Scalefocus

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Team Manager of an automotive company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a multinational manufacturer of Car, including SUVs, station wagons, and sedans, committed to providing freedom to move in a personal, sustainable, and safe way.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Scalefocus to accomplish?

• To join the journey of digital transformation within Logistics digital and to ensure that we meet the goal of delivering the request on time.

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalefocus?

Referral

Why did you select Scalefocus over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Scalefocus were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of work for this project included several key areas of improvement and development. One of the main focuses was to develop requirements from business stakeholders and users with the right priority and timeline, in collaboration with other colleagues. It also involved enhancing error-handling in services to improve system reliability and minimize disruptions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Scalefocus team has worked on several projects with defined timelines to ensure that the project meets the deadline. The Scalefocus team was able to achieve this together with the guidance from the project owner and the rest of the team.

These outcomes highlight the project's progress and success in various areas, including goal achievement, timely delivery, and improved operational capabilities. 

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

As one of our long-term partners, Scalefocus understands our needs and ways of working, which has been crucial in making quick and effective decisions. They have consistently provided effective support to achieve our goals and have been proactive in understanding our needs, offering suggestions, and taking action. 

What was your primary form of communication with Scalefocus?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Ability to adapt and understand customer needs and coming uo with suggestions to best opertate in given situation.

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

Nothing that I can think of!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Manager Mobile App of National Lottery Belgium

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Belgian National Lottery is a unique and socially responsible organization in the games of chance sector, returning all profits to society and supporting numerous social projects and charities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Scalefocus to accomplish?

• To transform a legacy mobile solution into a modern functional app with numerous smart functionalities and impeccable UX to create value for our players..
• То build, enhance, and maintain native iOS and Android apps.
• То оptimize our product development roadmap and provide consulting for product management, mobile technology, and user experience.
• To streamline processes and communication by enrolling Scaled Agile best practices for the overall project management and Scrum with Kanban framework for the day-to-day activities.

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalefocus?

RFP

Why did you select Scalefocus over others?

Highest score in our Request for Proposal (RFP) evaluation

How many teammates from Scalefocus were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The Scalefocus team expertly revitalized our outdated mobile offering, delivering native Android and iOS applications characterized by seamless UX. These apps, integral to our ecosystem, now serve as an indispensable virtual assistant for retail and online players. The transformation has notably boosted our profits through around-the-clock online access, tailored game alerts, and bespoke digital play slips. 
Their approach was thorough, incorporating regular user testing, both internal and external, leading to iterative feature enhancements based on feedback. The results were tangible: within months, there was a 20% increase in our lifetime store rating and a significant reduction in app crashes. Scope and deliverables: 

• Native mobile apps: Android and iOS applications function as virtual personal assistants. 
• Omni-channel login and registration integration
• Location services: Utilization of Google Maps and Places for a POS locator feature. 
• Rapid game deployment: A new lottery game launched across multiple platforms within an impressive 2-week timeframe. 
• Innovative bet slip tool: Successful introduction of a virtual bet slip creation feature. 
• Enhanced security: Implementation of a robust multi-factor authentication system. 
• Content management: A high percentage of the content is real-time manageable through a custom management system. 
• Offline functionality: Local database and caching support top performance and offline access. 
• User experience: A smooth interface with complex animations and comprehensive onboarding details. 
• API layer integration: Seamless integration of an API layer, enhancing app functionality and data interchange.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• User engagement boost: Scalefocus successfully implemented features that resulted in a substantial increase in monthly active users, transforming the app from a niche product into a key player in our digital strategy over five years. 
• Retail player services: They were instrumental in the introduction and integration of new services targeted at retail players, contributing to a significant rise in retail transaction identifications. Their ongoing efforts in data utilization are poised to further enhance engagement with this segment. 
• Revenue growth: Scalefocus' contributions were key to the app's revenue growth, with their innovations tripling the app's online revenue contribution, thereby driving considerable expansion of our business.
• User ratings improvement: Scalefocus' expertise significantly boosted our app's user ratings, achieving a rise to 4.5 on Google Play and 4.9 on the App Store, compared to 3.7 at project initiation, reflecting enhanced user satisfaction and app quality

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

Scalefocus demonstrated exemplary project management, adhering to Scaled Agile principles for overall project guidance and integrating Scrum with Kanban for daily tasks Their approach, characterized by structured planning and clear ownership, ensured not only timely delivery but also adherence to business goals and quality standards. 
This methodology expedited our time-to-market and fostered effective communication among stakeholders and third-party vendors. Their responsiveness to our needs was evident in their streamlined processes and efficient communication channels, adapting agilely to project demands.

