Darwoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO at Topic Flower, a social media listening platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Darwoft?

We have our own development team but we needed to accelerate the development of some projects, among them the development of our platform and the AI engine that the company uses to detect the most commented topics on social media.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform was a bit outdated, as we had been using it for the last year. We were looking to change to more modern technologies and ended up using Azure and Angular among others.

What is the team composition?

It changed over time, but we're working with a team of 5 people at the moment.

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

Finding a company to work with was a challenge for us. We were working on all of our technology projects internally. It was important for our new partner to develop a product and get involved in the project, instead of simply following requirements.

We interviewed between 4 and 5 companies, and Darwoft seemed like our best choice. Being located in the same city, they showed that they were able to adapt to our needs and to the way we work.

How much have you invested in them?

About $10,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2019. The engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very happy with their work and learned how to work together while building a solid team. Our experience was positive. They were always willing to search out the best solutions for our project.

We've already implemented the new platform in which we changed design, back-end, performance, etc. That has had an impact on our sales and client satisfaction. We expect that to grow even more once we launch the AI.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

If a client contacted us for a problem, they were available to solve it right away. That made us feel calm and safe with their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They showed significant commitment, sometimes working overtime to solve issues. We saw them more as partners than service providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The rotation of personnel could be improved, but that is something that happens in every tech company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of Accelone, a custom software development company. We’re very specialized in industries such as healthcare, insurance, finance, and fintech, as well as a few more. We are more of a boutique company and we are very focused on quality.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Darwoft?

The main requirement that we had was with one of our primary customers, a SaaS platform for online services. We had a team there but we are not a Drupal shop, so we needed a partner with Drupal capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The main challenge was the timing and the level of seniority. We only work with very senior resources and this customer required that as well. Darwoft provided that to us in a few days. 

They have a mix of technologies that they use because they have some newer platforms as well as other platforms that are starting to develop right now or are in the second phase. They have Drupal, Angular in the very latest versions, they also have a bit of Java and I think they even have some Node.js too.

What is the team composition?

We are working with one person, an engineer who has been assigned to this project for the last four to six months. 

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

When we started Accelone about six years ago, one of their co-founders also started Darwoft almost at the same time. One of our very first opportunities with Accelone was again in Drupal. We were not going into the Drupal direction at all or even PHP in general, as we are more oriented to JavaScript and other stacks. I met one of the co-founders and directors of the company through LinkedIn I believe, and we became kind of friends.

Darwoft is one of the main Drupal authorities in Argentina, so when we had the need for this project, I immediately contacted them. In one week we had a Drupal engineer ready to work with our customer.

How much have you invested in them?

So far, we have spent around $34,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

For this particular project, we’ve been working with them for about six months. We already renewed the contract with them for three more months, but it will be more of a long-term relationship. The customer is renewing our contract for six more months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Darwoft provided super fast and super high-quality personnel for this customer. The results are remarkable. The feedback we’re getting from our customer is the best for José (Full Stack Developer). 

The good quality of the work that José and Darwoft’s team as whole provided allowed us to open the door for more projects within that same account.

It was also really important for us because it positioned us much better with that customer and after that, we basically duplicated the whole team we have there. It was a very strategic move.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

If there have been times where José has needed time off for holidays or was sick, they always let us know and have communicated with us very fluently. They have a specific person for different aspects of the relationship, and they are super responsive. When we need something, they answer almost immediately. The communication is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are kind of a reference in the country in Drupal technology. I think they are very, very strong in Drupal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Actually no. We have had no issues at all, only the opposite.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I am an IT Security & Compliance Manager at Quilmes, a beer company based in Argentina. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Darwoft?

I was formerly in charge of managing supplier-related projects. We decided to create a web portal that would allow suppliers to access our internal apps. Ideally, it would centralize all of our management systems so that our suppliers could organize their objectives and to-dos most efficiently. We relied on Darwoft to create this for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Darwoft utilized Angular to create the supplier portal. We weren’t familiar with Angular, so their tech expertise served as a huge asset. 

What is the team composition? 

We worked with 3–4 people. We had a technical leader, a functional leader, and a couple of developers. 

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

We had a company event — similar to a Hackathon — to which we invited various companies. Darwoft had attended, and our marketing team recommended them to us when we started looking for a partner. It helped that they seemingly had a comparable company culture to ours. Their rates were budget-friendly, as well. 

