Elinext

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product owner at a Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) monitoring company. We integrate our software with leading Lidar manufacturers and hardware providers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext?

We hired Elinext to create a wizard that would make it easier for our users to configure our software’s interface based on their needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During the discovery phase, I talked to Alex (Senior IT Consultant) and the Elinext team. They asked us questions and helped us explain what we needed from them. They then gave us their ideas for improvement. We had a rough sketch, and they refined it. This process lasted for one and a half weeks. 

From there, Elinext built a wizard that asked users questions about what they’d use the product for and what kind of data they wanted to detect or monitor.  The software would be configured based on the user’s inputs. Essentially, the user could choose which sensors and cameras they wanted to see or use. Elinext used JavaScript and Angular frameworks to develop this feature. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with a business analyst during the discovery phase and 1–2 designers. Their team also consisted of a project leader and at least two developers, one of which had a senior role. In total, we worked with 5–8 people. 

How did you come to work with Elinext?

Elinext was already working with our company when I joined it, but they reached out to us first. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from December 2022–January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Elinext did a great job, and we were happy with their designs. The code also looked good, so I had no complaints. 

How did Elinext perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good, especially their communication skills. We had a project leader, so the engagement was well-structured. Our team had access to their Jira board, and we could ask them questions directly through Slack. If there were any issues, they either contacted us, or we contacted them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Elinext’s strengths were their communication and project management system. On top of that, the number of people involved in the project was good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. They didn’t lack any knowledge. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with Elinext because they’re flexible in terms of working with customers. If you tell them what you want, they’ll do it. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a project manager at an equipment development company that partners with small niche suppliers worldwide

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext?

We needed help with custom software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Elinext is helping us develop from scratch a sales tool to create offers and calculations for sales. We started by going through an analysis phase to study the product, and then we gave Elinext's team the documentation and requirements they needed to begin with the platform's development.

In terms of features, the system allows users to go through a full sales process from initial contact to product ordering. Users select the products that the customer would like to have, and then the software does a calculation to produce an offer document, which they present directly to the customer. Regarding technologies and programming languages, they use Java, and the frontend is browser-based.

What is the team composition?

I work with their project management and a team of developers from Elinext's staff.

How did you come to work with Elinext?

Someone referred them to us, and after our first contact, Elinext made a proposal, and then we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested in them?

So far, we've spent $250,00–$500,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in June 2018, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything has been working as expected.

How did Elinext perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira and Skype with them as our main communication methods.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We haven't had any problems, which doesn't always happen during these types of projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's always room for improvement, but I don't think there's anything, in particular, they can do better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as a director for a healthcare software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext?

We hired them for custom software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Elinext primarily works with our software test teams and helps fulfill the role of software testing and the automation of software testing where we have gaps. They help develop test cases and coverage to establish various test automation solutions for our product from the use case level. 

When we needed to expand our labor force, we brought in more software developers, testers, and automation developers from Elinext who work as embedded members of our scrum teams. They also help us develop frontend technology for the UI and participate in the design review of our test cases, our cloud-based infrastructure, and the testing strategy for various features and functionalities. 

The test automation was developed from scratch and has gone through two iterations. The first iteration was built using Protractor and Selenium for frontend UI automation. We had to rewrite all of the test automation with a new framework called WebdriverIO that works with the new Angular frontend of our product. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of about 15 people at different levels, including project managers, test automation managers, manual test managers, automation developers, and frontend developers. 

How did you come to work with Elinext?

Elinext was already here when I joined the company. 

What is the status of this engagement?

They were already approved in a limited partnership when I started with the company in 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Elinext has helped us to deliver releases consistently over time. We try to have quarterly releases, and with their assistance, we’ve been able to do that more than 80% of the time. We’ve also been able to deploy the product in North America, the cloud, and offshore to facilitate testing and product delivery. 

