BeKey LLC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of an early-stage startup. We provide special educational tools using different platforms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with BeKey LLC?

We needed help with the development of our platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BeKey LLC has helped us develop our multiple platforms. Initially, I provided them with the product requirements for them to develop those platforms. Their team has been involved in every stage of the development process, from architecture and UI design to actual development.

BeKey LLC’s development work encompasses all the software behind these platforms, including our mobile app, which they’ve developed for Android and iOS. As for the technology stack, they’ve used PHP for backend development, JavaScript for frontend development, Flutter and Angular for mobile development, and Laravel as the web framework.

What was the team composition?

We’ve worked with around 10 people from BeKey LLC in total, including a project manager, a backend developer, a team leader, the CEO, and a designer, among others. The project manager is my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with BeKey LLC?

I found them while researching software development companies. We needed an agency that could comply with our development requirements, as well as with data security and privacy standards, so it took me some time to find the right company for this project.

BeKey LLC’s manager contacted me via LinkedIn, and I asked them for more information. I also saw other projects they had done before and realized that they had great knowledge about technologies and regulations. Ultimately, we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 202, and it’s an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to BeKey LLC, we’ve already launched our mobile app, which can be found on Google Play and the App Store. Several children are now using it; however, we haven’t marketed it yet. Currently, it just works as a pilot app, so we don’t have any metrics. Our next step is to gather user feedback and improve the app’ to make the formal launch.

How did BeKey LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

BeKey LLC’s project management has been great, and I’ve been very satisfied with their work. They divided the project into sprint cycles. After each sprint, they show me their progress, and they’re always ready to implement changes once we review it. We communicate directly via WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and Zoom meetings, and we’ve also used Jira for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Having a company with experience in dealing with medical and sensitive data regulations was very important for us. Thus, I feel lucky to work with BeKey LLC because they’ve done the right job in that regard. Additionally, they’ve done a great job in UX design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing specific that BeKey LLC could improve on — I’m very satisfied with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend working with them. To get the best result possible, you must know what you want to do and what your product requirements are, as well as define very clear goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of InsureTax, an insurance technology company providing tax returns insurance for small businesses and business owners against an audit event in the US. We protect both the defense costs and the tax adjustments, including penalties for when someone is audited.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey LLC?

Given that we handle tax returns and insurance policies, we had to create a very robust, secure, and compliant platform. Additionally, we needed this platform to be responsive, fast, and functional in order to compute very complicated underwriting and formulas, so we hired BeKey to help us out.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BeKey has helped us develop our platform from scratch. Initially, we provided them with a design and workflow, but they’ve been in charge of deploying the entire system using PHP, JavaScript, HTML, Angular, Docker, and Node.js. Whenever they require to implement new technology into our platform, they first research to find a way to make it happen. Additionally, they manage our hosting requirements — our servers are on AWS.

What is the team composition?

We work with front- and backend developers, QA engineers, and a project manager. We also have access to BeKey’s CTO and their R&D team, who have helped us with the platform’s architecture and provided us with technical advice when needed. They have a very comprehensive team.

How did you come to work with BeKey LLC?

One of our co-founders recommended them. He came from the AI and banking industry and had worked with them before, so he recommended them as a reliable partner. BeKey had a lot of experience with banks, and they were very well aware of compliance and security needs. Moreover, they came across as deliverables-focused, making them a perfect fit for our needs.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2022, and it’s an ongoing project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

BeKey has been able to deliver the required features for our platform. Thanks to them, we have a functional MVP ready.

How did BeKey LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

BeKey has delivered within a lower budget and faster than we expected, allowing us to spend the time and money we saved on improving other areas of the platform and adding more features. I never had the experience of seeing a service provider exceed the timeline and budget expectations, which is really great.

Moreover, BeKey’s project manager is amazing and very sharp. She caters to all of our needs and provides us with her own input and ideas. Nothing has been lost in our communication, and we’ve had a very smooth and streamlined process, so we’re very satisfied.

