Roonyx

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager of FLOX; we’re an agricultural technology company that creates software to help farmers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Roonyx?

We were trying to create a machine-learning algorithm to judge how well the mixed cattle is for a customer with several farms with cattle feed, and we didn’t have enough in-house engineers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Roonyx did a web-server prototype for us; the product is aimed for farmers to use on their phones to get instant feedback on the cow’s feed quality. We started by collecting data, including images and photos of our customer’s cattle feed. Consequently, Roonyx’s team used those images to train a machine-learning algorithm to determine the feed mix's quality. After that, we did testing and showed the app to the customer.

In terms of technologies, they used TensorFlow, Python, and JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around two members of their team, including a project manager and a developer.

How did you come to work with Roonyx?

We found them through Upwork; they put a bid on our job offer, and after a short conversation, we decided to go with them.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

We invested around $15,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April–September 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of their work was excellent, and we were very pleased with them. In terms of metrics, the machine-learning algorithm got to 85% accuracy, which met our expectations.

How did Roonyx perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was excellent; they were flexible, communicative about the project’s status, and adaptive to our deadlines and timetables. Regarding tools, we used email and Microsoft Teams — we got in contact every two weeks, which was the efficient and quick approach we needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were efficient and good at every task we required from them, like quick quality analysis — they did things that weren’t part of their contract, and their team was happy to do them anyway.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were great, and I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Operations at WeAgile - a digital agency based in London, United Kingdom

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our client was looking to improve their internal Transparency tool focusing on better efficiency and user experience across the various areas of the business with multiple projects due to kick off over the year. We hired Roonyx to support the client's internal team.

SOLUTION

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

We saw that they had great reviews on Clutch and also that they had a quite large team which was important for us, in case we needed extra resources.

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

The scope of work entailed building a new version of a repertoire management system for an independent music company. Roonyx was responsible for assisting the client’s in-house team with transforming the web application in accordance with the product roadmap. The project started with a Sprint 0 in order to align on the product vision, stakeholder expectations and development process. Key deliverables included new platform functionality such as third-party integrations, new label release workflow, analytics and new royalties model. The platform is based on PHP, Laravel, Typescript, Mobx, Tailwind, Less, Webpack and Cypress.

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

We worked with 2 back end developers, 1 front end developer and an account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We finished the project on time and actually managed to deliver some more deliverables than expected - so thanks to Roonyx we were able to over-deliver.

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

The project management style is very friendly yet professional. It was very easy to communicate with everyone on the Roonyx team.

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

Everyone has really good communication skills and positive can-do attitude.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Business Development Manager in IT Outsourcing Company. We work for EU & US Market

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our client wanted to create a new digital product that would become a part of their premium subscription bundle. To deliver this project, we were looking for a partner that specialized in developing web-based design tools.

SOLUTION

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

I was looking for a company with relevant experience in my network and met with the Roonyx CEO. I was impressed by their approach, since they communicated the importance of product discovery and UI testing, which is uncommon among outsourcing companies.

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

At first, Roonyx set up 3 discovery sessions with the client to understand their needs and produce the initial documentation. Then, they were responsible for turning the client’s requirements into a clickable prototype that could be demonstrated to the client’s community members already paying for the subscription. As a result of user testing, they have modified the user experience to make it clear how to access the functionality. Once the user journey has been established, we started to collaborate with Roonyx on development sprints. They set up a staging environment for us to demonstrate the results to the client and helped with releasing the system on production. The system was based on PHP Laravel, Node.js, React, Typescript and ImageMagick.

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

Roonyx assigned a project manager, a UI/UX designer, a business analyst, 3 developers and a QA engineer to work on our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This particular project has been successfully delivered to the client. We are exploring other opportunities to work with Roonyx. Our client was pleased with the end result of this engagement. They are rolling out the web application to a select group of premium customers and report positive feedback.

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

They have assigned a project manager who organized weekly progress calls with me and provided status updates which was helpful. I also had access to their task tracking system and even though I wasn’t reviewing it daily, I liked that it was available. Their project manager has broken down the project scope into manageable sprints – this was instrumental in keeping our client informed about the progress.

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

What I really enjoyed is communicating with all team members as they seemed to be genuinely interested in how the end result turns out. I liked their focus on how the customers will interact with the application and what value they will receive.

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

I feel that the team could have been assigned to the project quicker, however I understand that it’s not always possible to speed up such things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Wakefully, a mental wellness app that provides AI-guided dream analysis and coaching.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Roonyx?

