DeSmart

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president & CEO of a test preparation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart Software Development?

We needed a company that could help us build an online educational software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired DeSmart Software Development to develop an interactive educational book web app. They’ve used Node.js on the backend and React on the frontend. We’re currently in the process of releasing the solution’s MVP version.

How did you come to work with DeSmart Software Development?

I found DeSmart Software Development through Clutch. We initially started them with a small test project before choosing them for this specific project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $470,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I measure the success of the engagement based on what I originally envisioned the work to be compared with how it’s actually turned out. So far, I think DeSmart Software Development has done a great job.

How did DeSmart Software Development perform from a project management standpoint?

DeSmart Software Development has performed well in terms of project management. They lead an agile process and work in two-week sprints. We have refinement meetings every Tuesday as well as sprint reviews every Thursday.

We use Jira, Miro, and Figma for project management and documentation, and we use Slack and Google Meet for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSmart Software Development has succeeded where several other companies have not. I started this project with a certain vision of what I wanted, but no other companies have been able to provide me with what I wanted. With DeSmart Software Development, I have gotten what I wanted and more.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Learn the scrum process, and make sure that you have somebody in your team who understands the role of a product owner and is willing to play that role.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a real estate solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart Software House?

We wanted to build an online file and information repository system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSmart Software House added functionality that allows users to sign up and create a profile for a particular building, and then upload information on that building into the profile of the building. They did the UI/UX and the front- and backend development.

What is the team composition?

I had touchpoints with 10 teammates throughout the course of the project.

How did you come to work with DeSmart Software House?

A colleague of mine recommended them. I chose them because they spent lots of hours with me before I even appointed them because they wanted to fully understand the concept. They asked the right questions at the right time, and they were happy to guide me through the process.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £23,000 (approximately $29,800 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them about eight weeks ago, in July 2020. We’re in the final week of development, but the project is almost finished.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have put the mockups in front of investors and potential clients, and they’ve all been impressed. The product has helped me get more investment as a result.

How did DeSmart Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is incredible. This is my first software development project, and I couldn’t have felt more comfortable with their project management. We work in an agile format.

DeSmart Software House gets things done when they say they will. They gave me confidence that they could meet their deadlines. We use Google Meet, Slack, and Jira for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their personability sets them apart. Even though they’re based in Poland and we’re in London, I’ve got to know them through copious amounts of video calls. I fully trust DeSmart Software House to deliver what they say they’re going to deliver and to do it well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be willing to speak to DeSmart Software House as much as they are to speak to you, and spend time with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

elmo is an electric vehicle subscription service that provides electric vehicles on flexible contracts. Our offering includes insurance, home energy, and public charging, all wrapped into a monthly price. I’m a co-founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart Software House?

Our startup raised a pre-seed round, but neither myself or my co-founder are technical. We were seeking a developer to create the MVP of our flagship platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We approached them without much knowledge. We had a two-day project scoping session where they helped us define our product concept. The DeSmart team was active in fleshing out the requirements and design of the platform. I was the product owner, so I was heavily involved in planning and project management.

What is the team composition?

We were in daily communication with a project manager, and the development team fluctuated between 2–6 teammates. We were also in contact with their senior management, who oversaw things.

How did you come to work with DeSmart Software House?

We looked at different software development houses on Clutch. We chose them because they seemed to have an effective project scoping process. What stood out was their ability to collaborate on the concept phase to materialize an actual product.

What is the status of this engagement?

That project began in September 2019 and that project wrapped up in January 2020. We’ve retained their services for additional projects and maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with their work. They effectively delivered a platform that served as the starting point of our business. My partner and I have been very pleased with the quality of their work. The platform works very well, just as expected. They turned tasks around very quickly while incorporating adjustments and changes to scope.

How did DeSmart Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

At the very beginning, they laid out the very robust process they use for development. They utilize the scrum methodology, which was effective. We used Jira to collaborate, and we had regular catch-ups. There was always someone to answer questions, so I don’t have anything negative to say on the management side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’d highlight that their ability to adapt is exceptional. We didn’t go with a fixed scope and ended up with a different product than we’d had in mind. They were accommodating of changes and adjustments. That made them very easy to work with. They were also very transparent about pricing, which we appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One point of improvement is that we were never sure who was working on what. The project manager oversaw our communications, so if there was a shift in developers and we had a specific question about the backend, there would be a delay. It was more of a communication issue rather than a structural one.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Really engage them in their project scoping process. Don’t be too prescriptive — give them the freedom to give you suggestions, because they’ll be able to provide great ideas.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a tech company that provides solutions for the equine industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart Software House?

