SumatoSoft

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO & Founder of AKDev Group

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

At AKDev Group, we craft high-impact IT solutions that help businesses scale, optimize, and innovate.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Develop a chatbot

SOLUTION

How did you find SumatoSoft?

• Online Search
• Rating platforms

Why did you select SumatoSoft over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Valuable free discovery session after the intro call

How many teammates from SumatoSoft were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We handle over 10,000 monthly support requests on repetitive issues, which previously required a large team to manage. SumatoSoft was supposed to develop an AI-driven NLP chatbot from scratch. It includes business analysis, frontend development, third-party service integration, and model training.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SumatoSoft's AI-driven NLP chatbot has automated 90% of queries, providing immense value by freeing up our team to focus on product development tasks.

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

Their team was super professional, and the project management was spot-on - everything was delivered on time and within budget.

What was your primary form of communication with SumatoSoft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What I like best about SumatoSoft is how well they understood our business goals from the start. They acted proactively, always came up with suggestions to improve the chatbot, and demonstrated great flexibility when priorities shifted and we discovered a new set of requirements out of initial scope.

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

The project was handled really well, though it would’ve been great to have more face-to-face time with the team to brainstorm ideas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Yellow Systems

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are web, mobile, and AI development company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• We’ve been partners with SumatoSoft for some time now. Our company received a project inquiry from a client that required healthcare expertise, which was outside our core competencies. We referred to SumatoSoft for their expertise in this domain.

SOLUTION

How did you find SumatoSoft?

Online Search

Why did you select SumatoSoft over others?

• Good value for cost
• Relevant expertise in the healthcare industry

How many teammates from SumatoSoft were assigned to this project?

12

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

From the beginning, they demonstrated professionalism in every aspect of the work. The SumatoSoft team wrote detailed documentation, assessed risks, planned the architecture with the opportunity to scale easily in the future. During the development, they regularly showcased the newly developed features, which allowed us to literally see how the project progressed. We had concerns about aligning our solution with HIPAA and GDPR, but SumatoSoft did everything at the highest level. They clearly explained to us how to ensure compliance and provided detailed guidance throughout the process. Their expertise in navigating these regulations was evident.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The key measurable outcomes of the project included the timely delivery of the telemedicine platform, which was completed within the allocated budget. SumatoSoft ensured full compliance with HIPAA and GDPR and designed the platform with future scalability in mind.

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

We appreciated their excellent and efficient project management, with regular meetings and status checks, enabled us to track the project's progress easily. Several serious requirements changes occurred during development, and SumatoSoft’s team quickly adjusted the documentation, seamlessly integrating the new changes into the timelines without shifting it. They demonstrated impressive professionalism. 

What was your primary form of communication with SumatoSoft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

SumatoSoft developed a complex platform in a strictly regulated industry in a very short period. We expected a much longer development time.

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

Their operations and management impressed us greatly, as did the quality of their software development. The only minor improvement they could make is to agree upon the changes and progress updates from the start. At one point, the number of emails they sent about the project status became unmanageable, but they improved after we discussed it with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Design Engineer II of a high-power connector solutions company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Creates high power connector solutions

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Design app software to talk to existing PCB firmware
• Design cloud architecture to support multiple devices connecting at once

SOLUTION

How did you find SumatoSoft?

Online Search

Why did you select SumatoSoft over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location

How many teammates from SumatoSoft were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• Create a cloud architecture that collected data from an existing set of devices and firmware. 
• This architecture had logic built into it to calculate certain variables for the below application to use.
• Create an application for both iOS and Android that could connect to both the cloud architecture through wifi and to the individual devices through BLE. 
• This application used data from the cloud to produce both live graphs and timelines.
• This application refreshed "live" at a rate of every two seconds when connected through bluetooth.
• When the devices being monitored met certain conditions, the application would push notifications to the user's device regardless of location (when connected to WIFI).
• Update application to changing firmware conditions to keep app functional.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• The list of features within the scope of work were reviewed and shown to be implemented over time during our project meetings. 
• Each project build would either add features or fix bugs. 
• These builds would be delivered weekly. 

