Britenet

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Team Manager in the Trade Finance Department of the largest bank in Polish Financial Sector

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Britenet?

Britenet has created one of the biggest web portals in Poland with comprehensive information on export that includes all the data necessary to limit the risk associated with foreing trade.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a platform with the following functionalities like a list of importing countries with reports on their economies and imported products.

The main objective was to create a list of constantly updated trade events from around the world with information on open public procurement available to Polish companies, base of internet portals dedicated to online sales around the world and easy access to financial products that are tailored to individual customer needs.

SOLUTION

How did you select Britenet?

We have already collaborated with Britenet in various areas since 2010. PKO BP invited several companies with which they had framework agreements to participate in the tender and chose the best of suppliers. What mattered was flexibility, professionalism and ease of communication.

We value Britenet for their quality, competence and punctuality, they simply turned out to be the best. The project was completed on time and on budget, which proves that a good choice was made.

The purchasing department and the technical department were the main ones responsible for selecting the supplier for the project and preparing the bank's requirements.

Describe the project in detail.

The project was the creation of a portal collecting all data on export from Poland. Among others, the created platform includes such functionalities as:

1. a wide range of data about countries all over the world with reports on their economies and imported products
2. constantly updated list of trade events from around the world
3. information on open public procurement available to Polish companies
4. a base of internet portals dedicated to online sales from around the world
5. reports and comprehensive information on key industries for Polish exporters
6. an automatic search engine for reports on contactors, which makes it possible to check if a potential contractor is credible
7. financial products offer tailored to individual customer needs.

What was the team composition?

Britnet's team consisted of Project Manager and 12 people cooperating with a team of five bank employees. Among developers there were a security administrator, administrator, testers, front and backend developers, analyst and software quality assurance engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Currently maintained and fully operational platform that received very positive feedback. It’s working perfectly and now the only thing we are working on is typical maintenance.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We really like the cooperation with Britenet, everything in the project was done using the SCRUM approach, we have worked in sprints and had weekly meetings to check on the progress. Overall a great cooperation between teams, which resulted in maintaining the budget and timeline.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their involvement with our project, communication and incredible amount of knowledge and professionalism we don’t see in other vendors.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are very happy with the end product which now has to be only maintained. We wouldn’t change anything about the previous process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CFO of a mutual insurance company. We mainly provide auto insurance, but we’re expanding into business instruments, such as bonds and warranties. We’re also active in agricultural insurance in Poland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Britenet?

Our existing system couldn’t serve our new business services — bonds and warranties — so, we had to introduce a tailormade system into the company. We hired Britenet to implement a system that services that side of our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the first phase, they designed the business process of the system. Then Britenet developed and implemented the whole system. Effectively replacing our previous operations, which were based mainly on Excel files, emails, and phone calls, they implemented an analysis and reporting process.

Britenet was also responsible for designing the customer portal. It automates the communication process with our company. Customers have their own pages for providing financial reports for automation analysis.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 8–10 people in the first two stages, including a product manager, developers, testers, and business analysts.

How did you come to work with Britenet?

They had experience in designing systems for banking and insurance companies. Britenet gave us the best offer out of all the companies we looked at.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was around $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first contact with Britenet was in January 2020, and the deal was signed in April of that year. The system was launched in October 2020, and the last module was finished in January 2021. We plan to begin working with Britenet again next week to complete the system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve received a lot of good feedback on Britenet from my internal team. Britenet’s system has improved our sales process. From February 2020–February 2021, our revenue from bonds insurance doubled, going from around $75,000–$125,000.

How did Britenet perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira for project management, but our daily meetings is what really contributed to our scuess. We had a one-hour meeting once a week, but we also had a 15-minute meeting each day to ensure communication between the vendor and our team. We actually learned a lot from them on how to organize a project and how to have effective meetings.

We had a deadline for mid-March 2021, but they finished the project in January because budget cuts shortened our project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Britenet’s team was stable and organized. They provided more people when we needed to speed up the work. They also introduced us to a lot of good communication practices between the business side and IT side.

Additionally, they spent a lot of time asking us about our goals so they understood what we wanted. They maintained ownership of their work throughout the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, communication wasn’t very effective because Britenet was used to working IT experts and we were new to the process. To remedy that, Britenet used more accessible language so we could understand what we were working on.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The client should be prepared to describe their needs. Britenet is effective at design and development, but documenting their requirements will speed up the process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Managing Director of Avista Ltd, 100% owned by Scheidt and Bachmann, supporting Fare Collection Systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Britenet?

