SoftLoft

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Founder of Friends of Commerce (FOC) and we provide SaaS based solutions and team augmentation support for our clients. We are a commerce consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We use SoftLoft for on going support as needed. We have used them for different platforms and services from new solutions to on-going support.

SOLUTION

How did you select SoftLoft and what were the deciding factors?

Key deciding factors include experience, quality and timing. We have had good experiences in these areas.

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

There are several projects in the mix with SoftLoft, but these have ranged from solution builds to on-going support on a few different systems. Primarily ecommerce solutions.

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

Project manager, tech lead, and developer resources as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been able to find quality resources with SoftLoft. They have the ability to find quality resources for the project(s) at hand. I was able to efficiently find resources and delegate work assuming the resources were well versed in the platforms, which they were.

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

We have 2 calls a week at minimum, but this changes depending on the work load at the given time. We work with a Jira /Sprint board.

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

One thing we found impressive was the ability they have to locate resources in a timely manner. I needed a BigCommerce lead for a project, and was easily able to locate a capable resource.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Overall things have gone well. I would probably say a little more time zone support, but its actually pretty good. I don't really have many complaints.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO at DevBrother

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We've had a request connected with E-Commerce Development (Magento), but we don't have Magento developers and our team to be helpful in this request

SOLUTION

How did you select SoftLoft and what were the deciding factors?

I've met Petr in CoWorking, he showed me his Portfolio and was very confident in what he is doing. I enjoyed our conversation and decided to start working with him

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

The client needed Certified Magento developers with more than 4 years of experience

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

3 Certified back end Magento developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything was done better than we've expected. With help of SoftLoft, we could make our client really happy and now he is looking forward to continuing our collaboration

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

Everything was set up in Asana with the Scram system. Sprints for every 2 weeks. Sometimes we had to jump to another sprint from the current one but overall everything was great

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

They deliver on time, they are very professional in what they are doing and the most important thing is that they've made their suggestions, propositions, and ideas that were more efficient than some client's ideas. And the client was very happy that his team can suggest such great solutions that he didn't even think about. They do the work with full engagement, at peak efficiency and passion

Are there any areas for improvement?

The bigger pull of engineers

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Sunuva Kids UV Swimwear & Beachwear, a global brand spanning over a decade with a ecommerce and wholesale presence. My position is Ecommerce Manager since June 2019.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were recommended SoftLoft by a network acquaintance as we had been having issues for many months with the current development company. Onboarded with Softloft just before the UK lockdown occurred and unlike most ecommerce growth during the pandemic, we saw our traffic and revenue drop 90% overnight. As a conseqence, we have to switch nearly every third party service we had and softloft were there for us through it all. We faced nearly every issue in the book and my project manager and the dev team could not have coped with it better. They were efficient, professional and disagreed with us if they thought our request could have been performed in a cheaper or better way. Not usually what you get from a dev company! Their attention to detail, level of communication and access the access i have directly to the developers is exemplary. We would highly recommend.

SOLUTION

How did you select SoftLoft and what were the deciding factors?

Having searched for many months for a suitable partner, and discussed with many peers in the industry, we were connected with Softloft. After a sharing some other client testimonials with us and seeking our own references, we were very pleased with the level of work proposed to us. They have fulfilled our expectations and more.

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

We are working with SoftLoft on an ongoing basis, to develop and support with our Magento website. Using Jira and Slack, we communicate daily and attention to detail is crucial.

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

CEO, Project Managers and several developers are provided to us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A lot of our time with SoftLoft has been spent fixing a multitude of issues that have arisen since moving from a previous dev company with no handover. We look forward to the new and exciting upgrades and features that we are currently in discussion with SoftLoft to implement.

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

Daily communication from both project manager and dev team. Jira updates are concise and support the flow of tasks being completed weekly.

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

They care, simply put. They do not treat us just as another client. They have recognised we are having a harder time than most right now and need a bit more attention.

Are there any areas for improvement?

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of DroiX - An online retailer of Technology and Gadgets

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

To migrate our products from Magento 1.9 to Magento 2 and apply a pre-purchased theme, modify it to fit our brand, add 3 applications and link our Blog and How-To and ensure that by the end of MVP we will have a base product we can advertise to our customers. (Whilst we agreed the website may not have all the features, we have fully expected to be finished when presented).

SOLUTION

How did you select SoftLoft and what were the deciding factors?

We have decided to go with SoftLoft after a sales call which was very promising. The deciding factors was their false assurance of a top-quality job (With examples of previous websites shown), productivity and professionalism.

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

SoftLoft was meant to install Magento 2 on a Production Server, migrate our products from Magento 1.9 to the new platform -> Apply a pre-purchased theme, install a few (2-3 apps which are officially supported by Magento 2), ensure the website matches our brand book and deliver a presentable MVP.

