Scalo

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Senior Business Partner in one of the biggest financial and debt collection company. We are present in 6 countries in Europe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Lack of specialists in the IT labor market is challenging for everyone, we are doing really well in this area, but we have also challenges in short time projects where we do not have enough resources, with such a topic Scalo is helping us with their outsourced specialists

SOLUTION

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

Previously Scalo was known as NBC, which I knew from my professional history. NBC had a good opinion on the market as a reasonable, agile, and professional partner. We invited them to compete for the best offer, finally they won and we sign a contract

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

Scalo is responsible for recruitment, preselection, and caring for our candidates for IT Specialist. If we find a proper person who handling of the whole hiring and employment cycle of an employee. Project steps:

1. Recruitment and selection are done by Scalo
2. Presentation to Hiring Manager
3. Candidate verification is done by our Architect or Tech Lead
4. The final decision
5. Onboarding and working on the project.

We are working mostly with .NET developers with extended SQL knowledge or Angular

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

We have two main contacts with Scalo. Service Delivery Manager and Sales Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Scalo can deliver specialists in a very quick manner. During the first step of the project, they presented five IT specialists which we were able to accept. Therefore we were able to deliver our project on time. Scalo have also very good opinion withing Hiring Managers, some of them prefer Scalo over other companies.

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

They stand with very good direct contact with dedicated contact persons. Usually, we can count on the first candidates in a max of 2-3 days. Communication with candidates usually can be exchanged on the same day. We expected good, efficient and agile contact which they delivered as asked.

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

They are agile, and their candidates are usually outstanding compared to other companies.

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

Really, there is not much to do to improve. I think communication always can be better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work in a bank, in the IT Division, I am the manager of a team of business analysts. The team consists of about 50 people who work in various projects in the Agile or waterfall methodology

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Scalo?

We needed experienced and competent business analysts to be able to implement projects planned in the bank

SOLUTION

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

Previously, Scalo cooperated with our bank and was looking for programmers for us. It turned out that they can also provide people with the competences of business analysts

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

At the beginning, the specification of requirements, who we are looking for, what competences and for which business areas. Accurate understanding of the needs significantly influences the selection of candidates. It was important for Scalo to understand whether it is a job for us, what responsibilities a business analyst has

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

Searching for candidates according to my needs. Great care in searching for them, paying attention to what they meet and what they need to learn. Then, presenting me with the CVs of the candidates, after reading the CVs, I decided with whom I want to make an interview. The job interview itself, mostly with the participation of a person from Scalo. If the decision to hire a candidate was positive, then all formalities related to the employment of the candidate were on the side of Scalo.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With their support, work on projects could start, if after some time it turned out, however, that the candidate does not work well in our projects, then we look for a solution together

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

New people have support both at us and at Scalo, thanks to which any expectations can be quickly reached. we are constantly in touch

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

They’ve fostered a very friendly atmosphere, customer-oriented approach, quick response in case of problems

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

A new person has taken over my company and we need to get to know each other better

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the associate director at a digital solutions company, 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalo?

We hired Scalo to help us expand our business into the Polish market. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scalo provides me with IT specialists to augment my IT team. Their resources are helping me complete and deliver projects for my customers. Scalo’s team helps me find, interview, and evaluate candidates that best fit my project needs. 

What is the team composition?

I work with three teammates from Scalo, including the business development, delivery, and account managers. 

How did you come to work with Scalo?

Scalo actually found me and offered their services. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested $5,000–$10,000 with Scalo.  

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My partnership with Scalo over the last 5–6 months has been very positive — they provide high-quality work. Our success is determined by the number of candidates they present who end up working on my customer’s projects. 

How did Scalo perform from a project management standpoint?

Scalo communicates well and is very proactive — they have a can-do attitude. We primarily communicate through emails, Microsoft Teams, and phone calls, although we do have in-person meetings. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scalo is a very reliable partner and their productivity is impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing for Scalo to improve at this time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d advise any customer looking for IT services to hire Scalo. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the delivery director and development center leader for a software provider in the banking industry. Our company provides software for the banking industry, mostly for frontend solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalo?

We are quickly growing, and we aren’t able to support that growth internally, so we decided to use external services and providers to staff and accelerate our growth.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We build our software for banks that have their own mobile applications, mostly for banking transactional systems as well as systems to onboard new customers. The latter includes all of the workflows necessary to process new customers entering the bank.

