SapientPro

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the business development manager at a London-based software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SapientPro?

We needed an additional PHP developer for one of our European customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It wasn’t about staff augmentation, but more about tripling our productivity. To remedy this issue, we got PHP developers from SapientPro to work on different projects.

The client we were working with was in the software betting business. The product itself is a software betting platform.  The work they produced was top-notch.

What is the team composition?

SapientPro supplied three developers, who worked remotely within the client’s team. I also work with one mediator, and one project manager.

How did you come to work with SapientPro?

My colleague found them. I believe he made a Google search for providers in Ukraine. First, we performed a background check, looking at their stated feedback and rates on platforms like Clutch. The feedback was good, so we knew the company would be quite reliable.

The information we found was quite useful, so we got in contact with a business manager afterward, to get some references and a portfolio.

 How much have you invested with them?

We started spending €1,500 ($1,700 USD) per month, and we continued to double this number, to €3,600 ($4,000 USD) As our needs grew, the project tripled from €3,600 going to more than €10,000 ($11,000 USD) per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SapientPro in March 2019, and our collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have bi-monthly meetings with the customer, in which I’m checking how happy they are. We’ve had no complaints so far. In the beginning, when we tripled the revenue number, with both the customer and SapientPro, we had biweekly meetings with the customer, and the customer always had strong positive feedback on the operation. It’s been a great partnership thus far.

How did SapientPro perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the things the customer’s project management has said is that they have good communication with SapientPro, and that the team asks good questions.

As a mediator, we receive occasional feedback, either positive or negative, and I receive screenshots from the client’s project manager. When it comes to teamwork, if there’s some friction or tension in the team, I want them to tell me as well. Till now, I believe everything’s been alright.

There was just one slight moment when someone from the client’s side went on holiday, and our people didn’t have guidance on how to proceed next, what tasks to do, and how to prioritize everything.

We communicate through Skype, and we also use task managers. Besides task tracking, we also have daily reports, in which the people assigned to us have to provide us daily reports on their progress. We find that the system overall works well for us.

 What did you find most impressive about them?

I like the fact that they come with the initiative of seeing what else we can do for the client. When it comes to overdelivering, I know I can ask the business manager from SapientPro’s team, and it’s as good as done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything has been great thus far.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’ve learned that communication via Skype is speedier than through email, and this is something that’s important to me. Whenever I have something pressing, I typically message their business manager or the team, and I receive replies instantly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a copywriting business. We primarily support students in Germany.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SapientPro?

We have several competitors in the market who have similar website structures and who successfully leverage SEO marketing. I was struggling to keep up, so I was seeking alternative solutions to outperform these businesses. I decided to corner the market through social media marketing and by modernizing my business processes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SapientPro has designed my website and managed my social media strategy. They initially improved my WordPress website, but they’re currently working to develop a new website from scratch. So far, they’ve delivered a price calculator for the different papers we create. It includes a sophisticated input function that allows the user to specify the length and type of essay desired.

What is the team composition?

I work primarily with a project manager, who also serves as a translator, since the team is Ukrainian. The team of developers working on the project consists of 2—5 people.

How did you come to work with SapientPro?

They were recommended to me by a friend who had worked with them before.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our work in March 2019, and it’s an ongoing engagement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their awesome team has utilized state of the art technology to improve my product offering. I’ve found them to be incredibly service-oriented and client-centric, which I appreciate very much.  

How did you communicate with SapientPro, and how responsive were they?

They’re very easy to communicate with. We used Skype, and we also chatted via Telegram messenger. I’ve visited them in Ukraine several times—I now consider them my friends, so I’m very lucky I found them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They made project discussions very comfortable and easy. There don’t push for any contract—instead, they simply send me an invoice, which I highly appreciate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just do it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Piktochart is a web app that helps non-designers engage with their audience through visual storytelling. Our tools and visualizations empower creation in an effortless, effective manner. I'm the chief product officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SapientPro?

We wanted to ensure a positive customer experience and brand impression. We needed technical web development expertise, but didn't have enough in-house resources. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our marketing team constantly develops methods to attract sign-ups, usually involving new functionalities or pages. Some of our issues and optimization needs also require development attention. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found SapientPro through a colleague. We considered several other similar agencies, but chose them because of their portfolio and pricing. During our first call, they showed good communication and alignment with our needs.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Their WordPress and PHP experts help us build website functionalities. They also provide prompt updates to keep us all on the same page.

What was the team composition?

