Galaxy Weblinks

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of project operations at Push10, a branding and website building agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Galaxy Weblinks?

We reached out to Galaxy Weblinks because we needed to augment our development team. We needed to build a website for a company that makes educational software for teachers and school administrators.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When the engagement began, Galaxy Weblinks gave us a sprint schedule for the website’s development. We provided designs to them in Figma, and they built the site in WordPress from scratch. The site was custom-designed. Galaxy Weblinks also ran QA on the website.

What is the team composition?

I was in direct contact with a project manager and web developers.

How did you come to work with Galaxy Weblinks?

Galaxy Weblinks was recommended to us by another agency that had worked with Galaxy Weblinks, so I reached out for a quote. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $12,000 with Galaxy Weblinks for this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Galaxy Weblinks from October 2021–December 2021.

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

They helped us out of a resourcing crunch. We didn’t have resources available to build the website, so Galaxy Weblinks got us out of a tight spot. The end client was happy with the build — they liked the website. We will continue to work with Galaxy Weblinks on other projects.

How did Galaxy Weblinks perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was great — they were very communicative. We communicated daily via Slack to address any issues that required a quick response. To manage the project, they used ActiveCollab.

Galaxy Weblinks broke down the total build into weekly sprints and then detailed exactly what would be delivered during each sprint. We held weekly meetings via Zoom to review their sprint builds, and they presented any roadblocks that they needed to resolve. We also communicated via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to build a website according to our in-house methods was hugely impressive. Their other main strength was really their ability to schedule out the build and break it down into weekly sprints — that was also very helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The default tool that they used to QA the website was okay but not ideal for our team’s usual QA approach. As we continue to work with Galaxy Weblinks, I’m sure they’ll adopt whatever other tool we suggest.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate to Galaxy Weblinks how you want them to build the site. Give them an initial build that has the content types, content blocks, and custom post types already structured and configured using a base theme. Giving that guidance on structure and configuration will set your project up for success.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of digital marketing for a community bank.

What challenge were you trying to address with Galaxy Weblinks?

We needed someone to redevelop and redesign our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Galaxy Weblinks developed an interactive website with the goal of generating more sales and traffic. We initially told them that we wanted the website to be an extension of our physical locations, so people don’t have to visit or speak to anyone at the bank — we wanted them to get information from the site and enable them to open an account should they choose to do so.

We mainly utilized WordPress for the development and as our primary CMS system.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was the project manager, but we also worked with about 4–5 different people from their team.

How did you come to work with Galaxy Weblinks?

Galaxy Weblinks responded to our RFP that a local consulting firm helped us create, and we interviewed them to discuss the general parameters of our requirements.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of the redesign was $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project from September 2020–July 2021.

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

The feedback that we’ve gotten from the website has been very positive, with the ease of navigation and the seamless menu being the most attractive features to visitors.

Galaxy Weblinks also made the site very flexible and they created the structure in a way that we can easily make changes without having to ask them to do it.

How did Galaxy Weblinks perform from a project management standpoint?

Galaxy Weblinks was very responsive and timely with their communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their cost-effective solutions as compared to the other proposals we received from the other vendors — what they produced was very professional-looking, modern, and clean.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They sometimes struggled with understanding what we were explaining, but they were always apologetic about it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Even though there were some miscommunications during the partnership, I would still work with them again and highly recommend them to anyone who’s interested.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Brand Strategy and we consult with clients when they need help rebranding, or to better understand their mission/vision/values and also to understand their persona targets – often through data-conscious brand strategy research.

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

We wanted to create for our client an internal online tool where all the global marketing employees could better understand their target personas so they could better market to them. This site would contain all the results from the external research we conducted for this client over a span of many months.

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

We needed a development team that was proficient in Drupal. We've primarily developed WordPress sites, but did a search to see who could help us with Drupal. Galaxy is based in Cambridge which is close to our offices north of Boston. Their very capable UX and development team is based in India. We saw that they had done many Drupal-based sites and had good results so we chose them over a few other companies.

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

After our kick-off meeting, the UX team created a wireframe and UX plan using Figma for collaborating on the final UX and incorporated the design from our designer using Figma. We then transitioned it over to their Drupal developers.

We did have a delay, not due to Galaxy, but the client had to reconfigure some things as to how the data would be displayed and we had to reconfigure things as a result, and Galaxy was very patient during this delay.

