OTAKOYI

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at ACARiS. We build and sell AI-based camera systems for animal healthcare surveillance; we primarily work with horses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OTAKOYI?

We needed to engage an experienced development team who could help us redevelop our mobile application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

OTAKOYI has refurbished our original mobile application to improve its functionality. The application is compatible with iOS and Android, and the team has redesigned parts of the UI/UX and redeveloped the frontend using Flutter. Although they’ve helped redevelop the backend in PHP, our team has primarily owned that piece of the project. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with back- and frontend developers, DevOps developers, and a business lead. 

How did you come to work with OTAKOYI?

We found OTAKOYI through a referral from a friend.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with OTAKOYI since June 2022. We’re close to completing the first stage of the project, but we plan to continue working together for the foreseeable future. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

OTAKOYI has delivered the project perfectly on scope, and we’ve been pleased with the quality of the features. They’ve hit our targets and done a great job; I have nothing to complain about! 

How did OTAKOYI perform from a project management standpoint?

OTAKOYI has executed the project plan flawlessly. They’ve effectively kept track of timelines and delivered features within the proposed time estimates and budget. The team has responded promptly to our requests and maintained contact with us 24/7. We’ve used Signal to manage the project and stay in touch. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been most impressed by OTAKOYI’s professionalism and forthcoming nature. The team has remained engaged throughout each project stage and resolved issues quickly, even when they’ve been outside the scope. They’re also really friendly and we’ve appreciated their level of dedication to the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing OTAKOYI could improve on. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

OTAKOYI is very professional and they know what they’re doing. I advise communicating your requirements clearly so that they can deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business unit manager of an IT services and consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OTAKOYI?

Our company didn’t have any mobile app developers in-house, so we were looking for someone to supplement our mobile app development efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

OTAKOYI helped us build and develop a mobile shopping app on iOS and Android. It’s a marketplace app that presents and catalogs products accurately and provides users with relevant information.

The app is yet to launch as the client is in the midst of deciding whether they should migrate their platform from Shopify to Magento. As of now, we’re still working with the team on multiple projects.

What is the team composition?

For this project, we worked with an Android developer, iOS developer, QA engineer, project manager, and technical manager.

How did you come to work with OTAKOYI?

I already established a professional relationship with OTAKOYI from my previous company, so we called them up once the opportunity to develop a mobile app made itself available.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our general feedback on the collaboration is the quality of their work is quite satisfactory. They help us accomplish our clients’ requests and get the right people involved in certain projects with specific needs.

How did OTAKOYI perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well from a project management standpoint as they have excellent communication skills and are very proactive when it comes to delivering our needs. We typically interact through Slack and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Apart from their level of technical expertise, we like that OTAKOYI doesn’t underestimate their tasks and they try to fully understand the scope of the project. They also have a very customer-centric approach, which enables them to be present during client meetings.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if they could take the initiative and propose more projects to the client, and be more proactive in suggesting different solutions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have the necessary requirements and decide which ideas you want to put forward. Not only will OTAKOYI deliver from a technical perspective, but they will also be very honest and transparent with the process and technology they’re going to implement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there? 

I’m a project manager for Plusonex, a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OTAKOYI?

We were looking for a new company to finish the development of the website for one of our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided them with the existing code of the website. They did the front- and backend development to complete the website. Some of the technologies they used were React, Node.js, WebSocket, Chakra UI, and Google APIs. The platform was created for a car company.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with 3–5 developers, a QA lead, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with OTAKOYI?

My boss did the hiring.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $200,000–$999,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2021–February 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The OTAKOYI team delivered the product we requested, but there were some speed and quality issues. They took on every challenge presented to them but struggled with some of the more complex aspects of the project.

Our company would still resolve some of the issues prior to launching. Our client wasn’t happy about the delay. However, it was a pleasure to work with the team. They just need more experience to move from the intermediate to senior level.

How did Otakoyi perform from a project management perspective?

The project manager was concise and clear about what needed to be done. We used ActiveCollab for ticket creation and assignments and Coda.io for technical documents. We had strong communication with them, and they asked for clarifications whenever necessary. We communicated through daily standup calls and Discord. We also used Google Translate to resolve the initial language barrier.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

The team was respectful and kind, and I appreciated that they didn’t challenge my judgment.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were instances where the same task had to be sent back to them several times from QA to be fixed. The developers need to be more detail-oriented. Rather than relying heavily on QA, they could’ve ensured that the functionality and UI they produced were complete and accurate. Their team should’ve taken their time in finding and resolving bugs by themselves.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prior to starting the project, make sure communication is good and that the team is comfortable approaching you with questions and concerns.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Lead Front-end Developer at a prop-tech scale-up where we intelligently advertise clients properties with AI

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Early 2020, I inherited an old teams worth of frontend work due to shifts in company priorities, due to the constant influx of deadlines from other parts of the company, I was unable to adequately finish off the work in a reasonable time frame and required some extra hands to assist with some of the deliveries

SOLUTION

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

The main deciding factor was the size of the team, we considered a freelancer, but we figured this would eventually lead to the same bottle neck issues

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

Creating lead optimized landing pages + ad sets for GMP and Facebook networks for advertising campaigns we run on behalf of our clients. Mainly in JS/CSS/HTML.

