Vazco

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of Digital for CallisonRTKL an Architectural Design Consultancy for the built environment

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our goal was to deliver a web-based app for vendors to submit their qualifications and tax information for approval by the accounting team and legal department. Previously this process was handled manually. The goal was to reduce the time needed to manage vendor documents and updates and to increase the number of the updated documents every year.

SOLUTION

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

Vazco’s developer was a speaker at a tech conference we attended. He made a great impression on us, that’s why we decided to contact them. During the first call, they addressed our goals to the point and followed up with a good plan for our project. We decided that out of other contractors we talked with, Vazco was the best choice.

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

We had already conducted a requirements mapping exercise with our key stakeholders and came to Vazco with a spec. If we did it all over again, we would have included them in the specification workshops as well. Key technologies: Meteor, React, GraphQL, Apollo, TypeScript, React Router, RxJS, Uniforms, Universe i18n, Ant Design, Cron, uniforms.tools. Deliverables: Live version of the system, delivered with a Scrum-based, lean-approach.

The application attempts to reproduce and optimize the process of updating crucial documents and data provided by vendors, in iterations. The second part of the process is the verification of the data and documents. The most crucial part of the app includes complex forms, with validation rules, conditions, diverse types of fields, and a search capability. Uniforms.tools package was applied here. The app was prepared to integrate with REST API, which we did in-house.

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

We have worked with a product owner, senior developer, mid developer, and a QA tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with Vazco’s professional help. The app met our business goals. We decreased the time needed to onboard a new vendor and reduced the time needed to handle the process of updating data and communicating with vendors. We also increased the number of vendors who update data and documents on a regular basis.

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

We received a team, managed by a shadow product owner. The team proactively helped us plan the next steps of development. We worked in a Scrum framework. Our representatives took part in the regular demo meetings. We met at weekly check-in meetings. We used Jira to manage the project, and MS Teams to communicate and for videoconferences. The project was delivered within 3 months - later than we initially planned, however, it’s perfectly acceptable, given the increase of the scope

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

They helped us deliver our goals, in a professional approach, every step of the way. It was fun to work with them. Their attention to detail as well as their proactive suggestions around design improvement was impeccable.

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

We came to Vazco with a predefined specification and were adding new functionalities to the scope after particular sprints. For future projects, we plan to organize discovery meetings and design meetings with Vazco, in order to move more planning to the beginning of the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Head of Marketing for vetsak. Vetsak was started out in 2012 in Woodstock, Cape Town as a humble bean bag company and has organically grown into a global e-commerce furniture brand.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our goal was to become the most digital furniture retailer in Europe. We saw certain goals in front of us. Increasing trust in the process of buying furniture online was the main one. We came to Vazco with a question, of how tech can help us reach our goals.

We had a few brainstorming sessions with Vazco after which they prepared a suggestion of 6 different topics, in which tech would help us reach our goals. Vazco planned for us a 3D product configurator, as a simple CPQ system.

At the same time, Vazco helped us find partners to transfer the site to Shopify, as well as switch photos of our products into photo-realistic renders (CGI). We addressed a few other topics as well.

SOLUTION

How did you select Vazco and what were the deciding factors?

We contacted Vazco since one of the vetsak owners already had a chance to successfully cooperate with them in another project. We knew they’re very much into new technologies.

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

We started with a discovery session with key people from Vazco. During this session, we described our goals. Vazco came to us with their recommendations of tech solutions. We organized a short 2-hour workshop call, on which we discussed the approach and next steps.

With topics that involved external partners recommended by them, Vazco helped us by actively taking part in discussions and coordination. Together with their Product Owner, we prepared a project brief that summarized the goals, expectations, client’s characteristics, personas, user stories, mockups, and competition analysis.

When it comes to a configurator, we started with a Proof of Concept to confirm the technology (three.js, TypeScript, React). It was also important for us to confirm the scalability and the performance of the solution. We worked on a T&M plan, however with very clear predictions and definitions of the budget.

We were flexibly adding modifications when it was reasonable from the business point of view. The first scope of work was completed on time. We launched 3D Configurator along with a new website on Shopify in January and now we’re working on the next extensions, aiming at new goals.