We hired them for application development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSmart developed our application for Android and iOS, integrating some native components into React. The app interacts with sensor devices via Bluetooth and was designed for professional riders and trainers. It’s similar to a running app, but for horse riding.

What is the team composition?

We had an account manager and 2–4 additional people. We started with one person, then added two iOS developers and a tester. 

How did you come to work with DeSmart Software House?

We were looking for someone with experience in React Native, and we saw that DeSmart was organizing a number of meetups in Poland. They seemed to be knowledgeable, and that’s proven to be the case.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost has been more than €25,000 (approximately $28,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with DeSmart in April 2019, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had a few conferences and several important demos, and they’ve always been able to deliver. We've also been able to test the application with riders to gather feedback.

How did DeSmart perform from a project management standpoint?

They're always available. We use Slack for communication, and every post of ours gets a response. Also, our project manager has been helpful in obtaining additional resources for us.

We have code reviews as well as a CI/CD pipeline setup on GitHub. We also use Gitlab for backup management, and that’s where we can see the progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had an initial version of the app, and DeSmart was able to look at the architecture critically and modify some parts as we were going along. They didn’t stop producing features and developing the app during the actual refactoring process. I liked this very much. They also showed us the progress and new features whenever they were working toward a specific deadline. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything negative. This was a small project, and DeSmart did a great job of offering just the services that we needed. They wanted to provide us with more services, but we weren’t able to spend too much money, and they were never pushy.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

My advice is to go to their office to get to know the place and the people. DeSmart is a fun group, and I’m sure they’ll be able to help with any project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director for a corporate innovation community platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart Software House?

We needed a platform built.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at DeSmart Software House built our entire web platform. Using PHP, they developed the back- and frontend. Their team provided suggestions for plug-ins. The platform is a three-sided marketplace that allows stakeholders to communicate with each other. They built the filtering and approval mechanism for all members.

What is the team composition?

Sebastian (Chief Strategy Officer, DeSmart Software House) was my main point of contact. I’m also in contact with a programmer. There was another member of their team that focused on the frontend.

How did you come to work with DeSmart Software House?

I’ve known them for over five years now. We’ve developed several high-quality sites with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost £10,000 (approximately $12,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with DeSmart Software House started in April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m happy with the results. User feedback is also positive. DeSmart Software House developed a high-quality platform that performs well. From a quality perspective, the backend database functions that they recommended work extremely well.

The team at DeSmart Software House offers robust information. The solution that they provided works well on mobile and desktop. We needed work done pretty quickly, and their team cared about meeting our expectations. They were crucial in an update we had. They weren’t obligated to do that, but they did it anyway.

How did DeSmart Software House perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was delivered on time and within budget. Their reliable time has excellent communication. We haven’t had a single issue. Zoom and WhatsApp are our main communication tools.

Sebastian understood the technical aspects of the project. He was focused on getting work done, going above and beyond. The programmer and frontend developer were gifted as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team goes beyond the call of duty. They think with their clients in mind.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing they need to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear documentation. It will be beneficial if there are things drawn out from a UX/UI perspective.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a fashion company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart?

We needed to develop an application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

DeSmart provided an end-to-end solution using JavaScript. Our platform provides a personal shopper experience, with customers connected with a conversational assistant in the form of a chatbot.

We tasked DeSmart with creating the whole experience and accommodating a stylist within our service. Using the Google sprint methodology, we designed and tested a minimum viable product. They then designed the UX and coded the backend algorithm that allows us to use the stylists’ knowledge.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of about five people, including a frontend developer, backend developer, UX developer, a Scrum master, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with DeSmart?

I believe I found them through Google. During our conversation, their approach to the problem made a good impression. They were focused and understood what I needed, which was why I decided to go with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $25,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project from May 2017 to June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had some issues with choosing the framework for JavaScript, but I fully relied on their opinion. I am quite satisfied with what they did for me.

How did DeSmart perform from a project management standpoint?

They finished tasks within the expected timeline. As we had a Scrum master and project manager, I didn’t have to worry about anything. They were pushing me rather than the other way around.

They focused on communication, which was key. We mostly communicated through Skype and phone calls. Initially, we also met onsite for the workshop and had another 2–3 meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DeSmart was an excellent partner and quite flexible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Stay open to suggestions. They know what they are doing, so you can rely on their advice.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a company that provides a learning platform and educational services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire DeSmart?

We have needed custom software development for our learning management system (LMS).

What were your goals for this project?

We want to dramatically improve the scalability, UX and functionalities of our LMS. We specifically have looked for experienced developers who understand the needs of the education space.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

A colleague of mine recommended DeSmart.

