Magora

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a technology startup and we have developed a product which makes it possible to utilize a unique array of location-based advertising channels. I am the managing director and one of the founders of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

We originally developed the core of our system but needed assistance with further development and implementations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My team has been in charge of concept development for the platform’s features. We are using Magora for the actual development on a continuous basis. For mobile development, we are using Objective-C and Java. The web portion uses JavaScript and Node.JS. Our platform has some geolocation-based tools integrated.

They have offered to take on the design work, but we are using our own designers for now. Magora is performing business analysis, in order to ensure that we are taking the best approach to development.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We have a lot of experience working with freelancers. For the past five years, we have been using platforms like Elance, which later became Upwork. That is also how we found Magora, after making a job posting. A number of companies applied, and we looked at Magora’s track record. We had a Skype meeting, and it soon became clear that they were a good fit for our job.

How much have you invested with Magora?

The cost of working with Magora will most likely be between $50,000 and $100,000 overall.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Magora in February 2017. We are working intensively with a dedicated team of four to six people, depending on the workload. We plan to have a long-term collaboration with Magora.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Magora is using Bitbucket to upload our code base. We have insight into it and perform quality checks. We plan to start regression testing shortly and will launch the app to 300,000 users. The real tests will happen in a matter of weeks.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s nice to work with Magora. They have great communication skills, getting in touch with us three times per week. The quality of work is good, and they deliver on time, which is an exception among the freelancers we’ve been using. It’s pleasant to work with a team like Magora’s.

What did you find most impressive about Magora?

So far, we’ve been very satisfied, especially since we had been working with Indian freelancers and companies in the past, for the most part. Our experience with those was that they always failed to deliver on time, and had bad organizational structures. Besides technical qualities, Magora has a very structured approach.

Are there any areas Magora could improve?

As of now, I don’t think so. We need to take the platform live in order to really see if all the technology is working perfectly, but the process of working with Magora has been very nice.

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

They are a serious and dedicated development team, so I would recommend Magora to companies with a bigger budget, and which also require more quality and follow-ups. Someone with a small budget should probably go with smaller, more independent freelancers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Golod is one of the most ambitious projects in Moscow. The mobile app allows the fastest food delivery in the world. We successfully tested the business model, delivered 10,000 lunches, and are growing quickly!

I the CEO of Golod.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora Systems?

We approached Magora Systems to create mobile apps for iOS and Android. In Moscow, as well as many large cities, food delivery has a one to two-hour wait. We offered a concept to save waiting time: lunch delivery "up to the sidewalk" with a choice of two dishes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Magora Systems was in charge of finalizing the terms of reference, designing a mobile application structure, designing the architecture of the whole system, creating the code, and handling testing.

How did you come to work with Magora Systems?

In order to select Magora Systems, we first compared prices for the services we would receive, their experience in mobile apps engineering, and experience with mapping services.

How much have you invested with Magora Systems?

We have invested between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work began September 1^st, 2015 and ended June 1^st, 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They created three ready-to-use apps, including iOS and Android-based clients’ applications and one separate Android app for the couriers. Additionally, they’ve provided a detailed server solution and admin panel with a web interface. We successfully tested the business model and delivered more than 10,000 lunches.

What did you find most impressive about Magora Systems?

What we have found most impressive about Magora is that they can handle dense work and have an account manager available 24/7. Also, their ability to perform the full range of tasks within a company is great.

Are there any areas Magora Systems could improve?

Two project managers were replaced during the project implementation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a kitchen faucet manufacturer based in California. The company has been in business since 1999. "Made in America" is kind of our big thing.

What is your position?

I am the creative director of the company. I'm responsible for all our marketing material, the websites, the packaging, store displays, and so on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

We needed a backend login for our rewards program. All our dealers in the US have sales people working the floors, selling our faucets. As an incentive, we give them commissions; in order to register those commissions, they need to login to our website and enter a claim.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Magora has developed a backend web portal with secure logins and a database for recording claims. We use that information for cutting checks to all the sales people when the program is over.

I gave Magora a rough outline of what I wanted, and they came back with a very detailed business proposal, including suggestions of what would work better. They handled all the coding and also designed the interface.

The second phase hasn't gone live yet, so Magora is also helping me upload the platform to the servers, making sure everything is running right. This was above my initial request.

How did you come to work with Magora?

