Bianor

Please describe your company and your position there.

Nova Broadcasting Group is the biggest multiplatform media company in Bulgaria, part of United Group - the leading multi-play telecoms and media provider in South East Europe, providing customers with a full range of telecommunications services. My position in Business Development manager. I am responsible for the development of streaming OTT services.

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

Our goal was to have a premium Direct-to-Consumer streaming platform to merge all AVOD, SVOD, PPV applications into one robust, next-gen UX platform with live streaming & on-demand applications.

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

We chose Bianor because of the previous experience with premium live events streamed with Fite and their willingness to adapt to our needs.

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

Sports streaming app across Web, mobile and big-screen casting with Chromecast and AirPlay. Supporting 3 live sports TV Channels and PPV events with 7-day catch-up. AVOD entertainment catch-up app available on web and mobile devices with 60 000 active video assets.

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

The team consisted of:

• Project manager
• back-end developer
• web developer
• iOS developer
• Android developer
• UX and UI specialist
• QA managers

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

The solutions were delivered on time with excellent quality. Any issues arising were addressed with the needed focus and the team ensured quick and effective resolution time.

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

Excellent, fast and supporting project management.

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

They are a reliable and supportive partner, easy to communicate with.

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

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Co-founder and COO of ITIDO LIMITED. A software service company which provides digital solutions for enterprise and scale-up partners. ITIDO LIMITED focus on quality and long-term relation with our partners and collegues. Beyond just “coding” software, at ITIDO LIMITED we see it as a craft that must be mastered with decades of diligence and devotion. We call it Codecraft and live by it every day.

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

At ITIDO LIMITED we were looking for a experienced engineers with specific domain knowledge - OTT / video streaming solutions. We had a tough deadline to deliver an MVP within a period of 6 months and we needed external help. Bianor are one of the lading companies in Bulgaria in this domain - video streaming solutions. This is why we decided to get in touch and start this project toghether with them.

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

Bianor has a very good reputation. They are one of the leading companies in Bulgaria who offers profesional video streaming solutions and software services. They've been in this business for many years and the service they offer is amazing!

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

We have worked with Bianor on MVP development of a OTT platform. We started with a 1 month discovery phase. This phased helped Bianor to get faster on board. We discussed together the scope of the work, our expectations for the end result and success, the infrastructure, the technical stack and Project Timeline. The next step was the actual development. Together with the help of Bianor we launched succesfully the MVP in December 2020.

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

Bianor supplied us with 3 Java and 1 DevOps engineers. They came in as part of our team and worked on our existing frameworks and technologies.

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

The MVP launch was succesfull. We met our customer deadline and the product was working fine. It passed all tests and the IT audit of our customer. This was an important part for us, because our customer had very high-security standards. Passing all the tests is the best feedback we have. The second part was that it needed to be a functional and scalable. Fortunately all criterias were met.

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

The project management was done from our side but Bianor team was extremely supportive throughout the whole project. The communication with Bianor was excelent and very friendly.

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

Their professionalism, their good, friendly, and results-oriented team.

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

Bianor did a good job. They were very honest about all the potential risks in our project. What they could improve is to give to their customers a little bit more confidence that the deadlines will be met as it happened in our case.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of an online advertising agency.

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

As our business was growing, we've started to face new challenges. Mainly, all the 3rd party software solutions we have used showed an alarming rate of traffic loss.

Example: Publisher A delivered 1000 clicks to our platform, but the local reports only showed 920 clicks were received. This had a direct impact on our profits and some of our relationships with important clients.

The second issue we've faced was limited reporting and traffic handling (customizing campaigns). Handling millions of ads is a very sensitive task and the work to distribute it efficiently involves a lot of parameters such as geo-targeting, bids, volume limitations, quality/feedback fluctuations etc.

How did you select Bianor and what were the deciding factors?

We started searching the web for reputable technology and software companies in the European Union (EU). We reached out to Bianor and their exceptional customer service and helpful staff put us at ease, and we knew immediately they were an organization who could help our business reach its potential.

