Sphere

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CIO of an online lender that offers installment lending and lines of credit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sphere Software?

We needed to get a new platform up and running quickly, so we contracted some senior engineers through Sphere Software. They built it to our specifications and under our guidance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sphere Software developed our online lending platform. They were responsible for everything except the financial internals, which we handled ourselves.

They built the system we use to acquire and store customer information, the system we use to interact with financial institutions and move money, and the system our customer service representatives use to manage customer accounts and deal with customer requests.

We use Ruby on Rails on a PostgreSQL database. They used AngularJS on part of our system, along with CoffeeScript and sundry technologies.

What is the team composition?

They presented resources and we managed the project internally. Sphere Software offers project management, but we didn’t enlist them for that. Our team ranged between three and four offshore developers.

How did you come to work with Sphere Software?

I found them because my boss from another company had a relationship with them. It was essentially word of mouth. We worked with them at prior companies and were satisfied with the resources they found.

What is the status of this engagement?

The current project began in early 2014 and the collaboration is ongoing. They built the system from scratch. We were up and running in a few months, but we’re constantly building and changing lots of things.

Our team included people with whom we’d worked at prior companies. They knew the lay of the land, understood the puzzle we were attacking, and quickly started work with that team.

As they came and went, we brought in new people. Sphere helped us maintain a continuum from that first team. They had good, solid knowledge of what the system does, how to navigate it, and how to change it, which has been good for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We review every line of code they write and ask them to make corrections when they do something we don’t want. We educate them on our standards. By and large, they adopt them.

The quality is as good as we can get. We demand 100% code test and documentation coverage, and they give us what we ask for. No code moves to production until this happens. 

We review the quality of their design work. When they create something that could be terribly inefficient in production, we tell them. They learn, improve, and they never do it again.

We generally choose self-driven engineers. We don’t simply take what Sphere Software puts on our team. They hand us candidates, we interview them, and we decide whether we want to work with them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We get a consistent number of quality senior engineers. Occasionally, we get some true gems who are really good. I can’t characterize it better than that. Sphere Software secures some very good developers. Not all of them are the best fit for us, but we work them out through the interview process.

They also all speak English well. Some are extremely fluent, while others are good enough to get the job done. We don’t have any complaints.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Contractors and employees make the same effort to improve. We monitor and correct reversions to bad habits as they come up. We remind them to break down and estimate their work. Not many teams do this well, so we have to constantly remind them that it needs to be done. They do it and get back on track.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

To get good value from the collaboration, be actively involved. Choose team members rather than just taking what’s available. Be on top of everything I’ve mentioned. There is no magic solution. No contractors can deliver the best team in the world. You must work to make that happen.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Bringhub. We started off as a universal shopping cart app and then moved into the contextual commerce space. We try to extract context from digital content and place monetization opportunities in it, such as ads, product placement, or other informational layers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sphere Software?

We needed staff augmentation for our platform. We had been looking for Golang developers, and it is hard to find great Go talent.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the last few years, we have been a Go shop. We had a lot of different systems built by different people. We were trying to consolidate a lot of them, create reusable components, and add more telemetry information into it.

The developer worked on a few different pieces of our systems. One portion he worked in was our ad server. We have a monolithic Go app and his responsibilities were to add in telemetry, log data, and set the InfluxDB and Grafana so that we can see how information and calls are flowing through our system. He planned and implemented the division of the app into microservices. Then, we moved him to our contextual machine learning engine and do the same types of best practices, re-architecture, and telemetry implementation there as well.

What is the team composition?

We used one developer, who we had for 40 hours a week.

How did you come to work with Sphere Software?

Sphere responded to our posting and said they had some great Go developers. I got on a call with them and they showed me who they had. There was a developer whose code I was familiar with, as I had used some of his libraries before. It was exciting that they had him, and we hired him on.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from September 2017–April 2018. Things are just wrapping up now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is complete, and everything delivered by Sphere has been successful. As we need to do more, we will consider Sphere.

How did Sphere Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been fantastic, and communication has been great. They treated us like a giant client and I didn’t feel like I only had one developer. We even had an onsite visit from the CEO. We were treated like great clients and the whole process went well. We never had any issues and are very happy with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their engineers is the most impressive. We’ve been looking at other engineers on their team for another project, and everyone that I’ve spoken to is really good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As long as they can keep delivering resources that know how to work and are good at communicating, I have no problems.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to reach out. Everyone I have spoken to over there is very receptive and wants to help. I was a little afraid that we didn’t have enough money to get great quality candidates, but they want to provide value.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of a mobile service company that services gas on-demand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sphere Software?

