Incode Group

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CTO of Agile Rockstars, a young IT consulting company. We specialize in agile software development and business culture analysis, in addition to developing in-house software surrounding agile topics.

For what projects/services did your company hire Incode Group?

Being scarce on developers for our in-house software, we decided to get external help from Incode for frontend development of our upcoming web app.

What were your goals for this project?

It was important that the technology stack we proposed (React / Redux /Next.js) be leveraged to create a versatile web app. Starting from the foundation, we wanted to create an MVP to show to potential clients.

How did you select this vendor?

We went on Upwork. Out of dozens of applications, Incode instilled the most confidence in us. They could provide well-designed references, their communication was very polite, and they were forthcoming, professional, and effortless.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Incode created a frontend MVP for our web application almost from scratch; we provided the designs, a technological direction, and a codebase to work with. Through weekly hangout meetings, Slack, and a JIRA product backlog, we organized the development cycle. This required minimal effort from our side, as Incode was kind enough to provide a product manager to groom the backlog and handle communication. Only minimal supervision was needed.

What was the team composition?

Initial communication regarding the contract was handled by their business development executive. We booked one software developer and were also provided with a product manager.

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

Over a period of two months, we completed almost every aspect of the MVP we wanted to. Incode helped us greatly advance our prototype.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We communicated through Slack, Jira, and Skype. Communication was effortless, and they handled project management expertly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their patience, professionalism, transparency, and quality of work were outstanding. They were always forthcoming and committed to requirements.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There was nothing we would have changed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder & former CEO of Knetic, a backend platform company for enterprise banking, telecom, and gaming. I ran the company for eight years, sold it two years ago, and transitioned in October.

What challenge were you trying to address with Incode Group?

We had about 25 developers on staff. We were looking to outsource some labor that wasn’t core to our platform, but for the implementations for our clients. We hired Incode Group as one of our outsourced groups.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Incode Group does everything from design to API integrations and UI setup. Their team does all of our AngularJS development, performs our API integrations from our platform to our client platforms, and assist with our clients’ e-commerce needs. They either did design elements for us, or we employed another design provider for UI design. Incode Group would implement our design assets into AngularJS. Our shop set the standards for what our partners use. We used Jira and Slack. Beyond that, they had access to our MySQL and MongoDB and worked with REST APIs and other interfaces.

What is the team composition?

I think we went through 12 engineers, but nine was our largest time size at one time. I had a project liaison who worked with my project managers daily.

How did you come to work with Incode Group?

We found them on Upwork. Incode Group was one of the three groups we ended up hiring. We gave them a majority of the work.

How much have you invested with them?

Depending on seniority, our developer range was between $3,000–$5,000 a month. We spent between $35,000–$40,000 a month, so probably $350,000–$450,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in February 2017. I believe that they’re still using them to this day.

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

Incode Group fills the necessary void. We needed laborious work that we needed to outsource. We tried different firms globally but felt that a company based in Eastern Europe would be our best bet. They’re skilled at development at a mathematical basis. Incode Group was creative in terms of how they inputted the platform, which is what we wanted. At the same time, they followed our instructions. We gave them an outline, a due date, and a guide for implementation, which they accomplished.

How did Incode Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team worked extra hours to meet deadlines and keep up with sprints. I never heard any complaints from my project managers. In addition to being an agile group ourselves, we used Slack for daily communication and received a report after every two-week sprint.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Incode Group is a professional team. Most of our experience with outsourcing teams overseas has been a constant rotation of developers. We only burned through three developers in 18 months, which is outstanding. Working with other firms, we’ve lost developers every four to five months.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our biggest challenge is finding the right resources and talents. At the time, there were about 30 to 40 developers that had specialties, but not everything we needed. They didn’t employ any specialists in Ruby on Rails, but that’s more of a function of size. They’re expanding now, but even when a company has 500 developers, clients lose the personal attention they get with smaller firms.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear in your documentation. Clients should do a lot of video calls to make sure they understand the project. We spent a lot of time with our liaison to make sure they understood our end goal. A lot of companies build products but aren’t sure what they’re trying to accomplish. Any experienced outsourced developer should know the main goal beyond development.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the COO of a startup. We do software development and consulting.

