99x Europe (formerly Cleverti)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Logic4 b.v.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Logic4 delivers an ERP & E-commerce ecosystem for unburdening complex trading companies in the Netherlands & Belgium 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Attract more capable software engineers for a longer period who can commit themselves to our complex software

SOLUTION

How did you find cleverti?

Referral

Why did you select cleverti over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• Excellent communication

How many teammates from cleverti were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The developers were integrated in the existing teams as fully operational team members working on a backoffice desktop application, an asp.net e-commerce platform, a REST API and a plethora of services. The platform is a multi-tenant system.

Lots of new features were built to expand the possibilities for our customers, as well as internal tools programmed for better manageability of the platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Increased velocity of the software teams, conversion from Dutch to English internal communication and more quality of life for the business by increaed internal tooling.

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

The needs of the business are always central and paramount, the employees are very dependable, cooperative and eager to learn.

What was your primary form of communication with cleverti?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They have a combination of perseverance and positivity. This is rare in the market.

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

Not really, very happy with them!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at an IT consulting company. My work is finding ways to automate and improve the efficiency of various processes. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with cleverti?

We needed to develop Risk Sistemicity Questionnaire (RSQ) tool to support annual processes that procure international freight management services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

cleverti developed custom software for our in-house system using a low-code platform called OutSystems. Initially, we provided cleverti with use cases through Jira, and they provided us with software developers that worked with our internal development team to create our product’s MVP. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with Tomás (Head of Nearshore Sales & Business Development) and two developers, one was senior level.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2022–March 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

cleverti understood our requirements and helped us develop our product’s first release — they worked great with our team.

How did cleverti perform from a project management standpoint?

cleverti met deadlines and was responsive through email and video calls. We used Jira for project management and to keep track of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was most impressed with cleverti’s proposals. They came up with good ideas and suggestions. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for cleverti to improve. I didn’t work directly with cleverti’s developers, and my team didn´t give me negative feedback.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear requirements and specifications when you start working with cleverti. Work with cleverti’s team to find the right development resources for your project and build a good rapport with the team cleverti assigns. This way, they will understand your requirements and help you in the best possible way.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CTO at Com Laude. Unique among registrars, Com Laude provides Client-Shaped Domain Services meaning that we place the individual needs of each of our clients at the heart of our operation. Established in 2004, Com Laude delivers an exceptional customer experience to brand owners seeking strategic domain name services. Our leadership team, with many decades of industry experience, is directly involved in the day-to-day business.

Our Domain Strategists are domain experts that strategically manage your portfolio ensuring it is shaped to meet your business needs. Our extensive knowledge informs the advice we provide to each and every client – advice provided in many different languages, including most European languages, Japanese and even Swahili. Where other providers may outsource to anonymous agents in distant locations, our team of Domain Strategists provide all aspects of our service personally, establishing a close and trusting business partnership that is truly client-shaped.

A global organisation, we have a network of seven offices across Europe, North America and Asia. We support Intellectual Property, IT and Marketing professionals to take control of their domain portfolios, secure their on-line presence and address digital brand infringement. We serve clients in many sectors including: Automotive, Banking, Bio-tech, Consumer Goods, Engineering, Entertainment, Fashion, Food, Gaming, Luxury, Media, Pharma, Retail, Sport, and Wellness.

We also work with the world’s leading law firms, government organisations, and smaller companies who need to protect commerce critical domains. Our solutions help our clients maximise their ability to conduct business online with strategic domain name management, protection against cyber-attacks, and by counteracting digital brand infringement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Com Laude sought to develop a next generation corporate domain name management and monitoring digital platform to manage, monitor, and protect online domain name intellectual property.

As companies have increased their capability to serve online channels, cyber-attacks including online brand infringement, DNS and domain name hijacking which divert legitimate sales, steal personal information, or prevent businesses from operating, have also increased making online business increasingly risky. The Company sought to develop a platform that would enable its customers to view and manage online Intellectual property assets including domain names, SSL certificates and DNS records whilst in parallel, monitoring the activity in the domain name space for potential IP infringement.

SOLUTION

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

We found them through a referral and considered them along side other resourcing and recruitment strategies. Near shoring offers us the flexibility to upsize and down size the development and QA team in line with the changing demands of our product development roadmap.

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

Our hires from Cleverti have seamlessly integrated with and strengthened our existing in house teams who use an Agile development methodology and we now have a number of scrum teams running in parallel focused on a range of high value product development initiatives. This has enabled us to ramp up our product development efforts and reduce the time to market for key products and services.

