Atharva System

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the UX / Marketing designer for a multicompany watersports company with our own brands and retail.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a flexible development party that our scale of company could afford, to further develop our website platform for multiple companies

SOLUTION

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

We saw that Atharva worked on a very impressive website, so we contacted them, asked for references and then proceeded from there.

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

They worked on briefing, project planning to developing and delivery. We did the UX / visual side and functional testing.

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

3 - 2 dev, 1 project manager. The project manager is really dedicated and easy to work with on a daily basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the launch of our new website, we've almost doubled in 2 years time. Atharva's speed, costs, and productivity have played a big factor.

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

You start from emailing documents with the initial scope. From there they start work (payment after delivery), and you can maintain contact through skype, email or phone.

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

The flexibility and professional level of development they can offer. We've worked with a European party before and they were 6x more expensive and about 6x less professional.

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

We're very design minded, Atharva is development minded, so if you want esthetically pleasing (instead of practical) solutions YOU need to deliver the designs. But al in all we're very happy to have them at our side.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Cybrains, Inc. delivers advanced Ruby on Rails software development and Devops services to our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atharva System?

We outsourced Atharva to augment a worldwide distributed team of developers and designers building new features and maintaining existing systems for various clients.

What were your goals for this project?

Build new features, fix bugs, improve code base with automated testing, and optimize slow areas of the apps.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Through trial and error trying many different developers sourced through various remote hire platforms. Atharva is one of the few that survived the rigorous selection criteria.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Atharva provided expertise on all fronts from porting Solr to ElasticSearch, to integrating Twitter Bootstrap into the project in a way that was highly maintainable to building all new interfaces to external services, including SOAP, XML, and e-commerce.

Atharva was adept at taking proof of concepts and turning them into lasting solutions complete with automated unit and integration testing.

What was the team composition?

Over the years, the team composition has varied, but core team consisted of same initial developer pairings sourced from Atharva over the years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Atharva's invovlement and willingness to take on any manner of work given to them, whether they knew the technology at the start or not made it possible for Cybrains to grow and take on many projects at once without having to hire and manage a full-time staff of developers on the payroll.

This allowed for flexibility to expand and contract over the years as client demand fluctuated. I was always confident in Atharva's ability to deliver and ability to absorb new technical challenges along the way.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

As a software consulting service, Cybrains was the project management component of the relationship and Atharva was the developer muscle supplying the implementation horsepower to the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Atharva's consistency. Their involvement over time was one of the most consistent of any firm out there. Always scrumming at the end of every day with what they accomplished and what they'd do next and providing solid estimates on all new work to perform.

As their expertise grew over time, they were always willing to listen and learn from the best to continue to improve on their solutions. Atharva has worked with Cybrains for multiple years, so we have developed a strong working relationship that is highly trusted bi-directionally.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Always! But that's the standard operating model between Atharva and Cybrains. We always strive to do the next sprint better than the last.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We do create software for quality- and knowledge management systems and help improve our customers with workflow implementations to optimize their daily work and I am the CEO of this company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atharva System?

We do extend our developer and cloud team with the support of Atharva. They help us create and maintain the cloud web based system and mobile applications.

What were your goals for this project?

The current project was to create a new platform for inventor medical devices, track all necessary events and issues and also handle staff instructions on all devices including law required documentations.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were working in the past together in open source projects and they helped us in some tasks so we already knew about their experience. When we were in need to get more developers I fly over to their location to meet them and then build new project teams.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They helped us in creating the cloud platform including agile software development and deployment process (Jenkins pipeline, etc.). They also support us in design, develop back-end and front-end software bases on Ruby on Rails and React.

What was the team composition?

We are working in stable teams in Germany and India also as role based for backend and frontend development. For QA reasons we crosscheck each others work during development, test and deployment.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is an innovative new solution which will be introduced into the market.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We are working in scrum teams and do sprints (2 weeks) using github and other common tools for code and organization.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're fast, loyal, honest, and very experienced developers. That's the most important for long term projects with no employee fluctuation.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Everyone who works with off-shore must realize that most important over all is communication. So of course each project or milestones has problems and with lessons-learned and reviews we are continuously improving our work together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a company that designs hydrofoils for the surfing industry. I’m also in charge of marketing and sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Atharva System?

We hired Atharva System to handle all of the development for a website linked to our Odoo ERP. The site is tied to the e-commerce section and the entire supply chain of the company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Atharva System was tasked with the creation of dynamic filters for displaying one of several products. We also have different families of products, each with specific categories. We wanted to manage that dynamically through filters. Along with handling all of the front- and backend architecture, they created the specific attributes that needed to be applied.

One key element is that, if we add families of products on the site, the same architecture will apply to each one. The team at Atharva System worked on the Odoo ERP, building layers on top of it. We had an existing website, but it was rebuilt from scratch.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager on their end.

How did you come to work with Atharva System?

We’d brought an Odoo module that had been developed by them, for our previous website. We knew the company, so we contacted Atharva System to see if they’d be able to build our site from scratch.

