appwise software house

Please describe your company and your position there.

I owned a Polish design and branding studio Pragmatic.Studio. During the project with Appwise I focused on customer communication and management.

For what projects/services did your company hire appwise software house, and what were your goals?

We hired Appwise to build a web app for our Stanford customer. Our goals were to develop a more flexible and polished solution than the original MVP which Appwise maintained for our customer at that time. Over time according to Appwise it became difficult to introduce even minor changes in the app. We agreed with their suggestion to rebuild the app and motivated our customer to take that step with us and Appwise.

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

We had a history of cooperation. We were looking towards different contractors due to numerous delays and system issues in prior projects. We are all about building relations and partnerships, so when Konrad (Manager) promised us things will be different this time around we took the leap of faith and signed the contract.

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

It was a fairly simple project. It was supposed to take 10 working days. We were about 30 working days in the project when Appwise declined to fix system issues and demanded final payment. Wordpress based web app coded with PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and JS. Key deliverable was the same MVP with minor changes and better code optimisation. Solution was a simple step-by-step surveying tool with scales in the form of toggle bars on each step. At the end of the sequence an algorithm would give an overall score for that specific sequence.

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

One coder, two different PM's (they changed during the project) and one business rep.

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

A measurable outcome was a lost client and, about 50 000$ in lost projects, sleepless nights and a lawsuit. Solution itself was plagued with issues Appwise could not fix. Once my customer refused to pay the final invoice before conditions in agreement were met, they seized all work and threatened us with lawsuit. We were open to doing so provided they would guarantee that they will fix remaining issues. They declined. You can read the rest of the story in "areas to prove".

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

Chaotic. Staffing often changed mid project. During this particular project PM's changed. This didn't matter much since PM's didn't play a big part in the process anyway. Most of the communication was done by business rep and coder. We used emails and zoom for communication. We had no access to any workflow/process/schedule management tool from Appwise. We tried to track progress on our side on Monday.com.

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

1. They always responded fast to any issues. They were always available for contact, a call etc. That's honestly impressive given how many issues there were.
2. They were very price competitive.
3. They were very engaged and tried hard.
4. They were solid with simple websites.

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

• Project management: Project managers were a bit lost and pointless at times. I was confused about what their role was.
• Customer management: They tried to change the rules of engagement after we signed an agreement. The PM and business rep tried to force me into signing a letter of acceptance. At that time the project was plagued with issues so I refused. You can’t do things like that. It puts customers into awkward positions and strains relationships.
• Quality: I would happily pay more to get my product according to specs. Every platform, system, web app we did had progressively more issues which were harder to fix.
• General knowledge: They could invest time and get some basic knowledge about the environment in which their solutions function and what to be mindful of.
• Example: Once they allowed robots while building out a new version of the website for our customer. During the design process we replicated URL structure 1:1 in order to avoid drops after the move. This caused Google to index the entire project which generated SEO issues for both the new and original website. They fixed robots.txt but forgot to open it back once they substituted the old website with the new one. This caused massive drops in Google rankings and over 80k$ in damages over 2 months before things went back to normal.
• Rotation: They need to keep their team together for longer. People coming and going mid project is a recipe for disaster. Stay in your lane: We could have avoided MANY problems if Appwise was honest about the limits of what they are actually capable of doing within a specific budget.
• Don't lie: Off the top of my head. In our last project we were told 4 times in 4 different situations how a simple algorithm worked correctly, despite the fact that it took 10 seconds to prove it wasn't. It took about weeks of back and forth communication before they caved in and finally looked into it. It turned out there was a mistake in class description which prevented the algorithm from working.
• Overall attitude to responsibility: We all make mistakes, no one is perfect. Once you make a mess, take responsibility and fix it. Don't catapult and leave your customer with issues to solve.

At one point Appwise asked me if they could send me a final invoice despite the fact that work was not completed. We agreed to pay once fixes were introduced on time. They were not. Appwise requested money but my customer declined payment due to fixes being weeks overdue. We both saw it as a breach of trust and good will.

