475 Cumulus

Please describe your company and your position there.

Project Manager in a leading automotive company, part of a small and new digital innovation center. As part of my job I set priorities, coordinate the project development and make sure things get done.

For what projects/services did your company hire 475 Cumulus?

We had a working MVP for our system that needed a major boost to become functional. We hired 475Cumulus to help us tackle some major Architecture problem in the MVP design, and help us boost it into a working level

What were your goals for this project?

Create a set of features and a new Database architecture that would accomodate the needs ot users.

How did you select this vendor?

We received warm recommendations about the company. There were very familiar with our technological stack and could start working immediately. Their price was fair and immediate availabilty was crucial to us.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project had an already existing basis upon which we continued to work. 475 Cumulus helped us design a new DB architecture, split the MVP into modules and added many missing features such as authentication, auditing, search, devops and so on.

What was the team composition?

A team of multiple contractors for Frontend working remotely and one in-house developer.

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

The project reached all of its goals, we managed to design a working architect and onboard users at the time we had planned. The project is being launched nowadays.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We worked together on a daily basis, 60% percent of the time at our office and the rest remotely. For us it was much more effective to work closely in the same office rather then remotely.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Creative solutions, deep knoledge in architectures, web design and thorough research for every solution. Every technical problem was solved and the company reacted quickly and responsively.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We felt that managing small tasks is rather inefficient, its better to hand off big tasks and measure them. Working in the office was more effective then working remotely.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Frisimos, a company that builds flexible cable assembly lines that can replace manual labor and increase product capacity by using laser- and robotic-based machinery.

What challenge were you trying to address with 475 Cumulus?

We needed a partner who could design the software architecture and implement it using a variety of Python tools.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began the partnership by setting expectations and defining the project specs. 475 Cumulus first developed a generic software for each of our six machines that would allow us to later tailor that software for specific needs. They integrated the software into the machines, which are highly complicated and involve various types of hardware. The software interacts with every piece of hardware and ensures that the machines run well and function properly. We develop the algorithms and put them into the platform and environment that were built entirely by 475 Cumulus. They work mainly on the backend, using Python. They also utilize React, MongoDB, and Flask.

What is the team composition?

They have three people on their team, and I mainly interact with the company owner.

How did you come to work with 475 Cumulus?

Someone recommended them. We had a meeting and liked their past work, so we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in February 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

Our team has enjoyed working with them.

How did 475 Cumulus perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide good documentation and manage the project well. Some things have been delayed, but they’re communicative and responsive. We mainly talk via Slack, email, and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re affordable and work well with our team. They have a strong work ethic and are familiar with numerous architecture solutions, allowing them to choose the best tools to meet our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Every project can improve, but we haven’t had any major issues with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any advice.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the software manager for a company that manufactures semiconductor testing equipment—specifically electrical failure analysis equipment used to debug semiconductor chips.

What challenge were you trying to address with 475 Cumulus?

We were implementing a new data format for how data is stored relative to software for one of our product lines. The task was high-level and we needed help building the software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

475 Cumulus provided coding, design, debugging—all aspects of software development, including documentation and testing. It was done on a very high and independent level. After an initial proposal about how to accomplish project goals, they did additional research and returned with more ideas. We discussed those ideas internally, then tried a couple of options. We benchmarked the speed of saving and loading, then picked one final result, implemented it, and that's it. We are still using it today.

Most of what they did is on Microsoft .NET. It was a desktop application with .NET Framework 4.0. There was also some C# and Managed C++. They used the JSON text format to save the data into a file. It was chosen over XML because it's more compact.

They also participated in a video rendering project where we used Windows Presentation Foundation to render image output and video feeds from our tools. We overlaid some homing displays, different modalities of the tools, and different types of images above each other. They had to do the lines well. All of these were part of the render. It was quite sophisticated code that helped with the building.

What is the team dynamic?

I only interacted with one of their senior developers, to whom I delegated tasks.

How did you come to work with 475 Cumulus?

Someone I used to work with works with them. When we reconnected over LinkedIn, we started working with 475 Cumulus.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from 2009–2012.

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

We measure the success of the work by time in that we typically tie our software releases to the hardware deliverables. New product development and related software releases were the top company objectives. The other method of gauging success is tracking the number of bugs that are found on the custom site.

How did 475 Cumulus perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very reliable. They were available when we needed them at given times that we agreed on. It's always a challenge when the person is not on site, but I had no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They know so many different parts of the software stack that they require minimal supervision if they get a task.

They're also creative and able to come up with great ideas. In our own team, we would find one way to do something, but these guys would be able to come up with two or three other ways that might be better than the one that we came up with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They do best if they don't have too many micro-tasks. If you give them a high-level task, they perform better than if you give them too many details. Some groups work better if you micromanage them, but 475 Cumulus is not one of them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a development manager for a well-known large software solutions provider. My team belongs to the manufacturing segment within a division of the company. We develop software for manufacturing management and product lifecycle management. We work with major customers in the heavy industry of automotive, aerospace, and others.

What challenge were you trying to address with 475 Cumulus?

We were developing a new product and were trying to get into new technologies and new industries. This product was to be built completely from scratch and be web and cloud-based. As we kick-started this project, we recognized that we were missing some expertise in urban technologies, mainly on the web and client-side development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We are not up to date with state of the art technologies, which is why we started to look for assistance. They are integrating the capacity within our existing team, and both our teams are working jointly together on this project.

