Escola

Please describe your company and your position there.

The Wealthon Fund is a company that responds quickly and quickly to helping entrepreneurs with ongoing cost problems. We created Wealthon because we believe that it is possible to make everyday life easier for entrepreneurs. Our goal is to remove barriers for entrepreneurs in the context of financing their companies.

Our products are fully digital. In the company I am a Systems & Solutions manager.

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

We hired Escola to create an innovative, integrated IT system for our financial products that would both calculate the financial risk for our products and act as a CRM for our company.

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

Our team was looking for various suppliers of IT solutions to undertake our project. After a dozen or so meetings, we decided to use Escola's services, mainly due to their approach to cooperation and the positive opinions of friendly companies that used their services.

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

Firstly, we had a series of meetings to explain and discuss the specifications of our project. During the first months, we gradually received mock-ups and designs of other parts of our system. Each implementation was preceded by a testing phase and meetings to discuss our feedback.

We continue to work with Escola to improve and develop our system. The development, testing and implementation of the new stages of the project run very smoothly in the appropriate development sprints.

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

During the implementation of our project, I had meetings mostly with our project manager, who was our main point of contact. However, in some stages, I also met with developers (frontend developers and backend developers).

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

The implementation of the system has significantly improved the work in our company. Especially in terms of assessing the financial risk of our clients. The time for analyzing applications for financing is much more efficient. The time was reduced to 24 hours! It allows us to process more applications than before.

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

Communication with our project manager was smooth, with at least weekly phone calls, frequent updates and regular interaction via the backlog system. Delivery was usually on time, in case of any delays we were informed in advance.

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

Escol's knowledge of creating systems and databases, UX and optimization were extraordinary. We learned much more than we thought possible and appreciated their patience and care during the implementation of the project. Previously, we cooperated with agencies in various areas of our company, which had much less knowledge than the Escola team in the UX.

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

Everything can always be done more quickly, but we were very satisfied with their work. Ultimately, quality is more important than speed, and we ended up with a great system.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing specialist at Wydawnictwo C.H.Beck, which is a publishing house based in Poland.

What challenge were you trying to address with Escola?

Part of our work is organizing events and courses. We wanted to build a mobile application that included all of the events and schedules.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Escola is responsible for developing an app for Android and iOS. Using this app, users can choose from all of the events and sign up for them. Also, they can download presentations and other materials to learn more about the topic at home.

What is the team composition?

I work with one person who always helps us solve any issues. Some developers work on the project, too.

How did you come to work with Escola?

We found them through some online pages. We saw an app that they built for another company. We wanted to have an app like that for ourselves. They were open to change their initial proposition to fit our needs, so we decided to start working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent somewhere between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in January 2020, and it’s ongoing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Escola is responsible for developing an app for Android and iOS. Using this app, users can choose from all of the events and sign up for them. Also, they can download presentations and other materials to learn more about the topic at home.

What is the team composition?

I work with one person who always helps us solve any issues. Some developers work on the project, too.

How did you come to work with Escola?

We found them through some online pages. We saw an app that they built for another company and wanted to have an app like that for ourselves. They were open to change their initial proposition to fit our needs, so we decided to start working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent somewhere between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in January 2020, and it’s ongoing.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is building a crowdfunding platform. I'm co-owner and board memeber.

For what projects/services did your company hire Qunabu Interactive/ Escola S.A., and what were your goals?

Web development of the entire platform.

How did you select Qunabu Interactive/ Escola S.A. and what were the deciding factors?

We based our decision on skills within Escola team (platform included blockchain element thus it was key that the software house knows how to do it), positive references and live projects developed by the company, stability of the company (our requirement was the platform to be serviced by the company which developed it) and price (we quoted several companies, Escola quote wasn't the lowest, but was reasonable).

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

Full scope: UX/UI, front-end, back-end, devops, blockchain Technologies used BE: javascript rest api strapi/nest framework node.js

FE: Javascript, progressive web app, react, single page application, react stripe, next server side rendering Redux, framework next.js, wsparcie

SEO Blockchain: Waves

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

At least 6: CTO, PM, UX designer, front-end dev, back-end dev, tester

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

Platform was delivered according to the scope defined with several CR included. The platform is not live yet but we finished tests with no major deficiencies identified. Escola was flexible when it comes to some changes which were necessary during the project.

