Accedia

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Manager of professional services at a software company that builds a famous database. Many large companies across all verticals run on our database. I originally came from a Bulgarian company that offers software tools for web, mobile, desktop and mobile cross platform application development. That company was acquired by my current company in 2014. I run all of the professional services within the dev tools organization which includes anything from training to fully developing applications, staff augmentation, architecture reviews, and business analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accedia?

We use an extensive network of partners to deliver our professional services work. While we do have a team in house, we created a subcontracting model as our work grew tremendously. We originally had to deliver a big project for a multinational real estate organization. We needed a development company who could manage the large amount of work which included UI/UX work, business analysis, development, testing, and then ultimately deploy it out to the customer. We choose to work with Accedia to deliver the software and it worked out really well. Our relationship has grown from there.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we get a potential opportunity, we will bring Accedia on board to scope out the work. They will quickly assign a technical resource so we can determine what is needed to complete the project. Typically, this process is done in either hours or days. From there, the technical team will complete the analysis for the customer and begin developing the software. This involves creating mockups and wireframes, UI/UX work, and development, testing, and the transitioning it to the customer. The best way to build a business relationship is to start transitioning the software to the customer. Accedia has a great development team that will start teaching the customer what they’ve done so the client can ultimately manage it.

What is the team dynamic?

We work directly with Plamen Koycehv, one of the founders at Accedia for scheduling and scoping. He is our liaison at Accedia to manage the development teams and additional resources. We also work directly with Tihomir Todorov and one of the other managing partners Dimitar Dimitrov for anything that the business related such as the contract negotiation

How did you come to work with Accedia?

We found them through proximity. Accedia is down the street from the Telerik headquarters in Sofia, Bulgaria.  Many former Telerik employees work at Accedia, so there's a good symbiotic relationship between the two companies.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started working for us in about May of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Accedia has brought us back additional work. We receive a lot of repeat business, which I believe is the biggest indicator that we've had a successful engagement along the way because it shows our clients trust us and Accedia. For example, Accedia built what equates to Instagram for a global professional association. That client has since contacted us repeatedly and to bring Accedia back to help them with expanding the software and making changes.

How did Accedia perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a really good relationship. It has been very open and very clean. We meet once a week discuss all the opportunities, which allows us to focus on a target. This is really efficient. We use Skype phone to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their lead time is amazing. Accedia can put a team on a project in two to three business days after we sign a contract. Sometimes we have to start with one developer, but then we ramp up over the next couple of weeks. On my end, this is awesome because I often have to be reactive to issues that come up from customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our customers’ first question when there is a fire is always about the cost of the fix. It was hard to get ballpark figures out of Accedia.  Understandably, you don’t want commit to work unless you understand all the variables.  We worked together to come up with a plan to resolve this. We now just get a developer on task quickly to figure out the level of effort.  It’s a small investment from the customer to really understand the effort needed for the work. Once the developer has completed the analysis, we have a much better-educated guess on timing and cost for our clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Meetzoo is a startup Software-as-a-Service [SaaS] business. We provide a backend platform and app for users, with a goal of transforming the way in which people interact during business meetings. We’re connecting people’s existing calendars to social media within our collaboration platform, allowing them to have better continuity and thought-connection during meetings.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accedia?

Accedia led the development of our SaaS with a native iOS app with an AWS backend, that provides a collaboration platform built using Node.js and a RDS/MySQL service. They inherited MVP code and put together a secure, stable product while also releasing important new features.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with a technical architect from their side, who handled product design. We were developing exclusively for the iOS platform at that point in time. The backend was an Amazon Web Services-hosted infrastructure [AWS] using Node.js for the web services platform. We were using Amazon Relational Database, which is essentially a MySQL service. Accedia needed to put together an infrastructure which was both secure and multitier, making sure that we met things like the OWASP [Open Web Application Security Project] best practices around the web services and database. The platform also needed to be scalable, with an N+1 redundancy application server, making sure that the application was essentially stateless across app servers.

