Binary Studio

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Olympe provide a bricks-based collaborative development environment. The idea is to compose application in an drag & drop environment. I'm the head of marketplace, meaning that I'm in charge of providing features (bricks) to help the development of applications of our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We want to provide a maximum of "on the shelf" features directly to our customers in order to accelerate the development of application. So in order to create those features (bricks) quickly we need some workforce to get the job done.

SOLUTION

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

We found them through a referral & selected them according to some technical interview against 2 others companies. The price was as well part of the decision of outsourcing to Binary Studio.

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

They integrate javascript libraries into the platform under the form of bricks (piece of software wrapped into olympe custom technology). We work in small sprints of 1 week quite closely. The priorities on the bricks to implements are set according to our customers priorities & the deliverable are the bricks themselves (which is olympe specific)

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

There was two junior developers that were in charge of implementing the bricks, under my lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

So we expect production of bricks here, even if we never mesured how many they exactly produced so far, we're satisfied with the rate of delivering. They managed to learn the olympe custom technology and became efficient quite quickly

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

They always met deadline when there was strict deadlines on the delivering of some bricks. We never encountered any turnover so far. All communications goes through microsoft teams for calls & discussions, jira for project management & git for the source code.

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

We had direct access to the whole team, which made it easier to communicate our ideas. Things can be lost in translation if you're only talking to a project manager.

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

Nothing come to my mind

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of technology at an insurance technology company that develops insurance lifecycle management products based on modern tech architecture. We intend to disrupt existing administration solutions across primary insurance, reinsurance, and multinational insurance integrations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

Our company had a software delivery factory in India, but we were struggling with specific skill sets that were difficult to source internally. As a result, we searched for a partner that could fill in those gaps and shared the same values that we had. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Binary Studio supplied our team with seven resources across several tiers. We acquired resources up to tier five, which provided the most senior-level resource. They offered a tier-seven resource, but we didn’t need anybody with that skill level. Meanwhile, their team worked on two products, helping us accelerate the major releases of those products. Simply put, we used their services to reduce the products’ time to market. 

What is the team composition?

The team composition varied over the time we had them on board, but we worked with seven resources at most. 

How did you come to work with  Binary Studio?

We found Binary Studio on Clutch. Our team shortlisted a bunch of candidates and had initial conversations with them. As we looked around the market, we aimed to have geographic diversity as part of our risk management strategy. That way, we could protect our delivery velocity in case something happened in any of our facilities in the UK and India. With that in mind, we were predisposed to hiring a company from the Ukrainian market since we’d already worked with a vendor in that market before. 

Moreover, Binary Studio’s approach resonated with us. The team was upfront in saying that they weren’t the right partner for us if we were looking for a body shop with the lowest bid. However, if we were looking for a long-term, quality-focused engagement, then they were the right partner for our business. This helped us start with an honest and transparent footing; we had a high-quality initial impression of their team. As a result, we decided to hire them.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership lasted from February–June 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our main success metrics were story points — which pertained to their development velocity — and the defect rate. Their story points were positive. We had around 50–60 developers in total, and the seven Binary Studio developers were in the top 10% of the development velocity of the entire organization. Meanwhile, their defect rate was about half of the whole team’s average, which was quite a lift for us. 

On top of that, their services’ cost was highly competitive against what we would’ve gotten if we hired onshore companies. Overall, Binary Studio’s high-touch, high-quality approach to the engagement worked well for us.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Binary Studio’s developers were all well-trained; we had no real complaints about their skills. It took a couple of weeks for them to learn our system, but that was expected. For context, Binary Studio had an academy-like recruitment model where they ran an internship program for several hundred people every summer. The team then picked the cream of the crop from each batch and trained them for engagements with clients like us — this process worked well for our projects. 