I had worked with American developers on two occasions in the past, and I'd spent thousands of dollars only to be burned. Someone told me about a website called Upwork, describing it as being almost like a dating website where I could pick out companies. I looked at 10 candidates and found Magora to be the best fit. I gave them a very small trial project, and it went great. We went from there.

I was a little reluctant to go overseas, but I hadn't had much luck with the Americans. From my experience at least, American companies were expensive and unreliable.

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

The cost of Magora's work will be between $13,000 and $15,000 overall. They were dead-on in terms of estimates.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Magora in mid-December 2016. Our deadline was the middle of February or end of March, which Magora hit with no problems. I gave them an additional project for making modifications to the original platform, which is what they're working on now. We plan to finish this third phase by next week.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The platform has around 1,200 users across the US and Canada, and it works exclusively as an internal system. We don't have any relevant metrics yet, but I'm sure that it will work better than it did in 2016. An issue we've had with the initial version was that sales people weren't able to log their claims, so they gave up on the process. The new version will be much smoother, everyone will be happy, and we will hopefully boost sales.

These types of projects can look great on paper, but Magora's work was actually good as well. Everything worked and it was what I was looking for, or even better. The platform is functional, fluid, and user-friendly. It was also delivered in a timely manner. I will definitely use Magora again.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

I appreciated Magora's dependability. We had weekly Skype calls, I was kept up-to-date about our status, and they met deadlines.

What distinguishes Magora from other providers?

Magora is a friendly team, and they all speak English well. They're very professional, too. The reliability was the most important thing for me.

Is there anything Magora could have improved or done differently?

This was a very complicated database, so I should have paid more attention to it in the beginning. There were a couple of things which were misunderstood, which I didn't relay very well. Magora did their best with what I offered, but I made some assumptions about what would be self-explanatory. Magora's team didn't want to deviate too much, though. They made some suggestions, but they didn't go out on their own. In the future, I plan to be more specific up front and make sure that the communication is dead-on from the start.

Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with Magora?

One issue I've had with Magora was financing. Upwork is great because it works almost like a version of PayPal, so I was comfortable in knowing that I wouldn't be giving Magora some money only to have them disappear. However, they did want a big sum up front, 80% of the total over two months. I was a little uncomfortable with that, so I talked them into doing it in thirds as we reached milestones. I was happy with our first delivery halfway through, so I released a new payment, and I've sent Magora the money for our last phase only yesterday. It was a big trust issue for someone I'd never worked with before, so I would suggest working out milestone payments with providers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director of a live chat provider for the automotive industry. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

I wanted to produce a live chat solution which is on par with the best of the market. It’s a portal solution, so it's inherently complex in every way.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I basically just had an idea when we started the project. They took it from an idea and turned it into a physical, working solution. The technology is cloud scalable, yet it’s on seven servers, so it’s quite a large project for a live chat system. The project involved an understanding of MongoDB, JavaScript, PHP, and various other programming skill sets. It took around nine months to get to this stage. It’s come together quite nicely and is working as expected.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We used an online marketplace to look through different companies. We looked at their feedback and made sure they had done good work in that marketplace. We also spoke to a sales rep to gauge their level of comfort with this kind of solution. We basically vetted them and identified that Magora was compatible with the project.

How much have you invested with Magora?

I imagine it will end up costing around $200,000 with an ongoing cost for features and support.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s been around nine months, but the work will be ongoing in some shape or form. We’re still in development and the solution is functioning well, but there are still features that need to be added, tweaked, and changed. It’s going to be an ongoing project for the next 6–12 months, and then it will eventually turn more towards maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I thought that taking it from a concept would be a tricky thing to do because I personally know an awful lot about live chat systems, where the developer may have a broad knowledge of the technologies but not necessarily about what’s really needed from the live chat solution. However, Magora has been very good through the entire process and has understood the end user needs.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

Progress has been quite quick, especially with only three or four developers working. You can see what’s being done, and you feel like they’re working as fast as they can while still getting the job done properly. We use Redmine to track what’s going on behind the scenes and to help me make sense of who is working on what. Everything they’re doing is in line with the wireframe and the documentation I’ve created. Everything is tracked well through Redmine, even their hours and expected completion dates.

What did you find most impressive about Magora?

What I most like about Magora is their ability to take a concept, identify the technologies needed, and produce a working system to the exact specification.

