Inventorsoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a manager at Experis Ciber AS, a Norwegian software consulting firm.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

We hired them to build a web-based customer portal for one of our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They began the project by providing time estimates for development. After we confirmed their plan, they started building the product. They developed the initial infrastructure on Ubuntu servers, and have since migrated their code to Azure. They’ve written the frontend of the platform in Vue.js.

What is the team composition?

They’ve assigned a group of around 10 people to our project, including architects, developers, QA testers, UX designers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

We asked several peers in our consultant network for recommendations, and one of them mentioned InventorSoft. Soon after, we met with Maksym (CTO, InventorSoft) to discuss our project needs. This meeting went well, and we chose them as our partner.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in November 2018. They’re still developing the platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a third-party consultant evaluate their work with a security test. The results showed that their code is stable and secure, which is a great sign for the success of the platform. We’re convinced that the product they’re building will simplify many business processes for our client.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team responds to all of our questions while keeping the project on track. Also, they provide frequent updates and progress reports. They’ve delivered everything on time and under budget.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Maksym is skilled at clearly explaining technical details, especially when describing development limitations. He has a solid understanding of our customer’s needs, and his team consistently addresses project requirements in their deliverables.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’ve been times when their team has been too proactive. Our customer reaches out directly to them with new requirements or feature ideas, and, in some cases, they’ve failed to confirm these changes with me. Although I’m not used to this, I understand that they’re trying to give our client outstanding service. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have an initial conversation to lay out your requirements. It’s important to take time at the beginning of a project to gain some insight regarding their approach.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of an online education platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

We reached out to InventorSoft to build our online platform and to incorporate features our customers were requesting. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

InventorSoft developed our online educational platform from scratch, collaborating closely with our in-house development team and referencing an existing platform and new requirements. They helped set up a roadmap with milestones and provided some UI design work as well. 

What is the team composition? 

We work with a project manager, two backend developers, two frontend developers, and one QA specialist. 

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

They were recommended to us by another vendor we've worked with. Even though we were considering others, we ultimately liked InventorSoft's professionalism, timely response, and ability to thoroughly grasp our needs for the project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested less than $50,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although we don't have any metrics to report yet, their work has been stellar thus far. The platform they built looks great and is very reliable. 

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They're responsive and communicative overall. We hold daily meetings with their team and use Jira to track project milestones.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their excitement about our project and willingness to provide feedback to improve outcomes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't name anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep all lines of communication open and connect with their team regularly to provide them with everything they need to develop the best possible end product. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m the co-founder and CTO of an early-stage startup called YardSignNetwork. We’re building an advertising network for the real estate industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft? 

We had already developed a demo version of our web platform along with some of the core features but lacked the engineers to continue development. So, we needed a flexible service provider that could help us further develop our web platform. The team had to include front- and backend developers as well as a web designer who understood usability.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

InventorSoft provides ongoing development services to further build out our web platform. Since we’re operating on a fairly new business model, things change often, and we have to adapt accordingly. As a result, it’s hard for us to plan how many hours and resources we need beyond two-week sprints.

I typically write the specs documentation for each sprint, which they break down into tasks and deliverables. The team works with Java frameworks on the server side, including Spring and Hibernate, and a MySQL database for the backend. On the frontend, they use Angular.js.

What is the team composition?  

We currently work with a backend developer, a frontend developer, and an HTML designer. The CTO serves as our main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

I searched for small- to medium-sized outsourcing companies and shortlisted about a dozen. After working with two other vendors, I stumbled upon InventorSoft, which worked well for us. They were flexible with our schedule had a pool of talented engineers.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $4,000 a month with them, which amounts to $250,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement? 

Their work started in August 2018 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As an emerging startup, it’s important for us to work with a team that can accommodate a dynamic schedule, and InventorSoft has been the perfect fit. They’re by far the best company we’ve contracted. We’ve hit some unforeseen hurdles here and there, but that’s to be expected. Even in those cases, their team strove to deliver within a reasonable timeframe.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We coordinate with them using our project management software, but I don’t think they need management. They keep on task, which allows me to continue working on my end. In terms of communication, they respond relatively quickly despite the time difference.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

I’m impressed by a number of their qualities. Not only are their prices fair, but they’re also able to adapt to short-term changes. Their team consists of qualified specialists who are available when needed. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

