Profil Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software engineer for Precision Diagnostics, a toxicology laboratory. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Profil Software?

Our labs use multiple automated machines and robots to run our processes. We needed a more efficient way to manage these systems. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Profil Software helped us build two software systems as web apps to automate our internal processes. The first—which is called Batch Commander—manages batches and ensures continuity between machines that use different formats. It oversees the automated process, keeping the sample moving down the line and detecting any problems that pop up along the way. 

The other system is called Admiral. It helps us with medical billing and keeping track of all the paperwork there as an automatic system.

We built both systems using Python in the backend and Angular and JavaScript in the frontend user interface, which allows non-technical users to control the tools. For the Python codebase, Profil Software followed the Pep8 code standard, making it easy for programmers around the world to understand what they did. 

Profil Software also implemented a system called unit testing that allows us to build, deploy, and test new features quickly.

What is the team composition?

Filip (CEO, Profil Software) assigned us a team of three people who work offshore in Poland. They’re my points of contact. Filip put us to put us in touch with a crew of three guys. And I became very close with these Polish guys. I'm working from Eastern Europe. They're from like the country over from where I'm from.  

How did you come to work with Profil Software?

We looked for companies online and reached out to many, describing our problem. During the search, I found Filip and the Profil Software team.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in February 2016 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to Profil Software’s work, our internal processes are so much faster and more efficient than before. That’s been a huge plus for our employees. We can also deploy new features and fixes faster than before. Our rate of mistakes is much lower, and the uptime of our web apps has earned us a cult following. We haven’t had a bug in our system in 11 months, and that bug was only a minor one. 

Profil Software and our team are still finding new ways to optimize our work. We have a DevOps setup, and our systems are in the cloud. We’ve spent a staggering amount of money, but the value has paid off the amount many times over.

How did Profil Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Profil Software is highly responsive. We use Microsoft Teams to keep in touch. We have daily meetings and weekly alignment meetings for each sprint. Thanks to time zone differences, we can submit any problems or requests in the evening, and Profil Software will get them done by the next morning. It’s a perfect setup for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a personal connection with Profil Software. We use video calling and can enjoy a close relationship with their team members. I’m also regularly amazed by their ability to learn new procedures and technologies. Our system is incredibly complicated and produces an extraordinary amount of data every data. Nevertheless, Profil Software picked up our processes quickly. They’re willing to learn new things and offer great insights.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If there were ever an issue, I would tell Profil Software. They're always checking with us that they're doing the right thing and that we’re happy. We're very candid with each other.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have daily and open communication. Regularly review the code and create detailed specifications. You have to balance between letting an outsourced team go too far from your vision and micromanaging them. That’s why we found Scrum methodology to work well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Scott Millar, Co-founder of BlockSettle. BlockSettle was established to develop matching and settlement models focused on block-chain ledger technologies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Profil Software?

Our team needed a python back-end developer to help us out with developing our clearing system

What were your goals for this project?

Our clearing application framework needed to be re-customized from the ground up.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Mateusz through Upwork and decided to let him do our screening test. Mateusz and Profil Software had top reviews on Upwork and had have similar jobs previously. Mateusz proved to be the most suited candidate.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We re-customized our clearing application framework from the ground up with help from one of Profil Software Back-end developers. The job required mutual understanding of the business and the application. We had daily stand-up to follow up upcoming tasks and launched features.

What was the team composition?

Our clearing team consisted of approx. 7 people, including three back-end developers, one project manager and three front-end developers. Mateusz was the only member from Profil Software in our team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was required in order to launch our service. We make time estimations on all ongoing projects and this one was completed before the rest which wasn't our estimation from the beginning

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We communicated mostly with the back-end developer, on a daily basis without delay or irregularities. Tools as Slack, Trello, Github, and Skype were used.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Profil Software obviously has very talented people on their team. Mateusz is an experienced and dependable developer who we highly recommend. Mateusz worked with us during a six-month period and proved himself as an extremely efficient developer who went above and beyond for our business.

It’s obvious that Mateusz genuinely cares about his work. He proposed thoughtful solutions considering the whole picture and my own initiative. We would re-hire Profil Software and Mateusz anytime.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is nothing we could think of that needs improvement

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and CTO of a startup called Tarot Analytics. We’re supply-chain optimization experts, with a flagship SaaS product that provides route optimization. It’s aimed at companies with fleets of vehicles that have to visit multiple places every day. We have other products with supply-chain functions, including the one that Profil Software is working on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Profil Software?

