DICEUS

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a Head of IT at a real estate agency with a long history and good track record on the market. We are providing professional property services and help people find their perfect home.

For what projects/services did your company hire Diceus, and what were your goals?

We hired Diceus to realize one of the new functionalities that would offer our clients modern blockchain-based capabilities and make our agency different from the others. Today, all real estate companies are much alike. We wanted to introduce something that would make us unique, at least at our local market.

When blockchain technology appeared, we thought that it could become a major feature of our agency. Thus, we involved Diceus to help us realize our project idea. Our goal was to develop a web-based marketplace backed with Ethereum smart contracts. We needed a company that would provide end-to-end software development and manage the project on their site.

How did you select Diceus and what were the deciding factors?

Usually, we use particular evaluation criteria to select any vendor for our agency. Simply put, we considered price, expertise, and technology skills most of all. We also paid attention to how responsive the vendor was, i.e., how fast they were with gathering initial requirements, sending a technical proposal and answering our questions.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Our project was actually split into several phases. The major stages included business analysis, design, development, testing, and deployment. We also had a user acceptance testing when we, as a client, could test the end solution by ourselves to check if our requirements were met.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The team consisted of five members:

• a business analyst
• a designer
• two developers
• a test engineer.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are fully satisfied with the project outcomes as now our services are presented in a clear and user-friendly manner; the property offers have enough space for detailed descriptions. The smart contracts feature is also realized successfully which attracts customers who want to securely proceed with property purchase online.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

The workflow was quite simple and clear. We had a communication plan at the beginning and followed it throughout the development. We chose a Scrum methodology for project management as we had some projects realized according to this methodology earlier and knew how it worked. Our team was always attentive to our suggestions and feedback.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are very result-oriented. We liked how timely the project manager provided project progress reports and how fast the team reacted to our feedback. Diceus' team members are easy-going – it was a pleasure to communicate and work with them.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We are satisfied with the services provided. Nothing to improve. Probably, they just need to enhance change request management procedure.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a CIO in an insurance company providing a wide range of underwriting packages for property and casualty insurance, life insurance, life reinsurance, and real estate. We are continually growing and trying to go up with the times by implementing the latest tech innovations for our business.

For what projects/services did your company hire Diceus, and what were your goals?

I searched for a software vendor who could help us adapt Earth Observation for analyzing the environment. The solution was intended to accurately predict the risks of insurance case occurrences.

Although the use of satellites in our business is in the early stages, we thought it would great to start using this data for improving our forecasts and optimizing our offerings. We expected to get such functionalities: quick digital image processing, advanced data analytics, historical and real-time data processing and analysis.

How did you select Diceus and what were the deciding factors?

We clearly understood that we were looking for an experienced provider of custom solutions. That’s why we didn’t view either outsourcing or developers that are just writing the code.

Our objective was to find some people who truly know the insurance domain and have strong expertise with data analytics. So, in our selection criteria, we had the expertise, insurance domain knowledge, and reliability as defining factors for choosing the vendor.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

First off, we had several kick-off sessions during which we communicated our initial requirements to Diceus strategists. Once they had our project vision in their mind, their analysts explored our business more deeply and prepared detailed requirements.

Diceus tech specialists offered Python as a primary language for the tech stack. The team was selected concerning the tech skills needed. Besides, we had a chance to interview their specialists and make sure they were the right guys to cooperate with. Throughout the development, the needed testing was performed.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The project team consisted of 7 members: business analyst, PM, 3 developers, data science specialist, QA engineer.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The project was accomplished on time — that’s what was really nice as previously we had some negative experience with other vendors which didn’t meet the deadlines. Every functionality was tested and we really got what expected. Thanks to the solution developed by Diceus, we’ve got new opportunities and can boast of the technology that you can hardly find in other insurance companies.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Our PM was always willing to inform us about the project status, both in formal and informal manner. We saw that the team was motivated and result-oriented. Regularly, we got project status reports and testing reports, had weekly calls to discuss how it was going.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Diceus was the first company that helped us save some costs by recommending what can be done more efficiently. We liked the manner they communicated with us. It was always pleasant to speak with the team as they were transparent and fair while discussing the project status.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We are fully satisfied with our collaboration with Diceus and will surely contact them for our next project.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Head of Sales and Marketing. RiskVille is a global product company. We deliver a cloud-based software solution designed for any type of insurance business (incl. insurers, insurance brokers, insurance agencies, captives, and captive managers).

For what projects/services did your company hire Diceus, and what were your goals?

We hired Diceus to develop the SaaS platform for risk, claim, and insurance management. The majority of companies in the insurance domain are still using old, complex, and legacy solutions.

We wanted to develop a modern, scalable, and flexible product with intuitive interfaces and a quick implementation process.