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

We have worked with the:

• CEO
• CTO
• Product Owner
• 2 Senior Developers
• 1 Junior Developer 
• tester

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Introduction of a 3D Configurator, transfer to a new e-commerce platform, and other planned changes we did, increased our conversion rate by approx. 100%. We achieved the goals set at the beginning of the cooperation, we’re very satisfied with the results.

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

We worked in 2-weeks Sprints that each time ended up with a Demo session. Additionally, we contacted daily via emails/WhatsApp and their Product Owner has been sending us weekly reports.

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

They advised us how to efficiently move into a direction we were aiming at - becoming the most digital furniture retailer in Europe. They helped us efficiently reach our goals, on time, and according to the plan. It’s also simply a pleasure to work with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the IT lead for Prenda, Inc. We are re-imagining education and enabling guides to run microschools in their homes for up to 10 children. We also facilitate code clubs in local libraries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We originally sought out Vazco because we needed Meteor experts to help scale our CodeClub website. Our PrendaWorld website, which is a critical part of each child's school day in our Microschool product, also ended up needing some ongoing refactoring.

SOLUTION

How did you select Vazco and what were the deciding factors?

Vazco was recommended to us by the Meteor Development Group, who wrote the platform we were working with. Another company was also recommended, but ended up going with Vazco because we were impressed with their responsiveness and communication despite the timezone difference of 8-9 hours.

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

They analyzed our CodeClub codebase and made recommendations. They implemented some of the fixes for us. We implemented others. They taught and advised our programmers on Meteor and Mongo best practices and our programmers are better because of it.

We have continued to use Vazco to analyze, advise, and fix our PrendaWorld codebase. We are using their junior developers more for this, but they are still quite knowledgeable and it is valuable that they have easy access to senior Vazco programmers who have extensive Meteor and Mongo expertise.

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

We have worked with the owner, two product managers, three senior developers, and two junior developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the work and advisement of Vazco, our website performs 5x better on load tests, so we are prepared to scale our CodeClub product and our PrendaWorld site much more gracefully now. Additionally, errors have been reduced and website speed is increased.

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

Coordination has generally been done at weekly check-in meetings. They have created several documents, reports from analyzing our code. We coordinate the work using GitHub issues, but Vazco was willing to use any project coordination tools that we wanted.

We still have a weekly meeting with two junior Vazco developers and their project manager. We are about to start having bi-weekly meetings that include a senior Vazco developer to advise on architecture.

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

Vazco has a very cordial and kind culture. It has been a pleasure to work with them. They are experts, knowledgeable, and accessible.

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

There was a point where a bug was introduced into our website. Vazco was quick to address this issue and, in addition to adding more automated testing, their programmers have become better at manual testing by becoming more familiar with the intricacies of our website.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a SaaS company. We make software for the hair and beauty industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vazco?

We needed help with web app development for a beauty payment platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vazco is responsible for building our salon software. The team is developing our web-application in JavaScript, React, and MongoDB from our prototype. The app, which is also mobile responsive, serves as our payment processing system. Since the app involves payments from customers, they have to ensure security features were in place.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with the developers. There have been five different developers over the years. There are a few main ones that we’ve worked with the whole time.

How did you come to work with Vazco?

We got lucky. Vazco was recommended by a former colleague. They hadn’t used Vasco but they said if they were to outsource, they would use them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about €500,000 (approximately $600,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s been really fun working with them. They’ve done really well. They meet the milestones and deadlines. We always promote them because we like working with them.

How did Vazco perform from a project management standpoint?

It went well. Our teams use Jira and Slack to collaborate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When you outsource, there’s always the worry about the commitment. Vazco is incredibly committed. They are proud of the product they’re building. They even give usability feedback sometimes if they think something is wrong. They’re proactive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Start the project and have fun.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A software company that develops applications for clients worldwide. I was a Business Development Management responsible for matching teams with projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vazco?

Vazco was hired to take end-to-end responsibility for developing a product for our client. It involved business analysis, product ownership, web and mobile app coding with JavaScript.

What were your goals for this project?

