AdvantISS

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Manager of Docugami.com

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

documents. Applying breakthrough artificial intelligence to unstructured and semi-structured information, Docugami enables organizations to radically improve productivity, compliance and insight.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Design and implement customizations for customers
• Integrate with customer's workflow applications
• Develop internal tools

SOLUTION

How did you find AdvantISS?

LinkedIn

Why did you select AdvantISS over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from AdvantISS were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The main goal was to design and implement customizations for customers and integration with their existing workflow. Data extracted from documents (using AI) needed to be parsed, validated and normalized to meet the schema requirements by each customer. The project included the developments of a set of heuristics for data normalization and error detection with the goal of increasing the quality of data provided to 3rd party applications. 

The AdvantISS team developed all necessary code and integration with Azure DevOps infrastructure (for building, testing and deploying the code) with good documentation to explain all component of the system and onboarding docs for new team members. 

In addition the AdvantISS team showed very good project management skills with the team keeping detailed track of work items, bugs and additional feature requests to ensure a smooth execution.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• designed and developed the required integrations, no major issues or bugs after initial testing, quick turnaround time for bugs, quality bar consistently good/high
• Develped some challenging heuristics to fix some inconsistencies in the output data. Worked independenly to find the best technical solution
• Identified some areas of improvements in the initial architecture, overall improving the quality of the solution

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

• good project management overall, bugs, work items and additional feature requests tracked consistently
• Delivered major milestones on time. Good quality with no major issues caused by blocking bugs. Issues investigated quickly and fix in place soon after. 
• Proactive in producing good documentation for key decisions and additional documents to help onboarding new team members

What was your primary form of communication with AdvantISS?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• Team members come with a good work sturcture, self organized, keep track of work items and discussions, follow up on issue and are always open to discuss and keep into account feedback.
• No major oversight needed, AdvantISS can work independently and produce the expected results on time. Proactive in communicating unexpected issues

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

I didn't notice any area where the AdvantISS showed significant areas of improvement. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Engagement Executive of Cortance OÜ

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Cortance is a tech company that provides software development from the initial prototype to the final product launch, and providing ongoing technical support to entrepreneurs. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• We needed to hire additional designer, developers, and a tester through an outstaffing model to provide services for our client, an insurance company. They should have joined our team of a tech lead and developers to work together on the project.
• The project that required a team of this size was an insurance platform with both web and mobile apps, customer management, policy tracking, and compliance.

SOLUTION

How did you find AdvantISS?

Referral

Why did you select AdvantISS over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Experience in insurtech

How many teammates from AdvantISS were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The key features that we were supposed to implement included a Smart Risk Calculator, Cost and Coverage Estimation, Document Repository for Client Information Management, Claim Filing Form, Policy Tracking solution with Version Control, Policy Guidance, and Compliance Checks. Our combined team was expected to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) within 9 months and create training guides for the client's employees. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We completed all the project features on time. The developer from the AdvantISS side provided and demonstrated all the necessary educational materials for the client's employees. The client then engaged their team to test the solution in real time. 

After the first month of use, we received some statistics: automated workflows and centralized data management reduced manual efforts by 40%, and compliance features ensured regulatory adherence, resulting in a 28% reduction in compliance-related incidents and penalties. After that, we received a new contract for the tech support. 

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

From their part, we staffed 2 Software Engineers, 1 Software Architect 1 Automation Tester, and 1 UI/UX Designer. Their team was diverse and highly skilled. The management was on our side. We employed the Agile methodology. Tasks and progress were meticulously tracked and managed using Jira. AdvantISS Team consistently delivered their tasks on time, adhering to our scheduled sprints and deadlines. 

What was your primary form of communication with AdvantISS?

Virtual Meeting

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

They had great experience in the insurance, legal, and fintech domains that helped us to provide the best services for our client. 

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

Everything was ok. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.
I am the Head of product of a real estate company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.
We're a global real estate company that uses blockchain technology to make buying and selling properties more secure and transparent. We offer property listings, title transfer, and secure document storage.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire AdvantISS to accomplish?
We hired AdvantiISS to tackle several challenges related to our real estate platform, including offers submission form templates used by real estate agents in different states. They also helped us to optimize the automation processes inside the transaction platform (implementing automated ACH payment process using third-party services, improvements in participants' roles permissions set).

SOLUTION

How did you find AdvantISS?
Referral

Why did you select AdvantISS over others?

