Makeen Technologies

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a computer software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We hired them to get the first few versions of our products into our customers’ hands. Part of our products is integrating with all kinds of APIs including GitHub, Gusto, and G Suite.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Makeen Technologies is integrating third-party services and getting data from them. The team then consolidates the data into our platform in a way that conforms to our internal schema. They’re using Ruby on Rails

What is the team composition?

We’re working with two backend engineers. Before starting on the project, we worked with their owners and one of their engineering managers to figure out the scope and structure of the work before starting on the integration. Additionally, we worked with a few frontend engineers for a little bit.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

They were recommended by a friend, and we had a couple of meetings with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in April 2020, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

When we first started working on the project, their management was very hands-on in terms of figuring out what we were building and what the right skill sets would be for what we need. They did a good job of that and have been very thoughtful about the engineers we work with.

I’ve been really happy. We were able to significantly speed up the development. Makeen Technologies does a lot of people management in terms of helping people to grow and not just putting out code. They ask the right questions.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is really good at providing daily status updates at the beginning and end of the day without our prompting them. Their project management is really good. The engineers communicate early and often if they’re falling behind. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

There were times when the quality of the engineers we were working with wasn’t what we were expecting, and Makeen Technologies was quick to figure out the root cause and pain points, and they were quick to work with the engineers to improve. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. We’ve had a really good experience with them. This was only going to be a short-term project, but we’ve kept it going longer to help us with the milestones. One thing that we struggled with in the beginning was the time difference. Once we got set up, everything became smoother. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We’ve had very specifically scoped work, and one of the reasons we’ve been able to move quickly is that, for each integration, we figure out everything we need. 

I would advise customers to scope out the project well and have clearly defined goals and deadlines and communicate with Makeen Technologies. Have written details in terms of what you’re looking for.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager for Georgiou, a construction company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We wanted to digitize our paper and PDF forms. We were also looking to build a mobile app that could be used during projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created an app for us on iOS. It was built on Javelin, and they used AWS. 

It’s a native app, not web-based, so it works fast. It has scientific features to be used in providing accuracy on projects. When you submit a form, it is sent as a PDF, and the data is put into a database used for our business intelligence, reporting, and more. We can analyze and share pictures, as well. 

They provided technical support, updates, and added new features as needed.

What is the team composition?

We interacted with 3-4 people from a customer service point of view. There were 10+ people, including a project manager and developers, working on the project.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

We worked with them previously, before they were Makeen Technologies, to build a platform. We were very happy with that work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $500,000 AUD (approximately $361,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from September 2015 – April 2020.

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

They did testing, which was pretty good. We had very few issues with new builds. The look and feel of the app were very good, and we have had positive feedback from users.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager did well. They delivered on time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have good technical people and good leadership. The product itself is good — it’s stable. We have a good relationship with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had wanted one capability that the app doesn’t provide, regarding after forms are submitted. It’s the only thing they weren’t able to provide.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can trust Makeen Technologies to provide a stable product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP in charge of B2B applications for an entertainment company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We needed help application support and mobile app development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work on video playback, and DRM (digital rights management). They also do web and mobile app development for us, mostly in React Native and Node. We use them as a staff augmentation resource. The team comes in and does whatever we need, essentially acting as an extension of our team.

Sometimes the applications are used to playback video for studio executives; Other times an app will let us know when something isn’t working. Finally, they’ve done work on our intranet application that helps people find out about things happening around the studio.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 developers on any project. Sometimes there’s also a project manager.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

They were referred to me by a former co-worker.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $1 million–$10 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2013, and our work is ongoing.

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

We continue to work with them because they finish the projects, and they’re good partners. They never change the contracts and work with us to make things easy for our team.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is solid. We’ve set up weekly meetings so we can stay aware of what they’re working on. We don’t use them too much for project management, but when we do, they’re very good at keeping on top of our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their agility stands out the most. The team’s resources are solid and when we ask them to do something, or if we ask them to shift gears, they make it happen.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, anything that we’ve had issues with them we’ve already worked through.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to know what you want to build. Makeen will give you recommendations as long as you know what you’re looking for.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at Warner Bros. Entertainment. We’re a Fortune 500 company, and I’m in the technology division that supports the company in making content, movies, and shows for public consumption.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We wanted a mature team to quickly scale up and build a challenging software solution.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a video screen service that included web, electron, iOS, Android, Apple TV, and Roku based interfaces.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 10 people from their team, including iOS, Android, React Native, infrastructure, UX/UI, web development, and Apple TV experts.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

One of my colleagues discovered them. We were already confident with their skillset and ability to deliver, and we knew they could move fast. Their pricing was also within our range.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2017, and our work is ongoing.

