RST Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Jump.co, a Web 3 NFT crypto platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RST Software Masters?

We needed a simple tool to administer physical assets we had in a database.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired RST Software Masters for their custom software development services to build a specific admin tool to streamline our asset management operations.

They basically created an open-source platform and thanks to their expertise, we’re able to harness a version that’s specific to our business. We utilize React, NestJS, and PostgreSQL among other software.

What is the team composition?

We mainly interface with the CEO, CFO, and two backend developers.

How did you come to work with RST Software Masters?

My co-founder and CTO found an admin solution and discovered that RFT Software Masters was the team behind that software.

After an initial productive call, we started a one-week engagement which went quite well and we’ve been working together since then.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested at least $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in February 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our initial trial period went really well and since then, they’ve been knocking each project out of the park.

Their development velocity is faster than our internal teams’ because they’re very learned about the tool — as a result, we’re able to set up weekly sprints aggressively and accomplish multiple projects.

How did RST Software Masters perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is highly responsive and they consistently hit their deadlines.

We mainly use Shortcut and GitHub to manage the project, while we communicate through Slack, Zoom, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their knowledge and expertise on the tool we’re using, as well as their thoroughness and quickness in delivering their tasks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on their staffing and hire more people.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s always a good thing to start with a one or two-wee engagement before starting a full project, so try them out on a retainer to see if you’re comfortable hiring RST Software Masters.

We put them on a trial and it worked great for us as it really solidified our relationship.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the tech lead of the applied research group at Visual Supply Company (VSCO), a popular image editing and sharing app for mobile devices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters, and what were your goals?

We wanted to explore minting NFT on a carbon-neutral blockchain. We wanted to offer users of our app, and possibly new users unconnected the the app, the opportunity to mint and sell NFTs. We decided to design a website in-house, and collaborate with RST for the implementation of the front end, back end, and blockchain components.

SOLUTION

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

I had previously worked with RST at another company and found them organized and highly competent.

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

We began by scoping out an MVP of the NFT Marketplace. We worked up from the AdminJS frame work for managing the workflow of creating an NFT. Our in-house designers provided a flexible idea of the front end layout. Over the course of about 4 months we added MVP functionality and incrementally designed smart contracts for the initial minting flow and later for the sale event.

Finally we launched our MVP and made thousands of USD worth of sales on our first few NFTs. Now we are working on a second iteration of our MVP.

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

We worked with a project manager, a backend and blockchain specialist, and a front end specialist. Occasionally, a second front end specialist joined the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were very pleased with the user and press response to our website. We sold thousands of USD worth of NFTs in our initial cohort. We are continuing with this line of product research.

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

We effectively communicated via Slack. We shared designs using Figma. We were able to review code via Github. The project timeline was close to our expectations.

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

The RST Software Masters engineers never flinched at learning new and complicated technologies. As a result, we were able to test a product that used cutting edge tech.

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

Next time we may add more product testing to our project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

In Transcash we care for the financial safety of companies in the transport industry. We have been active for 13 years and have succeeded in helping our clients effectively collect their overdue payments. As of 2016, we also assist in financing invoices. I am a Product Owner in this company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters, and what were your goals?

We provide our customers a bunch of financial services - the most important are debts collection and factoring. Every product was actually served by giving our customers another tool produced by different vendor and in a differet technology. It all looked strange and it wasn't consistent. Our customers were receiving a tons of emails and phone calls. It was hard to follow all the information spread in all those emails.

We knew that we needed one platform where our customers could log in and manage all the service we provide them. The second goal was to transform the process of signing new contracts with our customers. We wanted to cut off all the paperwork and let our customers do everything online.

In every single case we wanted to provide our customers the best possible experience and the best information we have to make them sure that we care about their money. And we knew that we wanted to turn into mobile devices to be on hand every time our customer needs us.

SOLUTION

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

We knew that they have a great experience in producing large and safe IT systems, as they produce software for the whole Trans.eu Group (to which our company belongs). We just believed that they are the best choice and that we can trust each other. We know that they have a lot of tallented people on board, so whenever there is any problem with technology - there is always somebody that can give you a piece of advice.

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

At first RST have done a lot of workshops with our staff and our customers to find out how the new tool should look like and to make the most important decisions for future development. RST Software Masters helped us to discover the core functionalities we need to focus. RST estimated that it should take a year to produce the software we have designed.

Then, according to the scrum, we just started producing the most important functionalities one by one. After a month we had a working proof of concept. After that month we also knew how to integrate with the most important systems - so we were sure that we wouldn't get stuck on any technical issue in the future.

After couple of months we had a first version of the software done and we could launch it simultanuosly with the old tools. We have started the migration 4 months after the project was launched - that was quite impressive. After another couple of months we were ready to replace our old software with the new one produced by RST as all the old functionalities were covered by the new tool. Since then we listen to our customers and every two weeks we provide another version of our system.

