Codica

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Chattic LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Online e-commerce marketplace for antiques & collectibles

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• We aimed to build a platform for collectibles and antiques, ranging from simple items to precious and rare pieces. The marketplace should have simplified finding antique pieces and memorabilia to help bring new life to old things or use antiques in designs.
• We needed to implement a range of core features that distinguish the platform. They include a search for listings and users and a checkout process, including payment and delivery. Regarding the platform's scale, we also needed to ensure its stable and secure work.
• Codica helped us with Project Discovery, UX/UI design, Front-end, Back-end, Online marketplace development, and Support.

SOLUTION

How did you find Codica?

Knowledge based article posted online by Codica

Why did you select Codica over others?

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

How many teammates from Codica were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

The Codica team created the platform from scratch. Chattic has an intuitive flow for listing and viewing pieces. Users can like and share pieces and list them separately or in bulk. Sellers and buyers are covered with secure payment processes. Also, sellers can create online shipments in the shipping aggregator. The Codica experts helped us with a wide range of services

• project discovery
• front- and backend
• online marketplace development
• UX/UI design
• set up and monitoring of all the systems
• technical support

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Now, the marketplace is convenient for selling, buying, appraising, and insuring collectibles and antiques. Despite the multifaceted functionality, the platform’s work is stable - so users can enjoy a smooth flow in their dealings with collectibles.

What was your primary form of communication with Codica?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Codica is an exceptional partner agency known for delivering an outstanding service experience. They have successfully tackled numerous complex tasks and demonstrated their expertise.

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

Our experience with Codica was very streamlined and efficient. When there was turnover in the position of project manager, mid-project, Codica made the transitions as seamless as possible. They also worked under very difficult geo-political conditions during our project and never let it affect the quality of their work. No complaints or suggestions for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of PlanMyKids

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

PlanMyKids makes planning and attending kid's activities easy for busy parents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To accomplish this, we wanted to meet parents where they are desktop and mobile.
• The primary goal of the product was to connect parents with the providers of kid's; activities nearby and free them from the stress that comes with planning, purchasing, and attending such activities.
• Then facilitate the process of matching parents with activities and purchasing them.

SOLUTION

How did you find Codica?

Online Search

Why did you select Codica over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Marketplace Experience

How many teammates from Codica were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Codica created our progressive web application product from the ground up starting with a high-definition prototype then an MVP that helped us to save costs and test the business idea. For this they provided UX/UI design, frontend, and backend development, the environment setup of AWS and DevOps processes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Delivered high-quality user design, Delivered MVP on budget. Minimal bugs with final product.

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

I typcially get a daily update of what was done and what needs to be done as well. All my emails were processed in time, and they created user stories on their base. Codica conducts regular demo meetings to keep me updated on the progress of the project and ensure that the development aligns with my expectations. 

Their iterative development approach provides an opportunity for me to see firsthand the results of the work being done and provide feedback if any adjustments or improvements are needed. I was totally satisfied with the project management. Effective communication, mutual trust and transparent development allowed me to get a desired working solution within just a few months.

What was your primary form of communication with Codica?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Working with the Codica team has been a wonderful experience. All the value we thought they would provide in the selection process was met during delivery. The service provided, namely effective management, speed and quality of the developed product, fast processing of my requests and transparent feedback from the team in the form of regular demo meetings exceeded all my expectations. 

Codica developed our online service marketplace MVP in a quality manner, within the allocated budget and on the agreed deadline, which for my start-up company was very important.

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

I can't think of anything. Even if there was something didn't go as expected, Codica was transparent, and we would work through them in an orderly fashion.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the General Manager - Classifieds of a publishing and digital marketing company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Publishing, Digital Marketing & Marketplaces

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Marketplace redevelopement

SOLUTION

How did you find Codica?

Online Search

Why did you select Codica over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Codica were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Basically, Codica created our web product from scratch and turned our specifications into the final web application. They delivered a wide range of services - prototyping, UX/UI redesigning, full stack development, set up and monitoring of all the necessary environments by DevOps, and technical support. 

