S-PRO

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and co-founder for an energy data company. We provide intelligence around data in energy markets and are focused on flexible energy production in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S-PRO?

They’re our nearshore software development partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They outlined the specifications for a web app that delivers data, insight, and intelligence for our users. We spent 4–6 weeks on planning and then we moved into development. We then started working on the frontend and backend database.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, who works on our team full-time,  a business analyst, a solutions architect, a UX/UI designer, two frontend engineers, and two backend engineers.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

We put out a competitive tender for European developers. We started with a shortlist and narrowed it down to three companies. We met with S-PRO’s CEO, CTO, customer success manager, and a few of their technical leads. In that meeting, we went over what we were looking for and what services they provided. We really like that they were forward-thinking and their team seemed to be happy in their positions. They were very flexible as well and everything was up for discussion.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly €200,000 (approximately $240,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020 and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been able to resolve bugs and manage the backlog. Now we’re able to provide a product for our paying users and have attracted new customers. Feedback has been really positive. Now we have an attractive and easy to use frontend. The platform is simple and intuitive, which is fantastic.

How did S-PRO perform from a project management standpoint?

They did really well and were able to deliver on time and on budget. We’re constantly making changes to the scope and adjusting our priorities, but S-PRO is very good at managing and documenting any changes. Before COVID-19, we met with them in person every sprint, so about every two weeks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely flexible and have been patient as we make changes to our scope. They’re also good at taking on new concepts like energy market data.  After the planning phase, they were able to provide input, which has had a positive impact on users. They recommended features that weren’t on our product roadmap, but they’ve become an imperative part of our product. They add a lot of value.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could streamline the approval process around resource planning and information, particularly on feature changes. Whilst S-PRO was flexible, getting changes approved was a little frustrating.

On occasion, we could have improved communication, particularly between preproduction and production phases. However, there hasn’t been a significant issue.

They’ve missed a few English grammar issues as well, but the mistakes were very minimal.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get to know the project manager and solutions architect because strong communication is key. I would encourage people to go in person as regularly s possible so they can talk with the development team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and chairman of Ad Astra Wellbeing, a company based in London. Ad Astra’s a meditation app. Our partners upload content to the network that’s accessed by users. Partners receive royalties calculated based on subscription costs and split with the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S-PRO?

We hired S-PRO to develop our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

S-PRO built our app for Android and iOS. Their team also created a web panel for partners to upload content.

What is the team composition?

Although I only communicated with the project manager, around five people from S-PRO worked on this project.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

I researched quite a few companies and read reviews on Clutch as well as other platforms. I reached out to seven companies in total, and S-PRO replied quickly. They were transparent and not only provided an estimate but also a basic mockup of the app. That showed their dedication to working with me. Their sales manager was excellent and answered all my questions too.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started to talk in August, but the work started in September 2019. The project concluded in early-June 2020, but I’m still in touch with them for server upgrades and other maintenance work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m quite happy with the app and partner panel developed by S-PRO. This has no connection with S-PRO, but I haven’t secured as many downloads as I’d like, which involves marketing.

How did S-PRO perform from a project management standpoint?

We used WhatsApp and email to communicate. I only communicated with one person, which made the process easier for me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was happy with their flexibility. I decided to add and remove features as development went on, and S-PRO did everything I requested.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As I’ve only worked with one mobile developer, I don’t have the means for comparison. However, I’m satisfied. I’d recommend S-PRO to anyone who asked me about a good developer.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a science and material innovation company rethinking biology and reimagining the world. A World Economic Forum Tech Pioneer, we partner with nature to create never-before imagined materials and products across industries – from agriculture to electronics, consumer care to pharmaceuticals, and more. Our company creates sustainable materials that are in use today, delivering value for Fortune 1000 companies with over $1 billion worth of products using Zymergen microbial innovations sold to date. At Zymergen we make tomorrow. I am the Technical Lead of the Zymergen Navigator for Chemistry project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire S-PRO?

We needed to create a best-in-class internal tool for exploring biological chemical spaces. This required a top-to-bottom integration of databases, services, and client interfaces. We partnered with S-Pro to develop the website our employees would use to make key research decisions around new materials.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for this project would be to create a website with a strong core architecture that could support future enhancements in a variety of dimensions. It needed to support powerful query semantics but be presented in a user-friendly interface. It needed to interact with a variety of backend services and provide a cohesive view of it all.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We explored and interviewed a variety of vendors. We were drawn to S-Pro's based on their professionalism in interviews, their portfolio of projects that included sufficiently complex state, and their company size and stability.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project began with us creating mockups and specifications for the first few phases of the project. We then worked with them to set up the codebase and create the first few proof of concept deliverables to demonstrate all the services communicating effectively. During this time we worked through overall architecture patterns, state management, testing requirements, code quality expectations, communications, and project tracking. S-Pro has been able to work with specifications of varying detail and work independently to propose solutions and implement them.

