QArea

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the lead developer, CEO, and CTO of a company that develops custom software for enterprises. Our solutions help companies optimize their clients’ workflows. I handle all the strategic planning and development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

Lacking sufficient manpower in-house, we needed help to develop software for bookings and reservations in the construction sector.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

QArea developed an intuitive and easy-to-use web console. They mainly focused on the frontend part of our software using React.js. The team optimized the template we gave them quite professionally. We dedicated the last month to polishing the software by fixing minor issues and adding new features. Since we completed the project, I’ve taken on the development work.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with three people in total from QArea. The project manager made sure all our requirements were completed. A frontend developer implemented all the functionalities. An additional QA resource was responsible for testing and bug fixes.

How did you come to work with QArea?

We reached out to multiple freelancers and companies. After finding QArea through Upwork, we selected them based on their offer and reviews. 

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our four-month collaboration with QArea lasted from March–July 2018.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our software solution needed to go live within a very tight deadline. QArea delivered on their promise to promptly deliver, which meant a lot to us. It was a great success. Other freelancers we’ve worked with in the past failed to stick to our schedule. 

The code they wrote is quite nice. QArea afforded close attention to the quality of work they produced. Their project manager collaborated with us to establish clear requirements. The QA tester signed off on each new feature we implemented. By asking consistent questions and providing feedback about the testing, they ensured the software was bug-free. 

How did QArea perform from a project management standpoint?

QArea did a great job. They quickly responded and always kept me updated on how the project was going. We used Jira as a project management tool. Communication and delivery were at the highest level. The team kept our project professional, and I was happy with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

QArea is very responsible and pays close attention to detail. They really cared about the work they did for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t come up with anything.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I made sure to give QArea clear, unambiguous requirements that aligned with our desired product. When the scope is unclear, the client is actually to blame if they don’t receive what they want.  
 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run the DevOps department for a B2B financial planning platform. I’m in charge of infrastructure, production systems, and QA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

Back when we were a smaller firm, we needed a QA process. We hired a cost-effective freelance resource, but the quality wasn’t very professional. We wanted a more formal QA methodology that was still affordable, so we explored overseas options.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

QArea did QA. They tested the product at various stages of development, including feature testing. They’d run the tests and then record the bugs in our bug tracking system.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two different QA analysts.

How did you come to work with QArea?

We ran an RFP process. QArea applied, so we looked into their past work, references, and cost. We liked what they offered, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $2,000–$4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership lasted from January–October 2017. We only ended it because we wanted to hire a local team that could work with our developers face-to-face.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

QArea helped capture lots of bugs in our product. The general quality improved, and their partnership allowed us to free up our own resources for other tasks. In total, QArea probably identified hundreds of bugs during our engagement.

How did QArea perform from a project management standpoint?

They were flexible and highly accommodating. We run an agile methodology, so I sometimes only gave them a day’s notice about QA testing we needed. That never bothered them, and they were always able to deliver.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide quality resources at an exceptional price. Their team is smart, eager to learn, and did a great job. They allowed me to choose the hours I wanted them to work, which helped a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They didn’t have much experience with U.S. financial code and other business logic that our app relies on. If they want to work in the financial tech industry, they should probably improve their business acumen in that field.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Using an offshore resource takes proper planning and coordination. They’re good at communicating, but make sure you set clear expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of an IT company that provides e-commerce support and automated processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

We needed to develop a reliable, multi-tenant, user-friendly online marketplace. It needed an advanced purchasing system built in, and provide a user with everything necessary to place an order as well as seamlessly share data between tenants. I needed an outsource solution from a company that could do everything for a fraction of what it would cost onshore. We were in a startup situation at the time, and things were very tight.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went straight into building the project. We needed QArea to build a full e-commerce solution, and the infrastructure around it. The whole structure uses cXML [commerce eXtensible Markup Language] standards from Ariba to place orders on the partner’s websites and provide invoices. We had to have electronic catalogues, procurement systems, and invoicing systems. The system QArea built integrates into accounting systems such as Oracle and PeopleSoft. All solutions are working with 1 code applied, and that’s why it’s called a multitenant system: 1 app maintains multiple terminal stations on the web.

The platform chosen for development was Symphony 2.5. This version is surely the most suitable for distributed systems in terms of performance, security, and analytics. We used Amazon Web Services (EC2+RDS) [EC2 instance using Amazon Linux on an Amazon RDS MySQL database] for hosting, taking advantage of the powerful clouding service support. The most recent build QArea did for us took about 4 months.

How did you come to work with QArea?