Shortly after our initial meeting, we were introduced to some of the staff who asked questions and offered suggestions. Their knowledge and thorough approach made the decision to work with Bianor an easy one, and we agreed to a contract that same day.

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

The Bianor staff helped us develop a custom system that enabled us to gain full control of over our operation. We started with meticulous tests of traffic delivery, latency and click tracking.

The results were surpassed our expectations. The previous traffic loss rate of 8-9% has now been reduced to less than 1%. Once we had the confidence the traffic loss issue was solved, we decided to move on with building software that would be able to handle the current volume of traffic.

The team went as far as simulating stress tests and monitored server resources carefully. They provided a very detailed report that showed how an increase in traffic volume would never overwhelm the system. After having detailed discussions about traffic management, the team has created specialized tools that enabled us to design complex campaigns for our clients.

We have a diverse portfolio of clients who have specific requirements and expectations. The software Bianor developed for us will help us meet their needs. Most of our tasks are now automated. All our energy is now focused on the general performance of our platform as well as optimization.

This will be pivotal to increasing our profits. We are now able to monitor the flow of traffic with powerful new software they have integrated into the system (Koolreport). This tool provides us with endless options and parameters and creates analytic reports.

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

We've actively worked and been in contact with four team members at Bianor. A software architect, a PHP software developer, a system administrator and the project manager.

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

See above.

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

The staff at Bianor laid out a clear and coherent action plan with measurable and identifiable goals. This was a plan they adhered to with a level of excellence that is difficult to find.

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

Their passion for their work and their thirst for perfection is impressive.

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

None whatsoever. Very positive experience.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Flowers Software. We’re providing a workflow management tool.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bianor?

They’ve helped us from the beginning to develop our software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started from scratch with them, and they provided the frontend and backend services for the app—everything from the log-in and website to the actual software. In the frontend we used React.js and in the backend, we used Java’s Spring framework. We have different nanotechnologies as well, so they set up a staging server for us and used a lot of modern tech.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 6–7 people, on top of the managing team.

How did you come to work with Bianor?

We found them through an organic search. We chose Brianor because there was awesome communication from the beginning. They answered all of our questions well. We scheduled a meeting with them and they were very skilled on the technical side, so we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about €100,000 (approximately $107,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2019 and we just paused the project due to COVID-19. We plan to start working with them once we get fresh capital.

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

They helped us create our MVP that we can sell and the results are very good. The code is clean and it has a very good structure. It’s short and brainy functions. We’re very happy with them, so we did a blog post for them because we’re so happy with the service we provided.

How did Bianor perform from a project management standpoint?

From a technical side, they’re very skilled, but overall, their communication is their most impressive attribute. We had really close communication, which really contributed to the success of our project. We worked with scrum, and I talked with them daily. We informed the developers of our business steps and explained why we were building certain features. They were able to ask us a lot of questions and were very direct, so that increased the development speed. All of our requirements were very clear.

They were faster than we expected, which allowed us to begin selling the product sooner. It was a great timeline, everything worked out well. They were on top of everything. They told us if something was more complicated than expected and if there were any delays.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a great attitude, and we always felt like a priority. If we went with a bigger service provider, we may not have gotten the same level of service. Bianor really cared about us as a client. For example, if they were going on vacation, they stayed late to ensure everything in the sprint was completed on time. It was a very personal and hands-on project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The customer is in charge of the project, so the better you can describe what you want to achieve, the better the delivery will be.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

BIORITHM is a medical device company. We make IoT medical devices for remote cardiology and pregnancy monitoring. I’m the co-founder and lead engineer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bianor?

As a startup, we’re naturally a small team so we outsource as much work as we can. Talent in Singapore is a little expensive, so we looked at outsourcing all the non-core/non-essential application development to Bianor.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were looking for app development with our algorithm technology embedded inside. In essence, it’s visualizing data from a Bluetooth device and applying simple algorithms to it so that we could process it. My background is in data, not in application development, and so a bit of back-and-forth was needed to ideate and understand how this would work best. Bianor is really good at that, and that’s one of the things I have to commend them on.