Are there any areas Magora could improve?

At this point, because we’re halfway through, I can’t think of anything that they could really improve on because they’re tracking so well. They’ve performed very well thus far.

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

As always, with any type of development, you need to give the developers as much information about the build before going into it, including wireframes, documentation, or anything that can help the team produce without having to ask too many questions to understand the scope of the project. Our build started early and without much of the necessary information, but Magora made it work. Obviously, the more you support them, the quicker the project will be completed and the solution will be more accurate.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup company working on a gig economy web application. I am one of the owners of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

We needed to perform a requirements analysis for our web application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with Magora on a flat-rate project. The project consisted almost entirely of consultation. Magora was responsible for creating a technical document and scope-of-work for our platform. They handled the technical writing for the document, but there was no actual development done. I've been in touch with 4 to 5 people through the process and have one main contact.

How did you come to work with Magora?

I found Magora on Upwork. I went through a due-diligence process on Google in order to find out if they were a legitimate company.

How much have you invested with Magora?

The cost of Magora's services has been around $11,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Magora in July 2016 and the project was finished by mid-September. The project lasted for 3 to 4 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was successful. The final documents received from Magora contained fine details about developing the web application and was completed just as agreed. Because it wasn't technically a development project, it may be hard to quantify deliverables.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

Magora has maintained constant, great communication. Their team is not US-based, but English was not a problem at all.

What did you find most impressive about Magora?

Magora has a large team and the flexibility of the core management team was excellent. Each person had a different skillset, which was very useful. If someone lacked certain knowledge, I'd have a meeting with someone else the next day.

Are there any areas Magora could improve?

The constant back and forth was perfect and I've had no problems with our workflow.

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

I maintained daily communication with Magora. I would advise clients to be prepared for the same approach and make the most of the experience. If I hadn't done this, the project would have drawn out. Magora had constant questions for me on a daily basis. If I didn't get back to them quickly, I'd end up stalling the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We make fully autonomous lighting control, which uses distributed intelligence to allow a Sensor Node in each light fitting to make lighting decisions. Our Sensor Nodes collect rich data from a variety of environmental sensors, which may be sent to the cloud for analytics purposes. I am the Software Director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora Systems?

We engaged Magora Systems on a few different projects, with the initial one being the continuation of the development of our iOS and Android apps. Whilst we had existing apps, there were a number of requests for new features and we weren't happy continuing to work with our existing local developers, mostly because the quality of work did not justify the cost. Hiring app developers was prohibitive due to time constraints and the concern that we may not have enough work to justify a full-time position.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It's an ongoing project for which they provided design and programming on iOS and Android. In other projects, they have also provided web development (HTML, JS, Angular) and illustration.

How did you come to work with Magora Systems?

We put out a Job ad on Elance (now Upwork) and reviewed each of the 100+ applications that we received. Out of those, we shortlisted 6 for a call, from which we then selected two that we both gave an identical task to. Magora Systems came back with higher quality work at a much lower price (due to the developer working extremely fast).

How much have you invested with Magora Systems?

Across all projects, we would have spent around $100,000 with Magora Sytems.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first engaged Magora Systems in April 2015 and have worked with them on usually at least two projects at a time since. The app development is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been very satisfied with the work that has been completed by Magora. Since working with them, we have released 10 updates to our iOS app and a roughly similar amount for our Android app. These include complex features that require an understanding of deep technical details of our lighting control.

The results on other projects were also excellent.

What did you find most impressive about Magora Systems?

An aspect of Magora Systems that stands out, in particular, compared to other off-shore options that we have talked to, is that everyone from the account managers to the developers is very personable, which makes them a pleasure to work with. At every point, we feel that we are dealing with someone who takes pride in their work and is focused on delivering the best quality outcome.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, they tend to work very fast, probably because they hired good developers. This translates into cost savings and faster time to market.

Are there any areas Magora Systems could improve?

The only piece of feedback that I have raised with them is that we have had a couple of changes in project managers, and to a lesser extent developers, which meant that I had to manage more closely than I would have liked. That said, since the nature of the app development was sporadic, I fully understand that they cannot dedicate someone to it full time.