Upon hearing this Appwise seized all work and demanded payment under the threat of lawsuit. My customer agreed to pay if Appwise would provide a web app according to agreement issues free. They declined. My customer severed our contract and removed us from coming projects.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a branding and marketing studio made up of a team of two freelancers.

What challenge were you trying to address with appwise software house?

We were required to outsource the development of the website we designed. We have design capabilities don’t have an in-house developer at the moment. So the idea was to employ appwise to help us sort it out.

What was the scope of their involvement?

appwise coded the WordPress site we designed for our client and added specific functions that we briefed them about. It was a very small website with only five pages, and they delivered excellently.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people. There was a business development representative who contacted me, a project manager, and a developer.

How did you come to work with appwise software house?

I found them on Google. I got the majority of their information from their website. They had really good projects featured on their site and I was able to look them up myself. I was able to contact them and they answered all my questions. They were very approachable and their price was satisfying, which is what sealed the deal.

How much have you invested with them?

Since it was a very small project, we invested only around $500.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted only two weeks in October 2020.

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

The main objective was for them to code our designs exactly the way it was and they delivered. On top of this, the client was very satisfied because they got exactly what they wanted which they signed off after seeing our mock-ups and visuals. Overall, a very successful project in the end.

How did appwise software house perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well despite minimal communication. They don’t normally use Trello but they adjusted to us and used it. In terms of deadlines, they had a bit of a slip for a couple of days due to one of their team members getting sick, but I don’t consider it to be a delay. Everything was done by the time they said they’re going to do it so overall, we’re very happy with it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed by the speed of the development. They said they were going to do it within a certain number of days and they did. There was no lagging, no deadline changes, and no falling behind deadlines. They were very quick and once they started, they did everything from the beginning to the end within a couple of days.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was satisfied with the services so I don’t know what else they could do. It was the first time we worked with them, so we asked a few questions in terms of improvement and communication, which they answered. I don’t think there are any other things based on my experience to improve at the moment. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make a brief that includes everything you expect, be very clear of the results you’re expecting from the beginning, and be realistic. Ask questions when you don’t understand something, or if you’re not sure if it’s going to work or not because they’ll be able to advise you. This way, you can avoid the things you don’t want to happen.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are creative agency working on Digital/Offline campaigns for brand operating in Poland. I'm strategy planner who is also responsible for management of digital projects.

For what projects/services did your company hire appwise | software house?

Our challange was to deploy website in very short time. It was small but quite complicated. It was a campaign landing page containing product configurator.

What were your goals for this project?

It was a contest, so it was highly important to give users a good experience. Smoothly operating tool was crucial. Appwise advised us how to restructure some UI elements to gain best effect. Second thing was to give our marketing team a tool, that will enable quick respond time to submissions. So it was important to have a customized CMS solution.

How did you select this vendor?

Business dev contacted us on LinkedIn few weeks before this topic occurred. So when we kicked of the project we interview 3 software houses. Budget was not high, but all the vendors fit in. The crucial factor was the first attempt to understand our challange and need. Appwise treated us professionally from the early beginning. Probably because of contact with the CEO, not typical salesperson. Who not only want to sell, but understand business challenges well.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

1) Back-end development 2) Front-end development - visualization of contest mechanism + animations - configuration of 1000 product variations - contest submission 3) CMS customization - intuitive viewing, verification of contest submissions 4) Improvements after deployment - UI changes due to heat maps analysis

What was the team composition?

5% CEO (business development in this case) 5% Project Manager/Account Manager (one person) 90 % Developer

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

First of all backend solutions allow us our agency team to conduct the marketing activation smoothly. It shortener time to view and respond to our users contest submissions. Of course smoothly operating website front gived user good experience and allow us to reach high conversion (7000 submissions after 3 of 8 weeks) - which is a great result for our client.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

It was very simple project in terms of management. That's why 2 Hangout meetings where enough to kick of the project and control it. 90% of the contact was the contact with developer.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Relations. With CEO, account manager and most important direct contact and relation with developer, that speeded up the process.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Considering fast pace of the project due to deadline, Appwise did the best they can to support us.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the group communication manager at ProService Finteco, a fintech company. I’m responsible for PR and marketing strategy.