How did you select Diceus and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking not for the outsourcing company, but for the reliable partner with deep technological expertise and insurance domain knowledge. We had several interviews with the team and meetings with the CEO and CTO.

They demonstrated their expertise and proactiveness and we decided to move forward quickly.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started with the analysis phase. Diceus Business Analyst asked many questions to get a clear picture of what we need and documented everything. Then they worked with the design and prototyping of the solution.

We liked their fresh ideas and quickly moved to development. We used .NET Core and MS SQL technologies for the back-end and AngularJS front-end web framework.

After the development Diceus team performed Quality Assurance Testing, and we were ready to make demos for our prospects.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were 5 people from Diceus side involved in the project: Project Manager, Business Analyst, Backend and Frontend Developers, QA Engineer. The role of Solution Architect was on our end.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are satisfied with the work with the Diceus team. Diceus has successfully delivered on time since we started working with them. They delivered the required functionality so that we were able to start demoing it for our prospects.

We, together with Diceus, created a modern solution for the insurance market. RiskVille is able to streamline any insurance processes, including rating, quoting, policy management, risk management, and claims management.

We can implement RiskVille for the new client within 3 days.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Diceus has a talented development team, and they’ve helped us meet all of our deadlines and business goals. The communication is open and transparent. They tried to mitigate risks and identify how we can solve problems.

We work as one team and follow the same process.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Transparency, maturity, and deep expertise in both technologies and insurance domain.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The Diceus project management style and delivery approach were above our expectations. We are learning from them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am BI director in a financial institute in the middle east. We develop/manage financial products for retail and corporate customer base. My duty is to provide analytical reports in nearly real time to be a key element is supporting executive decisions by senior management.

For what projects/services did your company hire Diceus?

We hired Diceus to develop/manage the infrastructure and operations of our institute datawarehouse. The scope is to build a "single source of truth" for data in order to build proven dashboards with quality published data points.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the project is to build a trusted, nearly real time source of data marts for reports. This goal is directly realized in delivering specific reports/dashboards built on top of data marts from the datawarehouse.

How did you select this vendor?

Searching online for vendors/developers was the key selection method. Looking for a vendor that particularly provides developers for the specific scope of work we want to implement.

Describe the project in detail.

The project plan started by delivering an MVP were we asked Diceus to deliver a low hanging fruit BI report/dashboard. the first phase focused on proving data warehouse team function in the institute, and deliver a small credit review model.

Getting on board was quick (around 2 weeks) including hiring and forming the team. By end of 2018 delivery was successfully met. We applied iterative (sprint) approach in 2019 to deliver datawarehouse releases every 2 weeks. The team was fully formed by end of Q1 2019 and started delivery in full gear.

What was the team composition?

Diceus team includes a project manager, project coordinator, business/technical analyst, Oracle developers, BI reports/dashboards developer and Devops (CI) engineer. Each had specific role, with specific assignment types- although Diceus team is agile enough to move to side "Sprints" based on business urgency.

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

Realization of deliverable list was evident starting Q2 2019, a data model for risk review was built and enriched with business measures (credit scoring, rating, segmentation). Further, retail accounts/customers segmentation came to surface at end of Q2 2019.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication with Diceus team is managed by the master Project manager and a project coordinator. Meetings (status) are scheduled and time boxed nearly perfectly.

Further, since the team is remotely managed, task assignment and follow ups are managed using tools like JIRA and slack which really helps in more accurate and speedy delivery of tasks.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The robust knowledge of Diceus senior developers of our financial core system is really impressive. Their knowledge helps in implementing data warehouse artifacts quickly and accurately.

Also, the availability of the resources in case of emergencies and urgent tasks- especially in weekends, is very much recognized.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Continuous documentation of deliverables needs to happen. Proper LIVE documentation is a bit poor and needs to be fixed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital intelligence director for a regional bank.

What challenge were you trying to address with Diceus?

The main issue was our reports had data inconsistencies. In a few reports, we found different data for the same customer, for example. Another issue was the system would fail or shut down, so it was critical to restore the system. I was searching for a vendor who could improve the user experience for business balances reporting.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided us with managed IT services for reporting system enhancement and quality improvement. They redid 311 reports from scratch and also helped with the mobility of the reporting system.

What is the team composition?

We started with two people in the first few months during a testing period. Currently, there are 17 people working on the project. Five people are on the support team to maintain and improve the system and the rest are developing reports.

How did you come to work with Diceus?

I did an online search and chose Diceus from a shortlist of a few vendors.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $400,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019 and the work is ongoing.

