Merixstudio

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I handle the technical aspects of the organization, which is an inventory company based in Sweden.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

Our client who runs a local storage facility wanted to grow but didn’t have the capacity to do so. He received phone calls at all hours and used a spreadsheet to manage his bookings. Our last project involved bookings, so we figured that we could find a solution but needed additional resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially had calls during which we described our ideas and collected feedback. We later visited Merixstudio’s office for a 2–3-day workshop in Poland.

Merixstudio gathered a team of project leads, business analysts, and designers to provide us with feedback. To maintain our budget, we had to scale back our ideas.

Merixstudio was involved in making business and technology decisions as well as delivering a result. Their team suggested all of the technologies for the solution, and for the backend, we landed on Django Python.  

What is the team composition?

The team’s composition has fluctuated throughout the project. When we collaborated in Poland, we worked with 6–10 members of their team. We then mainly worked with three people: a project lead, a backend developer, and a frontend developer.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

I was familiar with Merixstudio and their previous projects. After we had an idea of what to create, we reached out to them.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Merixstudio in April 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Less than six months into the project, we had a functional platform that delivered actual value to our customers. The system generates revenue and works. We started with one customer and then others adopted the platform, which allowed us to receive real-world feedback on the provided work. We had minor issues creep up but not major ones.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m in contact with them at least once a day. Although I don’t take part in their morning scrums, I receive feedback from either the project lead or the project’s head developer. When they share information, it’s clear and structured. We communicate in English, and their team has excellent language skills.

I didn’t have a ton of experience working with remote teams and heard horror stories about remote projects. I initially paid attention to their team but quickly realized that my fears were unfounded. Merixstudio had experience working in a remote capacity.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I feel secure with Merixstudio. When they say that they’ll complete a task, they always complete it on time. Their team keeps to timelines and budgets. If it appears that a milestone won’t meet the given estimate, they quickly flag it for discussion. They’re professional and never leave us wondering. I enjoy chatting and working with Merixstudio.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, Merixstudio has the experience to mitigate any issues related to a remote partnership. I’m happy with their performance.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Based on our experience with Merixstudio, I’d say that clients shouldn’t try to micro-manage them. Instead, clients should focus on helping them understand the problem to be solved and the business behind it. If the client listens to them, they’ll get a ton of experience.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on September 24, 2018.

Jonas Ekegren

Co-Founder, Walaro Software

IT Services

1-10 Employees

Sodermanland, Sweden  

$50,000 to $199,999  

Apr. 2018 - Ongoing

Project summary: 

Merixstudio handled the wireframing, design, and development of a responsive web app using Python Django. They also provided support on the business development front and are an ongoing tech partner.

Feedback summary: 

Their team’s genuine interest in the business idea and revenue model led to the development of a platform that solves a real problem. Merixstudio doesn’t need to be micromanaged and acts more as a partner rather than a one-off vendor. Hiring them early-on in the project will ensure stellar results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the founders and CEO of Walaro Software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We were entering the self-storage business, which isn’t too digitalized. We took on a consumer perspective and tried to solve the issues and challenges that someone might have when looking to rent storage space.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We contacted Merixstudio during the early stages of our project. We gave them an overall technical description, based on which they went through all the wireframing and design work, along with the technical development. They built a responsive web-based application on the Python Django framework.

What is the team composition?

We had a business developer and a technical project leader. There were also 2–4 developers working for us at different times.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

My CTO searched on Google, and I believe we found their Clutch reviews. We read about some of Merixstudio’s recent work and decided to give them a call. We were impressed with them from the start, so they were the only company we contacted.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €50,000 (approximately $58,100 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in April 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re quite impressed from a business development perspective. It’s not often that we find a tech team that wants to know so much about our business idea and revenue streams. Their curiosity helped us when we started discussing technical challenges, what problem we were actually trying to solve, and how we wanted to make money through the platform. Overall, they’re a good and competent team.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed perfectly. We use Google Hangouts for online meetings, and communicate a lot through Slack. They’re professional, punctual, and always ask questions when they need to be asked.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The expectation when outsourcing a web project is that we have to tell the developers in detail what needs to be done and what to avoid. This isn’t the way Merixstudio works, which impressed us, turning them into more of a tech partner than a vendor. I believe there’s a big difference between the two.