We wanted to outsource the development of two iOS apps and one web application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sphere Software developed an iOS app for gas drivers, iOS app for consumers, and a web application using React. Their team also developed the backend of the web application using Python and integrated administrative features such as keeping tracking of invoices and employees, maintaining the location of assets, and making changes to orders/arrangements.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a web developer, backend developer, and two iOS developers.

How did you come to work with Sphere Software?

I met with the Leon (CEO, Sphere Software) at a dinner and after an interview with their developers decided to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $90,000 in the engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in December 2016 through the summer of 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I measured their success by analyzing their code for cleanliness and precision. Their developers were intelligent, and the quality of their code was to my standards.

How did perform from a project management standpoint?

We handled the project management, but they communicated well with us and met deadlines as required.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had good developers and were adaptable to the ever-changing new features added to the apps. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have better-predicted changes and avoided mistakes.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president of the holding company for an online lender.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sphere Software?

We wanted to automate our manual customer service channels, which included phone, chat, and email.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nearly 80% of inbound chats addressed only 20% of all topics. Common cases included product features, underwriting rules, and information updates. Sphere Software started engagement by building an AI-powered chatbot functionality to automate at least 75% of these repetitive interactions. The resulting tool generated responses by parsing customer queries and searching knowledge bases.

What is the team composition?

The team included two developers that interfaced with a member of our technical team. We also interacted with the COO and CEO.

How did you come to work with Sphere Software?

We knew their reputation. They were open-minded, flexible, competitively-priced for their value. Importantly, they offered a viable solution that matched our needs.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project started in October 2017 and ended recently. Work on related projects is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They made our work easier. Customer satisfaction rates were higher. Consequently, we had to hire fewer people.

How did Sphere Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They were leaders; the team set the scope and structured development. We communicated via phones, video conference, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team had a wide range of expertise. They could answer any question, even when the topic was out of scope.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although costs were reasonable, they still could’ve been cheaper.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Research the scope prior to engagement. It’s easier for the vendor to be effective when the client has clear expectations and goals. This preparation benefits dynamic processes and milestones.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Dabble is an experience marketplace for finding, listing and hosting local classes, experiences, and events. We’re based in Chicago, and I am the company’s CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sphere Software?

We were re-platforming and preparing for a site relaunch. The goal was to scale the company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sphere Software’s initial involvement was around code refactoring for the relaunch of our site’s frontend and backend. Most of the work was Ruby on Rails development and support. We had our own design team.

What is the team composition?

We initially brought in 2 of their developers. Because they did a great job, we decided to add 2 more.

After parting ways with our own CTO [Chief Technology Officer], rather than hiring a new one, I reached out to Sphere Software again. They assigned a team member, who has been working with us for over a year. I think of them as my default CTO/tech team. 

How did you come to work with Sphere Software?

One of our team members had worked with them in the past, likely as a developer. He recommended scaling up our dev team using Sphere Software's support, and due to our goal of launching the product sooner rather than later, we agreed to do so.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent just under $100,000 with them on the first round of projects in 2016. With the new project that began at the end of 2016, we’ve spent over $140,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2016, on an on-and-off basis. We’ve been working with them consistently since November 2016.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can scale their resources up or down, as required. Sphere Software has some talented developers, and their pricing is competitive with local agencies. Even if I could pay less by working directly with some of these resources, the company gives me the flexibility I need, and they eliminate the issues that would come with hiring developers in Ukraine.

Looking back, a couple of projects were probably done by junior developers, and could have been improved with better direction from my side; I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Whenever I had a chance to address an issue, it was quickly fixed.

How did Sphere Software perform from a project management standpoint?

My background was non-technical, so not having a tech lead on-site was challenging. Over the last year, I’ve gotten better at communicating scope. If our budget allowed it, it would have been better to have Sphere Software assign me a project developer and project manager, and let those people be the intermediaries. In order to save money, I became the product officer and managed the team.

Projects were always delivered with high quality. Sometimes, they stretched out longer than expected, which I credit to scope creep and changing story requirements. There are also some challenges to working with offshore developers. They are good English speakers, both written and spoken, but things can get lost in translation, and firing up the video chat can be slow.

I’ve worked with offshore companies in the past when I had less experience. The language barriers were much worse. With Sphere Software, we’re mostly dealing with business decisions in a dynamic way. We’re thinking out loud and fixing or implementing items. We’re a startup, so there’s not a lot of time to sit back. We have to be on top of things, and sometimes launch builds before they are fully tested.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve appreciated their responsiveness and the quality of our developer. I would hire him if I could. He’s been with us for a long time, has become a part of the team, and I feel that he enjoys the work. The product team I’ve worked with for billing issues, scale-up or scale-down issues is also very responsive.

