GetInData

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Product Owner of Platform team in Truecaller and I work together with the data team to build, maintain and improve the Truecaller's data platform.

For what projects/services did your company hire GetInData?

Our data platform was created more than 6 years ago and we counted with GetInData since day one to help us with big data challenges we faced. Some of the projects we hired GetInData: - 1st Big Data Platform in Truecaller using Hadoop - Migration to the Cloud using Google cloud platform - Migration from Hadoop to Big Query and other Google Native tools.

What were your goals for this project?

For the first big data platform projects, our main goal was to create a robust and scalable data platform to support de increase data demand. For the google cloud platform migration project our main goal was to reduce the management overhead of having a on premise data center and also make use of better tools for our data platform. For the latest projects, our main goal was to descentralize our data platform and allow our main stakeholders to be independent and unblock self service analytics. We also aimed to improve the stakeholder's query processing time.

How did you select this vendor?

GetInData is a known company in Stockholm market for having projects with big companies like iZettle and Spotify. Since both companies have similar tech stack, we thought contacting GetInData to understand their knowledge would be a good idea.

Describe the project in detail.

Once GetinData onboarded, together they helped us identifying the best solutions for the challenges we had for multiple projects and aiming to achieve the goals we had. We did a lot of POCs of different solutions either using cloud native or open source tools. After all the process to choose the tool, we made a plan of implementation and migration taking into account the multiple stakeholders we had and their timing. The implementation and migration phases were very smooth and we followed agile methodologies, it was an advantage to have engineers from GetIndata that knew very well the technologies so they could also help us with our learning curve.

What was the team composition?

We had 3 Data Engineers, 1 DevOps and 1 Data Analyst to support out projects.

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

The migration to the cloud and google native tools was an example of a very successful project allowing our stakeholders with more flexibility and a lot of different tools to achieve their goals. According to our users feedbacks: "It is a big data platform, the tools are up to what is on the market and the initiatives to adopt more and more tools for data platform, do not stop. All actions that are taken, they fuse into this scope. "

The query processing time improved 20x after all the changes made in our platform together with GetinData. We can also highlight that the cost of our data platform per Daily Active users is very low, around 0.25 cents per 10k users, what is considered a success with a platform the size it is.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Since the beginning, we made one team sharing the same goals. So our experience with GetIndata is that they were completely part of our company as we are. They were participating in all agile meetings, like daily standups, retrospectives, sprint planning and sprint reviews. That made the communication to be super efective even though we were sitting in different locations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were super impressed with the quality of their work and the knowledge of their engineers. They have very high standards in terms of code quality, organisational skills and are always willing to contribute with their best. They also are very friendly and easy going people, what made our collaboration more fun.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There's nothing I can recall of what could have been done differently. Keep up with the good work, we ended up with an amazing platform and we made a brilliant team together.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Acast is the world’s biggest and fastest-growing podcast platform, and the engine powering creators, advertisers and listeners everywhere. I work as Senior Vice President of Engineering.

For what projects/services did your company hire GetInData?

We started working with GetInData to faster rewamp our data infrastructure in AWS and rewrite and migrate our core data pipelines.

What were your goals for this project?

The initial goal was to setup data infrastructure in AWS and rewrite and migrate our core data pipelines that were running in Azure. Once that was up and running they worked on different data driven product initiatives, e.g. podcast creator insights and machine learning driven ad-tech features.

How did you select this vendor?

Worked together with the founders at Spotify and hence knew their competencies. GetInData is focused on data and cloud which was what we were looking for and they had people with the right profiles available when we needed it.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

People from GetInData extended our existing data team and was an essential part of bootstrapping our new data infrastructure in AWS. Once we hade the foundations up and running we decentralised the data team into our customer facing product teams where they supported the data driven product development.

What was the team composition?

Started off as a small team of two that then grew to about six. Data team was composed by data engineers and data scientists but when we decentralised the data competence they worked in cross-disciplinary teams only the full tech stack for their products.