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

In total, there have been about 4 different persons, from their CEO to the Project Management, and Development

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SoftLoft have submitted for our review the same theme we have purchased, with a different colour and logo updated. Top Menu/Home Page and Footer have not been updated (Apart from the product category listed) - Based on their work record, aprox. 15 hours have been used on "Working" The Product Pages were full of Bugs and incomplete sections.

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

The Project Management technologies and style have been professional. We have gotten daily updates, however: That has only increased the shock we got when we have seen that after the continuous daily updates, nothing has been actually accomplished.

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

The lack of professionalism for the level of company they are trying to portray. The manner in which time has been used, as never have I ever been in contact with a company with worse time management skills. (Their time log + changes done to a pre-build theme are available for presentation upon request)

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

1. Acknowledge that their work is subpar, even compared to a freelance developer and the cost they charge for their project is not justified.
2. Diminish the "scam culture" they seem to have ingrained, asking a customer to keep paying for hours which are "invisible" (We have been charged for hours to update elements of the website which have not been updated)
3. Could think of having an internal discussion, and understand that with an attitude from the CEO which demands for more funds from clients to have an at least functional website clients will end up in the same situation we have and have to go to the lengths such as this to make other possible customers aware.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of Discount Party Supplies, an e-commerce web store for party supplies for kids.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftLoft?

We had major issues with Magento and our ERP backend system. Both were very unstable. We did a site upgrade to Magento 2.0 with a different company and it flopped. I brought SoftLoft on to stabilize the site and our ERP and tools.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have over 100,000 visitors per month, and our page-load terms were around 15 seconds, which was killing our traffic. They stabilized the site in 3-6 days, which was very fast considering they didn’t have a background in it. Their CTO is very smart; he knew what he was doing.

The developers were very solid as well. They also made a lot of website UX changes, including frontend design and backend functionality. They track our ad campaigns with Google as well. They fixed our purchase order and inventory management as well.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 7-8 people. There was one project manager.

How did you come to work with SoftLoft?

I found them on Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $30,000-$32,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site speed has increased dramatically. We have page speed times in the 2-3 second range, and some are even faster. Page load speed has gone from a business killer to lightning. Magento is a beast.

In our ERP, we can now do purchase orders where those were impossible before. In a catalog of 4,000 products, you have your inventory management system and your purchase order system, as well as your pick-pack-and-ship – that whole piece is huge, and our team spends more time in the ERP than they do the website. There was more to be done in the ERP and they’ve done a very good job with it, especially not knowing what the business rules were.

How did SoftLoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated every day through Jira and Slack. There were also phone calls. This all keeps us organized and executing on the sprints. I think we’ve done nine sprints so far, and they’re really solid. There’s going to be communication issues with remote developers, but they’ve been really good, especially when I’ve said I want to communicate more. They really listen, and the project manager is awesome.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s probably their project management. Their developers get things done, but, to me, communication is very important to understand what the business rules and requirements are. In jumping on phone calls quickly, the project manager keeps things under control.

They work hard. When you come in and spend as much money as we did, you want some results, and they did a ton of work. They did 600 hours’ worth of work in the first month.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I were to say one area, it would be that their CTO could be more available. He’s very bright, but he’s got multiple projects.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Write out the issues, the Jira tickets, explicitly. We documented the issues with videos instead of writing out a huge ticket.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Resource Manager at Ewave. eWave is an independent, global technology agency with commerce at its core. Through service design thinking, experience-driven digital reinvention, and a unique mix of creativity & technology, we specialize in helping our clients become more engaging, more agile and more efficient. We’re headquartered in Sydney, with over 200 staff across 4 continents. Partnering with brands such as Nike, Vans, Timberland, Canon, Coca-Cola, and Nestle, we work on some of the most exciting and innovative digital projects in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SoftLoft?

We hired developers from SoftLoft for work on one of our e-commerce projects. They worked on several functionalities.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to implement the functionality with clear and correct code that can be reused. It is supposed to be done within strict timelines.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My team searched for out-staffing developers among different outsourcing companies. After a number of interviews we have chosen the best candidates.

Describe the project in detail.

After we selected candidates they started onboarding into our processes and the team. Then certain tasks were assigned to the developers.

What was the team composition?

