Kubikware

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Merit Pages, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Merit makes best-in-class PR tools that allow people and organizations to reach local and regional media markets quickly, easily, and cost-effectively. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kubikware to accomplish?

• Have the new product become the foundation on which to rebuild legacy products.
• Design a new product from the ground up.

SOLUTION

How did you find Kubikware?

Referral

Why did you select Kubikware over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Kubikware were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We gave Kubikware a complete design specification for a critical new product, and they have been designing and developing it from a complete greeen-field start. That work includes rebuilding around a novel data scheme with complicated logic, to standing up a brand new CI/CD environment and complete ownership of all infrastructure surrounding and supporting the application. Kubikware also assumed ownership of a UI design overhaul that replaced what was in the original design document. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Kubikware created a beautiful, robust, and trouble-free application within budget and almost within the original time frame--the delay was a result of a change to their own UI/UX designers late in the project. That delay was worth it, as their design team was superior to the one that completed our initial document. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Kubikware's project manager is a unique talent. The whole team is very strong, but the depth and excellence of the management was striking and soothing. 

What was your primary form of communication with Kubikware?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Kubikware conducted an extremely rigorous execution without cutting corners. Outstanding communication from a team that have become true colleagues to mine. 

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

No, I plan on using Kubikware for the next several iterations of this product. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a professional services company that provides mobile software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kubikware?

We wanted to expand our workforce and be a little bit more flexible with our clients. As a result, we hired Kubikware to allow us to expand our team quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kubikware’s engineers support us with our regular feature development and maintenance. They also help us scope out our projects and give us estimates on the timeline of our projects. On top of that, they help us structure our team to ensure that we have successful projects.

Basically, they help us once we engage with our customers to ensure that things get done. Once they build the features we need, they search for technical issues and fix them once they're identified. As an example, we’ve been able to use their skills in our clients’ mobile software projects, usually for solutions that are outside the services we offer in our company. Since Kubikware has a lot of technologies under their belt, they’ve been able to jump in many of our projects.

What is the team composition?

Six engineers from Kubikware are working on three different projects that we have right now.

How did you come to work with Kubikware?

We found Kubikware a year ago when we were looking for new ways to fill our pipeline. A lot of our clients were focused in the San Francisco Bay Area, and we were looking to find new leads that were in the middle of the country and on the East Coast. As a result, we did a little bit of a marketing campaign and reached out to people that we didn’t know were part of our network. 

One of the groups we got in touch with thought that we could do work for them — together with Kubikware. At that time, we found out we were doing the same things and our company thought that we could use each other to fill gaps in our companies.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $138,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best user feedback we’ve had since we started working with Kubikware has been our clients’ requests to add more teammates to their projects after a couple of months of working with us. Overall, the level of engagement that Kubikware has provided on our projects has strengthened the bond we have with our customers.

How did Kubikware perform from a project management standpoint?

I’d say they’ve performed well from a project management standpoint. Most of our communication is in Slack and a little bit through email. Then, we use Jira for technical-level communication — it’s also where we divide the tasks of their engineers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their breadth of experience and their ability to deliver has been impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have nothing at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you know how to communicate on a technical level to get exactly what you need and to ensure that your resources are able to do what you want. In our case, we’re a technical team already, so we’ve been able to do our own technical diligence on any individual that we get from Kubikware.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing technology for ClearPath Mortgage Solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kubikware?

We use NetSuite to run our entire business and we’re a small company, so we don’t have the resources to be able to make the customizations to technology or even advise on the best ways to use it to help our business. We engaged them to help us with NetSuite.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged them for about six weeks and we realized that NetSuite wasn’t the right fit for us. They helped us transition to another system and managed to get all of the data that we needed so that we didn’t lose the customer information or transaction information.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a developer.

How did you come to work with Kubikware?

I was referred to them by another company that has used Kubikware’s resources before.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May–November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to learn that the system we were using wasn’t a good fit and we wouldn’t have known that on our own.

