Exoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide cloud services and programming services. I’m the managing director and the primary person responsible for software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We needed some programmers for an internal project. We are developing a large project to manage cloud services internally. We have in-house developers, but we are a small company which is why we hired additional resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft is providing programming services in C# and UI development in AngularJS. We are responsible for designing everything and making the solution architecture. Sometimes we ask our programmers for help and their opinions. We describe what we want to our programmers, and they deliver the source code to us. Usually, they program microservices based on C# with a database backend and provide the UI for those services which are programmed in Angular JS.

What is the team composition?

We started with two resources, but we are now working with only one. We will expand that next year again.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We used a portal for hiring external programmers, and Exoft answered one of our requests. We had a phone conference with them, and it sounded promising so we decided to try them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent €70,000–€80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have good teamwork. We track the code quality, and usually, it’s quite good. If I have any problem with the code, I report it. We program in an Agile way so I return any issues to Exoft, and they’re usually fixed in a few hours.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We use sprints so we don’t have deadlines. The programmers are achieving their goals within the sprint. I wouldn’t have worked with them for more than a year if they were not performing well. We use a Scrum board and task system to communicate and are always online to chat with their programmers. They are almost always available to me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The engagement the programmers provide is impressive. If there is a problem, they fix it immediately. They understand the problems that we’re trying to solve together. They’re good communicators and take an active part in discussions, helping us to move forward in the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s a good company. I’m happy to work with their pricing, quality, and communication. I would recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Safe Group leverages technology and marketing to promote sexual health and awareness. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We needed high-quality .NET developers to join our own team to help with the backend of our iOS and Android apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The mobile app was already in development when they joined us. They lead the API development, as well as the admin console, which serves to allow app administrators to interface with our client’s records and manage other aspects of the platform. They integrated Pocket Dock, an insurance clearinghouse and eligibility check platform, into the app and assisted in stripe integration for credit card payments made by customers.

What is the team dynamic? 

We worked with five developers from their team. They had a project lead who reports to our project lead.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We were looking for an offshore company because they often offer more competitive rates than companies in Southern California. Through a combination of referrals and research, we found quite a few companies to review and interview. What distinguished Exoft was their depth of knowledge across a wide range of technologies and frameworks, as well as their prompt response to our inquiries about a potential partnership. After reviewing the engineers they intended to assign to us and finding them to be very skilled with strong critical-thinking abilities, we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The expense fluctuates between $75,000 to $100,00 depending on the assignments.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internally, we are very satisfied with their work. Externally, our beta testers have expressed very positive feedback.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They operate on an agile sprint basis, and we have daily scrum meetings. They are very efficient, ensuring that they consistently meet deadlines and deliver clean, quality code. We use Skype and Jora for project management communication and Slack for regular working communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have very strong critical-thinking skills, which have proven to be very helpful in flagging potential issues down the road. They are active in not only developing the backend, but also collaborating with us to refine both the architecture and logic of our product.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure to meet the individual developers you’ll be working with to gauge their passion and knowledge in the technologies they’ll be assisting you with. Prepare a handful of questions to gauge their critical thinking abilities, which is potentially more important than their experience as developers. It’s also an opportunity to see if you have a productive and comfortable dynamic with them. 

I’d also suggest having the firm commit to a small programming test to get a better sense of their coding approach. How they handle this is telling with regard to how they’ll handle your larger projects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the product manager for a rock-climbing app, and I am charged with continuing the evolution of our product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We needed to speed up development of our mobile product through the harnessing of global technical talent. Our app concept is complex and requires dynamic coding of photographs and navigation services, so they needed to have a high level of skill in the field.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Although they are not our only outsourced development team, they are by far the most skilled. The product that Exoft helped to code was to digitize a dynamic version of a climbing guidebook that combines photographs, maps, and GPS to maximize the user’s climbing experience. The end product is a mobile app that is tied into a web-based interface, wherein the two systems are intricately connected for data input. Their work included helping us to locate and fix a number of complicated bugs in our GPS and navigation systems by rebuilding the code from the bottom-up. Their development was primarily in Xamarin.

