JCommerce

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a recruiter for a software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We needed help to continue building out an internal framework for a specific functionality in our application. The framework itself was designed by our engineers, we’ve partnered with JCommerce to implement our ideas and design into the product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was an internal project. Engineers from JCommerce partnered with our engineers to deliver defined functionality by programming, testing, documenting the solution, introducing improvements to the design, refining the scope of the project and being responsible for supporting the release.
 
What is the team composition?

They provided Java Engineers, frontend engineers, and a test Engineer, so we worked with six people in total.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

JCommerce is well known on the local market so we decided to check their service. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We hired them around October 2019, and are still working with them.

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

Work done by the team was released to production environment iteratively, multiple times, always with high quality, with no escaped defects. Work was properly automated and documented. Delivery dates were met. Team Managers and project stakeholders were very satisfies with the progress of the work.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

They were flexible when changes occurred, and willingly took additional tasks we presented. They are easy to work with. Engagement from the engineers - Not only they delivery great quality, but after few weeks of working together, they have started coming up with architectural improvements, which brought great discussions and a lot of innovative ideas.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were flexible when changes occurred, and willingly took additional tasks we presented. They are easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We develop AI-based voice bot and chatbot solutions.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

They support our internal team with software development, testing, and maintenance.

What was the scope of their involvement?

JCommerce’s work is divided into maintenance, development, and testing. That includes code review, manual and automated tests, and performance testing.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with two people from JCommerce. One is a developer and QA tester working on the new version of our solution, and the second is a Java developer working with the maintenance team to solve problems reported by customers with the integration of our solution.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

We’d had a previous collaboration with them, and we were quite satisfied with their work. Because of that, we decided to bring them in for our current project.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their services is around €10,500 (approximately $11,500 USD) per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with JCommerce in early 2020, and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

We’re satisfied with the collaboration. They've helped us improve our code quality by creating a better-functioning application. We’ve upgraded the libraries and tools used in the project, and we’ve improved software development and QA processes. They provided better know-how in the QA area, especially in test automation.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

The development team is working in an agile scrum methodology, with two-week sprints. The maintenance team is using the Kanban methodology.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their specialists not only supported us but also identified some important problems, such as automated tests that required refactoring. The tests were taking too much time, and there was a need for data to compare the performance of the old version to the new system. The tools we were using required an upgrade to newer versions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of software development for an IT service provider.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

Although the labor market in Poland is quite restricted, we needed additional development resources. In particular, we were seeking senior Java developers in the region to help with the software we’re developing for internal use.  

What was the scope of their involvement?

JCommerce provided two Java programmers who are currently helping develop our software. While they’re working in two separate teams here, they’re part of a larger scrum team that meets regularly. While they work remotely most of the time, they sometimes come into our office.    

What is the team composition?

We work with the two senior Java developers.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

We considered several other candidates but eventually chose JCommerce. We went through another selection process with the candidates within JCommerce.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2018 and the project is still underway. I hope to retain them, at least until the end of the year.

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

We’ve been very pleased with the developers that JCommerce has provided. While we’re looking for a third candidate, we’re yet to find one that matches our expectations. The two senior programmers we do have serve as great team leads for our younger teammates. They’re also very communicative.  

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

While we manage the project, they’ve done well on a collaboration front. They get along very well with our own team and meet expectations. They’re also open to travel 60­–100 miles to get to us, which we appreciate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really get the sense that they take care of their employees. Their management oversees the integration of their developers with our team and is sensitive to their needs. If something negative ever came up, they’d be quick to help us find new people.

In one instance, JCommerce reached out to us to organize IT meetings to help us promote our brand. Since we’re trying to gain more traction in our local market, we were very grateful for their efforts.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing negative to say about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend being open to working with offshore resources. Don’t get hung up on finding a local resource, especially if it’s a restricted market. Working with someone remotely isn’t as stressful as it might seem.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager for an IT service company.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We hired JCommerce to help with IT services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at JCommerce developed ten different projects from scratch. They also provide server hosting.

What is the team composition?

We work with five .NET developers.

How did you come to work JCommerce?

We researched companies with a high level of skill at a reasonable rate.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with JCommerce started in 2015.

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

Our team leader commented on how excellent everything they develop is. Their team has a high-quality skillset.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

All of the project managers are internal, and we have daily meetings with all of the developers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is full of developers that are quick to understand the context of the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they can do better. The only problem is that their team changes its rate at the end of the year.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a cloud-based CRM business application provider. I’m in charge of software engineering at the company, so I handle engineering, operations, and QA.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We’ve struggled with finding developers that can take customer requirements and turn them into robust business applications using our framework. JCommerce helps us achieve that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a customization engine within the application that makes use of PHP. We’ve built it so that customers and our team can customize the app themselves, without having to work through us. As we grow, however, we need more and more customization to be developed. Sometimes it’s bespoke and other times it can be reusable.

In their work with us, JCommerce typically takes on customer development projects through us and runs with them through to completion. If it’s a complex project, they work within a team. However, many of the projects we assign to them are relatively straightforward and can be done by a single person. 

