SmartexLab

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a representative of a tech startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartexLab?

In my previous company, we had a client that was building a custom platform for a chain of dental clinics. They were looking to extend their in-house team.

What were your goals for this project?

An out-of-the-box solution was not flexible enough for the rapidly growing business. The client made a strategic decision to invest in a customizable solution to fit their unique business processes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found them through word of mouth. Healthcare expertise was a requirement in the development team, so we found SmartexLab.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project concerned a large platform that automated several critical processes for dental clinics. That included appointments, EHR (electronic health records), billings and insurance, a patient portal, and analytics. The solution seamlessly integrated with the existing marketing tools and CRM, payroll and accounting systems, and the payment processing service.

What was the team composition?

There’s a product manager on our side, plus a tech lead, five developers, and two QAs on the SmartexLab side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The solution helps our client expand to new counties quickly. The platform's architecture makes it easy to support and extend with new features.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team integrated smoothly with the client's existing processes, particularly with regard to scrum. Communication was great overall; we almost never missed a milestone.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're willing to go the extra mile and demonstrate their results-driven approach.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There’s nothing that I can suggest.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of a product development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartexLab?

We hired them to build an appointment scheduling app and back-office software for small veterinary clinics.

What were your goals for this project?

We had an idea for a project and wanted to build an MVP and later a full product.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by my partner who had worked with them before.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

SmartexLab helped us formulate the MVP concept and then create mobile and web apps. With the mobile app, users can easily schedule appointments, manage prescriptions, get notifications, and more. The web portal helps to organize staff and keep track of finances.

What was the team composition?

We mainly worked with their project manager and team lead, but there were also three developers and one tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're pleased with the overall results. The CRM is easily used by veterinary staff, and pet owners note the stunning mobile UI. SmartexLab's team was transparent about their processes from day one, and they delivered exactly what we requested.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their project management office is very professional. They ran our project very smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their dedication and work ethic stood out.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I'm happy with our collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a website development firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartexLab?

My team did not have the in-house expertise required to fulfill a pharmacy client’s need for a procurement system, so we engaged SmartexLab to manage the development and support of the solution.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to build a cloud-based platform that would help our client streamline the procurement processes of a pharmacy network, allowing real-time drugs stock control as well as partially automating operations in the chain.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

SmartexLab was a clear choice because they had a range of successful projects in the healthcare field.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The platform is a procurement management system and analytics tool that allows for the planning of purchases and more intelligently conducts medium-term office planning. SmartexLab was responsible for the full solution delivery for our client.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a product manager, four developers, and one QA resource.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have released the product, and a pharmacy chain now uses it in the United States. It is helping them to save money by accurately managing their drug stocks and improving overall efficiency.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I mostly interacted with the product manager, but the rest of the team was thoroughly responsive, as well. They were willing to work extra hours and over the weekends to make the appropriate fixes.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

SmartexLab features a hard-working staff that takes ownership of the project and delivers. When issues arose, their team discussed them with us openly and proposed different solutions, which helped us to save time and money.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we had a successful engagement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO at a New York-based funding company that provides alternative financing products like merchant cash advance (MCA), small to medium-sized enterprise (SME) financing, invoice factoring, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartexLab?

We hired them for the development of our custom CRM, which later included features for fund management and a POS.

What were your goals for this project?

Beforehand, everything was managed in Excel, which, over the years became error-prone, slow, and cumbersome. There were a handful of out-of-the-box solutions on the market which we tried, but they didn't fit our unique business processes. So we opted to develop a system from scratch.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them by recommendation.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project is a web platform that streamlines all workflows for a medium-sized alternative funding company. Call center and online POS, lead and deal tracking, online signatures, payment management (manual and automated), dashboards with notifications for international sales organizations (ISOs), borrowers, and investors—these are some of the features our platform has, now. Currently, we're working on the mobile app.

What was the team composition?

The team includes four developers, a project manager, a business analyst, and a QA specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We started to use the tool around four months ago, and, from the insights we got, we already were able to increase the number of leads by 25%–30% and significantly reduced the time for document management. More importantly, we believe it will help us scale the business faster and reduce company headcount growth pace at the same time.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The process is very well organized. We have daily status calls with their project manager and the team, which works pretty efficiently for our team distributed across the US and Europe.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're not just another coding agency. From day one, they dove deeply into our business workflows and acted like our business partner.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the chief product officer and one of the founders of a cloud communications company. We help companies integrate with their niche CRM systems to enhance and improve their sales and recruitment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartexLab?

We needed UX Design, MVP development, and ongoing commercial development for our VoIP computer telephony integration (CTI).

What were your goals for this project?

