Nortal

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of business operations at a news and media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pwrteams?

We needed to build our website and apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Pwrteams provides us with dedicated teams to build our websites and apps using React for the frontend and Java. The team has integrated into our company and provided us with developers, project managers, data specialists, and QA specialists. We’ve been working with them for over five years.

What is the team composition?

We have around 90 people on the team. They provide us with developers, project managers, data specialists, and QA specialists.

How did you come to work with Pwrteams?

We’d been looking for people with app development, frontend development, and data skills. We hired them because it was cheaper to get people in Sofia than in the UK.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested a large amount of money.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Pwrteams has helped us save time and money. They're bright and work hard. The team onboards quickly, and we start seeing results happening promptly.

How did Pwrteams perform from a project management standpoint?

Pwrteams communicates clearly. They're on top of the teams, actively address any issues, and update us on progress so we know when and what is happening. We mainly communicate via Slack and Jira, as well as emails, to a lesser degree.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I want to give a shout-out to Kristina. She's fantastic, works hard, understands the team, and wants them to be empowered to work as hard as they can. She always thinks about how to improve the team's situation so they can do their best work. She strongly focuses on ensuring people can work as effectively as possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Pwrteams is a great team, and as much as we've been able to, we've moved roles from other areas because they're so good; they've learned how to work with us but haven't had specific training for our company.

Moreover, they're great at visualizing metrics around delivery, more so than other teams. They always have lots of charts and graphs to show and measure metrics. They're also easygoing and good to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I highly recommend working with them. Take their advice because they know their market and industry. If you ask them for help, use their expertise.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I've been working for Logitech for around six years as part of the global team managing our online channels, which include our online and IT operations. As the head of global e-tail operations, I'm also responsible for coordinating the shared service centers that we created with Questers, now called Pwrteams.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Pwrteams?

We wanted to remove the operational workload from our global HQ to enable our team to focus more on our strategy, guidelines, mission, and added value. Therefore, we needed to reassign our operational tasks to a contingent worker agency. We hired Pwrteams to help us out, which at the time was called Questers. However, by November 2023, Questers was acquired by Pwrteams, and we simply continued working together.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use Pwrteams as an agency for contingent workers. Their resources support our company's different teams in different departments and regions, so they have both local and global responsibilities. Currently, about 63 different workers from Pwrteams work for us across different departments, including marketing, finance, retail, e-tail, and global operations.

Pwrteams helps us manage all those workers, so they first take care of the talent acquisition. As the coordinator of our relationship with Pwrteams, I'm in charge of defining the rules of our engagement, the hiring process, the performance assessment, the bonuses granted, etcetera. Whenever we need new talent, we have an internal process to discuss the job description, salary range, responsibilities, and hiring process.

Then, we meet with Pwrteams's talent acquisition team to brief them and discuss the requirements and profiles of the candidates we need. Our goal is to ensure that Pwrteams is properly briefed and knows exactly what profile we want for each position.

Then, Pwrteams takes care of headhunting candidates, which includes placing ads and publishing the open positions. After some time, they send a list of fitting candidates to the hiring manager to review the resumes, conduct interviews, and perform tests or demo tasks if needed. Pwrteams is then in charge of doing the final proposals to the fitting candidates.

When a candidate is hired, Pwrteams' HR department manages them as employees and takes care of their payment, benefits, and other HR responsibilities. Basically, those workers work for us but are employed by Pwrteams.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we only had three workers from Questers working for us. Now, we have two main points of contact from Pwrteams, but depending on the number of open positions we have, there can be up to 4–5 teammates from Pwrteams working on talent acquisition tasks. Moreover, we currently have 63 resources from their team working for us. This also requires working with about 20 managers. Moreover, we've collaborated with other teammates in support functions.

How did you come to work with Pwrteams?

