Opinov8 Digital and Engineering Solutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m responsible for software engineering at a logistics services company that’s in the process of merging with another company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8 Technology Services?

Initially, we hired Opinov8 to jumpstart the development of a mobile app for bringing greater efficiency to our tracking process for the freight that we managed. Then, we partnered with them to develop a new transportation management system (TMS), which is the core software system for our business process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we initially engaged with Opinov8, our processes were somewhat immature. As a result, their team filled the gaps in our processes with theirs. That included meeting us face to face on-site multiple times and walking us through the business process to clarify requirements. This helped us establish a relationship between our teams. 

Since then, we’ve used Opinov8’s agile process in software design. We use Jira, and they work within our system. This has helped us accelerate our software development process, too. Moreover, we’ve already had product management tools in place, and their team has brought in their expertise in React Native, which is the primary technology we use for our mobile app. At the same time, they also adapt to our technical standards.

In other words, our contributions are pretty much split; they bring in their frontend experience, and we bring in our backend experience. They conform to our backend standards, and we give them free rein over the frontend. For the TMS project, our team has initially been dependent on Opinov8, but they’ve eventually led the way. As such, the Opinov8 team’s role is now more about augmenting our internal front- and backend team.

What is the team composition?

We work with 25–30 people. 

How did you come to work with Opinov8 Technology Services?

One of our former leaders and Craig (Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer) had a working relationship in the past, and they had achieved success. As a result, we reached out to Opinov8 and explored their services. We didn’t do any formal comparison between them and their peers; we simply gave them a small project to gauge how they would perform. Their strong performance in that initial project and their willingness to be our partner gave us high confidence in choosing them for a larger and more strategic project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $2.5 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off the engagement in March 2019, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While there are no specific metrics that speak to the quality of their work, our team truly sees them as an extension of ourselves. There’s no “us and them” mentality; we see them as people who we can trust to do the work. Their resources are willing to do tasks and non-exciting work that needs to be done to move our projects forward. 

How did Opinov8 Technology Services perform from a project management standpoint?

There aren’t any clear project managers because there also isn’t any clean separation between our teams. Rather, Opinov8 members expand our staff, filling the gaps we have. They may assign a scrum master or a product manager that defines the user stories, or they may provide a business analyst to assist us. They also augment our actual software developers and engineers. Simply put, their team is meant to address our weaknesses as we matured as an organization; they’re not a standalone group. 

Moreover, in high-profile projects that take a long duration of time like ours, points of stress and weaknesses typically manifest themselves. Certainly, there have been points of stress, but finger-pointing and disgruntled emotions never manifest between our teams. There’s a strong bond between us, and we’re grateful for Opinov8’s support all the way. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Opinov8’s ability to listen and adapt to our needs are the best parts of working with them. A lot of software engineering and consulting firms pride themselves heavily on their processes. They usually offer turnkey solutions since they’re in control of every aspect of the development cycle. We understand that, but our company needs have been hard to define and somewhat nebulous in the beginning. Yet, through being patient with us and listening carefully, the Opinov8 team has found ways to help us. 

They’ve consistently brought high-quality resources for whatever our needs are, whether it’s QA testing, UX design, or front- and backend developers. Their resources have been willing to work with us as we evolve our processes as an organization. They’re always ready to help. Overall, they’ve never been a burden as a partner, and that has built our trust in them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring the Opinov8 team as close to you as possible. If you look at them as a traditional software development team and keep them at a distance, you won’t get the most out of them. However, if you bring them in and trust them enough to treat them as part of your team, you’re going to get much more value out of the relationship. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and co-owner of Doxy.me, a telemedicine platform for doctors. We’re one of the leading telemedicine providers in the US, by volume.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8 Technology Services?

Our business grew rapidly in the first half of 2020, following the start of COVID-19. We were looking for an outsourcing partner that could help us scale up our operations while we got our in-house hiring processes and software development team up to our standards.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we started working with Opinov8 in 2020, it wasn’t just about bodies in seats — they had the expertise we lacked. We were immature in how we were building the software, and we leaned on them a lot in learning and maturing our overall software practices and standards. Since then, our engagement has continued to evolve.

