The Software House

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are the largest operator of online marketplaces for pets in the world, with over 5 million customers each month. I am one of the co-founders of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Software House, and what were your goals?

We operate across 6 countries, with 6 different brands. We wanted to build a marketplace platform from the ground up that is flexible enough to support our rapid growth, while being agile and modular enough to support our future geographic expansions

SOLUTION

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

We made a long list of all the top development companies in Poland (where we focused our efforts) and physically visited over 10 companies during a roadshow in early 2019. The deciding factors was the overall skill level of the team, coupled with their previous experience of delivering high-quality software for international clients.

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

The Software House (TSH) were are technology partner from the very first start. In tight collaboration between The Software House and our inhouse engineering team we made all the critical design and technology choices, laying out the architecture etc before actually getting started on the development.

The technology choices were made based on how modern and stable they were - we ended up with a highly modern stack (nodejs, react and mobile apps built in react native). TSH had deep and vast experience from these given technologies, which made it easy to put together a high-calibre team

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

Roughly 10 people 1 Project Manager 3 front-end engineers 3 back-end engineers 2 QA 1 DevOps Every single member was interviewed by our own CTO before they were put on the project. Every candidate we interviewed passed with excellent results, which made us highly impressed

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We built the platform from scratch together, and launched across our various markets. The platform launch had a direct impact on our revenues growing over 400% from the time of launch until today. The Software House has been a key partner since day one, and we could not be happier

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

TSH apply a very modern way of working - full transparency all the way where the project team act like any of your full-time employees would.

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

The combination of being able to build modern and robust software in a very timely manner, while still ensuring the cost budgets were met

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

None that i can think of at this point

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an IT coordinator of Ukrainians in the Netherlands foundation. We support the Ukrainian diaspora in the Netherlands and promote Ukrainian culture to the Dutch people. Since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, our focus was delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine and helping displaced people in the Netherlands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Software House, and what were your goals?

We are a volunteers-only organization, meaning people come in and go. In such conditions, it is challenging to work on middle-to-big projects, especially in the IT field. The overhead of onboarding, coordinating, offboarding, and knowledge transfer often exceeds the volunteering efforts. We needed a website to represent the foundation, collect donations, provide reports of humanitarian aid deliveries, and serve as a knowledge base for displaced people. We couldn't accomplish the project with only volunteers.

SOLUTION

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

The Software House (TSH) volunteered to help and provided us with a development force free of charge for a certain period.

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

They developed a React-based frontend and Strapi-based backend for our website. We gave TSH the existing plain HTML/CSS website, design mock-ups, and a GitHub repository with boilerplate code. They finished the layout and code in React, configuration, and backend code in Strapi with only minimal input from our side.

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

There was one developer and one manager from TSH side. One frontend developer volunteer from our side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The amount of work delivered within the given time exceeds all expectations. The Software House's developer worked independently, with minimal coordination. The web application works as expected, and the code follows the style and standards. It's an excellent job.

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

We had a setup meeting with the management to outline the scope of work and expectations. After that, we communicated directly with the developer. In this project, additional communication with management wasn't a necessity, although the communication channel (Slack) was always open.

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

The Software House takes pride in their work; they take it seriously and are highly motivated. Their involvement is impressive.

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

none

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an engineer at an energy solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We needed help with programming and AWS deployment. We wanted to install some AWS software and were looking for companies to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Software House has helped us install infrastructure to help with cybersecurity and our entire cloud-based system. Before starting the work, we provided context about our company and any documentation they needed to learn about us and get the whole process started.

Additionally, they redesigned and developed our website. We already had a site in place but decided to scrap it and get a new one, which The Software House created from scratch. The platform is encrypted and has more modern features than the older one, with a more secure and contemporary look.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around ten members of their team, including a lead developer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

A colleague of mine recommended them. I saw they gave free consultations, so I booked a meeting to hear what they had to offer. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $35,000–$40,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2020–April 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of their work was incredible; each person we dealt with was extremely smart and skilled. Also, we could always see what they were doing and they held our hands at every step. Additionally, thanks to their work, we were able to brand out more as a business, make our website faster, and improve the flow of our website traffic.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed extremely well with project management; their team delivered on time and within budget. Regarding tools, we used email and Asana.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It's impressive how they're able to make each project so affordable. Any other company would've charged us 2–3 times the amount they did. I like their accessible pricing and ability to deliver quality work that surpasses the competition.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on; I didn't have any complaints, and they exceeded our expectations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want to build a cloud-based platform, but your business has limited funds, I recommend The Software House. Also, have a clear and straight goal.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a software company in the geographical information systems market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We acquired a company and product, and their software development team was below the standard in quality and delivery. The product included a mobile app for the field and a web app for office use. We needed a partner that could help us change the web app, and we decided to outsource development from The Software House.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Software house is our staff augmentation partner; we source all the roles for our development team from them, including developers, architects, and testers. Meanwhile, we provide the management resources. They’ve helped us completely refactor the web application we acquired, bringing it to modern standards. 