The main objective of the project was to replace existing Fare Collection Backend System with new, integrated solution for railway operator. The new solution supports different sales channels such as ticket offices, ticket vending machines, internet sales, and sales on the train by inspectors.

What were your goals for this project?

Implement the project according to the time, budget and scope as it was contract based on public procurement law.

SOLUTION

How did you select Britenet?

Britenet is one of short listed suppliers, we are working with them since 2011 and support our projects with their experts or teams.

Describe the project in detail.

Project was divided into phases - design of the solution, development, implementation and SLA.

Functional scope was including modules like railway network management, sales channels management, tariff management, ticket management, sales registration, timetable and train management, ticket inspection, complaints management, data processing and reporting etc.

What was the team composition?

The team on the Britenet side changed over time and as the project progressed. In the most busy period it consisted of 4 development teams (~20 people) located in different locations:

• Project development Java
• UIS development
• Core development Java
• JasperSoft development Teams included:
  • Business Analyst
  • Java architect
  • Java developer
  • SQL developer
  • JasperSoft Developer
  • Tester Britenet team members were supporting Avista´s meeting with end customer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

To early to share

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Good communication and colaboration approach including understaing for project priorities.Continous communication on a project managente level about risks.

Britenet apointed a work coordinator on their end to coordinate a work between the teams. I would summarize that workflow was very efficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are a stable and well organized company. Avialabilty of different experts is on a very high level due to sufficient stuff number. Each emergency situation was understood and supported properly. Good time and quality.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Handover process after finising the work always can be improved.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager for a nonprofit think tank.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Britenet?

We didn’t have a database, and needed to have Salesforce implemented.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They implemented Salesforce. They provided individual databases for our different projects. There were three different inputs for the database, which helped with email preparation.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people from the team.

How did you come to work with Britenet?

Britenet called us, offering their services.

How much have you invested with them?

There was no charge, as the project was done for a nonprofit.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July – August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a successful project. Salesforce is helpful for us and meets our needs.

How did Britenet perform from a project management standpoint?

We had routine meetings, and we communicated via email and phone. They were available, and we had additional meetings when needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re professional. Britenet listened to us and provided the right solutions for the challenges we had.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are the professionals, so just cooperate with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the managing director of Leaptree. Leaptree is a software company that develops products for the Salesforce market. We have several other applications up and running on the Salesforce App Exchange.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Britenet?

We needed skilled developers in Salesforce.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed software development resources, so we hired several of their software developers on a full-time basis. They're helping us build out our software products. One of the products is Leaptree Optimize, which is a QA scorecard app for customer care, customer standards, customer calls, and more.

We also have Leaptree Incentivize, which is a commission management application. Both applications work through Salesforce. Users can get our applications on the App Exchange, install them, get them licensed from us, and get working very quickly.

What is the team composition?

At the moment, we are using two of their software developers full-time. Our main point of contact is Kamil (Senior Key Account Manager).

How did you come to work with Britenet?

We are a spinout company of another company that was using Britenet. When I joined, they recommended using Britenet based on the quality of their software development skills.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent over €250,000 (approximately $301,100 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership began in August 2019, and it's still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We assess their work on a weekly, monthly, and at the time of new releases. The quality is of a very high standard.

How did Britenet perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira, Confluence, and other software development tools to manage the projects. Their technical manager handles their team and has daily stand-up calls to make sure everything is on track. They've been very good at hitting deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have their own ideas for solving technical problems. We tell them the things we want to do, and they ask the right questions to make informed suggestions. We don't want our partners to blindly follow our requirements if they're not sound. They challenge us in a good way to get the right solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. At the moment I am happy with what they do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We've had good success with the right candidates, so it's helpful to make sure you're getting the right resources from their team. Interview them as if you would interview a key hire. I would go through the full interview process to make sure you are getting the right people for the work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior project director for EF Education First.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Britenet?

We were moving to Salesforce which was our new CRM system. One of the major challenges that we had at that time was resources. We tried to recruit for almost a year and had no great luck in finding the right people we wanted.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Britenet came into the picture and was able to help us with getting us the right resources. Initially, we wanted someone that could build functionality according to our requirements. We had very specific and concrete deliverables.

