NeuroSYS

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Smart Up Ltd. It’s a startup focused on developing an educational mobile application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NeuroSYS?

I had an idea to create an educational app but I don’t have any experience in developing or programming.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped me with every single thing from the beginning. I came to them with an idea, but I had no clue about programming. I explained what I wanted the application to do. They provided me with a project manager and introduced me to IT. They told me what I had to do first as well as everything following that. They created the app from scratch.

The application is available on iOS and Android. It’s an app that helps students solve mathematical problems. The main objective of this application was to find an engine that could read the mathematical symbols, find the solution, and explain how to find the solution to the student not only in a mathematical way but also change it in a graphical way. Users can take a photo of any mathematical equation and it will explain how to solve the problem.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager that was assigned to me, the CEO, and a couple of programmers. I’m usually in contact with the project manager who gives the job to the team. They organized the work inside their company.

How did you come to work with NeuroSYS?

I was looking for different companies. Everyone was asking me difficult questions but I couldn’t explain things in the programming language. My brother told me about NeuroSYS because they’re from Poland. I called them and the CEO suggested we meet so I could tell them about the idea.

I chose them not only because they’re from Poland but they also helped me in the very first steps to evaluate the cost of development. They agreed to help me with a small amount of money in the beginning and add the extra money for the next steps over the period of the project. This was alluring because as a beginner and startup, I couldn’t afford a huge amount of money.

How much have you invested in them?

We were bootstrapping for the first year and we’ve invested around $30,000–$35,000 so far. The next level of investment will be around $300,000 for the next year or two but it just depends on the artificial intelligence mechanism and upgrades in the application and content.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work started in December 2019, and I’m still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project has been absolutely successful and has exceeded my expectations. Three or four months after we put the app in the Google Play Store, we had so many users that I had to stop Facebook marketing because I couldn’t afford the content inside. We slowed things down a little bit to rebuild the stuff inside, and then we’ll repeat some steps again.

I’ll have around 200,000 users in the next year. I’ll accomplish this with NeuroSYS because they not only work strictly as an IT developer, but they work with me as a partner. They have lots of ideas that I can include in the software and they have a young project manager who has lots of ideas. He helps me not only as a coder but also as an inventor in this application. I’m so excited about it because it works.

We also just found a really great investor in the first round after one year of having the application in the Google Play Store. It seems to be really well-developed and we’ll be able to roll it out hugely in the next couple of months.

How did NeuroSYS perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate personally or we use a tool that showed me the progress; I could send them a message through there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I find it impressive that not only do they work as a coding company, but they also work as a partner which helps me in any aspect of development, especially in the areas I didn’t know or understand.

I only had an idea and they were very patient, sometimes more patient than I was. They explained the steps and possibilities and were also very fast. When I’ve needed to do something quickly because of marketing or something else, they doubled the team and were able to do things faster which was very flexible and useful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything worked well. They were very fast in every aspect and did the job well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Distance doesn’t make a difference so it doesn’t make a difference if they’re in Poland and you’re in another country. NeuroSYS works so well and doesn’t care about time zones. They’re very fast and are professionals.

If you’re considering working with an IT or development company and are afraid about the physical distance, you don’t have to worry about that. Even their CEO will call you anytime and explain things to you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product owner at Strobbo. We’re a company that focuses on planning software for flexible workers, mostly in the hospitality sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NeuroSYS?

In Belgium, regulations are pretty complex when it comes to making sure everything is in order with Social Security. We wanted to offer a tool that allowed flexible workers to do the planning and ensure everything is ok. It also makes sure that everyone gets paid at the end of the month.

We’re currently executing a migration plan for our future technological foundation. We’re migrating everything to full JavaScript, Node.js, and Vue.js. We were looking for assistance and additional bandwidth, especially with expertise with the technology stack itself.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re completely rewriting the existing software in a new technology. More or less, we’re building the same features but in the new stack. The objectives are to make sure we’re more scalable in the future and increasing maintenance. Our approach is to build every block and module of our product from scratch. Then, we’re introducing that within our old solution so we can partially upgrade the customers to the newer technology.

In the beginning, we came up with a high-level estimate, and now we’re running in a space where we’re going through each and every one of the features we have step by step. We’re working toward an MVP that’s not fully functional and compatible yet. We want to make sure we have something releasable to some of the clients. Then, we’ll start working and iterating on top of that until we feel the features are complete to release to all customers.

What is the team composition?

