Saritasa

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of Cloud Services and mobile app development at Winegard Company. We make satellite TV products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We decided to engage a third-party vendor to provide us with mobile app development and UI/UX design services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially hired Saritasa to help us with our UI/UX design initiatives. We’ve since added a couple of mobile app developers from Saritasa to our team to help us with our development projects.

They develop on iOS, Android, and the web, and they use Kotlin, Swift, and React JS for app development and InVision for UI/UX design.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a graphic designer, a technical manager, a project manager, an iOS developer, an Android developer, and a React developer from Saritasa.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The primary success metric is the time to market  — it's only taken us 10-11 months from proof of concept to market.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

Saritasa has performed well in terms of project management. We work in sprints, and they’re great at not biting off more than they can chew in one sprint, not going over budget, and establishing manageable expectations.

Aside from that, Saritasa follows all the modern DevOps practices. Generally, before we launch a product, we test it through three or four different stages. The Saritasa team follows best practices with Crashlytics and logging and is very thorough about checking and responding to events. Because of this, we have very limited exposure to bugs and crashes. 

We use Jira for task management, and we communicate through Zoom and Slack. They’re very communicative — we’re in constant contact with their developers and have weekly Zoom calls with the project management team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with Saritasa’s flexibility. We have our own engineering practices within our company, and they are really flexible about working with our mentality and adapting to and following our established processes.

We also appreciate how thorough and technically savvy they are.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything negative or constructive to say about Saritasa. We’ve worked really well together and have a very transparent relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more transparent and open you are with them, the easier and more efficient the whole process is going to be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’ve been a member of the Childhelp Orange County Chapter since 1979, a volunteer fundraising arm of Childhelp serving abused children nationally. We operate a hotline number and various residential and healthcare facilities for children who need treatment. Additionally, we sponsor a program for adoptive parents. 

Our company also hosts an annual tournament called the Childhelp Rich Saul Memorial Golf Classic. For over 10 years, I’ve been the tournament’s co-chair and coordinator.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We decided that we needed a website to facilitate sending information to potential sponsors and donors, but no one from our team knew how to build one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Saritasa developed a website for us. It was a very collaborative process, during which we iterated on the designs and general layout of the site. Since then, they’ve been maintaining it on an ongoing basis. Over the years, they’ve implemented various functionalities like a form for golfers to fill in their information and a payment processing system so that donors can make secure payments online.

We have a very fluid website that needs a lot of updates, so Saritasa is also in charge of updating our donors, sponsors, and overall information as needed. For every change we need to make, we send the information to our contact point from Saritasa, and they implement the changes within 2–3 days. Before making the changes public, they send me a sample, I approve it, and they then make the changes. When they finish, they let me know.

What is the team composition?

We only work directly with one point of contact from Saritasa. Still, I’ve worked with various staff members as they’ve come and gone throughout the years. Additionally, we’ve talked with Nik (President, Founder & CEO).

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

One of our members recommended Nik because his company had helped them develop a website for an elementary school, so I contacted him. This person told me that they might give us a charitable discount, but they ultimately were willing to do the project free of charge.

How much have you invested with them?

Saritasa has provided us with their services free of charge since we started working together, so we’re very happy to promote them and acknowledge them through our golf program.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around 200-, and our engagement is ongoing; we’ve been working together for 15 years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Saritasa has created a wonderful website that perfectly captures what we want. They’ve been wonderfully willing to maintain and update it every year, and they do that impeccably.

About 15 years ago, when we launched the website, people were afraid of using it. It took us around a year to get everyone using it, explaining to them how easy it was to use it, make reservations, and fill out their golfer information. Now, everyone uses our site happily because they find it very useful.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

Saritasa’s feedback and follow-up are incredible because I always know how and when tasks will be completed; I’m completely pleased with their responsiveness to my needs. Every time a team member from Saritasa leaves the project, we tend to get worried about training a new resource. However, every new person who has joined has been able to pick up things where the last person left off.

