Exoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of an organization that provides rehabilitation and medical services to patients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We were looking to engage with more patients on a digital scale and provide them with access to our services online, so we needed someone to provide us with web and mobile app software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft’s deliverable is to develop a base .NET app in the Azure environment that can be scalable as we grow our organization. We worked with them to create a tool that's easy for consumers to use and once that frontend design was done, we moved to develop a mobile and web version of the app.

The entire workflow of the design was extensive, so we put a project charter in place to see if there would be any modifications to apply or new ideas to integrate.

What is the team composition?

I work closely with an account manager, development lead, and graphic designer.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in November 2020. Our new CEO put the project on hold, but we’ve already launched one aspect of the app, which is an online scheduler.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a clear quality assessment process where they implement and test the designs I submit for the app. The execution didn’t go exactly as I wanted at first but once it was all smoothed out, they delivered to my expectations about 80% of the time.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Our projects are documented well thanks to the implementation of an issue log, change request log, clear scheduling, and budget, so any time a task deviates from the process, we would have conversations to clear things up.

We have regular communications with their team and we mainly use email to interact.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Exoft really put the onus on communicating with me to make sure every aspect of my requirements is met.

Once we both understood each others’ processes, the results have been spectacular. Our level of partnership is on a level that I haven’t experienced before, and it motivates me to dominate the world.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know if they could’ve done anything differently because I ended up adopting some of their processes. I believe our communication and collaboration are the reason why the project turned out strongly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to make sure you know what you’re getting into and what you’re getting into. 

Be aware that Exoft will probably end up bringing more value to the solution because when I started with them, they brought me solutions I’ve never even dreamed of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an inventory control and analytics company. We’re a multiple listing service that offers a secure and compliant way to broker transactions between healthcare organizations and pharmaceutical companies. 

We connect siloed systems and help mitigate loss by eliminating waste and helping balance the transfer of medications between facilities. We analyze if there’s an overage or shortage in stocks so that we can redistribute medicines. This allows consumers to find lower-priced items and keeps inventory controls tight. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We were using the .NET technology stack, and we needed help in software development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our CTO heads projects, and he assigns tasks and sprints through our task boards. Exoft then builds based on our instructions. We also have a QA process, and whenever we encounter bugs, we treat those as separate line items on our tasks list. We’ve given them access to our platform, and they go in a back and forth process with us until everything is working properly.

What is the team composition?

I’m working with three technical resources, a team leader, some developers, and some contacts on the business side.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

I originally found them through Upwork. Exoft’s expertise made us decide to work with them. We were looking for a very niche skillset, and we wanted to find somebody who was an expert in Microsoft-backed technologies such as .NET and Azure. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $25,000–$50,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since March 2020, and our relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Exoft has provided high-quality work. They stand by their output, and they’re quick to resolve issues. I appreciate that we don’t need to hold their hands or explain the obvious to their team, unlike other outsourced vendors. 

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Exoft is great to work with, and we’ve had an excellent relationship. They’re still delivering despite the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

We communicate through Microsoft Teams, and we meet with them daily to review work and go over some tasks on our Microsoft DevOps board. The whole collaboration is pretty smooth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Exoft’s ability to take abstract ideas and translate concepts into a working prototype is impressive. Notably, they can turn our UI designs into functional features. Their development expertise has been really helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As they bring in new talent, they can improve how they get teammates up to speed with some items before jumping into the work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Ensure you have a detailed scope and mockups, and try to visualize how you want the app to flow. Make sure the logic of your project is well documented.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of engineering for a cloud SaaS company that provides services for B2B sales organizations. I am responsible for software development and R&D.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We outsourced some of our software development to Exoft.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft cooperates with both our frontend development team and backend development team. The frontend team uses Angular and JavaScript, while the backend team uses Spring framework databases, MySQL databases, and Java.

When we need more support, Exoft either brings in people from their in-house team or hires new developers. I interview every candidate before they join our teams.

What is the team composition?

We currently have five Exoft members on the backend team and two on the frontend team.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

I inherited the relationship with Exoft when I joined the company. I was not around when they were selected as our outsourcing partner, but I do participate in the recruitment process. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested a little over $200,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership started around December 2020. It is an ongoing engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We mainly measure their ability to deliver quality software on time or in accordance with our development cycles. We have releases every 3–4 weeks, and we use that time to look at the quality of Exoft’s work in terms of how many bugs we find. 