It would be helpful if they had engineers with higher English proficiency. There have been times when they’ve asked a question, and I’d have to ask them to explain it 2–3 times before I could understand. Investing in higher English skills would also make it easier to communicate with the rest of my team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Many of my colleagues outsource projects for third-party clients to external vendors. But these clients have their own requirements and will get frustrated when things aren’t done a certain way. In those cases, it’s best to plan ahead and prepare for this. Take the time to create a roadmap, outlining all of the development stages with InventorSoft to avoid any missteps.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a telecom analytics startup. We develop solutions for mobile operators that help them understand and improve their metrics. We also provide a metric guide that targets end users.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

We needed an experienced development firm to build out some software modules within our solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started our engagement with InventorSoft by communicating the project’s requirements. Utilizing an agile approach, they further refined the project’s scope of work. We didn’t put a lot of effort into providing detailed specifications because wanted a quick development cycle. Additionally, we weren’t 100% sure how we wanted the solution to work. Our vision became more distinct as the project progressed.

InventorSoft created supplemental software modules that support our solution’s system. They also helped build the backend architecture of our iOS and Android applications. Their team uses Java, MySQL, and other products within the Google Cloud suite to accomplish each assignment.

What is the team composition?

We interact with four resources from their team.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

They were recommended to us by a development company we worked with previously.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

InvesterSoft does an excellent job at everything we ask. Their CEO is exceptionally pragmatic and helpful. He has strong technical skills and puts the time in to ensure each collaboration goes smoothly. We’re happy with their work.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Our internal staff handles most of the project management responsibilities involved with this engagement. However, we interact with their developers and CEO quite often. They consistently deliver products within established timelines. We have daily meetings with them over Skype, and we use email to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

InvestorSoft provides quality work that reflects their asking price. We appreciate their CEO’s involvement in each undertaking.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only challenge we’ve faced while working with them relates to the language barrier. The CEO is perfectly fluent in English, but some of the developers need extra time when communicating in written English.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We have two businesses and a startup project still in the building phase. Our software build company is called Software Research, and the operational one is Calculus Solutions. We're building an automated real-time financial trading system. I'm the CTO of the group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

We were building a relatively complex piece of software and didn’t want to hire people in-house. We wanted to outsource the work and reached out to a few companies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided development services. They’ve also had a role to play during the actual launch and operational/maintenance mode.

The platform has a service-oriented architecture with multiple components spanning several servers. There are a few microservices included, and everything has to work in a real-time mode. We based the whole thing on Java 8, Spring Boot, and that whole family. All the servers are Linux-based.

InventorSoft had in-house front- and backend UI capabilities. We used their services for the infrastructure development, engine-room algorithmic work, the UI surface piece, and the immediate UI backend shim sitting between the frontend and the engine room.

What is the team composition?

We've had four or five people onboard, on average: two UI designers and three backend deep algorithm specialists.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

We found a number of agency candidates on Upwork, including InventorSoft. We had a number of interactions and did some small, test implementations before we made our final choice.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in the summer of 2017. We will probably sign a contract for ongoing maintenance and further feature development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to cover the full scope, which we were quite pleased with. It isn’t an easy task to find this kind of scope coverage, in terms of technology stack and expertise.

They're an open and friendly team with good language skills. We found them to be extremely professional. They have top-notch offices and ongoing in-house training programs—both technical training and language upgrades. I'm very satisfied.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

A colleague and I have visited their Ukraine office in order to work side-by-side during a two-week period. I found it to be an important team-building exercise for getting to know each other better, given that this was a long-term engagement from both our sides. 

I'm never satisfied in terms of deadlines—it's never fast or good enough for me, but they don’t mind coming and putting in an extra couple of hours on the weekend. I’m quite happy with the velocity and the output quality, and the engagement itself, in terms of interactions and finding the right solution. They're good at keeping deadlines, although we don’t have many of them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Internet quality is one of the critiques and points of irritation we’ve had for quite some time. This is not necessarily their fault, but we’ve spoken quite a bit about it. We need a lot of telecommunication, in terms of screen sharing and video, and this requires some serious bandwidth and reliable internet connectivity. It didn’t work well in the beginning, and we still have some steps to take. Too often, the sound quality isn't good enough and we can’t have video at the same time as voice and screen sharing due to the bandwidth.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Ledgersync, an accounting services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

We needed additional development resources. The technology we use is very specific, so it's not easy to find vendors with the appropriate experience to collaborate with.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

InventorSoft works on multiple projects for us, including development work on Java, integrations, and other APIs.

