IT CRAFT

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and MD of a Consulting Company which is providing Remote Work & Recruitment services. One of our offerings is a Managed Cloud Services platform for SMBs (ormicloud.com).

For what projects/services did your company hire IT CRAFT?

We partnered with IT CRAFT once we have reached the MVP status of our offering. We needed DevOps experts to help us to further design, develop and operate our Managed Cloud platform.

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

At the beginning we started to work with solo freelancers, but realized fast that we need a partner, a company with DevOps specialists which would be able to offer different level of expertise in the field. This is where we started to reaching out to ~ 3 agencies. IT CRAFT convinced us because their people approached with a clear, pragmatic and professional proposal how to move forward.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

In the initial workshops we had, we analyzed the underlying architecture, the existing source code basis and processes. The outcome was the definition of the future strategy and the roadmap. We focused first on security, reworked the development and deployment process by using CI. At the end we ended up with a scalable Dockerized setup which allowed us to integrate fast new applications and their updates across our Cloud infrastructure consisting of dozens of VMs.

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

We had:

• an account manager
• one Senior DevOps engineer
• two Advanced DevOps engineers

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

Our platform takes online orders via FOS and provisions applications (Collaboration tools in our case) on a customer VM through a middleware written in Ruby and Ansible. The final product is a VM running custom applications in Docker containers. All is centrally monitored.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our communication was always fast and reliable. We used Zulip (Slack alternative), Nextcloud, Bitbucket, Jenkins, Jira and Confluence as our main tools to get the job done.

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

Their commitment to learn new stuff and to find a quick solution to the given problem was always impressive.

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

Overall, this was a great partnership.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of RooQi, Inc.

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

I wanted to develop a mobile app that opens that market of amateur athlete talent to a global level. The point was to create a user-friendly, social media-style app / marketplace for sports talent.

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

We initially conneccted via Upwork and through a series of vetting, I considered IT Craft to be the most suitable for the job. I had completed several interviews and reviewed several profiles -- and while IT Craft was more expensive than other non-US based development companies, what they offered was much more, making the more expensive costs understandable. Their portfolio aligned with the type of app I was looking for but I also appreciated that they had not actually made an app exactly like mine.

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

We had a series of discovery meetings to discuss our goals and objectives. They were very responsive to our ideas and helped to take my vision and put it in black and white. I provided their team with the discovery deck that I had and through a few meetings with the designer, within a few weeks, they delivered the first round of the iOS app design. They incorporated my feedback and continued to work on the app.

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

I worked with both the business manager and the project manager most directly. I also had a few interactions with the Design team and front and backend developers. It was a team of 5 or 6 individuals at any given time and I felt very confident that each team member took their part of the project seriously and did the job adequately.

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

We have not officially launched the app yet but will be doing soon and I believe we will have some initial positive reception.

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

We communicated quite often through Slack and the respective channels and when necessary, both sides were willing and able to jump on video calls. We also did several check-in calls to mark progress and discuss next steps. I felt that I was a part of the process and included and the positive communication was evident from Day 1.

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

I am not sure this is what you will be looking for but I think it is incredibly significant. The IT Craft team I worked with were primarily based in Kharkiv, Ukraine (where they were from). During the current Russian invasion, the team had to move to western Ukraine and during this incredibly trying time for them, their people and their country, these guys did not stop working for me to get the app done within the time frame we had set up. Despite all going on, they still made my project a priority and that is very important. Their dedication and commitment speak volumes about what type of company they have.

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

To be honest, I was so impressed with the work of the entire and their understanding of the situations that I faced personally/economically which forced the project to extend longer than are initial timeline.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and development manager of a tech company. Our company has introduced a new platform for reducing the number of sick leaves for organizations.

What challenge were you trying to address with IT CRAFT?

