ELEKS

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at omni:us

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

End-2-End insurance claim automation to reduce process costs, boost customer satisfaction & empower teams

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire ELEKS to accomplish?

• Support the omni:us hiring team with faster pipeline fulfilment for Java engineers
• Support the omni:us backend team with product feature development
• Work closely together with internal teams and perform at the same quality as the other omni:us engineers

SOLUTION

How did you find ELEKS?

Referral

Why did you select ELEKS over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from ELEKS were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Backend development, maintenance and testing of backend product features
• data pipeline creation & maintenance
• data migration
• participation in internal team meetings
• adherence to internal team processes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Integration with core team members of omni:us. 
• Independent & self-driven implementation of features along side product team members & internal omni:us engineers. 
• Quality of deliverables aligned with team and adherence to omni:us code standards & development guidelines.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes we are happy with the project management & delivery. This was driven by internal agile practices of the product teams and was supported by omni:us engineers, product managers & scrum-master. The Eleks team members involved actively participated and contributed to the core development with enthusiasm and due diligence.

What was your primary form of communication with ELEKS?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Eleks is a very supportive & understanding partner. They are easy to collaborate with through short & quick communication paths. The pricing is competitive, and the quality of engineers is high. We highly value the team members of Eleks we are working with as they work on the same rhythm as our omni:us company values.

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

Not applicable

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a software company in the ESG software space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with ELEKS?

We needed to establish an InfoSec management system and certify our practices with ISO 27001 compliance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ELEKS has been helping us with security audits and penetration testing, focusing on production and user acceptance instances. They’re responsible for collecting all the evidence and proof we need to prove our validity for ISO 27001 compliance. Their team is also helping us gather information on the elements we don’t have, like mobile device management software (MDM) setup and other policies.

Regarding technologies, they’re using OWASP as their main tool.

What was the team composition? 

We’ve been working with around three members of their team, including Oleksandr, the Infosec expert.

How did you come to work with ELEKS?

We’ve worked with ELEKS on previous projects and decided to go with them for this task because they understood the challenges and long-term goals.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around €35,000 (approximately $38,000 USD) with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2022, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

ELEKS has been key to helping us achieve our ISO 27001 certification in a short time. In addition, we now have a log with information on device management practices and reviews, which allows us to save time on these processes by 3–4 times. Moreover, they’ve helped us point out any bugs or vulnerabilities so our engineering team can quickly mitigate them.

How did ELEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

For this project, we don’t need to use a project management tool because we’ve set up the project’s goals from the beginning, so we use Vanta, which lists all the tasks we need to perform, which we split between teams. Additionally, they deliver everything on time and lead open and straightforward communication, helping them achieve the project’s goals.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ELEKS’ expertise is outstanding compared to the other providers I’ve worked with. They understand the complexity of these IT security controls from an operational perspective and are great at translating that into their work — credit to Alex, who has been working with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I consider their costs a tad elevated, but we get the quality for it. Apart from that, I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be candid about the context in which you’re working so ELEKS’ team can know where you stand regarding your organization’s IT security.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders of an investment research and distribution company in the investment community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ELEKS?

We wanted to develop a platform to facilitate our offering, but we were in a terrible situation. We initially worked with a developer who started building the product for us on .NET and C#. He bailed because he couldn’t deliver what we needed, so we moved on to another US-based group to build upon the existing code and framework. However, they also couldn’t get us where we wanted.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the beginning, ELEKS had to work with patches of code, which definitely made the project more challenging. They analyzed the existing code in depth and rebuilt the database to extend it to what we needed.

The system is a solution for some regulatory changes in Europe called MiFID II; it manages content and independent research providers, as well as broker-dealers. With the two groups, there are two regulatory constraints that come around how the end consumer looks at the.01

4m.

Consumers are also divided into two groups: professional investors, which we classify as institutions with 100 million assets or more, and retail, which is anything outside that. The two groups can access different types of research.

ELEKS has built the marketplace using C#. They’ve developed a simple upload process for content providers and multiple features and downloading capabilities for the underlying investment professional. As a transaction portal, the team has integrated Stripe to manage credit card payments. Also, there’s a payment system based on invoicing third parties, which are the broker-dealers that manage payments for institutions. Additionally, they’ve integrated Zoom technology to allow video calls compliant with MiFID II.

What is the team composition?

Our initial development team had seven teammates, including a database expert, a project manager, and front- and backend developers. After completing the project, we scaled down to a smaller team with level two and level-three service management. We still have a project and account manager to monitor things monthly.

How did you come to work with ELEKS?

