SpurIT

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Operations of a software company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide age and id verification services for online businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Improve our Shopify App
• Clean up codebase
• Make our API's more accessible

SOLUTION

How did you find SpurIT?

Online Search

Why did you select SpurIT over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Shopify Approved Developpers

How many teammates from SpurIT were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Take our private shopify app and make it so that it can be published publically on the shopify app store
• Add new features to the shopify app and make it compatible with shopify's checkout extensions.
• Make our verification API's public and construct a website for customer to create and manage their API integrations, including billing and other settings.
• Remove old unused code and simplify older processes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The shopify app was successfully published and we have seen a lot of growth on the app. Customers like the new features and ease of use / set up. Additionally the new public API's have also seen good growth.

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

SpurIT is very responsive and provides realistic estimates of how long things will take and the resources needed. They are also very flexible and can respond quickly to changing priorities.

What was your primary form of communication with SpurIT?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

That they code the right way and are always thinking about how things can be made easier and coded with future development in mind.

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

I am very happy with how they have performed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Manager of a financial services company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a bank that operates in Estonia and nearby countries, where we provide consumer financing and depositing products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Built a Shopify plugin to offer our financing products to partners.

SOLUTION

How did you find SpurIT?

Online Search

Why did you select SpurIT over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Knowledge and experience

How many teammates from SpurIT were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

A custom Shopify app that integrates with our backed systems and offers financing products in the storefront. The key delivered components were: 

1. Admin panel configuration page with validations of inserted credentials and data. 
2. Product page presentations with values retrieved from multiple sources over API. 
3. Availability of our financing option at checkout. 
4. Fully custom intermediary page before redirect to our environment from the store checkout.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

1. The app is live. 
2. We have partners successfully using the app. 
3. Our tech supports has not receive info on any issues related to the app. 
4. We have increased sales by onboarding partners using the Shopify platform.

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

The team provided us with extensive analysis and detailed estimations prior to the start of the development. Developments were delivered according to the pre-agreed timeline. We also received regular updates on the progress. The response time of the team in case of questions or changes/updates in the requirements was always quick.

What was your primary form of communication with SpurIT?

Email or Messaging App

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

They very clearly knew what they were doing, the knowledge and experience SpurIT have is great. No question we asked was left un-answered, no issue we might have encountered was left un-addressed. We entrusted them with the full setup of the app and felt sure that everything will be done according to the highest standards.

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

To be honest, nothing comes to mind. The team is doing a great job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Product manger in a big international FinTech company with over 1600 employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to build a payment module for a well known eCommerce platforms. Usually we do those in house, but this particular platform has its specifics and we wanted to use SpurIT expertise in this field. So we decided to go ahead and work with them to build this integration

SOLUTION

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

I found them by searching for companies with knowledge and expertise for this particular platform we want to build integration with. I narrowed down by choices to a few. SpurIT were very prompt to response and to act quick to form up a team to work on the projects, which was very important for me.

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

It all started by my providing the requirements for developing payment module for this particular platform. After that we went a bit deeper and we did a discovery phase after which we got accurate estimate of how much it would cost. Every week we had updates on the progress of the project and as soon a feature was completed we were able to test it. The technology used was PHP based.

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

There were 5 people.

• 1 - Account manger
• 1- Technical project manger
• 1 - IT specialist
• 2 - Developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was delivers on time, it was even officially certified by the platform itself, which is always a big win.

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

The project management was great and agile just the way we like it. The communication was done via email, chat and zoom meetings.

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

They are there for you to support you all the way, also they don't make a fuss about changing the requirements when needed, the goal is for the client to be happy with what he gets. Even when the development part was finished they continue supporting you until you are fully satisfied with the product. This for me is what makes them stand out form all other solution partners out there I worked with.

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

No, honestly this is one of the best experience I had working with a third party solution provider and I work with quite a few on similar projects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a technical product owner in a modern logistics company. We help domestic digital brands grow and become international by leveraging our facilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a branded Shopify app we can install in our clients' stores. The app had to direct orders into our Internal Order Management system. We also wanted to manage Shopify Webhooks for all the client stores in a single place.

SOLUTION

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

We hired SpurIT to tackle some smaller Shopify tasks for us sometime in the past and they managed it perfectly. Also, we knew SpurIT is considered to be one of the Shopify App developers. That's another reason why we concluded they have extensive experience in implementing our solution.

