Plexteq

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO/CTO of Baseline Energy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Deleloping an Energyspeedometer that shows the power consumption and more to the consumer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Developing a scalable and stable real time IO platform used for the Energyspeedometer
• Develop software needed in the Energyspedometer harware
• Develop an Eneegyspeedometer APP to be used togetther with the hardware

SOLUTION

How did you find Plexteq?

Online Search

Why did you select Plexteq over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fits our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Other

How many teammates from Plexteq were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

REAL TIME PLATFORM A real time platform for power comsumtion data was developed. It receives data from several different IOT devices and delivers the data to the Energyspeedometer hardware and to the Energyspeedometer app. The IOT devices are providing power data from the power meters or from solar inverters. 
ENERGYSPEEDOMETER DEVICE Plexteq was especially involved in pairing the device to wifi and the software needed for integration to the backend. ENERGYSPEEDOMETER APP The app is used to pair the hardware to the backend, and to present the real time data from the backend. Plexteq develop the app with all features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Highly scale able Real time backend was working as specified Pairing with the Energyspeedometer 
• hardware was a success and performed to be nicely working 
• Energyspeedometer app was deliverer with the specified features in a professional way

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

The team responded nicely to our needs and delivered mostly on time. Some parts was delayed due to unforeseen issues, but nicely handled by the team. There has been a lot of highly appreciated initiatives to how we can improve the solution, and really dig diving in to special issues we had. The team members has always been there keen to help to solve the problems that we faced in the development, managed in a professional way.

What was your primary form of communication with Plexteq?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their way to stay on to fix difficult issues, and the wide competence in the company. This makes the days much more easy for the product owner when you have a team you can trust on to deliver was is specified even if there can be some hard bumps on the road to a finished product.

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

-

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of Engineering for Wing. Wing is a mobile telecom reseller in the US, providing low cost mobile service through all of the major networks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Plexteq?

We hired Plexteq for ongoing help with DevOps engineering and support for all parts of our infrastructure.

SOLUTION

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

We came in contact with Plexteq through Upwork. They submitted a very reasonable proposal for a job listing for a Devops Engineer. We interviewed their candidate who we deemed had sufficient skills, experience, and professionalism for the role.

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

The project included designing, building, and deploying of new infrastructure as well as maintenance and support of existing infrastructure. The infrastructure is primarily hosted on AWS using ECS, EKS, SQS, Postgres, Cloudfront, Lambda, etc. and is managed through Terraform.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

Plexteq sent a proposal for the job posting on Upwork, including a resume of their proposed candidate for the position. We set up an interview with the candidate during which we reviewed the candidate's job history and experience and asked a series of technical questions to assess the candidates understanding and skills with specific technologies. After the interview process, we brought the candidate on for a trial period of 30 days during which he did very well! So we decided to continue working with him and Plexteq.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

New components of the infrastructure were successfully built and deployed, existing infrastructure was fine-tuned, including adding monitoring, identifying areas of concern, ensuring security and continuity of the infrastructure, and always working to make the infrastructure work as smoothly as possible.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very effective. Their contractor attended daily standup meetings, provided regular progress reports, and delivered work in a regular and timely manner. Any needs or issues were promptly communicated and resolved.

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

Everything was very easy with Plexteq. They had exactly what we needed, continued to bring great value to the company over time, and were no drama at all. They were also very professional throughout, acting like a true partner to the company during our period of collaboration.

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

There were a few times where the skill level for tasks was slightly less than desired, but in general, much better than most DevOps I have worked with. Other than that, nothing could have been done better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO of a cash flow modelling software company headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We engage Plexteq on three fronts:

1. to further develop our mobile platform
2. enhance associated automation capabilities in the cloud
3. help build our latest project involving a progressive web app experience

SOLUTION

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

We searched online and interviewed the company twice via both our CEO and CTO. Plexteq was selected based on their track record, and considered approach towards well-structured software and focus on applying appropriate frameworks to tackle each software challenge.

