Quartsoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the online editor and head of web development of a Ukrainian academic journal.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quartsoft?

We’d worked with two other companies before, but they didn’t work out. The server for our first site crashed in 2007 and we needed a new one for the journal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The website’s function is to demonstrate the journal’s work. We publish manuscripts as well as categorize articles, news, reports, and in-depth reviews. Quartsoft used Drupal to customize our website to facilitate those categorization needs.

For example, each issue is broken down into events, historical figures involved, time periods, etc. The website also breaks things down by author, thematic events, different types of studies, and more. Additionally, we use the website to showcase and sell our published books online.

How did you come to work with Quartsoft?

We were referred to them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We received grant money in 2011 and started working on the website in 2012. The first iteration for the Ukrainian market launched in 2013, while the English, feminist/queer studies, and political sites launched in the fall of 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s hard for an academic journal to gain an audience, but the website has helped us so much. We started with 30,000 unique monthly visitors when we launched the first iteration, but we’ve since increased to 70,000–130,000. The Facebook engagement is in the 3,000-range. We link to our social media from the website. There are also more online subscribers than purchasers of the physical journal.

How did Quartsoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re fantastic with communication. We used Basecamp as well as Skype for more in-depth communication on specific topics.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication and professionalism are their two most distinguishing strengths.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear and detailed outline of what you want beforehand and they’ll make it happen no matter how challenging it is. Having worked with two developers before who didn’t work out, we went into the relationship knowing what we wanted. We had an outstanding collaborative experience working with Quartsoft.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the sales manager of Top World Coins, a company that sells coins. We’re located in Germany.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quartsoft?

We needed a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a custom website for us. Quartsoft came up with all the development and design ideas. We did a redesign last year and started creating a new website in December.

What is the team composition?

I mainly spoke with their project manager.

How did you come to work with Quartsoft?

A friend referred them to us. It’s easy to collaborate with them because they also speak Ukrainian.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2015 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything is okay now. Our clients are really happy with the redesign and always ask us who the designer is. We’re really happy with our website.

How did Quartsoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re available and it’s easy to contact them. We use Skype and phone. There are no problems.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have great communication. Their project manager is available to fix anything that goes wrong within a few hours. I’m happy to be working with them. They’re a very professional team and company.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re always professional and do exactly what we want.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I own a company that publishes content around fitness and health during pregnancy.

What is your position?

I am the president and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QuartSoft?

We needed a site that could have content publishing capabilities as well as have a back-end system that could sync up to monitor and sell retail stock.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

The retail back-end system that QuartSoft initially used was terrible, so we no longer use that, nor the website that they created for us.

The site was built with Magento. It was too large for us, which was part of the problem. I'm now using Shopify, which they did not set up. They had set the site up on Magento with a back-end system that didn't really work for publishing.

Because Magento was so large, the website was very clunky and had a lot of glitches. QuartSoft suggested Magento. They also recommended using a content management system to handle the publishing aspect of our business, but I can't remember what it was.

When I first started with them, we were probably publishing about three articles a week. I remember we had them add a capability to add photo slideshows to articles.

How did you come to work with QuartSoft?

I heard of them through a friend of mine, who had used them for a few projects. He knew the owner personally. I had looked at a couple of different companies and, ultimately, it came down to the company with the best price, and that was QuartSoft.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was in the range of $20,000 to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The site was launched in May or June of 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The back-end of the Magento system was painfully slow, very clunky, and just too large for the business. It made things difficult. I didn't know how to maintain it, so I was paying QuartSoft a monthly fee to maintain it, which was very frustrating.

I wanted something that we could control better internally as opposed to having an IT [information technology] or web development company do the work every month, so I decided to switch to a Shopify platform.

My website's autonomy was a big determining factor for me, and using Magento didn't give me the freedom or support I needed. I know that's outside of QuartSoft's control, but I personally needed to have more control of the website than I had. I did not realize how complicated Magento was going to be.

The majority of my dissatisfaction stems from Magento as a solution that wasn't a proper fit for my business, rather than QuartSoft's overall level of expertise. I believe that Magento was the wrong fit, but I don't think it was something that QuartSoft could have foreseen prior to offering it because they have lots of prior success with Magento.

How did QuartSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn't receive any pieces of defective work. They were good at delivering what we had agreed upon. I personally had issues with the time difference. That was frustrating to me, especially as we got further into the site launch. We had articles not posting, products disappearing from the site, and the site shutting down. All the while, I can't contact them because they are in a different time zone.

What distinguishes QuartSoft from other providers?

Nothing. I don't have a lot of experience working with IT shops, but there isn't anything that stood out.

Is there anything QuartSoft could have improved or done differently?