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

How many teammates from AdvantISS were assigned to this project?
6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.
Follow the established roadmap for the respective year. The project's main features were:

• An automatic document upload function that extracts relevant information from PDFs and fills in fields in the document management tool.
• Customization to meet regional requirements and specific configurations of different companies.
• A secure in-house money transfer system.
• Verification of bank accounts to improve financial security.

They successfully completed all the assigned tasks, which helped establish a productive and enduring partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Increased application usage. Thanks to the collaboration with AdvantiISS, we have achieved significant milestones in our project, including:

• The release of custom configurations that cater to state-specific requirements.
• Implementation of the parsing feature to extract data from PDFs, improving document management.
• Development of integration with financial systems.
• Successful integration with third-party APIs, enhancing financial security.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?
In the majority of the cases, the deadlines were met with little to no difference from the estimation. They responded readily and with flexibility to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with AdvantISS?
Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
Their readiness to help.

Are there any areas for improvement or something AdvantISS could have done differently?
Nothing critical. Communication could be a little more refined in terms of effectiveness.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Technology Officer of a software company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We create intelligent software for the construction industry to manage building data and enable safer and more harmonious places for everyone.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Augment our existing development team with quality talent
• Continue to build new features for our web software to service existing users and attract new

SOLUTION

How did you find AdvantISS?

• Referral

Why did you select AdvantISS over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What was the size of AdvantISS’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

The developers AdvantISS supplied are working on our custom web app as part of the wider team. They are self-motivated and organised so fit in our agile team effortlessly. It was important for us that they feel and act as part of the core team so their deliverables are work order tickets delivered in 2-weekly sprints along with BAU contributions through team collaboration and sprint ceremonies.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Bugs per 1k lines of code
• Story points delivered per developer per day

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

We managed the project internally since our AdvantISS colleagues augmented our team rather than managed a full project. The AdvantISS representatives were very responsive to our needs in that they provided quick information and clear communication and the talent identification process was made very transparent and respected our cultural requirements as well as skills.

I would say they are actually more proactive in handling our needs with relevant questions and well-timed prompts to identify any concerns or upcoming requirements!

What was your primary form of communication with AdvantISS?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their talent identification is brilliant. The fact that they recruit on our behalf according to our requirements makes it very exciting to see who will be next to join the team. They are very thorough in their hiring process and all we need to do is to ensure the culture of the candidate matches that of our organisation and can be confident they will be technically sound.

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

No, they have been understanding of all of our concerns, nothing is too much trouble, quick to respond, and proactive in dealing with any potential issues and the communication has been a delight. I look forward to continuing the relationship with AdvantISS!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Synapse Team Ukrainian-based software development company. Our partner had a request to develop a web application with the C# .NET and React technology stack. Since we didn't have any C# .NET developers on our team, we started looking for a company that would help us with this technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for a trusted staff augmentation partner who can strengthen our team with needed engineers in a short time. We were interested in hiring C# .NET engineers with business automation software development experience.

SOLUTION

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

They provided relevant candidates for our request. We interviewed potential candidates(welcome and technical interview). Then we approved them for our project. It was fast and very high quality

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

The project is to design and develop a website for the medical staff at one private hospital. This will allow them control over every aspect of patient turnover, management with their equipment among other things in order help ensure efficient care delivery while also preventing any potential errors from occurring

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

We have cooperated with their front-end and back-end software engineers. The team lead was from our side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their speed was great and the tool suits our needs perfectly.

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

The team leverages its technical expertise to provide effective solutions.

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

Their flexible terms of cooperation, willingness to make changes, and develop the project were outstanding! Besides, this team can mold their basic partnership methodology to your needs. We always stayed true to project goals.

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

Nothing comes to my mind on what they could have done better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of a learning game company with HQ in Denmark, Copenhagen where we serve global companies and organisation with engaging digital learning solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have throughout different client project identified a potential product that we wanted to develop. We didn't have the necessary capacity inhouse, and wanted a dedicated team to develop the product.

SOLUTION

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

We have experience with them from related companies that delivered good work and services previously,..

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

They developed a SaaS solution using .NET and JavaScript (Angular) using the framework ABP and SurveyJs to make a collaborative dilemma learning platform that can. They delivered a fully working solution that is now being maintained and expanded as more customers are joining the platform.

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

The team size have varied a bit but there have been a core team of around 4,5 people with an Senior lead, full stack, backend, QA and PM.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The response to the product is very positive.