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

• Daily communcation was handled through Slack with weekly meetings on Teams/Zoom.
• The project manager was very responsive and development leads very knowledgable. 
• Overall Sumatosoft's team handled our project's needs very well.

What was your primary form of communication with SumatoSoft?

Email or Messaging App

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

Sumatosoft's best quality is their eagerness. We have interviewed several software companies, but Sumatosoft has the best response, project plan, and attitude. This presence persisted throughout the project and through their work.

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

A majority of Sumatosoft's development team was in Poland. This was fine for a majority of the project, but there were times when we needed to expedite some testing and having to send a device sample to Poland would take a week or two. If Sumatosoft could have some US-based development talent that they could utilize for situations like this to prevent project delays, that would be one of the few areas that they could improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of GTM of a software company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a SaaS maintenance management software company (CMMS).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Helped support our internal developers as we grew our team. They provided mobile app support, worked on some additonal projects and UX design.

SOLUTION

How did you find SumatoSoft?

Online Search

Why did you select SumatoSoft over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• They were the preferred vendor after reviewing 2 others

How many teammates from SumatoSoft were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• They helped design UI 
• They helped develop our mobile app / core features 
• Wep app design and UI

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Time to complete, cost, quality of work 

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

We had regular calls, at least once a week for larger projects. We were assigned a PM and we used Jira and confluence to track projects. They were responsive, some work took longer than first estimated but we expected that 

What was your primary form of communication with SumatoSoft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are very responsive, and their communication is good. Timezone difference was not an issue and they accommodated our working hours. We used Slack as well as regular meetings. Their BAs where very attentive and kept us on track and did good discovery and documentation.

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

Timeline projections could have been a little more accurate. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of SOFTLOFT

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We also offer custom software development and outstaffing services, specializing in eCommerce solutions. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Our existing client approached us with a totally new request of developing Electronic Health Record system. We refered to SumatoSoft to extend our team competencies for this project.

SOLUTION

How did you find SumatoSoft?

Reference from our partners

Why did you select SumatoSoft over others?

• Good value for cost
• Revelant experience

How many teammates from SumatoSoft were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

SumatoSoft formed the core team for the development of the whole system. They provided business analysis and frontend/backend development expertise in the healthcare industry, completing the project flawlessly and enriching our development team's knowledge of building medical systems.    

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Significant skill enhancement for our development team in complex healthcare system development. The project itself was successfully developed on time and budget. 

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

Their project management was exemplary. They regularly run demos, updated on potential challenges and risks, and guided the entire development process. This approach is what makes the delivering on time and budget possible. 

What was your primary form of communication with SumatoSoft?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their full transparency in communication and operations impressed us the most. They maintained clear communication throughout the project and ensured that every decision was fully visible to all involved sides. 

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a department manager for an environmental consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SumatoSoft?

We needed help with developing an API integration to enable e-commerce capabilities between a partner of ours and us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SumatoSoft has helped us with the entire development process of creating the API integration we needed. Initially, we gave them a scope of work and outlined what we wanted. Since then, they’ve built everything from scratch. Their services have included planning, design, development, deployment, QA testing, upgrades, and continuous maintenance.

To create this solution, SumatoSoft has had to consider our different parameters for billing and order management parameters. Additionally, we have specific workflows that they’ve needed to put in place regarding how we process, build, and send back our information. Therefore, they’ve had to work through a lot of pacific requirements.

As for the API’s design, we initially told SumatoSoft what we wanted to do, and they helped us decide how we wanted the solution to look as well. Throughout the design process, they used Figma to create mock-ups and let us choose from different themes. Additionally, we gave them feedback on their designs.

Our partner uses API calls to send us order information. Then, we use our solution’s UI to view those orders and process them. Finally, we send back the order confirmation to our partner. Additionally, we use this API for billing processes. The UI allows us to generate invoices from the order information.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with multiple project managers, two frontend developers, two backend developers, two QA developers, and a designer.

How did you come to work with SumatoSoft?

