Master of Code Global

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work on the global, digital, and CRM team for a cosmetics company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code Global?

We wanted to drive engagement on our Facebook page and increase our response rates to consumers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created and iterated on a chatbot for our Facebook page. We started with a fairly simple chatbot that we expanded for additional functionalities. They also serviced the bot through training and testing on a fairly regular basis, coming to us with new ideas to strengthen the bot even more.

What is the team composition?

During the initial build, we worked with a larger team. The headcount decreased as we got better at maintaining the product, but we always have two account representatives. One is more traditionally an account manager, and the other supports us from a more technical standpoint.  

How did you come to work with Master of Code Global?

We’d seen some of their work before and were impressed with it. That’s what led us to choose them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in the summer of 2017, and the project wrapped up in January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We drove consumer engagement with this new product. At this point, we achieved a 100% response rate with our customers.  

How did Master of Code Global perform from a project management standpoint?

They were super helpful and responsive, especially when taking in our feedback. Timelines were also clear, so it was an easy engagement. They were organized and eager to help, hopping on calls whenever needed.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They managed the vast majority of the project while being clear, straightforward, and transparent with our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were really impressed with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They came to the table with tons of different ideas that helped strengthen the project we were working on. Take that into consideration while deciding what’s best for your product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Media and Consumer Engagement Manager of a top luxury beauty brand responsible for the NOAM media strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Master of Code Global?

We were looking for developers to help the brand create a custom Chatbot for our users to guide them through the brand's Holiday shopping product portfolio in a fun, luxe and on-brand way. Master Of Code worked on a tight turn-around, was extremely helpful and professional in developing all components of the project up to the brand's high standards.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to increase both awareness of the Holiday sets, the brand and boost engagement from our online audience ultimately increasing sales.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Master Of Code was a previously approved vendor by our corporate group and highly recommended. They more than lived up to the commendations they were referred with. The brand was able to trust their capabilities, attention to detail and flexibility while working along this project.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Master Of Code developed the entire Chatbot by creating from scratch. The brand provided the decision tree, assets and copy and Master of Code was able to generate both the NLP and NLG as well as set up the hosting account. They worked tirelessly, efficiently and quickly ensuring the project was a success. They were able to deliver the project on time, adapt to all requests and were very supportive throughout the process.

What was the team composition?

An Account manager and an Operations Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project delivered in full against our KPIs, allowed for users to fully interact with the brand and the bot. We collected CRM data from the activation, were able to generate online sales and boost engagement.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was very efficient, extremely pleasant and easy. Both teams worked seamlessly together.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their attention to detail, their pro-activity and reactivity as well as their high productivity. They were constantly available, consistent and supportive. It was such a pleasure working with them. They made what could have been a very stressful situation more than successful.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder off a software business, and we build custom software solutions for clients all over the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code Global?

We use Master of Code Global to help augment some of our resources. Depending on what type of project we’re working on, we will either incorporate them into the internal team or use them for outsourced engineering and development work on specific components.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

On the projects where they’re fully integrated at the team level, we work directly with the resources there and they also often have direct interaction with our customers. When we give them more of a packaged project to work on, we generally handle the frontend and UX design and then send it over to them to build out on the backend.

We work with pretty much every technology you can imagine, from Angular and WordPress on the frontend to Ruby, Node JS, Swift, C, and plenty of others on the backend.

What is the team composition?

We have contact with the resources directly and have built a lot of good relationships with different members of their team, but all of their work is funneled through project managers as well. I believe at any given time, we are working with about 20–40 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Master of Code Global?

We met their team through a mutual acquaintance who was in Denver, where they had a US-based representative. We met him and talked about a project we were working on at the time. They gave us an estimate that was significantly less than what we had been looking at elsewhere, so we gave them a shot with it and here we are six years and countless projects later.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent well over $1,000,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the summer of 2013, and our projects are pretty much constantly ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of how long I’ve been in this business, I can see pretty quickly when an outsourced team really ‘has it’ or not. Master of Code Global ‘has it.’ I’m not sure exactly how to quantify that against a metric, but over our years of work together we’ve thrown some really challenging R&D work their way, and some pretty heavy-duty development tasks and they’ve always done a great job at taking that and being able to execute on it.

