Railwaymen

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of a food and beverage company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Food and Beverages 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Building food ordering app

SOLUTION

How did you find Railwaymen?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Railwaymen over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Railwaymen were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We started working with Railwaymen in May 2023 with initial discussions. In July, we began a design workshop that laid the groundwork for the development phase, which began in August and lasted until January. After the development phase, we entered the pre-production phase in February, leading to the current maintenance phase.

The project presented several significant challenges. The first major obstacle was integration with the POS system. The POS supplier encountered problems configuring the test environment, representing a potential delay. However, our project manager took direct control of communication with the POS supplier, which allowed us to resolve the issue and keep the project on track smoothly.

Another challenge arose regarding the payment gateway selected during the workshop phase. In the middle of the project, the payment gateway provider unexpectedly suspended services to small and medium-sized businesses. Thanks to the Railwaymen team's quick response, we quickly identified and integrated an alternative payment gateway, ensuring the project continued without significant disruption.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At this stage, it's still too early to share specific project outcomes, as the app has yet to beIt's still too early to share specific project outcomes at this stage released to a broader audience. However, our expectations are optimistic based on our collaboration with Railwaymen and the extensive work we've put into this project. We're confident the app will deliver on its objectives and look forward to seeing the results once fully launched.

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

Communication between our team and Railwaymen has been flawless. We discuss all current issues via Whatsapp and email, and once a week, we hold a project call together, where we summarize our work progress. These concluded that all tasks were to be delivered on time. 

What was your primary form of communication with Railwaymen?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

While working with Railwaymen, we encountered various challenges, but they always exceeded our expectations. Their communication and quality of work are the best.

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

Their consistent performance and commitment left no space for improvement in our cooperation. I am confident that they will maintain this exceptional standard in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Business Excellence Head of a coffee trading and manufacturing company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

F&B company specialises in speciality coffee trading and manufacturing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build a B2C website as an online store

SOLUTION

How did you find Railwaymen?

Referral

Why did you select Railwaymen over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Other

How many teammates from Railwaymen were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Design and development for the online store from scratch with content management system and integration with sms, payment services providers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project resulted in notable improvements such as significantly faster website browsing speeds, enhanced user experience, a reduction in payment rejections, and a decrease in technical issues encountered by users.

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

Their project management was generally on time, especially when the scope was well-defined. However, there were occasional delays due to ambiguities and changes in requirements. They were responsive to our needs, addressing issues promptly when they arose.

What was your primary form of communication with Railwaymen?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

This company's standout quality is their unwavering commitment to innovation and user experience through design thinking methodologies.

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

It was highly beneficial for the team to visit our country and observe our business processes firsthand. However, it would have been even more advantageous if this had been arranged prior to the project's commencement. Additionally, during the requirement gathering phase, considering the client's perspective for each feature could lead to even more effective outcomes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Security Analyst of an information technology company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Matchmaking for Cybersecurity

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Website Development
• Web Application Development

SOLUTION

How did you find Railwaymen?

Referral

Why did you select Railwaymen over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Flexibility

How many teammates from Railwaymen were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We partnered with Railwaymen for our website and web application development, and we're pleased to share our positive experience. Railwaymen's project approach struck the perfect balance between flexibility and structure. 

Their adaptability allowed us to accommodate changing requirements while ensuring a clear project roadmap. At the beginning of our journey, we didn’t know yet where our business model was heading, so we needed an open-minded partner that could adapt on the go – which we found in the collaboration with Railwaymen. 

This was backed by the SCRUM-style project management, which kept us on course and ensured timely progress. Another very positive aspect, was Railwaymen’s proactive mindset. They didn't just execute our ideas; they brought fresh, innovative suggestions to the table. Their ability to introduce new concepts enhanced our project significantly. All in all, this helped us to thrive based on an eye-level partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As we were working according to Scrum, we measured the success in terms of delivered stories and epics. Overall the finalized website and web application.

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

Railwaymen's project approach struck the perfect balance between flexibility and structure. Their adaptability allowed us to accommodate changing requirements while ensuring a clear project roadmap.

At the beginning of our journey, we didn’t know yet where our business model was heading, so we needed an open-minded partner that could adapt on the go – which we found in the collaboration with Railwaymen. This was backed by the SCRUM-style project management, which kept us on course and ensured timely progress.

What was your primary form of communication with Railwaymen?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Another very positive aspect, was Railwaymen’s proactive mindset. They didn't just execute our ideas; they brought fresh, innovative suggestions to the table. Their ability to introduce new concepts enhanced our project significantly. All in all, this helped us to thrive based on an eye-level partnership.