They’ve worked on a supply-chain management web solution. The end client is a global company based in the US, but our direct client is based in Australia—they manage the supply chain for the US company. We provide 100% of the software for that process through Profil Software, and they offer some resources and other elements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our primary programming language is Python, and there are a few frameworks in use around that, including Flask and SQLAlchemy. We have a PostgreSQL database.

They’ve set up a lot of DevOps components, including a continuous integration platform called CircleCI, which has helped us improve our development workflow and reduce turnaround time for new features. We’re also using Jira, which integrates with our existing code repository.

What is the team composition?

We have one full-time, lead developer on their team who manages the front- and backend while doing the backend development. We’ve been in touch with other team members as well, recently with the tester on an as-needed basis. Whenever we make changes to our software, she’ll perform integration and user experience testing.

I spent a week with them in their office, when we were onboarding our developer, to get up to speed as fast as possible.

How did you come to work with Profil Software?

We found them on Upwork. We’d hired a few agencies and developers on that platform before, so we were familiar with the interview process and knew exactly what we wanted. Profil Software met all our technical requirements and communicated well in English, which was very important for us. They also understood client needs, which is not a skill every developer has. Filip (CEO, Profil Software) was friendly and proactive in coming to us and helping in the case of any issues.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re paying $30 per hour. I estimate the total to be $20,000–$30,000 over the last six months.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them almost six months ago, around November 2018. The collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We decided to hire a contractor because I was spending too much time on this project, and I also needed to manage the company. We wanted someone who could effectively become a lead developer on the project, which has been our most significant success point. They’ve freed up time for the directors and founders of our company to work on tasks not related to software development. We’ve dramatically reduced the time it takes to release a feature.

Their developer has put a CI/CD methodology in place, which means that deployments are much quicker, and everything is more automated. We’ve learned a lot from them, and they’ve improved our processes just by working with us.

How did Profil Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Their developer doesn’t interact with the client, but he handles everything from a software development point of view, including managing our other developers and new features. It’s been the best possible outcome for us.

In the beginning, some tasks got lost due to lacking communication. I would say that this is on them, but it takes both parties. Profil suggested implementing something like Jira, integrate our code repository with the tasks. That improved or workflow hugely. We’re also using Slack for communication and Trello for project management internally. Their resource is the best-communicating developer we have on a team of four.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Filip is very good at proposing solutions proactively when we have a new need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some project management issues in the beginning, but those are now resolved. An ongoing frustration for us is that their frontend language preferences differ from ours, which makes it harder to hire their frontend developers. It's not because our languages are better than theirs; we simply chose different ones.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

No, I can't name anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a product manager for an IT freelancer platform. We match IT freelancers with companies who have projects and need specialists.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Profil Software?

We have a lot of projects going on and we needed to find someone that could help us with a big project. We had limited resources available in our own IT department.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our backend is written in Python, and they’ve developed our new frontend in Angular. We are currently in a maintenance phase. They maintain the product and take care of product and library updates.

What is the team composition?

We had two developers originally, and one of them was replaced partway through the engagement. We are currently working mostly with one developer; however, they also take care of code reviews with an additional person.

How did you come to work with Profil Software?

We interviewed a lot of agencies. We didn’t do an RFP. Profil Software was a perfect match for us because they are Python experts. All of their developers are really good in Python. We were locked on Angular, and they had some people who had skills in Angular, which also convinced us to go with them.

We had technical requirements and we also wanted to be able to speak to the people we were going to work with. We wanted to get to know the developers to see if they had the skills we were looking for. One of the factors was that we could trust that they were able to do the work we needed them to do. It was also important for us that the developers had good communication skills.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in September 2017, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have a portal that looks exactly like the wireframes. We are very happy with their work. The targets we set when we started the project were fulfilled. We’ve also received positive feedback internally and externally.

How did Profil Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is mostly our responsibility. I’ve been happy with their developers’ performance and ability to meet deadlines. We used Slack, Jira, and Hangouts to communicate with each other.

When one of the developers we were originally working with left the company, we were pre-informed. Profil Software did what they could to improve the situation and provided really good candidates for his replacement. You cannot prevent people from leaving the company, but we made the best out of the situation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an instructor that teaches them English, and their English is very good. The developers have also told me they really like working there, which helps talent retention. That’s important also for me as a customer, because it wouldn’t help me if there were a change in developers every six months. I also want them to be happy where they work, and we don’t have that direct influence, so this was also important for us.

