Transforming people's digital experiences
We’re a software consultancy located in Latin America and passionate about creating innovative digital solutions and transforming ideas into products that people love. The mobile and web apps we’ve built continue to support the evolution of key industries in the United States and improve people’s daily lives like:
-
farmers, dairy managers, veterinarians, and others who work with livestock so they can better predict and execute production
-
over 3 million Uruguayan citizens who now have easier access to government services
-
B2B SaaS companies who are better positioned to grow their businesses globally and improve internal processes
-
thousands of final users that startups, leading companies, governments, and non-profit organizations are dedicated to helping
Our team of designers, engineers, and innovators has over 8 years of experience working on a diverse portfolio of projects, from launching trendy startup apps to redesigning complex government systems. This is what our clients have to say about us:
“Octobot took time to understand the pain points that I had and how my business works.”
"Octobot was proud of the product, and they wanted it to look great. True ownership over the work is hard to find.”
"The fact that Octobot was willing to adapt to what we wanted was a unique feature.”
"They never failed to deliver what we asked for within a reasonable amount of time."
We're curious about you! And looking for our next creative task. Bring us your ideas and trust we will craft them into exceptional products, maintaining a collaborative relationship throughout, relying on open and clear communication and agile practices to ensure a successful, win-win partnership.
Reach out at [email protected]
Focus
Portfolio
VES Environmental Solutions, Milk Specialties Global, UnitedHealth Group, Periscope, JCPenney, Trivago, COX, Grazianos, Spacebase, COMPAS
Bringing innovation to healthcare platforms serving 50K+ users
Since 2015 we've worked together with a medical care center that provides assistance to over 50,000 patients. Our goal was to help them incorporate digital solutions to their customer attention channels, so we developed and launched apps that make patients and professionals lives easier:
- a web platform for coordinating medical appointments, connected with other services such as pharmacy;
- a mobile application with the same functionalities;
- and a platform for setting up medical exams, from scheduling dates to making payments.
The knowledge we’ve acquired over the last 6 years positions us as a core partner to this prominent health care institution, since we've been able to combine our development skills with our experience working inside their industry.
Boosting cows health and well-being through software
DairyBOS is a barn operating app ideated by VES that helps farms create animal-centered environments, boosting cows’ well-being and productivity. With this system, users can review and control barn conditions such as ventilation, lighting, and temperature from a single interface. Also, they can generate reports and alerts, in addition to checking market and climate information. We’ve worked together to build this cloud-based software with a strong focus on UX/UI, relying on activities like user personas and stakeholder maps to come up with a truly accessible app for every role on the farm.The product’s first version was launched in November and we’re currently working on new features to bring more solutions to barn owners and managers.
Building an innovative dynamic solution for airport management
Aerosimple is a modern, easy-to-use airport operations software that streamlines management functions and contributes to airport safety. Users rely on Aerosimple to make airfield and hangar inspections, report conditions, manage assets and documents, create work orders to fix various issues and track operations. To enable each airport to customize its forms and inspection requirements, we used PulpoForms, our own open-source product for generating dynamic forms. It’s a user-friendly dashboard for creating complex forms and surveys in a simple way. In addition, we used several AWS solutions to create a reliable, cloud application, that is multi-linguistic and can store data locally. For simple and secure sign up & sign in we relied on Amazon Cognito, and Amazon Lex was our tool of choice for building an AI-powered chatbot.
Building a playbook platform for a plethora of teams & organizations
COMPAS is a playbook cloud platform where teams can record operations and easily share, track and execute plays. Startups and global enterprises worldwide have captured and executed 10k+ business actions. It enables teams to record their processes and ensures company knowledge is preserved for posterity. It’s also a valuable tool for tracking results and generating alignment across distributed and cross-functional teams.
As a long-time tech partner, COMPAS came to us to build this custom software product, which was first published in May 2020. In order to create a product that would be easy to access and understood by different business teams, we relied on frequent user testing and our UX design skills to set usability principles and validate changes quickly.