What is the team dynamic?

So far, we have been working with one person from Exoft, although in the near future we expect them to expand our team size.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We found them on an outsourcing platform, Upwork. Exoft did a trial product, for which they did not charge, and their technical skills truly outshone the competition.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $15,000 to $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged their services in June of 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to clean up our code and improve the extant app’s performance by 300 percent. Although all of our development has involved bug-finding to some degree, Exoft has been the most effective at fixing them.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Atlassian’s Jira product. Our project manager and developer, Roman, is talented, committed to our deadlines, and responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Rather than behave proprietarily about their work, Exoft shared generously with our other outsourced developers to ensure that everyone was working at the highest capacity possible on our end product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Payment can be a challenge, although it might be something to do with our bank specifically rather than being Exoft’s fault. There was the occasional instance where we leaned on their technical expertise quite heavily, and they responded with a few questions that we thought might warrant a little more in-depth thought.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a software development company working on different types of mobile projects. I am a software architect for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

Exoft has helped our company work on certain tasks dependent on UI [user interface] changes. We lack extensive knowledge in that area so Exoft supports our efforts. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with Exoft on one large project for an Android, iOS, and Windows Phone solution used by numerous customers – with different configurations for each of them. It's an enterprise application used by companies for audits, collecting data, maintaining inventories, and other workflows. The data is stored on separate, secure servers. We initially used 3 resources from Exoft and are now only working with 2 of their developers.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We found Exoft through Upwork, which is a site we use for finding developers, designers, content management specialists, and so on.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Exoft in May 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have completed 3 separate releases of our product with Exoft's help. They've helped us complete each one on time, fix bugs, and develop new features. None of that would have been possible without their involvement. 

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Most of the time, Exoft delivered on time and within the expected budget. Delays were usually related to mistaken estimates on our part. Whenever we identified new requirements, the timeline was increased.

We have used our internal task tracking system as well as Skype and email for all project management. I would like to integrate Exoft's team into our bug tracking platform, and we plan on making an account for them shortly.

What did you find most impressive about Exoft?

We haven't worked with any other developers in the same manner as with Exoft. We are using another team, but their involvement is more in-depth, so I cannot provide a comparison.

Are there any areas Exoft could improve?

No. Any improvements necessary were already made.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a mobile app and web development agency building solutions for clients. I am the managing director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We were looking for an outsourced agency that we could use and rely on as backup support and extended project development work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft has provided backend .NET infrastructure work for our company. We haven't used them for mobile development. We have a marketing agency client that works with large brands. We were engaged for building marketing microsites that send API [application programming interface] information to the main company. For example, a company may setup a site for new clients, who could create accounts and receive a URL to a landing page. They would input a code, which is then marked off in the backend.

Another, more advanced project, built on the same infrastructure, involved third parties landing on the site through an API, which then checked the system and marked off a voucher, assigning it a 30-day expiration time.

We have worked on 6–7 sites with Exoft, all low-level work, and have been very pleased with the results delivered. We used around 5 resources from Exoft and interacted with them both directly and through a project manager. We were sent our resources' CVs [curricula vitae], and we also had quick chats with them. They seemed to meet the caliber we wanted. Given the low-level nature of our work, we didn't completely require senior resources as long as they could produce the sites in a set amount of time.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We found Exoft through the web while looking for companies in the Eastern European market. We selected 3 top agencies, vetted them, and ultimately chose Exoft. They had good .NET knowledge as well as good references. The $25 per hour price point was also a factor in the decision. Many Eastern European companies charge around $30 per hour per resource. The communication was good as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Exoft 7 months ago [April 2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're pleased with the overall outcome. Exoft delivered what we set in the specifications, and the backup support was also good.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Our approach depended on what we needed to be developed. More high-level applications would probably require Agile Scrum methodologies. We used basic issue reporting through JIRA, making it easier to eliminate bugs.

What did you find most impressive about Exoft?

