iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a social travel application.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

We needed help with web and app development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re building a complete website and an iOS and Android app. They’re building everything from scratch.

What is the team composition?

I work with 7–8 people from their team, including a customer service coordinator, their owner, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

We interviewed several candidates, and they were the only vendor that could make it scalable.

How much have you invested with them?

We intend to spend just over $29,000 in phase one.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and our work is ongoing.

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

Their work is outstanding. Any time there’s a miscommunication, they take care of things immediately to make sure I’m happy.

How did iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Skype. All of our deadlines have been on schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness stands out. They’re excited about the project and our vision for the future.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing that has inhibited our productivity.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to interview several companies and go with who you’re comfortable with. Don’t let price be your only determining factor.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT Manager for Privatization Holding Co. We have multiple subsidiaries in different business verticals, and, for this project, I was working as a consultant for FairyHub, a family shopping e-commerce business.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf Solution Pvt. Ltd.?

We had a local development firm in Kuwait to build the e-commerce portal using Django/Python platform. We found it challenging to find technically competent teams locally for the app development and for building the API's.

iLeaf Solutions supported us to build the API and to design and develop our iOS app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built the iOS app from scratch. Our General Manager had a specific design concept that was discussed with iLeaf. They started by delivering 4–5 wireframe options, out of which one was selected. Then, they came up with the graphics and integrated our tweaks until we okayed the final prototype. Lastly, they moved on to the actual app development.

They also created the APIs between the existing e-commerce portal and the mobile app. This was very difficult, as we didn’t have any proper technical documentation from the third party web development firm, meaning they had to analyze the source code in detail and create the documentation themselves, before developing the APIs.

What is the team composition?

I’ve spoken with Jason (CEO, iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd.) and Rino (Project Manager, iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd), who was the app project manager. I knew the developers as well, but I only worked with Rino. He set up full-team meetings when we needed them.  

How did you come to work with iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?

I did lots of research and considered companies across Kuwait, but I wasn’t fining the things I wanted regarding technical capabilities and time to market. I’m very familiar with India, so I started looking there and shortlisted a couple of options. A colleague and I went to India to meet with the companies and look at their infrastructure and capabilities. I was very impressed with iLeaf and was comfortable with its project management system. I was confident they would record the correct details and maintain good communication channels.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000 so far. They still offer us change management and maintenance, and we have plans to add more features in the future.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2018. The app launched on time.

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

They were fast and responsive, but there were some issues when we went into a testing environment. Working through multiple rounds of testing, they identified the issues and switched the website onto AWS. This resulted in a much faster website and mobile app. They also had to do some additional work on the payment links because of the platform change.

Our owner is very happy, and we’ve received tremendous responses from the market tests we’ve done. The feedback has been that the mobile app is clean and simple to use. User adoption—switching from the website to the app—has been smooth as well. There’ve been no difficulties there.

How did iLeaf Solution Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

We speak over email and Teamwork, with Skype and Google Hangouts in there as well. If we found issues throughout the build, we had unscheduled calls to discuss them. They gave us attention when we needed it. Regularly, though, I had weekly interactions with Rino to track progress and ideas.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The developers and testers were very aware of our expected outcomes, and they always went beyond that. At every step, iLeaf delivered more than we expected, which I found very impressive. They could have just given us what we asked for in the documentation, but they delivered improved versions, including original suggestions. These have been very helpful and produced for no extra cost.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have done more due diligence before we encountered an issue with testing. The issue wasn’t their fault, but they could have saved us time and provided alternative measures if they’d caught the problem earlier. Otherwise, everything was okay.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They were a great team to work with – friendly people who are technically qualified and delivered on tight timelines. I’d advise anyone that they are trustworthy and near-perfect technically. They’re a very good team.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for an education company that focuses on literacy and literacy difficulties.

For what projects/services did your company hire iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?

We hired iLeaf Solutions to build the prototype of an educational app.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to gauge the effectiveness of the app. We also wanted to enable further marketing and attract financial backers to assist with final development.

How did you select this vendor?

Another app developer recommended them.

Describe the project in detail.

Initially, we held several video meetings to describe our requirements. Then, iLeaf built an iOS app with five videos plus additional screens for comprehensive learning. They were responsible for all backend development as well as adding our design to the frontend.