Improving the digital presence of a Fortune 500 multinational
After 40 years in business, the UnitedHealth Group decided to standardize their presence across the multiple web platforms from where they serve over 6 million people worldwide. In order to align their aesthetics and code across platforms, we partnered with them to create a fully responsive framework. It contains CSS and JavaScript-based templates for different interface components, such as typography, buttons, forms, etc. This tool was valuable for their devs to build new web pages and adapt to existing ones, using elements that adjust perfectly to their specifications and making the development process more efficient and simple.
A platform for assisting clients better and faster
Recently, the pharmaceutical company Farmashop implemented a web platform built by us in its 98 drugstores and convenience stores. This software is a key tool used by Farmashop’s clerks to better assist their clients. Employees can access the platform to consult on different products their consumers are asking for and answer their questions, or check clients’ information such as past purchases and active prescriptions.
For building this solution, we put the main user of this platform, the clerks at branches interacting directly with consumers, at the center of our process. We designed a clean, result-oriented app where users can easily look for products and scan information promptly.
This is one of many projects we’ve been working together since 2017, collaborating to generate business results in different areas like finance, warehouse management, and marketing.
Supporting the digital transformation of a leading dairy corporation
We worked with Milk Specialties Global (MSG) in the redesign of a cloud, responsive web app for calf nutrition planning. Based on user provided information about animals and their environment, the system estimates calf growth and the necessary resources for raising calves from birth through adulthood. The progressive web app can be accessed from any device, and is based on a predictive model using linear regression. This 2-months project was led by a team of design and development experts who worked efficiently in sync to transform an outdated desktop application into an easy-to-use digital product with a clean, dynamic look & feel.
Going paperless with a food manufacturing solution
Graziano’s is a restaurant & market chain with 8 different locations in the Miami region. Most of Graziano’s products are manufactured at their own production plant that serves all of their sites, which led them to build a food processing software to integrate and optimize their whole production chain.
We partnered with them for delivering this custom platform that replaced their previous manual, paper-based processes. This food manufacturing platform allows Graziano’s team to manage activities related to different business areas:
-
Product acquisition and fabrication
-
Inventory and warehouse management
-
Quality assurance and traceability
-
Order management and delivery
-
Accounting and reporting
The software's different views and tools allow the business to streamline operations by connecting their professional teams while integrating communication in one tool. Products are brought to market faster and more cost-efficient while complying with all regulations.
Bycle
Bycle is a new company that developed an app to enhance your biking experience. It enable you to use your phone as a GPS and record your ride, while live tracking your route and stats. Then, it allows you to share those videos with your friends and family.
Half of the products is an iOS app that opens when the phone is connected to the bike dock. Working alongside Bycle, we have built the iOS app the client envisioned. By working with agile methodologies and tackling first the hard challenges, we were able to quickly get feedback from Bycle creators as the creation process naturally flowed between them and the developers.
Agronostico
Agronostico is a company specialized in predictions and forecasts services for Agricultural enterprises. They have built and developed models that aim to optimize decision making based on production, satellite and meteorological data.
With an amazing set of algorithms and complex data, they create vast amounts of information for their customers to give them the most precise and up to date predictions for their farms.
The first thing we made was design the UX guidelines through prototypes, until we reached the final product, that is an useful webapp map tool, built with Angular.js and Leaflet. Also a Python Django API was built to provide REST API for better integration.
CommonBytes
Common Threads is an NGO that fights against children's obesity by teaching them healthy programs in schools and communities.
Our clients wanted to improve the experience of those children, schools and families who were already participating in their existing programs, but they also wanted to reach more users, in order to help them.
For this, they needed to make their page more attractive for kids, that's why they contact us. We worked together in order to build the wireframes and base design. An Angular.js webapp was developed to support the content, while the games were created with Phraser.js. Tools for content and user management were developed to ease the work for their staff.
Zealpath
Zealpath helps managers contract new employees. By using case studies they match business job posts with high quality candidates.