I was not part of the tender process to find Questers. At the time, my manager was in charge of identifying solutions to support our operations. He had some former colleagues or friends who were already using Questers to get some contingent workers. After comparing them to other companies, my manager decided to go with Questers.

Since Questers changed their name to Pwrteams, we've kept working with them. We haven't seen a lot of changes. Although there were legal reviews and a lot of paperwork initially, the most important thing for us was to secure business continuity to carry on with the great collaboration we had established with Questers. We had a meeting in December 2023 with one of the leaders at Pwrteams to express our wish to continue with a very good collaboration.

How much have you invested with them?

It's very hard to say how much we've invested in working with Pwrteams. We have to take into consideration their talent acquisition fees and the HR management fees. Obviously, some of those fees depend on how many new resources we require. For HR management alone, we pay Pwrteams approximately €100,000 (approximately $109,000 USD) per quarter. For talent acquisition, we pay them around €30,000–€40,000 (approximately $33,000–$44,000 USD) per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Questers in September 2018, but they were acquired by Nortal Group in November 2023. In February 2024, they officially changed their name to Pwrteams, and we've continued working with them since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're a very special client for Pwrteams. The majority of the roles they hire talent for are related to the IT industry, such as developers and programmers. Therefore, our open positions are very different for them. However, they've managed to hire great resources for those very different profiles.

Thanks to them, we now have a very versatile and diverse team. This team includes business analysts, designers, customer media analysts, a product manager, an operations specialist, a finance analyst, and a communication specialist.

In addition to that, our worker turnover isn't very high, so we've managed to have the same workers for a very long time. For example, some of our resources have over five years of experience working with Pwrteams, which is exceptional for contingent workers. This indicates that these workers find good reasons to stay working with Pwrteams for a long time.

We've even worked with Pwrteams to create some career paths and do some promotions for these workers. For example, last year, we did manager training, skills training, and certification courses. Overall, our engagement has been a success because we've managed to keep people motivated and loyal to Logitech and Pwrteams

How did Pwrteams perform from a project management standpoint?

Although we now work with Pwrteams, my experience is as if we had continued working with Questers. I'm even working with the same people. Still, their performance depends on the profile we're trying to hire for. For example, digital designers are easy to find, there are a lot of candidates on the market, and we don't require senior profiles, so the process of finding them is very quick and easy.

On the other hand, we might require a digital transformation senior manager, which is a profile of a very high caliber that's very hard to find. On those occasions, we might need to go through 20–30 different candidates to find the right one, which can take a lot of time. At times, we've even reached Pwrteams' limit due to the required level of seniority. Overall, Pwrteams has managed to meet our timelines for the job positions we've needed to fill.

We don't use project management tools. We mainly communicate via email and use a feedback tracker I've created. On this tracker, Pwrteams can input their feedback and information for the candidates, and other interviewers can also input their feedback.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I would like to give a shout-out to Polina (HR Business Partner), who has been recently promoted. I've been working with her from a business partnership standpoint since the very beginning of our engagement. Together, we've done a lot of great things for the employees regarding training, performance management, and process management. She has been a great partner to me.

On the talent acquisition side, I would also like to give a shout-out to Elena (Lead Talent Partner) and Radostina (Talent Partner), who have been working for us and providing us with a great service.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Thanks to Pwrteams, we've managed to massively extend our team throughout the years with pretty senior roles. That alone makes them stand out. Moreover, their partnership and collaboration are outstanding. From the HR perspective, they've been very supportive.

Their team has brought extra ideas to the table, and although I don't have an HR background, I appreciate receiving proposals and suggestions to make our goals happen. I've also been able to bring my own ideas to the table. For example, we completely remodeled our office's open space last year, and we received great support from Pwrteams' facility manager.

Overall, we've had a great collaboration, and in the end, our workers are very happy about being employed by Pwrteams. They've established a very good HR environment and done some activities to take care of the workers and ensure they're doing a good job.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Something that Pwrteams could improve on is their innovation. We've been the ones who have implemented innovation in our processes, such as tests, video interviews, and feedback trackers. However, we understand that we've made their usual work more complicated, and we've been expanding their usual processes. From that point of view, we understand that they want to spend as little time as possible doing other things.