We delivered the existing documentation to The Software House. However, because the previous team wasn’t running smoothly, there was little documentation, and the app had many problems, including bad code quality. The Software house has worked to bring the product to maturity and bring the documentation to a new level. They've done front- and backend development work.

The product is a PHP web application that handles every step in the fiberglass rollout workflow, from collecting data, taking pictures, testing the fiber, and handing the data to the network provider. Contractors can arrange meetings with house owners who want fiberglass installed, and the customers can get a confirmation for those meetings. The app also enables contractors to plan assignments for their resources based on skillset and location. 

What is the team composition?

The team composition has changed with each phase. In total, we’ve worked with 20 people from The Software House, including developers, testers, and architects. Our main contact points are the project manager, a lead developer, and an architect. From a technical perspective, we also have contact with a project lead and an account manager.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

They've been our partner since before I joined the company, so I don’t know how we found them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent €2 million–€3 million (approximately $2.2 million–$3.3 million USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in Q2 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before this project, the product was unstable, both from an uptime perspective and regarding the number of bugs noted by our customers. We also had a lot of issues with doing new releases. Thanks to The Software House’s work, the application is much more stable. They’ve helped us increase uptime, reduce problems during releases, and decrease the number of complaints from our customers. Additionally, they’re really becoming part of our organization — they’re our development team.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication and compliance with deadlines have improved over time. In the last big project we did, I was very happy with the amount of communication and forecast from the project lead and their on-time delivery. We have daily standups with our main points of contact, and they work with our product owner daily, who assigns them tasks. We use Jira for project management.

In the first year, we struggled to build this team and get it to work as we wanted. Finding stability and the right focus took time, partly because many of The Software House team members found it difficult to work with our complicated codebase, and we had some resource replacements. However, we eventually found the right mix of people. They've made some adjustments to their onboarding process and have ensured their team has the right tools to work with. The team has finally reached stability, and they've developed a sense of ownership of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I most appreciate about working with The Software House is the feeling that we matter. We’re an important customer to them; they always understand our position and work with us to find good solutions together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The team should ensure that releases are clean and well-tested and that the release process is better. We’re still having some unnecessary release issues. From a company perspective, there’s nothing they need to improve; I’m quite satisfied with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to ask for a good governing structure; make sure you have a good project manager who understands your business and needs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m Rick ter Laak and I’m the CEO of Travelia, a Dutch app with travel information that delivers a more than fantastic vacation. I’m responsible for general operations, finance, and sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Software House, and what were your goals?

For the development of a mobile app in React Native.

SOLUTION

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

Once, we found The Software House on Clutch. Then, we hired their DevOps to migrate our product from Heroku to AWS infrastructure. Since the team met our expectations with a very proactive attitude, we decided to hire people from the same source again.

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

Their team developed a new mobile app using React Native to replace the two native apps we had. The previous ones were made in 2016, so it was time to refactor the code, and we wanted to have one code base for the new app instead of two separate bases costing us money. The Software House also provided design and QA services for this project

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

1 project manager, 1 product designer, 3 full-stack developers, and 1 QA Engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to the Software House, we reduced the maintenance costs by 40% for the mobile app and by 25% for the production environment with the use of newer technologies.

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

We let The Software House lead the project in full because they impressed us with their approach to Agile before. To begin with, we had to get through a couple of pre-development meetings that we weren't used to. Their role in the project turned out to be critical. We had a clear definition of done, which improved our communication tremendously. Having defined a clear path, we had some fun working together, and I think that kept us motivated.

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

They’re actively trying to make everything work better. The designer and QA inspired us to consider many changes to the product’s UX/UI that could improve the user journey down the road.

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

Their estimate of work said three months, which we were hoping for, but the project took five. This is because we agreed to optimize a few things during the project which added to the backlog.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a technical product manager at Smartum Oy, an employee wellness company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We needed their team to update our e-payment platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Software House recreated and modernized the front- and backend of our e-payment platform, which was also built by the other members of their team back in 2017. We gave them access to our existing platform and provided the API documentation for our backend. 

The Software House then proceeded with redeveloping it to improve the ordering, payment, and distribution processes. We previously used Drupal to run our system, and their team replaced that with a React-reliant payment platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one project manager and one developer for this project. However, we used to work with a bigger team for our previous development projects with The Software House.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

As I mentioned, we already worked with The Software House prior to our site update needs, so we thought it was best to hire them again for this project — we all knew that they’re a proactive team that gave us a good working experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about €1 million (approximately $1.2 million USD) on all their development projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

The redevelopment project ran from March–July 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We weren’t able to keep track of quantitative data, but The Software House delivered an improved platform that pleased our customers. They especially appreciated the system’s user-friendly frontend, which in turn gave us fewer support issues and complaints to process. 