We’ve been using IT CRAFT as our software development and maintenance department. Another co-founder and I define the content of our projects or apps, while IT CRAFT does all the development work. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

IT CRAFT has been setting up our development, testing, and production environments. At the moment, we’re in phase two; we’re wrapping up the development and testing of our MVP. From here, our team is going to pilot the product in the organization starting in January 2022, which will continue for around two months. During that period, IT CRAFT will provide support and follow up on errors or problems. 

The app is a web-based platform; however, it’s also a progressive app, so all users can access it from any browser. If one accesses it through their mobile device, the app’s size will adjust to the user’s screen size. Moreover, this MVP is designed to be mobile-friendly; users don’t need any keyboard or mouse — they only have to use their thumbs. 

In terms of features and functionality, the software serves as a tool for employees and managers in different organizations. Managers can create a list of tasks that they can classify according to the strength level necessary to accomplish them. If someone from their team is on sick leave, the managers can determine tasks that the employee can do based on their strength level. In other words, the app is finding the right tasks for employees. Employees and managers can also communicate with each other to know their progress, ensuring close collaboration even during the period of sick leave. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of 4–5 people. That team consists of a frontend web developer, 1–2 backend developers, the project manager, and the DevOps resource. 

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

I’d worked with IT CRAFT on a project for a different company a couple of years ago. For that engagement, we used Clutch to find them. We also sent our specifications and requirements to other companies. After some evaluations, we decided to go with their team. Moreover, we’d also visited them in person for that project. We met the team and went to their offices, getting to know their people before we started the process. 

When this current project came along, I had the opportunity to connect with their key people again, such as the project manager and their developers. In other words, it was an easy decision to hire them for this project because I knew them from before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around €100,000 (approximately $113,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on this project in July 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

We haven’t been tracking any success metrics in terms of app users yet, but that’s another story. So far, IT CRAFT has been delivering on time and with the highest quality. The team has even exceeded expectations when it comes to schedule. On top of that, they’re honest people. I’ve been in the software development business for close to 30 years, and they’re one of the best teams that have worked with me. 

How did IT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

In any software development project, bugs appear; the only questions are how serious they are and how we can handle them when they appear. With that in mind, IT CRAFT is always available and prompt when we find bugs. They find solutions quickly and are ready to fix whatever problems we have. As a result, we haven’t had any big flaws or anything. 

In terms of project management tools, we use Jira. Then, we use scrum as our development methodology; we have one-week sprints. Our teams also use Jira for communications about tasks.

In addition to Jira, we also use Slack for more immediate communication and Google Meet for video meetings. We conduct one video meeting a week for our scrum development, where we go through everything we’ve been developing during the past week. Then, we plan the next week’s sprint. This process has been working well, so we have no problems in project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their people’s quality and knowledge are great. IT CRAFT’s resources are well-educated, and they have the proper skills for development projects. They can also communicate honestly and be hands-on — they’re willing to put themselves in the customer’s situation. Given that, they can solve any problems in the best possible way. That’s a highly valuable quality.

Overall, the IT CRAFT team promptly tells us any issues and maintains close communication with us so we can find out and fix issues together. They also think about my well-being as a customer. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

IT CRAFT can adapt automatic testing methods. Currently, they do some tedious manual testing, which they do well. However, it will be nice to build automatic testing into their process. To be fair, this is a minor concern, and things are working out well. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Spend time to get to know the IT CRAFT team. Talk to them at the beginning about any expectations you have in terms of communications and reporting. Pursue close collaborations and small sprints while communicating all the time — these are key to any project’s success.

In addition, consider your price agreement. For context, our company doesn’t have a fixed price agreement with IT CRAFT; we have a time and material agreement. As a result, we can reprioritize any issues at any time. This helps steer the project in the direction we want.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Head of Engineering in a software company focussed on emobility products

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

Devops - manage AWS platform and infrastructure Frontend work - iOS, Android and Angular development

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

We found it via UpWork. We checked for feedback from other leaders in the network, started with one engineer and then ramped up.