Additionally, we sometimes experience a bit of friction in the talent acquisition part of our engagement. We may look very demanding and require a very complex hiring process because we have some strict conditions. On those occasions, we expect a more proactive collaboration.

For example, it would be great if they were more proactive in shaping the role, the job description, and the ideal candidate profile. We sometimes expect an added consultancy service or a more collaborative approach to help us figure out how the position we require should be expressed in the market. However, this small friction occurs on very rare occasions.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I have no particular advice.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Bliggit Wuppertal

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Bliggit, a pioneering startup in Wuppertal, manages Germany's first universal digital platform that revolutionizes online city experiences. 

The company brings citizens and local providers together, seamlessly consolidating fragmented citizen services such as administration, transportation, banking, and media into a single, comprehensive digital channel. This integrated strategy is designed to simplify user experiences, strengthen community connections, and foster the development of a more efficient, interconnected, and participatory urban setting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire pwrteams to accomplish?

• built up a scalable additional developer Team

SOLUTION

How did you find pwrteams?

Referral

Why did you select pwrteams over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from pwrteams were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

After determining the scope of work with the client, we selected two full-stack developers with experience with React Native, JavaScript, Typescript, Java, Spring Boot, Hibernate, JPA, and RabbitMQ,” says Maria, Client Partner/BDR at pwrteams. “The goal was to secure specialists capable of translating code into compelling features and contributing innovative ideas to advance the project.” 

In this collaborative effort, the appointed developers focused on enhancing the front-end aspects of the platform, ensuring a user-friendly and visually appealing experience. They also took charge of the application's back-end maintenance, implementing robust solutions like push notifications and KeepLocal API integration, which resulted in the availability of digital KeepLocal vouchers within the app. 

The dedicated developers' team assembled by pwrteams assist Bliggit in the following tasks: 

• maintaining and further developing the mobile app using React Native;
• ensuring the platform’s front end is accessible, functional, and user-friendly (TypeScript); 
• optimizing the platform’s background processes (Java, Spring Boot); 
• designing, developing, and testing new features; 
• setting up automated test processes for the application; 
• updating and extending technical documentation; 
• assisting in the optimization of existing development processes and data structures; 
• supporting DevOps and IT operations.

The Results Exceeding anticipated outcomes, the vetted developers' team engaged in the app planning, development, and maintenance processes, empowering the client’s decision-making process. "Even within the confines of budget constraints, professionals provided by pwrteams contributed more than just technical prowess; they infused a visionary perspective that sparked new implementation plans,” emphasizes Holger, CEO at Bliggit. 

“Meanwhile, we retained full control of the project throughout.” The team's dedication and proficiency led to a notable improvement in Bliggit’s team responsiveness. This enhancement was attributed to the team's swift execution of platform improvements, efficient issue fixing, and timely updates, resulting in a more agile and adaptive work environment. 

"Bolstered by two well-rounded specialists who ensure the stability and efficiency of the overall system, Bliggit can continue the further expansion of the platform. With their innovative suggestions for improvement and a proactive can-do mentality, the developers seamlessly integrated into the company, proving to be an ideal complement to drive further success. “We see them as part of our team, as together, we create a genuinely familial relationship,” summarizes Holger, CEO at Bliggit.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We doubled the efficiency by having almost "own" developers combined with the possibiltiy to scale up and down.

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

Everything was on time

What was your primary form of communication with pwrteams?

Virtual Meeting

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

I was impressed by their friendly, transparent, and open way of communication throughout the whole project and the 100% reliablebility.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Tech Lead of March

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Accelerating commercial real estate brokerage by leveraging data and AI to advance the dealmaking process.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire pwrteams to accomplish?