QArea was referred to us through our venture capitalists. We checked QArea’s portfolio, and their solid experience with cloud services and e-commerce was the main reason we chose them for our project, along with their confidence and price. They keep pace with innovations. We take advantage of this, since we want to make our application as handy as possible for users with modern technologies.

How much have you invested in them?

[Confidential.] When they rebuilt our original application for us, they basically did it from the ground-up, and estimated the cost well ahead of time.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with QArea for 5 years already. It’s a beneficial partnership and we are looking to further expand our relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The system has been great, profitable, and we are very happy with it. It has had no downtime, and there are no issues with it whatsoever. We have thousands of users using the system every day, and it is exactly where we thought it would be.

QArea’s developers are competent and flexible, and demonstrated a customer-oriented mindset. That was pleasing, but what’s more important is the high quality of product we get at the finish line. And that’s for fair budget, which is also a factor.

How did QArea perform from a project management standpoint?

This was my first time using a company that was offshore, and doing a complete build. They not only built the application, they are running it as well. The team definitely showed high professionalism both in the planning stage, as experienced consultants, and the implementing stage of transforming vision into specifics, as potent practical specialists.

The working process is soft and adjustable on demand; the pace is being kept sustainable. We were able to set strict milestones and timelines. That eased organizing and planning, so adding new features to the product was more efficient.

We are totally satisfied with the communication QArea maintained with us; we had regular interactions weekly, if not daily at times. We were all on the same page in terms of what we wanted to get done. Most of our communication was through email and Skype chat. Over time, as their English improved, we had a number of phone calls. We can follow the workflow progress live, literally, due to the software developed by QArea specifically for project management purposes. We are able to check any progress, from the overall metrics to each task of each team member individually. That eases everything about the management, giving a sufficient level of transparency.

What did you find the most impressive about them?

Their ability to build and run an application that is as sophisticated as this one was impressive. I think that, a lot of the time, offshore companies are used for lower level tasks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are running a tight ship, and I am happy with what they’re doing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a software-products company focusing on a couple of financial systems. We market, sell and support those two products. One of those tools is geared towards what we call superannuation funds, while the other is a product aimed at lending institutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

We had the requirements in place, and needed help with the design and development of our products.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We engaged QArea for the design and development of our systems. They continue to provide support and maintenance of our web-based tools. We plan to move towards developing mobile-app versions of both products, using QArea.

They had a team of two front-end and two back-end developers, one QA tester, and one project manager. We have worked with up to seven people from QArea's team.

How did you come to work with QArea?

I made a web search, picked a couple of companies and checked them out. We decided to try QArea because of their skillsets and portfolio. The technology used by their team was the same one we decided upon. QArea also had reasonable rates, so they appeared to be the best pick.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The cost of QArea's work was around $700,000 for both of our products.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work on our first product started in October 2015. It was launched in July 2016. The second product will be launched in June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

QArea did a great job in developing our product. We haven't experienced many issues with it, and most of the feedback we've received from clients has had to do with change requests and fixing minor issues. There was nothing significant around the functionality of the product itself.

We provide some very specialized systems, so our targets are limited to superannuation funds and development banks in our area. The system has definitely helped these clients with their work, but we have a restricted client base.

How did QArea perform from a project management standpoint?

When we first started, because English is not QArea's first language, we had a few issues. After this, everything went smoothly and we were able to communicate our requirements and expectations and have QArea get back to us. The working relationship has been great. We used a project management tool for logging the bugs encountered during testing, as well as general feedback. It allowed us to track progress for our items.

What distinguishes QArea from other providers?

When entering an outsourcing engagement, there is always a risk in terms of whom we'll pick. This was our main worry with QArea, but they turned out to have a fantastic team. They were always on-time, and we always worked within what was scoped budget-wise. QArea's team has great skills and knowledge around the technologies we're using. English is not their first language, but QArea was good enough in communicating and understanding what we were asking them, and also providing information to us. This is an important point to know.

Is there anything QArea could have improved or done differently?

We are very happy with our current setup and relationship with QArea. They're responsive and, when we have requested changes, they were willing to work on weekends, if it was an urgent item. I cannot think of any areas which need improvements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a professional consulting firm providing tailored risk solutions in the physical and cyber spaces. I am the principal of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

We were working on a custom software application with multiple complex components, including content management, geospatial capabilities, as well as web-based and app-based interfaces. Trying to find an organization that understood what we needed, would be able to translate that into functional applications, and would also have the ability to communicate effectively and professionally, was a lot harder than we originally anticipated. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

QArea has developed our solution using custom PHP over Drupal. Quite a few resources were allocated to our project by QArea, but I had the benefit of needing to interface with 1–2 points of contact; a technical one, and a business one. Another interesting and unique advantage of QArea is their ability to provide us with regular access to the executive team, should we need it. For a company of that size, it's very unusual, and it put me in a great place of comfort.