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

Tech stack: AWS, Kubernetes, Native iOS, Native Kotlin, AngularJS Engineers are part of hybrid teams, working fully remote. Projects are managed by a product manager in a scrum team. IT Craft engineers were fully responsible for our mobile apps. Devops is a shared responsibility with our internal engineers.

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

Between 3 to 5. 3 - Software engineer 2 - Devops engineer

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

Full credit for mobile app development goes to IT Craft engineers. Deliveries have been of great quality and always on time.

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

Very pleased with all the engineers. They were very communicative and took pride in being accountable for their deliveries. They are very diligent and ready to help whenever needed. Very professional and yet feels like a family member.

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

Promptness. We had a few ups and downs where we had to ramp the FTE count. IT Craft was very helpful and understanding our needs. They catered to all the requirements we have. I do not think I have worked with such a supplier before, highly impressive attitude.

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

Honestly, I cannot think of any.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Limpid Markets, which is a communication tool for traders of precious metals.

What challenge were you trying to address withIT CRAFT?

We needed a team for ongoing software development and maintenance.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have a dedicated team assigned to our software development and maintenance needs for our web application. Their team is working remotely, taking over a previous team. They handle IT services for us in a broad sense.

What is the team composition?

They provide a mix of full-time and ad-hoc services, so there are around half a dozen people working with us. Then, we have one point of contact.

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

I found them through LinkedIn or some other platform that I posted advertisements on. They reached out to me and I read what people had to say about them on Clutch.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve roughly spent about $50,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2018, and our collaboration is ongoing.

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

Our business has been growing thanks to their involvement. From the start of our collaboration, we’ve grown as a business at about 35%–40% a year.

How didIT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate over Slack, but we also have video conference calls. They’ve done very well from a project management standpoint and have always been very responsive. Overall, they deliver on their promises, and this has allowed us to increase our business turnover in a really significant way.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their professionalism and availability are impressive. They always try to find solutions for any problem that comes up, whether it’s an additional workload or having to come up with a creative fix to a technical or organizational issue. Above all, their attention to detail and dedication are also noteworthy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve been doing well in every aspect. We know that there's always room for improvement, but there’s nothing that stands out at the moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

IT CRAFT is a really big company so I can only vouch for the people I’ve worked with. I advise others to get a good sense of who their project manager is and create a positive relationship with them. It’s really important to have long interviews with that person to make sure that it’s a good fit. Remember, the project manager is a key position and you’ll be working with them for a long time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of development for a company that provides staffing solutions for hospitals and manages per diem workers. We started out as a marketplace for nurses to sign up who were interested in working at hospitals. As we allowed nurses to sign up and acquire their talent, we migrated away from this and joined up with a handful of hospitals. From there, they can use our platform to do all credentialling and the like.

What challenge were you trying to address with IT CRAFT?

We needed an all-in-one solution for software development. We were looking for a team that could come up to speed quickly and could change size as needed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work on two-week sprints where I write up tickets and put the design and functionality specs there. Then, the development team accesses what we’re going to get done and we’ll do a release at that point into our demo environment. A day or two later we’ll turn to our production environment and just follow that workflow the entire time.

Most of the design on the original project is finished up now. We’re currently doing a lot of expanding and merging the new technology from the company that we merged with. Right now, we’re just a web app, but hopefully, by the summer we’ll start building a mobile app and use them for that.

What is the team composition?

We work with about 10 people on their team right now, including a project manager.

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

We interviewed a number of different companies based on experience, price, and the age of some of their teammates. We called up a few clients and got testimonies from them. Based on that, we decided to go with IT CRAFT.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in February 2018 and the relationship is still ongoing.

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

Our business has seen a lot of growth. The number of nurses that we’ve had year-over-year (YoY) has been expanding quite a bit, which is driven by our technology. We’ve gotten over 1,000 nurses with our new system so far.

