F5 Buddy

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of a baking company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F5 Buddy?

We needed help with digital marketing services for our company.

SOLUTION

What is the scope of their involvement?

F5 Buddy provides social media marketing (SMM) services for us. They focus on creating visuals for Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, based on a content calendar they've created. In addition, they're managing our social media accounts by taking care of any complaint raised in the comment section.

What is the team composition?

I'm in contact with three people from F5 Buddy's team, including a designer, a project manager, and a social media manager.

How did you come to work with F5 Buddy?

We had a tender, inviting over a hundred vendors to bid on this project. We scrutinized 10–15 vendors and finally settled on F5 Buddy based on their proposal, which suited our requirements.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have spent about $10,000 on the project.

What is the status of the engagement?

We started working with them in April 2022, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have close to 14,000 likes on our Facebook page and almost 4,000 followers on Twitter, which is a great success for us.

How did F5 Buddy perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is perfect; F5 Buddy works well within our budget and is able to meet our deadlines. Regarding tools, we use Jira to manage the project and Skype and email for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a creative team with great expertise and knowledge in their fields.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear strategy for what you expect. Having open lines of communication would be great for both ends.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an executive at a match-making company. My key responsibilities include ensuring that the website and the Android and iOS apps keep running, are protected from hacking or cyberattacks, and are updated and responsive to all available devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F5buddy?

We were looking for advertising and marketing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

F5 Buddy created a blogging platform for us and integrated it with our WordPress website. We needed a blog with well-managed posts and SEO compatibilities, as well as sharing options on various social media platforms like Facebook. They also made our website SEO-friendly and more eye-catching to attract more users.

What is the team composition?

We only worked with a project manager from their team.

How did you come to work with F5buddy?

We found them on Upwork. We posted our project there, and they were among the bidders.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $1,500 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2018–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have around 100 posts on the blog they created, with enabled end user engagement and sharing capabilities for Facebook and other social media channels.

How did F5buddy perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Upwork as our main project management and communication tool. Regarding deadlines, every milestone we set, they delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were good at graphics — their designs were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could've made the blog graphics lighter; the graphics they designed were eye-catching but heavy in size, which slowed our website.

Any advice for potential customers?

I recommend people working with them because they're good at their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hie , I am Deepanshu Garg , Co- founder and CEO of Mindjini.in and Readymatrimony.com, a verified vendor on CLutch as well My company provides IT services including mobile app development , Ecom Development , CRM integration etc

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire F5 Buddy, and what were your goals?

We were looking for a vendor who can develop a ecom for us with marketplace where the user can register either as a seller or buyer , Can sell or buy products with Facility of online payment and other things

SOLUTION

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

We were searching for a good vendor with experience in similar project , We found some vendors through upwork.com and google , shortlisted and finally settled with f5 buddy after a series of discussion and evaluating various factors like cost and previous experience etc

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

We had a series of meeting through ZOOM and spends more than 150+ hours in finalizing the technology , scope of work , milestones, third party services required (like payment gateway , hosting etc)

The project was divided in 3 phases ,

• Documentation and design including wireframes
• Coding
• Testing and Bug fixing

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

I have a team of 4 persons working for me 1 PM , 2 coder, and 1 designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are lucky to get signup of around 1000+ user in first month of registration , Although the rate of sign up goes up and down , still we have a good number of active users now

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

Since we have spend a considerable time on documentation and SOW therefore it is easy for us to keep the project on track and on time . Thanks to Trello , our project management tools that helped us stay focused and stay on track

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

the most impressive is the cost and timelines. They were always ready to deliver the project at a better rate and in a short time frame.

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

The designer is not too creative , althoug we have designs that are good enough , but we are expecting a better one

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Mindjini.in, an IT consultant company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F5 Buddy?

We needed to build a mobile app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

F5 Buddy has developed a mobile app, a food editor application that can connect restaurants with customers. People can order food from a restaurant, and we deliver it.

Initially, we provided F5 Buddy with our requirements. We took around a month to figure out the wireframes; then, we started designing and developing. They’ve used Node.js and Flutter for the Android app, and the iOS version is still in development.

The app has three parts; the restaurant side allows restaurants to sign up and place their menus to make their food available for delivery. The second part is the user application; users can sign up and select the delivery time and other details. Finally, agents or delivery partners can access the orders, choose them, and deliver them to the customers.

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–7 teammates, including a project manager, 1–2 designers, a coder, and two testers.

