On Budget and Time

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of AppyGuide. We are based out of Geneva, Switzerland. The idea of our company is to basically create on-demand audio guides, which are created by the world’s best experts in art and history, for various destinations when people travel.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with On Budget and Time?

My application was initially built by a development team in Vietnam but they didn’t do a great job. I had to hire someone to fix a lot of the issues that we had.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Gregory (Founder) basically rebuilt certain parts of the application and he helped to improve it. He needed to improve the app, the backend, and the quality of the code in general. After he worked on it, the app started working. Initially, we had so many bugs that it was basically unusable.

With Gregory's work, it became usable. There are still issues because it wasn’t his product to begin with, but it is substantially better. It is an app that can be downloaded for iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Gregory directly. I have never really interacted with any of his developers. I would always relay my wishes, concerns, and he would translate it into the programmer’s language and explain the task to his team.

How did you come to work with On Budget and Time?

He was recommended to me by a friend of mine who is highly regarded in the industry. He had previously worked with Gregory. I was considering other companies, but I felt that they weren't all as transparent as On Budget and Time, nor as knowledgeable as Gregory.

How much have you invested in them?

I have spent around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I think it was August 2018, and the work is still ongoing. We just spoke on the phone about the new features that I am adding.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of their work is very good. Like all of us, there is always room to improve, but he is working on it. Overall, I am very satisfied. It has helped my business to really get off the ground. Since I am a travel app, I need to target travelers. With the changes he has made, I have been able to sign with some really big clients, which makes me very happy. Ultimately, it was a good decision to hire him.

How did On Budget and Time perform from a project management standpoint?

I use Jira, but not as professionally as they do. I put all the tasks in Jira and keep track of where they stand and if they have questions or concerns.

What did you find most impressive about them?

He is very intelligent. That is something that always makes a great impression. He is a great programmer and I think he went to one of the best universities in Saint Petersburg, which from what I know, produces some of the best programmers in the world, apart from America and China. I think highly of him and the work has proven that he is worth it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is always room for improvement. I don’t know exactly but I think client communication could be improved and maybe listening more to what the client wants and paying a little more attention to that. Those are things that could be improved by all of us. We are always making mistakes and we are always learning every day so it isn’t a big issue but something everyone could improve on including them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Plan a little more thoroughly than I did and know exactly what you need to be done.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CTO of an international startup wealth management service company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire On Budget and Time, and what were your goals?

We required a goal-based wealth management service to be built upon the changing regulatory landscape of wealth and asset management in the EU. It should be offering a complex portfolio management based on hundreds of factors, taking into account situational, psychological and financial profiles of investors.

SOLUTION

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

As we were talking to several companies, one of our co-founders remembered OB&T as he was in touch with them through Elance. After we contacted them, they so actively jumped into the game showing a deep understanding of our needs and decent involvement so we did not have any doubt to hire them.

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

OB&T team researched and investigated the business processes and needs as well as EU market requirements and created a set of technical documentation including functional specification and system architecture. Together with our stakeholders, they created a modern and user-friendly UI prototype.

Then, project team has developed a web-based wealth management platform based on mockups and UI design using Java, HTML5, Ractive.js, Backbone.js and jOOQ. The app was tested manually as well as stress and load tested. Last, a secured and fine-tuned solution went live under the supervision of OB&T personnel.

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

We had a complete team consisting of a Project manager, Business analyst, Front-end and Back-end developers, System administrator and QA engineers with a total amount of 10 people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

OB&T performed full-cycle of application development: from basic idea analysis and application architecture/logic implementation to performing testing and integrations activities with going live support.

They created a highly secure deployment environment with solid protection and required load balancing. As we were very happy with the results, project team continued to support, maintain and extend the developed solution.

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

The whole team is extremely mature in terms of project management practices and tools. Always available to chat and ready to explain everything in details. The whole process was very transparent and smooth with prompt reporting.

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

We were really impressed by the experience that every team member has demonstrated in their area. Everyone was determined, passionate and committed to the success of the project.

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

No, I can’t think of anything at this time. We’ve been very happy.