How did IT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job with that. I have a daily scrum meeting with the whole team every morning. We communicate on the phone and also through Slack. The team handles small questions and any onboarding of new teammates effectively. I haven’t had any problems with their management. For the team, we use Jira, Confluence, and Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re always available. Their development team in-house works 24/7. If there is a problem, which isn’t often, I can contact them at any time. One time we had issues with one of our releases; the volume of users we got with a new client was beyond what we expected, which caused it to slow down. They brought their team together and worked through the weekend to get everything back to working smoothly. Whenever I had a teammate leave or transfer to another project, they were able to bring in a resource without there being a learning curve. The team makes good suggestions that not only make their life easier as a developer but also make the product better in the long run as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there is nothing they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you do your research on what’s out there and make sure you find somebody who has knowledge in all the different technologies that you plan on using. Hiring a bigger team makes it easier to bring in other resources that you might need, compared to hiring a smaller team that doesn’t have those resources.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an independent contractor, and I have my own company. I’ve been working on the same project for One Mission Society for a little over three years.

What challenges were you trying to address with IT CRAFT?

I’m the architect for a product that One Mission Society wanted to digitize. I hired IT CRAFT to act as the implementation team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

One Mission Society is not a software development company. They’re a mission organization that has seminaries. They contracted both myself and IT CRAFT to help digitize a paper-based system to make it available on smartphones, IT CRAFT does design, implementation, some testing, hosting, and administration of the product. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with several people, but my main point of contact is Artem (Developer). 

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

One Mission Society found them and arranged for the business relationship. 

How much have you invested in them?

I think that about $75,000 has been invested in IT CRAFT’s services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

IT CRAFT was retained prior to my starting on this project. We’ve been working together since 2017, and the work is ongoing. 

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

They’re a fairly skilled team, and they’ve removed my need to jump into the implementation aspect of the project. I just take care of the requirements. As a result, we have a relatively hands-off relationship, but it’s worked out really well. I trust them. I don’t think we would have this product without their help. 

How did IT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

There are several stakeholders from One Mission Society that we work with. The product owner takes care of the business side, and I deal with the technical side of things. One team member from One Mission Society manages their timing, does the billing, and I direct IT CRAFT’s implementation efforts. We meet weekly to review the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

They’re great at communicating about technical concepts. Even though English is not their native language, we’ve never had an issue with misunderstandings. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have different management styles. I like to have regular feedback sessions every day or so. They’re doing all the work they need to, but they aren’t as communicative about it. However, that hasn’t had a negative impact on the project. It’s just my own anxiety. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Artem’s consistent support of the project has been instrumental in our success. Even though other developers have come and gone, the longterm partnership with at least one of their team members has been very helpful. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO of tourschain.com, a travel startup. We build various travel technology systems for operators.

What challenge were you trying to address with IT CRAFT?

We were building a B2C site and only had a backend engineer. We wanted a polished frontend application so we were looking to outsource the work. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

IT CRAFT built both the front- and backend of our site. The site was an intuitive trip planner for travelers that was predominantly a membership site that features a drag and drop itinerary planner.  Their team used React.js and Node.js for the site and created our database using MongoDB.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, a QA engineer, and 2–3 developers. IT CRAFT would bring in people as the workflow increased, but it was usually two.

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

I found IT CRAFT on Clutch after reading their reviews. With an IT project, there’s a lot of information asymmetry and I didn’t have any technical background. Some companies might take advantage of that and give higher quotes, but IT CRAFT was really transparent. I spoke to the business manager, IT manager, and some developers on the phone and decided to work with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $60,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with IT CRAFT ran from January–June 2018.

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

Our B2C website wasn’t as successful as we would have liked. We had about 1,000–2,000 users because we ended up not spending a lot of money on marketing. We pivoted to a B2B product and sell our technology to travel agencies.

How did IT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

Despite some communication issues, our project manager was overall pretty good. At times, it felt as though he was uninvolved, but once we raised our concerns they rectified the issue. We also had a communication issue with their business manager. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

IT CRAFT has high standards, and it shows in their work. They’re doing a great job.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some issues with communication between our teams. The project manager wasn’t always in sync with the rest of the IT CRAFT team. Sometimes I would have to jump over him and go straight to the developers with my questions. Due to our communication issues, we had to add additional hours to meetings and went a little over budget. They weren’t always responsive and there was a language barrier. Another issue we ran into was our timeline and budget estimations. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a web agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with IT CRAFT?

