Amoniac OU

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of a start-up called Snipp.net. The company is an aggregation and subscription distribution system that enables many smaller publishers to join forces under same payment system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Previous developer exited project, so I needed a development partner that could jump into existing code and complete development enabling me to launch Snipp.net

SOLUTION

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

When in need of new development resources I searched online and came across Amoniac. Of course I was sceptic about them being located in Estonia and Ukraine (most times when you hear about Ukraine in the news it’s not positive …). After video meeting with CEO, checking references and searched high and low for due diligence I made the leap and hired Amonic. I could not have been more pleased with the result!

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

The project is all custom code using Golang, React Native, Postgres, Elastic and other components. Amonic received a high-level specification and some sketches about design. After a few iterations they delivered a new design that is in use on Snipp.net today. Parallel to this all new payment functionality, subscription distribution solution, conditional access API for external CMS and related functionality was developed. Continuing development started by another developer also required refactoring and documenting what was there.

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

I worked with CTO and project manager, but communicated also with developer. Project manager took care of communication with designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is now available on Snipp.net. Not only is functionality and design in place, but system is upgraded to latest technologies making it future proof – all this was provided by Amoniac. This allows me, as the founder, to present platform and start commercialization process.

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

I provided initial documents with specification - following that most communication was/is done via Slack – at all hours and in weekends. It’s a very “lean” way of working where questions and answers was taken care of quickly.

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

In Alex’s LinkedIn profile he describes himself as “CTO for hire”, and that is how I treated him. Whenever there was a crossroad about technologies I gave him full responsibility – and the result is perfect. Their team has been able to solve multiple server problems in comparison to our previous hosting partner.

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

In hindsight I would have reshuffled tasks a bit better/differently so that it would have been even easier to control that we do step 1 and 2 before 3. That said, everything was transparent in Jira, and all invoices have clear references to Jira tasks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of an innovative marketing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Amoniac OU?

We needed to build the MVP of an easy-to-use marketing platform based on the Google Ads API.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a simple solution with a pleasing and practical UI that works for people with limited experience in online marketing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our initial Skype call convinced us of Amoniac OU’s professionalism. They also had experience with a similar project that involved the Google Ads API, which was an extra reassurance. Their suggestions on technologies and such were also in line with what we were looking for.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Amoniac OU’s team created a dashboard and UI that makes it easy to set up an online marketing campaign. They used Ruby on Rails for the project.

What was the team composition?

We communicated with their founder, Alex, who is fluent in English. Several other team members worked on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our MVP looks stunning and works as intended. It makes it possible for us to validate the market we’re targeting with our product. Once we’re ready to scale, we’ll add more features.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had excellent communication through Skype with Alex. All our feedback on each iteration was quickly and correctly implemented.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We appreciated their communication and quality of work, but what we liked the most was how they thought things through with us to build an appealing yet cost-effective MVP of our product.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. We’re happy with Amoniac OU’s work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of Workant, a job-seeking platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amoniac OU?

I needed an outsourced development team to build my company’s website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I provided Amoniac OU with basic mockups of what I wanted, but I wholly rely on their team to coordinate the development. The backend utilizes Ruby on Rails while the frontend operates with Vue.js.

What is the team composition?

I’m working with about five people.

How did you come to work with Amoniac OU?

In my search for a vendor, I found their website and learned they had worked with several Finnish companies before, which was a promising sign considering I, too, am in Finland. I was impressed with the quality of their portfolio, and I selected them after I had the opportunity to speak with their CEO.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent between $10,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in May 2018 and remains ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have received promising feedback on the prototype from employers and job seekers alike.

How did Amoniac OU perform from a project management standpoint?

I only have one point of contact, which streamlines all communication efforts. We keep in touch via Jira and Skype, and they are always prompt in their responses.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their response time is the fastest that I’ve seen with any company. I know I will receive a reply to any of my messages in a timely manner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything has been satisfactory to this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend starting your engagement with a smaller project to determine if your companies are a good fit for each other.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of HPCD Lab, a cloud services-optimization company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Amoniac OU?

We needed to develop a prototype of our web app with a Ruby on Rails backend and a Material-UI frontend.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to develop the prototype quickly based on a small technical description.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered 10 teams and based our decision on their price, portfolio, communication skills, and experience level.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The prototype displays non-optimal cloud service providers and recommends a cost-reducing option. It displays a customer’s total savings and is connected to a third-party payment system.

