KeenEthics

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Chief Product Office at Sapera. We are an analytical and creative consultancy firm. For more than twelve years we have been deciphering complex correlations through visual communication. Today, we also develop data-informed products and services in the fields of innovation and transformation.

To do this, we combine data science and intuition to build infographic systems, devel-op communication strategies, and design data experiences. As an interdisciplinary team of forty-five content experts, strategists, data scientists, designers, and software developers, we work successfully with companies such as Adidas and Lufthansa, as well as government ministries and civil society institutions.

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

We were looking for a development partner to work with us on the development of our B2B marketplace, sapera.com, testing and further optimization on user insights.

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

Our goal was to find a partner to develop our marketplace on eye level and in close collaboration. A capable partner, who is brilliant in the relevant tech stack and who can also go beyond that into a professional exchange with us on a conceptual level.

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

We started last year with a project scoping phase and proceeded then with UI design, frontend and backend development of the marketplace. Our tech stack consists e.g. of next.js, react, node.js and contentful as CMS

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

We worked with a PM, different designers, a tech lead, up to six developers and up to three QA engineers

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

After launching we saw a tremendous increase in traffic, converted first leads and had really good response from the user tests we run. The quality of the provided code was always on a very high level.

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

We ran different rituals, as e.g. standups with the team, regular meetings with the Project Management and quarterly meetings together with their management.

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

KeenEthics has always adhered to schedules. Communication has always been proactive. In general, the KeenEthics team has done everything possible to meet our needs to our complete satisfaction.

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

We were very satisfied at all times with the cooperation and the results achieved.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a CEO at FXW GmbH — a company that helps business owners find perfect software development vendors and optimize their cooperation with them. We recruited KeenEthics to help us with the Real Estate Management project.

REM is a property management platform, which is aimed to bring together renters and lenders and to facilitate the lives of the latter. Managing multiple properties, collecting rents, calculating resources, or preparing financial reports is much easier with REM

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

We have had an REM web platform developed by a different team. KeenEthics helped us develop a cross-platform mobile app using the means of React Native. We believe that the mobile app is crucial for our project success, and we decided to trust KeenEthics with it.

How did you select KeenEthics and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for a responsive and highly secure mobile solution, which would be developed in a short time and at a high quality. I am happy to say that the results fully met our expectations.

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

It is not our first experience with KeenEthics — previously, we developed Tetrami together with them. We were satisfied with our cooperation then, and we are satisfied now.

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

REM is a real estate management platform, which aims to innovate the way one rents and manages their property. It offers multiple helpful tools for analysis, communication, and reporting, which let the landowner get rid of all the paperwork and fully automate the process.

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

The mobile app is also already available on Google Play and App Store, but the development works are still underway. Apple: https://apple.co/2J89g5q Android: https://bit.ly/2V1OmaI

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

We decided not to limit ourselves with any strict project management methodology, and we cooperate using the principles of Agile. Thanks to it, our team is indeed very agile and the workflow is quite effective.

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

KeenEthics impresses me with how responsible and reliable they are. They are very thorough when it comes to the technical quality of the software solution.

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

The only thing that somehow impedes our cooperation is the language barrier. There are no fluent German speakers in the KeenEthics team. KeenEthics should work on their linguistic expertise and maybe embrace language diversity — you can make do with English in most cases, but sometimes, it is not enough.

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company is an online nature community and we were looking to build a basic MVP version of the site. I am the Co-Founder.

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

We hired KE to help us build an MVP. Our goals were to build a simple and streamlined product which we could test our early hypothesis with and also build some basic functionality.

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

We found KE on upwork. The reason we went with them was because of how brilliant their Kick-Off process was. From the beginning the initial team listened and asked the right questions and were patient with us and time effective.

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

The deliverables of the project were a website with functionality to log in, engage with different users, upload different things and add other users in the network. The technologies used were React and Firebase. KE were receptive to us using Firebase over more traditional technology stacks

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

There were three people in the actual project team itself - a fullstack engineer, a project manager and then a quality assurance reviewer.