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

They were a responsible and communicative team. We dealt with some issues at the beginning of our project —  we only provided them with the API documentation, and they found it challenging to connect that with our internal operations. However, they quickly addressed that by adjusting their learning process. 

The miscalculations were mainly on our end, but they remained proactive and cooperative. Overall, we were pleased with the professionalism they showed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What truly set The Software House apart was their communicative nature, which was exemplary given that they were a foreign company. Their work ethic and project management skills made for a highly organized process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was no issue that they left unaddressed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to plan your project thoroughly with your internal team before relaying everything to The Software House. Had we realized the importance of this step early on, we wouldn’t have dealt with any delays and issues during the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software architect that works for an events services company. We’re one of the main event organizers in central Europe, not limited to ticketing, but that’s our main business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We outsourced custom software development work to The Software House.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came to them with ready-made requirements, and we discussed them with The Software House. After consulting with them, we made some modifications and went through the solutions suggested in the requirements in an agile and scrum-like development process.

Their team did the backend development on Node.js provided by Docker containers and frontend development using JavaScript and the React framework. They also used AWS.

What is the team composition?

We had up to three software developers from junior to senior levels. We also had a project manager on the TSH side and a QA engineer.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

We found them through a network recommendation.

How much have you invested with them?

Overall, it was around €200,000 (approximately $235,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership began in September 2019. Because of COVID-19’s impact, we put things on hold. Since November 2020, we’ve been working with them on a different project, but it’s using the same technologies and setup.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final product is in production, and we’re absolutely content with it. It’s also making a profit for us.

Their team said it would take half a year, and it was more or less done in that time. I’ve never seen such a precise estimate; it was really on point. The budget projections were always very correct, and I was very impressed with how precise the estimates met the actual reality.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically communicate through Slack, which both of our companies were familiar with. We also have Zoom meetings and use Jira for project management and tickets.

Their team is very responsive. We always get an immediate response, and they have always been available to us. We’re located in Germany, and they’re in Poland. We’ve regularly visited each other.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re also a software company. They actually gave us access to their tech people right from the start.

The communication from the beginning was between the tech people on our side and the tech people on their side. It was easy, and they were approachable. There was no shield between their technical staff and ours, which has been nice.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. The way we work together has been fine from both sides.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

This isn’t specific to The Software House, but I think any software agency can best help if you know what you want. I don’t have anything specific.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of an e-commerce hosting company that provides servers and additional services for many big e-commerce companies in Holland and Europe.

I’m responsible for managing the software development teams for customizing products and processes and for automation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We have only three in-house developers, and our priorities are determined by how it’s going with customers. It’s hard to plan the work and it can be frustrating.

We were looking for a way to extend our developer capacity so that we could make a roadmap.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with The Software House in a team extension model, not the team as a service. We used our own processes and project management methods. We set up the architecture for the ideas we had, and they helped us with the implementation.

They helped us execute what we wanted to do so that we could also build on top of it ourselves. We still felt it was our own code, and we still determined a lot of basic things like the frameworks to use.

They did mainly web development for both the frontend and backend. We used React on the frontend and Symfony PHP on the backend for some products.

One of the features they built for us is DNS management. It allows our customers to manage their domains. It’s a common functionality for hosting providers, and it’s a good additional service to have. It’s best to offer clients a single product where they can manage their webshop, server, and domains.

The Software House also developed a notifications API. It enables customers to get notified when certain things are going on with their servers and applications. Notifications are made via WhatsApp, email, or Slack. They set up the first version of that, and we’re building on top of it ourselves now.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around seven people from The Software House: frontend and backend developers, QA engineers, and a project manager. Their setup is such that the members switch to other projects sometimes. In total, we’ve worked with three frontend and four backend developers.

This wasn’t an issue for us because The Software House made all the knowledge transferring internally. We didn’t have to give explanations again every time; we onboarded a developer only once, and that person onboarded the next developer that worked on the project.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

I’d had some experiences with outsourcing. Not all of them were great, but I could definitely see the potential.

A friend of mine had used them for one of his projects and then recommended me to the company. He’s the CTO at another startup in Amsterdam. I’d known him for a long time, so if he gave me a recommendation, I wouldn’t be afraid of trying it.

We agreed to have a one-month trial with one developer, so there was almost no risk for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid them an average of €8,000 (approximately $9,000 USD) a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with The Software House in the second quarter of 2020, and we finished about a month ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The flexibility that The Software House gave us was a big plus in terms of scaling up. We were able to do more frontend work one month and more backend the next. They have all the capacity to grow with us.

