Softelligence

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the chairman of the board and responsible for Vemendo's business development. Vemendo makes it easy for organizations to build modern solutions for identity and access management across physical, virtual, and cloud environments.

Our knowledge about the cloud together with our innovative solutions and expertise in systems integration, identity and access management has successfully helped many companies and organizations in their digital transformation. We are seated in Stockholm, Sweden, but have customers all over the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for a long-term Full Stack partner who could work in our agile projects, both for our own product development and tailor-made solutions for our customers.

SOLUTION

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

I have been in contact with the management since a long time before their involvement in Softelligence. During that time, a great deal of mutual trust was created, which made it easy to choose them as our long-term partner.

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

The project is run according to Scrum based on 3-weeks sprints. Frontend is developed in React and backend in dotNET. The assignment also includes support and maintenance of the system developed over the years.

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

During the years were 2 to 4 people working in the team depending on the project needs. Core team is the project manager and a senior developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The teams have maintained the same high standard throughout the years. Above all, the senior developers have been very innovative and actively contributed to the introduction of the latest technology, from which we have of course received great benefits.

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

The projects, that are run agile, have daily Stand-Ups and regular sprint plans. These are always well prepared and carried out efficiently. Communication takes place through Google Meet, Jira and GitHub.

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

Good contact with the entire team and management, which makes it easy to adapt the project to rapidly changing conditions. You can trust that they always do their best to quickly solve problems that always arise!

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

Nothing that we have thought of as the necessary improvements have so far been able to be carried out continuously

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

7 Layer specialise in the design of systems for stakeholders in the cash logistics supply chain, ranging from central banks and commercial banks to security companies and retailers.

Typically working with manufacturers of specialist cash handling equipment to add value to their offerings. My role as MD includes responsibility for all aspects of project development and delivery.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The project was initiated by a supplier of a unique and highly cost effective till based cash handing device. The challenge was two fold - firstly how to provide a middleware solution for integrating the devices more readily into existing store systems. Secondly to build a brand new cloud based suite of applications for retailers using these devices.

SOLUTION

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

After generating high level functional designs for the middleware and application suite. we embarked on a rigorous search for development companies that could take the role of partner to the device manufacturer who were inexperienced in this type of partnership and project. The initial search identified potential partners from the UK, India, the Ukraine and Romania.

An initial round of presentations was used to evaluate the bidders based on their skills in the required technologies and their compatibility as a partner. A shortlist of three resulted. Each was then invited to consider more detailed design documentation and to provide proposals including technical content, team composition and estimated prices.

Softelligence were selected based on the confidence that they instilled in the client that they could deliver a technically challenging project in the timeframes and budget required. Furthermore there was a strong feeling from the customer team that the teams had a compatible ethos that would help deal with the inevitable but unexpected bumps in a software project.

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

The first phase of the project required the development of a middleware solution that communicated with the store based devices, addressing a known issue with communication contention, and providing an interface to existing systems that could not be modified to communicate with the middleware. The solution was built by a new team established in Softelligence using the latest Microsoft technologies.

The team comprised an Architect, Scrum Master, Developers and a QA working as an Agile team. The team delivered exactly on budget and timeframe. On completion of this phase the Application Suite development project commenced. Using Microsoft's cloud development platform tools an extended team began development of a completely new application suite, using the middleware as a basis for communicating to the devices in store. The application suite had to be prepared for launch at the 2023 NRF show.

After analysing the overall requirements, an MVP plan was built and agreed with the team. This plan was achieved and the suite demonstrated successfully at the show, including integration to a widely used US bank reporting system.

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

The Softelligence Team comprises an Architect, Scrum Master, 2 QAs, 6 Developers and a UI/UX specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The middleware project was delivered on time and to budget with an extremely low level of quality issues. The application suite MVP was a more challenging project with adjustments to content needing to be made within the project timeframe - but the critical deliveries to the NRF show and MVP were entirely met.

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

Communication with the team was excellent throughout. The project is run under the Agile methodology using a two week sprint cycle. Backlog refinement meetings, Sprint planning meetings, Review and Retrospectives are all planned and conducted to a pattern that has evolved through the project as the team has become more familiar with the goals of the client.

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

Two key capabilities make Softelligence stand-out. Firstly there has been no technical challenges or extensions that the team have been unable to respond to in a positive and timely manner - they have been a true technology leader in the relationship Secondly, the team have been incredibly flexible throughout the project, supporting adjustments to functional content, priorities and required skill sets as they have been needed.

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

There was nothing they needed to improve on.