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

We had one or two calls where we worked on business requirements. Then they provided us with the technical requirements doc and some high-level mockups for our acceptance. After having some back and forth clarifying the remaining blind spots, we were provided with a commercial offer. Eventually the statement of work was described very precisely pointing out all the steps from the beginning to the end. After that, we agreed on detailed mockups, and later they shared the designs with us. It took SpurIt a couple of weeks to deliver an MVP. Then another 2-3 weeks to make it production-ready.

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

We had a project manager, 2 full stack devs, and a designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app was developed to enhance our internal ordering process and definitely, we achieved the results we expected. The amount of manual work related to this decreased

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

We had daily calls on Zoom with the Project Manager, sometimes we were skipping some due to unnecessity. We also enjoyed regular email updates from him.

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

They clearly understood our ideas and came up with their own way of implementing them.

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

I don’t recall that. The project wasn’t very huge so it’s a bit complicated to think about some wishes. Now we’re planning to develop another App that will be much bigger. Let’s see how it goes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of the company. We manufacture trophy awards.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

SpurIT is the best development company I have worked with. Anastasia and her team I worked with were very prompt with responses and talking to me any question I had. Skype Calls. All of it was a breeze. Will be working again with in the future 100 percent.

SOLUTION

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

I saw an app they had created in the Shopify App Store and was blown away and knew they could create the app I was thinking of for our store

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

We worked on an app idea that involved making payments easier for my customer base. We worked on Shopify. It is a little complex but has really helped my office people and streamline our process with taking orders. They are very organized and structured and made the process a breeze.

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

I worked with 3 individuals. All of them I was in contact with and worked hard to understand what I needed. 5 Stars!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They finished the complex app from start to finish 1 month. Super fast delivery with 0 issues!!!!

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

They are prompt on email with any questions you could have. They were very timely, and they did what they said they were going to do.

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

The thing I liked the most was their promptness and their listening skills to fully understand what I wanted to do.

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

The only thing we could have done differently was start using SpurIT sooner. :) Don't hesitate if you need a project done and done right the first time

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a startup in the travel industry and we were looking to improve our e-commerce. As a e-commerce manager, I was the communication bridge between our business’ needs and Spur It, the development agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to make sure to build a scalable website solution for the long run. We are a very innovative business and it was key for us to make sure that we could build a solid platform and offer the best experience possible to our users.

SOLUTION

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

The expertise in Shopify.

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

Spur It knows Shopify, so they know how to take advantage of the latest features. We had daily communication with them, which helped us to understand if there was any blocker that could compromise the deadline.

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

A project manager (point of contact for us), a technical project manager, an account manager and the development team. We discussed with the project managers our needs and they translated for the developers so they could make them feasible.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

More scalable structure for the long term - so we could become more independent despite the fact of not having any developer in-house.

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

We had a Slack channel where we discussed daily blockers. We also had weekly calls, for the sprint planning, follow up and to request estimations in terms of time for the fevelopment of new tasks. The status of the tasks was always reported via Trello since it was the tool we were using internally.

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

Expertise in Shopify which allowed us to become more independent when it comes to development. Mote scalable.

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

It was a little challenging to find the project management structure that worked best for all the involved parts, but once we found it, we could become more agile and improved the partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Kultasepänliike Suokko is an independet jewelry shop. Our main focus is diamond jewelry and retail. I'm the founder and the owner of this 30-year-old family business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had a very clear task to achieve. We wanted to implement a wedding ring configurator into Shopify. This integration was commissioned to SpurIT.

SOLUTION

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

We sent our query to ten IT companies listed in the Shopify Experts listing. Response time and professionalism of the answers were exceptional. Furthermore, they asked for more info about the project and charged us for analyzing our requirements. Then we knew this company takes its job seriously.

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

Outlining the task was done meticulously and keeping the goal in mind. Communication throughout the whole project was intense and we were well kept updated on the progress. Towards the end of the project, there were multiple smaller problems that arise and they all were solved extremely well.

We felt we were in good hands with their professional work. Integration of the most complex wedding ring configurator to the Shopify environment and adding extra features like customized features to the collection page and making also possible to use Shopify checkout to pay the configurated rings.