We’ve matured a lot over the past year, but the relationship has been very strong with Opinov8, and we happily continue to work with them. They have expertise that we don’t have in-house, so we still rely on different staff and experts from their team. We’re a full JavaScript stack, on both the front- and backend, and Opinov8 has lots of highly qualified and skilled people on that stack. They also specifically help us with DevOps and system architecture.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 20–30 people from Opinov8 in some capacity.

How did you come to work with Opinov8 Technology Services?

I found them via my network. I’m based in Kyiv, Ukraine, and so is Opinov8. We’d started to do some work with a very large competitor of theirs. It was a large and expensive company, and it wasn’t a positive experience —they had really great presentations, but not a lot of substance.

I got introduced to Opinov8 a few months into our engagement with the competitor, and we had a one-day workshop with Opinov8 where we did a deep dive. We’d done the exact same exercise with the competitor, except that it took three weeks and we paid them $10,000.

During that one-day engagement, Opinov8 pulled their best people into the room to meet with our best people, and we hashed it out. It was much more efficient, and the outcomes were much cleaner — we decided that Opinov8 made a lot more sense for us than that other team.  

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent upwards of $400k with Opinov8. Our costs scale with the size of projects — for instance, we scaled back a side project last month, though we've kept steady our main expenditures.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Opinov8 in July 2020, and we have a long-term contract with no end date. Although we have side projects that start and stop as needed, our main work with Opinov8 is continuing — I think that we added another person to the team yesterday, in fact.
 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Broadly speaking, the expertise of the people Opinov8 is bringing us has been great. We evaluate their team performance based on qualitative metrics, and a lot of our assessment is based on comparisons to the other vendors we’ve worked with. 

For example, another provider we were working with was consistently trying to put people on our team that was well below our standards. Maybe those would’ve been okay two years ago, when our standards were lower, but we’ve basically stopped hiring with that team now because they can’t bring us good people. We haven’t had that problem with Opinov8, because they are bringing us great hires.

How did Opinov8 Technology Services perform from a project management standpoint?

We work in Scrum, with some modifications appropriate for our organization. Opinov8 takes an approach to communication that’s a bit different from most outsourcing companies. They’re very project-oriented and have strong opinions about the workflows.

That was fine for us initially, but, as we grew our operations and started to have in-house processes, we needed Opinov8 to adapt to those processes and tooling. They’re working within our systems at this point, at an individual level.

Communication depends on the project and whether or not we have 35 other developers that Opinov8 has to fit in with, versus the standalone engagements we’ve done with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their management really understands what we want and is on the same wavelength as us. That’s been the best thing about working with Opinov8. 

What initially attracted us to them is that they’re really smart about how to build software the right way. When we started with them, we were less knowledgeable than Opinov8 about that. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve learned a lot from Opinov8, but as we've matured as an organization we have increasingly been interacting with them as an outstaffing agency, where we just asked for the people we wanted. They’ve brought us good people, but to keep our business and business of companies like ours they need to be providing more and more advanced services and specialized knowledge, not just staffing. I've had a conversation on this exact topic with their leadership and we have a joint interest in taking things in that direction, but it has not been an easy shift.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The advice I have for working with any outsourcing organization is to make them really understand what the product should become. If the client thinks that the provider is going to read their minds, they’re wrong. That’s just not the role those companies play, and thinking it is is the fastest path toward failure and wasting money. Make sure that whoever is on the team interfacing with Opinov8 has a vision for the product and uses that as a resource to accomplish their goals.
 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the global director of software engineering at United Language Group, a translation and interpretation company. 

We do written translations for whether it’s medical claims, legal documents, website localization, or anything that is translated in written form. We also have an interpretation division which is video and voice interpretation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8 Technology Services?

We needed help modernizing our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Opinov8 helps us with custom software development. We focus on API driven development, starting with services first. We don’t do a top down approach where we build screens and then do more of a tier-type solution. 

Where Opinov8 has helped us out is to establish the right security protocols, not just authentication, but authorization with web apps post APIs. They’ve also helped us expose our services in a B2B type environment as well as our own applications that we offer our clients. They do integration and frontend design. 