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage the project in-house, but we are transitioning to have more of the management done on Exoft’s side as well. We use GitLab for releases and Slack for our daily communications.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A good portion of the developers that they’ve put on our teams are technically strong, but I’m more impressed with how fluent our relationship is with Exoft. I don’t have to think about politics; I can freely and straightforwardly express any issues that I encounter with their developers. They’re always frank with me about their employees.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The hiring cycle is quite challenging, so I think they could be a little more helpful in that aspect. I also think that they should have better control over the quality of the deliverables seeing as I don’t have a dedicated testing team at the moment. It would be good if individual engineers improved the level of testing that they do on their own. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly and frequently communicate what is critical to your company to Exoft’s management. This will allow them to adjust to your deadlines, meeting schedules, and overall management structure.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a software development company catering for a bespoke system development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed extra resources to be scaled up and down to assist my current team. Flexibility and experience are both key - as well as fair costs.

SOLUTION

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

We searched online and selected them based on price and a vdo interview where the CTO in particular impressed our own CTO.

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

There are many aspects to the projects all modular-based and involving front-end and back-end development and a flexible agile approach.

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

8 people mainly in software development roles

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The projects have been delivered on time and they have been flexible on payments as we await our own client sign-off from time to time.

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

Whenever we find any ambiguities or issues, they are always quick to respond and rectify them. We have had little to have a concern about. They are also honest about the resources they do or don't have.

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

I like the flexibility and positivity to see us be successful on the projects we are working with them on,

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

Perhaps better management of communication within their small development teams to our developers so we don't have to micromanagement too much but then we have never requested a Project Manager so that's probably our fault.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Engineering Software Lead at an international IT/Greentech company with offices in Europe and in the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Introducing a new product line while experiencing a substantial growth with the current product/service portfolio put us in a position where our growth became limited by the recruitment/training processes. Basically we needed a larger team very quickly to be able to serve the increasing demand.

SOLUTION

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

Exoft demonstrated numerous similar, already accomplished projects, where their skilled developers helped out clients on time and within budget. The skillset their developers provided completely matched our requirements.

One further deciding factor was the relatively small geographical distance (almost in the same time zone, which was vital for efficient communication).

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

The cooperation had two major stages:

In the first stage, a text document generator was developed based on existing specifications. The task covered the retrieval of the HTML-based templates, substitute and expand template elements by actual data, then convert the text to office document and printable formats, along with visual customization. The developers helped to improve the custom template language used in this task as well. The component deployed in this stage got deployed to production and is used on a daily basis.

The second stage covered the development of a drawing arrangement and a pathfinder tool for engineering drawings. The goal was to develop a component that based on input data provides an optimal arrangement of engineering symbols and connects them.

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

There were two people working with us on a daily basis in a software developer (coder) position.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to upscale our team without losing momentum on the new product development side, and without harming the support quality for our existing clients. The components delivered by Exoft people are deployed in production and are an integral part of our workflow by now.

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

The project management was absolutely flexible, Exoft 100% adapted to our needs both in terms of communication tools, reporting routine and timelines. We could integrate the two developers into our team in a seamless way.

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

The response time of the management and the technical preparedness of the developers were both extraordinarily good. This, together with the flexibility offered made working together with Exoft a very pleasant experience.

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

We cannot see any issues with the cooperation. This is how it is supposed to work in all the cases.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and co-founder of xTECH. We do web and mobile development using JavaScript.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

A new client in Germany needed a web application developed for their customers, and the backend had to be built using .NET. We only do JavaScript development, so we needed a service provider to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did the frontend development on our side, including all the API specifications. Exoft developed the actual API using .NET. The deliverables at the end were the codes of the API and a deployed version of the API on a Linux machine that the client provided. Exoft also provided us some documentation on how to use and configure the API and the structure of the database. The documentation was for our client’s developers if they wanted to do development internally.

The main work ended in February, but the client had more features they wanted to add, so I worked to define those features and understand everything. is currently finishing those additions.

If we need more developers in the future, we’ll get back in touch with them.

What is the team composition?

We were in contact with one developer on a regular basis. Their CTO set everything up with us at the beginning and connected with us when needed moving forward. He was responsive if I had organizational questions.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We did some online research and posted the project to Upwork. Some applications came in, and we set up a simple test project for them. We were happy with Exoft, as they demonstrated the required skills for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $8,400 on the initial build, and the new features total around $1,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project isn’t live yet, but our clients are satisfied. They’re doing internal tests, and everything seems to be fine. We also tested the API on our side before we delivered it — any time we found an issue, Exoft responded rapidly.

