Bamboo Agile

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-founder, Lead Designer of a sexual education platform

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

An educational mobile app for teens created to reduce illiteracy in sexual education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Bamboo Agile to accomplish?

• The main purpose was to create an educational mobile app for teens to assist them in overcoming puberty-related challenges by focusing on the main problems that every teen faces, such as lack of information about sexual education, body changes during puberty, physical and mental health, relationships with parents and peers, and other things.

SOLUTION

How did you find Bamboo Agile?

Other

Why did you select Bamboo Agile over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

What was the size of Bamboo Agile’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Our goal was to create an application with different types of content on the topic of sexual education gathered in one place. The product itself aims to help teenagers form a sense of freedom and individuality, as well as to establish a communication between them and their parents.

For this purpose, Bamboo developed for us an MVP of mobile app for sexual education. The app contained educational courses, videos and articles created by psychologists for teenagers. Using the app teens were able to share their growing up stories anonymously and get professional answer from the experts with years of experience in adolescent psychology. Having this kind of opportunity is very important, because everyone requires prompt assistance and support when facing a difficult situation.

The scope of work consisted of:

• Project management
• Requirements clarification
• UX/UI design consulting
• Mobile app development
• CMS (Strapi) configuration
• Backend development
• Server environment rollout
• API integrations
• App publishing and App Store preparation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Bamboo has developed the mobile app MVP and published it on the App Store in close collaboration with our team. After publishing, the app had a rating of 4.8/5 on the Apple App Store, which showed the success of our collaboration.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Bamboo team was made up of a project manager, a business analyst, a developer and DevOps engineer, and a UX/UI consultant. The work process was carried out according to the Kanban model. The project was divided into the following phases:

• Project initiation
• Mobile app development & Backend development
• Web development
• Bug fixing
• Deployment.

Daily and demo meetings were held regularly as the project progressed, and Bamboo gradually supplemented the scope of the project, actively communicated with our team, and held a retrospective meeting when the development was complete. Slack and Google Meet were used for communication.

What was your primary form of communication with Bamboo Agile?

Virtual Meeting

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

The collaboration with Bamboo left only a pleasant aftertaste. From the first call to the final app release, all the work was done on time, the communication with the team was clear and comfortable. I want to mention the high quality of project management as well as programming app development; Ann (PM) expertly supervised the development process and the process of subsequent publishing to the App Store; Andrew (iOS Developer) demonstrated a high level of knowledge in his field.

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

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a partner in Specifique Norge as. Specifique is a consulting company that helps our customers to succeed with change. We develop good and effective learning processes that ensure the implementation of changes in areas such as leadership, strategy, HMS, working environment, organizational culture, and organizational development. Specifique has over 30 years of experience using and developing digital and analog methods. Diggle is our latest development project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had a beta version of the Diggle project, a flexible audience engagement tool for different types of interactions: meetings, events, workshops, webinars, and surveys. Bamboo Agile needed to make a UI redesign and develop new features. We started the collaboration with Bamboo Agile to improve the product: Boost the performance and efficiency of the system. Bring Diggle to a higher and paid level. Attract new clients.

SOLUTION

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

We stumbled upon the Bamboo Agile website somewhere on the Internet. After some conversations about the company's expertise and relevant experience, we were very impressed. So, after discussing the rates, we agreed on a partnership.

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

The process was built as follows. We formed tasks, described them, and created a backlog for the devs. Then we discussed with the team to determine if the requirements were precise and if there were any questions or objections. Next, the team took the task to work. Newly developed features were released every two weeks.

The communication was done with the help of Slack and video calls in Google Meet. The task backlog was in a Jira Board. The final project was built mainly with Express (knex), PostgreSQL, and Redis technologies.

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

The team consisted of a scrum master, a delivery manager, a UI/UX designer, three developers, a DevOps, and a QA specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The redesign and all the new features were delivered according to all our expectations and were positively received by our users.

