Saritasa

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a small research organization, primarily focused on the financial services and public policy industries. I run a majority of the backend operations on the finance and administrative side.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We’re a fairly small business with four employees, and, as small businesses go, our website was very important to us. We faced a couple of technical challenges on the website as we tried to do it ourselves, and we hired Saritasa to help us fix those, as well as to add some design and more functionality to the website as a whole.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The original contract started with eight priority tasks—the blight items we wanted to address on the website. We executed those tasks appropriately over the course of a two-month period, and essentially concluded the contract with them.

One of the specific features we were looking for on the development side was setting up our Google Analytics, so that we could track individual information on each of the web pages: our click rates, how long people were viewing our information for, and our download rates.

Another important one was to have a live-feed structure. We post updated information about our company, including the events we attend and reports, and general market news and information. We wanted to set up more sophisticated navigation around the searchability for that live-feed structure, using a “see more” functionality, dropdown menus, categories, etc.

Related to that, we started developing podcasts to put onto our website. We had Saritasa link our current Soundcloud podcast structure and incorporate it into our live-feed system.

We also integrated our social media platforms, with special icons on specific web pages.

They helped structure a sort of template web design for custom pages. We have certain pages that follow a certain template, related either to publications we’re releasing or to the general research category we’re looking into.

One neat feature they had was a development site, which was essentially a copy of our website, where we could view changes before they went public on the production site. We didn’t have the capability to do that before, and it was really helpful. We knew exactly what the output product would be once it was published.

What is the team composition?

I had a technical project manager.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

At the time, we were in an office space with a much larger company, and Saritasa was a client of theirs. The company recommended them, and we did our due diligence looking at several other web development companies. Saritasa had a pretty good pricing model, and it seemed to work out for us.

How much have you invested with them?

The total investment was $7,500–$10,000 over a three-month period. The original budget we estimated was around $7,500, but we had a couple of tweaks and additional questions upon the completion of the contract. I believe we spent an additional $1,500 on those.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Saritasa in mid-October 2019, and we had some breaks during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Development started on November 7th, as we were trying to figure out the logistics of information beforehand. We concluded in mid-January 2020. There were a couple of follow-up technical questions, and they were very responsive. They provided everything I needed to manage the site myself.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On the analytics side, one success metric was simply being able to see that data. Moving forward, we’ve been able to make internal decisions on how to customize and project more information onto our website, to grab more users. Through the analytics they set up for us, we’ve been able to optimize how we put information onto our website, and we’ve gotten social media engagement as well.

In terms of internal controls, we’ve greatly reduced the amount of time we had to spend doing website development. We used to do countless hours of research. That success metric is reflected in reduced administrative time. We can focus more on our work.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicated with my technical manager on Mondays. We set up tasks and discussed the progress for each checklist item. We followed a specific schedule, with included deadlines. That was the primary communication method I had with Saritasa. The project manager would take my notes and distribute them to the technical team, which would then implement my requests onto the website.

Our primary communication was via email. The project wasn’t very substantial, and we didn’t have a big list, so email and verbal communication were sufficient for sorting out all the details. The project manager had an Excel structure that he’d show me, which tracked the individual progress of tasks, with deliverable due dates, costs, and any additional information. They detailed how cost could vary, depending on certain difficulties and on any changes we wanted to make.

What did you find most impressive about them?

On the communication side, it went really well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I struggled with the definitions of certain things. With them being on the technical side of web development, and me being on the backend operations side, I didn’t know all the jargon that went with website development. When I was asking for one thing, they may have had a different definition of that particular item, which caused some confusion. I quickly adapted, but it took a bit more research on my end.

Secondly, their core responsibility for us was website development, and integrating our social media and different systems that we were using, which weren’t technically a part of our website, was more difficult. We didn’t know everything we needed to, and it wasn’t within their realm of expertise.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder and owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Saritasa?

1.0 Version development of mobile app.

What were your goals for this project?

My goals was to build an app done by a professional team and also to be inspired by a team who cares about this project since its my first time and not coming from high-tech industry.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I made some searches online but most important for me is the portfolio and also, I met the project manager, the office and I had a good feeling so I go for it.

Describe the project in detail.

This project is my ‘’pre-seed’’ round so we build 1.0 version. At the beginning we agreed on the prototype and on the part we agreed on, it was on a development while we develop other parts of the prototype so its a good idea to be productive.

What was the team composition?

