Simform

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a hunting regulation startup platform that collects legal information and government regulations about the process of hunting in the US. We provide information on when people can hunt, the dates, the type of animals they can track in every state, and the places that allow it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Simform?

We needed help with mobile app development, but we didn’t have internal resources, so we wanted to go with an outside hire of an agency that could manage all of the development processes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Simform has been doing a multiplatform mobile app development from scratch using Flutter. They’re responsible for building the front- and backend of the app, managing its coding, and handling the QA for it. In addition, they provide general tech insight and wisdom, including going with AWS rather than some other cloud platforms — they offer recommendations to ensure our product’s success by implementing certain processes to get our app working.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 8–9 members of their team in total — this changes depending on the work we’re currently doing. The people involved included a technical lead, a backend developer, two frontend developers, and a QA specialist.

How did you come to work with Simform?

We found them through online advertising while looking for a development agency. We chose them because they were the best option based on the balance between their body of work, their design repertoire, their ability to produce an app that matched our design requirements, and their pricing. Overall, they were the right balance between quality and affordability.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

So far, we’ve spent $100,000–$200,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we launched the app Simform created for us, we’ve gotten about 5,000 downloads and 3,000 users across all platforms. In addition, they quickly address any bug that arises. Overall, I’m satisfied with their work so far, and they’re meeting my expectations.

How did Simform perform from a project management standpoint?

They always meet deadlines and work with us to establish a realistic budget. Regarding tools and communication, they asked us what we preferred, so we’re using Zoho, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. Simform’s team is very communicative and gets back to us immediately when we have an inquiry.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a responsive team — their team is great at ensuring everyone is doing their job, especially during the weeks when we have a lot of work to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve been trying to rely on their expertise so they can give us specific recommendations on what we’re trying to do and get a better product, but we haven’t received that from them most of the time — maybe it is because they’re used to working with more experienced teams. This makes the difference between them meeting my expectations rather than exceeding them.

In addition, Simform is based in India, so we have a language barrier, which is challenging due to our niche industry. It’s been difficult to teach and communicate some of our concepts, but we knew this could be tricky before going in with the project, so this is not something we’re unsatisfied with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having your internal development team can be helpful, even just for consultancy, so they can review the process, ensure everything is going smoothly, and walk us through everything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-CEO of a business helping governments automate and streamline their procurement and grant processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Simform?

Our goals were to have more flexibility regarding time zone access, increase our capacity and speed, and expand our skill set base into various technologies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Simform provides us with resources to augment our design and engineering teams. These resources have been part of our product design process, as well as the overall development process. With their help, we’ve created features on our product around project management, communications, and usability, and they’ve also helped us create front-facing designs. Moreover, they help us with reporting.

What is the team composition?

We work with a designer, three backend engineers, a frontend engineer, and a report writer.

How did you come to work with Simform?

We found them through Google research. During this research, we found various companies and conducted a vetting process with the final candidates. Ultimately, Simform scored the best.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around March 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Throughout our engagement, Simform has managed to develop four new major features, and our clients are very happy with those new features.

How did Simform perform from a project management standpoint?

One project manager has managed our relationship with Simform, and their resources’ performance has been as good as expected. We use a Jira alternative to manage the project and Slack to communicate. Additionally, we have daily video conference meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Simform’s strength is that they have a very large and highly talented team, so they can offer a variety of different skill sets and increase capacity as needed. Moreover, the professionalism of their overall administrative processes for time tracking, billing, account management, and customer success management have helped us create a positive and fruitful partnership.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I would have them do differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish and communicate it in a very direct manner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an e-commerce booking software provider. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Simform?

We hired them to be our development agency. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Simform has built out our software team with engineers and designers to help our internal team complete projects on our web application. Their teammates are integrated into our team, fixing bugs, and developing new features. 

They’ve mostly worked on several dashboard features that our customers use in our product. Simform’s team has provided designs and scoped out projects, working with our product manager to add or remove teammates from project briefs. Simform executes against the design sprints they manage. Their team also handles some code review processes. All the code they develop has been merged into our master product. 

What is the team composition?

There are three permanent teammates on our project, but the number of teammates involved in a project fluctuates spending on our needs. Sometimes we need specialists in DevOps or a particular programming language; we’ve worked with about 10 specialized teammates from Simform. 

How did you come to work with Simform?

I was introduced to Simform by a friend who’d worked with them before. He was happy with their deliverables, so I reached out to them. Outside of the referral, I ended up hiring them because I believed they’d be a good cultural fit since we come from the same region. 

How much have you invested with them?

On average, we invest around $15,000 a month with Simform. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement began in December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of Simform’s output is judged by the number of bugs present, which are almost negligible. The quality of the deliverables is very good. Whenever there are bugs, Simform addresses them right away. Our net promoter score (NPS) went from -41 to +51 from 2020 to 2022. 

