DECODE

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are one of the biggest banking software vendors in Central and Eastern Europe. With the staff of approx. 2300 employees , located in 19 countries, our products reach the market of 300 million people. My role is mobile solutions manager and I oversee banking applications engineering.

For what projects/services did your company hire DECODE HQ?

We hired DECODE to help our own development team redesign mobile banking application with features like wallet, PSD2 support, currency exchange, and card, receipts and payments management. We need it for Android and iOS platforms. We didn’t have enough internal experts to do the work so we engaged DECODE to help us out.

What were your goals for this project?

We were starting a major upgrade of the mobile banking application we were delivering to one of the big European banking groups. The app is a mobile banking client for banks’ residential customers and it needed a big makeover, especially in terms of usability and UX. We brought DECODE in for the expertise in the area of mobile application development/architecture, introducing new development paradigms and workflows. The project had a major impact on our business as the app was used in 8 countries.

How did you select DECODE HQ?

We got a recommendation for DECODE from our ex-employee so we went through a review process involving senior members of the engineering organization. Decisive points for choosing DECODE were their expertise in building complex and big mobile applications with big focus on scalability and maintenance.

Describe the project in detail.

Project’s goal was to redesign a tailor-made mobile banking solution and extend it with PSD2 support, wallet etc. The upgrade also included adding the mCash feature, enabling the customer to withdraw money from the ATM. DECODE was in charge of redesigning the iOS app architecture, implementing or refactoring a number of features on both iOS and Android, as well as improving the unit test framework for both platforms. They also contributed significantly to the new UI/UX look and feel.

What was the team composition?

DECODE’s staff was integrated into our engineering team, starting with 2 people and extending it later on to 3. Two of them are iOS and one Android developer. One of DECODE’s senior experts had a temporary team lead role overseeing our own developers too

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Through several app releases over the course of the project we managed to achieve a steady improvement of apps’ usability, have been adding new features in a timely fashion, made the apps branding process more efficient, which has been reflected in a 10% download increase (on average) for each new release.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

DECODE team members were collocated with our staff, using our development process, and the same tools like Confluence, Slack, Jira. etc. Given that fact, we have no communication issues whatsoever, as DECODE’s engineers personally take part in daily standups and other meetings. We treat them as our own. Their contribution goes beyond just software development, they have the seniority and the expertise in automated deployment & testing and are introducing new development paradigms and workflows.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Working on several successful projects together, DECODE developers have become a valuable part of our team, supporting us in our mission of delivering top quality mobile banking solutions to our customers. They brought in the expertise in the area of mobile application architecture, automated deployment & testing, introducing new development paradigms and workflows.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our collaboration with DECODE was very good so far and there were no open pain points.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Gentoo App was founded by William Skannerup, with Andrea Rumignani and Tim Evans joining later. Gentoo App was built to solve everyone’s pain of keeping contact details of others up to date. With so many ways of staying in contact, phone numbers, emails, addresses, social media tags can get complicated to keep organised. Gentoo App aimed to simplifying this by allowing the user to update their details on their own profile, and share the update automatically with all of their contacts. This later morphed into VeridenKey, and was a leading blockchain identity company based out of London.

For what projects/services did your company hire DECODE HQ?

We hired DECODE to create UI/UX, graphic design elements, app prototype, a working app for iOS and Android, as well as all the necessary services required for our trusted digital identity application and system.

What were your goals for this project?

Our idea was to create a mobile app and a system that syncs all your contacts across contact apps, social networks, different devices you might use. The goal was to onboard at least 100.000 user within first few months. This project had a paramount impact on our business, as the whole company was based around the app.

How did you select this vendor?

DECODE came in with high references from our business contacts and we went through a detailed review process involving CTO. We picked DECODE because they demonstrated top technical expertise as well as the capability to deliver on multiple tracks: UI/UX design, app prototype, Android and iOS app, as well as backend services, which covered all of our requirements.

Describe the project in detail.

VeridenKey provides a verified identity that represents you, both in the “real” and “virtual” world. An identity with you in control of your data—authenticated by government and non-goverment partners on the decentralised ledger—and a digital identity key that cannot be taken away from you. DECODE was in charge of the complete design and development process, including wireframing, storyboarding, creating mockups & graphical design elements, prototyping, software design, implementation, and testing for Android, iOS and the services. The apps were native and the server-side was implemented in Python Django framework.

