Daxx

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of R&D for InsFocus Systems. We were founded in 2004 and we mainly develop one solution which is a business intelligence solution for insurance companies. It is a specialized tool, built from the ground up, for insurance business decision holders for analyzing data, reporting data, dashboards, and getting insights from data. 

It’s like a classic BI tool, but is a platform built for insurance companies. With that, we have a lot of knowledge on how to build reporting and dashboarding for insurance companies and we have a tool that we’ve been developing since 2004. We mainly work in Israel with insurance companies but we have plans for Malta, Europe, India, the Netherlands, and other places around the world.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We have an R&D team here in Israel who develop and test our main application, and we were looking to extend that team, so we were looking into offshoring. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

The reason we decided to expand the team was that we had a big project for an insurance company in Israel. They needed to have a specialized tool, which is a big project for us and we thought it would be a great opportunity to expand the team with someone abroad.

We mostly work with the Microsoft stack. For the server-side applications, we use ASP.NET and C#. On the client-side, it’s a mix of JavaScript, jQuery, and Angular 9. 

Along the way, we had a goal of using the developer more on our main product and now he is like any other team member that we have in the office. We are not a big company, so for us, each developer needs to know everything.

Because of this, he helps me a lot with cloud services that we use for development like Azure DevOps and AWS services. He helps me integrate them and build solutions on top of them.  

What is the team composition?

They currently provide us with a developer who works mainly for us. We are in the middle of expanding the team and adding a QA person and another developer. It’s been a test for us over the last year because we had previously been working in a traditional way, and we wanted to see what would happen if we took someone from the outside and worked with them.  

How did you come to work with Daxx?

We tested a few companies and we decided to go with Daxx. I’ve been to Ukraine twice before and I visited a few companies. There are a lot of companies in Ukraine that provide these kinds of services, so we were looking at a few of them. 

Daxx made a great impression on me with the local team they have in their office. I decided to go with them because at the end of the day because, to me, they seemed the most professional and had a very organized structure with nice people working for them.

We also looked at the size of the company because there are a lot of smaller team companies, but we were looking for a company that had a bigger office. Daxx aren’t the biggest, but they’re one of the biggest there. They seemed like a very good company for us and were better than the other providers we found.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around $4,000 per month. There is more investment in terms of visiting the office from time to time, which is something you need to do.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them since August 2019 and our collaboration is ongoing. 

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

I measure their success more by their performance and how much they’re able to do. We track how many issues and tasks we have been able to finish. It’s very easy for us to track the development of this new application as he is the only one working on this project and we can see what’s going on. We have been very happy with their performance and they’ve done more than we expected. 

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a dedicated project manager who is in charge of us as a client, and she takes care of all the day-to-day tasks regarding vacations, days off, and engaging us when something is wrong.

All the communication goes through her and she is really in a tight relationship with us. She calls and asks for updates or if we need to change something. We have very good communication between our teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very professional, which I’m glad is the case. They’re doing great work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of something specific. No one is perfect but there is nothing that comes to mind. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend using them. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software company based in Paris.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We were looking to hire extra engineers for our team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We mandated them to help us find additional engineers. We had all the technical requirements in-house, but we just needed to expand our team.

We were looking for backend engineers who are very familiar with technologies like Python, engineers who had experience with manipulating data, and evolving the Microservices architecture. We also needed one person to help us with the frontend who was familiar with React.js.

What is the team composition?

We now have three engineers with them.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

We found them through a web search. We looked at a few local providers in Ukraine and had conversations with three of them. The first ones that were able to provide us with the right profiles were Daxx.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend roughly $18,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them around March 2020. We’re still working together today.

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

We hired three engineers and they probably sourced 30–40 viable candidates for us before they managed to find the right fit.

We’re quite satisfied with the level of the engineers that they were able to source for us. We were looking for senior positions and experienced people and the engineers they sourced fit very well with our team. They are capable and very proficient, and so far so good.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, they did quite well in terms of understanding our needs and the type of profiles we were looking for. They did a good job matching the people to the type of environment that we’re involved in.

Additionally, they also do a good job when it comes to us having multiple touchpoints with the engineers to see if everything is going well. They’re very transparent with how the work is going and are proactive in their communication.

