COOBERS

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Too-Short. It is a communitarian solution that allows parents to swap, sell, or buy quality-controlled secondhand items for kids 0 to 16 years old.

What challenge were you trying to address with COOBERS?

We needed a web developer to help us build the solution.

What was the scope of their involvement?

COOBERS built the platform on Django. They were the web experts making recommendations from hosting to platform development. They came up with different choices then gave the pros and cons of each solution so we could make an informed decision.

How did you come to work with COOBERS?

I worked in Eastern Europe in the past so I have quite a few contacts in Poland. I was advised by some friends to contact COOBERS. I had bids from several other countries and COOBERS appeared to be the best answer to our needs.

How much have you invested with COOBERS?

The total cost would be in the $100,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together 2 years and continue to work with them.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve been rated very highly as a good online solution. It’s a complex site because we’re dealing with cash, points, swapping, selling, and buying. We have a mix of business models, but thanks to COOBERS, it’s been kept simple.

How did COOBERS perform from a project management standpoint?

They are in Poland and we are in Paris, so we use Asana and daily Skype calls for coordination. We also meet face to face once a year.

What did you find most impressive about COOBERS?

One thing that’s unique about COOBERS is they never say no. They always find a solution, even if it’s not exactly what we had in mind. They are extremely knowledgeable about solutions and are always proactive. They are a true partner and I can’t imagine working without them.

Are there any areas COOBERS could improve?

We are extremely happy but there’s always room for improvement. The projects tend to be a bit late.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is dedicated to educational services. We provide in home teaching for any subject, for instance, math, history, economics, languages, music, etc. We have been the best educational product in our category at the European level for a long time. My first company in France has been in the French stock market.

We’re no longer providing teachers at home in Spain, Portugal, and Germany because a black market has developed. We’re transforming our services via apps and the internet to be competitive.

I’m the chief executive officer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Coobers?

When we began to work with Coobers, the goal was to develop a CRM with an integrated payment system for customers and teachers. We achieved our goal. Coobers is always improving our ideas and system to be more and more efficient.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The scope was to have the best and most efficient system possible so that we can provide the best service to both the customer and the teacher. The system handles everything from scheduling appointments, the tutoring subject, teacher information, student/customer information, data such as paid sessions for teachers, comments and notes from teachers and students, and customer satisfaction ratings. In all, it manages 10,000 teachers working with 5,000 families needing services. It manages the whole process from the first call to the end of service.

They also advise us for online marketing including AdWords, web services and management, e-mail, and apps.

How did you come to work with Coobers?

I have a company in Poland too. It’s called Sunreef Yachts, and it is the best luxury catamaran builder in the world, and Coobers was providing us some services. I knew them from that and when I saw how knowledgeable they are, I decided to work with them on our educational product.

Another strong factor in my decision is the very good prices they propose. I had other proposals from western companies, which were much higher.

How much have you invested with Coobers?

We have invested $200,000 to $300,000, plus maintenance of systems.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was 10 years ago, but if I remember correctly, I think that the project was functional after 3 months of development.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have had very good results. During our IT development phase, I was also developing the franchise network. All my franchisees (44 in total) were convinced to join because of our very good IT and our very good results in France.

What did you find most impressive about Coobers?

What sets Coobers apart is that they dissect our problems and present nice solutions.

Are there any areas Coobers could improve?

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a small IT company which has two major activities. One is to develop software on demand in different sectors, from research to data management to finance. That is my first activity. The second one is event marketing. We also develop some web platforms, web applications, smartphone applications, and mobile apps.

I own the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Coobers?

I had a new client that was trying to port an application that we've been developing for iOS and that was developed natively. They wanted to port it to Android. We have worked with Coobers on a solution that is based on React Native with the objective to port the native application from iOS using React Native's codebase, which would be shared between Android and iOS.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first contact was a commercial contact with whom I discussed the kind of resources they should provide to work on this project, to study the requirements which were a bit technical. They provided a technical director that studied the requirements and provided several options. Once we decided to go with React Native, they then built a team of developers. We kept the same technical director for the duration of the project.

How did you come to work with Coobers?

I had some requirements last year for a specific application, and I was looking for a company that had experience building mobile apps in the education sector. I read some research on benchmarks for applications, and I found some good-looking and well-tested applications. Before I could bring Coobers in on an important project, I asked them to assist me with a research and development technical research project. It was a small project that was very technical. It wasn’t for a client of mine, it was just a test to be sure that my expectations were met and that the promises the company is making are delivered. That was the case, so that's why we continued with Coobers.

How much have you invested with Coobers?

This is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

It started back in April or May. The project is almost finished. We have been paid by our client, so I think they agree with what we have delivered, but it's not published in the store because they want to make a final revision before they can go live in the store.

Could you describe any tools you used to communicate with your developers?

We communicated by phone, Skype, and email. We used Asana for tracking the project. They delivered project sheets for goals that I tracked.

How did Coobers perform from a project management standpoint?

They were flexible because they worked with us despite the fact that our end-client didn’t respect the stipulations that we had agreed to at the start, like furnishing everything to port the iOS application. Some parts of the system have been redeveloped slightly by Coobers and without any additional cost. They are, generally speaking, always on time. When they say they will deliver by a date, they always meet the deadline, even if they have to work over the weekend.

What did you find most impressive about Coobers?

I think they surpass expectations because they are smart people. They don’t just deliver what you asked for, they always try to think about what could be the next step, which is a great value when you start with a new end-client like was the case for us. Now, we are in a good position with our client, and I think we'll have many other projects with them as a result.

Are there any areas Coobers could improve?

I think they can improve, but right now I don't see where they could really improve. Overall, they have met all my expectations.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Pilgreem is a collaborative website that enhances direct collaboration on shared training and shared employees for local companies.

For what projects/services did your company hire COOBERS?

We hired their team to conceptualize, design, and test our project.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build a collaborative platform for HR shared practices from the ground up.

How did you select this vendor?

We heard about them from a friend who was a previous client of theirs.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They designed, developed, and tested a production configuration then launched the project.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of Jedrzej, Pawel, and Paulina who were all very involved in the project.

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

Because of the well-conceived UX and algorithm, we’ve had strong offers from companies who want to purchase our service.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Paulina was the project coordinator and kept her staff well-managed. She made herself available, was proactive and in direct contact with our clients.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They understood the project’s big picture and turned it into a viable and operational product. The entire team complemented one another. Jedrzej and Pawel were technical experts and Paulina had strong people skills.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Delivering the project on time was a challenge, but there was no major delay.