The team at Atharva System has a great project management organization. The first page was concluded, in terms of how they collected information from us, then they used it to develop the web page. We moved to the next phases when that concluded.

How much have you invested with them?

The first iteration will cost between $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Atharva System in late-November 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Timelines were one key element. We had aggressive timelines, and they managed to achieve all of them. We’re completed satisfied with that specific metric.

The team at Atharva System delivers quality work. It’s hard to judge how many iterations we’ve had to go through to get a good result. They’re responsive and meet deadlines a majority of the time.

How did Atharva System perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is well-organized. The project manager took all of my inputs, creating a document that I went over with the dev team. For each web page, he made sure that he understood the scope of work entirely. After that, we moved to the development phase. With the project management organization, we avoided any work that would lead to something different than I requested.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their organization. The scope of work was validated for each phase. Once the page was developed, they went over it with me to ensure that there were no misinterpretations or mistakes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Their team has a process that works. I spent a lot of time on the phone with them, going over what’s needed, but that’s necessary for ensuring that we don’t have results that don’t match our specifications at the end. I’d recommend planning at least 2–3 hours a week with their team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide e-commerce marketing and development services in Pakistan and most of our clients are big retailers in all product categories.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atharva System?

We hired Atharva System for server optimization and custom Magento 2 development.

What were your goals for this project?

We were stuck with heavy traffic load balancing on our servers and our clients were after us to optimize their servers to handle a huge amount of traffic load. so we hired Atharva System to help us with that.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

One of my friends in my Firebear Studio group recommended Atharva System for Magento 2 custom development.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Atharva System provided us help in Magento 2 custom development and debugging also they helped us in AWS server optimization.

What was the team composition?

The team had more than three people who were directly involved in the project by Mr. Jignesh was our main contact person. I must say he is such a genius and a life saver for me as CEO of my company as he is the only person in the world I can rely on whenever I face a critical issue in Magento 2 or in the server, as I am 100% confident that he will manage to fix it no matter what. I call him my brother and indeed he is. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I got help from Atharva System for one of the most difficult clients of my company as they easily lose their temper if anything goes off. They helped me on time and with amazing precision and that just made our company image very strong in front of our client.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

It was managed in a very professional way and was completely up to the mark. Job well done.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing was the quick and positive reply from Mr. Jignesh. He worked for me in the night after office hours as well and I really appreciate that he knows the importance of resolving issues on time and quickly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can say that there is only one area that can be improved is per hour charges. As an agency, at times, it's difficult to pay that much without losing our margin.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Gunwerks is a Manufacturer of high quality long range shooting systems that focus on trophy game hunting scenarios. My role as the director of marketing is to build brand experiences and manage all marketing communications to our customers and our industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atharva System?

Gunwerks recently implemented a new cloud based ERP and wanted to employ the website module of the ERP to facilitate online commerce natively in our ERP. Our graphic design team built out an amazing theme but we do not have the in house resources to complete the development work needed to execute our theme look and style. The additional challenge was selling products in several different ways, configurable products, products with many variants and events.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to execute the theme design and style without effecting native ERP and CRM functionality of Odoo while providing a great customer experience for e-commerce.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

As Atharva was the developer of the base theme we modified we turned to them for help with the development of the modifications we made in our graphic design process.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Atharva built dozens of custom snippets to allow Gunwerks to execute the theme installment.

What was the team composition?

We had a cross functional team for Gunwerks which consisted of members of management and our digital marketing team. We had singular point of contact with Atharva which made communication super simple for Gunwerks managing the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On budget and on time

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their project management approach worked well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Time and cost controls

Are there any areas for improvement?

Time zones and English translations could some times be a challenge.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder of a small online retail store. We sell sustainable and ethically produced household products. We offer cleaning products, cosmetics, hygiene products, textiles for babies and young or soon-to-be mothers, and some dry foods. I mainly oversee the technical part of the business, which includes IT infrastructure.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Atharva System?

We chose Odoo as for our enterprise resource planning (ERP), or our IT backbone. It’s composed of several basic functionality modules, which had limitations relative to what we were looking for. We wanted to use Odoo for every business operation, from the website and its CMS down to accounting and stock management. Atharva handled all the customization work as we did a full ERP implementation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

On the CMS side, they’ve developed quite a large series of functionalities to make the website much more user-friendly, and they’re making designs to reflect the style and look and feel we want. The functionalities include offering further selections to clients during the checkout process, developing contact forms, and changing the header and the footer to provide new options. Those aren’t readily available in Odoo.

Another example is on the backend, where they’re tailoring the database structure to enable us to record new data and add new product features so that we can use them in our back-office processes or display them to customers. This includes a functionality they’ve developed to help us sell products that aren’t currently in stock. We display the expected delivery delay to clients, along with the stock level. Previously, that functionality didn’t exist, and the information couldn’t be stored because the database structure didn’t enable it.

On the accounting side, they’ve helped us develop new reports. Some of them were designed just using the design features of Odoo, but others required writing new code, either in Python or HTML. Atharva handled development and testing for us, and they also provided bug fixing and maintenance for upgrading the system or implementing new modules.