There isn't a fixed team. Instead, personnel join to meet our needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their technical knowledge has greatly improved our code. Since engaging them, we've accelerated development and created more value for our business. They've also cleaned up technical issues with our existing stack.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

There are bound to be challenges, especially considering the time zone differences, but they're diligent. They give us daily progress updates and are open to discussions about streamlining our processes.  

We mainly use Trello and Slack, which works for the tasks at hand. When things get tricky, we call them. English isn't a problem, since everyone at SapientPro has a good command of the language.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We have direct access to their team, so it's easy to facilitate feedback. Their responsiveness makes our collaboration much better.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Although they're diligent about their updates, they should provide more details. For example, they often tell us that a certain task has been completed and that we can update our site. However, they don't always explain how to configure the code. More proactiveness would make that process even smoother.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the director of export development for Dzintars, one of the oldest cosmetic and perfumery producers in the world. We're also the largest researcher and producer of perfumery and bio cosmetics in Northern Europe and one of the largest in the former USSR countries with more than 350 employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SapientPro?

Our previous developers built an e-shop for us, but it had several bugs and problems with payment.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to fix all the urgent issues we had that were critical for the e-shop's functionality. Afterward, we wanted to have them improve the e-shop and add new features to it.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to them by a Ukrainian SEO agency, which we had a very successful experience with and asked for recommendations when we started having problems.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They fixed all our issues quickly and handle ongoing feature development.

What was the team composition?

They have three or four people assigned to the project at all times, and we communicate with each other daily. It makes us feel as if we're their only client, which is really rare to find nowadays.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They now handle all development processes, which saves us time by enabling our employees to focus on project improvements and analyzing other work. Just their CMS improvements have saved us two to three hours on a daily basis.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They’re impressive in this regard, especially compared with our two previous vendors. We communicate through a group chat on Skype and they provide almost immediate support, even during off hours. We use Redmine for project management, where we can add, edit, and track all tasks, allowing us to see and control the whole workflow.

Their team, and especially their process manager, are really professional. They've never missed a deadline and make all processes traceable and transparent.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their responsiveness on Skype is phenomenal. They’re also great at taking their time to explain their work in detail to me in ways that I can understand. SapientPro acts promptly and provides a quality service.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There’s always room for improvement, but it’s seriously hard to find anything to suggest to them at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the product owner of a freelance copywriting platform that provides content marketing assistance to enterprises in nearly any industry.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SapientPro?

Before working with SapientPro, almost all of our processes were completed manually with Excel spreadsheets. This was very time-consuming, hindering our ability to scale operations. SapientPro is helping us develop a platform to automate the entire content creation process.

What were your goals for this project?

The platform had to simplify our clients’ requirements for creating top-notch content while streamlining the process of briefing assignments and reviewing drafts. We also wanted to improve the level of communication among clients, writers, and account managers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We met them at a networking event in Rotterdam. Although we considered about nine or ten companies, SapientProt’s flexibility, accurate pricing, and excellent communication were the deciding factors. 

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

SapientPro was responsible for all frontend development. We provided a mockup and detailed documentation for all key functionalities, as well as the designs for the most critical screens. Our business needs changed along the way, making our mockup obsolete, but I appreciated SapientPro’s flexibility and willingness to think creatively.

What was the team composition?

SapientPro provided a frontend developer, a senior developer as backup for the technical challenge, and a project manager who helped me plan sprints. The team also consisted of the CTO and one backend developer from Contentoo.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are currently in our last sprint, so I have no metrics on impact yet.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Trello for management; Google Docs, Sketch, and Zeplin for documentation and development briefings; and Slack and Zoom for communication. We experienced no language barrier; their English proficiency facilitated very efficient communication with our backend developer.  

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their key strength is their commitment to us as a client. They believe in our success and are willing to go the extra mile every day.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There is little they need to improve. My only suggestion would be that, prior to execution, they take more time to define the scope’s key functionalities. This can prevent misunderstandings about what is and isn’t in the scope, which was a big learning point for me as the product owner. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and co-founder of PRICEBLOCKS. We're an online marketplace for youth sports.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SapientPro?

We were looking for a company to develop our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We're building a WordPress platform and they're in charge of all the UX/UI design and development. They're building out databases, user dashboards, interfaces, and different functionalities within the marketplace. It's a very collaborative process and they always give us their feedback. They also fix any bugs we have and help us optimize our website.

What is the team composition?

We work with three members of their team.

How did you come to work with them?

