Itera-research

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Creative Director at ONErpm, the music distribution and technology company based in the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Itera-research?

Itera Research has been hired for a front-end development project to build ONErpm's new public website and blog.

What were your goals for this project?

ONErpm needed a responsible, responsive, and reliable IT partner to build the company's website based on approved designs. Since we've successfully partnered with Itera in the past, it was an obvious choice for us.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Based on past positive experiences.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Itera was tasked with building a responsive public website for ONErpm based on given designs. The pages contained complex elements and scrolling structures set up in WordPress.

What was the team composition?

Project manager and one developer with ONErpm providing oversight.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Working with Itera has been a pleasure for us. Despite time zone differences, they respond quickly and have progress reported and tasks usually done overnight. It helps ONErpm to keep the project flow intact. It is also worth noting that the majority of development is hitting the mark on the first try with minimal adjustments and revisions.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was spotless almost all the time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their responsiveness and ability to solve problems efficiently.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Some minor task reporting issues and closer following of design prototype are a couple of rather small obstacles that could be overcome easily.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Design, marketing and e-learning company based in the UK. Working for a business-to-business and business-to-consumer clients. I founded the company 20 years ago.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Itera-research?

Help and advice for a range on web development projects. Mainly, but not exclusively, Wordpress.

What were your goals for this project?

To build a website to match the design supplied and the technical requirements specified. For example, providing a simple to use interface that would allow the client to upload and update job vacancies, and allow candidates to register on-line.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I used several Wordpress developers and psd-to-html providers in the UK but never found anyone to provide the level of service and expertise I was looking for.

I sent Itera Research a project four or five years ago which they handled very well. I now send them all the web development work we are not able to handle in-house.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Website build in Wordpress. Advice on how best to meet the brief e.g. which plug-ins might add extra functionality. Testing. Uploading and 'going live'.

What was the team composition?

Not able to provide any information on this. I send my brief/information to my contact and they handle everything for my.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are an agency, so the work Itera Research completed as been for our clients. Our relationship has greatly improved the quality of service we can offer to clients - particularly with Wordpress.

We are primarily a design and marketing company (with limited technical knowledge in-house). Knowing that we can use Itera Research to deal with the technical aspects of what we do is a big plus. It means we can focus on what we are good at.

The project outlined above is one of several projects the company has successfully completed for us.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very simply:

• I send project details to my contact
• She makes it happen
• I occasionally speak to their developers if this will help clarify what I need, but this is not usually necessary.

The whole process works very well. Language and location has never been an issue. I get a consistently better service from Itera Research that I have from any of the UK-based companies I worked with previously.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Speed of response. Their technical support is great. They advise on stuff that I hadn't thought of. Competitive rates. No language barriers at all.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Mobimentum is an Italian IT company focused on mobile and web development. I'm the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Itera-research?

We hired Itera-research to make up for the lack of software developers. It was a very challenging project due to strict technical specifications provided by our client.

What were your goals for this project?

The web configurator should provide the feeling of a client/server application among the many difficulties introduced by the web platform: drag, resize, zoom in/out shapes inside a web browser is not so easy.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met Itera during a fair in Amsterdam. I had a pleasant business lunch and I immediately had the feeling of great technical skills and, the most important thing, great, clear and assertive communication.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

It was a web application rich of javascript implementations. Users can design and configure a ring binder through a wizard customizing colors, covers, labels, putting on cover images, etc...

Once the configuration is finished, users can export their project to obtain a custom skin of their ring binder. The whole project was mainly based on an Angular fronted with a small footprint PHP backend.

What was the team composition?

