MCPK

Please describe your company and your position there.

As a partner in the company "Tools4Visionon". I am responsible for the smooth process of software development, as a communication interface development, cost planning and determining customer needs. We develop a multilingual management solution for all diving centers, diving shops and diving schools as well as with different numbers of interfaces

For what projects/services did your company hire MCPK?

We used MCPK as a service provider for software development In order to have our management solution for all dive centers, dive shops and diving schools developed in a timely manner, cloud-based with the development team selected and briefed by us, who only work for our project with currently 4 developers at t MCPK

What were your goals for this project?

Development of a cloud-based hybrid software solution for diving resorts and the Landbase business, i.e. the matching shop solution.

How did you select MCPK?

We have successfully selected MCPK on the recommendation of a company that has worked for MCPK and thank goodness.

Describe the project in detail.

The management solution for all diving centers, diving shops and diving schools. The interactive and self-explanatory interface manages all customers, appointments, trips and bookings in a playful way and manages resources and rental equipment completely paperless. Smart hardware such as transponders, chip readers & code scanners enable super-fast check-in / out processes and avoid high losses through shrinkage through cashless payments.

Even in the event of a power failure (power & internet), it continues to be self-sufficient and secure without any paperwork. HYBRID CLOUD Even in the event of a power failure, it continues safely. The Divery Hybrid Cloud combines the advantages of local servers and state-of-the-art cloud storage. It guarantees self-sufficient work in the event of internet and power failures. A worldwide network of several locations guarantees the management an overview of all key figures in real time.

What was the team composition?

First we hired a key account manager who coordinates the project multilingual for the international market, then we went looking for a development team that currently includes 4 software developers. Our team leader is a woman who leads the team in development in a very creative and innovative way

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

I would present the current status as follows. Together with the MCPK team, we have succeeded in developing a software solution which is currently in the market launch phase and which covers 90% of the needs of diving resorts worldwide.

The following modules were successfully implemented:

Customer management:

• Appointment management & planning
• Product management
• Check-in overview of all guests
• Services, courses & trips
• Stay InfoSuper Fast Check in / out
• Shop Item Variable Taxes
• Box & cabinet management
• Rental management system
• Manage notes for diving information
• Document management
• Personnel planning
• Trips, courses, dates
• Cashless payments & fast check in / out)
• Equipment planning locations & dive sites
• Barcode generator
• Product images
• Timeline
• List of rental equipment
• Warehouse management
• Assign transponders and customer cards
• Drag & Drop manage product groups
• Flexible units (e.g. pieces, kg, per dive, day ...)
• Boot & participant lists Own team calendar
• Fixed customer discounts

Home loan Product management:

• Personnel planning
• Trips, courses, dates 
• Cashless payments & fast check in / out)
• Equipment planning locations & dive sites
• Barcode generator
• Product images
• Timeline
• List of rental equipment
• Warehouse management
• Assign transponders and customer cards
• Drag & Drop manage product groups
• Flexible units (e.g. pieces, kg, per dive, day ...)
• Boot & participant lists Own team calendar
• Fixed customer discounts
• Home loan / vouchers Checkout & billing
• Easy One Click POS system
• Management dashboard of all centers at a glance
• Dashboard with real-time environmental data
• Daily billing according to product group

Languages: German & English

• Self-explanatory training accountOne Click edit & save
• Graduated prices
• Fast employee change
• Opt. Credit card surcharge
• Own currencies (e.g. Diving Coin Personnel & Management
• Management dashboard of all centers at a glance
• Dashboard with real-time environmental data
•  Daily billing according to product group Languages: German & English
• Self-explanatory training accountOne Click edit & save
• Graduated prices
• Fast employee change
• Opt. Credit card surcharge
• Own currencies (e.g. diving coin)
• Automatic exchange rate calculator
• Vacant positions
• Human resource support chat
• Split payments (multiple currencies)
• Automatic billing
• Individual and total discounts
• Cash register for walk-in customers
• User permissions

Languages: Spanish & French

• To-do lists
• User app (open items, profile, booking, logbook API, buddy search, push-up deals & much more.
• Internal wiki system
• Newsletter APIs loyalty & bonus system

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is easily communicated to the developers via our employee in the key account, who speaks 4 languages, who then implement all tasks precisely and on schedule. The communication platform is github

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The direct implementation of our requirements for a developer were implemented and implemented within the agreed period of 07-14 working days. With the pre-selection presented by MCPK, we're able to acquire and hire developers.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, iths a perfekt workflow beteen us and MCPK

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of product development for Mondia Media, an entertainment solutions provider that focuses on entertainment portals.

What challenge were you trying to address with MCPK?

We needed help with recruiting and finding developers to work with us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MCPK provided mobile and web developers, designers, and an in-house recruiter. The recruiter finds potential candidates, pre-screens, and then gives us their choices for approval. They’ve developed native mobile applications. Full-stack developers work on our product, and the designers create the designs.

As far as technology, they use Node stack, Android and iOS technologies, Photoshop, Sketch, and Android Studio. Everything is connected to our platform, and their team uses whichever technology that’s required by the platform for the specific project.

What is the team composition?

The team fluctuates. Currently, we’re working with eight people, but usually, it’s 10. There are mobile and web teams that each have a dedicated lead, a QA resource, and designers.

How did you come to work with MCPK?

