Oktara

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Quext is a technical startup in the multifamily industry, developing a range of products and services for that vertical. I am Vice President of Platform Development, responsible for most software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to expand our development teams quickly in order to push forward on a number of projects simultaneously. Finding a development partner with some experience in the multifamily industry is both important and difficult to find.

SOLUTION

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

One of our key partners already partnered with Oktara, and referred us. This referral was important to us. The pricing was favorable compared to American-based development firms, and Oktara made sure to seed the team with a couple of people who were experienced in our vertical. This made a huge difference in ramp-up time.

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

Oktara is helping us in several capacities: backend web development using NodeJS, typescript, and NestJS, as well as PHP with Laravel as a framework. They are also helping us with a lot of frontend development using VueJS.

They are providing manual and automated testing services using Zephyr Scale and Sellenium. They provide project management support leveraging Jira and Confluence.

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

The Oktara team started with maybe 6 people, and have grown into maybe 15. This includes full stack, frontend, and backend developers, database administration personnel, QA automation engineers, and general project support (to include spanish translations).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Oktara ramped up quickly and started delivering quickly. It was just the sort of approach we needed at the time. They've remained responsive, focused, and quick to deliver.

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

Oktara has been a great team player. We have dozens of development teams spread across the globe. Oktara has been willing to work with all of the other teams, communicate quickly and often, and are strong participants in cross-team discussions.

We leverage JIRA and Slack constantly to facilitate alignment across the organization, and Oktara has jumped right in and does their part.

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

My favorite aspect of working with Oktara has been the team members' willingness to learn quickly. Moreover, they ask questions, gain clarification, and continue iterating through solutions with a great attitude.

They did not require us to have everything documented in great detail. They were willing to start with what we had, interpret our documentation and conversations, and get started. This was very helpful for us.

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

Ironically, based on the answer from above, the one space Oktara can now improve on is the level and quality of documentation. We had to get started quickly, but now we are at a level of maturity where we need to document our architecture, data flows, and other aspects of our solution.

I don't get the feeling this is something that is a practiced skill, so they are working to improve in this space.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a Software as a Service company. We provide a career guidance platform to colleges to aid in helping students to make better-informed education to career decisions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our platform has gone through a few iterations in the past ten years, and three years ago, our existing outsourced development team transitioned away. We needed someone to come in and take over maintenance and new development. By doing this, we could continue business and continue to build upon the existing platform and avoid starting over.

SOLUTION

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

We were working with another developer during our transition from our previous developers but they were having issues coming up to speed. They suggested that we work directly with Oktara as they would be able to provide better support.

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

We had a few meetings to discuss the state of our platform and reviewed the common maintenance and new development we would be needing. Oktara then provided their thoughts on resources and costs to take over our development.

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

A project manager was our main point of contact throughout this process. We also had a developer and QA/QC resources working behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After switching to Oktara we were able to keep our platform running and make improvements that did not lead to major issues.

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

We had weekly meetings with the project manager. Periodically the developer and QA/QC resource would join if they have specific questions or comments on recent work. We used email, Slack, Github, and Teamwork.com to all stay on the same page.

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

They were able to jump into a very hectic situation with our then 7-year-old platform. Several individuals had developed our existing platform and Oktara was able to leverage small amounts of documentation and input from one previous developer to effectively "take over" our day-to-day developer needs.

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

Overall, they have done a great job but at times with specific team members, I have had some difficulties understanding everyone. I would suggest they periodically check in on this and see what might be done to improve communications to ensure everyone is on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a U.S. based Nearshore IT services and staffing company, I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Oktara to provide proven IT talent to help meet our client's software delivery requirements and timeline.

SOLUTION

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

Oktara was able to provide proven and high performing UX designer and software engineers, who worked closely with us to identify issues and engineer high quality applications.

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

Steps included reviewing existing code and application functionality, determining the best methods for enhancing existing capabilities while adding new features, and develop on PHP and SQL server environments. For the UX, Designer reviewed client's high level requirements, and created UI wireframes and artifacts to meet the needs of the client.

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

3 people, 1 Designer and 2 developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The design was delivered to client expectations, and the project was delivered within the timeline.

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

Management was involved when needed, helping ensuring project issues were addressed, and deliverables were met.

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

Good talent and flexible to our needs.

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

None that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an award-winning US-based development services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We work with Oktara on projects that require a variety of technical skills, ranging from CI/CD to mobile app/web app/backend development, to staffing support. They are a key resource for us in delivering top-notch services/consulting/bandwidth.

SOLUTION

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

Oktara came highly recommended to us from a previous employee, and over the past 2 years, they have become tightly integrated into our team.

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

Over the past 2 years, we have worked with Oktara on dozens of projects building custom web and mobile apps in various tech stacks and in various project modalities (from fixed bid to T&M to ongoing staffing).

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

It feels like we have worked with every member of the Oktara team, from project management to development to QA to technical consulting.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Out of the dozens of projects we've had, all of them have been on time. Our clients have been thrilled with the outcome.

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

Slack, Jira, Email, Teamwork.

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

Their collaborative nature and willingness to help us solve challenging problems at the forefront of modern technology. These guys are amazing.

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

Keep up the great work!