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

We have 5 full time developers and also some part-time positions in the project (scrum master, ui designer, ux designer, devops, architect, delivery manager).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the measures we gather about our customers satfisfaction shows a great progress recently. The NPS value has changed signifficantly, the opinions in Google has increased. Of course that was also because of the great work of our customer care teams, but the tool that we have produced in this project just gives us opportunity to cut off tons of unneeded work.

Right now every day there are hundreds of cases where our customers can help themselve online on our new website instead of calling us or sending us emails that needs to be opened, readed and answered. Instead of calling our customers to get any information we need - the system just gathers it online.

We are happy to have more time to focus on the most important issues in our business and the customers are happy that instead of calling them every single hour they can just do everyhing online in the most convenient time. That's a huge change in the communcation with our customers.

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

We use Slack and Jira to communicate. We have weekly meetings to discuss future functionalities (backlog refinments) with a development team. As long as we work in a two weeks sprints - every two weeks we also have a sprint review and a planning session to sum up the changes in every new iteration and to plan a next one. Every single week we have also a UX and UI sessions to disscuss new functionalities and to turn the user feedback and business needs into new features.

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

The team really cares about the product. They understand the business and they always do their best to make sure that it all works together. Whenever they notice that there is chance to do something better - they report it. I have never heard that something works bad but this was how I wanted to do that so I shouldn't comply.

If the specification makes no sense (which sometimes happens) or there are some edge cases that needs to be covered better - it is always discussed. There is no "us" and "you" so I really feel that we play as a one team and I have a great support. I know that this is not only about this team.

This is about the company culture that is focused on a long term relations with customers. They care about giving customers the best quality service and I'm sure that they just want to grow together instead of making the most of us.

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

Nope

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

In a localization business there it is a lot about integration architecture and workflow management. As an Enterprise Architect I drive key initiatives to adopt proper industry standards and tooling to achieve re-usability and standardization while maintaining flexibility towards various customer needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters?

RST supported us in the area of integration architecture, mostly around our Camunda platform. We used their expertise in various ways ranging from full-time allocated developers working on our product to workshops and trainings.

SOLUTION

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

RST is an official partner of Camunda specialized in services combining this technology with RabbitMQ, which is same we had introduced. They have very enthusiastic and skilled people and the communication was always very professional.

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

RST was asked to extend and validate our knowledge and solution when all the tooling was already selected and implemented and used in part of our production. To scale out our operations and using it for the core business workflows we needed consultancy.

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

Full time members of our team: one developer, one QA specialist. Consultancy services with other three specialists when needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Pilot to our core production localization workflows is under development. We utilized useful advice around best practices, adoption of Camunda in RWS has been growing also thanks to this.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication was great and we always figured out solution to our needs.

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

RST was always flexible and tried to accommodate our current needs which, has been working really well.

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

I cannot think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager for an electrical meter manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RST Software Masters?

We needed someone to develop a mobile app that cooperates with our meters.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our Android app. Our customers use the app with our meters. They can download data and measurements from our meters, and add photos to the measurements. They connect to bluetooth and users can send the measurements via email. If the customer is onsite, they can take measurements and send them to someone who will file a report in the office.

What is the team composition?

There were 5-7 people. There was a product manager, developers, testers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with RST Software Masters?         

My colleague told me about them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from 2016 – 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have about 1,000 users. The next step was to create a special platform for this application, but since it’s still under construction, we don’t have too many users yet.

I was happy with the cooperation with them. They gave me good suggestions and ideas.

How did RST Software Masters perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked in a scrum methodology.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a very good graphics guy, which was very important because the design looks nice for our customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have very good quality, but sometimes they’re too expensive compared to competitors. If I want to add something small, I would like it to not be so expensive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to trust them and listen to their advice. They have good experience and can give you good advice.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I have been working at Electrolux for 8 years. The company in Swidnica makes cookers for professional use . I am working as a specialist of metrology for 4 years. Before I was a quality controller .In both positions together with my team, we make sure that our products are made with a highest quality and my goal is to deliver all necessary data to reach a target .

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters?

In 2018, our main goal was to present the results of a measurements on the charts. Owing to this we can present the results in a more understandable way and we are able to respond to issue faster

What were your goals for this project?

RST: Efficient implementation of the project from the beginning till the end Our factory: improvement of quality, faster response to issue and facilitating work for operators , more efficient

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I chose RST mainly for two reasons. 1.Projects presented by them are the ones which are needed in our solutions , they fully meet our requirements 2. Their headquarters are located in the same city as the Electrolux factory, which will definitely facilitate communication

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

RST provided us complete software in line with our requirements and have provide the proper working software in our environment. In each project design stage, they take into account our opinions and make changes accordingly Owing to the solutions proposed by RST, the measurement system has become part of the Electrolux factory and improves the quality of our factory every day , the system support our daily work

What was the team composition?