Right now, we have an almost fully-automated solution that makes growing our business much easier. In the current phase of the project, Codica helps us with new features scoping, development and bug fixing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was delivered on time and budget. Codica helped us with Project Discovery, UX/UI design, Front-end and Back-end development, PWA development, and Integration with third-party services. Nothing broke when we migrated to the new system. All marketplace success indicators improved with the new website.

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

I regularly received the latest updates by email or on fortnightly video calls of what was done. All my requests were processed and taken in progress on time. I was very satisfied with the communication process at Codica.

What was your primary form of communication with Codica?

Virtual Meeting

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

Codica is a top-notch partner agency that provides an excellent service experience. They’ve accomplished some highly complicated tasks. They are really quick in communication and clarify any details of the project when they are in doubt or when the specifications were ambiguos.

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

These guys are nailing it. When the war broke out, at first, I was worried, not only for their safety but also for the project, however, within days, all operations had relocated, and development progressed as if nothing had happened. For now, I am out of suggestions on how they can improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company offers complex saas solutions for online merchants for pricing and item listing. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our requirement was to develop a highly complex, multi-layered front-end solution for users of our software. Tables, forms, filter systems, graphics, functions, an integrated store with booking options of different modules, as well as various frontend logics had to be developed, designed and linked to the backend. The project was carried out in an agile process.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for a company with a focus on front-end development and scalable developer power. Due to the agile structure of the project, it was important for us to be able to flexibly increase or decrease the number of developers involved as needed.

The biggest challenge was explaining our very specialized software in order to achieve a complete understanding of the behavior and structure of the frontend on the part of the developers. Due to its complexity, the project was expected to take several years. Therefore, an English-speaking provider was mandatory and it had to be ensured that project knowledge would not be lost even if personnel changed.

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

The project was agile and ran over a period of 3 years. A wide range of tools, programming languages and design solutions were used during the project period

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

Various frontend developers, designers, project managers and qa responsible persons were involved in the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are highly satisfied with the course and result of the project. Our quality standards were implemented prudently from the first to the last day and are reflected in every area of the frontend. In particular, it was important to us that the developers involved in the project had a "think-along" role. This worked very well.

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

Regular online meetings and the use of common tools to create, manage and control tasks were used. Project rules were defined at the beginning and served as a helpful orientation throughout the entire project. Short-term requests as well as long-term task backlogs were always implemented satisfactorily and with the highest quality.

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

We were particularly impressed by the fact that all the developers involved showed a high degree of initiative and a willingness to understand our wishes as a whole.

At no point did we have the feeling that our tasks were simply processed 1-to-1, but with queries and alternative solution proposals, the developers used showed more than once that they wanted to understand the whole picture and also did. In this way, they often found an even better way to implement our requirements than the one we had thought of and commissioned ourselves.

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

We can recommend in good conscience that Codica continues in the same way.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the delivery manager for an energy company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to deliver an assessment management platform for our company. We have many positions, and managing such a large team is quite hard. So we needed an application for staff management, which would also give a clear picture for any employee on how they can improve their skills and which positions they can be promoted to.

We didn’t have a detailed specification document and no full understanding of how to implement our wishes in a real working product, that’s why we needed a company with prior experience in our area which would provide full-cycle service.

SOLUTION

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

I found them in Google. I read several articles in blog and reviewed their case studies.

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

First of all, they did a great job on the discovery session. They thoroughly analyzed our requirements and wishes regarding the platform and quickly delivered a specification document and prototypes of the future system.

Thanks to the discovery session and its results, I already knew that they had a full understanding of what we need. As the next step, they provided full UI/UX design and delivered project architecture.

Development was the longest stage. I’m happy that the team paid a lot of attention to mobile performance, as this is important for us. Overall, the results are great and totally worth the time and effort.

