Keenethics OU

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical lead at Isapiens srl, an e-learning company. We provide services to corporations in Italy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Keenethics?

Our one-developer team needed extra resources to meet three deadlines for building a software application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a partially-developed application that collected information from a learning management system and displayed it in a dashboard for clients to read, modify, and extract reports from. Before Keenethics became involved, the app had back- and frontend basis, a small dashboard, and a project page. Keenethics added more features and pages. They built and helped launch a training progress page that shows each student’s progress and a general overview of Italy’s geographical regions. They also implemented a system to track how each administrator creates or modifies information.

Keenethics developed the application in Node.js. The backend—built on Express.js—functions as an API and is completed divided from the frontend—built on Angular.js 5. The app uses modules such as Passport.js for authentication among other functions.

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with 2–3 developers depending on the project’s needs.

How did you come to work with Keenethics?

We found them by posting a job offer on Upwork. We narrowed 50–60 proposals down to four companies. Keenethics was close to our time zone, and their team of developers and project managers provided valuable insights into how the project should continue.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $24,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August–October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Keenethics team performed well alongside our internal team. Their intermediate developers produced high-quality code and efficient scripts that emphasized the app’s performance.

How did Keenethics perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was highly accessible and responded to any inquiries within 30 minutes. We communicated and held meetings via Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Keenethics accommodated two weeks of 10–12-hour days to help us meet our strict deadlines. They truly invested themselves in the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They write clear code, but it could use more comments.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Because I had a technical background, I interfaced directly with developers rather than with the project manager. Keenethics made the process simple for me, but their project managers are excellent if you prefer a more traditional approach.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a founder of BankerAdvisor, which is a website and ratings platform aimed at the investment banking and banking industries that is in many ways similar to Clutch. We hope to be live within the next 30 days.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KeenEthics?

I hired KeenEthics to create the platform that would function as the core part of our business. My background is in finance, and although I understood the company I wanted to build and the type of website and application I wanted, we needed additional technical resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BankerAdvisor is intended to be a comprehensive directory and review application for learning about investment banking and merger and acquisition advisory firms. At the beginning, I provided KeenEthics with a detailed specifications document from which they then worked. They managed the user interface design and branding, as well as the app development. One vital feature that we requested specifically was a multi-varied search capability, which needed to include the use of tags for industry sector experiences and the nature of services for search refining purposes. We also wanted a way to provide prioritization for premium app registrants versus basic registrants in the database. They did their work using Node.js on the backend and JavaScript and HTML5 on the frontend.

The project is not yet finished, although phase one is close to being complete. I have already written the specification document for phase two, to which I have added commercial banking and investment management to the initial minimum viable offering. The plan is to slowly expand our range of offerings as our user base grows, so we are currently planning ahead, and I intend to keep KeenEthics on board for this further work.

What is the team composition?

Our primary code team involved three people—Yura G., our primary full stack developer; Alina K.; and Vlad O.—and our UI team involved at least two designers at any given time.

How did you come to work with KeenEthics?

When I was ready to begin the project, I conducted a series of interviews with development shops and found the KeenEthics team. Since I did not want to deal with fielding responses from a wide variety of firms, I emailed them directly to ask if they had the requisite skills for which I had been searching. KeenEthics fit the skillset in the particular technology stack I wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have invested US$30,000, but we plan on spending another US$10,000-20,000 depending on the progress of phase two.

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged their services in May of 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the project is not yet finished, we do not have any concrete metrics to demonstrate the impact. However, I am very pleased with both the site and the app’s functionality.