In terms of adherence to schedule, we didn’t necessarily track any particular deliverable on any particular day. Instead, the alternative measure we used involved the accuracy of their estimates. More often than not, they hit those estimates, which was great for us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of Binary Studio’s work was their differentiator. The team consisted of strong individual contributors; there was no “passenger” in their team. Overall, the quality of their work was outstanding. Whatever they did in their academy program definitely worked for us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The downside of having a high-touch, high-quality model was that it was difficult to have a short-term planning horizon. We had to have our wits about us in terms of planning. For instance, our team had to ask for something a couple of months in advance if we wanted to sort things out. That being said, once we learned to deal with this constraint, Binary Studio always did their part. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t expect Binary Studio to be a body shop; you couldn’t just snap your fingers for people to appear at your door. That’s not what they do. Their strength lies in long-term partnerships. Overall, as long as you’re organized in the way you approach planning and strategic modeling, you’ll reap rewards. However, if you want to use Binary Studio as a body shop, then the engagement isn’t going to work. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the lead developer at Bunker, an instant insurance solution provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

We needed their team’s expertise in website development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve onboarded Binary Studio’s resources to support our development pipeline as our development-related deliverables have piled up. They regularly perform several tasks to help maintain our website, integrate new features, and implement site updates.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with five resources, including a project manager and web developers. Initially,  we’ve only worked with one member from Binary Studio, but as our development tickets increased, we’ve hired more resources to work closely with us.

How did you come to work with Binary Studio?

Our CEO had already worked with Binary Studio in the past, so it seemed natural for us to reach out to them when we needed a partner for a similar project. They showed an evident understanding of our requirements, and they had an impressive profile and commendable client reviews.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in April 2021, and our engagement with Binary Studio is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any quantitative metrics to share yet, but I can confirm that Binary Studio is a valuable addition to our team. They implement development solutions quickly without compromising quality. Additionally, their team’s understanding of our requirements is well reflected in their code work.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Binary Studio has commendable project management skills. They’re adaptable and responsive — it’s always easy for them to transition from one phase or task to another.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Binary Studio can clearly comprehend our business model — I don’t find the need to give them instructions because they already know what to do and why they need to do it. Their team also follows a thorough method to guarantee the accuracy of their deliverables. We always know we’re in good hands when we work with Binary Studio.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve noticed that they’re less enthusiastic when dealing with test codes. While I understand that this is not a thrilling task, we can benefit from more engagement on their end when dealing with this aspect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

First, try to gauge how much development work your internal team can handle. You can then move forward to allocating tasks to Binary Studio’s team to ensure that all areas are taken care of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of JobBliss, a contractor and remote team management platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

I have a background in building websites and in marketing, and I’ve been trying for three years to find a team in Canada to help me build our system. Before reaching out to Binary Studio, I had two very bad experiences with other vendors.

I ended up with a half-finished site that needed a lot of work, and I needed a strategic-thinking partner to look through what we had and help me figure out what we could build next.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Binary Studio worked with me to audit the site, understand what we needed to do next, and scope out the features that we needed. Then, they helped me hire the right developers to implement the features. Now, they’ve been working with me to build the site.

What is the team composition?

Edward (Senior Client Manager) is our account manager. I was introduced to him first, and we had a few calls where he helped me figure out who I should be talking to next.

I’ve also worked with Denys (PHP Developer) whom they call an inceptioneer. He is a senior engineer and full-stack developer. He manages the team and helps with some of the development.

Additionally, I have three developers on the team who recently graduated from the Binary Studio Institute, including Volodymyr (.NET Developer). I’ve also worked with a senior database architect and a designer. In total, we work with around seven people.

How did you come to work with Binary Studio?

After years of working with other studios in Canada where the teams weren’t thinking about what we needed to build, I went on Clutch and looked through the highest-rated companies.

I went through all of Binary Studio’s reviews and watched some of the testimonial videos on their website. I was really impressed by it — some of the stories were very familiar.

They had other projects where they came to half-built projects, and they were able to refine and build the sites in a short period of time. That's what I wanted to hear, so I contacted them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I contacted them at the beginning of November 2020, and we started working together around December 2020. Our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Binary Studio is the first company that actually got me to a launch — that by itself is incredibly successful. We scoped out a certain number of months to get to launch, and we had a very candid and transparent conversation along the way.