Our project manager dealt with technical staff of Itera which brought us through the whole process of the development of the project, from the first analysis to the release candidate.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was our first experience in this kind of outsourcing and I have to say that it helped us in many way. First of all we had high quality deliverables in terms of software development. Then we have learned a good management and communication lesson: we were obviously forced to draw an analysis document and to maintain it up to date.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

There's nothing to object to Itera's job: polite, on time, accurate. Our role in the whole project was only about communication with our client.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing was the quality of the source code. I think that some of our developers could learn something from Itera's coders.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our culture is a bit different from the rest of the world, so it's not uncommon to barter for minor services. But, in the rest of the world, a change request is a change request, so you have to pay for that. During the development we had to "abosrb" a couple of c.r. requested by our client. But it's ok...it's the right way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of an internet firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Itera-research?

We hired Itera-research to build a web application for our client.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I engaged with Itera-research as a subcontractor. They’ve done all the technical work on this project, which is an internal corporate social network. Employees can join and post activities in their location, which will improve culture, engagement, and business results. For the development, their team used PHP, a G2 framework, and MySQL on the frontend.

What is the team composition?

I worked with five to seven people from their team. We interfaced with a director, account manager, backend and frontend developers, a system administrator, and a designer.

How did you come to work with Itera-research?

I’ve known about their work and skills for several years. Their skillset seemed to be relevant to the job, which is why I chose to engage with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from August 2017–February 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Itera-research performed the job extremely well. Our client is happy. With Itera-research’s help, we were able to deliver precisely what they wanted.

How did Itera-research perform from a project management standpoint?

I took care of the project management on the external side of things, but their project management was perfect in terms of resourcing and managing timelines with scope. We used Jira, Skype, and email as our communication tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was easy to discuss technical details with their team. Itera-research was always on time for meetings. I enjoyed my experience working with Itera-research.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve been happy with their whole team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner and director of Shortcutz Consulting, a start-up company that looks at different ideas and evolves them into potential businesses. I outsource and seek the help of consultants like Itera-research when needed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Itera-research?

Though it’s a long process, I needed to create an MVP to show potential investors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We're creating a platform to help people who are looking for property to find a suitable location in which to live or rent. The product is in the early stages, so only exists as a website, but we hope to eventually have a mobile app. The frontend is Angular JavaScript and the backend is on MySQL.

I'm very particular about my design, so I gave them guidelines to follow for different aspects, like layout and color scheme. That said, they created a full design for me that we refined together.

I've released the MVP they created for me, and they're currently working on an updated product. I have total confidence in them—it's a very sensitive project, but there haven't been any information leaks in the two years we've worked together.

What is the team composition?

They have a frontend developer, a backend developer, and a designer. I also had a project manager who doubled as my account manager

How did you come to work with Itera-research?

I looked at proposals from different vendors. Itera seemed immediately invested in the product I was hoping to create.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $10,000 and $15,000 with Itera.

What is the status of this engagement?

I hired them in January 2017 and we've been working together since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product we've created so far has yet to reach the commercial level that would provide me with a lot of feedback. Nevertheless, the product does what I want it to do without breaking down and has always had a positive reception at demonstrations.

How did Itera-research perform from a project management standpoint?

My project manager at Itera isn't actually a manager at the company, but I asked her to come aboard because we communicated so well. She knew the product well, so it was easy to discuss how to implement project goals. She provided excellent inquiries, which enabled me to give better feedback. Overall, she made communication with the technical team much easier and has made the entire project run smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I went through a selection process with different vendors, and Itera Research was the only firm that didn't automatically agree to provide the work I wanted. Instead, they told me why certain aspects wouldn't work, and requested the details they'd need in order to provide other features. Their openness and honesty from the beginning, before I paid anything, demonstrated their investment in the overall success of the product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only problems I ever had were the result of their size: they're a small firm, so sometimes output was low. That being said, I knew they were a small firm ahead of time, and also understood that if I paid a higher rate I'd be given a greater priority.

I think they should also consider using a project management platform that clients can also interact with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear in your requests and have a precise idea of what you want to create. Nonetheless, also be aware that your project may change suddenly, so remain attentive and keep your approach agile. Lastly, make sure to test the product and give as much feedback as you can.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

TeamOutLoud is a startup offering a social app for employee recognition. The app is aimed at companies, and I am the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Itera-Research?