Given the flexibility that they give me, I would hire more Sphere Software developers and engineers before hiring my own. This is not just because of the savings, but because I get quality work out of them. If I ever start another company, I think that I will work with them again. They give me the flexibility of not having to bring in someone full-time until I’m ready.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could do better in terms of testing, before something is pushed to staging, for me to test. Many developers simply minimize their screens to test the mobile view, but doing this on a desktop isn’t really the same as testing on a mobile device.

Half of the traffic to our site is mobile, so it’s important for the developers to actually test on smartphones. It’s taken me extra time to test on multiple devices. Had they done it first, I would have saved time and money.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients need to be clear about what they’re looking to accomplish: define the scope of work and understand that a dedicated project lead, available in during their morning working hours is important.

Most of Sphere Software’s developers are in Ukraine, which means that they are working from 2 am to 6 am, while we’re sleeping. When we wake up, we have work to review. Having someone available from 7 am to 10 am our time will allow us to get a lot more done, a lot quicker.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am VP R&D at Gett, a global ride-sharing service available in 100+ cities. We operate in Russia, Israel, and London, as well as in New York under the Juno brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sphere Software?

When I joined the company two years ago, I wanted to spearhead organizational and technological restructuring by recruiting highly qualified developers and QA technicians. This is a difficult and time-consuming thing to do in Israel, so I contacted Sphere Software for help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sphere Software mainly worked on the backend of our platform and on our B2B website. They became an extension of our team in Israel, developing new functionalities and even leading our efforts in many cases. Beyond providing good technical resources, they are also passionate about the business side.

The technology stack is relatively flexible. My first requirement was Ruby on Rails, which they could offer me immediately, but I also asked for Go developers. This is a new language, so they’ve had to learn it with my team.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 10 developers from their side across different teams in the global R&D. In addition, we hire local development in every country, and I know that the London local team has hired a lot of Sphere Software’s developers.

We had interviews with all our Sphere Software candidates, so it wasn’t a matter of being assigned a developer and having that person start directly. Some of them didn’t match our culture, but we were very satisfied with the ones that we hired.

How did you come to work with Sphere Software?

I know Leon Ginsburg [CEO, Sphere Software] personally but our office in London contacted me for a recommendation of a consulting company, and I referred Sphere Software to them. I visited London after several months and found that they’d hired around 15 of their developers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sphere Software less than two years ago, shortly after I came onboard.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t know how Sphere Software's recruitment process works, but our candidates were very strong. They can learn any language or platform quickly. They work as an extension of our team, so we don’t give them full projects. We measure their effectiveness by the velocity of the team and how many bugs are identified by our QA resources. Sphere Software is among our best developers.

How did Sphere Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve handled them just like our own employees. We have a group manager who manages team leads, so I haven’t worked with Sphere Software directly. My managers have told me that they want to continue the collaboration because all their developers are well-organized.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They supplied the required number of high-quality developers in a very short time. Sphere Software achieved this by pulling developers from their internal projects and assigning them to us. Because they also run internal projects, all their developers complete Agile development and technology training. They’re up-to-date and knowledgeable about modern methodologies. The company also knows how to hire talented people. I know their head of HR personally, and she is very capable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I cannot think of anything. I’m a satisfied customer.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any special advice, other than setting expectations and defining requirements well. Different approaches to working with consulting companies exist, so set timeframes and cultural and technological expectations.

When I started working with Sphere Software, I clearly explained that all developers should pass the same recruitment process as our internal resources. Technical knowledge isn’t the only important factor. A developer who doesn’t fit in with our group culturally can be a big problem. If the work is project-based, then that’s another story, but if the provider acts as an extension of an existing team then you should check for the cultural component.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the project lead of a consulting company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Consulting

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sphere to accomplish?

• modernize apps

SOLUTION

How did you find Sphere?

Referral

Why did you select Sphere over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from Sphere were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.
We engaged Sphere to help modernize one of our applications and implement an agentic AI system to automate several manual, time-intensive workflows

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Working with the team at Sphere Inc. has been a game-changer for us. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

From the start, their team demonstrated deep technical expertise, a clear understanding of our business challenges, and a highly collaborative approach. They delivered a modern, scalable solution that not only improved the performance and usability of our application but also integrated AI agents that significantly boosted our team’s productivity.