What was your primary form of communication with Scalefocus?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What stands out most impressively about this company is their exceptional self-motivation, dedication, and creativity. They consistently demonstrated an ability to devise solutions that were not only effective but also innovative and efficient. Additionally, their project managers, who exhibit a deep investment in our product, ensured swift and clear communication. 
This high-quality project management approach, coupled with a strong product-focused mindset, significantly contributed to the smooth progression and success of our projects.

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

Scalefocus has delivered outstanding mobile development services with remarkable technical skill and dedication. However, there is an opportunity for them to further enhance their service in the area of proactive industry updates. In the fast-paced mobile sector, receiving regular updates and insights into the latest trends, regulatory changes, and technological advancements is crucial. 
Such an initiative from Scalefocus would not only keep us well-informed but also significantly support our strategic planning and decision-making processes

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the energy portfolio manager at an Energy Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an international energy company that operates roughly 22.5 GW of generation capacity in Europe, which ranks us among the world’s largest power producers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Scalefocus to accomplish?

• To develop and implement a custom-built platform to digitalize LNG front office operations.
• The main goal is to capture all necessary data, store those in a structure way, perform calculations and finally enable LNG physical portfolio optimization.
• This tool consists of multiple functions: centralized data repository, contract flexibility, shipping calculation and visualization, etc.

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalefocus?

Referral

Why did you select Scalefocus over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Scalefocus were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

ScaleFocus developed a scalable and fit for purpose technology solution that equipped us with enhanced LNG trading operation capabilities. The sophisticated platform ensures our IT landscape can cope with growing business need for LNG, especially for cargo / vessel nominations, LNG physical portfolio optimization, by replacing Excel and manual processes, and massively increasing computing power. 
Scope of work: Development of cargo and vessel nominations system. Calculation of LNG economics, and physical portfolio optimization.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Operation risk reduction and efficiency improvements. 
• Value capture in LNG portfolio optimization. 
• Synchronization in dataflow.

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

The project is being managed in a very structured way with high efficiency, with timely deliveries and high quality at the same time. Any progress is being communicated on time, with clear scope planning, as well as mid term and long term planning. ScaleFocus is reacting to my requests almost immediately and any roadblocks were resolved promptly.

What was your primary form of communication with Scalefocus?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The team at Scalefocus is amazing. The whole project team is not only developing the project on time, but also thinking with me. With their exceptional expertise and experience, but most importantly the willingness to make a better product, ScaleFocus team plays a crucial role also as consultants, provided valuable ideas, feedbacks, solution proposals to our project. ScaleFocus is willing to go extra mile, and we habe established a long term partnership.

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

na

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Head of Energy Digitalisation of an energy & natural resources company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We develop grid-scale battery storage to help make the energy transition real.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Scalefocus to accomplish?

We wanted to develop options to improve our data processing pipelines. We were looking for new ideas and perspectives to make the most of the potential available on Microsoft Azure.

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalefocus?

Other

Why did you select Scalefocus over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Scalefocus were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We provided an overview of our current pipeline and access to some of our code for two examples. ScaleFocus developed options for the architecture of a solution and then implemented the two examples with this architecture. ScaleFocus engaged with developers throughout and provided training and documentation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We achieved our project aims to add a set of new ideas and tools to our toolbox. We learned a lot, and the documentation is excellent. We are in a better position to evaluate future developments of our platform.

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

• Strong engagement pre-project to understand needs and goals. 
• ScaleFocus invests in understanding “what good looks like.” 
• Seamless transition to project management and development with regular updates. 
• Very transparent. 
• Open to feedback. 
• Changes in resources were made seamlessly during the project to respond to our changing requirements.

What was your primary form of communication with Scalefocus?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

One immediately feels that one is working together as “one team.” ScaleFocus was ambitious and motivated for us.

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

n/a

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of TerraQuest, a software engineering company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalefocus?