We either provided wireframes or gave Atharva System explanations, based on which they came up with proposals. The project was split into phases, each one composed of a set of functionalities to be developed. They gave us a detailed description of what they understood we would need, along with ballpark estimates of the effort required. They moved on once we agree on that.

The level of trust is very high, and they’re very transparent about the issues they encounter. We have very short turnaround cycles and feedback loops to adapt the work or change the functional requirements, based on new discoveries about the system.

What is the team composition?

I’ve had one main contact, and that was the only person I interacted with. I know the work is distributed among different teams. My contact is fully aware of our setup and needs, and of the work, that’s being done.

How did you come to work with Atharva System?

I wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about ERPs and CMS functionalities when we started. I researched different types of CMS in order to understand their limitations, and we chose Odoo. From that, after we understood the limitations of the system itself, we started looking for specialized companies. We found several that had developed modules compatible with Odoo, which we could buy from the Odoo store. Atharva was one of three companies we contacted. Their reactivity and the level of clarity and precision of their offer made us decide to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $4,000–$5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A qualitative metric is the size of my smile when I use the system, but that’s not necessarily helpful. They’ve decreased our page loading time to a third of what it was. Based on the results of testing software I’m using myself, I think overall site performance has tripled.

Out of four requests, one will require bug fixing, which is always solved in two days. None of those bugs ever created issues for clients, only backend issues that weren’t impediments to doing business.

We still have a lot of work to do, but we have to work in sequence. They’re currently working on basic functionality development.

How did Atharva System perform from a project management standpoint?

Atharva is well-organized and professional. They work with the proper sequence, namely first understanding the business requirements, and translating those into functional specs that we still understand and on which we agree. They then assess the technical feasibility and come back with an estimate of the workload for us to validate. They do the development in phases, with core functionalities first, checking those, and then fine-tuning.

I’ve had no surprises whatsoever. When they discover that something can be done more easily than initially anticipated, they share that, and I can see the benefits in my invoice as well. From a user perspective, this is reassuring, and I never feel lost myself, even in technical areas that I don’t master. For my scale, they’ve found the right tradeoffs between moving fast and moving safely. There isn’t too much red tape, and what they do is stable.

We mostly communicate by email. We have Skype calls with shared screens three times a week, where I can explain my requirements, and where they show me mockups and demos of the features. They use GitHub to commit new developments. They have access to our own GitHub account, which is completely delegated to them.

We had frequent exchanges on that, and the feedback loop was very short. When the requirement was about backend processes, we explained our functional needs and they came up with process flows and suggestions on how to get the work organized and reach our objective. Afterward, we discussed the changes they intend to bring to the database or the software. I wanted to know what they would be changing and why, and what the consequences of those changes would be, either in terms of database performance and maintainability or in terms of website performance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the outstanding commitment my contact offers, along with their reaction time. When we have an issue, they’re always there. They think together with us, and they come back with challenges to our own requirements, to test whether that is really what we want or just to confirm that what we want makes sense. They have a commitment and willingness to truly help us fundamentally, and not just do what we want. They make sure that what they do will truly address the basic needs we have, even if we don’t express them well.

I’ve worked with other software companies of similar size, and I was almost systematically disappointed. I would recommend Atharva without any doubt.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, I wish the development could go even faster, but I think that this is a bias I have because, when I have an idea, I want it to be developed quickly. To be fair, I have pushed them in areas they didn’t master, like having them develop an API to a payment acquirer. They’ve developed two new interfaces for me that they’d never done before, and it was a learning experience each time for them. They accommodated that, and they charged me for half or one-third of their time because the rest was accounted as learning for them. I believe that’s absolutely remarkable. They will gain more and more experience and become more proficient in those areas over time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a senior developer at Printed Mint Inc. The company is a print on demand wholesale. We use Odoo for e-commerce application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atharva System?

To develop custom modules

SOLUTION

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

From Odoo app store

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

They do user interface design and custom logic.

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

There are project manager and one developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Achieve our design goal and ease of use to our customers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication over zoom call twice a week. All work done on time and better.

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

The team was flexible and delivered high-quality products.

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

All good

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the director of a solar company in Australia that has been operating for 20 years and has 60+ staff

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atharva System?

We use an open source ERP platform called Odoo. We required an expert in this field to assist us in implementing new modules or making changes to existing.

SOLUTION

How did you select Atharva System and what were the deciding factors?

Efficiency Speed Service Price Quality of work

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

Assist with Odoo implementation and ongoing changes

How many resources from the Atharva System team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Atharva has helped us successfully implement several modules into Odoo for us

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent

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

The team's speed and accuracy on their work have been impressive.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Venia Studios does software consulting and development for web and enterprise applications. We provide end to end solutions with Salesforce, data storage, and web technologies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Atharva System?

Development work on a medical reporting system

What were your goals for this project?

Development of several new features and ongoing support of the application

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Internet search and interviews

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Software development with a Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL platform hosted by Heroku.

What was the team composition?

1 or 2 developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This is the main application of the business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I managed the project. The effectiveness was fairly good.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their expertise in technology is impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Communication was a challenge, as it is for any software project.