What was your primary form of communication with Sphere?

In-Person Meeting

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

The results have exceeded expectations — we've seen real operational efficiency gains, faster turnaround times, and a measurable impact on our bottom line. Sphere is more than just a consulting partner; they’re a true innovation ally. I highly recommend them to any organization looking to modernize and leverage AI to drive meaningful results.

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

None. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Executive of Monarch Air Group

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

leading on demand private jet charter provider

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sphere to accomplish?

• Salesforce automation
• increase internal efficiencies

SOLUTION

How did you find Sphere?

Referral

Why did you select Sphere over others?

• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sphere were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Sphere has truly mastered the art of transforming complex technology into tangible business results. Their AI-driven solution has significantly enhanced our ability to deliver an exceptional experience to our VIP customers while improving internal efficiencies. Additionally, their expertise in Salesforce automation streamlined our manual workflows, making our system far more effective and seamless. The team is highly professional, the delivery process was smooth, and their strategic approach ensured outstanding outcomes. We couldn’t be more impressed with them!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

increased efficiencies 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

on time 

What was your primary form of communication with Sphere?

Virtual Meeting

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

very creative approach

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

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of Operations and we are a distributor or fluid an air handling equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hires sphere to integrate our ERP system with our operation / scheduling software.

SOLUTION

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

Monday.com suggested we use Sphere for the project.

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

Luke and his Sphere team worked with our internal team to create a API to link our Epicor chosen fields to our monday.com fields, which removed double entry for our employees.

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

We had three team members from Sphere. Positions were Client Partner and Project Manager,

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project will eliminate 25 manual fields that we were having to enter in our ERP system and monday.com. We will also be able to create reporting that we are currently not able to perform from our ERP system.

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

The timeline and communication part was little harder then expected but we were able to overcome.

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

They really care about doing a good job, and they are good people.

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

The amount of work from our team to help create the API was little more time and work on our end then was communicated.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am managing our engagements with our clients who use our services and also responsible for the enterprise systems for my organisation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

With a fast growing customer base and a need for several other services that tie into a CRM, for example: email marketing, VOIP telephony for sales that's directly plugged into our CRM, website chatbot and more.

We felt we needed a solution that will require as less of third party integrations as possible.

SOLUTION

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

We wanted to work with a technology partner that will not only help us implement such a solution but also guide us through the selection process based on bespoke needs of our sales, marketing teams and the wider organisation.

We found Sphere Partners and after a few conversations, it became clear that we could trust Sphere as a solid advisor to help us set up our CRM system that will sustain and scale with our growing customer base.

After a couple of workshops, Sphere and our team agreed that out of 3 major contenders for CRM (Monday.com, Odoo and HubSpot), Odoo was best aligned to our processes, team and on point in terms of budget. Odoo CRM provides us the integration and interoperability feature. Sphere provided us with a roadmap for Odoo implementation and it became a very easy choice for our management team.

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

Sphere developed our Odoo Marketing and CRM Portal, as well as functions such as email marketing, customer service desk. They first analysed our workflows and processes which was followed by a detailed implementation plan and after our team approved the proposed plan, Sphere started the development.

Right from the project kickoff, I mostly deferred to Sphere’s expertise in the Odoo implementation process. We had regular check-in meetings every week. After the initial development, our team was given a short demo, we iterated and aligned before the final release was made.

While this was happening, per Sphere’s plan they trained our trainers who would help our team’s uptake of Odoo. All in all , it was a very smooth implementation and we thought Sphere team did a great job at communicating and managing the project. I would highly recommend them!

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

• Project Sponsor/Lead
• Sphere Odoo/CRM consultant

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our sales and marketing teams are very happy with the Odoo implementation. With all the marketing and lead generation channels automatically funnelling into the CRM, we have a near 100% visibility and traceability of leads.

The love of reporting has also improved, sales and marketing reports are now coherent and near real time. Our top management team is very satisfied with the current reporting state and we will seek to improve it further in Q4 this year. We have made a good start.

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

Starting with the kickoff meeting, it was evident that Sphere was a seasoned Odoo implementation partner. They set out the plan very clearly with the expectations and responsibilities for our team during the project.

They were very accommodating of our calendars and provided us the flexibility during the discovery phase when they needed to speak with our marketing and sales leaders. Sphere teams communication was exceptional throughout the process.

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

Sphere consultants know what they were doing and they came up with creative workarounds for implementing our processes and workflows. We were very comfortable throughout the project.

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

I can't think of anything at this point.