How did you come to work with F5 Buddy?

They were local, so it was convenient for us to communicate with them. Proximity was a priority, but they also had a good portfolio with similar projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2022, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve launched the Android app; we have around 2,000 downloads for the user application. Additionally, about 100 restaurants and 100 delivery partners are collaborating with us.

How did F5 Buddy perform from a project management standpoint?

They meet deadlines perfectly. We can see the progress and give feedback on Jira, and we communicate via email and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their project management is highly professional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should work a bit more on graphics.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. They’re very professional; just have your required documents ready.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own a marketing firm and we outsource some of our work to our F5 partners. We can always rely on their team to go above and beyond to meet deadlines and requirements.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire F5 Buddy?

We have partnered with F5 Buddy for websites as well as custom software projects. In most cases, their finished product looks even better than we could have originally imagined!

What were your goals for this project?

Our primary goal for this project was to develop a real estate platform that would change business locally and allow for new business to easily be completed through our system.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

The two things that come to mind are that F5 Buddy is VERY responsive and they always hit deadlines. Their team is excellent at communicating. They never shy away from asking additional questions about a particular function and always push to complete projects by the deadline.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We approached F5 Buddy with a custom development project. The project included complex functionality that we outlined in a flow chart. Given this was our first large project through F5, I was a little hesitant.

We are nearly complete with the project and we have been more than pleased with their work! They have proven more than capable of handling large projects and incorporating multiple APIs into one system.

What was the team composition?

One of the nice things about F5 Buddy is that you generally speak with one team lead. This allows you to communicate to one person, they understand what needs to be accomplished, and then they divide the work amongst their team as they see fit. This allows for projects to be completed in a timely manner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don't have metrics to share, but I would like to reiterate that our initial experience with F5 Buddy has lead us to work with them across multiple projects. We are proud to partner with F5 Buddy and look forward to the projects we will conquer in the future.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Google Drive to outline diagrams, screenshots, and changes across the project. This platform was our choice and worked great for this particular project.

Our team has worked with multiple contractors across the years and language has been an issue with many of these contractors. As we moved through the project, we were delighted to find out that language wasn't a barrier. Our instructions were clearly received and implemented on a regular basis.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Patience. Throughout the project we would develop a function one way, find out that it wasn't the best option for the end user, and then have it developed an entirely different way. This can be frustrating from a developer's standpoint, but F5 Buddy was more than happy to help change the function so that the end-user would have a better experience on the platform.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We honestly believe the only area for improvement would be on our end. We feel like we could have done a better job of explaining the project from the start. We look forward to working with F5 Buddy again and truly appreciate their quick responses, their patience, and their drive. Thanks again, F5 Buddy! :D

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of 7 Design. We’re a web design and development business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire F5 Buddy?

We needed a partner to assist us with more advanced projects.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to satisfy our clients with customized and high-performing solutions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I’ve had many outsourcing partners in the past and F5 Buddy offered consistently high-quality services.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

F5 Buddy worked with our team on more complex projects, some of which included social media counters, multi-vendor shopping websites, and customized map plugins. Their services covered offering advice, launching the live product, and everything in between. The team walked us through the process and even provided walk-through videos for more difficult elements to assure we understood their methods.

What was the team composition?

They provided a developer for each project we collaborated on. All of our experiences have been positive.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

F5 Buddy’s assistance, our internal team had more time to interact with our end-clients. We were able to take on a wider range of projects that fell outside our in-house skillset, which translated to more business for our company.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Occasionally, the time difference was an issue, but we understood this and would do our best to adjust our schedules accordingly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their team is very talented. They always completed our projects, no matter the level of complexity.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There isn’t much that they could improve on. F5 Buddy is very good at what they do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

London Labels is a label printing company in Australia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire F5 Buddy?

We hired F5 Buddy to improve our very basic website and boost SEO rankings

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted our online presence to generate more client queries.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them via LinkedIn.

Describe the project in detail.

The first month of the project was spent updating and enhancing the existing website. Work over the next six months focused on implementing approved keywords to improve our rankings.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two project managers—one was the main point of contact, and the other was responsible for the SEO component. They were both very professional and helpful from the beginning, and I really appreciated their assistance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any statistics or metrics that speak to the quality of their work and impact of the engagement?

Our website now ranks on the first page of Google for important keywords. There have been some queries, but we understand it may take time to get the traffic we want.

How did F5 Buddy perform from a project management standpoint?

