RST Software

BACKGROUND

EasyTranslate is a language service provider. It's headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and has 30 employees. It is represented in 11 European markets. EasyTranslate provides a variety of translation and interpreting services to both business and private customers.

I'm the Chief Technology Officer of EasyTranslate.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We were initially seeking to develop a cross-device video conferencing solution for our customers, to help deliver and facilitate our translating services. We also needed to integrate the solution with the EasyTranslate platform to leverage our existing user authentication, billing methods and language services.

SOLUTION

Software Brothers was recommended to us by a colleague. The scope of the work for them was to provide iOS/Android development, end-to-end app design, video technology testing and project management during the development process. EasyTranslate developed a new API in parallel with the Software Brothers app development. The project lasted two months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Software Brothers delivered both on schedule and within budget. They provided us with an excellent product and quality project management from start to end. They were great at aligning expectations, making their own decisions when necessary, and asking for specifications and input when required. Their focus on an agile MVP-driven development approach ensured a very speedy and pragmatic development process.

The cooperation between the Software Brothers app developers and our EasyTranslate API developers worked flawlessly. The skill set of the iOS and Android developers was excellent, both technically and in terms of communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of a small startup in the United Kingdom. We're in the business-to-business tech space. We have an existing business selling to B2B companies and just recently launched a B2C offering. Software Brothers was instrumental in helping build key aspects of that consumer offering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We wanted to roll out a consumer offering. We had to choose between hiring internally, which would have been someone based locally or having access to a more flexible team. It wasn't clear how much we would need to expand or how quickly.

We opted to locate a partner who we felt would understand the unique challenges of a startup, but also would have the experience of working with startups that have grown to be very large. We feel like they understand both what it's like to be a startup and how to support the growth of a startup. The alternative would have been hiring people internally and dealing with all of the issues of supporting that while still driving growth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope started out with the implementation of a new website which was a new consumer offering. This was designed to allow consumers to use our system—our financial products. Software Brothers had to build all of the front end related to that. They also had to interface with multiple existing back-end elements through multiple APIs. Sometimes, they were involved in the construction of those APIs.

They also have to get involved in helping build and support the user experience design for the new consumer offering. Since then, the scope has expanded, and I've gained more confidence. They've proven their ability to execute, so we've given them visibility and more responsibility for other more back end parts of our system as well.

How did you come to work with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We were considering three options—the first was to hire people internally, who would be permanent on the team. We were also looking at people who were onshore—so outsourcing the work, but to onshore partners. Finally, we looked at outsourcing to remote partners. With people working internally, we'd attempted that before a few times and found it wasn't flexible enough for us.

After that, we made the call to focus on partners. We talked to a few partners who had been recommended to us through investors. We then came across Software Brothers. They approached me, and I was quite impressed. I thought it was very amusing, clever, and just very friendly. I decided to talk to them and include them in the process of discussion. After multiple conversations, I got the feeling that they were good, and I was more comfortable with them than with the people that had been recommended to me via our normal channels.

How much have you invested with them?

The price is somewhere in the $50,000 to $200,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Software Brothers in December of 2014. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very happy. It feels like they are part of the team. I don't have the sense that they are an external company. I feel like even when it comes to invoicing, I see that they're always very fair, often discounting amounts because they just delivered stuff faster than they expected. Even if I would have been happy to pay, they will also offer to reduce the price because they delivered what we agreed to, and they did it faster than estimated. That definitely adds to my trust in them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I would say Software Brothers tends to think around any problems. They are very business minded, so they often suggest things that will improve the experience, or they'll suggest how we can adjust the specs so that it will end up delivering 95%of what we need for 50% of the effort. These are all of the things that you would expect from a good productive professional member of your team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No significant areas. They're a team and sometimes a few people might come onto the team who haven't been ideal but they very quickly swap them out. That was an early occurrence, and they made sure to put much stronger resources in place. The vast majority of people who have been involved with the project, and everybody that is involved currently, have been very good and very professional. Any issue was resolved in a matter of days.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I'm the COO of the company. Our product is a platform for creating communities and sharing curated content. It's in a scope development phase. We're based in London, U.K.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We've hired them to help us develop our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope is end-to-end development. Initially, our internal team came up with the wireframing and the design of the application and just gave Software Brothers a briefing on the product itself, instead of the user journey. They were responsible for building it technically, both from the back-end server continuing with the application itself, and translating our wireframes into actual front-end code. However, as of two weeks ago, we've also contracted them to design our UX and UI. The project involves a mobile app as well as a web application. The mobile app is for Android and iOS.

How did you come to work with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

The decision was largely based on pricing. We had three companies that we were looking at. They were very thorough with their methodology and their process, and the pricing was competitive.

How much have you invested with them?

