S-PRO

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CPO of Tekhouse MB

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Tekhouse MB is a software development and consultancy company, focusing on finance and banking industry in Nordics

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire S-PRO to accomplish?

• Do the assessment of AS-IS architecture of the legacy environment
• Prepare TO-BE architecture recommendation and roadmap for transformation from legacy to modern tech stack
• Develop a modern app, which allows customers to trade online

SOLUTION

How did you find S-PRO?

Referral

Why did you select S-PRO over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

What was the size of S-PRO’s team?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Tekhouse MB had a customer from Sweden, which had multiple challenges due to its legacy infrastructure, and customer facing applications. We have partnered with S-Pro for joint delivery where S-PRO provided the following:

• Prepared AS-IS architecture assessment
• Prepared TO-BE architecture recommendation
• Based on this, company transformation roadmap has been prepared
• One of the first steps in transformation was replacing the old customer facing app into a modern native app for Android and iOS, where S-PRO delivered this product end-to-end. Starting from UX/UI and mockups till functioning app
• Additionally a number of legacy components in the backend has been refactored
• Also S-PRO helped to implement CI/CD practices

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Agreed milestones reached on time and in estimated budget

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project was managed very professionally, all the obstacles in the project has been brought up on timely manner and risks mitigated. They proactively identified potential bottlenecks on a customer side and helped to mitigate them.

What was your primary form of communication with S-PRO?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Can do attitude and high professionalism of the team. They proved themselves very agile and creative when it comes to overcoming any obstacle standing between the team and the agreed goal

Are there any areas for improvement or something S-PRO could have done differently?

Not much really. Most of struggles/obsticles where on Tekhouse and customer end.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a fintech platform that makes investing in private markets more accessible and easier for everyday clients and institutional investors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our first challenge was that we were a small startup. We didn’t have a big brand name, so hiring resources was challenging. We also struggled with flexibility and were considering downsizing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

S-PRO provides custom software development services. Initially, we had an MVP we’d done with an external company. We started by hiring a small team, and we’ve continuously grown our resources with S-PRO as our company has grown.

The product is a web application that’s intended to do product marketing in the financial sector. It’s similar to an e-commerce platform, but for financial products. There’s a lot of regulation in the domain, so S-PRO’s main contribution is putting together the whole rule engine to determine what can and can’t be shown to clients.

What is the team composition?

We started with two developers and a QA specialist. Currently, we have four developers on the web app, one developer on the mobile app, one QA specialist, and one DevOps engineer. 

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

They were recommended.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $500,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2020, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We won the Swiss FinTech award last year for the platform, which was a very prestigious moment. Also, our customer acquisition is moving more toward the platform. Overall, S-PRO has met our expectations, and we’re very satisfied with the team’s flexibility and drive. 

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

As a startup, we have a lot of pivoting, so we don’t expect them to deliver on time and on budget. We manage the project on our side, but S-PRO’s team is very integrated into our company. We talk daily, so communication is excellent. They’re very responsive and available when needed.

S-PRO’s team is located in Ukraine, so it’s obviously been a challenging year due to the Russian Invasion. However, even with those challenges, we haven’t had an operational impact. They’re a very reliable partner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Initially, we were planning to have a long-term partnership, but there was a lot of uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, S-PRO has proven that they’re long-term oriented, which is not always given when working with consulting companies.

For example, all of our developers have been on the project since day one, which is a great achievement. We’re very happy with the team we have today; they take our feedback and do everything they can to satisfy our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more transparent with their internal processes in terms of promotions because it has some financial impact for clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend having a clear project management structure. The biggest challenge with an external partner is integrating the team into the internal business and management processes so the delivery can be promising. You need a strong leadership team in terms of business and communication.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Secro Inc. a Delaware corporation. We are launching in October 2022 a SaaS platform to digitize cross border trade documentation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire S-PRO, and what were your goals?

We wanted to start building an out-staffed team of developers. We needed specific expertise with AWS, fintech platform and capability to integrate sophisticated blockchain infrastructure

SOLUTION

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

We asked 3 different companies based in Eastern Europe for quotes and project outlines. SPro came out to be the most professional while still being cost-competitive

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

First they helped to design the long-term roadmap for PoC and MVP delivery. They helped us to assemble the team of developers and product managers. They also supported in finding the right sub-contractor for the blockchain infrastructure

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

We had one Sales rep, one customer account assigned from the very beginning. One senior architect, one product manager and 7 developers. We worked sporadically also with SPro head of Fintech Division and their CEO

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SPro has been great in every phase of the project. They have been always extremely flexible and allowed us to transition from out-sourced to out-staffed model. We navigated with them through the war in Ukraine, during which they managed to ensure business continuity despite a big part of our team was based in Ukraine. We are still in the making of our SaaS application and we expect to launch in October this year

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

Very good use of modern tools like Jira/Confluence. Very flexible managerial style, open to be creative in terms of solutions both for staffing and payments

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

Super friendly and customer-obsessed. They always try to find a solution, and they work above and beyond to keep the customer happy.