How did Elinext perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very well-organized and thrive when following a structured project layout. They fully embrace the agile mindset to participate in all the rituals that help us meet our schedules and deliverables. We use Microsoft Teams and email as our primary forms of communication and have daily stand-ups. We use Jira and Confluence for project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been willing to work extra hours when we’ve needed to hit a deadline and have been very accommodating. We’ve been impressed with how they participate as full team members, and they have a great sense of ownership and collaboration with our company. They’re also very adaptable whenever we’ve asked to change things.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing we can come up with at this point. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be fully transparent and allow them to invest fully in the solution.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a department VP at a software development company specializing in assessment software for the K-12 education space. We’ve been in business for over 25 years, providing assessments and career-marching services to the K-12 sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext?

The biggest challenge for software development companies is their development capacity. We had internal developers working on our existing education applications and internal systems, but we didn’t have the capacity to take on a new service we wanted to provide to our customers. Thus, rather than looking for resources ourselves, we hired Elinext to augment our team and work with us on our new product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before Elinext joined us, we researched and developed the concept for our new product. Then, our product owner created the specifications and user stories, and we built the UI framework. Once they joined, we shared with them what we already had and asked them to estimate the amount of effort it would take to build the product we wanted to build.

After the onboarding process, Elinext joined our scrum team and started building the product. We then launched an MVP version of our product and did focus groups with some volunteers, after which we identified a lot of changes needed for the UI. Recently, we did a soft launch of our product after implementing those changes.

This product serves as a free resume-building service with a unique twist; it has an information portfolio that contains all the individual’s professional experience, education, and skills stored in an information portfolio. Using the tool, users can quickly create customized resumes by just hiding and showing items from their portfolio onto their resumes. As for the technology stack, the key technologies for this product are Vue.js and Node.js.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a full stack JavaScript developer and team lead, a backend developer, and two frontend developers from Elinext. Initially, we also worked with a DevOps engineer, but not for long. The team lead was our main point of contact.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $150,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We officially started working together in April 2022 and did the internal launch in August 2022. After that, we kept the team lead working for us on other things related to the product, and we ended the engagement in December 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to Elinext, we went from nothing to having a product in the market with a few hundred users, so we’re pleased with the success of our engagement. Taking a product from conception to delivery within a year was a remarkable accomplishment. Moreover, our entire company is very excited about the opportunity this product is going to bring to the marketplace.

How did Elinext perform from a project management standpoint?

I was in charge of product management, so Elinext basically became an extension of our team. Despite being in Europe, they worked in our time zone and participated in our agile processes. Every day, we talked about the work that needed to be done, scheduled it, and went through the planning and execution processes.

We worked on a two-week sprint cycle model, and we had presentations every sprint release. Throughout the process, our QA resource went through those releases and assessed whatever fixes needed to be made. Elinext would fix those issues during that sprint cycle or the next.

We used Jira for project management, where the whole team had visibility into the project. This allowed Elinext’s management team to see what their team had worked on to generate the invoices. Additionally, we communicated via Slack and Google Meets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Elinext’s flexibility and ability to get the project done were impressive. Every time I asked them to do something, they simply got it done. Additionally, they were very accommodating. Throughout the project, we changed directions completely two times, and they still were on board immediately when that happened.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some of the less senior individuals at Elinext had some challenfes communicating because they weren’t as proficient in English. When their team lead (who was a strong communicator) went on vacation, we struggled with communications during his absence.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would highly recommend working with Elinext. Treat them like a team member and integrate them into your company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product officer of a company that sells a video e-learning app to customers. We expand upon what’s possible with other video apps.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext?

We needed skilled development resources at an affordable price. In Denmark, there’s a lack of availability for developers with the experience we needed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they came up with a few qualified developers that matched our requirements. They did so fast and effectively. We had the first interviews running within a week, and developers were signing onto our team within three weeks.

Afterward, they’ve ensured that our resources meet standards according to our agreed-upon timetable. Their team also handles administrative duties like scheduling, invoicing, reporting, and more.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had between 2–5 people dedicated to our projects. For the past two years, we’ve had two full-time developers working for us. We’ve also been using part-time test automation specialists, UX designers, and general software experts when needed.