We have React developers on the frontend. We have a designer. Our entire stack is Microsoft like Azure, SQL, functions, service buses, API management. They’ve helped us out in all those areas.

What is the team composition?

We now have three scrum teams with them. There are UI designers, UI engineers, backend engineers, project managers, system analysts/business analysts, and application architects. We scale up and down. We average roughly 15 people. 

However, we do have other projects that are more time boxed. They are working with two different initiatives with us. We view them as an extension of our team. They did all the recruiting. We didn’t do any of the interviewing. The team they assembled for both sides of our organization have been very successful.

How did you come to work with Opinov8 Technology Services?

I worked with them at my previous employer. When I moved over to this company, I again engaged with them based on my previous experience with them both on the mobile and web cloud platforms. 

I felt they were a good fit. It was a great relationship. They have great skill sets. They were exactly in line with what we were looking for.  

How much have you invested with them?

We typically spend $530,000 per year in addition to $500,000 for a project with a start and finish.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2020 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Some of the metrics we use are code coverage, number of bugs, scope changes, etc on a point system 1-5. We measure our velocity with how many points we complete during a given two-week sprint. 

The other thing we measure is scope change, which is the percentage of stories that are reintroduced. We also measure how many stories aren’t completed and how many rollover points we have. 

From a software standpoint, we look at login and if we’re able to go back to see the details of a transaction. We look at validation and security, as well as at performance, if we’re caching properly, and if we’re always going to disk. From an architectural standpoint, we measure if we’re providing solutions to the problem or just looking for templated systems. 

The work that Opinov8 does has a positive impact on our business. The metrics are extremely positive. When I came to the company, we were working on a small project. Due to the success of that project, we’ve actually transitioned completely away from our historical partners and have invested more in the Opinov8 partnership. It’s been very positive.

How did Opinov8 Technology Services perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re always on time for meetings. They’re very accommodating. There are times when it’s later in their day and they’re always accommodating. Communication, both written and verbal, is very good. 

The team articulates technical information very well. We have a lot of our Opinov8 teammates in front of our business. It’s not just IT. They’ll meet with our business account managers all the way up to our VPs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A lot of consulting firms want to take on the whole project. The thing that stands out about Opinov8 is we don’t have to outsource the entire project. Our processes aren’t mature enough where solution, solicitation of feedback, and all those things that go into agile development just haven’t been established yet. 

Where Opinov8 is unique is they’re able to take their engineers, project managers, BA’s, and are able to exist in that kind of hybrid world. It’s not a list of instructions on what to build. They’re working with us in creating templates and strategies around how to build it. That’s what differentiates them from other consulting firms out there.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always an adjustment period in every engagement. I think in the beginning  we weren’t as clear with how our roles were defined. We had a couple of conversations early on to level set on how an Opinov8 role translates into a United Language Group role. 

We had some discrepancies around project management because every company is different. We went into the engagement pretty quick because we were asking them to help rescue some of these projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have your process well documented. The way they place some of their consultants is based on the engagement. Be clear on what your environment is like so they can align their resources accordingly. 

For example, if you’re asking for an engineer and they find one that’s used to a very structured environment but your environment is still a little erratic and not well defined, that engineer isn’t going to be very successful. 

My advice is to do enough prep work before you engage and this would be for any consulting company whether its onshore or offshore. Be able to articulate the type of culture you have so they can properly resource the roles you’re looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I act as a virtual CTO in several firms. Those companies include a financial firm, a security networking technology company, and a startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8 Technology Services?

We needed good developers to help augment our team and build our engineering capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They help with ReactJS development, .NET core development, and a number of other different areas. They’ve brought on a project manager to coordinate some of the projects I’m working as well as direct development where we dictate the project management. It depends on the engagement and what we need them for.

What is the team composition?

Generally, we work with three members from their team. We try to keep the number around the “Amazon pizza size”.

How did you come to work with Opinov8 Technology Services?

I’d worked in Denmark for a number of years and they broke off of another firm that was based there that we used to work with. I continued to work with them after they split off.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent in the range of $50,000 – $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2019, and we’re still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been terrific. Their engineers really hit the ground running and have really figured it out. One thing that really impresses me is their ability to take an old problem and come up with new solutions.