From there, we extended our partnership. We hired more developers and we also hired an architect from their side who works with us in architecting the whole system and making sure that we made the right architecture decisions and the right decision for all the decisions on new functionalities or whatever we are adding.

We are also working with developers that are working outside the Salesforce platform. They are working with our other team which is more on the C# and .NET side. In between, we also worked with a UX designer for two to three months. 

We are basically using them as more of a strategic partner and based on our requirements, which vary and keep changing, we rely on them to get us the resource.

What is the team composition?

We have worked with our account manager, an architect, someone on the integration side, and a lot of other people from the team.

How did you come to work with Britenet?

Our previous architect had worked with them briefly, and he mentioned them to us. We were in need and we reached out to them. The partnership started with working with only one developer. The success rate was very good, and our needs were increasing so we started extending our footprint in Britenet.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2018, and it is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The KPI is how good our platform is doing, as well as the speed from the time we have a business idea until the time it goes live. Right now, we’ve been able to meet all the deadlines, which was one of the major criteria as well as the stability in production. We are a live system and that is one of the KPIs and we have been doing pretty well on both sides.

We do not treat Britenet as a consultancy company. We feel that everyone that is working on the team right now is part of our company. Our relationship with them is not a customer and consultant relationship. Britenet is part of our family. We are pretty happy with them.

How did Britenet perform from a project management standpoint?

Specific tools were not needed at all in this case. They are part of my scrum team, so we don’t need any additional project management on their side. We follow the whole agile methodology and processes. 

We mostly communicate via emails and calls. If we have to discuss something with the account manager, it is either by email or a quick meeting. The development team that works with us is completely part of our system. They have access to our emails, our Jira, and Teams. They are completely inside the team as a regular employee.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We treat them as part of our family. If there is an issue, and I call them even at 10 o’clock at night, they will pick up the call and take care of any issues. It is very positive, and we are very happy working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

You can always improve on things, but not as a company; it would be more individual. With Britenet as a company, I don’t think so. I think what they are doing is pretty good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The only advice I would give is to have faith and trust them. The experience of anyone joining any company depends on the kind of people you want to end up working with. I think we have been pretty lucky with the group of people we have been working with. 

We are extremely happy, and they are very dedicated to the larger cause of the project we are working on which is what we need. Again, this was built on trust.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

 I'm responsible within the Group IT department for CRM - Marketing & Sales globally at Dormakaba using Salesforce.com and leading a team of 9 people as well as working with strong local and global partners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

In order to enhance functionalities of Dormakaba Salesforce.com Solution, to integrate to other 3rd party systems like SAP or Adobe we needed skilled and flexible people to help us archiving our goals and roll-out projects. Not only for Marketing and Sales with Salesforce.com but also for Service processes with ServiceMax.

SOLUTION

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

We selected Britenet because of very good reputation from internal colleagues, their wide spectrum on skill-sets and knowledge but also based on reasonable prices and their ability to react flexible on our needs and requirements on the staffing.

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

After gathering requirements and solution design we came up pretty quickly with first deliveries/outcomes until final delivery and testing until deployments.

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

We worked with three strong developers on this project and with a very dedicated and engaged account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All deliverable have been delivered in time and full as agreed and estimated in beforehand in an very high quality.

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

All project management was done in a professional and agile way working within JIRA.

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

Requirements were captured and understood very fast. Own ideas and recommendation have been raised which led in an even better result in the end. Questions and concerns did came up an very early stage that prevent from big changes or corrections late in the project. Continuous alignment and independent working rounded that up.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide a total compensation management software. The tool is cloud-based and is used to manage salaries, long- and short-term incentives, and performance reviews for usually by big corporations. I’m the head of engineering for the company, and I’m based in Nyon, Switzerland. Our team is spread across different labs, also in Turkey and Poland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Britenet?

Our first challenge was to create a native iOS and Android application. We also wanted to migrate our original web application to a new technology stack and improve its user experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Britenet has provided development based on the designs we provided. We built different teams on their side, covering front- and backend development and QA. 

Our main app is a cloud-based SaaS solution. The backend is completely built on .NET, and we’re using React.js and other technologies on the frontend. 

What is the team composition?

I have a single point of contact for discussing functionalities and requesting more resources. We have a team of 15 people on Britenet’s side at the moment. 

