Ermlab

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Emplocity. We provide a talent sourcing platform for multi-national enterprises.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ermlab?

We needed to create an AI and deep learning algorithm. We were building a deep learning software that would be able to plan the conversation with professional candidates in accordance with the requirements of the particular job description that a candidate might be interested in.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ermlab provided professional data services based on our own data and the data cloud.

They gave us test cases for the algorithms to be taught on and the necessary processes for the structured data as well. They also supplied prototypes, an environment that would allow us to perform tests, and a test subject. They worked with our team to complete the project.

During the process, there was a lot of machine learning and deep learning related work. They also did some consulting work for our architectural design.

We used Python and the infrastructure is built around microservices using a numerical library and RabbitMQ. For deep learning models, we used TensorFlow library and Keras library. We used a lot of data, machine learning, and data science toolsets like Jupyter Notebooks, Pandas, NumPy, and a couple of others. 

What is the team composition?

There were about five people involved in this project.

How did you come to work with Ermlab?

We were given a grant from the National Center of Research & Development in Poland. We chose a company in accordance with the tender procedure that we were performing. It was in accordance with European Union laws, which are quite strict. Following that rubric, Ermlab had the best price and capabilities.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $250,000-$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2018 and complete the project in March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Several KPIs were defined to make sure that the scientific and economic goals of the project would be achieved. Our solution managed to achieve all those benchmarks. We finished the project on time and within our budget. It was overall a great success.

How did Ermlab perform from a project management standpoint?

Ermlab worked in an interactive, scrum-like way. They have at least one weekly status meeting and we communicated constantly. It was a bit challenging at first because Ermlab was working in a remote location in a different city. However, we managed to work together by connecting mostly through Slack and Jira. We also have meetings with the project managers from their side and owners of their company. We didn’t have a strict schedule on those meetings, but we had them at least once a month. They were quite responsive. Our teams were constantly communicating with one another.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive part of their work is their technical prowess. They have a lot of highly skilled data scientists and engineers. It’s not that common to find a company that both founders are PhDs. They have a lot of experience and knowledge in machine learning and deep learning, and it shows. They deliver what they promise and on time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Perhaps they could improve on some minor administrative things. It wasn’t anything major. From the technical and engineering point of view, they’re a great contractor. We had a great relationship and we'll work with them in the future. We are really impressed with the work they’ve done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the production director for Michelin, a large tire manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ermlab?

We needed help to speed up our digitization processes. We don’t have the competency in-house to get it done quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a production system. They helped us to create a digital environment. Up until a year ago, our management tool was on paper and on boards all over the factory. Now, we are able to use a digital version of this management tool. They created the software that makes it easy for us to link with our office data, Excel sheets, Word documents, photos, action plans, etc. Now, we’re introducing OSIsoft PI, Office 365, and Power BI tools to our teams. Everything will be connected and more oriented on modern tools. The first phase of the project is complete.

What is the team composition?

The main contact was their CTO/co-founder. We had a team leader on our side who cooperated directly with him. We had two people in-house who assured the installation, data security, etc.

How did you come to work with Ermlab?

They were recommended to us by a professor from the university.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2016 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wanted to make our data flow more quickly. With the digitalization of the management system, our data flow is much more concentrated. We can use our data where we want to. We can concentrate on what is a priority today. We’re not stuck in one place. We have different buildings, and now, we can do a review of our data in every building. Before, we had to go to a special building where the board was. We reduced our team’s time by about 25%. They are now able to use that time to work with the data and use it for quicker problem-solving. This is what we’re seeing after approximately six months of experience with the system. It was great work and was completed much faster than we expected.

How did Ermlab perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re flexible. When we needed more help from them, they were fast with organizing supplementary resources. They’re well connected in the Polish market.

We’re quite strict, but I’m impressed with their capability to be fast and concentrate on subjects. They were responsive to our needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re competent, flexible, and listen to their customer. So often, when you work with external companies, they try to sell their support and hardware and make you dependent on their services. Ermlab didn’t do this.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of product for Rydoo, a company that focuses on travel and expense management. Originally, Rydoo was created when three companies joined together, including a Polish company that specialized in business travel and a Belgian company that specialized in expense management. We are now an external organization of Sodexo.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ermlab?

At the time, we already had a web desktop application that worked on mobile and tablets. However, we needed a native application that would let us offer offline features to travelers who might not have a stable internet connection. We also wanted a dedicated team to build something native for our expense module.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted the native app to replicate the expense and travel functionalities of our core web application. We decided to use Xamarin.Forms for different platforms. Ermlab was more experienced in building native apps dedicated to platforms, but they managed to learn the technology quickly. They were also strong in helping us with tool selection. We did automated tests for Microsoft Azure, which they organized, performed, and maintained.

Initially, we asked Ermlab to focus on usability and frontend features. They built a swiping functionality for accepting expenses and bookings through the application. They also added optical character recognition (OCR) features, not only for Xamarin but also partially dedicated to iOS and Android. These OCR features allow users to crop photos properly and scan receipts. Ermlab also provided the mobile graphic user interface for the backend.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two developers from Ermlab who were experienced in using Xamarin for iOS, Windows Mobile, and Android.

How did you come to work with Ermlab?