I needed a company to handle my web development projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I usually begin by establishing the scope with the client, which sometimes is only an idea. We then come up with a solution together with IT CRAFT. They help us with many different parts throughout the process: they do development, design, and project management.

What is the team composition?

There are five people on their team.

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

I’d previously worked with a similar agency based in India, but I was having issues with them and started to look for a more professional team. I searched through different freelancer sites, looking for a high-quality team even if they were a little more expensive. I contacted five options and I got the best feeling from IT CRAFT. We began with a trial period and we’ve been working together ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

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

We receive compliments for a lot of the work they do. Recently, we got good feedback for a design of theirs, giving a new, important client of ours a really good impression of us. That’s really significant because the first impression can set the bar for the rest of the project.

How did IT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve been doing most of the project management and they’ve been focusing on programming and providing me with resources. However, we recently had a meeting in which we decided they would also take over most of the project management. They’re really professional, helpful, plan clearly, and document their work well. We communicate multiple times a day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re professional and keep everything in order. They’re very good at listening and then coming up with solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

All of our issues have been handled really well. They have an account manager that I really trust and have never had an argument with; we talk and find a way to solve any problems in the best way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Allow them the freedom to handle the project in the way they see fit.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company works with other businesses. 

What challenge were you trying to address with IT CRAFT?

IT CRAFT has supported us with multiple projects. Most recently, they helped us develop an extensive website for our company.

We needed to find a way to create numerous forms for all of the services we offer. Each one requires a client to go through a five-step process which involves filling out many forms.

What was the scope of their involvement?

IT CRAFT designed a website with many complex features.  After leading us through an amazing discovery process, they began product development. 

Using PHP, IT CRAFT developed an extensive backend admin panel on a Laravel framework. It’s entirely for internal use and processing orders. They created a vault within a custom database to store form questions. Rather than programming each new version, we can duplicate copies to modify for slightly different types of services at any time.

The system lets us control every aspect independently, including how orders are displayed and the channel we use to send clients order confirmations. In addition to emails, it generates additional styles and layouts for the invoices. 

Since the product launched, they've continued to add new features and modify the forms to prevent duplications. Based on interesting responses and follow-up from users, we improve the questions and remove conflicts we identify. 

What is the team composition? 

We’ve worked with about five people from IT CRAFT. They assigned us a project manager to serve as our main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with IT CRAFT?

IT CRAFT contacted a former boss of mine for many years. Once I started working with the team in my previous role, I immediately appreciated how well they operated. They set up their business manager, designers, and project manager to run in a very efficient manner.  For this more recent project, I felt completely confident they were the team I needed. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We completed the first website in two months last year. Since then, we've built another site and started another. The newest website we've been developing is much more detailed, comprehensive, and technologically robust. 

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

All of IT CRAFT’s deliverables have been beautifully executed and exceeded our expectations. The team is amazing; their technological skills and teamwork are superb. They understand how to effectively plan projects ahead of time. Delivering this project was an impressive accomplishment in light of the complex build. I feel very excited about and confident in IT CRAFT’s abilities based on the work they produced.

How did IT CRAFT perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager from IT CRAFT was an excellent leader with a background in programming, so he was very well-versed. He was available 24 hours and stayed on top of every task. We could always reach him.

IT CRAFT always delivers solutions within less than a week. For every feature we wanted to add after the site launched, they provided accurate hourly estimates and completed them on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've used many offshore vendors, and I’ve never seen as professional and skilled of a web development team as IT CRAFT in my entire career. The team’s breadth of technical knowledge is up to par with the best companies on the market. 

IT CRAFT helped us achieve the best success we could have hoped for. They executed the project perfectly, promptly, and at a competitive price point.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind that they need to improve.