We wanted to gain some presence in the additive manufacturing industry. We are developing a new cloud platform which is going to serve the additive manufacturing industry, also known as 3D printing industry. We wanted this platform to provide the capability of collaboration between designers and manufacturers that have capabilities of 3D printing and additive manufacturing together with the machine vendors and material vendor industry. Our main purpose with this product is to be the central communication and collaboration of those parties.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with one person who provides us with two types of services. The first is mentoring and knowledge transfer. He is building up our knowledge in that domain and is a technological mentor where our team gets answers and direction. The second service, where we put him as much as possible, is proof of concepts (POC) and pilots which we want to demo to our customers and potential prospects. He is hands-on and provides us with a quick demo and a quick POC.

How did you come to work with 475 Cumulus?

We were looking for consulting services in the local high-tech industry in Israel that could help us to ramp up quickly and give us some assistance with urban technologies. We had heard of them through colleagues, and after interviewing a few vendors, we decided to continue with 475 Cumulus for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project began in September of 2017, and it is an ongoing relationship.

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

When talking about the POCs, pilots, and demos, the timelines involved are quite intense. We put a quick demo together and showcase this to customers in 2–3 weeks. The delivery is our way of measurement when it comes to meeting deadlines, and thus far, they have met deadlines as expected.

When it comes to constructing, mentoring, and knowledge transfer, we are measuring that according to the team satisfaction and the team’s syllabus, and we have that monthly. We ask the team members about their satisfaction as well as the level of service they are getting from 475 Cumulus, and we have been receiving good feedback.

How did 475 Cumulus perform from a project management standpoint?

I take care of the project management for them as well as my team. We haven’t had any issues throughout the time we have been working together. Everything is going well, and there are no issues with communication. The expert that we are in contact with sits within our team in an open space; everything is transparent, immediate, and in real time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we interviewed other companies, we weren’t able to find a vast knowledge of modern technologies out there. We began working with 475 Cumulus because of their experience with modern technologies, which is what we have been experiencing with them as they have some experience in almost any architecture, trend, and modern technology, which is one of their strengths.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing that I can think of at this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have tight communication, and have them on-site if possible. They became much more productive when the expert joined us on-site and not remotely. We had full control of his behavior and deliveries, and we had an immediate contact point for questions and feedback.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time of the project, I was a technical manager at a company providing 3D CAD [Computer Aided Design] software.

What challenge were you trying to address with 475 Cumulus?

We were building an education web application and were looking for someone with expertise in front-end and back-end development to help us develop new features for the app. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were working on a web application portal for teachers and students, which would enable them to use 3D design tools, such as Tinkercad, by way of using step-by-step guides. 

475 Cumulus did front-end and back-end development and provided architectural support for this application. The project was built in Python and Jingle as well as AngularJS for the front-end.  

What is the team dynamic? 

We worked mostly with Amit [Managing Director, 475 Cumulus] who was our architect and developer. 

How did you come to work with them?

We've known Amit for many years since we work in the same industry.  When we wanted to expand our team and needed help, we contacted him.

How much have you invested with them?

We would prefer to keep that confidential.

What is the status of this engagement? 

The project began in 2014 and ended in 2015.

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

They worked fast to implement the features we had requested, and their performance was outstanding.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly worked with our tools. They were very professional and met our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their abilities with regards to architecture were impressive: they know what to build and how to build it. We were very happy with the product they delivered and recommended their services to other teams within the organization.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them enough freedom because they know what they're doing.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Cellomat, a startup company that developed a solution for all mobile lifecycle services. We built a sales service kiosk which acts as an interface for customers to send their phones in for repair and then immediately receive a loaner phone. They can trade in their phone when they want to sell it, and after we evaluate how much it’s worth, we give them an option to buy a new one or receive an account credit.  

We’re also an e-commerce solution. The kiosk is a software that manages the process from a logistics and customer-care standpoint. We also have an app to diagnose and evaluate the phone, and the solution is provided to the OEM [original equipment manufacturer]. One part of the solution is to improve customer satisfaction, another is to change how the customer consumes service for the mobile lifecycle, and the last is for the benefit of smaller companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with 475 Cumulus?

We needed the consumer to be able to take themselves through the entire process. We also needed to integrate the solution with the best logistics and customer care in order to succeed in bringing it the market. Basically, our solution provides an alternative to taking a phone in-store for repairs. When people want to buy something, they’re either going to do so in-store or online, so we wanted to take the advantages of both experiences and combine them into one solution.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Amit [Managing Director, 475 Cumulus] built all the architecture of the system. I actually gave him napkins which I had written my ideas on, and he used those for the build and design. We have a robotic system, and the software is based on the AWS [Amazon Web Services] cloud. We needed to develop all of the processes, and there were numerous flows that needed to be integrated into the system in order to cope with all of our needs. Amit and his team used Python and Javascript to build the entire structure.

What is the team dynamic?

I only worked with Amit, and he was a vital resource. He relayed necessary information to the other engineers and allowed them to work independently thereafter.

How did you come to work with 475 Cumulus?

We have a common friend who recommended them to me.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012, and the project ended at the beginning of 2017.

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

Everything is working well, so we consider the project a success. We are meeting all of our projected targets.

How did 475 Cumulus perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good. We used Trello and Slack, and whenever we needed them, they were responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Amit was not only a very good architect but also great at making suggestions for improvement. He understood the flow of the customer experience and how it would be received by the end user.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t suggest limiting Amit’s ideas because 475 Cumulus can offer more than just software engineering. If they know about the market’s needs, they will try to develop something that will maximize the customer relationship.