What was the team composition?

We had some initial churn on developers until we found developers with the right skillsets. We now have two developers working full-time on the project and they peer-review code prior to us taking a final review before merging. We had to change project managers once, but overall the project management has been very stable. We also have a part time QA engineer verifying changes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project has been well-received by a number of internal teams and is quickly becoming a critical internal tool. It is used internally as a case-study in future development patterns.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We created JIRA tickets to represent the units of work we wanted implemented and kept them sorted in priority order. We relied on their project management to then select and assign those tickets as necessary. They would peer-review code and get QA verification before we were given final review. We maintained an ongoing Slack channel for live discussion as well as a weekly meeting on Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I've been most impressed with S-Pro's ability to be self-directed. We can give them detailed specifications or just a rough idea of what we want and they are able to make their own appropriate judgement calls on tradeoffs to give us a great initial solution quickly. We can then iterate as necessary to get the final implementation. In some cases we have been able to present them with the only the overall problem we are attempting to solve and they are able to generate a solution from scratch. In other cases we are able to work with them to discuss deeper architectural tradeoffs and make an informed decisions about them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In general they've matched or exceeded our expectations. There are a number of challenges associated with developing a complex internal application externally, but S-Pro has done quite well at adapting to our needs. We occasionally needed to realign on what we're looking for in terms of speed versus thoroughness of each change, but that's about it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hire Hub are a Software Development and ERP growth consultancy based in London. We are responsible for building businesses development teams on an onsite and remote basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire S-PRO?

We were engaged with our main client and required a outsourcing partner who could work across multiple tech stack. We created a web application.

What were your goals for this project?

To deliver the project on time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I spoke with 15+ outsourcing partners and choose the one I trusted and had a clear process.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed, configured, developed and maintained the web application on our behalf. Also they were responsible for bug fixing across different projects.

What was the team composition?

The team was composed of 7 developers and 1 project manager. The PM handled all communication when required, but individual contact was made when beneficial.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project was the largest project we have delivered to date, and had the least issues throughout- mainly down due to S-PRO.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project deadlines were regularly met and when they weren't you knew in advance, rather than just before or after. Expectations were always effectively managed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their planning and process prior to engaging. I could tell they are a business who only take on work when they truly believe they can assist.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Always room for improving in development quality, but to summarise they are the best agency I've used.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a software consulting and development company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire S-PRO?

We've partnered with S-PRO to develop software solutions for our clients when we are short on staff or need a bit of extra help.

What were your goals for this project?

To develop and Ethereum smart contract that stabilized MakerDAO liquidity risk for borrowers and lenders

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We did a test run with a small smart contract audit and then seeing their professionalism, slowly started trusting them with larger and larger projects.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They were able to help with the design, implementation, and troubleshooting of the frontend, backend, and blockchain development as well as quality assurance and unit testing

What was the team composition?

The project had about 8 people in total all working on different verticals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been able to turn around projects for clients substantially quicker than we had previously.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project manager has was responsive around the clock via telegram and we stayed in sync daily with meetings. No language issues, while it is sometimes necessary to repeat things this is very minimal.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The scalability of their processes impressed us. We could throw them 1k worth of work or 1M and they'd be able to tackle it. No job too large or small.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is very little to improve honestly, maybe simply having a client-facing progress tool to update our clients on the progress would be nice. Although it would have to be white labeled.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Project Manager/Account Manager at Talent Alpha p.l.c.- tech start up hiring up to 40 employees. Talent Alpha is building Human Cloud Platform- innovative solution for Recruitment, which gives immediate access to untapped pool of experienced Tech Talents from small & medium-sized IT Services Companies across Europe, on demand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire S-PRO?

Staff augmentation project for the company which specialized in Adapted Physical Activity, placement for full stack web developers working on building and implementation of platform for physical health for seniors.

What were your goals for this project?

To effectively work on platform implementation and help existing team to verify and develop the code, which was old and not perfect. Additionally to lead the daily operational processes and tasks planning.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were one of our partners we approached previously to register on our platform and load developers profiles into it. We quickly found out that they are fantastic partner to go with and have valuable developers with many skills.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They verified and developed the code, feeling comfortable working quickly through tasks that may touch both frontend and backend. They were focused but able to communicate early when issues arise so not to spend time on something that others can help with. Built using react and redux, but they were able to work through styling issues where required.

What was the team composition?

There was a few people with the Project Manager as the main point of contact.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project is ongoing. There is constant every day impact of all changes made by the team on project and a platform itself. Final result will be evaluated after finalization of the project.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was very good. We were informed about any concerns, delays or changes in the project very soon so we can react very quickly. Very good communications and understanding of business requirements.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive is their perfect communication skills as well as the high quality work standards. I'm sure we will continue our collaboration in the future on next projects.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I didn't find any.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of a SaaS company. We develop apps for businesses to manage their workflow.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S-PRO?

