GLOBALDEV

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager for a healthcare software company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We needed help developing a web-based application. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi is developing a scheduling app using Python and Django from scratch. They are handling the frontend development, and they’ve created a secure database. The app allows patients to find physicians and schedule appointments online. 

We provided internal documents to start the project. Steelkiwi has made design suggestions as they built the app, and the process has been collaborative. The development is ongoing. 

What is the team composition?

I work with a project manager, a business analyst, a UX/UI designer, two backend developers, two frontend developers, and three QA specialists. 

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

I found them online.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app has received positive feedback from test users — it’s beautiful. It has a great design, layout, and color scheme. Steelkiwi has met my expectations.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

Steelkiwi is good at project management. We use Figma, Trello, and Slack to collaborate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Steelkiwi is very accommodating. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can have better communication in a dynamic situation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go ahead with your partnership — they’re a great company to work with. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a SaaS startup

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

SaaS Software development

SOLUTION

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

There apparent proficiency with the right technical stack and budget

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

They failed to deliver nad ti was a debacle

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

Four. Sales, Business Development, UX UI designer and two developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Startups have runways and it is very important that any technology partner deliver on time. I engaged SteelKiwi two years ago to deliver on a custom software project. This required going through most if not all of the normal SDLC.

To begin with, they seemed very organized and said all the right things however when the work begun the experience was contrary. The UXUI design was the first phase where actual deliverables could be realized. They had only one designer on staff and whenever she took Off for vacation, the project came to a complete halt. This happened twice during the first 6 weeks where she took off twice for one week each time. Please note that at this point the deposit had been paid.

This was a really bad sign and we decided to bring in the UXUI work in house. In a nut shell Steelkiwi represents itself as big company with capabilities and ability to handle complex projects however this is not the case. There is a limitation in English language when you rate the whole team that they have. Specifically some of the members cannot communicate properly but the sales person can.

They have limited staff and inability to adjust when someone goes on vacation. They are too busy to be able to address mistakes and or fix issues in a reasonable manner. The resolution offered by their managing director, Viacheslav P., was inadequate so I declined it and requested a refund at which point he disappeared and as of today Igor, the salesperson contends that Viacheslav P. is too busy.

This is unethical to take money then you are too busy to deliver and or refund. Please note that the core issue here is that the designer took off for two weeks at a critical time and the lack of English proficiency within the whole team to facilitate an average understanding and communication of the project so that the velocity is acceptable.

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

They team meetings with the client then amongst themselves. If the project is complex they have too many meetings and very little delivered

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

Nothing. I do not recommend this company at all

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

Ability to deliver is minimal. English proficiency within the whole team is average. Inability to handle errors and to be adequately staffed when their team members are on vacation or unavailable

Company Responses

The vendor responded on October 25, 2021.

1. The Discovery phase to create specifications and UX started January 2019 with a timeline of up to 6 weeks.

 2. We never even started the actual development. Client was invoiced only for $4,000 total and paid this amount for accepted part of wireframes and technical documentation.

 3. We had meetings with the client almost every other day with them lasting for up to 3 hours.  At some point we’ve realised that these meetings don’t produce any value and the project is stuck. Seeing this, we decided to stop the engagement (after more than 100 hours of unbilled work) and transfer all the work done (and accepted and paid) so far as we clearly had severe communication issues.

 4. Our UI/UX specialist took a 4-day vacation after the kick-off meeting. The BA was present to aggregate information. The other 2-week vacation was planned from 28th February, right after the Discovery Phase was supposed to end, which the client was warned about.

 5. In September 2021 (two and a half years later) the client returned asking us to start the estimation based on the materials he created on his own and kick-off the development process. Citing the previous experience we had, we declined the opportunity to estimate and develop the product.

 6. What followed were a series of threats and personal offenses of the involved team members.

 7. After we declined to continue work on the client’s platform, the above posted review appeared.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of an online marketplace that allows children to swap their secondhand items.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We needed their team to develop our e-commerce platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi developed our online selling platform from scratch while keeping our specific requirements in mind. We relayed these requirements along with our preferences during a brainstorming session with their team. 

Since our customers were children, Steelkiwi built custom software solutions and design materials that were appropriate for our target age group. We asked them to build two-layer controls that allowed parents and guardians to monitor the purchasing activities of their children.

We’re currently in the process of refining our tools to provide our users with a smoother e-market experience.

What is the team composition?

We initially worked with a project manager and a web designer. Steelkiwi would then upgrade their team depending on the project phase and our development needs.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

Our team first looked into the top development agencies in the world to help us decide on our preferred e-market model. Upon studying these, we realized that we preferred a mid-sized team with a reliable portfolio and good project management skills. Those qualifications led us to discover Steelkiwi’s team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in September 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been getting a great deal of positive feedback from our users who especially like our platform’s design and usability. Steelkiwi’s pool of talented resources continues to strive hard to meet our expectations and change our platform for the better.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

We use tools such as Jira and Trello to keep track of their progress, but they haven’t been able to consistently rely on one tool for a smoother process. While there’ve been instances where the expenses and activities could’ve been managed and tracked better, Steelkiwi remains receptive to our feedback and understanding of our business needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with Steelkiwi’s pool of talents and their willingness to collaborate with our team. Their partnership spirit has been evident throughout our engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Steelkiwi can consider focusing more on their project management approach. Their future clients can benefit more from a transparent and natural workflow.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Managing Director of a digital technologies company that specializes in the design and development of digital platform solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for a reliable software development company to build a long-term, ongoing working relationship with to develop and maintain a commercial release of a customer engagement platform we had developed an initial MVP version for.

