SoftwareHut

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I am the CEO and co-founder of a startup in Silicon Valley that is focusing on proactive shopping technology. We have two products. The first product is a mobile ordering and payment application for restaurants that is leveraging iBeacon technology. Our second product, which we recently launched, is an expert shopping app for new parents recommending them baby products based on the context of their families.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareHut?

We started engaging SoftwareHut in late 2015 because we needed to develop internal software for our newest product to allow our agents and customer support to engage with users.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

SoftwareHut developed our apps using the AngularJS application. Back-end development was done on our side, so we provided them with all the APIs [application programming interfaces] required. A lot of information was sent through WebSockets instead of REST API. We've had a great collaboration with them.

How did you come to work with SoftwareHut?

I don't fully remember. They either found us because they knew we were looking for a company and they sent us a message, or it was because they are from Poland, and we have an office in Poland. Either way, they reached out to us, and it went from there.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started building a prototype with them and, because the work was really well done, we decided that we wanted to evolve the project into something bigger. We've been working very closely with them since then, and we are still happily working with them.

Both of the products they have created for us are fully launched, but we continue to evolve and add more features. We plan to continue collaborating with them on the app for the foreseeable future. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

If one of our customer support representatives or agents sees a particular issue or has a feature request, it will either go directly to their engineering team or to one of our designers who will push it to them. Within 24-48 hours the change is live and made available to the team. That has really made everyone super excited.

How did SoftwareHut perform from a project management standpoint?

As good as they could have. What was interesting for us in working with them was the frequency of our conversation with the two engineers we work with. They were so highly involved in our team as regular members, which was crucial for us as a startup. We would connect multiple times a day over Skype, Slack messaging, and so on. Their close integration with our team allowed us to really go at the speed that we did. They were extremely fast.

Because we were working with them so closely, I think part of the project management was done by us, but everything that was done on their end was as good as it could be. They always made deadlines or even delivered early. They were working and pushing stuff over winter holidays so we can make our deadlines.

What distinguishes SoftwareHut from other providers?

Providing a very high quality of code is definitely one component. For startups in particular, it’s very important to work closely with the engineering team that’s in place. Usually startups will have a couple of front-end developers in house and maybe a back end person. Most of the time they decide to outsource some of the more minor components that aren’t at the core of the company. However, these smaller components are very important to the business, so it’s crucial to communicate with the core team.

There are agencies that are a little more closed and do not interact much with the client, but SoftwareHut is exactly opposite. They are very open, they are very proactive, and that was perfect for us because that is the only way that we could engage with an agency.

Is there anything SoftwareHut could have improved or done differently?

Not really, otherwise we wouldn’t have been working with them anymore, and we are happily working with them. Everything has been excellent, and whenever there are things that are not the way we want, it’s usually a miscommunication. Our great communication allows for any issue to be solved immediately.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I am a project manager at a digital agency. We design, plan, and develop websites, apps, and social media strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareHut?

We needed to outsource the development of a website for a client because we didn't have enough bandwidth to handle the project at the time.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We provided the layouts and designs, and allowed them to choose the CMS [content management system]. They did all the technical pieces of the project. They programmed, wrote the code, and did the front-end and back-end development.

How did you come to work with SoftwareHut?

We did some research and found them, and asked if they wanted to undertake our project. We started with a small project and were very satisfied, so we gave them a few more.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

I think, right now, it's still less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in October 2015 and have worked with them on three projects. Right now, they are the first program partner we ask if we need someone to program something for us. We work with them once a month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We don't have any measurements other than the satisfaction of our clients, which has been high.

How did SoftwareHut perform from a project management standpoint?

They are really good, I like to work with them. Their communication is great. Deadlines are OK – they have missed one or two, but it's not that terrible.

What distinguishes SoftwareHut from other providers?

I like my contact there. It's fun to work with SoftwareHut.

Is there anything SoftwareHut could have improved or done differently?

No – not really. After every project, we write a little bit or have a conversation about what they or we could do better, but it's never that much. We're happy.

BACKGROUND

Please give me a brief description of your company.

We are called Stowarzyszenie Kreatywne Podlasie [Creative Podlasie Association]. We are a regional NGO operating in north-eastern Poland. Our main fields of interest are civic, educational, cultural and sport projects organized in the region called Podlaskie Voivodship. We have operated since 2008 as a legal organization. We are fully operational in terms of Polish and European law. Our team consists of about 20 people, but most of them are volunteers. There are 3 people on the board and we’re the most active part of the organization. The board is the core of the association – we create projects, we run the open-space office in Białystok, and we deal with all the formal matters.