What is the team composition?

In the past, we’ve had up to three resources from them. Currently, we have one developer. 

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

We were struggling to find a local resource, so we branched out into outsourcing. This was new to us. After doing research, we identified a few providers that fit the kind of organization we wanted to work with, narrowing it down from there. In the end, we decided on JCommerce. They were easy to work with and based in the EU, making our security-related concerns more manageable. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$200,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We track the quality of their work as they progress through the project. We’re very happy with the engineer that’s currently working with, but we’ve also had issues with some of the engineers we’ve worked with in the past. 

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle all the project management internally. The engineers we have from JCommerce work on teams that we manage. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re straightforward, honest, and easy to work with. When we’ve had issues, they’ve been quick to help us resolve them. They’re also helpful and able to drive projects forward when things are going well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve struggled with hiring and bringing in suitable candidates. I don’t have the answers, but it would be helpful if they could find a more effective way of screening qualified candidates. It’s difficult when we end up with candidates that aren’t suitable for the project after we’ve invested time in training them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would’ve spent a bit more time thinking about the onboarding and hiring processes. Originally, we assumed that the resources we would require already resided within the organization. The reality is that virtually none of them have been existing employees, and many of them have been hired afresh. That’s caused a significant hiring process that we weren’t expecting. The process was more difficult than we anticipated.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a retail tech company.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We hired JCommerce to create a progressive web app for our users.

What was the scope of their involvement?

While developing the web application, the team at JCommerce focused on UX design and frontend development. They also completed backend development and configured the AWS. Using JavaScript and HTML, they built it from the ground up.

Their team also developed an API that allows external third-party integration partners to receive retail data. We said that we wanted an app that displayed retail data in an engaging way to users.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with quite a few members of their team. Our typical team consisted of a UX designer, frontend developer, and backend developer. We also had assistance with solution architecture.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

We found them online.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with JCommerce started in March 2018.

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

Their work was well-received by the rest of our team. They’ve also been helpful on the account management side. We perform the testing ourselves.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

We do the project management from our side, taking on the development resources. Our team does all the requirement analysis. The team at JCommerce meets all the deadlines we set.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re happy to help with upscaling and downscaling the team, starting and pausing various projects. Some other companies are probably not as flexible in terms of ordering the project on short notice. Their flexibility has been great for our startup.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get in touch with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a manager at an AI company.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We had a lack of business intelligence (BI) developers in our area. My company sought outside help on a project that we needed to start quickly.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Jcommerce helped us create a tabular model for a system’s reporting and analytics. They used Azure.

My company doesn't have much experience in the area of BI, and they also help with consultancy. We have a lot of discussions about architecture and areas of opportunity in analytics.

We also work with them in areas of more traditional software development. We work mainly in a Microsoft stack.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 people.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

One of my friends was very satisfied with JCommerce and recommended them. They had good quality and pricing. We tried them out with a small project, found they were very skilled, and decided to use them.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spends $20,000 each month.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

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

We’ve been able to meet our customer’s needs, and they’re very satisfied. Our customer appreciates that JCommerce provides new ideas and really knows the business. They are a real value-add. The team is very experienced, and they do high-quality work.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage the project. From time to time, there are situations where we are in a bidding process and don’t know a certain technology. JCommerce has specialists and BI developers in every existing technology.

They give us status updates. Whenever there are problems, they respond quickly. At the end of the day, everyone is on the same page.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I value their BI skills the most. They have a good process for verifying the quality of the resources that they provide. I have a good relationship with them, and we understand each other.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They work remotely. At one point, there were 1–2 guys that weren’t engaging in the projects, but they were quickly removed. We weren’t charged for the hours that they spent in the project. We can trace when they’re not performing to our satisfaction. Those who don’t perform are very quickly removed from the team. From an ethical point of view, they are good and take care of it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to be familiar with working with remote resources for IT projects and be okay with it. Develop a trusting relationship with their developers.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a company based in Silicon Valley with almost 200 people in Poland, along with an R&D center where we mostly focus on our own products. I’m an HR manager for the company, providing teams for the whole business which are able to address all our plans for the market and the products that our customers need and are waiting for.

We consider ourselves a startup, but we’ve been in the market for a long time and we’ve received investment money. Our whole business is quite dynamic, operating in the IT industry and also offering products for businesses.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We sometimes have development needs for which we can’t hire team members fast enough.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I typically interface with JCommerce to figure out whether they have the competencies we need within the right time. We’re picky about skills and mindsets when hiring, even in the case of contractors working for us for 6–12 months. We still want people that are good fits for our teams. In most cases, JCommerce has been good at understanding our needs and figuring out solutions for us.

We work with different providers through both fixed-price and time-and-materials contracts. Some of our projects prove interesting for their developers as well, and we discuss the scope each time. I always ask them if they’d like to understand more about the scope of the project.

We’ve had the most experience in the Java and Node.js areas. In the case of Java, we try to cut out projects into small pieces, and we give those to JCommerce’s engineers. They typically work with our engineers as part of an integrated team.