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

We currently have 4 people working with us in senior development and QA positions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As mentioned above, the Cleverti hires have enabled us to ramp up our product development efforts and reduce the time to market for key products and services.

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

We use an Agile approach to software development with daily scrum meetings and 2 week sprint releases. The Cleverti people are an integral part of this process, participating at every stage. We use Microsoft Teams, Jira and GitHub for communications which work very well for a de-centralised team that work across different time zones.

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

They were able to effectively vet candidates before the second round of interviews. This shortened the recruitment process and meant we were able to onboard high quality candidates in a timely manner. They are also very good at ensuring a good relationship exists through effective account management.

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

Nothing to note. They have been very good partners for us and we have made some great hires through them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of Product and Development, overseeing the product management function and development team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Cleverti was instrumental in building our in-house development capabilities. They scoped and hired our current development team and continue to be consultants for our future strategic growth.

SOLUTION

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

Along with several other companies based in Europe, Cleverti participated in an RFP to determine our long-term future partner. Cleverti showed the ability to adapt to our business needs and structure and made clear how their process would work.

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

Cleverti assisting us in building out our development team for our website, CRM, publishing and data products. It reports to our Head of Technology and Head of Product. The team builds and maintains the web application, APIs, middleware etc and develops new products and designed by the product team. The structure is a traditional scrum development process with 2-week sprints and a close working relationship with CE colleagues.

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

Three developers are on the team, with skills ranging from back-end, front-end and full stack. We are also exploring growing the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The development team is outstanding and fundamentally feel like full members of the CE community. They have been responsible for building out a new email/notification system, a completely new website redesign, integration with a new data visualisation project, a middleware to work with our complex CRM and maintain the integrity and performance of the entire tech architecture.

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

We have a traditional scrum structure although it is closer to Kanban because of delays and reliance on third party vendors. There are daily morning standups, multiple planning and estimation sessions and retrospective every two weeks. The day to day interactions are between the development team, the Head of Technology and the Product Owner.

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

Cleverti does not have development 'on-hand' that they throw onto a project. Instead, they take their time to find the right person for the right project. Additionally, we could choose who exactly we wanted on the project to build a proper team.

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

Cleverti is generally very good at accommodating our needs and works quickly. It is, however, worth them communicating the process for hiring consultants more clearly. During our first hire we learned things during the process that would have been useful to plan for beforehand.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Head of Technical Delivery for a CX insights SaaS platform based in Petersfield, UK. Our company has just over 100 staff members providing services to customers across the globe. My role oversees the development and quality assurance of our expansive estate of platform services and integrations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire cleverti?

We engaged with Cleverti to expand upon a pre-existing successful partnership with another team augmentation provider to add further flexibility to our Java development capacity. We have a core internal team working across multiple scrums each specialising in a particular area of our product. Outsource resources are dispersed and fully integrated across the teams, giving us the ability to scale up and down in line with our current requirements.

What were your goals for this project?

We did not engage with Cleverti to complete a specific project, rather to increase the overall output of our development capacity with experienced Java developers who could get up to speed with our codebase and working practices quickly. Cleverti certainly helped us to meet this objective.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were specifically searching for a partner who could support an augmentation model rather than a typical development outsource. Having gone through a rigorous selection process we chose Cleverti on the basis of a number of factors - their access to a large talent pool, our ability to be involved in the candidate selection process and their focus on soft skills to ensure effective engagement in scrum activities. As part of our due diligence we met with technical leads and developers at Cleverti to get a sense of what it might be like to work with them and hosted a private interview with a current client to get open feedback on their experiences.

Describe the project in detail.

Once the partnership with Cleverti was secured we worked with their technical lead and sales director to define and agree the team make-up and candidate profiles. It took a matter of weeks from this point for Cleverti to pre-screen a pool of strong applicants, all with excellent spoken and written English, from which we shortlisted and conducted second stage technical tests and interviews to select our new team members. The onboarding process was very important to set the engagement up for success; we invested in travel and accommodation for the new joiners so that they could spend two weeks at our offices getting to know the internal team and to undergo an intensive induction to our codebase. Initially the team worked with our third line support developers to gain broad exposure to the platform and, during the Christmas period, they took on a specific data migration project giving them an opportunity to work together. Once this project had concluded we dispersed the team across our scrum units, each joining a group consisting of our internal developers and those from our incumbent augmentation partner. The Cleverti team members fell into our way of working very quickly and made an impact from the get-go demonstrating a high level of expertise and professionalism.