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

5+ people so far:

•  several project managers
• 1 account manager/business development
• 2-3 web developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had a consistently good feedback from clients and more importantly, it has freed me up to manage more aspects of the companies frontend, which was the biggest desired outcome in hiring Otakoyi

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

During projects, we communicate daily via slack and their project managers are very responsive when it comes to answering questions and giving/receiving feedback for ongoing projects

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

The speed vs quality is great. We have very short deadlines at times but OTAKOYI does their best to accommodate this.

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

Overall I am pretty happy with the standard of work we receive from Otakoyi

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an IT project manager for an international tobacco company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OTAKOYI?

We hired OTAKOYI resources to develop a system. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

OTAKOYI developed a web-based app for us. The team handled everything from front- and backend development to integrations — the app was integrated with pretty much everything. They also worked on its UI/UX design. Their resources built the wireframes based on conversations and requirements. Moreover, OTAKOYI also advised us around certain features we wanted to include in the app. They also worked on guiding us around different ways of implementing such features.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one frontend developer, one backend developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with OTAKOYI?

We went over several vendors. The vendor we chose wasn’t OTAKOYI; it was another team that outsourced the work to them. For context, we had a working relationship with a company that was then dissolved. I trusted the lead architect of that company, so when he told me that the resources they were using were good, I took his word for it. That was the start of our engagement with OTAKOYI.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent approximately $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from November 2017–March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The web app that we built with OTAKOYI was stable, and few bugs were reported by users. In other words, the project was successful, especially considering the complexity of the integrations in the front- and backend. 

Moreover, end users could utilize the platform seamlessly; it was robust — people wouldn’t have used it if it wasn’t. Overall, the project was extraordinarily done. We even used an external resource to test the system, and it passed the test. 

How did OTAKOYI perform from a project management standpoint?

OTAKOYI’s project management was good. They met deadlines. In fact, they delivered weeks ahead of the final deadline. In terms of tools, we used Jira and Confluence for the project’s documentation. To communicate, we used emails and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The resources we used from OTAKOYI were great at their job. On top of that, they were extremely humble and easy to work with — they knew better than us as their client, but they still worked based on our requirements. If I had a chance to work with them again, I’d do it in a heartbeat because of how good they were at both the personal and professional levels. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

During our engagement, I requested them to speak up and voice any concerns that they may have so we could have a discussion. Since they were the experts in the field, I needed them to tell me if our ideas were bad or if we could do the project in another way. We wanted the relationship to be more collaborative instead of just giving them our requirements. 

To be fair, this simply indicated that they were truly humble. In any case, they took my request and started doing it; they improved later in the engagement. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Working with OTAKOYI is easy. You simply have to ensure that the team voices their concerns and provides their ideas. That way, you’ll get the most out of your collaboration. The team has many ideas that are way better than their clients'.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

a recruitment media, services and technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Otakoyi helped us migrate from WordPress to a new, custom CMS based on Laravel on the back-end and Vue.js on the front-end. Our goals were to increase scalability (ability to handle traffic, larger database, and improved deployment time) and integrate our websites with our CRM and other third parties through APIs.

SOLUTION

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

We talked to several agencies around Europe with an emphasis on the Ukrainian market. We went through a discovery phase with another agency and collected tenders and offers from others. All-in-all, Otakoyi were cheaper, showed strong technical capabilities as well as flexibility in their commercial and organizational models. It was an easy choice for us.

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

Analysis and production of the business requirements documentation Start preparing AWS and the new hosting architecture Development of custom CMS Migrate current data to new CMS Develop user account and account portal CRM API integration

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

1 Business Analyst, 1 Project Manager, 1 Full-stack dev+tech lead, 2 Frontend devs, 1 UX designer, 1 DevOps specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have now successfully launched our website and we see improvements across board, new account signups are coming in stronger than expected and we're ready to scale up our product development on this new platform we've built together with Otakoyi.

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

We could choose how we would like to set up the PM, workflow and communication, they are flexible in this regard.

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

They have a huge amount of talent and depth technical knowledge.

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

Overall we're very happy with the partnership but once there were some minor miscommunications on the PM side in regards to timelines.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an online travel agency called Owayy, and we’re located in Denmark, Copenhagen. We focus on offering unique accommodations in Nordic countries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with OTAKOYI?

We wanted to do a custom solution for our site that would be more scalable than the current solution we had in WordPress and WooCommerce.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide us with full-time front- and backend developers to complete the custom solution on our site, with the goal of improving usability on our platform. Their tech stack includes Node.js and Vue.js. We've recently launched the project, and we'll continue to develop new features with the team.