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

Makeen has solid leadership that helped achieve our goals. They’re adept at navigating corporate bureaucracy and politics. The team understands the gears and inner workings of a huge company, which is a great skill.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. Their team has the integrity to do their job right while considering our time frames and expectations. There are enough people in the company that if we’re hiring them for one purpose, and need an expert opinion from a different purpose, they’re able to provide that expertise fairly easily. We use Atlassian for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I enjoy professionally intelligent people who not only have the ability to implement the desired service, but the creativity to consider the ways in which it could be done. One of the great things I enjoyed about them was their willingness to give light pushback where appropriate to get clearer on the expectations, or suggest a different solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For the most part, we had very few issues. Occasionally, they put the wrong person on a job for us. It’s irritating to learn that the person that assigned wasn’t as adept as the previous person we’d worked with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure that everything you want is listed in your scope of work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product manager for Warner Bros. Entertainment Group.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We needed a mobile application/dashboard developed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have worked on three projects with me; a self-service portal, an advanced management application, and a mobile app/dashboard.

For the mobile application, they did the frontend and backend engineering of the entire app. It’s built for Android and iOS, and there is a desktop application. The app is built in React Native, and MySQL was used for backend.

The app is used by upper management, allowing them to quickly visualize what’s going on with all the apps in our portfolio and to identify issues.

What is the team composition?

There were four people working on this project: a project manager, development lead, and two engineers.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

I believe they were recommended. However, they have done a few projects with us now and have worked with other departments at Warner  Bros.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $150,000 - $200,000 for this project alone.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–December 2019.

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

The app was launched internally. Within a week, we had 100 downloads, which was more than the other launches we’ve done. Feedback has been very good. Users find it to be a very helpful tool.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. They make sure deadlines are met, and accommodate changes to the best of their ability. We used Jira for this project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like how quickly they’re able to assemble their team and begin work. This is much better than previous experiences I’ve had with other vendors. This team pays attention to detail and is adaptable to the changing needs and requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of right now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know exactly what you’re looking for, and provide clear requirements to get the best outcome.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and Founder of Holliblu, a nurse workforce management and recruiting platform for healthcare companies and a community for nurses.

For what projects/services did your company hire Makeen Technologies?

Makeen was hired to take over development after we discovered that our previous developer was over charging and had created a product that was below industry standards. Makeen was hired to bring our product up to industry standard, add certain layers of security, create a subscription pricing model, and help us to create innovative technology for our product.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to make sure that our product was built in a way that would allow us to be dynamic as a company. We wanted the foundation to be strong so we could scale the technology. We wanted to work with a company that was innovative and could help us stay relevant. We wanted honesty and transparency from our developers.

How did you select this vendor?

makeen was referred to me through a friend.

Describe the project in detail.

We worked tirelessly with our assigned project manager from Makeen to get all of the source code and other required assets from our previous developer. Makeen was professional every step of the way in getting what they needed to start working on our product. We were assigned a team of developers and invited to their stand-up call every morning at 8:00.

We were involved in the whole process as product owners and encouraged to give feedback about what our goals and objectives were for our technology. The team provided us with a plan for how they would do a thorough QA process by hiring a 3rd party QA team to help us determine what fixes needed to be made.

Once those fixes were made, the team started on our security which meant adding a layer of MFA for companies and nurses. During that time we also had developers who were working on building our pricing model, updating our marketing pages, and creating ideas for adding community to our product.

What was the team composition?

We had a project manager and at times 8-10 developers working on front end, backend, QA, iOS and Android.

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

Our product is now a state of the art technology that is being successfully used in the healthcare industry by over 150 companies and 2,000 nurses.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication and workflow has always been very transparent and easy to navigate.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The leadership by Abdul Masri and the team he has created makes you feel that you are really cared about as a customer. They treat your company as though it were their own. I never felt that money was the primary objective.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think In technology there is always some room for improvement but based on my previous experiences with other development companies, Makeen has earned 5 stars for sure.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I first contracted Makeen Technologies to build out a new hybrid app when I was the VP of engineering at Outlook Amusements. I also work with them in my new position as a VP at Warner Brothers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We had a product that lacked any sort of App Store presence. As we evaluated the marketplace and our competitors, it became clear that Outlook Amusements needed increased brand visibility. We contracted them to take on a subset of existing features and to implement a new approach to our business model.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were primarily responsible for building a mobile app using PhoneGap. As a hybrid application, it was built for both iOS and Android. Our internal team conducted the API work in conjunction with Makeen Technologies' developers.