This is strictly a backend service—the collaboration platform which all the apps talk to, and use to exchange data. The frontend was simply an app, but there were a couple of web interfaces, namely a password reset form, email initiation pages, and so on. There is no main web UI; it’s simply a native mobile app with a SaaS backend.

How did you come to work with Accedia?

I’ve worked with other outsourced companies, from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic as well as India. My personal preference is always to near-source in Eastern Europe, and I’ve generally had good experiences with these countries as not only is their English very good, but there is a great cultural fit too and staff retention is high.

I came across Accedia after making inquiries in my previous business about a JavaScript framework called Kendo UI. I asked the manufacturer of this framework, a company called Telerik (which has now been acquired by Progress Software), if they could provide experts who could help us evaluate whether Kendo UI would be a right choice for us. They provided the name of Accedia as an expert team. I was very impressed with them and the work they did for me, so, when I later on had an opportunity to outsource for my new startup, they were my choice.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost is in the region of $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Accedia in October 2016. The project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had a very positive reception to the app. One of the key things in the early stages of a startup business, when it’s establishing product market fit, is to quickly iterate the app. While Accedia allowed us to release an app to the store in April 2017, we continue to release new features every month, which is amazing. 

We continue to release products, which is amazing. Fixing bugs is one thing, but it’s something else to listen to the user community, and provide enhancements and differentiated features, based on their feedback. I’ve never had such a high-productivity team.

How did Accedia perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve had a personal relationship and direct contact with everyone on the team, which was vitally important. I’ve worked with businesses which operated as black boxes, which I found disconcerting. What was great about Accedia was that they were an extension of my own team, with no differentiation between my employees and theirs. I knew each one of them, and spoke to them every day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with much larger companies than Accedia, as well as with smaller companies. What a client looks for is dependent on the size of their own business. If I had a huge company, I may have very different requirements than if I were a small startup. Personally, I want a company which appreciates my business, and which views the revenue as a large-enough aspect of what they’re doing. This was a part of my choice when going for a group the size of Accedia, but I equally didn’t want a company so small as to not have the professional attitude and support required.

When outsourcing, we’re not just outsourcing 2-3 developers, a tester, and a project manager, we’re outsourcing all other parts of management. Accedia clearly has great competencies, between the technical side, the commercial side, and the project management. Each of these is done professionally and efficiently.

I’ve dealt with companies in the past which, although great technically, didn’t invoice on time, or didn’t follow things up properly. Accedia has been great, from the NDA agreement to the invoicing, project management, and issue-handling. I know it can be tough for small, growing businesses to do, but, whatever Accedia is doing, they’re doing it right.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From a customer point of view, I would like to see more evidence of a mentoring culture within their company. Like any business, Accedia will have very experienced people at the top, but, as they grow, they will have to bring in more young and inexperienced members, and train them. I believe this does happen, but it’s not transparent from the customer’s perspective. I would quite like to know if, for example, they have a weekly triage of my project with the gurus within the company, perhaps producing a report on what they’ve thought about. I’ve never come across a company with this approach, but, if anyone could do it, Accedia would be the one.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Tech Lead of an advertising & marketing company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Find, convert, and keep more customers with LocaliQ’s growth marketing platform. 
We offer innovative technology and unparalleled expertise to move your business forward.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Lead and facilitate development teams within the organization

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Referral

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Accedia provided a range of critical services to support our projects. These services included:

