Monterail

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a chain of ghost kitchens. We are a vertically integrated restaurant chain that delivers the food to the end customers only.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Monterail?

To keep the time to market as short as possible, we needed support in the development of our customer facing mobile app.

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for an agency that could provide us with qualified developers to expand our team as quickly as possible. Our decision criteria were speed, qualification and price.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The frontend developers from Monterail joined our development team at the time when the first version was just finished and released. Besides bugfixes, together we improved the UI/UX and added new features.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

The decision was made relatively quickly. There was already positive experience with Monterail from previous projects of the decision makers. Monterail was able to offer us the developers we needed at the required qualification level at short notice. Due to Monterail's flexibility, we were able to work together on a test basis. These tests were so successful that we continued the cooperation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to transition the app from MVP to a stable state in just a few weeks. Since then, we have been adding new features every sprint .

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The colleagues from Monterail are fully integrated into our development team. In the daily work there is no difference to the permanent employees. In addition, we coordinate with the supervisors from Monterail on a bi-weekly basis. This also runs very smoothly.

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

The transition from talking, sales, up to starting productive work is completely fluid. I was also impressed by the flexibility of the collaboration and thus the responsiveness to our requirements.

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

We are completely happy since the start of the cooperation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Director on the company's management team. I also hold the repsonsibility for leading any technology developments at the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Monterail?

Humatica is an international management consultancy that focuses on organisational excellence, including M&A, Reorg, Right sizing, operating model design. To support this we have two primary flagship tools. Modas and Altus. Monterail have been instrumental in helping us develop both of these tools on modern platforms with significantly advanced features.

The focus of this engagement was extending our client portal (also previously developed by the Monterail team) to include our Modas offering. The purpose of this offering within the platform is to validate an org. structure and understand where time is spent for more informed analysis and decision making in reorganisation and rightsizing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this firm and what were the deciding factors?

We have worked with a number of development agencies over the years. Following a rigorous review of different agencies, we selected Monterail around 2 years as a development partner. We have been using them since. At the time, key factors inluded

• a balance of price
• demonstrated case studies / quality of the developers
• english speaking capability (we have had issues with developers in countries where their accents were too strong / english level not sufficiently high, it caused many issues and rework)
• tech stacks they could support
• geographical location (Covid has prevented it, but in the past we have traveled to their HQ for in person design workshops)
• their development process (I very much like their approach of doing a short lower cost design workshop to work through even to the wireframe level if needed. This helps get a much more accurate cost estimate, and significantly derisks the process. As Monterail charge seperately for this. You can always take the designs elsewhere. We have never done this due to all of the above reasons and of course the momentum you would lose)

Describe the project in detail and walk through their service package.

This specific project included:

• Running a design workshop to understand our requirements
• Iterating to develop a detailed design, working with designers and also developers earlier on to ensure all complexities were anticipated
• Designing two key online platform / application components a) org-validation tool to quickly and efficiently get and accurate and up to date org. structure b) activity survey to understand where time is spent across all employees
• Following the design, development was run in sprint format with the team, keeping us updated on how the progress compared to budget on a weekly basis

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

Account manager was always involved, in addition... In the scoping phase we had:

• Business analyst
• Lead Designer

In the Design phase we had:

• Business analyst
• 2 Designers
• 1 developer to ensure we factor in complexities (this was optional resource, with the rationale that we would save time in the futrure by anticipating complexities better)

In the development phase we had:

• Project manager
• Front-end developer
• Back-end developer
• Full-stack developer
• QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is only coming to a conclusion now. But the benefits will be:

1. Reduced time of our anlaysts chasing different stakeholders across our clients on employee data. For very large complex companies with poortly integrated HR systems this has taken weeks of time that should now be facilitated by the tool. Only requiring a couple of days of analyst time. In addition, it reduces significantly the time spent at the client company chasing and validating data
2. More accurate estimates on where time is spent as the underlying employee lists will be more accurate
3. Improved security compared to the old tools
4. A more attractive offering to support and help us sell more reorganisation work

• digitising and modernising our tools
• a key differentiator of our company in the management consulting industry

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. In addition to the usual scrum meetings we had a one-to one meeting with the PM and also the AM seperately. Where we could discuss any concerns. When we raised concerns they were addressed quickly.

