Vizir

BACKGROUND

Please give me a brief description of your company.

The Flytour Gapnet group works to provide services in all tourism segments. The main goal is to always provide quality service to customers. The group has more than 10 companies and over 2,000 employees.

What is your role at the company?

My function is to provide all the support in technology for the group, offering the best solutions in infrastructure and systems with the lowest cost possible.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Vizir?

We needed developers to define the system’s architecture and to implement the tourism systems.

What were your company’s business goals for the project?

The goal was to provide for the group innovative tourism systems where it would be possible to scale the applications to meet the high demands.

SOLUTION

Can you tell me about the scope of the project?

The project’s scope was the definition and implementation of systems where it would be possible to implement automated testing, scalable applications, monitorable and automated deploy, decoupling, and continuous integration. Also, the development of the application was hired to meet the tickets consolidator, one of the leading companies in the group.

What was your process for selecting Vizir to work with?

We selected Vizir because of their experience in defining and implementing new technologies. To prove the experience, other companies that hired the services of Vizir were consulted. We also analyzed the products that the company offers to the tourism and other related markets.

Can you give us a sense of the size of the project in dollar terms, a price range would be fine as well?

We work in the range of $500,000 to $600,000.

When was the project completed?

The consolidator project was completed 3 years ago. After the delivery, we hired the development for the evolution of the system. The evolution of the system is performed until this day. The project for the definition of the new system architecture was started two months ago and is still in progress.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project, and are there any metrics you can share? What have they helped you achieve as a company?

The adopted metrics were the amount of errors for delivered items, time, and cost. They met more than 95% of these requirements.

How did Vizir perform?

We work with two models for the execution of activities. The first where the team was inside, and in that case the management was ours. The second was with the team on Vizir, and the management was theirs. Both models met the project needs satisfactorily.

When working with them, was there anything unique or special about them compared to other companies that you may have worked with?

What we find special is the investment that Vizir has towards their employees. The employees constantly participate in training. Vizir's concern for learning and improvement regarding new technologies is terrific.

Looking back on the project, is there any area that they could improve or you would do differently?

What could be improved is the deadline. Even with a variation of the terms, Vizir kept to the agreed initial cost.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an NGO [nongovernmental organization] focused on delivering child care information.

What is your position?

I am the finance director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Vizir?

In 2014, we were awarded a Google grant to develop a platform for delivering personalized messages to expecting or new mothers. We needed help in developing the coding of the site and app involved in the project. Our aim was to transform our idea into a working product.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Vizir developed our application and website.

How did you come to work with Vizir?

We created a scope of requirements for our software. Vizir was one of the companies we approached to bring this product to market. We received three or four other quotes, out of which we chose Vizir.

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

As a startup, we made some mistakes and reworked some parts of the project. Looking strictly at the cost compared to the result, the work that we've gone through won't be reflected. Some parts of the code developed by us were dropped when we chose new directions. It's difficult to offer one figure by which the present product we have can be judged. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They've been working with us since October 2014. The app was launched in January 2016. There are still many features that need to be implemented, but version 1.0 is available to users. Development is never fully finished. The Android version had been launched as early as August 2015, in beta form.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Their work was in line with what was contracted. I would have taken a different approach on certain features, such as the design itself.

How did Vizir perform from a project management standpoint?

They employed a certain work methodology, which has to be understood in order to have a clear image of the results that it will bring. Sometimes, my team expected more, but this larger number of features was not scheduled from the beginning. If asked, my team may state that Vizir did not deliver all that was expected. Instead, we should focus on what should have been developed from the start. As a whole, they delivered all that was agreed to in the beginning. They occasionally took a bit more time to complete a task than expected, but I can understand that software development can be more complicated than initially imagined. Their delivery method was acceptable to me, with this in mind. On average, Vizir performed well and delivered what was agreed upon.

What distinguishes Vizir from other providers?

I appreciate their technological background. I trust Vizir very much in this respect. I only had a limited experience with software development, so I wasn't up to date with the latest solutions available. They provided me with all the information necessary for making good decisions. The suggestions that they provided me were very good. Choosing a language, the platform for our database, and site hosting were done well by Vizir.

Is there anything Vizir could have improved or done differently?

We've had to take our idea from a sketch to a working product, which is a very tough path to take. Having an already working solution means that there is already a starting point, and you can work on making improvements. Going from paper to product implied that we had to detect continually what could be wrong with the path we were taking. We didn't know exactly what we should ask of Vizir. We made some mistakes as a result, but this is part of the game. Whenever we made a wrong decision, it was our fault. Their team helped putting us back on track.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a non-profit organization with members based in 25 different countries.

What is your position?

I am the executive director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Vizir?

