STX Next

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior engineering manager of a financial technology company. We have a marketplace that ties together retailers and lenders. We empower folks to get finance at moments of need when they are shopping. We offer a full spectrum of lending to people from various financial backgrounds, including prime markets and ones with lesser ratings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

Our core API [application programming interface], as well as our financing application, have been written using the Python/Django technology stack. We wanted to increase our team, looking to find a cohesive group with a lot of expertise in these technologies. While we already had some outsourcing in place further East, it wasn't working very well. There was a lot of feature development that still needed to be done, including custom integrations with new retailers and lenders. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to create a way of waterfalling lenders into prime, secondary, and tertiary markets. STX Next built the service that enables this, which is called weighted distribution. In addition to layering, we can place multiple lenders at each level. Recently, STX Next has also worked on e-commerce functionalities, helping us create an offering in this space. Most of our original integrations were at a store level, but e-commerce has become a critical component of our growth. It's a browser-based functionality which can tie in online stores to our services. Our integrations were originally point-of-sale, requiring retailers to change their systems in order to integrate to our API. For light integrations in the case of partners who didn't want this expense, we offered a client-server browser app which users installed in the store. This app allowed clients to apply for financing without any of the existing systems being changed. STX Next helped us refactor this into our financing center using single-page architecture in order to build a browser-based app. It makes the store systems much more responsive. In addition, it has a much newer UI.

Rather than using them for set projects, STX Next acts as an extension of our team. The work is product-based. At peak capacity, we've used 10 resources from their team, including a Scrum master. We normally provide a description of what we want in terms of resources. Since we've worked on the same products, STX Next has been able to do most of the legwork for us. Our selection process is informal, with STX Next either recruiting people from the market or bringing existing resources in on a trial basis. So far, it's worked out very well. STX Next has more junior developers who want to gain experience so they would work on our project without charging us. After a new client comes in on their side, we retain the option to either keep them on a paid basis or let them move on. It's been a good model for the occasions when we needed extra capacity.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We needed a talented team with Python skillsets. Our VP of engineering at the time discovered STX Next. I wasn't working for the company at the time so I can't provide more details.

How much have you invested with STX Next?

I've only recently been exposed to financial information, so I can't provide an exact figure.

What is the status of this engagement?

STX Next has been working with us for over 2 years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our e-commerce functionalities have been a success. It was a big challenge, consisting of a complete refactoring of the solution which had been built over the last few months. It required a significant amount of changes in order to support an upcoming activation. STX Next was tasked with the majority of this work and they delivered it in time. The system had a fixed completion date. It needed to be ready before the holiday season so that we could fully unleash the system. I can't disclose numbers, but there's been a significant amount of revenue for the company that depended on reaching the deadline.

One of our large lender customers delivered late, which caused a tough time on our side. It was easy to amass resources on STX Next's side on short notice and get the work done. It involved extra effort, but STX Next was accommodating to us. Hiring and recruiting has been smooth. STX Next has moved fast in its market and we've always been pleased with the people they brought on.

When I started working with them, STX Next was using the Scrum methodology. STX Next has been good at training staff on the Agile way, which has made my life a lot easier. We've also had some career progressions, with resources moving from QA to product ownership, or from junior to senior levels, for example.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

Because of the distance and the fact that we're an Agile company, collaboration is essential. Our work hours are minimal in terms of interaction times; we're limited to 4 hours early in the morning. Also, our engineers tend to come in late but don't want to go home late. Our Scrum meetings happen in the morning. We use collaboration tools such as Google Hangouts for daily conferences as well as Jira, Confluence, and Slack. These enable us to be offline and still track progress.

What did you find most impressive about STX Next?

STX Next’s team is passionate and has a great work ethic. They are willing to learn and understand our business. Instead of just coding to our specs, STX Next engages with us as a partner, wanting to understand, improve the code, and deliver better products. There is a lot of change in our industry in terms of the clients which we're able to sign. Even though this can be disruptive, STX Next has been flexible in changing directions with us. They have an Agile culture, plus they're stable, tech-savvy, and able to self-organize. STX Next works well as a team.

Are there any areas STX Next could improve?

We have a diverse tech stack, primarily using Python/Django. We've recently added another resource who has full-stack experience and who is also good at frontend technologies like Angular.JS and newer frameworks. We are trying to train the rest of the team for more full-stack abilities, which will allow us to swing projects better.