How did you come to work with QArea?

We interviewed numerous organizations, and QArea came out on top.

How much have you invested with QArea?

We've spent around $35,000 on QArea's services so far. The total cost will probably end up between $50,000 and $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with QArea since the beginning of 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Not only did QArea have the right capabilities, they understood our requirements, and consistently came back with suggestions and different ways of looking at the challenge, explaining the benefits of doing so to us. Their approach was almost inevitably the smarter way, while still accomplishing what it was we needed, resulting in enhanced speed and capabilities, reduced cost, and so on. This was constant throughout the engagement, not just in the beginning and has proven to be tremendously beneficial to us.

How did QArea perform from a project management standpoint?

QArea is not the sort of organization who would constantly look to upcharge us. As we went along, we identified new capabilities to develop. Change requests were involved, but every phase of development with QArea has come in on or under budget.

We used a project tracking portal for enhanced visibility and communication related to our work and had regular engagements on a weekly basis, helping keep everyone on the same page. QArea would sometimes bring more people on to our meetings, depending on what needed to be done, but I usually interfaced with our primary contact.

What did you find most impressive about QArea?

I need to emphasize QArea's professionalism, communication skills, and proactive nature to development. QArea has also been incredibly patient with us.

Are there any areas QArea could improve?

No. I've had other options, and I could have taken them, but I did not. QArea's communication has proven to be very good as long as we were upfront with them. QArea did a better job than us in this respect. They are a professional organization and I would not hesitate to recommend them. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We provide services for singers, like a music camp and voice lessons, and there's a network of voice teachers as well.

What is your position?

I am the main developer and engineer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

We were trying to add some social features into our app, like being able to login with Facebook and LinkedIn. We were looking for some help and to extend our own internal team.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

In the beginning, I was the only person working in the company. I tried to hire other developers, but they didn't work out. At the moment, I have two developers and another person from QArea. For the iOS apps, we were using Objective-C, the native technology and for the desktop and Android apps we used Adobe AIR, which we can hopefully migrate to an HTML file soon.

How did you come to work with QArea?

We found them on Elance. Their team was different from others on Elance because it was structured like a company. They had a manager that's overlooking what the members are doing. 

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It cost around $6,000 to $7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I don't have any statistics or benchmarks. The only thing I can say is that I receive a daily report on what has been accomplished, and that information is a lot clearer than anybody else I've worked with. QArea complies with the project estimates and delivers work within the agreed-upon timelines. The internal feedback we have received has helped us get more information on the users so we could target them better, so our marketing person was happy with that.

How did QArea perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Elance's Work View, taking screenshots of the work progress. We used GitHub to see updates on which parts of the project are completed. We used the bug tracker from GitHub as well.

What distinguishes QArea from other providers?

The main thing is QArea's detailed hour-by-hour report they give me on the work that they complete. There is an automated screenshot system, and we can see exactly what is being accomplished. QArea also tells me if they run into any problems. It something we would expect from a service provider, but not what we get from most of the people that I've hired before.

If you give them clear specifications, they can work on their own and figure out the problems on their own. You don't have to manage every step of the process. If your specs are clear, normally they'll give you a good result.

Is there anything QArea could have improved or done differently?

Not really, I have been pretty satisfied. I haven't tried all their services, but I'm really satisfied with them. I don't know about the graphic design work or the other services that they have.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a startup. We offer an app that asks how well you really know your friends. We offer an app that's a personality-based game.

What is your position?

I'm the founder, CEO, and engineering manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

We were going from a prototype proof of concept to a workable beta in the App Store. I didn't have the necessary skills to develop the functional prototype, so I knew I needed to find qualified technologists that could take care of that aspect. It was important to find skilled but also consistent and reliable developers.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

I was handling the visual design, product and project management. They wanted to add a project manager, but I ended up keeping project management, so they provided engineers, and then also QA [quality assurance] specialists.

How exactly did you come to work with QArea?

I found them through oDesk. I chose to work with them because Paul Barry from the Huffington Post had openly endorsed them on their site, and he's an investor in our firm. I took his word for it and approached them with my project.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in financial terms?

