Altoros

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President of Lumint Corporation

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We offer currency hedging sub-advisory services and outsourced agency FX execution services to institutional investors. We run all of our businesses on technology solutions that we built and own. We offer those technology solutions to fellow practitioners via a fully supported SaaS model.

Lumint's strength is our ability to integrate our expertise in FX hedging, trade execution and performance analytics into highly automated workflows that we can share via an out-sourced or in-sourced model.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Help us complete development on a initial version of our fintech company's core application (ruby on rails) and bring it to market.
• Continue to add complex enhancement's and features to our application to meet evolving client needs and demands.

SOLUTION

How did you find Altoros?

Referral

Why did you select Altoros over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Timezone aligned with US East Coast

How many teammates from Altoros were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Phase 1: Code quality review, update and refactor:
  • Update Ruby version to 2.4.1
  • Upgrade Ruby on Rails to 5.1.1
  • Setting up waffle.io (ensures smart and simple project management for GitHub-based projects, empowering developers and development teams to release better software faster.)
  • Application level refactoringFiles structure, GitHub repository
  • Refactor models, views, controllers
  • Adding documentation
  • Check that all licenses are ok
• Phase 2: Enabling continuous delivery:
  • Apply and document the best practices to implement the GitHub flow
  • Review the principles of cloud-native development
  • Migrate to Heroku (apps, services: DB , DNS, etc.). Migrate DB to Postgres.
  • Setup Heroku pipelines with multiple environments (dev, uat, prod)
  • Setup Heroku PR reviewing for shorter UAT cycles
  • Review tests and their coverage
  • Add analysis tools to the CI process
  • Setup CI
  • Setup CD
  • Automate deployment to several environments
• Phase 3: Implementing a UI/UX Bootstrap Theme:
  • Get the new theme and add it to the codebase
  • Refactor views and apply the new design to CRUD views, views containing charts, to tables and forms
• Phase 4:  Ongoing Maintenance and Application Enhancements 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Altoros worked closely bring Lumint's in-house application to market.  Our company began as a currency management provider with a newly developed application that we used to service our clients.  Strategically, we determined that our greatest asset was our technology, so we pivoted to become a currency management software as a service provider.  It was at this point that we engaged with Altoros. 

With their guidance, we migrated onto Heroku, refactored our code base, improved our UI experience and were able to efficiently scale up our application and technology stack.  The resulting application and frameworks they put in place allowed us to successfully transition to a technology company. 

Because of their amazing initial work, Lumint secured several large clients who subcsribe to our technology services.  Their continued support over the next 7 years helped us continue to grow.

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

We loved working with Altoros because they communicated well.  We collaborated with them on a daily basis.  They raised questions and concerned promptly, and either delivered items on time, or provided a good reason why more time was needed or if additional requirements or considerations were necessary.

What was your primary form of communication with Altoros?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We were most impressed with the people at Altoros.  The developers and project managers that worked with our team were experienced, intelligent and creative.  Everyone worked well with our internal staff and we felt like one big team.  Lumint could not have accomplished our goals without the hard work and contributions of the people at Altoros.

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

As a company that provides software to financial institutions, our company is heavily scrutinized for compliance with cybersecurity frameworks. As a result, our vendors are also heavily scrutinized. Having a more transparent verification such as a SOC2 type 2 report would have made it easier to work with the due diligence teams of our clients and prospects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the BDM of company that focuses on web and mobile development. Sometimes we have a huge lack of resources, and we ask our partners to help with additional people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Altoros engineers as an essential extension of our client-facing internal teams. This was a tough decision because our reputation as a brand depends on the overall efficiency of our processes and we needed to make sure all risks are mitigated when it comes to delivery. Altoros has not let us down.

We ended up using their engineers for various cross-functioning teams and projects and because of proven professionalism we plan to continue and expect nothing but the utmost effectiveness from Altoros. Together with Altorosians we successfully deployed a number of tough and technologically complex projects on time. So our collaboration is certainly set to continue.