They’ve been able to give us the full development capacity needed with a flexible schedule and specialized personnel that we can pull in on an ad hoc basis.

How did you come to work with Elinext?

They supported a test automation project at a previous job of mine. I contacted them and two other vendor options, and they were the best fit for the work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend €10,000 (approximately $11,000 USD) with them each month and have spent about €250,000 (approximately $278,000 USD) with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The developers are high-quality and experienced. That allows for the creation of robust software. Secondly, the administrative abilities of their team are also very good. They send weekly reports with summaries of each developer’s progress. We’re able to combine that with our records pretty easily. Once every month, we recieve an invoice and can pay it as agreed with no problems. That part of the cooperation has always been very low maintenance and effective.

How did Elinext perform from a project management standpoint?

We have effective team meetings every day, which is essential to the quality of the work. In those, we’re able to correct mistakes and improve processes easily. To communicate and allocate work, we’re using a standard ticketing system in tandem with Microsoft Teams. They’re experienced in each of those tools, so there haven’t been any problems transitioning into that workflow.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They managed to find the right developers for us, despite the difficulty of the market. The fact that they maintained an experienced team at a competitive price was very impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t’ see anything in our relationship that directly needs to be improved. However, I’d love to be a part of their marketing efforts to earn them more business in my region. It would be nice to know that they’re dedicated to staying active in the Scandinavian area.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you don’t have experience working with an offshore team, I’d recommend asking for a project manager from them. That way, you’ll have someone to get the process rolling in the first few months. You’ll benefit the most from their services with a project manager.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a product manager at an Australian-based company that develops communication apps.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Elinext?

We wanted to develop an app for Android and iOS applicable in both entertainment and communication fields. More specifically, we wanted this app to automatically send text messages to a busy user’s significant other, thus helping users strengthen their relationships.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we discussed the elements needed to build a successful app. We wanted it to be popular but we didn’t want to receive a lot of support questions or tickets. They offered guidance on app design and functionality, then developed native apps for both Android and iOS.

They helped us iterate the app to incorporate additional functionalities such as auto-delete for blank messages; a quick menu option to disable the app; hiding the app on phones, and language translation. They also developed the app’s logo.

What is the team composition?

I communicated only with their senior managers.

How did you come to work with Elinext?

They developed another app that dealt with strengthening relationships, so I looked at their company profile and requested their rates. We also looked at three other companies but ended up choosing Elinext because they offered the most competitive rates.

Aside from price, their consultation process also stood out. In our preliminary discussions, they foresaw changes we’d eventually need to implement.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in January 2014 and finished in August 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had over 50,000 downloads via Google Play. Out of 1,056 reviews there, the majority gave the app five stars. Considering these results, the app has been highly successful.

How did Elinext perform from a project management standpoint?

There was never a problem with communication between us. Even with a time difference and their fixed working hours, they were quick to get back to me. If there was a challenge in the development process, we were able to solve it readily.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were flexible, responsible, and responsive. No matter when we contacted them, they got back to us. If I had a question or concern, I’d receive a reply instantly. In general, I appreciated their work ethic throughout our collaboration.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their Eastern European development center was selected to work with us. It would have been more convenient to have been assigned a development center closer to us. We tried to discuss project details in person, but since our app development was outsourced to Minsk, we couldn’t arrange such meetings. They could have sent someone to their New York office to make in-person meetings possible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ask as many questions as possible. This could decrease the number of problems you’ll come across later.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product owner at a travel company here in Germany with over 80,000 employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext?

We work Elinext for prototyping and testing before we develop products. We test first in panel tests, where we make bigger changes in websites. A small change on a website could lower conversion rates by 0.1%, but that could mean millions lost for us. So we test first via case studies with users and then make prototypes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They mostly do web technology and prototyping. We use Title 3, a German CMS system. We have open text and prototypes developed in PHP, JavaScript and jQuery. We want to start an app project; we’re just waiting on some internal stuff to come through.

How did you come to work with Elinext?

