Altamira

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of CARimba.info, an electronic car comparison platform. I’m an e-commerce business consultant, and I decided that I wanted to use Shopware as the platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altamira Softworks?

I needed a company to develop my e-commerce platform using Shopware.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed my e-commerce platform. They took Shopware and adapted it according to my specifications and mockups. The platform went live as of October 2019 and they continue to work for me on the e-commerce projects.

What is the team composition?

I had contact with the CEO at the beginning, and I was always in contact with a project manager. I occasionally talked with developers, but I’m not sure how many developers were in the background.

How did you come to work with Altamira Softworks?

I searched for certified Shopware companies in Eastern Europe that could develop the e-commerce platform according to my technical requirements. From the first moment I met with them, Altamira Softworks made a good impression on me. I also utilized reference calls to existing customers.

How much have you invested with them?

I invested 20,000-30,000 euros ($22,000-$33,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2019 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have no concerns or issues. Everything worked as I described. There were some things limitations because Shopware changed. We found other solutions. In the end, I’m really happy with what they delivered.

I’ve gotten really positive feedback from everyone. Any negative feedback I've gotten has nothing to do with the work of Altamira Softworks.

How did Altamira Softworks perform from a project management standpoint?

It was nice having one contact person who was in charge cared about my issues, tasks, and questions. We communicate with Trello 95% of the time. We had a few emails. In the summer, I met them in person.

I’d never worked with an offshore team before, but I enjoyed that I could communicate with tickets and everything was structured internal. They were on time. I didn’t have to call them to clarify things; communication was very clear.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really adept at this software. We had serious technical issues with caching of the platform and I had special needs. Their team found problems in the core of Shopware, but solved everything. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t say we had problems in any way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’m familiar with the thinking of software developers, so that helped. It was perfect; I would select them again. If I continue with other projects, I will use them. I’d tell other people to use them. Know what you want so that you can guide the agency in a positive direction.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO of an environmental services company. We deal with wild bees and we have a wild bee population that we use to pollinate crop orchards in four countries in Europe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altamira Softworks?

We were looking for external software developers, as we didn’t want to build a big pool of internal software developers. This would give us the flexibility to hire people and scale up and down very quickly, should the need arise. We were also looking for a lower pricing level compared to companies in Switzerland.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted them to help us further develop the software we were building in-house. It’s a web application (build on PHP and JavaScript) that acts as an ERP to support our business processes. it has a UI frontend that’s used both internally and externally, as well as a database and API component. The business analysis was done in-house, and Altamira is now responsible for executing and writing the code according to our requirements. They also managed the database.

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact who occasionally passes on certain work to someone else on the team when he's away. It was my requirement to have one person that I could speak with who was familiar with my company and project. I didn’t want to have to speak with a different developer every time there was a change. It worked pretty well.

How did you come to work with Altamira Softworks?

I believe I found them online through research, along with three other companies I spoke with. I let them offer their services to us and asked if they would be able to support us in this project. In the end, Altamira made a very professional impression with their website. I had a call with one of the managing partners, and he was very responsive and seemed to understand what I needed and have solutions.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around €100,000 Euros ($112,400 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in February 2018, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The IT team is happy with the quality of work that has been delivered. It is very robust, and the code normally works without us having to test too much, which is always very important. The unit tests are being done by them, and once it gets delivered, it's usually very solid. There are always a couple of bugs, but I feel they are within very tolerable limits. Overall, we are happy with the quality they deliver. They make a competent impression.

How did Altamira Softworks perform from a project management standpoint?

They are easy to get a hold of. We normally communicate via Trello, but we also have calls and chat over Skype. Their language level is very sufficient in order to easily communicate with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We are a young company that’s growing fast, and we never know what is going to come up next when it comes to IT. I need someone who is flexible enough to handle several areas of our stack. They are ready for more or less anything we can throw at them, be it at the database or UI level.

When we come to them with a backend development task, they have someone that can do that. When we come to them with a website creation task, which is really something else, they also have someone that can do that. They will always find someone who is competent and can handle the task, no matter what. This is why we’ve stayed with them.

When we specify a functionality for them to develop, they come back with a lot of questions. Many of those questions are things that we haven’t even thought about. They give feedback on what we’ve specified, which is much more than having someone that just executes. They’re trying to implement something that makes sense.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From a sprint management perspective, my business analyst mentions that she would like to get more proactive feedback on the status of certain items. It would be good to have a more active two-way communication when something is delayed, or if something isn’t being worked on although it should be.

From my perspective, I would be happy to talk to them more about the strategic orientation of our stack when discussing architecture in general. For example, it would be good to know if our IT is up to par, or if the IT stack is way below the standard nowadays. I’m aware that I didn’t pay them for that, but it would be good if they could provide that as well—and I wouldn’t mind if they charged me for it. They could add that type of soft service in addition to the coding services they provide.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Agree on a contact point. It is good to have someone that is responsible for your project and who knows your project really well. Having one person I can talk to allows me to let them know what I want, and they can take care of the rest.