We were looking for a software partner to support us with some of the design aspects of our workflow app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Several components of our app were already designed, so S-PRO helped us specifically with training mockups. The designed over 100 new screens for our app.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a total of five people from their team. There were two designers, one business analyst, a project manager, and the account manager.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

Our primary focus was finding a partner with whom we could work as a team.  

We looked at various sites, including Clutch, and compiled a list of about 50 businesses. From there, we shortlisted 20. We conducted interviews, assigned small tasks, and surveyed existing customers.

After visiting S-PRO’s site, we decided to partner with them. We appreciated that they were in our time zone, and the team was a good fit in terms of culture. 

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost between $10,000-$25,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February until June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although we didn’t gather any specific metrics as we were still in the design and development phase, we’re very happy with what the team delivered. 

The app's capabilities increased greatly, growing from 30–40 screens to 150–180. S-PRO’s work focused on the user, and they implemented great, animated design.

The team conducted several tests with users to gather feedback and continuously improve the product. With their help, our product was able to really grow.

Overall, the quality was great. We’re satisfied with the work they did.

How did S-PRO perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is above average. 

We communicated daily over both Slack and Skype. Sometimes, we traveled to their office to meet with them personally, in order to ensure alignment between our two teams. We received reports every three weeks, and the team used Jira to track progress. 

Whenever difficult situations arose, S-PRO was very helpful in providing solutions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We really appreciated the constant availability of our account manager. Whenever we required anything or had questions or concerns, he replied within minutes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Looking back, although we agreed upon status reports every three weeks, it would’ve been helpful to receive them more frequently. Other than that, we had a great experience with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as clear as you can about what you need. We approached S-PRO with some of our mockups, processes, and ideas already formed. That level of preparation enabled them to understand our project and how they could most efficiently staff it on their end.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Wonop a cryptocurrency company. So far, I’m the only employee, which means we’re in a very early start-up phase where I am mostly managing everything through outsourcing. This is so I can make sure the gets work done without having a long-term commitment to actually pay employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S-PRO?

I asked them to build a mobile wallet for me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a mobile wallet that manages ERC20 tokens. People can add different ERC20 tokens and manage their native Ethereum tokens in it. It’s biometrically enabled so users can authenticate themselves via fingerprints. It also has a built-in KYC system so the provider can get confirmation that the user has a verified identity.

They used React Native to create a cross-platform mobile wallet for Android and iOS. Overall, they’ve been working with the Ethereum cryptographic library. They’re working with Node.js but also working with a mystic graphical wallet which involved the generation of Entropy and a bunch of other technical things. They also used Web3 technology for sign-on and interacting with the Ethereum blockchain. Also, they’ve been using Infura as a backend service.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Olga (Project Manager, S-PRO) as well as with Nadia (Sales Manager, S-PRO). I had a few calls with the developers, but I wasn’t in contact with them that much.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

I think I just did a Google search. I went to a bunch of companies, but S-PRO’s portfolio looked pretty solid. They started out making a proposal for what they were going to do and clarified any misunderstandings that they had. On that basis, they went ahead and did it.

How much have you invested in them?

I have spent between $10,000–$50,000. I think I paid $5,000 upfront for just doing the planning but to be fair, I think it was absolutely necessary to do that.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with them from July 2019 to January 2020. We’ve finished the first phase and I need to raise some funds to continue the work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, I have been quite happy. There's very little they could have done to make me happier. I would be quite happy hiring them again and I am fairly sure I will.

How did S-PRO perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was great. I got regular updates from them and they delivered something on a regular basis that I could see.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had an agreement that if I was unsatisfied at any point, we could terminate the contract with a full two-day notice which made me feel comfortable working with them. They sent me a packaged version of the wallet plus the source code. I have been looking over the source code and I'm happy with it, overall.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think you should just roll with it. I was quite happy with how it all went. I was a bit skeptical because it seemed quite expensive, but I think it is worth it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Collabri Ltd., a P2P freelance app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S-PRO?

I needed someone to look at my idea and tell me if it’s doable or not. While I had the idea, it needed to be developed further.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a consulting phase where they reviewed my idea. I only came with a business idea. They made a proposal of all the things that I needed to achieve what I wanted to and gave a lot of advisory services.

Next, we entered the design phase. I had a previous agency working on the design and S-PRO reviewed everything that was done. Some things were missing and there were gaps in the user experience flow. Their team was able to analyze that and create new screens and finalize the user experience.