I raised my first round of venture funding last year, and I needed a technology partner to help me build the mobile app, get it to market, and help me create a unique AI model.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Roonyx created a mobile app under my leadership, available for iOS using Flutter. I provided them with a full set of designs and made some additions collaboratively, but we already set up the basics on the design side in Figma. Our database is in AWS, using Firebase and Firestore databases to clone the database for me to have easier access to raw data and run queries. We also incorporate a chatbot through Rasa.

There’s another essential component, which is AI integration. It has to do with using existing NLP tools and library APIs to analyze text concerning syntax and context. We ask leading questions, and then we run words, outsourcing them to go and bring different associated words and related words that we can suggest to the user.

We’re going through another stage where I had some mishaps along the way and realized that with the NLP, the output isn’t always relevant. I have a lot of data from tens of thousands of dream reports. Then we keep growing our library by letting people input their words if they don’t find something that fits in the list.

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–6 members of their team, including a project manager.

How did you come to work with Roonyx?

I found them online, and then I met with Vladimir (Founder). It was important to have somebody with a very deep understanding of English because our project is word-driven. Also, since I’m a non-technical founder, I often have to explain it in layman’s terms.

I chose them because they were affordable and because Vladimir was extremely pleasant and intelligent; he understands me very deeply and can convey that to the team.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $100,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The users doing user testing feel the whole experience is flowing nicely. They did a good job in some of the designs when we needed to add screens.

Also, our current rating in the App Store is 4.3 — feedback is very good. When we do testing, we ask users many questions and rate it 1–10 on how likely they are to use it again or recommend it to a friend, and the average we’re getting is 8 out of 10.

How did Roonyx perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is good; there were some issues initially, but they fixed them right away. We have an ongoing open ticket that I can add and do my own QA, and I can let them know if something isn’t working, and they tend to it as soon as I find out about it.

We’ve been working mostly on time and material. We’ve tried a couple of months of a retainer and support/maintenance because I needed more focused work, so we’re back to sprints. Regarding communication, we use Slack and Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s impressive how they can help me tackle a very gigantic and novel type of technology applied to a very unexplored space — we’re defining a category and then to wellness. Also, their ability to help a non-technical founder and really take the time to try and understand when things are working for me and when they’re not is impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should have more project managers whose English is better. Some things get lost because I don’t always have the head of sales there to translate.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend that they involve the head of sales as much as possible — he’s extremely helpful. Also, don’t rely only on their QA; if part of the QA needs to mesh logically, you can miss a lot because of the language barrier. I recommend doing your own QA on top of theirs and being very specific about what you need — the more detailed you are, the better they can deliver.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a data services and consulting firm that was brought in by a client to develop a SaaS application for them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

My client and I needed to develop a custom web application from scratch. The design was almost ready and we needed a team to estimate and implement the solution within a certain timeline and budget. Our goal was to release an MVP with the core functionality to then test it with the target users and collect funding for further development.

SOLUTION

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

I searched for a vendor on the UpWork platform. I talked to several teams, reviewed their estimates and proposals. The proposal pitched by Roonyx seemed the most appealing - they had a fair price, good communication processes, and a seemingly reliable team of developers.

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

When I selected Roonyx we still had some work to be done with the designs so at first they started with mapping out the development plan and working on the backend of the core features that wouldn’t change. Once we had the designs ready they added more developers to the team and continued the development with more speed.

We had some changes of scope along the way, but they adapted and asked some good clarifying questions. The development is almost over now and we’re about to release the MVP and test it with some initial users. The team is polishing up the website before the release and I expect more work for them after the release.

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

Initially, we had a project manager and a backend developer. Then they added a QA engineer and two frontend devs. So in total that made 5.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re about 90% done with the functionality we initially wanted developed. We’ve been adding new ideas and features, so this is a continuous process. But we’re ready to start letting the first users on the platform to test it with potential customers and getting their feedback.

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

Their processes and workflow is quite effective. We have a designer working on the project and it seems like they manage to work simultaneously, we don’t have any blocks in our work and overall everything is going well. The project manager provides regular updates over Slack and we have demo calls to check on the progress.

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

They are quite effective and reliable. It’s great to see how our ideas come to life in a working product and how committed the whole team is to the project. I like their transparent communication, quick turnaround times, and flexibility.

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

There is always room to grow. I wish I had clearer insights into the progress of the project in comparison to the original estimate from the beginning, but I they are currently working to improve this now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of AppArts, and I deal with the day-to-day operations of the company, handling most of our non-digital requirements. I also dabble in marketing, content writing, and anything else that supports the company at this stage. We’re building a web platform that enables musicians in London to find studio space for playing gigs, practicing, and recording. We also help them find apartments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Roonyx?

