nomtek

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m an engineering delivery leader at Ably. Ably provides a PaaS to offload the engineering complexity and DevOps burden of powering live and collaborative applications at a global scale.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire nomtek, and what were your goals?

To respond to our rapid growth, we wanted to tap into a new use case for realtime experiences. We needed a reliable software agency to help us develop a full version of a proof of concept SDK for asset tracking. Our goal was to release the SDK written natively for iOS and Android. This was our initial project with nomtek. https://ably.com/solutions/asset-tracking

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We selected nomtek because they had experience in developing SDKs that shared some similarities with our solution. We knew we needed someone that had enough expertise and knowledge to be able to jump into the project without much onboarding and briefing.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Once we validated the proof of concept internally, nomtek stepped in to help us write the full version of it. The SDK would operate in a demanding environment and it had to consume as little energy as possible to still deliver the core functionality with high uptime and reliability. There were a lot of variables to consider for an optimal balance between position accuracy and battery consumption. Working in Kotlin (native Android), nomtek developers built an SDK that maintained low-energy consumption while retaining high service availability and accuracy even with a poor GPS signal.

After the SDK validation, we decided to extend our cooperation. We hired a new team from nomtek to work on native demo apps for Android and iOS that uses the SDK. The demo apps would check how the SDK behaves in a production environment. Other projects we work on together are Cocoa SDK, Java SDK, and Flutter SDK. Currently, four nomtek developers with varying specializations (Flutter, iOS, and Android) are working with us on different projects. We also have a QA specialist from nomtek. Technology-wise, nomtek is highly flexible, switching between technologies per project needs.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Our cooperation started with hiring two developers (for native iOS and Android development). The cooperation was later extended to four nomtek developers and a QA specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Nomtek’s help in developing the asset tracking SDK that brings us closer to powering real-time experiences for one billion devices by 2024.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We worked with nomtek in an agile approach by sprinting with daily stand ups, planning and retros. We held additional backlog refinement meetings to talk over tasks and assign them a story point measurement.

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

Nomtek’s expertise in native mobile development let them iterate quickly, which helped us release the SDK faster. Such a prompt release wouldn’t have been possible for us without their support. Their communication skills are commendable. We never ran into any issues with them. The team is highly flexible and engaged. We can count on them — they’re invested in the projects and their wellbeing.

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

None come to mind!