I worked closely with the main developer and she helped to create a nice content management system so we could easily populate the site. She was able to make changes after the client reviewed and we got it to a very helpful site used as an important internal tool.

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

We dealt with the Co-Founder, Sr. UX Architect, Associate UI Designer, Associate Director( Engineering), and the Drupal Developer.

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

The site has been passed over to the client's web team to be implemented, and we will have a better idea once the global marketing workforce utilizes it for a while, but for now, our client has been very happy with all of the features that this site will provide them and give them valuable data so they can perform their jobs better.

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

We dealt with them primarily via weekly Zoom calls to discuss progress, and via Figma to make updates on either side. As the project got towards the end our Zoom calls were more frequent and regular so that we could either make updates, client-requested changes or the like.

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

They were able to get this project kicked off quickly, and had it not been for the client needing to adjust how the data was displayed on the site, the project would have gone much more quickly, but when we were ready, Galaxy was there to complete the tasks. They certainly know Drupal, which we were not familiar with. so they were very proficient, guided us and provided the client the requested Drupal platform that they desired.

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

Due to Covid some of the communication was delayed (especially as it related some of the design responsive issues), or the developer didn't get back right away as most of the Galaxy people were working from home, but these were extenuating circumstances so I know it would have been different had business been as usual with no Covid.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Operation Fistula, a UK- and US-based nonprofit organization that helps women living with a childbirth injury called obstetric fistula. We partner with surgeons around the world to treat these women.

We’re a data-driven organization, so we use technology a lot to help us run our programs more efficiently. I’m the analytics manager within the organization, so I handle our analytics team and our main key developers. I also manage our entire data infrastructure and the different tools that we use, and I lead most of our technical initiatives, including the one that led us to work with Galaxy Weblinks.

What challenge were you trying to address with Galaxy Weblinks?

We received a grant from The Gates Foundation to find a way to use biometric facial recognition to identify patients on the field more effectively. We used CommCare, a form collection tool, to get all the data about our patients, so we originally partnered with another organization to build an integration within CommCare that could scan the patients’ faces when registering them to help us identify them in the future.

Unfortunately, the partnership with that organization didn’t work well. Their product was incredibly expensive and out of reach for a small nonprofit organization like ours. Thus, we decided to build our own biometric recognition system into CommCare.

We found a company with the technology necessary for biometric facial recognition, so we bought a software development kit (SDK) from them and hired Galaxy Weblinks to build a little app and integrate the SDK in the backend.

What was the scope of their involvement?

This project required a two-stage process. First, Galaxy Weblinks helped us build a small, disposable Android app to determine if the SDK actually worked. The app would only let us scan someone’s face and check whether or not it would recognize the same face when scanned for a second time.

We did some field testing with this app, and we were very satisfied with how well it was working. Thus, we went into the second stage of the project.

We had good links with CommCare, so we asked them if we could integrate the SDK into their tool, and they agreed. As Galaxy Weblinks already had experience with the SDK, they helped us build the full integration into CommCare’s tool.

Now, the people who register to our services using our form are asked to take a picture of themselves, and the backend uses the facial recognition system to make the biometric identification. The biometric-based facial templates are stored in the Google Firebase so that we can build a database of our patients’ biometric information over time.

Patients only interact with CommCare’s UI, and although the facial recognition system uses its own Android app to work, it is built into the backend without the users even noticing it.

What is the team composition?

We worked with quite a lot of people from Galaxy Weblinks, which was great. We first connected with a salesperson, who was in charge of connecting me to one of their teams after gathering my requirements. Then, we worked with a team of three people: a team leader who acted as the customer relationship manager and ensured that the deadlines were met, a project manager, and a developer who did the active work.

How did you come to work with Galaxy Weblinks?

I’m the kind of person who accepts everyone on LinkedIn, so I have a lot of contacts there. Thus, I posted a message on LinkedIn requesting help for my project, and many different companies got in touch with me.

I had interviews with some of those companies, and Galaxy Weblinks seemed to be the most professional and most likely to build our project at a reasonable price.

During their presentation, they went straight to the point and showed me a lot of really good examples of similar SDK integrations they had done, and I could see that they would put a very solid team together. They also spoke English very well, which would make our collaboration easier.

Additionally, when it came to negotiating the prices, they put together a very solid offer. It wasn’t very expensive nor ridiculously cheap just to win some business. Finally, I could tell that they knew what I wanted to build from the get-go.

How much have you invested with them?

