Nonstop

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a startup company focusing on software solutions for e-Commerce retailers. We havent reached the market yet but we anticipate doing so by the end of 2019 I am the co-owner of the company with responsibility for technical projects, design and deployment.

For what projects/services did your company hire Nonstop?

We have commissioned Nonstops development team for two phases of the project.  Firstly a simple web design implementation - taking some graphical layouts and coding this to a wordpress theme.

The second phase is the development stage proper.. this is a web application that will provide software as a service to online retailers who are using the Shopify ecommerce platform.

What were your goals for this project?

The first phase was fairly straightforward web resource with fairly static content/ minimal data flows.  However we needed this to be fast/ accessible and importantly rendering correctly and looking professional whatever device is being used.

The second phase is the on-going and altogether more ambitious.  First part of the aims are led by the market that we are seeking to access.  Shopify have clear guidelines as to what consitutes a 'Minimum Viable Product' and therefore qualifies to be offered to Shopify customers through their appstore.  These cover a range of things from demand for the service itself, user experience, and security considerations.

But apart from this we have given the development team some quite clear and challenging targets for the build from the perspective of the base technology/ the hosting environment and the user inteface. If this all comes off we are very confident we will have a great service & a scalable business. 

How did you select this vendor?

The team at Nonstop were already very well known to me & long-time trusted partners through my work on other projects. 

The selection process was not a difficult decision - my experience with them over many years has given me first hand knowledge - I can also compare and contrast against experience with many other developer teams. 

They are they best - there was nobody else who could come close to them for this project.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The main part of the project is the Shopify application.  We are building this using a mixture of compute resources - some 'always on' server and also serverless.  The design is intended to deal with infrequent load and fast growth.  On paper it works and delivers.

What was the team composition?

We have a been working with both a Project Lead & in the case of the main application in phase two a Developer Lead.

These two key personnel have been funnel to the other developers working on the project.

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

This project will not impact our business .. it is our business completely.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We dont like it .. we love it .. 

.. seriously though, we have had to wait for the correct lead dev to become available to manage this project.  Probably this delay is longer than we estimated, but we think this is the right decision as now we will get the quality result that we need.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

If it can be built, they will build it!  There is no-one better to work with I'm convinced.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not from my perspective.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Moneyshake.com, a car leasing comparison platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nonstop?

We needed a fully functioning web platform developed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nonstop created a fully functioning platform in line with the brief we submitted, building the front- and backend from scratch. The biggest thing was that users were able to search by multiple different criteria, which is relatively new in the market and had not been done before.

The preplanning for us was making sure we got our needs across. It was then working with Nonstop to make sure that it was deliverable. Once we formulated our initial brief, Nonstop reviewed it, pointed out certain things that weren’t deliverable in the time frames we wanted, pointed out things they could improve, and then we worked together to make sure it was a deliverable project. It’s a mobile-friendly platform.

We also wanted integration for a backend system to work seamlessly for our partners. To accomplish that we created a bespoke admin panel that allows users in the backend to amend things, whether that be pricing or images. Nonstop developed that fully for us.

What is the team composition?

We worked with the CEO, three software engineers, and a UX engineer. One of the software engineers was our primary point of contact, and he was fantastic.

How did you come to work with Nonstop?

We chose them because they wanted to understand what we were trying to execute to make sure they could do it. We also used them for one of our founder’s existing businesses.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £22,500 ($27,650 USD) with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2019 until August 2019. There’s now a multitude of projects going on with them, but this particular project ended in August 2019.

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

It was executed wonderfully. The results are fantastic and well-above what we’d forecasted in terms of conversion and site speed. Everything was top notch. The editing process is ongoing.

How did Nonstop perform from a project management standpoint?

I generally speak to my point of contact 4–5 hours out of every day. His feedback is instant. Project management was very good, and we had a weekly dial-in with two members of the team. The project was delivered on time. They were good at time management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were realistic in what they could deliver. Their communication was great. We always knew where we were. If there was an issue, we were told about it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were times when we had too many developers on our project and other times we didn’t have enough. At the end of the day, however, they delivered the job. It doesn’t really matter if we have five people or one person, as long as they do the job. There’s really not a great deal they could improve. There was a language barrier at times, but they’re understandable and they do their best. If they don’t quite follow what we’re asking for, they ask us to provide examples.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure they’re involved in the preplanning stage and that they understand you as a business and what the key deliverables are.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project coordinator at one of the biggest distributors of electric energy in Poland. We cover 58 thousand square kilometers and serve 5.5 million clients. I work in the communications office and am responsible for our most important educational campaign.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nonstop?