At the moment, we work with five individuals comprising three backend developers, a project lead, and a technical lead.

How did you come to work with NeuroSYS?

We came into contact with NeuroSYS through an associate of one of our co-founders.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest €240,000 (approximately $292,000 USD) a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We get a lot of good assistance from them on production issues where we noticed that we were able to lower our costs in terms of hosting by increasing the performance. At a certain point, we noticed we were using a lot of memory and they helped us out there and reduced the cost.

Additionally, NeuroSYS has been a great help in implementing some important infrastructures in our backend to make sure there’s a decent architecture. Overall, quality has increased a lot. It’s allowed us to improve the possibility of making more units and integration tests.

We’re very satisfied with the way the collaboration with the rest of our development team is going. Despite being remote, they’re a big part of our internal team and they really help out the rest of our team members. Internal feedback has expressed that we’re able to move faster with respect to delivering the features and implementing them in a new technology stack. NeuroSYS’s impact has been very positive.

How did NeuroSYS perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is very good, and their English is perfect. Their team quickly understood our functionality, understanding what the application does and our legacy codebase. They learned everything without letting the complex details hold them back. Their team works in an iterative way with a scrum methodology. They take estimates and deliver the features when we expect them to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took the time to know our software’s functionality. It’s not an easy system. They were very devoted to learning the application. Additionally, I’m very impressed with their communication and how they integrated so well with the rest of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. We didn’t run into any issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend visiting them in person at the begging of your engagement. That may be difficult with COVID-19, but I’d highly recommend it if you can. Get to know their team members, and you can get them invested in your products. In return, they show a deep interest in what you’re building.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company offered price comparison services in Belgium regarding the energy and telecom service providers. I was CTO and co-founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire NeuroSYS?

NeuroSYS helped us with the development of a CRM system via which we steered marketing operations and fulfillment activities.

What were your goals for this project?

The CRM needed to be expanded with features to improve overall data consistency, as the data had been polluted throughout the years before. Several marketing tasks needed automation.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We compared several IT vendors, both nearshore as offshore. Neurosys made the final cut because of the quality of staff, during job interviews it became pretty clear that we where dealing with very smart knowledgeable people.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

It was a PHP Laravel based development project, with several API integrations with other cloud solutions for mail marketing, data cleansing and data queueing.

What was the team composition?

At first the team consisted of only one person, later on 2 additional people where added to the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The solution as implemented 3 years ago is still functioning exactly the same way as delivered. That indicates good quality to me.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was done from HQ offices via video conferencing and Jira Kanban boards. Daily standups were held via video conferencing, tasks where documented and discussed either via Jira or video conferencing. In the very rare case we could always talk to the director of Neurosys when needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was quite enthusiastic because the very good technical skillset that the developers showed. They had valuable input and knowledge throughout the entire project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement, notably communication wise we did experience some bumps along the way, but nothing to dramatic neither.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Hashtracks is a young startup. It’s a new platform for mix engineers which is a new way for them to be better at the craft of mixing music. We provide content for them and they are able to download the content, make their own mix, and upload it again to the server. They can see all the other users, where they made the same mix, and they can comment on each other and rate and follow them.

I’m the founder. We own a music studio in the Netherlands, which is where most of the content comes from.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NeuroSYS?

In the beginning, we just hired them to do the whole back end part, but it turned out that they make great products, so we thought they could also help with the front end development.

We work with another developer in the Netherlands and they’re always really specific. The good thing about NeuroSYS is they have a lot of people in-house who they can ask to do a specific task for one guy, or somebody else does another part. You have the best people in the best spot instead of working with some people who have to do it all.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created the whole back end of the site, and now they’re working on some front-end development. Now, you can use the Facebook registry to look up and follow friends, and you will receive email notifications. They’re working now to make the front-end cleaner and more user-friendly. They also help come up with ideas for the site.

What is the team dynamic?

Thomas [CEO, NeuroSYS] interviewed with us and we talked about the project and what we wanted to do with it. They asked to see the code so they could review it and let us know what they could do. They basically created a project plan for us. We also worked with another developer on the back end, and now we’re working with another team member doing front-end development.

How did you come to work with NeuroSYS?

We were looking for somebody to do back-end development, and we interviewed a lot of people in Holland. I did a lot of internet research, as well, in other countries like Poland. We conducted Skype interviews with different companies and freelancers, and NeuroSYS offered us the best plan. They were really organized in the way that they were going to review the code and do the work. They were also really honest and straight to the point, and they are still committed to the plan that they made.