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

All the same reasons we selected them as a partner (see previous answer). One addition would be that they have all been very enjoyable to work with as individuals on the team. Asking good questions, taking time to understand our product in detail. Working with Monterail feels like a real partnership.

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

No major areas of improvement I want to list. We let them know these things immediately and each time they have worked to successfully address them as quickly as possible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a co-founder of Scription Technologies. We're a new startup in the pharmacy technology world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Monterail?

We wanted to build a platform that would allow us to sell medications to patients through a consultation system whereby a prescriber pharmacist would be able to sign off on a questionnaire consultation filled out by a patient.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Monterail is building a web and mobile app for iOS and Android completely from scratch using Ruby on Rails. We started the project by going out to Poland and sitting with them. They went through what we wanted and did everything themselves. We are currently a two-person team, and they are providing everything else from design, coding, and wireframes. 

Overall, they've done a lot of design work, and at the end of the day, they've been pretty amazing at bringing extra functions in there that we didn’t realize we needed. We have no experience in technology, so we need someone to hold our hand in every factor of what we're doing, tell us what is and isn’t possible, and bring entrepreneurial knowledge to the table.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with 4–5 members of their team, but we've interacted with ten people from their staff, including a brilliant project manager who is essential to what we are doing — she is the glue that keeps everything together.

How did you come to work with Monterail?

We saw their Clutch profile, and I felt they were a one-stop shop — I wanted someone that could do everything for us.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent about €200,000 (approximately $213,000 USD) with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2021, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything they've done on a technical front has been exceptional; they have made a very simple UI for what is probably quite a complex product. We have three users; prescribers who have to log in and get one view effectively, pharmacies who have to log in and get another perspective, and our patients who log in and get more of a commercial view of the frontend. It has all been done, and I can't recommend them enough for what they have produced.

Everyone has been very impressed; we have to communicate on instant messaging between users and our pharmacists, which is in there too. Everyone gets through it perfectly independently, and there are no problems. Also, every bug has been dealt with quickly; they are extremely prompt to fix bugs, so everything works well.

Overall, I can say that they've been essential to us; we couldn't have done it without the breadth of structure that they have because what they provide is effective, including the business manager that runs the whole team working for us.

How did Monterail perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been excellent with project management. Regarding communication and tools, we use Slack, Zoom, and Jira boards.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive thing has been the clarity of communication. As I mentioned, the business manager is exceptional because she ensures that we are always up to date with the project. Even when things have slowed down, we are always very aware, and it has been great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on — they've been exceptional from my point of view up until now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We went to meet them and all their staff. We sat down with them and went through the project before signing up with them, which was a hugely positive aspect of getting the project started.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Celloscope offers a highly secure and robust Agent and Mobile Banking platform to the banking industry, which can be integrated with existing banking infrastructure, mobile and data networks, and payment gateways. It enables a bank’s customers, staffs and agents to access banking services securely and effortlessly using their mobile handset from anywhere, anytime, even while on the go. Here my position is Software Engineer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

My company hire Human Resource Management software from monterail and my role was requirement specifications explain to monterail.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I recommend to my company to purchase software from monterail because one of my friends purchase product from them and he was super satisfied with there commited service that's the reason I recommend.

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

Monterail internal development team build a human resource management tool for our businesses. They focused on frontend work and built the solution with Java Spring Boot Framework and Angular Typescript.

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

There are 4 backend 2 frontend, 1 database designer and 1 project manager involved with our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Initially has some bugs after one month it performed as expected.

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

Their project management was awesome. They delivered within deadlines. Hole project duration time we communicated with Asana.

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

Great communication and timely delivered.