Our clients had a clear idea of what they wanted their business customers and users to experience. The site brings all into a single tool that combines experiences from 3 personas in a very clean workflow. Zealpath is integrated with some popular services, such as Stripe for payments, Mailchimp, for transactional email marketing,and Auth0 for user authentication.
Given their technical background, they took advantage of our usual interaction between developers and the client. Quick and productive daily meetings, end up building the solution they desired.
Reviews
the project
Custom Software Development for an Employment Institution
"Flexible and technically adept, Octobot always prioritizes project success. They are very personable as well."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am an IT manager at an employment institution based in Uruguay.
What challenges were you trying to address with Octobot?
We recently with through a collaborative digital transformation with Octobot, which required them to develop a custom piece of software to help manage our different processes. This development represented the core of our institution.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Octobot used Python and Django for the development, and they also provided consulting.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
When we first found Octobot, they were a small company, and we had a very small development with them. Their work was excellent, and after that initial experience we increased our collaboration.
How much have you invested in them?
We’ve spent around $600,000 with Octobot.
What is the status of this engagement?
We began our first collaboration with them in 2013, and we’ve continued working together since.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Octobot’s services have always been excellent. The developments they’ve done for us have brought great benefits to our institution. Additionally, not only is our institution happy, but our users and clients have also provided great responses to the platforms.
How did Octobot Perform from a project management standpoint?
We’ve always had a very close relationship with them. They’ve shown great involvement in all our projects. Flexible and technically adept, Octobot always prioritizes project success. They are very personable as well.
What did you find most impressive about them?
It’s hard to choose just one aspect. Octobot has great technical skills and they also have a great ability to understand the needs of their clients.
the project
Web Design & Full Stack Dev for Venture Capital Firm
"Their team was responsive to our changes and supportive of them."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
IPV Capital is a venture capital and private equity firm. I’m an associate, so a junior member on the investment team.
What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
We wanted to revamp our website to make it more professional and attractive.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Octobot built a completely new website. We had an existing website for them to work with but their team developed the new platform from scratch.
Octobot initially sent us a mood board with several different themes. We chose one of the themes for the website and then they started designing the product. Their team sent us PowerPoint presentations throughout the process, so we made edits to different sections of the website during the design and development phases. We finally launched the website four months later.
After developing the website, they built a data room where users can access files about our company. Users can create accounts and then enter our digital file repository where we can upload files such as tax records and presentations. Users can download these files. Octobot built the whole backend ecosystem supporting it.
What is the team composition?
Guillermo (CEO & Co-Founder) was our main point of contact, but we worked with 2–3 of Octobot's software engineers.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
We found them through referral. One of our partners at the firm was familiar with Octobot because his professional contact used their design services and was satisfied with them. We decided to work with them based on the strong referral.
How much have you invested with them?
For the website project, we spent around $20,000. The data room was an additional cost. We had a lot of back-and-forth changes for the data room, so it probably amount to $5,000–$10,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started the project in January 2020 and launched the website around April 2020.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We came to them without ideas for how we wanted our website to look. All we knew was that we wanted it to be simple. Octobot came to us with several different ideas and several different layouts, which blew us away. The website’s design impressed us.
When we had ideas, their team was willing to work with them. Throughout the project, Octobot was willing to come up with new ideas, which surprised us.
How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?
We communicated via email but also had video chats during which Octobot presented their work in progress. Throughout the project, we communicated about every other day.
Octobot was super engaged and helpful throughout the whole process. We had them make a lot of changes to the templates, and their team was always open to different ideas. They were open to our constant back and forth. Their team responded quickly and did quick work.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their responsiveness was phenomenal. We came to them with a lot of different changes and updates. Every time we made a request, Octobot was open to it. They were never frustrated by our constant changes in direction. Their team was responsive to our changes and supportive of them.
Are there any areas they could improve?