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

From the very beginning, I have been regularly interacting with two people: Project Manager and Tech Lead. But all the other team members are available in Slack and provide status updates on a daily basis. During development, the team composition was as follows: one Project Manager, one UI/UX designer, one team lead, one backend developer, three frontend developers, and one QA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We delivered the first iteration of the product and right now are working on the second iteration. One of the goals of the app was to develop functionality that allows easy assessment tests from any device, especially mobile devices.

We have good results here, pages load really fast, in about 1-3 seconds, and the app works great on any device. We did several internal tests and got very positive results from our employees. Right now we are doing the next steps in our project development.

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

I liked their approach. Mostly we communicate in Slack and I always have daily status updates from the team. The project management is organized in Jira, and during the development phase, I was involved in sprint planning every two weeks.

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

What we liked most about them is a deep understanding of our business needs and product goals.

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

I’d like to have more calls in communication and fewer emails. It is easier for me to answer questions on the call than writing emails.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company works in the field of real estate in Israel

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Codica?

real estate website development

What were your goals for this project?

Build the site from scratch

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Through the website clutch

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

codica was supposed to provide the development of the site by the user story Unfortunately codica did not provide some parts of the user story Unfortunately codica exceeded the pre-agreed budget

What was the team composition?

Dmitry Chekalin - The CEO project manager who has been replaced several times in our project

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Unfortunately we lost a lot of money due to codica delays in the project and the effect on you was negative for us.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

In the first two months the management was excellent, after two months the CEO - Dmitry Chekalin asked us for more money and started delaying the project

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We do not recommend CODICA as a development company. They are very unprofessional. When we started our project with them we agreed on a fix price term. a few months into the project, after we have already committed to them they informed us that their estimates were wrong and needed about another 23% increase in the budget.

We were upset but we agreed to this. After a few more months they again said they estimated the budget incorrectly and need another increase. The code work is not bad but the professionalism and lack of integrity in their pricing is terrible.

Don't go near them!

Are there any areas for improvement?

We recommend improving Professionalism - Be honest with the customer - Meet the project times - Avoid scamming customers

Company Responses

The vendor responded on August 4, 2020.

We are very sorry to hear that Amit is unhappy. From our side, we went above and beyond to deliver their product. And we did deliver it. Here is quick overview of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbNCmWfCy2g

The main issue here is that it’s a fixed price project. Amit clearly kept the fixed price in mind while at the same time treating the project scope very flexibly. As it often happens, there were multiple change requests, many of which we delivered for free.

The 23% budget increase was billed for a piece of additional functionality (way beyond the scope). It was still possible to deliver the project within the initial budget without these new features. However, the client chose to add them, knowing this would increase the budget and timeline.

When the original project scope was delivered (please see the video link above), we said we can’t work for free anymore. Amit wanted more functionality and put negative reviews on many websites including Clutch. We were told he would remove all reviews when we implemented his requests.

The irony here is that Clutch policy doesn’t allow removing reviews (to avoid manipulation) and Amit didn’t know that.

Presently, we have transferred all the code to the client and terminated all collaboration with them. If anyone is interested in the details, we can share them.

All the other reviews on our profile show our dedication to each project, and we hope our potential clients will consider them when making a decision.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of product management for New Wave Development. We’re a small development agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of investments for Veev, a real estate investment platform.

SOLUTION

What challenge were you trying to address with Codica?

Codica was hired for a custom software development project. They developed and then have maintained and expanded this portal ever since. They also worked on the design of the portal.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What was the scope of their involvement?

The portal functions as a window to track all past and existing investments and loans ever invested into the company. This is hundreds of millions of dollars worth of investments. Investors can log on and receive all of this information.

We were not involved in the development at all. Codica was our one-stop-shop on making, maintaining, and expanding this portal.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 people.

How did you come to work with Codica?

Our sister company has had prior positive experiences with Codica and introduced us to them.

How much have you invested with them?

It was less than $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in January 2016 and is ongoing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a financial services company that offers supply chain financing to B2B customers. We offer 90-day windows to help them manage any funding gaps they have when buying products from their vendors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codica?