Some things changed and others were added, but we launched right around the time that we had planned on launching, which was also a successful metric.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m very satisfied with their work. Denys has helped me create the stories and tasks. We spend hours going through the functionality and how we want the product to behave. Then, he puts the stories on Jira so we can review them together — the process is very transparent.

Denys then assigns the tasks to the appropriate team members, and those team members can talk to me directly if they have any questions. They also give me bi-weekly spring updates.

I’ve been able to see what’s happening and make decisions along the way. If a task ends up being too big, we can prioritize it. This has made me feel that I have control over what’s being built next. I’ve also understood the amount of time that is assigned to each task, which is great.

We’ve been able to speed up the production process this way, and we’ve understood what we need to prioritize.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Honestly, I can’t complain about anything they've done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Binary Studio is great. From their account person to their designer, they’ve been phenomenal. I’ve worked with a lot of development firms in Canada, and I’d never met a team that was smart and easy to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be realistic and trust that Binary Studio is giving you an honest opinion. They’re really trying to give you the best product. The team that I work with has been cautiously optimistic in trying to find ways to develop and create something that’s really great.

Don’t tell them what to do. Listen to what they say and collaborate with them — they have a lot of knowledge.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of a Creative Tech company based in Manchester, UK. We provide a collaborative marketplace and project management solution for CGI content creation. Our goal is to connect the creative industry with incredible digital artists and provide outstanding visuals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Binary Studio was provisioned to bolster our existing development team by providing a pool of talented developers. We were at a pivotal stage of platform growth and needed development resources at short notice. We used the additional resource to build custom feature components that our internal team could then bolt on to our existing platform.

SOLUTION

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

We contacted a number of development outsourcing companies, but Binary Studio's fees, talent pool and onboarding process made them a clear winner. We needed a flexible and short-notice resource and, after a technical test, it was obvious that their developers were very talented and passionate. Their Senior Client Manager, Edward, was absolutely outstanding from first contact and was incredibly helpful throughout the entire journey.

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

As we needed a number of custom components, we decided to provide a number of technical briefs for each component required. Our first brief contained the specification for simple feature; we used this as a method of testing the selected developer to ensure that they met our quality standards. Once we were happy, the developer was integrated into our in-house development team and worked as a modular resource.

Once a component was completed, the work was reviewed and a further brief was provided. Each brief contained a feature specification, requiring a Laravel component to be built. These components would eventually be integrated onto our platform by the internal team.

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

A single PHP developer was used over the contract period, with further resources available at short notice if required.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Each component was built to a very high standard. They included a testing suite, met PSR-12 standards and were very easy to review and implement into our platform. The briefs were followed to the letter and the developer worked with almost full autonomy. The developer and resulting components exceeded expectations.

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

Contact with the development resource was using our own communication systems, so they integrated into our team well. Each component was delivered within days of each other, ready to go. One brief took slightly longer than expected, but the result was far better than the original expectation. Communication with Binary Studio directly went through Edward via Email or Zoom, who followed up with us on a regular basis to ensure we were happy with their services.

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

Edward was an absolute delight to deal with, on both a personal and professional level. The developer we had onboard, Yana, was incredibly talented and the quality of code went beyond our quality expectations.

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

Communication with the developer was sometimes slow and inconsistent. One of the development tasks was very complex and, due to confusion, delivery took longer than anticipated. This could have been solved with better and more timely communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and managing director of Dinahmoe. We’re a digital production company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

We have an internal preparatory framework for developing digital applications. Our request of Binary Studio was to find a developer who had a certain set of skills and mindset to do that type of work because it’s very different from most digital solutions. This task required a deeper understanding and having an interest in pure JavaScript. It involved a high level of abstract thinking and understanding software architecture.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Binary Studio delivers software development services, so coding. It’s continuous work so there are lots of small deliveries that could be software components or refactoring of a part of the framework. They could also be project-related functions that are specific to a project.

Features include server functionality, visual components, audio components, video playback and streaming, sockets functionality, and more. It’s all the types of functionality that involve software development on both the client and server-side.

