Front IT

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a developer for Navitrans, a Belgian software company. I’m responsible for the driver application project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Front IT?

Front IT is helping us with the driver app project. We work with Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and we needed help with the integration part.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Front IT is providing frontend and backend development for the driver app, an Android app written in Java. I provide them with a list of features and leave the development totally up to them.

They always explain to me how they’ll handle the development, and I give them a green light most of the time. We don’t use wireframes or anything else. One of the latest features they’ve added is geofencing.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, an Android developer, a backend developer, and two testers. There are five people involved in total.

How did you come to work with Front IT?

The driver app was originally made by a Danish company that we acquired in 2016. They were working with Front IT, so we continued the project with them. We’re still happy with them, so there’s no need to change to a different provider.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t have access to the invoices, but I believe we’ve spent around $25,000–$50,000 or maybe even more.

 What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Front IT in December 2016. The app is stable and live on Google Play, but the project never finishes. We constantly create additional features, and there are also updates to the Android platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

What Front IT delivers is always correct, and they’re responsive. Front IT is guiding the entire project, and I've had no issues with them.

How did Front IT perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication with them is very good despite the distance between Belgium and Lithuania. I used to have weekly meetings with the project manager, but the project is running a bit slower, so we have meetings every two weeks now.

I can contact Front IT whenever there’s an issue, and they’re quite responsive. I’m always aware of whatever issues may arise at their end, and I don’t need to run after them asking about the status of tasks.

They’re using Jira to track bugs and new features, and I can follow everything in there. We communicate mainly through Microsoft Teams.

 What did you find most impressive about them?

Front IT isn’t expensive, and they're good and quite invested in the project. At this point, we have no reason to go to the competition.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have quicker delivery times on some projects, but that depends on how many hours I and my management team can spend on the work.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

You should really look into the company. Their reviews show that Front IT is a good company to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as a consultant for an NGO. Our organization provides general information, as well as creates awareness for gambling addiction. Additionally, we also treat people who are suffering from it. I mainly do communication and a little bit of political work.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Front IT?

We were looking at developing a more digital-friendly solution for our clients due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, we wanted an app that reflects the process of the treatment so they could use the tools and techniques outside.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Front IT built and developed a web-based app for us. We decided on what functions to include, and they designed them.

What is the team composition?

I worked mostly with Simona (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Front IT?

They provided us with a more cost-efficient and faster solution with more functionalities than any other provider.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in October 2020–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I felt that we had a pretty smooth process, and we worked well together. They definitely understood what we wanted and provided the requirements quickly, efficiently, and professionally. I was very happy with the partnership.

How did Front IT perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically communicated through emails, and also had a couple of online meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their professionalism, and the fact that we didn’t need to explain the project in great detail — they understood us and worked extremely quickly. Moreover, they were more cost-effective than the other providers, and overall, we got a high-quality process.

Their process was very transparent, and we didn’t feel left out — we could follow every single step easily.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything to say regarding the areas they need to improve on. We have never worked with an outside developer who responded and delivered so quickly before, so I was very satisfied with Front IT.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the mobile payment product manager of Perlas Finance. We’re based in Lithuania, and we collect installment payments from clients for their utility bills. I’m responsible for the development of the mobile payment app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Front IT?

Until recently, we conducted most of our business through physical sales points. We have many branches in Lithuania, where clients can go to pay their utility bills in cash.  More people are now willing to pay bills through their mobiles or computers, so we decided to move from physical sales points to online services. The COVID-19 pandemic also really hurt our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first prepared functional documentation containing the solution’s business layer, which is integrated with our primary system. Using the information we provided, Front IT developed our web and mobile apps, which have API connections to our central system. The mobile versions are native for both Android and iOS. They also built a Huawei app is basically an Android app but with different API connections. Additionally, they developed an administrative system for us, which is where we manage all transactions.

We’ve already gone live, but they continue to develop functionalities and provide support. However, we still handle all the calculations and payments to service providers.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a project manager, one iOS developer, two Android developers, a senior architect, and two database programmers.

How did you come to work with Front IT?

