Binary Studio

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

We have clients who are already using it, and clients in the pipeline who are going to be using the system as well. Currently, the platform is used by very well-known hospitals in the United States and many other small doctor’s offices.

Within two to three months, we were able to release an MVP for the platform which has allowed people to start looking into it and use it for booking. It was initially integrated with third-party software, but we were able to quickly make it independent. We're adding features to the platform every sprint. It's an ongoing process, but we're showing the results to management very quickly. Users are able to use the new features as we implement them.

I think we made a fantastic choice in choosing Binary Studio as our resource company.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We have adopted an agile methodology and perform development work in three-week sprints. I work with the developers on a daily basis through our CTO. We use the full suite of Atlassian products such as Jira, Confluence and many other tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I love them. They're smart, hard-working, and aware of the urgency of the situation. Despite being under a lot of pressure, they remain very professional. If need be, they are able to provide us with help late into the evenings or weekends; whenever we need it. The team very polite and humble while also being very smart and hard-working.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For now, it is mostly working well. We're a startup, so we do have a lot of pressure and work. Our business and leadership team is in Atlanta and California, but the dev team is in Ukraine and they do have a lot of holidays as opposed to the US. Out of the blue, every month or every other month, there is a national holiday and progress gets disrupted at that time. It can get a little edgy with management sometimes. I am not sure if it is doable or not, but it would be nice if they could be compliant with the holiday structure that we have so we're working as a team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It seems like they have a very diligent hiring process, and they have a sharp team. I have not seen a single person who has been onboarded onto the team and is not able to help us right away. They are very easy and quick learners, and ready to jump into the production crunch within a month of them joining. I believe Binary does their due diligence on bringing in resources. I would be a good reference for them.

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

Binary Studio’s support has allowed us to meet our January 2019 go-live date. We’re pleased that we’ve gotten so much done. We were able to onboard beta users all throughout 2018, finalized development, and are now doing well.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate with our main point of contact every day, and we use Trello to coordinate.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

The lead programmer has been invaluable to our project. Not only does he have a solid understanding of development, but he’s also able to look at the project as a whole. I appreciate that he can evaluate how a technical change might trickle downstream and affect our overall business. When we’re working together, I can trust him to make certain decisions by himself.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

One of my main concerns is that I mostly work with their lead developer, so I don’t feel like I get any value from their administrative or billing contacts. 

Binary Studio’s programmers work only during their office hours in their time zone. So, if we encounter a technical problem after their hours, they won’t address the issue until the next day. This might be an unrealistic expectation on my part, but I’m used to vendors who work until the day’s job is done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
 
Try to speak with the programmer you’ll be working with early on to see if they’re the right fit. As with any company, a resource might specialize in one area whereas another is more talented elsewhere. We’ve been fortunate enough to find a programmer who fits our needs remarkably well.

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

We don’t have any numbers on improved conversions yet since we just launched what they’ve completed a week or two ago, but all the feedback has been positive. It’s clean, it’s easier to create events and it's faster. We haven’t gotten any negative feedback.​

​​​​​​How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

When we first picked up the project internally, we didn’t realize how big it would be, so we were a little underprepared on our side. Binary took it all in stride and are more than willing to keep adding tasks and increasing the scope of the project.

We have them on Slack, so if there are any urgent issues we pop them a message and they’ll start working. We have daily stand-ups with them and there’s a lot of collaboration, so they feel like an in-house team. Every other day we video chat with them to catch up on where they are and what they’re doing. We have a lot of collaboration with them, so we didn’t just hand them a spec and then get a delivery six months later.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They produced an excellent product after dealing with a limited initial scope and a language barrier. They took initiative, which was amazing, and worked autonomously.​

​​​​​​Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing has stood out so far that I would want to change. They’re really open to suggestions on improvement, but I haven’t had to give any of those so far.

Any advice for potential customers?

This is the advice that I was given but didn’t follow: make sure that your specifications are well laid out because that helps avoid back and forth and confusion that might arise - however this is always the case with development, whether in-house or not.