We were referred to them and they turned out to be a class above everyone else we were considering for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within the first six weeks, we received about $1 million from transactions. Initially, we were not sure how to handle the process but they were always by our side, helping us fulfill the requests from our sellers and users. Without them, we could have gone out of business.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

They understand all of our needs and go above and beyond to meet them. They're located in Ukraine, but we haven't had any issues with the time difference–they're willing to jump in any time of the day or night and help us. They've become part of our team and feel comfortable making recommendations. In fact, two of our team members are flying to Ukraine to meet with them next week.

They're great communicators. We use WhatsApp to stay in touch and they send us daily updates. In addition, they're using a project management platform, so it's easy to see the status of different tasks they're working on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They genuinely care about the product. They took ownership of the project and have been supporting us on all fronts.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We could find a cheaper company, but they probably wouldn't do such a good job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them share their opinions. They bring a lot of experience and great ideas to the table. Also, they're receptive to feedback and want to make sure their client is happy.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of the Ministry of Flowers, a premium seller of potted and boxed flowers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SapientPro?

We didn’t have an appropriate website. We had bought a WordPress WooCommerce theme and customized it for our business and our clients’ delivery needs.

I had worked with freelancers for cost reasons, but I wasn’t happy with their work and it didn’t work out well. It’s ideal to maintain a collaboration with a single IT company that will come to know more about an organization’s needs. If the relationship works properly, it will be more beneficial going forward.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a few small projects in the beginning, and I continued to give more and more work to SapientPro. They help me with my internet site. I believe that our system is Magento.

We have worked on numerous projects related to the website, including a configurator that helps clients customize products in many ways. We offer flowers in 26 colors and different box shapes.

What is the team composition?

I have worked with four people from their team. I could go to their general manager for any issues or if I wanted to change the direction of the collaboration. We worked together to decide on the team members and departments used.

How did you come to work with SapientPro?

One of my colleagues recommended them to me.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work has been $5,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SapientPro around the time we started our business, around July 2017, because they delivered good work and their prices were reasonable. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They established our presence on the internet. It’s easy for clients to use our page and to get the right product delivered. The configurator feature on our website provides a good advantage compared to our competition. I am satisfied with their work. We’ve worked on numerous projects together, all of which have been successful.

How did SapientPro perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a group on WhatsApp where we have good discussions and I explain what I want to have changed and ask questions. They provide recommendations, and they’re open to finding new solutions. If they can’t resolve a problem immediately, they will look for support on our behalf.

This was our first year in business, so we don’t have a lot of experience with managing budgets. We’ve kept an open budget and focused more on the time needed to complete projects. We have worked with them on a task basis and haven’t had any problems with time and money.

They can deliver anything we want in a very short time. Some projects aren’t resolved too quickly, but it’s not always due to a mistake on their side. We have sometimes made changes to ongoing projects. We haven’t always given them proper instructions and we don’t describe our solutions in much detail.

We have open communication with SapientPro. We’ve done a lot of work on our page over the last year, changing many things and their work has been good for our needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I am happy to work with them, and we will have much more work in the future. They are an open-minded team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We’ve been happy with our collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an entrepreneur who owns my private limited company and serves corporate and creative clients all over the globe. I am also a partner in an arts education and entertainment LLP, which hired Sapient Pro. We make educational applications to increase awareness of the environment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SapientPro?

My company has been working on an iPad application for over four years. Since the technology is new and it the project is ongoing, we wanted to hire an in-house team to complete it. We were surprised that freelancers like Sapient Pro could provide us with the same service as an in-house team.

We have asked more than 4-5 development teams to complete the application. Despite finishing the artwork, delivering the content, and hiring recommended teams, we could not complete the project. We lacked knowledge about developing and integrating new technology.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to hire an in-house team to complete the project. We were looking for creative developers who could work with us on a long-term basis, both on this project and on other upcoming projects.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

This vendor was suggested by a website developer, who had already worked on a yearlong project with us and is still working with us now.

Describe the project in detail.

The app is a new format of a digital book. Since no one has made something like this before, we were unable to complete the app in the way that we had visualized it.

After two years, the previous developers had completed only 10% of the app. The project required a patient and creative team of developers. It was a fresh concept that utilized new technology, and the content kept changing as we received and added more information.

Despite several changes in content and artwork, the app was still being built while we received more deliveries from the content team and artists. We hired four or five development teams, but they were not knowledgeable enough to complete the process on time.

What was the team composition?

Communicating with the development team was very easy, and their attention to detail was excellent. They made several suggestions to improve the app’s technology. All four developers have been absolutely fantastic. They have also offered to work with us on three of our future projects since they have a larger team of people to multitask.