What is your role at the company?

I’m Vice President of the association. My tasks are connected with all the projects run by the NGO, as well as with back office activities, such as the legal and financial operations of the association. I’m a lawyer, so most of what I do is connected with paperwork and the workflow of documents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Lemontea?

Since 2010, we’ve been running a project financed by Polish Ministry of Labour and Social Policy from the so-called Civic Initiatives Fund. The name of the project is “Save for the Future”. Its main goal was to create a free online service allowing citizens to upload and share their digitized photos, movies, documents and other files, basically digitizing activities. For example, if you have an old photo from an album of your grandfather, and he can still tell you the story behind the photo, you may scan and upload the photo, add some details (metadata, description of the story) and share it with your friends or people from your neighborhood.

What were your company’s business goals for the project?

Our goal was to create, test, run and promote the online service. We wanted to encourage people from the region to change traditional data carriers from their material to digital form. It wasn’t actually a business goal, but a main goal of the project financed by the Polish government.

SOLUTION

Can you tell me about the scope of the project?

The service allowed people to upload files, add metadata, search for an uploaded file and see it online. It was divided into two parts. The first one was a digital dictionary. The second was more dynamic and the core of the project. It was the tool allowing to upload and share digitized objects online.

What was your process for selecting Lemontea to work with?

We’ve known Robert since 2010 when we were organizing some cultural events in Białystok and in the Podlasie Voivodship. So when we were interested in creating such a developed, complex online service, we asked if they would be able to cope with such a challenging task. Lemontea, after a series of meetings and negotiations, decided to create it for us.

Can you give us a sense of the size of the project in dollar terms? A price range would be fine as well.

The whole budget of the project was PLN 215,000, which roughly translates to USD 50,000. However, the cost of the online service was about PLN 30,000, which is around USD 7,500. The rest was mainly the cost of creating and operating an open, non-profit digitization lab in Białystok.

When was the project completed?

The whole project started in 2011 and was completed in 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project, and are there any metrics you can share? What have they helped you achieve as a company?

Unfortunately, the website is currently under construction so I cannot show the service as it operates. We’re now rebuilding it according to some new governmental directives on layout and operation of such free civic online platforms. But thanks to Lemontea we’ve created a quite popular and socially important internet service. Just to mention some basic numbers – during the first year of the project, users of the website published almost 50,000 objects, mainly historic photos that were digitized and sent to the service. That made us proud of the project and showed that it was important not only to us, but also to the people around us in the region.

How did Lemontea perform?

They were great at communication and adjusting to the specificity of the project. The final version of the service was created after several months of shaping up solutions that had to be not only high quality from the IT point of view, but also extremely easy for all the end-users. The majority of the audience was ordinary people with limited digital skills, so their comfort was one of the biggest challenges for us. Lemontea created a complex online service that solved all the problems we’ve encountered during the development process.

While working with them, was there anything unique or special about them compared to other companies that you may have worked with?

Lemontea is small but has an extraordinary team of programmers, designers and managers. They are flexible, and are always ready to adjust to the needs of their business partner.

Looking back on the project, is there any area that they could improve or you would do differently?

As the client, I should have been more specific about what I needed and what I wanted done. So perhaps Lemontea could have asked more specific questions about what we needed. Maybe that would have made the process faster. I think that most of the changes were generated on our side. We didn’t know exactly what we wanted and we weren’t experienced with online tools. Perhaps as a client we were not so easy for them, so any problems that developed were on us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work in the regional administration of Podlaskie, a region in northeast Poland. Our mission is to promote our region, so we deal with a wide variety of topics, including web design and web promotion. We use the Internet as one major way of promoting what we are doing in the region.

What is your position?

I am the deputy director of the Department of Promotion for this region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Lemontea?

We were looking for someone to develop an Instagram-based photo contest for us. It was an innovative approach for official regional authorities in Poland. No one has ever done such a contest before. We turned to Lemontea and asked if they could do that for us. We knew they were working with web applications and we thought they might be able to help us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of your involvement with Lemontea.

They designed the whole back-end system that connected with Instagram and the tag system for the photos. They also made a landing page for everyone who took part in the contest.

How did you come to work with Lemontea?

We had done some projects with them in the past, and I knew one of their principals personally. I knew they were a fresh startup, that they had a qualified team of young programmers and that they would be willing to take on something different.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have spent about $5,000 working with Lemontea.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first began working with them in 2011 or 2012. The specific Instagram contest was two years ago, but we still work with them. Whenever we need something to do with our website or if we want to create a website for a specific product, we turn to them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from your work with Lemontea?