They’re very capable of innovating inside the space. I also appreciate their willingness to get engaged with new ventures, not just the ones they’ve been working on.

How did Opinov8 Technology Services perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. They’re flexible and meld to the project management style of your organization. Once they find that fit, in terms of project management style and needs for their organization, they work very well within that framework. They can also set up a framework if you don’t have one too. We use Jira extensively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their service really stands out. They have a great ability to quickly act upon our challenges. They can come up with quick fixes and long-term solutions as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always little things with any team, but generally, they’ve been very good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be prepared. You really need to present them with the problems before they can come up with solutions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at InstaMotion Retail GmbH, an e-commerce car company. Customers can buy a car online and we’ll register it for them and deliver it to their doorstep. They have two weeks to try it and can return it for a full refund if they’re not satisfied.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8 Technology Services?

We needed help hiring a large number of developers from Ukraine because the market is broader and more cost-efficient than in Germany. We had an aggressive plan and needed to move from three developers to 30. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide full-cycle recruiting services from sourcing candidates, sharing their profiles, doing interviews, and then helping to decide which candidates to manage. They came up with a hybrid model that included myself and my colleagues so we could also check if the person suits our needs. We outsource all of the office space and connection to retention culture to them; they are deeply integrated.

What is the team composition?

There are 11 people. Initially, we had three different teams: a team onsite in Munich focusing on the core business, a hybrid team, and a fully remote team in Ukraine. We’ve now moved all three teams to the distributed team and half is in Kyiv and half is in Munich. We have three product managers in Kyiv and three in Munich, two UX/UI designers in Munich, a designer in Kyiv, and a project delivery manager in Kyiv to help us with the processes if needed.

During the hiring process, I was in contact with the head of recruitment and their head of IT to discuss to do it. I was in contact with all the different levels, including the founders.

How did you come to work with Opinov8 Technology Services?

I worked in a previous company where we chose them as a nearshore partner. We tried with a distant provider for a couple of months but we decided to work with Opinov8 Technology Services.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them ‎€45,000 a month (approximately $50,800 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2019 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m really satisfied with the development and operations (DevOps) team they put together. Previously, I had a small DevOps team, now 11 members, that helped me move to AWS. They were really professional and they built all the AWS infrastructure. Then we did a migration of all the legacy stuff to AWS. It was cool and something that struck me as being well executed. 

Only one person has left the team that we started with. Unfortunately, we changed the team three times until we settled down with a team that worked for us. 

How did Opinov8 Technology Services perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is pretty professional. They consult with us in a lot of cases with what might work and what might not work, according to their experience with previous clients. They’re proactive in trying to help us and sometimes provided a presentation to show us how to do something differently based on results with other clients. They commit and deliver on time, which is my major merit on performance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The founder is always present at kickoffs and tries to understand what we’re doing; I appreciate their presence.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was one issue with an architect on the calls who was being really technological. Instead of stepping in my shoes as a customer and trying to help me from the business perspective in providing better solutions, he went in the direction of doing really technological and expensive solutions. I wanted more consultancy and help and they did more of an up sales approach. I provided feedback and I hope they can improve on it. They struggled in hiring some positions but with others, they were pretty fast getting proper candidates. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open about your business challenges and where your company wants to be. They have pretty good business sense and can help. For example, when we visited them onsite once, we had a good whiteboard session with their founder. We discussed some issues in our company and they really helped to come up with a possible solution. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a growing B2B cybersecurity start-up based in the UK. We provide an employee-centric view of securing businesses as we believe that security should start with people. This is achieved by providing tools to monitor web policy compliance, data breaches and general employee online hygiene. As CEO I have driven this from concept to product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Opinov8 Technology Services ?