The team is good at integrating our feedback into the sourcing process of candidates. Overall, they are quite a proactive team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In terms of highlights, I think they did quite a good job of sourcing, and they are very proactive in improving the quality of the candidates to make sure they mesh and are the right fit. They did quite a good job of that and we were very satisfied with the people who joined the team that we’re now working with. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

In terms of constructive feedback, I would challenge the current pricing model right now because, with regards to the services they provide, beyond the sourcing and the HR support, there are the offices and special IT material.

As we require special material, we sourced our own computers and our engineers, because of the COVID-19 situation and people working remotely, they haven’t been using the offices at all. I would challenge their current pricing model, especially in this context.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate to be precise in terms of profiles and the type of people you are looking for. Daxx will be able to source the right people accordingly.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO at Pod Group, a virtual mobile operator. We also provide a soft service management platform for our customers to manage their connectivity.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We’d been looking for specific development profile for one of our products, and we couldn’t find any smart card app developers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provide connectivity solutions through SIM cards, which are also called smart cards. It’s like a small computer with basic memories and functions. Our R&D team had a project that they did a proof of concept for that they could prove would work to enhance the capacity of the smart card and add some logic so it could self-heal any connectivity related issues or maybe even heal the device if needed.

Daxx then did the development of what we asked and contributed their experience to enhance and improve the project.

What is the team composition?

There’s a SIM developer who works with our R&D team. Several months ago, we hired another backend developer. The skillset we needed was quite unique, and Daxx was the only company that could provide us with someone who had enough experience to be independent and cover the variety of technologies we were looking for.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

Our CEO was at a conference in the U.S. One of our partners mentioned they worked with them and were very pleased with them. I went to see them in the office, and we had a chat about their prices and what they could do for us.

After that, we sent them the requirements of the skills we were looking for. Daxx was the only company able to provide us experienced smart card developers. The prices were also good compared to other companies we interviewed. They’re the best we’d seen in our three-year search.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Daxx started in September 2019.

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

The team managed to not only satisfy the needs of the project but also advised best practices through the project so that we could deliver the best application we could possibly have and be unique in the market.

They work independently and contribute a lot to the company and the project. They have enough experience to tell us if we’re on the wrong path and make suggestions on how to improve what we’re doing.

They’re skilled and experienced. When they joined, they weren’t really up to speed on what we were doing in the IoT world, but after a few sessions, they were able to understand the business case and work independently.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

Daxx is part of the team. The most important thing in this relationship is that we don’t have to manage them and we don’t treat them as an outsource company. They join the standups, the monthly meetings, and the strategy discussions.

They can really bring value without even asking them for it. They share ideas in the moment we discuss the projects. We use Slack and Trello boards for the sprint tasks and the backlog. We also use email. They use Bitbucket for the pipeline.

We’re satisfied with the timelines. Even if internal deadlines aren’t met by all of us as a team, the external deadlines are always met. We don’t have actual deadlines for them because we work as a team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I don’t do that much work with them; it’s mainly their team and our R&D team. It’s always been easy working with them. No matter how difficult the project is or how complicated it is, they always manage to help drill it down to smaller tasks or explain how to approach it better so we can make the most out of the time we spent together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re very flexible and understanding.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Their team is great, and so is their English. You’ll be able to easily transfer your project and knowledge to the team. They will be able to catch up with things quickly and deliver the quality that you need.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and president of an app development firm. We build technical B2B apps for mobile, web, and mixed-use.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We’re a small company, and wanted really good developers but couldn’t find them in the US for the price we could afford. We went to Daxx to find good developers at a reasonable price.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Daxx takes care of all of the HR and onboarding.  We worked with them to find a full-stack developer, whose still with use two and a half years later. Then, we added a full-time mobile developer, another full-stack developer, and we just added another mobile developer. We use them for our programming and then someone on our staff puts the app together. They use Xcode, Swift, Kotlin, PHP, and JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

We work with four people form their team.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

In the past, we used freelance coders from another site. We were frustrated because we would get someone and they would disappear, and then the next coders weren’t able to make sense of the code the previous developer had done. It was a big mess, and we didn’t have any control over the quality.