What was the team composition?

We worked through a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First, we already have potential clients. Second, two large companies are considering investing in our prototype.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used GitHub for code and Skype for communication. They always responded quickly, even though we were in different time zones.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They understood their task so rapidly we didn’t even need technical descriptions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They should start supporting more technology stacks like Python and machine learning systems.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CTO of Pridac. We’re a digital marketing automation firm that works with Google Ads and Google Shopping.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Amoniac OU?

We wanted to launch our Google engine on Shopify via an embedded app.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to make the experience as seamless as possible, with little to no knowledge or configuration necessary for the customer.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We met with five different vendors. After speaking with Alex (CEO, Amoniac OU), we decided to go with Amoniac because they were flexible and could work a lot on their own; our project management time was limited.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed the frontend of the app in Shopify while we built the backend. We also provided them with specifications and wireframes. Because we wanted the app to be accessible, it only takes four steps to use.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two people from Amoniac, which simplified communication.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We hoped to launch the app before 2019, and we’re right on schedule. The app is as simple to use as we hoped, so we’re very happy with the result.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

At first, we had weekly meetings, but they later became bi-weekly. It was an agile project, and we changed, updated, and removed elements of the project over time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re flexibility and cost were outstanding. They understood what we wanted to do and drove the project forward without us having to micro-manage them.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I saw.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head ninja at Exposure Ninja, the company that commissioned this project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Amoniac OU?

We hired Amoniac OU to build a custom Google Analytics app. Our company wanted to create a tool that allowed business owners to compare their website's performance against that of their competitors. We had no idea what was possible and were very pressured for time.

 It was critical to find a development team that understood what we needed. We needed a company that could work self-sufficiently, applying creative thinking to fill in the gaps as needed.  

What were your goals for this project?

Our engagement focused on building a public tool we could use to help website owners and for lead generation. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After reviewing Amoniac OU’s application, we spoke on Skype. Their previous work clearly indicated that they knew how to build functional solutions that looked good. We took the leap and hired them.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

We provided the design and explanation of the logic our product required. Amoniac OU executed the rest of the end-to-end project, working based off my fairly loose descriptions.

What was the team composition?

We worked primarily with Alex (COO and Business Development, Amoniac OU) and Alyona (Project Development Manager, Amoniac OU).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company thinks the tool the team delivered is great. We haven't launched it yet, but the functionality is exactly what we wanted. Amoniac OU kept the process was as smooth as we could have wished for. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Amoniac OU is exceptionally responsive. They’re very skilled at understanding the meaning behind our requests.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Amoniac OU has outstanding organization and quality of work. I was impressed by how relaxed they remained while completing the project as quickly as possible.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There are none that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We develop IT software for insurance companies. I am a category manager for our accounts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amoniac?

We don’t have an internal development team, so we outsource various jobs to appropriate partners.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project began as a request for a simpler API for a large European retailer and progressed into a whole portal with several APIs. They developed the entire front- and backend and the APIs. It was specific to the insurance industry, so everything was customized to the project.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a few developers at different stages of the project. The team fluctuated between three and five people.

How did you come to work with Amoniac?

We found them through Upwork. They had good reviews and the price was right. We had a good feeling about them from the beginning and felt they’d be the right partner. After the first stage, we decided to continue working with them as the project grew.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November or December 2017. The bulk of the work was finished by May or June 2018 and they’re currently working out any remaining bugs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our figures are very good and our revenues have increased. Our business model is based on the software they provided, so it has to perform very well. Our revenues are linked to it directly, which is a good indication of its success. We work closely with our partners who use it. Everyone is very happy with the work.

How did Amoniac perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager is very good. Our specifications changed a lot throughout the project but they met our requirements. We’re more than satisfied and will continue to work with them in the future.

We communicated through Slack, Skype, and Jira. We used Trello in the beginning but switched to Jira. We communicated daily, especially during peak development.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were keen to understand the whole process, even outside of the software itself. Other companies we’ve worked with take directives very literally but Amoniac was interested in the whole industry and our processes to give us the best product for our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re a small, agile company and it was easier for us to establish personal and professional interaction. There’s always room for growth and they may not have the resources yet to work with very large companies.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them as much information as you can at the beginning to save time and expense. They would work well with anyone.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a bookkeeping software company. We make software that automates manual, routine work within the scope of bookkeeping, including expense claims and order purchasing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amoniac OU?

