Scalo

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Vodeno is a development company working on software in the financial services area. We mainly target banks and insurers. We’re working on our own core banking system, with solutions such as mobile banking apps, payment modules, and remote client onboarding modules using biometrics.

Most of our work is the development, maintenance, and implementation of our solution for external clients. We have one big client using our systems, and we’re implementing them for new clients. We offer both module and full digital banking implementation.

I’m responsible for financial and sourcing issues. I’m working with a full IT staff, coordinating who’s working where.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have internal developers, and we also have a few strategic partners, including NBC IT.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

NBC IT is working on parts of our system, providing backend development, automated testing, and development process analysts. They integrate with our team. We have a simple flat structure across the teams.

We’re working in Java and Python on the backend.

Their analysts are also helping our product team with using tools like business process model and notation (BPMN) and smart contracts.  

What is the team composition?

The team size is quite fluid. We keep smaller groups of people after finishing a project. We’re currently at the stage of hiring more people from NBC IT, and I believe we’re working with 5–8 IT specialists from their side. They’re not providing a project manager.  

How did you come to work with NBC IT Outsourcing?

They have a lot of experience with the banking industry in Poland. They’d worked with many of the biggest Polish banks, and they had a lot of specialists in loans, deposit savings, and so on. This was the most important factor for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with NBC IT in 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re an agile scrum company, so the key metrics we track in our system are developers’ performance and burnout curves. We work in two-week sprints, and we check deliverables. We haven’t had any problems with NBC IT’s delivery.

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

We haven’t had any communication problems with their team. We work with them the same as with our internal developers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a good collaboration with NBC IT.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It depends on our approach. NBC’s developers are doing a very good job, but the results depend on our planning and sprint reviews. I have no issues with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

We have four partners onboard, and the workflow is the same with everybody. We don’t assign full projects to them. All the management comes from us, and all our external developers work together as one team. That’s just our business model, and there are various others out there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is one of the biggest banks in Poland, part of an international banking group. I’m responsible for IT development for the SME segment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We collaborate with multiple outsourced developers, testers, and so on, and NBC IT is one of those companies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

NBC IT is providing full-stack development for a customer interaction app. It has a complex backend based on Java, and it has multiple integrations with external services.

We have a standard development lifecycle, with requirements analysis, programming, peer reviews and static code analyses, and unit testing. Our CI/CD stream and automated testing are on Jenkins, usually with Selenium, as per our requirements.

What is the team composition?

NBC IT provides developers, analysts, and testers, including for automated testing. We’re working with four to five people from their team now, but the size is always changing. We’ve collaborated with 15–20 of their specialists in total. We have a broader collaboration with them, in business areas beyond my own. We have a main point of contact on their side.

What is the status of this engagement?

I personally started collaborating with NBC IT around February 2018, but they’ve been with my company for much longer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

NBC IT isn’t our best collaborator, but they’re in the topmost part. They’re efficient in finding and verifying resources on the market. They offer us only vetted resources, which isn’t a universal practice with development companies.

They generally deliver a very good quality of work. NBC IT is among our best providers.

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

We work on a time and materials basis, and they don’t offer project management. There is a coordinator on NBC IT’s side.

We have meetings, and we talk on the phone and through email. The communication is very efficient.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication is fluent, the skills of their technical team are very good, and they’re experienced. NBC IT offers us good specialists that integrate well into our agile teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Any company can improve, but I can’t think of anything in particular about NBC IT. Maybe the price.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Anyone looking to have an efficient collaboration with NBC IT should express requirements very clearly, along with a description of the skills needed, including soft skills.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a donation company, so we help charities and nonprofits to raise money. Our core functionality is what we call round-up. Basically, we give charities this tool so that they can reach out to their own donors. Our platform allows donors to connect their credit or debit cards, and then round-up their transactions to the next zero and donate their digital spare change to whatever cause they care about. I’m a co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

They are building our entire backend. NBC IT Outsourcing came in and took what we had, understood our architecture, worked with our technical architect, and is developing everything from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the moment, they’re building a web app using Ruby. We have an existing web app that is a first-generation MVP, and then the team is building it to make it more robust and workable. They’re creating it for both US and Ireland.

