Miquido

Please describe your company and your position there.

Product Manager at SBAB which is a major, Swedish bank which focuses mainly on private mortgage loans.

For what projects/services did your company hire Miquido?

We built a mobile application for both Android and iOS. We hired a complete cross functional team consisting of developers, QA, UX and project manager.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to outsource app development to see if it could be a viable option to gain more speed in our development without affecting our other prioritizations.

How did you select Miquido?

We looked at countries which were a match from a cost and cultural perspective. We decided that Poland was a viable option and then selected Miquido from a number of options.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a start up meeting in person and after that worked remotely. A team was then assembled by Miquido based on our requirements and project scope. A project plan was put together and our projected started.

What was the team composition?

We've been working with around 6-10 people simultaneously from Miquido, consisting of project manager, UX, QA and developers.

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

Miquido has the ability to understand our requirements and preferences and based on that are able to quickly initialize the development.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have had agile ceremonies such as sprint planning, refinement, and retrospectives on a bi-weekly basis. As the Product Manager, I've had weekly meetings with the project manager. We mainly worked in Jira and Sketch.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Flexible with their approach. They are able to adapt to our preferences and work independently without having to involve us in all the details. They have a skilled workforce with great skills when it comes to design, development and QA.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We would've have liked to have a more fixed team with less rotation. This was partly because of a break from our side between phase 1 and 2 in the project, so some responsibility falls on our side, but it's always challenging to add new people while keeping the speed and knowledge in the project.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Company: Nextbank Software What we do: We provide cloud core banking systems to financial institutions. Role: Chief Commercial Officer and Country Manager for the Philippines.

For what projects/services did your company hire Miquido?

Miquido provided for us the complex services of Web and Mobile Development, Artificial Intelligence, as well as Design. As a result, they created an innovative banking solution - a full software package for running various financial institutions. The final product covers a cloud-based core banking system, mobile and web Internet banking, loan origination, and credit scoring application using machine learning.

What were your goals for this project?

The key focus was to create a bank-in-the-box solution for Southeast Asia, where there are still plenty of countries where people are financially excluded since they live in remote and hardly accessible locations. The far-reaching goal was to gradually introduce financial inclusion by delivering a secure and easily accessible digital solution even in the low connectivity zones of Asia.

How did you select this vendor?

We have shortlisted three vendors from Eastern Europe with strong experience in banking. Then, we have analyzed in detail some of their projects and read some of their articles on industry topics to better understand their expertise. Their clients' feedback was superb and they seemed to offer an excellent quality-to-cost rate, which proved to be true after they delivered the project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They were responsible for the full software development process including: UX/UI design, development, manual testing, automated testing, devops and cloud deployment.

What was the team composition?

Resources: We had a dedicated team of 20 specialists that consisted of 3. Android developers, 3 iOS developers, 6 backend developers, 2 data scientists, 3 testers, 3 UX specialists, and PM/scrum master.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Over 25 banks in the Philippines have already implemented our core banking solution. AI-based credit scoring, and the core banking solution was shortlisted as Singapore FinTech Awards finalists two years in a row and recognized for their impact, practicality, and innovativeness.

It has also helped streamline the businesses of our client banks from an operating cost and efficiency standpoint. Even during this pandemic we are getting a lot of inquiries and interest from other potential bank clients. IT has actually exceeded our goals and targets

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We developed a stable working relationship with the team. Miquido people are truly agile and definitively have a can-do attitude. After reaching out to them with any suggestion or query, they always do the relevant research and come back to us with the response. They also give suggestions as to how better we can implement certain features.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We're impressed by the Miquido attention to detail and their transparency in everything they do. During every sprint, the team always communicates with us about how things would be expected to proceed. They have also a very well-organized and professional process.

Are there any areas for improvement?

A few times we had to wait 3-4 weeks when we requested team extension, but looking at the fact how busy they are it is understandable.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a technology company creating software products for global players in the investment management industry. I am a Product Manager for the project being reviewed.

For what projects/services did your company hire Miquido?

We hired Miquido for UX/UI support (product strategy, workshop, UX&UI design, user testing).