We worked with another company that was often slow and behind schedule. We haven’t had that issue with NeuroSYS at all—they turned out to be great. They make a plan, stick to it, and really know what they’re talking about.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are not launched yet—we’re still in the development phase. We’re expecting to launch in 2 months. So far, we are satisfied with the product and the development is moving along quickly. We keep actively developing and changing because we’re a social app, and we will continue to until we reach a certain level of quality. This is just the first version we want to release—we want to see how people respond and then continue to upgrade.

How did NeuroSYS perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via Slack, which is very easy to use. When I come into the office and I have a question, they’re just a click away—it’s almost like having somebody here. So overall, the communication has been great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a lot of knowledge in-house, compared to what we have in Holland, for the right cost. They charge half of what people here in the Netherlands do, and you wouldn’t expect such quality from that. It’s still a decent amount of money, but it’s provided at a good value.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Because it’s our first experience with building such a platform, it’s always hard to see what comes with it. But as far as development goes, the NeuroSYS team knows a lot, and we don’t know much. It would be great if they could specify the details of their services a little more clearly. I’m learning new things every day. Additionally, the generally speak in development terms, which takes a little adjustment for me.

Do you have any advice for potential clients?

You need to have a straightforward plan with them like they did with us at the beginning. Before you start, write everything down and clarify responsibilities on both sides. That way, if you’re not a developer, you can have a clear vision of how long it will take to build, and you can decide if it’s worth it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My Belgian company was founded in 2011. I’m the owner. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NeuroSyS?

I was looking for good developers in Belgium and couldn’t find them. I had a capacity challenge, as I was trying to start the company quickly. NeuroSyS was up-to-date with the newest technologies. We did a test first, on which they scored a 9 out of 10. They were the best I could find in terms of quality on my test. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

NeuroSyS helped in creating the first version of my product in .NET and C#. It’s a SaaS [software as a service] application that people use on a daily basis for their jobs in the water sector. It has more than 300 users today.

We communicated on a daily basis. I visited their office each month to review the features. We worked together for two years to make the first version of the product.

How much have you invested with NeuroSyS?

I had a two fulltime developers working 40 hours per week. I'd like to keep the cost confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November of 2011, and the project wrapped up in November of 2013. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We went from zero to 300 users, and I’m happy with that increase. The product is validated, and it’s an up-and-running business. People are generally happy with the product. It’s a stable system. We have almost no bugs.

How did NeuroSyS perform from a project management standpoint?

I did the project management, and they provided the resources. Their ideas and suggestions were solid. They met all the deadlines. Sometimes, they worked in the evening or on weekends to ensure timely delivery.

What did you find most impressive about NeuroSyS?

I’m very happy, and I recommend them to other people. I’m still using their services today.

Are there any areas NeuroSyS could improve?

No. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Create eLearning LMS is a learning management platform. It’s regarded as one of the best in the world. I’m founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NeuroSyS?

We need a very robust provider who can build technology platforms that can scale, are highly secure, and are easy to use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first contacted NeuroSYS to help with our last platform called Patient Reminders. When that platform got acquired in 2013, as a part of that platform we built a learning management system within it. When we exited that business, we had put the permission as a part of the exit to build a very robust learning management system platform that was cloud-based, mobile friendly, and had a cost builder module on it. It enables people to build blended learning, real-world training classes as well as perform as a learning management system.

NeuroSYS is a great company and helped dynamically with the vision of the platform. They make suggestions and are happy to follow our processes and SOPs with everything from tracking of issues to tying issue resolution to the source code and the source code repository. If there’s an issue, we know who’s done the development work, where the lines of code went, and where that sits in the source code. That allows us to be ISO 9001 compliant. NeuroSYS is our complete IT team.

How did you come to work with NeuroSyS?

They passed our vendor accreditation process in 2010, and we picked two companies, one of which was NeuroSyS. NeuroSYS were considerably more expensive than the other vendor, and because of the cost, we chose not to go with them for that project, but we regretted that. In 2013 when we started the learning management project, we awarded NeuroSYS the project.

How much have you invested with NeuroSyS?

We have spent around $600,000 with them since 2013.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've gone from an idea in 2013 to a platform in under three years. The platform has evolved and is now being voted the seventh out of 1000 as the best learning management system. I wouldn’t think of using anybody else for our IT work. We wouldn’t have a platform or a business without NeuroSYS. They are our most trusted IT partner.