What was the team composition?

DECODE had a team of 4 working on the project: 1 developer for each mobile platform, 1 for the backend and 1 in charge of QA. One of the developers assumed the team lead role and was our primary contact.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We had 3 major releases in the project - the 1st one was focused on UI/UX design, GUI artifacts and the screen flows. The second was the iOS app and the backend and the 3rd was around Android app. Apps were shared as mature beta.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Although remote, DECODE’s team felt like at hand. We had regular weekly sync video-meetings and communicated on a daily basis via Slack, InVision and Jira. Developers were very standalone in their work and have demonstrated in-depth engineering and other knowledge. We were able to communicate openly and freely, sharing feedback and ideas with no problems. We also visited them in Zagreb in few occasions where we had workshops and we brainstormed about next steps.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

What struck us the most with DECODE is the versatility of their engineers who were able to tackle every problem and respond to every challenge with diligence and persistence. Their UI/UX designer showed extraordinary creativity and was a source of excellent ideas.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, they were an excellent bunch to work with!

Please describe your company and your position there.

Bizzon is a SaaS company that has built a series of market leading capabilities to support merchants in their pursuit of having loyal, happy customers. Bizzon brings buyers and sellers together, building long term, loyal relationships. My role is to make sure that the tech team both internal and external help with achieving our strategic business goals.

For what projects/services did your company hire DECODE HQ?

We hired DECODE to help us develop iOS and Android applications for our platform. One of the key challenges was application’s communication with an external receipt printer and DECODE had a good track record of hardware-related projects.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to create a modern application as a front end to our platform with an excellent UX and ease of use, that would enable merchants and their customers seamless payment process experience. The application was one of the key factors for the uptake of our platform.

How did you select this vendor?

DECODE came highly recommended by trustworthy business associates. I got to know the founders, spent some time talking to them and their staff and they were able to demonstrate their expertise and reliability through references and domain know-how. We personally selected DECODE’s engineers for the project.

Describe the project in detail.

One of the project’s main goals was to add receipt fiscalisation and printing capabilities to our platform by the means of the mobile application, turning the phone/table into a POS device aimed at restaurants.

The application is a native iOS and Android app. DECODE also needed to develop drivers for low-level communication with fiscal modules and printers. These needed to be adjusted and tweaked for different countries and hardware manufacturers.

What was the team composition?

DECODE’s team consisted of 1 iOS and 1 Android engineers that worked closely with our UX designer, hardware providers and the platform engineering team.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Application releases have been happening according to the plan, even ahead of it, enabling us to roll out new features frequently. The usability was very good so we were able to onboard new users easily.

The short time to market also allowed us to enter new markets so we are now present in over 300 restaurants across Europe.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

DECODE’s developers were very autonomous and standalone in their work, demonstrating great seniority in communication, especially with the device vendors. We used productivity platforms of DECODE’s choice and the communication in the team was just swell, no matter what channel was used.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed by DECODE’s technical expertise and in-depth knowledge of mobile app development. Over time we also got to know them as a reliable partner, the one that delivers and is transparent in their communication.

Their staff shown broader engineering skills, beyond just “mere” software development, like analytical approach, diligent troubleshooting and the willingness to learn fast.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Looking back at the collaboration with DECODE, there’s nothing specific I could single out as a problem or challenge.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are one of the longest-lasting telecom software vendors. We are powering more than 1,000 service providers globally, including tier-1 telecom operators. I am a director of engineering in charge of client products for mobile phones and desktops.

For what projects/services did your company hire DECODE HQ?

We hired DECODE to work jointly with our in-house engineering team on improving the existing and develop new mobile products for Android and iOS platforms.

What were your goals for this project?

Our mobile communication clients had to provide carrier-grade group communications services to network operators by blending the native dialer of the smartphone with network-based voice and messaging, multiple personas, unified communications, and collaboration. Mobile apps complement our backend platforms enabling us to offer an end-to-end solution to our customers. We want mobile clients to be state-of-the-art, having superb UX and quality of service.

How did you select this vendor?

We compiled a list of potential vendors for the project, based mostly on referrals and previous experiences from our organization’s members. Initially, there were 3 vendors which we contacted and reviewed, 2 of which went through a thorough selection process involving senior members of the engineering organization (VP level). Decisive points for choosing DECODE were their agility, previous experience in similar projects and expertise demonstrated in the selection process.