Furthermore, they always respond to requests within 12 hours, and they complete tasks within 24–48 hours. We communicate via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Saritasa’s accuracy, efficiency, and follow-up are impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything Saritasa could improve on; we’re completely satisfied with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear in your communication because they’re very responsive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an online education company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We needed a website and an app where I could be able to upload my educational videos.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Saritasa helped me design the platforms, format them properly, and link the mobile app and the website together. In terms of features, the app allows us to post long videos with high definition — they helped me transition from just a website to having a fully functional mobile app as well. Currently, they’re performing maintenance and support to get rid of bugs and ensure that our system is operating properly. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve only been working with two members of their team, which is great because they know my business, and I don’t have to explain everything all over again to different people.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

I found them through a Google search, and I chose them based on their reviews, the different websites they’ve done in the past, and how comfortable I felt with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re great at problem-solving and bug fixing; Saritasa is always on top of everything and manages things on the same day, and that’s my main metric in measuring their success.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re doing things quickly in terms of meeting deadlines. Their team is also straightforward with communication; we had a situation where someone tried to hack our system, and Saritasa’s team was swift in solving it and providing a detailed report of what happened.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work very closely with us, which is outstanding; I can reach out to them very easily, and they respond to me within the same hour. I have the confidence that I have a team behind me that is a click of a button away.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — I don’t have any complaints at all.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Concentrate on the mobile app first and bounce ideas off of them — they have excellent feedback.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager for a smart telematics solution company.

When we started working with Saritasa, I was the project manager, and I’m now the operations manager for the Asia-Pacific area. It’s a slightly different role, but I’m still heavily involved in the technical side.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

Our company used to be based in Australia, but we migrated our focus to the US and moved across. We had some full-time developers in-house, but it made more financial sense to use a third party to do the development work for us because we couldn’t move everybody across.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Saritasa essentially provides us with staff augmentation. They offer the whole package of set up, development, maintenance, and upkeep  — they take care of the whole lot. For example, we hosted our server, and they helped set it up. We initially gave them all the technical specs we needed, and they executed them. Now, our server is up and running. 

What is the team composition?

I work closely with 2–3 people, including a senior developer and a project manager. However, I’ve been in contact with 5–6 other team members.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

My boss found them. His wife knew someone at Saritasa, and they introduced us to them — essentially, it was word of mouth. They were based in California at the time, so they were local, and it worked out well.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve easily spent $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2017, and our engagement is ongoing. There is no end date in sight.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve done some code review of their actual work, and it’s been pretty tidy. Moreover, Saritasa’s team responds quickly. We haven’t set metrics to measure their performance, but they’ve delivered fast and good quality.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is excellent, and they’ve met deadlines. Overall, they stay true to their word.

All communication is via email. We haven’t used any specific project management tools, and it has worked fine for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their skill set is extraordinarily broad, which is excellent. We started off doing a particular project, but now we’ve had different requirements along the way. They’ve done Android development and helped us out with some hardware stuff.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve been happy with Saritasa so far. The most considerable improvement would be the pricing. They do charge a premium price compared to competitors but considering that we can keep it all in one place, it’s worth it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear with your requirements. If you’re clear, they’ll execute flawlessly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of an IoT company. We make smart home consumer electronics like locks, video cameras, and thermostats.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We wanted to develop a mobile application for our smart lock.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

To date, Saritasa’s team has designed a clickable prototype that allows us to transition from one page to the next. Our next step is to connect to our smart lock and make the app compatible via Bluetooth and WiFi.

The project isn’t complete, as Saritasa has only designed the application, but we’re waiting on funding to engage with them for the actual development.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with three people so far: a sales rep, a project manager, and a frontend designer.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

After looking on Clutch and Google for IoT mobile app development companies, I found Saritasa. They specialize in IoT, and I really enjoyed several videos the founder made explaining IoT development.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $15,000 so far, and the total project will be around $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have a technical background so I’m not familiar with software development terms and processes, but Saritasa makes it very easy to understand the project in laymen’s terms. They are responsive in answering my questions, which is very helpful.

There are no disappointments with results. I gave them my idea to start off, and they’ve done exactly what I asked.  

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

They finished the design ahead of schedule and are good at setting out what the process will look like.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven’t had the opportunity to work with other providers, but Saritasa’s professionalism and industry knowledge stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with their technical side and their CTO to make the process better and easier for you. I spoke with them once to see what we could accomplish or not, and it set the ground terms for the project.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a private equity investment firm that specializes in real estate. We purchase residential properties.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We hired Saritasa to build out our software platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we purchase a home, the process usually begins with us making an offer. We go from the project management remodel phase to the closing of escrow before putting the property back on the market. After that, we put the home in escrow again and go through the closing process once more when we’ve sold it. 

