Magora Systems

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of a cryptocurrency ecommerce platform that specializes in loyalty programs.

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

Our site platform was built on Wordpress, and we wanted to rebuild it on a much more secure and flexible platform. Wordpress didn’t work as well with different APIs we wanted to further our venture. We also wanted a new vendor because our vendor at the time wasn’t very responsive to our requests to customize the site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Magora rebuilt our website using the LAMP model with C++, PostgreSQL, Java, and Python. That enabled additional functionality for the site, such as the ability to create our own customer categories, which allows us to customize the shopping experience for our users and provide more compelling content. For instance, we’re now able to build and customize a category for Valentine’s Day that can include flowers, chocolate, rings, and other holiday-appropriate items.

What is the team composition? 

We work with a project manager, a business analyst, and an account manager. Although there are other business analysts and developers that work on this project, I only speak to those three. 

How did you come to work with Magora?

We sent out an RFI to companies through UpWork. We had about four companies reaching out, including Magora, that had the price range that we needed. We ultimately chose Magora because their bid to work with us was extremely professional. While the other companies didn’t provide us with much information on their plan for our site, Magora gave us a 10-page Powerpoint listing the milestones they intended to meet, the price estimates, coding language they intended to use, etc. They also listed other loyalty programs they had worked on prior to us and which examples best fit the model we were trying to approach. Magora was also able to do development for iOS and Android, which is something we are interested in for the future. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested close to $50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started partnering in June 2017. We’re launching the first phase of the site in early February. 

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

The site is currently in Amazon Web Services Micro Instances so we can run practice demos. We don’t have any external feedback yet, but internally, we’re very pleased with their code quality. It’s very responsive and does exactly what we want.

Magora is very good at capturing our expectations. For instance, I gave them a verbal description on Skype of what I wanted our categories to look like. They were then able to code and build that out without us having to suggest alterations.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m pleased with them. Because I only interacted with three members of their team, it made it easier to relay on questions, comments, or concerns I had. 

To communicate, we used Trello and Confluence. We also spoke via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Although they are a Russian-based firm, their command of the English language is very impressive. They’re very responsive to us, despite the 12-15 hour time difference. 

They’re also understanding to the fact we’re a start-up. When we had some funding challenges, they were accommodating and flexible, which was greatly appreciated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They use an agile project methodology, but they didn’t provide any visual representation of the website’s progress that I could bring back to our investment team. It would be great if they could provide a Gannett chart or another kind of visual project tracker I could use, as opposed to having to build my own Excel spreadsheet.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Eurekly, a New-Zealand-based startup, is an online educational platform that provides tools for one-on-one lessons. I'm a project manager in charge of delivery.

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

We needed to deliver an initial MVP.

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

We're happy with what they delivered. They stuck to the scope of the task, it was timely and of good quality, and communication was great. Our team still consults Magora from time to time, as they have great expertise regarding our project. Everything has been good.

Site metrics wouldn’t be relevant, given that we built an MVP with Magora and moved development to another team. The site is functional, but we are tweaking and tuning marketing-related components, and it's not live yet. After seeing a bit of traffic and a response, we will adjust accordingly.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

I handled project management for most of the collaboration. A manager from Magora was only involved in the last couple of weeks, while finishing the project and creating paperwork.

They used Redmine as an issue-tracking system. It was set up for us and proved a convenient tool. We used Skype to communicate daily. They were 100% responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provided an excellent ratio of quality, price, and communication. The team was quite positive and had our best interests in mind.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. I was happy with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Anytime someone works with a contractor, they need to follow what’s best for the project. For us, working on a scrum basis was ideal—making small builds and deploying the work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Integrics is a software development company creating a product called Enswitch, a platform used by companies looking to offer B2B telephone services. I am a support person within the company and provide high-level support to customers experiencing issues and also manage the development of the product.

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

Our customers are looking for a complete solution. We wanted to make sure we covered every possibility the end-user could have a need for. We had a gap as we did not meet Windows users’ needs and wanted to develop a product to address that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The interface is for our telephone system and what they created is a complete application. There hadn’t been a Windows program in place before. They used our documentation to access the telephone system via an API and started developing it, creating the look and feel of the application, as well as its internals: how it works and how it interfaces with user input.

What is the team dynamic?

We initially worked with a single project manager who set us up with a developer and handled the consultation process with our customer, discovering what they wanted in the product. From there, we set up an hourly rate quote and they assigned one main developer for the work. From time to time, there has also been a business manager to oversee the project. Aside from the main developer, they also made use of a couple of dedicated test people.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We looked for a company which could handle development and found Magora on Upwork. We wanted a professional development company with dedicated project managers and testers. I could see the advantage Magora could bring due to their scale and dedicated resources. They did well in terms of managing the project and testing our product, and this was due to their wide expertise.

