Sitecraft Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a custom application development company, and we have eight employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sitecraft Inc.?

Sometimes we outsource additional front and backend development work to them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work in a staff augmentation model. Sitecraft hires out people to work as our temporary employees for the course of a project. We mainly use HTML, CSS, jQuery, and Vue.js. In addition to those, we use a Laravel framework for PHP and other similar technologies for backend development.

Right now, we’re working on multiple projects. We hope to land a big one with one of our clients to give it to them because a developer on their team would be perfect for it.

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–6 people. For the last two years, one of their developers has been working for us full-time.

How did you come to work with Sitecraft Inc.?

When we look for contractors, we outsource a small project that involves technical and soft skills to three different companies. It’s usually a fairly complex project that requires a hefty mix of those two skills, and we don’t tell them they’re all working on it.

That exercise usually gives us a good understanding of what it’s like to work with each company. We did that with Sitecraft and two other vendors. They were the best, so we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2017, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our goals are all project-based. Sitecraft has hit different milestones and met the necessary targets for each project. In summary, we haven’t had any failing projects.

Moreover, they have good engineers with good skill sets, and it’s a pleasure to work with them. We’ve outsourced projects to developers worldwide, and I’ve worked with 200–300 developers in my life. They often have language barriers and cultural differences that make it challenging to work with them. However, we haven’t had those problems with the engineers in Sitecraft.

How did Sitecraft Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

It all depends on the project. Most times, they aren’t really in charge of project management because we have local managers on our team. However, they’re involved in setting the milestones and flow of the project to ensure we have realistic plans.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand our needs and direct us to the right developers for the job. Also, they provide the services we need for the different projects that we have, which often involve many types of skills sets. Whenever we need a developer for a project, I know Alex (Co-Founder) is an awesome guy to go to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since they focus on the development side of things, they aren’t necessarily the best fit for projects that involve a high level of UX/UI design. However, I don’t think this reflects poorly on them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The most important thing for any project is specifying it, researching it, and writing its specifications clearly and thoughtfully. If you’re thinking about outsourcing to Sitecraft, but you don’t have those written specifications, you should tell them. They can help you do the research and discovery as part of the initial phase of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there?

I’m the founder of a design company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sitecraft Inc.?

We needed a web development partner for client projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our internal developers and designers mostly focus on backend development, so we've engaged Sitecraft Inc. for their expertise in frontend development. Their team has helped us accomplish wide-ranging development projects, including booking, delivery, and construction websites. 

Our usual development workflow starts with scoping, which is done by our internal resources. They generate a brief with our design and functionality requirements, and Sitecraft Inc. then implements the necessary design solutions based on those. Some of their deliverables include large gallery requirements, which are intended for highly optimized and big screen-friendly images. Their team usually relies on modern technologies like JavaScript, while they use CSS coding language to implement UX-related site changes.

Sitecraft Inc. is currently tasked with designing a booklet-like website for one of our clients, which requires a wider tech stack and more challenging code work.

What is the team composition?

Our main points of contact are Aleksey (Co-Founder) and Kate (Project Manager), while there are 1–2 developers assigned to tackle each project.

How did you come to work with Sitecraft Inc.?

We were unhappy with the work delivered by the previous service provider we had. Another company recommended Sitecraft Inc. to us, and we chose them because we liked their presentation and understanding of our needs. 

How much have you invested with them?
 
We've spent about $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off our engagement in January 2016, and it's ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sitecraft Inc. generates top-notch design code that unfailingly pleases our customers. Our long-term engagement with their team also speaks volumes about the impressive quality of their work.

How did Sitecraft Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via email, Zoom, and WhatsApp. Sitecraft Inc. is on top of their project management game — they have great initiative, and they're always attentive to our needs. Our time zone difference works to our advantage because they implement solutions when we're asleep, which keeps things moving forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We're most impressed with their inquisitive and communicative nature — this kind of approach establishes a comfortable working environment.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While they generally meet our deadlines, we can benefit from a more timeline-oriented approach.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prepare a spotless outline and communicate your goals clearly. Sitecraft Inc. will take it from there and deliver your needs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Solutions Director at an international software development company. We help Startups, SME's, and Enterprise clients across all industries to conceive, implement and deliver their end-to-end web and mobile solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sitecraft Inc., and what were your goals?

Sitecraft Inc. has been a key partner for many years, helping us to deliver various projects for our clients. Occasionally we need to bolster our team and bring onboard specialist skills which we did not have in-house, and this is where Sitecraft has enabled us to deliver on some of key projects.

SOLUTION

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

We reviewed their website and previous work examples showcase. Deciding factors were communication; flexibility from their stakeholders to use our processes and tools; UX thinking; and of examples of previous development quality.

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

eCommerce development using WooCommerce and WordPress CMS, PHP. Solution caters for a multi-site setup; custom shipping integration with a 3rd party courier provider; payment gateway integration; mobile products inventory integration; custom user registration flows and permissions. Limited use of plugins and everything custom developed.

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

There was a PM as the main point of contact and handled all communication and then multiple developers to cater for Frontend and Backend development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The solution made a few manual client administrative processes redundant as these processes were automated and included into the final solution, freeing up client resources to spend time elsewhere.

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

All tools and processes were our own, and Sitecraft integrated nicely into our ways of working and tools. These included Slack as the main communication tool for instant messaging. JIRA as the project management tool. Bitbucket and Docker (within Azure) for code and environment management.

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

Really enjoyed the fact that their team push back on UX functionality they feel is not working that well and making recommendations for how it could work better. They don't just proceed with something when they can see a better way of doing something - they would make recommendations which is very good, as it shows they care about the end-user experience.

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

Overall, we had a good experience working with their team. They are professional; attentive and always go the extra mile to deliver a quality solution.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Co-founder of a digital strategy and design agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sitecraft Inc., and what were your goals?

We've worked with Sitecraft on multiple projects over the years with a focus on WordPress front- and backend development. Full site builds, ongoing maintenance projects and rapid-response tactical challenges as well.

SOLUTION

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

Sitecraft is a friendly, flexible team that delivers high quality code. We have built up a lot of trust over the years.

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

Front- and backend development of (primarily) marketing websites. Mainly WordPress CMS as the backend.

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

The team has varied depending on the scale of the project, but there's always been an account lead and then the development team (and their skillsets) varies based on project need, typically from 2-3 team members.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For one of our projects together, we won a Webby.

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

We communicate through Zoom, Slack and email with high frequency. We have always appreciated Sitecraft Inc.'s flexibility on the client's needs and schedule changes.

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

A great combo of code quality and good people on the team.

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

Nothing outside of standard agency challenges.