Software Mind S.A.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and CEO of a SaaS software company that builds management and accounting software for member-based organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Virtualmind?

We needed to grow our development team quickly with experienced engineers who could hit the ground running.

SOLUTION

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

I was referred to VirtualMind by an existing client who was very happy with their work. It has turned out to be a great decision.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

VirtualMind provided two senior software engineers with experience in Node.js, MongoDB, and React.js. One engineer immediately began working on our accounting product, completing features that were already in progress. This required very rapid learning on her part and she did an exceptional job getting up to speed and contributing quickly.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

VirtualMind assigned a recruiter to us at the beginning of our engagement. He met with us to discuss our needs and the required background of the engineers we were looking for. Very quickly, they began presenting candidates.

All of the candidates were qualified for our positions. We interviewed the candidates that looked most promising to verify their technical background, communication skills, and fit with our culture. Then we selected the very best candidates from the options presented by VirtualMind.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall we have been very happy with our experience working with VirtualMind. One of the engineers we added to our team became a key contributor very quickly. We were very impressed with her ability to learn our product and made valuable contributions quickly.

The second engineer did not work out as well but VirtualMind dealt with the issue quickly and professionally. While technically competent, the second engineer was not able to contribute at the level we required. After some coaching and feedback to both the engineer and VirtualMind, we decided to replace the engineers. VirtualMind quickly found another capable engineer and made the switch smooth and seamless for us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our communication with VirtualMind is very good. We have invited their key people to our Slack system so we can regularly message them with any questions or issues that arise. They are very responsive and very profesional.

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

The thing that most impressed us about VirtualMind was the personal attention that we received. Other staff augmentation firms felt like factories where we would be a small client and receive little attention. But VirtualMind really listened to our needs and found us the engineers we needed quickly and efficiently.

Their team is friendly, professional, and easy to work with. I also like having a direct line of communication to the owners of the firm in case I have an issue that needs attention.

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

Nothing I can think of. Just keep doing great work!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of DanceFight, a mobile competition platform that allows our community members to challenge each other to a dance-off and the crowd to vote for their favorite.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Virtualmind?

We needed to hire affordable development resources quickly. As we were a startup, we didn’t have the time to get internal resources on board, and we were concerned about the cost and time that this would imply, so we decided to hire Virtualmind instead.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have an internal iOS development team, but Virtualmind provides us with a full-time Swift developer to augment it. This resource has been on board for almost two years now.

More recently, they also provided us with a half-time QA developer, who has been working with us for the last twelve months. This person mostly provides QA for iOS, but they also help us with QA for Android. Over the last month, this person has become a full-time resource, at least temporarily.

We’ve also talked with Virtualmind about onboarding a resource for Android development, but we haven’t gotten to that road yet. Additionally, I know that they offer web design and development, but we don’t need those services for now.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people from Virtualmind: the iOS developer and the QA developer. We’ve also communicated with Javier (CEO) and Fernando (COO).

How did you come to work with Virtualmind?

A friend of mine had used them before and recommended them to us. Although they’re based in Argentina, I met them in person here in Austin and had a really good first impression of them. They were very friendly, transparent, and willing to find the right fit for us, and I felt that they would go above and beyond. Additionally, they were more affordable than someone local, so we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little over $200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any specific metrics to track Virtualmind resources’ performance, but the quality of their work has been very good. Our app has an average of 4.7–4.8 stars on the App Store, as well as some positive reviews, so our community seems to like what we’re doing. Overall, we’ve been growing, improving our engagement and retention, and Virtualmind has played an important role in that success.

We’re very happy with them, which is why the relationship has gone longer than anticipated. Initially, we thought that we would augment our team for six months and then hire someone internally, but they’ve been such a good fit for us that we’ve continued working together.

How did Virtualmind perform from a project management standpoint?

Our CTO manages the whole development team, but Virtualmind resources are very timely. As we’re a newer organization, we’re always improving our processes and increasing our development speed.