I searched online and vetted various developers. Then, I read their reviews and narrowed down the list to 6–7 different companies. I received quotes from them all, weighed their pros and cons, and ultimately decided to go with SumatoSoft.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $250,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around December 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. Although we don’t have an ongoing development project with SumatoSoft, we reach out to them every now and then to make minor changes, adjustments, and fixes if needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our API loads very fast, and its UI works great. Thanks to this solution, we can take as many API calls as our partner wants to throw at it. Thus, as far as performance goes, this solution has met all the standards and requirements we asked for. Moreover, its uptime has been almost 100%. The only time this solution has been down was when the third-party server required maintenance.

How did SumatoSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

SumatoSoft’s project management is wonderful; our current project manager, who is also our main point of contact, does an excellent job in that regard. Whenever I need something, I go to him. Still, whenever he’s out on vacation, we work with another project manager who also takes good care of our account. Overall, SumatoSoft’s entire team has been wonderful to work with.

Moreover, SumatoSoft has been very responsive and helpful, and they have a well-defined process for solving issues. As with any other development project, we’ve faced bugs. Still, they’ve been very good at tracking those on Jira. Whenever we find bugs, their team documents those issues, prioritizes them, and discusses with us our budget concerns that may arise as a consequence. In addition to Jira, we communicate via email, phone, Slack, and Microsoft (MS) Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Something that SumatoSoft does particularly well is describing options to their clients. We ran into a couple of situations where we didn’t know what we wanted to do, so we relied on SumatoSoft to give us suggestions. They did a great job in that regard and were able to come up with a solution to the problem. Overall, their team is very knowledgeable about methodologies and technologies that can be used to solve complex problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As a customer, we always strive to be more efficient and spend less money, so it would be nice if SumatoSoft could do their job faster and cheaper. However, they’ve done an excellent job, and they’ve been fast and cost-effective.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define your scope of work before going into the project. For these kinds of projects, scope creep is very impactful, and the only remedy is proper planning. No matter how good a development company is, they don’t know your business and needs as well as you do, so it’s best to go in with as much information as possible.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of TARTLE, a global exchange platform that gives individuals tools to protect and empower their digital identities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SumatoSoft?

I wanted to develop my platform.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted a working MVP for raising capital and beta testing among a select group of public users.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose SumatoSoft, firstly, on the basis of their talent in comparison to the wider range of U.S. development houses, and, secondly, because of their average development cost.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They translated the architecture and design I developed into a working iOS application and a web portal. Universities, corporations, and all kinds of organizations will be able to access information across the globe.

What was the team composition?

The team was composed of five individuals, three of whom were full-time including a project manager, an app developer, and a web developer. There were also two quality control resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The application and web portal have allowed us to design the concept ahead of the pack, giving us a leg up on our competition,

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They arranged project manager using Atlassian JIRA. It’s a somewhat cumbersome system but it provides sufficient detail and tracking as long as the project manager stays on top of submitting information.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

SumatoSoft’s teammates are detail oriented and excellent task-takers. They’ll offer their professional opinions when the opportunity arises after researching an issue’s background.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

They would benefit from staying on top of JIRA. This ensures that you don’t create redundant work and take care of issues the first time. Their scheduling of dedicated personnel is in fact ‘dedicated’. They need to learn how to ask for more follow on work! Not a bad thing. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a program manager focusing on a software makeover for TL Nika, a logistics provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SumatoSoft?

We were replacing the legacy solution used for all company operations. It was based on Microsoft Access, which made it difficult to maintain. We were struggling to find a partner in our region.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SumatoSoft provided a full spectrum of services, starting with business analysis. Their team came up with a platform solution that has CRM elements. It’s a transport management system that takes control of in- and outbound transportation and cargo consolidation.

The development was done using Ruby on Rails on the backend and React.js on the frontend. The software is web-based and fully responsive. It can be used on any device or browser, as long as JavaScript is supported.

What is the team composition?

I have interacted with their project manager, who is fully responsible for business analysis. I have met the team, but I don’t usually communicate with them directly.