We’ve started off with rapid prototyping and later moved on to MVP and product go-live. The goals were to build a disruptive ordering and payment app, which would be able to get external funding.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The vendor was recommended and ideally matched the tech stack chosen for the project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They worked hand in hand with founders of the app, which included personal meetings as well as ongoing remote communication. Vazco took over product ownership, build a team around the product, was responsible for coding and testing of the app.

What was the team composition?

Project manager/product owner, 2-4 developers (depending on stage), tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Vazco did a fantastic job working in a fast-paced, sometimes chaotic start-up environment. They brought stability and process to the project. They work contributed to building the app from scratch, testing it in real environment and securing further tranches of funding.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The approach to the project was lean and agile methodologies were used. This allowed for quick introspection, transparency and ongoing improvement.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of code and maturity of their developers are impressive. Apart from writing code they strived to understand the product and offer their advice in terms of functionalities that were built.

Are there any areas for improvement?

From my perspective it is hard to find areas for improvement. As in any project, hovered, communication could be worked on, but this applies to all parties of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Wombee Like the Stars, a hospitality service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vazco?

We needed an agency to develop a social travel application for hospitality services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vazco developed a social networking app for iOS and Android. They implemented a geolocation feature where users can see where people are. Students and frequent travelers use the application. Their team developed the app using React Native, and our team addressed the UX/UI.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with a manager and a developer.

How did you come to work with Vazco?

Our CTO worked with Vazco previously and was comfortable working with their team again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Vazco from January–April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application is live and available for download. When their team delivered the MVP, it was already an excellent product. Without Vazco’s skilled development, our app wouldn’t be in stores.

How did Vazco perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management between our teams was extremely professional. We had weekly meetings with the manager where they provided status updates. The communication between everyone involved in the project was also excellent. It was a real pleasure to work with Vazco.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Vazco was engaged and efficient during the entire engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be nice if their team offered support services.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Learning Circle, an educational platform for collaborative, self-organized courses. To some extent, it’s a learning management system, but it’s also an aggregator of many different media used by learners during their courses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vazco?

We wanted to build our platform from scratch and needed help with its development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I was the primary feature designer and gave Vazco general guidelines about the visual direction of the website. They were responsible for product management on the software development front and provided feedback on the design and feature prioritization. They were a partner during the entire bulk of the work. They wrote the whole platform in Meteor and made complex integrations with Google Hangouts and Embedly.

One of the interesting features they built is a social feed with filtering functionalities, and the most complex one is user layers. There are around five user types with different privileges, and it was a challenge to define and implement them smoothly. Other features include a simple yet clever algorithm for maximizing learner diversity within each course by making sure their time zones were taken into consideration and by maximizing gender and nationality breadth in any discussion group, while also automatically creating hangouts.

What is the team composition?

I usually connect with the project manager, but they also give me access to the developers as needed.

How did you come to work with Vazco?

Their CEO is the friend of a friend, and though I sent a proposal to 4–5 development companies, I chose Vazco based on the conversation I had with their team, along with the astounding price and timeline offer they came up with. I’m running a university research project, so I couldn’t just give it to just anyone.

​​​​​​What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Vazco in February 2015, completing the engagement in March 2016. It’s been an amazing collaboration. I’ve been behind on giving them guidelines for the next stage, but I’ll definitely continue working with them on future iterations.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Vazco finished all their previous assignments and will work on a new edition of the same platform. They’ve already done two iterations of my designs, which then got tested in the courses. I now need to rethink those designs and literally rewrite the platform for the third time. I have a completed product that’s already been used in courses, and I’m just making tweaks at this stage. The platform’s been working smoothly, and it looks good. I don’t think I could’ve done it with any other team for the kind of budget Vazco did it on given the complexity.

Compared to the people some of my friends are working with, I must say that my developers turned out to be the most reliable in terms of time and quality deliverables. My friends spent a lot of money and didn’t get a working platform, or they went way over budget and timeline.

How did Vazco perform from a project management standpoint?