Another thing which we're continually trying to improve on is the Agile implementation process. We work with STX Next in trying to become more lean and nimble. Tools like Jira aren't used very well at the moment. I don't know if this is necessarily a problem for STX Next to solve, but it would be useful to have some additional expertise on this front.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

paze is a financial services provider giving people access to their earned but not paid salaries throughout the month, for free. I am a co-founder and the chief executive officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We needed the ability to scale fast and to onboard the right skill sets. We were about to launch the service and needed more resources for support and future development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform had already been developed when STX Next stepped in. We used them for developing the next phase of our technology. It is a Python-based system, so we needed a strong partner for this technology. We also use Amazon Web Services.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

I believe that STX Next sent me an initial e-mail, and I asked our COO [chief operating officer] to take a look at the company. He used to work with some of the best Russian development teams, for a different company. Back then, we didn't have a development team, so I wanted to see if we could work together.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with STX Next at the end of July 2016. They're currently supporting all of our development activities and will continue to do so in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

A quantitative indicator would be the weekly call we have with STX Next, reporting on targets and achievements. Normally, they overachieve. This isn't because we set low thresholds or don't put enough pressure on the team. We're very pleased with STX Next. 

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

STX Next has been outstanding in this respect. We use a project management platform and are given full visibility into each and every task.

What did you find most impressive about STX Next?

I was initially skeptical about STX Next when our COO proposed them because I've had some bad experiences with previous suppliers. This is the 6th technology company I've started in my career, so I have a good benchmark for outsourcing partners. STX Next is the best company I've worked with, by far. I was amazed at STX Next's ability to take ownership over the product roadmap.

STX Next is an exceptional company within its industry, based on the quality of delivery and project management. The most important detail is that STX Next is a real partner for our company. The kind of support we saw and willingness to share risks have been outstanding.

Are there any areas STX Next could improve?

Not that I can think of. We haven't used STX Next's user experience design capabilities, so I can't speak on that front, and we've also only recently put an emphasis on testing. From what I've seen so far, STX Next's quality assurance services are in-line with their other work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company runs a recipe website. I am the chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

Our company has been around for 11 years and we have used STX Next as an ongoing development partner. I don't know if they built our website originally since I wasn't working for the company at the time, but they're responsible for it now and have been since my arrival. All of our technical needs are handled by their team, under our supervision. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STX Next is adding new features and maintaining our website on a continuous basis. We work in 2-week sprints using an Agile methodology for constant product releases. They plan out and deploy each sprint. STX Next works in collaboration with our internal product team in order to continually improve our site. We have a custom-built site.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

I don't have this information. They were our partner when I arrived and I chose to continue using them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The company has been working with STX Next for 5 years. I've been collaborating with their team for the last year and a half. I'm very familiar with them and their leadership team. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have a roadmap and have been fulfilling it. As we are reaching the end of 2016, we have seen a 200% growth year-over-year in website traffic. This increase is due to working with STX Next on implementing the right features and doing the proper cleanups on the backend.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

We use the Agile methodology, so there are expected meetings 3–4 times a week followed by deployments and retrospectives. We have ongoing conversations with STX Next which works well for us. We have been using Unbounce for project tracking and will be moving to Jira next week. It was a joint decision; both of our team have used the tool in the past. We also use Slack for continuous conversations and have Google Hangouts meetings at 6–7 AM most days of the week.

What did you find most impressive about STX Next?

I've worked with many vendors in my career for similar work. STX Next stands out through the passion showed for the business. This starts at the top, with their principal. STX Next has paid a lot of attention to customer details.

Also, I've appreciated STX Next's openness and honesty during our retrospectives. They've continually looked at ways in which we could improve the working relationship and the internal team. I have almost 15 years of experience working in the digital world, and our retrospectives with STX Next have been the most honest I've participated in.

Are there any areas STX Next could improve?

We're one of STX Next's only publishing-media clients at this time. Their overall understanding of technical SEO components isn't as great, due to a lack of expertise in working with DoubleClick, ad tags, and other tools associated with our line of business.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with STX Next?