How did Kubikware perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management and communication skills were both excellent. We used Trello to manage tasks, which made it easy. They had a plan on how they wanted to manage the project and it worked really well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were adaptable and flexible enough to do new things and maintain a good attitude. Kubikware was clearly there to help us in any way possible as a technology partner. There was never a complaint or any pushback and they knew the system very well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking for a company to understand NetSuite, they’re phenomenal and will be able to help you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering. We offer a computer vision solution for third-party retailers, grocery stores, and convenience stores to eliminate lines and save people time. Instead of standing in line, you would use our app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kubikware?

Kubikware partnered with us to develop one of our apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked closely with us on the app’s user experience.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with five people.

How did you come to work with Kubikware?

We ended up connected to the CEO through a cold call, I believe. We were evaluating a number of vendors. Kubikware stood out for being a good middle ground – they had good communication, worked with our budget, and their timezone aligned. They were able to work collaboratively with our team. They also didn’t seem to require a lot of management from us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together about two and a half months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Kubikware’s stellar engineers were able to provide an end-to-end solution. They gave us great results. It’s passed all of our internal testings.

The app itself is public. Customers are starting to enjoy it. It’s been everything we hoped.

How did Kubikware perform from a project management standpoint?

The team works hard to understand what the scope is. Their project plan was extremely thorough. It had descriptions of the deliverables, phases, and how everything would be tied to payment markers and milestones.

If issues came up, we would make decisions together, and it all worked out great. There were no bumps in the road because that process worked well. The collaboration with the project managers and their CEO was great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication stands out. They’re solid and experienced partners. They were also super collaborative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they’re solid. We will be working with them again in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Esquire'd. Esquire'd is a platform for lawyers that allows lawyers to make and fulfill requests when other lawyer cannot appear in court, a deposition, or any other item that may require the attorneys license. If a specific attorney cannot appear, they can come to Esquire'd, make a request, and another vetted lawyer will happily accept and finalize the appearance!

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kubikware?

Kubikware was the development team. They built the platform from the ground up. They were extremely responsive and adaptive. They made sure every part of the platform worked to our satisfaction. After design, their team ran weeks worth of testing to make sure that our platform was running.

They continue to develop for Esquire'd, and we rely on them daily to make sure the platform runs. The best thing about them is their "can-do" attitude. There has not been one item that we threw their way, that they did not figure out.

Every request we issue them, they happily work around it, figure ways to make it work, and ultimately put it into action. Esquire'd really thanks Kubikware for their abilities and responsiveness.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to make a functional platform. Kubikware was given this heavy task (as this project is pretty complex). They did it rather quickly. They almost always sent me a link to the latest build and allowed me to run through it and review it. Whenever I requested changes, they were complete within 24-hours!

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My CTO connected me with them. From the first meeting, they gave us good energy. They were very sophisticated and knowledgable about the various options we could use. It was an easy decision.

Describe the project in detail.

Esquire'd is a marketplace for lawyers. If any attorney cannot appear in court, a deposition, a client meeting, etc., they can come to the platform, create a request, and another attorney will appear on their behalf. This is a pretty complex platform, as it requires a separate admin portal the monitors the platform. Kubikware was able to build the platform and portal just beautifully.

What was the team composition?

The team was diverse! We had my CTO, Federico, Marcelo, and their entire team, which consisted of about 7 people. Every single one of them is very interactive!

They are very responsive and mutually have a shared interest to make this platform work to its fullest capabilities. Now, they are even helping with a marketing campaign! They're really a one-stop shop!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Esquire'd is fully functional and transacts! A lot of our competitors do not have a fully functional platform. We initially thought it was impossible. But when Kubikware came into the picture, they were capable of creating the entire platform and made it very automated!

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our Co-Founders worked with their project managers directly. The project managers sometimes delegated the work, where they would connect you with a sub-project manager. This organization made every step of this process doable! I would not change our current structure or team!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their "can-do" attitude. Everytime we made a complex request, they answered. And when it could not be done, they found ways to make it work or work around it. This team is truly an innovative team! Esquire'd truly relies on them everyday!

