Ardas

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as the marketing director for Cerri.com AG, a SaaS company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardas?

We hired them for their custom software development services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ardas provides us with custom software development services. Initially, they developed the first version of our project management software using Python and Angular. It had three key functionalities: project management, task management, and timesheets. Following this, they helped us rebuild the same software using .NET and implemented some plug-ins for Google and the mobile version. Currently, we rely on them for maintenance support.

What is the team composition?

We work with seven people from their side.

How did you come to work with Ardas?

I met with one of the company’s partners at an event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2015, and our collaboration is still ongoing.

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

Overall, they’ve done a great job of delivering what we need, and their team is very professional.

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is amazing. I don’t remember the tool we’ve been using to manage tasks, but we communicate mainly through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been honestly impressed with their project management and QA team. They have a structured approach and are a professional team. They’re also not cheap, but the level of services they provide is according to the price they charge.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

Our choice of technology has negatively affected us down the road, but I don’t think it’s their fault. Other than that, everything else has gone according to plan.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Estimate everything beforehand and make sure all the project specifications are clearly outlined.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the MD of a transportation solution provider assisting mainly corporate clients with their group ground transportation needs.

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

We were already working with a white label solution for our admin needs but really felt that the product was over-engineered and that the communication with the provider was not working sufficiently well. Hence we needed a tech partner that had high communication skills and that could assist us creating an admin system that would really tailor to our needs.

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

Through market research we found the prospective partners, and after several reviews, interviews and referral checks we settled on Ardas who showed most promise among the roughly 10 candidates.

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

The project full project consists of multiple steps, of which the MVP system was the first. We needed an admin booking system that allowed us to store all our customer orders. We also needed a pricing engine that allowed dynamic pricing according to the unit prices we entered coupled with a google maps API that allowed for unique pricing per booking.

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

There's been a rough 5 staff members working with us, ranging from Sales to Project Manager to Business Analysts to Head of Delivery as well as System Architect.

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

We launched the product within the timeframe which was much appreciated. Initial indications allows us to estimate that the product reduce admin time with 66% for the tasks it currently covers, something that we see as a success and intends to expand upon.

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

Ardas was chosen partially because of their communication skills. We're always kept up to date, we receive information in a timely manner and have been ery happy with it this far. The work in general is structured and we've always been able to make the changes we need, which proves a great deal of flexibility.

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

It's the first time we outsource tech so in some ways it's difficult to say what's unique in this industry, but what I do enjoy is the commincations and flexibility which we really make use of.

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

Too early on our part to tell. We haven't found it yet.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CTO of Cardiolyse, a medical technology company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardas?

We were developing a cloud and mobile application for our device and algorithms. We only had two internal developers at the time, so we started looking for a service company to create the software we needed for our product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was an API-based cloud platform that worked with electrocardiogram devices. The devices would send data to our cloud, and we’d send back analyses. All the data was contained in JSON files. Most of the wireframes and documentation were prepared by Ardas. We gave them a basic explanation of how our hardware device worked, and a description of the API we had at the time, but they prepared the rest of the technical documentation.

We started with an estimation and design phase, working with Ardas’ data analysts and developers to create an MVP of our product. This made sure we could do it cost-effectively and deliver all the value we wanted to our customers. That was a short phase of 2–3 weeks, and we created specifications based on it.

The overall development was split into stages, which we clarified before starting. We had an agile style of software development. Ardas helped us define the scope of each stage or release, and handled development, QA, and deployment to production. We gathered feedback from users and made improvements based on it.

We used AWS to host everything, and we used Jenkins Docker containers in order to better-scale the service. The programming language was Java.

How did you come to work with Ardas?

We had a tender and vetted four companies. Ardas impressed us with a good understanding of our business domain, logic, and marketing. They also provided some examples from their portfolio.

We had an internal competition and selected four companies to send requests for proposals. We met in person with all four, and we were really impressed with the deep knowledge of our domain that Ardas had.

Quality of code was another consideration. We asked for a couple of references and talked to people who’d worked with Ardas before. I personally met with all the stakeholders involved in our project and loved the proactive approach to communication and development they had. The overall process was really good on Ardas’ side.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $35,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Ardas between August 2016–November 2017. We ended the collaboration because we hired an internal development team. Ardas was good, but we no longer had a business need for their services. They continued to consult us and provide our internal developers a better understanding of the code, the infrastructure, and architecture.

