SayOne Technologies

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The organization I work for is a media company. We started as a music and media company, but we also do client development, especially blockchain and decentralized finance. We’re a startup.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

The objective at the time was to complete the next version of our application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our backend was .NET, and we redid the whole thing in Django Python. We handled most of the project management and architecture, and SayOne provided development.

What is the team composition?

We worked with one member, then two.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

I was using oDesk regularly at the time, which is Upwork now. I found a couple of good people there, and they eventually told me that they were starting a company and wanted to have me as a client. We started working off oDesk, to cut out the middleman.

How much have you invested with them?

The total was around $43,000.

When did you start working with SayOne?

I believe we worked together between May 2014–October 2015.

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

I have no complaints about their Django skills.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

At that point, we were working through Skype, Google Sheets, and GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re specialists in Django, and they know their stuff. They were pretty helpful with all kinds of requests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s always improvement to be had, but I can’t think of anything at this point. We were working well.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If the client knows what to do with a Git review and so on, and if they have the right niche in place, they can actually find the diamonds with a company like this. SayOne was really good in my case.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Approiq, a newly started mobile app publishing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

I was looking to outsource the development of a mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I gave them text-only specifications, and SayOne Technologies created wireframes for my approval that showed how the app would work and what users would see. Then, they moved into the development phase, where they were responsible for everything, including the backend server-side work.

The app, which is developed for Android and iOS, is a social app for photo exchange. It targets people who may not feel comfortable with most other apps out there, whether due to their complexity, or lax information security and privacy. This app provides a simple way to exchange pictures with friends and family in a back-and-forth manner.

SayOne Technologies is currently providing maintenance for the app, as well as helping me gain a deeper understanding of the development process.

What is the team composition?

I interact with roughly five people, including the frontend programmer and backend developer. The project manager is my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

They replied to my post on Upwork. I considered quotes from several companies and liked that they had a good understanding of the app I wanted to develop, as well as good communication.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent $10,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around July 2020, and it’s an ongoing project.

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

The app launched in stores last week. We found a few bugs during testing, which SayOne Technologies fixed, and the product seems to work so far. They met my requirements and specifications quite well and implemented additional features that presented during the project. I am satisfied with the quality of their work, and the outcome to this point.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager stays in close contact with me, responding to my requests quickly. We email at least every week and also have WhatsApp for further communication. They are on the ball.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They work interactively with clients and communicate well. I appreciate that the project manager has a good overview of the project and is able to give input. SayOne Technologies translated my specifications into a straightforward, viable design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We went through more iterations than I anticipated, and they had a change in team members during the project, however, these things happen, and I don’t blame them. It was my first app development project as well, which may have contributed to the slower timeframe.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Their hands-on approach allows me to work closely with the project manager and give feedback at each step of the process. If you like that type of working relationship, SayOne Technologies is a good company to consider.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a former employee of a business that rents shared workspaces.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

We used several different and expensive tools for people to find our office spaces and book viewings. We approached SayOne Technologies to help us build our own reservation system.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the moment, our platform is a web application that allows users to either find a space to rent or rent their own space for office use. The backend was built using Python, and the frontend utilized HTML and CSS.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with two project managers, who served as the liaisons with the development team.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

We were unable to budget for a UK-based developer, so one of our in-house developers recommended SayOne Technologies after working with them in the past. He’s a talented developer himself, so we trusted their team right away. We didn’t need to see any of their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from June–September 2018.

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

We tested the web app with a couple of team members, but we weren’t confident that the product was ready to launch. There were a number of frontend issues that needed to be addressed. We were happy with their work, but the UX complications were unsurprising because we had prioritized a strong backend, which was achieved. SayOne Technologies accomplished everything we asked them to do, but they weren’t comfortable adding too much of their own creativity without checking with us first. With most developers, we’d expect that they’d use common sense to fill in some of those frontend gaps.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They work well within scheduling guidelines. Their dedication to finishing on time was quite evident. We’d communicate well through Google Hangouts, and we’d have access to their internal staging tool to track their progress. I would occasionally use EnVision to show them something if I couldn’t express it over a video call.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They managed the project well and were quick to fix any problems we had. Their response time and willingness to help are clear strengths.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The frontend development seemed somewhat basic, but that is something we expected because of the greater priority on the backend.

Any advice for potential customers?

It makes a big difference to break the project down into smaller stages than you think is necessary. It’s best to try to deal with one thing at a time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a founding executive of a data company. Our objective is to support dialogues about the leading technologies related to big data analytics and AI. We intend to highlight industry trends and grant participants the opportunity to explore these topics.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

We needed a firm to develop the company’s website based on our requirements.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SayOne Technologies built our website using Wagtail CMS. They worked on some design aspects as well, but only in a limited capacity. They’re mostly working within our exact specifications. They’ve completed phase one of the development process and will soon be starting phase two. This process will include adding forum functionalities to facilitate user interaction. Once they implement all the features needed, we’ll likely request SayOne Technologies to provide ongoing web support and maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of four people from SayOne Technologies. The team consists of an architect, a project leader, a business analyst, and a chief developer.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

We posted a detailed job description to Upwork and their architect responded promptly. Ultimately, we chose them over five other candidates.