It’s hard to find an opportunity for improvement. If I could make one recommendation to them, I would say that their team could’ve presented more ideas on how the website could look. They could’ve brainstormed additional thoughts, layouts, or ideas.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
I would recommend working with Octobot. Present your ideas but also give them room to think of the best way to execute the project. Be communicative about how you want to structure the website but let Octobot handle the design. They will give you a lot of unique ideas.
the project
Web App for Dairy Company
"The team is stable (no frequent switch of team members) and very tightknit and the communication is always on point."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
Milk Specialties Global creates high-quality ingredients designed to optimize health and nutrition. The human nutrition division focuses on industry-leading whey and milk protein isolates, concentrates, and hydrolysates. The animal nutrition division is a leading supplier of functional fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.
For what projects/services did your company hire Octobot, and what were your goals?
Marketing our products to our clients by creating a web app where they can simulate the outputs of our products to see the difference compare to competing products. These tools also help our clients achieve their calf weight growth goals by generating accurate output models of the product depending on the condition.
How did you select Octobot and what were the deciding factors?
Octobot was able to meet us on the timeline and budget that we had allocated for the product. We also went through a couple of recommendations from Octobot's previous client and received very positive feedback.
Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.
The project was to implement the following
- Replacement of the legacy calf-growth toolkit
- Design a web app that can use browser/os agonistically
- The app should be able to work PWA on mobile devices
- A major portion of the app should be able to function offline
- Dedicated customer workspace for testing using our products
The project followed an agile approach with releases every week and meetings scheduled accordingly with a focus on step-by-step feature implementation. PHP, Django,Azure
How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
Octobot's team has the following structure
- Project manager X1
- Business Analysts X1
- Web Developers X2
- UI/UX designers X1
- Systems/Technology integrator X1
Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?
We have achieved 100% of functionality and feature that was initially requested. Octobot's team was very flexible and proactive with our requests and understood the requirements. The feedback from business users and clients is very positive and the Marketing team is very excited to use the tool.
Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.
An agile approach to the project with a proactive approach was vey helpful Tools -Slack -Emails
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
The team is stable (no frequent switch of team members) and very tightknit and the communication is always on point.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
More visibility on the Internal Agile process of Octobot
the project
Digital Development for Medical Association
"More than a service provider, Octobot has become a partner to us."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the IT manager at a medical association in Uruguay.
What challenges were you trying to address with Octobot?
We needed IT support.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We were looking to renew our IT area so we counted on their help. We worked on all online services for our clients with them as digital partners.
What is the team composition?
It has changed over time, but usually, we work with two or three people.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
We did some research on the local market. They were referred to us so we contacted and interviewed them. We had a first test project with them and from then on they became our partners.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with them around 2015 or 2016.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
More than a service provider, Octobot has become a partner to us. They have gone beyond meeting our expectations and have provided an added value to our services and to our brand. We are very happy with their work.
How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?
We are in permanent communication. We usually use Slack, and when needed, we have Skype video calls. We are based in different cities but that has never presented any issue, the communication has been excellent. Every week we establish sprints for the week together and they always meet everything in a timely manner.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We have our own developments and work with other service providers’ developments. Octobot has had an excellent interaction with these third service providers, so their performance and interaction with not only us but our other partners has been excellent.
Another thing I would like to highlight is that they have women working in their team as developers, which is something hard to find in the IT industry.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I couldn’t say anything, they're constantly improving.
the project
Development for Customer Data Solutions Company
“Our team finds them to be honest and transparent partners.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We have two sides to our business. One involves attribution and advertising campaign to offline attribution. Our team helps agencies and brands determine whether or not their campaign efforts are driving customers into stores, creating conversions. We also have a mobile app that allows customers to take control of their personal data to sell it directly to brands and agencies, sharing the progress. I’m the VP of product.
What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
We wanted to enhance our development team with additional engineers and leadership for the engineering team. Ideally, our partner would be in our time zone as well.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They provided us with engineers to help support and lead both our attribution campaign system and our data-centric mobile app. Their team made use of React and Django Python.
What is the team composition?