We needed to build extra capacity to deliver a planning application submission platform that could be used across England and Wales. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scalefocus provides us with development resources, including back- and frontend developers, to augment the scrum teams building our web-based platform. Those teammates are tasked with supporting our development sprints and delivering several user stories per sprint. We haven’t provided Scalefocus with any wireframe and didn’t need their design services because we already had a UX/UI team on board. 

What is the team composition?

We work with seven teammates from Scalefocus, including a delivery manager and six full stack developers.

How did you come to work with Scalefocus?

I found Scalefocus on LinkedIn through an intermediary. Scalefocus seemed capable of providing a variety of development resources we needed. Their team was right regarding partnership expectations, company culture, and development approach. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested £200,000–£250,000 (approximately $260,000–$330,000 USD) with Scalefocus. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Scalefocus began in August 2021, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Scalefocus has delivered exactly what we need from them and ensured we went live on time. Since they were working within our team, I don’t have any specific metrics that can be specifically attributed to their work. However, 365 local authorities and 80,000 additional users, including architects, planners, and the general public, are currently utilizing the platform. 

How did Scalefocus perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, the project management was good, although we did have some initial challenges regarding team workflow. We use Azure DevOps to manage work and Miro for project planning. We also use SonarCloud, SonarQube, and an external partner to audit and QA our technology stacks. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scalefocus is mindful of how they can improve our engagement and the quality of work they’re providing us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve had some challenges fitting together culturally, so we’ve been having conversations about bringing in more capable communicators. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise customers to implement a strong onboarding model to ensure they get the best out of the partnership with Scalefocus. We treat each resource as if they’re a new employee, which has been fundamental to our success.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Product Owner in a company which provides maintenance, repair & overhaul solutions in the aviation industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We are developing a reporting and communication platform which enables companies of our industry to streamline and improve the customer interaction. Scalefocus was hired to support us with the development but also to help us to keep the operation upright.

SOLUTION

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

Scalefocus was selected due to good experience with the provided performance within other projects in the company where the supplier has been enganged in.

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

The Scalefocus team supports our project team within a scrum based development process. The engaged developers provide software increments based on specified and aligned user stories.

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

2 DEV OPS Engineers

1 Frontend Software Engineers

2 Backend Software Engineers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since start of the engagement the throughput of user stories increased noticeably.

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

We have remote refinement meetings, planning meetings and stand-ups with the project team, where an exchange about daily increments but also existing impediments are exchanged. For the documentation and daily communication we use Jira and Slack. Any upcoming issues are reported in time. The interaction with the rest of the team works well.

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

They have a high degree of flexibility with extending or reducing the size of the project team when necessary.

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

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an engagement manager for one of our retail clients. Our firm provides end-to-end AI solutions that solve complex business challenges and help our clients capture optimal value from AI.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Scalefocus?

We needed to find qualified developers with great attitude and aptitude to provide innovative solutions in java spring boot, PostgreSQL, Jenkins and other open source cloud technologies. The goal was to implement API services with very complex logic and security, also to improve and automate processes to provide an enhanced DevOps experience for the client.

SOLUTION

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

We have worked with Scalefocus previously and we were aware of the quality of developers.

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

Scalefocus provided senior resources to augment our two development teams. In one of them, we worked on the architecture and partial design, they were responsible for the complete design and implementation of the API services. On the other team, we worked on the infrastructure and solution strategy while they worked on the implementation, security and automation of the deployment pipelines of technologies including monitoring and notifications.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We provided a full description of the resources skillset required including the timelines. They provided the resumes of the selected developers, after proper reviews they were assigned to our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After development was complete, the business users of the API Services were able to utilize the data in an almost real-time. This allowed our client to provide better services for other internal business areas. The performance was reduced in half even after a complex logic in the solution was put in place. Our client was also able to have visibility for monitoring and notifications alert on the status of all the services in their environment.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Having people working on different timelines is a very difficult task for everyone. However, Scalefocus resources were able to deliver the work with minimum supervision during the 3 week sprints following an agile methodology. Stand up meetings where setup every day at the beginning of the client's day which was the end of the developers' day.

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

All their resources have such an attitude, aptitude, and character that shows in the quality of their work.