The project members included 6 persons : -Project Leader -Metrology Specialist -Manager and Leader of the quality control department -Employees responsible for the production process Each of them contributed to better software development

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was introduced in our location 6 months ago. Already in the first month after implementation we observed an improvement of the quality. Results are visible from the visual presentation of data and internal KPI’s. Our corrective actions have become more accurate owing to software who shows measurements created in laboratory in live time. The software contributed to the plans to introduce similar solutions in other departments

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project Team was created to meet the requirements for quality improvement , the criteria of choosing was the knowledge and experience of a Team Members

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Pursuit to the common goal, time of project implementation, and professional implementation team. We were impressed by the ideas they presented. 

Are there any areas for improvement?

In 2019 we will work to improve the notification system. We will also introduce the administration panel. Similarly, systems can also be applied to other departments of our factory.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of Kitche, a food waste reduction app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We needed full-stack app design and development.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to launch on Android.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by a trusted source.

Describe the project in detail.

They designed and developed our app.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, a commercial lead, and frontend and backend developers as well as a design lead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have launched and we’ve received a positive design review from Google Play.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was extremely effective. As a non-engineer, we communicated very well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their attitude stood out to us and no problem was too big for them to solve.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re very satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an owner of Industrial Projects Technologies Co. (IPTech), a company that consults across a variety of business verticals in IT solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We hired Software Brothers to revitalize our website with structural changes, an improved visual appearance, and established workflows.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to simplify the UX on our site with an improved design that would resonate with viewers. Considering we share a large amount of information on the platform, we wanted to increase engagement with that data.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found Software Brothers after searching for vendors online, and we pursued multiple projects together after developing a strong business relationship.  

Describe the project in detail.

Software Brothers renewed our brand voice through a redesign of our IT website. The team restructured the flow of information with an optimized design for both desktop and mobile users. They also created right-to-left and left-to-right versions of the site to support easy access for a diversity of visitors. Outside of website development, the team conducted helpful market research.

What was the team composition?

It was convenient to communicate over a variety of platforms with three resources form Software Brothers. The team easily adapted to the software we work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The revamped webpage received exceptionally positive feedback from internal stakeholders.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Software Brothers maintained a productive working relationship with project partners, aided by active collaboration and attention to established workflows.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team’s expertise is complemented by an ability to adjust their work based on stakeholder opinions.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I’m happy with the team’s work, and I’m sure they will continue to improve as time goes on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Prelinks. We’re a platform that provides users with access to events, parties, gigs, and festivals in their location. It’s also a B2B portal for event organizers to promote their events.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We wanted to develop native iOS and Android mobile apps.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to develop monetized apps people could buy tickets with.  

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We sent out a tender to UK and European vendors and Software Brothers separated themselves from the competition. They clearly understood our challenge and made a good effort in scoping the project. Their price was also impressive.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Initially, they helped solidify our idea for the MVP. Then, they developed the MVPs with an in-app ticketing system. They worked in Ruby on Rails and delivered an API.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a variety of front- and backend developers and project managers. I also received updates from their CTO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This project served as our foundation for both monetizing the app and attracting a strong user base.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Communication was great across the board.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their founders were able to provide clear summaries of their progress and offer strategic feedback.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, not that I saw. We were awfully impressed and would certainly work with them again.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of TERP. We’re a technology company developing smart, adaptive textbooks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

We wanted to improve our existing solution and develop iOS and Android apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Software Brothers moved our code to AWS and made it scalable. Then, we started developing Android and iOS user apps and opening up our web platform so other parties can use our technology to make adaptive textbooks. The apps allow users to download textbooks complete with graphics and video. There are offline capabilities to combat poor internet access in our target region, meaning students can always complete their assessments. Currently, Software Brothers is developing an in-app shop for the Android solution and starting the iOS app.

What is the team composition?

We’re currently using two web developers, one Android and one iOS developer, a part-time project manager, a part-time UX designer, and a part-time tester.

How did you come to work with RST Software Masters (formerly Software Brothers)?

Our CTO had worked with them as part of two other companies, and he introduced us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re spending about €40,000–€45,000 ($45,200–$51,000 USD) per month at the moment. The average for 2018 was €20,000–€25,000 ($22,600–$28,300 USD). The total is over €250,000 ($283,000 USD) at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2018. The Android app launched in November, and the first iOS version is going to launch soon. It will only have text and images, but we’ll fill in the gaps as we go.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Software Brothers’ work has been the foundation for us to go into the market. The Android app we launched was our introduction to the Asian market and has generated significant feedback that will help us improve our technology.

There will always be bugs, but we work closely with Software Brothers to solve them as they come up. Even though there were quite a few bugs in the beginning, we were able to launch the app to 2,000–3,000 students, and within a few months bug complaints had stopped. The app is functional and stable.

How did Software Brothers perform from a project management standpoint?

We needed strong management to work with an outsourced vendor, but they were up to the task. They were competent communicators, and our similar technology resources laid a solid foundation for cooperation. We had delays from time to time, and some of those came from our side, but tech developments never run perfectly. We maintain communication and handle issues as they arise.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our previous vendor produced buggy, unstable updates, but Software Brothers rolls out updates smoothly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve improved lately, but early on we needed a system to track costs and prevent overspending every month. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

To work with any developer, clients need internal technical experience.