ISS Art

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Jade is an automated matchmaking platform that delivers high-quality matches while guiding users along the dating journey, all delivered intimately over text. I am cofounder and CEO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

ISS Art built the headless web platform, built the automated algorithm, connected with twilio, and GA. They were awesome, responsive, and did quality work every step of the way.

SOLUTION

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

Was looking on various sites for outsourced software development shops and wanted someone we trusted and was professional and went above and beyond and was proud of their work. ISS Art blew us away compared to everyone else!

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

We had an initial meeting to discuss our vision and budget. We then provided the team with mock ups for the web portal and functionality and the outline for the algorithm. We had weekly meetings to monitor the progress.

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

Project Manager, back end developer and front end developer. Everyone was really high quality!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Not only did the team finish ahead of schedule, but they worked with us to prioritize functionality within our budget. They even went above and beyond in many situations to suggest numerous options for us to consider at key points of the development process.

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

We were very impressed with their level of professionalism. Every meeting had an agenda, we went over deliverables and questions, and always had a recap. Truly loved working with everyone on the team.

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

They really cared about what we are building and took pride in their quality of work. I've recommended everyone who is looking for custom development to work with them and I plan to continue on using their services. They also fixed a bug for me I found after our project was complete - really appreciated again the care and concern they put into their work.

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

Nope!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a founder of the football school "Meteor". There are 60 schools in Moscow where about 40 trainers work. In the future, I'm going to extend the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISS Art?

I needed help to make a computer vision solution for monitoring student's progress.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to perform the R&D stage to check whether data monitoring was feasible: face and pose monitoring, student's speed, actions on the playing field.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I have reached out to my acquaintances, and they recommended ISS Art to me. I have studied their portfolio and understood that this team can meet this goal.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

"The project started from the analytic stage before signing the contract. As a result, I got a list of what would be delivered within the R&D stage. The tasks were separated in 4 sprints, the result of each was provided as the demo with the team and the report on the work performed. After all the work was completed, the team provided the Project Vision, where functional and non-functional requirements to the system, project risks, and the equipment requirements for correct functioning oif the system were described."

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of the project manager, two developers, and the analyst. All the team attended every meeting and I could ask them any questions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team has successfully handled the challenge and provided a detailed report about the R&D. Also, they provided the document about the general concept of the future project and the possible next steps for development.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We met with the team at regular meetings once a week, where the team demonstrated the results of their work. I could give my feedback to change the scope for the following iteration.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The results were delivered in time, as had been discussed before the start, and it was systematically described. It was comfortable for me to work with the team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Well done, keep it up!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an advertising media buying company based in California. We work with big brands to go through non-social media traffic sources to acquire high-quality users for different apps. I’m in charge of our product’s engineering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISS Art?

Their team helped us build an operation tool to augment our backend system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided the specs and mockups, as well as a Vue.js template, and they executed on those specs as well as some extra corner cases in order to deliver the tool.

They had full-stack resources on their side, and I was just managing the resources that they needed from our end such as basic API interfaces, access to databases, and our Google cloud. The final product is a standalone system but is built in a way that integrates it as a big piece of our platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one project manager, one QA lead, one primary backend and one frontend developer, and one business manager.

How did you come to work with ISS Art?

I put out a bid for the work initially, and I ended up talking to a few different companies on the phone. Their proposal had the most attention to detail and really inspired a lot of confidence with us so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we spent around $20,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from January–April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On our end, everything has worked great. We haven’t found any serious bugs and they were very thorough about testing and documentation in the handover. The team was very clear and concise in setting up the program and actually delivered it slightly early so that we would have time to iron out any issues in case we found them, which I really appreciated.

How did ISS Art perform from a project management standpoint?

They kept checking in with us to make sure we were happy with the work they were providing and were more than happy to go with our format and frequency for those check-ins. They were very easy to communicate with, and any hard questions that I had were answered immediately.

We were also confident from the beginning in negotiating the contract and dealing with payments because of how transparent and flexible they were around those. When you’re putting a lot of money into a project, trust is so important, and they make it easy to develop that with their team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The thing that really stood out to me was how clean their entire process was. Everything that I had asked for on our end was actually delivered, including some edge cases that I hadn’t included. Absolutely nothing slipped through the cracks and I ended up learning a lot from the way they approached the engineering problems that we were facing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

To be honest, I was happy with everything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

At the beginning of the relationship, make sure you are both on the same page during the negotiation of the contract, and as long as everyone understands each other you will be very successful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a team of consultants doing business intelligence projects in Sweden. We run different data analytics projects for customers, mainly with BigQuery on the Google platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISS Art?

We needed to make a machine learning algorithm to predict the use of the hospital garments offered by one of our clients. We’d delivered a data analytics platform for them and wanted to add a prediction functionality.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave them a database of every transaction fulfilled by our client in the last three years, and they helped us predict the future use per week of every single garment model, by category. They did the coding for the prediction model in Python and TensorFlow.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a data science developer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with ISS Art?