How did you come to work with SumatoSoft?

We considered 6–7 companies from different countries. We found candidates using Clutch and similar websites, issued requests for proposals, and asked each one to describe their approach. Given that the engagement would be paid based on time and materials, we compared hourly rates, and SumatoSoft was one of the most affordable options. They asked a lot of questions during the RFP process and went the extra mile to understand what we were trying to achieve. They also gave us a chance to negotiate the project before signing an agreement.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work has been just above $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SumatoSoft in July 2017. We are more than halfway through the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform built by SumatoSoft is quite agile and easy to maintain and update. They’ve always taken extra care of every aspect, maintaining strict quality assurance.

How did SumatoSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They use Jira to manage the project. I have access to the system and edit stories on occasion. We use Skype for minor questions, and we’ve had a couple of in-person meetings with their team.

Even though SumatoSoft is a relatively small company with around 50 members, their approach to project management and to maintaining internal processes resembles that of much bigger companies.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The progress looks good so far. We’ve had a good experience overall. SumatoSoft is a smaller company, which means that they are able to concentrate their efforts on our work. Ours is one of a few projects, not thousands.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don’t have enough workforce for some areas, including UX design. It has taken time to supply such resources when we needed them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would definitely recommend them to companies that are looking to work in an agile way. SumatoSoft is good at using Scrum.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a director of Technology Enabled Learning Ltd and a Programme Director of Boyd Glover Consulting Ltd, I work on projects with SumatoSoft for both companies.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SumatoSoft?

A client in Dubai needed software for a psychometric and 360-degree feedback and organizational survey platform with very specific methodologies. The platform needed to streamline the process of creating reports and assessments, which had previously required a variety of licensed software tools as well as manual work in Excel.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I wrote out the technical specifications, and through a multi-phase development and feedback process, SumatoSoft is building software to automate the processes of extracting, combining, and analyzing data from a variety of survey platforms, using Ruby on Rails, AWS, HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. SumatoSoft’s CTO and I selected that technology stack for efficiency and flexibility. The platform analyzes surveys and uses distinct “norming tables” to score and code the responses with incredibly complex methodologies relying on demographic research. It also enables users to produce assessments and reports. The platform is also customizable, allowing for new methodologies to be defined.

The first phase lasted roughly ten months involved the production of a minimum viable product (MVP). In the second phase, SumatoSoft incorporated some nuanced feedback from the client in Dubai. And the third phase is currently being scoped.

What is the team dynamic?

The team expanded and contracted over the course of the project, peaking at about nine FTE (full-time equivalent), six of which were developers, and bottoming out at two FTE. At times I had a say in which developers were on the team, but it would also depend on their other commitments. I would always request Simon Shchukin and Ivan Nesterovich [Software Developers, Sumatosoft], and I also had access to their project manager Vladimir Shidlovsky [CTO & Founder, Sumatosoft], who we actually flew to the UK to discuss the scope of the project at the onset.

How did you come to work with SumatoSoft?

Our client in Dubai had been searching for development partners, and when they came to us to see if we could connect them with anyone, I thought of SumatoSoft. They had worked with us on a previous project so we were familiar with their capabilities, and expected they would be a good fit for this unique challenge.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project has been ongoing for about 18 months, with the first 10 spent in the first build phase creating a minimum viable product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The first build of the product is live and is being used in India, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and other places in the UAE, and demand is growing.

How did SumatoSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is regular, generally using Skype calls and often following up with email. We also use Jira to track tasks and manage workflow. They have also helped me manage the expectations with the end client, making sure that tasks are prioritized in the most strategic and cost-effective way.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SumatoSoft is more flexible than other development companies I’ve worked with.  They have also been very proactive in their approach throughout the project, seeking to understand the needs and the reasons behind them before launching into development, which has been helpful for maintaining direction and consistency, especially because the end client is regularly generating new ideas for added features.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the beginning of the project the efficiency and visibility of timelines needed improvement, but now there is nothing I would want them to change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you understand your needs and communicate them at length with Sumatosoft.