Fill Labs

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of the company called Tiny White Bird. It is a full-service digital marketing agency and also specializing in mobile and web app design and development. I have various roles ranging from full stack development to developing marketing strategies.

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

We wanted to cooperate with Fill Labs to create an app that would make decision making faster and more effective. Our objective was to release the app as an MVP on both Android and iOS and collect feedback from consumers along the way.

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

We worked side by side on a different project for another customer. I was working on a separate side of the project with the customer, and we cooperated on various aspects of the projects. We decided to collaborate with them since we had strong communication and relationship.

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

They have been an active member of the development teams for both the backend and the frontend, as well as coordinating the project management and testing positions.

Finally, our aim was to construct iOS and Android applications from which we could get feedback for the next phase. We picked React Native since it was their strongest suit in the realm of mobile app development.

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

There are two business analysts, one senior full stack software developer, and one mid-senior full stack software developer in the team for our project. They were also in responsibility handling project management and testing.

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

We were able to get the project up and running in the App Store and Google Play. Also, the project's MVP really aided us in gathering input to make the next version effective, as well as providing insight into what we can achieve and what we can expect.

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

They were very quick to start the project from the bottom up, and they constantly contacted with us on a daily basis to keep us up to date. They were really committed to the project's management and testing components.

They successfully delivered the code for our team's next step. They have also made extensive use of project management and software development technologies.

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

They were great at communicating and being proactive. They accept the same level of responsibility that we did. We don't worry about the quality of their job when we collaborate with them.

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

While their testing procedure was decent, it had the potential to be flawless. Their bug-finding abilities were adequate, however they could be faster while catching more bugs.

Introduce your business and what you do there

I’m the CEO and shareholder of an automotive aftermarket business; I own half the company. We serve automotive car dealers and provide them with devices and supplies. We produce those devices at a production facility in Istanbul, and the supplies are related to our devices.

We’re one of the biggest companies in our markets, serving nearly every dealer in Turkey. We have around 500 customers, a team of 20 people in the field serving them every day, and about a thousand devices on the field.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fill Labs?

We’d tried to develop our CRM on our own, but it wasn’t efficient. When we first started, we didn't have any software to reach our customers and devices. We noticed that we needed a CRM platform and a server for our devices to increase our efficiency on the field to serve our customers better.

We hired a team in our own company and started coding our software. After six months, the platform was out, but we had major problems, such as data loss. In general, the CRM system was running at a low speed, and we had some lag. When our salespeople logged into the system, it was unavailable, or it logged out some of them.

We wanted to work with professionals to replace our team, so we hired Fill Labs to help us with development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

After meeting with Fill Labs, we agreed to work on our new platform. Then, the analysis process started — they analyzed our daily job and talked to the people working in the field. They also checked the devices and how we communicated with them on the platform that we previously built.

After three meetings, they gave us feedback on what they'd like to do on the platform. The team said the CRM system needed to be updated. They’d be rewriting and renewing it, and we’d have some data loss in the platform because it was old technology.

Additionally, they gave us good feedback on our business model. Fill Labs let us know that if they implemented the new technology on the platform, we’d be able to do some specific tasks that were out of our capabilities at that moment. For example, they said they could trigger a process in the platform to give instant bonuses to the field personnel after using the device successfully. We weren’t aware of that technology at the moment.

To jumpstart the process, we drew out a schedule with three phases, and they started coding the platform. Fill Labs was in charge of the UX/UI. The first phase was to build the UX/UI to get our approval and then continue to build the infrastructure behind it. 

Then, our data speeds were very low, and we had issues regarding the login. The team told us that it was not a scalable platform, but we didn't know what scalable meant at the time. In summary, the interface was slow; we had to wait about 10–15 seconds to load properly for it to operate. Then, if 10–15 people were logged in simultaneously, those times would be longer.

Now, we can see how the devices are performing and remotely monitor them. They’ve addressed the issues and are currently working on a new platform to overcome the challenge. They’re also developing an entirely new CRM because the other one was built on old technology. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with three people: an analyst, the CTO, and one technical person who has helped us understand the business.

How did you come to work with Fill Labs?

Turkey’s automotive industry is small, and one of the owners was part of it. Although I’d personally never met him, we knew each other from the automotive space. Fill Labs was helping our partners on some projects. We got some references from their old customers; they were all good, so we decided to give them a call.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $30,000 in total.

What is the status of the engagement?