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to create innovative and easy to use portal for investment management companies. We wanted to replace extensive reports and Excel files with one UX-oriented application. The challenge was to present all the data in one place and allow fast-check for users.

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for a company with experienced UI/UX designers and expertise in fintech. The strong portfolio and recommendations were crucial for us to make a final decision.

Describe the project in detail.

We didn’t have a UX/UI specialist on-board, and we were looking for support in these areas. Our primary goal was shaping our product’s vision. Product Designer from Miquido organized a discovery workshop during which we fully defined the scope and set objectives. The next stages of cooperation were: wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing. Miquido was also responsible for UI Design.

What was the team composition?

Our team consisted of a Project Manager, Product Owner, Business Analyst, Developers, and Product Designer (UX/UI) from Miquido.

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

A very positive feedback was received from 6 presentations of the product to prospective clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between team members was really effective, even though we collaborated partially remotely. We held weekly sprint planning meetings where we got updates about what had been done and what we would be working on in the following weeks. We could always rely on them to meet deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We enjoyed the work attitude in Miquido. Even though we collaborated only with one person, we felt the company’s vibe. Their can-do attitude made us feel like they were part of our internal team. The discovery workshops held by the Product Designer helped us to understand what we wanted our product to look like.

We were lucky to find a company with excellent technical skills and open to change and doing things differently. They captured our vision and turned it into an attractive interface.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Only minor not worth mentioning.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Brainly is a global platform where students get personalized learning help and access to world's best educational products. My role is Director of Content. I am responsible for processes, tools and reporting in content operations department.

For what projects/services did your company hire Miquido?

We needed to scale our operations 4 times over couple of months. Previous infrastruture was not stable, didn't allow for good supply/demand planning and execution. Processes required lots of manual work, and were a burden on our data infrastructure.

What were your goals for this project?

Improve speed of answering. Improve focus of answering. Reduce time spent by internal employees on proceses by:

• creating multiple mechanisms of routing tasks
• user Management system
• enable automated reporting of performance, business impact, costs

How did you select this vendor?

Through recommendation from our partners and employees, considering also availability, technology and price.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Our company has prepared initial plan of deliverables. After initial sync with Miquido and discussion on features' shape and result which we are hoping to achieve, Miquido did estimations of complexity and possible delivery times.

Based on this information we've defined our go-to delivarables and timing. Both parties were heavily involved in defining the final shape of product.

What was the team composition?

Team consisted of front-end and back-end engineers in changing proportions (up to 7 Engineers in total), also a Designer and Project Manager.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We are not in liberty to share details, but the outcome outperformed our initial estimations in terms of the measured KPIs.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was done by Miquido, with them responsible for delivery of solution and us responsible for delivery of well defined backlog (in a form of problems to solve) and priorities. It was a continuous cooperation from one iteration to the next one.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I don't know if we were super lucky or if this is a standard in Miquido, but they were able to put together very strong team on short notice. All people involved from Miquido, both Developers, PM, Design, QA or Account Executive were very pro-active and open for discussion regarding the project.

After delivering them well defined backlog, they were able to deliver functional, ready to ship piece of code almost after first iteration, despite the fact, that team was just starting to learn how to work with each other.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We are aware, that initial estimations done for the project were based on some assumptions that did not turn out to be true or be feasible, but they were partially inaccurate and did not take under consideration the effort needed for the team to fully form and learn how to deliver fully.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a medical software startup that's building a reporting solution for radiologists. Our goal is to create more accurate and detailed medical reports.

What challenge were you trying to address with Miquido?

At the end of 2018, we had a very large partner start to do business with us. Because of this new agreement, we started to see a significant amount of development work come through to us. We were worried that we couldn’t scale up our development team quickly enough, so we searched for an outsourced partner to augment our staff.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Miquido provided developers that were integrated into our team. They worked remotely and helped develop our software. The main distinguishing features of the software were speech recognition and text production. They worked with React and TypeScript on the frontend and PHP and Symfony on the backend.

What is the team composition?