We worked with three people from their team.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
Their tech stack and focuses are identical to ours. We put one of their engineers on a small two-sprint project as a test of the shop’s capabilities. He did an amazing job with communication. That’s what convinced us that we needed to hire them. We knew we could be comfortable with a team of three of their engineers working with us.
How much have you invested with them?
We spend about $20,000 each month with them.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in May 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They’ve greatly improved the speed, predictability, and quality of our development efforts.
How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?
Their engineers act as an extension of our team, working on our sprints and using our communication tools. The communication factor has been a non-issue on our projects together.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Our team finds them to be honest and transparent partners. When leveraging more junior engineers to help on our projects, their team always provides them the support that they need to be successful in our work. As a customer, I don’t need to worry about that, which is greatly appreciated.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I can’t think of anything.
the project
Product Development for Technology Solutions Company
“I don’t believe we would have gotten this experience from another firm.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the co-founder of Cloud IT Guru, a technology solutions company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
My company wanted to develop a product. We needed to hire a development company that could understand our product idea and take it to production.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We already had the product’s user interface, design, and mockups, and we provided all of this to Octobot. They developed our product using Python, PostgreSQL, AWS, and Docker containers.
What is the team composition?
We work with two Octobot team members.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
We evaluated a lot of companies on Clutch, and Octobot’s reviews were very good. In our interview with Octobot, they expressed interest in our product. We wanted to implement a complicated product architecture, and Octobot understood these needs better than any of the other vendors that we considered.
How much have you invested with them?
My company has spent $60,000–$90,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in September 2018, and the project is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The product came out much better than we expected it would. We’re very happy with the way the project has gone.
How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?
We followed an agile development methodology. Octobot managed project deliverables with Pivotal Tracker and Slack, and we had no communication challenges. We had weekly calls to discuss progress, and the same Octobot team members were always on the call. The team was open to answering questions and sharing information.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I don’t believe we would have gotten this experience from another firm. Octobot took the time to understand our user interface. We admire their proactive and detail-oriented team.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I haven’t found anything for them to improve. They have a very good understanding of the system, and they make customer service a top priority.
the project
Software Dev for Pharmaceutical Company
“The team’s quick thinking enabled them to provide fast and precise solutions.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work for a pharmaceutical company that operates drugstores located all over Uruguay. We are the number one chain in the country.
What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
We needed to implement a new system for replenishment planning and demand planning. Before this engagement, we many different systems. We had to make them interact to accomplish our goals. We hired Octobot to develop an SD so we could own the data and centralize all the information.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Octobot developed an SD system for demand and replenishment planning. It aggregates data from all our separate systems into a central location. During our first engagement, Octobot developed a platform for input management.
What is the team composition?
The size of the team from Octobot changed according to our needs. I interacted with five people including the CEO, CTO, a project manager, and two developers.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
We sent our project and specifications to a few vendors. Two previous companies had been unable to finish our project according to our requirements and within our deadlines. Octobot had been successful during our first project together.
What is the status of this engagement?
We first worked with Octobot on another project last year in 2017. This new project started at the beginning of 2018. They're still working with us and providing ongoing platform maintenance.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We surveyed all of our internal teams that were involved in this project and asked them how to rank the suppliers we used. Every one of them ranked Octobot as first place. Factors we took into consideration to rate vendors included response speed, analytical skills, and comprehension of the project and our goals.
One thing I especially appreciate about Octobot is how easily they offer accurate solutions to the problems we pose. Their work was simply excellent.
How did Octobot view perform from a project management standpoint?
Octobot was highly committed to finishing their work on our schedule and met every deadline. They used Slack to communicate with our team and quickly replied to all our requests. We also used Redmine as a project management tool.
The team responded to us immediately and were available even after hours. There were no issues on their side. Our communication was always fluid, and our collaboration worked perfectly.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Octobot’s greatest strength is their capacity to understand what the client needs. They have an impressive analytical capacity and understood the workflow right away. The team’s quick thinking enabled them to provide fast and precise solutions.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Honestly, there wasn’t anything negative about our engagement with Octobot. They could always extend their working hours, but they were flexible with us about working outside the set schedule.
the project
Various Dev Projects for Full-Service Creative Agency
"They never failed to deliver what we asked for within a reasonable amount of time."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We are a full-service advertising agency with five global offices and around 500 employees. I work in our connected experiences team, which creates and manages everything that touches the internet. My role within that team is development director. I oversee the execution of all the visual properties and user experiences we design.
