Ancient

Please describe your company and your position there.

CTO of a digital agency serving clients from across the globe.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ancient?

We needed reliable and competent IT resources who can help us with our projects. We wanted to expedite the development process while delivering a great customer experience. Because we were falling short of resources, we decided to on-board the Ancient team.

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

We interviewed a lot of companies: three main aspects we reviewed included the strength of their team, their expertise, and engagement model. Of all the other agencies we interviewed, the Ancient team checked it all. They had a flexible engagement model, and a sound team of trained professionals - so we hired them for the project.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They worked closely with our team and helped us execute our client’s projects. Their team was comfortable working with all the leading technologies. The designers helped us create fresh website/software concepts, and the development team helped us build it from the ground up. The coordination was seamless among them.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We worked with multiple departments. For the most part, we were in touch with the project manager and had a chance to collaborate with UI/UX designers, Software Developers, and QA engineers.

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

With the help of their team, we managed to take on 3x more projects and brought the project timeline to just 30 days from 60. Their team is skillful, deliberate, and easy to work with. We continue to work with them and appreciate their dedication and genuine interest.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We collaborated via Slack for the most part. Apart from that, we had a few Zoom calls every now and then. They are very particular when it comes to managing timelines. They always respected given deadlines and delivered things on time.

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

Working with the Ancient team was a delight. They were friendly, skillful, and very supportive. When needed, they directly coordinated with our clients and got things done. They take the accountability of their responsibilities and are always there when needed.

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

Nothing in general. They have been very supportive throughout our partnership and we expect the same going forward.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director at a software development agency. We build custom software for the healthcare and medical industries. Our team works with large public organizations, government departments, and small startups that have funding to exponentially grow their software. I handle everything from operations to sales and marketing. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Ancient? 

We were looking to expand our footprint in Latin America since we didn’t have any entity in the region yet.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company has worked with Ancient on a staff augmentation basis. They essentially provide us with resources and expertise against specific technologies, which mainly involve JavaScript and React. 

At present, we’re contracting Ancient for their QA services. Our group uses their Cypress-based automated and manual application testing services to ensure our software development process is smooth. Their team helps us find bugs quickly if there are any. Overall, we rely on them as a support team that helps us expedite the development process. 

Meanwhile, the app they’re working on gathers information and data points from individuals throughout the world that might be suffering from malnutrition. As such, the app is data-intensive, and Ancient’s QA resource reviews these data points to ensure they’re accurate.

What is the team composition?

Around 7–8 people are working on this project, including the QA resource from Ancient. The whole team includes our internal frontend developer, a backend engineer, designers, a technical lead, and another developer. 

On the end client’s side, around seven people are on the project — they have their own infrastructure team. 

How did you come to work with Ancient?

We started looking for agencies in Mexico via Clutch. Our team went through a handful of firms, and Ancient ended up being the one we hired. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our total invested should be around $25,000–$50,000 CAD (approximately $20,000–$40,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Since Ancient is providing us with QA services, we expect the development process to speed up. We can’t quantify that just yet. While we can’t execute their automated tests, we’ve seen the processes and they look great.

Overall, Ancient has been a great team; they’re trustworthy and transparent, and it’s easy to work with them.

How did Ancient perform from a project management standpoint?

Technically, our side handles the project management component; we’re the ones building the custom software. We use Jira for project management. To communicate, we use Slack, Google Meet, Zoom, and emails. 

Ancient’s management is great. We reach out to a specific contact person from their team and conduct a hiring process to find resources. During the process, their aptitude is strong in terms of what we need. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

A lot of agencies do the same thing when it comes to staff augmentation. The reason we’ve chosen to work with Ancient is the number of individuals available from their side. Simply put, their resource availability is good. On top of that, the way they’ve adjusted their workflows for us differentiates them from other teams — they’re flexible. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When they started sharing candidates with us, Ancient only shared resumes; they didn’t have a 1–10 rating system. As a result, we couldn’t quickly know where the candidate was good at — we had to do a little bit of digging. 

That said, after communicating our needs, we’ve reset our expectations on how they provide us with resources. To sum up, there’s been a little misalignment in the beginning. We want more information about the candidates, and they’re working to get better at providing that. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should have specific resource requirements. That way, the process will be quick. Ancient will deliver based on what you share with them. For instance, if you tell them that you need a frontend developer but fail to share enough information, they’ll give you frontend developers that might not align with your needs.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of an IT agency offering end to end digital services from development to marketing and everything in between,

For what projects/services did your company hire Ancient?

