Brightgrove

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are developing compliance software since 2004 and have more then 1000 customers around the world. I'm the CEO and responsible for the software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had 2 extensive projects for which we needed support in development. The development was to be done with ASP.net Core. Since our development department was already very busy our goal was to outsource these projects.

SOLUTION

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

We discovered Brightgrove while researching the market on the internet and had been in contact for several years before the project started. In 2019, it turned out that we needed capacity and a developer who exactly matched our requirements was available. The price/performance ratio was also very good.

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

The project requirements were clarified in an initial discussion and the developer then received a specification of the programm interface and processes from us. In close cooperation with our development department, 2 projects were then developed with a web interface in ASP .NET Core. The main part of the tasks was carried out independently by the Brightgrove developer.

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

Our main contact was the developer. The project management was done by us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The projects carried out enable us to develop a new strategy for our online products. By introducing the first project, we have already saved part of the development costs internally.

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

We were responsible for the project management. We communicated directly with the developer and specified new tasks and tested completed tasks almost daily.

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

The cooperation was always very professional and friendly. And above all, the quality of the developer's work was very good.

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

No we were always very satisfied

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product testing at Bragi GmbH. We make consumer electronics and custom shareable software for true wireless and over-ear headphone products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brightgrove?

We needed to create a mobile software development kit (SDK) for Android and iOS that would allow brands to integrate our product into their brand line easily. We outsourced iOS and Android development to Brightgrove.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a reference design from our first-generation products that we wanted to adapt to a second generation. My team laid out our expectations for the architecture Brightgrove would use and the scope of the project. We onboarded them into our codebase and gave them the freedom to keep or eliminate what they wanted in the new software stack. My team provided project owner and organizational support along with technical review, and Brightgrove executed the actual development. After the ramp-up phase, we started a more agile development cycle. We’ve been doing intermittent releases since May or April of 2019. At the end of each release, they determine the feature set for the next release.

The app’s primary communication with the earpieces is through Bluetooth Low Energy to transfer data. We also do a Bluetooth Classic connection for the standard profiles for telephony and music playback, but most of the development is done on the Bluetooth Low Energy stack for data transfer. Brightgrove has been developing for Bluetooth 5 BLE stack for communication for the different profiles in BLE for L2 CAP, FTP, and GATT, and then providing convenient APIs as an SDK to allow for applications to interface with the device easily. Instead of bit bashing and sending random binary data, users can send, play, or pause.

Additionally, Brightgrove has been developing a sample application to demonstrate the capabilities of the device, with features like audio recording, device configuration, firmware update, push-to-talk integration, and several others.

What is the team composition?

My team works with three active developers on a daily basis. We’ve also worked with a sales manager and Anna (Account/Project Manager, Brightgrove). We expect to expand the Brightgrove team with two more people in the coming months.

How did you come to work with Brightgrove?

I found Brightgrove through a work colleague who recommended them. I was responsible for finding a near or far-shore outsourcing company for our development project, and I reviewed 6–7 companies before settling on Brightgrove. I got in touch with their project manager and then started the application and chain setup process.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about €70,000 (approximately $78,400 USD) per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brightgrove in December 2018 and the project is ongoing. We’ve had two releases of the application, and we expect to be feature-complete by Q4 of this year. We’re not sure what the next feature set will look like.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve hit every release with all of the features included, which is more than you can ask for. Their work has been invaluable.

How did Brightgrove perform from a project management standpoint?

Our teams have weekly synchronization calls. Once every two months, we have as many developers as possible come onsite for critical periods of development, such as when we’re creating new features, introducing new components to the scope, or releasing the app. They’ve come onsite for both major releases.

We’ve been using Jira to track Brightgrove’s feature. We have an active Microsoft Teams group, which allows direct communication for technical questions. We also co-maintain a repository for technical documentation and do code review on Git.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our partnership with them has been excellent. Nothing unknown or unexpected has come up. Each member of the team has different values that they bring to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the start of the project, I expected that Brightgrove would provide a technical toolchain for their developers, like repository infrastructure, as well as a standard way of working so that they’d have a functioning team structure that they could be active in.  However, this was not true, and we had to introduce them to our process, which was significantly slower than I was expecting. It’s difficult to onboard somebody into a workflow when they’re remote.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a strong toolchain upfront and do onsite onboarding either at their office or your office. Also, have an experienced program manager internally; in agile development, that would be a product owner or scrum manager, and under the waterfall model, that would be a project or program manager.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a computer software product company located in Evanston, Illinois. We have produced an analytic platform that sits in the middle of the data world and lets you create attributes from multiple sources that can be reused again repeatedly, controlled by IT [information technology], but self-served by everyone else within the organization. It's a custom solution.

What is your position?

I'm the vice president of operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Brightgrove?