BeKey’s communication is excellent. They’re very responsive to change requests and feature requirements. We use Jira for task management, Confluence for documentation management, and Slack and WhatsApp for communication. Our communication is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BeKey’s technical ability is very high; they deliver high-end products all the time. Moreover, they use a lot of technologies, have a wide range of expertise, and always bring people into the project who know exactly what to do. In addition to that, they’re keen on cybersecurity, which is very important for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m completely satisfied with BeKey thus far, so I would advise them to continue to develop their expertise and learn more technologies. Still, I’m sure they already do that to be ready for new challenges and new technologies, so I can only wish them good luck.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish a good relationship with the project manager and see their team as part of your company instead of as an outsourced company. If you treat them as part of your team, trust them, and work with them openly, you’ll get great people to work with and have access to excellent ideas, different points of view, and a lot of experience, which ultimately will benefit your company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an operations manager for a biotech company. We’re developing a smart nipple shield to encourage breastfeeding.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey LLC?

We wanted to develop a mobile application that connects with our hardware. Our goal was for the app to share breastfeeding information with parents.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BeKey LLC has developed a mobile application that pairs with our breastfeeding hardware. We started by discussing our vision for the app and developing an understanding of the architecture and project scope. Then, we ran a basic demo with pictures and graphic language describing our needs. We also shared a high-level design overview, which the team transformed into software requirements. 

Once the team understood our needs, they started coding the app using a secure cloud in AWS. The mobile app enables parents to set parameters and share details regarding their child’s sleeping, eating, and bathroom habits. It also connects with our hardware, which shares how frequently a child is breastfeeding. Furthermore, the app shares statistics, information, and tips for breastfeeding, and admin users can view data and adjust parameters. 

The end goal is for the app to connect parents with a lactation consultant to review their results and support them on their breastfeeding journey. The BeKey LLC team is currently working on debugging the app. Once we launch, it will be available for iOS and Android users.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager from BeKey LLC.  

How did you come to work with BeKey LLC?

I found BeKey LLC through a recommendation from two friends. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2021, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

BeKey LLC has developed software that pairs well with our hardware product. We haven’t launched the application yet, so we don’t have any metrics to share.

How did BeKey LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

BeKey LLC is a cost-effective partner who delivers on their word. We define our goals for monthly sprints and meet biweekly to discuss the project and review progress. The team is very collaborative, and we work together to solve issues quickly. They’ve submitted deliverables ahead of schedule, and they’re good at moving the project forward; this makes us confident that everything is on track. We use Jira to document and correct bugs, making tracking progress easy. 

Furthermore, it’s been nice to have a project manager who is also a parent because she really believes in our product. Overall, the team is invested in getting our product across the finish line, which we really appreciate. I would highly recommend their services to anyone. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Initially, I was hesitant to work with a remote team, but I’ve been amazed to see how effectively BeKey LLC has understood our needs and managed timelines. They care about the project, and I appreciate their desire to make us feel valued. I have nothing but positive feedback. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have much experience with mobile app development, but I have nothing they could improve on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you communicate your needs, timeline, and budget so that both sides are on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior program manager at KAZUAR Advanced Technologies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey LLC?

We hired them for their custom software development services. We needed help with developing a control management system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BeKey LLC has helped us develop a control management system from scratch. The only documentation we provided from our end was the requirements written by our product managers. 

It's a very scalable system, and its purpose is to install and provide laptops for the end user and monitor each laptop's health. The system also shows the statuses of all the endpoints of the laptops we create and can raise a flag in case something happens from a security and IT standpoint.

We've had to make an interface between the laptop health status and the dashboards on the frontend that their team developed. They’ve used MongoDB, Laravel, and Terraform for development.

What is the team composition?

We work with various people from their side, including the CEO, a QA specialist, and front- and backend developers.

How did you come to work with BeKey LLC?

I had worked with their CEO before, and I loved our interaction. Hence, when I needed custom software development services, I reached out to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of the engagement?

Our partnership with BeKey LLC began in January 2021, and it’s still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The performance of the system has been great.