I wasn’t part of the process, but I believe they reached out to establish contact with our company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $250,000–$500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with them started in March 2019.

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

I was initially concerned about working with a remote team. I ended up going there one week out of the month in the beginning to establish the relationship. They’re quick learners, and I’m happy with the team and work provided.

How did MCPK perform from a project management standpoint?

We handled project management from our side. When it comes to managing the actual teams, the team leads report directly to me. I also participate daily with the team; there’s data interaction with every member. Communication is good; we use Slack and Lifesize. They’re quick to own their tasks, reporting any issues they encounter.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MCPK works as if they’re part of our company. I find it very impressive how they’ve come together. This is a much better experience than I’ve found with others in the past.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing specific I need to point out.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When outsourcing, make sure the people fit your team. Even though it’s remote, it helps to go and get to know them in person at the beginning to establish a working relationship.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a SaaS provider for companies in German- and English-speaking markets. We provide B2B e-commerce solutions. I’m the CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with MCPK?

We’re using them for development support. We had a lot to do, and not a lot of people to get it done. Since we weren’t able to get skilled developers as fast as we needed them in Germany, we looked for a solution provider, and MCPK offered us outstaffing solutions.

What was the scope of their involvement?

MCPK recruits developers directly from Ukrainian universities. We hire them, in turn, to work for us. When we started doing business with MCPK, we had quite a long briefing with their recruiters, telling them exactly what we wanted. We were looking for developers in the web area — PHP, Node.js, and so on. They searched for suitable candidates, had some interviews with them, and introduced them to us. We had nothing to do with selecting the candidates; we only had a second interview to decide whether the candidate suited us or not. They introduced around five people to us in the first four weeks, and we hired two people out of those.

We’re active only in the web development area. Every application we build runs on a server, in one of our data centers. We’re basically looking for people able to develop software on and for these servers. Our customers use the software with nothing more than a web browser.

We started a whole new product with the team sourced by MCPK, which is located in Kyiv. It’s a rewriting of an old product that we built 10 years ago, and it’s used for transforming invoices, quotations, and so on from one company to another, with a lot of transformation formats and transfer ways. It was 80% built by the new team from MCPK.

We have one backend developer and one who’s skilled in UI and other frontend parts. The frontend developer figured out what the application look and feel should be. He discussed it with the team in Germany and built it.

How did you come to work with MCPK?

We initially looked online at possibilities for offshoring and getting remote teams. Martin (Founder) got in contact with us. He’s German as well, and he described what his company did, which sounded good to us. We decided to try it out, and it went great.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first contact with MCPK was in January 2019, we had the first interview in February, and we hired the first member in March of that year. The collaboration is ongoing.

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

It’s hard to quote metrics since we would’ve never been able to build the new product without the people from MCPK. They’re vital for us, and we couldn’t work in the future without a team from MCPK. We desperately need them.

How did MCPK perform from a project management standpoint?

When we first started the project, we were very worried about how the communication would work out and how we’d work with them when they were 2,000 kilometers away from us. MCPK is working as an independent development team. There are daily standups with our technical lead and the development team in Ukraine, and it’s working out quite fine. We haven’t had problems with communication or with onboarding the developers. They’re very clever and technically skilled, and they work nicely.

We work with basically everything Atlassian has ever built, including Jira for project management, Confluence for documentation, and Slack for communication. All our teams are included in these tools, so everyone can get in touch with everyone else. The ways are as short as possible, and everyone gets the information they need as fast as possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m not sure I can whittle it down to one thing. The main points that come to mind are the easiness of getting them incorporated into our team, and the technical expertise they bring to our team, for not only building a proper solution for us but teaching and learning with the team as well, which is very important and very nice.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not for this team. We’d have grown the team had we been able to do so finance-wise. Currently, it’s perfect for us. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The most important part is to just do it. I’ve spoken to a lot of German companies that had considered outstaffing, and all of them were quite afraid to take their most important assets out of hand, like their code and their knowledge. After more than a year of working with an abroad team, I can definitely say that they should do it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical director of an Austrian software company. We develop industrial software in Java for major companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with MCPK?

After experiencing a labor shortage, we needed to crystallize our development team in Kiev, Ukraine.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide employee staffing (15-20 developers, architects and engineers), office space, and accounting on our behalf. They also purchased computers and provide human resource services for our office.

What is the team composition?

Martin is our team lead (Founder, MCPK) and we have two points of contact overall.

How did you come to work with MCPK?

MCPK was recommended to us through a mutual contact we have in Austria.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested €350,000 (approximately $400,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in October 2017 and our engagement is ongoing.

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

Internally, we were very pleased with their work and the developers they hired for us. It’s pretty difficult to get educated workers in Austria, just due to the current status of the job market right now, so we have no complaints. 

How did MCPK perform from a project management standpoint?

The feedback they provide is very well done; I always get a technical report from their team leads, and every three months they report to me face-to-face.

The project is actually managed by our team, using a Scrum style, so both of our teams are totally integrated.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a very convenient method of collaboration.  Martin, as a team lead, is cooperative and overall very helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some issues with collaboration on both ends, so scheduling could be improved overall. Additionally, we ran into some problems with our employee contracts, but Martin was able to help resolve that conflict. It was mostly an oversight on my part.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They need to have the infrastructure in place for geographic diversity, and if they're not open to that, they shouldn't work with them. Building mutual trust is also necessary for a successful engagement.