Their team mainly focused on frontend development and integration. We provided wireframes and sketches ahead of time. This project was strictly development, but they offered design recommendations to resolve any mistakes they noticed. I can’t discuss specific features and functionalities because there are pending patents.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 7–8 people from their team. All our communication with developers was direct, which is a major reason why I like working with them. They were basically integrated as an extension of our scrum team.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

An old colleague of mine recommended we use them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent more than $200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project kicked off between February and April 2016, and they launched the first version in the following February 2017.

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

The development work went smoothly. Several challenges we faced resulted from Outlook Amusements' difficulty with committing to one particular direction. Makeen Technologies handled the changes very well. They were always accommodating. Even if something wasn't necessarily within the original scope, they'd still find a way to make it work without having to reassess or change orders.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management model was interesting, because we both had our own project managers who worked collaboratively. We mostly communicated via phone and Skype. Their lead was skilled and thorough. On occasion, he was very matter-of-fact about certain things and prioritized the developers' interests. When our president put pressure on me to complete work, I didn’t want to experience too much resistance from our vendor.

What did you find most impressive about them?

No matter what the technical problem is, they're always willing to drive the architecture and design and formulate a solution. Oftentimes, third parties you work with want you to dictate the exact way things should go. Makeen Technologies is a lot more collaborative. Depending on the strength of the organization, sometimes you need to be able to simply rely on whomever you hire.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The biggest issue centered around the estimation of dates. With many companies I work for, it’s critical to hit deadlines you commit to. If you don't, then there can be a lot of at least political ramifications. That's definitely one area that I would like to see them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define and stick to the scope of your project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m part of the sales team at General Datatech, an infrastructure and integrator for large and small companies. We do a lot of work for service providers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

Our clients sometimes ask us to put together solutions with outcomes when we’re selling software. We have to outsource to our ecosystem partners to accommodate this. Makeen Technologies is one of them.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did the infrastructure, hardware installation, and configuration, and then helped our customers with the apps. Makeen Technologies was the integrator who put the app and hardware together to create the output that the customer wanted. They did a lot of front- and backend coding. They made everything work within the app and provided a portal that generates analytic data for end users.

Makeen Technologies’ job was to code and grab those data points from the app and hardware and then put them into the format that the end user wanted on the portal. It’s a web-based portal that’s also mobile responsive. There was a lot of custom work from Makeen Technologies that made it even more valuable as a solution. The project is complete.

We’re currently working on another project for an oil and gas company. We’re building a 3-D imaging platform for field engineers at refineries. We developed a three-part solution that allows my customer to pull up 3-D imaging on their iPads instead of having it hardwired. Makeen Technologies was able to make these three solutions work seamlessly together so that the 3-D image compression would work on a wireless network.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with about four people. The CEO is heavily involved with everything and makes things work smoothly. We’re in direct contact with the developers, and once we start a solution, they’re in direct contact with our engineers as well.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

Our owner met their CEO at a conference. We were getting into web and app development, so it made sense to bring on a company like Makeen Technologies as one of our ecosystem partners. We’re very strict on how we vet our vendors. We’re a billion-dollar company, so we have to be entirely sure that a company will represent us well. We started working with Makeen Technologies because our company vetted them pretty heavily.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $87,000–$90,000 on the first project. The second will cost between $120,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

It’s been a great relationship because we’re both doing what we do best. We send the final product as a complete solution.

The 3-D imaging project couldn’t be done without them because we don’t have that kind of in-house expertise. We’ve received praise on innovating a custom solution. Makeen Technologies is vital in making everything work together.

They’re making the field engineers’ jobs much more efficient because they’re able to pull up these images on the field rather than having to go back to wired computers. It saves a lot of time and money. We’ve received our first contract with a company that’s going to put it in a refinery. They said our development was really good and that we came up with a solution that meets their needs. It turned out to be something that’s going to pay off in the long run.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is great. They have some really good project managers who are very technical and concentrated on the tasks at hand. It makes a lot of difference. Being able to understand the technology and how it’s installed are big advantages because you can clearly see that they’re efficient with their time. I really appreciate them having very technical project managers because it helps lower the cost of the total project.

Makeen Technologies' project managers follow the lead of our project managers. They use their own tools, but we’re not using their reports. We communicate via email, phone calls, meetings, and conference calls. We have standing meets that happen every week for big projects. Communication is very important.