We talked to Daxx twice before hiring them, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make the commitment of hiring someone full time. When we finally did, the development time got cut in half and the quality was so much better, too. It was definitely more efficient.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018, and our work is ongoing.

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

We run a sprint every week, and we have a 95% completion rate in the time we assigned them. On top of that, we come in on budget for where we think we should be for the client, now that we’ve got these developers.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Trello and Slack. All of our developers speak really good English, so there isn’t even a language barrier. Daxx spends time training their employees to speak English, so it’s easier for us. We have conference calls once a week too. Especially during the COVID-19 quarantine, it’s like nothing has even changed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to find really strong personnel sets them apart. They do that pre-interview step for us, and we interview them as well. By the time we get to the candidates, they’re pretty well vetted.

Daxx also finds a way to send things to them, since they’re so far away, like a birthday card or other gift.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I always want to get the latest and greatest equipment for my development team, but it just takes longer with them because they’re so far away.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is not to wait forever, like I did. They’ll help you save money, time, and frustration in the long run. Try to get a good picture of your project together for them so they can see all the technologies you need. I’m amazed at their ability to find a person with deep knowledge, that I would normally think it would take two hires.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO and Co-Founder of a private security software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

At the time, it was very difficult to find local talent for affordable prices, so we decided to create an extended outsourced team to compliment the developers that we already had.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have helped us to handle ongoing development on the backend of our product. That included some pretty specialized expertise with Scala, the language we were using. Our product is a system that monitors for and identifies cyberattacks for banks and large enterprise companies.

We track all of the usage data and create models of standard behavior so that if the system does manage to be hacked through any employee's credentials, we are able to identify the change in behavior and lock them out right away rather than once something is noticed to be wrong.

What was the team composition?

My goal was to have about 15 people working with us by the end of the first year, and we were able to ramp up effectively to that level. Since then we have continued to grow to about a 50-person team, mostly comprised of backend developers, with about 20% frontend, QA, and automation leads as well.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

Because of our requirement with Scala, I searched what areas it was more popular in and settled on Eastern Europe. From there, I interviewed a few teams including engineers from Daxx and decided that they were the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost for us is around $5,000 per person, per month, which has added up to around $8 million over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017 and are continuing to partner together.

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

Because they are integrated with our overall development team, it is difficult to pinpoint specific effects that they have had, but they are a significant part of anything that we have accomplished since we began working with them.

All of the work that they deliver for us is well built and functions very smoothly, so we have been able to entrust them with just as much of our portfolio as our in-house team. Technically, they are the best remote team I have ever worked with in 20 years of experience.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

Initially, they were more directly integrated with our team, and the developers would communicate directly. As the team expanded, we added a few project managers on their side who have been helping us to effectively monitor and direct all of the work that is going on.

Even though they are integrated throughout our different teams, the individual developers have been able to adapt to all of the different processes and project management tools of the team that they are working on. And on top of that, the project managers on their side are very disciplined about making sure they track all of their work and deliverables

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their engineers’ technical skill is just outstandingly strong, despite being a relatively young team. They have the skill levels of some engineers in the Bay area who have been working for over 20 years.

On top of that, there is a level of integrity from the individual engineers to the management of the company that you don’t often find from outsourcing companies. They are always on top of things and willing to accommodate any of our needs, which have changed dramatically over the years that we’ve spent working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I really have been completely satisfied with the service they provide to us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you work with any outsourced team, it requires an investment from your side to make sure that you establish clear expectations and that they know what your goals for the product are. If you just give them a list of requirements and don’t follow up, you will get a good product, but it might not be exactly what you were looking for — not because they did anything wrong, but because you didn’t provide them the guidance that they needed. Constant communication is absolutely key.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of customer success and operations at SizeUp. We’re a software as a service (SaaS) application provider for financial institutions, banks, insurance companies, and governmental organizations like libraries, chambers of commerce, and economic development organizations. We provide a web-based application that allows these organizations to provide their small and medium-size business customers with business intelligence capabilities.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

Our parent company was acquired by a London-based company, so our developers went from being part a larger team to a much smaller team. This wasn’t a good fit for them, and we started seeing a lot of turnover, which is deathly to a small business, especially in Silicon Valley. We needed to bring on more development resources.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In our typical process, we’ll define our talent requirements, and Daxx will find people with those skill sets. Our business/client-facing team and I will go through an interview process to make sure the person’s personality will be a good fit. Then, our technical team will ensure their skills are compatible with our vision for the application.