How much have you invested with them?

The total is around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Magora in August 2016 and finished in August 2017.

The product is now in maintenance mode. Occasionally, users come up with bugs which need to be fixed, but our major work with Magora has concluded.

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

Metrics are difficult for us to measure, given that we don’t have any end-users ourselves. We give the software to the businesses who purchase our telephone systems, who then give it to their end-users. We don’t have exposure to them, plus the software is quite a long-term investment, not necessarily something which customers will give to their users straight away.

We have had feedback from our customers’ technical people. They think it’s good, but the comments have been limited. The important thing is that our company can now provide a Windows application, so we can be assured we have a complete solution.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

They have always been responsive. At one point, we had an issue with the estimate for a particular feature, which ended up taking longer to make. We asked about the increased cost and ultimately resolved the issue. They admitted that it didn’t go very well and asked what they could have done better. I told them that we should be made aware in advance when something might take longer, and they updated their processes accordingly. They seemed keen to take on our feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The project management was the most impressive aspect. As far as development goes, they did a perfectly good job, but there are many other companies which could have done the same. In terms of managing it from the client's side, my life can be made easier by the team remaining responsive and testing the work well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The inaccurate estimate was an issue at the time, but in the grand scheme, it wasn’t a large one. The biggest issue was that we wanted them to include a software telephone in the application, which involved using a software library they were unfamiliar with. This will always be a challenge, and in this case, it led to multiple bugs which needed to be fixed. They could have been more robust in their testing at that point. It was a piece of feedback we gave them. Overall, they did quite well.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any specific advice to Magora. For someone hiring any software developer, it’s important to provide good specifications of the desired product, maintain communication, and offer feedback.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a branch operations manager for an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant.

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

We wanted to find a way to streamline ordering and serving food at our branch; it was too time-consuming and not efficient, so we needed to partner with a dev company to replace the manual process with technology.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we were using a generic point of sale system, but we realized that it wasn’t meeting our needs as a buffet restaurant. We talked with Magora until they understood our business challenges and what we wanted from the app. They came up with a solution and we workshopped it until we reached a final idea, then they began developing the app.

The engineer team focused on making the app user-friendly, and they eventually ended up giving it three interfaces. The first is our backend admin panel where we can edit the menu items, control log ins, etc. The last two are made for an iPad or other iOS device, and they’re focused on the ordering. Customers can log in and place the order, and chefs can log in and look at the orders being placed. Everything is in real time, so the orders get sent to the kitchen right away.

What is the team dynamic?

I work directly with the sales manager, project manager, and a business analysts who oversees all the designs. I assume they have a larger team they all work with.

How did you come to work with Magora?

I received quotes from four different companies, two of which were in India and had lower prices. Magora was a higher price, but I chose them because their proposal document was promising and they seemed able to provide exactly what we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started getting quotes in July, and we officially began working with Magora in September.

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

Right now, we have the minimal viable product. We’re still doing some debugging, but the app’s fully functional, and I’ve been setting up my team on it for about two weeks. It’s a good product, and we’re excited for some additional features we want to add in the future.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is clear, and they don’t hide anything from us. They use a management tool that lets us track their work in real time to see what they’re currently do, any problems, future projects, etc. They usually respond to any emails or questions within a day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Magora listened to us throughout the project and had excellent customer service. We needed a product that worked well but that was also custom-designed for our specific needs and business model, and they met those expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

During the price negotiation, I was a bit confused about the technical work they mentioned, so a better explanation of that to non-tech-savvy people would be helpful. It would make the process and price clearer so that everyone knows what to expect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They provide the option of daily, weekly, or monthly reports, so pick what works best for you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a co-founder for an ambitious share-riding application company. We created a parking guide app, the idea being to provide an easy way for drivers in busy cities to find free parking lots. The company still operates, but I now work for another company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

Our idea was to let app users know about free parking lots. The main challenge was how to make people use such application and share the location of the free spots. We wanted the only thing they'd need to do is have the application on their phone and start the car—that's it. The whole process would be automatic: the app would connect to the hands-free hardware in the car immediately after the engine started, and the system would understand that this particular spot would soon be vacant. It needed to be a simple and straightforward process to inform other users searching for those free spots. The app would provide a person searching for a parking spot with the nearest free one in the area and build the quickest route there. Building the route was a big challenge as well.

We wanted to find a team that could do everything in-house themselves, a partner who could provide us with the guidance and advice on how we should proceed and what we should do.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the whole solution, refining the details on how it should work, as there were some things we didn’t even think about. They did the design and development, advised on the hosting, built practically all the infrastructure, and provided initial support.

They offered different solutions, and we decided to go with Google Maps because it was most cost effective. They did a great job optimizing the application so the location was accurate. They natively built both the iOS and Android app. They used ASP.NET language for the backend, MS SQL for the database.  