We wanted to create a multimedia platform to serve as the main tool for our educational campaign directed at children, teachers, and parents.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nonstop’s involvement was very broad. They prepared the UI/UX for the platform, providing mock-ups for its architecture and navigation. They were responsible for the entire implementation and currently supervise its proper function.

How did you come to work with Nonstop?

They were recommended by EDISONDA, a UX studio in Poland.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2016.

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

Thanks to them, we have a functional educational platform that’s being constantly improved and upgraded. Were very satisfied with our collaboration with them.

How did Nonstop perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re innovative, hardworking, and have done extremely well in managing the project. They do their work carefully and deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about Nonstop?

Their diligence, creativity, honesty, and cooperation even in difficult situations are remarkable.

Are there any areas Nonstop could improve?

It’s difficult for me to point out any areas where Nonstop could improve.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are the largest children’s university in Poland, with about 8,000 students in four towns. For over a decade, we’ve been conducting weekly lessons on various subjects. Parents can read about the lessons and register their children on our website. We also get almost 200 volunteers per year.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nonstop?

One of the recommendations of our foundation audit was to change our program and website. At that time, our website was very old and did not have the features needed by parents and our staff. For example, the enrollment process on our website was inefficient and left parents frustrated. Previously, our rule for enrollment day was “first come, first served,” which proved to be a nightmare.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nonstop built our new website and developed the backend using PHP. They automated a lot of our processes. First, they implemented a new prioritization rule for parents signing up their children. After a one-week recruitment period, the system automatically generates a list of students who could attend our classes, while the remainder would be placed in a reservation list.

Nonstop also created a panel where our volunteers could sign up for lessons. Another new feature is payment processing, which was not included on our old website. They also added a fantastic admin panel that allows our small internal team to manage all communication and recruitment processing.

What is the team composition?

We are in contact with a project manager from Nonstop. We have worked with 6–8 developers on the development of the site, including five backend and frontend developers. Currently, about three developers are implementing minor changes to the site, which is in maintenance mode.

How did you come to work with Nonstop?

Our boss found them somewhere, but I don’t have the exact details. They may have worked together on a past project.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of the project was 200,000 Polish zloty ($57,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with Nonstop since our foundation started. We have an ongoing relationship.

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

Thanks to our new website, we can recruit more students, increase profit, and expand our business.

How did Nonstop perform from a project management standpoint?

I am very pleased with this collaboration. They plan their jobs and teams well, allowing them to deliver results on time. Our communication is great. We have used Skype for communication and Trello for task management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m comfortable with Nonstop because they are quite familiar with our website. Our foundation has a very specific way of working, but they’ve always listened to us and treated our needs seriously. They are a great team. We like each other, so the collaboration has been quite fun for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is nothing I would change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It would be hard for me to give any specific advice.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a telemedicine services provider. We provide an internet-only platform that connects doctors to patients. We don’t employ the doctors; they have their own businesses. I’m a doctor, my colleague is an economist, and we have another partner, who is also an economist. Together, we run the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nonstop?

We needed the platform developed, and they had previous experience with a platform that connects students in universities. We had another platform in the past, but it had been designed on WordPress, which meant it was easy to use, but unsafe. We needed to focus on the protection of patients’ health data.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Nonstop for a three-month period, but it was a very intense three months. We came to their office almost every day to have discussions. They designed their idea of what we needed, what was indispensable for the first stage, and what could wait.

The platform allows doctors to build web profiles and patients to look for doctors. We provide payment services, as well as a calendar for appointments. We have a payment system similar to PayU, called Dotpay.pl. Appointments are confirmed only after payments are completed. The doctors receive an email notifying them of the upcoming consultation. The appointments take place via phone call, Skype video chat, or email. Doctors can decide the cost of one consultation and its duration.

We have just finished the first stage, and they’ve written the work for four stages. Right now, we have only email and office. We also want SMS notifications for consultations, but this will come later. We wanted to have some experience with the platform first.

What is the team composition?

Generally, we had meetings with two of their members, while several others also worked on the platform. They were available 24 hours a day—if there is an SEO change, or if we want to better-position our platform, they help us with any changes.

There was a graphic designer who worked on our front page, colors, and logo, and others who worked on our appointment calendar. 

How did you come to work with Nonstop?

I contacted some friends and did some research. I asked them to send me names of development companies, then got in touch with five of them. One of those was from Warsaw, and four were from Krakow. Several of those were not very available or lacked experience.

