Sirma

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Engineering of Kount

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Kount provides fraud protection for card-not present transactions, and account protection.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Help strategy and planning for migration from on-prem to cloud for core products
• Help define core software architecture patterns for next-gen, cloud-native fraud protection solutions
• Help develop initial proof of concept for cloud-native, micro service architecture

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

Referral

Why did you select Sirma over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Experience

How many teammates from Sirma were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Summary of key deliverables:

• Assist Kount team with analysis of existing on-prem solutions and technologies to help evaluate feasibility and risks of cloud migration.
• Assit Kount team with analysis and design of core software architecture patterns for next-generation micro-service, cloud-native solutions.
• Assist Kount team with development of initial micro-service architecture proof of concept.
• Assist Kount team with development of product micro-service to establish initial cloud-native workload while also providing short-term value to existing on-prem product.
• Assiste Kount team with load testing to evaluate feasibility of achieving desired throughput of thousands of request per-second.

This project was not a simple "lift-and-shift" of on-prem technology to the cloud. The migration was seen as the opportunity to explore and realize a more modern, extensible and scalable future for Kount's real-time risk prevention products and solutions. As such the project began with deep analysis of the exsiting Kount solutions to both understand functional requirements as well as potential bottlenecks and/or areas for improvement.

The project then considered both the funcitonal and non-functional requirements to propose a modern, and more exstensible set of core software architecture patterns using cloud-native technologies along with Go. These patterns were further explored through proofs-of-concept, and technical reviews to validate assumptions and viability of the proposed patterns.

The project then sought to provide interim business value by identifying gaps in existing product functionality that could be met by introducing new cloud-native services. This both provided a means to validate aspects of the proposed plan while also adding some immediate value to the products that would have otherwise been difficult to realize in the existing on-prem architecture.

Throughout the project, the teams also explored the desired volume and response timing targets set by the business. Volume targets were thousands of transactions per-second, with real-time response SLA of under 1,000ms.

The project was a joint collaboration between Kount and Panaton.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrated progress or success:

• Detailed design diagrams (sequence, flow) for core architecture that focused on real-time fraud prevention workloads
• Development of proofs-of-concept
• Development of micro-service to gain foothold in new cloud ecosystem while providing value to existing on-prem product
• Development and execution of load tests to assess ability to reach volume and performance targets

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

Project management:

• Yes, the team was very consistent in delivering on-time. Throughout the project, there were regular check ins such as daily standups, end of cycle demos. Work was tracked in a proper backlog to promote visibility.
• The team was very responsive to our needs. A local project leader and project manager were assigned to ensure clear communication and alignment.

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

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

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

What I found most impressive or unique about the company:

• I felt that I had a partner, not a vendor, helping us by actively contributing knowledge, experience and perspective to help make our project the best it could be.
• I appreciate their willingness to be candid and clear. When creating new things that don't exist you want honest, experienced feedback. Not every idea I have is a good one. They were willing to honestly engage, to push back, to suggest alternatives.
• I always appreciate that Dejan is Zero BS.

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

On this project the one aspect I've discussed with Panaton is that I think they could have pushed Kount for more feedback on certain aspects of how the project was going. As the intensity and pressure on a project increases, it's a common reaction for teams to retreat into their shell. I observed Kount doing this at times, and I think it was a missed opportunity to prevent this. Communication suffered during this time, and some expectations became misaligned. Again, this is something that, in hindsight, seems so clear and at the time is usually not so obvious.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Pureinfluencer, LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

With our proprietary technologies we assist auto dealerships in the United States to sell more cars via their websites and acquire more cars from their markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build an automated website-visitor to lead conversion platfrom
• Build an industry first realtime "Digital Selling" platform
• Build an industry first Direct-From-Customer Vehicle Acquisition Platform
• Build a SaaS platform that would be "self-maintaining" and require little to no Customer Support

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Sirma over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sirma were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We are in an unique industry that is bound by many State and Manufacturer regulations, compartmentalized by even more Manufacturer (Toyota, Ford, BMW, etc) legacy data systems, with ever increasing demands by individual dealerhip franchisee requirements. Within these constraints we needed to build an intelligent SaaS platform that would assist dealerships in converting more of their website visitors to hig value, high quality leads.

In has been an ever expanding and iterative project based on the requests and needs of over 1000 US dealership clients in an ever changing automotive and digital landscape.

The work that Sirma has done has made Pureinfluencer, LLC the leading platform for high-quality dealership website leads and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From 0 to over 1,000 paying dealership clients monthly.

Over 70,000 high quality leads generated per month.

An average 39 month Dealership client retention on the platform and increasing

An industry first - Automated Acquisition Platform

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

Sirma has ALWAYS delivered on time - often times - even under unrealistic expectations with an over-abundance of scope creep. They provide not only excellent work but also strong (often innovative) technology and project consulting.

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Sirma's ability to do just about anything and everything that we've asked of them from a software development and architectures design standpoint.

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

Not any that come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Digital services of D Commerce bank

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Universal Bank. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Mobile Banking App. development and implementation

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

invited them to participate in tender process,based on good reputation

Why did you select Sirma over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sirma were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The purpose of the project was to create a new mobile application for D Commerce bank for Android an IOS. Build technology, Design and main features were part of the first phase, the second phase were defined as dvelopment of most usable functionalities on the local financial market. After both phases were successfuly finished sttartegic development were defined as not only features but products based on the mobile app, revolutonary Multibanking, based on Open banking (PSD2). 