Describe the project in detail.

DECODE were responsible for design and implementation of enhancements and features of Android and iOS apps based on specifications and UI/UX designs provided by us.

What was the team composition?

Changed over time depending on our demands - 1 or 2 leads, with 3-7 engineers.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We managed to have the first version of one of our new apps ready for commercial trials in well under a year of starting to work with DECODE and maintained a steady release cycle over the next year adhering to the highest quality standards. The UX and the overall usability of our apps increased significantly as a result of DECODE augmenting our development capacities. We are seeing low numbers of bugs and issues in the apps and DECODE are addressing them promptly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

DECODE team members are embedded in our engineering process, using the same development and collaboration tools like our staff (e.g. Jira, Slack, etc.). Inter-teams' communication was smooth and effective, especially between our designers and DECODE’s developers. We held regular conference calls and face-to-face meetings when needed. DECODE engineers’ work attitude and professional ethics met our expectations, very similar to our own and we experienced no cultural or any other discrepancies. With DECODE being based in mainland Europe, we only had 1-hour time difference which posed no practical problem.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

DECODE are one of our most trusted suppliers and we’re pleased to have them as a partner. They have built a reputation as supplying quality code at the exacting standards we expect of our own developers. Working with DECODE is a pleasure. Their expertise on iOS and Android is excellent and as well as working well with my team they’ve also presented workshops on mobile development to help train up my less experienced engineers.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Our collaboration with DECODE was excellent. One area that we’d like to extend is testing and we’d like to see DECODE taking on more responsibility for not just unit testing, but fully owning functional testing as well and we are already working with them on making that happen.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of Vitastiq Inc, an Indiegogo-backed lifestyle product startup from Zagreb, Croatia. Vitastiq is a company behind the world's first personal gadget that helps track your vitamin and mineral trend using a smartphone. Vitastiq provides information about 26 vitamins and minerals and their natural sources.

For what projects/services did your company hire DECODE HQ?

A companion mobile application is a crucial part of our product that is based on the vitamin tracking device. As a consumer product startup, we didn’t have the needed software engineering capabilities in house, so we hired DECODE to build the mobile application for us.

What were your goals for this project?

As a startup, we wanted our innovative product to grow fast. A mobile app is the only way to consume the device’s readings and derive value from them, so it was of utmost importance for us to be simple, intuitive and superb in usability and UX. The mobile app development project had a major impact on our company’s overall business, right next to the device itself.

How did you select this vendor?

We found ourselves in a position where we had to disengage from our initial app vendor on account of their inability to deliver such a demanding project. DECODE came highly recommended from our hardware platform vendor, who had done business with them before and were convinced in their capability. It was DECODE’s agility, overall technical expertise and previous experience with mobile-connected devices that made our core team decide to go with them.

Describe the project in detail.

We had the hardware figured out but we were looking for a dependable partner to develop the app that would sync with the hardware pen that scans vitamin and mineral levels. The goal of the app was to display and track the data from the vitamin checks and help their users make educated decisions about their health.

Accurate and reliable communication between the mobile phone (app) and the pen was one of the key technical requirements. In addition to implementing native mobile applications for iOS and Android, 3 different versions for each platform, DECODE also worked with our team on the backend web system. DECODE also provided consultancy on all technical aspects of the product.

What was the team composition?

DECODE’s team consisted of 1 Android, 1 iOS developer and a technical lead that managed the project.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The first app versions were more than good enough to attract early adopters, technology enthusiast, and journalists - WIred named us “the coolest thing in their office” at the time. Based on that initial feedback and learnings, we worked with DECODE on quickly releasing subsequent versions with improvements and new features, which led to thousands of downloads in the first months.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Working with DECODE was no different than working with our own staff. The communication was very open, both ways, which enabled us all to be very efficient. Our offices are literally “across the street”, so most of our meetings and workshops were face to face. DECODE delivered on their promises, making set deadlines with no exceptions and being much more than “just” a vendor, a true partner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

While working on Vitastiq, DECODE pulled all the stops. Of course, they delivered the project, but what’s also important is the relationship with us and the way they work. Their communication was highly responsive, they were proactive and had that youthful zeal. I don’t know how they did it, but the whole time we were working together, we felt like we were their only client!

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only thing I “regret” about working with DECODE was not knowing them earlier so we could have hired them from the very beginning.