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

They’ve been efficient and kept up the service level agreement they promised. Their reports have been rendered on time with improved quality. None of the departments have complained, which means they’re happy with the quality. Overall, their work has been a big improvement over what we had before.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

Their technical lead and project manager come to our office frequently to understand what it is I need and what the business needs. Sometimes our business department decides to meet with Diceus to communicate their business needs directly. We communicate through email and Slack and track progress through Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They worked quickly to get us high-quality resources. After my initial request, we had two resources within two weeks. Other vendors that we talked to asked for six weeks to onboard resources.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes I have to wait a little bit longer than I expect to get an answer back from them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be aggressive with them and you’ll benefit more because they’ll start doing things faster.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager of Lion Trans, an international transportation company that ships cars to the US and Canada.

What challenge were you trying to address with Diceus?

With our experience in shipping cars, we decided to build our auction site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first prepared the technical documentation for the auction portal and began developing a few months ago. Diceus advised using .NET language, which would be easier for our company to manage. Their team built the platform using .NET, with PHP elements and a SQL database.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a business analyst.

How did you come to work with Diceus?

I looked for providers based in Ukraine, which is close to us, and had heard the region had a high number of professional developers. We decided to reach out to a few, and Diceus had an exceptional proposal for our team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested over $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Diceus in October 2018, and the work is ongoing.

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

Some elements of the portal are finished, including registration and specific auction pages. We are confident that we will meet our deadline.

How did Diceus perform a project management standpoint?

Diceus works hard for our company. They’re a professional team with skilled developers. We’ve had open communication with them. I use Jira to track their progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Diceus has an excellent sales manager, and I was satisfied with the initial communication. Other companies took longer and didn’t answer all my questions. They have great pricing and fast delivery times, and I enjoy working with their business analyst.

During the selection process, it was essential for me to know how candidates worked with other clients because we’d be working remotely, and the size of the project. Diceus was better at providing transparency than other companies in their industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are none that I can think of.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director at a trucking and logistics company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Diceus?

We wanted to create an application that we could give to our subcontracted transport companies.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The application is built for Android. It’s a way for us to help our drivers find gas stations, keep their route correct, and we can also track them.

We have fuel cards that we wanted integrating into the application. It reads the API information from our supplier, then the drivers are able to track their consumption and see the location of the gas stations. We’re also able to send them offers and notifications.

What is the team composition?

There was a project manager. At times, we were in contact with the owner, while in the beginning, we had contact with the developer who showed us some technical things and visuals.

How did you come to work with Diceus?

I was looking for a development company online and contacted a selection. Diceus was the fastest to respond and interact, as well as having good reviews.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent 30,000 euros (approximately $34,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–September 2018.

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

They have helped us make our business more attractive to the drivers. It’s more comfortable and we’ve made cost savings.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

It was smooth working with them. They’re very dedicated, explaining things and introducing us to a lot of things. We used email because it’s easier for me and reviewed the documents through the cloud, since it gets constantly updated. We used Skype for conference calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If you’re a person with no idea about IT, they will lead the way and form it for you. We told them our idea and they helped us come up with the final look.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were satisfied. They’re really nice people.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can go to them with no knowledge and they’ll lead you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Bittease. I have a rewards product that can be used for restaurants and shops. The goal is to introduce the rewards system idea in the Middle East similar to the way it is used in the U.S.

What challenge were you trying to address with Diceus?

I graduated as a software engineer, but the system is large. I needed the help of their developers and designers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, I only asked for their assistance with design. I liked what they made so I asked them to assist with the development as well. Now, they’re doing the back and frontend for the application and the platform, the admin system. For the backend, they used .NET and an Azure product. For the frontend, we’re going to use Xamarin. They’re doing a cross-platform for Android and iOS. The project is almost done. We’re doing the minimum viable product right now.

The customer uses the app by finding the restaurant they want to go to. Then, the restaurant scans the code to give the customer points for every purchase or discounts. After they accumulate enough points, they can get items for free. The shops and restaurants can fully customize their offerings. I’m targeting the local shops here in the Middle East.

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, there was a designer and a manager for the design. For the development, they had one person for the backend, one for the frontend, and one project manager.

How did you come to work with Diceus?

I used Google which led me to Clutch. I did my research and chose multiple companies. I felt most secure and confident with Diceus.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent between $20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2018 and the work is ongoing.

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

Everything is going amazingly well. Once it’s tested and I see the user feedback, I’m sure I’ll continue working with them. They provided me a prototype and I presented that to multiple companies who like it and are highly interested in being a part of it. They like the design and how the app works.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

I wanted to be involved as much as possible because I have development and project management skills. We overcame all the obstacles that showed up from the beginning.

They’re amazing with communication and hitting deadlines. I never had a problem with them with timing or communication. We’re using Jira for the task management. We’re also using Azure and GitHub. We have a daily meeting and follow the Scrum methodology.

What did you find most impressive about them?