How much have you invested in them? 

We’ve spent somewhere between $100,000–$200,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2017, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Darwoft delivered a sophisticated platform that had a great impact on our work. User surveys indicated that our communications improved by 10%, thanks to this new solution. We’ve also received feedback about how the portal saves our users a lot of time.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They adhered to an agile methodology and worked in development sprints. We saw very good results with the structures we had in place. The communication between our tech team and management was seamless, so we had a very positive experience on this front.

What did you find most impressive about them?

While some of our partners have trouble adopting our agile methods, Darwoft experienced no issues here. Their culture resonated with us, since we have a similar internal work ethic of diligence and flexibility. Finally, they’re great at solving problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO at a US-based startup for online divorce services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Darwoft?

I hired them for development and rapid prototyping.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a demo for a fundraising platform for our startup. They used React.

What is the team composition?

I worked with an architect, a developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

Darwoft is a very well known company that has grown a lot and they’re referred often in the startup scene. Also, I had collaborated with their CEO in different projects in previous positions. 

How much have you invested in them?

We invested around $15,000–$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This last project started in April 2019 and finished in June of that year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am always delighted with their work. We use this demo often, it is key for our fundraising activities. It is completely solid and has no bugs. We never had the need to fix anything, it works just perfectly.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is just excellent. We used Slack and had constant interactions with them. We also use Trello as our ticketing system. Everything worked perfectly and they met every deadline. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work and their ability to meet all expectations were most impressive. Also, the cost-benefit balance is great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were growing a lot and at some point so they had a small lack of personnel but they were able to solve that two years ago.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Darwoft has the expertise and seniority to understand your business and provide value very fast. Get profit off that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I am the CTO at a digital wallet startup based in Argentina.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address Darwoft?

We needed to add a developer to our team to take charge of managing the backend of our platform and mobile app. Darwoft was used for staff augmentation services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team used Google Cloud and Javascript to manage our backend system and mobile app.

What is the team composition?

We're currently working with one developer, but we had three resources augmenting our team at times.

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

In a past role, our team used staff augmentation services quite frequently. From that experience, Darwoft always provided the best results, resources, and problem management. That's why I contacted them when this project came up. 

How much have you invested in them?

We spent between $3,500–$4,000 USD each month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from  August–April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They really helped us deal with a very heavy workload, coming up to speed more quickly than we expected. The process and product always worked as desired with them on the team. When one of their team members left the company, they found a replacement quickly. It was a very good experience, and I'd definitely work with them in the future.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

As they worked in-house, I was in charge of project management myself. However, one of their developers was helping us with Scrum methodology. They proposed some very interesting metrics, and we ended up using a template provided by them.
 

What did you find most impressive about them?

When I first contacted them they were very quick at understanding our needs and the technical requirements of the project. Their understanding of our processes allowed us to place them on the right team right away.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One of the resources left midway through the project, which made us lose some time. It was solved quickly, but it was an issue at the time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of an IT development department at a tourism agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address Darwoft Inc?

About 5 years ago the company used to outsource all IT projects, but after I joined, our goal was to develop the company’s core system. So we hired them to provide us with developers for this project. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had people working with Devops, architects, back end and front end developers, among others.

What is the team composition?

So far we have worked with 7 people.

How did you come to work with Darwoft Inc?

Some time ago I received an email from a technology cluster from Cordoba, they were announcing an event in Buenos Aires presenting all of these companies. They were there so we met up and when this project came up we decided to work with them. 

How much have you invested in them?

We spent an average of a million and a half Argentine pesos (approximately $22,200 USD) per month. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them about 2 years ago and are continuing to partner together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we hired them I was looking for a greater quality of development and with them, I found developers with great skills, great readiness, very dedicated and savvy. Their company always makes sure their resources feel comfortable working in the projects they are assigned to. We see the results of that all the time in terms of efficiency, quality, and skills.

How did Darwoft Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

They work in our offices so we communicate directly with them, we use Microsoft team, Azure DevOps, and a Scrum methodology. I also meet up with the project manager once a month for any updates and feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a company, I would highlight how they have always met time and how they treat their resources. As for the developers, their skills and willingness to carry on with the projects are truly exceptional. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I couldn’t say anything. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am an IT manager at a local bank.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address Darwoft?

