Magora

What was the scope of their involvement?

Magora and I initially discussed the best development options that would take my app to fruition. They then sent over a powerpoint presentation that outlined their experience with development projects similar to mine, as well as their specific plan for my app.

After we agreed on a plan, we moved into the discovery phase which entailed laying out the basic workflow for the app’s development and fleshing out the app’s requirements and features. Based on that, Magora created a visual prototype and wireframe that lay out the groundwork design for the app.

Currently, I’m providing my feedback on the visual prototype so Magora can make the necessary changes. 

What is the team composition? 

Initially, my primary contact was Magora’s head of new business acquisition. They then assigned me a project manager who now serves as the primary day-to-day contact for the project. Their head of new business acquisition checks in every couple weeks and remains available if I ever need to speak with him.

How did you come to work with Magora?

I did a fair amount of market research, using both Clutch.co and a variety of other sources to compile a list of companies to look into. Magora received great ratings, particularly on Clutch, and seemed to have a good rapport with the companies they’ve worked with, so I decided they were the best choice for my project.

How much have you invested with them?

I invested approximately $8,423.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began partnering with them at the end of December 2017. The engagement is ongoing, but I haven’t decided whether I will continue to work with them through the next phases of development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Magora handled the design and development of the web-based project. We initially worked on the architecture and UX components. We provided detailed documentation of what was needed, along with mockups. Once those were approved, we moved to the development stage, for which we followed Agile practices, with two-week sprints. We identified the scope of each sprint together, deployed biweekly, and signed the work off. The technology stack included .NET on the backend and React.js on the frontend.

Because it's a marketplace connecting students and tutors online, we built functionalities to ensure that tutors are delivering their services, including maps, videoconferencing, messaging, whiteboards, scheduling, and payments.

What is the team dynamic?

I interacted with the entire team during general catchups, though mainly with the technical lead and the designer. Before we started development, we did a lot of work with their UX designer.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We didn’t create a regulated tender. There was a shortlist of candidates we selected by reading testimonials online. We submitted our project for them to scope and decided based on the price/quality ratio offered by Magora.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work was slightly above $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Magora in August 2016. The project was completed in October 2017.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I started off with an initial requirements list about what it is we wanted to achieve and what we wanted to have an outcome. I did some Skype calls and they came back the next day with some questions.

Magora was contracted to look at our needs, analyze those needs, come up with a proposition to build our software, build it, and now they maintain it for us.

The solution needed to be safe and secure. That was our most important consideration. Second, we wanted the product to be simple and easy to use because we had a very wide demographic for our customers from young people to older, private individuals who are investing their savings or professional investors who are looking for wealth managers like us. We wanted it where possible to be very slick and modern, and we wanted it to be very useful. Traditionally, our business sent out spreadsheets every month, and we wanted something that would present our business to our customers in a way that made us look as innovative as what we are.

What is the team dynamic?

We were told that we had 12 people working on the project on and off. We were given a dedicated project manager who was available all working hours of the day. That project manager was responsible for doing weekly reports and a number of catch-ups that were pre-arranged every week. There was an analyst I spoke with as well with the project manager. There was also two designers, developers, and back-office architecture guys that worked on building the secure Amazon platform for us.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We found Magora through a search engine and we spoke to them and another company. We spoke to an Indian-based company first. It wasn’t me who did the initial reaching. I looked at the two companies that had been selected by my assistant, and the person that we dealt with at Magora was very on the ball. From the moment, we sent the inquiry in and they were keen to engage with us and find out what our needs were.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000 building the system. We’ve entered into an arrangement to maintain and support it and enhance it going forward which was on top of that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in April 2017, and the project was completed in July 2017. They still provide ongoing support.