We have not worked with any other contractors that did better than Magora Systems in this respect and I am confident that if we engaged them for a longer continuous time, things would have been different.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We work as a contractor in the eyewear industry, creating applications for various companies. Our biggest product is a Salesforce automation tool, and we also provide web applications tailored to the needs of our customers. I am a software developer for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora Systems?

We needed to create an app quickly for a new business opportunity, and not enough people in our company had extensive knowledge in that particular area. Because we're a small company, we don't have enough staff to handle big rushes. We have used Upwork for finding additional resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Magora developed an iPad app for our company, based on an existing software for a different platform. We provided feed-back along the way for its functionalities. We received daily progress reports and replied to Magora with indications about how they should proceed.

We have used up to 3 developers from Magora's team at one point. In total, there were 5 to 6 people who worked with us over time, including a project manager, and one other person tasked with writing documentation for our app's functionalities.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We posted a job on Upwork, and Magora was one of the companies that contacted us. We looked over their experience in terms of feed-back, ratings, and proposals, and Magora seemed to be the best option.

How much have you invested with Magora Systems?

We contract Magora on an hourly basis, and their software developers are priced at $40 per hour. The total project took 3 months to complete.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Magora in April 2016. Our project has been concluded. If there is a business need to continue the project, we may contact Magora again, also depending on whether or not we'll try to handle the development in-house.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was impressed with the quality of the code produced by Magora. We've done some iOS work in the past, but no one in our group considers themselves an expert on the platform. What I saw from Magora was more impressive than what we would have been able to produce in-house, within our timeframe.

We don't plan on releasing our app on the app store; it's meant to be used internally by a potential client who wanted to use our programs through an iPad.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn't have a hard number in terms of budget estimates, but, based on the number of hours put in by Magora's team; I'm satisfied with the amount of work done. Our project managers were very responsive to my needs, and always asked what they could be doing better. At one point, I mentioned a new tool which we wanted to use, and Magora introduced it into the process. Towards the end of the project, we started using Trello as a task management tool, allowing us to move items around and prioritize them.

What did you find most impressive about Magora Systems?

There isn't anything in particular that stands out. I was overall satisfied with Magora's work. They delivered exactly what we wanted.

Are there any areas Magora Systems could improve?

One of our contracts with Magora was for a QA [quality assurance] engineer. As far as I can tell, Magora performed QA through the developers themselves and handed it to me for approval. I ended up doing the QA as well. We weren't delivering the app to a client, so I didn't mind that very much, but it would have been nice if I hadn't had to do it myself.

We initially had a deadline of July 1st and allowed Magora to add additional developers if they needed to speed the work along. By mid-June, I started to feel that we did need additional developers to hit the deadline, but Magora only added more resources by late-June. I did feel that we had an aggressive schedule, but it would have been possible to hit with multiple people working on it. Unfortunately, it didn't happen, and the project was completed at the beginning of August.

When we started our project, Magora proposed writing a document which would work as a functional spec for how the application was supposed to work and be used as a reference going forward, whenever new contractors would be introduced to the project. Magora started working on it early in the project, and abandoned it after a few weeks. I didn't care too much about it, and it didn't seem completely necessary, but I still hoped that it would be finished.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Magora Systems?

I feel that we would have gotten more work done if I'd told Magora earlier to assign more resources to the project. I advise any clients not to be afraid of asking for more out of the developer.

BACKGROUND

My company is a startup. I am an owner and responsible for creating new ideas and strategic decision making, as well as for the communication with investors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

My project was based on the idea to create a social network for proactive people. I wanted to make it easy for me and my friends to find events of interest according to geolocation. I also wanted the network to be useful to the sponsors of the events. That is why I decided to build a platform that would incorporate all these features.

SOLUTION

The app was finally created as a social network for sharing content and collaboration with followers. It includes the following features:

• Announcing and advertising events (like a digital billboard).
• Searching for nearby users with geolocation.
• Communicating with other users through a built-in messenger.

Instead of simply implementing the ideas I approached them with, the guys developed them into a full-fledged functional product. I was keeping track of the workflow with great interest. They operated with constant self-awareness, good task control, excellent management, and a high level of professionalism. I think that they are a perfect example of an awesome team to work with startups. They develop the project while I think of how to make money out of it. That is exactly the kind of team Magora is.