Scalo has provided recruiting, screening, and staff augmentation for our internal projects. They do not provide any separate pieces of work. From a technology standpoint, they are fully aligned with our technologies: Java, Angular, Kotlin, and Swift.

What is the team composition?

Currently, we are working with 10 consultants from Scalo.

How much have you invested in them?

We have daily rates, and so far, we’ve spent around €200,000 (approximately $221,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership began in August 2021, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t track performance in any formal or quantitative way, but I would say that we haven’t had any negative feedback about the individuals. We’re pleased with the quality of the candidates and consultants provided by Scalo and provide feedback both on a regular basis and on-demand.

It is difficult to calculate being on time and budget in a staff augmentation model, but the quality of the consultants has been satisfactory.

How did Scalo perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very responsive. We have several forms of communication: our equipment team coordinates the recruitment and info pipeline on a weekly basis, and I have meetings with their account management bi-weekly. We have direct email communication daily as well.

We use Greenhouse for the recruitment pipeline, but this is only for the new candidates being interviewed. Normally, we just use email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a very good network of recruiters that reach many candidates in Poland. I am impressed with how successful they are in connecting us with the right candidates. When it comes to prices, they are also pretty reasonable.

Considering the scale, we still expect them to do more because we are growing even faster than expected, but we’re happy with the candidates they’re providing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is slightly too large of an attrition rate, and I think they can scale up better, at least from my perspective. Other than that, I don’t have any other comments.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No, there’s nothing in particular. We are satisfied with their services.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a software company, and I’m the leader of the team responsible for customer-specific development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalo?

It’s relatively hard to recruit developers in Finland, so we partnered with Scalo to find skilled developers suitable for our project needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scalo provides us with external developers for our team, who work with us on different projects. They’re as close to an employee as they can get without being directly employed by our company; they’re really close teammates.

Most of our projects are related to web development, so Scalo’s resources mainly help us with PHP development and, occasionally, Python development. As for the projects specifically, we’re building web applications for data management and reporting.

Additionally, our projects vary in size. Some work orders take about an hour to complete, whereas others take over two weeks of development work.

What is the team composition?

We’re currently working with three software developers from Scalo, and a fourth one will join us the next month.

How did you come to work with Scalo?

When I came to this position, we were already working with Scalo, so I don’t know how my company found them. However, I know that some of their resources have worked with us for over two years.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t have the exact numbers, but we spend an average of €18,000–€20,000 (approximately $21,000–$23,000 USD) per month, and this rate has been on that level for a while. Thus, I estimate that we’ve spent over €400,000 (approximately $460,000 USD) in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we started working together around February 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As Scalo resources are basically just external team members, our success comes from completing the projects. For the most part, their estimates are fairly accurate, and everything is delivered as promised and planned.

How did Scalo perform from a project management standpoint?

Although their skills vary from individual to individual, Scalo’s project management is good for the most part. Whatever they promise, they deliver. We use Jira for project management and Microsoft Teams to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scalo’s resources know what they’re doing, which helps them pick up things quickly. Whenever we need more resources, the onboarding process is pretty smooth, especially compared to how much time it takes to recruit someone internally.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback for Scalo.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be aware of your needs. If you can define the technologies and the skills you need, the engagement will be easier, and they’ll help you find suitable candidates.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an advertising tech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalo?

We were creating a product in the advertising technology environment. It was a product for publishers to improve their revenue by making a dynamic inventory on their side and getting more income out of their advertising. We needed help with the recruitment of an outsourced, part-time frontend developer with broad experience and availability.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scalo helped us with the recruitment; they gave us some candidates, and we selected one. We interviewed the candidate and started working together — everything went through them, like the invoicing. 

What is the team composition?

There’s one part-time frontend developer, a salesperson, and an account manager from their team.

How did you come to work with Scalo?

A former colleague recommended them. I contacted another company, but Scalo gave me better and quicker feedback.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent €13,000 (approximately $15.000 USD) with them,

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–September 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We benefited from the technical input of the developer — they were experienced, and it went great. The metrics of their service itself worked great as well.

How did Scalo perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via email and video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a wide selection of candidates with different experiences, which worked with our requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on — they provided us with different options.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask for more candidates to choose from since the beginning.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at an IT services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalo?

We needed to expand our team with additional IT cloud consultants. To hire in-house consultants was difficult, and we wanted to ramp up our team as quickly as possible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scalo acts as an extension of our core product team, and they work on our core functionality, which is focused on product payment. They’re also working on a web application that shows our productivity metrics on a dashboard. Thanks to this app, all of our metrics will be in one place.