What is the team composition?

At the current time, we work with only one developer.

How did you come to work with Binary Studio?

I was in contact with Binary Studio when we were trying to find more of a short-term assignment. However, I learned that they provide long-term development assignments so an engagement didn’t happen at that time. We kept in contact and reached out when we wanted to start this current engagement. It was good timing.

Binary Studio understood the request we had and what we were looking for. They told us they could find the developer who would be perfect for this position.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Binary Studio in October 2020. Our engagement is an ongoing process where there are continuous deliveries in different parts of the framework.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have very high-quality demands when it comes to architecture and code design. We couldn’t have been any luckier when it comes to the developer they provided for us. They understand the goals and translate them quickly into good architecture and code. It was a very smooth process from the start. The work is of high quality and is moving forward at a good speed.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They meet deadlines. I work very closely with the developer. We typically communicate through Slack as well as use ClickUp for task management and Google Drive for documentation and specification-related tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Binary Studio understood the requirements and found a great candidate for the position. I’ve hired lots of developers through the years and everyone says they understand the requirements and can live up to them. But then we realize that the person is just selling empty promises and doesn’t understand the requirements. Binary Studio’s ability to truly understand the requirements and find the perfect candidate is what stands out to me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything is smooth and professional.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be extremely clear about what you prioritize and what’s important.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the lead developer for PQM Consulting. We are a consulting firm that provides Q&A testing for other companies. I manage the team where Binary Studio is integrated.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

We needed some more manpower in development fairly quickly. We were at a stage with our product where we had a design finished and a baseline of the product ready. We needed some help with development since we only had one and a half of our own developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Binary Studio implemented a lot of the design that we already created beforehand. They also rewrote a lot of legacy code from some old software that we wanted to reuse in the new project.

The quality of our own legacy code wasn’t that great and Binary Studio reworked a lot of that code. They also helped us implement some completely new features which only previously existed as design and concepts.

What is the team composition?

We have a senior developer who works for us 20% of the time. He participates in the daily meetings and is there if the junior developer we have 100% from Binary Studio has any questions.

How did you come to work with Binary Studio?

Since we needed manpower quickly, choosing Binary Studio rather than searching for a developer on our own seemed like the best option.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in January 2021, and we are still working with them on an ongoing basis. We don’t have a clear finish line for when we will stop working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The way we measured how happy we are with them was by their output. Based on the CodeCommit history, their output is very big. Our second measurement is how much we need to manage them to ensure quality; we basically don’t have to do it at all. When we assign them jobs or smaller tasks, they are always completed with high quality.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve always met the deadlines.  If there are any issues, they always communicate beforehand so we have had time to react and adapt. We communicate every day through a video call. We also communicate through Slack for smaller questions that don’t require a call.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their proactivity stands out. The team always brings us great suggestions, which we like. It’s another reason we’re happy to work with Binary Studio.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I thought about this really hard beforehand and I haven’t found anything. We are very satisfied with their performance and can’t suggest anything that we would want to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

A potential customer should prepare everything well before working with Binary Studio because they work very quickly. They would also do a great job of helping you if you don’t have a clear picture. That being said, you’ll get the most out of it if you are well prepared.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of Soomo Learning, LLC. We are a courseware company that makes online learning materials, primarily for the college market. Essentially, we’re a textbook replacement that functions online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

We wanted to scale our team to add extra development capacity. In one case, we had a website with specific issues we wanted remedied, and in another case, for our ongoing, longer-running project, we gave them a particular set of requirements to replace an existing system with a more modern version.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Regarding the first project, we had them make some changes to a website for us that was built with a static site generation tool, based on designs we provided.

The second project, which is much bigger, lives inside of an existing Ruby on Rails application that we wanted to modernize some aspects of. After providing Binary Studio with a functional example of the current tool, they built a brand new tool inside of our existing system. It accomplishes some of the same tasks that the old tool did, but in different ways, in addition to doing new things as well.