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

We had bi-weekly sprint meetings. Tools used: Jira, Confluence, Slack, e-mail. PM was very proactive and responsive.

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

They are easy to work with, friendly style, no drama when we asked to implement yet another change. No unnecessary involvement (which was important to us).

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

Better testing before releasing code for QA by the client.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a marketing specialist in the TOPAZ store chain, which includes over 130 stores located in central and eastern Poland. I am responsible for the content in our mobile app.

For what projects/services did your company hire Qunabu Interactive/ Escola S.A.?

We started cooperation with Escola because we did not have a mobile application yet. After careful analysis of our clients' needs and the directions in which the market is developing, we decided that we need a partner who will help us to create an application that our clients will love.

What were your goals for this project?

The aim of our application was to gain new customers and make it easier for existing customers to use our loyalty system. It is worth noting that we have exceeded the download threshold for our applications several times, which we initially set as our target for 2020.

How did you select Qunabu Interactive/ Escola S.A.?

At the stage of searching for a suitable agency to prepare the application for us, the marketing department was primarily involved. Our team carefully analyzed the applications available on the market and chose the agencies whose projects we particularly liked. Then, after preparing a sketch of application functionality, we started preliminary talks and negotiations with selected agencies. Escola turned out to be a team that fully satisfied our needs.

Describe the project in detail.

Still at the stage of the last talks with the agencies, Escola showed the greatest commitment and professional approach to the task set. We decided to create an application for the android and iOS native version. After we sent the initial outline of functionality, we received the first screen previews, which we liked very much.

It was then that we saw for the first time how our application will look like. A series of meetings with Escola's programmers and the involvement of our company's IT department in the project resulted in creating a full action plan for both sides. We had to coordinate the activities so that both the application and our internal systems would work together. Both sides' involvement resulted in a smooth transition to the testing phase, during which we made many more changes.

At each stage we could not only count on the quick action of the team, but also on substantive support for the designed solutions or functionalities.

What was the team composition?

We felt that our project is supervised by a staff of people who know their work. The contact with the Project Manager went very smoothly. Every week we summed up the progress of work on a video call. The work was conducted simultaneously on both platforms (iOS and Android).

In the final phase of the project, additional programmers were involved, which allowed us to close the application development stage in a satisfactory time.

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

Finally, we can say that we are very satisfied with the decision to create an application for our clients. The assumed results exceeded our wildest expectations - the number of downloads exceeded our assumptions by several hundred percent. Very positive reviews show that customers were waiting for such a solution and we actually needed the application.

Despite hundreds of hours of testing, in which dozens of our employees were involved, there were of course minor problems that we had not anticipated before. At one point our servers were surprised by the number of users, to which we had to react efficiently. Despite the fact that almost a year has passed since the implementation of the application, we are in constant contact with Escola and I can safely say that there is practically no week in which we wouldn't make further, smaller or larger changes.

Additionally, Escola takes the initiative to share new functionalities that make our work much easier.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The flow of information between our company and Escola was very good. Every week we organized video calles and several times we met in person to discuss the most important issues concerning mainly the internal work on our side. Thanks to the appropriate, not too many people involved in the project on both sides, we were sure that at any time we know what stage of application development we are at.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Professionalism and ability to understand the client's needs - these are the key words with which Escola can be described. Even the most difficult tasks in our project were no problem. Each time, after presenting an outline of what we want to achieve, we received several proposals for solutions, sometimes enriched with additional proposals for action.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing special that I could write about right now.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director for Asplan Viak Internet. It’s a company focusing on mapping solutions for web and apps. We have about 20 employees.

What challenge were you trying to address with Qunabu Interactive: Escola S.A.?

We needed additional resources to do some mobile development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped develop a mobile app related to a solution for marine waste. It was built for iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of roughly seven people. 

How did you come to work with Qunabu Interactive: Escola S.A.?

They were initially recommended to us. Prior to this project, we had worked with them on another project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested €130,000 (approximately $148,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2019 – May 2020.

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

We’re in the final testing period with a plan for our client to launch the product in July 2020. It looks good, and we are happy with the work they did. It was a complex project. We used Scrum methodology. 

How did Qunabu Interactive: Escola S.A. perform from a project management standpoint?