NBC IT Outsourcing had to work through a lot of complexities on currency and country locators, and other similar things, but everything should be completed in a week. They’re also helping with the placement of things and other services. After that, they’re going to be starting to work on our mobile apps as well. The mobile apps will be developed in React.

What is the team composition?

The team started out small with just one developer. Then, we had a project manager support us part-time, and the team has since grown. We now have an initial developer, two people for QA, and two people for the frontend. 

How did you come to work with NBC IT Outsourcing?

They approached us at a summit. Lucas (Sales Representative) came to us and found us through the mailing list first. He reached out via LinkedIn and told us he was going to be in Dublin for the tech summit. He mentioned that he wanted to come by our booth. When he came by the booth, we had a great relationship.

NBC IT Outsourcing pitched to us when we were originally looking for the step up from our first MVP developer. We loved their pitch, but we wanted to stay in Ireland. That was basically the only reason we chose not to go with them at first. Once we were looking for new developers the following year, they were first in line and they knocked it out of the park again with their offer. 

How much have you invested with them?

After the mobile app is developed, our investment will be around €100,000 (approximately $120,500). For the web app, we’ve spent around €68,000–€75,000 (approximately $83,000–$91,000). 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project kicked off in June 2020, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve not officially launched the web app, so the public feedback is not yet available. We’re launching in the US on Monday, but our internal feedback has been great. Anytime that we say something, NBC IT Outsourcing understands the backend logic behind it immediately, and then the implications that it has for further iterations, changes, or tweaks that we will face down the road. Overall, they think critically before doing anything.

They’re exceptionally hardworking. I don’t think we’ve worked with any team before with working hours like that. They clearly care about the product and it’s not just a job for them, so that has been amazing for us as well. 

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

We have scheduled daily stand-ups, which can be 10 minutes or 45 minutes. Furthermore, we also have a Slack channel and it’s always open. We used Jira for all the project management. 

I think it probably took us a couple of weeks, as with any new team to hit our stride. Once we were able to hit that, we began to understand how we all communicate, and since then, it’s been fantastic. NBC IT Outsourcing is also receptive to feedback. They take criticism well and they build tools thoughtfully. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re super professional in all aspects of the project. They understand the commercials on their side and on our side. The transparency has been complete — there is no rock that’s been uncovered on the development side. They’re completely upfront and transparent about their margins and the developer costs, and everything that goes into building something including their buffers.

In all projects, when you’re building a platform, you have to have an allowance and they clearly identify what is what. That’s why there’s no sandbagging in the budget. They show us the specific line items and they explain to us how long they’re going to take on each of them. Moreover, they mention that they added the buffer and the team places it as a separate line item — that’s just great in understanding where we are in relation to estimations. 

I previously mentioned going a little bit over budget originally, but not significantly. It’s probably more our fault than it is anybody else’s fault. In addition, it’s also been great working with them because we have the ability to scale up as needed. Whenever we want to hit a deadline or we need something to be done faster, they have a great pool of resources that we can just tap into, depending on our varying needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think they have any areas where they could improve. Perhaps, they could have more of them since they’re really great. I wish they could be on our actual team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a dedicated team and don’t tighten your budget when it comes to development costs. After all, you can’t shortcut good work. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Satori Analytics, an analytics agency specializing in data and AI.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to scale up our development capacity to meet our client needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

NBC IT Outsourcing augmented our team with developers. They use .NET, and the data engineers use PostgreSQL either on Microsoft Azure or AWS.

What is the team composition?

There are three .NET developers to complement our software engineering team. There are also a couple of data engineers.

How did you come to work with NBC IT Outsourcing?

I believe they may have found us, but I’m not sure.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over €150,000 (approximately $183,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Over time, they’ve given me 5–6 different resources, and I’ve been very happy with all of them except one. The quality of the work they deliver is good. It’s not excellent, but it’s not mediocre either.

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

Their communication and response to emails have been brilliant. NBC IT Outsourcing has been very helpful and professional. If there are problems, they find people to help. We have daily standups and use tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack to communicate on a daily basis.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a good outsourcing solution, and I’ve been happy working with them so far. I recommend working with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could train their technical teammates on soft skills.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Hire some people from NBC IT Outsourcing, and try out the relationship. If you have good chemistry, go for it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the group leader for analytics for DNV Poland Sp zoo, a global expert in risk management and assurance. We provide certification, advisory, and data-driven solutions to enhance safety, sustainability, and performance across various industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scalo?