The app is already on the Appstore and Google Play, we are currently marketing the platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Magora Systems picked up my idea straight away. A well-coordinated team of ten people worked hard and efficiently, dedicating themselves to my project fully and completely. Over the course of eight months, not only did they build the app, but they also shared with me their knowledge and experience in IT development.

We have 10,000 users already combined on both platforms in 2.5 months. I am very satisfied because of the business results. They were willing to partner with me to save me money.

They grasped and understood my idea better than any other agency. They are very open and realistic about expectations. I trust Magora because they are reliable, responsive, and honest. On the other hand, I would like to mention that if it is your first time in the IT industry, you’d better start with simple plans and mockups.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I'm the cofounder of a healthcare technology app that is focused on finding the true cost of healthcare. We do that with a ground up methodology that links physicians' and patients' time with the individual supplies used.

What is your position?

I'm a cofounder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Magora Systems?

We needed to build our application. Finding the true cost of healthcare is simple from an arithmetic standpoint. It's just the number of minutes spent on a patient multiplied by the cost of the physician and the other employees. However, with certain diagnoses, it can get very complicated because there can be thousands of interactions between the patient and the physician. We needed an easy-to-use, intuitive app that could organize all of this information and spit out the true cost at the end.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

I delivered a Balsamiq mockup to Magora of what I was imagining the app would look like. As they were building out the app, they had many questions about the specific functionalities and how they would integrate with the technology that they recommended. Once they built out the app, they took on the design work, which included the skinning of the app, the colors, the background images, and the icons. The end result is a web app that you can use with your physicians to find out the true cost of healthcare.

How did you come to work with Magora Systems?

I submitted a request for a developer on Upwork, and Magora was an applicant. They appeared to be the best, so I selected them.

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

We spent approximately $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in October 2015, and the first iteration wrapped up in December 2015. We started the second iteration in February of this year [2016] and are just now finishing that up [June 2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Although we haven't launched yet, we've been happy with app thus far. The functionality has been really good.

How did Magora Systems perform from a project management standpoint?

They were helpful and informative, delivering updates and time estimations almost daily. If I ever had a question, they were always available through Skype or email. Their estimation for hours required was a little low, but not too far off. I typically double whatever estimation a developer gives me, and they were only 1.25 times over, which is much better than I've experienced with developers both onshore and offshore.

What distinguishes Magora Systems from other providers?

Since they're an agency, it's easy to see that they're much more interested in maintaining a long-term relationship. Some individual developers that I've hired are more like a one-trick pony – they try to turn in a broken product as soon as possible so they can move on to their next project. Magora Systems is much more invested in the relationship as a whole and making sure you're happy. They ask about the future constantly, what features you want, and what your long-term goals are. They're very different from anyone else I've worked with.

Is there anything Magora Systems could have improved or done differently?

I don't have any huge feedback for them. Honestly, they did everything I asked for pretty much perfectly.

BACKGROUND

I am the cofounder and CEO of Jurni Inc. We currently have five employees and are located in San Ramon, California. Our target demographic is 18-to-45-year-old lifestyle-driven users, such as fashionistas, cooks, health advocates, fitness gurus, makeup artists, entrepreneurs, pregnant mothers, and so on. Specifically, it is for those who are users of Pinterest, Reddit, and YouTube. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

There are several fundamental problems with the content on social media. It is surface level, inauthentic, saturated, and emotionless. The content that is produced is a reflection of who we want to be, not who we are. 

SOLUTION

Jurni is a video-journaling platform focused on emotions and experiences. With Jurni, users can record a 45-second Jurni and associate an emotion and topic to that experience so that the user can connect visually to other people in the world going through similar emotions and experiences. Jurni is topical, authentic, emotional, and focused.

I initially discovered Magora via Elance and have been very satisfied since. We vetted several companies once we got on Elance, but were especially comfortable with Magora because of the ease of communication and the level of expertise.

We designed the app in-house and went to Magora for all of front-end development items. It took us approximately six months to complete the app with Magora. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Although the work with Magora was great, we did have to do much of project management. This is the case with most outsourcing. Luckily, with Magora, it wasn't that bad. Magora covered the agreed scope of the project and contributed toward the successful launch we had. After launching, we accumulated several thousand users within the first couple of months. We are continuing front-end development with Magora as they have been able to hit all of our goals. One aspect I would pay attention to is QA [quality assurance] testing as it may not be the best at times. Make sure to stay on top of the QA process to ensure quality work.