Pretius

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Eurocash is the biggest Polish company that deals with the wholesale distribution of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). It operates over 1500 stores under its Delikatesy Centrum brand and is affiliated with several other well-known brands, such as ABC, Lewiatan, Inmedio, Groszek, Gama, and Euro Sklep (some of them are partner stores or franchise stores, others are controlled directly by Eurocash).

In 2005, Eurocash made its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. My name is Małgorzata Bąk, and I’m the IT Projects Manager at Eurocash.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Eurocash wanted to create a platform for the franchisees gathered under the Delikatesy Centrum brand. On one hand, it would allow the employees of Eurocash to quickly and easily publish various content for the franchisees (bulletins, contests, industry news, and so on).

On the other hand, it would provide the franchisees themselves with a set of useful tools for creating financial reports, gathering customer statistics, data on employees, etc

SOLUTION

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

Pretius had extensive experience with various types of software – including CMS systems – and with enterprise-grade software development. After performing an in-depth market analysis and comparing the experience of various vendors, we decided that Pretius was the best choice for this project.

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

Pretius created a brand new Delikatesy Centrum portal based on a well-known, free CMS solution Liferay. The software includes both web and mobile apps, as well as integrations with SAP and Atlassian Jira. The entire infrastructure for the system is cloud-based and uses Microsoft Azure.

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

1 Project Manager, 1 Business Analyst, 2 Lead Developers, 3 Software Developers, 1 DevOps Specialist and 1 Tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to the new portal, sharing promotional content with the franchisees of the Delikatesy Centrum brand became much easier for us – we don’t need developers to add new content. And the franchisees themselves can use the platform to gather and compile useful data. The software accommodates our needs very well.

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

I was in constant contact with the Project Manager from Pretius. We communicated via e-mail, Microsoft Teams and Atlassian Confluence.

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

The thing that impressed me the most is how accurately their software answered our business needs – we got precisely what we wanted.

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

None that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

T-Mobile Polska S.A. is a Polish branch of the international T-Mobile brand. It’s one of the largest mobile phone operators in Poland, with over 11 million customers. I am the IT Manager at T-Mobile Polska S.A., and I am responsible, among others, for overseeing the collaboration with external software vendors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Pretius?

We wanted to improve the sales processes at T-Mobile Polska S.A. At the time, we were using three different systems, which made the processes unnecessarily complex (especially when onboarding new salespeople). On top of that, adding new functionalities meant that we had to shut down the systems for some time, and, obviously, such downtimes were problematic for a company that wanted to scale up. That’s why we decided to refactor our systems’ architecture and, in fact, develop a whole new, custom CRM solution.

SOLUTION

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

I knew some of the people at Pretius personally as we had worked together before. Because of that, I was familiar not only with their experience in software development but also with their knowledge of how enterprise systems work.

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

The development team at Pretius created a new CRM system that replaced all three solutions which we had used before and became the cornerstone of T-Mobile’s sales process. The system’s technology stack is pretty broad: Java, Node.js, NGINX, Angular, ECMAScript, OracleDB, PostgreSQL and more. What’s important, the new system is based on the OSGi framework and microservice architecture, therefore, each of the 350 modules works independently and can be updated without the need to shut down the whole system.

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

It was a big, enterprise-grade project, and during the development process, we had worked with 1 project manager, 2 business analysts, 1 software architect, 8 software developers and 2 software testers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new CRM system is based on c. 350 modules, uses over 20 various technologies and is integrated with 12 other T-Mobile systems. It enables us to implement new features and projects quicker. Pretius provided good quality of the development and had a broad knowledge of T-Mobile systems architecture. We decided to continue further CRM system development with them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Thanks to the efficient flow of information and very good coordination of work on the part of Pretius and T-mobile, the work was very effective. We used Confluence for documentation and JIRA for planning / logging workhours for communication.

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

The most important thing about Pretius is that they care to understand your business goals. And, having a bunch of enterprise-grade and SME-grade projects under their belt, they’re very good at it.

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

The experience gained on a very large and complex project always gives you the feeling of doing something better or different. Here too, a few things could be changed, but they are not big elements.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Emitel is a leading TV and radio broadcast infrastructure operator in Poland with over 50 years of experience and over 500 transmission towers across the country. At the time of project start, I was the IT Director at Emitel, responsible for managing all the company’s ongoing and new IT projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When you’re selling broadcast infrastructure, the process of managing your clients and maintaining their installations is pretty complex and demanding. We had a CRM solution to help us with that, but this software was not fitting our developing needs needs and it was difficult to add new features to it. We decided that it was high time to develop a new system.