For this, Saritasa is developing a piece of technology that could house a very robust project management workflow, databases, and client communication portals. Their team is also incorporating a KPI suite where we could monitor and measure our lead and lag. This could allow us to pivot quickly and ensure that we’re staying on track with our financial objectives. 

While this big project is in development, Saritasa has created a beta site that we could go to market with. We’re now running two projects and testing a few things on it. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve interfaced with Stan (Client Engagement Manager) during the initial stages. Once we began building out the software, I’ve become more in touch with Chris (Project Manager) and Sang (UI/UX Designer). They also have overseas programmers, but Chris is the one who deals with them directly. 

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

I did some research on Google and vetted out three different software technology companies. I ultimately chose Saritasa because I was a big fan of Stan; I found him to be a great person who’s very informative and very responsive. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together last March 2021, and the project is still ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any metrics at the moment since we have yet to launch the software platform. However, we’ve been able to pivot a little bit because of Saritasa’s beta site. It has been extremely helpful; through this data model, we’ve been able to purchase a couple of homes, and we’ve actually gotten revenue more quickly than we’d anticipated. 

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

Saritasa has been fantastic. Their entire team has understood and taken ownership of the project, providing good feedback and input to continuously improve the platform rather than just sitting back and doing what they’re told. They’ve been very forthcoming and Chris, in particular, has been very responsive and has constantly kept me up to date.

They’ve given me access to InVision where I can visualize the product that they’re developing and see what tasks are being done. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I can’t compare them to other providers as they’re the first external tech firm that I’ve worked with. I can say, however, that they’re really good at keeping me posted on what’s going on. They’re very responsive.

Besides that, their communication and ability to realize my vision are also on point. It’s really cool how they can take something that’s written on a business plan and turn it into a functioning piece of technology.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there isn’t any improvement that I can recommend. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to prepare a very good outline of what you’re looking to develop and invest time in those initial conversations with Saritasa. The more information you can give them, the better the end result is going to be and the quicker it will be done. It would also be good to have someone who understands how to build workflow systems and technology. That way, there is someone on your side who speaks Saritasa’s language. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of an adult literacy and workforce development nonprofit in Philadelphia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We are developing a pre-apprenticeship program in partnership with the energy and utilities sector. Our goal is to provide realistic exposure to that industry for potential candidates into the entry level linesman and gas worker positions.

SOLUTION

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

We found Saritasa through a referral and explained that we are a nonprofit with limited grant funding for this project. Of the VR developers that we approached, Saritasa was the most generous with their time and found workarounds in order to produce a high quality product within our lean grant funding.

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

The team met with us several times to gain a strong understanding of our desired outcomes. Together, we developed a detailed and comprehensive plan with specific deliverables. Even before the contract was signed, Saritasa's team got to work and met with me weekly to share progress updates and collect my feedback.

Each week, they would provide videos of the framed out software and then be very responsive and amenable to my team's suggestions on ways to refine. They also helped guide us on headset purchases and then provided in-headset software review as well as video review.

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

I worked directly with the senior developer and a project manager. They were both very flexible and worked around my scheduling needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Saritasa went above and beyond to deliver a high quality product that met our requirements and made themselves available to provide helpful recommendations and guidance on related items that were not specifically in the scope of the contract.

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

The project management style was highly responsive and communicative.

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

I was particularly impressed with their willingness to meet our needs even within our limited means as a nonprofit.

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

No, Saritasa exceeded expectations all around.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the COO of a college communication platform when I worked with Saritasa.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We didn’t have an in-house engineering team, so we needed Saritasa’s team to develop our communication application from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially met with their team to discuss the design concept and execution plan. Saritasa then accomplished the wireframing phase and implemented the necessary development solutions. Since our app is a chat platform, they integrated WeChat-like features and additional user-friendly functionalities that allowed our users from different campuses to form chat groups based on their interests and add or remove members from their conversations.

What is the team composition?