The team has been very pleasant to work with. As an international client, face-to-face meetings aren’t always possible, so their communication skills—which are great—were important.

What impresses you about F5 Buddy?

Not only do we have a beautiful and informative website, but F5 Buddy has consistently provided excellent service and professionalism.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are none I can think of at this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the managing director of a website design and development company. In a company of this size, my role involves account management, project management, consultancy, and design.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire F5 Buddy?

We hired F5 Buddy to build several client sites during 2017. For this specific project, they took Photoshop files and faithfully created the WordPress theme using 14 different templates for this job. This was the largest site we've worked on together so far.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed F5 Buddy to build templates and integrate with our work processes. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

F5 Buddy sent us a message originally. Since we were looking to test a couple of outsourcing providers, we wanted to give them a try.

Describe the project in detail.

F5 built templates from our Photoshop files and added them to our WordPress installation. They tied the HTML for the templates into the custom fields and plugins that were already installed. The project was intermediate in terms of difficulty, and some early elements required some nifty CSS work.

What was the team composition?

We worked with their director, a project manager, and a frontend WordPress developer. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

Both our team and our client have been happy with the outcome. The site was fairly extensive but not complex. We're looking forward to launching it.

How effective was the project management?

We used Google Sheets to manage the requirements and progress of the project and shared updates through Skype calls. F5 Buddy responded to our questions about quality assurance (QA) testing, which was a great help.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They offer great value for money for template builds and are working on improving their QA testing by using tools like Google Sheets and asking more questions about our intentions for certain aspects of the design. I’m glad they check-in with us instead of working based on an assumption.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

F5 Buddy should be more proactive in asking questions about each template. Sometimes, they make assumptions instead of asking questions. Additional communication would be useful in order to move projects along.

In the past, some of their deliverables had to be checked, so I would recommend F5 Buddy to an agency that has in-house capabilities but needs to outsource the bulk of the work due to cost concerns. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Strategic Analytic Solutions. We provide risk analytics and predictive modeling services to assist community banks, credit unions, and financial institutions in measuring, managing and controlling risk in their organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire F5 Buddy?

We wanted to develop an impactful website that clearly communicates the services that our organization provides.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to improve our organization’s online visibility and communicate the benefits of our customized predictive analytic services.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

F5 Buddy was selected from an analysis and comparison of several web development providers that we found online that suited our design, communication, and design flexibility.

Describe the project in detail.

They handled the migration and redesign of our organization’s website from a SharePoint-based architecture to WordPress, improving page flow and more clearly communicating the services that we provide.

Explain how the solution addressed your business challenge.

They brought simplicity and clarity in introducing and explaining the services our organization offers.

What was the team composition?

They provided a small but effective, agile, and responsive team comprised of a project manager and experienced web developers that assisted per project needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

F5 Buddy’s work has improved our online visibility and significantly reduced our online marketing costs.

How effective was the project management?

They are extremely professional and timely in all aspects of project communication, whether through email or direct phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have outstanding communication, extremely professional staff, and quality deliverables. They’re an ideal partner and have extensive experience in online marketing, search engine optimization, value creation, and more. They’re also the perfect partner to assist smaller organizations in improving their online visibility.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the senior developer and general manager of an IT-based company founded in September 2013 with headquarters in Malta and an operational office in Italy. We deal with web development, consulting, app development, and staff augmentation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire F5 Buddy?

We hired them to undertake several projects such as website and web app development using various programming languages, CMSs [Content Management Systems], and frameworks.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to have them develop websites and web apps for our clients because had other important projects coming in.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had worked with other companies before but always found myself let down. When I searched for vendors, F5 Buddy seemed professional, helpful, and accurate. I’m thriving with them and we will continue to work together for a long time.

Describe the project in detail.

They handle the development of various websites in different fields such as e-learning, investment reporting, competitions, and even institutional sites. They’ve mostly used WordPress as a CMS, CodeIgniter, and Symfony as frameworks, as well as PHP.

What was the team composition?

The team consists of various professional and precise people who vary according to the design and technologies used per project. The team leaders are always the same, though.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

All the projects they have made for me are online and my clients are very satisfied. We’re still working together.

How effective was the project management?

The project manager and team leaders are very helpful, competent, and professional. They have very good developers and are well organized.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

They are a truly reliable and competitive company. I recommend working with them and I hope we will be able to collaborate more and more with bigger and more important projects.