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

The main metric for us was development time. It was crucial for us as a company, since we’d signed contracts with clients and had to deliver what was promised. Ardas helped us build the platform, and it was crucial for our success. We didn’t track other KPIs.

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

I rate them a 5/5. Everything was great, and they delivered on time. They were very proactive and actually delivered 2–3 days before the deadline sometimes. I don’t recall any situations where they missed the promised deadline. Actually, there were a couple of issues with our cloud, and Ardas helped resolve those quite quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What I really liked about our communication was that they were friendly and explained additional possible options that might improve our product. That was really helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything was okay for me, so, fortunately, I don’t have any suggestions for how they could improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any specific advice, but I’d definitely recommend Ardas to any client looking for a reliable and accountable partner.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Softcube. We create video ads automatically and run campaigns on Facebook and Google for our customers. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardas?

We have a huge data stream and needed a system to help us process it. We had a tool previously in place that gave us issues with performance and cost.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ardas created a backend system for processing the data we’re getting from Google and Facebook. The system is built on Java, but I don’t know the exact framework used. It’s deployed internally on our servers. 

They had several goals to achieve during the development process, including horizontal scalability and optimizing the performance of one processing node. If we want to process more data, we can simply deploy more servers.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager and a Scrum master who handled all our communication. However, we also knew every developer in the team, and our CTO communicated directly with them on certain tasks.

How did you come to work with Ardas?

One of my friends had worked in Ardas a few years ago. We had a specific high-level task, and a generic company couldn’t deliver on this profile. Ardas had worked on such projects before, so we met to discuss it.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent up to €80,000 (approximately $89,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from August 2018 until September 2019.

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

We had an organized scrum process where Ardas delivered tasks every two weeks. They didn’t meet the schedule for every sprint, and the project lasted a bit more than we expected, but that was mostly due to us adding some extra tasks and processes.

Our main goal was measurable, namely the performance of a particular node. It needed to process around 1,000 requests per second, and Ardas accomplished that. It led to a huge cost reduction for us—much more than we expected in our goals.

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

There were some points where we disagreed, but we were okay with their communication in general. We liked that it was simple and straightforward. If we had an issue, we could just talk to the developers and get it resolved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ardas delivered what they promised, which was the most important thing. We selected them because they had the expertise to work with high-load systems. Other developers wouldn’t have known how to deal with such tasks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were some crucial changes, but everything worked well. I don’t have any big issues to mention.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to set goals for every two weeks and to understand step-by-step how to get to the end and at what pace to move.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of TouchIt, an educational application company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardas?

We wanted to develop a tablet app for kids that introduces a new program for schools. We wanted interactive animations and for everything to be in 3D.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I had the basic idea and presented it to Ardas. They developed the entire app in six months and then spent two months testing it. They supported us once we launched the whole project.

What is the team composition?

We had one project manager, and seven other people were working on every part of it, like the web development and design, the testing, and the creative part. 

How did you come to work with Ardas?

When I was looking for someone to take over the project, I liked them the most. We did a tender with three companies. Ardas had the best price, but they also seemed to have the most technical knowledge for their price range. They offered everything, from A–Z, in one package, including testing.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spent $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2016–February 2017.

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

I left the company, so I don’t have access to the metrics anymore. I really liked the software they developed and the 3D animations they designed. The way they did the project and the support they provided was great.

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

They were usually ahead of schedule. Our company wasn’t in much of a rush; we set more relaxed goals. We had an email chain that everybody was on. We also used Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication was good, and they were really nice. They didn’t just give short answers; they actually explained stuff I didn’t understand. When questions arose, their responses were thorough and detailed, which I found surprising for technical people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a couple of times we misunderstood each other just because English is not our native language, but we sorted it out right away.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them everything you want. Even if you ask them to do more, I think they would do it. Let them do their thing. They developed some ideas that weren’t on my list before and added some things that weren’t planned for, which I liked.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardas?

We brought Ardas on board because I no longer had enough internal resources. We built the technology over the course of 3­–4 years, and the changing marketplace demanded that we update it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first gave Ardas a small project which they did very well at. After we decided to take them on for our project, they provided technical specifications and concepts around the functionality of the system.