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement. That's why we are building a second and third version of the platform. And we are doing this using the same team! They're just awesome.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Mid-sized Mobile app and Web Firm focused on producing top tier consumer products for a battery of small to mid-sized client. I lead the project management team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kubikware?

We leveraged Kubikware across a number of needs: Staff Augmentation, Frontend Development, and Backend development, as well as technical consulting. 

What were your goals for this project?

For many of the projects bringing them back to on track, the rest starting them on the right foot with proper planning and approach. Kubikware was a pivotal partner in helping to sort through and create a gameplan for success.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were a trusted vendor recommended by a colleague. I then read their reviews on Clutch. The goal was to find a team that was more than just a vendor checking boxes. I needed a partner and a team to help bolster my own. Once I met with their CEO, the decision to move forward with them was easy.

Describe the project in detail.

Because this applies to a list of projects, I will describe it like this: for projects in need of course correction, a team was assigned to help review and identify critical risks and refactor needs. The team helped design the action plan and road map and then worked directly with my team to execute the tasks. For new projects, a team and project lead were assigned to help map out the plan, choose the appropriate stack and staff it correctly. They then partnered with our team seamlessly to stay on track from inception to delivery. Additionally, they were able to work with our clients seamlessly.

What was the team composition?

The team normally consisted of 1 TPM, 1 Backend dev and 2 frontend developers. Depending on the need during projects we were able to effortlessly scale up or down with little notice.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within the first month of bringing the Kubikware team on board, almost all of the projects at critical risk were back on track and healthy. Within 3 months on a key from start project, we were not only on track but under budget and able to explore enhancements.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The work flow was seamless. Once the Kubikware team was on-boarded, they adopted our tools, our process and settled into a rhythm with the team as if they had been working together for years. Daily stand-ups were short, to the point, and incredibly effective. Notes and comments in our tools were clear and concise. Communication of critical needs was raised immediately and calmly along with recommended solutions. I couldn't be happier with how the team works.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about Kubikware (beyond their skills) is their level of communication. You never feel in the dark about progress issues, team structure, costs, etc. It's all transparent, clear and well organized. When they speak with you and your team regardless of level/title, they are clear, calm, friendly, and respectful.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think in any development team there is room for improvement, but for the work they have done with me for the past year-plus, I have no complaints whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Furnished Quarters is a privately-owned corporate housing company. We have over 100,000 apartments in 800 cities worldwide and serve over 5,000 corporate clients’ housing needs. I am the VP of technology and head of engineering. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kubikware?

We hired Kubikware to redesign and rebuild our public-facing website as well as one of our mission-critical internal applications. Both applications share a similar infrastructure and rely on similar data. It was a complex project with many moving parts. We needed a partner who could understand the complexities of our business and build applications that would both look good and function well.

What were your goals for this project?

Our previous applications were built on an out-of-date technology stack and lacked mobile responsiveness. We needed a complete refresh and a new stack that would last for the foreseeable future. Increasing leads and presenting a better face to our existing customers was also the main driving force behind this project.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We needed to find a cost-effective solution for a project of this size without sacrificing quality. After reading online reviews of Kubikware, we reached out and had a great conversation with Federico. Our process to find the right company took several months. We narrowed the list down to three companies. Each company submitted a detailed proposal with cost breakdowns. We decided to go with Kubikware based mostly on their proposal, cost estimates, and quality of previous public work.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Kubikware provided design, development, and project management resources to build the new website and internal application. They have a very experienced team, and we found their processes and procedures very productive in keeping the project on track and on time.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of two developer resources, a design resource, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the main goals of this project was to increase lead volume and to deploy new features that would attract new business and encourage repeat business. Lead volume has grown significantly, and customer satisfaction is up as well. We continue to work with Kubikware to design and develop new features to improve these metrics further.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Kubikware utilized an agile methodology and supported several different software tools to track and manage the process. We found agile to be a perfect fit for our style. Extreme visibility into the project progress allowed us to stay on track and minimize any change orders. We could also tweak and change course if a direction was not working out. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The people at Kubikware stood out most to us. There are many software development companies to choose from with great talent. Everyone we worked with from Kubikware was more dedicated and hardworking than any team I have come across. If you work with great people, the results will exceed your expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As with any large and complex project, there are always areas for improvement. Overall though, any issues that came up with Kubikware were addressed immediately and fixed. We have been working with their team for two years, and the relationship continues to grow.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of ForLikeMinds, an online mental health peer support community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kubikware?