Parents and teachers could use the app to help children learn basic sight words. We had developed clay animation videos and gaming components for each sight word, which added meaning to the spelling and pronunciation. There were also two reward games for completing “word tasks.”

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager and backend developer.

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

Users love our product. They find it easy to use and enjoy the look and feel. All bugs and flaws were fixed promptly by iLeaf before we sent it to the App Store.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had exemplary communication. Plus, iLeaf was extremely committed to time frames, completing all tasks promptly and efficiently.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were extremely conscientious and excellent communicators.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied with their work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former CEO of an app created for university students. The app helped students navigate their social lives at universities and featured things like daily lunch menus, news, and events. It was an information platform with many features.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?

We needed mobile app development for iOS and Android.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I initially gave them mock-ups and the concept, in addition to a paper that contained all the information about what the app should do. In the beginning, they provided me with the design and then went on to do the programming. The app was native. They also took care of putting it in the App Store for me and fixed the bugs.

The app allows users to select one of several universities. When they select one, they can see the restaurants and where those are on campus. After clicking on those restaurants, users can see the daily lunch menu. The app also allowed users to be able to meet friends. Users could also log in via Facebook or email and allow the app to see their friends. We tried to create a social network at the university.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people including a project manager who I was constantly in contact with and developers for iOS and for Android.

How did you come to work with iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?

I found them through Upwork. I chose them because they had good ratings, experience, and price.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2015–May 2016.

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

The app works and has a rating of 4.5 with 5,000 downloads. I had two programmers take a look at the code who said it is good to very good.

How did iLeaf Solutions Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

It took some time working together but we figured out a good process. We used tools like Trello with an agile approach and email to communicate. We had two project managers over the time we worked with them. The first one was okay, but I really liked the second one. They responded very quickly when I reached out.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The code was good, and their availability and reliability were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are very good with code and project management, but it might be better for them to outsource the design aspect as this is an area they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Start with a concept and create mock-ups and design. You could do this on 99designs.com. Then, hire your developer.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a New Zealand-based software and app development company. We focus on education and vocational training but have now moved into operations management QA solutions as well.

What challenges were you trying to address with iLeaf?

We wanted to build a mobile app with the user in mind. Another vendor was building the app for us, but they ran into design challenges. As a result, we needed to rework the app on an alternate platform so that it functioned with the features we wanted.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired iLeaf to come up with the techniques and solutions to create a user-centric mobile app. We provided iLeaf with general design concepts and optics that we wanted to achieve. From there, it was a constant feedback loop to create the best design possible. For each feature we added to the app, iLeaf tested each function individually. The key feature we added was a dashboard camera. They talked with our website builders in India to ensure cohesion between our website and mobile app.

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with a project manager, Jaison, and three developers.

How did you come to work with iLeaf?

We searched online for developers and went through a two-stage application, which was peer-reviewed by an independent expert and they gave iLeaf high ratings.

What is the status of this engagement?

The development of this project is on-going, and we are about to embark on another project with iLeaf in the near future.

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

The app is still in development, so we don’t have measurable numbers. In my mind, the key benefit is that the functions we added were developed quickly. This way our clients can utilize some features of the app until the rest of the project is fully developed.

How did iLeaf perform from a project management standpoint?  

The company utilizes an online management system called Teamwork that gives us access to the work iLeaf is doing on the project. Through this system, iLeaf sends us product milestones, weekly updates, and specific activities they want us to see. It’s extremely effective and allows us to monitor the pace of the workflow. We can also communicate efficiently about distinct aspects of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They streamlined a work model that keeps us connected. Their workflow is flexible, and they are willing to explore new options if necessary. They are a big company that does not stay stuck in a rut or a single-track process. Their team members are not afraid to ask for help from one another, which yields the best possible results.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I've been impressed with what they delivered so far. They lived up to their potential.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

There are a multitude of app developers, but you can find the ones when you test them through peer review.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of software for a company developing internet of things devices for homes. These devices allow homeowners to monitor what’s happening inside their homes (e.g., fire alarms, temperature) remotely.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf Solutions?

The company was started four years ago. As business grew, we needed more help in software and product development. Initially, I looked for a company that could help us with a new project, but wasn’t prepared to start the project without being confident in the people I was going to work with.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, iLeaf helped maintain one of our existing products. After a number of weeks, I determined that I could delegate a bigger portion of a bigger project to them, so we brought them on to help develop an update to our iOS and Android apps. The apps needed a new look-and-feel and new feature sets. Later on, we included them in our backend work.