How did BeKey LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve delivered all the tasks within the agreed timeline and budget. Moreover, they execute the work using Scrum methodology and are highly committed to the project. We use Jira and Confluence as our project management tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The BeKeyLLC team does a solid job of resolving any bugs within the system.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they had more team members so that the development process would be faster.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of YM Digital First LTD. We help startups, offering consulting services and developing products and systems from MVP or POC, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey Inc?

We needed help to develop a complex mobile app for a client.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team collaborated on several projects with us. They designed and developed a mobile app from scratch for this particular project and performed testing and DevOps. They’re also providing ongoing maintenance.

The app helps actors prepare for auditions and to send professional videos to casting directors. There are videos with subtitles.

Some of the other services provided in various projects are consulting, developing, making utility apps, and digital marketing, including research, marketing plans, campaigns, and reports.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Evgeniy (CEO). Five or more people are working with us, depending on the project. That team included project managers, backend and frontend developers, designers, and DevOps.

How did you come to work with BeKey Inc?

I met Evgeniy when I was looking for a development partner. He was professional, highly skilled, and offered good prices.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $150,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with BeKey Inc started in March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m extremely satisfied with our partnership. Feedback from our clients is positive regarding advice given and work done. The client with the mobile app is making a marketing campaign with it, and they’re quite happy.

The team has exceeded my expectations, as well as those of my clients on more than one occasion.

How did BeKey Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

I consult with the team before beginning projects. Whenever I reach out, they’re available and responsive. We communicate through email and phone, and they provide weekly reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is professional and reliable, building strong relationships with their clients. Along with their reasonable pricing, they come up with good solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know of anything they could do differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can rely on them. Clients are important to them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO & Founder at Our Clinical Trial, a company that brings patient behavior into current clinical trials to resolve some of the biggest industry challenges.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey Inc?

As an early startup, we worked with BeKey on all solution elements from architecture to technology selection to implementation of the MVP and beyond. We needed a partner that knows healthcare and healthcare regulations in order to develop a web and mobile app too allow patients access to their trial team and their ECO system in a single place.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t have internal resources due to this, BeKey developers worked on the backend and frontend. They built a web application, iOS and Android apps (PHP, Google Flutter and Bot) that allow sharing of information to users in a direct and easy-to-understand way. The app has strong security features, such as multi-factor identification and authentication. When a user leaves the app screen, they have to verify their identity when they get back into it.

They built an easy way to organize the information and visualize it in a manner that contextualizes it within the patient’s and it’s ECO system. The app is also educational, allow the user to navigate through it while the app provides tips to the user on the next step required.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, Back End, Front End (Web, IOS, Android) and QA specialist.

How did you come to work with BeKey Inc?

I have known Evgeniy (CEO, BeKey Inc) for a few years just recently interacted in LinkedIn We wanted a company that was in our time zone, could move quickly and be flexible. BeKey Inc was motivated to work on our project and had the experience to build what we needed, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We are planning to spend up to $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in December 2018 and is still ongoing, we delivered our product but continue to work with BeKey on its development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since still in the process, we don’t have specific metrics to support the results. I can tell that we are working within the budget and within the timelines, we defined initially although the changes that were done to the scope and this is due BeKey ability to evolve and be flexible in the way the project is managed (short sprints of 2-3 weeks, scope meetings, etc.)

How did BeKey Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

We had frequent communication, and we integrated directly with their Trello to see current status of tasks. They were responsive and provided hourly updates, at times. We also communicated via phone. The discussion was very open and created a great relationship of trust, which assisted to drive the great results we have currently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication was incredibly quick and minimized delays. They took full ownership of the project to ensure it was a success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish I could offer something yet in cases we had an issue it was discussed and a mitigation plan was quickly built to resolve and prevent future events.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I suggest to work with open communication channels, it is very beneficial for both sides, reduces miss understandings and allow them to communicate openly on status and due to this on resolutions required. It’s a fast paced company that part of it’s values to us as a startup is their level of flexibility that created much value for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that provides big data analytics for marketing, fraud detection, healthcare, and surveillance. We offer all sorts of added value through behavior analysis and anomaly detection.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey Inc?

