Lionwood.software

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a delivery manager for a college enrollment organization. We work in the B2B and B2C spaces, facilitating international students who apply for university positions in US and UK universities.

What challenge were you trying to address with Lionwood.software?

We needed to increase our development and test teams in a quick turnaround. This was for a particular suite of new, incoming features.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Lionwood.software has provided development work using .NET and Angular for a B2C website. Their work mainly involves features around massive improvements in some functionalities intended for the student applicants’ accessibility. The objective is to streamline areas around the progress of the student application.

We work in an agile process, so Lionwood.software has been working on the delivery of a number of features. Once the contract has ended, the delivery of new features will continue.

What is the team composition?

There are three individuals on the team — two .NET developers and one tester.

How did you come to work with Lionwood.software?

The engagement started before I joined the company, so I wasn’t directly involved. All I know is that we were put in touch with them through an agency. Lionwood.software was selected because they seemed to present the right combination of skills.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested just over £110,000 (approximately $140,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing engagement started in October 2019.

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

I’ve received a lot of detailed, positive feedback from our internal team. Lionwood.software's developers and tester were integrated into two of our scrum teams, so we can’t measure the absolute quality of their individual work. However, they’ve received really high praise in terms of the way they swiftly assimilated and became one coherent team. Lionwood.software’s people are working offshore, and our scrum teams are based in the UK.

How did Lionwood.software perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a little bit rocky at first, but they quickly got used to our work methodology. In fact, with time, they were teaching the UK team members a lot about working effectively while remote. They received praise for being able to pick things up very quickly and a lot of admiration for working in English, which isn’t their native language.

Lionwood.software adapted to processes very quickly and smoothly. They display a level of thoroughness that's very impressive. The shared knowledge and flow they produce have made working with them very seamless. Their team has brought a lot of maturity to our UK-based teams. We communicate through Jira, Slack, and GitHub for scrum and team conference calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They brought their own experience and expertise and then passed a great deal of that onto our internal team. Our team expressed that they learned and were introduced to new improvements and suggestions by Lionwood.software’s developers and tester. This included knowledge of technical improvements to websites and APIs.

The Lionwood.software team members code in excellent quality. Their hard work has been greatly appreciated. What’s more, they’ve been approachable and fun to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, they seemed to be putting a very high premium on turning around code and tickets very quickly. However, it wasn’t always as thoroughly and of the quality that we expected. But after some feedback, they changed their work practices and understood more about the level of quality and thoroughness. By quality, I mean a lack of bugs and the intensity of making sure their codes are 100% operational.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Because they work remotely and English isn’t their first language, it’ll take time for the team to integrate with yours. It takes a certain amount of patience to allow the team to integrate. The Lionwood.software developers were fully working on a self-contained project. They pick up processes fast and deliver high-quality work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the COO of Bytebrand Outsourcing AG. We offer web and mobile development services.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lionwood.software?

We brought on Lionwood.software to provide team members that specialize in WordPress and PHP development.

What were your goals for this project?

We had an enterprise project that required WordPress and PHP expertise—areas in which we lack talent. We needed coverage in those skillsets, especially for WordPress.

How did you select this vendor?

We posted a listing on Upwork looking for a WordPress developer who could meet in person at our office. We screened CVs and had Skype interviews with potential candidates; after this process, we ultimately chose to meet Lionwood.software. Their in-person technical meeting impressed us so we went with them for this project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Using provided designs, Lionwood.software’s WordPress and PHP specialists rebuilt a high load multisite on WordPress. They migrated data—including blog posts and images—from old sites and integrated the new site with an application using Node.js.

What was the team composition?

The 15-person team consists of a business analyst, a QA person, a web designer, a DevOps person, and specialists in WordPress, PHP, React, and Node.js.

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

Lionwood.software has provided expert team members who can work alongside our company. Our internal team members are consistently satisfied with their performance.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We’ve integrated Lionwood.software developers into our workflow. I coordinate with the business development manager who delivers a detailed report every two weeks. Their developers have become an inseparable part of our team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Lionwood.software offers highly skilled developers who are comfortable working with us and adept at finding the particular solution we were looking for. They’re very adaptive and can intuit our needs. If we ever need to make a change, we can explain the reason once and their team understands it immediately without complaint.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re thrilled with our collaboration.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m a board member at KleinTech Services. We develop easy-to-use, self-learning automated inspection solutions for the transport and security industry.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lionwood.software?

We were looking for a .NET outsourcing team that could provide maintenance and development for mature products in the deep learning inspection systems space.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to find a skilled development team to be a long-term, reliable partner.

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by one of our partners.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Lionwood.software handles development for a wide variety of web applications. We started gradually, with management systems for retail and rental apps where they provided us with report and notification modules. Other projects include deep analysis, new feature and application development, and end-to-end bug fixes.

What was the team composition?

They assign us teams with several full-stack and backend developers depending on the project's complexity. There’s normally a team lead on their side that fills both project management and technical architecture roles. The teams range in size, but they usually have around eight people.