We already worked with them prior to this project. It was the natural choice to go with Front IT because they already knew our business processes and current system. Their pricing was also very competitive.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around €300,000 (approximately $359,000 USD), but I’m not too sure of the overall finances because I joined the project at the beginning of 2020. We paid them around €120,000 (approximately $143,000 USD) in 2020. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Front IT around April 2019, and it’s still ongoing. We went live in March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been happy with their performance so far. The team always does its best and is quick to react when there are issues with the apps. Their servers went down a few months ago, and Front IT acted as soon as possible. They allocated resources to help us within 1–2 hours, and they fixed the issue in the shortest possible time. It was a server issue, so it wasn’t their fault that the app went down, but they still helped us.

How did Front IT perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira to manage the project using the agile method. I simply create tasks within the platform whenever I need work from them. In terms of communication, we have daily standup meetings to discuss specific goals for the day. We also have weekly meetings for backlog refinement, which means we go over what we should do in the upcoming sprints.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Front IT is flexible in changing ongoing sprints if we need to. We have continuous development, and we don’t always follow strict sprints. As the project manager, we’ve agreed that I should have some flexibility to interrupt the planned sprint and use some hours differently. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to participate in all the standups and actively take part in the meetings. The client should give their opinion and change sprints if need be — it’s essential to communicate any issues as soon as possible. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the project manager for our UT tracking system. The UT tracking system is the main system for the services we deliver to our customers who all have installed GPS trackers in their mashines or vehicles.

The service we provide gives or customers a lot extra informations and functions based on the information we receive from the GPS tracking devices and addons to those.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a partner which could help us to build, develop, maintain a big system with many tracking devices and customers. We also needed a partner who were able to also handle our servers settings and maintaining. We also needed to be able to give us a good UI for our different types of customers including mobil apps, APIs and so

SOLUTION

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

When looking to the different possibilies some of the main factors where that FrontIT did have a danish owner and also did have a culture which match our culture. And of course where we also did get the right cost.

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

Basicly our system are based on MS Windows enviroments using the .NET technology and with MS SQL and Mongo databases. For the mobil app we is using web-app.There is also a speciel part handling the interface to different types of GPS tracking devices.

The system also include API based on SOAP for customized functions and intergration to ERP system. On the server side we are talking on a large numbers of Windows based servers and a mirror 100% syncron system. All in hosted enviroments.

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

Basicly we have a project manager we do most of the planning, specifications, follow-up and so, but there are a team behind with 2-3 or more extra people depending of the actuel needs. The hold team are able to make SW delevopment, testing, deployments, maintaining servers, system monitoring.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Starting from the bottom with no system to now have one of the best tracking system in Denmark, where we do have a system able to be expand for more and more tracking devices. We are on current state handling more that 7.500 tracking devices for more that 1.500 customers and 4.500 endusers.

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

The project management are based on Jira for all subprojects build with all the steps needed to done. We are as customers 100% part of all the steps in each subproject. we are able to follow each step in the delevopment team.

Most of the subproject are detailed estimated, but we also have project based on a more agile kind. We have planned one weekly Team session following up on the developments. We do also have a lot communications when ever needed. We have a report each

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

FrontIT has been able to have people which are able to match our needs. They also do understand our business and our customer needs. They are very flexibel on the working hours when needed. They are dedicated to our system and the process to have an important system running 24/7, 365 days a year.

We have never have see any problems regarding the fact that we both need to communicated in english.

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

At the moment we don't see anything, but we already have during the long period of working together be able to find the best way to work together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of a large-format printing house that runs three different kinds of webshops in three countries. Webshop sales are a bit complex because the products we are selling are mostly user uploads. Users upload the images and then we print them, so it is a bit more complex than just selling things like shoes and TVs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FrontIT?

FrontIT has been our main development house for over ten years.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over the course of our relationship, we’ve worked on many projects, including building our webshops using Magento.

We always handle the design of our projects and they take care of the development. We provide them with the design mock-ups and the functionality descriptions. These aren’t technical descriptions — they’re more from the user’s point of view.

What is the team composition?

At the moment, I am working with four people, including two backend developers, one frontend developer, and a product leader.

How did you come to work with FrontIT?

In 2007, they were specialized in a website called TYPO3 that we were using. It was slim pickings for choosing a developer. When we switched to Magento, we stayed with them based on our trust in their work; we had a good feeling that they could deliver.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $250,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship started in April 2007 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They deliver what I need. What sets them apart is that they can translate our normal language into a programmed feature. Other developers have a hard time with that type of task.

How did FrontIT perform from a project management standpoint?

They are good. I have no complaints. We use Jira software for planning.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are really solution-based and agile. We’ve changed the scope on the fly before, and they’ve been really good about that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them and their recommendations.