How did NeuroSyS perform from a project management standpoint?

We use email, phone, and Skype to communicate. We use uTrack to track issues and for task management. We also use a soft code tracking tool and a few other tools. NeuroSYS generally doesn’t meet deadlines but maybe what we’re asking for is unrealistic.

What did you find most impressive about NeuroSyS?

NeuroSYS works with us as a team. They’re brilliant.

Are there any areas NeuroSyS could improve?

NeuroSYS could be more realistic in time and budget. Both of those aspects are quite poor, but I know sometimes we’ve been unreasonable with our requests too.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

MicroTechniX is focused on the automation of lab processes. I am the owner and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NeuroSYS?

As an engineering company, we identified that we needed more software development capacity. The technologies that we wanted to use were not common for engineers with software knowledge. We needed a lot of skills that couldn’t be found in one or two specific people. We were looking for expertise in-house, but when we found out that it would be difficult, we found a reliable partner in NeuroSYS. NeuroSYS had the right people to build a team that could develop the technology we needed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I can’t go into a lot of detail, but as an engineer, we use hardware platforms that are mostly programmed at a basic level with .NET. We needed to bring it to a mainstream software environment that would give us more flexibility in future changes especially when operating systems like Windows which changes often. We had our architect following the functionalities and then NeuroSYS was picking everything up with their Scrum master, the different skills like .NET, frontend developers, and testing. We have five resources from NeuroSYS working with us.

How did you come to work with NeuroSYS?

I went to a website for freelancers in Belgium and posted what we wanted to do. We chose NeuroSYS because we had to move forward, so it was a leap of faith.

How much have you invested with NeuroSYS?

We’ve spent over 100K euros (over $100,000) with NeuroSYS so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before we start any sprint, NeuroSYS sits with your team and plays a game that looks like poker. NeuroSYS describes a function, and everybody gets a chance to guess how much time it would take to develop it. In the end, they have a consensus that often matches very well with the actual project length. NeuroSYS can deliver what was agreed upon.

How did NeuroSYS perform from a project management standpoint?

Every day there is a meeting between the Belgium team and the Polish team. The daily communication keeps us informed about any issues so that we can address them immediately.

What did you find most impressive about NeuroSYS?

The manager of NeuroSYS is very capable of identifying the requirement or skills needed to complete the team. He’s thinking ahead in case the team needs to add someone with a certain skillset. NeuroSYS brings a professional approach to those who do not have experience running development teams.

Are there any areas NeuroSYS could improve?

Because I’m inexperienced, NeuroSYS' team could’ve been more clear with me so I could understand what impact certain decisions would have in terms of time and deliverables.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Product Manager at CarNext.com. We sell high quality used vehicles online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have hired NeuroSYS to add senior developers to our development teams. The goal was to deliver high quality code.

SOLUTION

How did you select NeuroSYS and what were the deciding factors?

A local business developer of NeuroSYS contacted us. As the way our development teams operate was very similar we saw a potential match. That is why we decided to go for the cooperation. Also it is hard to find senior profiles but NeuroSYS has exactly the profiles we were looking for.

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

- Symfony Framework - React - Docker - AWS - Micro services - API driven approach

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

8 senior developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our goals in terms of desired team velocity, uptime and speed of the platform is being reached

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

- Agile - Scrum - Self steering teams

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

- Professionalism - Experience of the team

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

Sometimes the teams have more of an executive attitude. They carry out what is asked, but it would also be good if they also gave direction themselves. For example by asking critical questions or providing ideas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of manual.to, which is an SaaS platform that allows for the creation and publication work instructions and consumer manuals online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire NeuroSYS?

We needed to reinforce our development team with some full-stack developers. They helped to build our core product.

What were your goals for this project?

We didn't have strictly defined goals for this project. We had the developers work along with us to develop the product.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We got in touch with them through our social network. Our introductory conversations convinced us of the quality of service they could provide.

Describe the project in detail.

It was product development for our SaaS platform. We had them working on full-stack development, including the react frontend and backend microservices. The last sprints were a complete redesign of one of our frontend services.

What was the team composition?

We had 1 senior developer and 1 junior developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

The work resulted in the successful implementation of multiple product features and a redesign of our editor tool.

How effective was the project management?

The project management was great!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We loved the quality of the senior developer they provided. The junior developer was mediocre.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

They're already doing great work, my only recommendation is that they keep it up.