Daxx’s resource handles all of our frontend development, which is focused on Node.js and React. The old application we inherited was web-based and didn’t work well with mobile devices. We saw that the majority of our users were mobile, so Daxx’s resource is developing a more responsive design, leading the effort from both a coding and a UX perspective. Their aesthetic sense is superior to every company I’ve worked with in the past 10 years.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with the same team at Daxx for over a year with no turnover. We currently have one developer assigned to our project, but we’re in the process of expanding.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

We interviewed many agencies in eastern Europe, western Europe, and India and participated in international conferences, networking events, and startup competitions. We met Daxx at one of these while they were looking for startups to offer their services to. Their model of nurturing their resources to make them feel part of their client’s team, even though they’re remote, generates stability and loyalty. Their culture and resource skillsets were particularly suited to working with us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since August 2017.

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

The product is launching soon, and we’ll look to expand the team according to the feedback we receive. Holistically, the quality is very high. Our resource has a deep science and mathematics background, which helps us in many areas.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicate with our developer through email, Google Hangouts, and video calls, with last being the most common. We also use Jira and Confluence to track the project. They make sure things are going well, identify next steps for growing the team and its skillsets, and communicate proactively.

When we have all-hands meetings, they participate; they’re just like a member of our team. If a team member needs to come to the US to meet with the team, Daxx handles the visas. They manage all the HR aspects so we don’t have to worry about them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their focus on employee retention and satisfaction is outstanding. They don’t simply focus on supplying a resource with the necessary skills but developing that resource’s connection to you as an organization. They also ensure their resources have the infrastructure they need to be successful. This is how they develop continuity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes we need part-time experts, but Daxx only uses a full-time model. When we go into rounds of QA or testing, we don’t need a full-time person. They’ve heard our feedback and said they’re going to add a part-time service soon.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of a custom web application company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We needed to increase our development team and decided that the best option would be outsourcing the talent.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Daxx has provided us with frontend and backend developers that work on multiple projects with our Ukraine team. Each project begins with us contacting Daxx about our need for new developers and defining our requirements. They do all of the recruitment, interview candidates, and—after we accept someone—they conduct the onboarding. Once someone is part of the team, Daxx provides offices, team management, and an HR coordinator. Since they have such a close relationship with the development team, Daxx also helps us with process development and growing the maturity of our project management.

Daxx has expertise in a variety of full-stack development technologies like PHP, Java, Angular, and CSS. This enables them to interview candidates and identify the skill level that matches the different project requirements. The frontend developers Daxx has found for us provide code for things like website markups, and the backend developers deliver code for integrations with other systems.

What is the team composition?

We communicate with a Daxx HR manager who works directly with the development team, which now has 10 members. Our team is made up of one Senior PM, two QA testers, and an assortment of front- and backend developers, all of whom were sourced through Daxx.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

I found them through online research. After filling out their online form, we had a phone conversation and later met in person. During that meeting, we went through their proposal, pricing, and previous successes and decided they would be the best fit for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little less than $1 million over the past four years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Daxx October 2013, and are still actively working with them.

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

Daxx has been able to put together a highly skilled team that is dedicated and focused on delivering an accurate solution. The team has always received and implemented feedback well, which tells me that Daxx found developers who fit across the company as a whole.

Daxx’s guidance concerning expectation, task, process, and project management has helped the company take huge steps in the right direction.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

Daxx helps us with project management for the team. We use Jira to track project progress and individual tasks, and have collaborative communication. While there are some deadlines that just can’t be met, Daxx’s HR manager and our senior PM do everything in their power to make sure the team is managed tightly and release dates are met.