They analyzed prototypes and the data coming from them, fused it, and visualized it on a mobile phone. Since we’re based in Asia, we primarily built the app around Android and used BLE 4.0 chips.

How did you come to work with Bianor?

We were introduced to Bianor by someone who took part in an accelerator with us, and they came highly recommended. They’d done some good work in the past, and he personally recommend them. The recommendation got me the first call with them. After that, they inspired confidence in me that they could get it done because they asked the right questions. When we sent the prototype, they analyzed it and gave the right feedback. It was a little bit of a test. They answered all my questions and even provided suggestions on how to make it better.

How much have you invested with Bianor?

It was $7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The contract began in December 2016, but I started talking to them in September 2016. The project is ongoing, and it’s in its final phase.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

My engineer and clinical trials manager, who are working on the app as well, like the look and feel. They actually jumped on calls: Before even charging us a cent, they took on four or five calls. We sent them a prototype, they analyzed the prototype, and gave us recommendations before money was exchanged. That’s something I praise them for.

We’re still ironing out a couple of kinks, so metrics are hard to give right now. That would be in another month or so. We’ve encountered a couple of problems based on the data coming from our device, mainly because of the interface between the device and the app. There was a little bit of a lack of communication there, but they’re helping us figure it out. Otherwise, we’re very happy working with Bianor in terms of what they’ve promised and produced.

How did Bianor perform from a project management standpoint?

Very well. They have a dedicated project manager besides the lead engineer. She follows up constantly, sending reminders and making sure everything’s on time. They actually proposed more regular meetings than we proposed. It’s good to know project timelines and everything else is being monitored closely. We communicated through email and bi-weekly calls regarding questions to update, but other than that there’s been nothing serious.

It’s relatively simple work for them, if I’m not wrong, but a lot of the problems are stemming from our device itself, which we are addressing. Those are the only things that have caused delays; it was technical difficulties more than anything.

What did you find most impressive about Bianor?

I appreciate the fact they provided excellent service regardless how small our project or how much we’re paying them. The service they provided so far has been excellent. I know we’re a small customer—we don’t impact their bottom line that much—but they’ve taken our work seriously and treated us like a serious customer, which I appreciate.

Are there any areas Bianor could improve?

We’re in the medical device space, and development work around medical devices requires specialized knowledge they don’t have, which to be fair, 99% of the developers don’t have. That was the only thing that we had to lower our expectations on. Other than that, I can’t fault them for what they’ve done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a global company providing value-added services. We deliver different platforms and services for mobile operators around the world. I am the product manager of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bianor?

We had a unique customer case for which we needed to develop a custom product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The client wanted to use our product on the mobile end in addition to our existing platform, so we requested the development of a mobile client which could integrate with our backend systems. Bianor developed a visual interface for the client's voicemail service. It was developed for Android, iOS, and Blackberry. We looked at similar kinds of offerings from our competitors. Based on that information, we were able to specify requirements to a certain extent. Bianor came to the same table and gave alternative approach models. Together, we came up with a definitive look for the client's product.

How did you come to work with Bianor?

We did an analysis of different kinds of vendors, trying to determine which ones could handle our particular project. We did a final study between three companies and ultimately selected Bianor because of their experience. The discussions we had made us confident in their abilities.

How much have you invested with Bianor?

I was not involved in discussions over cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Bianor in June 2014. The initial phase had a six-month runtime. After our customization project, we continued the collaboration with Bianor over the course of 2015 in order to turn the solution into a generic product for our company. The product was then transferred to our own development and support team.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Bianor's tool is still being used by a number of customers. We would like to see more users for the product, but its time in the market is ending, unfortunately. Operators are concentrating on other offerings, so it hasn't gained as much usage as we were expecting. Still, it was good enough. Our product was flexible enough for our operator clients to integrate it efficiently compared to Apple's offering which had zero customization possibilities. During the final testing phase, Bianor's team was flexible and ready to make any changes quickly. We had a very smooth collaboration.

How did Bianor perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project included different milestones and documentation for deliverables. It was led well and proceeded without any hiccups. There were some changes along the road, but we were able to negotiate them and come to an agreed upon schedule. Most of the work was done over Skype. We also shared tools for keeping development and testing issues on-track. Our project managers traveled to Bianor's location for face-to-face time.