I think their availability could be improved. Part of that stems from the fact that I'm a smaller business than they sometimes deal with. Sometimes, the language barrier caused some issues, too. I would normally give a directive through email, and sometimes a person with great English would read it but, other times, that wouldn't happen. It was also hard to make phone calls because they were in Ukraine. You'd have to schedule a Skype call.

I also believe that having a designated project manager internally would have been helpful for me because it would have saved my time.

I think QuartSoft is a good fit for people who go in with a very clear idea of what they want or a very clear technical problem that needs a solution. However, if you have a vision, but you can't articulate what you want it to look like, they're not going to deliver that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're located in South Carolina, and we do any kind of software development and digital marketing. Basically, our goal is to provide a way for small businesses to compete with the big boys, as far as quality of design services, affordable rates, and so forth.

We are a software development and digital marketing company, and we rely on the professionalism of our code and our client's site content as well as QuartSoft's design. Then, we take the client website, and we market its contents.

What is your position?

I'm the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QuartSoft?

They work on visual design and functional development on the back-end for our own end-customers. We have a project manager that works with their project manager directly and runs things on their end. We deliver the technical requirements and business objectives, which they then take and build functional components for.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in detail?

QuartSoft pretty much handles all of our development and all of our design needs. They handle any kind of development and design service, other than project management. We'll grab the client and, once we land a client, they do all the design work.

Could you provide a sense of the size of the initiative in financial terms?

I can't give you the actual cost of the project, but their rate was around $50 an hour.

What's the status of this engagement?

I've been with them since 2008, so it's been seven years now. Our partnership is an ongoing thing, and we rely on them heavily.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback from this engagement?

I will say as far as the design work goes, QuartSoft's quality of work is second to none. The design work is the same as what you'll find in a corporate structure, to be honest. They're really good at what they do and, development-wise, I've had no issues.

I haven't done any mobile development with QuartSoft, but I know they've done some platform work as well as a lot of cloud-based work.

Code is code, and you're always going to have bugs in the code. However, during the iterations that we go through, we're able to rectify those pretty quickly through our beta testing. Their code has been right on and it does the right thing at the right time. There's not one single developer at a development company in the world that doesn't have problems. As far as delayed work from QuartSoft, there was none. They always respond within 24 hours. There are definitely some timing issues, but I would say 95 percent of the time, it's due to the customer and not the vendor. Our traffic and our fees for our local franchises doubled, if not tripled, just based on the usability of the design. We have an outstanding design and usability, and it looked great. We're very pleased with those results.

What distinguishes QuartSoft from other providers?

What I consider unique is the way QuartSoft outsources to other companies. They're located in the Ukraine and in the United States. What they do is assign you one guy and a project manager, and that guy is the one that will work with your project, so that way nothing gets lost in the transaction. The quality of their work is also commendable because of how consistent it is, even when they transition resources. Those are my two keys that I really utilize.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you'd do differently?

You can always improve. No one's perfect. As far as my relationship with them, the only thing that would help me is if they had another project manager on the American side. But, that would also increase my cost, so I don't know if that would really help me or not.

There's really nothing I can think of. They do what they say they're going to do. You get the design, they're really honest with their hours, and they'll do mockups. You'll get it back in 24 hours generally.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

QuartSoft's best work is their design work, and you don't need to micromanage. When you micromanage somebody, they're going to do what you want, and not necessarily based off their expertise. Give them free will with your project. Let them have ideas, incorporate their ideas into your project, and most importantly, communicate. If you hire their services, you really need to be in contact with them daily.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a private equity asset management firm in Ukraine, which invests globally in the IT [information technology] sector. I worked with QuartSoft during an initiative that my sister's company started. I helped her manage this project during the development stage.

What is your position?

I am the chief investment officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QuartSoft?

The initial idea was to try to create a pilot project for early Netflix in Belarus, with DVD delivery services. We didn't have the expertise to develop the product internally, so we wanted to partner with a firm that could do so.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in detail?

We started putting everything together by ourselves, and they helped us a lot with the visual design. For us, it was important to work not on a time and material basis, but on a fixed-price basis. The guys from QuartSoft were very flexible with this deal, and I think that in a couple of releases, they actually had negative margins themselves, but finally we managed to agree on everything in a friendly way.

How did you come to choose QuartSoft?

We did our research and found QuartSoft online. They already had a portfolio of similar projects dealing with DVD rentals, including in India, New Zealand, and other countries. They had the platform we needed, and I contacted them, and met with them. They demonstrated some of their technical skills and outlined their development process. I felt confident that they would be a good fit so we decided to give them a try.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in financial terms?