For developing both of these versions, we are looking somewhere between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I think their performance was quite good. Software Brothers delivers within one or two days of their delivery dates. There is a little bit of delay. They are, from a quality perspective, working from two different sides, and there can be communication issues. Of course, I think that's common with a lot of clients versus suppliers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven't worked with other vendors, so I can't really answer that very well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only part that I'm not so satisfied with is the translation of some things that we provided them. I don't know if that's because of a communication issue between our company and Software Brothers, or a difference in expectations, or something like that. We've actually sent the entire wireframing and the design to them, so there are no mistakes and no confusion due to lack of communication in the future.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a one-stop-shop for corporate customers for all their taxi and transfer rides.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were trying to address with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We needed to create a new iPhone app. We wanted to achieve more ride bookings through users with iPhones.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We supplied the mockups. Software Brothers did the whole design, UI/UX, coding, and connecting to our backend.

How did you come to work with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We did a comprehensive procurement process and looked at German, Polish, and Ukrainian companies. We did not approach other companies as the cultural differences and time differences seemed too large.

How much have you invested with them?

It was a decent five-figure job in Euros.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was completed in September 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Development was finished on time and the app works really well. Software Brothers performed very well. They are a very friendly and efficient team. They kept the deadlines, did the bug-fixing, and the app was perfect. I can highly recommend Software Brothers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Software Brothers is very fast when it comes to communication. They are also pragmatic and very friendly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would not say there is room for much improvement, really.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Treat them well, and communicate a lot. If you do that, you will be happy.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a streetwear rental company headquartered in London.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters, and what were your goals?

We wanted to continue to develop our new mobile app and backend infrastructure to allow our customers to subscribe to us in order to regularly rent clothes on an ongoing basis.

SOLUTION

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

We reached out to our own professional networks looking for recommendations of outsourcing providers and RST came back as highly recommended by people who have used them before and who we trust.

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

Our work with RST started with a handover phase where RST reviewed the existing app code and deployment processes as well as organising handover meeting with our previous freelance developer. They were very quick to get up to speed with our system and were able to give recommendations on things that could be improved if we wanted to do them. The next phase was four months of new feature development work where RST provided a team that successfully delivered a number of really key new features for our mobile app and platform.

The technologies used included React Native, Typescript, PostgreSQL, GraphQL, PrismaORM, AWS Lambda, Github Actions. All backend code was developed using TDD with a great set of automated tests and code structured around DDD principles.

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

RST provided a React Native developer and a Typescript/Node.js backend engineer worked directly with us joining stand-ups and working full-time as integrated members of our team. RST also provided a part-time project manager who was responsible for the development process, managing the developers and ensuring everything was delivered in a timely manner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The bugs that RST found and fixed along with the new features delivered have had a really positive impact on the % of people becoming paying subscribers in our app.

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

The project management was excellent. They are thorough and very well organized. We used Jira, Slack and regular catchup and planning video calls to keep abreast of the developments and to progress the project.

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

The developers that RST provided were extremely good, a cut above the majority of developers I've worked with in the past. Very thorough and the software they produced was always very well tested and working as expected. They were also really easy to work with and always had great ideas for how to improve what we were working on. They often went above and beyond what was required of them in ways that were incredibly helpful for us. On the sales and management side, I also found RST Software Masters really friendly and easy to work with.

They also have a large team of people with many different skills. So no-matter what it is that we needed they had someone who could help us out on that aspect of the project and our business.

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

RST always welcomed feedback and were very quick and very keen to address things whenever anything wasn't quite going the way that we needed it to. So I don't have any specific areas for improvement. I would definitely work with them again in future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an Affiliate marketing company specialising in lead generation and customer acquisition for Brands across a multitude of sectors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters, and what were your goals?

We manage a wide portfolio of websites across a lot of different sectors. Building and managing this volume of separate Wordpress installs becomes a real pain. Separate logins, hosting accounts, keeping track of domain names, keeping track of the products and offers is a significant bottleneck.

SOLUTION

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

We built an all in one custom CMS that was tailored the specific requirements of our websites. This CMS allows us to launch, manage and monitor a high volume of websites from the one dashboard. All hosted on super fast cloud infrastructure.

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

Scalerr is a Node.js application built with a React.js frontend User Interface. This application incorporates, site builder, theme functionality, content block page builder, offer module, vertical selector, team integration, blogging module and site SEO optimisations.

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

Up to 12 people have been engaged on the project to date, including senior developers, UX, design, dev ops and Product managers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a fully functional BETA of our application that has been in private use for some time. Powering our network of websites and streamlining our business in a very meaningful way.

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

I communicate with the team through Slack and JIRA. As well as a client relationship manager, the project has its own PO who I communicate with on a day to day basis. The team is very well structured and professional. The operating process is a well oiled machine, working in Sprints, everyone knows what needs to be done. No time is wasted. I get regular check-ins and status updates and they are very diligent at tracking all time spent on the project. I felt a high degree of trust for the team that they earned over time.

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

The depth of skillset contained within the company is exceptional. They can call upon a broad depth of expertise to find the best solution to your problem. My project was very experimental and we broke a lot of new ground in creating the system, this required a lot of capability and ambition to take it on successfully, which they did.

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

Given the experimental nature of the project we experienced some bugs. However, these were addressed and overcome quickly and I am more than happy with the way the team handled these minor setbacks.