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

There were some communication issues at the beginning probably due to time difference and work style but everyone in the team was able to agree on a better way to work and communicate that provided great results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Managing director of a leading messaging solutions and CPaaS provider in Europe

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

In 2020 in the middle of covid crisis and uncertain strategy execution we needed a fast and professional support from developers and solution architects helping us going forward with our plans to develop our own messaging platform in .NET. We selected Scalefocus as our partner to help us with the solution architecture and build 2 development teams for the execution of complex goals both in backend and frontend.

SOLUTION

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

We approached them by reputation on Bulgarian IT industry and considered them along with 4 other vendors. The most important for us was the demonstration of technical expertise and resource potential, their solution orientated approach, smooth communication and flexibility. During the negotiation process they demonstrated experience, understanding of our necessities and flexible approach. They offered a well-thought solution.

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

Scalefocus has built several dedicated software development teams, delivering end-to-end solutions on various projects for us. These include providing high value-added services and feature implementation in the areas of business logic, telecom messaging services and standards, banking and third-party system integrations, API gateway solutions and others.

Scalefocus’ engineering teams are involved across the entire lifecycle of feature and functionality implementation – from discovery and analysis, through planning, delivery, support on production, ensuing microservice and multitenancy architectures and high-throughput. The majority of the team are engaged with .Net based technologies, SQL databases, non-relational Data Bases like Mondo DB and Redis DB, Azure DevOps, Git repositories, cloud agnostic technologies like Kubernetes, Docker, Logical Aps, Webjobs, Azure SQL, Network security, implementing CI/CD pipelines for deployment.

In addition, Scalefocus have several teams engaged with implementing PHP and JAVA based solutions with Java EE, PHP, Linux, CentOS, Puppet, Elasticsearch/Kibana, Jenkins, Bitbucket, Scripting, Icinga and DockerSwarm.

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

Scalefocus’ dedicated teams consist of 12+ software engineers and consultants, delivering solutions for several divisions in different countries. The teams are led by 2 system architects, being responsible for discovery and research phases, proof of concepts, documentation preparation, company-wide guidelines for monitoring and logs implementation, security and system integrations. The remaining consultants are implementing end-to-end features and functionalities across the technological stack described above.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because of our partnership with Scalefocus we were able to staff new operational teams 2 times faster than our plan. Those teams delivered 10 epics from 4 initiatives from our roadmap within numerous releases in 6 months.

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

The management from their side has been always very flexible, customer-oriented and tailored to our needs. They always found solutions for us and communicated over the channels of our convenience. They always delivered to their commitments or found compensation methods in unexpected situations.

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

During our continuing partnership, we received an excellent service tailored to meet our challenges and specifics. Scalefocus always responds to our requests in a timely manner. The consultants provided are of high quality – the needed level of specific technical knowledge and experience in a variety of software development areas that allows them to rapidly grasp the project requirements, offer and build solutions. In addition, they are also very flexible and motivated to join or form an effective team and quickly start to deliver on commitments.

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

Can't think of such.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Alemba develops Alemba Service Manager, a highly functional, 100% ITIL-compliant IT Service Management (ITSM) tool with a specific focus on request fulfilment. Backed by 25 years of heritage, Alemba Service Manager enables users to respond quickly to business demands by dramatically reducing time to request fulfilment through automated workflowed integration.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Alemba wanted to leverage the new Microsoft Logic App capability for designing low code/no code integrations and workflows. Whilst Alemba already had a comprehensive API, we wanted to make this even easier to consume inside a Logic App by creating a connector.

SOLUTION

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

We had previously worked with Scalefocus. Originally we were given a recommendation by an Alemba employee. We went to see their operation in Sofia and came away very impressed by our visit.

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

The key deliverable was an Alemba ITSM Logic App connector that had been certified by Microsoft and made available through the standard Azure platform. Subtasks involved business analysis to agree the functionality of the connector, development resource to architect and build it, quality assurance resource to test it and project management to keep everything on-track.

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

Business Analyst x1; Integration Software Engineer x1; Automation Engineer x1; Project Manager x1.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Alemba ITSM connector was certified by Microsoft and is now available globally as part of the standard Azure platform.

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

Effective project management and delivery management using different meetings to suit different audiences within our organisation. Powerpoints, Word docs. Don't recall seeing a project management tool but then I wasn't close to day-to-day activities.

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

Very high emphasis on Product Quality. Their QA processes are excellent. They have deep software architecture skills and the ability to understand complex issues right across the team.

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

Nothing immediately comes to mind.