There are good universities where they are located, and I know they participate in university fairs and try to get talent directly from the university. I think they really do a great job in terms of HR.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I fully recommend them. If you are working with them, I think you are already in good hands. What I have really learned is that communication is key for any project. Talk to the team and make sure that everyone understands each other and that everyone is on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am founder of a company that offers a conferencing service that records audio, automatically transcribes it, and then produces for the end-user an interactive transcript so that they don’t have to worry about manually documenting things.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Profil Software?

We already had a working prototype that was developed separately by former freelancers, but we needed to find a dedicated development team that could help us build the production-ready environment. The team was supposed to work closely with the 2 founders based in Austin, since there is no internal dev team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are our development team, full stop. We handle some of the solution architecture and they help with that in addition to the frontend and backend development. We also split QA responsibilities.

The frontend developers that we’ve been working with do a great job interpreting designs and making my job as a designer easier. We do the design and they’ve done all of the development work. It’s a web app, but we’ve built a platform to be very scalable with APIs. We could create a mobile app in pretty short order, or adapt to a mobile website.

It’s a fairly complicated application. The system uses a variety of transcription services to build the transcription. Then we have a proprietary layer of software on top of that, which formats the transcripts in a way that makes it easy to read. Some of the key features are pins. So if we’re talking about key features, I can click a button and label it “key features.” Now, long after this call, I’ll be able to come back and quickly get to the point where we’re talking about key features. That can be really useful and that’s something Profil Software actually came up with. They’ve done a really great job with strategy and bringing ideas to the table.

How did you come to work with Profil Software?

I found them through Upwork. Through that platform, I posted a very small version of a project and hired multiple parties to do that same work. Then I just waited to see who was good in terms of communication, quality work, and meeting deadlines. Profil did a great job and we’ve continued working with them for almost a year now.

How much have you invested with Profil Software?

I’m going to guess $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2016 and have been working together since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The sheer fact that we were able to complete this fairly massive product with about $100,000 is pretty incredible. I meet with investors all the time, so I know how much it costs to build applications similar to this. These guys have built a pretty massive product that works really well and is very stable. I think that’s the biggest testament that I can say so far.

How did Profil Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We do all our stuff through Trello and Slack. They are great about adhering to our daily standup bot. We’ve been working together long enough where I don’t have to make procedural tweaks much anymore. We have a weekly meeting on Tuesdays that everybody shows up to, and we reprioritize the backlog and go from there. We talk every day through Slack.

Philip is the guy that we’ve been working with. He doesn’t do any of the development, but he’s the one I talk to when we need to change staff or swap people around. He’s done a fantastic job of being accommodating there.

They do a great job understanding what we’re trying to do with the business. They are good about not letting us go down the wrong path. Sometimes we will suggest moving our infrastructure over to some system that we think is going to be better, and they will explain why they built it the way they did and suggest alternatives, not just blindly doing what we say.

On average, we’re probably working with a team size of 5: an architect, 2 back end developers, and maybe 2 frontend developers. They all have really great English capabilities. There’s one guy whose accent is just a little bit difficult for me to understand, but I still engage with him pretty well. They do a good job of jumping in and explaining it to me in a way that I can really understand.

As far as time goes, I don’t have any issues with it at all. They’re accommodating. We do our meeting at 10:00 a.m. our time, which is at the end of their day. I get up and I will review what they’ve done in the evenings and we’ll have some interactions throughout the morning. Then, they sign off probably around noon my time. In terms of communication, they’re great. Any issues that I’ve ever had, I just bring it up and they solve it immediately.

What did you find most impressive about Profil Software?

One of the things that I love about Profil is that they have been incredibly flexible. As long as I’m honest with them about what our needs are and don’t try to onboard a developer that I know we’re only going to use for 2 weeks without telling them, they have been incredibly helpful.

When we just need to ramp up frontend production for 2 weeks to make a deadline, they’ve been able to do that and off-board that developer that we don’t need, so that we’re not incurring any costs that we don’t want. The team is really solid.

The thoughtfulness that they put into the architecture and their ability to develop is great. They have reasonable rates. The thing that I would say is most unique is they have adapted really well to fit the unique needs of our company. It was really important for us to meet a beta ship deadline because we had told investors that the product would be ready, and it wasn’t going to be ready. We added a developer for 2 weeks to the frontend just to help clear out some of the backlog items. That can be a difficult thing for a company like them to do, but they don’t really give me any flak about it. I haven’t seen that when working with other people.