We do not have an inhouse technical team and so required additional help to scale up our initial POC. Our Proof of Concept had delivered the most value it was capable of and to scale our platform we required a near-complete overhaul of our code. This over-haul provided us with the opportunity to address market feedback and build a platform capable of servicing many more customers.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have a product that would run faster, more reliably and provide a greater service. Our Proof of Concept had reached its limit and was not commercially viable so we needed a scalable solution which could be built with a solid foundation that could be added to. Our goal with this product was to go market with a solution that provided enough value to gain significant traction in a short period of time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were aware of another start-up that had very successfully use Opinov8 to develop a large system which is how we initially found them. We shopped around for other potential development teams, having multiple calls each but Opinov8 had a selling point we couldn't overlook. Opinov8 brings their opinion to the table if you want it (which we did) and this became a valuable asset from day 1. We had experience in this market and felt confident with the concept but we didn't possess the in-depth technical knowledge required for certain decisions or improvements. They have assisted us with this throughout the project.

Describe the project in detail.

For our kick-off, we flew out to their main development office for a 3-day workshop. In this, we layed out our initial scope and met with business devs and project managers. We met our development team which we were happy about so that we could put faces to names and it was also beneficial that everyone spoke fluent English.

Since our initial meeting, we then proceed to receive weekly updates which included hours worked of every team member, what was achieved and what the next actions are. This required my approval and also had a copy of the current budget usage. Day to day communication was handled via slack and I have been able to talk to my project manager at any time of day and on weekends if necessary. 

What was the team composition?

Our team consisted of our project manager, with whom I've had nearly daily contact with since the beginning of the project, back end and front end devs and a systems architect when required. Mostly our system has been built using 1 front end and 1 back end, both of whom I've been able to communicate through the project manager or directly via slack or video calls.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Not only have we now got a SaaS platform that is stable and scaleable but Opinov8 also had our future in mind. While developing with us, they helped us curate an Idea Catalogue of new features/improvements that we could implement in the future. 

We've now launched our platform and feel truly confident in our system now, something which we couldn't say before working with Opinov8. We've also now done a Tech Show and had many interested parties and positive comments on the UI and smooth working of the system. 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a seamless workflow between teams. Most communication was done quickly and effectively and most if not all queries were dealt with that same day. The use of Jira was also played a big part in this as we were able to keep track of all use of development hours.   

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The contribution that Opinov8 brought to the table sets them out from the rest. Lots of development teams will only do exactly what you tell them to do, even if it is incorrect. They bring their ideas and experience, something which adds immeasurable value to any development. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

We have been incredibly pleased with the work that Opinov8 has done for us. As a team, we can't actually think of any points which should be improved upon. We have worked with other development teams and comments for improvement with them but with Opinov8 they have met and exceeded expectations. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a mobile app startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8 Technology Services?

The app is a hiring services platform. We faced a huge problem in getting the code we needed. I wanted it in React Native and that was new territory for a lot of developers. I needed a company who had the expertise to help me with development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a lot of work done already on the UI and the database architecture. We worked together to complete the development of iOS and Android apps. They used React Native to write the code, which is a cross-platform language. Our framework is in Laravel and we worked together to set up all the AWS servers.

They ended up doing more work on the app than we anticipated. The work will be ongoing for the next 10 years.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about 10 specialists. The project manager is my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Opinov8 Technology Services?

My son, who is also making an app, had been in contact with Opinov8 Technology Services and recommended them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000-$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2018 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app hasn’t reached the market yet, but I’m positive it will work very well.

How did Opinov8 Technology Services perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m amazed at how nice it is to have a project manager who can help me with a lot of issues. The developers that I work with have to incorporate a lot of knowledge, so it helps to have many specialists in one house. That’s working well.

We use Jira for project management and we have follow-up meetings. It’s a huge project but the process is quite simple.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The UI they delivered was a great help. They have intuition on how an app should work. They took responsibility in helping me get the right UI/UX experience. I thought we had control of that before we met them, but they opened up some doors and have done a great job. It helps a lot to have the designer and the developers sitting beside each other.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything is working well, but communication could be improved a little. If there’s a problem, they could send it to us a little quicker so we can solve it before having the conference. It’s not a big deal.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you know where you’re going and have worked through a lot of issues before you meet up with them, they’ll do a great job. They have a lot of specialists, and to make an app run, you need specialists in every corner. What’s great about them is you don’t have to employ ten people full-time. You can employ them hour by hour.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Weld Health, Ltd., an online fitness marketplace that connects small gyms and studios, instructors, health professionals, yoga teachers, triathlon, marathon, and therapy coaches, and trainers for any specific sport, with users. We provide a platform for people to find instructors, based on geographic location, price, or discipline.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8?