The ultimate metric, for me, is that they continue to execute and continue to show up when we need them to show up, and that’s what keeps us engaged in a productive relationship with them.

How did Master of Code Global perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good at project management. I think part of what makes this part a little more difficult for us is that from a client-side, we don’t make it very easy for them to manage the projects, but they do a great job with what they have. I don’t know if I’ve ever worked with a group that was truly excellent in that regard.

We communicate either through slack when they are integrated into our team or with weekly or biweekly standups on video chat. We also use Jira as our project management tool for everything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One thing that’s really impressive about their team is the lack of turnover. A lot of times in an outsource development firm there are really high turnover rates, whereas we’ve been working with some of the same guys for the entire six years we’ve been with them. Their core team is really knowledgeable and capable. We have a great level of trust in their abilities because of the team’s consistency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t have anything negative to say about them, because they’re amazing partners and we still use them today. The only thing I think we could improve as partners is supporting the documentation side of things. Having a stronger emphasis on that would help future developers to pick up on the codebases, or just keep a cleaner house from an engineering standpoint. But that would be my only recommendation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think the arrangement that has worked the best for us has been when we do frontend work and send it to them to handle backend. They’ve been great working on the frontend for us as well, but I think in terms of efficiency we accomplish the most in the shortest time frame under that sort of workflow.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of a firm that sells a SaaS product to hospitals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Master of Code Global?

We needed a cloud native platform for AWS and we wanted to extend that platform with two iOS apps.

What were your goals for this project?

The UX had to be seamless for all our users. Most of them were not IT-savvy, but at the same time, the analytics dashboards had to be easy to generate and understand. Communication between iOS apps and the web platform had to be fast and fault-tolerant.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I came across them through a consulting assignment that I was doing. I was impressed by their capabilities there.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed, developed and launched two iOS applications and a software platform that is cloud native to AWS. They helped us think through and refine our computation intensive formulas, UI workflows, and interactions, and the overall look and feel of the applications. They also developed a robust open API and accompanying documentation.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of both frontend and backend web developers, iOS developers, QA, project management, and architects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our customers love the product and depend on it for strategic decision-making.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their understanding of our domain and what I call technical production management were critical factors in making our product development efforts successful.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I have worked with a lot of development teams in my career. This team has been the most impressive in quality, predictability, and collaboration with us to make continuous improvements.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. They should keep up the good work and continue to strive for excellence with a learning attitude that they have always shown.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the assistant manager of consumer engagement for a beauty supply company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code Global?

We reached out to Master of Code to develop a chatbot for our brand to support automatic bookings for free in-store services. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Master of Code initiated our first bot for the brand, which was implemented on Facebook to help visitors book services for certain promotional activities. The bot assists users with topics relating to sales, shipping, promotional information, and other consumer questions. We've provided a variety of generic answers for the bot to use and instructions for directing the customers to certain channels as needed. 

What is the team composition? 

I work directly with Amanda (Key Account Manager, Master of Code Global), who is very knowledgeable and collaborative. She brings a lot of ideas to the table for ways to amplify the bot experience for the consumer. 

How did you come to work with Master of Code Global?

The relationship was already established when I came into the role.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested between $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Every time we run a promotion, we engage them. The most recent project started in December 2018 and was live by January 2019, but our company has been working with them since late 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Facebook bots they've developed have been very interactive and engaging, ensuring that guests can navigate their questions from start to finish without any frustrations. Their support has definitely had a positive impact, increasing the number of visitors during our in-store service campaigns. During certain campaigns, the chatbot increased online bookings by 50%. That feature has brought new customers to the brand and served as a reminder to existing customers. 

How did Master of Code Global perform from a project management standpoint?