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

They executed project management and full stack development.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one senior developer, one junior developer, one QA tester and one project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

DeSmart has improved our system exponentially; thanks to their software development, we finally feel in control of both our goals, execution and budget.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

DeSmart managed the project effectively.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I found their transparency, competence, and efficiency particularly impressive.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

None; they’ve been a breath of fresh air.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of a talent recruitment agency. We cater to youths, helping them locate and apply for internships and entry-level jobs. We see ourselves as a connector, between them and regional employment opportunities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart?

We didn’t have too many problems with our initial site, but we didn’t have the budget to create something we were completely in love with, so it wasn’t really up to our standards in terms of design, speed, and functionality. We approached Desmart to start over from scratch. We wanted a platform that would work like we wanted to, wouldn’t have any issues, and could be developed as fast as possible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The collaboration started off with a three-day workshop, in-person, where we got to know them, had a few ice-breakers, and discussed exactly what we wanted from the project. DeSmart handled the UI/UX work, but we provided the logo design and branding. I believe that the backend is Node.js, and the frontend is React.js. Employers can search for candidates, and vice versa, through a search feature powered by Algolia.

What is the team composition?

We had 10-11 people working on our project, including a dedicated project manager.

How did you come to work with DeSmart?

We ended up finding them on Clutch, but we interviewed around 10 different companies, trying to find one that matched our company culture.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $200,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2017, but the platform went live in April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have the fastest platform in our current market. On the old platform, searches took an average of six–10 seconds to return results, but the current load time is 6–8 milliseconds. We don’t have any traffic statistics yet, given that the platform has only been live for a month and a half, but in general, feedback from our current users has been extremely positive. We’ve had users from three years ago come back to use the new platform.

How did DeSmart perform from a project management standpoint?

They may have planned on doing more initially, but our needs kept changing throughout the development process, so, at the end of the day, we’re happy with their deliverables. Sprints were primarily planned through Jira, but we’re constantly in touch via Slack. We’ve also had multiple weekly meetings through Zoom. Critical items are fixed within a couple of hours, at most, and non-critical bugs are usually delayed until the next sprint.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re technically-gifted, and we can approach them with any questions about what we’re trying achieve. Our team works in the capacity of a remote CTO for the company. They were forthcoming with any challenges they foresaw, and they were quite open in terms of processes. They didn’t say yes to items that would be impossible within our budget and time. They’re forthcoming and honest when it comes to timelines, budgets, and complexity, which helped us plan the entire project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The initial workshop could have been extended beyond three days, in order for the project manager to get to know the team they would be working with, but that’s not something they can control. It would’ve been nice to get to know the team we would be working with during the workshop too.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would take complete advantage of the workshop. They know what they’re talking about. Use the time to ask them any kinds of technical questions you have.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director of product development for Encore Technology Group, which specializes in servicing K-12 learning institutions. They do a lot of provisioning of technology; everything from furniture to whiteboards to Smartboards. They also provide two proprietary pieces of software. One is a single point sign-in management application called Enboard, and the other is called Entrack, an educator evaluation data management system that provides the districts with the ability to manage the workloads and the evaluation processes for all their employees. I work on the Entrack educator evaluation side of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart?

We needed to expand our development resources to meet the workload of the projects, and we needed to do it as efficiently and economically as possible.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Entrack is a very complex piece of software. U.S. school districts are burdened with a requirement of conducting highly involved employee evaluations, and there’s all types of regulations (federal, state, district, and local) depending on funding. On average, a school district that employs 7,000 people can equate to conducting 18,000–30,000 evaluations.

Everything in the Entrack application is digital, allowing the evaluations to be tracked and managed down a productivity process. Having all of this automated and managed within an application is an incredible advantage opposed to doing it through individual applications or even doing parts of it with paper documents or trying to manage those in a Google Drive environment.

The initial aspect of the project was to bring DeSmart up to speed with what we were building and planning to build, and allocating to them the first portion. We build and deploy products quickly, and we go through an elaborate initial discovery and design, storyboarding of the HTML design pages, all the way to the product being signed off and ready to build. We built in one-week sprints, each with their own set of requirements. The client is involved in the design all the way through development. They see the week-to-week progress on the project, and they make tweaks and edits as we go along, which gives us the ability to successfully deploy early stage software across a user group of about 7,000 people with high client satisfaction.

DeSmart is a PHP shop, and our database is IntelliKeys.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of 4­–5 people fully dedicated to the project. Their development team and our internal development team and development managers were tightly integrated and worked as if we were one team.