Their development team is pretty sharp and cost-effective, which allows us all to make money. Working with them has been great because they have really good pricing and developers. They don’t scrimp us, even though they charge less. You get really good talent with the price they charge.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Our whole company works with them and we have more projects coming down the pipeline. I’ve never received any complaints or had communication issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Building a relationship with Makeen Technologies will help you be more creative. A lot of times when we sub, we sub for technology and don’t really get the full breadth of everything a vendor does. My advice to people who use Makeen Technologies would be to give them a chance to explore all the things they do. It could work with other divisions or projects you have within your company.

We’ve been learning as we go. If they’re involved in a meeting and we talk about certain technologies that are outside of our scope, that’s when we quickly learn that they have engineers or experience around certain things. It’s easy to use them for different projects you may have.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of software development of Branded Entertainment Network. We are integration experts, connecting global brands to consumers through the power of popular entertainment (influencers, TV, film and iconic celebrities).

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

We needed platform software development for our company.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they helped architect and build the platform which we’ve since adapted and moved on with. They provided us with technical expertise, consulting leadership, problem-solving, scoping work, implementation, and software development testing.

The platform is web-based and originally built with Node.js and MongoDB on the backend, as well as Angular on the frontend. We’ve since migrated the frontend to React. The platform allows users to identify correct opportunities based on a myriad of criteria and then tracks those opportunities through execution and reporting.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a total of six people from their team as they’ve augmented our own, including their CEO, QA resources, and developers.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

Our former VP of software engineering had used them at a previous job and had positive things to say, so we entered them into our tender process.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in January 2015. The engagement ended in April 2017 because we decided to use internal resources instead.

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

They did what they said they were going to do and provided us with the resources we asked for. People who worked on the project were conscientious, diligent, and brilliant. They were fantastic to work with and I would do so again without hesitation.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed incredibly well, as did the resources they provided. They were always pushing deadlines and making sure that things went forward. They were also heavily involved in coming up with ideas. It felt like they were really a part of our team as opposed to just a vendor.

We communicated mostly through Jira, Slack, and Skype. The people in our company who work out of Los Angeles met with them fairly regularly in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always provided us with fantastic people. They were very easy to get along with and did what they said they were going to do, which is always nice when working with a vendor.

They were an incredibly professional and fantastic partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything was as we wanted it. They did a great job, and I have nothing bad to say about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re hiring expensive and clever people, you will probably receive very good ideas of ways to improve your business. If you want to take the most advantage of someone like Makeen Technologies, you should think of them as a partner, not an implementer.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a contractor consultant, and work closely with a broker to manage short term real estate portfolios.

What challenge were you trying to address with Makeen Technologies?

Our servicer needed to develop a proprietary portfolio management and origination software. Since our company could benefit from this development, we were willing to undertake the project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our broker and originator was using a manual, repetitive process amongst disparate Microsoft products like Word and Excel. Makeen Technologies observed the workflow, including customer contact, property identification, and valuation. They streamlined the operation into a .NET-based proprietary software app, which is hosted on a local server.

Their developers built the software from scratch. We worked closely with them on the needs and requirements document. Since we’re not a tech company, we only provided basic sketches of how we thought it should look. They used our ideas to create wireframes and built out the app from there. As it was adopted by the end users, they made continuous improvements.

What is the team composition?

We worked with five or six different developers. At one point, I brought in a project manager to interface with their team.

How did you come to work with Makeen Technologies?

They were referred to us by our network of corporate contacts.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $300,000. Since the app was built over the course of several years, it was a significant investment.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2013 and completed the project around January 2017. After we developed the app to a stage that needed minimal ongoing maintenance and changes, we brought it in-house.

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

Our software users have been ecstatic. They were really impressed with Makeen Technologies' ability to streamline their process in the app. The team was always responsive to making any additional enhancements we needed, or fixing potential bugs that popped up. They developed a good understanding of the end goal and made all the necessary motions to achieve it. Everyone is really pleased with the outcome, and we still use the app today.

How did Makeen Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Makeen Technologies did a great job from this perspective. They introduced us to Trello, a tool we’ve actually adopted in-house for new, unrelated projects going forward. That was our main form of communication, and it worked really well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've worked on several other projects with different IT consultants. Comparatively, Makeen Technologies individuals had a better grasp on what we were trying to achieve and progressed through the project much faster. Overall, we were very pleased with the work they performed for us.