Amanda is very on top of everything we're working on. She also provides a lot of great feedback for ways to enhance the bot experience. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is always thinking about different ways to improve the end product, ensuring we're using the chatbots to their fullest potential in order to gain more in-store guests. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Everything they've done has been very beneficial to the brand and they go above and beyond to ensure we have a great partnership. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open to their ideas, because they've been able to implement features we hadn't thought of that significantly improved the overall chatbot experience for our guests. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of MyHome, a home maintenance app. We link service providers with customers, handling everything from ordering and invoicing to completing the job.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code?

We needed to develop iOS and Android mobile applications and a backend system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Master of Code developed iOS and Android applications for us. We’ve built four apps so far—two on iOS and two on Android—plus a backend admin system. The app has 11 categories (AC, plumbing, electrical, etc.), and puts customers through the process of selecting what their problem is, adding their information, and submitting the job. Then, they’ll go through a payment gateway and be connected with a service provider who accepts the job. The provider can update the status as their performing the job and issue an invoice after they finish. Both customers and providers can submit reviews after the fact.

Master of Code has implemented numerous features and functionalities, which we developed during a planning stage. They built these ideas into wireframes in a way that ensured scalability. Being able to grow with and adapt to new features is essential to have a good application.

What is the team composition?

We talked to their CEO and CTO before kicking off the project, and their CTO recommended what language we should move forward with. We also had a project manager assigned to us in addition to a team composing of iOS, Android, backend, frontend developers and a dedicated QA.

How did you come to work with Master of Code?

We asked around for companies and got some recommendations. A good friend of ours with a tech background recommended Master of Code, so we contacted them. From the first meeting, we seemed to share a vision for how to apply our idea and develop the app and backend system.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2017 until August 2018, when the app launched. We’re going to work with Master of Code again to enhance our features and do further development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our experience with Master of Code has been fantastic so far. Feedback from customers has been great, and our functionality is good. Regarding their quality of work and code, it’s better than anything we’ve seen before. They even gave us UI/UX best practices.

How did Master of Code perform from a project management standpoint?

The overall project management was good, and they delivered by the dates they promised; we saw them working under pressure to be ready for the launch. Their time management skills were good under pressure, and their communication skills are excellent, which enhanced our relationship with them.

We used Google Talk and email for day-to-day things. They’re quite responsive and skilled at collaboration. We also used other tracking tools that were effective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve worked with a number of vendors from various countries, and Master of Code had the most professional approach of all of them. They stand out in terms of quality and standard of work, and I’d definitely recommend them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind for me.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d recommend at least talking to Master of Code and seeing if it’s feasible for them to work on your project. Start with a conversation, and see where it goes from there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Smart Marketer. We sell website development services for Shopify, Magento, WordPress, and other platforms. We've now pivoted to be a software as a service (SaaS) company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code Global?

We were selling website development services to Shopify and other e-commerce business owners. I started using them to buy all of my development services for different platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first project that we did together was WordPress development and integration with Magento. One of their biggest projects for us is building out themes for e-commerce stores on Shopify. They’ve created over 100 custom themes using Shopify Liquid. Each one has a user interface with drag and drop functionality. Users can also edit and manipulate various settings. The theme settings dictate the look and function of an e-commerce store on Shopify in both mobile and desktop.

What is the team composition?

The number of people we work with fluctuates. We worked with about 15 people on our last project, plus 1–2 project managers. They also dedicate QA specialists as well as front- and backend developers to our projects.

How did you come to work with Master of Code Global?

I met the founder at a business event and learned that he sold website developer services.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $1 million–$5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of our businesses went from zero to $2 million dollars a year in annual recurring revenue. That’s only possible because of their development expertise and ability, which allows us to focus on marketing and sales. We can focus on selling the product because they provide reliable development. I attribute the success directly to their effort. Without their product development, we have nothing to sell. So they get most of the credit.

How did Master of Code Global perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a couple hundred people working for them, so their ability to manage and track projects is far superior to ours. As a smaller company, we’re pleased to let them do that. We use Jira and Slack to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re efficient and willing to go the extra mile to make sure a project gets done. They do a lot for an affordable price. They handle feedback and revisions quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I'm pretty happy with them.

Any advice for potential customers?