We initially provided them with information about the architecture of our payment functionality. However, they had to do R&D for the web app. They’ve also given some ideas to our team on how to organize and deploy our infrastructure; we always get good input from them.

What is the team composition?

We work with four PHP backend developers from Scalo.

How did you come to work with Scalo?

I had worked with Scalo in the past at a previous organization. I knew that I could rely on them, so I brought them in.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The metric dashboard request came from our CTO and our co-founder themselves. It is still a work in progress, so there’s not a final evaluation. However, we’re happy with the progress in what we’ve seen so far.

How did Scalo perform from a project management standpoint?

We're managing both projects. However, Scalo’s team is self-organized. We communicate via Slack as needed, and we also have daily standing meetings and sync-ups via video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of Scalo’s team is impressive, and they’re very mature. They initially got up to speed quickly, and we didn’t put much effort into doing so.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Out of the four people from Scalo, one isn’t a really good communicator and has some troubles blending in with the team. Other than that, I’m extremely happy with their services.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Scalo does a great job assigning people, and they have a great presence in Poland. If you want to extend your team here, they’re the place to go. Their team members are really mature, and they will help you with the preselection so that your time is well invested.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a credit bureau that has operations in about 40 countries with 2,000 employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalo?

They provide software contractors whenever we need to scale up our software development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We send them a job profile with our expectations, a description of the project, and our technical requirements.  In turn, they send us CVs for different candidates.

Once we’ve assessed each candidate, we invite the people we’re interested in for a recruitment call. After the technical evaluation, we make an internal decision about whether or not we want to work with them. If we do, we send the information to Scalo and negotiate the price. Then they inform us if the person accepts the offer or not.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with about 50 people. There are some technical support people, technical assistants, business analysts, and the rest are developers.

How did you come to work with Scalo?

We researched Polish software contractors and evaluated several firms. We chose Scalo out of those we shortlisted.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2015 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve assessed our vendors and, compared to our other partners, they’re pretty good. We don’t officially measure any KPIs, but we’re pretty happy with their work.

How did Scalo perform from a project management standpoint?

They cooperate well, so we’re satisfied with our partnership. We generally use email and phone to communicate. We used to meet from time to time, but haven’t in a while due to COVID-19.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide more candidates than other companies we’ve worked with. On top of that, they’re able to compile a list relatively quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We expect our vendors to have a bench of people because when we need people, we need them right away. I would appreciate it if we could get a potential candidate on the same day.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to openly communicate your needs. They usually understand what we want and are flexible in their negotiations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CTO of ELSA, a foreign language learning app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NBC IT Outsourcing?

We were looking to build some new back- and frontend technologies to help companies use our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We brought in a small team of architects. The technology stack was Python with SQL database and an AWS cloud connection. The team collaborated with the frontend developers and designers we outsourced.

Now, the team is helping with other features that go directly into the app. They’re working on the backend technology that creates APIs for the app which involves a lot of interactions with our databases across several technologies.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with two developers as well as a project manager, who we talk to about any business or project needs.

How did you come to work with NBC IT Outsourcing?

NBC IT was recommended to us by another company in our area that was already working with them. We evaluated them as we did everyone else, and decided they would be able to provide us with good service.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2018. We launched the platform successfully, but the developers remained on board and moved into the core of our product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve enjoyed working with NBC IT. The team is always flexible in terms of their service, and they work hard to provide us with what’s best for us. There have been a few occasions when they’ve reached out to us to make suggestions on technology stacks or other strategies that would make our product better, which we really appreciated. They proved to us that they really care about us reaching our milestones.

We don’t just have client-vendor interactions. We have an actual relationship with NBC IT, so we can really talk to them about decisions in our project. It’s been a pleasure working with them. 

How did NBC IT Outsourcing perform from a project management standpoint?

The two developers have integrated perfectly into our teams. They’ve been involved in all the daily stand up meetings and sprint planning with us. NBC IT has become part of our development team. We treat them as part of our company.

What did you find most impressive about them?

NBC IT really tries to make the engagement as good for the client as possible. It’s clear they believe that their success is related to ours. They’re thoughtful and always go the extra mile to make sure things are going well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. They even visited us once when they were in Portugal, which was really nice. We’ve had a great experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear on your objectives and your limitations. NBC IT is an excellent long-term partner.