They worked by first understanding our business and revenue streams and then developed the technical platform. I think this is the way to go for companies like Merixstudio.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Actually, no, which is unbelievable. I can’t think of anything they could’ve done better than they have so far in this project.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

As always, it’s important to be a good buyer. I believe Merixstudio is a good team, and they’ll give a lot of business development support, but clients need to be good buyers in order to get the results we’ve gotten from Merixstudio. Contacting them at the early stages of a project will be greatly beneficial.

Start Ratings:

Overall rating: 4.5

Quality: 5

Schedule: 4.5 

Cost: 5

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of design for an insurance firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We engaged Merixstudio to build an automated inforce policy management system that would benefit our clients and their advisors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They enhanced the code and client-facing elements like UX. They have also helped with the automation process for digesting available data, creating reports and statements, and automated client communications.

What is the team composition?

We work with a UX designer, scrum master, business analyst, two frontend developers, three backend developers, and three QA engineers.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

It may have been through a referral; our internal technical consultant found them. They showed hunger and dedication beyond what we saw in their competitors.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in June 2020 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product is more efficient and functional, putting us ahead of our competitors. The system works well, and the automation saves us a lot of time and labor. On top of that, external feedback has been positive.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They are communicative and transparent; they ask for input when they run into issues. They use Slack and Jira to ensure effective communication. They’re available and responsive even outside business hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Due to their open communication, we’ve been able to build strong rapport with each member of the team. They’re eager to learn and are determined to deliver a quality product every time a task is assigned. We see them as a long-term partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at this time. At one point, QA had begun to decline. We brought it to their attention, and it has improved. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly define your requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m co-founder and CEO of Rosalyn.ai — a company that provides virtual assessment and proctoring technology. We use AI and computer vision to make exams secure, scalable, and cost-effective.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

As AI and computer vision are our core capabilities, we needed a partner to help us build the web part of our platform. A bootstrapped company, we sought a cost-effective partner too. We needed an agency that could autonomously deliver functionalities per our requirements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Merixstudio is building our exam-taking platform, which incorporates e-commerce capabilities. Their team is also implementing functions that allow users to schedule and conduct exams. We’re building the cognitive component in-house, which analyzes a test taker’s environment and searches for cheating.

What is the team composition?

We started working with two people from Merixstudio but scaled the team to 10. At the moment, we’re working with eight people from Merixstudio.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

One of their ads resonated with me. They used startup language and understood the challenges of product design and development. Merixstudio had a mature approach and appeared to be a capable team. I vetted the developers who would be assigned to us. They also had a sophisticated sales process and met our requests such as providing testimonials. I then traveled to Poland with my co-founder to participate in a workshop with Merixstudio, which was helpful.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around $500,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Merixstudio in December 2019, and it’s an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As a result of the development, we recently closed a round of funding. We have a strategic investor that wants to use our platform. We haven’t reached the MVP stage yet because we’re building a complex system. 

We have the most advanced proctoring system on the market right now. Although that’s due to our internal technology, it’s also a result of the UX and functionalities that Merixstudio built. The platform is scalable and done right.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

We initially hired an external head architect to balance our teams and have an internal product manager. We left the project and scrum management to them, and our team creates the architecture and requirements.

We use productboard and Jira to manage development tasks. The two systems are closely integrated. We also communicate via email and Slack. We work with them as though they’re our internal team, and it works well. Merixstudio pushes back on our ideas, and they’re on point most of the time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re most impressed by their communication skills. Their cadence is great, and their project manager amazes us. They have great English language skills.

Communication was one of the main challenges that we encountered with our previous partners. Although their developers were competent, they didn’t communicate well.

Merixstudio’s engineers are competent and have mature processes. They didn’t just assign developers to our project and expect us to make it work. Senior engineers from the company constantly check the work and provide insights.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We moved quickly and changed our requirements. As a result, we were unable to accurately estimate some components. We didn’t follow Merixstudio’s processes initially, so I wouldn’t blame them. We’re working with them to get things back on track.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I recommend participating in Merixstudio’s product management or initial kickoff seminars. They gather the team for two days to talk with their clients about their visions and goals. This helps paint a picture for the developers and enables them to adapt along the way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of messeji. We’re an early-stage startup that’s building a SaaS platform designed for B2B salespeople. Our solution helps users with productivity and effectiveness.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

Both my co-founder and myself are from business backgrounds, so neither of us had the technical skill set required to build our platform. Since a big part of getting our business off the ground was our solution, we outsourced the full stack development to Merixstudio. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Merixstudio created our platform from the ground up using wireframe designs and interface mock-ups as a starting point. From the beginning, they were able to transform our ideas into an action plan that would result in a tangible piece of software. They built the frontend using React, and the backend is based in Python. 

