ND LABS

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software development company. We do custom development of software by request.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Omertex?

We sometimes need to outsource for additional help or specific skills. For this particular project, we needed to design the UX/UI based on sketches that were provided for the mobile and web version of an event booking system.

It was important to deliver a stable product on a quite tight schedule. Not all the business requirements were well defined at the start of the project and we decided to team up with Omertex.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Omertex helped us with web and mobile UX/UI design and implementation of the project. They used Angular and Node.js for the mobile and web versions of an event booking system. 

This is not the first time we worked with them. On several occasions, when we didn’t have enough workforce or specific skills, we’d use their services.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six different colleagues.

How did you come to work with Omertex?

Several years ago, we needed some reinforcement of our team. We contacted several companies and we selected Omertex due to the quality of the proposal and the approach to the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

This engagement ran from June–November 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We performed our internal reviews and we're going live regularly. When they delivered their part, everything was tested and verified that we received what we agreed upon. We had a review and it was always positive.

How did Omertex perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project coordinator was responsible to manage the team and reach out to our developers whenever there was a need for clarification. We appreciated how they managed from their side. It was a very agile process. We had bi-weekly or three-week sprints. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re able to identify potential bottlenecks or critical parts in the design phase. Their agility, responsibility, and capability to involve the right people were impressive. They always brought the required people to the discussion table when needed and also finding them for a period of time like a couple of weeks was impressive. They were always flexible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we liked all the aspects of their work. Everything went fine.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I definitely recommend working with them and I have recommended them before. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Biletix is an online travel agency focused on travel solutions and services. On our website, customers can buy airline tickets, book hotels, rent cars, etc. I’m the CIO [Chief Information Officer].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Omertex?

We needed to outsource the development and design of our iOS mobile application, as we didn’t have the in-house capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed and designed our iOS application, which allows customers to buy airline and railway tickets. They used Core SDK and C. There were some libraries to work with our API.

It was launched two years ago, and every month, we make improvements and add new features. They started with the legacy codes. It wasn’t a great application at the time, but they had good ideas for the UX and improved it. There’s been new designs, new features, and more integrations of the flight and railway aspects.

What is the team composition? 

There is an iOS developer and a UX designer. I work with management to coordinate our work.

How did you come to work with Omertex?

It may have been a recommendation.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our sales increased because of the application.

How did Omertex perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is clear. We're always able to clarify the situation and get feedback. It's outsourced, but they're in our system and the work is organized.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have quality UI solutions and ideas. It's a clear design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It's been almost perfect. They have good customer service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Contact Omertex and start the project with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a provider of property valuations in South Africa. We operate countrywide. You can order valuations online through our website. I'm the managing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Omertex?

We’d had software in-process with another developer since January 2014, but it wasn't going anywhere.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

On the frontend, there's a function our customers can use to request a quote for our service. The quotes are automatically issued to the customers. As soon as they click the "Submit" button, they get a quote back by email. The quote has to normally go through a panel or a board of chairpersons on our customer side.

When they approve it, they can click on a button in the quote email that says "Accept Quote." The customer has to click on that. That opens up our order form prefilled with all the data that the customer had already entered on the quote side. Now, they only need to confirm the order. Once the form is submitted, the customer gets our order confirmation and text invoice.

Once we receive the customer's proof of payment, we release the order in our system. We appoint a valuer, based on the region where the valuation is required. The valuer then contacts the customers to make an appointment to inspect the property.

Once the valuer has inspected the property, he or she logs in to the backend and captures the valuation reports, which involves ticking a lot of boxes, entering numbers, and so on. From there, the valuation report is generated in PDF format and sent back to the customer.

The whole objective of this is to streamline the workflow—to cut down on some processes and to automate them. Basically, we want to halve the turn-around time. This new software saves us at least 50% of manpower and improves our workflow.

How did you come to work with Omertex?

I decided to look for a different company. I approached a number of companies, and Omertex wanted to redo everything that the other company had done. They offered to do within a year what the other company hadn't achieved after 3 years. They asked the right questions, and I decided they were the company I wanted to work with. They developed our backend office software and also our website.

How much have you invested with them?

I would prefer not to share the amount we have invested with Omertex.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've met all the deadlines that they've committed to. They said that they’d complete the whole framework within 6 months, and they did. They met that deadline. It's a very complicated software; there's no other in the world like it.

Compared to the previous developers' timeline, I'm very happy. They've been very understanding. I'm probably not the easiest customer—there are always a lot of changes that I need to be made. They've always been very forthcoming, very understanding, and they never lost their patience. All in all, they're a company I recommend to my business partners, as well as my friends.

There are a lot of bugs because of my specifications that might not have been entirely clear from the beginning. As a single person coming up with those things, you don't always think of all the scenarios that might arise, so we've been sorting out bugs. But all in all, I'm happy with the turnaround time. It's been roughly a year now since I appointed them, and we are set to go live with the new system soon.

