Dextechnology

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Kartina Digital is a Russian IPTV service that works with Russian content across the globe. I’m the project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dextechnology?

We had a project for a Russian internet radio station that works around the world.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dextechnology developed native Android and iOS apps using Objective C and Java. They made two iterations. Features include listening to music online and loading tracks and our content. The app works with social networks like Facebook and a Russian social network called VKontakte, where you can “like” tracks that you enjoy.

What is the team composition?

We work with five people.

How did you come to work with Dextechnology?

I heard about them 10 years ago from friends' recommendations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t had any problems. In Google Play, our radio app has a 4.2 rating. In the App Store, it’s 4.3. The previous version had 3.8 for reviews.

How did Dextechnology perform from a project management standpoint?

They were good. We used email and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They developed our native applications and gave us recommendations. If we have another project, we may use them again.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Wellbefy AB is a startup that sells digital healthcare products. We measure how company employees feel physically, mentally, and socially. I’m the CTO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dextechnology?

We needed extra help in developing mobile applications. I was involved part-time in the company because I ran another one. I needed partners on both the business and technical sides.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I developed some of the database’s architecture. I provided them with requirements and specifications from customer interviews. We also had previous products that they needed to analyze. Our goal was to rewrite these requirements and specifications with more business-oriented details. There were some complications because the specifications and requirements didn’t allow for an easy user experience. Dextechnology analyzed them and gave suggestions on what we should change, what was better for us, and what was cheaper.

We then worked together to develop our iOS and Android apps. My company used 99designs and sent the results to Dextechnology, but they needed to make a lot of changes and redo the design. We used Submarine to develop the cross-platform app simultaneously. We used C# for the backend.

One of the functions is to add activities. If a user’s telephone doesn’t count steps or something similar, then they’re able to add it manually. Dextechnology suggested a better and easier solution to handle this process for both users and for our involvement in regards to the complex mathematical counts going on in the background each time a user submits activity. They helped make this functionality much more usable.

What is the team composition?

I had a single point of contact, but there were two more people involved.

How did you come to work with Dextechnology?

I used them for a project a couple of years ago with another startup. I’d published a task on Freelancer and found around 10 teams that I liked. I interviewed each of them, narrowed it down to three, and then chose Dextechnology because they were very professional and exactly what we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from April 2016–July 2016. They still help us maintain things a little bit, but it’s minor work right now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been quite successful in selling this app. The local tax authorities ordered it, and H&M is one of our customers. We like it.

How did Dextechnology perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good. They assigned a single point of contact, which is the reason I trusted them. I didn’t want to communicate with five people despite being a technical person myself. They used our Trello boards and suggested we apply Agile development to our process. It wasn’t 100% Agile, but it was really good. We narrowed down the price of the app’s development because their project manager was able to easily tell if there would be some big tasks or extra stuff that wasn’t included. Their project management was really professional.

We used Skype to chat and make phone calls, Trello for tasks, and Jira for development.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really professional and work well with cross-platform mobile development. They know how to develop apps for iOS and Android. In our case, we really needed to release both apps at the same time. Submarine ended up being a useful and functional tool for us to achieve this.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their English could be better, but it’s good enough. We had really good communication with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief software officer for a research and development company. We put a lot of our effort into developing new technologies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dextechnology?

We are developing a media delivery platform that can be used to deliver new user experiences on a variety of platforms, including mobile and computers. The main idea is to provide interactive content to end users on demand in traffic-constrained environments. Part of our challenge was to find a team to develop our theoretical research into product we can use and sell.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked them to develop a backbone of our media platform. We developed theoretical principles of a dynamic peer-to-peer network to develop content in our format. We needed Dextechnology to implement the actual network infrastructure, the backend, and the set of APIs to use in development.

The main development is done in C# and MonoDevelop. We’re moving toward Docker containers to make the system easily deployable across cloud services like Amazon Web Services, Azure Cloud, and Google Cloud.

The apps are used to showcase our media delivery platform. One app reaches Media Player. It provides access to audio and video content on our platform. Users can interact with the content. They can watch video on TV while listening to music on the phone and it will be in complete sync. The mobile applications are for iOS and Android. They provided us with a couple of developers that are fluent in developing native iOS applications. We have one app that was developed natively. Some of the apps are developed in Mono, which will make them easily adaptable to Android or iOS.

What is the team composition?

When I have a task to be done, they tell me how soon they can complete it and they assign it to their team. If the task requires more manpower, they get more people from their side.

How did you come to work with Dextechnology?

They were referred to us by a friend of mine.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $200,000–$999,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2013 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Dextechnology developed all the apps. They do daily presentations. We’re in an active phase to move our platform into the world. We’re always showing it to people and we get great results. We don’t have any issues with the software that was developed; it works every time.

How did Dextechnology perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s tremendous. I have one point of contact who I can always call, email, or Skype to discuss what’s going on. We have conference calls twice a week. We know exactly where the project development stands. All the necessary documentation is in place. I don’t see any issues. We’re happy with the service. They’re always on time. They’re always available if something breaks. I can call them in the middle of the night for help and they always respond right away.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They go the extra mile. They give suggestions about what needs to be done. They know the project inside out. Sometimes, input from the development side helps to clarify the business ideas we have. We might look at one type of problem on one side and they provide feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They provide tremendous service. For a remote team, I feel like they’re in the office.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the chief IT development manager at an electronic cigarettes and liquids company. We have production units in Europe and China. I’m responsible for software development for production.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dextechnology?

We hired them to handle several projects for our MES [manufacturing execution system] system.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were doing business with them before.

Describe the project in detail.

The goal was to develop additional modules for our MES system because we launched new production processes. They built modules for material marking and label printing.

What was the team composition?

Depending on the project, the team consists of one to two backend developers, a frontend developer, and one or two testers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

Overall, results have been positive. We receive what we expect in the defined time frames and within budget in most cases.

How effective was the project management?

We handled project management internally.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have an experienced team with a wide range of skills who are able to deliver results.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

They have opportunities for improvement regarding project management and customer interaction.