They supplied two people to work on the project with us. Our plan was to start with two developers in the beginning and then potentially scale up from there. However, our partner delayed the project and withdrew the time pressures that we had on our development team, so we just stayed with the two outsourced developers since the ramp-up wasn’t necessary.

How did you come to work with Miquido?

We went through a number of outsourcing candidates and interviewed potential developers. Based on this, we made the decision because they made the most professional impression during the interview. I think it was a good choice.

How much have you invested with them?

We are investing around $15,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

They came on board in January 2019. The project is ongoing.

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

I think it’s very high-quality work. We’re really happy with their services. One testament to their usefulness is that our company continues to employ them even though we don’t strictly need help anymore due to the removal of time pressure.

How did Miquido perform from a project management standpoint?

I think project management worked very well. The main challenge is that they are working remotely and most of our employees are on-site. Considering that, the situation has worked exceptionally well. We also visited their team in Krakow.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a high degree of professionalism in their interactions and good organization. Their team differentiates itself through its management approach; their developers stay a long time and have more experience than other partners we’ve had.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. I cannot speak to their long-term project development, but for us, they were very good.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would say you should try out their services. I'd advise visiting them in-person; seeing in Krakow was a good choice. It’s good to see them in-person every once in a while. That’s a good thing to have for a remote working relationship. It’s important to not cut off remote workers from important conversations.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Director of Innovation Lab at insurance company headquartered in Warsaw. Our company has over 5000 employees and we serve individual and corporate clients in Poland. I am responsible for testing and implementation of innovative projects in insurance area.

For what projects/services did your company hire Miquido?

Our company wanted to develop an action on Google Assistant (we treat it like a new digital channel of contact with our customers). What is important to mentioned, we care about time to market, so as a result we have decided to outsource this project. We assume that we can learn new tools and technology much better with certified partners.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to show up to our clients that we are reactive company for new trends on a technology market. As a result, we gave our customers completely new channel to communicate with. We did not state any tangible outcomes, because we wanted to check if our clients are interested in this sort of solutions (we measured it by number of insurance-leads). What’s more our goal was simple to learn new technology.

How did you select this vendor?

We have gathered list of companies, which were recommended by Google in case of Google Assistant development. Google assure us that they have participated in certification programme and they have passed it. Based on that my team prepared list of 5 companies, which sent us response for RFI.

After that my team (one project manager and one data scientist) developed ordering algorithm which contains such parameters like:

• experience/portfolio
• size
• price
• time-to-market.

As a result, we chose Miquido.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected our vendor, we had to specify together logic of application and some technical (especially cyber-sec) requirements. During first weeks, we organized workshops on which we discussed above mentioned cases. After a few iterations and discussions with our business, we finalized the design and architecture of our application, then Miquido have implemented it. In the end we have proceed pentesting procedure. We have passed it and we published our new product. Our action on Google Assistant is available both for iOS and Android. Additionally we decided to add to action some extra futures like: calendar alerts, gathering clients email.

What was the team composition?

From the beginning, we were supported by Miquido’s: project manager, UX-designer, two developers and pentester. The people allocation has change over time (it has strictly depends on phase of a project), but we can assure you that Miquido made it really agile.

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

We evaluate this project especially by media/press converge. Our project was mentioned in expert’s newspapers from areas like insurance and technology. We are satisfied from the marketing side. We received some feedback from users (for example from Facebook). We hear from them that our application flow and look are decent and user friendly. They are satisfied on existence of new communication channel. What’s more application generated numerous sells leads. The final app doesn’t have bugs or flows. They were enchanted that we were able to deliver such communication channel.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Miquiod’s project manager was easy to communicate with and provides us frequent updates. We used such tools like: e-mail, Slack and Skype to communicate. What’s more we connected over the phone if there was necessary. To manage the workflow we’ve used Jira. Miquido was responding to our feedback very well (they always applied adjustments very fast).

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Miquido presented a very innovative approach. They were always open-minded and capable to deliver reasonable solutions for nature business problem. What’s more they were very engaged in whole project. We appreciated that they were patient during our business proceeding and they were thoughtful while we came up to speed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we don’t see such areas.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager for a travel booking company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Miquido?