• We were in need of a skilled backend developer-data engineer

SOLUTION

How did you find pwrteams?

• Previous Company

Why did you select pwrteams over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from pwrteams were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

• Developing an internal tool that uses predictive machine learning algorithms to match commercial real estate supply and demand.
• Developing a Web Application that consumes CRM data and Open Geo Data
• User interface that allows filtering on big geo datasets in realtime.
• Building a matching engine that suggest leads or organizations that have a high chance of buying or leasing a property
• Sending proactive mails

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product definition, along with its features, had been pre-determined and delivered within the specified timeframe. We successfully measured the conversion ratios of proactive emails that were recommended by the AI, surpassing the market standards.

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

Thanks to his open communication, he was able to work efficiently and focus on the right priorities, resulting in timely delivery of the project. Additionally, he was flexible enough to make necessary adjustments or changes along the way without any issues.

What was your primary form of communication with pwrteams?

• Virtual Meeting

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

The expertise in existing technologies, coupled with their eagerness to adopt and master emerging innovations, significantly contributed to the success.

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

No, there were no areas for improvement or any notable changes that PwrTeams could have done differently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the Director of QA Engineering at LeagueApps. LeagueApps is the leading youth sports management platform that provides organizations with the technology and professional development they need to operate, engage, and win while also having a positive impact on kids and communities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Nearsure?

We were looking for specific subject matter experts in software quality testing and software development that we couldn't find in the U.S.

SOLUTION

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

Nearsure was selected among others because of its client-driven culture, flexibility in accommodating our requests, ability to find people with unique skills, and human resources working during the same business hours as the majority of our company.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We hired through Nearsure 3 QA engineers and 4 software engineers. And we are interviewing more candidates for more open roles.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We first shared the job descriptions with the account manager and the hiring managers. Then had a virtual meeting to go over the most important factors of what we are looking for. Then we received resumes of potential candidates. The hiring manager would select potential candidates and request the interview schedule.

Depending on the role some candidates would have to take an online or home technical challenge. Then the candidates would go through a series of interviews until the decision is made to proceed with the best candidates.

During the entire process, Nearsure hiring team would put a lot of effort in scheduling candidates and soliciting feedback to deliver what we need.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With SDETs we went from 0 to 93% automation coverage in web apps via Cypress and 69% automation coverage in Mobile iOS and Android native apps via Appium. Our branded apps are updated very efficiently with high-quality results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Nearsure contractors are treated as our equals and embedded with teams. They are part of stand-ups, 1on1s, and all team and organizational meetings.

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

Their diverse inclusive culture and female CEO is impressive.

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

They should train their candidates to ask more questions during interviews.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

SweepBright is a PropTech startup working in Belgium and France. We offer a B2B solution to Real Estate agents so they can focus on what's important. I'm CTO at SweepBright.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We asked Skelia to help us find the best candidate to expand our development team. We needed a solid and trustworthy partner with expertise in HR and outsourcing. The goal was and still is build the right team for the job.

SOLUTION

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

When I started, Skelia was already a partner. They took the time to understand the critical needs of our company and they provided extremely solid and strong engineers. We then decided to continue our collaboration.

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

It's a continuous collaboration. We meet and define the requirements. Then they screen the candidates and usually they involve one of our team members to technically interview them. We then proceed with an internal interview and eventually hire. After, Skelia keeps an active role as HR for all engineers.

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

Currently, we have 4 engineers working full-time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're still building a product so it's difficult to evaluate a continuous project but since we started working with Skelia's engineers, we are improving and consolidating our development process and we released many stable features to our customers.

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

We work using two different models: monthly rate and hourly rate, depending on the flexibility we and the engineers need. We also work remotely. In both models, engineers are usually present at all required meetings and available through Slack during our business hours. In addition to the hourly rate model, the engineers must fill in time sheets to invoice the right amount. Communication between Skelia and us is done using emails and tasks created using Teamwork.