How did Simform perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints about their project management. They'll tell me upfront if something is undeliverable by a specific date. However, Simform always takes our deadlines and budget into consideration during projects. 

Their team is very responsive and communicative; we use Slack to communicate and Zoho to manage projects. They are very hands-on. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of Simform’s team is outstanding. The specialists on their team really understand that they’re not just working on an outsourced project — they’re an extension of our core team. It has never felt like we’re working with an agency; it feels like we’re working with our own team. 

They’ve connected with our customers and understand the importance of our product for our customers. Some days, they’ve even worked into the night to fix and release features. Their team has always gone above and beyond whatever I’ve asked. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t say there is anything they can do differently. However, knowing their teammates' skill sets and years of experience would be helpful. Although if someone doesn’t work out, we can always swap them out for a new teammate. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d suggest providing a lot of detail when defining tasks and projects. There shouldn’t be anything left to interpretation; that is the best way to work because of the cultural, language, and time zone differences. Having everything written down and scoped is the most important part of working with a team like Simform.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a mobile game company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Simform?

They provide a mobile engineer and a web engineer to augment our internal engineering team with additional support and velocity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Simform has helped augment our team working on the web and mobile apps. We assign their resources tasks through our project management software and they meet with us regularly on stand ups as members of our team. Our website is built in react and the mobile apps are done with Flutter on Android and iOS.

What is the team composition?

The team primarily entails development leads, engineers with specific skillsets, and more.

Specifically, we work with two engineers one mobile engineer and one web engineer.

How did you come to work with Simform?

I’ve known them for a number of years from my experiences with them at previous companies.

We both found them on Google and were referred to them by an acquaintance.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very organized, on-time, and hard-working, integrating well with our internal team.

How did Simform perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage the project in Linear and communicate over Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very easy to work with and have a lot of resources available at whatever skill level you need. We can work with them on both web and mobile technologies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re an integrated member of our team, and it’s easy for us to talk to them in that capacity.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important when working with remote teams to have very clear requirements. We own the project management and assign them tasks. They’ll be successful if all that is clearly documented.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Equilo, a data analytics SaaS platform focused on gender equality and social inclusion.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Simform?

We had tried 4–5 different combinations of teams and individuals in the past, and it never quite worked out. Our company needed a full stack development team to help us build everything from relational databases on the backend to our frontend website design, the UI, and some complicated algorithms with Python scripting.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Simform has been our tech team for over a year and a half. First, the team came in and helped us clean up work that other developers had left with issues. They've built a web-based application for us that is separate from our website. 

We have a backend database in MongoDB. Simform does a lot of work to make sure that our millions of data records are synced to the MongoDB database using Python. They also ensure it's displaying correctly on the dashboard. Their work involves a lot of dynamic data pulled into data visualizations and graphics on the application. The database also pulls quantitative and qualitative information and has a match-making functionality for people interested in investing. 

Currently, we have about 10 different products within our application, and we have a lot of different requirements for the Simform team. Broadly speaking, the team manipulates data, syncs the system to MongoDB, syncs the frontend, and does data visualization. They respond to our customers' feedback, service complaints, or issues. They also help us build new features and products for the app. Simform anticipates issues from a user perspective and helps troubleshoot any glitches that might happen. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of 7–8 people from Simform.

How did you come to work with Simform?

They reached out to me on LinkedIn and asked if I was looking for a development team. Around that time, we had started working with someone else, but it didn't work out. Simform happened to check in again, we had a discussion, and they sent us a proposal.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend about $20,000–$25,000 a month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in Q1 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to Simform's work, we've been able to get new products and features launched. I can be very demanding, with aggressive timelines to launch things. Simform has been incredibly gracious and responsive and has sometimes put in overtime to make sure they help us with critical items for my business. They provide an amazing, excellent, responsive service, launching new products and fixing issues. 

When we first started working with Simform, we were very cautious. However, they were super professional and took the time to understand our needs and product. The team cares about the project as if this were their business, too. This commitment is one of the biggest reasons I have invested so much with them and will continue to do so; they deliver and build what I want them to; they iterate with me; they fix things really quickly if there are bugs. In fact, they have a 100% success rate when addressing crashes or errors. Overall, Simform has great customer service.

How did Simform perform from a project management standpoint?

They have really good communication with two calls per week. One of these meetings is to talk about progress and go over agendas. They show us what they've done and demos of things. The second meeting is to set the priorities for the upcoming week's sprint. Additionally, I have a monthly meeting with the main project manager to talk about the bigger vision, what the pipeline looks like, and what kind of resources we will need over the longer term. 

On a day-to-day basis, they're integrated into our Slack, which is great. My company uses Asana for task management, and the whole Simform team is on there, where I can assign them tasks or tickets. The project manager is very personable, and they take the time to understand my business needs and technical needs.