We hired Miquido to assist with frontend redesign and development. We needed a company based in Poland because that’s where our main development team is located.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our corporate booking tool, which allows users who work for corporations book trips by simply logging in, was outdated when it came to the frontend technology. We talk to an outside designer who created the POC. Based on that, Miquido started drafting a plan for redesigning the software. This included the proposed budgets and technologies. After that, we decided on the scope.

We’re in the middle of the project. The React.js platform consists of many modules and functionalities. We plan on finishing the software design for desktops and mobile devices. The final stage will likely be in June.

What is the team composition?

The team consists of about eight people. We work with a project manager, one to two QA testers, and four frontend developers. There’s a UX designer that creates wireframes and helps with design. From time to time, we work with another UX designer.

How did you come to work with Miquido?

After performing market research and addressing several companies, I picked Miquido because of their technical proposal and presentation. They’re not a huge company and have completed projects for the travel industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £300,000 (approximately 338,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Miquido in May 2018, and the work is ongoing.

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

Clients are pleased with the new design. After launch, usage and satisfaction will be more accurately measured. So far, feedback has been positive.

How did Miquido perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager is skilled. I couldn’t imagine working on the project without her. She brings a lot of value due to her experience in the travel industry. We use Jira as our project management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Miquido is dedicated to the customer. Their sales team takes care of the client. They regularly ask how the project is going.

Are there areas they could improve?

No, there are none that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with Miquido.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior project manager at BGZ BNP Paribas. We’re the fourth largest bank in Poland, offering services to a variety of customer segments including retail, small enterprise, and corporate. I’m currently working on a new mobile banking solution for our retail customers, and we plan to expand the application to also include our small business customers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Miquido?

We started this project over a year ago with a different vendor who built the solution from scratch and helped us launch it, but we weren’t satisfied with the final product’s performance. We asked them to follow an agile methodology, and they agreed, but we soon found that they weren’t experienced in that approach. We also ran into several basic and avoidable challenges when integrating the system. Overall, they weren’t capable of completing the solution to our standards.

We needed to find a different partner with experience in Android, iOS, and web-based backend development to help us enhance and complete the application by the end of 2018.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Miquido is supporting the development of a banking solution for our retail and small business customers. So far, they’ve added several new features and functionalities to the original platform, including push notifications, in-app purchases, and video content.

The push notification feature allows customers to receive mobile confirmation alerts for any received or sent financial transfers. Users have to approve the feature, and they can also customize their preferences to allow other notifications.

We partnered with a third-party insurance provider to add in-app purchasing capabilities to the application, offering their products on our platform. Miquido integrated our system with the outside party’s and built the process from end to end. Now, users can calculate their insurance, go through an acceptance assessment, and receive confirmation on the platform.

We’re currently working with the Miquido team to add video content to the platform. A different vendor created a video to help onboard new customers, giving them the freedom to open accounts on their own time. Miquido implemented the video in the application, then built a verification process that requires users to upload a photo of themselves and a photo ID, then compare the two.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of 10 that consists of two Android developers, two iOS developers, two backend developers, a scrum master, one or two testers, and a UX specialist.

How did you come to work with Miquido?

I’ve only been in my role for two and a half years, but the bank reached out to various vendors for mobile projects before my time. Miquido was one of the agencies contacted. They’re based in Kraków, and we have a location there as well. Our team asked around the city and received multiple recommendations for Miquido. They’d done a few projects with the bank before I started. Initially, we chose a different vendor for this project because Miquido didn’t have much experience in the area of integration. When we needed to find a new partner, we went back to Miquido and found that they’d recently expanded their skill set, so we brought them on for the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2018, and it’s an ongoing project. In the two weeks prior, we had a warm-up period to establish a scope and schedule. We expect to complete this project in 2021, but we plan to extend the partnership to include support and future development work.

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

I don’t have any concrete numbers at the moment, but our scores on both iOS and Android app stores increase every month. We have over four stars and positive reviews in both markets, which indicates that we’re headed in the right direction. I definitely attribute that success to Miquido, given that they built all of our customer-facing features.