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

- Successful migration to AWS - High service levels on core data, both internally and externally - Decentralised operations of data into product teams

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We did not use GetInData for project management, that was dealt with in-house in our existing teams.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They did a very good job in finding people that fitted in Acast both technically as well as culturally.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a senior architect and development team manager at CSG International, a computer software company.

For what projects/services did your company hire GetInData?

We needed to design a production environment to run the product in AWS.

What were your goals for this project?

We need to build a fraud detection product using Hadoop technologies on a tight deadline, but we didn’t have an experienced Hadoop expert and were struggling to find a strong consultant.

How did you select this vendor?

A consultant company we worked with and trusted recommended them to us.

Describe the project in detail.

We began by discussing our strategy and explaining our business requirements. These sessions helped us develop both trust and understanding. They moved into the design part, which was split by several checkpoints where we could verify their work and adjust their focus. After, they helped us build the secured HDP (Hortonworks Data Platform) in AWS and complete acceptance tests.

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

They’ve met our expectation and goals and pushed the project forward.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their communication is very good. We had spot checkpoints in the design phase and daily standups during implementation and testing. Everything has gone smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their extensive knowledge regarding everything related to Hadoop operation tasks is outstanding. They’re quick to respond, easy to communicate with, and able to accurately understand our needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I can think of now.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a product manager at tanglr.com. Our e-commerce business aggregates products from more than 150 websites and more than 500–1000 offline stores. We process products and display them on the B2C side for shoppers to search from this entire variety of 10 million products. 

What challenge were you trying to address with GetinData?

Our project required expertise with very specific technology. We hired GetinData based on their specialized technical skills. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

GetinData leveraged their technical expertise to use Apache Kafka and Apache Flink technology for our solution’s pipeline process and microprocessing. We began with a small proof of concept or initial prototype project to assess how adept their knowledge was. Once we felt comfortable working with them, we decided to start a more significant project together. 

All the data is stored in Apache Cassandra. They helped us fine-tune the ecosystem to enhance the speed and scalability. They definitely imparted a substantial amount of knowledge to our in-house team.

What is the team composition? 

We typically worked with 2–3 people from GetinData.

How did you come to work with GetinData?

We found GetinData through a reference. They work with technologies that overlap significantly with the ones we use. We got in touch with them and had initial discussions about how they could use different technology to help us out. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project started around October 2017 and lasted approximately 3–6 months.

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

I can confidently say that GetinData is a team of subject experts for Apache Kafka and Flint. We found them to be very skilled at using those technologies. They define the right problem statements for our project and found solutions. From a collaboration standpoint, we didn’t have any problems with communication. If we get a chance in the future, we will definitely engage with GetinData again.

How did GetinData perform from a project management standpoint?

We preferred to call and text them, and they cooperated with us from that regard. I didn’t find any issues with the project management. They were always online. GetinData defined the cadence of meetings perfectly and organized the project methodically.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our project with GetinData was very focused on our core problem statement. We had a very clear bullseye to target. The team worked on a regular basis without needing too much involvement from our side.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that I can think of. GetinData is very professional and highly skilled from a technology perspective. The services they provided for us were very good. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO at FreshMail, an email marketing and services company based in Krakow, Poland. Our employees serve thousands of primarily Eastern European business customers of all sizes. 

For what projects/services did your company hire GetInData?

Our core product focuses on providing an easy and friendly email marketing platform through which almost 1.5 billion messages are sent every month, requiring us to deal with a vast amount of data. Because of this, our company decided to invest in a number of large scale data projects. We hired GetInData to help us shape the right data environment and train our internal team. The projects included:

—Implementing a machine learning anti-abuse development environment (e.g. anti-spam, anti-phishing, etc.) that allows us to defend against new types of attacks and better protect our marketing and transactional email clients.

—Developing a new invoicing model to consolidate business rules and simplify usage calculation into a single action.

—Enabling streaming analytics-based marketing features for our customers, including deeper live integration with their platforms.

—Building a long-awaited data lake to support ad-hoc advanced analytics, the skills for which we have heavily invested in through training on analytical tools.

What were your goals for this project?