I've used many Eastern European agencies and have been open to different collaborations. Exoft is on par with most of their peers, offering good service at a good cost.

Are there any areas Exoft could improve?

Exoft could improve communication on the developer side, making sure that their assigned resources are fluent in English. This is a challenge for many agencies like Exoft: the project manager speaks good English, but not the developers. Needing to go through a project manager in order to get a point across is more difficult than going directly to the resources.

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

One of the developers assigned by Exoft to our project was at a junior level and took much time to make changes. My recommendation for engaging with Exoft would be making sure to get senior developers initially and interviewing them beforehand. Our first resource had to be moved to another project. It's possible that Exoft prioritizes clients based on budget size.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for the Foundation of Economic Education, Fee.org. It’s a 70-year-old nonprofit. We’re dedicated to teaching young people about basic economic principles.

What is your position?

My role is principal web architect.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We had previously used the services of a full service web development and hosting company to completely outsource our web presence. I helped bring it in-house and manage all the source code for the website. As a nonprofit, our budget is limited, and I wanted to expand our capacity for developing new features without having to hire new developers. I found Exoft to help us expand how much development we could do at the given time.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They provided three different services. First, they have a designer who helped us design several new features for Fee.org. Also, they have developers on the backend who implemented those features. Third, they provided a QA resource to test functionality of those features as they were being developed.

We have uploaded several important features for the website. One thing we did is called Fee Stories, where people can register and post their stories based on prompts. This involves integration with Facebook and Google log-in. We could not have done this internally; we had to outsource it. It was a complicated project. It was integrating with social log-ins and pulling the profiles from several social networks.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

I found them on Upwork.com.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was in the $10,000-50,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

It started at the very beginning of 2016. We have an ongoing relationship, but we finished active development with them around the middle of April.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Our Alexa rating, which is our website popularity compared to all the websites on the Internet, has been improving. At the beginning of the year, it was approximately 37,000. Now we’re at 26. That means our traffic is significantly higher. I don’t have a lot of other metrics that I can remember.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Exoft was very responsive. We would provide them with occasional feedback on their developers and tasks. They were always interested in what we had to say and tried to act on our suggestions whenever we made them. Communication was quite good.

What distinguishes Exoft from other providers?

One thing is that they were able to provide any role we had a need for, including frontend development, backend development, testing, and graphic design. They had someone in-house for each of those. It was helpful not to have to outsource to meet those things. The other thing is that Dean, the principal, was always very responsive to my feedback and criticisms.

Is there anything Exoft could have improved or done differently?

Several of their people were not very good from a technical perspective. The first developer we had was quite good, so we got used to that. The second one wasn’t so good. We were surprised and struggled with sending back work that was not up to standard. Dean tried to fix the process, but also stopped using that developer. That was something that was an issue.

BACKGROUND

We are a United States-based technology company selling an award-winning software product to multiple market sectors. We are a small company with less than 10 permanent employees, but a multimillion-dollar annual turnover. I'm working as their chief technology officer. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

As our company is rapidly growing its customer base, the challenge for us was to enhance our software product with new features quickly while simultaneously maintaining the high-quality standards that set our product apart from its competitors. The market for software products like ours is very competitive, and our main advantage is the high performance of our product, which is significantly better than our rivals.

We had limited resourced available to dedicate to all of the new features we wanted built, tested, and implemented. That's when we decided to partner with a development shop.

SOLUTION

After advertising our requirements for skilled ASP.NET MVC [model view controller] developers, we were contacted directly by Exoft. An interview with two of their developers satisfied me immediately and gave me confidence that they were software developers of the highest quality. I was very impressed with their skill set and their positive attitude. They also had a sizable amount of relevant client project experience.

Exoft is engaged for the development of our web application and mobile application, both of which are being developed in parallel. We currently have two web developers and a mobile developer and will expand the team if the circumstances demand it. 

The work continues to be of good quality and the developers are engaging and fun to work with. We have worked with Exoft for the last five to six months and expect to continue to work with them for the foreseeable future

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Results so far have been met with universal approval from internal stakeholders here as well as our external end-users. The solution is extremely stable and very few bugs have been discovered. 