Initially, we only requested an MVP, but the ease of working with SmartexLab allowed the project to flow into a commercially viable product that is still being expanded today.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to several vendors in different parts of the world. After several online voice and video chats, we visited SmartexLab’s offices and signed with them.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They helped design, develop, and test our CTI, managing the concept from MVP to ongoing commercial front- and backend development.

What was the team composition?

SmartexLab provides us with a full team including UX designers, project managers, developers, and QA resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were so pleased with the MVP development that we’ve continued to work with them to produce a commercially viable product.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their designated project managers are very effective. They work in a structured manner and handle change requests when needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their language skills, pricing, friendliness, and technical skills stand out to us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief technology officer at Didomi, a privacy management company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SmartexLab?

We were looking to hire remote engineers to build a platform’s MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The platform is a single-page Angular app that allows clients to manage their accounts with us. Using designs that we provided, SmartexLab configured the software to match our expectations. They developed features using Typescript and CSS. We oversaw testing, but their team writes automated tests as well. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with three software engineers during the development process, but now we only use one. 

How did you come to work with SmartexLab?

We found them through an online search. After speaking with a few companies, we found SmartexLab to be highly flexible about adapting their resources to meet our needs. They excel in screening profiles and interviewing prospective engineers before we start working with them; we haven’t always had the experience with other vendors. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2017, and the product went live in May 2018. SmartexLab still provides ongoing support to create future iterations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SmartexLab’s high-quality code ensured a top-notch final product. They helped us bring our MVP to market, where we’ve received positive feedback from our clients. We wouldn’t be where we are today without their work.

How did SmartexLab perform from a project management standpoint?

We oversaw the project and SmartexLab’s engineers. They did excellent and timely work. We received day-to-day updates on progress, time estimates, and potential issues. Their transparency and reliability made our collaboration easy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We valued their consistent communication and flexibility in scaling resources as needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prepare your specifications well in advance so that your outsourced engineers can start working as soon as possible. Having designs and workflows will also help the process, even if you decide to make changes down the road. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run a product development firm that builds mobile apps and websites and does design, graphics, and video for a variety of US-based venture funded startups all the way to public companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SmartexLabs?

We needed good, efficient developers and wanted to find an agency with a robust enough bench of developers and a versatile enough skill set that we could pop developers on and off projects, regardless of what type of project it was. We needed a versatile agency to be able to call upon short notice and would be dynamic and adaptive as our projects change.   

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped with software development for mobile and web applications. We do a lot of AngularJS projects which is a JavaScript framework for frontend development, and then typically do Django as the backend framework. My company uses that for everything, and their company has a lot of good developers in that framework. Those are their two specialties. They also have Swift developers for iOS. We haven’t done any Android apps with them.

It was anywhere from one to five developers at any given time that we’ll be using from them. It depends on how many projects we have and what developers we have internally. When I say developers, that also includes project managers because a lot of their project managers are pretty technical, too.

We’ve come to just trust them in giving us someone who can get the job done. I don’t review resumes. We have started to build relationships with some of the developers that they have given us. Sometimes we’ll request somebody specific if we know they’re good at something particular.

How did you come to work with SmartexLab?

It was through an online search. Before Aleksey [Chepovoi, Developer] started this agency, I had worked with him on something. Then I brainstormed with them to set up the agency, which is also nice because it grew to the needs that my company had. It was Aleksey that I found first and knowing him through the process of him setting up his agency. What stood out was that he had a good portfolio with a cool project on it.

How much have you invested with SmartexLab?

Everything has been under $10,000. That ranges from a little project where some are for a week for a few hundred bucks up to $5,000 or $10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2013. It’s been a long time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The tricky thing is that my agency doesn’t advertise that we use contractors, so I wouldn’t want to share any specific project that would be online attributed to them. But if it’s just for the sake of you assessing them and giving them a subjective rating just editorially, then you can check out a company called dealtable.com. His developers built that platform. It’s actually a company that we’re running it within our firm, so I still wouldn’t want to attribute that to him anywhere, but you can just poke around and see it’s a pretty good app. They’re pretty fast and efficient across the board with all of our projects.

How did SmartexLab perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been pretty good at hitting deadlines. They are as good as anybody in terms of that.

What did you find most impressive about SmartexLab?

They’re just good across the board. You can expect that you will get something good and pretty reliable. We’ve been working with them for so long and have had a pretty consistently good relationship.

Are there any areas SmartexLab could improve?

Nothing that I haven’t seen even worse from other agencies.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of project management and development for a website providing hotel arrangements for short trips.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SmartexLab?

We needed frontend support for the redevelopment of our extranet, the system wherein our partners maintain products for sale on our main site.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a more functional and user-friendly system for our partners.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us by our parent company.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed frontend templates and displaced outdated software.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with a single developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The collaboration was effective and the developer implemented our requirements quickly.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their developer took the time to understand the purpose before beginning any task.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We especially liked that he asked the right questions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I can’t think of anything.