Andersen Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

PASHA BANK ASC AGILE COACH

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Andersen?

We hired Andersen for a P2P project. This is a mobile application that allows you to get a free digital card with a mobile phone number without going to the bank. Transfer money without commission between P2P clients and so on

What were your goals for this project?

Changing people's daily payment habits

SOLUTION

How did you select Andersen?

We have been looking for a company that meets our expectations for a long time. The best by our standards turned out to be Andersen. Their experience with Tinkoff was one of the important reviews.

Describe the project in detail.

Kvik – convenient, profitable payments and money transfers with a digital card. Benefits of the Kvik mobile app:

1. Get a free digital card immediately without going to the bank;
2. Make commission-free money transfers to other KVIK users;
3. Top up the balance of digital card with cash or cashless operations but without commission;
4. Make purchases on all domestic websites;
5. Make secure purchases on favorite websites abroad with profitable exchange rate;
6. Transparent tariffs;
7. Easy to use.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of 9 people. Product owner, designer, backend developers and frontend developers. 2 developers were employees of the Andersen company. Also, the team was assisted by experts developers, Agile Coach and an Andersen company manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At the moment we are at the MVP stage, but the forecasts are very good.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I would like to note the high professionalism (Kirill) in the process of fulfilling the assigned tasks, which is supported by significant experience, the desire to achieve results and develop.

Throughout his work in our company, he proved himself as a responsible employee and a good friend for colleagues. I would also like to note the manager of the company Andersen (Yauheniya Hrazhul , for us just Jenya))) We express our heartfelt gratitude for the sensitive attitude to the team, for high professionalism and understanding! We had great pleasure in working with this person.

Jenya is a very sympathetic, patient, caring employee who knows her job, and most importantly, helps to resolve issues quickly!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are a professional team with a positive attitude and they are friendly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The work was carried out in full within the pre-agreed terms, as well as in full compliance with the terms of the contract. In the course of fulfilling its obligations, the company (Andersen) promptly and professionally coped with the tasks, taking into account our wishes as a customer as much as possible. We hope for mutually beneficial and fruitful cooperation in the future.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of the internal treasury department. We’re the third-largest bank in Russia in terms of revenue.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

We needed to develop an app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andersen is developing a non-standard, complex application for us.

What is the team composition?

Their team consists of a project manager or scrum master, a business analyst, and front- and backend developers. There are 12–13 team members in total now, and we’re planning to expand the team in the coming months, bringing it to 15–20. We communicate with almost all of them, but most of our communication is with the business analyst and scrum master.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

The head of our group knew Andersen’s founder and had had experience with them around 10 years ago. We had a test run and liked the work that they did, so we engaged Andersen on a larger scale.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is around $800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Andersen in June 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with where Andersen is going, and we’re continuing our activities together.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re happy with their communication and transparency. The team was custom-tailored for us, and we had the chance to meet each member beforehand. We got a team of professionals that suit us the most.

We’re running an agile project, and priorities may change at a moment’s notice. Andersen is ready to provide us with their support and take on tasks that we’ve never discussed before. Their estimates are very precise for the most part, and we haven’t had problems, such as misguiding our top management on feature readiness.

We’d been using Skype for some time, and we’ve moved our activities to Discord recently. It makes it a bit easier to structure our communications, and it has automated features like bots. We’ve been managing the project in two stages, with Trello for soft task management. As the customer, we can add weakly-structured descriptions as tasks, and the business analyst and QA engineers on the Andersen side will take the input and add the task to Jira. We’re also using Confluence to add more detailed descriptions to the tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Andersen is giving us the ability to take on unexpected challenges and non-standard development features. They’ve given us the opportunity to educate ourselves and our developers, and to grow together as professionals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve encountered some minor hitches, but nothing serious comes to mind, and almost everything was solved immediately. There’s nothing I could mention as being bad or that I don’t like.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The main thing is to attach yourselves to the project and communicate with the team. They should be given some context on what it is they’re developing, so that each developer will know what parts their colleagues are working on.

This is general advice, but it’s been helping us a lot. We talk very frequently to our scrum master, and that really helps. The developers aren’t just coding and adding features in a vacuum; they think solution-wide and maybe even create unexpected positive outputs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m VP of Products at G-Core Labs - a company which provides powerful edge and cloud solutions for media business and the entertainment industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The main goals for Andersen developers are connected with the development and support of several systems, logs collection & delivery, DNS, billing statistics & advanced analytic etc.

