Ralabs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The goal of the application was to manage advertising companies. The main aim of the project is to simplify control of the advertising process. The project consists of three parts. The first part are bots that parse social networks and many other sites with ads full time. The second part was setting up an admin panel for operations with internal objects. The final part was developing the front-end side for viewing shared object pages. The panel gives the possibility to CRUD [create, read, update, and delete] and publishing operations, generating QR codes with URLs for external pages on the front-end side and contains two types of objects. All browsers are supported based on the WebKit, Presto, and Gecko engines and IE [Internet Explorer] 8 or greater. The front-end pages are oriented for mobile devices and use all the benefits from responsive web design. It also included front-end pages that have desktop, mobile, and tablet device detection. I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ralabs?

We tried to find somebody technical who could help us to build the app. We had the desire and technology vision, but we didn't have a team to implement our needs. Ralabs helped us to convert our abstract vision into real services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were completely open to any technology vision and approach, so we accepted numerous proposals from Ralabs developers. The initial scope consisted of end-user pages with a list of ads and to make a super-responsive page for users. The next sprints included the building of bots and increasing the functionality of admin pages. Until the end of the development sprints, about 95 percent of the covered sites had advertisements, and we're able to detect almost 100 percent of ads anywhere.

How did you come to work with Ralabs?

We looked at a few companies but, after a technical interview and just talking with their CEO [Andrew Yas], we decided to choose them. Also, they had good feedback on their public profiles. They were able to build a test application that was so awesome that no other company could compare.

How much have you invested with Ralabs?

We had a team consisting of 6 developers. The total cost was in a range between $20,000 and $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started at the end of 2015 and finished a few months ago [2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Everything has been a success – starting from management, development, testing, and so on. They covered all of our needs.

What did you find most impressive about Ralabs?

They have a clean technical vision and awesome management. They're able to meet deadlines.

Are there any areas Ralabs could improve?

Any business wants to get their product done faster and cheaper. However, I think the price wasn't that high, and they delivered the product by the deadlines.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a coding school. We are a school for people who want to become IT [information technology] specialists. We also train people who are already working in the IT field and want to be more productive and become experts. I'm the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ralabs?

We have many applications, beginning with our home page and site for internal usage, plus all of the systems for automatic calculations and information regarding our students. One of the latest things that Ralabs helped us to build was a system for automatically tabulating and verifying homework for our students.

Sometimes, we use a peer-to-peer approach for homework. In our school, we have classes where you can have up to 10 students. We have year-round peer-to-peer coding verification. It starts with students checking their classmates' homework. After that, we have the next level, where our technical mentors with experience check the homework. If it were necessary, the next level beyond that would be a teacher or other teachers from other courses who can check the homework and provide comments and instruction for each student if it's needed. For smaller pieces of homework, we use an application to do this automatically, and Ralabs helped us to plan and build the application to do that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ralabs was more like technical support of all the things that we are doing. We have a bunch of tools for internal usage, and they helped us to implement them. For instance, they previously helped us with something related to Google Calendar. They created the relation between Google Calendar and our CRM [customer relationship management] system, which allowed us to manage our groups easily, track our students' information, and not leave out or lose any student information. Ralabs worked with us to provide more technical help. Most of the platform utilized MEAN stack. The primary languages involved are PHP, NodeJS & Express and Angular for frontend. Services included GitHub, Amazon Web Services and Docker. Integrations involved include ZohoCRM, Google Spreadsheets, Firebase and Trello.

How did you come to work with Ralabs?

I think our friends recommended them. Before that, we had found some companies and had consultations that formed our basis of comparison. They are also located near us. We wanted to work with somebody who is near. Before we worked with them on anything else, we gave them a small technical task. They built it successfully, so we decided to work with them. They actually made improvements to our original idea. What they made was really awesome.

How much have you invested with Ralabs?

We've used 3 or 4 developers. It has probably cost around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them at the start of this year in January 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We teach about 100 students and, in each group, we use all of the tools that they built. Any tool that they helped us to build was successful and is being used currently. It truly helped us to be a good school. I think all the work we've done with them has been successful.

How did Ralabs perform from a project management standpoint?

We use goals to measure their results. We decided not to use some complex approach. We wanted to use some Scrum methodologies. They recommended using Kanban, so we did that. We decided to use Trello, and we track all information on the boards. Also, after we integrated and used Trello in our tools, we began using Trello for CRM functions. They provide us help on project management, but we do not have a project manager from their side.