We needed to create and develop new products as our company evolved.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to offer products that suited the needs and interests of our users in an easy, intuitive way.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We received a referral from another company.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We needed to maintain our website, do troubleshooting, and modify existing features to deliver added functionality and greater efficiency.

What was the team composition?

The founder of the firm is very attentive, responsive, and involved in the work product. There’s also two projects managers and one engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have additional information on our user base—allowing us to better understand our users and their needs—and augmented functionality. Kubikware has also provided peace of mind, in that we know we have a responsive web developer that is in-tune with our business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Tasks were assigned, and a project manager reported directly to us, who was supervised by another manager. It was a very effective system, as we had two people analyzing and providing input.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They delivered creative solutions that allow us to better manage our website independently.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. Not at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We’re an e-commerce company providing flags, both American and custom, as well as hardware. I work as the marketing and website manager and will be the owner in the future as part of our partnership.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kubikware?

We hired them on a monthly retainer to handle our ongoing development needs, including both enhancements and issue resolution.

What were your goals for this project?

We want them to gain a full working knowledge of our complex and somewhat customized system structure. We anticipate many future enhancements to the site and would like to have complete confidence in Kubikware's ability to handle any issues.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us by a local software development company. We felt confident in the recommendation, appreciated their rates, and were satisfied with their specialized knowledge of Magento.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Once onboarded, Kubikware did a code review and then put in place the proper protocol for duplicating our production and development sites, to conduct accurate testing.

They handled several projects, including integrating a tax collection program, updating the way credit card numbers are accepted, setting up spam and hacker prevention, restoring accidentally deleted reviews, and migrating the server.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with a project manager who oversees the developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have completed several important and other more minor projects. The most major was the server migration, and it has dramatically impacted our business. Our old server support was being phased out, so we were in a critical position to migrate.

We look forward to future projects that will have a positive effect on our business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management is responsive. There were a few instances when we hoped the solution would be completed more promptly. However, we do recognize that our budget is limited, and vendor resources are affected accordingly. Communication definitely meets my expectations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I like the structure of their company and the setup of project management. I have multiple touch points—should I need them—from both a top-line business standpoint and a development need standpoint.

The team is always friendly, professional, and willing to help. Their rates are reasonable, and we anticipate the ability to increase our budget and both strengthen and broaden the relationship.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I look forward to their growing knowledge of our system so that in the future, we can benefit from more proactive strategies.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the owner of Argos Web Development. We provide web development services to a variety of business and marketing companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kubikware?

At the time, we were understaffed for our workload, so we needed outside assistance. We hired them specifically to help with a project for one of our clients who asked us to help them build a quilt-design web app for an e-commerce site.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to create a web-based application that allowed users to upload a quilt design, select a size, determine the materials needed for the project, and add them to a shopping cart.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to Kubikware by another agency. We started with a few small projects as a trial, and they were a good fit. We’ve since worked with them on many more projects over the years. Now, we’d recommend them for any sized project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided them with the basic concept for the web app, and they quickly developed a working prototype. We showed it to our client and put together a full scope of work. Once the client approved, they built the web-app and implemented all of the required features. They also helped us conduct thorough tests to assure we launched a bug-free product.

What was the team composition?

We worked primarily with a project lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the help of Kubikware, we were able to complete the project on time and within the budget without having to hire any temporary employees. The client was very impressed with the quality of their work. The Kubikware team worked autonomously, so there wasn’t much hand-holding. Overall, it was a productive partnership.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They managed the project efficiently and met every milestone. We communicated through emails, phone calls, or Skype as needed. The project lead was always available. The Kubikware team was knowledgeable and helpful, improving our concept with additional details.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was most impressed by our project lead’s technical knowledge and ability to provide useful feedback in every stage of our collaboration.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, working with them was a great experience.