We have a core cloud-based backend. JCommerce assigned two engineers for this part, who worked on it on a daily basis for a few months. They each can describe their parts of the system to other team members in order to put together epics and smaller sprints.

What is the team composition?

We’re currently working with three developers from JCommerce.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

I remember their account manager reaching out to me. She was open and wanted to understand our perspective on what we’re doing, where we want to go, and whether there are any opportunities for them to contribute. I told her that I had some needs, but that I’d had some really bad experiences with providers in the industry. She not only told me about their services but also presented candidates to me and give me accurate data on when exactly they could start.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around July 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

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

In most of our cases, we’re happy with their developers’ performance. If we weren’t sure they could help us, we wouldn’t have hired them. We’ve had some issues, but JCommerce worked on all the items we gave them feedback on and communicated about the things we can improve. There’ve been two cases already of us hiring the developer after the collaboration with JCommerce, so we’re pretty happy with their quality.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle the project management on our side, and we include their developers into our teams. They work with our engineering manager, our program manager, and everyone else. They participate in our dailies and other meetings, and they try to remain active team members. They also estimate how much time they need for each part of their work.

In terms of how we’re able to address our needs in terms of skills and time frames, we have a good collaboration with our account manager at JCommerce. She’s my first point of contact to figure out needs and what we can do about them together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They look at the needs of the customer first and then figure out whether they can provide a solution or not. If at any time I had an idea of what we could do better, even if it wasn’t common for them, they were always open and flexible to figuring out how we could change the situation.

They’re a well-shaped business with fair prices. They also have nice time-to-market solutions so they’re able to figure out quite quickly what our needs are and operate this way. They have an amazing attitude in working with customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re very satisfied.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to be as open as possible. Explaining the background behind any needed work is helpful to ensure a solution shaped to the client’s needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the development team lead for Calago, a software implementation company. We implement information management and e-commerce solutions for wholesale companies. We have business and technical consultants that work onsite with our clients to understand their business processes. The consultants analyze and define user stories and we undertake technical implementation based on that.  

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We needed more developers to expand our development team. The capacity we could find here in the Netherlands was limited due to a lack of quality candidates.

What was the scope of their involvement?

JCommerce supplied us with five Java and PHP developers that met the qualifications we specified. We brought them on for a specific project but with the idea that the work would continue. They’re part of our full development process including design and prototyping.  I do an initial analysis and we discuss it to come up with a solution together.

What is the team composition?

We work with five developers directly.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

Our recruitment team found them and I set up a call. We had multiple discussions. I made my decision based on the quality of those talks as well as the fact that they had worked with another company with which we’ve done development work. We decided to try them for a few months as a test. We were very satisfied so we kept the engagement going.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2018 and it’s ongoing.

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

They made it possible for us to continue delivering our product to our clients by implementing and expanding the functionalities of our software. They give good feedback. We do code reviews and the quality they deliver is always to standard. They brought experience and knowledge working on development projects, suggesting changes to the way we worked. We took on some of their suggestions which improved our processes and productivity.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via phone, Skype, and Google. There are always challenges when working with offshore developers but they perform well. They’re accommodating to be available. It’s more difficult to have a constant stream of contact but we’ve never had any major issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the things I appreciate most is the communication with their team leads. If I need an extra person or if I feel that there are issues with one of the employees, it's easy for me to contact one of their managers to discuss things. I can call or email them directly. I don’t have to go through a system to make an appointment. Also, when we first started working with them, they were happy to have me visit. They’re a very open company, which you don’t always see with offshoring.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. We had some early trouble with slight delays in communication due to a developer’s illness but it was resolved quickly and hasn’t recurred.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Not specifically other than give them a shot. They're very flexible in regards to making agreements or assigning developers so you can, for example, try them for a month and see if you like it or not. If you're thinking about it, there's no real reason not to give them a try because you don’t have to make a long-term commitment.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of digital operations for a company that makes laser cutting machines.

What challenge were you trying to address with JCommerce?

We needed outside support for our software development team in order to hit specific production milestones.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We rely on JCommerce for extensive and ongoing C# development within our CAD/CAM system for production. The software they are developing is not a new product but rather an evolution of an existing product.

What is the team composition?

We communicate with the CEO, the head of marketing, and the business development manager, along with roughly 20 of their developers.

How did you come to work with JCommerce?

We selected JCommerce from a field of several other international companies. JCommerce was the best option given their demonstrated expertise in C# development and their willingness to adopt the industrial specialties of our software. The CAD/CAM system is unique and one they hadn’t worked with before, but they were willing to learn it.

How much have you invested with them?

I’d estimate we’ve spent between $300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in October 2016 and is ongoing. We anticipate several more years of partnership.

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

They have become a very important provider for us. We do not measure personal KPIs, but we can tell that JCommerce employs many talented developers. In some ways, they are more skilled than our internal staff.

How did JCommerce perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira and Confluence to communicate, and we rarely have any problems.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We truly challenged them with an unfamiliar manufacturing system, but they have adapted very well. They are patient, they bring thoughtful recommendations, and they steer things in the right direction.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we have been very pleased with their work.