What challenge were you trying to address with appwise?

They built landing pages for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The appwise team prepared three landing pages for our products. Following that, we’ve started building three company websites for our organization. They’re responsible for the structural and technical aspects for the corporate websites, and we provide them with the content. They use WordPress.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people from appwise.

How did you come to work with appwise?

They were recommended to me from someone within the company who’d worked with them previously.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since March 2020.

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

It’s a little too early to measure the impact the websites will have on our business. However, the quality of appwise’s work so far has been very good. We’ve gotten great feedback from our customers. They’re very deadline-oriented and have a sharp eye for detail. 

How did appwise perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform very well. We communicate regularly over emails and by phone calls. The owner is very dedicated to and engaged with our project, which we appreciate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their services and their price are some of the most impressive aspects of the project. The team is also very creative and flexible; they’re open to new solutions and have a range of capabilities and complex service offerings. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could benefit from hiring more designers.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are launching a new model of modern fitness clubs operating in the 24/7 model offering services based on a specific training goal. Each client is treated individually.

The club provides consultations with a dietitian, physiotherapist and personal trainers. Exercises are carried out using the latest generation equipment from one of the top brands. I am the president of the Board of I-GYM

For what projects/services did your company hire appwise?

To achieve our goals it is necessary to create a system that works in both the web application and the mobile application. The system is to be coupled to the club's building automation, parking system, to provide access control using biometrics. The system is to control the limits of people in individual time slots including consultations, physical exercises, and use of the SPA zone.

The system is to be equipped with a coupling with a whole-body circumference training system, enabling clients and trainers to control the quality and progress of their exercises. The system should support many online payment options. The system should support many clubs operating in a distributed network. It should be scalable and efficient, providing HA.

What were your goals for this project?

The basic goal is to launch the functionality of the booking system in the mobile and web version, including access control and flexible payment for services. The system should control the occupation of time slots by preventing too many exercising at the same time and providing them with comfort in using the club.

Further goals focus on increasing the ergonomics and functionality of the system based on feedback from interferences.

How did you select this vendor?

I knew the vendor owner before. We had the opportunity to cooperate in implementing IT projects. Based on previous experience, I was sure that my order would be carried out with the utmost care and professionalism.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project is implemented in an agile model. A design team was established consisting of specialists with knowledge and experience in project management, architecture design, backend and frontend layers, QA.

A kickoff of the project took place presenting the team members, proposed manufacturing technologies and a roadmap for individual sprints. We have adopted 2 weekly work cycles. Each sprint ends with a presentation and discussion on the presented functionalities.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of several people ensuring efficient implementation of tasks. We can indicate the following roles in the team: PM, mobile frontend dev, web frontend dev, systems architect, backend dev, QA, DevOps. All team members took part in all sprint summaries presenting their project areas.

The team was always well prepared to present the delivered part of the solution. We received many great suggestions and tips regarding the construction of individual functionalities and system ergonomics. The team's extensive experience and commitment deserve recognition.

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

375/5000 The solution was developed exactly at the time sanctions were introduced in relation to COVID-19. It turns out that the model invented in I-GYM paradoxically meets the requirements for access control and limiting the number of people in a specific space. Our software is necessary to meet the legal requirements and expectations of our clients.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

All project meetings were organized with the help of group meeting organization tools. In addition, we used email and telephone communication. Error handling is organized in a dedicated technical platform. All stages of the development process, including analysis, design, implementation, testing, release and stabilization, run smoothly and without complications.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Great organization, professional approach including care for product quality (e.g. production of unit tests). It should also be emphasized that the team can listen to the voice of the customer, is very involved and always meets the agreed deadlines. Team members show high competence and efficiency in the use of modern, scalable technologies that can be installed in cloud infrastructure. Working with the AppWise team is great, I recommend it to everyone.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't find them yet, they are a really strong team.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The solution that we develop as a Trans Group is a Road Transport Platform, which supports key logistics processes for road transportation. My position is Project Management Team Leader which covers the roles of Release Train Engineer (a SAFe role) and Project Portfolio Coordinator.