We needed to outsource development work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked on multiple things with BeKey Inc, including Java development for a business intelligence web application that can display large amounts of data graphically. They are also helping us run big data algorithms for distributing the workload.

We have a layer of integration into all sorts of apps, which are customer touchpoints. This is a rather thin layer, but we’ve also gotten assistance from BeKey Inc on it. They also help us with UI, DevOps, etc.

What is the team composition?

They have a project manager on site whom we interact with as well as one full-time senior developer. We’ve just started the interview process to expand the team to a total of three developers.

How did you come to work with BeKey Inc?

I met Evgeniy (CEO, BeKey Inc) while he was the VP of R&D of a medical technology firm I was working with. I then heard from someone that Evgeniy had opened an outsourcing firm, and we hit it off from there. Initially, we were looking to outsource in India or Eastern Europe because of our budget, but BeKey Inc had an excellent offer.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BeKey Inc in October 2017, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company started with one big customer, and we’ve acquired four more clients since then. A lot of this can be attributed to BeKey Inc’s delivery capabilities.

Our recent recruitment process for new developers has gone well. We immediately started getting resumes, and BeKey Inc has managed the exams and interviews.

How did BeKey Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

They work efficiently and meet deadlines, thanks to overall support processes and periodic reviews. We use Bitbucket for managing tasks and sprints, and it works well.

Our communication is also quite smooth.  They make sure that they understand and meet our requirements. Any issues are addressed and solved immediately. They have a proactive process that allows us to move forward, get what we need, and make it a success.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a small company but quite eager and service-oriented.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should define the tasks, requirements, and goals as clearly as possible. This preparation is valuable in any outsourced project. Because of the distance, there’s also a need for clear communication. Things will go more smoothly if the development team is ready to go and has the right requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and the CEO of Crazy S.O.B., a startup developing an AI recipe recommendation network that delivers personalized recommendations to grocery retailers’ customers when they plan and shop for groceries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey?

First of all, we needed to develop a few solutions involving complex technology. One of those was the ability to scan recipes and translate ingredients into shopping lists. We needed a platform to do that for us.

The other challenge—which we’re still working on with BeKey—was a recommendation engine with the ability to process large volumes of recipes and offer them to consumers while they’re grocery shopping. We need to pick a recipe from the database and enable real-time matching to consumers for the recommendations to be personalized and relevant to them. The solution for that would involve deep learning and machine learning.

There’ve been challenges related to creating a user experience over the platform, which is mostly mobile. We also needed fast deployment for these solutions to get to the market as soon as possible, so we needed someone that could handle that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re a B2B2C startup, and we provide a plug-in for grocery retailers that integrates into their apps or websites. It’s a white label web product that can be combined with several digital assets.

Evgeniy (CEO, BeKey) has helped us define which technologies to use for meeting our goals and needs. Together, we outline project objectives, what we need to develop, and how to do it. BeKey then handled the implementation for these projects.

What is the team composition?

We mostly work with a project manager from BeKey. The demands from our side are led by our VP of product, who is the one responsible for communicating with them. He’s mainly in touch with the project manager, and all action items are uploaded on Trello.

We also work with a graphic designer from their side on presentations for new projects and UI design. There’s a team of front- and backend developers and QA, but we don’t interact with them daily. They get their instructions directly from the project manager.

How did you come to work with BeKey?

I met Evgeniy in the Israeli army, where we went to officer school together. We didn’t work together until he approached me through LinkedIn, asking if I needed fast and less-costly software development solutions. We had an initial conversation and decided to do a project together to see how it would go. It went well, so we continued working with them after that.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far has been approximately $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BeKey in January 2018, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We started off the project with another provider that we met through an accelerator, who developed the MVP. BeKey joined in later on. There was a sharp incline in the product value and overall professionality after that.

BeKey helped us present the product and take on more clients, as well as ensure that we could raise money from investors. I hope that we’ll be able to close our first round of funding in the next two to three weeks. They’ve helped us a lot, as far as the technology of the product is involved. 