How did you come to work with Britenet?

I wasn’t involved in the selection process, but I know that we looked at Poland-based partners because we’d opened an office there a few years before. We already had partners in the country and found different candidates through their recommendations.

We chose Britenet because their culture matched ours well. They were a new and motivated company, and we met some very good developers through them. The size of their team was a good fit for our needs, and the structure they proposed to us worked perfectly at the time.

How much have you invested with them?

A rough estimate would be €90,000 (approximately $106,000 USD) per month. We had fewer people in the first four months because we started with just mobile developers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We had the first meeting with Britenet around December 2018, and we started development in January 2019. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re happy to be working with Britenet, and we’ve increased the team since the start. They give us good resources on different levels, from senior and junior developers to QA engineers. The onboarding process is fast, and we haven’t rejected any of their candidates during interviews. The new members have gotten up to speed quickly, so I’d say that they have good internal training. 

A big part of the work we’ve done was through Britenet, and the quality is really good. Their QA people bring very good knowledge, and they’ve helped us improve our process. 

How did Britenet perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re using Jira internally, and we onboarded Britenet on it. Our team is split into four squads—frontend, backend, mobile, and QA—and each squad is a mix of internal and Britenet employees. It’s easier for us to spread knowledge in this way, and it’s working very well. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really proactive. They reacted quickly during the COVID pandemic in order to stabilize the situation, succeeding without much staff turnover.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I haven’t had any big challenges so far. Anytime there was an improvement to be made, I had a conversation with my contact there. It’s been a really good experience so far. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be honest with them and keep them included in decisions. We go to their senior staff to for feedback on what technologies to use. We trust them and strive to make them a part of our process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a travel company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Britenet?

We needed someone to develop a mobile app to help with our services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our iOS and Android app. We described the functions we wanted to develop. We also made future plans before starting the cooperation.

What is the team composition?

A project manager coordinated the project with 2-3 developers. We had a project manager, a frontend developer, and a backend developer on our side.

How did you come to work with Britenet?

We heard about them in our local market. We started to talk with them and it seemed they would be able to take on the project. We work in the same city just a few blocks away.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent €50,000 euros ($59,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the beginning, we had small progress in our cooperation but after a few months, we started to work very efficiently. They learned a lot and improved their skills. We’ve been successful in this project. It was a milestone in our business. Our customers were able to communicate with our tourists. This app was a spectacular success.

How did Britenet perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication is very good. They respond quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have improved the quality of testing at the beginning. There were lots of small bugs in the app. Now it is okay. In the beginning, they had to learn our business because we paid high attention to the usability and performance of our website. We needed to learn and show Britenet this point of view and develop rules on how to work together. We had to put their attention to UX, visibility, and performance.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Describe what it is you want. Discuss the functionality you want for the application.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the application principal at Adstream, a creative logistics agency. We send advertisements to broadcasters. I’m responsible for anything software related.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Britenet?

Britenet is our longstanding web development partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team has helped with a variety of projects. Most recently, they’ve supplied us with two teams of resources, a .NET team and an XMG team.

The .NET team has been predominantly looking after our service for sending emails, which is part of the backend for the main Adstream platform. The team rewrote an old version of upgraded .NET frameworks and run times, then tested, containerized, and migrated them. They’ve also provided maintenance services. 

We have a bespoke workflow service, written primarily in Node. Britenet provides a team to supplement our permanent staff working on the service.

What is the team composition?

The number of people we work with scales up and down depending on the workload, but on average, there are three resources on each team.

How did you come to work with Britenet?

We were partnered with Britenet before I arrived at the company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about £500,000 (approximately $665,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since September 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality is good; it’s what we expect from a professional outsourcer. Their support allows us to flex and deliver. We have no complaints with Britenet. 

How did Britenet perform from a project management standpoint?

We treat them as internal developers, so they sit underneath our own team. We don’t use anything special to track them specifically that we don’t already use internally. Right now, we’re using Jir, and every other week, I have a catch-up call with our account manager. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

With any relationship over a number of years, there’s ups and downs. What I’ve always appreciated about Britenet is their willingness to listen and act upon feedback. They listen to our issues and come up with solutions to fix them — I can’t ask for much more from a partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that springs to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come to the engagement with an understanding of what you’re looking to achieve, and be clear about what you’re asking for.