Moreover, the team delivers on time and within budget. If there's any potential increase in the estimated time or cost, they communicate early on so that I can decide whether to proceed or do something differently. 

 What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm most impressed with Simform's ability to properly plan things, manage their work, and communicate early about what it will take. They're clearly experienced, understand what's needed, and are truthful and honest about it. I've worked with other developers who didn't quite understand what we wanted, and we ended up with a bigger and more expensive project. With Simform, I don't have to worry about those issues. They understand the requirements, plan accordingly, and communicate clearly, enabling me to make good decisions in my company's best interest.

With other developers, I've sometimes felt they would make decisions for my company, which isn't what I wanted. I wanted a thinking partner, and Simform is that for us. When I haven't thought through an idea 100%, they help me take it the rest of the way, which is another huge thing — not all developers can do that.

I've been operating my business for five years now, and Simform is above anyone else I've worked with in terms of professionalism, ability to deliver, responsiveness, and high-quality products. They just hit every single mark I'm looking for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they're great. They have saved my company and made it amazing — I love working with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to make sure you follow what Simform is suggesting in terms of the number of meetings. Although I initially felt that two meetings a week was so much time, it's really helpful to put aside time to have conversations. Be willing and open to frequent meetings and setting up channels for communication; these have been a factor in our success working together.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a consortium of independent food service companies providing corporate breakrooms, cafes, markets, vending, pantry and office coffee services. As an industry-leading technology company, our ecosystem offering spans payment hardware and software, loyalty programs, brand marketing, procurement, national account sales and other services that enable our affiliate member companies to provide state-of-the-art technology, flexible and healthy food choices, and consistent service to their corporate customers across the country. As the Director of Program Management, I am responsible for the project management of the technology projects we undertake including our mobile apps, loyalty program websites, and payment hardware systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Simform to maintain and enhance our existing mobile applications platforms across our various brands. Native iOS and Android applications allow the consumer base to access the loyalty program from their phones. Our goals are to improve the usability of the apps while providing new features to enable touchless and phone-based payment options while keeping the apps technology current.

SOLUTION

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

Simform came highly recommended by one of our trusted partner development organizations. After interviewing them, we chose them based on their broad experience in the key areas where we had potential projects, their reputation, and project cost estimate

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

The existing mobile applications were transitioned from another contractor to Simform over a period of 2 months of co-development. The first month was primarily knowledge transfer followed by Simform taking the lead on development with previous development team acting as reviewers. This made for a smooth transition. The technologies are iOS and Android native applications which include Apple Pay integration and Bluetooth communication with external devices for product selection and payment. Deliverable are on-going by cycling through enhancements across multiple apps with different branding. The applications are thoroughly tested in a QA environment and then UAT scenarios prior to public release.

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

There are four Simform resources on the team which includes an Android developer, iOS developer, QA Engineer, and Team Lead. Project management was done internal by myself.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

...

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

For this project, the project management is lead internally. However, we have started other projects with Simform based and they are providing the project management. We primarily use Slack and Jira for communication and backlog tracking. Cloud-based documentation augment Jira details and email is used as needed too. We meet daily for a quick scrum followed by any detailed discussions that are needed. Simform accommodates our US East Coast timezone.

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

There are several key areas that impress me about Simform. First is their experienced and skilled development staff. We have expanded to partner with Simform on additional projects with a variety of skillsets from mobile to iOT to web development to Raspberry Pi device development. Second is their engagement process for new development. A business analyst and other resources as needed work closely with us to initially scope the project for a quote; after acceptance, this is smoothly transitioned to a development team lead by an experience development lead; design wireframes were immediately started and provided within 1-2 weeks of project kickoff. Lastly, we have had to experience resource transition as you do with any development organization. Simform handled this with an immediate knowledge transfer to a non-billed resource for several week time period. This make us feel confident in the transition and appreciative in the smoothness of the transition.

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

One area on my wishlist is to have 24/7 server management capability. We have utilized Simform server management and devops skills. They have definitely worked outside the normal work-day window. However, it would be ideal to have 24/7 management to handle the US workday across all timezones.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software engineer at smartnanotubes, a manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Simform?

We wanted to develop software to support our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we shared with Simform what we wanted in a software. We started on multiple mobile platforms. Now, we’re developing hybrid mobile apps in Flutter. On the desktop side, we use Angular and Node.js for the backend. For cloud service, we’re using AWS. Additionally, they’ve provided IT/cloud consulting services.

What is the team composition?

We had up to 20 people at a certain point. Now, there are 12–13 people on the team.

How did you come to work with Simform?

A friend worked there as a developer. I knew they were a good company that provided good services, so I approached them and went from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re happy with their work.

How did Simform perform from a project management standpoint?