Additionally, they helped us with the DevOps work, building our Google Cloud infrastructure and assisting with some UX design. It wasn’t purely technical work, either — they supported us with some business compulsories.

What is the team composition? 

We had a team of about nine people working with us. There was a project manager, front- and backend developers, DevOps specialists, UX designers, and QA testers.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

Funny enough, we initially started on this project with one of their direct competitors. I’d done some of the design around the UX/UI with them during a three-month design sprint. We ultimately decided not to proceed with the full development, and that’s when we’d heard of Merixstudio.

Once they’d come on to our radar, we gave them a call to see if they could drive the project. They ended up enabling us to recover from our initial setbacks and eventually start building our platform.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $170,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from April–October 2020. We started with a five-day discovery workshop and kicked off officially in May. 

Although the development ended a week ago, we’re looking into entering a bridge contract with them to perform maintenance over the next couple of months. Our hope is to start on our second phase of development in Q1 or Q2 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main goal that we’d set out to achieve was to define a plan around building our product. Merixstudio delivered a clear outline that leveraged our knowledge, content, and vision while meeting our budget and technical requirements. 

Anecdotally, we were very happy with our engagement with their whole team. Everyone was enthusiastic and went the extra mile to help us. Together, we got through a large learning curve to end up with a product that we’re excited about.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

There was some trepidation around embarking on such a large project with a team based half-way around the world. However, it ended up being a seamless working experience. They accommodated their schedule to overlap with ours, and it was a collective push to foster engagement.

Their team practiced an agile methodology. Rather than setting deadlines for each feature, we were more interested in seeing how far we could get on our platform within a limited timeframe. From there, we’d collect user feedback to iterate.

In terms of project management tools, we use Jira to track our task backlog and Confluence to collaborate on outstanding issues. They also had a shared Slack workspace with us, and we hosted Google meetings several times a week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with the development work that they’d done, particularly from their Python engineer. Having that individual continue to work with us will be key in our decision to continue the engagement. The platform that they were able to design is in a good place considering that it’s just the first version of it. They set us up to take on heavy backend MI and analytics requirements. 

I’d also highlight the project manager who led the project. From our perspective, we can be quite involved and are somewhat demanding with our questions. But, they still helped us through the process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, I was very happy with the outcome, but some of the Google Cloud infrastructure took a bit longer than expected. Also, there were a few instances where we had to go back and re-explain some things. That was partly due to our inexperience and partly due to a bit of a language barrier.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The biggest lesson that we’ve learned internally is to keep a concise vision and then exceed expectations rather than attempting everything at once. If this is your first time building a solution from scratch, Merixstudio can help plan the functionality as long as you make sure you’re aligned on your vision. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Vertical Strategy, a management consulting house.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We hired them to do an implementation of an MVP that we’ve been developing. We were doing the research on the UX, but we didn’t have the in-house capability to actually build an MVP of that size by ourselves.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had some early-stage wireframes, and we also had some software. Merixstudio developed an iOS and Android app using React Native.

They used Django Python for the backend, and they also did some UI design. It’s a health care app that enables nurses to get remote support on difficult tasks. Users can take images with the app and send them.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 8–10 teammates, including a salesperson, a product owner, two app developers, two backend developers, two QA engineers, and an infrastructure engineer.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

I had a recommendation for a partner, but I broadened the scope and looked for a few different ones. I also used Clutch to find some other candidates, and Merixstudio was one of them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €100,000–€200,000 (approximately $118,000–$237,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve launched, and we’re doing analytics for the product and following up with users. We’ve only received positive feedback so far. It feels like a solid Native app that was professionally made.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a very stringent process, and they’re really good with the day-to-day operational and sprint planning work. We can tell that they’ve done that many times before. They’ve been very transparent. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Merixstudio has been committed to delivering a full product for us, going to lengths to make sure that we had a finished product to go to market with. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes there are some usability details that could be improved. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have well-specified requirements. Think about the whole product in user terms as much as possible. You don’t want to get stuck halfway and have the team waiting to do work. Be prepared enough in terms of the requirements to keep up the pace of the project. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director and co-founder of allink, a branding and web agency based in Switzerland.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We were working with a client who is a fast-fashion retailer. Our goal was to redesign their platform, and we decided to collaborate with Merixstudio.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did the screen design and sent the final design to Merixstudio. Their job was to build the entire React and Node.js frontend. They quickly grasped what the application was about and advised us on how to implement different sections of the website and application.