They did pretty well. They had an allocated coordinator/Scrum Master on their side. Our Scrum Master did daily follow-up meetings with them. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were engaged and committed to the project and the purpose of the client’s perspective. They didn’t just identify issues but were proactive in solving them. They also challenged us to consider why some of our ideas might not work. We would like to work with them again in the future.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Perhaps they could identify when some of their resources aren’t performing optimally. There was a need for additional resources, and it took some time to get them into place. They did identify and fix, the problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage them early in the planning of a project so they can bring their approach and best ideas into it.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The University of Business in Wroclaw is a non-public university with a business-oriented programme. I'm Marketing Manager at the University.

For what projects/services did your company hire Qunabu Interactive?

We were not satisfied with our previous website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the new website to allow for a better presentation of the university's offer. We also wanted it to be adapted to better Google positioning.

How did you select this vendor?

The company was recommended to us by the partner university.

Describe the project in detail.

At the beginning we had a Skype meeting, during which we met the Leader of our project. We presented our needs. We also presented a preliminary concept of how we would like our website to look like. Then, during our visit to the company headquarters, we agreed on a common concept based on our needs.

The website was created on the basis of materials that we sent to the company. The company reacted to our needs and suggestions on an ongoing basis.

What was the team composition?

At the beginning we met the leader of the project and the graphic designer. The following developer was also assigned to the team.

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

We are currently in the process of completing the content on the website. The website has not yet been published on the server. From the administrator's point of view it' s much more friendly than the previous one. What's more, we can still count on the help and support of the company in implementing changes and improvements.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The cooperation with the team was very good. They responded quickly to our requests.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Flexibility I guess.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The company also cooperated with a company that positions our website in the Google network. They received SEO optimization recommendations, but unfortunately not all of them were implemented. Nevertheless, we are currently working on this together.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My companies own 5 gastronomy venues in Wroclaw. While our business is growing, we got the requirement of website. Since we've met Escola company, all we had was facebook pages. I am board member in those companies.

For what projects/services did your company hire Qunabu Interactive/ Escola S.A.?

they built a website for us. What's more, we thought that our business doesn't need a www. We operate locally and communicate with our clients via other sources than website. Only because our path crossed with Escola, we got this opportunity to understand that their product can help us to grow.

What were your goals for this project?

to create a useful website

How did you select this vendor?

Via my entrepreneur colleague who used to work with Escola.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

First of all they educate us about obligation of website possession. After first contact we had a meeting with very professional gentleman who describe him self as project leader. Since then he was the only person we were contacting with. Together we created blueprint. Afterwards we were asked to send some materials which finally Escola placed on our www.

What was the team composition?

Project was not very demanding, however they approached to it as it was at least 100.000 $ job.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

It's kind of a new project, however I've already noticed it's impact on my business. Our contractors are easier to convince to our rights and it's way faster to introduce our self. We got a contact form which got us some valuable leads. Actually one of it will bring us another venue as investors :)

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

As I mentioned before we worked with one guy only and it was completely enough. PM was very straight, easy going and professional. We met him on the very beginning, later on skype and face to face at the end of the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Flexibility I guess. And really great contact

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can not think of any area I wasn't super happy about.

Please describe your company and your position there.

i-pools is a software business that delivers fun to play social prediction games, both free to play and real money betting, based on sports and other live events. I am the Chief Operating Office of i-pools and manage all software development and implementation.

For what projects/services did your company hire Qunabu Interactive?

We brought qunabu into our development team to help us fine tune and modernise our front end development as well as to design and deliver a mobile app solution.

What were your goals for this project?

Our project is ongoing, but our goals are - to finalise our existing front end design; - to modernise our codebase for more efficient development in the future; - to design an implement a mobile app solution.

How did you select this vendor?

We had worked with qunabu before this project as a consultant to help us with smaller one off software changes. They did an excellent job so we asked them to take on a wider role for us.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project is in a number of parts: - implementing designs of wireframe designs for existing and new interactive HTML pages - reviewing and improving code structure and planning for future development plans - designing and implementing Mobile App strategy

What was the team composition?