Our development is based in Poland, so we searched here because of the cost, quality, and convenience. Since our team works remotely, we also considered companies outside of Poland. In those days, Xamarin wasn’t as popular, so we only looked at 10 companies. We decided to go with Ermlab because of their offer and experience.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent €200,000–€300,000 on their services ($235,089–$352,634 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from October 2016 until June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ermlab delivered as promised, providing us with a quality app on time. The biggest success indicator was that Sodexo bought Rydoo; the app was a deciding factor in the acquisition.

How did Ermlab perform from a project management standpoint?

Ermlab’s people fit in well with our team. All of the communication was through instant messaging and emails, which worked perfectly. I never personally met them, but we didn’t have to do any micromanagement at all.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication definitely helped. As they completed the given tasks, they sent updates about how things were going. They reported problems and issues as they arose, allowing us to solve them quickly. This distinguished them from developers from smaller cities in Poland who just want to code from nine to six.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be good if they focused more on being up-to-date with technologies.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Literacka Sp. z o.o. We’re a startup implementing a project co-financed by the European Union. We create IT tools for the book market, sell books as gifts, and provide a book recommendation system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Ermlab?

We needed to create an internet platform with both web and mobile application that collects information about real-world locations related to the plots and creations of movies, books, TV series, comic books, games, and music. We also needed a portal equipped with an intelligent recommendation system.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a web and a mobile application, according to our specifications, where users could create accounts, articles about books, and create tourist routes.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected the contractor during the procurement procedure, but they were also recommended well to us by other companies.

Describe the project in detail.

They prepared a thoughtful offer and proposed certain technologies they would use to develop the web and mobile apps. Numerous meetings then took place before work started.

What was the team composition?

We discussed the scope of the work with a project manager, but the team consisted of a frontend programmer, two backend programmers, and two mobile app programmers. We also have an IT project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Programming work will continue until the end of July. Due to the very good cooperation, we decided to cooperate on the next project. This is a research project in which artificial intelligence algorithms will be used.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager was easily accessible, both in person and by phone. We used slack and skype. The Ermlab team did not focus only on the implementation of programming tasks, but was focused on understanding our goal what the portal we are creating should be.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We have experience with many IT companies and there are often difficulties in communication between programmers and the client. Developers speak a language incomprehensible to the client. The client knows what effects he expects but he can not always decide how best to achieve these effects. Ermlab speaks the client's language. Understands business needs and goals. In addition, the company has a research staff with knowledge that goes beyond ordinary IT services.

Are there any areas for improvement?

sometimes Ermlab has many IT projects from various industries in the same time and human resources would be useful to run many projects with the same commitment

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief executive officer at Point of Care, which was initially in the medical altruism services space. We’re currently pivoting our services to offer complementary natural medicine exclusively. Our two-part marketplace offers subscriptions to both clinics and hotels or spas that provide medical treatments. It’s a commission-based market model

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ermlab?

We’d hired a previous team to build our marketplace, but it had been too complicated for them to finish. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

As they helped us build our marketplace platform, ermlab was responsible for developing our entire medquest.eu CRM system.  I wasn’t thrilled they used .NET because it’s expensive. They programmed the complete backend of our system from scratch, basing the design on a prototype built by a previous team.

The most challenging part was the reservation system. Our product’s primary differentiator is its sophisticated search functionality. It’s entirely different than any other application we’re familiar with. Customers can book packages or individual treatments. 

The platform includes an interactive visual display. Clicking a part of the body on the avatar feature shows names of commonly associated illnesses. After identifying an ailment, it shows all the clinics and medical spas that provide topical treatments.
 
What is the team composition? 

We worked with at least five developers from ermlab. Our project manager liaised with all the companies we were working with. 

How did you come to work with ermlab?

As we were looking for an experienced company with skilled programmers, my cousin recommended ermlab. Their owners have PhDs and were still working at a university when they launched the company. As professors, they have access to excellent students who they can reliably vet during a course. They’re acutely aware of what makes a talented programmer, and we knew they could handle our project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $30,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together from May 2014 until September 2015. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform is carefully calibrated around both our internal requirements and our clients’ wishes. Throughout development, ermlab flexibly made modifications based on the results of testing the portal with customers and facilities. Our consumers are pleased, mainly because ermlab tested, developed, and integrated user feedback concurrently. 

The manager of a hotel chain in Budapest gave us an excellent compliment. She’d never seen a digital marketplace with so many features dedicated solely to our specific industry. Her company’s 40 hotels couldn’t post many of their packages or options on most major booking sites. Only ours had the requisite features to fulfill that customer’s needs.

How did ermlab perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Bitbucket and other tools to communicate with the developers. Each developer was responsible for specific modules. We assigned any comments we had to particular developers, who would send back a response quite quickly. The entire process went smoothly. We held weekly meetings on Skype and met in person once a month. In the meantime, we could discuss any other needs over email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by their deft capability at completing our challenging project. I’d been devastated when the prior vendor signed an agreement they weren’t capable of doing. Ermlab is a team of problem solvers who will never say no to a challenge. They completed all the changes I requested and deftly produced work the exact way I envisioned. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re good partners to work with. I’m applying for funding right now, and if I get it, I’ll definitely hire them again. Communication is never a problem with ermlab. The programmer I worked with was very young and didn’t seem familiar with emerging technology. They’ve made many applications since and now seem more familiar with current trends.