What is the team dynamic?

There were about 6 people overall on the team. I communicated with a project manager, and there was 1 iOS developer, 1 Android developer, the backend person, and a tester. We also had contact with the account manager who did the finances and helped us with projects and timeframes.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We found them on Upwork. It was a tough choice, as we were inexperienced in the IT sphere. Our main selection criteria were the expertise and ability to provide us with full guidance, from start to finish, to launch the solution. Magora’s proposal included a vision of how they understood the product and how they would implement it. It gave us confidence that they could do whatever we wanted. Their price was affordable, especially at that time.

How much have you invested with them?

$50,000–$199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2015 until September/October 2015.

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

They did everything within 3 months. There was a little bit of testing for bug fixes. Within several months after launch, we got around 10,000–15,000 downloads. We launched it in the U.S. and Europe. There were issues with the app at the beginning, but it was fine, as we had a support period from Magora. The average rating was 4.5, closer to 5, so we were very satisfied with the achieved result.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

It was very good. We communicated with the project manager and account manager through WhatsApp, and we also used Skype and email, all during non-working hours because of the time difference. Our project management tool was Asana. They provided us with almost daily reports in business language, not technical. Every 2 weeks, we received demonstrations for what they had achieved. We liked that they moved within the timeframe they initially quoted.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listened to what we wanted and gave us exactly what we expected. They dug deep into all the details to try to clarify and help. Their communication was impressive, the key to the success of our app. For us, it was difficult to speak technical language to communicate what was needed. They took our business requirements and transformed it into tasks and into the app.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything was perfect. Perhaps they could have more offices in different parts of the world; it would've been convenient if they'd had a rep office in San Francisco so we could've gone and talked to someone from their team. Overall, they did very good, and I can’t think of an area they can improve.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m currently on a contract for a company that provides a number of financial products, with our primary focus and area of expertise being hedge fund management. I’m in charge of Research & Development and all technical projects and innovation within our business.

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

We were looking for a company to build a piece of software that was bespoke since there was nothing else on the market that could meet our needs and that we could then deploy to our customers as a tool for them to see the products they buy from us.

The ultimate goal was to have a system that could display data for our customers. We wanted this to be done in the form of tables and graphs, and once our registered users and customers could save funds in their portfolio, they could specify benchmarks, period of time, summarize and analyze the data for those financial products, build graphs, and look at the statistics. We could also specify the weight of each fund in the portfolio and generate monthly performance reports.

There are lots of features behind it, but what we wanted to do was give our customers some insight into how we are managing their money and how they are using the products they are buying from us.

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.

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

The ROI for this project in real terms is a measurable amount. It would take an entire week of work at the beginning of every month for 2 people to produce the reports, including downloading the data and producing Excel charts, data sheets, and graphs. The solution has saved a minimum of 80 hours a month which, in quantifiable terms, is quite substantial for us.

We’re happy with what they’ve built. We’ve received feedback from customers and they are really happy with what we’ve provided. In terms of usability, we’ve got excellent feedback with no criticisms. It’s the same with usability, functionality, and enriching the data. It speaks past customer expectations because these customers who are existing to our business were not pre-sold this product as part of our business. It’s effectively been given to them as an added value.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great and attentive. I felt that the project manager was the glue of the project. I’ve worked in software for quite a long time and I believe the project manager is the one that makes or breaks the business. They gave us a very good project manager, and I hope that she stays with Magora for quite a while.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What’s impressive is the consistency. From the very beginning to the end we were consistently serviced very well. I’ve had other experiences where companies are very good at selling but not good at delivering, and I think that Magora has done very well at onboarding us, selling to us, servicing us, as well as providing great post-service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only feedback I have would be unachievable. I’ve worked with quite a few software companies, and I’m really happy with them. I would use them again and not just here, but I’ll recommend them to whoever I go to next.

Do you have any advice for potential clients?

It’s useful to work out your idea before you engage your software vendor and to put as much meat on the bones as you can in terms of what it is you want to achieve, how you want to achieve it, how it will look, how it might work. A lot of work has to be done if that’s not the case, and I think that’s a good thing to do. The second thing is to look at companies’ recent track records. Not what they’ve done in the last 3 - 5 years, but what they’ve done in the last 3 - 4 months and talk to customers who have worked with them over the last 3 - 4 months. It’s important because how good a company was 12 months ago doesn’t necessarily mean that they are still performing to the same standard if people have left or if the business has changed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a web service company that performs detailed analyses of other people's data. We analyze and present the data to the clients through our web service. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

Our main business challenge was that we needed programming resources to create web interfaces while also analyzing. We had a project that was a web presentation of data-specific analysis. We needed programming expertise. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an advanced report where we wanted to make the final specification as good as possible. Magora was supposed to implement a rather complicated calculation. There were a lot of aggregations and formulas.