The overall team consists of more than 15 BE developers, about 10 FE, 3 BAs and 10-15 QAs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within the work on our projects developers from Softloft successfully implemented the required functionality. We conducted code reviews regularly and were absolutely satisfied with the work done.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The vendor helped a lot, they were monitoring and consulting the developers continuously. They helped with absolutely everything including onboarding and senior specialists consultations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing was is their willingness to help. They offered us the best their developers and were managed to provide us with the wonderful service. Furthermore they have suggested us discounts when the amount of work dropped. That is very appreciated.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything was really impressive! We'll get back to the SoftLoft once our demand increases.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Independent technical project manager for Magento e-commerce solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SoftLoft?

Developed a new store for Llarsen Watches, along with performing a full migration of data from the existing store. They demonstrated a high level of professionalism and teamwork.

What were your goals for this project?

We aimed to procure a functional and fully operational webstore, which would be easy to maintain and further develop in the future.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected them based on our previous experience working with them. The SOFTLOFT team has already successfully completed several Magento projects for us.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Their team built a new store on the basis of the existing design. In addition, they developed custom modules, implemented payment systems, and integrated the store with an external ERP system.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a Project manager, Technical lead, Back end developer, Front end developer, and QA engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project was completed with the expected level of quality and within the expected timeframes.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

All aspects of it were satisfactory.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was most impressed by their solid experience, knowledge, client-centric approach, and communication skills.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I doubt it. Perhaps they could use more resources for their workload.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Director of Web Strategy for an award-winning agency (The DRUM Top 100, Top SEO award for conversion optimisation, reputation management and link building) responsible for the creation of Europe's first automated AdWords auditing tool - BidCops.com. We deliver outstanding online marketing solutions and best practice digital marketing thinking for our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SoftLoft?

To build an SAP integrated Magento 2 site from designs.

What were your goals for this project?

To succeed in SAP integration and an optimised Magento 2 build

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We have worked well with Softloft before and know and trust their strong Magento development capabilities

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Converting designs into static HTML and creating a Magento 2 theme. To then work with the SAP partner to develop the bridge into Magento resulting in all products being managed in SAP and sold on the website

What was the team composition?

Petr as project lead and a team of developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Softloft produced the Magento 2 theme in a very timely and accurate fashion to our delight. The SAP part has taken longer but this is down to the SAP partner rather than Softloft.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Superb as always

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Petr is responsive and does what he says he will. Their technical capability is very reliable

Are there any areas for improvement?

not really

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I worked as the CEO of two different companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftLoft?

They developed a web platform for both of my previous companies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed a very complex e-commerce platform based on a premium Magento structure. They designed that and set everything up for us. Features included financing tools and integration for economic and financial departments. Both of the companies were sold shortly after the respective launches.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was Petr (Founder and CEO, SoftLoft). Our first development project involved about 12 people, including developers, designers, and project leaders. For the second projects, there were 15–18 people, including UI/UX designers.

How did you come to work with SoftLoft?

I had a headhunter who investigated them prior to our technical description of our concepts. In the end, they were highly recommended to us by a developer in Russia. We decided to work with them in a milestone structure.

How much have you invested with them?

The first project was about 100,000 euros ($110,000 USD) and the second project was about 125,000 euros ($137,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the first project in 2012 and the second project in 2014, and each ended about two years after launch.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I sold both of my companies, so I consider my engagement with SoftLoft to be a success. I don’t have any statistics, but the growth was amazing, and I attribute that to the structure of the e-commerce platforms they built. Every detail is important.

How did SoftLoft perform from a project management standpoint?

It was perfect. We communicated through Skype and email and they sent a detailed report each week describing the project status and milestones.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their reliability stood out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m completely satisfied.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk with Petr as an initial phase and have him understand your project in detail. Send him a technical analysis or description and follow that up with a walk through a few days later.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the COO at Accelerate Digital Agency, which provides digital transformations for companies including consulting, technology, and strategies that can improve business operations. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftLoft?

We reached out to SoftLoft to provide Magento 2 migration services for a few client web projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using provided specifications and designs, SoftLoft develops the backend of websites for some of our client projects using Magento 2. They provide technical solutions as needed and work in sprints to code and migrate the sites. 

What is the team composition? 

I primarily work with one person but have been in communications with a couple others on their team as well. 

How did you come to work with SoftLoft?

They reached out to our sales team when we were expanding and looking for a vendor with Magento expertise. We gave them a test project to work on and decided to continue working with them based on the quality of their work. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested between $30,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SoftLoft delivers high-quality products on time, working through any bugs or issues that come up very quickly. 

How did SoftLoft perform from a project management standpoint?

As far as development firms are concerned, their project management is top-notch. They track timelines very well, work efficiently, and are very proactive in communications. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The expertise they bring to the table and the ability to quickly recommend solutions that match business needs has been great. They get projects done on time and help us churn out websites quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not at this time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring them into the process as early as possible, so they can provide input before final specifications are completed and delivered to stakeholders.