• Collaboration on Quarterly Deliverables: The team worked closely with our internal members to meet quarterly project goals, ensuring timely and accurate delivery of key milestones. Their involvement spanned design, development, and testing phases.
• API Development: They delivered fully functional APIs in multiple programming languages, tailored for seamless integration with our applications. These APIs played a critical role in connecting various systems and enhancing the interoperability of our platform.
• Database Solutions for the Data Lake: The team designed and implemented comprehensive database solutions for our data lake. This included optimizing the architecture to handle large datasets efficiently, while ensuring scalability for future growth.
• ETL Pipelines: One of their primary deliverables was the creation and maintenance of ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines. These pipelines streamlined the process of importing, transforming, and loading data into our systems, improving overall data management and processing capabilities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Timely Feature Delivery: Collaborated with teams on a sprint basis, consistently delivering features on schedule, ensuring smooth project progression and timely product releases.
• Proof of Concepts (POCs): Worked with team members to construct POCs that successfully evolved into fully-fledged products, now used daily by both our company and clients.
• Project Leadership and Handover: Led key projects and initiatives, providing seamless transitions that allowed other teams to easily take over and continue development without disruption.
• Comprehensive Documentation: Delivered thorough documentation, including process guides and technical specifications, which streamlined ongoing maintenance and future development efforts.
• Quick Adaptation: Quickly picked up new programming languages and adapted to working with new teams, contributing effectively from the start of each project.

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

Accedia team members consistently delivered on time, adhering to deadlines and sprint schedules. They were highly responsive to our needs, adapting quickly to changes and urgent requests. Their proactive communication and organized approach ensured smooth collaboration and kept us informed throughout the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What stood out the most about Accedia was the level of detail and seamless culture fit of each team member. I frequently paired and worked alongside them, and they always felt like true members of our team. Their integration into our workflow and collaboration was so natural that it felt like they were part of our in-house team from day one.

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

Currently, none.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Co-founder of a Venture Capital Investment Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is revolutionizing venture capital investment through a cutting-edge platform that connects investors with promising startups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Develop a cross-platform venture capital investment application

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of work with Accedia involved multiple phases, starting with technology advisory where they helped us define our IT strategy and select appropriate technologies for our platform. They then proceeded to develop a comprehensive platform roadmap outlining the steps needed to bring our vision to life. Key deliverables included IT strategy documentation, technology selection reports, and a detailed platform roadmap with timelines and milestones.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Measurable outcomes from the project included the successful completion of the IT strategy and technology selection phase within the agreed timeline. Additionally, the platform roadmap provided a clear path forward for development, ensuring alignment with our business objectives. Furthermore, Accedia's expertise and dedication enabled the development of a MVP, allowing us to quickly test our platform's functionality and gather valuable feedback from early users.

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

Accede's project management was exceptional, leveraging an Agile methodology. This approach allowed for iterative development cycles, ensuring continuous feedback and alignment with our requirements. Their team maintained open lines of communication, promptly addressing any concerns or questions that arose and providing regular updates on project progress. Overall, their proactive approach and effective communication ensured smooth collaboration and timely delivery of deliverables.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

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

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

What impressed us most about Accedia was their depth of expertise and commitment to delivering high-quality results. They truly acted as partners throughout the project, going the extra mile to ensure our success. Their consultant demonstrated a keen understanding of our end users' needs, prioritizing features that would bring faster return on investment and enhance user experience.

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

I cannot think of anything Accede could have done differently. They performed exceptionally well across all aspects of the project, meeting our requirements at every turn.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Business Analyst of an engineering company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Engineering and professional services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

IT Project

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Referral

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

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

Accedia helped us work thru some digital assets and the revamp of an app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Savings.

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

They had great project management skills and were timely and responsive.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their openess and willingness to accomodate our needs, withou losing focus of the project objective.

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

On my point of view it was all great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Enterprise Architect of Andaria

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Founded in 2018, Andaria is an UK and Malta licensed payments services provider with focus on Embedded Finance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To augment our in-house Data and Software development teams.

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Used their services in the past

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• Great culture fit
• Very good previous working experience

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Accedia were tasked with: 

1. Implementation of BI solution by employing DataBricks and Power BI technologies. 
2. Development of Azure cloud hosted microservices for our embedded finance offering with C#.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project tasks are evaluated based on delivery punctuality and quality, and Accedia consistently met both criteria. Their expertise in the technical field, coupled with their adeptness in comprehending the business domain swiftly to offer optimal solutions, left a strong impression on us.