It's important to mention that all the phases were planned and implemented according to the prreliminary time plan and deployed successfully in proffessional manner. 
On-going bug fixing with no downtime and interruption for clients.
Excellent live service support.

The project is on-going with other planned strategic products and services. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Mobile app. delivered in 6 month;
• Feedback from our customers;
• Metrics followed on the regular bases for the usage of the app;
• No unplanned downtimes. 

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

Response on timly manner;

Good communication and collaboration from PM and the developers team.

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

In-Person Meeting

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

We're impressed with their perfect communication and support regarding all issues. Possitive attitude and creative open minded team. 

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

No improvements needed. It will be enough if it's possible to assure the same delivery quality in timely manner.
What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?
Clear requirements with minor changes during the time of development. Preferable to use Agile methodology for short iterations to use the main strength of the vendor - flexibility and short timelines for time to market delivery.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of a gift card solutions company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The company provides cloud based gift card solutions and services for brands, gift card buying corporations and solution partners / merchant aggregators.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Make self serviced customer portal
• Enhance consumer facing user interfaces
• Extend and enhance internal, customer and partner APIs
• Maintain existing code base

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

Old and good relation

Why did you select Sirma over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sirma 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 is to collaborate with the product and tech team from the company, and help developing new feature and enhanding existing features in the platform.

The developers work on prioritised tasks and deliver "pull requests" with the code changes needed to implement new functionality. The code base combined with the pull request is automatically loaded to test servers for automated and manual tests. The process is finalised with a product and tech review before the code is merged and deployed.

The Sirma team works as a development team extension to the existing product team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Quick onboarding of a new team matching the requirements

The team works with well established HR structure, where us as clients can focus on our work

The team continue to deliver enhancements to the platform, allowing us as clients to operate a bigger customer base with the same staff

Contribute to the product team with proposed improvements

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

The project management is based on a combination of Scrum and Kanban, and the team priorities are set by us as clients. We arrange sprint planning every 14 days, and the priorities are reiewed and aligned with the company's roadmap.

When things are urgent, we experience the deliveries being delivered on time. For longer "sub-projects", we also experience that the team delivers on time, unless they are re-prioritised by us.

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The company has deep knowledge in the IT development industry and payments. It has delivered consistent revenue and profit over almost three decades. Also, their ability to assemble a skilled team within short timelines is very impressive.

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

Nothing really specific here. Maybe insisting on sometimes have physical gathering?

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Partner of Rapan LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide services to the gaming and the entertainment industries. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Develop a web game
• Develop an Android Version
• Develop an iOS Version

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

Referral

Why did you select Sirma over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Sirma were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Sirma provided engineering personnel for our mobile game. The game was developed for an enterprise client. It had three versions - web browser, Android native and iOS native. The work was done professionally - the project was on schedule without cost overruns. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was on time and fit within the alocated budget. 

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

They alocated a dedicated project manager who ran daily scrum meetings with their developers and our Point-of-Contact person

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Solid coders. There were very few bugs that needed to be addressed before the release. 

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

Nothing comes to mind. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of TimeSuite Software Corporation

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Develope and sale software for the construction industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Outsourced software developers
• Direction on development and development processes
• Continuity with the development team

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

Referral

Why did you select Sirma over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Sirma were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Sirma provides oursourced developers who make up the majority of our software development team. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have an extensive list of on-going projects that are delivered regularly.

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

Sirma developers perform at a high level. They are professional and productive.

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

Virtual Meeting

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

Sirma is a great company to work with. The communication is exceptional and professional. We've been working with them for about 7 years now, and have never had a complaint.

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

none

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Product of Tachin.ai

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide a SAAS platform for interconnecting Healthcare applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Develop platform infrastructure
• Develop platform UI/UX
• Develop REST API library

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

Referral

Why did you select Sirma over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Sirma were assigned to this project?

20

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

Full-stack development according to product requirements of a multi-tenanted SAAS platform.  Meeting SOC-2 requirements.  Manage the platform in production.  Maintain continual release cadence.  Build low-code / no-code workflow configurition tool.  Build connectivity IN / OUT of the platform via HL7, FHIR, CCDA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Product features delivered

Daily product workflows supported ( thousands)

Contracted revenue delivered on ( millions of dollars)

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

Very tightly run team utilizing JIRA.  They go above and beyond to deliver on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their flexibility and ability to pivot quickly when needed are impressive.

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

I don't have any areas for improvement for Sirma.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of IRIS Solutions

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

IRIS Solutions is an EU licesened payment institution for Openbanking services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To integrate Openbanking API

SOLUTION

How did you find Sirma?

Referral

Why did you select Sirma over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sirma were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Cegate project allows user of Cegate to use one point of contact to extract data inclucing Openbanking data for risk assestment purpose. 

With Sirma we have managed to integrated the Openbanking API and to reach all the users of Cegate by providing them realialbe access to Openbanking data. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Time - the project was executed in the negotiateed time period.

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

Everything was deliverd on time. They had a broad experince in banking and financial projects and they have supported us in the decison process with good advices.

What was your primary form of communication with Sirma?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are result oriented, engaged, with broad experience and knowledge.

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

We have received what we have expected.