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

They've developed a lot of custom features and improved our overall web performance. All of their deliverables have been exceptionally well received. We’re satisfied with the collaboration.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Lionwood.software is always clear regarding expectations. Anytime we assign a new task, they give a time estimate. They’re responsive to our needs, as well as our clients’, and provide us with fast and effective communication. We use YouTrack for task management and have daily conversations with the development team. If we need additional resources, their business development manager promptly proposes good candidates.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re always on time, and there’s never been a delay or issue with assigned work. They’re actually extremely proactive and often deliver ahead of schedule. The team is open-minded, and they’re ready to adopt changes if we think they’re needed. If we decided to alter a technology or process, they move right ahead with it. Their cost structure is also highly reasonable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can’t think of anything. They offer the most qualified candidates and have no problems adjusting to our schedule.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of a coach operator company. We connect Ukraine to European cities.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lionwood.software?

We needed someone to develop an online ticket booking platform.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create the online booking platform to sell tickets online, as well as sell tickets for affiliate programs by other coach operators.

How did you select this vendor?

We reviewed a few booking products, but they didn't have all the features we needed, so we were searched for local companies. Lionwood.software found us and made an offer, which came with the best price, so we started working together.

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

Lionwood.sofware created web-platform, from scratch, with options to buy bus tickets in a few easy steps: select dates, start/end location, and add personal details. Customers can book one-way and return tickets, and admins are free to set discounts for round trips. Customers are requested to choose a preferred payment method. The system is highly customizable and adaptable to various mobile devices. As soon as the booking is completed, customers receive an electronic ticket.

In the admin panel they built, you can add various bus types, show seat numbers, and include a graphic seat map. You can also see detailed passengers lists and a route timetable, with the departure times for all buses on a specific route. It lets us send various system messages and alerts to customers/admins, and they created a functionality that analyzes passenger behavior to improve the system. Finally, they’re promoting the web platform to increase our number of customers.

What was the team composition?

I communicated with the project manager, but there was a developer, a designer, and a QA resource working behind them.

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

The system will increase our sales, starting next period.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They've performed very well and they’re professional. They're also methodical, so they’ll make a schedule and then they follow through on it. They used Jira to manage the project and we communicated via phone, since we’re based in the same country

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I love that they offer multiple services. They can host and manage a website, but they can also do marketing spins, social media, and graphic design work. Their attentiveness to requests and follow through shine.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

I have nothing negative to say.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the owner of Fenix company, a printing house that has been on the market for more than 20 years. Fenix provides a variety of high-quality printing services, starting from flyers and business cards production to printing on banners and wallpapers, making custom souvenirs, and dubond plaques with laser engraving.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lionwood.software, and what were your goals?

For developing web apps that handle internal business processes for the printing industry, from ordering services or products to tracking processes of delivering them to the consumer.

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

We have the design for our app done by the Design agency who actually referred Lionwood.software to us to proceed with the development part.

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

Initial step was to gather requirements conducting Q&A sessions via calls and meetings, then documenting them as an acceptance criteria. The second step was to develop mockups according to the specifications of acceptance criteria. When the whole cycle of design was finished, Lionwood.software team started the Discovery phase to estimate and define timelines and budget. When the budget and timelines were agreed, Lionwood.software team started developing the App.

During the development stage, we were involved in demos and we could track all processes according to our agreement and mockups. In the end, we received a well-done product with the expected features. Also, later on, there was a need to connect our custom CRM with SmartKasa, a point-of-sale software, to create a service for communication with it and create a method for sending receipts.

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

• 1 UI/UX designer
• 2 .Net developers
• 1 React developer
• 1 PM
• 1 QA specialist

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

Our product covers all our processes, including counting items in the warehouse. Also, we have the possibility to track involvement of our staff and make reports, which help us count the salary for every employee (as we have an hourly pay). It saves our time and money, because we used to track it with many different tools and it was too complicated to merge all data. Now, we just use the report module and know how much time and money is spent on every worker.

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

The team of developers estimated and defined the scope of work ahead and were providing us with the updates communicating via phone calls, messengers or taking the meetings.

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

They are responsive, provide high-quality software development, stay within budget, and meet our requirements.

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

Sometimes we were waiting for some time to get the work done because of lack of the resources in their development teams. But what comes to critical bugs, they fix them immediately.

Please describe your company and your position there.

In this project, I was a co-cofounder of a blockchain start-up based in Sweden.

For what projects/services did your company hire Lionwood.software, and what were your goals?

We needed to build an MVP of a consumer application for collecting and managing collectables using Chromia blockchain.

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

Lionwood was selected based on a successful previous working experience. They work hard, take deadlines seriously and are dependable.

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

• End to end project delivering client applications
• middleware
• integration with blockchain

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

We worked with a team of 5-6 people including UX design, mobile and backend developers.

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

The project was delivered even though the scope has changed (as it often happens). The issues we discovered were resolved promptly.

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

It was mostly a SCRUM style project with weekly sprints.

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

Their flexibility and communication style makes them a good partner.

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

Estimation and scoping can always be improved but it's also notoriously hard in the new projects.