Internally, we as a company have been very impressed with the work so far, especially when compared to suppliers used previously. Our chief executive officer is delighted and our other board members have remarked very favorably on the overall quality of the latest product release. To date, Exoft has met all targets and deliverables and we view the engagement as a total success. From our point of view, Exoft has provided highly skilled and motivated software developers at a very competitive rate and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to others.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We provide SaaS [software-as-a-service] software that is focused on the service industry. We are based in the United Kingdom and employ roughly 20 people. The solution is sold in the U.K., United States, and Australia.

What is your position?

I'm a systems analyst.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

The challenge was to take an existing unfinished solution and complete it. Therefore, Exoft had to come in and gain a full understanding of our mid-market ERP [enterprise resource planning] software and then deliver both software development and QA [quality assurance] services. This was undertaken in an agile environment with little time to get things wrong. We delivered the specifications and guided them through the business logic and they handled the custom development and implementation.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

I actually found Exoft on Elance and began by testing them with a few small and complex tasks. They completed these quickly and to a very high standard. I have previously employed many high-quality software engineers in the U.K., and I can say with my hand on my heart that the guys at Exoft are not only superior technically, but also appear to care about what they are doing. This is a huge differentiator. The overall scope was the development of QA of many aspects of the MYS software platform. Including some database design, UI/UX [user interface/user experience] design and many programming tasks. They also provided second line support when required to a very high standard. The provider manages all developers and the delivery of tasks and QA.

What is the status of this engagement?

We're still using their services. They've been instrumental. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback from this engagement?

The team at Exoft always delivers on time, on budget and with a high degree of professionalism. They assisted in developing complex business software solutions and sorting some very complex issues. They provided Silverlight, native mobile, ASP.NET development, and QA services. Feedback from internal stakeholders here and our external end-users has always remained very positive.

What distinguishes them from other providers? 

A unique quality that they possess is their engineering and technical knowledge. At the end of the day when you are building a software solution, you want to deal with A-list players who have solid personalities and understand the pressures of business delivery. If you have a complex challenge and need to find someone who "can" deliver, choose these guys.

Are there areas in which they could improve or things they could have done differently?

I can't think of anything, to be honest. Our experience has been entirely positive, and we continue to take advantage of their capabilities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're an IT [information technology] consulting company delivering professional consulting services for enterprise companies like Swisscom, Deutsche Telekom, German Rail, big insurance companies, and banks, and providing consulting in Microsoft environments and using various Microsoft technologies. At the moment, we're building up a new data center. We are creating new software, new strategies and, in half a year, we will provide our own cloud. Our business will transform from a traditional IT consulting company to a data center and cloud provider.

What is your position?

I am the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We started with specific a part of the company conducting a status check-analyzing program. That is a technology where we can realize and recognize how well a company is using a specific Microsoft product. It will identify bottlenecks, weaknesses, inefficiencies and things of that nature, so we can figure out how to implement fixes.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in more detail.

Exoft actually got the job to write an application, and put the different frameworks into one framework, making performance improvements, and doing state-of-the-art development. That was the initial project with them, and they used the .NET framework for this project.

We have a few projects going on with them. The latest project is for a huge automobile manufacturer here in Germany, and they are going to analyze the software and develop code. We definitely extended the business with them. They are using PowerShow, they are using the complete Microsoft stack, and they are using System Center. We are using these technologies, too, so they need to know all the stuff to finish these different applications. They have delegated four to eight people full time, including one or two quality assurance officers working for the different projects.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

I was searching on the global market. I was searching in Eastern Europe, I was searching in Russia, China, and India. I traveled a lot to make the vetting process more comprehensive. I created a demo application that they should review, and I made mistakes in there on purpose. The guys from Exoft were the only ones who wrote back what was wrong with it, and they did it completely fresh and new, and now it's working. That was quite cool, and that's the way I chose them. I performed a global search, and they were ones with the fastest and most accurate response.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It should be around 60,000 to 80,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them at the end of 2012 or early 2013 – around that time. We still use them now.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback from this engagement?