We were developing a data platform through which countries could benchmark their performance. We've created a solution that we call a competitiveness decoder. It works through two different databases. The first one covers 101 countries, through 101 different metrics, over a period of 45 years. The second database is focused on global trade data. We've imported the entire UN com-trade database to the most detailed level, making it the most extensive trade database available in the world. A third one is a kind of meta-database that we've constructed by crawling 40,000 different documents centering on economic development, best practice competitiveness, and innovation promotion/policies from around the web.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Our organization developed the conceptual framework for the system. We selected the metrics, populated the database, and conceptualized the solution, specifically the features that we wanted to implement. Vizir built our system based on these specifications. They engineered it and developed its visual identity, including all the springs and wireframes for it. They implemented our features, working with our team of statisticians and economics specialists. They used different software libraries in the process. The competitiveness decoder stands on top of the statistical and visualization features put together by Vizir. Part of our statistics processing is done offline and the data sent to Vizir.

Parts of the features they built were done through native coding, using open libraries for visualization and statistics. They built our whole system, in short. 

How did you come to work with Vizir?

We researched the market, looking at different providers. Vizir was the most responsive to our inquiries.

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

The total development cost has been $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September of 2013. The alpha version of our system was released in November, 2013. In early 2014, we engaged in a new contract with Vizir and started working on the beta version of our solution. It went live in December 2014. It was tweaked and fine-tuned over the first semester of 2015. We're currently still in beta mode. We're raising resources in order to develop it further. The relationship with Vizir is ongoing through a maintenance contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've had a chance to release our platform during a global meeting in South Korea, in the presence of their finance minister. Vizir was very responsive in terms of working 24/7 around the clock to come up with a working solution for us.

One of our requirements was to integrate open libraries for statistics into the native code of the solution. These included things like multivariate regressions. This had never been done before, but Vizir nailed the solution.

What distinguishes Vizir from other providers?

Vizir is great in terms of design capabilities. Their chief designer is very creative. For this class of application, we're working with the best team possible. The second pro I want to mention is their responsiveness. We've always had an open engagement with Vizir in terms of trying to say what we want, maintaining flexible boundaries, and having them respond quickly to our demands, even for the more challenging tasks.

Is there anything Vizir could have improved or done differently?

This was to do more with our team, not theirs: when we started the whole engagement, we didn't include documentation in the contract. If I had to start over again, I would have made a better definition of the deliverables.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company I work for is a stockbroker in Brazil. 

What is your role at the company?

I'm a manager at the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Vizir?

The first project with Vizir (of many) was to make our customer onboarding painless. Before working with Vizir, our onboarding was slow and buggy. The goal was to increase the conversion rate as much as possible. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Essentially what happened is we isolated the onboarding module and then rebooted the project. 

How did you come to work with Vizir?At the beginning, we were searching for high-end technology companies since we wanted to use Node.js for the project. Vizir was the only one capable of doing a great job in a long-term contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

This first project lasted five months, but there was even bigger projects like rebooting the whole customer experience (Dashboard) that lasted eight months. I think the first one was completed in the end of 2013, and the latest one was completed in 2015. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

Vizir performed masterfully. The work was amazing. After the onboarding reboot, we doubled the conversion rate. After some refactorings and integrations, we tripled our conversion rate. They injected all their knowledge to our developer team. 

What distinguishes Vizir from other providers?

Yes. It's the only company that actually worked for us with the goal of helping us in the long run. Vizir did everything they could to meet our needs, even if the goals changed along the way. Give them all the trust you can. Let them participate in the planning process because they know what they're doing. 

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

Not at all. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company is The Dublin Institute and we are an English language school operating from a website. We are located in São Paulo, Brazil. 

What is your role at the company?

I am the owner and director. I deal with all aspects of running the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge that you were trying to address when you approached Vizir?

I wanted them to build my website. I had some very clear ideas and needed some people who could put them into practice for me in a website. The goal was increase the amount of students that used my website, and so I wanted to offer an easy platform to advertise and network.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They developed the Dublin Institute's site from the wireframes to the website hosting. They also helped the Dublin Institute with our social media experience to improve it Facebook Page. It consisted of web design services and social media marketing.

What was your process for selecting Vizir?

I knew somebody in the company, so I decided to take a chance with them.

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

Sorry. I would prefer not to provide that information.

When was the project completed?

 About three years ago. It has been up and running now for about three years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project, and are there any metrics you can share?

Vizir have been very helpful. I am happy with their work. They did an excellent job with the design work.

What distinguishes Vizir from other providers?

They were very attentive and creative, which is what I was looking for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

During my collaboration with Vizir I was working at another company. The previous company I worked for is a huge magazine company.

What was your position at that company?

I was the chief technology officer of the magazine company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Vizir?

The company had a web initiative to develop a CMS [content management system], to publish the 40 different brands that they own in the same CMS. That included more than 100 websites and content for mobile apps. We developed a platform called Alexandria, which was a repository to track digital assets, like articles, images, videos, quizzes and so on. We had almost 100 developers in 11 teams, but we needed more developers. That was how I met Vizir. They helped develop a part of the system.

