Scrums.com

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder of MNDB LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a company that empowers other organizations with knowledge and experience in the analysis, automation and optimization of digital processes in the energy, commercial and financial sectors, offering consulting services and personalized digital solutions. I am CO-founder of the company and I am in charge of strategy and operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Development of an application for Android and iOS consuming and entering data to one of our products.
• One of our complex electrical system monitoring systems required a new way of being consulted and it had to be through mobile devices
• We contacted sovtech because we needed a very specific solution for mobile devices with the particularity that it had to be integrated into one of our solutions.

SOLUTION

How did you find SovTech?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select SovTech over others?

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

How many teammates from SovTech were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The scope of work included developing a custom solution to solve a specific challenge. Together with Sovtech, we identified the different needs and designed the necessary solution to solve them. The project was carried out using agile methodologies, which allowed continuous monitoring and greater flexibility to make adjustments during the process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The different stages of the implementations of the application and the evolutions visualized through the updates available in the stores (IoS/Android)

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

Using agile approaches, the project was finished within the contractually stipulated timelines. Their painstaking project planning and oversight ensured quality and timeliness at every stage of development, culminating in an output that exceeded our expectations and satisfied all of our specifications.

What was your primary form of communication with SovTech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What truly impresses and distinguishes SovTech is their ability to consistently innovate, maintain a laser-like focus on quality, think imaginatively, and provide distinctive, customized solutions. Its entire team's effort and attention, combined with the outcomes it delivers, demonstrate its commitment to quality.

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

It was not necessary to modify anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the https://foxtrotco.com/ of Foxtrot

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I'm the operation manager at foxtrot, a Ecommerce platform for food distribution

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• We engaged SovTech to develop a custom web application to streamline collaboration and workflows for our engineering firm. This project was strategic to improve internal efficiencies and external service to our clients.

SOLUTION

How did you find SovTech?

Online Search

Why did you select SovTech over others?

• Pricing fits our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from SovTech were assigned to this project?

3

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

During requirements gathering, SovTech's team asked insightful questions demonstrating their technical acumen and desire to deeply understand our needs. They used their expertise to translate our business goals into well-designed software solutions.fits

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final product SovTech built is an intuitive, enterprise-grade application thatintegrates seamlessly with our systems. All core functionality was developed according to specifications. SovTech even enhanced the user experience by implementing innovative features that were not in scope but added tremendous value.

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

SovTech's project managers were skilled communicators, providing transparent status updates and promptly responding to any queries.

What was your primary form of communication with SovTech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Importantly, SovTech served as a true partner. Despite some scope changes and unexpected obstacles, they maintained outstanding commitment to quality, budget and timeline. SovTech 's exceptional customer service and professionalism made our collaboration smooth and enjoyable.

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

Nothing for now, they strictly followed our requirements.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CFO & Executive Vice President of SABIC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

They support customers by identifying and developing opportunities in key end markets such as construction, medical devices, packaging, agri-nutrients, electrical and electronics, transportation and clean energy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Sov Tech was engaged with the explicit purpose of creating a user-friendly mobile application that would enhance our petrochemical manufacturing processes at SABIC. Our aim was to optimize efficiency, streamline operations, and ensure a seamless experience for our employees.

SOLUTION

How did you find SovTech?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select SovTech over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from SovTech 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 included developing a comprehensive mobile app that allowed our employees to access real-time data, monitor production processes, manage inventory, and streamline communication. The key deliverables included a user-friendly interface, seamless integration with our existing systems, and robust data security measures.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project delivered outstanding measurable outcomes. Our internal processes became more efficient, resulting in a significant reduction in production downtime and improved productivity. The mobile app provided real-time insights, allowing us to make informed decisions promptly.

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

. Sov Tech's project management was exemplary. They consistently delivered items on time, ensuring that our project stayed on schedule. They were highly responsive to our needs, promptly addressing any concerns or modifications we requested throughout the development cycle.

What was your primary form of communication with SovTech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We chose Sov Tech as our preferred option among other companies because of their exceptional portfolio, extensive proficiency in mobile app development, and their demonstrated comprehension of the distinctive challenges encountered within the petrochemical industry.

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

No the team is great to work it

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of an online financial marketplace that compares different banks, lenders, and insurers across the South African market.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SovTech?

We brought them on at the beginning of the business three years. They developed our initial technology, as well as performed maintenance and built features and technology we’ve done since.

Our main issue was the misallocation of people to products. Individuals were applying for the wrong type of banking product, creating a whole heap of applications going to banks and lenders that didn’t represent quality leads. With SovTech, we created a risk-scoring algorithm that sits in between the applicants and the institutions and matches the correct person to the correct product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s a web-based platform, and they designed the first iteration as well, though another company designed the second iteration. SovTech did all the engineering on the backend as well.

We started off with a very surface level marketplace, which used a good UX to get individuals in South Africa to apply through our system. They go through a simple application form and enter a comparison page with basic pricing information for the product and company. We provide real-time scoring, so the applicant gets a live score for our partners that is the actual quote they’d get based on the information they provided. We have a lot of APIs—71 banks, lenders, and insurers have API integrations with our risk-scoring engine—and feedback loops built-in, as well as data analytics and data science.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager and two developers and communicated will three regularly. Each developer handled a different aspect of the business. We had tech standups three times a week and open communication, which helped us gauge how far along the developers had progressed.

How did you come to work with SovTech?

They’d done one previous project for us: an online delivery service for an international retail company. We enjoyed working with them, so we used them again. They were accommodating and executed well.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent 600,000 South African Rand ($39,600 USD) to build the platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016, and the platform launched at the end of 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Feedback from partners has been positive; the risk-scoring engine works well according to them. We’ve become one of the bigger lead-providers to banks in the country.