Since the first meeting till the end of the project, Kyle the project manager was in touch with me to check everything going well. In addition, Tristan is the project manager but specifically on the development it self. Susana is the UX developer and vadim. I’m pretty sure there is 1 or 2 backend developers but i didnt interact with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team was very responsive and listen to everything I say, i really like the final result. The project manager Kyle always did his best to check everything is going well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Me and the team was in touch very consistently over the email and sometimes over the phone but if its something very important we met in person.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Everything went smoothly, the team is very responsive and listens well to the small details I mention. So the way things worked, it just give the impression of them acting like a professional and really focusing on it. Also their portfolio gave me lots of confidence to develop my project with saritasa.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The things I would like to recommend to improve is focusing on estimating the pricing and deadline. I’m pretty flexible with deadline (specially those days) but the pricing is something I would say is more sensitive for me.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an engineer for a software company focused on unions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We started to develop our mobile application about three years ago and it had fallen into the responsibilities of bad development partners. When it came time for them to deliver the mobile app, it didn’t meet our requirements. We needed a new partner to get our platform to work correctly.   

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Saritasa reviewed our app and then advised us on what part of the platform would and wouldn’t work. After the initial assessment, they didn’t scrap the whole project. Their team took over and maintained full responsibility for the platform.

Their team spent most of their time refactoring the existing platform. They fixed bugs but also managed feature enhancements. Their team advanced the backend using .NET. They also helped with our server infrastructure.

We eventually changed our requirements. Their team created an application for a large event. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager who was local, which was a tremendous help. We also worked with a technical project manager who supported the project for 2–3 months. The rest of the team included Android, iOS, and backend developers. They also had SysOps, DevOps, QA people on the team.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

We looked for local software development companies. Our CEO found Saritasa either online or through a recommendation. Our previous partners were remote, so we wanted a local partner to keep more up to date on the project. We spent a lot of time, money, and resources into the app, but didn’t have results. Their team’s close proximity was one of the biggest factors in our decision. Another factor was their great reviews.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $25,000–$50,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started in November 2019 and wrapped up in June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They successfully completed our initial request, which was to fix our app and get it out the door. We released the app within our time limit and launched 5–6 clients at that time.

Our second application was for an event, so time was of the essence. Saritasa understood our new requirements and met them quickly.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Slack to communicate and JIRA to track our project. We had our scoping sessions in person.

All of their developers answered my questions and fixed any bugs. They responded to us and stayed up late. I enjoyed working with them.

Our contract ended around June, but their team was still available to answer any questions or clarify anything. They were also available to fix any problems that we had during the event.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their most notable qualities were their work ethic and sense of responsibility. We had bugs in the program because of the legacy code, but we needed our product to work efficiently and consistently. They understood that our product needed to be airtight. Multiple times their team worked through the night to finish tasks at the right time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their technical team is based offshore. They could improve communication between their developers and the project manager on the client-side. There were times when we had miscommunications and delays in communication. It would be more seamless to have more calls with everyone.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and founder of a SaaS company. We provide neuroscience in a way that’s accessible for a lot of people, especially during these remote times.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We were looking for a dev team. We wanted someone close to us in Southern California that had experience working with Bluetooth and ANT+ technologies, which they could integrate into some kind of software platform. One of the needs that we had was simultaneously collecting second-by-second biometric data from 1–1,000 people.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we brought Saritasa on, we had a general idea that another person had created a prototype of, and we wanted to move it into more of a commercial-type product. They helped us think through the strengths and weaknesses of using Bluetooth, ANT+, or some other technology to be able to have devices talking to a hub or directly to the cloud. 

They were involved in narrowing down the kinds of devices we’d be using to collect our data. They were involved in the MVP stage and designing the interface’s front- and backends. They used off-the-shelf sensing technology, like fitness wearables.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had two project managers throughout our working relationship. The first one was great, and our current project manager, Ben, is fantastic. He’s really easy to work with and can translate our needs to the dev team.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

Saristasa stood out because of their prior experience in the space and their location in Southern California. From what I recall, we found them through general leads from colleagues.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent more than $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work together began in May 2018, and it’s ongoing. They’ve been our dev and frontend design team for 100% of our work. We just began bringing other people on board within the last couple of months, but we still consider ourselves to be a very young company. We can’t rely on a costly internal dev team; instead, we need a reliable outside team that we can throw a lot of work at.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In our first year, clients understood that we were a young company and that we’d have issues. Some of our clients were essentially beta-testers. At times, our app didn’t function the way it should have, or data wasn’t recorded the way that it needed to be. Saritasa was there to smooth those issues out pretty rapidly. For one project that was going on in France last year, our project manager at the time stayed up through the night to make sure that if anything happened, they were there to jump in and resolve issues.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