The qunabu team consisted of a project manager/coordinator, two part-time developers who overlapped to provide seamless development feedback

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our project is ongoing so the impact on our business is yet to be fulfilled. But having qunabu as part of our development team has allowed us to focus on product design and business development without having to worry about our front end development. As a small team, this has been great for us. They are always engaged and very responsive and are effectively part of our in-house team.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management has been seamless from the beginning of our relationship. This is because qunabu's approach to project management does not get in the way of direct communication with the developers. There is no "additional layer" of communication. This has been excellent.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The Qunabu Interactive team is always friendly and approachable. They are esponsive. This makes such a big difference for a small team such as ours.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The only area I can add to this section would be to ask qunabu to provide more advice and feedback about our own ideas on our development plans. When we do ask for advice, it is always well received (even if we don't always follow it!). Their team always have good ideas which are well thought through and are always welcome.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Vice President of a consulting and technology company based in Poland, focusing on the higher education market. Locally we hire 100 people and serve ca. 60 higher education clients from Poland and abroad. We are a part of a 0,5 B USD global consulting company from Boston, Massachusetts.

For what projects/services did your company hire Escola?

We hired Escola to develop a single app that would serve diverfsified needs of our 60 higher education clients. We wanted to create a multi-platform solution that would be closely aligned with our web-based platform for students and teachers.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to keep the development and maintenance costs under control, by developing a single app that would satisfy diversified needs of multiple customers and limit the number of customizations. We also wanted a product that would be visually compelling to our end-users - students and teachers, and therefore stimulate their engagement with the universities they attend.

How did you select this vendor?

Our CTO did the analysis of the options available on the Polish and European market. We were looking for a vendor that is reliable, affordable and that would add value to our internal conversations regarding the best business model for the app in the higher education context. We were encouraged by ESCOLA's previous experiences with the HE market, and by the fact that the CEO of ESCOLA - Krzysztof is an academician himself, and has a very good understanding of how universities work.

Describe the project in detail.

The project started by developing a fully functional specification of the mobile app for students and for teachers. The document included detailed visual mockups and bulleted description of functionalities in each screen. Next, during a relatively short time span we developed a fully functional back-end component of the system. In the final stage we developed the front-end and plugged in the analytics module.

What was the team composition?

There was a project manager on our end and on ESCOLA's end. The two were my only points of contact. I understand that there were at least 2 frontend developers, 3 backend developers, and QA resources working on the project.

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

Customers adopted the solution developed by ESCOLA without any major concerns. We were able to satisfy the needs of 10 institutions with a single solution.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We felt well-informed about the project status throughout the project's duration.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

1. Superb customer service.
2. Value-added and consultancy around business modelling in the mobile app world.
3. Flexibility.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are very satisified with ESCOLA's service in its entirety.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a day coordinator for a large NGO in Warsaw. My project is a map-based road repair system.

What challenge were you trying to address with Escola?

We needed a company to help us build a new website. Another company worked with us previously, but we wanted a new provider that was more helpful.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The site is well-incorporated with our company. Whenever I reach out to them, they're responsive, and they understand our budgetary constraints. Together, we created a progressive web application, which is quite popular on both iOS and Android. Everything they do supports the versions of our application.

In their first task, they completely changed our website and made it more mobile responsive. We use maps, so it was important to have a smoother mobile interface. The new site is completely different, and all our key functionality works perfectly on mobile devices.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is available to answer all our questions, but I also speak occasionally with an IT specialist for quick troubleshooting. I don't interact with the whole team, which is probably about four people at the largest.

How did you come to work with Escola?

I joined the company two years ago, shortly after they signed a contract with us. I'm not sure what the hiring process was.

How much have you invested with them?

I estimate we've spent $15,000-$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The agreement started in 2017 and is ongoing. We're about to renew the contract with them.

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

The impacts of the project are very visible. We collaborate with local governments in Poland, and the new website has attracted ten new clients. We had 18 clients last year, and now we have 28.

How did Escola perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very responsive. Whenever we have a problem, they repair issues quickly, and they're very helpful with all our needs. We're looking forward to signing a new deal with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

NGOs can be difficult to work with, but they understand the specifics of our work. They're always available when we need them, and the new page looks wonderful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We faced a couple of delays with the UX when we switched to the new website, but that's quite common. I like working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I visited them at their office when we started working together. That helped us create a high level of cooperation. Meeting with them in person will give you a better impression of the individuals on their team and how they work.