The app has been submitted after integrating the team’s suggestions, which were very fruitful. Both their creative and technical advice has helped us make a better product. Everyone on the team has been consistently available on Skype while building this app, which helped accelerate the submission process and shorten the overall timeline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are currently in the app review process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their attention to detail was fantastic. We missed a lot of guidelines for submission, but they were always there to reconfirm the requirements for the submission process. They were available every time we sent them a message on Skype or requested a quick information call. Even though we had many issues with content changes and errors throughout the process, we appreciate their patience and enthusiasm for the app.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were surprised that everything about SapientPro was so perfect. They were very easy to work with and knew their job really well. After trying out multiple development teams over the last two years, we've found the perfect team to build this app and assist with our future projects.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

MWater is a water delivery service. We deliver 15-liter water bottles to organizations, factories, and normal households on a weekly basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SapientPro?

We needed to replace our legacy call-center CRM with a customized one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We found an open-source product called EspoCRM and found that it had a 70% fit with our business from the start. SapientPro was brought in to complete the remaining 30%.

I provided PowerPoints with requirements specifications to SapientPro which they used to carry out development. We then sent the work to users for testing and pushed it to the production server thereafter.

What is the team composition?

I was in contact with three people from their team: the business process manager, the senior full-stack web developer, and the backend developer.

How did you come to work with SapientPro?

We found a vendor in Ukraine while looking online for companies that could customize EspoCRM. We called them, but they told us that they no longer worked with the platform and referred SapientPro to us.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work for the initial scope was $15,000, but the total cost—including changes we made—was $21,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2017. The first deployment to production was made in December 2017 and we’ve only made minor changes since that time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The CRM is meant for internal use. We’ve evaluated it by gathering user feedback as well as tracking the number of change requests and issues they submitted. I know that users are happier than ever.

How did SapientPro perform from a project management standpoint?

We followed a strongly enforced agile process. We had a user acceptance testing (UAT) and development server for SapientPro. They were never allowed to work on the production server unless something critical happened.

Everything was delivered on time. I normally assigned their priorities when submitting change requests and issues. They would usually complete all issues and change requests within one week, allowing us to have weekly deployments.

We initially communicated via email but later moved to Skype. We had weekly conference calls through either Skype or TeamViewer.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are inexpensive, professional, and highly skilled.

Are there any areas they could improve?

SapientPro needs to perform more testing before they release the code to our UAT server. Sometimes, after developing per our specifications, we found that the work was incomplete or improperly tested. Some complex requirements demanded two or three attempts before deployment to production.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I haven’t had any significant issues with them, so I don’t know what advice to give. I believe that SapientPro’s clients are in good hands.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and CEO of Clonar, a service that helps users manage their subscription services. We started about four months ago and are based in Amsterdam.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SapientPro?

Our team primarily consists of backend developers, so we needed a frontend team to help us build a native iOS app for our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their scope was limited to frontend development. We provided them with product specifications and built the backend of the platform, and they were tasked with all UX/design elements in building a frontend that could integrate with what our in-house team had created.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a project manager and three developers.

How did you come to work with SapientPro?

I sent out a few inquiries on various community channels and startup groups looking for recommendations on frontend development companies. I turned down a few requests before SapientPro approached me, and they seemed to have a good combination of skills for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $2,500 and $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December of 2017 and completed development in the beginning of February. The product is now going through testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have yet to launch the app and have not yet gathered user data. However, the quality of work overall has been very good. They’ve delivered with very little deviation between my expectations and the outcome, and we’ve really appreciated that.

How did SapientPro perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent communicators from the beginning. Skype was our primary mode of communication, but we also used email, chat, and had regular conference calls. We started off using Slack, but that didn’t work out for a variety of reasons. They reliably met deadlines and worked very transparently. We experienced a fair amount of scope creep throughout the project, so we had a few negotiations on what the original scope encompassed and what needed to be added on. Those conversations were very easy to have, and they were very accommodating.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very easy to do business with. When they pushed back on any of my directives, they had very solid reasoning. They were very professional in the way that they approached things, and both the project managers and the developers were great to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve done a slightly better job in outlining what they would offer during the post-development process upfront. Towards the end, testing the product became somewhat of a hassle. This is a common problem that disconnected development teams face, and we were happy with the app after its completion. There were also some language barriers between our team and theirs, but it never got in the way of development. All in all, we had a very positive experience.

Advice for potential customers?

I would recommend that new clients make sure to specify the services that they’re looking for during the post-development phase.