The first phase cost around $1,250, and the second phase cost around $2,500. In total, we spent approximately $3,500–$4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around November 2020, and the project ended a few months ago.

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

This integration had a huge impact on our operations. In the past, we wasted a huge amount of time registering women again without knowing it. Sometimes, their procedure didn’t work quite well, and they came back to us, making it almost impossible for us to know that we had already registered them. Now, we don’t have to worry about these kinds of mistakes because, once we register a woman, she is uniquely identified based on her biometrics.

Given the nature of the project, it is hard to provide specific metrics. However, based on how costly was the other solution we explored before engaging with Galaxy Weblinks, there was a significant difference in the cost. Unfortunately, we can’t discuss this in more detail.

Qualitatively speaking, Galaxy Weblinks was able to develop a very complex integration. It wasn’t just about building an app from scratch; it was about integrating a piece of technology they weren’t familiar with into a very complex enterprise-level application. However, they did it in just a few months, which was very impressive.

Additionally, they were great at taking charge of the project. I put them in contact with the different partners that we worked with, and they ensured to connect with everyone. Overall, they integrated themselves within the project very well.

How did Galaxy Weblinks perform from a project management standpoint?

Galaxy Weblinks performed very well. They had a very solid team organization, and the project manager was always on top of things, managing the development time very well. The team leader would also communicate with me periodically to see if everything went according to plan, which was a very hierarchical approach, ensuring that everything was under control and on time.

Galaxy Weblinks was very responsive all the time. They immediately added me to their Slack, which made our interactions very simple. Even when the project has already ended, and they’ve been paid, we’re still in their Slack channel, and if something happens, we can communicate with them to ask for support.

They also set me up with one of their internal project management tools, but I didn’t use it very often. In the end, we were just limited to Slack, which was great for me because we already used it internally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Galaxy Weblinks’ level of professionalism was beyond what I saw from other developers. Although I’m sure others could have been technically skilled, their communication and presentations were more chaotic, whereas working with Galaxy Weblinks was a very smooth and professional experience. Their organized structure definitely made a huge difference.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing specific comes to mind; it was a very positive experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Making use of Slack or another bespoke project management tool is great because it makes these sorts of projects more fluid for answering questions you might have immediately. Galaxy Weblinks offers an ad hoc communication system, so take advantage of that.

Additionally, make sure that everyone is fully aligned to what you’re trying to build from the get-go, come up with a very solid plan, and share some documentation that clearly shows what you want to achieve.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of an ecommerce company selling an exclusive line of products to corporate trainers and educators.

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

We needed to create a subscription-based online "conversation starter" program.

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

We selected Galaxy for their affordability, professionalism during our vetting process, capabilities/scope, and past references.

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

We had a launch meeting, refined the scope and expectations. We decided on a Wordpress site and determined all the features we would need on the front end and back end. We already had a wireframe, but reviewed the graphical appearance before programming started.

Throughout the process, we worked well, checking in weekly to answer questions, refine functionality, identify and fix bugs.

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

I had one main contact but several people were working on the project.

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

We haven't built up our user base, but have built the site to be expandable. As we've continued to add data, Galaxy has helped with additional questions and troubleshooting.

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

The team listened well, recorded zoom conversations and was very responsive, especially through the online project management tool. The project management tool made it very easy to share ideas, graphics, files, feedback, etc. And, the team was responsive in replying to questions.

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

They were very responsive and easy to work with. We will continue to work with them for ongoing support and are happy to recommend them.

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

We lost a little time here and there due to sickness and family matters (project was during COVID), but it was understandable and well-communicated.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an education startup. Our organization is working on a product that helps students across all walks of life capture feedback on their work product. Right now, the work product is captured in video.

What challenge were you trying to address with Galaxy Weblinks?

I needed a good team to help build a prototype initially and then to test out some ideas around video-on-video feedback. Then ultimately, I wanted them to build out a working prototype I could test with users.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I did most of the UX design. Galaxy Weblinks provided frontend services, backend development, and AWS support. They also handled mobile app development.

What is the team composition?

I initially corresponded with Varun (Partner) and then I had three main points of contact.

How did you come to work with Galaxy Weblinks?

I knew I wanted someone with WebRTC experience. I narrowed down on teams with that core capability. Additionally, I wanted a team that worked with a number of different development types, processes, and applications. I felt that Galaxy Weblinks was a team I could grow with long-term. Also, they were cost-friendly.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested within the neighborhood of $35,000–$40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in April 2020. We’re going to start on phase two.