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

They are very practical and honest. Transparency is, without any doubt, a value we both shared. Also, they take the time to learn our way of working and adapt their proposal accordingly when needed. Flexibility is clearly at the core of their business model.

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

None that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of a SaaS company. We work in the public health sector in disease control and surveillance. We help customers with everything from patient intake, investigation, and contact tracing to data modernization and reporting to state and federal organizations. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Nearsure?

We were looking for a way to expand our development team, but it was difficult to find qualified developers in our area — they were often snatched up by huge companies. As a result, we looked into offshore resources and found Nearsure. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve had a discussion with Nearsure about our goals. We’ve explained our needs and expectations, so the team knows about our long-term growth plans. Based on the parameters we’ve set, they hire developers for us. 

Primarily, we need backend developers. They find such resources based on the tech stack we tell them. Apart from developers, we’ve also hired QA specialists and frontend resources through them. 

Once the resources are set up, we onboard them into our team and train them. Since the resources are mostly senior-level developers, we don’t have to do a lot of training. We simply have to get them up to speed on our tasks. 

What is the team composition?

We currently have a little over two dozen developers working full-time. Around 90% of them are backend developers while the rest is split evenly between QA specialists and frontend resources. 

How did you come to work with Nearsure?

We spoke to a few offshore providers and found Nearsure during our early interviews. They were the most responsive and clearest in terms of how things worked on their side. Their pricing was fair, and I got the sense that their service would be good based on our early interactions. I didn’t feel that with the other teams, so we hired Nearsure. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around $1.2 million in this partnership. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Nearsure in December 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Nearsure always brings in top-quality developers, and their process is smooth and easy. They’ve learned the type of people we want in terms of personality. 

Moreover, most of the people we hire from them are with us for the long term. Some resources don’t work out for whatever reason, but most of them tend to stay. In other words, our turnover is relatively low, and that’s mainly because Nearsure has a good screening process. 

How did Nearsure perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is excellent. We primarily use Jira to manage the development team. To communicate, we use Zoom and Slack. The other tools we use include RingCentral and Nutshell. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Nearsure is highly responsive, and they’re clear about what they can do for us and how they’ll do it. From the beginning, they’ve shown us that they want to work with us. I can’t compare them with other companies because they’re the only team we’ve used — we’re loyal to them, and they’ve been so good to us. They’re a great partner. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They do exactly what they say they’ll do and deliver when they say they’ll deliver. I can’t criticize anything about them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Always do your homework. I highly recommend Nearsure. I’ve gotten to know a number of people from the company, and they’re as wonderful as they’re good at what they do. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Engineering in charge of one of the main verticals of the company. Our company is mainly focused on providing parking services for cities, parking operators and venues in many areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The main goal of the project was to rebuild and rearchitect a legacy application that has been around for a little more than 13 years. The legacy application started to show its age and having quite a bit of performance issues. With that, we decided to select new technologies and very a cutting edge language that will allow us to scale and have another 13 years plus with this new software.

SOLUTION

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

The contact with Nearsure was done by a reference from a new employee in the company. The main deciding factors were their ability to find very high-quality personnel in Central and South America that had most of the base skills we were looking for while showing their interest in working with cutting edge technology to create solutions.

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

The scope of the project was to rearchitect the legacy MVC application into a new micro-service architecture using event streaming, gRPC and GraphQL as the base for communication. The project was divided into three major phases:

• The core shared functionality
• Critical Base Services
• Core Functional Areas

Along these phases, the team has been able to deliver the shared functionality on time and have been ahead now delivering some parts of the critical base services. During some of these deliveries, using event streaming with Kafka, GraphQL with Gloo and working with Golang have been items that the teams had to learn and understand in a short period of time.

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

I currently have six software engineers and a UI/UX designer. The engineers are all in a senior software engineer role, while the designer is a product design consultant.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team has been able to ramp-up on the unfamiliar technologies, which was one of the deliverables of main concern and has been successfully completed. The parts of the software that have been delivered are focus on items that will be the base for the other components of the application and to-date those have been done successfully as well.