They developed the custom mobile app for iOS and Android, a platform where users can have peer to peer connections with other users. Users can also post services for different tasks. Users can see tasks on the map and connect with the people and transact. Their team integrated Google Maps and have all the individual services and tasks listed on the map. I also wanted to have list views where I could sort functions to sort and filter and the ability to chat with people. Whenever a task was performed, the S-PRO team went back to the task to rate it and have ratings of users filed in their profiles so other users can see how they performed.

In the beginning, I asked them to include a payment system integration and make me a proposal. I decided the payment system was too much of an investment at this point in time. At some point, if I’m feeling ready and confident this app is going to work, I may do that.  

By September, they completed 90% of the tasks. Then we began a phase of bug fixing and beta testing.

What is the team composition?

We worked with seven members of the S-PRO team, including a project manager.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

The design agency I had previously was in Switzerland and their proposal for development was too expensive. I did a final Google search to check for other agencies in Ukraine because they have a lot of talented developers and are fluent in English. I browsed 20 companies and retained three and contacted them.

S-PRO was the company that we had the quickest connection with. They were really interested in the project. They got back to me right away. They had a really nice relationship manager, who I am still working with. Based on what they delivered in the discovery phase, they made me a proposal, and we started with development.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested about $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with S-PRO ran from March–September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since I'm a sensible users, I tested the app from top to bottom. Everything is working and there are no bugs. They captured my vision and mission. S-PRO does a great job, but you still need to be there to check the quality and give them feedback because they rely on your comments to improve what they did. It’s a team effort.

How did S-PRO perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good. They were always available. In the beginning, we had weekly calls. I knew they were working on it, but at the time I didn’t have Jira and was a bit outside the loop. I asked for a closer work collaboration which is when we implemented a daily call and I was given access to Jira.

I wasn’t an easy client. The app is complicated and there’s room for a lot of dualities. They handled it well despite the difficulties along the way. It wasn’t easy sometimes, but they were very attentive to my feedback. Whenever there was a critical issue from my side, they were very reactive and took it very seriously. They handled my requests really well. We got along extremely well and we’re friends now. Whenever they need my help, I help them. They’ve become closer partners to me.

We were slightly above the budget but it's because we redesigned the platform multiple times at the beginning. My budget was extremely tight. I explained to the client relationship manager that I wouldn’t be able to pay the full amount of the bills for it because my cash flow was diminishing and I needed more time to pay. She said it wasn’t a problem and that they’d find a solution. We easily found a solution that went well for them and worked for me as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really wanted to make me feel happy about the project and delivered the right quality at the right time. It was a very positive experience and I learned a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything went well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage in a discovery phase and really define what you’re looking for. Set clear targets and goals you want to reach. Be involved in the project. If you don’t track it, then you’re probably not going to get the result you hoped for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product manager for a blockchain development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with S-PRO?

We were asked to develop a piece of software by our client. We were at capacity, so we used S-PRO to help us with that project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The client gave us a list of requirements. They had a new concept involved a specialized kind of financing. Instead of charging interest, it uses specific rules and workarounds to manage loans.

S-PRO helped us develop the business logic behind that. They developed everything from scratch, including the design and backend databases.

They went out of their way to understand how the product would work and how this kind of finance works. They had their own suggestions about what makes sense and what doesn’t, and what we could do. They used InVision for design, and we had an AWS cloud setup. They built an MVP that they hosted locally. After that created a full-on website we showcased to the client.  

What is the team composition?

I was in close contact with them. They assigned a project manager, a product manager, two front- and two backend developers, and a QA engineer.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

A friend recommended them to me. I considered different projects to work on with S-PRO, but those didn’t go through. When this specific project came to us, our company was at capacity. I brought in S-PRO then, and they were able to deliver.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $10,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with S-PRO in July 2019. The MVP is complete, but we hope to develop the platform further.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone who’s seen the application told us it was great. The design was a bit too simplistic, but we were just developing an MVP. I’m sure S-PRO could deliver a better design if we wanted to build out the whole thing. I was more wowed by most everything else they did in terms of speed, communication, and so on

The project took longer to start from our side because we had to go through a back-and-forth with our client. The client didn’t confirm what they wanted, but we really liked what S-PRO built, so we’re pitching it to new clients. We’re looking to customize the platform more if we get clients.

How did S-PRO perform from a project management standpoint?

They sent us very clear breakdowns and timelines. I spoke to Misha (Sales Manager, S-PRO) over Telegram and WhatsApp, and I communicated with the team over Skype and Telegram whenever I needed to.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to make any changes I wanted very quickly. Misha, the person I spoke to initially, was amazing. He was always available, and he got things done.

They mostly stood out with their help on the business logic. They actually learned about the project and told us more about what could work better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. I really like them, and I’ve recommended them to a bunch of people.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They go out of their way to help, so I don’t really have any advice. Whenever I connect someone with Misha, I know they’re in good hands.