I have a friend who worked with them before, and he suggested that I try them out because their price is low for Germany. In Germany, something like this would typically cost €80-€100 [approximately $84-$105], and with Elinext we can work around €20-€30 [approximately $21-$32]. So I contacted them and we figured out a plan.

How much have you invested with Elinext?

Our yearly spend is usually less than €50,000 [approximately $52,900].

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them for around four years, even before I worked at my current firm. Whenever I change jobs, I take Elinext with me.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

It’s been very good. I don’t have any statistics demonstrating their success because panel tests don’t have results like that, but we can do panel tests very cheaply, and we need the feedback from the panel tests in order to do development, It’s very helpful. Our developers look at Elinext's panel tests and say it’s good quality, nice and clean.

How did Elinext perform from a project management standpoint?

We work completely through JIRA. Their estimation of the time it would take to develop was correct. They’re always on time.

What did you find most impressive about Elinext?

What’s really great is that somebody is always reachable there over Skype or some other technology, so if I have a question, I can get feedback at midnight or whenever I happen to need it. They’ve very flexible. When we have big changes in our projects, they just do it. We don’t have to haggle all the time about costs and deadlines when the project changes here and there.

Are there any areas Elinext could improve?

We’re in Germany, so it would be better if we could work with German speakers, but it’s okay for us. We do our projects in English. That’s enough for us.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Elinext?

We work on desktop, PC, mobile, and we can do responsive pages with up to five breaking points. That’s our browser strategy for the software.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our agency handles everything web-related. We conceptualize and program websites, online shops, and mobile apps, as well as individual applications for timekeeping and other purposes. I am the chief executive officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext Group?

We usually develop web-based mobile apps, but clients sometimes ask us for native iOS or Android apps. We aren't able to develop them in-house, so we decided to look for a partner to help us deliver the native solution requested by our end-customer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We handled the app's design while Elinext Group did the development itself. 

How did you come to work with Elinext Group?

We considered a few companies that had contacted us in the past with outsourcing offers. Elinext Group was one of them. We asked for proposals and timelines for developing a particular app. Elinext Group had the best reply and proposal structure. We also had very good communication with their contact person, so we decided to choose Elinext Group.

How much have you invested with Elinext Group?

The cost of Elinext Group's services was around $3,700.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Elinext Group in 2016. All tasks were completed, based on the incomplete content that we received from the client. Elinext Group delivered the final version in October.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We've had an open development process and were always up-to-date on the steps being taken by Elinext Group. I would characterize the relationship as transparent.

How did Elinext Group perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was delayed because our client didn't deliver some content on time. Elinext Group was completely on time and kept to the budget we agreed on. We kept in touch with Elinext Group's resources both directly and through a project lead. Communication was done through Skype, and we exchanged documents through secure server links that were sent via email.

What did you find most impressive about Elinext Group?

Since Elinext Group was the first company we've used for developing native apps, I don't have a point of comparison. Overall, we were satisfied, and we wouldn't want to switch to another developer for any future projects.

Are there any areas Elinext Group could improve?

No. Details around how we wanted to work were discussed upfront. Elinext Group stuck to everything we specified as being important.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company provides sophisticated customer analytics in the outdoor power equipment and power sports dealer, distributor and manufacturer ecosystem, multi-related to marketing and sales. Our solution is software-as-a-service, and it's used by many of the biggest manufacturers on the market. I am the vice president of engineering for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elinext Group?

We were looking to expand the scope of our software offering, and couldn't find the proper talent in short enough time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Elinext Group has been working on both web-based and internal solutions for our company. We are using HTML5 for our mobile systems, so we've never created native apps specifically for iOS or Android.

Besides building new features, Elinext Group has also taken care of maintenance and support. We have been working with 4-5 developers from Elinext Group, and have interacted with them through both project and technical leads. Those two people are responsible for distributing tasks and allocating resources.

How did you come to work with Elinext Group?