I don't have anything specific. Clients are definitely in great hands with them. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our startup company has developed a mobile platform which is meant to deliver recruitment assistance for small and medium businesses. We are based in Toronto, Ontario. I'm a co-founder and the chief operating officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We were presented with a significant business challenge in needing to recruit an outstanding software development team. More than just an outsourced team, we needed a partner that could assist us in developing the app in terms of both quality and time to market. Choosing STX Next was dependent on these 2 considerations. We also wanted to ensure that the team would meet and exceed our expectations, which was true for STX Next.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

STX Next has been in charge of design and the initial ground-laying process for our application architecture, in preparation for the Agile team. We were not only able to cover this, but also had a fruitful partnership with STX Next in extending our understanding of market forces and constraints. This gave us significant clarity for the strategic planning process.

In total, we've used 5 resources from STX Next. The selection process was handled by them. We were confident that STX Next would deliver the right people for the project.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We considered 2 other companies before choosing STX Next. The recommendation for their company came through word-of-mouth to our Chief Executive Officer, who has acquired a wide network based on industry experience.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with STX Next in April 2016 and work with them remains ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We had an amazing experience with STX Next. They were in charge of delivering the architecture and design of the product. We were very happy with both. The satisfaction level with our stakeholders was high as well. The performance speed of the system as a whole is entirely attributable to STX Next and the architecture they came up with. The user interface and workflow are expertly designed, too. 

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

STX Next delivered on-time and within the specified budget. There were no negative aspects of our collaboration. The only issues were with our understanding of how the product would respond to market constraints. STX Next helped us in this respect. STX Next used an internal project management software that we had access to. 

What did you find most impressive about STX Next?

STX Next delivered an excellent product, with good quality and timeliness. We also appreciated how passionate and engaged their team was. We were looking for a partner that would care about the work, which proved to be outstanding from STX Next's side.

Are there any areas STX Next could improve?

No. The result has been perfect so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a small startup comprised of five members based in Tel Aviv, Israel. We've developed an SDK [software development kit] for both iOS and Android, which serves as an authentication service for our clients, based on face recognition. It's aimed at replacing the normal user name and password method, making it easier for our clients' users to log in to their services.

What is your position?

I am the software lead in Android development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We were looking for iOS developers who could help us to get from a version one of our SDK to a version two. We were looking for a month-long collaboration in order to include a few required features into our platform.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

At the time, we could only look one month into the future. We knew that specific features were missing from our product, and we needed help in order to get there. It was a very clear-cut project, which was the base for our collaboration.

Aside from their iOS resource, we've also contracted a couple of Android developers from STX Next as well as a quality assurance person. We're now beginning a consultation with a security expert from their team. It's not a full-fledged project yet, though.

As I've mentioned, we are developing face recognition technology. One of our main concerns is handling spoof attempts, namely people attempting authentications using a photo of the user. STX Next integrated a library, which was internally developed in Israel for that purpose. We call it Liveness. They helped integrate it into the iOS SDK and made it a part of the application's flow.

We usually worked with a one-person-team from STX Next. The work was handed off once or twice between different developers, but, looking at almost any single point in time, only one person was working on the iOS development. That person would typically be managed by a team leader.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We were working with a local company in Israel, which created the SDK as it was at the time, but we decided to stop working with them due to an unsatisfactory level of quality offered by them as well as their level of communication. We started looking for alternatives and were approached by STX Next with very good timing. They proposed a potential collaboration to our CEO on LinkedIn. We went through with an initial call and, from this, we already understood that this could be a potentially valuable collaboration. It was just that easy, and we kicked it off from there.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for a month and a half. We are preparing to release the new version of the platform to our clients. The effort has not yet been completed since the product is not yet in the client's hands.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I could measure their performance mostly through the work done on the iOS part of our project. Testing is still fully internal. The initial initiative, as it was defined at the beginning of the project, was done successfully. We are finalizing other aspects of the product before it can be sent to clients.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

It was our impression that the quality of their work and their timeliness were very high. There were a few minor delays, but they were understandable. The requirements were not always fixed, and we occasionally changed specs as we went along. We were overall satisfied with STX Next's velocity and quality of work.

The main project management tool used was Atlassian JIRA. It was chosen at STX Next's suggestion, given that they are accustomed to the software. I didn't have specific requirements as long as something was in place. GitHub was used for hosting code and for collaborating. The code was already in place there, so it was the easiest path to take when starting our collaboration. We mainly used Skype for communication and tried to follow a somewhat scrum methodology, working with weekly sprints. It was a very short project, so this approach was appropriate. We had daily discussions and followed them up with weekly reviews. 

What distinguishes STX Next from other providers?