I found that the current model for connecting users with service providers is very fragmented and heavily one-sided in that instructors aren’t able to pocket most of the income they generate due to overheads.

I wanted to make my platform open and accessible to not just the top 5%, but to everyone else, whether recently qualified or with a lot of experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started the platform from scratch. We developed a scope of work and held a workshop to agree on the steps ahead. Opinov8 helped define and streamline an app that can do a lot and also has a lot of room to grow. We built it on the AWS platform, which allows us to scale accordingly against size and demand, and it is for iOS and Android. We intend to build desktop and web versions, but we’re focusing on mobile for now.

In order for the platform to function correctly, the UI/UX needed to be intuitive and make sense to the users. We wanted it to be a booking, planning, management, and payment application—which is quite extensive, especially for an MVP—but those four elements were crucial to what we needed to achieve.

The AWS platform has been key for achieving these functionalities, given the number of microservices built in. We’ve leveraged services like AWS CloudSearch, as well as the Google Maps API.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of 3–4 people in the beginning, which has grown to eight. I had conversations with Craig (Co-Founder, Chief Commercial Officer, Opinov8), who provided guidance and knowledge on the AWS platform. They also assigned me one main point of contact, who remained available throughout the process. At the same time, if I need to speak to his boss, to a colleague, or anyone else, I can write to them on Slack.

How did you come to work with Opinov8?

I approached Craig through a mutual friend who’d also created a FinTech platform. I spoke to a few other companies at the time, but Opinov8 impressed me. From the CEO to their project managers and UI designers, everyone understood what I was trying to achieve. They were also understanding of the fact that we were a startup and budgets were tight.

Both of our teams wanted to do really cool stuff and drive the agenda. They understood the scope and they could see the potential of the platform. I could sense that we had a good rapport from the first conversation.

How much have you invested with them?

The total to date is around $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Opinov8 in September 2018. The apps were started from nothing, and we will be launching an MVP at the end of May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The test version of the app is ready, and we will be going live at the end of May. We’re in a crucial crunch phase but it’s coming along exactly like I imagined, or even better. Whenever I speak to potential investors, everyone is very positive so I’m really happy with Opinov8’s work. They’ve taken my idea and executed something that was very close to what I was looking for.  

How did Opinov8 perform from a project management standpoint?

We work methodically and have broken down the scope into 8–10 overarching priorities, each with its own story. Having visibility on these—whether on Kanban or sprint boards—has really helped streamline the process.

As a startup, it’s good to know that our money’s put to good use and used effectively to build the platform. It’s been a super easy process for me. I’m open and honest with them, and they expect a lot from me, so both channels of communication have been transparent from the beginning. They understood exactly what I was looking for, and while there’s been give on both sides, I know that the end product will be something we can both be proud of.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do a lot of things well, but their work ethic is most impressive: how much they get done and how professionally they do it. There are never any complaints from them; they know the scope and they know what we need, so they just get on with it. They’ve put in a lot of hours as it’s a big project, so it’s a lot to chew on. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve been really happy with Opinov8, so there’s nothing major I would change. Possibly the pricing, but it was never a big concern. They were completely understanding about our budget limitations from the start and conceded a few things when change requests came in. They were always transparent, so I have no problems with their pricing structure; it’s completely justifiable.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Trust the team, in the sense of opening up and explaining exactly what is wanted. They have a lot of really good experience and intelligence, so the more they know about the platform and how the client wants it to work, the better. It’s important to get to know everyone on the project, not just the leadership and to focus exactly on the requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the COO of HR Data Hub. We are an HR benchmarking and analytics business based in the UK. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8?

We needed to build a platform. Our company had the design and basic concept prepared, and we hired Opinov8 Technology Services to program the software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We sent over a draft design that laid out our needs, goals, how the platform should look, and some potential technologies to use. Opinov8 Technology Services proposed how they planned to build our platform, a technology stack to use, timeline, and pricing.