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

They should maintain proper documentation for agile development methodology.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Easyship is an end-to-end logistics platform, built to enable hyper-local to cross-border eCommerce, while removing barriers to entry, like inefficient systems and prohibitive cost's for SME's. As a user-centric product, Easyship has helped to simplify the complex world of logistics for more than 40,000 clients worldwide, making it more accessible for eCommerce SMBs and startups to grow. My role - Product manager: Own part of the Easyship product by defining solutions in line with the product vision and strategy, coordinating with the design and engineering teams, in order to constantly create value for our users.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The key challenges of the project included: Building a mobile application from scratch flawlessly integrated with our web platform and multilingual features. Co-working with our internal backend team while in different time zones, calendars, and holiday schedules. Understand our product, business logic and user flows of the web application, to reflect it in the new app.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

To select the vendor, we consider how they handle these factors as below: Thorough research to understand the logic and our user flows in the existing product and reflect it in a new one. Paying a lot of attention to animations and UI details: the quality and great UX of the app were very significant. (UX/UI were designed by Easyship). A clear and open communication to defeat the time difference, and detailed reporting to the stakeholder at the management level. Working on the API of the web application, and preparation of receiving data properly.

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

After 6 months of work, the mobile app was delivered and ready for beta testing. The result is an app that stands out with great UX and UI quality and animation details. It contains a lot of data, a variety of filters for sorting and searching options for the lists of shipments and pickups. The app has mobile functionalities personalized for the industry’s needs, such as a barcode scanner for easy search of shipment information. Mainly, it uses REACT NATIVE & TYPESCRIPT. With our current backend team, that took care of the UX/UI design, we needed to outsource a team of developers that understands our existing web product and business logic that had been working for a few years, and that could build a mobile app from scratch that would stand out from our competitors, and be based on their API without touching the back-end.

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

A project was assigned as the contact point and coordinator of the project, together with 2FE and 1 QA. There is a lead engineer will provide the technical advice from time to time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within 3 months soft launch (no marketing), we have reached 400 users by organic download. The app is less than 0.05% App crash during session. Also, there is no user complaint about the UXUI and bugs.

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

The project management style is totally agile. It had the progress and testing everyday. You will see the result and find anything went wrong early and easily. We were using Slack and Jira to keep the close communication in 2 different timezone (like 6-7 hours).

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

My favorite thing about our collaboration is the app’s consistency. All pages have the same high quality and response. Our beta testing users love the app and they can’t even find bugs in the MVP

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

It would be helpful to provide some estimate of the development time during the product development. It would be easier for us to control the time & budget.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a small startup (<10 people) building the MVP of our first application. I am a cofounder and the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed front-end design and development in Vue for the MVP for our SPA. We were not in a position where we wanted to hire a full-time developer and designer, and contracting individuals on our own was more overhead than we wanted for this project.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We evaluated the front-end development firms that were listed as contributors to the Vue community and evaluated each of them based on perceived quality of the implementation and willingness to work with a smaller project and budget.

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

They designed and developed much of the front-end of our SPA. For large features, we had design workshops, discussed interaction patterns with the team, and then reviewed mockups that would be worked on in the next sprint. The final product is the high-fidelity MVP of our product.

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

We worked with a project manager, a designer, a developer, and a tester primarily. Additionally, Monterail added an Account Manager later and we started with a sales engineer. Finally, another engineer at Monterail would act as a reviewer on the code developed by the front-end engineer we worked directly with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were impressed with the quality of the deliverables. The designs were excellent, captured our goals in unique ways, and kept accessibility at their forefront, including for mobile devices. The code quality is high, well-organized, and was easy to follow and understand.

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

Monterail assigned a dedicated project manager to the project that kept up context in Jira. We primarily provided our design goals and descriptions in Confluence, and then the Monterail team would develop the list of tickets that would be worked on in the next sprint. As a group, we did estimation just before the sprint, and then daily standups on blockers. We were extremely pleased with the level of effort from Monterail's project manager and the care and attention to detail she put into communicating project status with us. We communicated some over Slack, but we were offset by almost 9 hours so most communication that wasn't in direct meetings was asynchronous.