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

They might have been more proactive in informing us that members of the team were leaving. this was at the beginning of the project and we managed to successfully fix the communication flow thereafter

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Co-Founder and CEO of the Renewable Energy Marketplace, tem.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to build out the UX/UI for our marketplace so we could test early with our customers. It could then also be used by our Front End developers to build out an MVP.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to a network for recommended provider only and then formed a short list of 7 providers. We then interviewed each company, took their pricing and compared the service offering. S-pro came out top in nearly every category and had also started to build out an energy company expertise.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Their team conducted founder interviews to get an idea of the scope and then we started off a sprint-based schedule when our prototype was built out in Figma with weekly team meetings to define requirements and provide feedback on the direction. Once the first parts of the prototype were built we then tested with our customers and got the whole team to review the recorded interview feedback. We then iterated based on the feedback and then moved on to the next parts of the prototype and this is still an ongoing process.

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

My team worked with a product manager, project manager, and UX/UI designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have been able to test in a very cost-effective manner and get direct customer feedback without the need to spend any money on development. We now have an MVP up and running which is based on the prototype (which now actually acts as our source of truth for the vision that our MVP is aiming for).

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They are very diligent in communication, and they set up regular touch-points to manage expectations well.

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

We're impressed with their flexibility and iterative approach. Also, despite not having relevant energy market experience, they were able to pick up requirements quickly and provide innovative design.

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

Not really. Taking a stronger lead on UX/UI rather than always excepting founder bias when it comes to requirements could have been helpful earlier on, but once we gave this feedback, their team adjusted well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a crowdfunding company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to outsource our tech development for our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

S-PRO has been doing additional features on our site through a developer they provided us. They do a lot of backend work where they deal with the database for the info we collect; they focus on helping us view and store data and reports.

Overall, we have a full-time person solving our bug-fixing needs or developing a new feature for our platform to streamline its processes and user-friendliness for our clients.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with three members of their team, including a developer, a project manager, and a sales business development specialist.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

They were referred to us by someone who previously worked with them.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

We’ve spent about $50,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve met our expectations, and we’re seeing an increase in our website’s traffic.

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

We use Discord as a project management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've done a great job for us, which is impressive because they operate in Ukraine, and they’ve been able to continue to do what we needed despite the Russian invasion.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company provides an all-in-one solution wrapping all financial services a fintech might need.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire S-PRO, and what were your goals?

We wanted to build a white label / templated mobile app we could then distribute to our B2B clients. The main target behind this project was to shorten all implementation processes by providing both back-end and front-end solutions. Meaning our clients' only remaining concern is to build and advertise their product

SOLUTION

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

Availability / Friendliness / Costs

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

We needed to build the whole project together with S-PRO since my company had no prior experience in building mobile solutions. Daily (then becoming weekly) meetings were held by S-PRO to guide us through what they thought was the best approach for our needs

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

At least 2 project managers, 1 UI/UX designer, and quite a few mobile and web developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Unfortunately, we have not launched the product just yet. We are anticipating a significant improvement when it comes to user acquisition, but no figures are yet available

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

Pretty straightforward Agile style. Everything was exactly as you would expect from such company

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

They were flexible and accommodating of scope changes.

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

I'd say some physical meetings would have helped quite a lot, but considering the overall lockdowns and restrictions due to Covid19, I'd say they've handled the case fairly well

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a startup that’s developing a mobile app for digital nutrition plans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed help with our app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

S-PRO has helped us plan and develop our app. We initially went through the discovery phase to plan the application in detail. One of our team members had originally come up with the idea for this app, but this person failed to complete the project due to their lack of technical knowledge. Thus, S-PRO also assessed what we already had and collaborated with us to make it function. Currently, we’re in the final steps of the development process.

S-PRO has developed our app using Python as the programming language, and it uses AWS’s server. This app is focused on diet and nutrition, but it also has social functions. Its complex algorithm calculates users’ nutritional needs. Additionally, it includes an administration panel.

What is the team composition?

We started working with four people from S-PRO, but we’ve seen more people working in the background throughout the project. Their current team includes three developers, a business analyst, and a project manager. Overall, we’ve worked with 10–15 people from S-PRO.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

We found S-PRO via online research. We found their website and got in touch with them. Although I saw that they specialized in fintech, they had other great projects, so I sent them an email. They did a great job at providing us with excellent information before making a decision, so we ultimately hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about €135,000 (approximately $143,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. We’re in the final stages, and we plan to launch the app at the beginning of June 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve beta tested the app using TestFlight from Apple, and it has worked very well. Additionally, we’ve done some user testing for its UI/UX design, and the feedback we’ve gotten for our app’s design and the idea behind it has been great.