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

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder of the company FreshPay is an idea that aims to streamline companies' payroll operations. In creating our initiative, we had in mind to equip accountants, bookkeepers and offices with a tool that will facilitate their daily operations and help them scale. That's why we decided to work on a software that would make existing accounting processes easier by automating processes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our biggest challenge in working on the project was to communicate the developed vision in such a way that the final product meets all our expectations. We asked Railwaymen to help us transfer the existing processes carried out by our company to the network, in order to facilitate the existing work of those responsible for accounting. We did not expect that the activities we have been implementing so far would require such a meticulous approach to application development.

SOLUTION

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

During the Discovery Phase when we gave the brief of what we were looking for, Railwaymen came back with a wireframe that immediately realised our vision. A step by step wireframe showing what each step should potentially be was shown in a way that really demonstrated their understanding of what we required the software to do. This and our initial conversations were of a much higher standard than other developers we spoke with

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

We started working with Railwaymen in March/April 2021 when we set expectations for the upcoming work for our partners. To this end, we held a workshop together, which helped us develop a system of work. We specified specific tasks based on the results of the Discovery Phase conducted by Railwaymen in July 2021. After completing all the necessary steps and obtaining HMRC certification, we moved on to releasing the final product to the world in April 2022.

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

The project evolved in terms of team size depending on the stage of work. Throughout the full work on FreshPay, the team consisted of 1 Product Manager, 1-2 Front-end Developers, 3-6 Back-end Developers, 1-2 Quality Assurance Specialists, 1-2 UX/UI Designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very happy with the application and its overall look. We had a vision of what we wanted the payroll application to perform but not really a vision as to how it would or should look. Railwaymen has really brought our vision to life in a way we were not able to visualise.

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

We agreed on the communication between our teams based on our time capabilities and the degree of progress on the project. We communicated via popular instant messaging, emails, phone calls and video meetings.

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

Working with Railwaymen has been a very great experience for us. Our business partner showed us support at every moment of the project. We felt that we were able to develop the right thread of understanding, so that every member of the team could share their insights on the FreshPay application under development.

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

At this point in time, I don't see elements that need improvement by Railwaymen employees.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner/founder of an educational consulting company that is focused on collegiate athletics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

When I started Underdog, the website was a simple, informational webpage I built myself through Wix. I reached a point where I wanted to evolve to an interactive platform for my clients online and Railwayment came highly recommended through reviews, past projects, etc. for what I was looking to do!

SOLUTION

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

I searched web developers that used the same backend language for what my research told me I needed to use to be able to create the platform functionality that I was looking for. The deciding factors were cost, past project experience and then just the overall interaction through the consultation phase.

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

Kickoff Meeting - they really asked the right questions to make sure I was thinking of every angle, user, function and so they understood my idea/end goal in its entirety. Bi-monthly meetings to review progress, ask questions, make changes, etc. with wireframes & mock design platforms.

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

I believe there were 3 during the development phase that interacted with me but more worked behind the scenes. There was a Project Manager, Designer and Developer on each meeting.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The end product was exactly what I envisioned and even more than I would've caught/thought of on my own. The entire team was fantastic to work with and each one truly took a strong interest in their role with my project.

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

Very responsible, willing to present ideas & challenge thought processes for the overall benefit. Not just yes-men

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

The way the team really invested in my project to ensure the most success and satisfaction. I think that's hard to find these days with B2B or even just in general.

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

No complaints or even hesitations with this group. Will be using again on future projects!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Alco Company has been providing its customers with high quality network, telephone and data security services since 1997. We cooperate with companies located in the European Union, but we also focus our activities on the market of the Scandinavian countries. Since 2015, we have had the opportunity to design and scope software systems for Premier Is. We act as a kind of link between the company's stakeholders and representatives of the partner company responsible for software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our business partners decided to work with Railwaymen to affording the traveling salesmen a CRM-esque tool supporting the customer retention and salesman supervision processes. To this end, appointment management, sales data (from other bespoke systems), and customer feedback were key to a successful implementation.

SOLUTION

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

We have recommended Railwaymen to our partners because this company had come to our attention. After interviewing Railwaymen, we recommended Premier Is to enter into cooperation with Railwaymen, which resulted in a joint agreement.