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

My tech adviser monitors the code quality. So far, he’s been giving it a thumbs up. He ensures the code is transferable, legible, stable, and scalable. Galaxy Weblinks has been very dutiful in helping resolve issues and bugs. The development process is going smoothly. They’ve adapted a lot of strategies that I’ve used to work with overseas developers. These strategies were new to them, and it’s working out for both of us.

User testing feedback has been relatively positive. I haven’t had a ton of users on it, but I have enough information to identify product features I think would make it even more useful. We’ll move forward depending on the assessments and estimates infrastructure. After that, I hope to get solid test users using the product.

How did Galaxy Weblinks perform from a project management standpoint?

We meet once a week. The team gets in front of the work and on top of things. I don’t tend to push document and project management processes. They’re great about moving the bugs along. At some points, they remind me to go in and provide QA on a timelier basis so they can get the team moving.

I didn’t have a hard deadline. Their team added suggestions and features that weren’t part of the initial scope. I was very happy and flexible. At the end of the day, we’ve got a solid product near the end of the finish line.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to other development teams I’ve experienced, Galaxy Weblinks has been very easy to work with. It’s been a pleasure to work with them. They ask good questions, and I’ve made some changes based on their critique and feedback.

Their team has provided good ideas and product strategies. They’ve helped conceptualize the overarching work for us. I’ve been able to be pretty hands-off. It’s great to have a multifaceted development team that works well together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. I’ve been very happy with the experience.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

One of the things that worked well for us was utilizing Loom. It allowed us to record ourselves and what we were showing on our screen. This helps alleviate some of the language barriers between our teams. I also use a bug tracker that Galaxy Weblinks incorporated directly onto the website. Anytime I found a bug, I’d record myself with Loom and they could see what my experience was. Then, I’d copy and paste that link into the bug tracker.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the COO of NSTXL, a provider of acquisition services to the U.S. government. We are a membership organization with roughly 600 corporate, academic, and institutional members, who provide education services to those members to further our mission.

For what projects/services did your company hire Galaxy Weblinks?

We hired Galaxy Weblinks (GWL) to re-build and expand the functionality of our website. We had cobbled together 2 websites that were very unstable and insecure (our sites are under constant attack). We asked GWL to stabilize the sights, provide additional functionality (including a paid members-only section), optimize it for SEO, and then to conduct a complete redesign. To conduct this, GWL had to re-code several Wordpress plug-ins to create unique functionality.

What were your goals for this project?

Stabilize and professionalize the site, add significant new site features, optimize the back-end analysis, secure the site, help improve our SEO.

How did you select this vendor?

We found GWL through a WeWork reference. We interviewed them and some of their previous clients before selecting them.

Describe the project in detail.

We hired Galaxy Weblinks (GWL) to re-build and expand the functionality of our website. We had cobbled together 2 websites that were very unstable and insecure (our sites are under constant attack). We asked GWL to stabilize the sights, provide additional functionality (including a paid members-only section), optimize it for SEO, and then to conduct a complete redesign. To conduct this, GWL had to re-code several Wordpress plug-ins to create unique functionality.

What was the team composition?

Vivek Jha was the lead with a team of 3-4 augmented by various experts from GWL during different parts of the project.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

After the security upgrades, our site suffered no successful attacks. Additionally, an independent security review found that we had zero plug-in security vulnerabilities. We launched two new websites for our clients within 30 days (beating our client's deadlines). We launched a membership-only site, which received accolades from our members and clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was effective. They used an internal project management tool to update us on the timing and progress of specific tasks.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

GWL was good at listening and executing. A lot of our needs required custom solutions and coding. They were very good at asking the right questions to identify our needs and then propose cost effective solutions. Importantly, GWL met every deadline that we proposed (including some that were very tight).

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nope.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Conceptual Research & Design for Inteleos, an internationally recognized non-profit global medical certification organization.

For what projects/services did your company hire Galaxy Weblinks?

We wanted to create a native app that would provide sonography quizzes with explanations or rationale to enhance sonographer skills and knowledge in a convenient and intuitive manner.

What were your goals for this project?

This was a pilot project to assess stakeholder interest and perceptions of utility. To be considered a success, 75% of people who took at least one quiz and completed a User Experience Survey would respond that they Completely Agree or Somewhat Agree that the ARDMS Skills App reinforces sonographer skills and knowledge. This would be supported through survey and qualitative data collected through user interviews.