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

The collaboration with the Bamboo Agile team is organized in the most efficient way. We were involved in daily meetings dedicated to the previously made work. We were also in immediate contact with the team whenever we needed it. The workflow was built on Scrum with two-week sprints. At the end of each sprint, there was a planning stage with the addition of new tasks. The daily calls helped keep both sides up to date.

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

The Bamboo Agile team works like clockwork. We like that they are available at any time and ready to fix any urgent problems as soon as possible without losing quality. The workflows are transparent, and it is always clear what the status of the tasks is. The new design, developed and implemented by the team, is liked by the end users and us. Most importantly, Bamboo Agile developers do not take on all the tasks without question but think and discuss them within the team in advance. And after internal brainstorming, they can offer us an alternative and more effective solution. This shows their professionalism.

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

No, we are very happy.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the principal investigator of an AI research team in a university. We develop AI based web applications to be used by legal experts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We contacted Bamboo Agile for support in developing the frontend of one of our tools. The editor requires a complex wizard with many options in each phase and we needed an experienced frontend developer to implement it using best practices. We looked to extend our team with such a developer.

SOLUTION

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

Being a public organization, we contacted three service providers and interviewed the programmers offered by each of them. Bamboo Agile's developer - Yaroslav - seemed to be very capable and Bamboo's rates were competitive.

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

Yaroslav needed about one week to get familiar with the current code and then started working on the editor. We have used Jira to coordinate, as well as daily 10m meetings. We had several milestones. The development was using vueJS.

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

One frontend developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bamboo Agile were responsive to our needs and Yaroslav proved to be an excellent frontend developer who could also design, implement and test more complex algorithms, if needed.

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

Our approach was team extension. Therefore, we have managed the project. Bamboo Agile were very responsive though.

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

The most impressive was clearly the quality of the frontend developer. He proved to be very capable.

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

We cannot think of any.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of MediaGun Ltd, now registered in the UK with number 12787972 and formerly known as Exponent Software, based in Switzerland. I started the MediaGun application back in 1997, for macOS. In 2000, Exponent Software was founded and the first Windows version was released. Our clients were mainly in the Geneva region, and included Rolex, Nestlé, IATA, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Japan Tobacco International, to name the most illustrious ones.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We approached Bamboo Agile in February 2021. We wanted them to modernise our Windows-exclusive application with multiplatform support for Windows, Linux, Mac OS, iOS, and Android, as well as make improvements to the software’s general performance and design. 

SOLUTION

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

The very first step was looking for a partner in Estonia, due to the reputation the country has acquired over time. Bamboo had done their SEO homework very efficiently, so that's how it all began.

Before the project even started they demonstrated their seriousness with their approach to the project at hand. This was done through a comprehensive analysis of the scope, 

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

Currently (October 2022) in Beta, the following is operational, and in debugging phase:

The core of the scope was to replicate the features of the previous version in view of generating a multiplatform app. A series of improvements were added:

• Redesigning of the User Interface
• Seamless integration of MS-Office files formats (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) even in the absence of an MS-Office subscription.
• Screen transitions

Yet to be developed:

• Automatic backup and restore of media files and Playlists between the local machine and the cloud.
• Generating Portfolios, i.e. Exporting a Playlist generated by MediaGun to be viewed on any Operating System, whether the recipient is a MediaGun subscriber or not.
• Portfolio playback added OSs: iOS, Android.

Technologies used:

• Desktop app: Qt, (C++)
• Backend: C#, MS-Azure
• Database: MySQL
• Platform: macOS, Windows, Linux

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

Eight.

2 Frontend developers, 1 Backend developer, DevOps, a Project Manager, a Business Analyst, a QA Engineer and a UX/UI Designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although I'm certain that the end product will be outstanding, I cannot ignore the fact that the initial deadline has had to be postponed a few times.

This is not in any way due to the team's lack of competence, but rather in my own penchant for perfectionism and perhaps also to the team's extraordinary concern for detail.

Another factor is of course the fact that, related to MS-Office file preview, we were in total Terra Incognita, as we decided, after thoroghly testing them,  to not use any of the existing libraries.