When we started having problems with our first development team, we hired a consultant. He put us in touch with 15–20 different groups, and I interviewed each service provider based in Argentina, UK, Canada, South Africa, and Ukraine. I brought it down to 2–3 companies. Our board of directors didn’t want us to go with a foreign group, so we ended up with the second development company. 

When we had problems with the second US-based company, I immediately pivoted to ELEKS and told the board. ELEKS went above and beyond to win the contract. Their professionalism and quality of work were impressive, and they were reasonably cost-effective. Ultimately, I went to Ukraine and sat down with them to get the paperwork done.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent close to $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our engagement in July 2018. We’re currently still working with them, but another company has acquired us. I believe they’ll stop working with ELEKS by the end of December 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Compared to the two US groups we worked with, ELEKS has been night and day. The amount of detail and level of maintenance they provide is astonishing. Overall, they’ve done well in every aspect from beginning to end.

How did ELEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

They aren’t the most affordable group, but we haven’t had sticker shocks anywhere. Moreover, their communication is excellent. They’re on top of everything, and the level of transparency is remarkable.

We have the code on GitHub, a Slack channel, and Jira to see the progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Even though they had a lot of personal challenges due to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine, they’ve never skipped a beat on anything. The team keeps everything flowing. All in all, they’re one of the most professional groups we’ve worked with. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’ve been super happy with their work. If we were to hire a development team again, we’d immediately go to ELEKS.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an online platform that enables retail people to vote and express their interest in corporate matters.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ELEKS?

We wanted to build our first go-to-market mobile application. We had an internal team building the backend, but we needed design and mobile expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ELEKS developed our mobile application from scratch. They used React Native for the iOS and Android versions and an API written in Laravel for the backend. The mobile application allowed users to register and log in utilizing social media. Users could connect their brokerage accounts to get updates on upcoming meetings and proposals from the companies they own and vote on issues.

What is the team composition?

The team changed throughout the engagement. At one point, we probably had 15 team members, but we had closer to 7–8 people at a steady state. We worked with project managers, contract coordinators, technical architects, UX designers, business analysts, engineers, and QA people.

How did you come to work with ELEKS?

We found them online through a listing site. We did our due diligence and came up with a list of potential partners. After an exhaustive exploration of different offshore and onshore firms, we narrowed it down to three companies. We made an RFP, and ELEKS returned with the proposal we selected.

Moreover, they were already deeply involved in the project before the engagement. They clearly understood what we were looking for and came back with a thought-out proposal. Also, they gave us the confidence that they could withstand challenging shocks, such as the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. In summary, ELEKS seemed to be easy to work with, and they were fairly priced.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $500,000–$2 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our trial partnership in November 2021. The project started in December 2021 and concluded in July 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered within the budget and timeframe we gave them. They also added features that weren’t even in our must-have requirements. Moreover, we went from zero to a finished product while they were invaded by Russia, and we still launched on time.

How did ELEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

They were highly responsive, and the team handled problems in advance. On two occasions, they saw that some people on the team weren’t performing to their standards, so they swapped those teammates and resolved the issue without missing a beat. We never lost a day’s worth of delivery thanks to their excellent project management.

We had regular meetings with the management and weekly meetings with the account manager. They kept us informed of adjustments, and we communicated through emails and Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been in the business for 30 years, and ELEKS was the best interaction I’ve had. They treated us as partners from day one and were flexible when we needed to change direction. Also, they came up with new ideas and became an extension of our team. Overall, everyone we dealt with was highly competent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some trouble with Microsoft Teams, but it wasn’t their fault. We went through the COVID-19 pandemic, so Microsoft Teams was our primary communication channel. Sometimes it was clunky, so we’d have to switch over to Google Meet.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When they propose a start team, listen to them and take a chance on it. You’re on the same side of the table, so they’ll try to reach the same goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a software development company for transportation and ordering platforms. Our software is used for routing and deliveries; users can create orders from remote sales forces. Customers use their own accounts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ELEKS?

Initially, we hired them for expertise in mobile and web app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ELEKS provides us with a workforce to draw from for mobile and web app development. They have a large pool of talent with expertise in these areas, enabling us to draw from that pool as needed while our company grows. 

Initially, the main purpose of their work was to deliver ordering systems for wholesale distributors. Since then, their role has evolved to building driver applications for wholesalers to confirm and audit their deliveries. The team has built our apps from scratch. 

Our applications are B2B, and their primary function is ordering. The tools cater to businesses that order their own inventory and have distributors they order from. The product has ordering capabilities and a backend where distributors can receive and review orders. Then, a shipping component enables distributors to pick up orders, load trucks, track deliveries to the end user, provide credits, and handle whatever else may occur on the road. 