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

We have a long standing and ongoing relationship with Plexteq. The team has been involved with a wide variety of projects, ranging from highly specific UX tweaks, to significant complex new cash flow logic features and across major and ambitious engineering goals to upgrade and strengthen our overall framework approaches. Projects typically involve both iOS development and cloud-based automation tasks.

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

We have interacted with a consistent senior Project Manager over time and his fellow iOS programmer. In terms of additional resources, we have also relied upon back-end programmers via the Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a longstanding and ongoing relationship with Plexteq over the past 5+ years. Projects are often on time and only occasionally extended with excellent justification. Extension of time and cost usually reflects on our lack of accurate specification provided to Plexteq from the outset. Plexteq manages all instructions with the utmost degree of detailed diligence and care.

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

The project manager is usually available to speak on phone or email or a preferred chat channel according to our team preferences.

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

The ability to hit the ground running with legacy code and navigate a series of issues while delivering essential progress.

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

More frequency of interim reporting may be welcomed on some of the largest projects (e.g. 6+ month timescales).

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former CTO of a real-time events platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Plexteq?

Our platform was quite complicated, so we needed C++ developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Plexteq helped us with custom software development. They built it using a highly complex tech stack. The team primarily used C++, which required a lot of very low-level coding because it involved elements like delivery networking, packets, videos code, and so on. 

The platform's main feature was real-time livestreaming.

What is the team composition?

At the peak of the project, we were working with five people, including three C++ developers, one QA specialist, and one core DevOps engineer.

How did you come to work with Plexteq?

We were struggling to find the developers we needed for the project and were attracted to their values.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January 2017–October 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measured the success of their work at the end of every sprint, and they did quite well. Plexteq was a team of intelligent people.

How did Plexteq perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good. In terms of tools, we used Jira, GitHub, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They felt like our teammates and not outsourced resources. Overall, Plexteq did an excellent job assigning the right team members to the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We weren't always aware of what was happening internally in their company, so I wish they were more transparent with their work. Plexteq could've also given more weekly or monthly updates.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of a health tech company. We make software that is both patient-facing and provider-facing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Plexteq?

We were encountering significant challenges with our previous software developers, specifically in terms of technical competence and communication. I needed somebody who could take on the role of fractional CTO and help clean stuff up, so I hired Alex (CEO & CTO).

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we needed to conduct an operational audit on the code. We have a couple of web apps and a patient-facing mobile app, all of which we wanted to tie together in the backend. However, we were having a few challenges with our previous vendor when it came to getting everything out the door smoothly. The first thing Alex had to do to wrap his arms around the projects was to understand the DevOps work of the previous developers and find the source of technical, workflow, and operational challenges. He was then tasked with fixing things from there.

We're not currently developing products as we're more in the initial commercialization stage.

What is the team composition?

We worked exclusively with Alex.

How did you come to work with Plexteq?

I found Plexteq in a couple of places including Upwork. One of the things that attracted me to Alex is that he had the experience and the know-how to look at the entire system and see where our challenges were originating from. He also graduated from one of the top computer science universities in Ukraine, so he had the background we were looking for.

We had initial conversations around how he would tackle the project and the way he presented himself reassured me that he could handle the problems that we were facing.  I basically handed the keys of the kingdom over to him. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $40,000–$55,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking in the middle of February 2021. I'm not doing as much work with them right now since we're in the commercialization phase, but we’re going to ramp up again pretty soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our previous vendor had left us in a really tough situation to the degree where I was going in and fixing issues myself. It was an absolute nightmare. Multiple medical clinics that we had signed agreements with while waiting for our mobile apps to launch, but these had been delayed significantly. 

Alex hunted down no less than 20 issues ranging from simple mistakes to fundamental obstacles. In terms of tangible outcomes, he basically helped us save face with our customers. Him coming in, getting his hands dirty, and fixing problem after problem has really helped us get our offerings out so that our partners could get started with their patients.

What I got back from Alex made sense, was thorough, and at least showed that they've gone through the process of figuring out what the workflow is. They provided documentation for how they were going to do the standard operations which was the first big hurdle. 

How did Plexteq perform from a project management standpoint?