Our communication has evolved quite a bit over our working relationship, and they’ve been extremely flexible. When we first started working together, most of our communication was through calls, emails, and office visits. Now, one of our main communication tools is Jira. As our company has evolved and we’ve gotten a better understanding of what specific needs we have, our communication tools have also evolved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re straightforward and open about what’s going on. One particular project was definitely under-scoped, and about one month into the project, they realized it was going to take more hours than they originally planned for. Rather than throwing it back on us, they leaned into it because of our existing relationship but also because they realized that they underestimated based on a lot of assumptions they’d made. They really showed to be partners in that situation and wanted to work together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When it comes to the big thing, they’re very understanding and proactive. It seems that, as we grow, there are smaller things. I know they’re on several other projects, but it would be nice to get the smaller, low-priority things taken care of much quicker.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a real estate broker at PV Elite Group, and the website is OpenHouseDay.com.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We hired them to build a website from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Saritasa developed a real estate website for buyers and sellers. They added functionality that gives users routes and maps, serving as an efficient way to view open houses over the weekend.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of three people: a project manager, a designer, and a tech specialist.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

A former tenant referred them to me. 

How much have you invested with them?

We started at $95,000, but the project went over that because I made some changes to the order.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Saritasa in May 2015. The initial timeline was set to be two months, but it took a little longer. It was understandable, given the size of the project and they built the website from scratch, using technologies that required more coding.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website they delivered was good, but nothing gets done without marketing, even if we have the best website on the planet. I put a lot of money into marketing, and I got a lot of signups from buyers and sellers, and people started listing their properties. When I slowed down on the marketing, traffic also slowed down, because it’s all relative.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

I told them from the get-go that they should translate any technical terminology. When I gave them my ideas, they did exactly that. We started with email and in-person communication, and we added Basecamp and Trello along the way. I learned a lot of technology from them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The ease of communication and their availability to discuss any issues with me were impressive. If something was urgent, I’d send them a text. If there was a glitch with the website over the weekend, they’d immediately look at it and fix it. It was a positive experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions. I was happy with the service, and I’m sure they treat everyone else the same. If anything, the issues were on my side. I should’ve determined what I wanted from the get-go, to cut down on cost. This isn’t easy in the technology industry, because things keep changing. It’s an ongoing process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our business is Ovio Technologies, Inc. We build biometric imaging platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

An agency built our frontend/UI but did a poor job. We needed to fix it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Saritasa didn’t create wireframes but built all of the components of the frontend underneath it. Their team fixed our frontend/UI.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account manager and a project manager. They had a team of programmers overseas, but we interacted with the project manager mostly.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

We found them on the internet and chose them through an interview process.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just under $50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our engagement in August 2018 and their team was done in under 60 days.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was as successful as we could’ve hoped it would’ve been. Saritasa didn’t disappoint us and I would use their services again.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

We used a project management software. We gave them an accelerated timeline and fixed budget. Saritasa came in under time and on budget, which never happens.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took ownership of all aspects of the project. Their team was self-reliant, so they didn’t need a lot of hand-holding. They took the time to understand what we needed and did it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is called Cordova Consulting and my role is the director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We needed to do electronic visit verification for our employees. When our employees go to a customer’s house, they have to prove that they went to that customer’s house.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope was pretty specific because it’s government-mandated. We had to have the type of service, start time, and end time of the service recorded in the app, and it needed to verify the location. It works on iOS and Android. One group worked on wireframing and how it would look. Then it got pushed to a development group that wrote the actual code. We’re now in the testing phase.

What is the team composition?

There’s a project manager, an account manager, and a sales manager. They also provided a team of developers.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

We interviewed three companies. We looked them up on the internet and they were local and seemed reasonable in price.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone is happy so far. We were very particular on the specifications from the get-go, so there weren’t a lot of questions. They’re following that, and everything looks and works exactly how we expected.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

When we started, we went to their office and spoke to them in person. Once COVID-19 hit, we began video chatting in order to continue the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good line of communication. We’re very happy with how they’re operating.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve exceeded our expectations so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a professor at The University of Chicago. I do research and teach.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We’re trying to develop a research tool through an app. It’s basically a memory test. The additional challenge we were dealing with was when users are doing the test, the data was then uploaded to a server where we could efficiently download the data and do analysis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the beginning of our engagement, we had a prototype that didn’t work. Saritasa came in, reviewed the code, and were able to update it relatively quickly so it was working properly.