SOLUTION

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

We identified Steel Kiwi in 2016 when we were looking to expand our development capability by adding an external outsourced team. We began work with them on some test projects. They were highly responsive, reliable, deliver what they promise, and added additional capabilities to our team.

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

Our project was a complex customer engagement and reporting platform with a sophisticated administration and management console. The solution was built using Python and the Django Framework. The team developed a fully commercially ready solution from an initial MVP to reference.

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

We have worked with 8 people, all of which have been excellent. The engagement was led by the Managing Director who in my opinion is one of the most professional people I have had the pleasure to work with. We have also worked directly with 1 x project manager, 2 x back end developers, 1 x front end developers, 1 x business analyst, 1 x quality assurance specialist, and 1 x infrastructure, specialist. All team members have been professional and suitably equipped to perform their roles.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our project was delivered on time, on budget, and exceeded our expectations.

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

The company has a very good project management structure that is the best I have experienced. Communication is efficient, timely, accurate and most importantly upfront. The company uses all of the latest tools that support their excellence in this area.

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

Their professionalism, capability, and reliability. These are the three most important characteristics we look for in a development team.

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

The company is constantly improving their own processes. I have nothing more to add that they aren't already doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and managing director of MyPitchlist. Our platform connects real estate agents with people that want to sell their property.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We hired Steelkiwi to help us design and build our website platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a basic map of our website's functionality, and we went through a development process with Steelkiwi. First, we had a phase of exploring and designing out the functionality of the site.

Various aspects of the platform had to be considered, including working with various APIs and making it mobile-friendly. We had to work on the admin panels and on how we interacted with the platform as well.

The main development took around 18 months to be completed, considering that we went through various changes. Currently, Steelkiwi provides maintenance support.

What is the team composition?

Over the period in which we’ve been working together, we’ve had three different account managers that we deal with on a weekly basis. We’ve also worked with a team of 4–5 people, which includes a UI/UX designer and some developers.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We had a limited budget, so we were looking for developers in Upwork. We made a list of around 10 development companies from there. My brother mentioned that Ukraine had good developers, so I started doing some research. I found good reviews about Steelkiwi and met with them. They seemed nice, and their price was pretty good. It was on the high end of our budget, but we liked the people that we were dealing with and decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform is now up and running. We got someone in New Zealand, who knows about coding language, to go through GitHub and look at the code. They came back and were very complimentary about the way it was built. They said that the platform is very well put together.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

Steelkiwi isn’t so good at meeting deadlines. Their communication around when everything is going to be delivered hasn’t been right sometimes, and we’ve missed some deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have confidence in the way that Steelkiwi put together everything. The app was done the right way and well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not being able to meet deadlines is probably the only downside of our engagement. Everything else was pretty straightforward.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more you can do in the discovery phase, the first phase when they look at your project when working with them, the better. The fixed price is defined by how detailed the discovery phases are. If you add things later on, that’s when you start running into more costs. If you’re able to make sure that everything is perfect in that first phase, the project should be smooth sailing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a technology platform for loyalty and gift card payment programs for the retail industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We hired Steelkiwi to help build out Subway’s European loyalty app.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi created the loyalty app for both iOS and Android to replace an existing legacy app. Members who are logged in can see their order and transaction history. They can also see their points balances and promotions.

What is the team composition?

We had two development teams, one for iOS and one for Android. We also worked with a project manager and a business development manager. In total, we had six people working with us.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We wanted a team that worked on the European time zone. We shortlisted a few companies and decided to engage with Steelkiwi based on good chemistry and discussions.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app rates well in both iOS and Android app stores.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

Steelkiwi is professional and organized. They never have any issues meeting deadlines. They’ve been very good, overall.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team makes the effort to fully understand requirements. They take a professional approach with every project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have clear requirements for the final product; it makes the development a lot simpler.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a fintech startup based in the UAE. We’re focused on an Eastern social savings concept. The product we aim to create will provide digital savings groups and peer-to-peer money transfer functionalities. I’m a co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We used them as our main provider for the development of the mobile app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We created a scope detailing what we wanted the app to look like and what features we needed to add. They broke down our scope into requirements during a one-week scoping exercise. We didn’t see the point of that; we thought that most of it was already done.

Steelkiwi gave us an analysis of what technologies they recommended using on the front- and backends. They specialize in Flutter, and they convinced us to use that on the frontend, along with Django Python on the backend, AWS servers, and Twilio for SMS OTP (one time password) or mobile verification.

What is the team composition?

According to what we understood, the project would have two backend engineers, two frontend engineers, one UI/UX designer, one QA tester, and a DevOps engineer.