I needed to develop my app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Itera-Research built my mobile application using Apache Cordova (or PhoneGap) technology, which comprises JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. The back end was hosted on the Microsoft Azure platform. Itera-Research helped us research these different technologies. Since they already had some expertise with Cordova, that was an obvious choice. They also chose our Azure Cloud platform.

There were two full-time developers assigned to our project at any given time, though the actual people involved changed periodically. In total, five different developers worked for us, as well as two designers, a project manager, and a database architecture developer.

How did you come to work with Itera-Research?

I found Itera-Research through elance.com. As a rule, I never publicly post jobs like this one. Instead, I usually select the companies that I think could work for me and I invite them to submit proposals. For this job, I considered five other companies. After receiving three proposals, I tried Itera-Research, and I have been very happy with them.

How much have you invested with Itera-Research?

We consistently spend around $5,000 every month for Itera services.

What is the status of this engagement?

At present, we have been working with Itera-Research for about a year-and-a-half.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We launched our application four weeks ago. Our adoption rate is growing at around 50 percent per week. I’d say Itera-Research’s contribution to the overall concept has been very positive. For example, Itera-Research is argumentative—in a good sense. They discuss our ideas with us, giving us valuable feedback and defending their position logically. Nonetheless, if, as a customer, we ask that an element be made blue, Itera-Research will make it blue. We’ve had a very fruitful partnership in this respect. Because they speak the same language we do, we are able to have fruitful discussions about the product, its solutions, and its future possibilities.

How did Itera-Research perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Agile methodologies, including Kanban boards, for managing the workflow. In particular, we use a Kanban board tool called LeanKit. It’s a simple, web-based portal that allows us to create cards for user stories, assign points to them, and then move them from development to testing to the finished product. We also use Google Docs tools, such as spreadsheets. For real-time collaboration, we use Skype. There are four-week stints for which we define our user stories. Itera-Research helps us to evaluate those choices. While I would have to admit that Itera-Research hasn’t delivered within schedule every single time, in reality, that’s the nature of the projects; delays have not always been their fault. Sometimes the budget is exceeded, but not by more than 10 to 15 percent.

What did you find most impressive about Itera-Research?

This may have more to do with the Northern European mentality, but I have found Itera-Research to be very good technically, with a meticulous way of thinking. Working with them is different from working with an Indian company, for example. Indians will say “yes” to everything we ask, whereas Itera-Research challenges us productively. This has been an important asset for me.

Are there any areas Itera-Research could improve?

I believe in good scope management for any outsourcing project: When starting a project, the consultant should make sure that the client has clearly defined expectations, otherwise the work will slip. This kind of clarification did not always happen in my work with Itera-Research. Their project managers did not always have in mind the same approaches that I did, or even that their own developers did. In at least some of these cases, open and frequent communication could have improved the situation.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Itera-Research?

Because some of the developers speak limited English, I have mainly interacted with the project manager. I have, however, been able to communicate basic information via email with the developers.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're an educational software provider. Our products are used in kindergarten to 12th grade schools from across the country. Some of our tools help teachers handle lesson and unit planning while the core of our system is aimed at assessment. Students can take bubble-sheet assessments, scan them, and thus produce data reports for their performance. Students can also take online assessments, answering questions on either a PC or Chromebook. Another area of our software is aimed at teacher evaluation. People can conduct observations of teachers in classrooms and give them ratings. We can compile this information with state test scores and come up with an overall teacher evaluation.

What is your position?

I am the founder and president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Itera-Research?

While working in a school, I built an access database with a Visual Basic front end. We wanted to redevelop the solution so that it would be web-based and thus usable by other schools.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Itera-Research built our initial site on time and within the specified budget. Other schools became interested in using our software, so I created a company that could offer it as a paid service. The demand of the software grew, so we used Itera-Research exclusively in order to further develop our software in time. They are in charge of everything from maintaining our Amazon Web Services database.