We’d worked with another company in Sweden, which had done some projects with ISS Art. They recommended them to us when we were looking for help on this project.

How much have you invested with them?

It cost below $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project ran from March–April 2019, and our collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We delivered what we promised to our satisfied customer, so the engagement was very high-value for us. They can use the prediction system to plan their work and show data to their customers. It allows them to handle the distribution of garments better and for lower costs.

How did ISS Art perform from a project management standpoint?

They were professional and well-structured, the communication was good, and they delivered detailed documentation. We had weekly calls with their developer and were very satisfied with their project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated the competence of their data science person who was amazing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of right now. They offered a very high quality of service.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Good database and requirements documentation is important.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I oversee all the aspects of business and budgeting for a cloud-based credit repair software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISS Art? 

ISS Art came on board to continuously support our ongoing development projects. 

What were your goals for this project? 

The goals of most of our projects are usually to solve problems that relate to complex algorithms and software logic.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for a vendor on Upwork and were pleased to find ISS Art. 

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

ISS Art usually works on the logic of software and create algorithms to make it more intuitive for the businesses that use our products. In addition, they develop user-friendly features to make our software simpler for our customers to use.

What was the team composition? 

We work directly with Maxim (Project manager, ISS Art). The team includes about 2-4 members who execute on different features of our projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our engagement with ISS Art has always been very effective. They complete all of our essential milestones on time. The team brainstorms creative ideas for new updates and improvements for our software. The daily technical support they provide has been excellent.

How effective is your workflow between your team and theirs? 

Our workflow has been great. We enjoy the transparency of our daily communication. They always keep us informed about what will happen next. I admire the motivation of the team. 

Our professional dedicated project manager reliably produces successful outcomes. Whether it’s allocating someone new to work on a project or finding a better solution, they always find the best way to solve any given problem. 

What did you find most impressive about ISS Art? 

ISS Art is very hardworking, productive, and successful. They’re a motivated, results-oriented team.

Are there any areas for improvement? 

At this time, we enjoy our current workflow and don’t feel anything needs improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m head of development for Gifts of the East. We’re a gift shop chain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISS Art?

We needed services for web-based graphic design and business analytics.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to expand the target audience by creating a scalable web platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We analyzed several companies. ISS Art was the best fit for our needs.

What is the scope of the project?

ISS Art created usage scenarios, descriptions, and graphic designs. They then developed a clickable prototype of the site. Another vendor is writing the code due to the technology stack. Ongoing services include consulting, quality control, and testing.

What was the team composition?

The team includes an analyst, a senior analyst, a designer, a tester, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact the engagement has had your business.

The project is still ongoing and we don’t have metrics at this early stage.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team has been flexible, especially when we didn’t know what the final result should look like. They’re helping us determine the final set of requirements.  

What did you find the most impressive about this company?

The team is responsible, professional, and results-oriented.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not necessarily—they’ve been helpful. ISS Art advises us on IT issues, social media marketing (SMM), and SEO.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of the content marketing team for BlazeMeter, which was acquired by CA Technologies, which was then acquired by Broadcom. We’re a performance testing SaaS solution, so developers and testers can run load, stress, and functional tests on their website or app through our platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISS Art?

We create technical content about load testing tools and best practices, so we wanted professional developers who could write tutorials and blog posts to teach the dev community. We specifically wanted testers who’d used open-source testing tools such as JMeter.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ISS Art provides technical content for our bog. We decide on topics together, although they often suggest ideas. They write up an online and send it to me, I comment on and approve it, then they write the actual post. From there, I review it again to provide edits, and we iterative a few more times until we have the final draft. We then publish the blog post under their names.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager and the developers who write the content.

How did you come to work with ISS Art?

We found them on Upwork. They’re one of our key partners, but not the only ones who write blog posts. They were professional and great at open-source testing, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent tens of thousands of dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2015, and the partnership’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website traffic grows quite impressively year over year, and that’s because of our blog. ISS Art is a key player in creating content, so they’ve contributed greatly to our growth. Their posts always involve the right methodology, tools, and best practices, so they’re highly valuable to our readers.

How did ISS Art perform from a project management standpoint?

They respond quickly and are incredibly professional and organized. We work on multiple blog posts at the same time, each at a different stage, and they keep track of deadlines and deliver on time. We mainly communicate over email, and they adjust to any changes we request.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re knowledgeable and consistently provide new ideas for blog posts, proactively engaging in the work. I’m extremely satisfied with their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We've been working with them for nearly three years, and we're happy with the partnership.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clearly communicate what you need. Don't be afraid to send a lot of emails and set expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I manage the IT infrastructure for Critical Control Energy Services as well as our product line that involves IoT and oil and gas production. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISS Art?

We were trying to figure out a way to digitize a traditional analog business process in the marketplace for a new revenue stream. We hoped to modernize and improve our workflow to change the commercial landscape for customers to offer them a better product and service. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our business application required a specialized area of expertise. We wrote a scope of work and an educational document for ISS Art to bid on the project. After we made sure they felt comfortable solving our business challenge, they gave us feedback and assigned us resources for computer vision and optical character recognition. 