What was the team composition?

Cleverti band their developers into brackets of seniority – junior, mid-level and senior. They recommend that a senior team member is appointed to act as an on-site lead offering support to the other team members. We kicked off our project on this basis with one senior and one mid-level developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

During the early stages of the engagement the Cleverti team took ownership of a high-profile backlogged project and brought it to a successful conclusion, taking requirements and feedback from us as they went, proving that they can work self-sufficiently. During their time working in augmentation with our core internal team they also demonstrated their abilities to collaborate and communicate remotely, making a real difference in the velocity and quality of our deliverables.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Cleverti team members were fully engaged in scrum, having no time difference between us made it easy for us to coordinate their involvement in daily ceremonies. They were fully participative in refining and sizing work, sprint planning, demonstration of output and feeding into our retrospective cycle.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Tomás, their Nearshore Sales Director, is a great ambassador for the company. From the very first interaction I had with him through to the completion of our engagement he has maintained an exceptional level of communication always closely monitoring our partnership to ensure it was tracking successfully.

Are there any areas for improvement?

When we first approached Cleverti they had not worked with many UK clients before and certain liabilities we’d expect to see were not covered in their standard contract. Having said this, they were very flexible and quick to resolve any issues raised during the negotiation process. Secondly, Cleverti do not support/share any costs of travel for team members for the onboarding process or ongoing team building. This was something we were used to with our other outsource partner, considering it as a shared investment in setting the ongoing relationship up for success.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of a company that focuses on collaborative planning. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with cleverti?

I developed a digital project coach for team members and leaders. They were developing that software app for me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The product was developed to help me and my business. I’d developed this product through a PowerPoint prototype but had no real conception of how to technically enable it. It was developed both for mobile and web use. They used Docker to create a Node development environment for the project. At this point, the app isn’t designed for mass consumption. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people from their end. 

How did you come to work with cleverti?

A business partner found them and introduced us. They acted as the bridge, so I didn’t know about the team prior to the introduction. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in December 2019, and they wrapped up in February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have a background in development and code, so I appreciate their guidance on how to bring my concept to life. I had a detailed blueprint with pictures, and they made that a reality. They took my work to the next level with their expertise.  

How did cleverti perform from a project management standpoint?

I had a good connection with the programmer I was partnered with. He wasn’t just following instructions. Instead, he was truly collaborating with me to achieve my goal. They were flexible with communication, adapting to our communication approach. I appreciated their willingness to accommodate our work styles. Everything was kept simple. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They offer their services without a sales push. Their team exposed us to options to enable our success and meet our needs. They were great to work with. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I had a great experience, so nothing comes to mind. We’re in the process of getting another project ready for them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO and owner of an IT company called dev4real.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with cleverti?

We were short on manpower with good knowledge and good work ethics. We also needed extra resources for different projects we were working on with our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are helping us by providing resources on a daily basis.

What is the team composition?

We work with one person daily and are working on adding another resource shortly. We plan to increase the number of team members by a few more throughout this year.

How did you come to work with cleverti?

I found them through a contact I trust. I explained that I needed assistance with manpower and that it was very hard and expensive to find resources locally. He knew a company in Portugal that could help, which was cleverti. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in September 2019 and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The big picture is that the resource is exactly what was promised, which has been good. He is available to us full-time and neither complains nor makes excuses. Everything is done on time and as requested.

I have had other experiences in the past with other companies who have said the resource isn’t available for whatever reason. With cleverti, there have been no complaints and everyone is happy. I can’t guarantee that everyone from cleverti will be the same, but to start with, our resource has been very good and he keeps his promises.

How did cleverti perform from a project management standpoint?

They are pretty prompt in replying to us even during off-hours which is surprising.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are not complicated to work with. There are companies that stick to the contract no matter what, whereas cleverti sticks to the contract and goes beyond when we need them to. They are very flexible. 

Portugal is very far from Estonia, so I was reluctant to work with them in the beginning, but they have proven themselves very well. Their sales talk was good, but more importantly, they’ve come through with everything they promised.

Are there any areas they could improve?

So far, there are no complaints about or negative aspects of working with them. They fulfill their promises and they always deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and co-founder of a worker-centric platform. We support temporary and self-employed workers to earn more, save more, and invest more of their money.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with cleverti?