Our app has a large number of features—some of them developed by iLeaf, and some by our internal team. These are all part of one system, so it was important to maintain integration.

What is the team composition?

They dedicated a project manager to us who made sure that our processes were being followed, and that they were consistent in working on things the way we did. In total, the team included two employees dedicated solely to our projects and two working part-time on our projects.

How did you come to work with iLeaf Solutions?

I posted a job on Upwork and several parties responded. I sent a test task to everyone and was happy with iLeaf’s answers.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent around $30,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2017 and are still working with them.

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

They have generally been on time with all deliveries. We are a small team with a big customer base. We have a delivery to make every two weeks or so. Had iLeaf not taken things seriously and delivered according to our timelines, we would have had delays and not been able to send things to our business team on time.

How did iLeaf Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They picked up our internal processes and systems and became an integrated team. We use Jira as a ticketing system for task delegation. They had another system in place, but we suggested that they adopt ours. This is probably why they assigned a project manager to work with us.

We also have daily meetings during which we go through tasks. Their project manager makes sure that the process is followed. They follow up on questions, don’t drop the ball, and make sure that their commitments are delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They aim to be professional and reliable, and they make a conscious effort to do this. I’ve forgotten to follow up on certain things, but in those cases, they took the initiative. They want to be an accountable, reliable, and professional team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’m happy with them and am going to work with them on a long-term basis. They are doing the right things.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the manager of Flexi Cash AS. We provide point of sales software, calendar systems for scheduling, and CRM customer systems.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf Solutions?

In the beginning, I needed mobile app development resources. I reached out to iLeaf Solutions to develop my project from scratch based on our specifications.

What was the scope of their involvement?

iLeaf Solutions programmed all of our apps for Android and iOS. First off, we provided our overall functionality and design specs. We periodically approved the designs they created and refined. The first app is mostly native with some elements of HTML. It’s a reporting tool that shows any store manager their revenue for security reasons and tracks everything in the point-of-sale. For security purposes, it checks that sales are actually being registered and the income’s really going to their company. 

The team also built a fully native app for hairdressers that has booking and scheduling functions for salon customers. They’re currently developing a web platform in HTML and Ajax JS. It’s a new type of online point-of-sales system. The team also provides all the publishing support we need.

What is the team composition? 

I don't interface directly with the development team. Instead, I work directly with my point of contact Jaison. Our primary backend developer is located in India. He conducts most meetings with the developers. I’d assume that 1-3 resources were assigned to our project at any one time, and source supplemental people like designers for tasks outside the primary part of development. 

How did you come to work with iLeaf Solutions?

I found them many years ago when I was sourcing developers through Upwork. 

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent about $50,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working together in December of 2013. 

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

iLeaf is very transparent while trying to find the best solution to a problem. The team also has a substantial system and architectural knowledge base. They really understand what they're talking about, which is great. 

The first app was very well received among our user base. The second app has been working decently well, despite internal issues with our own developer and not providing a good API. I plan to work more with them on the web component, so it's premature to have metric-based results. 

How did iLeaf Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Their internal development has been pretty good but not perfect. Since we did most of the testing, though, they really haven't been too involved. Sometimes we have to repeat things that need to be fixed, but it was probably difficult for them to actually track and process the input to run the project properly. For communication, we simply use Skype or an IRC system. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

iLeaf is very forthcoming, helpful, and has a well-structured business approach. All these strengths make it very easy to work with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project manager and most people we've spoken with are quite fluent in English, but some of the developers could work on their language skills. The language barrier is a widespread problem among most comparable teams in India.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a project manager for a software innovation company developing complex projects for Fortune 500 clients. We have been in business for a year and are constantly growing worldwide.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf?

We had too many project requests to handle internally and decided to outsource a part of our work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our first project with iLeaf was a React Native lifestyle application. We also contacted them for a ReactJS frontend project for the speaker platform of one of the biggest German worldwide publishers.

We are working on a few other projects, mainly using ReactJS, React Native or GraphQL databases for authentication. We’ve used Stripe as a payment provider, Zero as a verification and signup third-party tool, Facebook app events, branch.io (which is a deep-linking service), and common React-Bootstrap frameworks for app interfaces. Most of the work with them is frontend.