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

The deliverables were well thought through and precisely what we had asked for. The team followed through on their promises and worked to complete it in the deadline that we had agreed.

Once the deliverables had been handed over, the team went above and beyond to try and help us fix a few issues that came up spontaneously. It is early days, but it has set the foundation for a strong product and one that we hope to use to drive up a lot of user engagement.

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

We had a group slack channel which worked well for us as it was efficient and timely. There was also a Trello board.

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

I found the team to be really invested in the outcome of the product. They asked questions about the vision more generally and where were going with it. I liked the fact that they wanted to develop a more personal relationship which meant that it was far less transactional and the outcomes were better.

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

When we first kicked off with the project team there was some friction. I think this was a combination of different communication styles as well as expectation management. Although a small bump, i think in the future setting the expectation from day 1 (especially for teams who are new to all of this) will help alleviate any early friction.

Please describe your company and your position there.

PMO

For what projects/services did your company hire KeenEthics?

We hired KeenEthics to help us with the development of a mobile audit software solution, which would facilitate our business processes.

What were your goals for this project?

The software had to be secure and performant in order to withstand the heavy data load and to prevent data leakage.

How did you select this vendor?

We have heard about KeenEthics before as we discussed our potential cooperation with them on a different project. We enjoyed their way of business thinking, so we decided to trust them with this audit software development.

Describe the project in detail.

It is a mobile tool, which facilitates the process of organizing and carrying out audits. An admin creates a file for audit — a checklist with company specifications and questions. Each question can be supported with images, audio, or video files and with comments. After the audit is completed, the app generates a report.

What was the team composition?

The project was developed by one Project Manager, one mobile developer, one QA, and one UI/UX designer.

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

For now, the project is on hold because we hit a bureaucratic wall. Hopefully, we will be able to resume it in the future together with KeenEthics.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We communicated through Facebook, Viber, and Telegram, so we stayed in touch almost 24/7.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The KeenEthics team was very proactive and honest. They said openly what they could or could not do. I greatly appreciate their attitude and help!

Are there any areas for improvement?

The development process at KeenEthics was incredibly fast, but this speed sometimes came at a cost of communication. I would advise KeenEthics to spend more time collecting and analyzing requirements before implementing them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a co-founder of a marketing startup. The company revolves around a software solution that forecasts trends for retails and provides data-driven advice. The solution is a web and mobile app.

For what projects/services did your company hire KeenEthics?

We’ve addressed KeenEthics to support us to create an application from scratch. The project started with a UX/UI phase, and after a year-long pause, ended up with the development of the responsive web and mobile app for iOS and Android.

What were your goals for this project?

We aimed at a software solution that fits the needs of fashionistas and marketers. The solution consists of a well-rounded user interface and a sophisticated algorithm providing retailers with inspiration and fashion insights.

How did you select this vendor?

I’ve selected KeenEthics based on their outstanding and relevant experience with different algorithms for software solutions. They focused on delivering results and were eager to start this long-term project. Also they consulted us with important informations and experiences even if the needed resources have been outside their portfolio.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Confidential!

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a dedicated developer and a reliable project manager. Just to be on the safe side, we also requested quality control services. However, the code was good enough, even without the QC.

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

The startup is currently on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be up and running as soon as the market horizon clears out. I’m counting on a good start with the software solution developed by KeenEthics.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The KeenEthics team was ready to go the extra mile to make everything work. The workflow was slightly difficult at the start, but it is polished to perfection now.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I loved working with my last dedicated developer Yaryna. She was a real lifesaver when the things came to development. She cracked issues like nuts and offered new and interesting features.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I’ve been working with KeenEthics since 2017, and they grew impressively since then. KeenEthics is great in comparison with other Ukrainian software development companies. They have decent project managers and very proactive developers. It’s always nice to work with developers who can solve your issues before you even anticipate them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Co-founder and investor at an on-prem, open-source chatbot building platform for businesses.

For what projects/services did your company hire KeenEthics?

We hired Keenethics to help us develop bots and platform functionality in general but particularly for help in delivering professional services to our customers.

What were your goals for this project?

To provide our customers with high quality chatbots at a reasonable price.