We use Instabug and Crashlytics to track bugs and Jira to assign tickets to Virtualmind’s resources automatically. We also find bugs during our QA process and prioritize them before fixing them. Additionally, we use Figma to share UI/UX designs and Slack to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Virtualmind’s desire to understand our business and do everything they can to help us succeed is impressive. I’ve worked with other agencies in the past, and it felt like we were just another client. However, working with Virtualmind feels like a true relationship. Javier and Fernando really want us to succeed, so they put time and effort into finding the right people for our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time to talk to Javier or Fernando and dive into your needs and requirements. Taking time to do so upfront really helped us a lot in getting the right people on board.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CTO of a software company. We built SaaS products for financial management, and I worked in product development and operations. We had 300 people in the company, and then we utilized external resources for product development, so I also managed them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Mind?

We were developing our own software product. We needed someone to scale up and resource our product development. Mainly, we were after scalability and expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Software Mind acted as a subcontractor for us. They provided a pool of SCRUM resources, and we basically hired them on a full-time basis. Their team worked with our product development unit, which consisted of in-house and external resources work. Software Mind produced 80% of that external resourcing.

We started with a pilot on a small scale and ramped up from there. Initially, we provided some basic documentation, but they gathered the experience and knowledge they needed throughout our collaboration. We mostly used JavaScript, but we ran a bunch of other languages as well. We used MySQL on the database side, Vaadin on the frontend, Spring Boot, and Cassandra for the message queue.

In summary, they produced quite a lot of things. Their team did the document management part and most of the public API provided to our customers. Also, they made critical changes to the core of our product and worked on UI design as well.

What is the team composition?

We had a main point of contact and 35 people working on 6–7 SCRUM things. Some were software architects, and we had a few software engineers, 5–6 QA engineers, SCRUM masters, and 1–2 designers.

How did you come to work with Software Mind?

I spent a while researching the options and went through about 50 companies. I came across Software Mind through someone I knew beforehand. He had more experience in this type of operation, so he suggested some good companies.

How much have you invested with them?

It was roughly €5 million (approximately $5.8 million USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2016, and I left in May 2021. The company is still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final evidence was the company’s business growth. During those years, our revenue increased by 30% annually. Moreover, Software Mind produced good quality work. When we compared their quality, it was on par with what we did in-house. We were very happy about that.

How did Software Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered what they’d promised. We didn’t do much project management together. They were under our management style, and they did well. We mainly worked remotely, but our teams also visited each other. Every month, someone from our office would go there, and then they’d visit us a few times a year. On the other hand, it was pretty different during 2020 due to the lockdown.

We used Slack, Microsoft Teams, emails, and phone calls to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, they stood out for their ability to deliver technology. From a cooperation standpoint, they were direct, honest, and easy to work with. Software Mind said what they thought and actually told us when we asked things that didn’t make sense.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At some points, we saw people leaving. Also, there were occasions where we could’ve prevented changes if we’d acted sooner, so maybe they could be more proactive on that front.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Getting the home base in order first helps a lot. Then, you have to approach them and be willing to hand them business-critical tasks and complex challenges. That’s when they prove they’re valuable.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Burning Glass is a labor market analytics firm providing quantitative insight into the demand and supply of workers in labor markets around the world. I am the Chief Technology Officer of Burning Glass.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We required data engineering personnel quickly to develop high throughput data processing pipelines and insights underpinning new applications under construction.

SOLUTION

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

The vendor quickly provided numerous qualified candidates to work with our team in a cohesive team structure. Deciding factors for us included quickly presenting multiple potential resources with excellent language skills at a per month costs fitting within our budget.

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

Key deliverables included bringing on a team quickly, Python and database engineering, data modelling, plus analysis of data quality.

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

We hired 3 software engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new application launched on time within a 3 month window and sold three new customers within 30 days of launch. Key deliverables included Python and AWS Cloud Formation Template (CFT) software comprising the system's backend.

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

VirtualMind served as a management resource providing personnel to our team, but their model focused on embedding their personnel within our existing scrum teams in a cohesive manner.

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

The speed in which they provided highly skilled resources sourced from South America that could cohesively work with my global software team.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I have led Operations for our early stage digital health company for 4+ years, based out of Austin, Texas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

As our business evolved and it came time to implement dedicated software development resources, our VP of Engineering had previously worked with Virtualmind and strongly recommended that we build a hybrid software development team between Austin (full-time, in-house) and Virtualmind in Buenos Aires. We developed an IoT platform, as well as business and consumer-facing mobile applications. It was also important that communication be fluid and on/near the same time zone.

SOLUTION

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

Initially, this was largely based on our VP of Engineering's prior experience with the Virtualmind team. We also met with Javier and really appreciated his approach, transparency, and demeanor. They also displayed a strong set of technical capabilities and references.