We’ve been meeting with Binary Studio once a week; they deliver code as it’s developed and we merge it back into our platform, which is how we prefer to work; we didn't want them to build it in isolation. We’re now getting into a phase where we’re turning that work into the hands of our users, gathering feedback, and iterating.

We came to them with a technology stack in mind for this work that was consistent with their knowledge and skills. We all agreed that TypeScript, JavaScript, React, and Redux were appropriate to use in this case.

What is the team composition?

Our current platform development project involves one full-time developer from Binary Studio. We also work with a customer relationship manager and an inception engineer at the outset of each project.

How did you come to work with Binary Studio?

I don’t remember how they came to my attention initially, but I believe it was a cold email. I liked their look, as they portrayed themselves as an engineering firm rather than a company that will hold your hand through everything. They focused on a training program and highlighted their pipeline of engineers. I figured we’d give them a shot.

We took some tentative steps at first; by now we’ve worked with them for a total of 10 months, and we are continuing to deepen the relationship. We’ve been very happy with it.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $33,000 in total on both projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2020, and are continuing to add projects. We're in the beginning steps of a third right now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve done a very good job of proposing a timeline and sticking to it. As far as metrics, I don’t have too much to say. It’s hard to measure code quality. We’ve reviewed their work, and we’re happy with it.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve been very happy with their project management. Projects begin with an initial call with Binary Studio’s customer relationship manager to discuss what we’re trying to achieve. They ask questions and then schedule an inception meeting with an engineer. They have some engineers on staff who specialize in this; we’ve had this meeting three times now — once for each of the three projects we've started. By the inception meeting, Binary Studio has read over what we provided and had time to ask questions over email, so we use this time to drill down into what exactly we’re asking to be done and make sure it's understood.

Then, we have a suggested assignment of a developer and the chance to learn a little bit about this person. This ensures that we’ll enjoy working with them and have an effective engagement. We also have additional feedback meetings early on to cement the pairing. After that point, we meet regularly and work with the developer as they go through the project.

Our communication is over email and Zoom initially, but once we’re into the meat of the project we use Slack. Their developers have joined our Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The clarity of their description of their process and the quality of their website stood out when we first met them. These aspects were enough to make us dip our toe in the water. Binary Studio’s materials didn’t have any mistakes or typos, which stood out to us as an academic publishing company. We’re all attuned to written language internally, and their materials made it clear they took pride in their quality.

Their communication is always very clear on the next steps for them and what they need us to provide. I’ve never felt like I was in the dark about what was coming next. They guide us through the work well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. Some people always want services to be cheaper, but I can’t imagine receiving the same quality of work at a lower price. There hasn’t been any friction between us as we continue to deepen our relationship.

Our second project is reaching a conclusion, but we intend to continue working with our current developer from Binary Studio, both on this project (expanding it beyond its current scope) and opening new projects. In fact, we’ve already opened a third project with other team members from the company in the past few weeks.

Binary Studio has been gracious. We’ve been paying with wire transfers because of the particularities of our company’s financial operations, and we’ve let one or two go longer than we probably should have, and they’ve been very understanding. I couldn’t ask for a better partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come to the table with everything you know about what you’re looking for and engage with Binary Studio’s process. They’re ideal for a company like ours that already has development processes and developers in place but wants to increase its capacity.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO and interim CTO of a startup. We’re bringing a new product to market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

Our challenge was to actually build the product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Binary Studio from the beginning. We provided them with the concept of what we wanted to do as well as the outcome that we expected. They did everything from the conception and architecture to actually building the product. The only thing we did ourselves was the design and the concept.

We have an application for Android and iOS and there are two web-based products as well. We were the ones who found the technology and we used React Native, Node.js, as well as TypeScript for the backend, in addition to PostgreSQL.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two developers and a part-time architect.

How did you come to work with Binary Studio?

They were recommended to us by a friend who was working with them. After talking to 6–7 different agencies, we found that Binary Studio was the best fit with the technology we wanted to use, the way they approached the problem, and the way we interacted as well.

How much have you invested in them?