We needed to quickly create an MVP that would also be production-ready on a short timeline. We also wanted to ensure that our product met compliance standards for companies of all sizes and that the product was secure.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I created a mock-up myself and then approached Codica to get help finalizing the UI design and to handle the front- and backend app development. They used Ruby on Rails for the back and React for the front. For the design, we used a collaborative tool called Figma. The hosting is handled through AWS. They also built out a database for us.

In terms of features, the most critical thing was importing invoices, which they accomplished using API for ERP. There’s also an ability to review and approve newly-uploaded invoices, and vendors can also view invoices, calculate fees, create a deal, and finalize the funding from within the app. Related to this, the app manages vendor profiles and monitors financial processes. There’s also backend help to manage vendor invites for people hoping to use the platform.

What is the team composition? 

We had a project manager, a backend developer, two frontend developers, a UI/UX designer, and a QA person.

How did you come to work with Codica?

I received a reference from a friend and decided to contact them. After having a conversation with their founder, I decided to start working with them. They had solid experience and seemed like they did their due diligence on the issues I needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

MVP construction lasted from February–April 2019. We’re currently on pause, but they’ll make some adjustments for us after we finish collecting feedback.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been on time throughout the development process. The team’s extremely dedicated and they put in extra hours to ensure that our important demos were ready when we needed them. It’s something I’d expect from my in-house employees but not an outsource team, so we really appreciate it.

With regard to the app itself, we’ve gotten good user feedback so far. They like the speed of the app and the modern design, which many B2B users aren’t accustomed to from competitor applications.

How did Codica perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication was above average compared to other companies I’ve worked with in the past. We had daily scrum meetings and the project manager helped coordinate the rest of their team or allocated resources when we needed them. I was also highly involved, so the project manager often ended up assisting me. I handled a lot of the code review myself in order to verify the quality. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with a number of other companies, and what sets Codica apart is their ability to bring an MVP to production level. They act like a part of our growth team and care about our success.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We require a lot of domain-specific knowledge, so I’d expect QA to concentrate on the most important parts for the user and help us make those improvements. It takes time to gain knowledge and I assume people don’t have it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Codica’s a great company and their team’s very motivated to help startups on their journey. I highly recommend working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and founder of a marketing agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Codica?

We had a request from one of our clients to develop a multi-vendor marketplace. We needed an engineering team to code it, build the architecture, and develop the backend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the platform up from scratch and helped with everything from development concepts to solution implementation. They designed the UI/UX and developed the project architecture; then, they transferred all the data from an outdated platform. Mobile performance and engagement were particularly important to the project, and they delivered a single-page mobile application that was both fast and smooth. They developed complex React.js content of the web application, which features a responsive design to adjust for differences in scope. The project uses other languages, but React is the only one I'm certain of.

What is the team composition?

I regularly interact with a project manager and a technical lead. Other team members do appear in our Slack channel and provide daily updates. The team also included a UI/UX designer, team lead, backend developer, content developer, and a QA specialist.

How did you come to work with Codica?

We did some research, found Codica, and felt they had the appropriate experience for this project. We either found them on Clutch or via a Google search.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, we've spent about $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2018, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven't launched the new marketplace yet, but our internal tests show significant increases in site speeds. Pages load in less than one second, which is much better than our previous load times, particularly on mobile devices. We track a range of metrics related to conversion and engagement rates, all of which are very positive. In the near future, we will finish integrations with some third-party services, upgrade a few UI/UX solutions, and optimize the site more for mobile.

How did Codica perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. We had weekly meetings, and they always followed up. Everything came back to us on time, and they were very easy to reach on Slack, chat, or other communication channels.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Codica is a top-notch agency that provides a great service experience. They accomplish complicated tasks, provide technical guidelines, and deliver code without any issues.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are responsive, and they quickly fix any issues that arise. Honestly, we couldn't ask for more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communication is integral to a successful relationship. Be sure to communicate your expectations, goals, and practical needs like your timelines and budget.