We were able to take on the project because of Exoft’s services; without their expertise, we wouldn’t have accepted the project at all.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We were responsible for Exoft developing the API correctly, so we gave them access to our Clickup tool to manage tasks. We also shared documentation with them — part of it came from the client and part of it we created. We also created the API specifications for them to follow through on.

Regular calls help us to define tasks, as well as their integration into our Slack environment. This allows us to communicate in real-time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and availability stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Exoft’s CTO communicates well verbally, but the developer was a bit more challenging to understand. His written communication was clearer, however.

They could also work on enhancing their documentation. I had to rewrite some of the documentation before giving it to the client. Exoft prepared very technical documentation, but it wasn’t usable by the client in its initial form.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk with them about the project; they’ll tell you if something is unclear and ask for details, so they know what to do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of NextMove PRO, which is a real estate sales management system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We sought a development team to take over the project. We hired contractors who weren’t permanently assigned to the project. We needed a permanent solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft basically jumped into the project without any onboarding from the previous team. In the beginning, their team fixed bugs and then updated the product. They then built additional features. It has been a full stack project.

As we don’t have an in-house team, Exoft manages everything. Their responsibilities include maintaining the system, fixing bugs, and building new features. For example, they built a payment system. Their team uses .Net, Vue.js, JavaScript, and HTML.

What is the team composition?

There are 3–4 people from Exoft working with us. Two people from their team oversee the project while two others work on the development.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We found them through UpWork. This project was complex because we didn’t have much documentation. We went through 12 different teams that passed our interview process. Exoft was one of the only teams that could figure out our system and made the process easy.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$25,000 on their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought them on board in October 2020, and we’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

No other provider we interviewed was able to deploy updates. When we deploy a new feature, we consider how much trouble we face. Honestly, deployments have been super clean. From testing to deployment, it has been perfect. Nothing has gone wrong.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

When we started with Exoft, we weren’t super organized. It was a new team, and we weren’t super clear on what we needed. Exoft was patient and worked with us even over the weekend.

We communicate via Skype and email. I’m grateful to them because their team is able to jump into projects with us whenever needed. That wasn’t our experience with previous providers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s so easy to work with Exoft. They’re always available to help us work through a problem. Their team is always patient and kind, which isn’t typical. Their team’s willing to walk us through anything. They’re understanding and willing to do whatever we ask of them. Their team always answers right away. Working with Exoft has been a completely different experience from working with any other vendor. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we haven’t had any trouble with them. Everything has been easy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you need and know what you have. When looking for a team, ensure that you have what you need to share with them. Proper documentation is extremely helpful. However, Exoft can figure it out if you don’t have it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of technology at a software development company. We provide services and build engineering applications for companies in oil and gas, manufacturing, and other sectors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We’ve always had difficult hiring resources and staffing projects, so we hired Exoft.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft provides us with dedicated development resources and specialists when we need to find people quickly. They also provide the option of doing complete projects for us, if we don’t have the resources to do them ourselves.

Working with Exoft, we selected and onboarded each team member. They work specifically on web-based engineering applications for the scientific environment. We specify what technology to use, and they execute accordingly. They work with a microservices architecture and AngularJS on the frontend.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with 20–23 people from Exoft at the moment. Alex (Client Partner) is our main contact.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

Originally, we began working with another company and were miserably disappointed with their work. After that, a friend of mine who had worked with Exoft recommended them to me.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $500,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Exoft in April 2020, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Exoft has very good resources at various levels. Their developers are completely embedded into our teams and we work with them on a daily basis. The developers were hired specifically for our team and they deliver high-quality work.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Exoft handles the physical hiring in Ukraine, but almost everything else is managed by us. They’re on our Slack channels, so we can talk to them quite easily.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to the previous team we’ve worked with, Exoft is good at finding resources. They also communicate very well. They’re transparent about how well each person is performing so we can make changes as needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I’d change would be for them to be a bit more proactive in filtering resources. We’re currently in the process of hiring 15–20 more resources, but we have to start from scratch. Exoft doesn’t have enough staff members to provide us with that many resources. Consequentially, they need to recruit more people, which is will take time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If the objective is just resource acquisition, Exoft is a very good choice. My suggestion is to go to them early and give them time to find the right people for your team. Time is always an issue, and there are a finite number of resources. I didn’t do it early enough, and that was our fault.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product for a performance tracking AI platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

My company was looking to augment our internal development team with experienced resources. We wanted to accelerate current projects and create a future roadmap.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft provides us with experts in .NET, C#, Azure, Microsoft stack, and Angular. We use JavaScript as well. They work with our internal developers and serve as the main part of our development team.