I spent between $100,000 and $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration is was ongoing, and we worked together for a year and a half. Then, I decided to bring all the work in-house in February. I've actually now gone back and rehired the QA specialist from QArea to work with me on an ongoing basis. The project wrapped up in February 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

There aren't any stats and metrics that I can share. I was really working with an engineer or two and the QA specialist, so measuring an engineer's productivity is just difficult. The only relevant metric I can share is the fact that the app has 100,000 downloads after being live for only four and a half months. That's a very healthy number given the time frame and, more importantly, we haven't received many support-related issues. The app is very stable and users seem to be happy with their experience.

What distinguishes QArea from other providers?

It's a very technical group of engineers. QArea really knows their stuff. They're experienced C++, C Sharp developers. Whatever your project is, it's probably much simpler than what they've been trained to do. Having access to that kind of talent is great, especially if you're trying to develop something relatively complex.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you would do differently?

They're not quite as customer-oriented as one might hope. They are very responsive, but their nonfluent English language skills hampered the project to some extent. To be fair, that's probably to be expected when working with an offshore provider.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

Managing an offshore team is a little bit harder than managing an onshore team. If it's important for your business that you get another team up and running, then it's helpful to have these guys. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company runs a cookware site. We sell cookware, everything from frying pans and skillets to different kitchen appliances. We work primarily with premium brands, like Kitchen-Aid. We ship to Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Denmark, so we cover all the four countries in the Nordic Region.

What is your position?

I am the founder and managing director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenges were you trying to address with QArea?

We were looking for an e-commerce solution that was sustainable with a lot of products. I looked at Magento, which is open source. A lot of firms use that, but there seem to be a lot of performance issues when you have a lot of products. We have more than 100,000 products in the selection, so we had to deliver products quickly. We needed QArea to implement our custom .NET solution and make it as fast as possible, but without detracting from the stability of the system. We knew we wouldn't be able to do that by ourselves, so they were going to be responsible for making that a reality. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

QArea was responsible for both the visual design and the functional development of the site. They created quite a lot of the wireframes and template designs, but I also provided input around that. They did most of the design, back-end development, configuration and customization.

How did you come to work with QArea?

We wanted to start adding custom functionality to our .NET platform, and we wanted to find a development partner outside Sweden. There were two reasons for that. The first reason was cost. The other reason was that it was hard to find .NET with ecommerce experience developers in Sweden. When we started to evaluate different vendors, QArea did a very nice job expressing their ideas on how we could continue the project. I was quite impressed with how they structured the project plan. They built the pilot, the structure for what the project would look like. Then, our collaboration evolved to where they built the whole site. The site was in development for about 18 months to two years, and then it was updated with different features and so on.

When was the project completed?

We first went live with the site in 2011, and we maintain an ongoing relationship with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I'm satisfied with QArea's level of responsiveness and their ability to deliver work on time and within budget. They always offer an optimistic and a negative timeframe for each delivery. They have one cost if they deliver quickly, and when they are delayed they give another adjusted cost. I was kept informed throughout the whole process. Their English is quite good, especially that of our account representative there. She's been handling our account fantastically during these three or four years.

Our most important metric is our conversion rate. We have a conversion rate of around 2.5 percent to 3 percent, which is quite high in the e-commerce spectrum. I believe the site is one very important part of why the rate is so good. We have such an easy way to checkout and such a customer-friendly view of the site.

The site is also fast. It loads in about 0.6 seconds, even when you do big, complex searches. Also, the uptime of the site has been more than 99.9 percent. QArea doesn't host it, but we haven't had any software problems originating from its source code. They continue to perform updates, so we never had any problems with site going down. We had problems with our hardware provider, but that was outside of QArea's control.

What distinguishes QArea from other providers?

Because they've been so consistent in their delivery, the trust factor is their most important asset. QArea has deep expertise with the .NET platform and with e-commerce applications, and that's important when you have relationships with offshore companies – that you can trust their delivery and know they won't let you down. We've worked with the same developers from the start, and that was critical to our success.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you would do differently?

If they had a better understanding of the business side of our processes that would allow them to give me better advice and feedback regarding what improvements are needed. That would be a big improvement for QArea and for 90 percent of offshore companies – a better understanding of the business process side of site development. If a vendor can get a grasp of the business logic behind decisions, then it isn't necessary for the hiring client to figure out how they want the solutions to work, the vendor can just solve the problem for them and take the client feedback into consideration.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

If you have your business processes clear, I would say QArea is an excellent company to work with. It's important that you specify the business process first, and then you can take that to QArea, and they'll do a good job. As I said, I would like them to be able to provide ideas proactively on how we should improve the site. Otherwise, I think they're doing a great job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I run a small startup that develops Windows apps. So far, I have one app published on the Windows Store and Windows Phone Store.