We were looking for reliable resources for our company. We neither had any team or infrastructure to hire them - so we onboarded Ancient as our sourcing partner. They would help us hire the right technical resources we needed for our company.

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

We screened several agencies for this project. After a lot of to and fro calls, we onboarded Ancient as they had sound experience in IT staffing and a flexible engagement model.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We shared with their team a list of resources we immediately required. They got us the right candidates in just 3 weeks. After a thorough screening and multiple interviews, we ended up hiring 90% of their resources.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We worked with an IT sourcing strategist, project manager, and their CEO.

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

Thanks to the Ancient team, we were able to hire reliable IT resources easily and in a very short amount of time. They were professional, deliberate, and easy to work with.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We used trello to manage the project and for communication, we mostly used Slack and emails.

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

The Ancient team is very professional. From communication to project execution, they were always on top of everything. Their team is friendly as well. They were always approachable and seeked our feedback from time to time. It was wonderful working with them.

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

Nothing I can think of at the moment. They have been a good sourcing partner.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Principal and main Partner at the leading Mexican branding agency. The firm is 23 years old and has a solid positioning in the country given our specialty in big branding projects.

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

Our second website was starting to feel outdated and we wanted some additional features we could manage by ourselves. Since we are a design-driven firm, we needed a strong technical parter to understand our needs and love for detail.

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

Technical skills, young team, strong leadership and geographical proximity.

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

We started with an analysis of the existing website, both form an analytical point of view and from a design/user experience. Secondly we conducted a series of meetings to define our expectations of the new webpage. Thirdly, we defined that we could design the look and feel of the website and submit it to Ancient's opinion and feedback. After refining the initial design, we delivered a final version and Ancient started to work on a rough version (a wireframe). We conducted a series of monthly meetings to refine the design and test it before launch. Additionally, hosting and SEO's topics were addressed as well. Finally, we published the webpage and is currently under surveillance to make final adjustments, mainly due to the performance on different devices.

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

Mainly Five, although some advisors were included during the process: Top management Project Leader Programming Leader Programmers (2)

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

Not yet, but we will have them shortly. To mention a not minor aspect, we have a very good feeling of the speed the current webpage is displaying its content.

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

Communication was mainly conducted by our internal leader of this project, and the Project Leader and Programming Leader. Ancient shared with us their internal project management tool but we had no access given to our Apple platform. Every meeting had an agenda and precise minutes.

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

We appreciate their calm and patient reaction to our very demanding details of design.

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

As always, we would have liked to finish the project sooner, but we reckon being an important factor in the resulting timeline.

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m an executive at an online medications marketplace.

What challenges were you trying to address with Ancient?

We have numerous challenges in terms of technology, and our in-house development team focuses on our core needs. Whenever we have other projects, we need IT staff augmentation services or partner companies to help us with our custom software development. We often hire Ancient for these kinds of projects.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Ancient works with us on projects related to scrapers, which is the technology we use to extract information from our e-commerce sites. They’ve also worked on projects related to frontend development, using mainly React.

What was the team composition? 

The team varies depending on the project; we’ve worked with up to 10 people from Ancient.

How did you come to work with Ancient? 

We found them through a Google search. 

How much have you invested in them? 

So far, we’ve invested between $350,000–$450,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Ancient has implemented everything we’ve asked for. We establish KPIs to measure the success of our projects. For staff augmentation services, we measure the quality and skills of the resources. As for software development projects, we evaluate deliverables, deadlines, and code quality.  

How did Ancient perform from a project management standpoint? 

We’ve never had any issues in terms of budget management. As for deadlines, they’ve finished about 94% of deliverables on time. We use Trello and Jira as project management tools and email, WhatsApp, and Slack for communication. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with numerous technology companies, and Ancient is among the best in terms of professionalism, timeliness, and costs.  

Are there any areas they could improve? 

I can’t think of anything they need to improve at the moment. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

My advice is to be clear about your goals and KPIs from the beginning.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a convenience sales manager at a global tobacco company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ancient Technology?