SOLUTION

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

We have been partnering with Altoros for a long time (over 4 years), and they have proven year in and year out that they can be trusted. Even when we did mixed projects (using both our talent and that of Altoros), we would get excellent mentorship from both sides that only improved the overall efficiency. So Altoros hires and knows how to keep (the most important part!) only the highest level engineers and architects.

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

When we dealt with Altoros for the first time (our first mutual project started in 2018) we requested two back end engineers from the Java team and 1 QA engineer. The communication and hiring process was smooth and transparent. In true Altoros fashion, they have underpromised and overdelivered. We fulfilled our resource requirements within a week. And Altoros has been performing above and beyond since then. All the following projects have been staffed even faster, typically taking around 2-3 business days.

The Project Manager was a veteran internal resource, and we value his judgment highly. He confirmed that the processes at Altoros are modern and transparent which allowed him to successfully manage a fully remote team. To sum up, the effective cooperation that Alrtoros provides is based on clear processes, efficient communication in excellent Business English, highest quality of the work done and internal motivation of the team that I have yet to see in any other external partner we work with. I believe it has to do with their internal mentoring and educational programs.

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

During our 4+ years of partnership we hired various types and levels of engineers including Java, .Net and Ruby. We also onboarded an entire self-sufficient QA team that we’ve been especially happy with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of work performed by Altoros' cross-functional teams is exemplary in partnerships of this kind. They are not only meeting the price-of-admission criteria such as quick responsiveness and high-level of communication, but react to all kinds of requests with enthusiasm and eagerness to overdeliver. And what has always been of the utmost importance in any professional partnership - the team deals with ambiguity with true professionalism and preparation, meaning whenever we requested resources (many times last-minute) - they’ve always provided us with simple and clear next steps and typically fulfilled our staffing needs within 2-3 business days.

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

One word that stands out from our collaboration with Altoros is: Communication. Altoros' management and individual contributors (engineers, architects, etc.) manage their transparency with tools and excellent Business English. At times it felt like we were working with much more expensive consultancies and not extended programming teams. We used standard means of communication, but where they overdelivered was with honesty, simplicity and care. You do feel like you are working with human-beings and not algorithms that generate reports. This is especially important when dealing with current market ambiguity because people at Altoros are used to adapting to change.

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

Altoros' high-quality standards are constantly managed by excellent leadership teams and an extensive internal education process. They always involve external mentors and consultants to make sure they stay competitive with the highest-caliber talent in Silicon Valley. Their scouting teams are efficient (probably because of decades of experience with the talent pool) and the resource management, unlike in most similar companies, is intertwined with the internal education team. Those are world-class mentors and consultants that bring their experience of working with Enterprise-level corporations and adapt it to hands-on engineering. This synergy of resource scouting and management always provided us with confidence that we could stay long-term partners.

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

There is always a space for improvement and Altoros sure knows that, given the amount of investment they put into their engineers as far as education and mentorship. That alone should give confidence to any new Altoros’ client because when someone is constantly learning and improving that means they extend their credibility and knowledge towards their partners, which they sure have done with us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Lead Operations Manager at a product development agency, which designs & develops mobile and web applications, focusing on resource management and contractor on/offboarding.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Whenever our internal development team is short-staffed, we seek staff augmentation support from Altoros. Our goal for this particular project was to build a B2B marketing site for one of our biggest clients.

SOLUTION

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

Ultimately, trust in the quality of Altoros's work output was the deciding factor. We've had positive experience in the past working with their development team, so when an opportunity fitting of their expertise arose, we knew we could count on them to deliver.

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

Front-end component build for an Adobe Experience Manager platform. Initially started out as a React build, but eventually became a stripped down version - static HTML, SCSS, JS. Main deliverables were to build out functional markup and interactivity required, to later be wrapped around AEM components.