We had a beta version which I’d developed myself, but I needed a more professional approach. We started working with Amoniac very early on as our outsourced partner in order to save time and make development more scalable. We have our own internal developers, but initially, our platform required a lot more work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started with Apache Cordova development, which is basically a hybrid application. Afterwards, they began working on our web app which is built on Ruby on Rails using various JavaScript frameworks. We later hired a QA person through them, which is how our partnership started.

Since then, we’ve continued working with them. We’ve expanded the work to another service for which they are building an artificial intelligence model for purchase invoice booking. We’ve utilized their company’s entire skill set.

The initial project, which we’re still working on, is a B2B expense claims app that’s integrated with different software. They helped with the frontend, but I did most of it. All of the backend was their responsibility, including the integration for the bookkeeping software.

What is the team composition?

There have been 5–6 people from their team working on our projects over time. They mostly work remotely, and their team ranges from senior to junior level. I utilize their development and QA skill sets. They have quite a few people working in outsourced marketing for them as well, but I haven’t engaged with them on this yet.

How did you come to work with Amoniac OU?

We were using an open-source software for our app which one of their team members created.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2015, and the relationship is ongoing. Originally, this was supposed to be a one-time project, but we now view Amoniac as a strategic partner. I plan on continuing our engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been very satisfied. I’ve asked them to follow Google’s code of conduct for Rails, which we’re using, and they follow this quite rigorously. They employ branching in their development process, as well as QA, and it’s all working well. There are seldom any bugs in production.

How did Amoniac OU perform from a project management standpoint?

I haven’t experienced any problems with their project management. Their English is sometimes too straightforward, which requires a bit of adapting, but it hasn’t become a problem because they are very clear when it comes to communication. We also have daily calls if needed.

The work is project-based, and we always collaborate with them within the scope of the user story, which they guarantee a time estimate and price for. As we’ve progressed, I found this model to be quite time consuming, so I wanted them to create the user stories themselves. We changed to an hourly fee, so they now log and bill those hours directly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their commitment and straightforwardness are impressive. Some vendors will only do what they’re told, but Amoniac questions ideas and tries to think of more more appropriate methods. I admire this about them. They have a moderately-sized shop, but we still feel like a valued customer. We’re not afraid of someone quitting, and I feel like I can count on them to replace a resource if necessary.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t identify anything they need to improve, but it would be great to have in-person meetings more often. We currently only meet 1–2 times per year.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to Google the technologies they plan on using to make sure they are popular enough that other people can work on them. Always make sure that the developers follow some sort of code of conduct. There are good examples on Google’s website for each code library.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Calcus.com does content marketing and native advertising in Finland. We have a turnover of about €3 million [$3.5 million USD] and work with most of the top 500 Finnish companies, as well as smaller companies. We do separate campaigns for these companies every year. I'm the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amoniac?

We’re building a platform to distribute content. I'd heard positive things about Amoniac and the way they worked. We hadn’t done any other development previously, so working with them has been helpful.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The platform will deliver content to various media on the Internet. We are automating processes that are currently manual, so we can do better campaigns for our customers. The platform is built with Ruby on Rails.

What is the team dynamic?

The main contact has been Alex [Lead Developer, Amoniac], who manages the team. The primary objective has been delivering the components on the software.

How did you come to work with Amoniac?

They worked with another Finnish company, which is how I heard about them. They had good references, and everybody had nothing but positive things to say. I spoke with a few developers in Finland, but it seemed easier with Amoniac.

How much have you invested with them?

The project will cost €50,000 [$58,780 USD].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in August 2017, and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform is nearly finished; everything seems to be working as it’s supposed to. We haven’t had any problems so far, just a few minor things still to fix. Overall, it’s good, with no big issues.

How did Amoniac perform from a project management standpoint?

We have no problems with communication. If I have a question, I go on Skype and get a reply immediately. We have an open conversation all the time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The speed at which they deliver is faster and more effective than other experiences I’ve had. After only a few days, we could already see the improvements they made. They do what they promise and deliver what's been agreed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’m very pleased with their work, and we’ll be working with them in the future.