SOLUTION

How did you select Andersen and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a reliable partner with extensive experience, high professional level and excellent reputation. Andersen met all these criteria.

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

Main issues of the development team are working with architecture, features development, bug fixes, ci/cd pipelines etc.

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

Two Go developers provided by Andersen work now in our team. We are planning to increase the number of Andersen developers on our projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Cooperating with Andersen, we fixed our previous problems and now we are successfully moving towards achieving our business goals.

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

Andersen managers are available for all us 24/7. They provide us with all necessary information, weekly and monthly reports. Andersen management pays special attention to the quality of work performed and feedback from our side.

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

Andersen is always open to new challenges, always ready to help and provide a very high level of service.

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

We are completely satisfied with the level of services provided by Andersen.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at a company that provides training for unemployed people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

Although we have an internal development team, we hired Andersen to support us as we built out a software product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Andersen provides resources to help develop our ERP app. So far, they’ve developed architecture guidelines for next-generation software so that our app will be stable in the upcoming years. Other responsibilities include developing, roll-out, and analysis support.

What is the team composition? 

They have a team of six that consists of a Scrum master and five developers. I mostly interact with the Scrum master and the tech lead of the development team.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

My department lead and our advisory board did the market analysis and selected Andersen. I’m not sure about the details beyond that.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s about €30,000 (approximately $36,400 USD) a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since September 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In general, they’ve provided good service, and the collaboration is of high quality. We communicate in English, which isn’t my nor their first language, so I’m happy to report that there are only minor misunderstandings. Despite the time zone differences, they’re nearly always reachable and reply to our requests.

The team itself consists of professionals with different seniority. That wasn’t the case in the beginning, so we’ve had to sort out previous individuals to meet our needs. Now, it’s a stable group. There’s still some room to improve around using Scrum for our project, but we’re not sure if that should be something on our end.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly use Slack to communicate, following a Scrum approach. Each day, there’s a morning scrum, and then there’s a retrospective planning review after every two weeks as well as refinement meetings. If something comes up, we can have on-demand meetings, too.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve maintained a good mood throughout the project. Even though we only use Slack and a webcam to communicate, they keep a cool demeanor and do their best to build mutual understanding. From our side, we know what they need to do their services. And, on their side, they know about our business and ask questions so that they can provide the right solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing that I can name at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My main advice would be to set up a stable working environment so that you can communicate. That means creating a delivery chain that allows for an exchange of tasks, collaboration, and final delivery/review.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Holistify. We’re building an online marketplace for practitioners of holistic therapy to enable appointment booking and offer information about the services offered.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

Andersen is developing our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andersen created user journeys, functional requirements, and mockups based on my specifications. We moved into the development phase from there, which we’re currently in.

They recommended all of the technologies that are being put in place. We’re using Stripe as a payment provider, and the rest of the platform is custom-built.

What is the team composition?

To start with, I had a sales contact who helped me through the quoting and estimating period. He fully onboarded us, and he continues to check in with me.

Then, I worked with a project manager, a business analyst, and a UX designer. I currently have a project manager, a solution architect, three backend and three frontend developers, and two QA testers.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

I was initially looking for white label, off-the-shelf marketplace solutions like Arcadier, and Andersen was recommended as a development partner for that platform. I found a few companies, and I chose Andersen because they had a good understanding of the high-level requirements and could provide me with advice and guidance on what we were trying to do. Because they really understood what I was doing, they could also provide a reliable quote.

I took three development companies through a more detailed review, where I gave them some granular business requirements. Andersen was by far the best in asking clarifying questions, and they had a detailed and transparent pricing model. Where they found things that might not have been best practice or correct, they told me about it and gave me recommendations. They just became the natural leader in my procurement journey.

Their sales contact checked in with me and made sure I was comfortable before we went into a contractual agreement. Their whole approach of quoting for new business was spot on.

How much have you invested with them?