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

A Business Development Manager was our main point of contact for logistics, and we worked with one frontend web developer on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

No measurable outcomes.

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

Kanban approach. Linear for task management. Contractor's communication was very clear and proactive. His pace of work was very good.

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

Aside from their great work quality, their commitment to flexibility for the partnership's sake is much appreciated.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of systems development and data management at a healthcare organization. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altoros?

We needed help in custom software development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We contacted Altoros to scope the project — we wanted to simplify the code of an existing solution that held sharing agreements of organizations within our jurisdiction. From there, Altoros proceeded with the development. They’ve already delivered the app, and they’re currently providing maintenance services. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with about 4–5 people, including a project manager, a business relationship manager, and some developers. 

How did you come to work with Altoros?

I found them through a Google search. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about £35,000 (approximately $48,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m 100% satisfied with Altoros’ work, and they’ve exceeded my expectations. 

How did Altoros perform from a project management standpoint?

Altoros is excellent at project management. They’ve delivered the project under budget, ahead of schedule, and with a smile. We have a great relationship with their team. We communicate through Microsoft Teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Altoros’ pricing is impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should ensure that there’s always an English-speaking teammate that we can deal with. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear on what you want before engaging with Altoros. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Director of Developer Experience at a company that develops software for health, fitness and wellness.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our company has experienced rapid growth and we have had trouble finding qualified employees to work on our platform. We hired Altoros to help us augment our staff on our back end and mobile teams. Our goal was to increase our team size so we could deliver on multiple, business critical initiatives very quickly. For our back end projects, Altoros provided an entire team of developers that we have been able to give complete projects to own. This team has worked independently and implemented many projects that our full time staff did not have resources to complete. Our staff augmentation plan for our mobile team relied on placing individual developers from Altoros on different teams to add expertise and increase throughput for those teams.

SOLUTION

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

The major factor for selecting Altoros was their ability to provide good developers quickly. We have been very satisfied with the mobile developers and back end developers Altoros has provided. The developers that we hired from Altoros definitely accelerated our development schedules and allowed us to complete some projects that would have otherwise sat in our backlog.

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

For the back end team, the team provided by Altoros has taken on a few different projects. We typically hand off to them a product requirements document and they have been able to quickly implement the features we needed. We have also had them working on refactoring projects to make our back end projects easier to maintain and more performant. The refactoring projects taken on by Altoros have allowed us to keep developers with a lot of domain knowledge on newer projects that are critical to our business growth.

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

For our back end projects, Altoros provided a team with four developers, a project manager, and a dedicated QA engineer. Having PM and QA resources included helps us a lot because it removes a lot of management overhead. On mobile, we currently have 6 developers that we have distributed through a few different teams. These developers work side by side with our full time developers and help us keep up our rapid development pace. We also have a dedicated account manager that has been extremely helpful finding talented developers and has managed our relationship with Altoros very well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On the back end, the Altoros team has enabled us to release many new features. The Altoros team has taken on things like technical debt and performance improvement projects that are extremely important and historically have taken time away from developers working on new features. Altoros' work has made our platform more stable and easier to maintain while also allowing the rest of our team to move very quickly on other new user facing features. On the mobile side, the developers have given our teams a boost in knowledge and throughput. The mobile developers have brought some very specific knowledge about video streaming and hardware integration that allowed our teams to move much quicker than they would have otherwise.

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

For our back end team, Altoros provided PM resources so we do not have to deal with that. We just provide requirements and the team is able to work very independently. We have regular communication to see how the team is progressing. We interact through Slack a lot, but also have regular video calls when it makes sense. Timelines are very good and the biggest "problem" we have is keeping the backlog of tasks full because the team completes their work with very good pace. We integrated the mobile engineers directly with our teams so we use our own management resources to provide them with work and priorities. Our mobile teams use Slack extensively and this has worked well with the Altoros developers because many of them are in different time zones. Even with time differences, the developers have been very responsive and all our teams feel like communication has been great.