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

We worked directly with the team - they were an extension of our own team and their commitment to the quality of the product and helping us focus on a good MVP rather than all the features we could throw at them was extremely valuable for figuring out our priorities.

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

While there was a price change due to a well-deserved promotion of one of the team members we worked with, towards the end of our time on the project there was a 20% across-the-board price increase that was communicated to us as a company-wide increase. We were informed that it would change the next month. We also had a shift towards more iterative development rather than concrete feature development and our team struggled with the rapid schedule changes and priority adjustments.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Managing Director of our company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to codify our in person services to offer an automated flow of reports based on a very specific algorithm based on a matrix of abilities and aptitudes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I spoke with the director getting information in general about how a project like ours would take shape and really appreciated the ethos and flow of the company. Afterwards, during the scoping of the project and then on boarding I found this professional, reliable and cooperative culture runs through the company.

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

This was a database based programme which feeds information from each user's unique answers on a range of psychometric assessments to determine what careers are best suited for them. We decided to go with as integrated a project as possible rather than an MVP to make sure that all features were available from the initial launch and this has been tweaked along the way but the understanding of what we wanted and the regular updates mean we all really understood what we were working towards and how to achieve it.

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

Lots! Project manager, ux designer, front end developers and back end developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our project was finished on time, we have been extremely happy with the process and have received multiple compliments from clients on the ease of use of the platform. We are so happy we have already started working on our next project with Monterail!

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

Very easy to work with, the project manager is very thorough, understands the pain points and is able to take that through to final revisions and keep on track of new tweaks or additions. We used Slack to keep everyone up to date and weekly zoom huddles.

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

They're very easy to work with. They're collaborative and dynamic. They are able to come up with solutions to a variety of problems and focus on the user experience to make sure the software we are developing is as intuitive and easy to use as possible for the user.

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

Nope...

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of research and insights for a virtual addiction recovery program, and we were created to focus on the stimulant addiction problem because of the lack of solutions in that space. We’re collaborating with some of the top researchers in addiction and using some of the latest techniques such as contingency management — the act of paying our members to stay abstinent and sober as well as other things they need to do to recover.

Part of contingency management is a central app where our members can interact. The app also enables our members to manage all of their appointments and activities so that they can do what they need to do in order to receive their payment and incentives. I’m in charge of managing the app, including the content that goes in there. Within the app, there’s a huge curriculum that has a bunch of tasks that we ask our members to do as part of their recovery, which is geared towards helping them build habits and increase their recovery knowledge.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Monterail?

We engaged Monterail to help us build a custom app to deliver a better experience to our members. Prior to that, we were using an existing app that we bought and customized a little. However, we realized that we needed to create our own experience and systems.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Monterail’s main goal was to build an iOS and Android native app, and their work involved integrating some of the existing code that we had. The team started with the design phase, and we partnered with their designer to outline our app’s key features.

Essentially, we spent a month doing design iterations before we brought in their engineering team. They created an admin interface that we used to configure content and implemented tracking information. Our members could also access their appointments, receive their incentive, and more. They used tools such as Mixpanel to report on things that we cared about, too.

With their support, we were able to do testing a couple of weeks ago just before we launched our app. The team continues to provide us with maintenance and is helping us add and design new features on our app. Moreover, they fix any bugs or other technical issues that come up, and they help us increase the velocity of our team, considering that we’re still ramping up our internal engineering team.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with quite a number of people, including Joanna (Project Manager) and Robert (Senior QA Engineer). We also collaborate with their designer, lead engineer, and another project manager.

How did you come to work with Monterail?

Choosing to work with an offshore engineering team was a risk, and we anticipated that communication might be really difficult. On top of that, pricing could dramatically increase at any time even if our chosen vendor would fail to deliver what was expected from them.