Are there any areas Profil Software could improve?

I don’t know if they have design capabilities. So maybe I wouldn’t be able to recommend them to somebody who doesn’t already have good design sense in-house.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

IM Solutions started as an agency representing foreign shipping companies for region Poland. Over the years, the company developed and now offers a wide range of logistics solutions for international trade. I’m the head of sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Profil Software?

We decided to create new software for managing the process of tracking containers, adding the possibility for automating certain processes we needed, due to the dynamic development of the sales team and international sales team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built us a software called EXTlog. We came to Profil Software because we weren't entirely sure of which way to go. We had specific goals and a series of steps that needed automation.

How did you come to work with Profil Software?

We just used Google to find them; it was a lucky shot. I wish everyone to have their business projects implemented without problems, as it was in our case. After the presentation of the assumptions, we organized a series of meetings with the software company to understand our needs. The developers at Profil Software had no trouble understanding our needs.

How much have you invested with Profil Software?

That is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is finished. We are happy with what we received and have made big profit from the use of this software. I cannot imagine working without it. We plan to develop more in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At this moment, our whole Sales & Operations team uses this software. The turnover that we have from this software is impressive.

How did Profil Software perform from a project management standpoint?

From my perspective, everything went very smoothly. It went so well it seems as though Profil Software may have already had experience in management of projects similar to this.

What did you find most impressive about Profil Software?

A year after creating EXTlog, I had the opportunity to pursue another software development project with a different company. After my experience working with them, I truly began to appreciate how smoothly the process of working with Profil Software was.

Are there any areas Profil Software could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

BACKGROUND

Please introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Delipair, a startup that can pair any recipe on the Internet with the proper choice of wines.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Profil Software?

I was looking for a company that could provide me start to finish service for building a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first step was to build an iOS mobile app. Later, we changed the software over to a website. Along the way, we thought about building a plug-in for a browser, and they helped me with that. During our discussions, Profil Software suggested that a website would be the best way to go, and that has worked.

How did you come to work with Profil Software?

Originally, I was looking for a software company in my area of Poland. I visited Profil Software's website and sent an email to them. They were one of five or six companies I contacted, but Profil responded very quickly. We started talking, and the connection was there.

How much have you invested with Profil Software?

The whole project was around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took about two and a half years. Last week, they installed an additional functionality for my service. I'm in contact with them and whenever I need something, it's easy to get it done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My website receives 5,000 to 6,000 visitors per month now. Profil Software helped me with balancing and optimizing the website. We were building traffic in an incremental way, and they always responded very quickly to challenges as they came up.

How did Profil Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They kept to their deadlines. They provided what they were asked for, so I didn't have any negative experiences.

What did you find most impressive about Profil Software?

Changes in programmers never affected my program. I achieved what I wanted by choosing the firm with a single programmer. The owner got involved in the project and came up with a couple of solutions to specific problems. It was a positive experience.

Are there any areas Profil Software could improve?

Maybe there could be some improvement with their testing.

BACKGROUND

Please introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is a healthcare IT company. We have both a system directed to doctors and applications directed to patients. All of our technology was done by outside developers. I am the chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Profil Software?

I wanted a team of developers that had the skills to write the software I needed. I came across different agencies in different areas and not all of them had the ability to build what I wanted.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The entire system is cloud-based. One is a portal that is directed to doctors and had to be done front and back by different people. Then there was an application that had to be written by other developers. Profil Software provided me with a team with excellent IT skills and a team leader who has both professional IT and communication skills. If I have a problem, I have instant communication with him by email, Skype, or phone. He's always reachable and willing to move forward.

How did you come to work with Profil Software?

My company is based in the United Kingdom, but I grew up studying the area north of Poland where Profil Software is located. I did some research about six years ago, had a couple of interviews and several bad experiences, so I had a clear idea of what I wanted. Profil Software came as close as it gets to what I wanted.

How much have you invested with Profil Software?

The project is not yet finished, and we'll be working for another year or so. The project will probably come in at more than $250,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I've had good reviews from both doctors and patients. Everything that I've done with Profil Software works. We have upgraded the application and everything is flying.

How did Profil Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They're performing above average. They take the time to set up meetings so that our communication is always strong, so we always know where the project is.

What did you find most impressive about Profil Software?

I value Profil Software's personalized care. Anytime I want a face-to-face chat and advice, they give me advice on how to achieve what I want.

Are there any areas Profil Software could improve?

They could be bigger, but they did a good job.