We needed help with recruitment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scalo provides us with software developers for our projects, including Python and Databricks developers.

What is the team composition?

We work with a few teammates from Scalo.

How did you come to work with Scalo?

We found them through an online search.

How much have you invested with them?

That information is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Scalo has provided high-level specialists who have gotten things done for us and provided the solutions we need.

How did Scalo perform from a project management standpoint?

They always deliver on time. We communicate via email and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scalo is always on time and has a good and positive approach. They’re also very flexible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything is as it should be.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Public Cloud dept Manager of Databarracks

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide DevOps, Cloud, AI and Backup solutions

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Looking for quality engineers

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalo?

Online Search

Why did you select Scalo over others?

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

How many teammates from Scalo were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Working with Scalo has been very good experience so far. We already learnt this is the company we can rely on even on the most difficult tasks.

We've been tasked with kicking off very big IT project with very short notice period, which left us with not enough time to hire high quality staff for that goal. It was only possible with Scalo. They introduced us to high-quality engineers, suited to our needs, on very fair conditions.

This is only one of the most extreme examples, but we are working together more widely on a parnership-level since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our end customers are very positive about the staff Scalo provided.

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

Projects are delivered on time

What was your primary form of communication with Scalo?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Good quality staff straight away without our need to do many hours of interviewing and reviews.

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

Nothing at the moment

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of R&D of Tabnine

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

AI code assitance tools

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Team capacity and velicity

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalo?

Referral

Why did you select Scalo over others?

Good value for cost

How many teammates from Scalo were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

I worked with two Scalo developer.
They're engaged, talented, and easy to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ongoing development

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

We self managed the projects and the people involved

What was your primary form of communication with Scalo?

Virtual Meeting

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

People and talent

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

Equipment (laptops) can be more cutting edge

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CR&DO of a software company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is the only software solution that enables enterprises to deploy autonomous drone hives to create digital twins of their assets

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Augmentation of a team in Poland

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalo?

Referral

Why did you select Scalo over others?

Were able to find highly skilled developes that met our expectations

How many teammates from Scalo were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Full stack devlopment of various feature for a SaaS cloud based solution using microservices architecture.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Delivering many features as part of the software team

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

This was team augmentation so it's less relevant since the project management was done by us.

What was your primary form of communication with Scalo?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The team learns and constantly improves their knowledge and skills. 

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

Not that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the System Security Manager of an information technology company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provides a central gaming platform for licensees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Provide external consulting workforce to cover regulatory audits and internal security projects

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalo?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Scalo over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Scalo were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Employed an external consultant to support internal and external audits and to lead several security projects, and to support other unit projects with security guidance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Successfully passed audits. Successful security and business projects. Low incident count.

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

Any issues or questions were handled rapidly and in a very timely manner. Proactive approaching and meeting our needs and expectations for the regulatory of meetings, way of reporting etc.

What was your primary form of communication with Scalo?

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

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

Reaching out and solving any concerns or questions in a timely manner

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

Some concerns related to the technical consultant in specific but this is also on us to have reached out about sooner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Engineering Director of Modivo

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Running leading fashion e-commerce platform in Poland

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Migration from legacy stock and order management system from monolithic to distributed architecture

SOLUTION

How did you find Scalo?

Referral

Why did you select Scalo over others?

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

How many teammates from Scalo 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 was to support the existing team with PHP Symfony engineers in order to: 

• migrate the monolithic system to multiple smaller services 
• ensure the stock consistency among different ecommerce platforms supported by a single WMS system
• ensure the correct order flow for different ecommerce platforms supported by a single WMS system

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. the number of cancelled orders due to stock inconsistencies decrease by several % 
2. orders processing time by our customer service decreased 
3. Time to recover during downtimes decreased significantly

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

The Scalo team is always responsive when it comes to addressing our needs. Project management was driven by may company, Scalo delivered people only.

What was your primary form of communication with Scalo?

Virtual Meeting

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

Client facing approach. Scalo is genuinely trying to understand your needs and deliver best possible quality in given budget.

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

Not actually.