What is the team composition?

We work with a couple of front- and backend developers, and we’ve also been involved with their CTO. We also collaborated with their project manager up until we got our internal project manager.

How did you come to work with OTAKOYI?

We found OTAKOYI through a contact who also outsourced work to them. They set us up so we went to meet the team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested approximately $125,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in September 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve successfully launched the project two weeks ago so it’s hard to share any metrics right now, but they've been able to stick with our budget. However, we could say that OTAKOYI produces high-quality work, and they’ve enabled all our required features to function well. On top of that, we’ve been getting a lot of customers on the site, and they seem pretty happy with our platform. Overall, we’re very satisfied with their performance.

How did OTAKOYI perform from a project management standpoint?

We have good communication; we usually have weekly meetings, but we change it to daily meetings during our busy season. We're using GitHub and Trello, but we’re now moving everything to Jira. Additionally, we communicate through Slack, Skype, Google, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very accessible to us because it only takes an hour and a half to get to them. Above all, OTAKOYI is always online so they’re available anytime we need them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They were a little slow on delivery before and we had a little problem with their project manager. However, as soon as I told them about that, they were quick to find a replacement. At that time, we didn’t get to choose or see our project manager’s background before we were matched with that person. We would’ve liked to have met the team before starting the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d recommend them to others, especially for startups because they offer good pricing and quality. Since they’re highly accessible, customers could frequently ask them for change requests.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the marketing director and handle all of our digital presence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was created on wordpress in 2014 and has since had many facelifts, but the cosmetic changes were not overcoming the issues with speed. We had started to receive a large amount of traffic to our blogs and we were upset that we did not have a better ui to convert those users. We hired them to redevelop our website from zero - but keeping all of our blogs in-tact so that we could capitalize on our traffic.

SOLUTION

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

The CEO approached me on linkedin looking at expanding into the Japanese market. When the timing came around - I reconnected with him to discuss a larger project which we are now in the process of developing. But as a first step we decided to try to have them redevelop our main school website. We looked at their previous work and the reviews from other clients on this platform and other websites.

After speaking with them, it became clear that their processes were very professional and streamlined, allowing us to feel comfortable in taking the first step with them towards development.

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

First we had a series of meetings to discuss needs and the initial project scope, then they got back to us with an initial estimate for a discovery phase to determine our scope and develop a clickable prototype. This was great because it allows us flexibility. And the planning stage has a deliverable in the form of a clickable prototype.

After the discovery phase was completed we were able to collaborate visually and see the finished look of the website before the development phase began, that saved considerable cost and we were very happy with that result.

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

We worked with an account manager, several developers and a main project manager. The main project manager invited us to a shared collaborative workspace and he handled 95% of the communication and client needs, which was very convenient for us. They were always communicative and speedy in terms of their reaction to problems and getting things fixed quickly.

If anything did go wrong, it was fixed within an hour or two usually, depending on the complexity of the need - small things were fixed in minutes.(During business hours)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just launched the site so will have to update this later - but having this new website allows us to directly book sales appointments at a higher rate and we are converting much more of our blog traffic into inquiries.

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

Communication was great, we had a shared workspace using slack and the main project manager had weekly zoom meetings to discuss progress and show off the prototype. When the development phase reached its later stages - we were able to login to the development environment and add changes to thinks like marketing copy directly ourselves which was nice.

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

Everything. Normally when you see a company with a great design portfolio like Otakoyi, there is a tradeoff. They provide a level of support and design intelligence and quality that is more than our expectation. This for what we were quoted by other vendors in the market. They have a collaborative design process and they listen well and can react and interpret client needs quickly.

They also fix things quickly whenever they go wrong. Highly recommend them.

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

When we launched, we forgot to communicate a few things about having a shared wordpress file directory. This was partly our fault - but when doing a deployment, they could double check and force the client to pause to make sure nothing will get broken. Again, this was mainly our fault. :D But yes, other than that pretty prefect.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a Blockchain-consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired OTAKOYI for front-end work for a project of ours.

SOLUTION

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

In fact we where ghosted by the company we agreed on working with and choose to work with Otakoyi on a last minute decision type of thing. Was a good decision ;-).

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

OTAKOYI build a progressive web app with a given design in FIGMA. We used Vue.js and Nuxt,js.

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

We were working with at least 7 guys and girls from OTAKOYI. Developers, Project Managers and the boss of course ;-).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were overall very satisfied with OTAKOYIs work. Given the fact we really came in extremely late they did a fantastic job, working day and night to make up for the mess the other company left us with.

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

We had daily meetings where the work of the day was being discussed and the day before was evaluated. All timelines were met.

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

I think the most impressive was their willingness to really go the extra mile. And this covers all ranks: From coder, to project manager to the boss himself - they were available all time.

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

The QA could be improved, but that was a minor slip, no big deal.