There was created a custom app that is hosted on Amazon Web Services. The app deals with data that comes from the wedding ring configurator's API and this way integrates it seamlessly into Shopify environment. Also Shopify Liquid code was modified in order to achieve the integration. The integration and the added features to the integration triple the value and usability of the original program(wedding ring configurator) for us.

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

There were three people that were communicating with us about the progress and asked for all the necessary information that they needed. One of the three is Customer Success Manager and two of them are Account Managers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have only expectations as this is a start to a new technology-driven sales tech in wedding rings. Our test orders and customers show immediate success.

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

Everything is really well managed we really felt that we are in good hands. First, we communicated via Shopify Experts messaging tool but after the project really started we changed to emails. Communication was rapid and clear.

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

Timely, clear, and informative communication of the progress is exceptional to the IT house. And the fact that first they really found out what was the goal of this project and wanted to understand it completely before anything was done. Their level of executing all the features is top-class, and no compromises have been made in the quality of work.

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

The task has been fulfilled 100 %. How can we complain about anything? So the answer is no.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an IT supervisor at Susparsa. We’re a team of four people, and our company aims to sell clothes via an e-commerce store.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SpurIT?

We needed someone to create our website and provide support. We wanted it to be built on Shopify and be linked to our logistics company. Our main goal was to develop an automated delivery process in which clients provide their information on the website, which goes directly to the right logistics company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SpurIT is developing our website, setting up our Instagram, and building a cross-platform mobile app available for iOS and Android that accepts all types of payments, including PayPal and credit cards. Their team also provided contacts for our marketing efforts.

Our products are available in several languages, including German, English, French, and Russian. It’s also very interactive, and we can make changes to it in-house.

What is the team composition?

There are two people from their team involved in the project.

How did you come to work with SpurIT?

They were referred to us by people working for Shopify. Our founder also received other recommendations from people that were very excited to have worked with SpurIT, and that’s why we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $20,000–$25,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just launched the website, and on the first day, we had about 100 views. We’re at a preliminary stage where we can’t provide any metrics yet. However, we’ve gotten generally good feedback.

How did SpurIT perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well as they’re proactive and willing to offer help at every project stage. They always give us reminders and do well with managing our deadlines. We asked them to deliver it quickly, and they did, which we appreciate. In terms of communication, we use Zoom, Telegram, and WhatsApp.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciate that the app links our Shopify platform seamlessly with DHL, UPS, and others. This is impactful for us since it saves us time on our day-to-day work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could perform faster if they had partnerships with other counterparts such as Shopify. These partnerships could accelerate work with their clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be audacious enough to ask more of SpurIT. We realized that they could do more than what they proposed. They’re very skilled.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a furniture manufacturer. We produce lockers, garden/pet/kid's furniture, and a range of other products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have a store that sells only lockers and wanted to create a separate Shopify store to sell mainly garden products.

SOLUTION

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

The main factor for choosing SpurIT was a recommendation from my business partner. I've reached out to them and we had an intro call. After that they conduced an analysis and provided the proposal and we had another meeting. All my questions were answered thoroughly. I really felt that they have the expertise I need for my business so I decided to work with them.

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

In the beginning, they chose and approved a template for our future Shopify store. Then they created the layouts. The layouts were purely great so we approved them at once. Then the actual development stage came into play. We had some specific requirements for the shipping and product options for the sake of our business seamless work and they managed to incorporate them successfully. After the development stage, they presented the MVP of the store. We left some feedback on that with slight corrections. They listened to us attentively and managed to implement all the features we were asking for in the final version.

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

Day-to-day we have an extremely helpful account manager Vlad and salesperson Anastasia in touch. We discussed everything via Whatsapp chat with a few calls via Skype. There were a few developers and marketing specialists we did not communicate directly with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SpurIT quickly built our confidence in their ability. Even though the site has just been launched we are sure it will work out quite well, still we don't have enough measurable data to roll out some numbers at the moment. I can say that everything looks great in terms of the look and feel of the store!

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

Their project management was impressive and effective. Account manager Vlad assigned for the project daily updated us with the relevant information about the project and answered all our questions.

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

They have the ability to see one step further in everything connected to e-commerce. This was crucial for me while choosing vendor for our project.