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

We have a very structured management style that allows the team to spend time trying different and new ways to solve problems while focusing on the goals for the different sections to deliver on time. We heavily use Slack as our main tool for communication while still using email for some communication and Atlassian tools to maintain work organization and documentation.

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

The best part of the company is its flexibility to accommodate requirements to find personnel and the diligence to find outstanding people.

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

Our current interaction with the Nearsure team is solid, and they have done an amazing job. I think at this time, I wouldn't change anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of an HR consulting company, providing candidate assessments, but mainly focusing on providing insights on the application process itself to employees and employers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a completely new platform to be built, including a web application for our backoffice and reporting to companies, and a web application and mobile app for job applicants and employees to provide their feedback. This platform needed to be built flexible and expandable, since the business itself was new and not 100% defined yet.

SOLUTION

How did you select Skelia and what were the deciding factors?

I had some good experience with Skelia previously in my career, and we were not happy with the local development companies that we were working on for this project. So we compared a few local companies with Skelia, and they provided us with the best value-for-money offer.

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

The initial design (data model) was done by us, and from there on, the Skelia team did the complete development in different stages:

All was developed on Azure,

using Azure SQL database, .Net c# backend and React frontend.

First stage:

1. development of backoffice webapp;
2. API and frontend

Second stage:

1. Mobile app development;
2. API and Xamarin for the mobile

Third stage: Web app, using API developed for mobile with React frontend.

We then went into maintenance for a number of months, and entered a new stage for an additional web application in React. So in total, 3 web applications were built, supporting our backoffice, our business customers, and job applicants.

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

7 people in total. We started with a team of 4 developers, including 1 team lead/leade developer. That included frontend, mobile and backend developers. We then ramped down to 2 people, full stack + mobile, followed by a maintenance phase where we had 1 full stack developer. Then ramped up again to 2 full stack developers for a next phase in the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since the initial launch of the platform, we have been able to accommodate for all our customer's request regarding the collection of applicants feedback, without the need for any additional development.

We now have a fully configurable solution in place, which allowed us to quickly ramp up a new service offering, adding a B2C solution to our existing B2B offering.

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

Depending on the phase of the project, we had weekly or daily stand-ups for project follow-up. Additionally, a (bi-)weekly planning meeting with supervising staff to make sure proper resources were available. Very clear and direct lines of communication, either directly via Skype/Zoom/Meet/Teams or via project documentation platform used by Skelia (documentation and timesheet follow-up)

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

Flexibility is definitely a strong point. We asked for a lot of changes during the course of this project, both in functionality and in capacity, and they went out of their way to deliver for us. Their development team is highly motivated and was always available, even after we had ramped the team down to go into maintenance mode.

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

Nothing comes to mind. They are not the cheapest, but deliver very good value for money.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of software for a software management company. We have roughly 12 employees, which includes a mix of development, engineering, and sales resources. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Skelia?

We needed more development resources to make applications more scalable. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle recruiting and manage everything related to employment. We relied on them to source the developers upfront, and they’ve delivered five developers to us.
 The development done is for web apps, using a React framework.

What is the team composition?

They delivered five developers to our team.

How did you come to work with Skelia?

They approached us, and we were impressed with them. They had other clients in Scandinavia, and we felt the risks were minimal in working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $20,000 each month with them on average. So far, we’ve spent more than $700,000 overall.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around January 2019, and it’s an ongoing engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The developers are doing well. They’re integrated into our organization and treated as our own employees.

How did Skelia perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform excellently regarding hiring, invoicing, and follow-up. We have planned meetings; they are always prepared and on time. They use our internal project management tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been great at recruiting candidates and doing follow up. They deliver everything we need.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be extremely clear about the specific type of resource you want for the best chance of getting the right candidates.