Our partnership kicked off in January 2019, and we’re still engaged with them. We need to update the technologies from time to time due to some security protocols that must be renewed. We’ve also asked them to help us do a new module and update some fields on the UX/UI.

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

We’ve developed a payment system with them. Before the platform, we were giving out bonuses every month depending on the usage of our devices and had to travel to give the money by hand. Fill Labs’ platform enables monitoring devices remotely, and if a successful operation is completed on the device, it triggers the payment and immediately gives the bonus to the seller. Thanks to this, our efficiency is higher. Also, it has made a huge difference in our daily work because we couldn't do this beforehand.

Our scalability has also risen. If we had 10 customers and then went to 50, our login times would be about 10–15 seconds in our previous system. With the new platform, we log in instantly and never wait for any data to show up on the screen.

Before, we had to manually refresh the browser to have the new number feed the screen, but the new platform enables us to get the data from the devices in real-time. If the device sends some message, users can immediately feed on the screen, which has made an enormous difference.

On the other hand, the bugs on the platform were on the machine communication side because it was a complex mechanism. The devices were already on the field, and they had to communicate with a new platform. However, Fill Labs was prompt at responding to these bugs in phase three. We wanted to address the machine communication in the last phase so we could read everything in order and then focus on the machine side.

Overall, it was a spot-on decision. They told us to move carefully so we could see the technical challenges and the device communication phase. The team put it to the last to ensure that the CRM and the other side of the platform were working correctly. Therefore, if we have a bug after that, we’ll know it’s coming from the machines and the device communication.

Moreover, they do predetermined routine checks to ensure that we’re facing the bugs first instead of the customer. We had a limited area test first on 1–2 machines in the field. Some bugs came up, but we fixed them immediately and moved to a larger base of devices. From the technical side, they have personnel that we can communicate with in this regard. One of our software engineers also focuses on the device communication side, and they look to fix bugs every day.

How did Fill Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve delivered our project on time. As a business owner, I want the tasks delivered as fast as possible, and the best part is that they always give us dates and how long a particular task will take. However, they’ve required our patience because these tasks demand testing. Therefore, we have to wait for the tasks to be completed because we’ll have bugs and unhappy users if we rush things.

Moreover, we were well within our budget for the project. We can always find people claiming to do the same thing at a lower price, but they're not cheap. Fill Labs’ work is good, and we didn’t pay too much.

On their side, they use Microsoft tools to keep software engineers updated on the project. On our side, we use Trello because it's a basic tool to understand what's going on. Additionally, they can translate a business to the Trello tasks, and we can follow everything on one screen.

Right now, we only communicate with one software engineer, and we can see what they're working on using Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most powerful part of them is how they analyze the business. They’ve understood how we work. Secondly, they’re good at communicating their analysis, and the third thing is delivery.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At this moment, there’s nothing they need to improve.

Any advice for potential customers?

They're excellent partners. If you effectively give your analysis to them, they’ll handle the rest. Let them take control of the process; just do your part.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the e-commerce and business development executive of a company focused on e-commerce operations in Turkey. They started their business as a wholesaler in 2014, but diverted directions into e-commerce first, and then to the distribution of global brands.

After discovering precious opportunities in e-commerce, they discovered that there as an opportunity to build a website.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fill Labs?

There were lots of websites ready for us in the market, but there was an opportunity in global e-commerce for data mining. Fill Labs helped with website and mobile app development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before beginning this project, it was important for us to persuade our owner because he's a bit old-fashioned guy. Fill Labs had a lot of experience before we started our business, so they shared their vision with us, helped us talk to our own, and found the right UI/UX designers.

Building an e-commerce website is different than building a traditional website, so Fill Labs needed to understand our needs and building something that fit them. Having this website gives us a chance to play the game in a way that we want by allowing us to build non-traditional connections with our regular customers.

We are in a stage where we will go live after purchasing our servers.

What is the team composition?

There are around 10 people on the team, including a project manager, developers, and some people were helping us understand the developers’ technical language as well, translating from technical to non-technical speak.

How did you come to work with Fill Labs?

I have a friend in Japan who is involved with business investment and they referred me to Fill Labs. As I checked them out, I realized we went to the same university.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent about $35,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in September 2020, and it's still ongoing. We completed phase one and then the mobile app, which will be live within this month. 

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

Before Fill Labs, it was hard for us to find a team of people or even a single worker who could follow up on the results. The responsibility always fell to me to follow up with everyone and ask where we were, what we were doing, and when the project would be over.