It’s my opinion that we are all one team—Daxx, the development team, and us—so I try to meet with them regularly. I visit the Daxx office space a few times a year.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very involved not only when things are going well, but also when we face unexpected complications. They have always been there for us as a real partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be a great addition to their services if they were able to be more involved in the technical aspects of the projects. That expansion to their business would take some stress and worry away from clients.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to ask questions. If there is ever something additional that you want, something you don’t understand, or if you've run into an issue—whether within your process or team—reach out to Daxx and they will help.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a rental website. We do online vacation rentals, similar to Airbnb and other sites that are out there.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We had hired a development group internally but the relationship did not work out, so we needed to find replacement developers. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were looking for a new development team that was not simply a bunch of code monkeys, which we had encountered already. We wanted some kind of oversight with the group. You weren’t hiring a developer directly, but hiring a company that was going to help you through the process; match you to the right developer and all that. Daxx took us in, got our intake forms, and really explored our situation. Once they understood what we were experiencing, they assigned multiple resources to us to make sure that we felt comfortable. Before we even started a contract, they talked us through the whole process and how it was going to happen. They gave us an unbelievable, almost unprecedented amount of time to make sure that we were clear with the process and that we were comfortable with it. 

How did you come to work with Daxx?

It was through seemingly endless research. We dealt directly with Daxx for a couple of days to know more about the intake process. After speaking to Daxx, we felt incredibly confident about working with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have worked with them for over 6-months with one developer, and now we have two developers. We are satisfied not only with the developers but the whole way the company is operated.

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

We interact with those developers directly all the time. They are amazingly communicative and the language barrier is not a factor. They’re competent, funny, personable—they are definitely not automatic developer robots. They were chosen specifically for us. We were given a number developers to choose from and we interviewed them directly. Daxx took internal responsibility, conducting performance evaluations for the developers. Once we selected the lead developer, he took responsibility for giving skill and speed tests to the junior developer candidates that we were considering. Once we shortlisted them, the lead developer said, “Look, let me help you by leaving out any potential employees that might be right but aren’t a good fit.” They have done an exceptional job.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated with them through Basecamp, Bitbucket, email, Skype, and Facetime. If we had questions over the weekend, they would Facetime us from home. They absolutely became part of our team.

What did you find most impressive about Daxx?

Most companies in the marketplace, especially those working in tech, have very specific impressions when it comes to outsourcing. We’ve worked with other companies that outsource, we’ve also worked with developers in-house. I can say that going with Daxx was not just the best decision that we made, it’s a decision we would recommend to anybody. They’re very European in their approach to setting up their company structure. They are so thorough. Everyone we deal with goes the extra mile, from admin to accounting, developers, and basic emails—everything. They really get the job done. We’ve had terrible experiences with developers, so we honestly went into this the same way you go into a relationship after breaking up. However, we were completely blown away by everything about them.

They are a perfect fit for us. The lead developer is extraordinary. As an individual, he clicks well with our particular mindset, our company, and personal cultures'. He is not just an employee; we feel like we made a friend and he is somebody that we want to know. And this is a company that we want to know and work with, so we continue to do so even once our project is finished.

Are there any areas Daxx could improve?

When the project is done and launched, we would be able to provide that feedback. But for now, I can say that we are 100% satisfied in terms of development and gear up. Once we have that data, I’m sure we would be 100% satisfied as well, but you never know.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am one of the founders of our company. We’ve built an online shipping platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We were looking for a developer to join our efforts. We interviewed a few candidates on a freelance basis but weren't happy with them. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our developer from Daxx works on back-end PHP and front-end tasks. That developer works on every area of the software, so he has a fundamental role. Depending on the situation, we work on a collaborative basis or a more requirements-based setup.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

I don't remember how we found Daxx, but it may have been through a marketing email. We engaged Daxx as a more formalized version of previous efforts. Our company's team is distributed throughout the globe. There weren't really any boundaries for us in terms of recruiting a developer.

How much have you invested with Daxx ?

We pay $2,000 per month for Daxx’s services. [1,500 GBP]

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with Daxx for 6 months. 

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

Daxx was always fast to respond to feature requests. Before we started working with Daxx, we couldn't handle changes at anywhere near our current speed. The positive feedback our product has received is a direct result of Daxx' work.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

Daxx performed well in terms of project management. We use Trello and Intercom for organizing feature requests.