SOLUTION

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

We already knew the Pretius team as they had developed a smaller system for us before. Because of that, we were familiar with their experience in developing business applications for the telecommunications industry. That and a comprehensive offer made Pretius the winner of the tender.

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

The new CRM project, called CRM 2.0, aimed to improve our existing processes and introduce a few new features. The main features were quick search for every client, browse through the details of every project, review contracts and invoices, generate charts with financial reports, new user rights and authorization model (to make it more secure), and more.

Also integration with our other systems, was an important goal since it helped automatization of processes. When it comes to technologies, mostly Java (Spring framework,Apache Solr) as backend, AngularJS, and Oracle database.

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

1 project manager, 1 business analyst and 4 software developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I had left the company during the project, so I was not there when the final product was delivered. During the project, we were pleased with the quality of Pretius development services. As far as I know, Emitel and Pretius still work together, maintaining the software and adding new features. The most critical number I can share is the current length of Emitel and Pretius's collaboration – 8 years.

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

We worked in a waterfall model and the whole development process was managed by a project manager from Pretius who informed me, as the IT Director of Emitel, about the progress on an almost daily basis. The communication was very good.

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

What I like the most, as the IT Director, is that the people at Pretius care not only about technology itself but rather about how this technology can help your company achieve business goals.

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

Nothing that I can think of right now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

T-Mobile Polska S.A. is the Polish branch of a big international company with roots in Deutsche Telekom Group. The firm provides telecommunication services for over 11 million customers, being one of the largest players on the Polish mobile telephony market. My name is Renata Kania and I’m a Senior Security Awareness Specialist at T-Mobile Polska S.A..

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Purchase department of the Polish T-Mobile branch wanted to automate the process of buying and storing hardware provided to clients (smartphones, routers, etc.). We wanted to have easy access to all the storage information – for example the availability of certain models of smartphones in our hardware stock. Another important thing was making sure that the offer presented to the clients was competitive with the current market prices.

SOLUTION

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

Pretius created some other pieces of software for T-Mobile Polska S.A. before – for example a complex CRM system. The collaboration between both companies is longstanding (over 9 years), so this software house was a natural choice – especially since the project required dealing with similar issues they’ve wrangled with in the past.

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

Pretius created a new software solution that allowed T-Mobile to automate nearly the entire purchase process. The application monitors the company’s hardware stock and analyzes the current prices on the market using the BuyIn API.

Based on predefined Key Performance Indicators, the system undertakes purchase actions, buying the hardware when it’s most cost-effective. The application uses several different technologies: React JS, Java, Spring Boot, PostgreSQL, Liquibase, MyBatis, Lombok, JUnit 5, Apache.

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

It wasn’t a small-scale project. 6 Developers, 1 Team Project Leader, 1 Analyst, and 1 Delivery Manager were involved in it from the vendor’s side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The software allowed T-Mobile Polska S.A. to save money by basing purchase actions on predefined KPIs and the actual market situation. As a result, it allows T-Mobile to offer its Polish clients top-notch hardware at attractive prices, thus, making it easier to keep existing clients and attract new ones.

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

The first part of the project was created in a Fixed Price model, but there were some Agile elements to the process. Later on, the development was continued in a more Agile fashion. Throughout our cooperation, we used tools such as Jira, Confluence and Microsoft Teams to communicate.

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

Pretius has quite a few huge, enterprise-grade projects in its portfolio. I believe the reason for this is that they go the extra mile to understand the partner’s business goals and do what they can to provide a software solution that meets these goals. They’re also willing to provide long-term support and help if needed.

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

Nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

EBS is a Polish company that creates security and business automation solutions. We have over 30 years of experience, as well as offices and partners on 5 different continents. My name is Piotr Blaszczyk and I’m currently working at EBS as a Technical Leader of a Development Team (R&D Director).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

At EBS (or our subsidiary company Active View, to be precise) we came to realize that our software doesn’t fully meet our business needs, especially in light of our plans for the future. We wanted to extend the profile of provided services, make some changes in the sale structure, improve customer support and change the customer experience.

Before creating and implementing new applications, the first step we took was to look for someone who could carry out a complex business analysis and design the new system’s architecture for us.

SOLUTION

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

Pretius has a lot of experience in dealing with big, enterprise-grade companies like ours, and some of us worked with them in the past. They offered us very good terms and quickly proved they knew what they were doing.

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

The Pretius team carried out a complex business analysis and then used it as a basis for creating a new functional specification and designing the software architecture. The Active View 2.0 software will be based on GCP (Google Cloud Platform) and all functionalities will be enabled via that technology (e.g. the product catalog, price lists, and so on). The system will be comprised of a number of different modules and complimented by a mobile application called ActiveTrack Mobile.

