Makeen Technologies

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Operations of Emmasson Inc

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Create DRM technology

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Makeen Technologies to accomplish?

• Help with the ideation around the core functionality of the application.
• Build the tech functionality on android, iOS, and web platforms.
• Assist with hiring technical talent.

SOLUTION

How did you find Makeen Technologies?

Referral

Why did you select Makeen Technologies over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Makeen Technologies’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

Product Development and Project Management Services, App Development, Dev Ops Assistance. Makeen guided us through the process of journey mapping, assisted in conducting and compiling feedback from various focus groups.

They also worked with us in synthesizing the focus group feedback and producing application attributes that created value for our current core market group

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Successful development of an Android, iOS and Web MVP application

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

Their punctuality with deliverables was adequate. If there was ever a deadline missed, we understood why and Makeen worked diligently to resolve the issue.

What was your primary form of communication with Makeen Technologies?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

The creativity and the depth of knowledge of their staff are impressive.

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

I would consider myself satisfied with the scope of work delivered so far on this engagement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP - Engineering of (a/an) Media

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Media and marketing services and licensing

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Makeen Technologies to accomplish?

• Build a branded entertainment placement network
• Automate manual processes
• Retire legacy systems

SOLUTION

How did you find Makeen Technologies?

Referral

Why did you select Makeen Technologies over others?

High ratings, Close to my geographic location, Great culture fit, Good value for cost, Referred to me, Company values aligned

What was the size of Makeen Technologies’s team?

6-10 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with Makeen Technologies?

In-Person Meeting, Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

Provide technical design for a cloud-based product serving media buyers, operations staff and media production staff. Consult on final UI/UX design. Oversee UAT, deployment, stabilization. Evolve in subsequent iterations after launch.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Tech design feasibility and acceptance
• On time, on budget delivery
• Customer engagement and feedback about product

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

Very flexible. We didn’t always know exactly what we needed, so requirements often were in flux. Abdul and team were partners in navigating this. Our end date was fixed (NYC launch event with Bill Gates speaking) so we had to finish on time and we did.

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

Mastery of the emerging cloud services and other tech that we did not have personnel or knowledge to embrace alone. They helped us get our stack out of our basement and into the cloud.

Are there any areas for improvement or something {provider_name} could have done differently?

Clone Abdul.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of an education-oriented streaming platform. We create customized programs for students who subscribe to our courses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We needed to improve our video delivery solution, increasing its performance and making it faster. We also wanted to improve our cybersecurity to fend off piracy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Makeen Technologies initially provided us with consulting to define our solution’s architecture and the technologies that we would use. During that phase, they tested different potential technologies and vendors.

The second phase of the project was implementing our custom software, which was done alongside our in-house team. It included revamping the video player and the video delivery infrastructure itself. Makeen Technologies provided the developers that we needed to accomplish this. They used AWS and Azure Media Services, as well as some open-source video players like Shaka.

What is the team composition?

We interact with about five people from Makeen Technologies. The account manager is in charge, among other things, of helping us understand exactly what our requirements are. We’ve also collaborated with their CTO, who helped us define the solution. Additionally, Makeen Technologies assigned a frontend developer and a backend developer to work on our project full-time, as well as one customer support agent that regularly checks in on the program’s performance.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

I believe our CTO was leading the vendor search for this project and found them on Clutch — we regularly use Clutch to find vendors. We conducted interviews with our options and shortlisted a few of them. Then, we had a call with Makeen Technologies and found them to be knowledgeable and easy to talk to. They had the experience that we were looking for.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent under $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract in late June 2021 but actually started the work by July 2021. The project should be wrapped up towards the end of August 2021. However, we might extend our contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The solution implemented by Makeen Technologies works well and provides us with what we need. Our in-house QA team has been testing it regularly, and it is faster and more secure against piracy than before. However, it is still too early to see an impact, and the solution isn’t linked to any measurable KPIs, so we don’t have exact data on its performance.