By the time we finish, the cost will be around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started contacting people in early-March 2020, and I signed the contract with Andersen in April. The design phase ran until late-May, and they gave me a detailed development quote on the back of the design. The project is expected to finish in February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I measure the success in terms of inclusion of scope, or making sure that everything I ask for is there. We’re on a fixed-price agreement, so cost doesn’t come into it, but I’m measuring their adherence to the time scale. I’m also measuring the quality of work and their ability to collaborate with me. Once I have a live platform, I’ll measure various user test cases.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re working in agile with sprint cycles, and they’ve been very efficient. We predominantly use Jira for planning, scoping out each release, and reporting. We have fortnightly sessions after a sprint closes to review the good and bad parts and to scope out the next sprint.

I felt they were lacking on the project management side during the design phase. They were great at taking my business requirements, but not as good at translating them into functional designs. We had a bit of an issue there in that I didn’t have full transparency on how they were completing the functional designs. I raise that concern with them, and they put some actions in place to make sure it didn’t happen again.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve always told them that this is a two-way engagement: if there’s ever something that they can recommend or propose to me, I’m happy to take it onboard. If we maintain two-way communication and both work toward a vision, it’ll make for a successful partnership.

Andersen has really embraced that, and they’ve been leaders in communication. It’s made the experience go easily, even when I had the small issue with control during the design phase.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything ran smoothly after we went into the development phase. They were ahead of schedule, and they made internal quality checks on how the project was being delivered, along with the usual code testing. I’m incredibly happy with the development phase, but I would’ve liked to see the same rigor during the design phase.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I advise treating them like a partner. I’ve been open and direct in my communication, whether it was good feedback, constructive criticism, or a request. As long as they know what I want, they’re more than capable of delivering it over and above the standard.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Project PRACTICA Group has been working in the project management market for over 25 years and is a leading team of professionals in the field of project management. It was formed as a result of the merger of companies specializing in various areas of project management. I am a project manager at the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Andersen?

Implementation of a mobile application with functionalities similar to our product.

What were your goals for this project?

We had a set of FTs that needed to be implemented in the application.

SOLUTION

How did you select Andersen?

We consulted with partner companies, studied the market. They were chosen because the cost and qualification of the staff met the requirements.

Describe the project in detail.

Based on the FT, the analyst formed the tasks in Jira and assigned them to the developer. The tasks were related only to the system's functionality, not to the business part. Skype statuses were performed based on the work results. Tasks concerned the application design, page and chart formation, as well as the application structure and API.

What was the team composition?

On the part of the client (us) PM, the analyst and architect. On the part of the Executor (Andersen): RM architect, developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This mobile application is a significant factor that affects the purchase of our product by customers. Since we did not have our own resources for product development, we could not compete on the market with similar products.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Project management was organized efficiently. Regular status meetings allowed to promptly solve a number of problems at the start of the project. Advice: Create clear product requirements for the team to work effectively.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Willingness to solve problems quickly and allocate resources. Initially, the project terms were reduced, but Andersen found additional resources and allocated them to us for another two months. The level of planning in the organization is excellent.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everything was great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

System Analyst, Product Owner at Management Events. Management events is an international business matchmaking service that covers over 15 markets in Europe and Asia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Development of an inhouse designed custom ERP system for events business, a web application for our customers to manage their participation in our events including meeting booking, a web application for our staff for being in contact with the delegates in our events, a web application for our Sales to be in contact with our customers and a common API throughout the projects. Andersen team helped with realization of 5-6 main features, QA & AQA increased coverage, etc.

SOLUTION

How did you select Andersen and what were the deciding factors?

Through the commercial proposal with the best conditions.

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

Qualified resources using best practices (Development, QA and AQA Engineers), Reporting. Andersen team helped with realization of 5-6 main features, QA & AQA increased coverage, etc.

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

During more than 4 years of cooperation with Andresen the team was changing from 2 to 16 people. As the tech stack we had PHP, Yii, Angular mainly, also we had QA team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Satisfied users, users growth, App tech update for actual stack, etc.

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

The management was mainly on Management Event's side, however I can say that during the times when we had a PM from Andersen it was effective.

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

The transparency and speed of providing high-qualified resources.