With Diceus, due to the daily communication with them, they wanted everything to be clear from the beginning, which is why everything is going as it’s supposed to.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I documented the idea with user stories, use cases, and sketches before deciding to work with them. Providing this kind of information will help your development.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of software development at a small software development and consulting company in northern Virginia.

What challenge were you trying to address with Diceus?

We needed to move from a 15-year-old technology stack that was mainly Java-based with C# and C++ libraries. We offer several products including a desktop product and an enterprise server product which we want Diceus to help develop. Our current business model requires that we separate the frontend and backend of the site and complete an overhaul of the old data that accumulated over the years and we did not have the internal staff needed to take on this development process. We wanted someone who we could partner within a time zone that is similar to ours.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Diceus helps generate some dynamic pages display and create a new tech stack that runs quicker than the previous version. They helped implement API and other backend development processes. On the frontend, they help create a reactive application that runs on a single-server database. They are adding features that improve the functionality of the software by rewriting the system. Diceus is essentially assisting with the streamlining process of the next major version of our core products. We plan on continually evolving the project and making descensions on improving the user interface as we go on.

What is the team composition?

The team is composed of a lead developer who also serves as the project manager. Two backend developers and one frontend developer round out the current team. In the next few weeks, another frontend developer will join the team. We also employed a temporary UX/UI designer who is contracted with us through September.

How did you come to work with Diceus?

We went through an exhaustive process to find a service provider. Our search was primarily online, we also had a few recommendations we looked into. Outsourcing the project for us was guaranteed and we had a preference in the Eastern European region because there were several advantages for us. We ended up selecting Diceus because of their prompt response time, availability of resources, and price. Their team was technically astute, and their CEO was involved in the development process. They were a happy medium between a large firm and a small firm which fit what we wanted for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

Up until this point, we invested $30,000 and we have budgeted about $250,000 through December.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are still in the pretty early phases of the product project. We started in April with one lead developer, and the team has grown since then. We expect this project to last at least a year, if not more. Right now, we are in the designing stages and starting the building of the software architecture with the UX/UI designer. It will be a continually evolving process, because of the growing nature of the project.

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

Our project so far is going great. Even though we are in the really early in the project we haven’t hit any roadblocks yet, which is admirable. I imagine that if any come up in the future they will handle issues promptly.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

We use JIRA Confluence Bitbucket for code repository in addition to Slack and Skype as our primary communication methods. We prefer not to use email in favor of more direct communication because of our limited overlap in the workday due to the time difference. This method works well for us since we can focus on summarizing the progress of the project in Slack and address any issues as soon as possible. There were some problems communicating due to the language barrier, but my daily Skype session with the project manager helps alleviate any miscommunication when I’m offline. Their team typically is offline after 11:00 a.m., but they will occasionally be available past that point. I also prepare thorough documentation to track and prioritize the work needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This type of project is new for me since the original system was constructed before my time at the company. Based on my personal research, I saw the necessity for constant and daily communication and to ensure that we can work as a unit even though we are in separate locations. That is the standard I’ve set from the start. It's been working well, but I don't have anything to compare it to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It is a little too early to tell, but so far the only suggestion I have is clearer communication in terms of the language barrier to eliminate added efforts transcribing.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would suggest communicating frequently with their team. We take advantage of the overlap in the work day and found that communicating via direct messaging tools like Slack work better than delayed communication like email.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are developing a crypto-trading website that will provide wallets for customers. Our main activity will be to exchange USD to crypto like Bitcoin and Litecoin. We provide wallet support and we facilitate transactions for our users. I am the CTO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Diceus?

Our priority was to address the security of our application. The entire crypto market is known for poorly designed solutions, and security is our main concern. We required a lot of manpower in the development phase in order to build the website infrastructure.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Diceus has helped us with developing the crypto-exchange system. We have developers for ASP.NET, C#, and SQL Server. The security testing is done in-house, but Diceus is helping our development team with certain items. Diceus is writing server-side code for the main web platform. We’ve kept the trading engine in-house because we wanted to have full control of it, but the server-side part of the interface is mostly being done by Diceus.

What is the team composition?

We have a project manager and a team of developers. We also receive sales support and other similar services.

How did you come to work with Diceus?

We hired them after a series of collaborations with other companies.

How much have you invested with them?

I estimate that the cost of their services has been more than $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2017. We had our live release a few days ago, and we’re continuing the collaboration.

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

We are pleased with their work, and I anticipate that it’ll contribute to our success in terms of scalability and monetization.

How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira to track progress, and we use Hubstaff to monitor worktime. Diceus’ team has always been very resourceful. They are able to find a solution quickly, while other companies we’ve worked with usually required one or two weeks to achieve the same thing. Diceus has the internal resources to provide us with what we need. They have delivered good quality.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their code has been the most important part for us. It was the determining factor in the decision to continue the collaboration.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be worthwhile to see them make an investment in more English training for their developers.