We use Roonyx to develop our product. We don’t have much technical knowledge, so we need a team of developers and engineers. They must also have a project manager. Roonyx serves those functions for us, facilitating the development of the AppArts platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project started with Roonyx’s proposal that we needed a proprietary platform. They created a roadmap that showed us what was going to happen from the first to the final project stages. The team then established contact people who would give us daily reports. They did market research, and we moved on to testing their UI/UX design. The mockups have turned into working demos, and the team has developed our first functional platform, which has also undergone QA testing. 

The platform’s database is important for us. Since we’re building a community of musicians and third parties that rent their spaces, the profiles that people create should align with and cater to what clients want. Different tagging criteria exist, and we at AppArts have different access points to the server, platform, and its interface. In other words, the database and the CRM systems are crucial features for us.

At present, we’ve put many things on the backburner because of the COVID-19 pandemic — London hasn’t come out of lockdown. The app is finished, but we haven’t launched it yet. Roonyx currently serves as our digital operational support. They monitor our server problems, bugs, and crashes. 

What is the team composition?

The project manager is my point of contact, but there are 3–4 software developers that I don’t communicate with on a daily basis unless they’re presenting something. Overall, a total of 5–6 people work on this project from Roonyx’s team. 

How did you come to work with Roonyx?

A close friend of mine recommended them to me. He was a bit of a mentor to me, and we worked together in another startup, so I trusted his recommendations and knew his way of thinking. I could’ve done more research and found another vendor that was as good as Roonyx, but I trusted that person’s recommendation, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

Collectively, we’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement started in August 2020, and it’s technically ongoing. We’ve finished the platform around March 2021, but this relationship will continue until we do the maintenance work internally. We don’t have an internal team for that yet. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

To measure success, I check whether the platform’s functionality and UI/UX design are completed according to specifications. Being a less technical person, I make sure that the platform brings out the right studios based on the information I give. 

On top of that, I check whether the team sticks with their deadlines and if I’m able to test the platform when they say it’s ready. These have been the most important success metrics for me. So far, Roonyx has delivered. A few bugs have appeared here and there, but they can fix them pretty quickly. 

How did Roonyx perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills are pretty good. They have a good level of communication as they provide reports and updates of what they’ve done, what’s been fixed, and what they’re currently doing. Overall, I feel that I’m a part of their team even though I’m not doing any technical work.

We mostly communicate on daily updates, and we use tools like Google Documents, Google Drive, and JIRA, which is their main project management tool. I don’t have any access to their JIRA board, but our CTO does, and he also communicates with them through the platform. I simply get updates from them about the demo and the test product. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Based on my experience as their client, everything has been seamless. I don’t doubt their ability to reach deadlines. They’re reliable and trustworthy, and they’ve earned our trust quickly. Moreover, they seem to know more about our product than I do, which is great because I learn from them. This helps establish confidence in their abilities. Realistically, not a lot of vendors can understand our product correctly even if we shop around. As a client who feels confident with their services, I can say that they’re pretty good all around. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

At some point in our engagement, I could’ve been given more information without having to speak. I’ve wanted to be more omniscient on some level. However, given my level of technical knowledge, it’s not a big deal; I don’t even know the questions to ask in the first place. I’m sure this can be improved upon, but it’s not a real dealbreaker.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tell Roonyx everything about your business and not only the good things; tell them what’s going wrong and what needs to be solved. Be open with them. It’s crucial to be completely transparent about your shortcomings and what you can’t achieve.

For instance, they’ve done extensive market research that we should’ve done ourselves. If we had been content with the level of research and data we initially had, they wouldn’t have done that research to augment what we finished. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Four Consultancy LLC, an IT consultancy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Roonyx?

In 2019, I came up with the idea of making a marketplace where different business owners could find experts in any industry and get a consultation. We needed help to create it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Roonyx developed and deployed the MVP of our iOS, Android, and Web applications — it wasn’t a small MVP. First, we did an analysis phase with Roonyx, and it went well. Then, I visited them, and we moved into the development process. They used Ruby on Rails for backend development and Angular for the frontend development. They also used Swift for iOS and Java for Android.

What is the team composition?

Initially, I worked with their CEO. During the development, I was mostly in contact with the project manager.

How did you come to work with Roonyx?

My girlfriend’s family is close to the CEO of Roonyx. I visited their office twice to meet the team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–December 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We tested the MVP with our target audience but didn’t get the feedback we expected. It caused us to pivot and do our business another way. Despite us not using it, Roonyx’s work was very good and faster than expected. Our agreement was for eight months and they delivered the product within five — they were a great outsourced staff.