What is the team composition?

I worked with one project manager and two frontend developers.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

We had a hard time finding resources here in Switzerland that had the time and resources to deliver for us. Our technical lead came across Merixstudio while working with our hosting partner. We looked at their site and were very impressed. After a few calls, we decided to move forward with Merixstudio. They seemed very competent and were able to set up a team for us quickly.  

How much have you invested with them?

It will be about €80,000 (approximately $95,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in March 2020 and are still working on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We expect that the app will go live in spring 2021. They’ve been able to deliver on time with what we agreed on. So far, the quality of the work is great. We had another agency perform an external review, and their feedback mentioned that the application is very well-written and has strong architectural concepts.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done very well. We communicated on Slack and a little bit over Asana.

When working with other outsource agencies in the past, we had some communication issues, but we never experienced that with Merixstudio. It was like working with someone in my own office. They asked the right questions and came to us with follow up questions if they didn’t understand something.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was easy to discuss various topics with them. It was clear that they knew what we meant, and they were able to deliver what we requested by the next sprint review. Most of the time, they delivered exactly what we planned. That was impressive to me, especially in comparison to other experiences I’ve had with outsourcing teams.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their project manager was sort of stressed out over a few weeks during the project, but I don’t know why. Still, he did his work very well and stuck to project timelines.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a clear understanding of what kind of work you want to outsource and have clear specifications.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a digital cloud app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

I had an idea for an app and needed someone to develop it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started out with a brainstorming meeting for Merixstudio to understand my needs. During the design stage, they did exactly what I wanted but also enhanced the appearance. They developed a cross-platform app for Android and iOS. They did everything from brainstorming until completion. It’s a B2B app.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 11 teammates.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

I checked out five companies in the US, Europe, and Qatar, and Merixstudio offered the best price.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $76,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2019–August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My friends say the app is very nice. I think it’s going to be one of the top apps in this region.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

Merixstudio let me join their Slack for communication. We also used Jira. Their communication and management of the app were easy-going. Everything was transparent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication was wonderful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The team told me there was a three-month warranty after the release but it wasn’t free. Some companies offer a couple of months of free maintenance. This is an area they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with Merixstudio because they do good work. When people see my app they ask who built it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company provides consulting services for risk management and regulatory change. Position: Founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Merixstudio?

To prepare a wireframe demonstration for a complex fintech operational risk service proposition.

What were your goals for this project?

To prepare a professional high fidelity demonstration of the proposed functionality of the tool suite in order to show potential clients and investors.

SOLUTION

How did you select Merixstudio?

We assessed the services offered by 4 different companies and visited the final two companies including Merix to walk through the product and their service offering. Following the final internal assessment of the services offered Merix was chosen for the work to be undertaken.

Describe the project in detail.

An initial workshop was held and a number of further discovery meetings were held with the Merix team. Following the initial discovery meetings, a low fidelity wireframe mock-up was produced.

Regular stand up meetings was held to agree on the screens and functionality for the wireframe ahead of development and walkthrough the agreed work that had been completed. Final designs and changes were agreed to produce a high fidelity demonstration before the project was closed in order to meet our expectations.

What was the team composition?

The initial team consisted of the project manager, front end developer, and UX designer. After the initial discovery meetings and preparation of the draft plan, it was agreed that the UX designer would only be required for the build, as well as additional input being provided by a graphic designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Following the completion of the project, video demonstrations have been produced and the initial engagement of potential future clients has commenced.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team assigned was very competent and a good collaborative working relationship was established. General questions were handled over slack whilst meetings were held to cover off any more challenging aspects of the solution. Regular stand-up calls were held and the UX designer provided some really valuable input into how the information could be presented to simplify some of the complex requirements of the solution.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The final product delivered has exceeded my expectations as has the work and commitment of the UX designer which has brought to life the complex ideas and concepts behind the solution. This has been a highly collaborative partnership throughout and the project has been delivered within budget. And I would have no hesitation in recommending the firm for any similar work.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are no noteworthy areas for improvement. Overall this has been a very good experience and whilst there were a couple of final tweaks made for the demonstration, we are extremely happy with the quality of the product that was delivered.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Evercoast is a computer vision and 3D software company. We do volumetric capture, where we primarily focus on turning humans in motion into 3D objects for use in VR, AR, and even conventional video. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We do 3D rendering and have software that captures data off of lots of cameras simultaneously. We then render that content, which requires an enormous amount of compute. Rather than trying to do that locally on a single server, we upload that data to the cloud. We wanted to build a web interface so that our clients could log in and manage their renders inside of the cloud and a web-based interface. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’d built a pipeline that manages all of our computer vision applications, and we initially engaged Merixstudio to take that pipeline and turn it into something that could run in the cloud. They built a web interface on top of it so that clients can log in, manage their renders and output, and preview data. The scope of their services was focused primarily on building a web application that could sit on top of and control all of the hard computer vision stuff that we do as a company internally.