Initially, there were some problems, but they figured them out. They’ve improved, and now they're doing really well with project management. They use an internal project management tool; we use Slack and Microsoft Teams to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They communicate well and frequently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had issues when the project manager left. They transferred the project to a new person, but they could’ve taken care of it sooner to avoid problems.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them proper project requirements and make sure they understand what you want.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO and founder of Gardenize, garden app. We help gardeners grow! On our mobile and web plattform, garderners around the world can improve their gardening skills and become better at caring for their plants. The can also connect with each other on our social platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Initially Simform joined our development team with extra resources in our re-branding project, that had a strict deadline to fulfill. Later we mover our full development team to Simform.

SOLUTION

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

They acted professional, could assign qualified resources when we needed it, and had competitative prices.

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

The work included updating the UI/UX of Gardenize mobile app according to new design. The work has been in close cooperation with our PM, and has moved to also include updating and cleaning of legacy code. we use mainly native iOS and Android.

Simform also helps us review our Amazon solutions, servers, APIs ett from a security, speed and optimizations perspecitives, and have implemented measurements, to improve our deliveries as well as our cost.

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

We have a team of around 7-8 people. They are mobile app devlopers, tech lead, full stack dev ops etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our costs for data storage and utilization has decreased by 15%.

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

We use Teams, Slack and Jira as main tools for communications and project management. We keep a tight dialouge through daily stand up meetings, and bi-weekly sprint plannings.

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

They are very professional and have good support.

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

None.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a VP at an HR consulting firm. Our division is a pre-employment testing software program that organizations use to determine if their candidates have the abilities necessary for success. I handle all aspects of the division, from development to sales and marketing to support.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Simform?

Our application was developed in-house, and we had an MVP that we wanted to redesign and thoughtfully craft in terms of the UX.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Simform redesigned our application’s UI/UX. We started with one module, then gave them two other major modules. Then, we added the front-facing test player part of the software. They went from wireframes to mockups and worked through them using InVision. After they finished the design, we requested a quote to build the software. We shared our code with them, and they had to understand our server-side API. They also got involved in things like database design. 

The team is now coding the product using .NET Core and AngularJS. They’re developing a staging environment our team will implement on our software. Additionally, Simform uses Backbone.js on some modules. They modulize 7the coding, and they have teammates working on massaging the code into a single repository. They’ve completed one of the modules, and they’re almost done with the programming on the second one. 

We do code reviews internally because the Simform team will turn over the product for our developers to make last-minute adjustments and implement them. After the product is finished, we’ll engage Simform to add more features and functionalities down the road, working in the vein of ground-up design, UX guidance, and coding.

What is the team composition?

We have a team lead who has coordinated all UI/UX work. We’ve worked with about 20 people in total, including project managers, QC specialists, engineers, and programmers. 

How did you come to work with Simform?

A representative from Simform reached out to me via email and phone, and we got into some conversations. After interviewing them, we chose them because they were a great fit. We tried them out, and because we were so pleased with their work, we extended the design all the way through, and then we decided to hire them for the coding.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $150,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Simform has done an exceptional job, exceeding expectations. This project is a huge step out of our comfort zone, and we’ve been very conservative with the budget, keeping almost everything in-house. For this reason, we first tried them out piecemeal, and we’ve engaged them with the full boat because we’re so pleased with their work.

How did Simform perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed phenomenally well in terms of project management. Initially, they quoted a static project and estimated a timeline. However, as we’ve continued to develop the software, everything has been a moving target. We’ve added functions to the requirements, and Simform has graciously accepted every change. 

These additional functions require extra time and money, which we understand. We couldn’t have known where we would end up by the time we were coaching a specific part, and Simform has rolled with the punches, working with us to figure it out and execute the work. Their timelines have been right on as we’ve moved the goal post adding extra work; they estimate and end up being right on time.

We share Slack with them and have projects on GitHub. Depending on the question or concern, we also communicate via email and Microsoft Teams chat. Additionally, we have a weekly team meeting and a management meeting every two weeks to ensure everything is going smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with Simform’s flexibility. This is new for us, and we haven’t been shy about continuing to develop our software after we’ve already given them specs. While it may not be the best situation for them, it’s the best situation for us. Simform happily and graciously accepts the challenges of us growing our software while they’re recoding — that’s been phenomenal. 

Additionally, their design work is astounding, and their communication is fantastic. I know many of the people we work with, even though we’re a world apart, and I enjoy working with them. The team is readily available; they’re not hindered by distance and different time zones. We never have to wait a day to hear back from them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they need to change; they respond to us really well. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

What helped us be confident was breaking the project into pieces and auditioning Simform. That allowed us to familiarize ourselves with them, the way they work, their quality, and their timelines, allowing us to grow our relationship with them dramatically. If you want to ease into it, my advice is that you can.