We needed their team to build our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided the project brief, and Ancient Technology took it from there and built our website from the ground up. Since we were keen on producing a user-friendly platform, they developed UI/UX solutions that highlighted that requirement.

What is the team composition?

I had one point of contact, but there were about six resources in charge of the development process.

How did you come to work with Ancient Technology?

One of my colleagues recommended Ancient Technology to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from March–December 2021.

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

We just wrapped up the project, so there are no quantifiable metrics to share at this point. From our perspective, Ancient Technology was a customer-oriented partner that took our technical needs seriously and patiently. They gracefully dealt with our modification requests and delivered a product that was at par with our standards.

How did Ancient Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via email and phone calls. Ancient Technology remained responsive to our queries and mindful of our deadlines despite encountering timeline adjustments. They managed to facilitate a smooth process from start to finish.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with customer-centric communication skills. I could go on and on about Ancient Technology’s technical skills, but what set them apart from their competitors was their commitment to preserving a transparent and collaborative relationship with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were an effective team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent in relaying your level of technical understanding — this will help them adjust their communication methods to accommodate your needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there

I'm an engineer at a multinational banking company.

What challenges were you trying to address with Ancient Technology?

We needed to integrate two banking platforms, one based in the US and another in Spain. We also were looking for a company based in Mexico for our time zone convenience.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with general information and diagrams about the project, and their engineering team helped us organize and document the requirements and the development itself.

What was the team composition?

We've worked with about ten members of their team, including engineers, QAs, project managers, and technical leads.

How did you come to work with Ancient Technology?

We found them through organic research; we were looking for references about companies based in Mexico, and one of our partners in Spain referred them to us.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent around $1 million with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2021, and it is an ongoing collaboration.

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

They've been delivering every requirement on time and do a great job. We've been able to shorten our time-to-market schedule and launch the integration even sooner than we expected. The quality of their work was outstanding as well; our team of engineers made an evaluation, and they met the expected quality standards.

How did Ancient Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

We knew that we needed to make adaptations because of the timezones. Still, they've been flexible and supportive throughout the engagement — their price is competitive for the region they work in! In terms of tools, we use Jira and Microsoft Teams as project management tools to deliver constant reports. We've also used Slack and WhatsApp to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical team is agile, learns very fast, has a great learning curve, and adapts quickly to the project. Also, their project managers did generate value for us by shortening delivery times; it's easier to work with them than it is with other service providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'd like it if the engineers were all based in the exact physical location, which could make communications even easier.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Consult with them since the beginning of the project, which worked very well for us.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at an IT services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ancient Technology?

We were preparing to welcome new users after the height of the pandemic concluded, and we needed to upgrade the functionalities of our web applications.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before launching the development stage, we've relayed our UI/UX design requirements to Ancient Technology's team. We've entrusted the expansion and development of core features to their team, including a single sign-on function for all our brands. Using React, AngularJS, Node.js, and Jenkins, they build and test map integrations, filters, and other newly incorporated solutions that we plan to deploy across all our web apps. Additionally, they're helping us configure our apps' AWS cloud systems.

What is the team composition?

We're working with 10 engineers from Ancient Technology.

How did you come to work with Ancient Technology?

Their CEO played an integral role in our client communication efforts, so I touched base with him to communicate our needs for this particular project. Apart from our connection, we chose Ancient Technology because of their impressive skill set and reasonable price point.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $400,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our ongoing engagement in February 2021.

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

I can't share specific metrics about the products because of our company's stringent policies on confidentiality — however, I can confirm that Ancient Technology meets our quality and design standards. We're planning to increase their team size next year because we're impressed with their performance.

How did Ancient Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Slack and Zoom and organize deliverables and timelines via Jira. Ancient Technology dedicates a lot of time and effort to ensure that our needs are delivered on time and each project phase is communicated transparently to our team. We can always count on their developers to respond to our questions and work extra hours to resolve any technical issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ancient Technology gets things done and communicates agreeably with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can consider growing their team by hiring more experienced engineers.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be open to their young team's innovative suggestions.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Business Analyst and Project Manager for Bigtech (bigtech.com.mx)

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

We were receiving an incomplete project from a previous provider with poor standards, and almost no documentation. We needed to take control of the project, redesign the pipeline and add new modules

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

We wanted a provider that could potentially become a strategic partner, with similar culture and values. Being in the same city was a plus

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

They created a detailed timeline with specific steps that gave us visibility of the whole process, gave us access to their Jira, and started working up from rebuilding the architecture, setting up an automated pipeline using Jenkins, their devops set up the QA environment that was missing, and designed a Figma for the new modules. They completed 3 new modules in 4 months, and met the deadline frankly exceeding our expectations.