We worked in two-week sprints, meaning that we determined the scope of the work every two weeks. We made sure that everything was clear for the developers, including specifications and responsibilities. After everyone was in agreement, they’d make a commitment on what they thought they could do in those two weeks. After those two weeks, we’d review and measure what was and wasn’t done.

We had a lot of things worked out and prepared when we started working with them. We just needed some extra hands to fulfill the job and reach our internal targets. We reached all goals 50% of the time. When we didn’t, it usually was because of external factors unrelated to The Software House.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

I give them an 8/10. They performed well enough. I found that it was important to put a lot of work into preparing all the work. They’d get nervous if there were a lot of question marks, which is something we had to get used to. We used Azure DevOps, Slack, and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the speed they have in adding new members to the team. For example, the last frontend developer got some important things done the day he started. They’re agile, and it doesn’t take them a lot of time to get the project up and running. The knowledge transfer from their colleagues is done very well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to be more direct when there’s an issue. There were times when they need to ring the bell a bit quicker when they didn’t have answers for certain questions. It’s something I’d like to see improved for our next collaboration.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients need to put a lot of thought into specifying everything that needs to be done and make sure that all the designs are done and validated. That way, their team can be as productive as possible.

If they start working on day one, there should be almost no questions. They like to keep on going and have a list of things that need to be done. If all of that is clear, they can go really high.

If they get stuck with something, it can cost a lot of money and create delays. We ran into that, and we learned from it to put way more effort into preparing the work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of FIBR, an SME lender based in the UK. We lend to small and medium companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Software House?

We were looking to grow our software development team quickly, but we couldn’t find people fast enough, and we decided to outsource.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Software House provides software development services. They allocate software developers to our project to meet our specifications, which they work in collaboration with our in-house team. We went through multiple project scoping sessions; It took us 2–3 weeks to get all set up, and then they allocated a small group to our project.

What is the team composition?

We now have 15 people from their team, and my main point of contact is the project manager and a managing director.

How did you come to work with The Software House?

We found them through an online search. We chose them because they provided dedicated teams for specific needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend £50,000 (approximately $68,800 USD) with them every month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2020, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They brought in the right talent at the right time with the right expertise. We’ve been happy with the quality of their work.

How did The Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is good – I can always reach my points of contact at any time. We communicate via WhatsApp, Slack, and email, and we use Jira to keep track of the project.

They’re responsive when we have issues or suggestions for improvements — they’ve helped us out when we needed it. There’s always an excellent collaboration because they accommodate when we need a change with invoicing or other related aspects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very flexible and adapt to our processes and tools.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk to them a lot; the more you talk to them, the more responsive they are. Communication is always key.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO at Blue Coin, Katowice-based company that develops a range of web portals that provide individuals and businesses with expert knowledge on topics such as personal finance and economics.

Blue Coin wants to equip users with the information they need to make the best decisions in their everyday lives – when choosing accounts and deposits, learning about innovative fintech products and many more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire The Software House, and what were your goals?

TSH’s assistance was required in the ongoing development and maintenance of our most important web products: najlepszekonto.pl and najlepszelokaty.pl. As their popularity grew, a bigger and more flexible team was needed to meet all of our objectives.

Ever since 2015, the objectives gradually changed. They included frontend work with React and backend development with Symfony. An important part was the implementation of the Bolt Content Management System. As the portals grew in popularity, more work was needed on maintenance, optimization as well as development of new features.

SOLUTION

How did you select The Software House and what were the deciding factors?

We have used both recommendations and online research in our preliminary selection and then went on to consult our project with a number of pre-selected vendors. The team at TSH impressed us with a highly personalized approach to our project and lots of interesting suggestions, as well as the ability to handle almost all aspects of the projects, including design and project management.

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

The cooperation has been ongoing since 2015 and involved comprehensive custom web development of our web portals with React and Symfony. At various stages, the Bolt CMS, Redis and the Twig template engine were used. The TSH team also had a PM specialist on its own. The development and maintenance of all services is still ongoing.

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

Up until recently it included two PHP developers and one frontend developer. Now, we are working with one PHP dev and one frontend dev (React), a designer and a Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work done by the TSH team made it possible for us to keep with the increasing traffic and demands that resulted from it. They helped build a scalable and easy-to-manage content-heavy portal that grows with its user base.

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

We’ve worked with a few Project Managers during the course of the cooperation. All of them managed to meet our needs, despite having different approaches to the project. We use industry-standard communication tools (email, Slack, Jira) and SCRUM/Kanban approach to development.

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

Their flexibility makes it possible to increase and decrease their involvement based on our needs. Their overall ability to deliver is also impressive.

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

During the project, any issues we raised were solved efficiently and there is nothing major I can think of.