How did SovTech perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated over Slack, and they were very responsive. I can give them a phone call anytime. The channel to our team was open and easy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This is our second project with them, and we’re happy with both of them. All systems work well, from execution and timelines to communication. If we were unhappy or only marginally happy, we would have left.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Foreseeing and sticking to timelines, perhaps, which is really hard in technology. That’s small, but if there’s anything to pick on, it’s that.

BACKGROUND

What challenge were you trying to address with SovTech?

We needed to build a platform that would connect customers with third-party partners in order to help them conduct business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SovTech?

We needed to build a platform that would connect customers with third-party partners in order to help them conduct business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked together on the initial low-resolution wireframes, and we used the company’s corporate identity for a final design.

They designed and developed an MVP for our platform in a short amount of time. It needed to be cloud-hosted with a static frontend, and incorporate the basic technologies used. Their work is ongoing with supporting the platform.

What is the team composition?

It’s changed over time, but we primarily had a project manager, a developer, and a lead designer.

How did you come to work with SovTech?

One of my colleagues had worked with them previously.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in May 2018, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We piloted the product that was built and were able to get good feedback on the product idea. Their team was always accessible.

How did SovTech perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager was very hands-on. If we had issues or things that needed to be resolved quickly, she was able to pull the right resources together. We communicated via Slack.

Unfortunately, we did have missed timelines at times, which weren’t communicated beforehand, to our frustration. There was, however, always acknowledgment that things could be done better and a willingness to improve for the next interaction.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

We liked that they keep the same personnel assigned to our project to keep our relationship strong.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Yes, I think that their approach to winning clients or winning work needs to be less templated. They tend to come with their own ideal solution before fully understanding what the project needs might be. To have flexibility before proposing any solutions would be appreciated.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to be very clear on what your scope calls for. It’s important to agree on the timelines beforehand and communicate what’s a flexible timeline, and what isn't. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Versofy.com is an online marketplace for professional services. I am the founder

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SovTech?

SovTech have been briefed with taking our fully custom product built in PHP Laravel and spinning off the front end to a wordpress front end in order to give our team more ability to add content for SEO purposes, make quick fire changes to the UI and generally have more control over our platform without the need for engineers. They have also been tasked with migrating our site to an elastic cloud server as well as implementing bitbucket for better development practice and control and integration into 3rd party apps and products.

What were your goals for this project?

1) Spinoff the front end to Wordpress with all relevant database linking 2) Migrate site to elastic cloud server 3) Enable easy integration and development control through best practice structures

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

SovTech understood our requirements and offered a solution that will enable our business to rapidly scale by laying a solid tech foundation.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

SovTech have been briefed with taking our fully custom product built in PHP Laravel and spinning off the front end to a wordpress front end in order to give our team more ability to add content for SEO purposes, make quick fire changes to the UI and generally have more control over our platform without the need for engineers. They have also been tasked with migrating our site to an elastic cloud server as well as implementing bitbucket for better development practice and control and integration into 3rd party apps and products.

What was the team composition?

Lead Developer Project Manager Team Lead CEO

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project is still ongoing but should be complete in the coming weeks. Communication has been great throughout and the team has been flexible to accommodate our priorities from a development perspective. We eagerly await the final product.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The process has been good from start to present, we had a couple of sessions for the sovtech team to understand our product and requirements. They then put together a roadmap and rollout plan to get to our desired destination. Once work commenced, they have effectively made use of both Trello and Slack to keep us informed and up to date of the project progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

SovTech has a young, dynamic team that is knowledgeable in their processes and skill set.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As with most development projects, things always seem to take longer than first anticipated, often due to unforeseen circumstances. My recommendation for any development company is to rather estimate longer time periods and deliver quicker than the other way around. That being said, Sovtech have kept us in the loop from day one as to the progress so any delays have not necessarily come as a surprise so I thank them for that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

NFT marketplace

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build functionality for creators to monetise their content

SOLUTION

How did you find SovTech?

Online Search

Why did you select SovTech over others?

Other

How many teammates from SovTech were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Build functionality for creators to connect with their audience and monetise content with subscriptions, PPV, tips, DMs etc with a feed for subscribers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

None unfortunately.

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

Items were always severely delayed. Any small features they did manage to deliver after the year were full of bugs and so were unusable due to failing to do testing.

What was your primary form of communication with SovTech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

None.

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

I spent $136k for a completely broken, nowhere near-finished product. AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS - here's the key points of our experience and why we would NEVER recommend them. 

• They mislead you about the technical talent you will receive. We were supposed to be paying for 1 senior and 1 mid level developer. What we actually got was 2 entry level developers that were being charged at a premium. 
• They publish faulty software that causes you to literally lose money (we lost $3k in that was in an online wallet because of it), yet they reckon this is not their problem. 
• They make your site unable to process transactions because of faulty software that they publish (completely preventing us from generating revenue for months). They also reckon they are not liable for these damages or any kind of refund. 

If you hire this company, expect the amount of features that they actually deliver to be on one hand (doesn't include testing!). Expect to be led on for months about the status of features so that you can keep paying them. And then, when you get to the end of the years contract with them, realize that literally nothing of meaning was delivered and you were actually left off worse because of hiring them (we had a fully functioning product before we hired them, now we are left $136k worse off AND with a broken product!) Even the very small features they did manage to deliver (like I said, this project needed the skilled developers that we were supposed to be paying for) were full of bugs so are unusable!! Avoid SovTech at all costs, happy to share my full experience (w/ proof) with anyone who contacts me.

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