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

• 1 project manager
• 1 mid backend
• 1 senior backend
• 2 senior frontend
• 1 fullstack
• 1 devops
• 2 qa

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

The original version was such a mess that we were expecting major headaches through the whole process. They made it easy for us to feel confident and comfortable moving forward to meet the new project goals.

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

They were always very open about everything that was going on. As stated before, they shared their Jira, created a Slack channel with fluid communication, and sent status reports by the end of every sprint. They also created a Confluence repository for all the documentation

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

Their openness, and a relaxed communication style that helped us feel comfortable at every stage. Also a very professional and capable team.

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

We all might have jumped to the project too soon. Maybe a prepping week would've been wise. But also we were so eager to start.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and director of a machinery component commercialization company in Mexico. We sell parts worldwide, and our spare part inventory is enormous, with over 2–3 million parts.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ancient Technology?

We have a different system for each parts provider. Our project is to connect each of the main factories to one system to get real-time access to the entire parts catalog.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ancient Technology developed a web app with APIs that connected each factory to our software to control everything in just one place. The first step was getting permission from the factories to integrate their systems with our software. Then, Ancient Technology created a plan, and we put them in contact with each factory.

What is the team composition?

The group involves about 15 people. However, we only maintain contact with their owner and senior programmer.

How did you come to work with Ancient Technology?

It was a recommendation. Ancient Technology had done a development project for the largest telecommunications company in Mexico. I play golf with one of their directors, and he spoke highly of them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $850,000 on this project; it’s a fixed-price contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2018. The original project is already completed, but we continue to work with them for the second phase, which involves new ideas and integrations.

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

The most significant impact has been on how fast we can send out quotes. In the past, sending a quote to a client meant reaching out to each factory. It’d take 1–2 days for them to get back to us, so we’d lose clients due to this delay. Once everything was integrated into one system, we had control over the inventory, so we could see which parts were available at each factory and easily create quotations for clients.

Now, it takes us 5–6 minutes to make a quote, which has greatly benefited our sales. Also, our maximum response time is one hour, which is one of the fastest response times in the market thanks to their system.

How did Ancient Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

During development, they created a monthly report detailing what was done and what was still missing so we could reach out to the factories and ask for support. Also, we’d go over what was needed to keep the project running.

We have direct contact with their owner over the phone. We can easily and quickly get in touch with him. All documentation has been sent over email, including progress reports, timelines, and so on. We’ve also met in person to go over pending work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their versatility is impressive. For this project, we’ve worked with people from various countries. Ancient Technology can collaborate tactfully with each provider, and some of these factories can be difficult to deal with.

Whenever there was an issue with one factory, the team would do their part and try to solve the problem with their in-house programmers. They were willing to go above and beyond their responsibilities and help out the factories just to get the project ahead. Overall, they’re supportive and excellent at problem-solving even if the problems aren’t theirs to solve.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We thought we’d have about 1 million SKUs but we ended up at 3 million, so we had issues in the beginning because the volume of inventory would crash the system. We hadn’t foreseen this, so we had to set up our own servers and connect the entire system to them. Once that was up and running, everything worked fine.

However, Ancient Technology could’ve recommended the server installation from the start. It would’ve saved us a couple of months if they’d just told us to invest another $20,000 to create the infrastructure directly in our offices. They shouldn’t be afraid to recommend something that may be more costly upfront but ends up being useful and saving time in the long run.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Agree on deliverables. At the end of every month, we check in on them to ensure they deliver on what we’ve agreed on. It’s important to put a bit of pressure on them. If they don’t deliver exactly what was due for the month, then ask for a detailed report on why it wasn’t ready.

It’s always important to find any issues or delays because we can move more pieces and solve things faster as business owners. Whereas they’re just the programmers, so the same task can take them three weeks to resolve. Therefore, use pressure to find out the root of the issue and use your higher-level stance to take immediate action and find a solution.