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

All deadlines were consistently met. As the client, we managed the project's, and there were never any communication issues or lack of involvement from team members.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Accedia's remarkable quality lies in their integration of technical proficiency with a customer-focused ethos. Continuously, their team showcased an extensive comprehension of our project needs and strategic business objectives.

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

We could not have wished for a better partner than Accedia.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a department director at Siili Solutions Oyj

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

IT system integrator

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Development and maintenance of an internal resourcing solution

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

• Referral

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Development and maintenance of an internal resourcing and staffing tool. Working in pre-defined sprints to deliver new capabilities and keeping the system up to date.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As the project is more small development and maintenance focused, we prioritize the product backlog regularly and evaluate work needed for upcoming releases. We also can balance with other internal system development as the priorities change during the year.

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

We have open communication channels and shared knowledge basis. Agile way and scrum has been our way of working. This works well.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• Virtual Meeting

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

Proactively raising development points with different solutions. They share their own ideas that are valuable for our side of the team. As we are quite similar as companies, our way of working is also quite the same. This helps the collaboration.

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

We have customer relationship related regular discussons where we can openly share expectations to both sides.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the IT Lead of an accounting and legal services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We do professional accounting and legal services for various businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Help us introduce and new digital solution to our clients

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Online Search

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

At the onset of the pandemic, we’d started work on a new web app to enhance efficiency for our clients. The initial scope included a client onboarding portal, providing easy-to-use information and documents digitally, a document management module, for clients to securely upload, manage, and access documents in the cloud, automated form filling, reducing manual data entry and compliance checklists and reminders to ensure clients adhere to legal and financial regulations. 

By delivering these functionalities, the solution aimed to reduce the administrative burden on clients, enhance our collaboration with them, and ultimately streamline processes for improved efficiency and compliance. We have a small in-house team but soon realized we lack critical capabilities to execute the project successfully, such as UI/UX, Cloud & DevOps skills. 

Therefore, we started looking for a services provider, specifically in Bulgaria, since one of our IT people had great previous experience with Bulgarian developers. Some of the key criteria for choosing our partner to deliver were experience with building custom client portals, integrating IT systems already in place, providing onboarding & training, and ensuring maximum data security.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still under development but we are already seeing some great improvements, compared to our initial estimates. First of all, the involvement of a UX designer helped simplify an already complex in terms of business logic solution to easy-to-work with dashboards, and that has been confirmed in our user acceptance tests. 

Thanks to Accedia’s experience with custom Line-of-Business application development, we now manage to integrate data from different sources and organize it in a way that it is easily accessible by clients. Due to their deep knowledge in Cloud and DevOps best practices, we are sure to have reduced unnecessary or manual error-prone processes running in the background, which saves us a lot of resources.

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

Project management was smooth thanks to the proactiveness of the team at Accedia. Everyone made sure to communicate upfront when delays or changes to planning were to occur, carefully outlining the reasoning behind those, which helped us adjust our expectations. I appreciate the process of having tangible deliverables every two weeks and being able to provide timely feedback. 

I can confidently say, that despite being technical professionals, the team we are working with makes their best effort to understand our business logic and implement it throughout the solution for future ease of use.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Thanks to their proactiveness and focus on the applicability of the solution, Accedia turned our attention to something which wasn’t very high on our agenda initially – the security aspect of the solution. The team conducted white hacking sessions over the first delivered versions and found vulnerabilities which could later turn into substantial losses for our clients. 

They advised on further security measures which are already being implemented such as encrypted messaging features and hybrid cloud distribution for sensitive data.

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

We are very content with every aspect of our collaboration so far. One thing that may be appreciated in the near future is flexible support options after final delivery.