They do everything and are fully responsible for the development of our product from end-to-end. They do back- and frontend development, DevOps, and cloud management.

They’ve worked on multiple projects. They worked with our data scientists to develop some machine learning services and a lot of integrations to external systems. We also developed add-ons for collaboration tools.

What is the team composition?

There’s one team lead, who is a senior developer, and two other developers.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

They were recommended to us. We interviewed their resources and were impressed.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $150,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very quality-oriented and openminded to feedback. They work well with our team.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Exoft is very dedicated, and they deliver. They act as if they’re internal employees. They have adapted to our development methodologies and tools. We use Jira and GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re committed to our success and the mutual success of this relationship. They don’t see themselves as an outsourced resource, but rather, as part of the company they work for and with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as part of your team with all of the internal ceremonies. Let them feel and understand the business and customer needs. Have a full engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO of wellsUP, an organization that sells SaaS for the oil and gas industry. We do monitoring and surveillance, as well as diagnostics and optimization of artificial lift systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We needed to apply the latest technologies and use some out-of-the-box thinking. I had a team in India that worked for the company and they were a direct-hire, but they lacked creativity. I wanted a partner who had unique ideas, using some of the latest technologies, Microservices, distributed systems, as well as cloud-based elasticity.

There were a lot of concerns from a SaaS perspective. We wanted someone who had experience on that side, offered good ideas, and was willing to do the research and give us recommendations before they commenced the work. 

We didn't want it to simply provide them with the specs and then have them just carry out the development; wanted someone to help us and steer us in the right direction.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started by giving them an overview of our intention without providing them with written documents and specs. We worked on multiple quick prototypes or proof of concepts (POC) of elements that might be in line with what we were thinking of until we finally agreed on something to move forward with. 

Exoft then helped us write and define complete specs for the software. They did the proof of concept and brainstormed with us to properly define what we wanted. The team also did the development, testing, and validation by hosting the initial product. 

They used C#, Microservices, containers for virtualization technologies, MongoDB, and Cassandra. We used certain types of databases for certain tasks and also structured and unstructured in a different database. The team ported C++ code into it as well. Now, they take care of maintenance. 

What is the team composition?

It varied. My main contact was Ivan (Co-Founder), and he assigned us a project manager who did most of the conference calls and weekly updates.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

Initially, we found them after conducting a search. We sold my old company to a large multinational organization, and Exoft continued to do a lot of work for us. After we sold the company, I stayed there for two years and then when I started my own business, I contacted them.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $300,000–$350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them on this project in 2015, and the work is still ongoing. They still provide maintenance and support, and they’re adding new features as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Anytime I have an issue, Exoft jumps on it immediately. They support my team, and if we need something urgently but it’s still in the approval process, they get me the proof of concept (POC) quickly so that we can validate the idea. Their support is top-notch and that is really the main motivation I have.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided us with progress reports during the development phase. All of the team members can communicate in English, but, occasionally, some of them had a tough time understanding. Nevertheless, it all worked out in the end. 

As far as communicating the progress and the project schedules, their communication is peer-to-peer and prompt. They are always aware of our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One thing that stood out was that anytime we wanted to do something, they were so quick to give me a proof of concept (POC). Other vendors would want you to go engage with them on a long-term contract, overcomplicating the POC. 

When you tell Exoft what you want, they do it quickly. You validate what you want and they go ahead and put meat on the bones.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When you need resources, they might be engaged in other projects. At some points, they had more projects than they could handle. To be fair, when we gave them a heads up, they did provide the resources. 

Sometimes, I selfishly want things to be done faster. However, Exoft isn’t always able to provide me those resources due to their scheduling, workload, and other commitments. Additionally, they all write well in English, but not all of them are fluent in spoken English.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you give them a heads up on any project you want to get done. You will get the right resources for your needs. The best way to leverage them is when you have ideas and want to be creative, engage them early on, and they will come up with a quick proof of concept (POC). 

The team will also help you come up with ideas. If you have any ambiguity about what you want to do, they are a great team to help, and that is what sets them apart.

If you have a project with written specs, there are a million companies that can do it, including them. But if you have out-of-the-box ideas and want to come up with the best and latest and greatest for your environment and your development, they are head and shoulders above a lot of other companies I have worked with.