On another note, Makeen Technologies is knowledgeable. They’ve helped us find the right solution, which has helped us save on costs because they were able to structure it in a unique way.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Throughout the implementation, Makeen Technologies was on top of everything, and they connected us with the right people.  They don’t require much oversight, which is great. Additionally, they have the necessary skills and talent within their team to solve complex problems.

Makeen Technologies’ focus on good communication and transparency makes it comfortable to work with them. We can assign requests to anyone or ask them for changes when something seems off, and even their CEO will reach out to fix any issue.

We communicate over email for any contract-related discussions. We also use phone calls to discuss problems and make sure that they understood our requirements. Additionally, we used Slack for regular communication and occasional updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Makeen Technologies has excellent management — they ensure customer success. They really care whenever we have an inquiry, and they invest a lot of resources in it.

Additionally, their CTO knows the solutions inside and out. It gives us comfort knowing that we have someone experienced on board who knows the language and is willing to test solutions. We really appreciate their attention to customer requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our engagement has been relatively short, but they’ve been delivering great results. We have no complaints about the product, and their management has been superb.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Read reviews on them and check out their website to know their previous experience. Makeen Technologies has plenty of experience, especially in media, which is what we focus on. Also, invest time in providing them with enough context because that will pay off.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a computer software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We hired them to get the first few versions of our products into our customers’ hands. Part of our products is integrating with all kinds of APIs including GitHub, Gusto, and G Suite.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Makeen Technologies is integrating third-party services and getting data from them. The team then consolidates the data into our platform in a way that conforms to our internal schema. They’re using Ruby on Rails

What is the team composition?

We’re working with two backend engineers. Before starting on the project, we worked with their owners and one of their engineering managers to figure out the scope and structure of the work before starting on the integration. Additionally, we worked with a few frontend engineers for a little bit.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

They were recommended by a friend, and we had a couple of meetings with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we first started working on the project, their management was very hands-on in terms of figuring out what we were building and what the right skill sets would be for what we need. They did a good job of that and have been very thoughtful about the engineers we work with.

I’ve been really happy. We were able to significantly speed up the development. Makeen Technologies does a lot of people management in terms of helping people to grow and not just putting out code. They ask the right questions.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is really good at providing daily status updates at the beginning and end of the day without our prompting them. Their project management is really good. The engineers communicate early and often if they’re falling behind. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

There were times when the quality of the engineers we were working with wasn’t what we were expecting, and Makeen Technologies was quick to figure out the root cause and pain points, and they were quick to work with the engineers to improve. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. We’ve had a really good experience with them. This was only going to be a short-term project, but we’ve kept it going longer to help us with the milestones. One thing that we struggled with in the beginning was the time difference. Once we got set up, everything became smoother. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We’ve had very specifically scoped work, and one of the reasons we’ve been able to move quickly is that, for each integration, we figure out everything we need. 

I would advise customers to scope out the project well and have clearly defined goals and deadlines and communicate with Makeen Technologies. Have written details in terms of what you’re looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager for Georgiou, a construction company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We wanted to digitize our paper and PDF forms. We were also looking to build a mobile app that could be used during projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created an app for us on iOS. It was built on Javelin, and they used AWS. 

It’s a native app, not web-based, so it works fast. It has scientific features to be used in providing accuracy on projects. When you submit a form, it is sent as a PDF, and the data is put into a database used for our business intelligence, reporting, and more. We can analyze and share pictures, as well. 

They provided technical support, updates, and added new features as needed.

What is the team composition?