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

The beginning of the project dates back to April 2021. We developed a prototype with key requirements and UI which was to be implemented, and further we set up a Docker environment which made it possible for all parties included to follow and interact with the development and implementation. Finally, we set up staging and production environments for Railwaymen to utilize in their efforts to offer the solution. These deliverables were enhanced and adapted by Railwaymen.

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

The team on the Railwaymen side consisted of 3 people. One of them was responsible for taking care of the project and held the position of Project Manager. The other two were directly responsible for development. Each of the employees was open to any suggestions and showed great commitment at every stage of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Premier Is employs a seasoned sales force which certainly has to be accounted for when implementing a new process for planning appointments, and supervising salesmen’s performance. Together with Railwaymen, we have influenced these processes and helped Premier Is management digitalize the customer retention process.

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

The communication between our entrepreneurs was on different levels. The contact was held through social messengers (e.g. Slack), e-mail, phone calls and video chat. The frequency of communication was adjusted to our needs.

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

Worthy of note when working with Railwaymen is their professional approach to the work. We've felt their support at every stage, so we know we're working with an experienced technological partner. This also translated into the final result of the project, which matched our expectations.

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

At this point of time, I don't see an area that needs improvement on the part of Railwaymen.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder a UK based FinTech providing full funding of customer invoices within 24 hours, with the right conditions. Our mission is to build a bridge between a business and its customers and to remove the barrier of waiting for payment by helping businesses to succeed and to thrive. We're proud to be a signatory to the UK Government's Prompt Payment code. This sets out all the standards for payment practices between organizations of all sizes and their suppliers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We approached Railwaymen with the intention of building a product that would target the SME market in the UK. The purpose of the product was to source data from our engine in a short period of time and then essentially provide decisions which allows us to fund invoices.

SOLUTION

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

Before we started working with Railwaymen we did some research on companies that could meet our challenges. Railwaymen caught our attention through references from previous clients. After identifying several companies, we approached them to discuss their ideas. The proposals from the software house appealed to us and we decided to enter into a partnership. Additional motivation was the company's experience in projects similar to ours.

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

We began our collaboration with a joint workshop in October 2020, where we had the opportunity to work on actions to improve our process. We then got down to the business of developing an MVP and onboarding that would allow us to accurately verify the clients who come to us. The next step was to create a decision engine responsible for automating actions on our side. In addition, our project was enriched with 7 useful integrations in the field of invoicing, data security and customer verification.

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

The Railwaymen project team consisted of 7 people. Among them were people responsible for project management, front end development, back end development, UX/UI design and QA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to our joint efforts we have been able to shorten the standard factoring process, which in the case of many competitors takes more than 2 weeks. The process is now completed in just 23 hours. The automation of our operations has also reduced the number of analysts that were involved in the factoring flow. This has resulted in lower costs for the customer.

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

Communication between our team and Railwaymen has been flawless. We discussed all current issues via Slack messenger and once a week we held a project call together, where we summarized our work progress. Additionally, with each milestone achieved, we presented a demo of the system and exchanged substantive comments.

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

What we find exceptional about working with Railwaymen is the professionalism and communication that was at a high level at every stage of the project. An additional advantage is their punctuality respecting pre-agreed deadlines.

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

Working on a long-term project often provides conclusions that are unexpected at first. Nevertheless, I don't see an area in our collaboration that needs improvement. I wish Railwaymen to sustain the current level they represent in their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of the company Fourth Street Connections, which is the parent company of the dating app Blind'a. Blind'a is a new dating app focused on matchmaking, so now friends and family can search for matches for the single people in their life.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

After working diligently on wireframes and spec sheets and everything that goes before the coding of the app took place, we hired Railwaymen to build out the whole app and get it to production.

SOLUTION

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

We had actually began working with a different dev shop to help us refine our UI/UX with the idea being to continue with them to development. Luckily we got out of that relationship and found RWM through a combination of online searches/reviews as well as some referrals.

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

We had a series of meetings going over all of the wireframes and spec sheets we had been making, honing in on the final scope. After a few months, we were ready to start development. The first step they did was have their UI/UX person refine our app and she really did a great job turning it into something we were very proud to launch.

After that, the project was broken down into 4 milestones, which was a nice way to see the project come together. They also developed the whole backend to our specs and made it easy to change/monitor the things we wanted. We were given the choice to have the iOS version written in Swift and Android in Kotlin, but we decided to have the front end in React Native to help reduce time/costs and it also made sense given the nature of the app.

The backend was written in Ruby on Rails. They also set up everything for AWS hosting, push notifications, sms notifications with Twilio, and got everything squared away on the Apple and Google developer consoles and set up TestFlight and Firebase for the beta testing.