How did Roonyx perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication was very good. Roonyx gave me access to their internal tool to see the development process. It was transparent, which I appreciated because not every company is this open. I also received weekly reports from the project manager, and we had weekly calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Roonyx’s communication was very good. Their work had high quality, and they delivered the product before the agreed-upon times.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I’d change would be the approach that Roonyx had. I wish we had spent less money than we did. There was a better way we could have tested MVP and spend around $10,000–$15,000 rather than $100,000. However, this was my mistake and they’re not responsible for that.

They mentioned several times to not implement all three platforms from the beginning and suggested starting with the iOS application first. They didn’t insist on it, but I think it was my responsibility.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and Founder. Our company is a fast-growing startup that helps people find the best doctors, schedule appointments, leave feedback, pay for the visits, and do many other things. Our team needed a strong backend developer and a UI specialist

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our goal is to launch an MVP of the health app to allow people to find the best doctors as soon as possible. The team was 2-3 weeks late from the initial roadmap, that cast doubt on an MVP launch date.

SOLUTION

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

I’ve held a couple of meetings with the developers from various software development companies. Developers from Roonyx seemed to be the best choice since they think not only about coding but about the product and it’s users as well, which is a crucial advantage

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

After onboarding the Roonyx team, I’ve introduced them to the current team. We’ve scheduled daily standups and weekly retrospective meetings, that helped us stay synchronized.

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

2 Laravel developers, 1 React developer and a project manager for the operational matters

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After we’ve onboard Roonyx to the project, the gap from the initial plan started to reduce. Finally, after a month of their work, we were back on the schedule. Also, they came up with some great UX tips, which will allow us to attract more users after the launch

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

As I said before, they helped us with the communication processes and arranged meetings to be efficient

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

Their ability to make the project better for users, and not just complete tasks in Trello, is impressive. It’s always good to have partnership relations, not just customer-provider

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

More backend technologies in their stack would be great

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a marketing manager at a Crypto based webshop. We make it possible for people to easily buy gift cards and mobile top up with bitcoin and other crypto.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Roonyx to help us develop our frontend and adding additional functionalities to our webshop.

SOLUTION

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

We selected Roonyx because they have experience and great knowledge in developing Angular applications. Roonyx is also flexible in the available development time per month

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

Roonyx builds the Angular frontend, based on the design and backend functionality of the API provided by us. The work is done in a structured way, divided into tickets with an hourly indication.

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

In general, we work with a project manager and Angular developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After implementing the front-end features, we see our user base grow and users have additional functionalities that result in better user engagement.

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

At the start of the collaboration, we had a telephone conversation twice a week about the progress and approach of the project. All activities are created in an overview with the estimated required hours and their status. The team always responds quickly in our Slack chat.

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

The Roonyx team is very responsive in times when we need a fast implementation. Despite the limited time given to them every month, they manage to deliver our requests.

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

Would be great to hear any suggestions on how we can improve the performance of our app. Although we haven't got around to this yet due to lack of time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a social services company based in Germany.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Roonyx?

We started developing an ERP using two internal developers, and we wanted to expand our capabilities and speed. Particularly, we were having difficulties with the frontend of the system so we needed support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Roonyx is developing the frontend of our platform. The platform is mainly based on AngularJS, so they’re working within that technology. We’re planning to engage a backend Java developer from their team, starting next month.

What is the team composition?

At the moment, Roonyx is providing one frontend developer. Our internal developers are in direct communication with him. 

How did you come to work with Roonyx?

I reviewed multiple companies and freelancers on Upwork. I gave each candidate a small task and had our internal developers check the work. Roonyx didn’t have the lowest price, but they had the highest quality of work, and that was the most important thing for us.

We set up a call with their sales representative, who went over their services, how they work, prices, and the testing period details. We signed a contract, after which we had a kickoff call with their engineers, where they presented the person who would be working for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $20,000 on their work so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project internally two years ago, and we brought Roonyx in June 2020. We plan to bring more automation to the platform, so the work will continue working with them for at least one more year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone in our company who is using the software is satisfied with it. Any bugs we’ve identified were quickly fixed by Roonyx.

How did Roonyx perform from a project management standpoint?

Our internal backend developer is the main person responsible for the project. He reviews all code from Roonyx, and he creates tasks for them. So far, they’ve delivered everything according to the estimates they gave us. When they give us a delivery date, they stick to it. 

They use a tracking system that shows us how much time was spent on each task, along with screenshots from the developer’s computer.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The process has moved faster since we brought Roonyx on and their developer produces high-quality work. I know I can rely on them.

Most importantly, our internal backend developer always says that their code is perfect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m completely satisfied with them so far.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to describe tasks and goals accurately. This was one of their requirements from the beginning.