Ardas delivered the actual programming of the system, including penetration and user testing. They endeavored to abide by our high standards; we required their ability to document and future-proof the product.  

For the first 2­–3 years, it was pretty much pure development work. We then started to get into concepts with initial clients in the UK and later on, in Asia. They helped support those concepts where we were developing specific capabilities.

For example, we built what was probably the first secure Blackberry messaging system, which they integrated into our entire suite. This was executed and tested in Asia, where we had a client.

What is the team composition?

The team size grew over time, culminating in a team of 17 Ardas people working for us. I dealt directly with one of their founders.

How did you come to work with Ardas?

We met them through a site that promoted their services. We began to have a conversation and decided to give them a month-long test project. We wanted to see how well their team would work and communicate with us. We needed a capable partner who really grasped the essence of what we were trying to do.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $1,500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from 2006–2012.

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

Throughout the years of our engagement, they became our exclusive team. They were excellent to work with because they had the creativity and came up with unique solutions. Instead of simply taking orders, they came to us with their own ideas, and this was very refreshing.

It was pretty fantastic to see them deliver on their own initiative. Their entire team was proactive and enthusiastic. I still keep in touch with Alexey (Owner, Ardas) even though we haven’t worked together in a while.  

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

They were impeccable, probably better than we were. They excelled at setting and meeting deadlines. At times, I came to them with very demanding requirements, and they’d still be able to deliver.

Using an internal program to communicate, we collaborated all the time. Alexey even flew to Hong Kong with me, later in our partnership. It’s pretty remarkable that we worked together for four years, and I spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with them before we even met.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In the 13 years that I’ve known them, I’ve never once doubted their honesty or integrity. I wish I could say that about other suppliers. They’re scrupulously honest, and they care about what they do. Their passion is truly outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything in our collaboration they could’ve improved, except maybe their English proficiency at some small points. We did find spoken English slightly challenging at first, but using text-based or written English was fantastic. I suspect that after 13 years, their English has improved significantly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very upfront about what you really want. Give them the bigger picture, though, because giving comprehensive requirements gives them the freedom to deliver something fantastic.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Rest-ua.com. We created a housing rental platform similar to a platform such as Airbnb.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ardas helped to develop the solution, which enables house owners and agencies to access target markets and connect with one another as well as renters to locate a suitable home or flat. Essentially, their team took care of everything—from the idea to the platform’s launch. They divided the project into 17 sprints. First, their team listened to my idea to create sketches and wireframes. Then, they developed the UI. Their team also worked on the database and the backend. Once their team completed the first five sprints, we released the first version of the product. Ardas continued to develop the platform, managing the test phase and configuration of the platform. We continued to implement the results as the other sprints finished. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with about six people including a project manager.

How did you come to work with Ardas?

A colleague mentioned them. We got in touch and had a conversation. Their team seemed experienced and had worked with many clients in the US. To me, Ardas was the most professional vendor

How much have you invested in them?

I spent around $180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with Ardas between March 2015–July 2017.

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

Ardas achieved the results I expected. Their team did everything right. Before them, I didn’t have a business or a website. In the end, I did. Ardas was a great team. They had a high level of expertise.

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

Ardas met all deadlines. Their team provided regular updates so I could review their work. They understood my interest in the completion of their work, not that I had any doubts. Their team knew what they were doing and took a lot of weight off my shoulders. Ardas always had answers to my questions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their know-how. Ardas built the platform easily.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. Since it was the first project I’d worked on, there’s nothing for comparison.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the product manager at Transport Exchange Group. We create and deliver real-time decision-making solutions for logistics and transportation businesses around the world.

We help them unlock operational business silos and provide the freight data aggregation and analysis tools relied upon to build businesses. With our public and private freight exchanges, we are now the leading provider of managed freight exchange services for the UK road transport industry, with successful exchanges now established in five countries.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ardas?

We hired Ardas to help us establish the new framework and architecture for our Process as a Service (PaaS) platform.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to rebuild our platform from the ground up to allow us complete flexibility and future-proofing. We wanted to offer a robust and stable enterprise solution.

How did you select this vendor?

Our CTO at the time had worked with Ardas previously and recommended them. They won the project tender based on various factors, including skills and cost.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

In 2010, we decided to completely refactor our PaaS solution and move it from Windows to Linux. The initial task was to set refactor our existing platform to ensure that when we migrated users, our users had a seamless transition, full trading history from the previous app, and improved UX and UI. Ardas has developed and maintained the application. The project is ongoing as we are always adding new features and services for our customers.