They have a project leader who takes care of everything from the budgeting of the team, the billing and invoicing, and the assignment of the team. The team leader is the senior technical resource.

How did you come to work with DeSmart?

We were looking at increasing our internal development resources because of the workload that was associated with building out custom aspects of Entrack for Charleston. Encore’s president had a friend that had done some development work through another Polish firm, but when we first reached out to them, they weren’t a good fit because they had an agile methodology and our programmers are Laravel and PHP developers. They referred us to DeSmart, who we met with and appeared to be a good fit. They provided us with the bandwidth on the development resources and the talent levels at an economic value that made it practical for us to work with them.

One of the reasons we selected DeSmart is because their development methodology is the same as ours. We’re an agile-based development team, which means we build aspects in software and very quick components. We only build what we need to have immediately, and they also build on the same technologies.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Choosing DeSmart was a great decision. They’re professionals and do an incredible job. Much of the software that we’ve developed over the past several months is brand new, and we’re in full deployment, but the end result for the client is still premature. However, we have some indicators that the client is satisfied, and we have high user compliance and acceptability. Our trouble tickets related to programming mistakes (such as bugs) are low, and changes are usually made within five business days.

Sometimes we run into consistency issues of things not going through the correct process, but for the most part, the efficiency and accuracy of the development has been exceptionally well.

How did DeSmart perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is absolutely great. A lot of times, developers don’t think beyond what they’re being asked to build, but DeSmart is constantly coming back with pointed questions and suggestions on different ways to approach something. Every meeting is well-structured, and they always have their questions ready.

They use Jira, which made for really easy integration between our business processes and theirs. We have three meetings a week: one to plan for the upcoming sprint, another to discuss the development production that they had completed on the current sprint, and a retroactive meeting for what we learned and what we’ll do differently going forward. These were regularly scheduled calls, and we had online meetings through Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their time tracking and budgeting is always spot on, and they pay incredible attention to detail. Everything they make is well-developed and tested, so the first generation of the product is usually quite close to the documented specification.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had to change gears when another priority came up, and we’d move DeSmart to a different aspect of the project, and they were always responsive to that. The overall improvement for their performance is more of an internal issue with us, though.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Glome provides a Platform-as-a-Service anonymization API that allows our customers, mostly e-commerce providers and event organizers, to serve their own customers across different social networks, browsers, and devices, without registration or downloads. I am the COO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DeSmart?

We needed an external team with more flexibility. We did have a solution, but it required logging into a server with an SSH client.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We've worked on 2 projects with DeSmart, relating to our product environment and website. They built a new admin panel with functionalities for onboarding clients and providing API keys for them, as well as usage statistics. We provided high-level specifications to their team, and they translated our business needs into actual stories and chunks of work, which they also implemented.

We set the technology stack, which included Amazon Web Services, Node.js, and MongoDB and PostgreSQL for our operational and statistics databases, respectively. We also implemented their recommendation for a message-bus service, called Redis. They used a jQuery statistics engine for creating graphs and visualizations for reporting.

What is the team dynamic?

Their team consisted of 2 developers, a tester, and a UX designer for the platform development side, and there were a couple external advisors involved as well, on an on-and-off basis.

How did you come to work with DeSmart?

I asked acquaintances in Poland for a software house that could provide a team for a set period, and found DeSmart. They were reasonably priced, and we were able to visit their team.

How much have you invested with them?

The project size was around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with DeSmart in July 2017. The first project ran for 2 months, across 5 2-week sprints. We’re finishing up as we speak.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We received a great deal of effort for our money, and I’m happy with our collaboration. The quality of work was professional, and their team identified any bugs by themselves most of the time. There were a few details that required figuring out during the first sprint, related to our way of working, but after that, there were no problems.

The solution is not open to the public yet, but we are moving in that direction and will launch in 2018. The people who have access to the tool are happy with it. The platform allows them to do everything they need to.

How did DeSmart perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle project management using the Scrum methodology, with 2-week sprints, reviews, and retrospectives. We have daily 15-minute planning and scrum sessions via Skype or other videoconference tools, during which we tackle any issues. We also have a Slack channel that we use daily.

We didn’t specifically have a project manager on their side, although the senior developer handled the team. We found a way of working together and of managing expectations on both sides.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Based on the ideas we provided, they came back with an improved solution. They also gave us extra product functionalities.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It'd be great to work with their senior developers all the time, but this is a matter of budget and resourcing. We have a senior dev and a couple of juniors, whom I haven't had any problems working with, and they handle communication.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’ve been working in the software and internet business since the '90s, and my evaluation is that DeSmart’s team is good. I plan to keep using them.