For what projects/services did your company hire appwise?

We needed additional resources to deliver one of our new products - Dock Scheduling and to integrate it with our Road Transport Platform.

What were your goals for this project?

It was development of new solution from scratch which may work both as an autonomic product or a module of our Road Transport Platform. Dock Scheduling is a web based application for warehouses and logistic centres dedicated to enhancing process of delivering and collecting time slots management.

How did you select this vendor?

We send the inquiry to our current suppliers as well as to companies outside our IT ecosystem. Appwise provided us we the most detailed, comprehensive and professional offer.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

In first row Appwise has delivered the first stage of the project in fixed scope/fixed price model basing on our requirements. They were responsible for architecture, design, development and maintenance of the solution.

After the first stage, mostly because of the agile character of our product management, we change the model for delivering and agile team (Scrum Master, Front-end developers and Back-end developers) for development of our new product.

The key feature of the Dock Scheduling dedicated for shippers and carriers are as follow:

• CRUD of warehouses and ramps/stations
• defining and managing of ramps'/stations' operating callender's
• time slots defining and management (editing, blocking, suspending, etc.)
• working calendars for warehouse operators
• notification system

What was the team composition?

Appwise full-stack development team (Scrum Master and 2-4 developers depending of project stage) was dedicated to work with Trans Group Product Owner and Business Analyst.

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

I can't share any business metrics but I think that the best demonstration is a statement that we have another solution in our portfolio which we can either sell as a independent product or as a valuable part of our platform.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I think the the best demonstration of how we value our collaboration with Appwise team is the fact the we trusted them much enough to switch from fixed price contracting to the agile model. Then, we contracted two more teams. In our environment, this is the highest mark of trust ;]

The team was transparent and had "yes we can" attitude since the very beginning of the project. The whole team rapidly incorporated our processes (including refinements, design, requirements decomposition, estimating, planning, reporting, monitoring and controlling) and tools (Jira, Asana, Google Suite, Slack, Workplace, GitHub).

There were no technical, culture nor process obstacles in our collaboration.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Openness and transparency along with development skills.

Are there any areas for improvement?

If there are some areas of improvement they had some blockers on our side. For example the full agile team collocation would surely enhance a development but we don't have any addition space in our location.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of InTheSky Agency. We’re a branding company that focuses on middle-range clients from various industries. We’re located in both Poland and Brussels, Belgium.  

What challenge were you trying to address with appwise?

We were seeking an outsourcing partner for web development support.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve been my solution for programming the websites that we design for our clients; so far, we’ve worked on 5–6 projects together. They’ve custom-coded websites for us, primarily using WordPress. These were fairly standard projects, where they delivered the sites’ frontend development.

What is the team composition?

We’re in contact with a project manager who serves as the mediator between us and the programmers. We know that there are about 15 people on board with us, and the two company owners manage the team.

How did you come to work with appwise?

We knew each other because we happen to be located in the same building. We’re neighbors, and we’d also had good past experiences with one of the owners. Their company is rapidly growing, and I wanted to utilize their services.

How much have you invested in them?

So far, we’ve spent between $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2019, and the work is still ongoing.

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

Their work has been excellent so far.  Unlike other programmers we’ve hired in the past, appwise implements our web designs perfectly. Our intricate graphic design projects are always executed exactly how we plan them.

Since we’re very meticulous in our design approach, it’s important that our development partner can really actualize the designs that we provide. In addition, the websites they’ve delivered have been largely bug-free and stable.  

How did appwise perform from a project management standpoint?

All of our projects were delivered on time, and we’ve never had any issues with timelines or communication. While email was enough for our standard projects, since we’re in the same building, we frequently had meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their precision in implementing our exact designs is outstanding. I was also surprised by how quickly they’re able to develop. They’re very fast, and with them, it’s possible to have websites live in as quick as 7–10 days. With other companies, it took us at least a month.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re a young team, and they seem to just “get it” when it comes to branding and design. You can trust them.  