What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
We worked with Octobot to build our own website. They refreshed our former one, which was about four years old.
What was the scope of their involvement?
At our request, Octobot used WordPress as our CMS and platform. We had some familiarity because our previous site was built on it. We explored a few options, but settled on WordPress. Their team hired a WordPress specialist to accommodate this.
We worked with them on about a dozen other projects. The technologies ranged from HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, to iOS app development. We’ve also done some API work with a workflow management tool called Workfront.
Another large project used a JavaScript library. It was developed for a site that used a 360-degree camera to give a virtual tour of an indoor space.
What is the team composition?
From the hours report Octobot gave us, we worked with five or six developers. The developers were all based in Uruguay, but our main point of contact, the co-founder, worked from Minneapolis for most of the year. He was in Uruguay for the first month of the project. Outside of that, he came onsite for meetings and reviews. We had the team from Uruguay on videoconference.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
We had worked with them a lot before this project, so they were a proven partner. Compared to our other options, the price point was also excellent. Otherwise, we would have had to acquire internal development resources or pay twice as much to use a similar local development shop.
Because of our history with Octobot, we knew that they were a good partner who would accommodate our timeline and functionality changes. They also had great attention to detail. We could resend designs and wireframes, and they would implement the functionality and design immediately in very high fidelity. With other remote teams, that can be a long, frustrating cycle of reviews and revisions. We were very happy with the work Octobot did for us in the past. That largely influenced our decision to use them for this project.
How much have you invested with them?
For this project, the cost of their work has been $50,000–$80,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
It’s an internal site, so employees have many opinions on it. We started talking about it internally in October or November 2017. Octobot effectively began developing the site in March 2018.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We got excellent internal feedback. Everyone in the agency loved the way it looked and functioned, which I largely attributed to Octobot’s attention to detail. They implemented our visual designs at a high fidelity. When we ran into issues, Octobot proactively suggested alternative solutions and enhancements, which we implemented quickly.
We supplied wireframes, designs, animations, and other pieces of functionality for visual implementation. Once we started development, some of those elements proved impractical or simply clunky. Octobot usually brought those situations to us with a potential solution and an estimate of how long its implementation would take. Working with them was exceptionally valuable.
In many cases, their alternative solutions were excellent fixes. Our team could have devised them on their own, but the fact that Octobot could make those suggestions was indispensable. They already had roadmaps for building them, which expedited their path.
How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?
They were very good partners, and flexible with the changes we dictated. We used to communicate with them on Slack. When our company shifted away from it, Octobot didn’t skip a beat. We continued to use email and other tools.
We gave their co-founder access to Workfront, our internal workflow management tool. He seamlessly communicated through that tool, using it in coordination with Octobot's internal project management tools. It was great to have their co-founder as a local resource. We got the best of both worlds, with face-to-face conversations to hash things out, plus all the benefits of a remote team.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their key strengths were their flexibility and ability to execute whatever we threw at them, often on very tight timelines. They never failed to deliver what we asked for within a reasonable amount of time, even if it was beyond our initial goal. They were either early, on time, or gave us a heads-up that they couldn't meet a deadline. They were always upfront about the feasibility of those timelines and deliveries. They often hit deadlines early, which was always a bonus.
the project
Platform Dev for Digital Government Agency
"Things that took other providers a month to complete takes Octobot a week."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I work at an electronic government agency that belongs to the Uruguayan presidency. We manage the country's digital agenda—everything related to e-government—and help citizens to have access to more services.
What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
We needed to develop our electronic ID platform.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Octobot used Python and OpenShift to develop a multi-factor identification platform. It was completed on time and launched in January 2018 for production, and the number of users has exponentially grown. We now continue working with them for developing new features and mobile apps for Android and iOS.