ELEKS has gone through several rewrites of the apps over the last 20 years and has used various technologies, many of which have gone moribund or are no longer popular. They’ve gone from a Windows environment to .NET to online hosting to Windows Mobile, Android, and iOS. The team has also helped us with ASO and marketing services, for which they collaborate with us because we sometimes see optimizations that they may not. 

We host all of our systems, and maintenance is a collaborative effort between us and ELEKS, where the team maintains products as needed. Currently, they’re improving and modernizing the applications, which are constantly evolving. The apps fundamentally perform the same tasks with new features, and ELEKS expands those features. 

What is the team composition?

Although we used to work directly with their CTO, positions have changed, and their leadership has evolved recently. Still, we’ve always had a relationship with ELEKS’ C-suite executives. 

How did you come to work with ELEKS?

A good friend who had been working with ELEKS recommended them. We chose them because they were a privately held company with a small number of shareholders, which made them easy to work with. 

Their talent pool was also a factor in our decision; they had a very strong relationship with Lviv Polytechnic National University which enabled them to draw talent as needed from a large pool. Their hiring practice was top-notch, and the folks they introduced to us as potential team members were excellent. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent significantly more than $1 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2003, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had a very good collaboration with ELEKS and have been very lucky with our team. They offer a competent and flexible talent pool; their teammates are top-notch, and that has been consistent over the past 20 years. Our customer base has remained loyal to us, which is a direct result of our close collaboration with ELEKS. Customers rely on us for stability, and we have a very solid product resulting from our partnership with the ELEKS team. 

More than 20 years ago, we had a couple of false starts where we provided our sketches and ideas as a guideline to other providers. They didn't have the creativity to deliver something optimized for the end user. Meanwhile, ELEKS has taken our initial ideas and greatly improved upon them. Working with them is like creating sketches for a comic book strip when we're not artists and then having an artist deliver exactly what was in our mind's eye.

How did ELEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the most important aspects of our relationship is that the systems we provide to customers are mission-critical. Our end users begin their jobs very early, while customers make orders 24/7. Therefore, having a partner strategically located in a different time zone makes sense for us. 

We primarily communicate through video conferences, chat, and email. We have meetings every day, and we've had that from the beginning. Our meetings are towards the end of ELEKS' day in Ukraine, which marries up with the beginning of our day in the US. Therefore, we can spend 3–4 hours together at most. This is great because it gives them alone time to work without constant requests interrupting them, which is valuable to us. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm impressed with ELEKS' personal attention to our project at every level. While I don't have to reach out to their CEO, I can at any time. Whenever I reach out to them, I get a very quick response, which is due to the quality of their people. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's nothing they need to improve; we're satisfied with their work. Moreover, the team constantly asks if we need them to improve something, so we've never had a problem getting the results we need to remain successful. They know that as long as we're able to service the customer with an extraordinary experience, they'll remain our customer, and we'll remain ELEKS'.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand that ELEKS will provide you with alternatives, so be open to their suggestions because they won't lead you astray. Additionally, your project manager makes all the difference; so long as you have confidence in them, you can feel confident in your delivery schedule. 

Many customers might consider ELEKS after a poor experience somewhere else. I'd advise leaving that baggage behind and staying focused on the results you receive from this team — you'll notice the difference.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a cybersecurity company providing an extensive SASE solution to its customers.

I worked there as SVP of Engineering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ELEKS?

I hired ELEKS for building the UI for our flagship solution as well as for backend automation to support the scalability of the solution.

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

• Skill set of engineers
• Previus experience with the company
• An employee centric approach at ELEKS convinced me that as the company is vested in the grrowth of their employees, they would continue to grow and stay with the company.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

• The project was to build a simplistic user experience for setting up network security for an organization that can be used by an IT manager rather than require a network security engineer.
• The configuration collected from the UI was then pushed into security appliances via a complex automation engine.

ELEKS was involved from the beginning of the project and the team from ELEKS was involved in making design decisions with our team, coding, testing, automation testing and project management.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

I started with the hiring of a Dev Lead and a QA lead to setup the standards for the project and then leveraged them in hiring rest of the team over time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The ELEKS team worked very closely with our team and within their internal group. The communication was very effective as a result of a local project manager within ELEKS being part of the team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

With only 7 hrs time zone difference and with the teams changing their day schedule, we had almost 3-4 hrs overlap of work day. That allowed a very good communcation between onshore and offshore teams and easy hand-offs.

