Silk Software House

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and founder of Teroware. My company offers development services in various areas, including web, mobile apps, and 3D and VR software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Silk Software House?

We needed to subcontract a company to work on our customers' projects, which were mostly web and mobile development projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Silk Software House provides staff augmentation and development services. The team has mostly worked on web development projects using HTML, CSS, React, and Java. Silk Software House has also supported us in the development of a mobile application. We provide mock-ups of the software's UI/UX design, and the team provides an estimate for the development. Once we agree on the cost, Silk Software House will continue with development. 

We work on a hybrid model depending on the project. For some projects, Silk Software House manages all the processes from beginning to end, and sometimes, the team offers additional team members for my company's in-house development. 

What is the team composition?

We work with different teammates depending on the project. For some projects, we've worked with 10 teammates from Silk Software House; for others, we've worked with 3–4 team members. We've worked with senior backend developers, testers, and project managers. Currently, we work with 2–3 teammates, and we have worked with different people in the past. 

How did you come to work with Silk Software House?

I met one of Silk Software House's co-founders on previous projects we worked on together.
How much have you invested with them?

We've spent roughly $500,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Silk Software House in the second quarter of 2015, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Silk Software House meets our expectations and, in some cases, exceeds them. The entire team is doing a great job and often changes along the way. 

How did Silk Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

Silk Software House communicates well with us via Zoom. We collaborate via Google Docs and GitLab. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm mostly impressed by Silk Software House's communication and flexibility in accommodating our needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything for Silk Software House to improve. I don't have any negative comments about their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive of YetiPay Sp. z o.o.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Payment service provider operating under national financial licence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Silk Software House to accomplish?

• Compliance with AML requirements

SOLUTION

How did you find Silk Software House?

Referral

Why did you select Silk Software House over others?

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

How many teammates from Silk Software House were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Designing internal procedures for processes needed to fullfill anti money laundering requirements for payment service providers:

1. Implementation of KYC process for users and merchants
2. Implementation of user verification process for users and merchants 
3. Implementation of real time transaction monitoring
4. Implementation of risk attribution system for users and merchants 
5. Implementation of automated sanction and PEP lists checkups with further actions regarding hits

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything works fine without any malfunctions and the value was positively measured by the AML audit made by The Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

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

Very good project management. I felt that they are having everything under control. We have good contact in terms of understanding each other or maybe I should say that they understand my objectives very well. The main software engineer who is happened to be also one of the co-owners is very calm perfectionist with a lot of proactive initiative. He sees the big picture and takes care of every detail. I'm sticking with this guy forever :)

What was your primary form of communication with Silk Software House?

Email or Messaging App

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

They were very friendly and straight to the point. They really care - you can see it through what they say and offer and through what they do - event when they are not asked to do it. They took the biggest burden off my shoulders by taking care of this project.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Silk Software House could have done differently?

Can't see any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of GarageStore sp. z o.o. GarageStore is an online marketplace for motorcycle vehicles, parts and accessories.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Silk Software House?

Silk was responsible for creating the site from scratch together with a very complicated database structure.

What were your goals for this project?

Create the site and make it work for a very high amount of viewers simultaneously.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We made a bidding process among 12 IT companies based in Poland and Silk which wasn't the cheapest have convinced us with their approach and detailed analysis of our project that they were the ones to choose.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

It was a complex project which our technological stack can probably prove: Debian GNU/Linux 8 (jessie) as the operational service Postgresql 9.5 as a relative database SOLR 6.5.1 as a search engine JAVA 8 Spring VUE2 - frontend components HTML5 presentational layer Maven 3 Silk has also provided us a fair amount of project consulting and advice.

What was the team composition?

We had 1-2 web developers, 1 graphic designer, 1 server specialist, 1 senior java developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had another IT company before Silk and they cost us nearly a year and produced nothing. Silk has allowed us to get back on track and finish the site.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had 3 project managers and one of them wasn't too good, but he was temporary due to our previous one having an accident. Apart from that everything went smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed by their analysis skills and their ability to point out flaws in our ideas which could cost us more money.

Are there any areas for improvement?

A better cost prediction of the whole process but I guess it's an overall problem in the IT business.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a brand reputation director at Publicis Media Poland—part of Publicis Groupe, the world's third-largest communications group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Silk Software House?

We were looking for a vendor to develop a website for our agency and this project quickly evolved into an idea of an internal communication and knowledge sharing platform enriched with a gamification system. The challenge was to bring this vision to life.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Generally—we presented our vision and they did the rest, starting from very detailed UX workshops, through all programming work, to maintenance and support.  The project is ongoing and we develop new functions. Last month we added new functionality that automates a whole system of developing knowledge in our organization, from signing up for internal and external trainings, workshops, conferences, etc., though evaluating trainers, planning employees development, to reporting results.

What is the team composition? 

We mostly work through a project manager, but there is a larger team working on our project.

How did you come to work with Silk Software House?

We started with a pitch. We interviewed about 10 different companies, and we decided Silk Software House was definitely the best in terms of understanding our needs and our vision, and we got on very well from the start – they were very open-minded and genuinely interested in our project. They also offered us a good price.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working with them in June 2014 and the relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform quickly became the center of information and our main internal communication tool, with over 700 users (and plans to launch in other agencies within our Group so the number of users will exceed 1500).

In 2017 the platform was distinguished as one of the top 3 internal communications and culture-building initiatives in a global Publicis Media awards program.

How did Silk Software House perform from a project management standpoint? 

Very well, our last project was extremely demanding and complicated, but they made it a lot easier thanks to good organization and communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We're a very demanding client and we expect a high-quality service. Silk Software House exceeded our expectations in terms of quality. Also, they're patient and able to work with people who don't have an IT background.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tell them what you need, listen to their advice, let them do their job and rest assured they will deliver.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Creative Director of a marketing and advertising company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Small and big marketing and advertising campaigns, brand identity and BTL materials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Silk Software House to accomplish?

• website

SOLUTION

How did you find Silk Software House?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Silk Software House over others?

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

How many teammates from Silk Software House were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Online portal for cardiologist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

These are internal data of our client.

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

Every step of this project was done according the timeschedule and was on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Silk Software House?

In-Person Meeting

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

Backend department . They were ready to do almost every project we could imagine.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Silk Software House could have done differently?

For that moment everything is great

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Owner of Road Code

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a pro-cycling platform bringing fans closer to the riders and races.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Silk Software House to accomplish?

• Develop new platform features

SOLUTION

How did you find Silk Software House?

Referral

Why did you select Silk Software House over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Silk Software House were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Develop the whole platform and specific features such as:

• Video streaming
• Fantasy game 
• Live data integartion & visualization 
• FE of a new Ranking system 
• Integration with Hedera distributed ledger technology 
• Hedera Wallet functionality

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• 100.000 users 
• Partners are satisfied with the product 
• Well working platform with diverse feature offering

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

They always deliver on time and are very proactive if any issues arise.

What was your primary form of communication with Silk Software House?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They review briefs and requirements deeply and ask critical questions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Silk Software House could have done differently?

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