We didn't have to worry about anything technical, since they took care of everything. I think we spent two months developing the project, and we didn't launch until we were completely sure that the website would function properly. The contest was a success, and we received several hundred photos. As far as I am concerned, the promotion of the region was very well done. We were satisfied with the work of Lemontea.

What distinguishes Lemontea from other providers?

I think the first thing that distinguishes them is their openness. There is no such thing as impossible for Lemontea. They are always trying to do something new and learn something new – new approaches, new technologies, and new techniques. They have fresh ideas. Even when we would be facing something difficult, suddenly they would come up with an idea and overcome the obstacle.

The second thing about them is that they are very good as far as the technology is concerned. We didn't have to worry about anything or worry about something not working. Many different problems can come up with such an application. We had to be prepared and had to test it thoroughly beforehand. Everything needed to work perfectly the first time, especially because we are a public administration. We were constantly aware of that. Unless everything is running smoothly, the public is not going to be happy if they see us spending their money on something that is not working.

Is there anything Lemontea could have improved or done differently?

They're a small team, and they are still growing. I think what might be holding them back right now is that their team is so small. I think they can focus only on one or two projects at the moment. Until they get bigger, they cannot handle several projects simultaneously.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a small software development company, and we are focusing on building mobile applications for iOS and Android platforms. We have been doing this for three and a half years now, and we are a group of five people – all developers.

What is your position?

I am the owner of the company, with my business partner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Lemontea?

We wanted to do some kind of refresh of our website, but then we decided that it wouldn't be enough. We wanted to change our identity along with changing our website. This is what led us to Lemontea.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We discussed with Robert [Matyszewski, founder of Lemontea] and described the situation that we wanted to build a new website, and build a new identity for our company. They made a bunch of videos about our company, they created our website, they created a new logo for us, and they reviewed some marketing text we had on our website. That's basically it.

How did you come to work with Lemontea?

A friend of mine is a friend of Robert's, so he introduced us.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was 13,000 zloty [Polish currency], so around $3,500 U.S.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our collaboration at the end of June, that's when we made our initial discussion about the project. We just finished our work with them. We built what we wanted to build; it's ready to go live. I'm not sure what next steps we will take with Lemontea but, for now, this project is completed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I was very happy to work with them for one reason. They are very creative. We only had a very rough idea of what we wanted, and they were really open to it. We had a few meetings with their team, with not only Robert but also their graphic designer, Monica, and their web developer, Kamil [Trusiak], and we were discussing possible steps. After about two weeks, they proposed that we have some videos, and they described the idea to us in detail. More or less, we were very happy because they were very creative during our whole process, and they really wanted to build something cool and fancy.

What distinguishes Lemontea from other providers?

They were very good at communicating. You know how it is with the creative process – not everything that you can imagine can be built and deployed as a real website. Any time Lemontea found something hard or impossible to do, they were very clear to communicate that and try to find some other resolution. This is really a skill that distinguishes them.

Is there anything Lemontea could have improved or done differently?

Not really. I saw some bad parts on our side. We were a bit slacking to deliver some content for them, but they did a great job for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a fast-growing SaaS company on a mission to empower modern organisations by providing a better way to do expense management, with less admin and more impact.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We rely on resources from SoftwareHut on a continues basis for data analysis, web development, and business analysis. One of the resources have been with us for more than 4 years.

SOLUTION

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

We selected them based on speaking with multiple vendors and doing assessment with the candidates.

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

The project is on a continuous basis and includes daily contact with the resources from SoftwareHut, detailed planning of what needs to be done and execution of the plan.

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

Between 2 and 4 full time resources

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since having the resources working with our teams we can focus on the core parts of the platform. They support us with complicated and specific client requests

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

They use our project management tools and this works perfectly

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

I'm impressed with their level of technical knowledge and availability of resources

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

Level of English of certain profiles. Some profiles have very good english.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a cable laying machine manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Software modification and maintenance to free internal ressource for new product development

SOLUTION

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

I was contacted by a commercial and reactivity, efficiency and price confirm our interst of cooperation.

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

The scope is limited to the java part of a Linux based HMI. First we present the software Then we proceed to a first modification to validated the partnership Now we have a dedicate time allocated every mounth for this software maintenance.

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

1 software developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

18 of the 23 issues have been solved, 5 are on progress

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

We use Gitlab to assign issues and define priorities, code is managed in git as well

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

Their developers react quickly.

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

no