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

The team that worked with us consisted of three people: 1 Project Manager, 1 Business Analyst, and 1 System Architect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Now, with the new software architecture designed by Pretius, we can really start refurbishing Active View software. The architecture was designed in a way that should allow EBS to achieve the planned business goals.

The role of the Technical Support Department will be limited thanks to the introduction of Account Managers to the process. The system’s structure and especially the complimentary ActiveTrack Mobile application will enable our company to change the emphasis of our business from selling hardware to offering software solutions. Also, all of it was designed to offer the users a better experience overall.

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

It was a small team, so there was no need to overly complicate things. The role of Project Manager was often fulfilled by other members of the team. We’ve used emails, telephones, and Microsoft Teams software to communicate.

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

The Pretius team was very dedicated and meticulous. They’ve proved they have a keen understanding of our needs and business goals.

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

“None”.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A. is the Polish affiliate of the BNP Paribas international banking group – the 8th largest bank in the world. In Poland, BNP Paribas Bank offers its services to 4 million individual and business clients. I am the Head of Bancassurance and Partner Service at BNP Paribas Bank Polska and, among others, I am responsible for the collaboration with external partners such as Pretius.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The beginning of this software project is connected with Sygma Bank – a bank that later merged with BNP Paribas. Sygma needed a custom solution for settling sales commissions because the whole sales process was based on a network of intermediaries and, thus, it was pretty complex.

What is more, in the following years, Sygma Bank would merge with 2 other banks (BGŻ and BNP Paribas) and if the new software solution proved efficient, it would be used in the merged bank.

SOLUTION

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

The project was put out to tender. Pretius won as they had previous experience with developing sales commission systems as well as with enterprise-grade software development.

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

Pretius used their custom, pre-made Pretius Sales Commission solution as the basis for the new software, thus, making the whole development process a lot faster. The new software (integrated with more than 10 of our existing systems) automatically calculates the commissions for every intermediary, based on a set of predefined variables. It allowed us to speed up the whole process, lower the costs, and lower the risk of human error.

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

1 Project Manager, 1 Business Analyst, 4 Software Developers, 1 QA Specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After the 3 aforementioned banks merged under the BNP Paribas Bank Polska brand, we had to choose which software solution to use for settling sales commissions. We chose the system developed by Pretius and, as BNP Paribas serves 4 million clients in Poland, I think it tells you how outstanding is the quality of the Pretius’ software.

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

The communication throughout the project was very good as Pretius provided us with a Project Manager who always addressed our needs. For day-to-day communication we used Slack and for tracking the progress of the development we used the Atlassian suite (JIRA and Confluence).

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

The most impressive thing was how quickly they developed a fully working, market-ready software solution for us.

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

none

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Philip Morris International is the world’s leading tobacco company engaged in the manufacture and sales of innovative smoke-free products. I am the Digital Manager at PMI’s affiliate in Poland and I’m directly responsible for the technical development of IQOS Club – the local loyalty program for the users of IQOS smoke-free alternative.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Philip Morris International was planning to introduce smoke-free IQOS products in Poland. In order to raise brand awareness, we decided to develop a loyalty platform called IQOS Club. The biggest challenge was working between multiple systems and linking highly complex processes.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for a company that was proficient not only in traditional “high-code” development (like Java, MySQL, cloud) but also had experience in solutions with fast time-to-market (WordPress, Oracle APEX). Pretius had a considerable reputation in both of these fields so we contacted them. During initial talks, we confirmed that the reputation was well-deserved and, thus, we decided to establish a technological partnership with them.

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

Pretius developed a new loyalty platform consisting of two parts: a back-office part for the PMI team and a portal for the IQOS users. When it comes to technology, we used Java, MySQL, JavaScript, WordPress CMS and the whole new platform was integrated with plenty other systems used at PMI. What’s very important, the Pretius team introduced cloud computing (AWS) and microservice architecture (Kubernetes), making the new platform highly scalable.

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

The development team from Pretius consisted of 10 people: 1 project manager, 2 business analysts, 1 project team leader, 5 software developers, and 1 software tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I cannot provide any numbers but the rapid development of the IQOS Club loyalty platform allowed us to successfully raise brand awareness. Final result was satisfactory so we decided to continue the partnership with Pretius. They are responsible for the maintenance and further development of the platform.

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

The project was developed according to the principles of the Agile development framework Scrum. For communication with the development team, we used tools such as Slack, Confluence and Jira.

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

Usually, you can either get a high-quality software solution or have it developed fast. However, thanks to choosing the right technology, the Pretius team was able to provide us with a fully working platform in a relatively short time.

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

None