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

To be honest, I wouldn't change anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing manager at Forest River, Inc. I oversee 10 divisions of the company. We’re a large, worldwide RV manufacturer. We build RV travel trailers and motorhomes, amongst other products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SpurIT?

We were in the process of creating a new retail e-commerce store. We wanted to build a website where customers could purchase t-shirts, hats, mugs, camping gear, and many different branded products that they could wear out in public. We really wanted to add a feature that would allow customers to visualize the products with customized logos and colors.

We were a two-person team, and we had limited coding experience with custom tools like that. We wanted to give customers a great experience, but we weren’t able to do so unless we hired someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had a site that wasn’t performing well because there wasn’t enough marketing around it. We took it over and wanted to completely rebuild it using Shopify. We had an initial discovery meeting with SpurIT where we went a little deeper into what our end goal was. They explained what they were going to do and how long it would take.

They developed the custom feature we asked them to. However, there was an oversight on our part, and two additional features were commissioned after the first one. Overall, it was a pretty heftily coded project.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Anastasia (Business Development Manager) and Phillip (Project Manager). Anastasia was our project manager and main point of contact. Phillip was our programmer, and he would jump in when the discussion got a little too technical.

How did you come to work with SpurIT?

We reached out to Shopify to hire an expert, and we got 15–20 inquiries to build the product personalizer. We interviewed all of them, and SpurIT stood out because they communicated in a timely manner and completely understood our end goal. They spoke to us using comprehensible terms, not with programming or very technical terms. They explained and laid it all out on the table for us, and that was awesome.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was right around $5,000. The first feature was around $4,200, and the second and third features were about $1,200 and $300.

What is the status of this engagement?

We hired them in early March 2021. They finished their work in a month’s time, and the site was launched in the middle of April 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re only four days into the launch, but it’s been good so far. We did a press release and a soft launch last week. We sent it to a group of 50 people over the weekend, and we’ve been making a lot of noise. A lot of the feedback we’re getting is that the product personalizer tool has helped people choose what they wanted and actually motivated them to purchase items. Oftentimes, you have to lead the horse to the water, and this website does that.

We’ve gotten emails and 10–12 phone calls from RV dealers around the country telling us that they bought something because they were able to add the logo they wanted and actually see it on the product. Based on that, we think this is going to be an impactful tool.

How did SpurIT perform from a project management standpoint?

We have an internal project management system to manage our team. We didn’t use one with SpurIT; we just communicated with them through emails and Zoom calls. We had everything laid out in ClickUp, so it was very clear for any additional team members to follow what we were working on on the website.

Nonetheless, SpurIT did exactly what they said they would, and if anything was held up or delayed, they let us know. We hit some holidays in the timeframe development, but they were very timely. We were almost a full day apart from each other, and they still communicated during our working hours. Time zones weren’t a limitation to getting the project done, which was very impressive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It had to be their communication. When we first started the project, the other people that we got quotes from were very limited in the way they communicated with us. They gave us short, one-sentence replies, while SpurIT was not only quick to respond but also very detailed in their responses. They answered my questions and didn’t deflect them with other questions.

From that, we could tell that they were actually trying to figure out our unique offer. To sum it up, what really thrilled us to work with SpurIT was their communication speed and the way they were able to articulate their answers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It wasn’t on them, but the Shopify theme that we have has a 250-block limit, and we’re going to need more than that. They warned us about it and helped us find a temporary solution, but I wish I hadn’t ignored that because we’ll have to figure out something for the future.

However, at the moment, I wouldn’t say there's anything they could improve upon. There was a bug in the code, and after we informed them, they got back to us as soon as they had an answer. I’ve worked with tons of developers in the past, and SpurIT was phenomenal because they didn’t talk to me in programmer lingo. They gave me real answers and treated me like a true customer — their goal was to satisfy my needs. Therefore, if we have any features that we need to add in the future, we definitely plan to hire SpurIT again.

Any advice for potential customers?

This is universal, but make sure expectations are very clear. Oftentimes, expectations are never set, so before you start any project, the first step is to provide a very clear understanding of the goal and how long it will take to achieve it.

From there, just maintain some form of constant communication where you’re talking at least daily or every two days. We made it clear that we’d be checking in, and that allowed us to find solutions quicker, rather than delaying the process.