We eventually hired one full-time developer onsite, who actually came to us from Itera-Research. We've continued to use their services and currently have five dedicated resources from Itera Research. Itera-Research offers us both developers and mid-level support people. We work with three full-time dedicated developers whom we've used for several years. There are two intermediary resources in charge of quality assurance testing and other tasks as well as a part-time database administrator. We use other resources as needed. For example, someone from Itera-Research made designs for our brochures. Itera-Research also manages the website on top of our platform using a dedicated team.

They assign more developers whenever the demand calls for it. Itera-Research has met our needs in this regard, and I don't think that our business would be where it is without them.

How did you come to work with Itera-Research?

We placed a bid on Rent A Coder that was won by Itera-Research. At the time, they had a U.S. representative who I was able to meet. This made me more comfortable in the beginning.

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

The total development cost with Itera-Research so far has been around $700,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Itera-Research in 2008 and have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

From a company perspective, Itera-Research has created our product while we've acted as the architect. Since we've been in business, we've had a compound annual growth of 48 percent. Our business is thriving. We started from nothing and, even though we're not a huge company, we've had a consistent sales growth year after year. This demonstrates that we have a good product.

We're winning bids against large, $50 million companies and even billion-dollar companies because of the usability of our system. I wouldn't necessarily give Itera-Research all the credit for this, but they've had a significant contribution. Usability is a real hallmark of our product.

How did Itera-Research perform from a project management standpoint?

A big contribution from Itera-Research has been their agile development process. New customers were able to deploy updates efficiently and quickly. I am able to show a potential customer an update, which addresses a need of theirs that we didn't currently have in the system, all within one to two days from our initial meeting. Itera-Research's approach to development has benefited us.

I'm able to communicate with most of their developers in English without any problems. For those without language skills, I can always use an intermediary. All the managers from Itera-Research speak very good English. I've met other software development executives, who have always been surprised at how smooth things have gone for us in our outsourced venture. Several of them had had nightmares for one reason or another.

Historically, we've used a mix of Skype and an internal CRM [customer relationship management] that was developed by Itera-Research for managing development tasks, updates, bug fixes, and other issues. More recently, we've migrated from Skype to Slack, which has expanded our capabilities. We still use the CRM, but have been able to integrate it into Slack and receive notifications.

What distinguishes Itera-Research from other providers?

Itera-Research's homegrown CRM is a notable differentiator. It has really facilitated communication and ease of management. Their English language skills and overall organization are much deeper than what I've seen from other outsourcing companies. I can speak with most of my team directly, without calling upon a manager. I can go to them for urgent tasks and have them addressed. Every person from Itera-Research has been responsive. Their database manager gives the impression of working 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Itera-Research accommodates a U.S. schedule very well. Even though we have a six-hour time difference, if I need them at 6 p.m. U.S. time, Itera-Research will be there for me.

Is there anything Itera-Research could have improved or done differently?

Sometimes, it can be nice to go around a whiteboard with the team and brainstorm. Being remote means that this approach has to be worked around. I cannot simply grab the group and start a meeting. It has to be scheduled, and it's not the same as being face-to-face, even though technologies like Slack have helped.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hunting safari is an online marketplace for hunters and outfitters to connect and book hunts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Itera-research, and what were your goals?

Development of a dynamic web app.

SOLUTION

How did you select Itera-research and what were the deciding factors?

Competitive price and excellent service.

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

Development of a dynamic web app using Laravel and php. Its an online searchable database with trip booking and review functions.

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

Laravel / php developer Frontend html / css developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website app is generally working as requested. Some bugs and further improvements required which i see as normal for a new development project.

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

Excellent communication from Itera's Client Success Manager.

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

Excellent communication and php / Laravel dev skills.

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

Itera allocated an inexperienced frontend dev for a short period of time. We learned that it was not working so well then Itera replaced him with a more experienced dev. This resulted in a small wastage of time and money. The dev's skills should have been assessed earlier before starting work on my project.