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

Impeccable. A well oiled machine, using real-time, cloud based, participative tool (Jira, Slack, Google Drive).

For the first year of so, we had daily video calls. Since they are no longer necessary, any request gets an answer almost in real time.

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

Their honesty and competence are impressive.

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

Yes. On the odd occasion where help from a third party was necessary, the team seemed reluctant to ask for that help at first. That resulted in lost days and sometimes weeks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Direct Sales Director at A1 Belarus, Telecom Austria Group. Unitary enterprise A1 is the largest private telecom, ICT & content service provider and the second-largest mobile network operator in Belarus.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We reached out Bamboo Agile team to help us to develop A1 Belarus (previously Velcom) Paperless Office.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bamboo Agile and what were the deciding factors?

This project was not the first one, that we worked on together with Bamboo Agile team. So we decided to continue our partnership.

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

Customers can read and e-sign the e-docs at sales and customer service centers, using an interactive pen display. Then the shop agent can send signed documents to the company server for further processing and storage. Key features:

• Sign documents online securely
• Share documents with clients by email
• Pre-saved employee’s signature
• Stamp apply
• Management system included
• Multi-formats support
• Offline mode
• Cross-platform support
• Integration with other systems

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

We worked with a team of Backend and Frontend developers, Team Lead specialist, 1 QA Engineer and 1 DevOps Engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within several months, A1 (previously velcom) was able to deploy an efficient customized internal e-docs/e-signature system. This allowed us to speed up the company's workflow significantly.

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

They’ve been very good on that front. The management team was always trying to find a balance between doing what we ask and staying within scope. They take their clients very seriously.

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

They help us adjust our own expectations, and will discuss with us how to defer things. I can say that this understanding brought great results. They organize work really well, from this ability came great output quality.

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

No, we are satisfied and expanding our business relationship.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was a CTO at Tacom LLC (Beeline TM) in Tajikistan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Project: bespoke VAS platform that would provide customers with quick access to tech support services, information about their subscription plans, personal accounts and various payment options, as well as help our company gather valuable marketing and performance-related data. Goal: Solid, powerful application that would greatly increase the business’ efficiency, streamline the process of customer interaction and, consequently, enhance Tacom LLC’s client engagement and satisfaction rates.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bamboo Agile and what were the deciding factors?

Standard tendering process, based on requirements + market research for possible candidates for the tender. Deciding factor, after prequalification(projects done) - best pricing/abilities. Bamboo Agile was by far the best vendor for the job.

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

Bamboo Agile team made active efforts to keep customer(us) involved over the course of the whole development process. Assigned BA team constructed a complete plan of the forthcoming development cycle. So, developers started coding, while the QA carried out extensive testing, ensuring that the end result’s performance would be at expected level. Those efforts had definitely paid off - the finished platform was deployed on time, functioning as per requirements with performance exceeding expectations.

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

1 PM, 1 BA, 3 developers, 1 QA, and 1 DevOps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform allowed to greatly improve customer experience which led to increasing company's revenue. Fast support, quick consultations, easy subscriptions data and payment options allowed to manage our own resources more efficiently.

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

Their style - let you be updated on the course of the project, ensure that no activity is going out of control. Regular online meetings and project progress reporting were helping a lot. Any decision required milestone was done under our approval. All that helped to keep project running smoothly, without problems.

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

The combination of technical skill and great industry knowledge have definitely surpassed our expectations. We don’t think there are many companies that have as good a grasp on Telecom software as they do!

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

Keep it up the same flexible (agile) way.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of Automation Department at CJSC Babilon-Mobile, the largest wireless network provider in Tajikistan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bamboo Agile?

We hired Bamboo Agile to develop a VAS platform that would feature strong microtransaction-focused integrations alongside a fast customer chat to enhance our clients’ satisfaction and the company’s efficiency.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to streamline MTX within our inner commercial systems, as well as to accelerate the work and quality of our customer services. The solution would have to be stable, scalable and highly secure.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bamboo Agile?