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

I find their approach towards staff most unique. ELEKS works towards creating a growth environment for the employees which ensure that they are able to attract and retain talent.

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

Like most other resourcing companies, they too have non super stars that they pulled into my project. I had to be vigilant about it and ensure that my team stayed an A team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a cybersecurity company. We provide software for companies to help them protect their code.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ELEKS?

We needed help with extra development resources for our internal needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ELEKS is helping us with staff augmentation for the development and testing of our software products. We started with QA tasks but decided to expand the project’s scope for additional software development efforts. Regarding the process, we provide the working resources with training around our products and code base so they can understand how our company works. Each developer brings their own expertise, skills, and tools, which are valuable assets.

What is the team composition?

We’ve mainly worked with Andriy (CEO), a sales manager, and an account manager.

How did you come to work with ELEKS?

Someone who had used their services referred them to me because they had a good experience. I used their services for another project and decided to bring them for this task.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

So far, we’ve spent around $600,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work has been instrumental in helping us deliver our development tasks on time and test the release, but the main KPI is that they’ve provided strong candidates for us.

How did ELEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve stayed on budget and delivered within our expected timelines. Regarding tools, we use Jira, GitLab, Trello, and Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their best attributes are their team quality, responsiveness, ability to communicate in English, and cybersecurity expertise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be helpful if they were in a closer time zone because we have a 5–6 hour difference. Additionally, we think it’d be good if they had additional domain expertise in cybersecurity to differentiate them further from competitors.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them for your staff augmentation needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a financial services firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ELEKS?

We hired them as an augmented software development resource.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ELEKS augments my internal software development team and behaves as an extension of that team. They help build onto and further refine our existing proprietary applications. Throughout our collaboration, the scope of our engagement has grown and shrunk as project needs have dictated. 

The team has worked on many different projects, and we've provided them with some documentation regarding the standards we work to. We build web applications primarily with a combination of web services and APIs, and the team has used technologies such as .NET. Additionally, ELEKS has performed some business analysis and project management work for us. 

What is the team composition?

We've had larger and smaller teams depending on the project's needs. At the height of our engagement, we had 10 developers. Our team size now is smaller; we have three senior developers, two testers, a project manager, and a business analyst from ELEKS. Our team composition has been quite constant for the last couple of years. 

How did you come to work with ELEKS?

I researched outsourced partners in Ukraine and selected three candidates. We did our due diligence on all three service providers and chose ELEKS after visiting them in person. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around September 2017, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had a very collaborative engagement. ELEKS helps us achieve our goals and deliver our software solutions on time. They're a very skilled group of engineers who are very attentive to our needs. They go out of their way to act as part of our team far more than a conventional outsourcing company might. Overall, we're very happy with our partnership. 

How did ELEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very responsive and deliver on time and within budget. We have a very flat organizational structure with ELEKS, so our lines of communication are very open; we meet with them frequently and participate in discussions. As for tools, we use Zoom and Azure DevOps. 

English communication has also been key to our engagement, and everyone at ELEKS speaks the language.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm impressed with ELEKS' low turnover rate. When we started working with them, they were a smaller company, and I appreciate that we still have a few people who've worked on the project since the start. Their low turnover in key areas has helped us a lot. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's nothing they need to improve; they've done a tremendous job, even though they're going through a very difficult time with the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd suggest you implement a very flat structure and enable the developers to reach out to you directly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a consulting company that specializes in the delivery of digital platforms and applications for large enterprises.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ELEKS?

We engaged ELEKS on roughly six projects. Most recently, we wanted to develop an MVP. Our goal was to create a platform that would reduce the need to touch to make customers more comfortable with ordering food.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Based on my concept, ELEKS built the MVP of our food ordering app. They handled everything, including the front- and backend work. Their team developed the frontend in Swift and the backend in Node.js.

What is the team composition?

About eight people from their team worked on this project. We collaborated with 3-4 developers, a designer, two analysts, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with ELEKS?

After a negative experience with a different company, a colleague recommended that I engage ELEKS.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000–$50,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project between January–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t run A/B tests yet, but one restaurant’s piloting the platform. After two weeks, it secured roughly 500 downloads. We have daily recurrent users and repeat users as well as received positive feedback. The app functions as expected.

How did ELEKS perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager was great. To solve any challenges, communication easily flowed back and forth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed by the collaboration; we worked well together. Compared to that with other agencies, my experience with ELEKS was much better. We didn’t nitpick issues. Instead, we approached them together to come up with great solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

ELEKS could improve their sales pitches. Their team could be too technical, which may reduce engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be patient. Invest the time at the start of a project to find the right people. That will lead to a good partnership.