The web app is built on Python and Django, as well as React and Angular. We use Redis, and it all runs on AWS.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of three people engaged at Merixstudio. 

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

I’ve been working with Merixstudio for close to 12 years through various companies that I’ve had. I don’t recall exactly how I found them. They were a small company of about 10–20 people back then, and I understand they now have over 150 people. I’ve worked with them on a number of different engagements over the years. 

How much have you invested with them?

The cost has been $250,000–$400,000 over the last two years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them on this particular project in October 2018. It was an iterative release process, so we launched the first part of it without the web interface by the end of November, and we’ve been continually building on top of it since then. The web interface went live in January or February 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work that they did enables us to run a 3D rendering pipeline that completes work within an hour or two, whereas it would take days on a single computer. That’s the nature of running the pipeline on hundreds of computers in the cloud versus a single computer locally.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t use them at all for project management; they provide a small team of people that has really become an extension of our team. We manage their engineering and design resources, so we don’t have a dedicated project manager allocated to our project.

Given the amount of projects I’ve done with Merixstudio over the years, I’ve used them for project management, giving them projects and letting them execute. Their project managers have always been very thorough and communicative. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Merixstudio has a high quality of engineering and design talent that they can deploy quickly. They have very reasonable rates, and the team is direct and easy to communicate with. 

I’ve found that with some offshore companies, you need to tell them exactly what to do, whereas Merixstudio has creative thinkers. They help us think through things and contribute to what the best approach is. That balance of being able to execute but then also contribute to the technical direction of what they’re working on has been helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t have any suggested areas for improvement.

Any advice for potential customers?

I’d say that depends on the resources that the company who’s leveraging them has. I’ve found that what works best for us is having direct access to the engineering resources to be able to direct and work with them. However, in a lot of cases, companies don’t have the bandwidth to be able to do that as effectively, so engaging a project manager from their side would be much more important.

Pay attention to the time zone; being in New York, there’s a decent overlap of time throughout the day that we can work with them. However, if you’re somewhere like Los Angeles, you’re going to have a narrower window of time to overlap.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of an independent insurance agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Merixstudio?

We built an agency management system originally. The challenge we had was that it was built in a language that was dying, so we couldn’t find resources to help us fix or enhance it. We were looking for a software development company to help facilitate the rebuilding of the entire management system from the ground up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Merixstudio did everything. They took a lot of the concepts from the original software and went through a journey mapping and storyboarding process. We looked at the existing issues and identified priorities before deciding what to enhance and tweak. The old language was ColdFusion, and the new one was Python.

What is the team composition?

They had a project manager, a QA team, UI/UX designers, and front- and backend developers.

How did you come to work with Merixstudio?

We got burned quite a few times before working with Merixstudio. We were going to go the traditional route but decided that it wouldn’t work because we wanted the customization. We then looked at local development companies and engaged with a software company from Arizona, but it didn’t work out well. 

I looked at developers across the world, and I found that Eastern Europe typically ranked in the top five. We came across Clutch and started looking at all of the development shops in Eastern Europe. We liked Merixstudio’s approach and the opportunity to meet with them in Poland for the first workshop. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from September 2019–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I had a great relationship with them. Because of circumstances outside of their control, Merixstudio ended up not finishing the project. From what I saw, it was an incredible application.

How did Merixstudio perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, they did quite well. Their communication was good and we had weekly meetings. We also talked 2–3 times per week outside of that using Slack and Jira. Merixstudio also used Confluence, as well as a wireframing tool. Our only challenge was that there were a few times where the budget was expanded. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re in the insurance industry, and it’s quite unique. Merixstudio was able to grasp the industry as a whole, as well as its nuances, and then add value. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve kept the project in line by identifying priorities and helping us. Everyone needed to be kept in line with the plan, which goes both ways. They had the expertise, so if they had been able to do that, we could’ve finished the project within the budget.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand your role and responsibilities and stick to them. Have clear and open communication, which the team is good at. Also, identify your objectives and what you need to get the software to function.