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

The project management is good and kept within JIRA, so there is a hub for everything. We communicate regularly through Slack, and the team is very responsive.

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

This project started 6 months prior to the conflict in Ukraine, and ran 6 months after - and is still running. Despite the Ukraine war, there has been no impact on the services and quality delivered, which is highly impressive. This speak to the high professionalism of the company.

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

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a legal services firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AdvantISS?

We were looking to digitize all of our processes. We handle many bureaucratic processes that require documents and other long processes. I contacted AdvantISS to gather all of this into a single platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team developed a JavaScript platform to process documents based on client replies. The platform also allows our clients to upload documents. It integrates with our local server and HubSpot.

What is the team composition?

We had two full-time developers, a tester, a frontend developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with AdvantISS?

I found them on Upwork. We posted the project, and they applied. We decided to have an interview after seeing their references and past work. We put together a business proposal, and from then on, we started working together.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around €80,000 (approximately $97,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our collaboration started in May 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At the moment, we have 1,000 clients using the platform, and about 300 of those are older clients. Before, we had to work on files for those 300 clients, taking about 20 to 30 hours per file.

With the platform, we’ve reduced that to about half an hour, which has lowered our costs significantly.

How did AdvantISS perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, it’s been very good. They have great communication. We spoke through Slack and have a shared drive, which all works perfectly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we interviewed companies, we asked them to send a proposal of activities and schedules for the project. Their team was the only one to provide us with detailed information and specific milestones.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly couldn’t say anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients can trust their skilled team. They’re also great at helping clients develop their ideas. If you know what you want and need, they can translate that into a product with great expertise.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of the product development team. I head up both the design and software development implementation. We are a small company and we would still call ourselves a startup.

We are building some fairly complicated software products which are used by manufacturing companies for doing simulations of different aspects of their production lines.

The actual technology itself has 3D components for all of the graphical rendering part of the simulation but it also has a series of control features and dashboards which are accessed through a web browser. There is quite a broad range of technologies that are involved.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AdvantISS?

We were looking to get into a fairly long-term relationship with a vendor that could bring a full package of experienced developers but who could also contribute some architectural elements, and that we could outsource QA engineering set up as well because it is actually quite difficult to recruit for in Denmark.

It isn’t a popular thing for qualified undergrads. It is either pretty expensive to set up an operation like that, or the professional standard is pretty low. Those are the few things we were looking for there.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to pretty much outsource most of our web stack development to them. It was full-stack .NET technologies and JavaScript frameworks on the frontend. They ended up working up primarily with C#. .NET, Angular, and Vue.js. 

We have an in-house team that is focused on the 3D part, and we have a senior project architect and CTO on our side as well that also have the senior decision making role, but we have outsourced some of that decision making.

The main features were still designed on our side and the specification of the release schedule is still managed on this side, but they earned some semi-autonomous status on working within the broad guidelines which we set. That is a result of the fact that we have been working with them for over two and a half years.

Over time, we have been able to build that relationship with them which goes beyond what you would expect to have in a standard outsourcing set up. That isn’t necessarily what everyone needs or is appropriate all the time but for us, it has worked out really well. It is good to mention that we have had success in working with them in that way.

What is the team composition?

On an ongoing basis with them, we still have frontend specialized developers, backend specialized developers, QA engineers and we have a part-time software architect resource working on their side. Later on, we also added a project manager on their side to take more of the tasks, planning, and time management and those kinds of administrative tasks that they could become semi-autonomous.

How did you come to work with AdvantISS?

We were generally looking to outsource certain aspects of the development, either that we wanted to have more flexibility or we had difficulty recruiting locally. There is quite a lot of these outsourced crews that work in Ukraine that are targeting the Nordic area where we are. A lot of companies are approaching directly from that area, but we also reviewed a Ukrainian focused outsourced portal where there were a lot of teams.

We filtered them by which teams had the right experience profiles for what we were looking for which was specifically Angular and Vue, which was quite an uncommon technology for people to be experienced with at that time. We wanted a company that was used to working on B2B software products, and for example, we didn’t want B2C developers as I think they are the wrong profile for our product.

They were one of around 10 to 12 outsourced recruits that we set up interviews with, and at the end of the day, it was a combination of their presentation, their expertise, professional competence, and price. They had the right sweet spot, so they were the ones that we picked.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent €125,000 Euros (approximately $150,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them around March 2018, and we are still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have been very important to us for making some customer deliveries on three or four occasions during that period. Our customers are very large companies, and we have a small number of big projects.