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

I’m very impressed with S-PRO’s work. They’re very professional, detailed, and helpful, always thinking about everything. Initially, we had about three video calls per week to have updates, but we currently meet only once per week via Google Meet. We’ve also had some phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What makes S-PRO stand out from the rest is their professionalism. They always keep us updated and ensure that we know what they’re doing — they’re one of the most professional companies I’ve worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve only had two issues regarding our payments to S-PRO, but they were caused due to the differences between Germany and Ukraine. In Germany, when we receive an invoice, we have 2–4 weeks to pay it, but people in Ukraine pay them within a few days. On those two occasions, we weren’t able to pay them right away, but they were very kind about it, and we’ve already fixed the issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be involved in your project. Whenever the customer is involved and does their part of the work, the projects have successful results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of Hubspring Health. We’re a healthcare IT company that manages a mobile and desktop platform for healthcare firms. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to create an app that would solve the frustrations and inefficiencies present in the modern healthcare system with regard to healthcare team members’ access to information — such as clinical protocols, guidelines, and schedules — and their ability to communicate securely with other team members. Solutions either didn’t exist or existed in many disparate and separate apps. Our goal was to develop a single app that brought together access to resources and communications all in one platform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our team initially built the alpha version of the app, and then we decided to use S-PRO to develop a more scalable and robust version. From there, we built the mobile app and the web version of the product. 

At present, the app is available for iOS and Android devices; it also has a browser version.

What is the team composition?

The team composition has changed over time, but we’ve had one project manager, one mobile developer, one web developer, and one backend developer that handles our database and infrastructure. These people make up the full-time team. 

When necessary, we pull in either a graphic designer to do UI/UX updates. On occasion, we also need a DevOps person to work on the product’s database and AWS infrastructure.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

We searched online on different sites where development companies promoted and advertised their services. One of them was Upwork, and that was where we found S-PRO. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2014, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve experienced significant user growth over the years. From having only a handful of users, we now have approximately 10,000 different healthcare workers using the app. Our team also tracks the number of times the app is used on a daily basis, and the number has increased steadily over time. 

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

S-PRO has been excellent in terms of project management. They have thorough and excellent communication. Even when I’m not clear on what their task is, they can still communicate with me. 

Doing sync-up calls with them isn’t always easy because they’re in a different timezone, so we don’t often have long conversations. However, we use project management tools to make sure everyone’s on the same page and questions are answered. 

We use Jira and Trello to manage individual tasks, while Google Drive serves as our repository for various items. To communicate, we mainly use emails. If we want to have live conversations, we do them on Skype or Google Meet. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

S-PRO is well-established; they have a long track record of successful projects. On top of that, they have a deep team — if we need someone with a specific specialty or skillset, S-PRO always has a resource that fits our requirements on their team. 

More recently, they’ve shown us how incredibly professional they are. Considering the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, the team has been brave in coordinating and creating contingency plans to avoid disruptions. They make sure that our company doesn’t suffer or experience any setbacks. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some of their team members’ English isn’t strong, so their communication is a little less efficient than others. To be fair, this is minor and doesn’t have much impact because their members can quickly improve their language skills and adapt. They’re on top of these things.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know that S-PRO is an excellent company with a lot of resources that do great work. Working with them is great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a SaaS company that primarily caters to the real estate sector. We’re currently developing software for the property management space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to find a partner that could help us build our software products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with S-PRO to develop two software products  Their team is helping us build out mobile and web-based applications. 

What is the team composition?

The team size initially ran the gamut of their head of sales and head of business development. Once we started with the actual development, they brought in around 3–4 more people. Including a project manager, business analysts, and a solutions architect.

How did you come to work with S-PRO?

I shortlisted 3–4 vendors when I started to get proposals and bids for the project. S-PRO really stood out because of their Clutch reviews and because of the use cases and press releases on their website. I also saw that most of the companies they had developed software for were able to go on and get funding, which is what we’re after as well. That was a huge selling point for us, so we decided to move forward with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re coming in at around $200,000 for two products.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first engaged them in August 2021, and our collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any quantitative data to share, since we’re still in development. Anecdotally, however, S-PRO’s speed of delivery has been really impressive. The products that we’re building have a lot of integration points, and their team has been very willing to take the lead, talk to our integration partners, and provide me with their insight on whether we should move forward or not with those partners. That’s something that I definitely appreciate, and it’s been a very key thing for the progress of this project. 

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

Our first project manager was fantastic, and the person who replaced him has been pretty good at picking up on the schedules, deliverables, and budget. I have no complaints. 

S-PRO definitely sticks to their two-week cadence of releases, which is great. They’re always on point and on time, and the applications they’re developing are without fault. We work pretty closely to flush out the requirements, and we’re now constantly chatting through Telegram. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re highly communicative and collaborative. I think that’s key for any type of business partnership. I also highly value how they’re able to answer my questions quickly. If they don’t have the answers at hand, they always get back to me right away.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t fault them for anything right now. They’re firing on all cylinders, and I can’t ask for anything more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go and engage with S-PRO. They’re a fantastic team, and their delivery is on-point.