What did you find most impressive about Daxx?

In terms of higher-end virtual employees, we don't have a basis for comparison with Daxx. Compared to other freelancers, though, Daxx has provided a much more transparent collaboration. We don't have to worry about timeliness, which takes some weight off our team.

Are there any areas Daxx could improve?

The only drawback has been that we don't have a set contact person at Daxx for any issues which may arise. When we first got in touch with Daxx, we spoke to 4 to 5 different people, each one with a different role. Whenever I have a question or problem, I have to fire an email to all of them. 

Please describe your organization.

Our company specializes in logistics automation for the agricultural industry. Specifically, we provide grain elevators for food processing plants and similar operations. We manufacture equipment and develop software for it, offering a turnkey solution for automating specific business processes. The main types of processes that we automate are grain-to-grain elevators for harvest trucks. Those trucks need to be weighed and unloaded, generating tickets for drivers and sending transactions to accounting systems. This type of interfacing is what our systems offers. We provide RFID [radio-frequency identification] systems, outdoor ticket printers, cameras, and so on. We're also involved with businesses that need to load and unload train cars, barges, and ocean vessels with grain.

What is your position?

I am the director of software engineering.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Daxx?

We have an in-house development team and are continuing to grow it. At one point, five years ago [in 2011], we were looking to get some additional talent. We tried using an offshore engagement with an Indian company. For one reason or the other, it didn't work out, so we came to wind down the engagement. In the case of Daxx, the difference was that they source developers from Eastern Europe mainly. It was easier to work with them because a large number of our company's employees are also from Eastern Europe, so communication was easier. English was desired, but not a major requirement. The five-hour difference was also much better than in the case of the Indian developer, who had a major time difference to our location. We decided to give Daxx a try and are still working with them four years later. We have a very good relationship.

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

We primarily work with line-of-business applications utilizing SQL Server, .NET and C#. We're also starting to look into cloud development, but our primary focus is on the Microsoft technology stack. 

Our relationship with Daxx is not so much an outsourcing one as it is team augmentation. The developers brought onboard by Daxx become a part of our team, sharing the same work items that we allocate internally.

Daxx has a very strong HR team, and they are proactive in trying to find the right talent. The interviewing process was much easier with Daxx than with other companies. When a person is brought in, Daxx will work to ensure that that person is happy inside the team. Any issues or frictions are addressed proactively.

We started out with one developer from Daxx, and have come to use five people from their company. We are in the process of hiring another one.

How did you come to work with Daxx?

I believe that a Daxx representative contacted me initially.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We spend between $120,000 and $200,000 per year for our team from Daxx.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Daxx at the end of 2012. We're now expanding our team there, and even bring their developers here on business trips, in order to expose them to the local work culture and team. We treat them as remote employees, rather than as an offshore team, which has to work on a specific task.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

As we continued working with Daxx, some of their developers came to our company on work visas, becoming a part of our local team. We liked what they did and how they did it, so we wanted to have them closer to us. Daxx helped us staff our team with professionals who are very easy to bring up to speed. We don't have to waste very much time with people who aren't right for the job.

How did Daxx perform from a project management standpoint?

Daxx' team delivered the work on time and with good quality. We use Microsoft Team Foundation Server for our collaboration, and Visual Studio for the development itself. We have a continuous integration process using scrum technology. We divide the work into sprint cycles, and have regular meetings at two-week intervals, talking about what needs to be done.

What distinguishes Daxx from other providers?

What I found noteworthy about Daxx is their ability to maintain a strong HR presence, allowing me to concentrate less on these tasks. When working with an offshore team, we need to make sure that we understand the dynamics of the human factor, assessing who is and isn't working out well. Daxx's HR has worked closely with me in making sure that those problems are addressed quickly. 

Is there anything Daxx could have improved or done differently?

Daxx has done a pretty good job as it is, so there isn't much that needs to be changed. They could provide more internal tooling for developers. At the moment, we need to provide software licenses for their workstations ourselves. Trying to get that software installed from our location is more complicated than we'd like.