How did Omertex perform from a project management standpoint?

There are three ways that we communicate. One is Skype, where we deal with quick questions. Another is a platform called JIRA, where you can create workgroups, and everyone can edit a document within the workgroup. I use it to follow the project and to approve certain steps. For example, I'll specify a certain task on that platform, and then the project manager might ask me questions or give me an estimate for that task. I can then respond by saying, "Yes, it's accepted," or provide further clarification.

A similar platform to JIRA is called Confluence. That's where the project as a whole is specified and we manage all the individual tasks. I let the team choose what they want to use—whatever makes the most sense to them to implement our requirements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with the amount of communication. It might seem like too much in some instances, but I'd rather have them ask an extra question rather than assume they have to do it a certain way. Maybe it would come out wrong because my specification was ambiguous or not clear. The intense communication that comes from their side is definitely a point in their favor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything that they could've done better, except one thing that comes to mind. Halfway through the project, they recommended that I make use of one of their business analysts to see how the workflow came together logically.

The business analyst is basically the translator between the customer and the developer. You've got the customer on one side that speaks one language, and then you've got the developers on the other side that speak an entirely different language. The business analyst is just there to ensure that the customer's intentions are implemented by the developers.

I'm glad they proposed this, even though it was after the project started. It's made things easier for me ever since. I wish they had raised that point from the beginning. I might have been resistant to the idea, but in the end, it was definitely a good proposal from them. It's an additional cost—you have to pay the business analysts as well—but it's definitely worth it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our product is a software as a service [SaaS] in the payment industry. We work with transactions between consumers and businesses in both credit card transactions and electronic check transactions. I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Omertex?

We needed a project done quickly and we didn’t have internal resources to accomplish that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

This was a two-phase project. They programmed in languages that we requested. Omertex took a lead role in a way I didn’t expect. I was very pleased. We gave them a very descriptive summary of the scope, and they took that and put it into an extremely detailed two-phase project.

How many resources were assigned to your project?

I communicated with one person but I know there were others communicating via email when there were questions that needed to be answered. It was nice to have things go through a limited number of people. It was very well-organized.

How did you come to work with Omertex?

We were looking on websites for developers. We looked at reviews and contacted people. We were looking for expertise in the payment card industry so that certain requirements for cardholder data protection and transactional requirements were known. We had certain requirements on skills and software that they would have experience in. Omertex was referred to us by another company we began talking with, which was not able to meet our needs from a timing and budgetary standpoint. It was a smaller, typical project, but it was just the right size for Omertex.

How much have you invested with Omertex?

[Confidential]

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July, and the project was completed in September 2016. I would not hesitate to use them again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was very well-received. They did a good job of designing from a visual aspect and also the user interface. They looked at other components of our software and augmented that in a design way. We had a lot of work to do before we could put it into the hands of our users. They were responsible for a large, specific piece of our end product.

How did Omertex perform from a project management standpoint?

They met every deadline. They were waiting for us at times and handled that with patience. They responded well and made the project run smoothly.

We were also very impressed with our abilities to communicate. There was not a language barrier. We were able to speak on the phone using WhatsApp and understood each other. It was done during our time zone, which was phenomenal. Every day we were able to see progress because they did the work in our time zone as well.

Their organizational skills and project management far exceeded my expectations. I have not received that with other developers that we’ve hired. That made the project go very well for us. And as a first-time contractor of developers outside of our country, I was amazed and very satisfied.

What did you find most impressive about Omertex?

I’ve never hired a company outside of our country before so I can’t compare to that. But they far exceeded what I was expecting. I’ve hired developers in our own country and, in comparison, I was thrilled at what we could get done for the price. I was more than happy with their work ethic and communication. They’ve surpassed what I’ve been able to find in the U.S.

Are there any areas Omertex could improve?

Any project has bumps. I don’t have any example of something that could’ve been done better. It was a positive experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the R&D Manager of BLER Systems Ltd.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

OSINT and BigData projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire ND LABS to accomplish?

• Platform development
• Hire team of qualified developers
• Manage project

SOLUTION

How did you find ND LABS?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select ND LABS over others?

• Good value for cost
• Very professional and collaborative people

How many teammates from ND LABS were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Design UI/UXfor multiple platrofms, manage FE/BE development cycle including project management and customer support service with commitment to maintain bugs and additional features development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

High quality UI/UX, development and most of the features were perfectly developed, except few misunderstanding, but even these were solved in a fast manner by their team.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Projects were delivered on time, and all our needs were covered.

What was your primary form of communication with ND LABS?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Theire project management and attitude towards their clients.

Are there any areas for improvement or something ND LABS could have done differently?

Currently there are no major improvements, maybe there few minor ones, which do not actually bother us and are not related to the development and hiring process.