Some parts of our software development team are already distributed, with most of them being in the US. We needed support in a different time zone, with the same level of expertise. We started looking in the Europe space, posting on several websites, and Elinext Group responded to one of our requests. Our primary criterion was the level of expertise held by the personnel, and their response time. We considered around 10 companies in total, 5 of them from India, 2 from China, and 3 from Europe.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with Elinext Group for around one year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The amount of source code written by Elinext Group is in the thousands of lines, so they are very productive. Elinext Group is proactive in creating documentation for all our projects, which I've appreciated, and they have provided adequate testing. The communication with Elinext Group is superb, with a very favorable response time. I often assign a couple of tasks to Elinext Group at night time in our area and come back in the morning to find everything completed.

How did Elinext Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Elinext Group has delivered everything on time and within budget. We are using an open-source system called Track, which acts as a project and bug tracker, while also giving us access to the source code. It's more of an engineering system, but it's good for managing small projects.

What did you find most impressive about Elinext Group?

The depth of Elinext Group's knowledge and their experience is amazing. We can throw any request at Elinext Group, and find someone who has knowledge of it at an expert level. This can go from SQL [Structured Query Language] databases to Apache Hadoop and Spark, to anything on the user experience side. Elinext Group has very good web and middle-tier development teams.

Are there any areas Elinext Group could improve?

On the product management side, we would like to have someone on Elinext Group's team, not necessarily an engineer, working closer with our product managers. This is more our problem than theirs.

BACKGROUND

We are an educational technology startup company focused on the development of instructional coaching software and teacher evaluation applications for K-12 schools. I am the founder and managing member.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with the Elinext Group?

The main challenge was developing software for the teacher coaching function. There was no software on the market that could provide a complete solution to this problem. Existing software focused on classroom observation and not evaluation. Schools had communicated an urgent need for instructional coaching and classroom evaluation software. A number of schools indicated readiness to use the beta versions of the software. Our software offered an immediate, comprehensive and practical solution to this challenge.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a clear vision for the web application, which was embodied in our detailed specification, design and software requirements. The Elinext Group provided invaluable technical recommendations on the basis of this information. Elinext carried out the frontend, backend, and database development work.

How did you come to work with the Elinext Group?

We wanted a partner with deep technical knowledge, experience in building educational software and who was “startup friendly.” Elinext came highly recommended to us by former clients. We examined the group’s web projects portfolio and was impressed by the complex projects they had completed. The fact of their over 17 years of experience cemented our final decision.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was initiated as a fixed cost model with an estimated half-year duration by the Elinext team. Elinext completed this phase on time and fulfilled all requirements. However, the need to implement extra functionalities and reorganize the application, driven by critical changes in the coaching process, led us to switch to a dedicated team engagement. The work is ongoing and Elinext continues to provide development and support. We have been successfully working with Elinext for two years now!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The result of the work of the Elinext Group is a web application with a responsive design for internal use by school officials. The three parts of the application—teacher coaching, classroom evaluation, and classroom observation—are being developed on ASP.NET and aims to replace routine paper work with just a few clicks. It provides a vibrant user-friendly data dashboard, offers easy navigation, ease-of-use and provides PDF or XLS data export formats using ShieldUI Chart Library and JavaScript. I would definitely recommend Elinext Group and without hesitation include them in the final shortlist of companies for any project under consideration.

How did the Elinext Group perform from a project management standpoint?

The work is still ongoing, but as far as the first phases are concerned, the developers have been able to meet all deadlines and stick to the agreed schedule.

What did you find most impressive about the Elinext Group?

Their professionalism, thoroughness, and serious attitude are impressive. Even at the stage of initial inquiry, they provided professional consulting, detailed estimates with project timelines, the architecture of the application, the mock-ups and so forth. A very important point is that they love communicating with their clients and are highly responsive to clients’ needs.

Elinext project management is best of class and their quality of work is first rate. We got direct access to the development team, communicated directly with the lead developer and continuously with the project manager. It was easy to overcome challenges and make changes quickly as the project unfolded. They provided unique perspectives and fresh ideas to the project at every turn.

Are there any areas the Elinext Group could improve?

Their work was excellent! They met all our requirements, and I don’t see how they could’ve done better.