As a result, since our CTO had worked with Monterail before at a different company, we knew that they were responsive and responsible. We did evaluate a couple of other vendors during the process, but Monterail’s price point was reasonable and we already had proof of how they worked.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been able to help us launch our app on the date that we were shooting for. During our user testing, we’ve gotten very positive feedback on our app’s design. To be specific, people say that our app has a clean and intuitive design and offers a relatively smooth experience.

On the technical side, Monterail has been able to swiftly resolve bugs — usually within 1–2 days after the bugs are identified. More importantly, they try hard to catch technical issues ahead of time. Overall, we’re satisfied with their work.

How did Monterail perform from a project management standpoint?

We hit a regular cadence of about two meetings a week, but it took us a little time to warm up to each other. Now, we’re frequently chatting over Slack, and we’ve reduced the number of our live meetings to once a week. Project management-wise, my only issue is Jira because it’s a bit hard to follow all of the work there because there's so much of it. Sometimes, I get lost when trying to track something. 

Despite that, Joanna and the other project manager have been extremely helpful and responsive when it comes to leading me to where things are — they effectively manage all of our releases, sprints, and more. We’ve also started to lean into Confluence, which has been a huge win and a much better form of documentation than what we’ve used in the past. Above all, even though we’re working in different time zones, we know how to make things work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their speed has been impressive — Monterail has completed our app within three and a half months. More importantly, they’ve been able to integrate many features and content during that time. Overall, I really appreciate how quickly they move because they allow us to save time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our communication style could’ve evolved sooner. We’ve improved in that area and I have full faith that we’ll continue to improve so it’s not really a concern right now — it just took us a long time to figure out each other’s preferences.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Document everything — the more you document at every step of the process, the more you ensure that things don’t get lost in the way.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder and co-CEO of a software technology company. We are the developers of the global, hyperlocal social networking app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We engaged Monterail to partner with us to develop a minimum viable product of our app for global release. Our goals were to develop a stable and scalable version of the app to test and refine as part of a global beta release process. We are continuing to work with Monterail as we move towards a global release of the product in a couple of weeks.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We selected Monterail as part of structured and deliberate interview process with a series of competitive prospective partners. The Monterail team and proposal beat out the other competitive options on two vectors: plan specificity and tailoring (demonstration of care/commitment) and price (demonstration of flexibility and long-term view of relationship).

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

I'm not comfortable sharing this information.

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

I'm not comfortable sharing this information.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within 4 months of launching the earliest version of the app we have grown the user base to nearly 40,000 users and achieved market-leading retention rates in some of key geographic target markets.

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

The Monterail project management style is predictable, measured and clear. Our project manager places a keen priority on clear and efficient information via Slack and email. They are generally quite responsive during business hours and willing to be flexible to accommodate our time zone differences.

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

We have been rather impressed with Monterail's ability to anticipate our team and project needs as we have scaled over the course of our engagement. Our project manager was swift and proactive in working with us to continually augment our team to achieve our sometimes shifting and goal sets and requests for acceleration in execution under uncertainty. It has been a pleasure to work with such a steady, supportive and flexible development partner.

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

We are a company in a rush, so we are always requesting faster execution from our partners at Monterail. They generally operate very efficiently and quickly, but we would, of course, be pleased with even speedier execution.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Director of Product for a nonprofit organization, I lead our engineering and design team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Monterail to help us build the front end for our web products.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We reviewed a few options and found that Monterail had a reasonable cost and high engineering quality.

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

We had a kick off meeting with Anna, our project manager. Once our timelines and deliverables were clear, we worked with their senior engineer to scope the project and were assigned engineers who would work on the project. The team uses mostly Ruby for their web development.

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

1 project manager 1 senior engineer 1-3 engineers depending on the project/workload

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have built a prototype and are nearing completion of GD's first 2 ever technical product builds.

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

We set up syncs as needed, the technical team has biweekly sync. We communicate mainly via Slack or Jira. The team has always done a great job on estimating timelines.

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

Their ability to deliver high quality code quickly and on schedule

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

It's hard to predict staffing down the line if any changes come up; some of our projects shift in scope after the initial build and it'd be great to have the same team be able to support these updates.