What is the team composition?
They assigned four developers, an architect, and a security advisor.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
All state hires are based on public tenders. The government evaluates potential vendors by basing 70% on the technical capabilities and 30% on their prices. Octobot did very well on the technical side and offered a better price than the company that matched their skills.
How much have you invested in them?
We’ve spent around $200,000 so far.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working on them in September 2017. We’re on a contract or six more months, which will be renewed for an additional year.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The number of registrations to the platform grew by 300% thanks to their work. Octobot was also great at meeting deadlines. Their quality and efficiency matched the other companies we’ve worked with before that have a lot more time on the market.
How did Octobot it perform from a project management standpoint?
We use Slack and email for communicating and have meetings every Tuesday. The speed at which the project has progressed is amazing. We haven’t had any delays, which we know is complicated, but they’ve managed to pull it off.
Octobot has also been flexible and understanding whenever our priorities change regarding scaling their resources. When we decided to launch the product in January, we reduced their working hours and increased them again two months ago, which they haven’t had any trouble with.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Things that took other providers a month to complete takes Octobot a week. Their capacity to adapt and take on new technologies really called our attention. They’re also very proactive and agile.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I can't think of anything at the moment. We are very happy with them.
the project
Software Dev for Restaurant Chain
“Octobot took time to understand the pain points that I had and how my business works."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We own steakhouses and markets in the Miami and Weston areas. I’m the CFO [Chief Financial Officer].
What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
We needed software developed for our barcode system.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They solved the issue that we had with barcode software. We can now centralize our meat purchase as well as baked goods and pastries. We have everything in a single barcode system. They took what we had and made it cloud-based, using Amazon Web Services, to make it more stable. They provided me with the real-time reporting that I needed.
What is the team composition?
There were 3 people working on the project. I had a primary contact and weekly calls with the team. They worked in sprints, so every week we had deliverables.
How did you come to work with Octobot?
We have an IT company that handles the infrastructure of the restaurants and markets. We had some challenges with the system that had been developed for us two years ago and when talking to the IT company, they mentioned Octobot.
I had a conversation with Guillermo [CEO and Co-founder, Octobot] and the team in Uruguay and I felt very comfortable with them. The sprints helped build that comfort level because you aren’t just giving them the requirements and not seeing anything for two or three weeks.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started with this project in late August. We finished the core of it in November, but it’s ongoing because we’re including recipes and adding other features.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
After we went live, if there were any issues they reacted very quickly. The feedback has been very positive. Our operators are not very tech savvy and they found the new software to be more user-friendly and better for productivity. Before, scanning would take 30–45 seconds per barcode when doing the shipping. Now it’s immediate, and it’s the same for the inventory. We now save one FTE [full-time equivalent] per year.
The system is also more stable and reliable. I feel more comfortable looking at the data and not having to work out if the information is correct. Before the system, we had some downtime where users were experiencing freezing and frustration with the software. Now that’s gone.
How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?
They were hitting the deadlines throughout. They have a project management tool they use for the sprints, which I thought was very good. We had a weekly call and had open communication at all times. If there are any issues, we would Skype or FaceTime to get things going. We would send them videos, they could look, and work around any issues. We have a time difference, and if they have to work later hours they did. I was very pleased with that.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Usually, there’s a big disconnect between the programmer side and the business side. Octobot took time to understand the pain points that I had and how my business works. We are in the food industry so products expire and there are different measurements we use. One of the team came from Uruguay to spend some time with us to understand our business. They understood the business side and were able to provide different ways to do things.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I think they could continue to tighten up the weekly deliverables in order to keep their promises.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Make sure they use the sprints. This was the first time that I dealt with a developer that did. I found that it worked very well for us.
Internal stakeholders are pleased with the delivered development, as are initial users. The client praises Octobot Perform for their commitment throughout the nearly 10-year-long relationship. They understand requirements and client needs well and have demonstrated strong technical skills.