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

Their team worked in tandem with our in-house engineers to develop the back-end systems for our applications, as well as iOS and Android mobile applications.

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

This varied, but there were generally 4-6 members of the vendor's team working with us, primarily focused on back-end and mobile development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Virtualmind team completed high quality work, on-time, and with consistent communication. They were also flexible as we needed to ramp up/down various areas of development.

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

Strong project management and timeliness, including direct communication with each member of their team. We mostly communicated via Slack.

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

They represented a rare combination of skill, positive attitude, and flexibility. We also found them to be genuinely good, caring people - which is incredibly important. Javier, the CEO, leads by example.

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

There were a few instances where their team could have flagged challenges earlier and saved time, but relatively minor.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Quik! provides enterprise forms automation solutions to make paperwork the easiest part of every transaction. As CEO I help customers improve their customer experiences and change the way they use forms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired VirtualMind to become our software development team. Although the team is offshore, they are every bit a part of our company as any other team member. They build and develop our software.

SOLUTION

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

We chose VirtualMind for several reasons. Their company culture and overall country culture (Argentina) closely matched ours. Second, the timezone difference was minimal. Third, they speak great English and communicate well.

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

Our goal was to build a team at VM that all other teams wanted to be part of. We've done this through extending our company culture to our team members and treating them like they were employees.

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

Our team at VM is now 11 people including a full-time QA, designer, dev-ops leader, team leader and engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have now been working with VM for over 11 years and have successfully recommended them to other firms, including our clients.

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

One of the keys to our success has been not having to manage the HR issues (hiring, training, etc.) that go with an engineering team as VM has done all of that very well.

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

VirtualMind is a true partner - we're not in a client-vendor relationship, we support each other very well and we both give and take.

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

We have learned over the years to understand each other and to know what to expect. For example, don't expect VM to be something they're not or you may not get the results you're looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I oversee multiple teams that include Devs, QAs, and BAs, and as a company we focus on hotel benchmarking. We collate statistical hotel data and measure these establishments against each other.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with number8?

We needed their team’s software development and testing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over the course of our working relationship with number8, they provided resources that integrated within our teams and helped develop several platforms and custom applications for both internal and external consumption.

What is the team composition?

The number8 resources were mixed in with existing teams, which usually consisted of 3–4 devs, QA, BA, and a PM.

How did you come to work with number8?

One of our managers had an existing professional relationship with number8 before I was onboarded in the company.  

How much have you invested with them?

I estimate we spent close to $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship with number8 lasted several years and came to an end in March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saved valuable time and money because of number8’s efforts. We didn’t really have definite KPIs or metrics to measure number8's specific impact within the teams, but I could confidently say that number8 delivered cost-effective results.

How did number8 perform from a project management standpoint?

number8 was a highly cooperative team — all the resources we worked with were accommodating and delivered tasks efficiently. They knew our business well given the length of our partnership, and they used that as an opportunity to generate quick yet logical results.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with their keen ability to deliver tailored and high-quality solutions. Our long-term engagement with number8 was enough proof that we found their services beneficial to our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t encounter any aspect that they could’ve done differently. number8 was a proactive and professional team that listened to our needs and took our feedback into consideration.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust number8 to be the right partner for your company. They’ll not only deliver efficient results, but they’ll also work closely with you to ensure they are meeting expectations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CTO in the biggest MVNO in Poland

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for partner that could support us in both development of our BSS (new products, APIs and CRM development) and support of whole BSS related software stack.

SOLUTION

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

Software Mind is widely known as a company with high telco software competence. Among the competitiors Software Mind offered us the best terms.

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

Development and support of enviroment consisting of custom BSS system build in JAVA, Amazon RDS Postgre and MySQL databases, Apache based rest APIs, Rabbit and Nginx LBs, JIRA, Amazon EC2 and S3, CI stack (GitLab, Jenkins), ELK stack

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

There were always at least 5 people, PM, Software Architect, devops /CI specialist, tester and senior developer. Other members joined the the team depending on workload, during thempst intensive development team included up to 6 developers and a leader / chief developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Software developed and maintained by Software Mind is running without any serious unplanned downtime while servicing more than 400k customers since 2017

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

The project management style is based on good communication and personal relations. It makes it both easier to understand each other and just more fun to work together. Primary means of communication are weekly status meetings, Slack and Jira

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

Flexible approach. We has (much too often) required the order of product delivery to be changed when development had already started or some development to be made "immediately" to secure bussiness continuity. While no one would be happy with impromptu changes, Software Mind is always ready to help us find solutions.