Apart from their quality of work and timeliness, it was important for us to have clear communication. STX Next met this expectation very well. We had daily discussions. If a feature was a bit more complex, it would be discussed even a few times per day. I was very pleased with this aspect, especially given that they were an offshore firm, so we couldn't meet face to face. I feel that I can contact them at any time for questions, changes or clarifications. They are always very responsive.

BACKGROUND

Please introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a hedge fund. We are a systematic hedge fund, meaning that we invest money on behalf of our clients using computer algorithms. We are proficient in coding within the company, given that all our transactions rely on technology. I'm the head of core platform technology. I manage a team of eight programmers. We are responsible for the Python technology being used day-to-day in the company for research purposes. ​

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

One of our projects has consisted of providing an analytics portal for investment managers, whose job it is to run portfolios and strategies. They need to have a good overall image and see all of their numbers in one place. We have another tool that evaluates risk through profit and loss, as well as other types of data, within one page. It's a tool for drilling data and answering questions about it, identifying trends. We have built this product in collaboration with STX Next.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

We've only worked on one project so far with STX Next. They've built the front end of the application from scratch for us. Some of its features include showing data in a rich, tabular format, and allowing users to see inline plots in charts, which can then be probed even further. Multiple data queries are possible and that data can be plotted in graphs so it's easier to find patterns. They've provided us with two full-time developers, one tester and a UX/UI [user experience/user interface] design resource.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We run a Python development shop in-house, but we lack web development skills. Our expertise lies in systems and back-end development. I have found it difficult to hire front-end JavaScript developers in London, so we began talking to STX Next because they could provide us some good JavaScript resources. We chose them because of their size and the breadth of technology they covered. Even though our immediate need is for JavaScript development, the fact that they also have a strong background in Python was good for us. It was a common language between our companies so, if we ever wanted to work on other projects in the future, it would be a good resource to have. Someone from STX Next contacted our company originally. The offer trickled down to me, and we ended up working with them.

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

The total development cost has been more than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was started in September 2015 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The web application is entirely internal to our company. We track its usage, which has grown constantly. It has replaced one or more of our older systems, including a previous web application. We have been able to migrate all of the users from that application onto our new one early on. It proved to be a success by reducing the number of platforms that we have to manage.

Working with their UX designer has been a very good experience as well. The ideas that he brought to the project in order to unify its look and feel, making the application discoverable to new users, was very positive and made the product look better than anything we've ever made before.

We've seen many new users. I was approached by one of them, a senior manager, who told me that he'd been able to perform a task through it that would probably not have been possible using our older systems.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

We are developers ourselves, so it's easy to gauge the quality of what STX Next is producing. Their processes are very similar to ours, so the collaboration has worked very well. They're easy to work with, despite working remotely. My team in London has been developing the back-end interface for our systems, whereas STX Next has been developing the front end. As a result, we've had daily and weekly interactions, working closely with their team.

We use the same agile methodologies as their company, which means that, when things take longer than expected, we will find out about it quickly and reprioritize. On a weekly basis, STX Next completes the work assigned to their team. Issues can sometimes be more difficult than anyone would have imagined but, because of agile practices, the information is shared early, allowing us to make the right decisions.

We use Atlassian JIRA as a primary project management tool and HipChat for communication. We also have daily video conferences.

What distinguishes STX Next from other providers?

I haven't worked on a project of this type in the past, so I couldn't compare them to competitors. Through my experience in the industry as a whole, I can say that STX Next has really stuck to the rulebook of scrum development, which has paid off well very. By the time they're picking up a task that had been in the planning stage, we can already assign tickets to them and have a sprint. At that point, there will be few questions about the work. They will have spent enough time beforehand making sure that the task is well specified and reasonably estimated. There are few surprises on either side, given that we follow every rule. This has been important to success, especially in overcoming our distance barriers.

Is there anything STX Next could have improved or done differently?

During our project, one of the developers assigned to us left the company. It took STX Next a while to fill that vacancy. Given that we only had two developers from the start, this limited the work that we could do. This problem is not unique to STX Next. The reason for continuing to work with them was that we found it difficult to hire London developers.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We've been in the ticketing business for nine years.

What is your position?

I'm the founder and chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We've identified a particular problem in the market, particularly that there were many processes being embedded into ticketing before the arrival of the Internet. After this, the bad processes were automated instead of being eliminated in cases where they weren't beneficial.