We've completed the first phase so far. I outlined the deliverables we expect in a proof of concept document with criteria for success. ISS Art is using these guidelines as a basis for all their work on this project.

What is the team composition? 

My main point of contact at ISS Art is Tatianna. She is our project manager. 

How did you come to work with ISS Art?

I originally found them through Upwork. Almost 50 teams sent in applications with quotes. Based on our budget, I narrowed the pool down to three candidates. ISS Art put together the best solution, so we hired them for the remainder of the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $5,000–$7,000 in total. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since late July or early August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've already done some testing with the product. So far, it's still producing the same results. As a proof of concept project, we mostly want to see if what we're trying to accomplish is viable. If so, we need to know the solution's scalability and predict constraints with taking it to the commercial level. 

Right now, we're assessing whether we can sell this software in the marketplace before we go on to the second phase. We will continue working with ISS Art through the end of the project. 

How did ISS Art perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been very good. We mostly communicate with our project manager through email along with a few phone calls. At the start, we did a deep dive and visually laid out what we were looking for with the solution. Working with teams from different countries can present a language barrier, so we made sure everyone was on the same page and understood the requirements. Our lead developer asked useful questions and was the right resource for the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication aspect was the best part of our partnership. In most scenarios, we haven't known what we would get from the outsourced development firms we've hired even after reading reviews. ISS Art is very professional, stays on top of the project, and delivers on time. They respond to all our emails, provide updates, and set milestones. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of any off the top of my head. Our scope was limited, so it would be interesting to see how they do with a more detailed project. They managed our size of a project and deliverables very effectively. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend asking lots of questions. Try your best to document all your expectations for the outcome.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of a psychology practice that treats people suffering from PTSD and the health problems associated with it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ISS Art?

We hired them to create an app for sufferers of stress-related insomnia.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a free and paid premium version of a fully functional app. It included questionnaires that generated recommendations and awarded bonuses.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I'd previously had a good experience with ISS Art. They had high professionalism, effectiveness, and integrity.

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

ISS Art reviewed my initial design and developed the app's basic structure. They interpreted my desires and transformed them into a functional app with a variety of features.

What was the team composition?

The team included a programmer, a graphic designer, a coordinator, and many others.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app helped our clients and raised the profile of my business. The last app that ISS Art worked on was successful; it still generates income seven years later. I anticipate that this app will be just as successful. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

My project coordinator was my main interface with the team, which made communication smooth and easy. Both the coordinator and the whole ISS team were very responsive. They gave regular progress reports so I could track the costs and budget.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They delivered a good product. They tested everything, so once the app was published, it was functional and free of bugs. That was vital since users can review the app and negative reviews have a great impact. They also cut costs and bought time when my finances were strained. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Casting co. Inc. We’re a commercial networking service for the entertainment industry that connects agents, managers, and producers with a variety of talent.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ISS Art?

We had another development team build our site from scratch. That engagement ended abruptly and I had to quickly find a new team. After doing some research, I knew I didn’t want to work with a small independent contractor. We needed a large outsourcing company that could reliably allocate development resources. Therefore, we hired ISS Art to provide ongoing web development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with ISS Art for six years and they helped build and refine our PHP website. They utilized a Symfony 2 framework and added more features to our site than I can remember. Most notably, they created web module that mimics our in-person interview process. This development granted us the flexibility to service potential clients in the most convenient way possible. They also supported the site and fixed bugs whenever necessary.

They provided a direct contact who could write and speak English fluently. As a result, we’d communicate our objectives and they’d tell the developers what needed to be done. I only have a broad understanding of the technology relevant to this project, so it was helpful having someone that could translate what we wanted to achieve in technical terms.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three different project managers over the course of the engagement. The number of developers working our account changed frequently.

How did you come to work with ISS Art?

We used Upwork and other similar resources to find possible candidates. We interviewed several companies but ultimately hired ISS Art.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $150,000 and $180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from 2012–2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site is exceptionally reliable and everything functions as it should 99% of the time. We experience the occasional bug, but that tends to happen when a new feature is introduced to the code. They’re responsive and promptly addressed any issues we’d communicate to them. The work was done as expected and frequently exceeded expectations.

How did ISS Art perform from a project management standpoint?

ISS Art handled the entire project wonderfully. There was some employee turnover on their end throughout the relationship, but it never affected us significantly. They kept detailed documents regarding the project and quickly brought in new developers to keep everything moving forward. They usually responded to us within a few hours, despite a significant time difference. This was shocking at first because we’ve worked with other firms that would let days go by without reaching out to us. We primarily communicated via email, but would also use Skype to test large features prior to launch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ISS ART is extremely responsive and capable of resolving any development issue. They were just an email away if the site went down or a specific feature didn’t function properly. Their consistent efficiency is why we engaged them for so long.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Follow their lead and your project will work out smoothly. They utilize a seamless process. However, development isn’t a guessing game either. Providing detailed requirements will yield a better product.