How did KeenEthics perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed extremely well in terms of communication and working with the project manager on invoicing and understanding changes as the work progressed. From my perspective, they did an excellent job of setting expectations. I was often to blame for scope expansion, and how they adjusted and responded to the changes was excellent. We communicated primarily through email correspondence, although we also used Skype for video conferencing and Google Docs. Our regular work schedule involved weekly appointments to touch base with KeenEthics, and in between they were very responsive through both email and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I found their sophistication on technology and keen business judgment particularly impressive, especially for a younger organization. The code itself has been very reliable, tight, and reflective of their knowledge of the technology stack and of coding best practices. They have been patient working with a non-product manager who is a domain expert but not a product management or product design expert. Additionally, their command of the English language truly blew me away. The language difference has been a complete non-issue in working with KeenEthics.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are fairly understated in their skills versus their profile. Since I believe that this firm is going to grow, my recommendation to them would be to get the word out about themselves more effectively.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Writing a detailed specification about a project and boiling down precisely what you do will make it a lot easier for the development team and project manager to understand what your goals are for the collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief technology officer (CTO) at a technology consulting and strategy firm. We develop custom software and implement custom solutions for our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Keenethics?

We were looking for supplemental additional resources in the MeteorJS framework, which is a JavaScript web application framework.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Keenethics helped integrate Stripe, a payment processing application. Stripe was integrated to one of our applications that we were building to allow for customers to subscribe to paid software. They helped implement that functionality within our application

The technologies that Keenethics used were primarily MeatorJS, HTML, and CSS. There was also NodeJS and MongoDB. 

What is the team dynamic?

I’ve interacted with a total of three individuals.

How did you come to work with Keenethics?

We found Keenethics through a third-party freelancer network. We were considering three companies in total before deciding on going with Keenethics.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $10,000 to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve been working with Keenethics for off and on for just about a year. We started working August 2016 and the project was finished February 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of work was good. We relied on Keenethics to make sure that we were able to meet some of our tighter schedules. They were able to complete things on time and on budget which was good. The proficiency and skills that Keenethics has were good. I was overall pleased with everything that they did.

How did Keenethics perform from a project management standpoint?

It wasn’t really a complex large project that required heavy project management. We were able to give them the requirements and they were able to manage communication back to us. Any necessary follow-ups were completed using e-mail and Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

For an offshore resource, they were very friendly and personable. They did a nice job of taking interest and ownership of the work that they did. They also provided additional support when we have a few issues. Overall, Keenethics’ personal touch was a highlight for me.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business or organization and what you do there.
I am the Owner and only employee of a young startup company based in the Netherlands. My company is an international network of localized price comparison websites. Each site specializes in a certain theme or subject.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Keenethics?
My project began really small, but my aim is to dominate the market and to be active all around the world. I want to have a specific website for every subject . Scalability is the first priority. In the past five years JavaScript’s functionalities have grown considerably, I searched for a company that was eager to try embracing JavaScript competencies and concepts and develops a really cool project. Because I don’t have a big company and my budget is limited, I needed to have a partner that was priced okay.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.
Keenethics only did development. Because of my experience as an online professional, I did the whole business strategy, the design, the interaction, and the marketing myself. They are purely involved just to take care of all the technical stuff. We decided to go for the ever more popular Meteor JS plus React combination and we’re now developing in these techniques.

How did you come to work with Keenethics?
I found Keenethics by Googling specialized Meteor agencies. I did a little tender with all kinds of agencies and Keenethics was the best choice. Besides their technical skills, they’re really nice people and they quickly become involved in your business ideas and want to produce a really cool product. In the end, Keenethics is great for little startups based on the quality they deliver and the cost they ask.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
Between $10,000-$20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them November 2016 and have been working together since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?
It’s too early because we don’t have a first version of the product ready, but it looks really promising.

How did Keenethics perform from a project management standpoint?
I’m really into having control so I’m not a regular client for them. I’m an online project manager myself and I hired them only for development work. We had about 2 or 3 developers working on the project but the project management was in my hands. You can chat with them until they go to bed and they’re always available by Skype. We do a Scrum every month where we look at new features, what we want to add, what has priority, etc. Hopefully, they continue to be my partner in the future.

