itMedia

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a shareholder and one of the founders of an educational institute in Germany. Our company integrates long-term unemployed people back to the market through social health and psychological support. Furthermore, we also offer social therapy services to people. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itMedia?

We are trying to get better coordination in our company, so we decided to hire itMedia to build a customer management and communication system for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a system that didn't really work. We have a lot of coaches and clients, and every coach is attached to a certain number of clients. They conduct several discussions, meetings, and all of the information has to be safe and connected somewhere. Sometimes, a coach also works on a client with other coaches, so they have to share information and documents, and other things. 

In connection with that, itMedia set up a database where all clients, coaches, and our locations — since we have over 20 locations in Germany — are interconnected. As a result, coaches could write their reports every meeting. Furthermore, they can also attach documents like CVs and other health documents on the system. Basically, it’s a big share base and coaches could communicate over this system. 

I told itMedia about my idea of the system and then they structured something with me on how we could set up the program. We had to work a lot of connections between different items such as coach and client locations. We also had a lot of testing on how each feature works together. The first phase took us about six months until everything worked together. We also incorporated a billing system, where every meeting that was conducted could be taken into our accounting software — with one click, we have bills for all our clients every month. Currently, the team is working on adding new features to our system. 

What is the team composition?

I work actively with three people and I think there are 4–5 people working on our project, depending on the needs of the front- and backend. Our main contact is the project leader and he always contacts me. For the more complicated discussions, I communicate a lot with their CEO. 

How did you come to work with itMedia?

I found them from another translation company in Austria. They work for that company and they were recommended to me because they do good and quick work at a reasonable price — it’s the reason why I looked at them. Finally, after discussing the project with them and getting the offer, I had a feeling that they understood my need and that they offered a fair price. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve paid €25,000–€30,000 (approximately $30,000–$36,000 USD), and the new project that’s still ongoing costs €15,000 (approximately $18,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in February 2020, and it’s ongoing. They already finished the first phase in October, but now we’ve increased our plan to add more features. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project results they've produced so far followed exactly what I wanted. Additionally, things became really simple because of the system they developed. All the complicated work with coordinating all the different locations is now simply in one online platform — they've developed a one-click solution and it's great. I used to do the invoicing and billing for 2–3 weeks, but now it’s down to 3–5 days — that’s a big step for us.

For the qualitative comment, the happiness of our coaches demonstrates itMedia’s excellent outputs. Our coaches are satisfied because they have access to everything now. Additionally, we used to receive a lot of complaints because the beta version didn’t work, but now everything works well. Moreover, communication is simpler and the work can be done quickly — it’s a real help especially since people are not allowed to do face-to-face due to COVID-19. We are happy to continue working with them.

How did itMedia perform from a project management standpoint?

We discuss problems through calls and emails. We also have online meetings on Google. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The availability of the team has been incredible. When I contact them, I get a response right away. It doesn’t matter where they are, they are always ready to communicate. At one point, one of their backend guys was on honeymoon, but I had some issues with the program, and he was still able to take care of my problem. They always react fast. Above all, their supervisor is friendly. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would’ve probably liked to have some notes of what is actually the plan for things, but in the end I didn’t get a wrap-up for the next steps. I was just a bit uncertain sometimes if we’re going to make it or not. We've always tried to do it, but the timing has not been right. I know IT projects are always difficult to time, but it would be nice to at least have a ballpark to know when they can finish everything — that was a bit missing, but in the end, everything has worked out well. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them a certain plan, but give them also the information that they have some space to move. At the beginning of our project, I told them my idea and they tried to replicate that idea exactly. However, after I gave them some space to implement their ideas in terms of how to program some things, our engagement became quicker and better — so just give them a little space to be creative. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Together with itMedia which we contacted to be our guide as developers my company created an innovative and efficient e-commerce mobile app 60seconds. With the 60seconds app, our vision is to reimagine commerce through new gamified shopping experiences where both brands and customers win.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When it comes to the technical part, absolutely everything, from the development of the landing page, dashboard, native mobile apps for iOS and android. Our goals since the start were to create a mobile app that will reimagine commerce as we know it today. Every new feature integrated was in a very close discussion with a professional and highly educated team from itMedia.

SOLUTION

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

We have been in touch with itMedia since the early days of the product. Our link is a personal one since a mutual professional made a project with the company before, so it was based on recommendation. As we speak today, we are launched in the market of Serbia, and will soon be launch in the third largest eCommerce market UK.

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

The 60seconds platform consists of 3 parts:

The web part of the platform is written in PHP programming language in MVC architecture. The framework used is Symfony 3 with additional libraries such as

• FoS (Friends of Symfony),
• ORM (Doctrine),
• Webpack,
• JS,
• Bootstrap 4.

The Android app is written in the Java programming language. using the Android SDK.The MVP code architecture is used. In addition to the Android SDK, additional libraries are used, such as:

• Dagger 2,
• RxJava,
• Room,
• ButterKnife,
• EventBus,
• Facebook SDK,
• Google Auth API, Stripe,
• Firebase
• Crashlytics,
• Kayako Messenger,
• UXcam

The iOS app is written in the Swift programming language with UIKit. MVC architecture implemented. Additional libraries were used:

• FBSDKLoginKit,
• Firebase,
• GoogleSignIn,
• Kingfisher,
• MaterialComponents,
• Stripe,
• XLPagerTabStrip,
• NVActivityIndicator.

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

5/10 people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

60seconds today is part of a large global accelerator program, only one year after launching in the home market, with 50+ global brands as clients and more than 22.000 active users.

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

We have been in touch via several channels, such as Jira, slack...

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

We're grateful for their approach to the work where we could discuss everything openly, and in fact to get good and reasonable peace of advice.