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

There are two things I like about Altoros. First is the quality of the candidates they have been able to source for us. The developers have been very good and all came up to speed very quickly on our code and were able to contribute without a long "ramp up" period. The candidates have also been good at sharing knowledge and making our other developers better. The second thing about Altoros that I like is that their account managers are very good. We have a good relationship with our contacts at Altoros and they are very easy to work with. The communication is great and I never feel like anything "falls through the cracks." Our account manager is very responsive and detail oriented. He makes life easier because I am confident everything is being done correctly on his end.

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

I really have no complaints. I have been very satisfied with the Altoros as a company and the people they have placed with us have helped us a lot. They have been very good to work with over the last year.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the development manager for a decision-maker collaboration platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altoros?

We needed help with native iOS app development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve been assisting with getting the functionality related to the iOS application out into the market. It’s based on a preexisting web application. Our portal allows our board members to book into the annual board meetings so they can conduct meetings in a paperless environment. Users can also set up agendas, take meeting minutes, and sign documents electronically.

What is the team composition?

We work with one iOS developer and one account manager.

How did you come to work with Altoros?

One of our previous employees used to work at Altoros.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Altoros is really skilled, and it’s really easy to communicate with them. They successfully helped to implement electronic signing into our iOS application. It was a complex project because there are different signing methods for all the Nordic countries. Altoros helped improve the information flow from our users working in conjunction with our API developers.

How did Altoros perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been really good at meeting all of our expected deadlines. We haven’t had any problems with any deliveries. We use Microsoft Teams to communicate. They’re also involved in Sprint planning.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their developers are really self-driven. They’re also good at identifying potential pitfalls before they occur.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to understand your own needs and get in contact with one of the key account managers to make sure they understand what your business needs are as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a principal product manager at a US telematics company. We develop insurance telematics products to improve driver safety.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altoros?

We hired them as a contractor to help in our software development projects, mainly around building mobile apps for Android and iOS.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Altoros helps us put together teams for projects. For example, when we begin building a new app, they bring in engineers and QA testers to work on specific areas.

For each project, we provide onboarding documentation that outlines the specific technologies we plan to use and how the mobile app needs to be developed for Android and iOS. 

We also provide user stories and our business team’s requirements. If needed, they do their own research to solve specific problems. In addition to development, they also support testing.

What is the team composition?

The size of the team fluctuates depending on what we need. We are currently working with one iOS developer, one Android developer, and one tester from Altoros.

How did you come to work with Altoros?

I don’t have a lot of background on how the partnership started. It was ongoing when I joined the company. They’re good at what they do, so we’ve continued the partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them for a few years and currently we are working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Altoros’s team is knowledgeable and professional. They produce quality development and testing work that adhere to our requirements. 

The apps they’ve worked on can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play. We’re happy with the work Altoros is doing.

How did Altoros perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle project management, but Altoros is quite good at estimating the amount of time needed to complete a particular task. Based on user stories, they’re able to estimate how much time it will take to develop and try to deliver on time.

We use Slack for most day-to-day communication, along with email. Requirements and tasks are shared through Jira, and we have conference calls through Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Altoros developers and testers are good at what they do. They’re knowledgeable about app development and are very skilled. They are also good at communication and good to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always room for improvement and we need to always keep abreast of latest technologies and find better ways of doing things.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

In any engagement with a third-party provider, you must provide detail requirements so they can execute effectively. Clients should communicate frequently and clarify any questions Altoros may have.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am founder and CEO. The company provides Saas services to customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had need to get tailored SaaS Service and mobile app on market. We wanted to use the latest technology and SW.

SOLUTION

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

We founded the through a referral and considered them along with 2 other vendors. Because the project was such as high priority, we needed a result-driven partner that was committed to deliver new products on time with high quality. We were also looking for open minded and flexible with high skills.