What distinguishes Keenethics from other providers?
The relationship, their own ambition and what they want to do in the future were really important to me. Normally, my experience with development companies is that their business strategy is based on selling hours and most of them see a chance to bill you some extra hours just to change stuff within the project. Keenethics just sticks to the hours they initially estimated. They know and understand that nobody is perfect and nobody can predict the future or have it all written on paper before you start. This is what is really unique about them. They feel like a business partner, not like an agency that just wants to sell more hours.

Is there anything Keenethics could have improved or done differently?
They are a young agency that’s only been in existence for 2 years. They’re growing fast and doing more projects and the whole identity of the business and the agency still has to be developed. They are still trying to figure out their view on how to complete projects and what their unique selling point is compared to other agencies. They started with a vision about how things should be done, but they need to go move a new phase where they become more professional so they can sell the things they believe in.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a strategic management consultancy with about 300 professionals. Our work is basically project-based work for clients in the topics of transformation, strategy, and giving advice in the digital space. I am a manager. I’m the lead of the project team and client projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Keenethics?

We needed a prototype and to develop some kind of digital solutions for processes showing the client how it could be done or how to maintain some kind of software solutions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Keenethics helped us to develop and to prototype several web and iPad applications to help our clients. We used a MEAN stack including MeteorJS as a framework on top of Node.js, AngularJS, MongoDB, D3.js for visualization and Cordova for the hybrid development of the web and iPad application.

How many resources were assigned to your project?

On the first project, we had 2 ½ if you count all the quality assurance and the designer. The second project had also a project manager attached to it, so I think it was two to three people.

How did you come to work with Keenethics?

We proposed our project on Upwork.com. We interviewed all of the applicants which included Keenethics. At first, we did choose another company because Keenethics said that they didn’t have the required employees available at the time. We were unsatisfied with our first choice, so I connected back to Keenethics after two months. They had the resources available at that time, and we continued with them because all the issues and challenges we had with the first company were solved by Keenethics.

How much have you invested with Keenethics?

We spent between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started searching for the company in October. Then, we had the two-month time frame with another company. We came back to Keenethics in December 2016. The first project was finished last week. The second project was running from March 2017 to July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

This was a highly agile project environment where several clients were involved. The costs of the work were not that high for the amount of work. That’s why we didn’t need perfect project controlling and why we didn’t use any metrics on the project.

We did have a great full stack developer and he could do everything in terms of user interface, application development, and database design. That enabled us to have a low cost, high result in the end. As we were missing a user interface designer, we got a designer who created the design and worked perfectly well with the developer so that we didn’t have any overhead.

How did Keenethics perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management point, we used some kind of Scrum methodology and Agile methodology. We had weekly planning and daily stand-ups directly with developers from Keenethics. Everything was solved during the weekly and daily standups.

My native language is German. Keenethcis’ native language is not English either, but we had a Russian speaker on our team whose English is also quite good. In terms of understanding and communicating, it was perfect. Also due to cultural challenges which we had with the first team, Keenethics was perfect in addressing challenges and bringing them up before it would become a problem. In terms of communication, I was happy during the course of the project. I was always informed and could derive my decisions out of the information I got.

What did you find most impressive about Keenethics?

From a technological standpoint, they did great work in terms of the results, consulting, and providing options. They have a great network. At some point, we needed a user interface designer so they could also help with this challenge and provided a good designer to the team immediately. On the other hand, communication is something I value a lot. For example, if an expert is missing, they communicated that perfectly up front so I could search for an expert for a specific small problem and therefore we didn’t have any roadblocks. They chose the right technology and implemented the solution in a very good, perfect way.

Are there any areas Keenethics could improve?

I was satisfied completely with the project. But, as a German, I always see things for improvement. They could be a little better in terms of documentation, but I don’t see that really as a downside. It wasn’t in our job description.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Technical Writer of a software company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a code scanning platform for finding first and third-party security vulnerabilities in your code base.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Keenethics to accomplish?