With Fill Labs, I get to relax. After a meeting, they follow up with an email that shows us the progress of the project at every stage. They’re perfect for me. All the problems we’ve encountered have come from my side.

How did Fill Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re awesome. We’ve changed so many employees on our side, and they’ve have educated and trained every single one without us asking. The training extends to the smallest tasks, too, like uploading a product to the panel or recording videos and putting them into the drive.

Fill Labs might be a small company, but all of them have the same vision, taste for the work, and desire to help customers reach their best product.  

In terms of communication, we have a WhatsApp group.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They follow up and keep their promises about hitting deadlines. This isn’t the norm with most companies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything at the moment.

Any advice for potential customers?

Tell them in detail about your dreams and what you want to achieve, and they will help you actualize them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and COO of a food travel platform in Japan.

What challenge were you trying to address with Fill Labs?

We wanted to create a travel platform. Since we’re a small company, we needed developers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fill Labs has worked on custom software development. In the beginning, it was the travel platform for foreigners coming to Japan to book food experiences.

The main website started with the food experiences, which was a large project. We had food cooking classes, setting events, and admin, host, and user panels. It was like an Airbnb or Trip Advisor platform for multiple users. Fill Labs developed the website and its mobile version. We continued the maintenance contract for one year, and then we started a second project for a restaurant reservation site.

Since it's difficult to call restaurants and make reservations in Japan because they don't speak English well or use online reservations, they added restaurant reservation functions to the site using interesting technologies. We created a system that automatically receives the reservation information, transforms it into voice, and makes a phone call to the Japanese restaurant in Japanese automatically. Using this technology, foreigners can reserve at any restaurant.

Currently, we’re doing a third project. We’re adding an e-commerce function to the website, and we started about three weeks ago.

What is the team composition?

Every project is different. We had project managers, one tester, and three developers for the last project. Another two other people are in supportive positions, not full-time.

How did you come to work with Fill Labs?

We found them online after we shared some ads online. Also, I had some friends who had friends in other countries; they introduced me to different options.

Since it's expensive to find a development company in Japan, we were looking for a global source. We got offers from Vietnam, China, Ukraine, and Turkey. In the end, Fill Labs’ proposal was the best one in terms of service quality and price.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration began in December 2018, and it's still ongoing. We’re in the middle of an e-commerce project, which will end in April 2022.

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

Complying with the deadline is vital for us, so they have to finish the project before the deadline. Otherwise, we may not make the last payment. However, Fill Labs has delivered all the projects on time, and we’re happy with their service.

We also look at the number of bugs in the system. If there were lots of errors, we wouldn't accept the project. Moreover, we have an SEO consultant, and he analyzed the website and checked the Google site speed insights. Everything was fast and working correctly. They’ve passed all of our criteria, and we’ve accepted their work.

How did Fill Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re awesome. Working with Fill Labs isn’t like working with another company — they become a part of your team and feel the same responsibility. Usually, other companies will do whatever you ask them, but Fill Labs is proactive. They can come up with different ideas, suggestions, and improvements.

We use GitLab for our project management and Slack for communication. If they have questions, they add them on GitLab, and we reply there. Also, we talk to each other and have weekly update meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Fills Labs’ team is proactive, and they take on the same responsibility as us. When we work with them, we don't worry about the quality of work. They take some part of the work from us, so it’s easy and relaxing to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the moment, there isn’t anything. We haven't experienced any problem so far.

Any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with them directly and keep them up to date. Explain what do you expect from them and share all your expectations. Sometimes they have questions about minor details; if you reply fast, they’ll work smoothly.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was a senior developer in the team that Fill Labs supported. It was a small and mostly junior team which worked to maintain a highly complex architecture and required outside help to deliver features.

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

The company needed to modernize its customer facing website but the engineering department was severely understaffed. We worked with Fill Labs to initially replace a spring mvc project with a nodejs solution. After that project was completed, the company decided to keep them on and we worked on creating a performance focused mobile site as well.

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

I was only involved in technical interviews and I gave my thumbs up mainly because of their approach to programming. Even though we did not agree on the specifics on various topics, they were reasonable in their arguments and they communicated them clearly.

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

The mission was replacing a customer facing spring mvc app with a nodejs based server-side rendering solution using react. In order to utilize the many different microservices, we also created an api gateway (also on nodejs, with graphql). Even though Fill Labs was hired for their client-side offerings (mainly react code), the company relied on them for backend work (on the api gateway and the nodejs ssr service) as well.

The experience they brought to the table, especially for our team, was invaluable. Because of that, they were consulted for every major tech related decision the company took in the time that we worked together.