We needed help with platform development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are building our SaaS platform, which is essentially a marketplace with some functionality we’re building in-house. Over time, we will handpick integrations with existing software, products, or services. They have used Angular and .NET for the frontend and backend.

What is the team composition?

We have worked with four people from their team, including two full-time developers. They’ve provided really great support throughout the engagement.

How did you come to work with cleverti?

They were recommended to us by our CPO, who had gone through the sales process with them. He recommended we speak to them, which led to a phone call with Tomas, and then we agreed to start working with them.  

How much have you invested in them?

We spend €6,600 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the collaboration with them in May 2019, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything like what we have with them (with the same timeframe and budget) if we had stayed with a UK-based development agency. To their credit, Andre (Senior .NET Core Developer, cleverti) and Carlos (CEO, cleverti) have worked incredibly hard, not just on a technical aspect around the product, but also to really understand the pain points and problems we are trying to solve. They have always held that vision and been able to transmit that naturally into their code.

The biggest compliment I could say is that it feels like we have known Nuno (Team Leader & Frontend Developer, cleverti), Carlos, Tomas, and Andre a lot longer than we actually have. It has been great in terms of the quality of the product and the speed. Everything has been fantastic, and we are really happy.

How did cleverti perform from a project management standpoint?

We agreed to a set of project management systems that we, as well as the developers, are happy with. They have been really open to that the whole way. We have a stack that works well for us and ensures that we have really good communication.

One of the other attractions you get from cleverti is that Tomas provides excellent business development support. Nuno, who is the group CPO and is involved across all of the projects on more of a technical aspect, fills a question-busting, solution-providing role which we essentially get as part of the package. There are no hidden costs for that kind of expertise either. He acts as a very effective go-between with clients and developers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s easy to scale up when needed, and it’s been a lot more cost-effective than anything we could get in the UK for the same quality. There is much less turnover than in a UK-based agency as well, leading to a continuity factor and a peer support element. They keep their developers happy, both financially and culturally. The culture within the organization is one of genuine support for the client. It is a really good, positive culture. We were lucky to find them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, not really. Nothing springs to mind, and we are really happy. The relationship we have with our two developers is what makes it for us. You don’t really know how it is going to go or how someone will react in certain situations until you start working with someone, especially in start-ups, where something has to be torn down if it isn’t built right. In our specific case, it has been pretty perfect. If there any issues that come up, or delays, they come up from our end. I can’t fault them at all.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of a consulting and IT company that specializes in risk management. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire cleverti?

We engaged cleverti to develop a robust risk management engine. 

What were your goals for this project?

The project required a high level of professionalism and a high level of technical expertise. We wanted to outsource the software development to a company with experience and credibility.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I chose cleverti after our first interview with their team. I found them through the internet.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

cleverti developed the backend process, frontend interface, and IT security process. We provided functional specifications that they helped outline in the technical document.

What was the team composition?

The team comprises a backend person and a frontend person.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have a robust software solution that can produce complex results. It allows financial institutions to optimize and carefully manage risk.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We work using agile methodology with a list of development to-dos. We prioritize them with a delay to finish the development.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

cleverti demonstrates a high level of professionalism, clear technical expertise, and great customer service.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company deals with spatial information, with quite a diverse project portfolio, mainly working for public clients. I'm the head of the software development unit.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with cleverti?

We wanted to be more flexible in our response to our projects. It was difficult to find competent professionals to help with these tasks, so we were looking for a partner that would allow us to be more flexible and able to scale.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work with us using web and mobile technologies, including Angular, Ionic, and Java, and we also use database technologies. Our upcoming projects will include Python.

What is the team composition?

So far, we’ve worked with five developers from their team, and there are three more joining us this month.

How did you come to work with cleverti?

I found them through their web page and contacted them. I was in contact with several companies, and cleverti were the best fit for us and our goals.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve allowed us to start some projects we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to, providing us with solutions to scale some and set up others. The quality is very good so far. We have the same way of thinking about our work and what should be accomplished, which means the teamwork is excellent. They’re crucial for the work we do.

How did cleverti perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is really good. We’ve set up mixed teams with cleverti, divided between Munich and their office, and we have a manager on their side, who’s not directly involved in the work. If there are any issues, they provide us with the help we need.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have useful resources, which are difficult to find in our location. Communication and management are very good, as is the overall collaboration. We think the same way, and they do everything to find solutions for us. Our teams work well together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t see anything in this regard. There can always be improvements during a project, but we work on them together. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

No, I can't name anything specific.