We hired them to develop and support a CRM system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our CRM system using .NET. They implemented an SQL Server database.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people.

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

They were already working with the company when I was hired, so I don’t really know. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2014, and we finished our collaboration in 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work was excellent. We’ve never had any issues with the product they developed, and it still works perfectly. They were always very open and willing to collaborate.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We used a ticket system. They always met all deadlines. Any change requirements came from our side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of the talent they provided was great. We worked with two senior developers that really were up to the level of our expectations and requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I couldn’t say anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I’m an IT manager at a global bottling company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Darwoft?

They helped us develop an app that analyses the performance of production lines and sends alerts in case of any changes on the predetermined KPIs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used .NET. We started with Azure but we didn’t use that technology in the end.

What is the team composition?

The project had different stages. At t first, we worked with 5–6 people and now that we are in one of the last stages we are working with two people.

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

We asked around with colleagues and they came up as a reference. We interviewed them and we really liked what we heard. Thus, we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested in them?

About 1 million and a half Argentine pesos.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them at the beginning of the last year and continue working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As the app hasn’t been launched yet, we can't say much about the impact at the moment, however, we’re very happy with their work both on the professional and on the human level. They’re a great service provider.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They met all deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were pleasantly surprised by the User Experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Remrise is an early stage e-commerce startup developing solutions for sleep. I lead engineering and product management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Darwoft?

We needed to develop a gamification backend for our mobile app that has flexible and configurable business rules so that we can update goals and badges easily.

What were your goals for this project?

Develop a flexible and well written, well tested, well documented backend that works for our business and is well-maintainable for our engineers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Someone we work with used to work at Darwoft and recommended them.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They built the backend per the above, and set up regular milestones and demo meetings every two weeks. They provided testing of the backend and integrated with myself and one of our engineers to ensure everything was smooth.

What was the team composition?

Project manager, engineering lead, engineers, QA engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven't launched the feature yet in our mobile app, but from our evaluation, the backend is well documented, deployed, configurable, and well tested. It's flexible enough to be consumed by our mobile app as well as our web front end.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Darwoft had a project manager as well as en engineering manager. The engineering manager explained their agile development process at the beginning. They arranged to meet with our engineer both remotely and in person regularly.

We had demo meetings every two weeks where they showed us demos, asked questions, and showed us the extend of their tests. They set up end to end deliverables that were done incrementally so we were well assured we were making good progress.

This was a fixed cost project, but when Darwoft was able to make do with fewer resources at the end, they charged us less, and communicated this to us in a very transparent way.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Darwoft provided the service at reasonable cost and were very communicative, asking questions whenever needed to ensure they delivered what our business needs.

They are concerned about making our business a success rather than check off boxes. They are a wonderful partner and we would love to work with them again.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None, everything went perfect!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of a custom software house. We focus on development projects and web development for a variety of clients.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Darwoft?

Our biggest challenge was capacity at the time. We were looking for extra manpower to get projects done more quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Starting with one of their developers at first, they began working on projects alongside my team. At this point, we’ve collaborated on 3–4 web apps. They’ve done full-stack web development, using PHP, AngularJS, and MySQL.

What is the team composition?

There are now two developers that we work with.

How did you come to work with Darwoft?

We looked for outsourcing options online to reduce the cost of labor. I interviewed 4–5 companies and got along well with Darwoft. One of the biggest advantages was that we operate in similar time zones. There wasn’t a language barrier either. 

How much have you invested with them?

To this point, we’ve spent between $60,000–$80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2018 and continue to collaborate. Since this is a staff augmentation effort, we have them on an hourly contract that lasts through the end of the year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve been very pleased with the developers they’ve provided us. The quality of work has been high, and they have specialized resources. We didn’t use the full range of their services—they offer project managers and analytics teams that we didn’t use. They offered those services up several times, though. Their developers are great, but they have a lot more to offer on top of that.

How did Darwoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Basecamp, which has been great. In addition to our communication on that platform, we have daily phone calls with their develops, serving as progress updates. Whenever there has been a deadline, they’ve worked hard to reach it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve done an all-around great job on our projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always a couple of little things, but as a company, they’ve done a good job.