That's very difficult. We actually don't have any metrics to share. We don't have any maximum hours or something. We want quality, so we decided to have a commitment on an hourly basis. For instance, if they need 10 hours, they will charge us 10 hours. We have an unlimited contract. They can charge us as much as they need, and we have actually no special metric that helps us realize whether they're good or not. The only way is actually using the production ready code they deliver, which, for the most part has been great.

We have weekly meetings in which every developer is presenting what he did, so we know the amount of bugs, and then the amount of bugs that are being tracked and getting fixed. It's more like scrum – dynamically driven. They are on time, on track, and bug-free 80 to 85 percent of the time. Of course, there are little amounts that are too late, but it's difficult. Sometimes, it's very complex. We don't have any cost estimates, but I'm very happy with the cost overall. We have a short discussion on the hours they need, and that's what they charge us. It's good.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn't use any project management tools with them. We used Skype to stay in contact with them during the course of the project. They have user accounts in our corporate network, so they have email accounts in our company. They are reachable 24 hours for us. Developers are often online, so we can chat with the person who actually develops the specific part of the software. We're not using phones anymore. We only use internet technologies.

What distinguishes Exoft from other providers?

It's a very close contact. We regularly meet and discuss the points from both sides. We are very closely in touch with each other. That's the way we manage our relationship. Exoft is open-minded. We talk openly about things, and we don't hide anything. It's perfect. They are perfect. Take them as they are. They are cool and produce great quality work.

Is there anything Exoft could have improved or done differently?

There are sometimes situations where they can improve. The software got complex, so it's very difficult for us to find the issue and the bug. But, that's not something related to Exoft – that's nothing negative. Developers code in their environment, when you put the software to an enterprise company there are firewall rules, there are enterprise infrastructures, and there are many parts of the company involved.

Then, if something doesn't work, it's very difficult to find the issues. Of course, there were times when they said the software is working, but it wasn't, so we needed to invest a lot of time to find the mistakes, and they helped us out a lot to figure out where we could improve the software. That's normal – it's calculated.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a medical software and e-health company.

What is your position?

My role is chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We were deciding between an offshore and a nearshore team for product development. We were looking to move that from Ireland, where it's very expensive.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

It was full stack – we do our development operations in Ireland, and the products roadmap function remains in Ireland, along with the CTO role. Other than that, we outsource the full development stack, so database design, development, coding, back-end and front end. They primarily use Microsoft technology: C#, ASP.NET, and some jQuery libraries, so it's NBC5 architecture.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We had a long list of 10 companies. Exoft was one of the three companies we found on oDesk, which now merged with another company [UpWork]. We had previously worked with other companies for smaller oDesk contracts. We just put it up there and they replied. We were impressed with their proposal and capabilities. The long list became five, then three, and then we picked them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was in the low six figures.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them this year in February [2015], and the collaboration is still ongoing. We have a number of dedicated resources on their end.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've gone from two to seven resources in Exoft. We've launched in the Danish market, so we've done a full localization of the platform into Danish. Our company was one of the top five tech startups in Europe. It worked out well.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

The quality of the work by Exoft was fantastic. Project management is difficult, and we probably need a full-time project manager. That's probably nine out of 10 for technology and probably six for the project management. It's not uncommon. It's a mixed model. We do the project management, but we probably need a project manager there as well.

What distinguishes Exoft from other providers?

We stayed away from far shores – the likes of India, Philippines, and other countries like that. We feel the Ukrainian and Romanian developers have a better design sensibility for developing enterprise applications to be used by Western Europe, United States, and Australasia users. The English speaking level is more or less native. On the design side of things and in general, their coding ability is very high.

Is there anything Exoft could have improved or done differently?

It's probably a scaling thing for them. The ability to have a dedicated account manager is probably the main thing. We're probably just in or around that stage now. There's a certain time or scale when you need to bring that person in.