What is your position?

I'm the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QArea?

I hired them to get the majority of the coding work done on the app. I had worked on the design beforehand, and I gave them the design documents for them to implement. They were also responsible for the functional elements of my app and testing.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We went back and forth about that until we got something that would work on the Windows platform. They were good working with me on that and giving me some ideas. They were knowledgeable. They built out some more designs for me and then performed the necessary custom coding.

There was one main programmer, but I think there were as many as three working on it at one point, and there's a project manager that I work with directly. They had maybe a total of five people working for us at any given point.

I'm sure they did some QA [quality assurance] of their own, but I also did the QA myself on this end, and then we went back and forth with a list I made of items for fixing. They would fix them and send me back a new build until I was satisfied.

How did you come to work with QArea?

I was doing some pretty extensive online research and called a few different companies that I found. I interviewed a few different ones via the phone and Skype, and they were the ones that had their act together the most. I liked what they had to say, and felt confident in their capabilities and approach.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in financial terms?

We spend between $1,000 and $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted a few months, and it was completed in 2013. I don't recall the exact month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The Windows store is still a little fickle because there's not that many people running the Windows Phone product yet. With Windows 10 coming out, that should go upward, hopefully. But, the quality of their work was excellent, and I have nothing but good things to say about QArea. The app is fantastic and it's performing very well.

How did QArea perform from a project management standpoint?

I was absolutely satisfied with their responsiveness and their ability to implement fixes and deliver milestones on time. We never had issues in those areas.

What distinguishes QArea from other providers?

Their speed is their best aspect. They can crank out a lot of code fast. I was very happy with that. I've worked with programmers all over, for my other businesses as well. I know what fast programming is, and those guys deliver quality programming very fast. All deadlines were met, and I was really impressed. That isn't so common in the IT [information technology] space.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

It's hard being an international company because I speak English and they speak Russian or Ukrainian. They did a good job. They have a front-facing person that speaks English that I've dealt with the whole time; and everyone understood my emails fine. There wasn't really much of a problem there, but maybe that's the only thing I would think of, more English-speaking team members. Maybe they do have people around the world from what I've found on their websites, but I'm not sure. They definitely do a good job in that area, too.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

Just be real clear in your emails, don't use a lot of fancy language. Just cut and dried – point out exactly what you're looking for. They're really good at responding to it, and also delivering some ideas that you haven't thought of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

It's a translation agency. We've been in operation for three years now.

What is your position?

I'm the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address with QArea?

I had planned to create a system for testing translators, with a peer review and then a professional review of translation samples. I'm not a specialist in this area, so I was looking for various Web specialists and Web programmers that would build the functional solution. I found QArea, and I was quite satisfied with what they had done in the past, so I went ahead and hired them.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They used PHP for custom development, but I don't have any details on the other technologies used. After they developed the initial solution, they created a user interface with my existing database. They did certain visual design, and I was quite satisfied with the look and feel. It was very practical had a good design layout, but it was very simple. Right now, I am planning to change my main site, and I would like to have QArea for this job as well. I'm having someone else work on the design, and [QArea] will do the development side.

How did you come to choose QArea?

I looked for Web companies on the Internet – on Facebook and LinkedIn. I joined a PHP group on LinkedIn, and somebody connected with me and told me that QArea may be able to work on this project. I then went to their website and submitted an inquiry. They came back to us with a very convincing proposal. 

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this engagement?

They charge approximately $25 per hour. The first project was approximately $11,000, and the second project was between $3,000 and $5,000.

What were the results of the project?

The first project was completed about a year and a half ago [2013]. The relationship is ongoing, and I'm planning to work with them in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

I am satisfied with the work they've completed, and it works for my agency. Of course, there were issues that came up during the testing phase, but they fixed them very quickly. After everything was done, I haven't had any problems. All of my end users have been satisfied with the final product, too. We are planning to improve certain things here and there – it's an ongoing process – but there are no real issues with the solution.

They're very responsive. They provide the opportunity to monitor the progress of their work. They're very good in this respect. We used the Redmine project management tool throughout the project, which has made the whole process very manageable.

Is there anything that you'd consider unique about their practice?

I've worked with different programmers in the past. One was excellent, and the other was very good. They have some real talent there and a very structured system for interacting with their clients, which really adds a level of confidence. You don't always get that with offshore providers, but with QArea you definitely do.

In hindsight, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

Although they're very good programmers, I don't believe they're very strong when it comes to visual design. That's probably the only area of weakness I can think of. But, to be fair, they don't really pitch themselves as expert designers. Their talents are more technical in nature.