We first hired Brightgrove because trying to find the quantity and quality of software developers in U.S. was challenging and it was also cost prohibitive. We had a relationship with another Ukrainian provider but were running into some issues. We moved to Brightgrove for more flexibility and a little bit more control on the staff that we were using, which worked to our great advantage.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in detail?

It's primarily development and QA [quality assurance]. Right now, we have two teams within Brightgrove. One is our R&D [research and development] team. They perform the programming of our product. The other is a portion of our delivery team, where they work primarily with MySQL and QA resources to help get our solution implemented successfully at client sites.

The number of people assigned to our projects varies by the client needs. It can be anywhere from one to five, depending on the complexity of the project.

They have helped us with people that are not on the team for one-off type of situations. For example, when we needed a WordPress developer to help with our website. For the most part, it's strictly development and QA.

How did you come to work with Brightgrove?

We had a previous partner in Ukraine, and one of the principals of Brightgrove used to work there. We had a previous relationship, so when I took on this role, I talked with him about what we could do to set things up differently. We were running into challenges because we were losing people off the team regarding pay, yet we couldn't control the individual salaries, we could only control the rate that we were paying this former provider. When we developed our strategy with Brightgrove, we could control how much the employee got paid, and Brightgrove would charge us a set fee for administering, office space, equipment, all that other kind of stuff. This new relationship gave us a lot more flexibility to make sure we're rewarding the people we wanted, and that the money was going to the employee and not necessarily to the organization. We found that dynamic to be more stable and ultimately much more successful.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in financial terms?

We're spending about $2,900 to $3,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been collaborating for three years now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

There's really nothing. In terms of our organizational identity, we have made a pretty significant pivot. We used to be mostly a services company, so when we originally started with Brightgrove we were hiring developers who would function in a consultant capacity, and now that we have made a pivot to a software company, the data doesn't apply. Because that transition is still in progress, the need changes a little bit. When we began our relationship with Brightgrove, we really raised the bar on folks as far as English skills, even understanding business a little bit more, and going outside of the realm of just being a software developer who codes. I can tell you without a doubt that the quality of personnel coming through Brightgrove is heads and shoulders above any other partner that we've used in the same type of capacity.

From a project management perspective, we have been very satisfied with their performance. We used JIRA as a project management tool with them. Some of their folks had used this tool before, others we had to train them on how to use it. It's a standard tool for us. It was very helpful when it came to managing the development process and implementing changes.

What distinguishes Brightgrove from other providers?

In my experience, Brightgrove offered the most flexibility, and that was the game changer for us. If things aren't working, or we're not happy, or we're changing midstream, they're changing right with us. That's very unique in a partner or provider.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

They do a lot of recruiting for us, as our team ebbs and flows, and it seems like it gets a little bit into a dark hole. You never quite know what's going on. You always have to go looking for information. I'd like to see a little bit more visibility, some more transparency, with regard to their recruiting pipeline. How many folks are they talking to? How many are moving forward? How many are falling out? This way, it can help us gauge whether we have to change something on our end, in our job description, in our salary offering, and so on.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

They offer you a bunch of services through a bunch of different people, but find that one person who is really going to own the passion around your account. It just makes it easier to go to a single source, versus having to deal with multiple people in multiple positions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We're a provider of custom software and mobile development solutions for commercial clients.

What is your position?

I am one of the partners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address with Brightgrove?

Brightgrove helped us to establish and develop our office in Ukraine and provided some strategic consulting services. They helped us with initial recruitment efforts, and they provided technical resources for some of our clients when we were still ramping up our internal recruitment.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in detail?

They worked on technical project management, Java, Microsoft.net, JavaScript, some UI/UX [user interface/user experience] work, using many different technologies. The development work they did wasn't so much on the mobile side. There was some mobile work, but it was more full-cycle web development. Mainly, they worked on specific tasks, and they collaborated with our in-house team, depending on the engagement with the end customer. They are quite capable of doing independent work, too.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in financial terms?

In terms of our total investment with Brightgrove, it was definitely hundreds of thousands over the course of several years. It was probably between $100,000 and $200,000. We still do some business with them, I believe around $5,000 to $10,000 a month.

This relationship remains ongoing, correct??

Yes, we're still partners. We still have one ongoing project. Brightgrove also helps us with complex technical tasks, recruitment, or things like that, on a consulting basis. They've been instrumental in helping us to get where we are now, which is very close to achieving our original goals. There was a lot of work during the first 12 to 18 months. We needed a lot of help.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

I probably won't be able to provide any hard numbers. I can, however, attest to the quality of their resources, and high-quality developers. Not only were we happy, but also our own end customers were happy with the quality of their solutions. These are not hard metrics, but Brightgrove has generated considerable revenues for our respective brands. What testifies to their high quality is their repeat business with companies like our own. Their track record of repeat business with their clients is quite strong through the years, and that helps them to grow organically. They've been extremely responsive. I know the team very well there, and they're very experienced.

When working with Brightgrove, is there anything that you'd consider unique about their practice?