What is the team dynamic?

For the React Native project, we had around 5 developers from their team. I’ve been in contact with their project manager. We’ve used a single developer on a project for our own company’s website. We’re also using a single developer for the latest project.

We typically start with a requirements document outlining the entire project, which also serves as a backlog. Based on it, we make an estimate and hire their team. We use Skype, GitHub, the Google Docs suite, Upwork, a tool for frontend changes, and taiga.io (a tool for Agile development, especially scrum).

How did you come to work with iLeaf?

A colleague of mine found them through Upwork.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of their work has been around $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with iLeaf in April 2017, and we have an ongoing relationship. Our React Native project took 5 months to complete.

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

iLeaf did a brilliant job on every project we’ve worked on together. They can understand our clients’ business demands and work as a self-organized team without continuously double-checking or asking for the meaning of various user stories and requirements. This has helped us increase our development speed.

How did iLeaf perform from a project management standpoint?

Their developers were able to self-organize based on our briefings, and there weren’t many questions about the scope of the work. It was delivered within perfect timing and with good quality. Overall, I’m very happy with the communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed by their business understanding and sharp sense for details.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could provide a better sense of what our kick-off dates are. This isn’t really a negative point, just the advice I would give to iLeaf. So far, I’ve been satisfied.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My current company is in the field of corporate social responsibility. I’m a UX architect, but I also head up the development of a grants management solution that we offer to enterprise corporations and foundations. The product helps them manage their corporate grant offerings to individuals and nonprofits.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf Solutions?

Our core application is maintained by an engineering team of 20 in-house. We knew we needed to get into the grants management space, but we didn’t necessarily have the resources here to accomplish the task.

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s a multi-tenant web-based application with responsive web—not necessarily trying to conquer the native app side of things right this moment. A lot of the BA work and design and frontend development is handled on our side, and a lot of the core application coding is what we rely on the iLeaf team for. We needed a team that did Node.js application development. We were looking for something that aligns, as best we could, to the tech stack we’re using internally. For the most part, iLeaf was able to accommodate that and help us get going. There was a year of research that went in before we even had iLeaf come on board.

On our original engagement model, we would put together a spec of work that we felt would take them anywhere from two to three months. They would analyze it and we would come up with a SOW [statement of work] so that everyone was in agreement on what we were going to do and about how long it would take. Then we would start knocking it out. We just changed to a different model, though, and brought on a team full-time. We’ve now moved to more of a dedicated model where we have three developers, a project manager, and a QA resource on their side.

How did you come to work with iLeaf Solutions?

It really goes back several years before I even joined the company. I had startups of my own, and we were doing a native iOS application with a lot of geolocation based stuff. We had outsourced work to an individual in China who stopped returning our calls.

We did another round of interviews. We came across iLeaf and I discussed the possibility of working with Jaison [CEO]. They were able to pick up that source code and we were actually able to get that app finished up and pushed out in the market. We worked with Jaison on that a handful of years, so my history with them goes back pretty far.

When we didn’t have the resources in-house, I recommended them to our CEO. It’s been about a year now, and they got our grants manager app to a production-ready state. When it comes down to it, they’ve always been reliable.

How much have you invested with iLeaf Solutions?

I think $10,000–$50,000 is an acceptable range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in March or April of 2016. We’ve launched the product to clients. We ramped things up to a dedicated team model, so we are looking at fairly continuous aggressive development until at least the beginning of 2018.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our engineering team had some hands-on experience in database architecture and general guidance, so there’s been a lot of collaboration there. Everyone’s happy from a code and architecture perspective. The company and the clients that we serve are generally happy with the look and feel and functionality of the app.

How did iLeaf Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve definitely been really good about communication. We’re both working on opposite ends of the day so I’ve never really had any complaint about availability, whether that’s us chatting with them at night or them chatting with us in the morning. Tools like JIRA, if utilized well, make everything extremely easy. They’ve been proficient at leveling those tools.

As we’ve gone along and gauged a little bit of our velocity, we’ve been able to stagger our deadlines. We made the beta that we needed to push out on time and moved it to production when we needed it to move, so everything was generally done on time.

What did you find most impressive about iLeaf Solutions?

Communication and general documentation. They’re always very helpful and happy to send across a ten-page deck for anything that we’re discussing. They’ve been great.