Platform upgrade

SOLUTION

How did you find Keenethics?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Keenethics over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Keenethics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Keenethics was asked to upgrade our Docusaurus instance and ensure that all existing content were compatible with the latest version of the tools.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within five days, we had a full upgrade of our platform, along with fixes for any content/files that were incompatible with the new format.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We worked with a project manager who facilitated communication and ensured that tasks were delivered on time. She also ensured all of our questions were answered promptly.

What was your primary form of communication with Keenethics?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I've worked with Keenethics twice while employed by two different companies, and I am consistently impressed by the quality of work they deliver and the short turnaround times they offer. 

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

I have no issues with the work performed by Keenethics.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

SaaS for real estate agents throughout USA.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Keenethics to accomplish?

• Develop new SaaS product for our company

SOLUTION

How did you find Keenethics?

Online Search

Why did you select Keenethics over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Great people

How many teammates from Keenethics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Keenethics was hired to develop a SaaS product for a new, pre-seed company. They took a rudimentary UI/UX in Figma and turned that into a robust application. They did all of the DevOps, backend development (node.js) and front end development (React).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Delivered a fully functional SaaS product.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We had a single project manager who was amazing. She was wonderful to work with and surpassed our expectations. She kept the work moving forward, offered great reporting on our current position in development and budget, and was a great communicator. She was often ahead of our team and really kept the project on the rails.

What was your primary form of communication with Keenethics?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I was a bit worried about hiring an overseas company due to language barriers, timezones, and potential quality issues. However, none of these concerns turned out to materialize. Keenethics did a fabulous job on all fronts, plus more.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Fin Consult

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Financial accounting service

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Keenethics to accomplish?

• Service development
• Building product logic

SOLUTION

How did you find Keenethics?

Recommendation

Why did you select Keenethics over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Keenethics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Product development from the get-go. I came with an idea and a small description. I had an initial design. Literally in one month full development started and the company was on top of it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Functionality of my product

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

It took a little time to agree on requirements and project management, but everything went very well. The team is great and a pleasure to work with.

What was your primary form of communication with Keenethics?

Virtual Meeting

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

The company is very experienced in development and practicing many projects allows them to be very flexible in project management. Excellent employees who understand the tasks and I felt that the tasks were completed at 105% of expectations. Much respect for this approach.

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

It's hard for me to say whether these improvements should apply to Keenethics or the IT market in general. But I would like more accurate forecasting of product development. To be objective, of course my product is complex and Keenethics did a great job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and sole employee of Crest SaaS, a proprietary software product for the oil and gas industry. I use my product for consulting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Keenethics?

Keenethics helped me develop my custom software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My software product required five different modules. My former developer had helped me build the first three, but they required more capabilities. Thus, Keenethics has come in to finish the fourth and fifth modules of my software.

Their team has also cleaned up some of the other three modules that needed to be fixed. As for the technology stack, Keenethics has used JavaScript on the frontend and C++ on the backend.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with one developer and one project manager from Keenethics.

How did you come to work with Keenethics?

My former software developer recommended them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2023, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Keenethics has been very responsive, and their development pace has been impressive. They work and complete tasks pretty quickly.

How did Keenethics perform from a project management standpoint?

In addition to their fast work, Keenethics has stuck to the budget. We communicate via email and Zoom.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I would like to give a shout-out to Serhii (Backend Developer).

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, I’ve been very impressed with them — that’s why I’ve decided to leave a review.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing Keenethics could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I don’t have any recommendations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Technology Officer of (a/an) Education

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The company is revolutionizing the way teachers find classes to teach.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KeenEthics to accomplish?

• Build our core platform

SOLUTION

How did you find KeenEthics?

Referral

Why did you select KeenEthics over others?

Referred to me, Company values aligned

What was the size of KeenEthics’s team?

2-5 Employees

What was your primary form of communication with KeenEthics?

Virtual Meeting

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

An ECS hosted Elixir application.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Continuous delivery

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

KeenEthics were always on time, always responsive and very highly ethical in their practices. They provided superbly competent staff.

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

Their ethical expertise.

Are there any areas for improvement or something {provider_name} could have done differently?

They could not have done any better.