Pragma

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a development lead for digital channels at a financial institution in Colombia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Pragma?

In general, we needed help with development services, IT technical lead, and architecture.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pragma has worked with us on different projects. The first interaction I had with them was for a technology integration project. We used to have our channels based on Weblogic, and they migrated to the cloud. They moved our clients’ databases and integrations to the bank we used to belong to so we could unify our channels and allow our customers to perform operations. 

After that, we started a digital transformation project where Pragma involved two development squats. They’ve helped us in the evolution of our digital channels. The team works on digital sales, product onboarding, and app authentication. They work with hybrid technologies that can be accessed on the web and apps using Angular and React.

What was the team composition?

We work directly with Diego (Business Director); he’s responsible for our account.

How did you come to work with Pragma?

They were already working with the bank when I started working here. We were part of Santander, and they were service providers for that bank.

What is the status of this engagement?

They’ve worked with the bank for a long time, even before it was an independent institution. I started working with them in January 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work is good. Pragma meets our expectations and always tries to bring added value. If they can bring good ideas to a project, they do.

How did Pragma perform from a project management standpoint?

If we ever have any issue, the members of the squads talk to each other and help us solve it. Also, we constantly review metrics and schedules to try to improve. We communicate via Microsoft Teams and use Jira for project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an excellent hiring process. We rarely have issues with the engineers; their team always achieves good synergy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything can be improved. In this case, we’ve mentioned to them that it’s vital to keep their training constant. An issue for all development agencies is rotation. The demand in the market is high, so it’s easy for developers to go with better offers. Consequently, it’s key that Pragma invests in helping their resources grow and get familiarized with the business.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to take advantage of their synergy. Their engineers are excellent.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I am the CTO of a sustainable mobility company in Colombia. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with  Pragma?

One of our biggest challenges is expanding the use of sustainable mobility alternatives in the country in different ways: promoting that people share vehicles, promoting the usage of electric cars, and promoting the rental of sustainable vehicles. Our idea in this case was to create a public mobility platform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?                                        

The final result is four mobile apps, three different back offices, about 60 microservices, four integrations, a Whatsapp bot, and a Telegram bot. We've done all that with a team of about 25 people during a period of 18–24 months.

Pragma helped us in the creation and validation of our platform's architecture, which was based on AWS. At the time, AWS technologies were not normally used in Colombia, so we were one step ahead. We have backend capacities that leveraged Java, mobile capacities for Android and iOS, and automated testing. We also used Angular, AWS databases, Aurora, SQS, F3, and EKS, among other technologies. 

What was the team composition?

We have a team of 25 people. 

How did you come to work with  Pragma?

As we didn’t have a technology team, we implemented a hackathon, where we established a challenge to be solved in a day. We invited five companies to participate in the process, with Pragma being among them. Each of the companies made a proposal based on the challenge we posed. 

Right away, I identified certain developers that, just by just looking at them, I felt I wanted to work with — and they were on Pragma’s team. They had great coordination and skills.

How much have you invested in them?

The cost was around $2 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2020. We've finished some platforms but continue collaborating with them at this time. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've already made one of the platforms available for one of our partners, and it was very well received. Currently, users are requesting about 4,000 trips per month using the app. Beforehand, this process was made via phone calls. Now, the process is automated and integrated into a single service. Our users are happy, as they have been able to reduce fraud and risk.

How did  Pragma perform from a project management standpoint?

The project started with us working virtually for some time because of the pandemic.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their mentorship stood out the most, as did the training system that helped their team to grow really quickly. It's an added value that other companies don’t offer.                                                            

Are there any areas they could improve?

When you have a solid team as Pragma does, you start having personnel rotation because other bigger companies come along and take them. We discussed it with them, and they responded right away, implementing retention programs that showed great results.        

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I am a CTO at a biometrics and fraud prevention company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Pragma? 

We work with them on two lines of services: staff augmentation of specialized personnel on AWS development and support on infrastructure production.             

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?     

They help us find specialized staff and are involved in the whole process, from hiring to follow-up and making sure the individuals are meeting our established goals. They've also helped us set up all our cloud infrastructure components. In the past, they've provided consulting services on data infrastructure and UX. 

What was the team composition?

We've worked with up to 15 people from their side, including commercial and infrastructure teams.

How did you come to work with Pragma?

We had a project before to test our products, and one of the partners then hired Pragma as a development team. When we officially started with the company, we already knew about Pragma's work.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested up to $40,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2019, and it is an ongoing collaboration. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us increase our development capacity by 20%. Also, thanks to their support on infrastructure, we have reached a capacity of 99,5%. Also, their commercial team is outstanding in that they have a great combination of technical knowledge and commercial relations, which translates into a great understanding of our business and needs. 

How did Pragma perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great. They have met all of our established goals, so we don't have any complaints in that regard. They've also adapted to our project management tools. We communicate mostly via email and WhatsApp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer focus, technical skills, and commercial approach are the highlights of the engagement.                             

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any complaints.         

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to be very clear when transmitting your needs to their commercial team and what the deliverables will be.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the quality, architecture, and engineering manager of a banking company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Banking

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Pragma to accomplish?

• Build a biometric solution
• Provide a team to build solutions in the cloud

SOLUTION

How did you find Pragma?

• Referral
• They work with other companies of the corporation

Why did you select Pragma over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Pragma were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Pragma provided a team (developers QAs, Architects, Scrum) to build solutions like biometrics, SDK, WEB Applications (front and back end), APIs and other. They have helped us to implement our CMS.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We defined OKRs, releases plan and HUs to cover

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They delivered razonable in time and take responsibility for delays. We feel confortable with their respond to our needs so far

What was your primary form of communication with Pragma?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• Their culture and adaptability.
• They are open to help and fit to our needs.
• Great commercial team.
• Makes you feel they are with you in the project, part of your team.

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

It can be difficult for them to fill the specific technical skills we need or to have experience in some technologies, which leads us to learn together during the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a department VP in Daon

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

A Digital Identity Continuity Platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Pragma to accomplish?

• Implement Strong Customer Authentication
• Great User Experience
• Develop Analytics Dashboards

SOLUTION

How did you find Pragma?

Referral

Why did you select Pragma over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Pragma’s team?

Other

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Pragma supported the birth of Nequi (one of the world's largest digital banks). With Daon, they implemented the customer enrollment and authentication workflows and the dashboards to track ongoing operations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• On time launch of Digital Bank
• High user adoption and user satisfaction
• Low levels of fraud or identity theft

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Really good. Very skilled and focussed team.

What was your primary form of communication with Pragma?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Pragma is a customer-centric organization. They bring highly skilled and passionate people to deliver and exceed customer expectations.

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

None that I can think of.