They have a high-quality management team that puts a lot of emphasis on talent recruitment and putting the right people on as team members. They do not have a lot of situations in which quality suffers because of weak developers, and that's important. Most of their developers are top-notch. That maturity is indicated in their software development processes. That comes with territory and experience. They've been in this industry for many years now, and they grow fast, but they are trying to attract top talent. They don't settle for mediocrity.

In hindsight, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

They're not always able to provide resources on an as-needed basis for all projects. They're not IBM. They don't have consultants or developers for every situation in every possible technology areas. So, of course, there are situations when we have to pass work to another provider because they're not able to offer certain services or expertise, but that's rare.

All in all, they're a good company with strong, experienced management. Everything goes from a top-down approach. You've got to have the right culture and, for that, you need the right management.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated on September 10th, 2019, by the client. The original star ratings were: Overall – 4.5, Quality – 4.5, Schedule – 4.5, Cost – 4, NPS – 5. New Content is below:

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We’re a provider of high-quality custom software development solutions, and I used to be their managing partner until October 2016.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address with Brightgrove?

Brightgrove helped us to establish our own software development center in Kharkiv, Ukraine, from scratch. They also provided strategic consulting services for us, including invaluable know-how in Ukraine. 

While we were ramping up, Brightgrove supplied us with key technical and non-technical roles to serve our clients effectively.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They covered all areas for us, from technical project management to higher-end software development work in various technologies (i.e., Microsoft, Java, databases, etc.) to UI/UX and QA. They also supported non-technical functions, such as recruiting, admin tasks, and office management.

What is the team composition?

It was the project manager, 2–3 tech leads for different teams, software developers, a QA tester, UI/UX designer, and more. 

The team structure and size dynamically changed, scaling up and down depending on our and our clients’ needs. It was quite valuable for us, as it allowed us to manage our client relationships proactively and cost-effectively.

How did you come to work with them?

I used to work with Brightgrove Management and Exec Team for many years, even before Brightgrove was formed in 2010.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Brightgrove has very solid software dev and management practices and methodologies, and it resulted in impressive deliverables for us and our clients.  As an end result, we’ve been able to secure repeat and growing business from our clients, and became growing repeat customers for Brightgrove.

In another words, our relationships with clients and revenues grew organically, clients were quite satisfied, and so were we. 

The Brightgrove team, based on long-term successful relationships with clients like us, has experienced significant growth over last several years from both revenue and headcount perspectives (about 3–4 times).

How did the team perform from a project management standpoint?

Brightgrove has carefully chosen professional project management staff, including certified Scrum Masters and Agile coaches. 

Kudos to their project managers. All are well-versed in all modern aspects of successful project management practices. They are very strong professionally, and pleasure to work with personally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of their main assets is the top-notch, experienced executive and management team. All good things start from the top. Add to that robust recruiting process, mature software development processes and methodologies, the “right fit” corporate culture, and all these advantages lead to very important fact: high-quality developers want to work for Brightgrove. 

This is definitely important in Ukraine (not unlike in the US). There is always a shortage of fully-qualified experienced software developers. Brightgrove is able to attract the best technical resources.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nobody is perfect, and certainly there were moments when we felt less than thrilled by specific developers or deliverables. But those moments were rare, and Brightgrove managed to minimize those risks and adversity pretty well.

Any advice for potential customers?

Start slow with Brightgrove. Don’t run, walk. Set up a smaller core team with them and then grow consistently and gradually. 

Always stay involved. Treat it as a partnership from the very start, not as client-vendor relationship, and good things will come out of this collaboration with Brightgrove.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Product Manager of an advertising & marketing company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Online Marketing Agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Brightgrove to accomplish?

• Business Processes Automation

SOLUTION

How did you find Brightgrove?

• Other

Why did you select Brightgrove over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Brightgrove were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Development of 3 collaboration tools for different departments of our company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Acceleration and automation of our operating processes and thereby saving costs

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

Brightgrove is very agile, and they completely adapted to our flow and delivered everything as expected. Always flexible and understanding.

What was your primary form of communication with Brightgrove?

• Virtual Meeting

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

Highly qualified developers who act as a team, are interested in the products, and work independently.

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

Keep going, everything is great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Data & Insights of BetCity.nl

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Online Casino provider

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Brightgrove to accomplish?

• Developing an web app to interact with google's campaign manager API

SOLUTION

How did you find Brightgrove?

Online Search

Why did you select Brightgrove over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Brightgrove were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope was to create an working web app that could communicate with the google campaign manager api, to create campaigns in bulk, test campaigns and adjust campaigns

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A working app that had per version update new features

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

On time and beyond, always straightforward in communication and asking questions until they had a perfect understanding, always on time and sometimes way before the deadline

What was your primary form of communication with Brightgrove?

Virtual Meeting

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

I was most impressed with their culture, dedication, friendliness, collaboration, and communication skills.

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

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