How did Miquido perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re following the scrum method, using Jira and Slack to communicate and track our progress. We share code through Bitbucket, as well as some other agile tools on the market. Every stage of this project has been a challenge because we work with multiple outside vendors, but Miquido navigates those relationships efficiently and professionally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very goal-oriented, actively looking for solutions to every challenge. The team is collaborative but still low-maintenance. We schedule meetings and calls as necessary, and there’s not much outside discussion. They’re straightforward, which we really appreciate. We don’t have to allocate a lot of time for planning, paperwork, and agreements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be nice if they had a system design and architecture specialist to head the project. With other vendors, we spoke to a senior staff member who delegated tasks to the development team. With Miquido, we speak with the entire team throughout each phase of the project. Having a point person in place to handle all of our questions would speed up the whole process, especially in the beginning.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a nutrition company and I’m the regional software product manager for Europe, Africa, India, and the Middle East.

What challenge were you trying to address with Miquido?

We wanted to create a customer-facing member app for nutrition coaching. We also wanted someone to develop the backend infrastructure for our product suppliers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built native iOS and Android apps for our platform and handled the backend work using Java. We handled all of the design work in-house and provided the initial wireframes, as well as a list of requirements for the developers. They used that to construct all of our platform architecture.

Over the course of our collaboration on this project, we’ve changed and improved it quite a lot. We’ve integrated it with smart tools like wireless scales, so customers can weigh and measure food. We’ve also added e-commerce support, chat integration, and backend address validation through Google. Our apps and backend system are synchronized and fully interconnected, so there aren’t delays or refresh issues.

In addition to building this platform, they also helped us create an internal content management system (CMS) platform and developed all of the microservices involved in the project.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of around eight people, including a project manager/scrum master and developers for our apps, back end, and CMS.

How did you come to work with Miquido?

I’m not sure how we found them. I was involved in the selection process, though, and their team showed the most confidence in their abilities and seemed to be a good match for us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project from March–December 2016 but we still have an ongoing relationship.

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

Our users are happy with the product overall. MIquido’s team did a good job of meeting our requests and delivering apps that work well for customers even though they didn’t get much input on the design elements. We’ve also been happy with the functionality and reliability of their products. Our service is up 99.9 percent of the time and if the servers go down, it’s usually the fault of another vendor.

How did Miquido perform from a project management standpoint?

They possessed solid expertise and delivered on their promises. Turnover on the team was low and if someone was replaced, they ensured that the replacement was up to speed on our project. We used Jira to keep track of all the details, which helped make those transitions smoother.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their overall professionalism, knowledge, and support make them a great company to work with. They deliver consistent quality and communication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything to add. It’s a real joy to work with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared because they’ll turn deliverables around before you’re ready to assign the next job.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a client operations manager of an agency that offers digital music solutions.

What challenge were you trying to address with Miquido?

We were working with a client to power their music download store that was developed by a third party. We wanted to rebrand and upgrade the store, and we decided that its original builder was not the best partner for that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We integrated a new Prismic CMS for the site, which was supported by AWS. The project also required a UX redesign. We created a new account page for users, allowing them to manage their personal data and credit cards all within one corner of the website. We made it easier to search for specific content by implementing suggest-as-you-type functionality, showing users musical content containing the first few letters or characters entered.

What is the team composition?

We had one project manager, and at the peak of the project, we worked with four or five developers.

How did you come to work with Miquido?

We had worked with another company prior to working with Miquido, but their project management left a lot to be desired. With Miquido, there was an existing relationship between their CEO and one of our senior executives.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between £60,000– £70,000 ($79,000–$92,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership lasted from April 2017 through October 2017.

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

Our relationship with the client is much healthier because the new site shows our willingness to give them the best possible online store. It has become a bit of a blueprint of a download store for other prospective clients as well.

How did Miquido perform from a project management standpoint?

Our day-to-day communication was seamless. We had a Slack channel, and we also used Jira and Confluence. They gave us regular updates and feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our project manager understood the functionality of music catalogs and, more broadly, the music industry. They were able to communicate specific information to the development team and guide them very well.

Any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to be clear with requirements and have as much documentation at the start as possible.