We interacted with 3-4 people from a customer service point of view. There were 10+ people, including a project manager and developers, working on the project.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

We worked with them previously, before they were Makeen Technologies, to build a platform. We were very happy with that work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $500,000 AUD (approximately $361,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2015 – April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did testing, which was pretty good. We had very few issues with new builds. The look and feel of the app were very good, and we have had positive feedback from users.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager did well. They delivered on time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good technical people and good leadership. The product itself is good — it’s stable. We have a good relationship with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had wanted one capability that the app doesn’t provide, regarding after forms are submitted. It’s the only thing they weren’t able to provide.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can trust Makeen Technologies to provide a stable product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP in charge of B2B applications for an entertainment company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We needed help application support and mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work on video playback, and DRM (digital rights management). They also do web and mobile app development for us, mostly in React Native and Node. We use them as a staff augmentation resource. The team comes in and does whatever we need, essentially acting as an extension of our team.

Sometimes the applications are used to playback video for studio executives; Other times an app will let us know when something isn’t working. Finally, they’ve done work on our intranet application that helps people find out about things happening around the studio.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 developers on any project. Sometimes there’s also a project manager.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

They were referred to me by a former co-worker.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $1 million–$10 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2013, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We continue to work with them because they finish the projects, and they’re good partners. They never change the contracts and work with us to make things easy for our team.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is solid. We’ve set up weekly meetings so we can stay aware of what they’re working on. We don’t use them too much for project management, but when we do, they’re very good at keeping on top of our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their agility stands out the most. The team’s resources are solid and when we ask them to do something, or if we ask them to shift gears, they make it happen.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, anything that we’ve had issues with them we’ve already worked through.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to know what you want to build. Makeen will give you recommendations as long as you know what you’re looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at Warner Bros. Entertainment. We’re a Fortune 500 company, and I’m in the technology division that supports the company in making content, movies, and shows for public consumption.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We wanted a mature team to quickly scale up and build a challenging software solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a video screen service that included web, electron, iOS, Android, Apple TV, and Roku based interfaces.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 10 people from their team, including iOS, Android, React Native, infrastructure, UX/UI, web development, and Apple TV experts.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

One of my colleagues discovered them. We were already confident with their skillset and ability to deliver, and we knew they could move fast. Their pricing was also within our range.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Makeen has solid leadership that helped achieve our goals. They’re adept at navigating corporate bureaucracy and politics. The team understands the gears and inner workings of a huge company, which is a great skill.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. Their team has the integrity to do their job right while considering our time frames and expectations. There are enough people in the company that if we’re hiring them for one purpose, and need an expert opinion from a different purpose, they’re able to provide that expertise fairly easily. We use Atlassian for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I enjoy professionally intelligent people who not only have the ability to implement the desired service, but the creativity to consider the ways in which it could be done. One of the great things I enjoyed about them was their willingness to give light pushback where appropriate to get clearer on the expectations, or suggest a different solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For the most part, we had very few issues. Occasionally, they put the wrong person on a job for us. It’s irritating to learn that the person that assigned wasn’t as adept as the previous person we’d worked with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure that everything you want is listed in your scope of work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product manager for Warner Bros. Entertainment Group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We needed a mobile application/dashboard developed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have worked on three projects with me; a self-service portal, an advanced management application, and a mobile app/dashboard.

For the mobile application, they did the frontend and backend engineering of the entire app. It’s built for Android and iOS, and there is a desktop application. The app is built in React Native, and MySQL was used for backend.

The app is used by upper management, allowing them to quickly visualize what’s going on with all the apps in our portfolio and to identify issues.

What is the team composition?

There were four people working on this project: a project manager, development lead, and two engineers.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

I believe they were recommended. However, they have done a few projects with us now and have worked with other departments at Warner  Bros.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $150,000 - $200,000 for this project alone.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–December 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app was launched internally. Within a week, we had 100 downloads, which was more than the other launches we’ve done. Feedback has been very good. Users find it to be a very helpful tool.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. They make sure deadlines are met, and accommodate changes to the best of their ability. We used Jira for this project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like how quickly they’re able to assemble their team and begin work. This is much better than previous experiences I’ve had with other vendors. This team pays attention to detail and is adaptable to the changing needs and requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of right now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know exactly what you’re looking for, and provide clear requirements to get the best outcome.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and Founder of Holliblu, a nurse workforce management and recruiting platform for healthcare companies and a community for nurses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Makeen Technologies?