We were in contact with one designer, a project manager, and a lead engineer.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

I found them while searching for potential outsourced engineering teams to onboard for this project. Saritasa made it to our shortlist, and we decided to choose them among their competitors because of their local services and reasonable price point.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $230,000–$240,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from January 2020–October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Saritasa built reliable solutions, and they collaborated well with us to generate results that met our standards, timeline, and budget. Overall, they were a great partner with a goal-oriented mindset.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicated via email and text messages. Our team appreciated Saritasa’s high level of accommodation — they stuck to our deadlines and catered to our needs and requests even during inconvenient hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with Saritasa’s professional and fair approach — their team set honest goals and fixed any issues without additional charges.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t encounter any particular area that needed improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to break down your expectations — if you talk about your goals in detail, they’ll deliver those for you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was CEO of My Open Road. Our mobile app was designed to help produce a measurable reduction in a person's carbon footprint by rewarding for using alternative transportation instead of driving.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Software development for our website, mobile apps for IOS and Android, database development, and SEO marketing.

SOLUTION

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

Saritasa is an Orange County startup leader and helps many businesses in Orange county and across the world with their development needs. Our position was based mainly on their capabilities, local, and ease of access to our development team.

they have always responded to our needs within hours rather than days as with other development teams we have worked with.

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

Our project included the concept, development of our app, website, and functionality of the databases to support them. Plus planning our marketing strategy to promote the app on social media.

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

Stan, project management and support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With their help, we were able to produce a very stable and user-lovable product. Our users and customers enjoyed deployment and utilization of our energy-saving technology at several universities, companies, and local governments in the US and Canada.

Some notable customers were UC Irvine, UCLA, US San Diago, the City of Los Angeles, the city of Victoria, and Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The overall outcome on our first two years of deployment resulted in a measured reduction of Co2 emissions of over 5 million tons.

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

The best thing was the open doors to work in person. this was our style of management and they worked seamlessly with us.

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

the ability to utilize development teams locally and in Russia gave us a huge time advantage. while our ideas and development changes were decided on during the day in the US. developers in Russia would work on the project overnight and changes and fixes available the next morning.

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

Not really, they were very flexible and accommodating. and if there was a problem, we got results and not excuses.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief strategy officer for a computer networking company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We partnered with Saritasa to create a CMS, a web strategy, and an online presence.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Saritasa helped scope and develop the catalog management and content management system. We had custom requirements for product relationships, categories, and fields. Saritasa worked with us to develop those solutions and wireframes for the UI/UX and database structure based in MySQL and SQL Queries. That project led to the building of our web platform.

Saritasa’s work on our web platform included frontend and backend design and development from the ground up. The website’s backend was mostly built with SQL and PHP. It’s all running in Linux.

Saritasa is a key partner and player in website maintenance. We handle much of the UI/UX requirements in-house but Saritasa maintains the bones and backend.

What is the team composition?

We interface with a couple of different project managers, an account manager, and 3–4 developers. In total, there are 6–7 people on the team. We’ve interacted with the CEO too.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

Saritasa is a long-term partner of ours, so I’m not sure how we originally found them.

What is the status of this engagement?

Saritasa has been our partner for over 10 years. I’ve owned the ongoing relationship since September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure the success of the engagement by on-time delivery and functionality. Their abilities to execute against requirements and conduct successful UAT (user acceptance testing) are also important metrics. Scope creep and cost adjustments happen during large projects. However, Saritasa sticks to their estimated cost structures and delivers.

We use our website to generate interest and leads. We’ve been tremendously successful over the last 10 years, experiencing 20%–30% growth each year.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly communicate via email, phone, and video calls. For each project, Saritasa provides a project manager who connects us with the rest of the team. We generally set clear and realistic expectations. If there will be misses, we know about them ahead of time and work through them. We have great feelings about their on-time delivery.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical depth, knowledge, and can-do attitude make them an impressive partner. They truly believe in partnership and support open communication about expectations and deliverables. We’re both running businesses and have dialogues about how those collide. Those qualities have helped us get through a lot together. They’ve been a good partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any criticism. It’s hard to provide coaching when we receive exactly what we ask for.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly define your expectations ahead of time. It’s important to have clear scopes of work to ensure you can identify scope creep or changes. Open and honest communication is also important. Make it clear what you expect of them and they’ll make what’s realistic clear.