What is the team composition?

I work with a project manager and three developers.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

We found them on Upwork and were considering over 10 other firms. After speaking with InventorSoft's owner, I felt they were extremely understanding and would be committed to the type of work we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay them on a project by project basis.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're extremely happy with their services. I've worked with a lot of development companies, and even owned one, but these guys are the best outsourcing company I've worked with. They fix bugs quickly and are proactive about jumping in wherever we need help.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

I never have to worry about their work—I can sleep well at night. They don't give up on any project issue until they've resolved it. They also work in our timezone and we've had no issues with communication. They don't take feedback personally and are always open to ways to improve their services.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our CTO has made comments that InventorSoft's code is clean and easy to understand, and they provide high-quality testing. They're also extremely flexible and knowledgeable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I'm really happy with them all around.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to communicate well with their team and refine your requirements. They'll be receptive to your needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager for an event services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

Our main business is a chauffeur service, which gave us the idea to create our own rental car platform. We needed help building our web app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us build our consumer-facing solution. We used the newest technologies for front- and backend development.

What is the team composition?

They have a back- and frontend developer and we provided the software architect, web designer and project manager.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

We found them through an online search. We tried several options, and considered giving the full project to a company in Germany, but it turned out to be more complicated and expensive than we expected. We decided on the scope with two other companies in Germany, but we decided not to work with them either. Our next approach was to do in-house development. We partly worked with in-house developers, but we needed more people. Our architect then checked if InventorSoft had enough knowledge to be able to work on this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We pay a monthly price.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have been very committed and so far we have always achieved our internal deadlines with them.

We invited the backend developer to stay with us for a week to work with our team and it was very successful. It was great for the whole team to have him here in our office. They don’t feel like an external company; the developers feel like they’re part of our company. We all work with the same goal and vision. It keeps team spirit high.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s a very dynamic project. The weekly meetings we have with them are pretty easygoing. They understand what we need and they adapt to our agile approach.

Our architect guides the developers, if there are any general topics or questions,  I contact the owner of Inventorsoft and he responds immediately. They’re always available and quick to reply. We communicate over Skype and can contact each other at any time. They deliver tasks on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that they’re a young team. They’re very motivated, knowledgeable and eager to learn.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a platform that helps golfers connect with teachers to improve their skills. Users can schedule lessons either in person or online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

We needed someone to develop the platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used Java to develop the web and mobile application.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

I didn’t really consider other companies. I already had a developer working on the backend for the online platform before I contacted InventorSoft. I found them them through Upwork.

I wanted one of their other developers to work on my project, but they were busy with another company’s work. I had to find another one for the time being.

How much have you invested in them?

I’ve spent between €25,000–€50,000 ($30,819–$61,659 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have some bugs to take care of. They’ve provided a free testing resource for us, which is great because it ensures good quality. They’ve also helped us with system administration and organizing Jenkins, as well as setting other things up. I’m very happy because it’s all saved me a lot of effort.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

There haven’t been any issues at all. Their service and prices are both acceptable. They provided a proper CV and I got a good feeling about their technical abilities during the initial interview. That was very important to me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility and customer service are both impressive. They have a number of available resources to solve any problems that come up.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They just need more experience. They’re a young company, but the employees still work really hard. I appreciate it from a customer perspective.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a Cofounder of a pharmaceutical analytics company. We offer SaaS products, our biggest being a social analytics product utilized by pharmaceutical companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

Initially, we tried to build the software with our own developers. After 2 years of time and money, all we had was a blob of useless code. We wanted to rebuild the platform with a different team. We reached out to InventorSoft in search of quality developers that could do so.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They completed the monumental task of building out everything on our flagship platform. To do this, they used open source technologies like JavaScript, Angular, and a Postgres back-end. Everything was built on Google Cloud with OAuth 2.0 used for authentication. With our engagement extended, they upgrade and perform ongoing maintenance to the platform. They’re currently building more software products for us.

What is the team dynamic?