Our client base consists of promoters and theater owners. We found out that they were spending 60 percent of their working week tied up with these processes. This was a considerable barrier in terms of scaling our existing ticketing business, so we decided to do something about it. We created a product called Coras, which is the Irish word for "system." We built an in-house prototype but, since we were already running a business, we wanted to get some outside help in the form of quality developers.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

STX Next has developed our solution in its entirety, from coding to testing, design, and everything else. The technologies used included Django and Python, the front end is an HTML5 responsive layout using Bootstrap and AngularJS, and we used MySQL on the database side of things. The mobile side of our product has been developed as native iOS and Android applications. Our platform is hosted on Amazon Web Services EC2. We use AWS OpsWorks configuration management and [Amazon] CloudFront as a content delivery network.

We plan to be moving more toward the mobile part in the future. STX Next has given us specific suggestions around the tools that are to be used for developing native apps. Previously, we'd built a mobile prototype that was a tool that allowed us to publish on multiple platforms like Windows, iOS, and Android. STX Next proposed building more concrete, native apps, walking us through the reasons for this. They've had some good chats with our CTO about the different tools and frameworks, which they use, plus the reasons behind each choice. Even though we're in our early days, the process seems to be thorough. We've been working with STX Next since November [2015] on the desktop design side of things.

We're involved with them on a daily basis. I keep in touch with their project manager for planning, management, design, and so on.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We tried different developers and had a number of unsuccessful outsourcing relationships. It took us some time to find STX Next, but, once we started working with them, we had a great relationship from day one.

They reached out to us a while ago. At the time, we'd always built our software in-house, without the use of outsourcing companies. We kept their name on file for a while and, when we started looking at outsourcing options, we started a collaboration on a trial basis. We tried two or three other companies for a month at a time. The whole vetting process took around five to six months.

We took on a developer from STX Next. There was an instant difference in the quality of work as compared to the others. Previously, there had been a lot of handholding involved in the process. The first person they assigned to us demonstrated huge initiative and brought much to the table themselves, instead of having a paint-by-numbers approach. They asked us questions and proposed directions for the development of our software. It felt more like having an added team member than an outsourced developer.

We decided to see if this was a fluke or not, so we started using a product manager from STX Next. That role had been fulfilled by us until that time. The person we worked with turned out to be even better. She asked us smart questions and brought things into discussion that we hadn't even thought of.

After this, we decided to meet them in person. There's a huge difference between having a remote outsourced relationship, even with tools like JIRA, HipChat and Slack, and meeting face to face. We had a two-and-a-half to three-day workshop with them, going through the product details. After that, we decided to progress to a full team. 

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

The initial scope of the project has been set at around $400,000 to $450,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Before starting out with STX Next, we had made demos of the prototype built by us. Last week [April 2016], we made updated demos for the same clients and had a very different reaction. I think that, when we initially showed people our product, they gave us a list of features that would determine them to be interested in the product, were they to be implemented. The general feedback right now is that, as soon as the app is ready, they will want to use it.

From the design side of things, in terms of the look and feel of the interface, the feedback has been entirely phenomenal.

The velocity, since adding new people to our team, has been increasing on a sprint-by-sprint basis. The per-person efficiency has been increasing as well. It's been great so far.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Atlassian JIRA as well as Slack as our main project tracking tools. We were using them already. From what I can tell, their team was comfortable using them as well. We'd built a prototype internally and were trying to scope out the overall size of the project. On top of this, we have daily calls with STX Next in order to deal with the current priorities. All feedback is entered into Slack and handled by the product manager, who will factor in our inputs into the backlog of issues.

We plan to have more workshops with STX Next in Poland because we consider face time to be very important. On our first run, we managed to get a lot done in our time together. Overall, working with their team feels like having a different office for our company, rather than working with a separate contractor.

What distinguishes STX Next from other providers?

As an example of STX Next's initiative, when we went to Poland, we were assigned a developer who hadn't worked on our project and knew little about it. He made some spot-on suggestions in terms of how our software could look based on simply talking to our team. They have incredibly talented people at STX who have more than a technical understanding of things. They've been able to make invaluable suggestions on several different occasions.

Is there anything STX Next could have improved or done differently?