We presented the report to one of their people and he thought he understood everything. He went back to Magora and we had a lot of interaction. He implemented the business logic of the report. This first part was analyzing the data and converting it into results to be stored in a structured database. After that, he was asked to present the results on a web platform. During the process, he got several smaller tasks that were well-defined and tried to fix errors and mistakes in the software. The main job he did was that big report though. All of the technologies were chosen up front. We had chosen the databases and the tools to use for the web interface. All of that was in place. They did not assist with the basic design.

They did come up with a design proposal for a very technically-detailed report. It's more for data display, but it was a good interface. 

What is the team dynamic?

We had one developer and one project manager. They came up with the design but there were other people involved. I think the dynamics were fine, but we don't have a lot of experience with that. The majority of the work was done by a single programmer.

How did you come to work with Magora?

It was done through various channels. Our programmer came from another company in the same area as Magora. We couldn’t work with them, so they recommended Magora.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $80,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in April 2015 and we finished in January 2017. 

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

I don't have any statistics. The programmer worked hard and provided a lot of design help. People are happy with the design they came up with. They also created a great interface. It looks good, it works well, and our clients are happy with it.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive to our correspondence. Nothing was perfect, but they were definitely present. If we reported a problem, they reacted. I don't have anything bad to say about how that was handled.

Our programmer doesn't fully agree with me on all of these points, however, I think in general, our work with Magora went well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The design process went quite well. It was not something we had intended. Originally, we needed programming resources. The implementation phase after that did not go as well, but again, that wasn’t Magora's problem, maybe a little bit on our side. I don't think we can blame Magora. 

Do you have any advice for potential clients of Magora?

If you outsource programming work, make sure that you have a common understanding of what they're supposed to do. Magora is reasonable and sensible and can do many good projects.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am an information-systems team leader for a large Russian dairy corporation with an international presence. I am responsible for the mobile applications for our sales team, among other systems.

What challenge were you trying to address with Magora?

Our company is responsible for any damaged products on store shelves and the overall presentation of the packaging. The packages, represented on the store shelf, should be without any damage; the product should be fresh. Product placement should be done according to the corporate standards.

We decided to organize the app to meet product freshness goals. The app would work as a hotline for all the merchandisers, sales representatives and managers to let them report any disorder quickly and easily. So, this application was done as a solution for all our needs. It was utilized for employee-feedback collection around issues with our products and store supplies. This information would be collected from personal devices and sent to the quality department, with the aim of creating action plans for fixing defects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Magora handled the design and development of our Android and iOS app. We discussed some best practices on the mobile app area, based on which Magora created several design options. We chose one which fit our brand based on an internal business discussion. The app itself is basic, with no QR codes or other scanners. It allows users to take photos, write descriptions of the issue, and send them online. I acted as the manager of this project.

How did you come to work with Magora?

We created a tender for the selection of a supplier. Magora was chosen because of their speed, professionalism, work quality and ability to answer questions in a timely manner.

How much have you invested with Magora?

Our project was one of the first in its category. It wasn’t expensive, but the cost could have been reduced if we had expertise on our side. All the work was done by Magora, and we had no options for cost-reduction.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Magora in October 2016. We finished in February 2017.

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

We are satisfied, and have continued the work with Magora for a second part of the project. The app has collected many reports with photos and descriptions. This information has helped us improve product quality.

How did Magora perform from a project management standpoint?

I worked with a project manager from Magora’s side, and also had discussions with the development team. Their employees are very professional, and we had no issues.

What did you find most impressive about Magora?

I found Magora to be a professional team with a reasonable cost. I hope to work with them on other projects in the future.

Are there any areas Magora could improve?

I only worked with a small sample of Magora’s development team, so I can’t say if there is something for them to improve overall.

I'm the R&D Project Manager for a data recovery firm. We provide data recovery, hard drive repair, RAID repair, computer forensics, and other professional media services through a network of more than 40 offices across the United States.

As an additional service for the customers, we decided to implement a data backup solution. This required some custom software development for a vendor partner since we couldn't handle the extra volume.

The solution is a desktop backup software that allows users to store data on a common public cloud (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Box.com, and OneDrive), on an FTP [file transfer protocol] server, or on a local network destination.

We found Magora Systems through an online search and decided to hire them. They provided design, development, and other advice. 

Overall, working with the Magora team was a very comfortable experience. The company is skilled in development, responsive, and quick to fix any problems that arise. They should really focus on code quality, though, because that is one area for improvement. We found some bugs in the final deliverables.

I suggest that potential clients should give them clear instructions and manage the team closely to avoid problems. They are a very strong team but will make mistakes if you don't give them the proper project details.