What is the status of this engagement?

We hired them in February 2018 and the project is ongoing.

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

They delivered a high-quality website that we’re about to launch. Our existence as a company depends on the site and we’re fully confident it’ll be successful. SayOne Technologies consistently completes tasks per our direction and on schedule.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve demonstrated the ability to manage our project effectively. We primarily communicate via email and weekly meetings. Specific project management software hasn’t been necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciate their enthusiasm and dedication. They make sure each deliverable presented to us is built correctly. We’re extremely pleased with the work they’ve done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Their team consists of professional and personable individuals. If you decide to contract them, expect to receive reliable results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of an audio mastering company that provides online mixing services to artists and producers.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

Our initial goal was to expand our website’s file processing capabilities. We wanted to build an internal system that could allow users to easily upload multiple files. Although we had an idea of our desired features and overall design, we lacked the resources to translate it into a functional interface. We needed resources to develop our site based on our designs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was a front-to-back approach where they used our visuals and developed the backend for two or three pages using Django, WebFaction, and Mezzanine. The site features folders to organize sound files by instrument type as well as a before-and-after feature that allowed users to hear how our platform would mix their audio in real time. Currently, they’re in the final stages of preparing for a data migration.

What is the team composition?

We worked with nearly half a dozen people, including a project manager, business analyst, programmer, and designer.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

We originally worked with a vendor who couldn’t complete the project. That vendor referred us to SayOne Technologies, and we’ve worked with them since.

How much have you invested with them?

We prefer to keep the project cost confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work began in November 2017 and is ongoing.

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

We were amazed by how accurately the site aligned with our vision. We conducted periodic conference calls with the entire team to assess certain milestones, and they guided us through their progress.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They created the site in a timely and cost-effective manner. In terms of communication, we mostly contacted them through Slack. Despite minor delays caused by time differences, they always responded promptly and maintained the project deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As I mentioned before, we praise their ability to build a backend that faithfully incorporated our design.

Are there any areas they could improve?

By nature, the project was complicated and multifaceted, so there were various points that could have gone more smoothly. During the project touch points, we would have appreciated more time to process the information and offer input. Improved communication would have helped alleviate project concerns.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

DjangoForce is a software consulting firm. We act as freelancers for any company that needs software developed. I am a partner.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

We needed quality, affordable talent that was available during our business hours. We were looking for Django and Salesforce.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We ended up working only with Django because SayOne didn’t have the Salesforce skills we needed, which they were honest about. They’ve worked on four or five projects with us at this point.

One of the projects was a web application synced with a mobile app that allowed students and recruiters to become more organized at recruiting events, such as college job fairs.  It enabled users to log in with LinkedIn credentials, sync to their LinkedIn accounts, and receive QR codes that they could wear as badges. They could scan each other’s codes and find each other on the app afterward.

Another project they’re working on right now is a platform that syncs medical providers’ Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems, or patient management systems. It links a patient’s EMR with the company with a particular Salesforce instance, allowing collaboration between any attorneys and medical providers throughout the legal process.

We find the project and if we need more developers, we’ll talk to SayOne and try to use the same resources. SayOne is usually able to accomplish that. We’ll go over the project and they’ll build it.

What is the team dynamic?

We primarily work with the same team members, but it does vary. Sometimes there’s a lack of availability because a developer we want is working on a different project.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

We chose SayOne Technologies because they were quality developers and the price was right.

How much have you invested with them?

Between $60,000–$80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2016 and the work is ongoing.

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

We’ve only received positive feedback.

They enable us to be more competitive in our market. All in all, we can produce faster and cheaper because of the talent they offer and the price at which they offer it.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We typically handle the project management, but as far as communication on the developers’ end, it’s been great. I have nothing bad to say about them—they’ve been wonderful. They enable us to avoid working crazy hours because most of their developers can work during our business hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very intuitive. If, as a project manager, I need to communicate the initial requirements of a project to SayOne developers, they’re very good at taking those and figuring out what else is needed along the way. They don’t come back and ask 50 questions about reaching fairly logical and common-sense solutions. They’re very good at intuiting those answers on their own, and 99% of the time, they choose the right answer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I would change is that we would like more available developers, but they’re getting there. Last time I checked, they had about 45 developers. They’re just busy. We would like to use them more. With that, we’d prefer developers to work more during normal U.S. business hours.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide a platform where parents can connect childcare service providers. They have access to all the right information. We personally vet and check all the childcare services that are on our platform. The platform is currently available in North America. I’m the founder.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