What did you find most impressive about Bianor?

I have nothing special to add. Bianor worked smoothly, were flexible, and delivered our product as we agreed.

Are there any areas Bianor could improve?

Nothing is coming to mind.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a vendor of data center infrastructure management software. We are a small startup in New Jersey with 60-plus employees. I am director of software engineering and am responsible for the engineering/technology division.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bianor?

When our company was part of another company, they used Bianor to leverage their resources in hardware and software engineering and software testing. At our company now, we have four QA [quality assurance] software testers from Bianor to help test one of our products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our product is developed in Java in the backend and uses PostgreSQL as a database, and CentOS as the operating system. The frontend is AngularJS, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The tools Bianor uses for QA include VMware and a few test automation tools like SoapUI for API testing and the other is called Robot Framework.

How did you come to work with Bianor?

They were hired before I joined the company.

How much have you invested with Bianor?

We spend an average of between $100,000 and $300,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with them.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The testers we have are among the best I’ve ever worked with. They have very good skills and work ethic. They go above and beyond their duties. They’ve worked on weekends and postponed vacations to accommodate our schedule.

How did Bianor perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done excellently. They’re just like our employees.

Are there any areas Bianor could improve?

They could improve their product knowledge. Some people ramp up faster than others.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Think 360 Arts for Learning is a non-profit that puts professional artists in the classroom. I’m the executive director.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bianor?

We needed help building a mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The mobile app is used for teacher assessment for evaluating students. Bianor also did a very in-depth online registration which is used in over ten different states. We had already developed an iOS app, and the company we used was very pricey. Bianor developed an Android application that was exactly the same as the iOS app. We hold a large conference of 5,000 attendees that involves assessments where individuals do a performance and then are evaluated by three different judges. Those judges’ assessments are calculated and sent back to the participants and winners are selected from the results.

How did you come to work with Bianor?

I searched the web and talked to several companies through an RFP [request for proposal] process. Bianor directly addressed the needs we had and were willing to work with us. It’s been a great relationship. Bianor is very personable. Bianor is in a different time zone, but we’ve been able to work out the details.

How much have you invested with Bianor?

We spent between $10,000 and $50,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work is ongoing.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’re very happy with the online tools that have been developed by Bianor. The fact that ten states are working with it speaks to its success. It’s tech heavy, so it takes support services from our end to help the other states to learn how it works.

How did Bianor perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through Skype, email, and Google Apps where we document any changes. Bianor was able to meet all deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about Bianor?

Bianor brings the programmers into the room, so I’m Skyping with the actual coder. Once they get what the client is asking for, they know what to do. There’s not a person in between that relays the requirements.

Are there any areas Bianor could improve?

I’m totally thrilled with Bianor's process. I think they’re great.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am client operations director at My Market Insight, a media monitoring and data insights business.

What challenge were you trying to address with Bianor?

We needed to automate the gathering of information from the web.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope included project management design, specification, and build of website scraping tool using Symfony, RabbitMQ, and Docker. They also built a data extraction tool for the extraction of relevant text from websites.

How did you come to work with Bianor?

We were introduced through a business associate of mine. We shortlisted two companies and chose Bianor because we felt that their approach was the most comprehensive. Bianor provided the most complete proposal as well.

How much have you invested with Bianor?

We have spent between $10,000 and $50,000 with Bianor.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with Bianor.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We scraped around 50,000 URLs in the first couple of months of data collection, but it has been designed to handle ten times this number of processes.

How did Bianor perform from a project management standpoint?

Bianor performed well and were thorough. Communication was timely, and deadlines were met.

What did you find most impressive about Bianor?

The solution for data extraction was first class. Bianor used an algorithmic approach which has saved many hours of work to configure a range of sites. The team at Bianor was personable and polite. We conducted business over the phone and the web so I didn’t get to meet them outside of work.

Are there any areas Bianor could improve?

We needed to redo one element as Bianor had not signed off on the correct version of Symfony to use.