We were introduced to the team members. They were changed mid-project, something we weren’t happy with.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We saw their reviews on Clutch. The person in charge of their sales put in a lot of time and energy before we even signed with them, which we found quite impressive. That’s what led us to actually sign with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The project went above budget from $50,000 to $55,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract in April 2020. They needed a couple of weeks to assemble the team, after which we started the scoping exercise. The project was supposed to end in late-August, but we ended in late-November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We needed to make sure that the app would work, and we went through a lot of challenges. The app relied on an integration with an open banking API from a third-party in the Middle East, and Steelkiwi had lots of trouble integrating it. There were a lot of issues in terms of allocating the correct resources to help with that integration. That was our biggest qualm with them.

In terms of the proficiency of the tech team, the backend code was well-structured, according to our CTO. It was clearly done by an experienced backend developer. The frontend developer was unfortunately a bit junior, and we had to restructure the whole frontend code after we stopped using Steelkiwi.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager was a nice guy, and we really enjoyed working with him, but the communication wasn’t up to our standards. We didn’t know what was happening, and we had to nag them a lot to get information. There were a lot of missed deadlines, and the communication and project management could’ve been better.

One of the reasons we initially chose them is that they worked in an agile methodology, whereby we’d have sprints and target results for each sprint. According to what we experienced, there was only one sprint, and things became very blurry after that. We didn’t know which sprint we were on and what the next deliverable was.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The start of our engagement with them was the most impressive thing, in comparison to other tech vendors. Steelkiwi put in quite a lot of effort at the start, especially their sales team. We felt that they were going to be dedicated and passionate about the project, and they were flexible in working with our budget. However, things changed after a few months.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I knew that they had really good developers, but I was disappointed to hear that the frontend code wasn’t structured properly or as well as the backend code was. I can’t deny that Steelkiwi’s team worked very hard, though.

Another issue was resource allocation. After a few months, when things were getting very slow, we realized that we only had one frontend and one backend developer. When we started, we had a whole team. There was clearly something wrong with the resource allocation. We realized that they’d shifted some of our developers to other projects, which caused us wasted time and expenditure. They kept delaying, from September to late-November. That cost us a lot financially.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It depends on the client. For a large company with a large budget that already has an app or website running and needs to add on to those, I’d definitely recommend them. I’d recommend Steelkiwi to someone that already has an internal team and just needs more support.

If the client is a startup and fully reliant on them, I wouldn’t suggest going ahead with Steelkiwi unless they have an appropriate budget. In our case, $55,000 was not cheap at all, and what we got for it wasn’t good value for money, especially in the later stages.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager and marketing manager at a startup. We’re a travel guide company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We needed to build our product. It had a lot of data that needed to be translated into many languages, so it was important that our database was well organized.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi built the backend of our mobile and web app. Their team was also involved in frontend development. They used JavaScript and AWS for the backend, which their team built to enable us to easily add data to it. After we launched the app, we continued working together on additional features.  

What is the team composition?

I worked with one backend developer, one project manager, and one frontend developer.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

My CEO and manager hired Steelkiwi.

How much have you invested with them?

We hired them full-time for a year and probably spent $5,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in the summer of 2019, and we launched the mobile app in March 2020. We continued working together until September 2020 to add features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although the frontend wasn’t good, the backend was great. Steelkiwi assigned a good backend developer to our project. We were able to translate the database quickly because the architecture was great.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

I was the project manager, and Steekiwi was responsive. Their team acted like our employees, so it was easy to work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their backend development was great because their backend developer was skillful. Steelkiwi developed great software.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their project management skills.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend them if you already have a project manager and clear end goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a COVID-19 platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Steelkiwi?

We needed a trustworthy partner to develop our web platform for a good price.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Steelkiwi developed our web platform. It works natively on all browsers. There’s an admin page as well as a control panel for the clients. We or the client are able to create queues, and then QR codes for these queues, then put in the code in public places where people can queue virtually rather than standing in line physically. 

There’s also an interface for whoever is managing the queue. Rather than standing up and ensuring people are separate from each other, all they need to do is press a button on the page from the interface to call the next patient. 

The frontend was AJAX. The backend is hosted with AWS and we use Django.

What is the team composition?

There were 6-8 people including a project manager, backend, graphics, and QA.

How did you come to work with Steelkiwi?

We inquired about different companies I found on Google and Clutch. They came up as the best value for money for the type of solution we wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $30,000-$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place from October 2019-March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We like their approach. Steelkiwi was flexible and they accommodated our timing. The account manager was really amazing, engaging, and understood our requirements. He was able to pull together the right team and start the project fairly quickly. They continued the journey at a good pace and to our satisfaction.

How did Steelkiwi perform from a project management standpoint?

We had some issues with our initial project manager and had to change. The next project manager was great. The project management was 4 out of 5.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re always available. They listen and they respond fairly quickly. We like their engagement style.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re satisfied. We can trust them. They deliver whatever it is we need.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prepare for a good journey with Steelkiwi. Ask for Igor (Account Manager).