The product isn't live yet, so I don't have a complete answer to that question. The only issue I've had so far is in terms of us being greedy and wanting access to more of their resources, particularly for design. Their designer is spread across a number of different projects. STX Next seems to have a high bar in terms of hiring people. If we could have had greater access to more of their design talent, we could do more, particularly in terms of front-end development. There haven't been any instances in which a particular item could have been done better; the closest example is our inability to get all the design resources we want. 

The experience has been positive overall. Our company has been in the ticketing business for nine years and we've never outsourced successfully before. We spent six to nine months looking for viable outsourcing options and trying different people before settling on STX Next and deciding to scale up with them. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We were partly a technology company and partly a nonbanking product distributor or agent, for items like insurance, investment funds, and mobile systems. The technological part of our activity was sub-contracting the IT [information technology] work of the banks and large financial institutions.

What is your position?

I was the product director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

There was a collaboration between the companies that STX Next was merged with. We have used them because they were a bit more flexible than the parent company of STX Next. A larger company owned STX Next, which was a bit heavy in terms of delivering business. That's why we decided to go with someone who is lighter and more flexible, and STX Next was our choice.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They did programming work for us, for portals and blogs that would engage our clients, involving them in discussions and in the information loop. We wanted to have more knowledge about their behavior and have more sales generated for our product. That was the main business idea for hiring them – to have them develop a solution from beginning to end, and provide maintenance. They did all back-end development, and they were not involved in the design work. We also worked with a few other developers and more worldwide companies.

I don't remember exactly how many developers were assigned to the project, I suppose around eight to 10 people, mainly Python programmers. It depended on the phase of the development. The project was managed both from our side and their side, with a project manager on each side. The work had to be coordinated locally, because our company has a complicated structure. We used an Agile method during the development as I remember it. I'm not the IT [information technology] guy, my perspective is just from the sales point of view. I'm not fully aware of all the IT issues and subjects that came up during their work. I can only give you my view on that.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

To be honest, I don't know. I wasn't in the committee, but usually how we do this is we have a two-step approach. We ask the company about pricing and delivery capabilities, and then we have some kind of cross-comparison with the pricing and with the possibility of delivery. But, I wasn't involved in this process, in this case. There was some kind of competition, I would say. It was a few years ago, in 2011 or 2012.

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

It was around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The last time I worked with them, for myself, was in 2013-2014, so about one and a half years ago. The collaboration lasted from 2008 or 2009, until 2014. In 2014, the company was closing, so all the activity was put in frozen mode.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They delivered two or three different blogs, which are available on the Internet. They were quite okay, compared to other providers, in terms of time and budget, and they were very flexible. There was an increase in sales, maybe not too high – it was around 5 to 10 percent in certain activities, for example, in insurance. The blog served as a lead generation channel and brought us some new clients. It informed people on what we are doing and involved them with us. If the prospective customer became a client, for me it was good. The prospect may also go to the other banks, or the other providers.

What distinguishes STX Next from other providers?

I'm not an expert in IT technology, but they were quite modern. STX Next used tools that were flexible and very easy to implement. They moved quite fast once they committed to a project. They have teams dedicated to the specific project or specific issue; if necessary, the team can expand, hiring the experts in each particular case. When they are no longer needed, the team reverts to its initial structure. This kind of approach is not very popular, at least in this part of Europe, because the expert knowledge is much more expensive than the regular work.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

I don't know. I was not the project manager responsible for them, I just had them as results providers. I was the owner of the new business that was generated, not involved in the project phases all the time. I just put some measurements, "I want this, this, and this." It's hard for me to say what they need to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a technology agency. We are now 32 people. We do a lot of product design, software architecture, and a business change consultancy as well.

What is your position?

I am an owner and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with STX Next?

We generally use STX because we get overloaded, and there is more work that our customer wants than we can do by ourselves. Thereby, we augment our existing development team with their people. Right now, STX and my company are joint suppliers for a company we are working with. They are supplying a team of ten for the project, and we are working very closely with them on this project.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

This new project, which we've been working on for 18 months, now, uses a Python framework. The STX team is about the same size as the team that we have. We've effectively doubled the amount of people working on that project by bringing STX onboard. Because it's a large team, STX is managing much larger parts of the project themselves. They've got a product owner, a project manager, seven developers, and one QA [quality assurance] specialist. In all those developers, there's a mix of senior, mid-level, and junior.

How did you come to work with STX Next?