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

One person worked with us as a senior developer.

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

The company regarded itself as a startup and it became profitable for the first time soon after the projects were released.

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

They were very flexible in tool usage, adopted the company defaults on day 1, and they were a joy to work with. I do not recall an instance when they were not on time.

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

It is very hard to find people who are experienced, reasonable and good at communications. That combination was the most impressive part about Fill Labs for me.

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

They are a small company and they were smaller still when I worked with them. It can influence the type of jobs they can take on and I believe that they can do much greater things if they can grow while keeping up the quality.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was VP of Engineering as getting software development service from the Fill Labs.

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

We had an outdated mobile and desktop web sites and it was not easy to add new features.

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

We started a recruitment process first and then, we set a call with Fill Labs via our mutual friends. Before the call, we had some thoughts about what we need. During the meeting, we realised that Fill Labs team had already completed a couple of projects by using a bunch of cutting edge technologies and tools.

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

After having a deal to work together, we had a clear vision about what to do and how to do. We had a decision about the tool set, technologies and so forth.

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

1

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

After completing the projects, we had what we had discussed before starting them. We hit the budget & time target and the result was really impressive.

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

The Fill Labs engineer was highly passionate throughout the project as they adhered to using the right toolset. We used a common issue tracker to make the steps visible for all the stake holders.

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

The most impressive part was that they have a tremendous experience on the cutting edge technologies and Software Development Life Cycle.

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

Always, there is something that could have been done differently but if you set the expectation at first and stick to it, Fill Labs will meet them with high standards.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a senior langugage specialist at the Turkish Language Institution which is the center of language studies of Turkey.

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

We’re preparing an etymological dictionary and we saw that we need a database where we can scan many books at the same time and from different places. The best solution was to have an web-based software. Then we found the Fill-labs.

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

We interviewed many companies for this software. The Fill Lbs team has been a better choice than the others with the succesful portfolio and creative and also quick suggestions.

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

We had weekly meetings to discuss our goals and follow the process. After one month the team designed and developed a beta version of the website. We runned a lot of test. After in two months we completed the work.

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

We worked with Cagri, Seray, Fatih and Erkan from Fill-labs as software developers and co-founders.

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

With this engagement we got the software before the deadline we set and we got the software that running smoothly and we reached 446 active users in a short time. Our website “metinveritabani.tdk.gov.tr” is still running smoothly.

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

They worked on schedule, they always had a proactive mind and they did the job successfully.

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

They are kind people as much as they are humble and there are many software developers around, but it is extremely difficult to find such as good communicators also.

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

We have not come across any areas they could improve in the course of our work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Im the Software Development Manager of the consumer finance company "Koc Finansman A.S." at Turkey / Istanbul

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

We had some sort of lacking front-end development skills. So we did need to get help to implement best practices in front end development. They also helped us with innovative ideas about our SDLC processes.

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

We defined our needs and shared these needs with many vendors that we know or we found by investigation. And then we collected offers from these vendors. And then we did a technical review with the consultants of these vendors. After the technical review we decided to work with Fill Labs though they were not the cheapest solution.

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

We have more than one SPAs developed with react.js. These apps are getting bigger with each new development. They helped us to transform, develop and maintain with best practices, Typescript and functional components.

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

1 senior software developer worked with us. He joined to our agile team and helped development o the frontend user stories.

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

We transformed into an easily readable, maintainable codebase.

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

We were using Jira and Slack. They were familiar with these tools. We had also email and phone choices.

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

They always develop themselves. They try to learn new technologies and give a chance to them. They like to talk about and share their knowledge.

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

The only thing I can say is they are a bit expensive according to their competitors. But they worth it.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Company Director of Monitorics. Monitorics is a IT Services company who delivers web performance monitoring services to their clients.

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

We needed software development services to take our product forward. Our goal was to develop new releases of the product by adding new features.

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

Fillabs gave us a huge confidence about fulfilling our needs. And on top they had very strong references.

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

We agreed on a work related to software development based on resources (design, database access, hardware, etc.) and we requested from Fillabs 3 main features to deliver: Rule determining function adding, request header and rule customization according to Node Numbers.

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

There were 3 people in the core team: 1 designer and 2 developers.

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

Fillabs met all the deadlines, delivered a successful job and we were able to provide the functions and features to our customers as we promised.

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

The project management was very successful. They continuously updated us at every step.

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

Flexibility, ability, experience and good project management.

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

No