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

Nothing stands out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO for a startup in business planning. We use AI and advanced analytics to help businesses plan better.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

I was in touch with Andersen for the frontend development of our MVP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did some high-level planning of the resources needed and provided an estimation of the cost of the project. They helped design, frontend development, and did some testing. Throughout development, they used HTML 5.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one designer, one full-time frontend developer, tester, and project manager. Occasionally, they had support from DevOps.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

We found them on Clutch. I read their reviews online and did a vendor briefing. We reviewed ten different vendors for our solution. After providing our project detailers and receiving their estimations, we chose Andersen because the price was competitive. They also were proficient and offered great services. Overall, it was a great deal.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid €15,000 (approximately $18,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May­–June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was state of the art. The cooperation was very flexible and they were open to changes. When we asked from changes, we had several rounds with the designer. They were very fast incorporating those changes into the concept as well. Usually, the changes were implemented the same day or the next day.

During development, we had a great frontend developer who was very proactive and proposed multiple approaches to make sure we found the right fit.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

There was one project manager who was in charge of communication. We had daily standups, bi-weekly sprint reviews and sprint planning sessions. We were integrated into their Jira board, on which they tracked all the tasks there. We also worked closely with their development team because our CTO was watching over the development process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In their reviews, they were very honest about what worked and what didn’t work. They were clearly eager to improve the product and determine a better way to do things.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had one hiccup in which a developer asked for a more detailed description, we were charged additional fees. However, we’ve talked it over with them and those fees were removed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It was quite easy for us because we are also in SaaS. We had a ready plan and clear description of what we wanted, which resulted in a very smooth process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Choicely.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

We hired them to do development work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andersen has been helping us build an administration portal for our customers, which is an extension of our current platform. The team is using React and JavaScript, as well as basic HTML and CSS.

What is the team composition?

I work with a web developer, and I interact with Andersen’s management team occasionally. 

How did you come to work with Andersen?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $5,000 per month, so we’ve spent $120,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in the middle of 2018, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Andersen has provided good quality service.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how easy it is to communicate what I need to the developer. We communicate via Slack, and we also use Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I get what I ask for and I’m in control of the process. I manage the project, and I prefer this direct approach to the process because is it’s easy to manage. The team has also been good at listening to my needs and meeting them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no criticism.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Andersen is worth a try. As with any software service, it’s about the customer’s ability to do the work that’s required to complete the project. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Freakologics AB.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Andersen?

I was looking for development resources for a project with a Norwegian online gaming company focused on sports betting and casino websites.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andersen has provided developers for React.js, GraphQL, and Node.js. They were responsible for putting together the frontend of an online gaming website.

What is the team composition?

They have a team of two developers, one QA tester, and one project coordinator.

How did you come to work with Andersen?

I was scouting for different development agencies, especially in Eastern Europe, and I got some good references for a couple of companies in Kiev. I interviewed eight different companies, out of which Andersen was the most suitable.

They were a mid-sized company that allowed me to easily scale the teams up and down, and they also had the competencies we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re paying an average of $15,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Andersen in August 2019, and our engagement is ongoing. We finished development, and we’re entering the support phase. We plan to finalize the project in November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Andersen’s customer support service is fantastic. We’ve had some hiccups mid-project, but the account managers were able to accommodate our needs and readjust the contract.

They’re willing to help make our engagement successful. From a technical perspective, the developers they assigned were high-caliber, and they delivered really good work. I only have good things to say about the technical skills of the engineers. 

We’ve gone to their offices in Kiev three times, and they were super nice and made us feel at home. We were there for a week to meet the developers, and the facilities were great. This was one of the criteria I took into consideration when selecting a service provider.

How did Andersen perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m responsible for managing the project and making sure we reach the deadlines. It’s a pleasant experience to work with their account managers, and they’re always willing to help and accommodate our needs. 

They were willing to work extra hours in order to meet our deadline. We didn’t meet that deadline, but it was because of another company, unrelated to Andersen. So far, they’ve delivered what we've asked for, and everything was done properly from a project management perspective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always have open communication channels, and they ask us for feedback on the performance of their developers. They also consult with us on improving different parts of the platform. 

The communication is always friendly and professional, and it’s very pleasant to work with them. They’re not only technically-capable but also very nice people. They have a friendly and warm approach to discussions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their prices need to be a bit more competitive. I’ve compared them to other agencies in the region, and I’ve realized that Andersen is a bit more expensive. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Their office in Kiev is a really good environment, and all their people are hardworking and skilled from a technical perspective. I’ve seen junior developers go to intermediate skills very quickly there, so I’d say that people looking to develop their technical skills shouldn’t hesitate to work there.