We have project management from our side. They provide us help for project management and help to set up the processes that we use to manage projects, but we do that ourselves.

What did you find most impressive about Ralabs?

I think something probably related to the design aspect – from the UI [user interface] point of view. We'll give them the overall idea, and they propose something that's a great fit for the idea. They also can convert an idea to the technology stack with the right UI. They also can build a UI that is awesome from the user experience side. It's cool for the end user to use the systems they can build.

Are there any areas Ralabs could improve?

They could probably do the work faster. They're always trying to complete projects before the deadline, and we understand that it's not always possible. It's not often late but, sometimes, they go beyond deadlines. It's almost always on time. So far, they are almost perfect, so we continue working with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

MMA Center is a mixed fighting training center and competition organization. We started in the Western Ukraine region and then expanded ourselves to the entire Ukraine. We have training centers in five cities and organize tournaments around all of Ukraine. In terms of our regional office, we have 50 people, but in terms of all of Ukraine, it’s almost 300 employees. I'm the co-founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ralabs?

Ralabs designed for us a web application to schedule our training and synchronize it with all cities. We wanted to introduce the system so people who travel from city to city can continue their training within different cities and not lose anything while they are moving or if they cannot attend their training in their city. Also, we want to implement a PayPal system and WebMoney system to provide users the opportunity to pay for our services online. This system also includes an employee management system with everything we need to have such as tax calculations, etc.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The application was separated into two parts: the admin tools for employees, internal scheduling and management and the client part, where the clients can read news, can take part in meetings, tournaments, and also track their training systems, their trainers' schedules, and more.

How did you come to work with Ralabs?

We found them on Upwork. We are not tech oriented people but the guys did very well understanding how we described the problem and what we wanted as a final product. The communication was good. They were always on Skype. They also respond to e-mail. They do not fail deadlines, and that was the main reason it was good. 

How much have you invested with Ralabs?

A little bit more than $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them eight or nine months ago. They finished our product in August, but we still haven’t published it to our internal programs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We haven’t started using the product because of internal issues inside our company. We bought one hosting package for this site and then we decided to move to another host. We've had some problems with deploying the project, but it’s not related to Ralabs.

How did Ralabs perform from a project management standpoint?

We used JIRA, and we made a Skype call every Friday. They performed pretty well. Everything was in accordance with our terms. They don’t fail anything. There were not many bugs inside the product.

What did you find most impressive about Ralabs?

The communication was very good. They asked about everything, despite the description we gave them. It was our fault that the description was poor. The guys were investigating every point of the user interface. They were interested in developing what we really needed. The communication was the best part of that. I’m not technical. As a user and as a customer, I am satisfied with the product I received.

Are there any areas Ralabs could improve?

I don’t know. Maybe they can improve something, but I’m not a tech person.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Equilibrio Weight Loss & Wellness Spa

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Weight Loss and Wellness Spa

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Website design and development

SOLUTION

How did you find Ralabs?

Referral

Why did you select Ralabs over others?

• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Ralabs were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Our company, Equilibriowellnessspa Boca Raton, FL, partnered with Ralabs.org to design our website, including both front-end and back-end development. We had an amazing experience working with Ralabs.org on our website from day one, their team was professional, efficient, and truly understood our needs—covering everything from design to operations, reservations, and financial integrations with third-party software. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have a top-tier, fully operational website, and we couldn't be happier!

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

Great and on time. A huge shoutout to Marta, our project manager, who expertly coordinated between the Ralabs professionals and our internal teams, kept everything on track and made sure all the moving parts came together perfectly and also A special thanks to Dan and the entire Ralabs team for their ongoing support. 

What was your primary form of communication with Ralabs?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Professional 

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

No. Highly recommended - Ralabs to anyone looking for top-notch web development!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Executive Director of Media Development Foundation

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Developing independent journalism to strengthen democracy in Ukraine

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Create standardized modern-style media platforms following leading international practices for news media websites.
• The most important points are the stability, user-friendly design, possibility of future scaling, and financial availability even for low-income news portals

SOLUTION

How did you find Ralabs?

Referral

Why did you select Ralabs over others?

Good value for cost

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

The Ralabs team was onboarded to create a series of media platforms for the local media. Before the project kick-off, the team conducted thorough R&D to ensure the suggested solution would be easy to replicate for more than ten media but still have a unique identity for each of them. The team made sure that the particular specifications of each media, such as load balancing, SEO requirements, and ease of usage, were met with as little investment from the client as possible.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• 15 media sites which work perfectly 

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

High level of project management 

What was your primary form of communication with Ralabs?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They did their job on time, no matter what happened around them.