We'd been using Trello and they switched us to Jira. That’s worked quite well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization and what you do there.

We are a new startup that has a management team experienced in the development of other Saas Products. I am one of the founding members of the Phox App which is a photo management application designed to streamline the process handling, sorting, and sharing photos within your business. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code Global?

We had an idea for an online application that had both a web component and an Android and iOS app. Our staff here was not equipped. We needed to hire outside resources for the technical end of the project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were responsible for delivering the first versions of the iOS, Android, and web versions of the application. They had a project manager, as well as their development team on the project. At times they brought in a designer to help with some of the mockups and some of the user interface and user experience components. The app is a photo management application geared towards business and enterprise level users. It’s an app that’s built to bridge the gap between field employees and office admins. Then the field staff uses the application to take the photographs, they’re automatically tagged into categories in the cloud where the office staff can access them.

For the web app, Ruby on Rails is the language used and then it’s also a single page JavaScript application. They didn’t do the marketing or launch strategy side of the project, but they did help to get it submitted to the iOS store and Google Play store and setting up the developer accounts.

As far actual business end of things, they aren’t involved in that. We’re in a beta phase with the project right now. They’re still involved with working out some of the feedback from the beta users. They are making some adjustments before we go fully live with the product.

How did you come to work with Master of Code Global?

I had a colleague in another business that had used them for a project and recommended that we talk to them.  When we were interviewing, we had a pretty well-established set of mockups and proof of concept as to what we were trying to accomplish. Master of Code Global was provided with that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them about 6 to 8 months ago and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve closed the app down to a 1,000 user beta group based on our team’s decision. The app performs and does everything it’s supposed to do. The marketing team is taking over the launch process. The app is performing well. As with any software application, there are bugs or use cases that are overlooked by the development team and the product team. That’s the norm with every software project that I’ve done. The feedback has been good. Any feedback hasn’t been related to technical issues. It’s maybe an oversight in how we thought users would be using the products, and we can read how some of the flows go. From Master of Code Global’s end of things, they’ve implemented what we’ve asked.

How did Master of Code Global perform from a project management standpoint?

They always had a dedicated Project Manager. It changed one time throughout the project to another individual. That person got up to speed really quick and didn’t really experience much lag in the personnel change. That person has always been easy to communicate with and easy to get a hold of. They’re based in a different time zone than we are, but they were always accommodating to our time zone. At times they were well outside their regular work hours. They would make themselves regularly available. That made it a lot easier for us.

What did you find most impressive about Master of Code Global?

If there was a scenario that came up that needed discussion, they usually bring a few solutions to the table rather than just the issue. They already put some thought into how to solve the problem and then it was them presenting the very solutions, the time associated with each solution, and which one they recommended, which was nice to have in the project. It showed they wanted to speed things along. Rather than just showing you the problem, they also showed you how you can solve it.

Are there any areas Master of Code Global could improve?

Things were good. They’re based in the Ukraine. We’re based in North America. English isn’t their first language, but their verbal and written communication was easy to understand. There weren’t really any issues there. I don’t have anything negative to say. At times, the if owner of the business, Demetri [Owner, Master of Code Global], needed to get involved to make some decisions because he’s been around the product space a bit longer, he would get involved. If things needed to escalate above the team that they have there, they were willing to put more resources on it to get it done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

TrapTap is a consumer electronics IoT [Internet of Things] manufacturer providing hardware devices that sit on a vehicle's dash, making for smarter and safer drivers. We have been around for just over a year. I am the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code Global?

We needed assistance with Android and backend development. We had scaled quickly within our first year and needed to strengthen our backend, especially when it came to the Android issues we had experienced.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Master of Code Global has provided a lot of onboarding and controlled-environment testing for our internally-developed software. Master of Code Global has provided testing for multiple Android devices and in many different environments. Aside from the testing work, Master of Code Global has provided Android development. We lacked expertise in that area, but their team is phenomenal. Master of Code Global has also helped with customer issues and tickets around non-functioning software and bugs.

Our app has third-party integrations, and it's data-heavy on the backend. Master of Code Global has been great at helping us scale that, especially when collecting user-generated driving reports and processing them.