Over the period of the engagement, I expect we will spend somewhere between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in mid-November 2020, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are no specific KPIs, but a metric for us is actually completing the product in time for the launch. That is our main metric. In that sense, we have been working with them on it and it’s looking good. 

The quality of the product is very good. We have testing versions and have given feedback on them. The feedback has been taken and implemented very quickly. Any changes we needed to make have all been incorporated very quickly. It has worked out really well.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

So far, the work of the architect has been fantastic. He has orchestrated the project well, which is why I think we’ve managed to do another product with only two developers. He has done such a fantastic job of setting things up in a way where everyone can move without roadblocks.

We have a daily stand-up over Zoom, and we have a Trello board that we use as a project management tool in addition to some Google Sheets that we use to describe user stories in more detail.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We spoke to 6–7 different providers and what distinguished Binary Studio and why we decided to work with them was their approach to the problem — how they actually tried to simplify things and brought up solutions that were very direct.

The other thing was the ease of communication and the ease of accommodating whatever requests we had. They always find a way and are willing to be flexible to accommodate things that we need, which is very important at our stage.

We were quite clear with the technology we wanted to use, and I think they are really focused on that technology which of course helped us to build it faster.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing jumps to mind right away. If anything, in the beginning, we didn’t have daily meetings, and especially the first week, there was a slight lack of transparency of what was going on. I know they were setting up the infrastructure, which is not anything you can see, but we needed it to build stuff afterward. 

That part could’ve been a bit more transparent. I told them I would like to understand what was going on a little better and then we set up daily meetings. We had small hiccups but there’s really nothing for them to change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My recommendation would be to let Binary Studio find a solution to your problem. Let them do their thing because they know what they are doing. Be as clear as possible as to what you need. At least for us, it’s working well that way. We know what we need and they deliver on it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of software development for AgencySmart. We do software for insurance brokers and general agencies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Binary Studio?

We essentially have two linked products. AgencySmart is the client management system. There’s a second product called MyBenefitLink that adds to the first one. That product existed in 3–4 versions, and none of them worked. Binary Studio was our final chance to get this product off the ground.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a conversation at the beginning of the project about whether they wanted to continue the work that was previously done. We mutually agreed that their team would start from scratch. They created the frontend in React, and we developed the backend. After they completed the frontend, we asked them to rewrite the backend. Their team’s now rewriting it in Node.js.

It’s an online management system for group benefits. Employees can use it to view their benefits offered by their employer. When employees enter the portal, they can enter their own personal information, elect benefits, and electronically sign forms. That process happens once a year through open enrollment. Throughout the year, employees can use the system to view their benefits and contact HR or their agent for help.

What is the team composition?

I mostly talk with Edward (Engagement Manager) about project management and have another technical contact. I’m also in close contact with all of the developers throughout the project.

How did you come to work with Binary Studio?

We found them through an online search after comparing different alternatives. I wanted to work with a team from Ukraine because I heard a lot of positive feedback about technical teams from the country. We needed to ensure that the team we chose could speak English and communicate with my partners, unlike our previous outsourced partners. Binary Studio had a great knowledge of English and communicated with my partners, which made them feel included in the process.

How much have you invested with them?

The first phase of the project cost about $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They started working on the project in July 2020 and finished the frontend in four months. It’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After three previous attempts, we finally had a product that we released. It was well-received by our customers. Internally, we’re happy to have a product that we can sell. Everyone who previously took a crack at this project couldn’t get it done, but Binary Studio finally got it done.

How did Binary Studio perform from a project management standpoint?

Our previous development team took almost a year and a half to deliver poor results. Binary Studio completed the frontend in four months and did well.

We use Slack and a Kanban board. Their team was flexible enough to adapt to the tools that we used. At one point, we had daily calls with them to talk about their progress and answer any questions. There was no problem with communication whatsoever.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed by their professionalism. After dealing with many false starts, it was nice to finally work with a team that quickly delivered the results we wanted. With Binary Studio, we haven’t had problems with communication or results. They understood everything quickly and delivered exactly what we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come prepared to tell them exactly what they need to do and then they’ll do it.