How did you select this vendor?

Our COO first met Galaxy at the ATD conference, and I met with them again at the LiveWorx conference. We received RFPs from multiple vendors, and investigated the possibility of using ready-made tools to develop our V1 POC/MVP in house. Ultimately, we decided that Galaxy was the best way to go due to the expertise and value they offered to provide.

Describe the project in detail.

We built an app offering quizzes for sonographers. V1 was intended for an invited cohort of 100 Vascular Technologists and included three 10-question quizlets. Users could see their quiz history and were provided with explanations for each response.

V2 was expanded to include four content areas (VT, Echocardiography, Abdominal and Ergonomic Awareness) offering three quizzes each (Ergonomic Awareness only has one quiz) to 1,500 certified sonographers. A new tutorial was added and the visuals were redesigned.

What was the team composition?

I was the Lead for Inteleos, supported by others across our organization - both staff and volunteers. The Galaxy Team was supported by multiple people, but most of my direct interactions were with Rani Sharda (our Project Coordinator - a big help with the Admin Dashboard and data!), Animesh Jain (our Project Lead), Chetan Deshmukh (our Developer), and Varun Bihani (Partner).

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

94% of people who took at least one quiz and completed a User Experience Survey responded that the ARDMS Skills App reinforces sonographer skills and knowledge, significantly exceeding the threshold metric of 75% for the hypothesis.

Thus, this pilot provided evidence for the hypothesis that the ARDMS SKILLS App is effective in reinforcing sonographer skills and knowledge. We will likely be expanding this project, and are already working with Galaxy on a new initiative.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Good. We use email and an Admin site with Discussion Boards and File Sharing. We also use a prototyping site for sharing design iterations and collecting input. At time, we also do video meetings (mostly on Zoom.)

Occasionally, there were language issues where we were not understanding the same terms in the same way, but we always figured it out. The time differences between our teams were not an issue, as I almost always had responses or input from Galaxy waiting when I arrive at work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Galaxy has been very flexible, adapting to mid-stream changes and even the occasional ask outside of our scope.

Are there any areas for improvement?

So far, we have been very happy. I asked them to play a bigger part of the "Team" with the V2 pilot, instead of just executing my directives - I wanted their guidance and input more regularly. They have done a good job with this and I feel like they are now more invested and engaged with helping us meet our goals instead of just delivering a product.

Please describe your company and your position there.

WeCongo is a prototype conference management and contact management system. Currently the company is bootstrapping to a prototype that will show the analytics it can capture, to enable faster funding and platform development.

For what projects/services did your company hire Galaxy Weblinks?

Cross platform prototype app development.

What were your goals for this project?

Launch a basic prototype app in both app stores that enable user testing and continued agile development based on user feedback.

How did you select this vendor?

Recommendation from a colleague that attends similar conferences.

Describe the project in detail.

The team at Galaxy has been working to help develop a working prototype of a consumer facing app for user testing. A previous developer had convinced me he could do it for a seemingly discounted price, and after failing to deliver for 1.5 years I finally fired him.

Galaxy was willing to come in and fix what he had already put together, as well as correct the bugs causing crashes, but do it all at an affordable price. We are now adding features in a flexible way that is a good combination of keeping within budget, and predictable time line.

What was the team composition?

PM, Developers, and input from designers.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Project is still on going, however, a working prototype should be available in the next few weeks.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very good. The team understood given instructions, and posted questions when they had them on their own project management software that I could then quickly answer their questions on.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to work on a flexible schedule set them apart.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

Fast & Light LLC is a digital agency focused on e-commerce. We guide clients toward measurable success and focus on achieving their objectives. I'm a founder and partner. 

For what projects/services did your company hire Galaxy Weblinks?

We hired them for web development and e-commerce consultation. 

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build a great website. 

How did you select this vendor?

We interviewed multiple vendors. Galaxy Weblinks demonstrated competence and integrity at a competitive price.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Galaxy Weblinks scoped and built a sizable e-commerce site that utilized the Shopify design specs we provided. 

What was the team composition?

They had a large team, but we only worked with our account representative and project manager.

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

Working with such a skilled team allowed us to search for more business and spend time with existing clients.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their project management was responsive and detailed. They made every requested change quickly and efficiently. Working with them was a pleasure.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Galaxy Weblinks had a "can-do" attitude, which was great.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would have organized our side better, and will do so in the future.