Are there any areas iLeaf Solutions could improve?

Not necessarily. For this project and the team that we have here, we’ve addressed a lot of things and just seen the improvements in them. A lot of that’s just on communication and how we handle all the different tasks and everything. We had some comments about midway through, and everything’s settled out just fine.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Yufi is an educational technology, limited liability company registered in Hong Kong. Now four years old, we specialize in creating apps and software that allow younger users (as young as age four) to post work to their blog at school. We are a small startup company with four initial investors and co-founders. I’m the CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with iLeaf Solutions?

With iLeaf Solutions, our objective was to develop an iPad application that was a blogging platform for students of different age groups. The most challenging part was the UI/UX and the usability, as it needs to be appealing to all user types. Also, the platform supports features such as in-app viewing of blogs, commenting, privacy controls, and syncing between iPads.

In the search for a quality mobile development team, we reached out to iLeaf Solutions. They had a good understanding of our industry and product goals, which made them an ideal development partner. They hit the ground running and impressed us with their professionalism and technical expertise. As a startup, we change directions. The ability to accommodate those changes while continuing to execute within tight timelines was really a challenging task that they addressed well. They felt like part of our team and addressed all of our requirements in a well-optimized manner. iLeaf’s engineers have played an essential role in the evolution of our product. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project involved building a feature-rich iOS native app with challenging UI/UX features. It’s basically an education app with multiple sub-platforms that create an interactive informative system. The app needed to be able to support multiple user roles and connection scenarios. It also needed a robust backend with a well-designed database and web services to support the logic, data feed, and user actions within the app.

The app was designed in accordance with the features that Easy Blog was seeking to build, including supporting multiple sub domains, user roles, and the unique blogging feature that allows people to create a narrative through written content, photos, and video. Native iOS features were leveraged along with extensive custom code to make the application work. For the backend, WordPress technology was used, along with custom design and implementation to achieve the desired functionalities and behavior. iLeaf was involved from the conceptualization to implementation of the project, resulting in a robust, scalable application.

They utilized WordPress, PHP, and MySQL for the web application. They used Objective-C, Swift, and Core Data for the iOS application.

How did you come to work with iLeaf Solutions?

We were looking for a development partner we could trust with our big ideas and limited resources. It was through a reference that we reached out to iLeaf. We had a slow start with some pilot tasks, and they delivered with outstanding quality in a timely manner. We had a bad experience with outsourcing previously where we ended up with a poor delivery and coding standard. iLeaf helped us by reviewing the existing code base and addressed the drawbacks, equipping us with a stable first product. They became our official development partners from there.

How much have you invested with iLeaf Solutions?

We have spent between $50,000 and $150,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

This is an ongoing project. 

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

In the initial stages of the engagement, a Time and Materials development model was adopted where 100–120 hours per month per resource was utilized. But, as the project development appreciated, iLeaf suggested that a DTM [dedicated team model] was more effective to achieve our anticipated goals, and now that’s what we have in place for our projects. The team is a combination of project management, mobile development, web development, QA, and UX/UX professionals. Our initial release was with very minimal features, and currently we have seven feature-rich applications in stores.

We had no hesitations in suggesting iLeaf Solutions to some of our acquaintances who had mobility development requirements, and we always hear good news about their collaborations.

How did iLeaf Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

A good project management process is the key to any software project’s success, and iLeaf does this exceedingly well. We are extremely happy with the project management process at iLeaf. The Technology Project Managers understand the ins and outs of the software infrastructure, and they direct us in the right path. They are familiar with several project management tools and processes that make the project development process efficient and effective for us.

What did you find most impressive about iLeaf Solutions?

iLeaf has made the necessary effort to understand our business. They don’t just execute our requests; they add value to our business. The team always has a positive attitude and can pull it together quickly to meet last-minute changes and deadlines. Their team’s technical expertise, customer focus, and flexible approach are truly commendable. Throughout the course of the project, iLeaf has focused on the benefits of the solution to the customer's business. Their iterative development approach to mitigate risks has been one of the best that we’ve witnessed. The key to our successful interactions has been their project manager's ability to understand our needs through regular meetings and effectively translate these requirements to the tech team.

Are there any areas iLeaf Solutions could improve?

No. They are capable, and we are pretty happy with their professional approach.