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

I initially interacted primarily with the CEO, Lukasz, and then after that mostly talked with the product manager who was the main point of contact. I also had direct contact with their UI/UX person and a couple of the programmers every so often. I think all in all, a team of 7 was assigned to the project: 1 PM, 1 UI/UX, 1 QA, 2 front-end mobile engineers, and 2 backend engineers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app was just recently released and we have not begun our big marketing push yet. But the app was initially delivered in about 5 months, which was in line with estimates.

From there, we went back and forth adding/changing some things not in the original scope, and fixing some small bugs along the way. They were very understanding whenever I asked for something to be changed or fixed and I'm very happy with the deliverables.

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

The project manager was very easy to communicate with, and the timelines were easy to follow. Every new milestone or change was first evaluated, and then broken down segment by segment for expected hours of each unique part. Like any development project, some things took longer than expected, but this was always clearly communicated.

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

I think they did a great job developing a pretty complex mobile app. It was nice they have a lot of different pieces in the company that can be strategically placed as they are needed.

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

I don't know what could have been done differently. The only real issue we ever had was when there were some unexpected bugs that may have snuck through QA or some new change/feature requests, would take a longer time than desired. However, the clear reason for this, and was communicated very well too, was that they were also busy helping other clients with their projects, so they did a great job of communicating this and working with me to find availability with the team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO and Founder. My role is to work with the software development team and lead all sales and marketing efforts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed to build a platform that met the needs of a difficult and crowded US market for Quizzes and contests as an ad unit. We needed to be provide a Muti-user, multi-client platform that agencies and brands could easily use to deploy ad campaigns.

SOLUTION

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

We met with a number of companies that offered varying levels of experience in the SaaS world. We noticed that most of them offered parts of the series we needed, but none were able to take our concept from wireframes to end product while managing all aspects of our needs. UX/UI, Project management, Design consultation. Persona development and so on.

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

We began with consultation around the design and desired needs. From there the team began to develop the personas and wireframe the platform to develop the stages of delivery. The team had multiple internal meetings to decide the best path to build the MVP. RoR was determined to be the best playroom for us based on growth and the roadmap we had for the platform year over year.

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

We worked with up to 10 people depending on the stage we were at. There were the UX/UI team, Project management, front end developers, back end developers, and QA were engaged once the product had reached MVP level, and again when we launched in full in December.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As we went through the development cycle we did make changes to the original design. One major advantage was the knowledge and experience the team brought to make suggestions to the path we were on. This really helped us not just take our own design ideas, but to have a team of experts that had been through this many times before and could offer market knowledge an experience.

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

Project management made detain that user stories were created and outlined for each and every feature of the product. Using Jira with kanban boards, we could monitor each step of the development as it moved from design, to in progress, to testing and finally to completed. this made all aspects of the work very easy to track,

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

The most unique aspects of the company was their flexibility and ability to work closely with our team and understand our customers needs as it applied to our end product. The team of experts always offered us options when deciding on how best to create modules and generate shortcuts even if it meant it would lower our over all costs. That's not what you see from most software houses.

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

I would be hard pressed to find anything that could be done differently. The team are my choice for the next stages of development in our next round of funding.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and CEO of LaunchMatic.app, which let's mobile app developers and marketers instantly design screenshots for the Apple App Store and Google Play Store without needing a designer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Railwaymen?

I hired Railwaymen to build out our React web app, starting from the MVP (currently built) to full product launch (in the process).

What were your goals for this project?

To build an interactive React web app where app designs are done without any help or assistance. Has Stripe integration for payment processing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Not only have I used Railwaymen before, but we have a long 7 year relationship and I have used them at prior companies.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They are a fantastic option for any stage of your company. I've used them to built entire products, to take slack off my full-time engineers, and to work on other side-projects that aren't assigned priority within the team. They are great with web and native apps.

What was the team composition?

Typically 2 engineers that focus on front and back end with a PM to help navigate between my needs and what's being prioritized.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We just launched our MVP and it's fully automated for user signups, designs, and checkout. They've quite literally built everything from the ground up and there wouldn't be a product without them.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Unless you are a highly technical product manager I suggest getting a PM. Not only will they help manage your engineers while you're asleep (granted you live in the West) but they provide a much needed buffer for some of the less technical clients to ask questions to. Also much easier to plan meetings and agendas with them as they will be much more communicative.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have highly skilled engineers that are willing to work crazy hours. And they have an hourly rate that doesn't break the bank.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None so far.