How did BeKey perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed very well. We’re in the same time zone and they speak English, so it’s easy to interact. For more complicated issues, Evgeniy can communicate with the team in Russian. His position before founding BeKey was VP of R&D in a digital healthcare startup, so he knows how to manage the team if they need any help and assistance. He lives in Israel, and we’re in direct contact with him for any problem that needs to be solved.

Everything we’ve asked for has been delivered on time, including ad-hoc requests. They’re always available to help us, regardless of the time. They’re also very approachable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand both the technology required and our business and aren’t just a developer that executes what we dictate. They think like a startup and know what our limitations and needs are, like how we need to go to market fast and only develop things that are crucial for our success

BeKey has adapted to the lean startup model and their engineers are never indifferent to our goals and needs. They’re also knowledgeable on a wide range of technologies, which allows us to scale and grow with flexibility.

Furthermore, they have a great ability to be reactive. If we want to develop something fast, like a feature we just thought about based on client feedback, they’ll be there for us and will deliver. We don’t have to wait for months for something to happen. They also provide a holistic service, covering every range of possibilities and delivering results on time. This is important for us, as it helps support our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have strategic insight on the technology side and know how to build something and help us make decisions, but if they had people with more experience on things like mobile and web UIs, they would be able to provide more meaningful services that would go beyond business and technology. They would be able to help startups and companies work with that area.

In our case, we had this understanding from our previous jobs, so we didn’t need that service. For other startups, it could be useful for BeKey to have an experienced in-house product manager that can help put things together.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should be open to listening to and trusting BeKey’s team. They will always find someone willing to listen and provide help. They’re really good for companies that want to grow and scale up fast, and that want a testing environment for their products to get results fast and understand whether they’re on the right path or not.

BeKey also has lower development pricing compared to Israel, the US, and other western countries, for example. Therefore, clients can experiment, and even if they fail, they’ll be able to make fast adjustments.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of KMJ By Design. We design and develop websites for double-sided marketplaces.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey Inc?

I wanted to scale my business in a more flexible way than hiring freelancers or temporary hires per project. I engaged BeKey Inc to provide staff augmentation services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BeKey Inc helps us out in multiple project areas. We create predominantly e-commerce and corporate websites using Shopify and WordPress. On occasion, a client asks us to custom-build a site. The BeKey Inc team helps us develop those in PHP and the Yii 2 framework. BeKey Inc offers a variety of services including design—which I’ve explored—and SEO—which I’ve not used yet. They can switch easily between projects and tech stacks as needed.

What is the team composition?

I work with a project manager and an account manager. They lead a larger team of designers and developers behind the scenes. I’ve worked with about ten people at their firm.

How did you come to work with BeKey Inc?

I had collaborated with one of their owners in the past. When I was considering staff augmentation services, BeKey Inc was already in the back of my mind.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $9,000–$15,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2018, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

BeKey Inc has created both white-labeled solutions through my agency as well as making their involvement clear and upfront. My clients have been thrilled with their work. I haven’t heard a negative word about their team. We’re increasing the number of hours that we’re using with BeKey Inc going forward, which we’re excited about.

How did BeKey Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

The team excels at communication and timely delivery. BeKey Inc regularly thinks outside the box and plan two steps ahead; they sometimes offer better solutions than I could have come up with. They built a custom project management platform to supplement our Trello account. It tracks progress based on incremental tasks and users’ work, which is very helpful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BeKey Inc beats the competition when it comes to cost, convenience, and most importantly, the quality of their people. Their team is full of talented, hardworking individuals who are quick to learn and take initiative. They’re willing to study new frameworks to complete one-off projects, and they regularly offer creative solutions to overcome challenges.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, any issues that came up were addressed immediately. For example, when I expressed hesitation about working with specific project management platforms, BeKey Inc built a custom tool to meet both our teams’ needs. They listened to my concerns and criticism and worked with me to create a solution.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent about your business, your needs, and your end goals. Providing as much information as possible earlier on will lead to a higher-quality product that more fully matches your vision.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a consulting business with a focus on the certification of goods and services, mainly in Russia. We’re a holding company, and we operate under a different name in each city we’re present in for marketing reasons. Gortest is one of the most well known of those brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey Inc?