Overall, it was somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project remains ongoing. The most recent milestone was completed last year [2014]. We decided to pivot the project into something different, with DVD rentals being an incentive to buy products and get discounts on the platform we created. This was partially accomplished last year. We finished the design elements in March or April of this year [2015]. We have a scope of work and estimates for the cost of development, but we still need to decide whether we would like to proceed with the development or not.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback from this project?

We didn't do any formal testing or focus groups, except maybe with friends and family. There were no delays that came from their side of the equation.

I don't know if the product is still live because with the level of piracy in online streaming, this project was not viable. From a product standpoint, I think that the results that we had planned out were good. Specifically, I can say that QuartSoft was able to develop a behavioral recommendation engine similar to one that Netflix uses for a much lower cost. It's very important in terms of conversion rate and so on.

We used Basecamp as a platform to communicate back and forth with each other during the development process. We found it to be a very effective tool and it definitely helped us stay on track.

Is there anything that you would consider unique about their practice?

We tried to engage other guys, like freelance teams, and our experience with them was quite bad in terms of timing, quality, and price as well. For us, it's obvious that QuartSoft is a better choice, but this is our only experience with an external developing team.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve as a service provider?

When we did the first release, we had some issues with interface design and usability. It was like a moving target; we kept asking for changes, which then created other problems. It was quite annoying for us. In our new product that we asked them to develop and design, everything was perfect. I think they changed the designer. It was perfect in terms of design and usability. We crosschecked it with New Strategies Group, which is a digital agency and advisor in digital projects, and the feedback was overall very positive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an online retailer. Primarily we sell hunting gear, weapons, red dot sights, and optics – anything you want for a military or civil application.

What is your position?

I am the vice president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with QuartSoft?

I needed a website built to my exact specifications. What I was looking for particularly was service speed. Getting an effective and appealing website up and running as fast as possible was the most important factor. I don't have the technical skills to do this kind of thing myself, so I wanted to hire a developer that could handle that side of the project for me.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in detail?

I had the website already built on a Magento platform. The company I was using was dragging its feet, giving me promises after promises. This had been going on for six months, so all I had was a shell of the website with no content, fonts, or colors that I liked. They were too slow to respond.

When I found QuartSoft, I just gave them what I needed over the phone in a short interview. I gave them information about everything that I wanted done, all the changes I wanted to implement, and two days later the designer had created the mockups of what I wanted. No changes needed to be done, so two days later they gave me the visual of what my website would look like. I thought it was very impressive, in terms of the design.

They continued to work within the Magento platform. I never heard them complain, or say something was impossible to do. They improved on everything that was done already. They made the site responsive, to improve the appearance of the website on any device. I was very impressed.

They implemented everything I requested, like "out of stock" notifications. I have a complex checkout process because we sell firearms, and they had to be shipped to a third-party dealer, so we were able to create this geo-locator for the customer. The customer would go and find the dealer nearest to his house.

How did you come to choose QuartSoft?

It was through some online research. I found them and a few other offshore companies that I was considering at first.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in financial terms?

So far, I believe I invested like $15,000. I don't want to give you an impression that they are too cheap or too expensive because the price was OK with me.

When was the project completed?

The collaboration is ongoing. I would definitely use QuartSoft in the future for any changes that need to be done because they are very responsive. You ask them today, it's done tomorrow.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback from this project?

All the milestones were met, as discussed. Furthermore, they were even ahead of schedule at times. Whatever milestone we set at the beginning, they exceeded it, in terms of completing the projects. We just started working with an SEO [search engine optimization] company that will move us up in organic search results. At this point, I can't share anything in terms of traffic.

They're using this wonderful application called Basecamp for project management, which allows the user and the service company to communicate within the application. Whatever request or to do list I have, I can just go ahead and type it in there. I can upload files, videos, and so forth. All the people who are involved in this project have access to this application. Whenever I send an email, all the team members get it, so everybody is up to speed with what's going on.

Is there anything that you would consider unique about their practice?

What I particularly like is that they have dedicated people for specific tasks. I had only one conversation with the owner of QuartSoft, at the very beginning. There is a project manager who handles nothing but billing, and there is a project manager who handles nothing but changes and requirements. They have a specific person who does nothing but visual design, and they have a specific person that does nothing but functional development. They have a content manager, who does nothing but upload content. That was very impressive because, in terms of content, they managed to upload a hundred pages per day. QuartSoft is based in Ukraine and they are eight hours ahead of us. I set the goals late at night, I'd send an email with all my requests, the following morning I'd check my email and see that whatever I asked for is 75 percent complete. That's another thing I really like about this company. We established a very effective workflow.

In hindsight, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

No. I think they're top of the line compared to my previous experience, when I had to call people and wait three days for them to respond. This is a company I like, and that I'll recommend to all my friends.