We provided basic Excel Tableau mockups due to the nature of our site's design along with early-stage requirements for the functionality. Opinov8 Technology Services worked with us collaboratively. They provided several potential options for the backend functionality and the frontend look and feel. In terms of technology, they used Azure.  

What is the team composition? 

In total, we worked with 5-6 people from their team. 

How did you come to work with Opinov8?

A business contact recommended Opinov8 Technology Services. We took our concept to a few businesses and compared three quotes. From that fairly broad proposal, we narrowed down more intricate aspects of the project to find the best vendor. We chose them based on our initial meetings and the strength of their proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We've probably spent about £120,000– £130,000 (approximately $156,000–$169,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We're still working on the project, which started in September 2018. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site we're building together hasn't launched yet, but Opinov8 Technology Services worked with us throughout the entire process. They allowed us to have both mockups and live dev sites.  

Feedback coming in from our clients has been strongly positive about both the concept and design. Our users have expressed that they like what we are producing, which is a mix of both our teams' combined expertise. 

How did Opinov8 perform from a project management standpoint?

Opinov8 Technology Services has managed the project very well. When I’ve made specialized requests for reporting that relate to how I run our part of the business, they’ve been very accommodating. Their standard reporting has been perfectly adequate for our needs. 

We communicate mainly over email and conference calls using technology like Google Hangouts. They send us regular progress updates and let us know about delays or if anything isn't necessarily going as planned. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Opinov8 Technology Services’ flexibility makes them stand out from the competition. As a very early-stage business, we experience frequent changes. I've worked with a lot of organizations in the past, and being accommodating enough to work with our fledgling business is an impressive strength of theirs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Potentially, Opinov8 Technology Services could provide more straightforward reports limited to once a week. Less is more, in this case. Along with access to their project management services such as Jira, they could also offer clients a simplified option that's less entrenched in the minor details. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and COO of Hasteepay, a salary advance service. We offer a way for people to access their income before payday. Our contract is structured as an employee benefit and is a rapidly expanding, valuable sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Opinov8 Technology Services?

We hadn’t built anything and needed to start from stage one, which was gaining an understanding of why we were creating the software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with them to design the wireframes and create 2,500 user stories. We did a release every two weeks through an Agile process. We built two mobile apps, an app-in portal, a custom portal, as well as all the backend services that drives and pulls together those three business aspects. The mobile apps were native iOS and Android. They used .NET for the backend of the platform and did the design collaboratively with us.

We have a lot of API activity and endpoints within the products. They built upon a microservices architecture, a container environment to help with speed ability and scalability. The original minimum viable product (MVP) was delivered in an incredibly short period of time. This was both good and bad because you tend to have a lot of technical debt within your MVP.

We’ve developed a ton of features for the web portal and are on a 3–4-year journey.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 12 people and also brought in a couple more if we needed a certain skill set. We brought in an architect and some additional UX/UI people in the beginning, as well as ran a number of workshops around the different product areas. We have a project management office here in the U.K.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about £1 million (1.4 million USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The MVPs worked the first time we launched them in August. We had our first sign-up the same day and our usage of product the very next day. It was extremely positive and we’ve had a lot of subsequent usage as well.

The customers have been very happy. We’ve had over 1,000 users but less than 100 emails about issues. Most issues revolve around users saying they want to do something but aren’t sure how or that they lost invite codes to get the app. They’re all very low-level, basic problems.

How did Opinov8 Technology Services perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re strong and very helpful, as well as realistic about time frames. We delivered two weeks late, but I know from working in the software industry for 20 years that that’s about as good as it gets. 

They’ve done very well. We use the Atlassian tool set, Jira, HipChat, Slack, email, and Skype. We do daily standups with the team and have done well with the Agile process. We sometimes haven’t had enough UAT (user acceptance testing) due to development speed, but that’s a natural part of the delivery pace rather than accuracy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality, staff retention, and questions they ask during challenging parts of the process are all impressive. They’ve saved us resources and time by guiding us through the journey to ensure we don’t get caught up in things. They step back and break down the scope with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve already improved by getting a new office.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you see the team at least twice a month and keep high control of the scope. Engage in scope-driven conversations with them.