We actually worked with STX a long time ago, maybe five years ago [2010], on a project with Eli Lilly and Company, which is a global pharmaceutical company. We had a maximum of two or three people from STX working with us then. They were quite small at that time, and I think they were only 13 or 14 people back then. We worked with them for maybe 18 months or two years. We generally had at least one of their guys working with us.

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

We've probably put about £150,000 [approximately $235,000] ourselves through STX. For this current project, the customer is paying them directly probably £150,000. I would expect the project to keep running for a good year or so. By the time it's finished, it will be in excess of a £1 million [$1,565,000], quite possibly.

What is the status of this engagement?

The service that we're working on right now is going live in about two weeks. It has passed its security testing, it is passing QA, and it's finished UAT [user acceptance testing] with our customer. That in itself is quite a great milestone, and it already has end-users in a sort of friends and family setting; they're VIP users who are already on the service. That's the most recent milestone.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We're just putting together a press release, which will have some quotes and testimonials from the customers then [July 2015]. Our personal qualitative view is that they've been great. Because we've been working on this project for a year, there is a fairly large code base, and the STX team has been very competent. We're very happy with their performance, so we're going to be bringing on their senior developers directly to get stuff ready for release. They've become normal members of our development team, which is something I'm very pleased about. I think that's the only way that this sort of project can work going forward. I needed to see that they were competent, and they clearly are. We're quite happy with them.

How did STX Next perform from a project management standpoint?

We are absolutely satisfied with their work and their project management approach, and that's why I recommended STX Next for this new engagement. They're very committed and very diligent. They are devoted to their craft, and they want to be good at it, which is the most important thing. Software development is a difficult business, and it does require some commitment in that respect. I'm quite happy that I did recommend them.

What distinguishes STX Next from other providers?

Their coverage of Python is extremely unusual. They've got a lot of people who can code proficiently in Python, which is valuable for us because we develop with Python almost exclusively. Python is not the most popular language, so the fact that they're committed to that is really good.

They are very committed to Agile development approaches, and not just in a buzzword way, but they are clearly very keen on using the approach for all of their solutions engineering, and are serious advocates of it.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

Where I think they could expand their offerings is the front-end design because at the moment they are almost entirely software development and QA. The customers come along, and they need to specify the work pretty well, customers need to provide front-end designs and assets like that, and potentially software architectures as well. We've done that, and it's very useful to be able to provide that service alongside STX's development. That's an area where they could hopefully expand.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe your organization?

We’re a financial technology platform, and we connect retailers to lenders to provide credit for consumers.

What is your position?

I’m the vice president of engineering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges that you were trying to address when you first approached STX Next?

For us, the biggest thing is just scaling up our internal development team, to be able to bring resources onboard with the right skill set, who could hit the ground running and be able to execute on the strategy that’s been put forward. We needed qualified developers with extensive knowledge and previous experience.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail?

Initially, they started out augmenting a small portion of the team that we had in place, and they started contributing to our custom code. They have since become the primary team on one of our products. They now take care of some of the biggest priorities and some of the high-level project management responsibilities on an ongoing basis. 

How did you come to choose STX Next as your partner?

It came down to personal relationships. Their vice president of marketing was someone I had worked with before. She had approached us with a proposal to help us with the particular task at hand, and we basically started out with a couple resources to get things going. As we saw success, we grew the relationship from there.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this particular engagement?

We’re averaging about $25,000 a month. We’ve been working with them for about seven or eight months, so roughly $200,000 during the course of that time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

What we’ve measured most closely is the productivity aspect, and we measure that based on the number of story points they finish during sprints. They’ve been able to bring the resource level down consistently while still maintaining the same level of productivity. This team seems to be very productive in terms of what they’re delivering. They’ve consistently shown us that they can take more ownership and drive the project. They’ve demonstrated initiative and responsibility.

When working with STX Next, is there anything that you would consider unique about their approach and/or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

They definitely have a lot of experience in agile methodologies. They’ve provided us with a lot of valuable input in that area. They’ve also offered services from an agile coaching perspective that we haven’t used yet, but that is something that we would look to in the future. So, from what we’ve seen, their team seems to know those practices very well, and they employ the approaches in our projects, too. It’s been very helpful.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client before approaching STX Next with a project?

If a client is new to working with offshore teams, there are things they have to think about from a communications perspective, building up processes and things of that nature. Take the time to establish an effective workflow with them and be very upfront about expectations and requirements.