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

Even if there was something, they have been totally cool to change it during development procedures. Nothing is set in stone.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of the CheckedOut mobile app and restaurant platform that helps restaurants and their customers order faster, split the bill, advance and schedule orders, expedite the process etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

They did the whole project from scratch. Developed the iOS native app, Android native app, and web platform. They are currently working on the tablet app and have many projects for the future.

SOLUTION

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

I found that Darko, project manager and the owner of itMedia is really reliable person from the first time I met him. He explained to me in detail how the project will move forward from step to step and he and his team fulfilled every and every task.

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

We still work on the project together and so far native Android and the iOS app was built as well as the web platform.

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

Project manager, iOS developer, Android developer, web front and backend, designer, and tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still in the startup phase where we look to onboard the first restaurants in the next few weeks.

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

We used slack and Jira for communication and we communicated daily with no issues in communication.

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

Very responsive

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

Everything works perfectly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a global mapping and rating platform called How Nice Is…?

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire itMedia?

We engaged itMedia to develop a mobile app and API for our platform.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal is to produce an extended MVP.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I selected them because I was impressed with their personal, positive attitude toward my project.

Describe the project in detail.

itMedia is creating the mobile version of our niceness platform, which allows users to rate public spaces in real time. This includes countries, cities, and streets as well as natural and architectural landmarks (e.g., rivers, mountains, facades, pavements, balconies). 

The app then aggregates this user-submitted data to generate a heat map of nice areas so that users can see popular spaces at a glance. By utilizing AI technology, we can also generate nice maps specific to an individual user’s preferences.

What was the team composition?

I work directly with Mladen (CTO, itMedia) and Darko (CEO, itMedia).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re currently in the pre-launch phase, so we don’t have any hard metrics to report. However, we’re excited to create a human-to-human mapping system using the latest technologies.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their team is fully committed and open to suggestion with an excellent understanding of our industry.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re a young, talented team that’s grounded.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, there’s nothing to point out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of two companies. One is a digital project and innovation consultancy based in Vienna, and the other is an influencer marketing agency. We have a marketplace platform to connect with influencers. For both companies, I’m responsible for product development and management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with itMedia?

We were facing a very complicated platform development project. It involved combining a large volume of social media feeds and data from influencers, as well as data from our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

itMedia was involved in building the influencer platform from the start. First, they planned an initial scope of work for the project. We decided to use PHP; then their team put together a standard architecture for the platform based on the Symfony framework. We’d never worked with that technology before, but itMedia suggested it because it was robust and reliable. It was a steep learning curve, but their team guided us through the whole process. Then, they wrote the code for the front- and backend and set up accounts linked to other APIs.

With our tool, businesses can find blogs, Instagram influencers, Youtubers, and other social media personalities to promote their products. We facilitate collaboration within a variety of markets like technology, beauty, fashion, and more—anything with a specific audience. We handle all of the processing on our end, scheduling the influencers, setting up pricing agreements, and booking them through our platform. We even provide progress reports for each campaign. It’s an all-in-one marketplace solution.

Since partnering with itMedia, we’ve expanded their role to include additional services. Because we’re a startup, our workflow is pretty demanding. We have a lot of development sprints and a long list of items waiting to be implemented. We don’t want to delay our progress, so we’ve kept itMedia on to provide support.

What is the team composition?

I’ve mainly been in contact with Darko (Owner, itMedia). They assign resources to match the workload. When we first started, I only worked with Darko and a single developer. Now, we have a team of about five.

How did you come to work with itMedia?

We first worked with them for projects with our consulting company. We found them by coincidence. I met Darko through a mutual friend who spoke highly of his development skills. Following that conversation, I reached out.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with itMedia in May 2014, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve completed over 1,500 tasks with itMedia since last year. Some were small single-day projects, while others required more intensive work. No matter the level of complexity, they managed the workflow efficiently.

Our platform performs well in the market. We consistently measure its robustness and reliability through piloting phases and tests. At one point, we ran into a few minor issues. Since itMedia made the necessary corrections, the system has been working great. Overall, I’m happy with the quality.

How did itMedia perform from a project management standpoint?

Darko is very creative. He has a good understanding of our needs and his team’s capabilities, and he efficiently allocates resources to generate the best results. Their team doesn’t simply follow orders, but they try to improve our original ideas with alternative solutions and suggestions. itMedia is very realistic in their approach, using common sense to guide their processes.

We track each task through Jira but handle day-to-day communication via Slack. We share the backlog, active sprints, issues, and bugs through the management tool. Sometimes we use Google Hangouts for voice calls and screen sharing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re an extremely motivated team. We process a lot of data, and it’s often tiring and time-consuming work without any visible results. Despite the lack of excitement, itMedia continued to show unwavering commitment to our project. This attitude increased our confidence in their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should expand their team to include more design specialists. We don’t expect developers to have a refined creative sense, so adding this level of expertise would increase their value.

Any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. They’re highly communicative, and the language barrier never comes into play.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a real estate firm which also deals in logistics, trading, and retail.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire itMedia?

We needed full-stack development of a web and mobile platform.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a finished platform that would support online payments for home purchases or rentals.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to itMedia based on a recommendation.

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

itMedia discussed our goals for the platform and quickly gave us a proposal with design mockups, a schedule, and possible payment plans. They handled all backend and frontend development for web, Android, and iOS.

What was the team composition?

We worked primarily with a three-person team, and we had contact with two specialists who supported the mobile applications.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We reached all set goals on time. The results speak for themselves.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

itMedia informed us about every step of the process. We added functions during development which were not specified in the proposal, but they still finished the project by the deadline. The team’s availability was exceptional.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I found everyone on the team helpful and friendly.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No, I have no complaints.