Ratio Software Engineering

Please describe your company and your position there.

A creative agency that's been adding sparkle to brands and the arts since 2004. We provide brand, graphic and digital design across a variety of sectors. I founded the agency in 2004.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ratio Software Engineering?

New website builds and support on a variety of historical builds. Also to provide more depth of expertise than was possible within our in-house team.

What were your goals for this project?

We work with often very tight turnaround times and changes of direction from clients. A smooth and efficient 'in the room' solution was required for our development needs.

How did you select this vendor?

Initially, just good timing. We were approached by Ratio in the days after getting notice from our previous supplier. After a one-to-one meeting with the CEO and some successful initial tasks we committed to them fully.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We replaced our in-house development team organically with an outsourcing agency around 2017. Ratio we're brought in when the first agency were bought out by a client. We needed a team for new builds and existing site maintenance. From basic html flyers to complex designs based around our own PHP CMS system.

What was the team composition?

We have constant contact with the CEO and Project manager. We can also access developers direct if needs. We believe the team working with us had grown.

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

Overall our goals have been met. We have many happy clients and have taken on projects larger or more technical than we would have previously. We have expanded our remit for site support and are confident with any scale of project.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We are UK based and haven't had any obvious language issues with our Ukrainian suppliers. The n9 team is small and hands on and as such have not used any specialist tool for communication. Skype, phone and email has been sufficient.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have dealt with whatever we have thrown their way. From basic html flyers to complex e-commerce systems based around our own CMS system. Also, taking new design developments within very messy historical Wordpress builds. They have delivered across several platforms, and we are more confident when discussing ideas with clients knowing we can deliver what we promise.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Any issues we have had are two-way problems. We know we have to be 100% clear in briefing, costs and timings. We also are aware we are not Ratio's only client.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of an e-commerce store in the hair & beauty industry.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ratio Software Engineering?

Our website needed a revamp to match our new brand and incorporate new design features to improve our client experience when using the website.

How did you select Radio Software Engineering and what were the deciding factors?

We vetted several agencies including suggested Shopify developers, Upwork and general research. We chose Ratio Software Engineering, because they seemed to understand what we needed to achieve, had a methodical approach and provided good engagement at the beginning.

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

After a series of discovery meetings, the team produced a few initial designs using figma. Subsequently, they designed most of the pages of new website, but not all of them, stating that they understood the design principles. Thereafter, we held a few more project management meetings to review the development of the new website.

How many resources from the Radio Software Engineering team worked with you, and what were their positions?

In total we interacted with 5 resources: The Director, two designers, the project manager and the developer.

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

Unfortunately, the main link for the project: Director Jerome just went awol after a few weeks, leaving the project in the hands of the project manager and developer. After, a short time, I was contacted by the team to say that Jerome was not responding to contact requests by them either and that since they had not been paid for quite some time, they could not continue the project and would have to abandon it.

The most disappointing part is that despite having paid a significant sum up front, no-one will even forward us the partially completed completely theme and we will also lose the money paid for the theme that we purchased as a base for this work.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Initially, the communication was good, via email and video conferencing. Then apparently because the staff had not been paid by Ratio Software Engineering, they stopped communicating. Prior to this, the Project Lead and company Director Jerome had stopped responding to email requests for project updates.

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

This was a pretty negative experience. I was shocked to find out that the staff had not been paid for several months.

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

If they need to abandon a project, then they should release the work done to date.

Please describe your company and your position there.

LogistCompare provides an online marketplace for customers looking for on-demand warehouse space, and for warehouse providers to list their warehouses. I'm the head of Business Development.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ratio Software Engineering, and what were your goals?

Our website had been developed by another 3rd party company, and we needed to sort out some of the development issues, and add new features.

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

This was a referral as we knew RatioSE. They provided flexible terms and development resources.

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

We used Trello to map out requirements and to monitor task elements. Communication was done mostly via Skype.

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

We had one lead developer at the outset, with additional resources brought in a bit later to assist. A project manager also handled daily communications and updated Trello.

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

Our website is now stable, secure, and offers a lot more than it did at the outset. Customers like the new enhanced search capability.

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

Most PM was done via Trello & Skype, and fairly agile. We didn't require a formal PM methodology.

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

I think one of the main things is their commitment to customers. We certainly got dedicated resources who went over and above expectations.

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

I think more pro-active communication would help, although the response times to issues was almost immediate.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Mediablaze is a full service digital marketing agency based in London.Our services include platform design and build. I am one of the co-founders of Mediablaze and my role is Chief Digital Officer.

For what projects/services did your company hire Ratio Software Engineering?

We selected Ratio to provide a Wordpress CMS build based on UI designs provided by us.

What were your goals for this project?

A quick and cost-effective turn-around.

How did you select this vendor?

The founder of Ratio had approached me on LinkedIn and I had already had commercial discussions with them for another project so selected them based on their responsiveness during that process.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They provided a full development solution for a Wordpress build we needed for a publishing platform. This included the front end CSS and integrating with Wordpress. Ratio were also responsible for configuring a short list of Wordpress plugins and providing technical recommendations where appropriate.

What was the team composition?

The team was small with a Technical Lead, Project Manager and Front End Developer.

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

Very happy with the results and we're hoping to go live very soon. Our client is very impressed with Wordpress and how simple it is to use. That is in part down to the excellent configuration provided by Ratio.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project was managed well and Ratio have been very flexible in terms of making modifications that could be deemed out of scope. We used Slack for communication and Trello for issue handling.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their flexibility was impressive and the price is hugely competitive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

If I'm being overly critical the time estimates were a little on the light side but given it was a fixed price this hasn't been an issue.