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

They designed and developed customer specific solution. We first started with a discover workshop to go over our business challenges. Then, they gave us workflows and design mock-ups to approve before starting development. They completed the project in 4 weeks sprints, which allowed us to review and test functions and give feedback. The final product was ready for testing in 5 months.

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

There were 6 people in the core team, including a project manager, a designer and 2 senior developers. Other resources would come and go depending on the project needs

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Were were able to launch the service on time.

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

Their project management was great, especially when compared to other vendors we have worked with. She really wanted to understand the real business case to be able to get best outcome in the project. She also pushed developers to move to a new areas to able to find out new ways to develop the final product

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

Readiness to find out new and cost-effective way to develop the final product. Open and honest communication throughout the project game us room to review different UI functions on the service.

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

While the quality of the work was great, they could have more diligent about documentation and more accurate estimations of the work packages. Open issues were fixed during the project with open and honest communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a software development company. We’re an agency that focuses on development and marketing for e-commerce and other sales-oriented, marketplace-style vendors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altoros?

They’re helping us with our development and software engineering needs for the creation and maintenance of applications and e-commerce properties in the marketing sphere.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The key deliverables are their expertise and finished applications. Altoros’ ongoing development is based on our designs and specifications, and these projects are largely for our clients. Occasionally, they build tools for internal use.

What is the team composition?

It ranges from 2–5 people depending on the number of projects we have going.

How did you come to work with Altoros?

They were a reference from a friend about 10 years ago. I’ve worked with them while at a number of companies.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $600,000–$700,000 with them on this engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together at my current company since January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Altoros provides very high-level engineers. We haven’t had to switch any out. We’ve always appreciated their work. They’re as good as I can want, and I’m happy to continue working with them.

Our clients’ feedback has been very positive as well. They say Altoros’ offers excellent service and quality that they haven’t received from other providers.

How did Altoros perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. They don’t force us to use any specific tools, as they’re happy to go with whatever we want. We go with whatever fits our client’s needs. Altoros is extremely flexible and performs well with whatever tools we give them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of Altoros’ engineering work, their speed, and their ability to learn new technologies as needed stand out. Additionally, they work well independently, requiring less management than is traditionally needed. They’re easily comparable to any excellent domestic engineer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they had more staff so I could fully scale with them. Their engineers are very in-demand so they can only provide us with so many.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Even outsourced engineers cost a six-figure salary, so make sure you have your requirements together. Make sure you’re organized and have your designs in shape so you’re using Altoros in a focused manner like you would use a domestic engineer. You’re going to get domestic engineering quality, and it can have a high cost if you expect them to design the whole product for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of an HR and staffing technology company. We focus on employment compliance for the entire employee lifecycle in multiple countries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Altoros?

They’re helping us with staff augmentation, particularly for backend development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work with our internal product managers and external frontend developers to deliver within an ongoing two-week sprint framework.

What is the team composition?

They’ve provided us with three developers, with one of these three serving as the team leader and our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Altoros?

We were looking for someone operating in their region and time zone who focused on the technology stack that they do. In our review process, they impressed us with their skill set, knowledge, and experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $25,000 per month with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our internal QA team reviews their deliverables, and we also assess their completion of the sprints. Based on these assessments, we’ve been satisfied. Their code is quite good and their team is up-front about areas that may need to be altered or improved. They’ve got a strong understanding of how to best apply current technology stacks and approaches.

How did Altoros perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been effective. We have a project manager on our side who keeps everyone accountable. We get all the teams together as we plan each sprint and hold a retrospective meeting afterward. These meetings have helped everyone communicate well. We communicate via Slack and use Jira and Confluence for project management purposes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There’s a clear drive on their end to keep everyone knowledgeable about new technologies. We’ve all learned a lot during this project, but they’re always able to effectively apply anything we’ve asked them to apply.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m pretty happy overall, and I’d have to be picky or unreasonable to criticize anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you’re looking for outside resources to support your team, you have to consider how they’ll fit with your team. It’s much like making internal hiring decisions.