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

NoNE.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO & Co-Founder of a data science developer tool company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is a data science developer tool company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Staff augmentation
• Roadmap delivery
• Design

SOLUTION

How did you find Ralabs?

Referral

Why did you select Ralabs over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from Ralabs were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Design of some end to end capabilities in our platform, and elivery of those in addition to a fully brand design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Roadmap delivery, software quality and design deliverables. 

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

The PM is the best part about the relationship, it's exceptional.

What was your primary form of communication with Ralabs?

Virtual Meeting

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

Most impressive was our amazing project manager and an absolute stand-out set of engineers. 

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

Nothing worth noting. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-founder & COO of Choosing Therapy

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ChoosingTherapy.com is media company who publishes educational content and manages a provider directory in the area of mental health, behavioral health, relationships, and parenting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build a provider directory.

SOLUTION

How did you find Ralabs?

Referral

Why did you select Ralabs over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Great team

What was the size of Ralabs’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

RALABS built a provider directory from scratch that integrated with Google, Outlook, and Apple calendars, Google Maps, Monday.com, and other tools. The site needed to be optimized for search, enable sign-up and self onboarding by providers, and be serviceable by an admin team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Product launches
• provider sign-ups
• client sign-ups
• pageviews

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

Ralabs had an excellent project manager on their team. The projects are delivered within the timelines discussed and always meet our expectations.

What was your primary form of communication with Ralabs?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

Ralabs truly cared about the products being built and the mission of ChoosingTherapy.com. Working with Ralabs feels like your working with an extension of your own team. Every team member was invested in our mission.

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

n/a

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a product manager of a small agency that is handling content creation for various clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Ralabs?

We wanted to add some new features to our internal copywriting system but we were not sure how much would it cost to implement the solution. We reached out to Ralabs to get clear budget and scope guidelines.

SOLUTION

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

Our friends recommended them, also Ralabs has create the biggest media website is Ukraine and we knew it before.

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

At first we contacted them to tell more about our expectations. We had a call with Business Development manager & Head of Engineering. Once they had all the info they needed, they proceed with tech research & audit. After sometime we had a long call with business analysts to discuss potential business goals of this project. By the end of the 3rd week we got an extensive document featuring high-level ui/ux wire frames, infrastructure details, action plan, budget and potential team composition for this project.

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

The Business Development manager was communicating with us the most, also the tech lead and head of engineering were in touch. The business analysts reached out couple of times.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have achieved what we wanted to. We were delivered a well-research guidelines on how to design & build the solution we wanted to have inside the company. Now we have a clear image of what is needed to be done and how much money to allocate for it

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

All smooth. Their communication was flawless, and everything was delivered on time.

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

The Project Scan service is quite unique since they have a clear step by step explanation of what they are going to do for this particular price. It's like selecting the membership, you can ask for the cheapest one or the most expensive, whatever suits your needs the best.

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

Nothing comes to my mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Product and Planning Lead, we supply inflight entertainment solutions to airlines across the globe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We required Ralabs to help boost our front end development team to help produce new features for a product in order to meet client demand.

SOLUTION

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

Ralabs was selected.

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

They have worked on a few projects including the delivery of a new advert system within our passenger application, upgrades to the metadata input and management within our back office system and many smaller project spanning the passenger application, crew application and panel application of the end client's product.

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

We have had 2 front end developers in total work with us from Ralabs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One project of note was the inclusion of an advertisement platform within our passenger application that was work on by part from a Ralabs developer. The project was delivered on time and matching all proposed criteria

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

The projects have been managed internally

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

The quality of their work is impressive!

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

Some developers needed to learn new technologies in order to support us, though this was only a minor inconvenience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide health solutions to the NHS in England and Wales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We transitioned from a small development team to a larger, managed development group to develop, maintain and support our application and create a long term relationship.

SOLUTION

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

Personal recommendation.

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

• Ruby code base
• forms
• uploads
• high security
• complex integrations

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

8 to 10 ranging from:

• devs
• QAs
• designers
• project management

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Excellent work and we have continued to win further contracts based on the quality of the application.

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

We use Jira and Confluence extensively with group meetings viz Zoom - excellent communication.

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

Their dedication to providing a quality app and their commitment to making it better on a daily basis are impressive.

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

Nothing - excellent