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

Every issue that occured was possible to be solved by talking or negotiation (sometimes a lot of it). I guess when you're open to feedback you just improve on the way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering for a technology company that provides a meal plan subscription service online and through mobile apps.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with number8?

We needed to address our backlog of work in a cost-effective and timely manner. We hired number8 to expand our development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve augmented our team for full stack web and application development. They’ve done everything from traditional software engineering and development tasks. At this point, they’re completely integrated with my team.

What is the team composition?

There are three full-time contract developers on my team, but I also work with two account managers that help recruit talent. We’re also in the process of bringing on a data developer as well.

How did you come to work with number8?

I found them through Clutch. We were looking for a partner for nearshore staff augmentation and talked to several agencies. They sent us samples of their work,  I talked to some of their existing team people, and I checked their references. In the end, they could provide the best talent for the most reasonable price.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000­–$200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first developer started working with us in September 2020 and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

By adding one software engineer, we increased our throughput by about 30 percent. Since then, we’ve brought on two more developers.

Anecdotally, they fit right into our team. They’ve become trusted partners and resources.

How did number8 perform from a project management standpoint?

Our partnership has been seamless. They’re in the same time zones as us, so we’re able to contact them easily, which helps us turn everything around quickly. To communicate,  we use Zoom for video conferencing

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their engineers have exceptional technical abilities.  They clearly understand the facets of the project and can work across a broad tech stack.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything specific they need to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

New clients should understand that there are different ways to work with a nearshore provider, and how they manage that partnership can have a big impact on the success of their project. They need to be willing to support them.

Also, like with any partnership, there may be some challenges that are outside of their control. For example, we had to reschedule an interview because they were hit by a hurricane and lost power. So, new clients should have realistic expectations and flexible in their partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Software Developer III at a freight company headquartered in Fort Smith, AR. We provide integrated logistics solutions for a variety of supply chain challenges. I am responsible for implementing and improving our IT systems as well as overseeing various team projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire number8?

Our company currently uses an in-house browser built off of Internet Explorer which allowed us to keep our existing web applications in a deprecated Internet Explorer version. We decided to start moving towards allowing users to use modern browsers, but needed these older applications to work in them as well.

We did not have the resources to devote to converting the numerous applications to HTML5 standards and outsourcing seemed to be our best option.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted each system to be able to successfully run in Chrome, Internet Explorer, and our in-house browser. Each system also needed to remain virtually the same from the users perspective which presented a difficult challenge. We anticipated that this would help us move from supporting our in-house browser to allowing users to use a browser of their choosing.

SOLUTION

How did you select number8?

I was not personally involved in the selection process of number8, but I was the first person from our company to work directly with them on a project. The quality of the programmers they provided encouraged our company to use them on other future projects.

Describe the project in detail.

The project had already been underway when we decided to add a vendor to the team. I started as a developer on the project and soon moved to project manager when we added number8.

The overall scope was to convert all applications which had already been identified to HTML W3C standards (currently HTML5). The vendor was responsible for taking the applications they were given and updating them to HTML5 standards based on the given instructions.

They would then fully test each application in Chrome, IE and our in-house browser. Once tested the application was given back to me and I would pass it on to the user for further testing. The vendor had to not only learn our conversion guidelines, but also business knowledge on each new application.

What was the team composition?

Initially, we started with one programmer from number8 and as our project grew we added two others in order to speed up the conversion process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Once completed all of our applications will be able to run in a modern browser which will allow for newer development and better user experience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was excellent. We had daily stand up video meetings each morning in order to get a quick update from each programmer. This was vital in making our team work so well together. I also have a monthly check-in call with the vendor manager to ensure progress is being made and their are no issues.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about number8 was their people and their integrity. Our team quickly became a "family" despite us not all working for the same company. I could trust that work would get done in a timely manner and I always felt like I was updated on task status.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I do believe we worked at a slower pace, but I believe with that came quality work versus if we had worked faster it might have been less quality and more quantity.