Our engineering and marketing teams have dealt with Master of Code Global. They've provided 8 developers and 2 customer service representatives relaying communication to our team. Master of Code Global also has a design team on its end for the frontend of our website.

How did you come to work with Master of Code Global?

I had heard of Master of Code Global's reputation around backend support and development. I met their principal through our community in Winnipeg. My business partner also knew about them and recommended Master of Code Global's team. We went through our due diligence and reviewed their past work. We had a meeting with Master of Code Global, gave them an initial project, and evolved the collaboration to an ongoing process.

How much have you invested with Master of Code Global?

The cost of Master of Code Global's work has been between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Master of Code Global 8 months ago. The work is completely ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Master of Code Global's work has allowed us to sell 6,000 units of our product. Only around 100 of these had any issues, which were unrelated to Master of Code Global's work. They were helpful in the debugging and diagnostics process.

How did Master of Code Global perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication was clear and detail oriented. Master of Code Global has had quick responses and made improvement suggestions for our project.

What did you find most impressive about Master of Code Global?

Master of Code Global's work is competitively priced, but they're also experts in their field. They understood our requirements without me having to explain every little process to get to a result. I can tell Master of Code Global's team what needs to get done and see it happen.

Are there any areas Master of Code Global could improve?

Master of Code Global is based in Ukraine, and it has made things difficult at times, but I don't have much to say in terms of improvements. I don't work closely with Master of Code Global, but my team hasn't had any complaints so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

WOVIN.org makes clothing donations simple and easy. People can use our platform to set up a clothing donation time, and we pick it up.

What is your position?

I'm the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Master of Code Global?

Master of Code was involved from the very beginning of WOVIN.org. We've been around for almost two years. I worked with them to do a prototype and MVP [minimum viable product] of our platform. We went to market, it was successful and, since then, they've done two or three updates and iterations on the website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Starting with the MVP, Master of Code did the initial design. I worked with them and had some ideas, but they did the design, user interface, and then programmed it. That was integrated with some email systems. From there, we added more integrations to make it more like an enterprise system.

We did a back-end administration dashboard. They tied that into one of our other service providers and then they automated the customer request process. Before, the MVP had a lot of manual processing.

We've switched from being hosted and working with Parse, which Facebook discontinued, and now we're running fully on a Ruby system that they created hosted by ourselves.

How did you come to work with Master of Code Global?

I live in the Bay area. I have a friend here that does app developments for startup companies, and I asked him who he recommended, and his number one pick was Master of Code. I reached out to them. Everything seemed good. I started working with them, and I've had a good experience with them since.

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

It cost between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

At the moment, I'm still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

In terms of tracking success, Master of Code has been with us from the start, so I can attribute everything to them or nothing to them. They implemented my vision. They helped us figure out the best technical solution and proposed ideas on best practices. In terms of the site, its up time, and functionality, Master of Code is accessible easily and readily available to fix those bugs. They do it quickly to minimize impact on the business, and I've been very happy with them. The site has never gone down. I've never had any major issues outside of the bug tracking phases of the projects.

How did Master of Code Global perform from a project management standpoint?

My first couple of interactions with them, the project management was not great. They have since let that project manager go, and the new project manager I've been working with, Roman [Bilusiak, IT manager at Master of Code], is very good. He follows up, follows through, and he's organize. I'm now happy with the service. They assign a project manager to you, so you are always communicating with the same person.

What distinguishes Master of Code Global from other providers?

Their price is great for what they do, and they follow up. When Master of Code say that they're going to do something, they honor that. I've had a couple of cases with them where they've gone above in terms of hours on a project, but we had agreed that there was going to be a cap, and they honor that cap. When they say they're going to do something, they do it. For me personally, I feel like I have a development team ready and available whenever I need them, even though they're an outsourced contractor. For me, having a website and running a tech-enabled business is very helpful in keeping costs down and stuff. To me, that's a big plus.

Is there anything Master of Code Global could have improved or done differently?

The products and the projects are successful. I don't think they could be more successful than they are.