The contact from Nonstop had some very good ideas about how to develop our product and was very interested in it. Their past work was not exactly the same as our product, but they had solved similar backend problems.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of the first stage of development was around 120,000 Polish zloty ($35,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from June to September 2017. 

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

The landing page looks very professional. It’s nice, everything functions well, and the platform is safe. We have more than 10 doctors at the moment and 160 patients, but we thought that the numbers would be much higher as we started around six months ago. The results are not related to a problem with Nonstop’s service, or with our platform. The problem is the mentality of our potential users. This needs time, as it is a new field generally.

Our platform was designed to manage large numbers of doctors and patients. That was maybe overestimated, but we wanted to build something for the future, not like our first WordPress platform.

How did Nonstop perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good at hitting deadlines. We finished a week before our planned launch date. We wanted to show the product at a medical conference, in order to ask doctors to join us.

The contact with them was very good. I’m a doctor, so my interactions with programmers can be difficult but I think that they assign non-programmers for client interactions. They understand what we want and have been very helpful. Everything was very good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If we changed our mind about something, we could contact them. They also helped us choose our server. Not every server is safe or suitable for our product. I’m generally very glad to have chosen this company. We have a good relationship and rely on them if we have any problems. They didn’t simply finish the product and forget about us. They are continuing to provide us help.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’ve worked well for us.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Customers should explain their ideas and help them design the product from a technical point of view. They can understand laypersons’ ideas, then translate those ideas into programming language. Express doubts, fears, and problems openly, and don’t think that difficult notions should be left unmentioned.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director at Terry’s Textiles Ltd. We sell homewares and textiles.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nonstop?

Originally, 8 years ago, we needed to improve a shopping cart solution that wasn't working very well. Over the years they have maintained this shopping cart for us and assisted with the move to Shopify and migrating existing functionality to this new platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a heavily customized e-commerce platform on Shopify, replacing our old X-Cart site. They took most of that technology and transferred it over to us, including the external systems we’d integrated that helped streamline the customer handling process. Integrating that with Shopify wasn’t easy because the platform is quite rigid in what you can do. They handle any maintenance we need now, in addition to larger projects that come up.

What is the team composition?

We have one or two full-time people, and then two or three main developers that work on the platform.

How did you come to work with Nonstop?

They were referred to us. They’ve done a good job and we haven’t looked anywhere else.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £1 million over the last 8 years or so with them. ($1,394,110 USD)

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since February 2007.

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

We give them a brief that it has to work a particular way and we don't launch until it does. They always deliver what we need.

How did Nonstop perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate daily over Skype, and we use Basecamp to keep track of tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work hard and put in long hours, doing their best to deliver on time. They’re much faster than UK developers and they have a different work ethic. They’re particularly good with things that are quite technical and have a heavy database component.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t a language barrier but sometimes we interpret things differently, which could be said about any developer. We found that comprehensive briefs work best to get our point across.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tie everything down in the brief. Make sure you don’t have to redo something and pay for it twice because you haven’t briefed it properly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the co-founder of Viddler, a Software-as-a-service (SaaS) video training platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Nonstop?

Back in 2005, we were just starting our company and needed a development team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Nonstop coded our original Flash player, which contains commenting and tagging functionalities. They worked on the Java back- and front end of our online platform, which enables video deliveries worldwide. 

They do all the architecture, design, and code for the player, as well as the design, code, and testing for the backend. Nonstop provided user management and also updated the system from Adobe Flash 2 to Adobe Flash 3, which was a large task. The backend has been refactored and improved with new features and functionalities throughout the years.

Because Nonstop is based in Poland, we have a pretty constant system. Here on the east coast of the U.S., we’ll do our requirements and send them to our designer in the Midwest who designs and sends them to the coders in Poland. The next morning, when we come in, we have new code to review.

What is the team composition?

They provide 2–5 people, depending on what we’re working on.

How did you come to work with Nonstop?

Macromedia helped us identify the best Flash developer in the world. We had a great conversation with Nonstop and have been partners ever since.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since 2005. Our initial launch was in 2007, and Nonstop provides ongoing Java backend support.

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

Our brag line at Viddler is 'We've served billions of views on millions of videos for thousands of clients in over 160 countries around the world," and Nonstop is responsible for creating that initial platform.

How did Nonstop perform from a project management standpoint?

Nonstop does great project management. We talk daily to track progress, and there’s no language barrier at all. When we first started, we mainly used Skype for communicating and Vtrac to track bugs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have great communication skills, and everyone we’ve worked with is highly experienced. They’re all easy to talk to and get along with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’d really like them to have an office in the U.S.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Maintain frequent communication, give them a good set of requirements, and watch them do great work.