I functioned as the development lead, but InventorSoft’s founder was the project lead on their side who I worked closely with. The team size was 10–12 depending on the UX resources we needed to pull in. Specifically, we had 3 front-end and 6 back-end developers, respectively. There was also a UI/UX designer. They really are a full-stack platform development shop from planning to execution.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

We found them through a personal reference. Cost efficiency, speed of execution, and quality were important factors to us. We considered other vendors that were cheaper, but the quality suffered. Despite their marginally higher prices, InventorSoft made a compelling argument and we went with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The developers were paid $15-$25 an hour and would work 80-100 hour weeks during the initial development phase. The owner was flexible with our budgetary constraints. For an overall range, I’ll say $200,000+ over the course of the relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2016, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business has exploded after we launched the platform. We went from 1 or 2 clients to 25 enterprise customers. The quality of code InventorSoft writes is comparable to code written by Google.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Their productivity is excellent. Other companies gave us estimates of 6–24 months to complete the platform. Those estimates were blown away when this team delivered the product in 12 weeks. Their responsiveness is phenomenal and the CEO is always available. It’s like they’re an extension of my team instead of a separate agency.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their commitment and quality of engineers set them apart. I've visited InventorSoft’s headquarters and what I found is that they’re not just running an offshore company. They’re bringing like-minded people together and building an environment for these developers to thrive. They seek out people with a certain character. People who are motivated by quality of work and challenge, rather than pure monetary rewards. The team is young, and they bring a never-give-up attitude to each project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of a company started based on an idea that I had 2 years ago for creating productivity software which, even though had alternatives, was divided into several platforms. We are putting together a universal solution, gathering together all other platforms in one place. The solution consists of email, calendar, invoicing, and business management components — everything you would want from a single user interface. The company is based in Estonia, but I am Swedish myself.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with InventorSoft?

I had been working with a Russian team and had spent about $25,000. I wasn’t happy with what I received and didn’t feel that the company valued my money and business. I was looking for someone who could take over the project and make sure that the work which had been done before wouldn’t be affected.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I had the choice of either starting from scratch or finding someone who was good enough to deal with what had been done previously. I tried several companies and people; some of them gave up, but I was lucky to find InventorSoft. They spent some time on the project and ultimately said they could work on it.

It took InventorSoft a month to get started, fix some bugs and issues, and continue the project. We used the Java Spring Framework; the platform involves some encryption.

What is the team dynamic?

The collaboration with them is a completely different experience compared to my previous team, where I only had contact with the project manager and not the developers. InventorSoft gave me access to all the developers so that I could talk to them directly.

We initially had 2 developers working on the project, including a lead one. We now have a third one and a QA [quality assurance] beta tester. There are 4 people involved in total besides the owner of the company.

The Russian team had pretty much failed on all points. Even though they were a top-rated company on Upwork, they only cared about payments. There were constant delays and they couldn’t keep up with the work. Working with InventorSoft is completely different; I simply tell them what I want to do and they give me an estimate.

How did you come to work with InventorSoft?

I found InventorSoft on Upwork, the same as the Russian company. They made an offer I couldn’t refuse — to do all the initial work and get the project up-and-running to standard for only $1 per hour, in order to show me that they could do the work.

They spent over a month digging into the code, fixing all the bugs and issues and redeploying the project on a new server. I could see that they could handle themselves so I offered InventorSoft a better payment later on.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost has come to around $25,000. I think that the total will come to $50,000 within 6–7 months. We’re about to launch, and as soon as this happens, there will be more work and maybe even an extra developer.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with InventorSoft in January 2017 with 2 full-time developers from the start. We currently have 3, plus the QA assistant. They will be busy for at least 6–12 more months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m pretty excited about the project. InventorSoft’s team is comprised of good people that really try to deliver. Instead of the job being a source of payment, they treat it as a personal project.

One of the developers hurt her leg playing frisbee this week, and the lead developer apologized profusely for this and promised to do extra work.

How did InventorSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re good in this respect. Since we have a custom project, it’s hard to hit deadlines every time. The results I’ve seen are so good that I can’t complain over small details like a 1–2-day delay.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Working with InventorSoft has been completely different; it’s not all about money. We have a good relationship and they want to make the project successful. I can really feel that InventorSoft is putting in time and effort and that they always do everything they can in order to make things happen. This is what really makes me feel comfortable since the cost is significant for me and I have to feel safe in investing it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not right now. I will have to wait and see how the platform unfolds. InventorSoft has been working hard and I cannot complain about anything.