Please describe your company and your position there.

MobilGO is a platform for shared taxi journeys. An innovative application where we pay one fixed amount for the ride. CEO

For what projects/services did your company hire appwise software house?

Designing the algorithm and application of the driver and client

What were your goals for this project?

Create a solution that allows you to travel together by taxi, booking a ride for the hour you want to be in the designated place.

How did you select appwise software house?

After the first call, I knew it was a good company. After the first meeting, I was determined to work together. Great commitment and energy.

Describe the project in detail.

The principle of operation of the application reverses the commonly known way of ordering a taxi ride. We order a ride for the hour we want to be in a given place, e.g. at 8:00 am to work. Orders must be placed at least one hour before the arrival time (e.g. 7:00 AM or earlier). The algorithm will group people going in a similar direction and send information to drivers and customers.

The passenger will be informed about the driver's arrival time and will be able to follow the vehicle on the map. The user can be sure that he will reach his destination at the appointed time. Similarly, the system works by implementing the recommendation after the selected full hour.

What was the team composition?

AppWise director was involved at every stage. Each shift was consulted by a client manager, I also had the opportunity to work with each of the team members, even after hours.

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

We have already implemented our solution and we can see that it is met with great interest. Despite the small budget, AppWise prepared a great solution and technical support.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Great! Many ideas proposed by the contractors themselves have been implemented. They always answer the phone and reply to messages quickly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team's execution time and software quality are impressive. Nobody on the market wanted to undertake this budget. AppWise did a great job!

Are there any areas for improvement?

You can always be better, but they know it perfectly well and raise the bar all the time!

Please describe your company and your position there.

We build one of the first Normobaria chambers in the world. That provides very effective oxygen therapies to help cure big range of diseases and is helping people to maintain healthier life style. I'm a co founder of Life Chamber.

For what projects/services did your company hire appwise | software house?

Appwise builded for us operative system to provide better and faster reservation system for our customers and inside system for our employees. They also created our website and they keep helping us with developing it to a better form.

What were your goals for this project?

To build a website with a system that suits us and our clients.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Appwise because of their very high reputation, professionalism and quickness's in reaction time, when we needed.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Our project together went very fast, as we needed that the most. The met our expectations in demands for a system and even give us more functions that are very helpful at the moment. They also give us some idea for future that we will absolutely use.

What was the team composition?

Appwise work as a whole of a bigger team that worked under their founder and project manager to met our needs.

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

System provided us with a great flow of new clients and also help a lot for me my employs to have better and faster access to all old and new functions that system provided us. Appwise met all our expectations and even much more.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

All though I'm working between Australia and Poland, he had not have any problems with communications to met all deadlines. Work flow between us and Appwise was just great.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Professionalism, responsiveness to every new challenge that we demanded of them, and quickness's in solving problems. It was a great relationship, and they supported us to become a better business.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. Overall 10 for 10.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CTO and Co-owner of FitAnka.pl - Our company has over 500,000 followers in social media and we run a training platform / mobile application (VOD) and a sports shop whose owner and influencer is Anka Dziedzic.

For what projects/services did your company hire appwise software house, and what were your goals?

Updating and further development of the FitAnka mobile application (flutter) with new modules such as Running, user statistics and integration with new external solutions.

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

They had a huge experience in developing similar apps in flutter technology. The price which they quoted compared to other companies was competitive.

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

We have added additional functionalities such as running in the application, statistics, training for children and many integration with external solutions.

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

We worked directly with:

• Alina (PM)
• Konrad (Sales manager / PM)
• David, Pawel & Patryk (Flutter Developers)
• Maciej (QA)
• Marcin (Wordpress Developer)
• Michal (UX/UI Designer)

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

The whole team worked very hard and it worked. We have released many new and interesting updates without any problems.

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

Communication took place at the highest level using the slack communicator and daily meetings with google meets. Project management was done using Jira. Everything worked very smoothly.

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

All team members were very involved in the development of the application and were very good at communicating. We could always count on their support, even during weekends.

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

We can only think of one thing, better task time estimation