We were very unstructured when he came into the scene, so our arrangement was for him to basically come in and make fixes where necessary. However, we did have some form of project management. We were working with Jira and had roughly defined sprints to try to stay organized even though, in reality, the priorities changed every day as new information came in. We also had daily stand-up meetings and communicated through Slack.

Alex was very responsive and very much on board with the team goals. He understood the high urgency of our situation. At times, when he had his hands full, he offered to bring in additional resources, which we refused because we only wanted to work with him.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Alex’s competence was the best part of working with him.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Alex was the right choice for this project, but we’ve found that we want to do more work and at a quicker pace. Since he’s a higher-level professional, we might need to hire junior to mid-level engineers to run the process he will oversee. Having said that, it would be nice to have him come down to work with mid-level process management. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Bring the right level of work. Plexteq is a group of real software engineers, so it’s important to bring in something that is challenging, interesting, and fit for their level.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of R&D for an IT company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Plexteq?

We hired Plexteq to design and develop adapter libraries, the adapters that are outside of our core technology, Symphony.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Plexteq built a system that integrated with our product. They primarily developed the backend using Java and Tomcat. They also worked with RESTful APIs and created other APIs so that vendors could integrate with our core technology.

The project has evolved to include different components.

How did you come to work with Plexteq?

A friend that previously worked with Plexteq introduced us.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent approximately $500,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the project in July 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been tracking Plexteq’s progress throughout the agile development process. I have no qualms about their work or the quality of their work.

How did Plexteq perform from a project management standpoint?

They have performed pretty well. The team fell behind a few times due to complexity and learning curves, but they tried their best to catch up.

We wanted to have everyone work in the same location, so we moved our team to Kiev to ensure we had the right supervision.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were a pretty dedicated bunch of developers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on communicating their progress. Providing updates throughout the project instead of waiting until the end of the scrum would be helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a good project manager to stay on top of tasks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of OnlySky Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ecommerce and pos software for ski area management

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Improve system performance
• Improve application scalability
• Modernize application stack
• Take over the software development

SOLUTION

How did you find Plexteq?

Upwork

Why did you select Plexteq over others?

Skills and Experience

How many teammates from Plexteq were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We retained Plexteq at a time when we had released our dev employees and the dev effort was in crisis. They came in confidently and began to work closely with our product manager to reevaluate the roadmap and prioritize tasks using Kanban. The stability of the system improved dramatically, as did customer satisfaction, and we moved from bug fixes to new features. Their responsiveness to customer requirements helped us stand out in the market. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

number of customer complains

number of successful transactions

customer retention

system uptime and speed

MRR

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

We used a Kanban board for project management. They adhered to the priorities, and delivered on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Plexteq?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They think about issues and problems all the way through, so their proposed solutions are complete and thorough.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering for a company that provides mobile payment services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Plexteq?

We needed support with a high workload in native code and DevOps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Plexteq provides us with support in native code and DevOps. The team handles operational tasks like deployments.

What is the team composition?

We work with two teammates from Plexteq.

How did you come to work with The Value Engineers?

I don't remember, but one of their consultants was already working for us when I started.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Plexteq in May 2023, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our co-workers have positively evaluated the teammates from Plexteq.

How did Plexteq perform from a project management standpoint?

Plexteq delivers on time. We communicate via email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We're impressed with Plexteq's eagerness to get things done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

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

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CTO of a B2B Startup offering fully managed open source softwares

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Plexteq?

I hired Plexteq to create complex linux shell script to automate deployment of open source softwares

SOLUTION

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

After a quick interview I was confident that plexteq had the skills required to the project

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

I made a screensharing with Plexteq team to explain what was required and provided few samples of work already done. Plexteq helped to create custom deployment scripts for 50 open source applications on our platform

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

Alex Moskvin did a great job as project managed, we where also in contact with 2 devops from their team

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the requested task where completed, we are quite happy with the outcome

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective communication over slack / phone

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

They had a lot of skills related to Linux, Bash, and Open Source. 

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

English level could be better, but skills are more important ;)