How did you select this vendor?

A friend of ours recommended KeenEthics to me.

Describe the project in detail.

Besides contributing to the open source core, the main projects that Keenethics worked on where multi-language customer service chatbots for a number of government departments that had heavy integration with internal systems.

What was the team composition?

We mainly employed developers and testers (probably 4 devs and 2 testers over the period) and also a designer. From our side we had various staff involved, the main one being the business analyst.

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

We have achieved everything we planned, and the various chatbots are live. The open source contributions the did are part of the open source core.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our cooperation was effective and productive, we engaged in a lot of discussions on how to improve the software we were developing during the process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The commitment and willingness to go the extra mile to get the job done impressed us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It's hard to think of something obvious, occasionally there was code that was released and not tested but not a major issue.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Condofy, a condominium management platform. Condofy is revolutionizing the way that apartment residents, building managers and service providers engage with their communities. We offer end to end Home Owner Association services through an intelligent platform. For building managers, we provide financial services, legal advisory, human resources and payroll services. For residents and home owners, we provide tools to help communication, B2C service providers and amenities.

For what projects/services did your company hire KeenEthics?

The project itself is a sophisticated management system that helps running a condominium. It connects property owners, managers, and tenants in a friendly ecosystem where everyone can get more for less effort. The system has lots of integrations with third-party services for all sorts of usage: from issue tracking to financial interactions. I came to KeenEthics in order to implement in code the idea I had visualized. They used JavaScript for both front- and back-end development.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were to build a system where lots of integrations add to each other seamlessly resulting in a great experience for the end-user. As a start-up, you are always looking for ways to get the most bang for your buck. The development had to be fast yet with good quality.

How did you select this vendor?

I selected KeenEthics because their experience in web development is impressive. The communication is seamless, and their honest attitude is what makes them stand out among other software development agencies.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

It is a web platform for property owners and tenants to communicate and cooperate. Built with JavaScript, it turned out to be highly responsive and performant. It offers a unique solution for condominium management and delivers it in a highly effective manner.

What was the team composition?

The team composition was dynamic as we started with 3 Developers and a Project manager. When a design system was in place, the team was reduced to 2 full-stack developers for optimal cost management.

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

The project is already on the web, I believe that the business idea was successfully implemented. At this point, we are considering ways to promote and scale our platform.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I enjoyed working with KeenEthics because of their openness, straightforwardness, and responsiveness. I fully trusted them, and I guess it is the primary reason why our project succeeded.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The ethical dimension of KeenEthics impressed me a lot. The way they treat partners and each other is unlike anything I have ever seen in any other company.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We had some misunderstandings as for how back-end should be implemented, but, I guess, they stemmed from some miscommunication at the initial stages of the project

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of Ideal Role. Our chatbot starts conversations on company career sites to assist people in finding the right job. We help them understand the benefits the company can offer and answer any questions they may have. On the other hand, companies get more high-quality applications and a pipeline of talent for future roles.  

For what projects/services did your company hire Keenethics?

We hired Keenethics to create a well-designed web interface for the chatbot.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to have an open, friendly, and easy-to-use web interface for the chatbot. Since the UI is a crucial part of my project, it had to be reliable, easy to customize, and visually appealing.

How did you select this vendor?

I chose Keenethics based on their previous chatbot development experience. Plus, they were responsive, helpful, and friendly.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Keenethics did the frontend development of a web chatbot using the React framework. It communicates with the chatbot using the Microsoft bot framework Direct Line API 3.0.

What was the team composition?

I worked with a dedicated developer, a project manager, and a QA specialist from Keenethics.

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

Keenethics delivered exactly what I hoped for. The chatbot is up and running with excellent functionality. We’ve gotten positive feedback from test users about how easy it is to use.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team communicated with clarity, responded quickly, and clarified any questions I had.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As the name suggests, the Keenethics team was quite transparent. They listened and made sure they understood what I was trying to achieve, not just the features I wanted.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Overall, the project was great. However, it would have been good for them to explain the development stages and timeline in more detail. This would have helped manage my expectations from the start.