We’ve looked through a number of development companies and, while the competition was impressive, we figured that the dev team at Bamboo Agile would be perfectly suited for the job.

Their years-spanning telecom expertise combined with the staff’s amazing track record gave us the impression of a vendor we could completely trust.

Describe the project in detail.

Bamboo Agile carefully guided us through the whole development process, start to finish. It all began with their BAs determining our key project requirements and then conjuring up a plan that would ensure the most efficient and transparent workflow.

Next, the team of software engineers got to work. While a few minor issues were encountered in the coding stage, they were quickly resolved thanks to the staff’s active communication and raw skill. The QA experts watched over the project throughout the full development cycle, so the end product turned out to be just as good as we’d expected.

What was the team composition?

Our dedicated team comprised 5 people, including the project manager, BA, programmers, and a tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Making and managing microtransactions became an absolute breeze, which not only raised our company’s income and efficiency, but also increased our customer loyalty and retention rates. To add to that, the client chat has allowed us to provide instant tech support and respond to invaluable feedback, which resulted in great improvement for our service quality and reputation.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As I’ve mentioned above, the transparency of the team was one of the key factors that attracted us to them. We held daily meetings using audio calls and Skype video conferences, as well as got regular updates on the project through text messages, notifications and email. Finally, the staff’s professionalism on top of their fun and positive attitude made the whole development process extremely enjoyable.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

All the work was remarkably well-organized. The willingness of the team to communicate and carefully listen to their customers’ feedback has also contributed to the quality of our collaboration.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We’ve no particular suggestions - Bamboo Agile was every bit as competent and skillful as we’d hoped for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the CEO of Compass Atlantica Ltd in the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Bamboo Agile to develop a platform that would streamline the process of placing orders for cargo transportation, payments and taxing for truckers, freight brokers and factoring companies by managing all the financial and taxing data in real-time and preparing all the primary accounting documentation for IRS automatically.

It would also have to include several additional features, such as tracking the delivery truck’s position and speed through GPS, tracking gas refills and finding vacant parking spots.

We wanted to create an app that would increase the efficiency of the trucking business by eliminating the unnecessary middle steps in the booking and payment stages, minimizing the work of contact centre operators and providing a number of additional quality-of-life features.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bamboo Agile and what were the deciding factors?

Bamboo Agile stood out quite positively among other companies: their transparency, pricing and expertise seemed more than appropriate for the project at hand.

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

The Bamboo Agile team guided us through the entire development process. First, their business experts carried out an analysis of our project requirements and compiled an efficient development plan based on the results.

Next, the UX/UI designer presented a couple of interface mockups, one of which grabbed our attention. After getting our approval, the project entered its coding stage.

Since the development team was highly skilled, any problems that happened to arise during the coding process were quickly resolved. The product was tested by Bamboo Agile themselves.

Finally, the completed app was published and ran smoothly on all the intended platforms.

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

The development team consisted of 10 people, including the project manager, software engineers, UX/UI designers, a business analyst and a tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This platform has made managing financial and taxing information a lot faster, cutting out the middleman for the majority of all our accounting operations. Truckers have also reported having an easier time tracking their expenditures and losing fewer nerves on finding a good parking spot.

Overall, the company’s productivity has greatly increased.

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

Bamboo Agile made sure to keep us updated by means of daily Skype calls, text chats and e-mail. These regular discussions had ensured that the development process was flexible and transparent, which made the overall workflow extremely smooth.

The team’s positive attitude was a cherry on top of an already fantastic experience.

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

The diligence and planning of the Bamboo Agile team were admirable. Not only were they efficient, but the above-mentioned transparency and the attention paid to their customer’s feedback was what really got us invested in working with them.

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

Bamboo Agile was every bit as professional as we’d hoped for. We can’t think of any suggestions right now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Warehouse Manager / Export Documentation Coordinator at an independent electronic components distributor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bamboo Agile?

We've been regularly processing loads of customers reaching our website and making single or multiple orders.