What was the team composition?

Initially, we worked with one agile team, including a system architect, business analyst, four developers, and two QA staff. We now have four teams, including one mobile team.

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

Over the last few years, we have scaled accordingly and now have the capacity for more users. When we released our new application in 2013, we had 1,500 customers. We now have over 6,000, including several enterprise-level customers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was arranged between myself and their business analyst. Since we now have several teams, Ardas assigned several product owners responsible for delivery. They work closely with their team's business analyst.

We use a combination of agile and Kanban methods, which works well. Our teams have daily stand-ups, retrospective, and guild meetings to address blockers. We are continuously learning and improving practices.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are willing to do whatever is required to deliver on time and within budget.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We have a mobile parking solution for the African market. I'm the founder and CEO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardas?

We couldn't use any existing parking platforms, so we asked them to develop an Android app that fit the market in West Africa.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The solution uses mobile phones and cloud-based services. They developed the entire app, based on wireframes and specifications we provided. We worked together in sequential sprints, and built the app gradually.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four to six people, depending on the phase. We had one main point of contact, a project leader, a designer, a lead programmer, and a support programmer.

How did you come to work with Ardas?

I worked with them on a previous project at another company, so I knew about their process and brought them into this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February or March 2015, and the project ran through to June 2017. It was a long period, but the intensity varied throughout the course of the collaboration.

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

In the end, we didn't launch the finished product that Ardas worked on. The market changed, but we pivoted and reused Ardas's work in another solution. Even though we didn’t launch it, we were very pleased with the app they produced. Everything worked as expected.

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a very close dialog with them through various sprints. There are complications with any offshore vendor, but they did very well. Most of our communication was through email or phone, and they used another tool for sprint reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They keep up with the latest technologies and methodologies. They know what they're doing, and the team is very good. Their access to good competencies is excellent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We occasionally missed targets, and parts of the communication took us by surprise, but everything worked out quite well. The issues we faced were all fairly normal for an offshoring arrangement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear idea of your goals and your specifications. The better you prepare, the better your relationship will be.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner and founder of an e-commerce business. We have one main product we work on, and we built applications to assist single mothers, shut-ins, and other individuals who didn't have a lot of time to go shopping.

What challenge were you trying to address with Ardas?

I'm a small organization, and I outsource resources as I need them.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I provided all the requirements for this project, which included a series of functional and non-functional needs. Those included tasks in the client frontend, the backend database, and entity relationships. They also helped address restrictions in the environment, affiliate marketing, and retention. They worked on APIs, databases, and notifications within the application, and they tied several apps together through linking.

The database ended up being about a million skews at the time, which we pared down. The finished product is a mobile app for gift shopping and personal shopping, linked to calendars and contacts. Users can set up reminders, with a list of recommendations, based on an algorithm we incorporated. I know they used a REST API, but I'm not sure of the rest of the tech stack. We planned to release the app on both iOS and Android, but the final launch was purely native to Android.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, two developers, two testers, and an administrator.

How did you come to work with Ardas?

I had some experience with one of the principals at Ardas. She reached out to me to renew the relationship, and I had the idea for this product in mind. Based on their expertise and my level of trust in them, I decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was a little over $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in April 2016 and finished testing in mid-August of that year. The initial American Android version was released in September 2016, and the Canadian edition came out in November 2016.

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

They gave me very good feedback for requirements as we progressed through development. They suggested I avoid certain things that wouldn't work for our users. If something I wanted was inappropriate to the overall workflow, they pushed back and made other recommendations. They helped me get a product into the market, which was our major KPI.

How did Ardas perform from a project management standpoint?

I have the highest regard for their project management team. Their principals are more than happy to get involved, and they keep a close eye on their projects. Onshore managers helped the offshore team a lot. They are, by far, the best offshore resource I've worked with. Most of our communication was through email, WhatsApp, and phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their prices reflect their work. They have a good understanding of requirements, and their methodology yielded a good quality product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were some very minor surrounding time zones, and the distance made it difficult to meet in person. They were flexible and worked with our schedule, even late into the night for them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don't be afraid of their feedback. Leave room for good critique, as they will make useful suggestions. They take your success to heart.