We don’t make deliveries that often, but the three or four deliveries we have made to customers have been very much involved in developing features that were required by that project or requested by the customer during the sales process. That is obviously been a very important contribution to the delivery side. I think they have made an important contribution to us when we have discussed migration to more modern technologies, especially around frontend technologies.

I think that overall, they have had a very noticeable impact on the quality of our software build release cycle. As the product has become more complex, they have played a strong role in ensuring that the QA engineering side of the testing framework has been implemented in a good way that has helped us to not just maintain but improve the quality.

How did AdvantISS perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira and Slack which are the two key technologies for us to collaborate. They have some in-house client keeping software. We probably have the longest relationship of any of their customers. It has been pretty successful, so we keep adding to it.

It has worked really well and shows that they have become, in some sense, quite invested in our products. They understand the technology, but they also understand who our customers are and what the most important use cases are.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I would say the effort they have put into understanding our product and customers has been key to the successful collaboration and is the reason why we have a lot of trust in their capability to deliver for us. If we have a customer project, I wouldn’t hesitate to include them in some of the important elements of that because their track record and professionalism has worked out very well for us.

I think it has really has been based around the fact that the relationship is close and their investment in our product is something I would not have expected when I started, and I don’t think I could have done that with just any outsourcer, and I think it marks them out as being a little bit different.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There must have been things along the way because we have made changes to the way we work and we have altered the configuration of the team. There have been some developers that didn’t work out as well as other ones and who we decided to move on from. They have helped us to find more appropriate replacements that just worked out better on our team. There is nothing significant that they should improve on.

The level of English in Ukraine is not as high as it is in Denmark as a second language, so in the beginning, I think we had a few times where there was a misunderstanding about feature requirements or things like that but it is just a case of stopping there, clarifying and make sure we understand. That is another example where they have been responsive to it.

I was quite skeptical about how it would all work out. I was worried about the things that a lot of people are worried about and that they wouldn’t be invested in the same way as a local team member is, or what if their standard wasn’t high enough. I couldn’t have been more wrong really.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I have found it has always worked out well for us to have a good dialogue with them and explain clearly what it is that we require.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Marketer of SoloWay Technologies

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

SoloWay Technologies is a software company that provides digital transformation services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• We were commissioned to modernize the Transportation Management Systems of a major logistics company. Our task was to revamp the solution's architecture, build new features, and update the design to meet current standards. Moreover, the client requested Cloud and DevOps consulting services. During the project, the client added more tasks, and since hiring new employees would take a significant amount of time, we approached AdvantISS to recruit additional experts.

SOLUTION

How did you find AdvantISS?

They are our partners

Why did you select AdvantISS over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Additionally, they have received great reviews and can onboard urgently to new projects.

How many teammates from AdvantISS were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We required additional developers and a tester for our team and hired them through an outstaff model. After collaborating for six months, we were able to successfully redesign our customer's solution architecture. This redesign involved creating general dashboards, supply chain visualizations, calculating shipping costs, building a notification system, and more. As a result, we are now responsible for providing technical support for this product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our client was satisfied with results we provided. Thanks to Advantiss, we were able to complete the main migration and architecture upgrade tasks even earlier, so we had more time for testing. Additionally, based on the recommendation of AdvantISS Cloud/DevOps Architect, our client has decided to initiate another project.

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

The development team has completed all assigned tasks. We look forward to potential future collaboration should the project expand.

What was your primary form of communication with AdvantISS?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were quick to join the project, and the onboarding period was also swift.

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

Nothing comes to my mind

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of ArtAML

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide anti-money laundering (AML) compliance services for the art market

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Replace existing UI with a new one using a better, modern framework

SOLUTION

How did you find AdvantISS?

Referral

Why did you select AdvantISS over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Excellent developer

How many teammates from AdvantISS were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

Rewrite an existing data-driven user interface that used a mixture of RESTful endpoints and websockets with a UI using the same back end, but written in Angular.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

New, tested, functional UI

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

We managed the project in close coordination with the Advantiss developer. We had an excellent working relationship and spoke daily.

What was your primary form of communication with AdvantISS?

Virtual Meeting

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

They were professional and willing to adapt to our needs. They provided excellent service and were steadfastly helpful and cheerful, despite the challenges faced by the Russian invasion of their country.

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

No. Delighted with the work