They used an improved version of Trello, which I believe they customized for their own needs. It was a joy to use as it was a kind of post-it collection detailing how long something would take and what the different work streams were. It was pleasing to look over what had been done and to get a clear estimate on how much the project would take.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They didn’t just wait for me to give them direction but rather reached out to me to tell me what else we should do. They were proactive in providing project management guidance, and this led to a faster delivery of the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the time, they were only really specializing in Meteor, so I didn’t have too much of a choice about which language to use. I would’ve probably chosen a language that the developers in our own lab knew as Meteor wasn’t too popular at the time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Vazco isn’t a normal software development company. Their level of intelligence and project understanding shows that they can be a strategic advisor to any company. I advise people to take full advantage of all their offerings and not just treat them as executors.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an IT Solutions Provider. We made an online reservation management system that enables restaurants to manage their businesses and outsource reservation services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vazco?

We hired Vazco as a software development partner after several freelance providers did not work out. We needed help with development, testing, and the solution architecture.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vazco overtook an MVP and built a robust scalable system. They used the Meteor framework on the application server side and React for the client side. We’ve also built internal tools with continuous deployment including a Bitbucket code management solution and a MailChimp service.

What is the team composition?

The team varied depending on our budget. During the pre-launch phase, we worked with five developers, one tester, and one product manager. Currently, we’re in maintenance mode and work with two developers.

How did you come to work with Vazco?

I searched for developers on social media channels—including one group for Meteor—and found Vazco through one of their employees.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Vazco in 2016 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I wouldn’t be where I am without them. They fully implemented what we wanted—a lean, fast, and cutting-edge system. Importantly, the software allows us to scale and grow.

How did Vazco perform from a project management standpoint?

Our team is responsible for project management and product ownership. Vazco’s developers are knowledgeable and communicative; they readily fulfill our requests. We can scale the team as needed; we have to give Vazco 1–2 months’ notice when we want to release developers if they are at capacity. What’s more, they are collaborative, work after regular business hours, and have strong English skills.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The developers are highly skilled. They are flexible and scale as needed to meet our specifications. The owner and I have a very trusting relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints at this point. The collaboration is perfect as it is now. The engagement has been a learning process for both sides, but we’ve arrived at a good place.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Agile methodology helps the project manager lead the development team efficiently and effectively. Customers should communicate clearly and dedicate time to explain expectations thoroughly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m CTO and Co-Founder. Our company is a modern customer experience analytics and QA platform that powers customer loyalty. We help CX teams around the world understand and create the best customer experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We started our cooperation with regular audits and consultations on the project. The first audit was focused on three separate issues:

• Verification and fix of the potential performance bottlenecks
• Minimizing technical debt
• Performing server costs optimization.

Subsequently, our cooperation was extended to regular security audits. Recently, we have built a team that focuses not only on consulting but also on the regular development of the product.

SOLUTION

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

Vazco is Meteor Prime Partner, and thanks to that, they obviously stood out among other companies providing services in Meteor. We also knew them from presentations they’re doing at the Meteor Impact conference. We vetted a few different vendors and Vazco stood out as the best performing in both the quality of work as well as communication and professionalism.

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

Vazco key responsibilities are:

• Consulting services
• Technical audits/Performance audit
• Security audits
• Code optimization
• Improving the application performance  
• Minimizing technical debt

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

With the performance audit, we worked directly with one of the Consultants - a Meteor Specialist. Regular security audits are carried out by 2 Security Specialists. The current consulting team consists of 2 Full Stack Developers, a Consultant, and a Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very impressed with Vazco work pace, communication, and quality of providing services. Their consulting services were also very helpful. They helped us:

• Optimize initial bundle size by over 2MB, improving the loading time by ~25%
• Improve security
• Improve front-end performance (i.e., loading and rendering time) even by 50%
• Reduce the execution time of multiple processes. Speed-ups vary between 10% & 70%. One example is ~20s -> ~12s
• Reduce traffic between the database and the server several times. Sometimes even by 60%. One example is ~200MB -> ~95MB
• Optimize required server resources by 10%
• Improve CI process

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

We communicate via Slack and Shortcut, using GoogleMeet for daily meetings. Vazco's team is very well-organized, highly efficient, and systematic in their communication.

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

We're impressed with the quality and pace of work. We had not prepared a sufficiently extensive initial backlog for the team, as we were not expecting them to move through the initial tasks so quickly.

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

We are very happy with our relationship with Vazco thusfar.