Atlas SoftWeb

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Sharethelovely.com a multi-sided resale marketplace that provides consumers and the industry a range of sustainable products and services for fairytale weddings at a fraction of the cost in an omni-channel environment. We’re ThredUp meets StitchFix meets Uber where “BrideShare is the new “Rideshare”!

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

Atlas was a critical reason I was able to build the model I envisioned, to my requirements as well as taking part in the strategic plan and solutions to build the right foundation that could scale in the future. My team at Atlas helped me see the opportunity in using Magento 2 as the platform of choice and found so many ways to achieve the other unique requirements and functionality I needed.

How did you select Atlas SoftWeb and what were the deciding factors?

Atlas is extremely professional, courteous, but most importantly they become part of the solution, as my partners, from the Lead Project manager Akash having the patience of a Saint, making sure I was completely comfortable, to the Owner, Mr. Royson, who showed me that we could successfully build this on time and budget and they would do whatever it took for a successful outcome.

Kana our lead developer always found a way to say yes, and figure out how to either customize existing or develop it, when other developers said it could not be done. Kana had a tremendous influence on my decision.

I felt I could completely trust his word and skill and his working style was a great match. It is not always easy to work with Technical leads, but this development team completely changed my mind.

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

We went through many initial requirement meetings to determine the scope including integrations with Webkul marketplace Zoho, Paypal, Klarna, Mailchimp, QR code, GoShippo, Return solutions, Dynamic Size/Fit solutions, and many more.

I went through this same evaluation with 4 other developers both US and Overseas. In the end, after a month of meetings, I made the decision to accept the proposal and partner with Atlas.

We had our weekly or biweekly progress meetings and they followed the production plan and goals as planned. I added more functionality and additional requirements that were outside of scope and they were kind enough to include in the final product, were very fair and thorough to include outside of the original plan.

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

I worked with 2 dedicated resources, Project Manager, Project Head, Sr. Web Developer (Certified), Sr. Designer, Shadow Resource, QA. We also had Designers, SEO, and Marketing consulting when needed on various parts of the project.

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

Having almost completed the project, we are launching and in the final QA process. It is a tedious process but having partnered with such a committed team, dedicated to detail and success, makes it a good experience overall. I completely trust the team and look forward to moving forward on other projects, including SEO, Marketing, and our next phases of development.

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

We have had one to two dedicated meetings per week as we all deemed necessary but when more were needed Atlas was always available. Our project manager was always in communication when needed. If there were any concerns, they always got right on a call to help relieve concerns and come up with solutions.

They even went above and beyond and helped me through some internal business decisions that were definitely not within the scope of their responsibilities but their commitment to the business model and its success truly showed through in there advice and counsel. We used Clubhouse.io, Google Suite, Skype.

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

I have worked with many consultants and outsourced teams throughout my career, and many like to say they are your "partner". The term has been overused, but I can truly say the Atlas team is not just our partner, they feel like family. I will always look to them for advice and hope they will continue to work with the business as it grows.

They have gone above and beyond and seem to want success for the business as much as I do. I hope to have the opportunity to show my level of gratitude to them one day. Part of what keeps me going and getting past all the hurdles a startup encounters is for the Atlas team as well, so we can continue building the business successfully together.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't say I have any issues or concerns. I can thankfully say I would not change a thing. They are true partners, on time, on budget, never give up, patient, and great skill. I don't think I could ask for more.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering at Educents, a marketplace for educational resources. We connect with customers who are mostly homeschoolers in the United States.

What challenge were you trying to address with Atlas SoftWeb?

We needed help to develop our e-commerce platform. We had a Magento website, but the out-of-the-box version didn’t provide a seller functionality part. We needed a feature to enable sellers to upload products, manage orders, and maintain inventory.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used them to scale resources for different e-commerce development tasks as our company started growing. Our product team provided the designs, wireframes, and customer-facing functionalities. Atlas SoftWeb then developed the platform using Magento, PHP, MySQL, Apache, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. The team also integrated trackers for Google Analytics and Facebook.

What is the team composition?

We worked with the owner, 5–6 developers, and 3–4 QA engineers.

How did you come to work with Atlas SoftWeb?

Educents hired Atlas SoftWeb before I joined the company. Our CTO engaged them because he had worked with the team on past projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2015 and the partnership ended in July 2018.

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

The team was responsive and delivered mostly quality results quickly. We assigned dedicated in-house resources to review Atlas SoftWeb’s work because we occasionally had to prioritize quality over speed.

How did Atlas SoftWeb perform from a project management standpoint?

I served as the project manager. We communicated directly with the engineers via Slack and Skype. We always found mutually-convenient time slots. We used Jira and they followed our practices for the tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsive communication was notable. The engineers were passionate and wanted to contribute to the end result’s success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, it was fine and we got what we paid for—maybe even more. We had to be on top of things occasionally to make sure quality was top notch.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a dedicated engineer lead and work closely with them to ensure effective communication.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and consulting director of Ascella Consulting. We started out in Singapore in 2004 out of the need to support paint and chemical manufacturers in improving their operations and in developing safer chemical products for consumer use. While working with these manufacturers, we realized that we were also helping them become more profitable, accountable, and effective. As such, we grew our capabilities and services to support the cultural change and corporate restructuring of companies.

To date, our clientele for these services has expanded beyond the chemicals manufacturing sector. We’ve helped banks, hotels, and services companies transform their organizations towards a high-performance culture.

For what projects/services did your company hire Atlas SoftWeb?