We worked with Vizir again on a second project, called You Find Solutions, which is a business unit of the same company. You Find Solutions was a big data consultancy. We had a huge marketing database. We collected IDs, addresses, lifestyle, gender, address, age, which magazines or websites people prefer, emails, and things like that. We used these to do marketing campaigns.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with Vizir?

We had a system architect who worked with us, and then left the company to work with Vizir. He introduced me to Vizir. We have a process at our company, like a request for proposal, but it's called a request for quotation. Vizir competed with four other companies. We always try to determine what provider has the best understanding of what we need. Vizir won this request for proposal.

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

The last project lasted for six months, and the cost was about $10,000 per month, so we've spent $60,000 to $70,000 in total working with Vizir.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Vizir around 2012-2013. I worked with them on two different projects. The second project was in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

During the period that I was CTO [chief technology officer] at the magazine company, I worked with five or six different providers. Vizir was one of the best companies I worked with. They are very straightforward and to the point in what they do. When we agreed on the scope, and they gave us a deadline for product delivery, they always met the deadline. They always achieved the results that they were supposed to achieve. It was a very nice experience.

What distinguishes Vizir from other providers?

They are very well organized. When we pass the requirements to them, they really create the specifications for us. That made it easy for us. We didn't have to write detailed specifications for what we wanted. They have the facility for doing the business analysis to understand what we really need as well as provide documentation on what was agreed on. They always understood what we really needed and developed what we asked for. With other companies, even when you write what you need, they always have some misunderstandings about what the business is or what the product should accomplish. That was not the case with Vizir, and I think this is their strongest point.

Is there anything Vizir could have improved or done differently?

One thing that I regretted on the last project was that I didn't ask for quality assurance in the request for proposal because I believed that when you contract a project with a vendor you either use a third party to do that or you do it internally. We didn't have testers, and we had to outsource that. What happened was that they did the deliverables, and it was hard for us to do the acceptance testing. We didn't buy quality assurance to pass the acceptance tests.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company develops a tool for social media monitoring. We are located in Brazil, Spain, and Portugal.

What is your position?

I am the chief technology officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Vizir?

We do a lot of outsourcing to software companies. We are interested in development, but we don't have an internal team. I wanted to test some companies and then plug them into our main product. Vizir worked for us for a year, doing small things and complementing the sprints that we did with our internal team.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They did development. They also integrated our product with the CRM [customer relationship management] software, so everything works. They would estimate how many hours it would take to develop a specific feature or a small set of features because we work with a very fast agile process. Every two weeks they would deliver something. I would brief them on the requirements, they would provide an estimate and we would agree on the price per hour. Then they would start to work. I've never had any problems with Vizir. They always provided the component that we needed on time.

How did you come to work with Vizir?

They're in Sao Paolo like many of us. I think they sent me an email or I might have contacted one of their people through Facebook. I'm always looking for developers specifically in Brazil, since we're a Brazilian company. The first contact was online, not in a conference or via website.

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

I think we were spending $50 per hour working with Vizir.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started our collaboration in 2013. We don't work with them continuously. At first, we worked for two months, then we stopped, and then we hired them again. Overall, I would say the relationship has been going on for about twelve months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from this engagement?

They worked very well. I'm located in Germany, so I had to do everything online with them. I just met them once when I was in Sao Paolo. Our internal team reviewed the code, and everything was fine. I would hire them again.

What distinguishes Vizir from other providers?

Most of the small companies that we're dealing with are overwhelmed with work, so many of them refuse work. Vizir never refused any kind of project. I think they're very ready to allocate whatever resources are needed for a project. In terms of my needs, they were always willing to take on new work. Sometimes ,we did work with them, sometimes that was too expensive, so we did it internally, but they were always ready, no matter what the task was or how long it would take. I liked that,, because I get many request refused nowadays from small companies.

Is there anything Vizir could have improved or done differently?

I did not really have any problems. I cannot think of anything for them to improve. I wouldn't have any suggestions at this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

scup is a Brazilian company that was recently acquired by Sprinkler, a New York-based company. We work on social media by monitoring engagement for small companies.

What is your position?

I am the chief technology officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Vizir?

I used to be one of Vizir's partners before going to scup and, because of that, I have a high appreciation of Vizir's work with Node.js and Angular. Those guys have a very high standard. It's hard to find that kind of partner in Brazil. I totally trust Vizir.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

When scup hired Vizir the first time, it was to help us with Node.js and Angular technologies. After that, they were able to help us transition away from our legacy systems like PHP and MySQL.

How did you come to work with Vizir?

We went with them because of our knowledge of and experience with them. We knew that they could accommodate our high standards, which is hard to find in Brazil.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Vizir in June 2014, and we're still collaborating. They have six or seven people working with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from this engagement?

Their team is well above average. Vizir knows a lot of software engineering techniques, and they are able to deliver tests and quality models. I'm happy with their work.

What distinguishes Vizir from other providers?

They are very driven by the customer's needs, and that's important. It's hard to work with unfamiliar technologies and environments. They know that's painful for us, so they are very good at helping us through that.