Altima Web Systems

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Magenable, an e-commerce consultancy.

What challenge were you trying to address with Altima Web Systems?

I needed a subcontractor for development and design services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team helps us with multiple projects for different clients in the area of web development and design. They perform front- and backend development. I use them to set up to do customizations, development, design, and look and feel.

The frontend developers code the design to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. On the backend, they’ve used PHP. We work primarily with Magento e-commerce systems.

Our engagements differ with them. Sometimes, they create wireframes based on a brief. Other times, we have wireframes delivered to them, and then they work on UX/UI. They’ve developed product pages, checkout systems, shopping carts, store locators, and nontypical checkout flows. Each customer wants a different type of user experience.

What is the team composition?

Vadim (Executive Director) is my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Altima Web Systems?

Before I moved to Australia, I worked with Altima Web Systems. It was a natural choice to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $100,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Altima Web Systems started in October 2014.

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

The platforms are complex, but their team is qualified enough to get the job done. The team delivers good quality on time. Communication is effective.

How did Altima Web Systems perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is good. They report what they’re doing, any issues, and how much time is spent on time. There is some time zone complexity for me since they only have one office in Ukraine.

Our main communication tool is a project management system. We also use email and a chat channel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have a level of trust for them. They’ve kept their promises and delivered to our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t see any particular area that needs to be improved.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of digital business for a medical equipment distributor.

What challenge were you trying to address with Altima Web Systems?

We needed some custom development for a website that’d include a catalog of our products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Altima Web Systems created our corporate website with product catalog and a custom-built CMS. The development was done in PHP, and now they provide support and maintenance services.

What is the team composition?

I communicate with a project manager who managed developers.

How did you come to work with Altima Web Systems?

They were hired before I joined the company. To the best of my understanding, they were selected because they provided the best solution for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested approximately $25,000. That’s a rough estimate that includes the initial development work. Since I’ve been working with them, the spend has been between $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our companies began working together in December 2013, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

The CMS has been about 90% successful; Altima Web Systems has done a very good job. In the beginning, our company lacked the in-house resources to give enough technical feedback, but once the issues on our side were solved everything runs great.

How did Altima Web Systems perform from a project management standpoint?

Altima Web Systems is fast and consistent with communication. They do what they said they will. We communicated via email, which was sufficient.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide quality products and they do it quick. Their company provides a great support to the custom solution they’ve created.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to choose the right platforms as well as technology that will last long-term.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and sole owner of JM Web Designs.

What challenge were you trying to address with Altima Web Systems?

They reached out to me to help with web development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They've really helped us with web development, including coding, programming, and even in-depth strategy and project management for very large and complex projects.

The majority of the work that we've done with them has all been through open source PHP, utilizing my databases. We’ve done a whole plethora of different types of projects, including custom-built backends in PHP, WordPress projects, Joomla and Drupal projects, and more. However, our main focus has been WordPress.

What is the team composition?

I employ two of their resources full-time as coders and programmers. Vadim (CEO, Altima Web Systems) will work and assist me with project management. We also utilize German (Designer). On average, we're working with between four to six staff members within any given month.

How did you come to work with Altima Web Systems?

Over 15 years, when my business was still getting off the ground, I was contacted by one of the owners of Altima Web Systems. They sought me out and said they were looking to expand more into the US market, and they’d be interested in showing me what they could do to help. I've had other companies contact me in a very similar way, but I remember the way he contacted me was a little different. It was a little more unique, very personable, and I could really understand them. His works really sold me, so we did a little work together, and we’ve been working together ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $2 million in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2004 and the relationship is ongoing.

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

I am still heavily involved in the business development and the sales of our company, and it’s nice to have a reliable team behind me. I know that whatever we come up with in our collaboration meeting with our customer is going to get done. Having team members that have been with me for 15 years, for example, is remarkable. That's kind of unheard of when dealing with tech agencies­–you expect to lose employees pretty regularly. Having that reliability and the confidence to be able to go out there and sell high-quality websites and marketing services have been important.

How did Altima Web Systems perform from a project management standpoint?

They speak amazing English compared to me trying to speak Ukrainian or Russian. I have no complaints whatsoever. We’ve got to take our time and repeat ourselves a few times to really make sure we're on the same page and saying the same thing.

The only thing we've used for ticketing is Redmine. That's how we've always posted and uploaded documents and kept track of project communication and so forth between our company and their development team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their vision and management stand out, along with their ability to develop and clearly define how a project is going to work and then bring it to fruition. I think that takes special talents and individuals and I believe the team that we've been working with possesses all of that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I wish they were local, but I can't do any about that.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are an NGO initiated in 2015 and focusing on promotion of Ukrainian culture in Germany.

For what projects/services did your company hire Altima Web Systems?

Development of the new website for our platform that collects and provides information on Ukrainian events, initiatives, books and persons in Germany. Arround 60 postings per month.

What were your goals for this project?

Create a webpage that can be easily used by anyone to publish their event and would be comfortable for users to get needed information: were and when smth Ukrainian is happening in less than few seconds.

How did you select this vendor?

First we have asked for references from our contacts that work in this industry and then asked the recommended companies for the commercial offer. We were selecting out of 5 offers. Altima made the best one in terms of time, money and quality.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Collected our wishes and preferences, helped to prepare the TOR, created a layout of the webpage, made minor amendments (they understood our needs very quickly), developed the webpage and provided us with the tutorial on how to use it, helped to fix some minor bugs once we started testing the webpage online. Everything was done in accordance with the agreed deadline.

What was the team composition?

There was the team leader, the designer and the web developer.

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

Not yet. We have launched it less than a month ago. But we can already say for sure that it is very easy to use the webpage for us (that are daily publishing new content). Everything works very clear and fast.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Its all about communication and it was transparent and clear.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their speed and quality are great! Big thanks to the team!

Are there any areas for improvement?

So far no. Maybe later the website will need more categories or information. But right now everything is perfect and running smoothly.