Makeen was hired to take over development after we discovered that our previous developer was over charging and had created a product that was below industry standards. Makeen was hired to bring our product up to industry standard, add certain layers of security, create a subscription pricing model, and help us to create innovative technology for our product.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to make sure that our product was built in a way that would allow us to be dynamic as a company. We wanted the foundation to be strong so we could scale the technology. We wanted to work with a company that was innovative and could help us stay relevant. We wanted honesty and transparency from our developers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

makeen was referred to me through a friend.

Describe the project in detail.

We worked tirelessly with our assigned project manager from Makeen to get all of the source code and other required assets from our previous developer. Makeen was professional every step of the way in getting what they needed to start working on our product. We were assigned a team of developers and invited to their stand-up call every morning at 8:00.

We were involved in the whole process as product owners and encouraged to give feedback about what our goals and objectives were for our technology. The team provided us with a plan for how they would do a thorough QA process by hiring a 3rd party QA team to help us determine what fixes needed to be made.

Once those fixes were made, the team started on our security which meant adding a layer of MFA for companies and nurses. During that time we also had developers who were working on building our pricing model, updating our marketing pages, and creating ideas for adding community to our product.

What was the team composition?

We had a project manager and at times 8-10 developers working on front end, backend, QA, iOS and Android.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our product is now a state of the art technology that is being successfully used in the healthcare industry by over 150 companies and 2,000 nurses.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication and workflow has always been very transparent and easy to navigate.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The leadership by Abdul Masri and the team he has created makes you feel that you are really cared about as a customer. They treat your company as though it were their own. I never felt that money was the primary objective.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think In technology there is always some room for improvement but based on my previous experiences with other development companies, Makeen has earned 5 stars for sure.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I first contracted Makeen Technologies to build out a new hybrid app when I was the VP of engineering at Outlook Amusements. I also work with them in my new position as a VP at Warner Brothers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We had a product that lacked any sort of App Store presence. As we evaluated the marketplace and our competitors, it became clear that Outlook Amusements needed increased brand visibility. We contracted them to take on a subset of existing features and to implement a new approach to our business model.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were primarily responsible for building a mobile app using PhoneGap. As a hybrid application, it was built for both iOS and Android. Our internal team conducted the API work in conjunction with Makeen Technologies' developers.

Their team mainly focused on frontend development and integration. We provided wireframes and sketches ahead of time. This project was strictly development, but they offered design recommendations to resolve any mistakes they noticed. I can’t discuss specific features and functionalities because there are pending patents.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 7–8 people from their team. All our communication with developers was direct, which is a major reason why I like working with them. They were basically integrated as an extension of our scrum team.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

An old colleague of mine recommended we use them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent more than $200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project kicked off between February and April 2016, and they launched the first version in the following February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development work went smoothly. Several challenges we faced resulted from Outlook Amusements' difficulty with committing to one particular direction. Makeen Technologies handled the changes very well. They were always accommodating. Even if something wasn't necessarily within the original scope, they'd still find a way to make it work without having to reassess or change orders.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management model was interesting, because we both had our own project managers who worked collaboratively. We mostly communicated via phone and Skype. Their lead was skilled and thorough. On occasion, he was very matter-of-fact about certain things and prioritized the developers' interests. When our president put pressure on me to complete work, I didn’t want to experience too much resistance from our vendor.

What did you find most impressive about them?

No matter what the technical problem is, they're always willing to drive the architecture and design and formulate a solution. Oftentimes, third parties you work with want you to dictate the exact way things should go. Makeen Technologies is a lot more collaborative. Depending on the strength of the organization, sometimes you need to be able to simply rely on whomever you hire.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The biggest issue centered around the estimation of dates. With many companies I work for, it’s critical to hit deadlines you commit to. If you don't, then there can be a lot of at least political ramifications. That's definitely one area that I would like to see them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define and stick to the scope of your project.