Our goal was to create a CRM system for our specialized business processes. Making changes to an existing solution would have been hard to do and expensive, so we started developing our own CRM system. We used Excel as a CRM, and it was enough for us, but we had several needs that couldn’t be addressed that way. Our attempt to build our own software development department failed; we spent a lot of time and money, and we had to change developers again and again.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BeKey Inc developed our CRM using PHP and a free database. My managers have access to it through a web interface.

We also hired them for marketing and SEO work. We had our own department, but it was less expensive to hire resources abroad. They worked on a few Russian-language websites for us.

What is the team composition?

We worked with their CEO/CFO at the beginning of the project, and we had several project managers. If one went on vacation, we were assigned another. We didn’t usually interact with the developers, but we were in contact with the designers at times as it was more effective.

How did you come to work with BeKey Inc?

I knew BeKey Inc’s principal, who told me he’d started his own business. We started step by step, with a simple version. They impressed me, producing good results in a short time. We continued developing the system, which became quite complex. It’s customized for our unique business problems.

How much have you invested with them?

For the CRM and marketing, we’ve spent $200,000–$250,000. It’s been worth the cost because it’s reduced the work being put in by our manager.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BeKey Inc around January two years ago. The first version came out quickly, within 3–4 months. We liked the result and wanted more functionalities, so we continued working on it until the complete working version of the CRM was finished about a year ago. We’ve had new releases twice per year since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The CRM they built has allowed us to save time and money and to stay organized. Given the current economic problems in Russia, the CRM is a key for our future success—for optimization and for cutting marketing expenses. We’re able to save money on staff outsourcing by using it.

How did BeKey Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Bitrix24 and Trello for project management, but we could also get in touch with their managers directly. BeKey Inc has good quality management.

We hired a project manager/secretary on our side, who was responsible for the development of our CRM and a few websites. She communicated with our lead managers, discussed their needs, and assigned tasks to BeKey Inc.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s hard to find the same level of expertise in Russia, and, even then, Russian developers are much more expensive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always something to improve, but I know they’re doing a brilliant job. They could broaden their staff, but this requires more customers.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated by the client on March 4, 2020. The original star ratings were: Overall – 5, Quality – 5, Schedule 4.5, Cost – 5, NPS – 5. New content is below.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Gortest, a consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BeKey Inc?

Since building our CRM, we’ve relied on them to continue developing new features and other products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They function as our R&D department, the CRM being their main focus. They still improve it from time to time and are doing well on that front.  

One of the new features they’ve created is a module that interacts with our server and database. It’s a very useful service that allows us to distribute important data to all key participants in a business interaction, from the user to the manufacturer. With the module, we can consolidate all documents required to sell goods, for example.

Currently, we’re looking to launch a startup in the healthcare industry, and BeKey Inc is working on building out an HR product for it. It’s a pretty simple function, but we still have to build a customer development backend. For now, the solution is internal.

What is the team composition?

Normally, I just discuss projects with their project manager.

How much have you invested with them?

It started at $5,000–$10,000 per month, but they’ve increased their costs. That makes sense because they do their job well. Now, we spend between $25,000–$30,000 per month, which is still great for the quality of work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still satisfied with their work. Recently, I surveyed my colleagues about the effects of our CRM, and they’ve reported that it saves them 30% in time. That’s significant! As I mentioned, we’re also broadening our domain with a startup in the healthcare sector, so they’re helping us there, too.

How did BeKey Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the best, especially compared to other teams we’ve worked with, and that’s why we continue to work with them. They deliver on time and are communicative. We touch base on Skype, WhatsApp, and Zoom. They also use Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re hooked with them. They’re good in all aspects of software development, have strong discipline, and offer reasonable prices. On top of that, they’re very friendly, which makes for easy collaboration.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints. They’re not just trying to get more money — they prefer long-term partnerships.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have the right person on your side to work with them, and you’ll succeed.