For what projects/services did your company hire Incode Group?

We wanted to streamline management and expedite workflows. Our team hired Incode Group to build a CMS in an urgent timeline.

What were your goals for this project?

The CMS needed to provide easy access to the task list and transparently display work updates. We also needed to track for clients, employees, and projects.

How did you select this vendor?

I received a recommendation for Incode Group as a fast-working team that could tackle the project even with our restrictions. Plus, I was told that they had experience with a similar platform.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Incode Group built a CMS based on our specifications, implementing scalability, task-assigning and evaluation tools. They designed the UI/UX according to our guidelines. The lead designer drew up sketches and the CTO worked on the project architecture. While we offered a base concept, their team did suggest a few extra features and tweaks that ended up in the final product. The project took around eight months to get to the alpha stage. We’re still collaborating on the beta version release and an upcoming mobile solution.

What was the team composition?

We worked with the project manager, CTO, lead designer, and business developer. Our team communicated directly with developers about feature developments and progress reports.

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

We stuck well within our budget and the project was rolled out on time. Thus, we’re already using its beta version to speed up management processes and improve intrateam communication. Currently, we’re still getting updates on the project but we’re already satisfied with the work done.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We’ve never had any issues with the team. They deliver progress reports regularly via the project manager. The work has been well-organized; video conferences helped expedite the concept stage. We also communicate via Skype and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Incode Group hit the ground running. They’ve met our expectations for functionality and have added features on top of the original CMS.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Their English skills could be stronger, but that’s never impacted the quality of work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the co-founder of a cryptocurrency startup that will help people freely exchange cryptocurrencies.

For what projects/services did your company hire Incode Group?

We needed a dedicated development team to develop an MVP for us during our seed stage.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed a fast, trustworthy, and secure crypto-exchange platform with high-speed transaction systems for our next round of investments.

How did you select this vendor?

Incode Group was recommended to us as a professional, dedicated team with a complete technology stack. They were experienced in platform development and had had many previous successes.

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

First, they sketched out all our features and created the platform’s architecture. Second, they conducted extensive research and developed a new user workflow. Realizing we were offering a new technology, they went beyond their scope to offer product guidance. They recently delivered the MVP and will continue to perform maintenance, tweaks, and feature development. I expect the relationship to continue for the foreseeable future.

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

We haven’t made the platform public yet, but their estimations were pretty accurate, and we didn’t go over budget. The MVP they delivered exceeded our expectations thanks to their fresh, technological approach.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team is always well-prepared and easy to work with. The project management team members are helpful and keep everything organized. They're constantly available and use various platforms to keep in contact with us. We mainly communicate over Skype, video conference, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They understood our needs and technology stack quickly and provided us with valuable platform development experience. Their design and coding experience produced features we hadn’t even thought about.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No. I’m delighted with their results.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Fast growing ecommerce platform.

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

We are developing ERP systems, including factory management web app.

How did you select Incode Group and what were the deciding factors?

We have interviewed several candidates and found the best fit with Incode.

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

We are working on the project e2e. Incode works closely with our product manager and lead developer. We have developed MVP, soft launch version and full version of the desired application.

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

We are working with with one full stack developer, one QA engineer, backed up by project manger.

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

We've reached the project milestones with high-quality code in a timely manner. Once the project is on production, we are able to provide quick responds to any question or issue.

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

Communication is smooth, both in video calls and chats. They speak fluent English, and they are professionals.

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

The developer we work with is proactive, easily understands our requirements, always suggests ways to improve our system, and resolves issues.

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

Our team is growing but we were not able to hire more developers from Incode. Not easy to expand the team.