Our overarching goal was to design, build, and optimize a new data platform, then train our team on it and some additional topics related to the final solution. 

How did you select this vendor?

With an impressive portfolio of projects implementing both open-source platforms and cloud solutions, GetInData had positioned themselves as one of the most experienced Big Data consulting companies. They also had in-depth, hands-on experience with all of the technologies under our consideration. We connected with them through a series of conversations between several of their key leadership and our technical and business stakeholders. 

Describe the project in detail.

The data cluster needed to meet a number of requirements, including: data ingestion via Apache Kafka, our standard publish-subscribe pattern; data analytics using our established tools, such as Apache Spark; analytics streaming with between 2,000 and 3,000 events per second; and an initial capacity of around 200 terabytes scalable for steady future growth.

We began by defining the appropriate requirements and identifying possible solutions, then determining the best avenue of approach. We then designed the new data platform, built the technical specifications, and acquired the necessary equipment before installing and configuring the final product. We concluded with four days dedicated to intensive internal team training.

What was the team composition?

Our system administration and data engineering teams worked with various members from GetInData, who supervised the overall concept and execution. 

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

The new infrastructure now enables the collection of almost 10,000 different events per second with real-time analytics and large-scale batch data processing. We successfully designed and built the platform within our desired timeline, which would not have been possible without GetInData. Working with them cut our installation and configuration time in half and allowed us to address advanced issues related to data security and governance that we couldn’t solve ourselves. They were also instrumental during negotiations with our hardware vendor, reducing costs and ensuring we received the most appropriate products. 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We essentially merged into one team with GetInData, using Slack and Skype for daily communication. This helped us move through the project as smoothly as possible, even during the most intensive phase.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They offered a tailored approach, extensive experience, and direct, friendly interactions, as well as a professional and dedicated work ethic. Their profound understanding of all aspects of our project amazed me. In addition, not only does GetInData have practical experience with the stack of our choice (Hortonworks’ Apache Hadoop distribution) but they actively participate in the open-source community by sharing their knowledge during conferences and workshops.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are number of things we could do differently at the moment, but they mostly consist of better preparation on our end. These types of projects are already incredibly sophisticated, but we consolidated nearly all of our sources into one data lake. We could benefit from GetInData's experience by involving them more deeply into our business cases. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the software development supervisor for Kcell, a large mobile operator in Kazakhstan.

For what projects/services did your company hire GetInData?

We were looking for a team with experience in Big Data technologies primarily in the Apache suite.

What were your goals for this project?

My business needed a custom platform that could store and process billions of events generated by subscribers.

How did you select this vendor?

The creators of Apache Flink recommended GetInData.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Our teams built the solution from scratch. It’s customized to run business based on event patterns.

What was the team composition?

We worked with developers from both of our teams.

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

During project implementation, our business gained a substantial amount of knowledge regarding the Big Data tech world. The tool works fantastically for millions of subscribers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Our teams worked collaboratively but remotely. We used Jira, Skype, Confluence, Mattermost, and GitLab. We documented as much as we could, meeting daily and providing status updates. There were a few site visits.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

GetInData is a relatively small agency with experienced professionals that enjoy and perform their job exceptionally well. Their attentiveness and code quality are impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are none that I can think of.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder and the CTO of data Artisans. We provide cutting-edge data stream processing technology in real time.

For what projects/services did your company hire GetInData?

We needed to develop a feature for future versions of our stream processing platform.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to get a robust, easy-to-maintain feature developed promptly.

How did you select this vendor?

We knew GetInData from former collaborations with users of Apache Flink and stream processing technology.

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

The team designed and developed the mechanism with which artifacts such as external third-party libraries can be attached to an Apache Flink stream processing application. The artifacts then get reliably distributed as part of the dynamic scheduling of the applications work tasks—and recovered across failures—without any additional dependency to Apache Flink. The developed feature was eventually contributed back to another open-source project.

What was the team composition?

We worked with two developers, partially on site and partially remote.

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

Their involvement allowed us to add a feature to our product, despite not having the required developer capacity in-house.