Our previous in-house web designer disappeared without properly completing or handing over the project. While the result was superficially alright, there were elements that didn’t meet up to our requirements. Later, a bug reverted our website to an older WordPress version that didn't reflect the current image of our company. We engaged Atlas SoftWeb to revamp our website and get it back up to what we originally wanted.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted our website to be back online, with all the corrections and updates that were required. We also wanted the older WordPress website to be purged from our servers to prevent a repeat of the bug.

How did you select this vendor?

We originally looked for vendors on Freelancer. Atlas SoftWeb was the only one who took the initiative to actively seek us out and lobby for the project. Their prices were also reasonable, and they took the time to properly explain to us what was required of the project and the steps needed to get it done.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Their scope was to restore our website back to the PHP version, remove all traces of the older WordPress website from our servers, and revamp and update several pages of the website back to our specifications.

What was more important to us was that they finished the work on schedule and that the corrections and adjustments needed to the system were handled quickly.

What was the team composition?

We dealt only with Akash Thakkar (Senior Business Development Manager, Atlas SoftWeb). I have no idea who else was supporting him in this project.

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

Our website is now back up and running and displaying the current marketing literature. The team also fixed the typos and errors that were left behind by the previous web designer.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had frequent updates from Akash, who was able to accommodate my traveling schedule. Overall, I’m very satisfied with the way that the project was managed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their work is quite clean and was delivered on time. Akash took the time to properly explain what the available options were and how best to move forward with the project.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I don’t see where they could improve their service. They should keep up the good work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a real estate broker for the Brewer Realty Group.

What challenge were you trying to address with Atlas SoftWeb?

We needed a development firm that could quickly build websites and provide updates as needed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Atlas SoftWeb essentially functions as our web development department. They’ve built a variety of websites for us over the years using WordPress, Joomla, and CSS. I’ll usually design the sites and provide them with frontend mock-ups. They perform the actual coding and build out each platform.

They recently developed a sophisticated real estate website for us that required significant software integrations. Most notably, the site is connected to a real estate exchange network and multiple listing service. This functionality features properties on the site’s home page and populates them in real-time as they become available. Their other responsibilities include assisting our SEO efforts. I write most of the blog content myself, but they manage our metadata and backlinks.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with Royson (Founder, Atlas SoftWeb) and a project manager. However, we’ve interacted with four resources in total.

How did you come to work with Atlas SoftWeb?

We’ve worked together for a long time now. I first met Royson by networking when I owned my own business. We got to talking and started working on projects together. Our relationship evolved from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve likely spent between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Brewer Realty Group hired them in 2011. Our involvement with them is ongoing.

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

Their SEO campaign improved our web traffic by 378% in a single month. Specifically, their efforts increased the number of monthly visitors to our site from 450 to 2,201. Our clients are absolutely enthralled with the look and feel of the website’s Atlas SoftWeb produced. I use third-party software to safeguard against bugs, but they backup our sites in case of a crash.

How did Atlas SoftWeb perform from a project management standpoint?

Royson has several project managers on his team but often oversees our project directly since we’ve worked together for so long. However, he’s allocated another senior manager to supervise the resources working on our SEO campaign. We’ve used project management tools in the past, but 90% of our communication takes place via Skype. I also reach out to them with emails quite a bit. They issue multi-page work reports to us each week that track our successes. Our other tracking documents include a keyword ranking report, a search engine submission report, a directory submission report, a profile creation report, and a local listing report.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their ability to overcome communication barriers. The real estate industry moves quickly, so smooth communication is crucial to a project’s success. Royson is able to teach his team how to interface with clients from the United States. They’re on top of emerging technologies, quality assurance, and offer competitive pricing. A lot of people can build websites, but I prefer to work with Atlas SoftWeb because of their commitment to customer service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Outline the project details and communicate your end goal. Assuming both parties come to an agreeable price, they’ll be able to deliver results.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO/Managing Director of Numidan. Numidan is an innovative baby clothes subscription business.

For what projects/services did your company hire Atlas SoftWeb?

Web development, SEO and speed enhancements.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed the website to be state of the art in terms of look and feel, but also functionality. We required complex booking and order systems.

How did you select this vendor?

We had been given the name of a few web development companies, and interviewed all of them. Ultimately, Atlas SoftWeb has the knowledge, time and understanding to see the project through.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project comprised of totally rebuilding my old and original website into a brand new, good looking website, with excellent control and functionality. This encompassed everything from UX/UI to custom plugins being built for complex payment management.

What was the team composition?

The project team had 6 individuals including myself. There were developers, designers, SEO team members and account management staff.

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

Having the website up and running as it is now, is a huge success. To have an idea come to life the way it did put us in great stead to take on the world with our new idea.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I had a dedicated project manager who I had daily contact with me. Any questions or issues we faced were dealt with promptly. It was a very good setup!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The time and effort they put in. We had many many calls, discussions, meetings — at all hours. It was very impressive. Also, their technical skills are the best I’ve ever come across.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None at all. It was 10/10.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Alkymis, Inc

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

We hired them to boost our SEO rankings on Google.

How did you select Atlas SoftWeb and what were the deciding factors?

They reached out to us and were helpful in guiding the process and answering our questions.

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

Our relationship began with an overview of their services and recommendations for our website. We hired them to do on-page SEO first and then off-page SEO.

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

I worked directly with two members of their team and they have facilitated changes for my website with their development team. I have a consistent point person, Akash, who is wonderful to work with and always available for questions. Sweta is wonderful to work with as well.

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

Since working together our traffic has been growing and rankings are better.

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

They communicate through Skype and email. They are available and easy to work with. It seems as though the structure of the company is very customer friendly.

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

The level of professionalism and care. They are relationship builders.

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

We have been happy with their services.