From then on, they’ve been improving it.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a main manager, two tech folks, and my doctoral student has been interacting with them to keep it moving forward.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

Before, we worked with an internal app development team and they created a prototype for us, which sort of worked. But it was just like really slow trying to get changes made. And we just weren't confident that we'd got to get it done in a timely fashion with them because we spent almost a year on it.

Then we paid another company, and we worked with them, but after a year, we still didn’t have a working product. So, we weren’t satisfied.

We got further advice from another specialist, and they identified Saritasa as a more established company with better infrastructure and more stability than the other programs we’ve worked with.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent $23,449 so far with Saritasa. I believe there is at least one bill outstanding, however. And, we plan to continue to develop the app with this team.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve made the product viable. Before, the product didn’t even work. Now we can use it to collect data for our research. It's pushing our product forward. Because of our success with them, we plan to continue to invest with them.  

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

Unlike our previous engagements, Saritasa gets things done in the time that they say they're going to get them done and they tend to work. I’ve been fine with their project management. We can contact them through phone or email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve delivered a working product when no one else could. And they delivered it on time for a reasonable cost.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been a few misunderstandings along the way, but I think that’s largely in part to them climbing on board with pre-written code. However, I have no significant concerns.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more complete of a picture you have on what you want from your app, the better they will be at implementing it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

GlobeTax is the leading provider of withholding tax relief, recovery and reporting services to the global financial community, processing and filing over seven million reclaims a year. I am a DevOps Engineer at GlobeTax Services, Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Saritasa?

Our company needed to develop multiple Jenkins jobs ASAP with the only one DevOps Engineer at the company.

What were your goals for this project?

Fast and quality job.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our team searched on-line and comb through many Consulting companies. Eight companies were considered and interviewed. Saritasa was chosen because it had a good presentation and we liked the people representing it.

Describe the project in detail.

After we choose the company, we described each project in detail and we discussed each one with Saritasa. The work was started very quickly.

What was the team composition?

I was a main contact in our company to coordinate all the interactions of Saritasa and GlobeTax's Development and Networking teams so I worked directly with Saritasa's developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality work was done on-time.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The developer we were assign was really knowledgeable and easy to communicate with. Saritasa's project manager was great, understanding, and helpful.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We really liked Saritasa and are sure we made the right choice. The company has great resources and is flexible and knowledgeable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of a global alternative health education company. We offer certifications in methods of alternative energy healing for people around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Saritasa?

We had a fully functional website that outlined the mind mapping system, but we needed a mobile app to be more functional for our users.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, the project was focused on developing a mobile app, but we decided that creating a desktop app for Mac and Windows would increase functionality. We laid out our requirements and they were able to take the HTML mind mapping system and create an accessible app.  It’s essentially a knowledge base about the human body.

Since we completed development several years ago, they’ve continued to provide maintenance on the apps.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of four people. Stan (Manager of Client Engagement, Saritasa) was our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Saritasa?

We were looking for a development company. I happened to be in their area and looked up local companies to see if I could meet with anyone in person. That’s how we discovered them and the rest is history.

How much have you invested with them?

Over the course of the first year, we spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in 2013 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has had a profound impact on our business. The software they developed is now an enormous piece of our revenue, so it contributed to the growth of our company and revolutionized our business. It certainly has helped with sales by making our products more usable and enticing.

For the last several years, it has run flawlessly. Now that more technology is coming out though, we’ve had a few issues and it needs to be updated. We’re looking into that project with them now.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered everything on time and in budget. Communication has been really good with them. They’re responsive to our requests and are always willing to do what we need. We communicate via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and willingness to do whatever we need is what impresses me most. They have an excellent team of people who are extremely knowledgeable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The programmers we were working with were located overseas and that may have caused delays. We would explain to Saritasa what we wanted, and then they would explain it to the programmers. They were phenomenal programmers, though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Generally speaking, be very clear about what you need and keep communication lines open. The more you communicate with them, or if you communicate on a consistent basis, the better the project will go.