CodinBit

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a founder and the CEO of Tesagon, a Romanian company primarily offering software development, as well as some hardware in the IoT segment.

What challenge were you trying to address with CodinBit?

The GDPR regulations had just been introduced, and we had no expertise inside our company to build a system to track all the information and fulfill the legal requirements. We contacted CodinBit because of their experience to build the system for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We run our system using Docker and Linux environments, so we asked CodinBit to build a web platform that would work in those and could be administered easily. They used JavaScript, I believe Node.js, with a database and a web interface.

In terms of functionality, we had to track access to client data, some of which was already in our internal system. CodinBit created an API workflow to pass that data through the system they developed, in order to track access to it by our employees. The system tracks the data we’re storing, who’s accessing it, and at what time. They also built a part that allows us to export and delete the data on clients’ requests.  

What is the team composition?

They initially assigned someone who looked at our problem and delivered a requirements specification document, which served as the base for our contract, as well as for the technical design and implementation. The main chunk of our initial interaction was dedicated to establishing what exactly we wanted to build.

How did you come to work with CodinBit?

I met someone from CodinBit at a conference.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from November 2016–March 2018.

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

We had close to no experience with GDPR, so that’s what they contributed to the most. We work in the software development industry ourselves, so we understand that part very well and are now managing and updating the system in-house. The main value was their knowledge and expertise on GDPR regulations.

How did CodinBit perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well. They were attentive to our requirements in the beginning and suggested different possibilities. They were forthcoming in informing us about what we might want to add to the system in order to implement GDPR. Along with the specifications document, they also presented a timeline for the implementation and met those deadlines, actually delivering a month early.

We didn’t have that much interaction during development. They had a few follow-up questions after the planning phase, which we resolved over calls. We had a few interactions after the system was ready or close to being ready. We started using it in a demo phase, and they provided us with support and guidance on how it worked and how it should be used.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by their structure, the planning of the timeline, and the fact that they managed to finish the work early.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We were pleased with their services and nothing comes to mind now.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It depends a lot on the customer’s expectations. For fast implementation, CodinBit probably isn’t the place to go to. They place a lot of attention to the details at the start of a collaboration, in order to understand exactly what we have to build and to define the system. If the customer knows what they want and can define it clearly, CodinBit is a very good choice.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Esource Parts. We are a parts and accessories supplier for tech products, such as mobile phones, tablets, and gaming systems. We also offer repair services.

What challenge were you trying to address with CodinBit?

My company has struggled to maintain a long-term partnership with a developer over the ten years we’ve been in business. We have worked with several developers who provide temporary solutions to issues. Such inconsistent development and variable code were causing problems with our site’s backend and frontend, i.e., the site was crashing; customers could not find the products they wanted.

What was the scope of their involvement?

CodinBit fixed our existing issues and cleaned up the code. Since then, they’ve been updating the site. They have developed new strategies, technologies, features and functionalities, themes, and security patches. The team does custom projects and integrates them with our site; for instance, they created a module that automatically texts customers with their order number and shipping confirmation details. They have also worked with our marketing team to develop ways of capturing customer information and getting them to opt into automated marketing efforts from Mailchimp and other email platforms. They set up marketing through Google Ads and integrated our entire inventory with Google. They have created backups and various automation processes.

The team maintains our site and provides maintenance when it goes down. Currently, they’re leading our site’s migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2. They built the entire architecture for the migration. They are working with other companies who built extensions and other features that we use to integrate, fix, and resolve any conflicts that arise in the migration. The team also expanded our site from one server to 2–3; for the migration, they’re working on 6–7 servers.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with Abude (CEO, CodinBit), who has worked on the project since the beginning. He delegates tasks to various CodinBit team members.

How did you come to work with CodinBit?

We found CodinBit through a freelance website and had them do a one-time project. Their values matched ours; also, they worked during our business hours, which many developers do not do because they’re often in Europe or Asia.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spends around $80,000 annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in 2014, and it is ongoing.

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

CodinBit resolved all of our preliminary issues and brought us back online. They ensured we could make digital sales. The team also optimized our site speed.

Their continuous expansion across more servers will allow us to continue expanding, without having to spend time restructuring in the future. They have built a solid foundation.

How did CodinBit perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is excellent. Abude is readily available to provide his input and answer questions; I have never had trouble reaching him. He gives my team frequent updates and is very involved in the project. I make sure Abude is a part of every project communication because he has technical expertise that my team lacks; for instance, he recently took part in several calls that my company had with UI/UX designers.

The CodinBit team uses their own ticketing system. We deploy Trello to manage our project timeline and stay organized. It is unusual if a day goes by in which we don’t have some kind of communication via Slack, Skype, email, or phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CodinBit executed the complex job of resolving code and development issues from several other developers. The team has revealed several issues, some even pertaining to fraud, that we weren’t aware of.

Their reliability, honesty, and integrity are noteworthy. They fulfill their commitments and are transparent about any issues. Again, communication is open and consistent; if I ever have a question, I know I can reach Abude at any time. Abude has become a part of our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we are extremely happy with Abude and his team; we wouldn’t trade them for anyone else.

Any advice for potential customers?

You will not have any issues if you’re open and honest about what you want. Anyone looking for a developer should hire CodinBit.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of MTSC SOFTWARE, an outsourcing development company.

For what projects/services did your company hire CodinBit?

CodinBit was hired to create an e-commerce solution with an integrated ERP system.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to solve existing issues and add professionalism with this new system.

How did you select this vendor?

CodeinBit was recommended to us by a shared connection. I hired them because of the great job they did for others and their reputation for being timely.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They built an e-commerce solution and integrated an ERP system into the platform. Unfortunately, I can’t give more details because of NDA contracts.

What was the team composition?

They provided a designer and two developers, including one who led the development process.

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

Our end client was fully satisfied with the work, and it matched their expectations. The final product has had a positive impact on them.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We primarily worked according to scrums and communicated every day for progress updates. Their agile methodology was very effective, and the workload was managed well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were professional and honest. Their dedication and effort during the project were great—they worked overtime to meet deadlines. They were led very effectively and collaborated flexibly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Though there are always areas for improvement, I can’t think of anything.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Onetwist Software, a boutique development company. We specialize in custom development and high availability solutions built with various programming languages.

For what projects/services did your company hire CodinBit?

We hired CodinBit to develop a system that could provide an overview of sales and revenue from each of our platforms.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to use the solution to support data-driven business and marketing decisions based on the performance of each platform.

How did you select this vendor?

We chose the team after viewing their website.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

On the web development front, they designed and implemented an end-to-end web application based on Yii2 Framework with a bootstrap front-end. This has allowed us to add multiple integrations with APIs and payment methods.

What was the team composition?

They had a few developers, a designer, and one project manager that helped with day-to-day tasks.

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

By partnering up with CodinBit, we were able to release new products on time and monitor our performance through a unified dashboard. CodinBit’s web design and development support allowed our team to streamline the budget based on a data-informed strategy.

Now, we have the ability to update our marketing plan on a weekly and monthly basis. We track the performance of financial trends on various platforms and then spend our budget accordingly. Fortunately, the way they built the system has also given our software flexibility and scalability for the future.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We have communicated over Skype and Slack and used Jira for project management. These tools have been very effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They understood our requirements and were able to quickly provide a good solution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could offer discounts for ongoing clients.