpoint?

The team provided correct estimates and we paid the exact amount they quoted. They also provided the designs and they completed them. We communicated primarily via email, as well as occasional phone calls and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The project was very straightforward and they provided us with the right solution in a short amount of time. I was very satisfied with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get to know them personally. I flew from our office to Warsaw and met the owner. In the beginning, that personal contact was very important.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the manager of the digital department for a wholesale services company. I’m responsible for the development of our mobile app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itCraft?

Our main concern was how our mobile app would work in the end. We have many systems and the exchange of data between our company and any external partner is always a big challenge.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They take care of the mobile app development. They started everything from scratch. They designed the plans for development and technical background. They are responsible for every aspect from design to tracking. We provided them with what we wanted from a customer perspective and they helped us design everything. They’re our mobile app partner so they coach us on how it should work. They’re constantly developing new functions.

The app provides our customers with virtual entry cards. The plastic cards with barcodes are no longer needed because they’re in the app. The app provides smartphone versions of the promotions that are available in the stores, along with a list of our stores and directions via Google Maps. It also provides the name of the sales representative so they can call their own salesforce member directly. It updates the status of the turnover on specific producers so they can get a bonus from us. The app is for iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

We’re in close contact with a project manager, two IT staff, and the company owner.

How did you come to work with itCraft?

They provided the best offer for the complexity of the project and a customer-friendly approach, and their quality versus price was very good.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €50,000 ($62,001 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2016 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The number of users is steadily growing from week to week. itCraft is one of our best partners with respect to the quality of work that we receive. They help us with complex technical topics, and our systems are sometimes not ready for mobile app work. It’s going really smoothly.

How did itCraft perform from a project management standpoint?

We are really happy with the quality of customer service. The agency is always open to our questions and our feedback and their response time are very good. It’s a pleasure to be a customer who is well taken care of. We have regular status calls and we update the project list weekly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re open to all of our ideas, feedback, and questions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could make more suggestions as to how to improve the app given their experience in this area. We could use more benchmarks or specific ideas from their side.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend them.