To keep better control over their activity, analyze the conversion and automate marketing campaigns for various segments, we needed to integrate our CRM with an online store, enabling smooth data exchange between two platforms, even though the CRM we used was a custom solution.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to integrate our CRM developed with an e-commerce platform so that we could transfer information and seamlessly track our contacts and purchases made.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bamboo Agile?

We were looking for a company that specialized in CRM integrations, and although I couldn't remember Bamboo Agile had a focus on such projects, to that moment I had received enough warm references to reach them out and clarify whether they provided this service. Luckily for us, they had an opportunity to help with the project.

Describe the project in detail.

We were looking for a flexible solution to synchronize the information about customer's orders, product inventory, or support notes left by our support team.

Although our CRM became a hub of many of these records, allowing forecasting sales revenue, we had to match sales data with the inventory status and make decisions with a few stipulations.

Within 4-5 sessions, Bamboo Agile has collected the requirements to the parameters that had to be delivered from one platform to another and brought in engineers that were able to build an integration between the store and CRM without compromising our data security.

What was the team composition?

Eugene spearheaded the project and had 2 very capable engineers working on the backend to complete integrations. He engaged our team often to ensure the development was moving forward as we expected.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Bamboo Agile has executed everything we asked in a cost-effective and time-saving manner. After bridging two platforms, we could increase our sales team productivity by offloading our specialists from extra work.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Eugene brilliantly facilitated the communication between our teams. We had daily online meetings that helped streamline our cooperation. After each meeting, Eugene sent the notes summing up what had been discussed. For being on the same line regarding any open issue, they created a project in Jira and reported on the progress there, making monitoring easier for us.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Thanks to their profound expertise in Shopify, we saved much time on completing integrations and received valuable advice on further store improvements. Moreover, their team was always accessible, so we could reach out to them to resolve any problems immediately.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I worked as a General Marketing Manager at Great Bear International Services, which is a broadband wireless operator in Pakistan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Bamboo Agile to develop a custom VAS services aggregation platform with third-party VAS and Internet services integration to give our customers a common informational access point.

The VAS platform had to incorporate interactive voice response (IVR) services, which would interact with our customers, gather data and route calls to appropriate recipients.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bamboo Agile and what were the deciding factors?

Our RFP sent us a list of companies, and, after comparing and contrasting Bamboo Agile with other software development vendors, we figured that their pricing and experience were the most appropriate for the project.

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

Bamboo Agile has kept us updated throughout the entire development cycle. At first, the team determined our functional and non-functional requirements by means of a thorough business and technical analysis.

Next, we were sent several UX/UI design mockups to make sure that our visions of the final product were aligned. After receiving our approval on the designs, the software engineers got to work.

The incorporation of IVR services went smoothly, giving our company the opportunity to interact with its customers without the need for a live operator.

Finally, after the testing stage was complete, the Bamboo Agile team helped us with the deployment of the platform.

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

The team consisted of a project manager, 3 developers, 1 UX/UI designer, 1 QA, 1 BA and 1 DevOps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The MVP was delivered a lot faster than we expected. Since the performance was perfectly smooth, we hired Bamboo Agile to finalize the second phase of the project.

At the end of it all, the platform has significantly increased the revenue generated by our non-voice services and products.

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

It was all very transparent: daily stand-up meetings, bi-weekly retrospectives, regular reports and documentation about the current state of the project. Most of the communication was done through the project manager, who was very responsive and professional.

Development-wise, everything went without a hitch, thanks to the thorough planning carried out by the team beforehand. The whole dev cycle was expertly organized to avoid any potential risks, revenue losses and drawbacks.

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

I was impressed by their experience and attitude. I don’t think there are a lot of software developers that know Telecom better than the developers at Bamboo Agile.

Not only was the end product high quality, but the enthusiasm and positivity of the people involved made the whole working experience remarkably pleasant.

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

I don’t have any particular suggestions - the work of the Bamboo Agile team has been more than satisfactory.