We needed to find someone working with Python and Django and who had a good knowledge of the AWS and the security component of it. Also, once the site goes live, we needed someone to support the site and fix any bugs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our website portal. There is payment involved as well. A lot of people have a prototype, but I didn’t want a ready-made product. This was something new and we wanted someone who knew what they were doing to write it from scratch. They also helped develop the design for the site. When I signed the contract, I provided them the logo. I had my own ideas of how things should look. They assigned designers and they walked me through their templates. I was really happy to see that whatever wireframes or designs I provided they could materialize it and show me what the final product would be. It actually looked good, and they were really quick on that.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

There are not a lot of people who work with Python and Django in India. When Googling web application development companies, Clutch shows up on the first page, and I found SayOne there. We wanted to find someone who could give quality service and had a good rating in general. We wanted someone who had a whole system including a project manager who would walk us through the process. SayOne hit all the areas I was looking for, and they had really good ratings. The price was an important factor as well. They were willing to negotiate and it worked out well. They are known in the Django community as certified developers. They were very enthusiastic and quick to respond.

How much have you invested with SayOne Technologies?

We have spent $8,000 on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in April 2017, and the work is 85% complete. It’s in the testing phase now.

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

So far, I haven’t had a bad day with SayOne. They give suggestions and we go back and forth to make decisions. Interacting with them is good. It’s been a positive experience. They have a staging server where they push all the code changes, and I look at those. They also have a testing team, but the project is not finished. I’m doing the testing from my side as well, and I let them know if I find anything that’s not working.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was fairly good. There was one project manager that left and I haven’t had a chance to talk to the replacement. I have talked to the developer directly instead of the new PM. The previous PM was good. He kept me updated on what was going on. After he left, it’s more challenging to get the status of the project and get on the phone with someone. The developers tend to avoid talking to the client, which is what I’m seeing now.

What did you find most impressive about SayOne Technologies?

They really understand what the client wants, and they’re open to suggestions. They have never hesitated when I bring something up. The whole experience has been good. They take responsibility and take their job seriously.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a designer and partner at a software company that develops products for restaurants and hotels. We have a point-of-sale system and a hospitality service management system.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

Initially, they helped us fix a production issue – a bug in the Android system, and that ultimately gave us a better product. They are building a mobile app for us now.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were impressed by how well and how quickly SayOne Technologies fixed the initial bug. They are also good at UX/UI, and we thought we could use more quality work. Now, they are building us a mobile app. One of their strengths is a technical team that is able to fix bugs and product crashes quickly. They also have some in-house products they use to scan systems and track crashes. They fix all of their system crashes in a testing phase, which helps us build a product with a strong base.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

We checked with our contacts and somebody gave us SayOne Technologies. We got in touch with two other companies as well, but SayOne was more prompt and had the right business knowledge and a better technical base. We thought they would be more suitable for the project. We started looking around for an extra team when we realized our team didn't have the bandwidth to address certain procurements. SayOne Technologies even had some exposure to the procurement we had because they had developers who had prior experience with the industries. That helped us provide a solution to our customers.

How much have you invested with SayOne Technologies?

As of now, we have invested about $25,000 with SayOne Technologies.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around July 2016, and we have an ongoing relationship.

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

SayOne Technologies brings in huge value with the mobile app they built for us. They have a strong foundation and a technical native Android development team, which complements our team. SayOne also has saved us a lot of money by better integrating the Android Wi-Fi and mobile capabilities. Whenever the mobile app connects the server, it looks for the Wi-Fi, and if it gets disconnected, it can connect to the Wi-Fi automatically. That way, we are able to use the mobile app even in low Wi-Fi areas.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Five people worked on the mobile app, and we had contact with the designers and the technical lead. We actually have four teams working on the project: a design team, a marketing team, our development team, and their development team. Most of our communication goes through instant messaging systems because all of the teams are in different locations.

Are there any areas SayOne Technologies could improve?

They could come up with more project management tools because now we are handling everything in a nonstandard way. It would help to handle budgeting and procurement tracking. They took it positively when I made the same suggestion to them. I think they might be coming up with some online tools.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup working in the professional social networking space. I'm the founder and chief executive officer.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

We needed to develop a web-based app related to the social networking aspects of our business.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SayOne Technologies developed our solution using Python and Django. We had a very high-level concept, and SayOne Technologies helped in terms of look-and-feel, by making mock-ups. Since we were not very clear initially on how the site should look, SayOne Technologies was willing to go over a few iterations. 

Our website was deployed by SayOne Technologies, and it's being hosted on Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services.

Initially, SayOne Technologies assigned 2 frontend developers and 1 backend. Later, we had 1 frontend and 1 backend resource, as well as a project manager. We communicated with the technical engineers quite a bit. Since SayOne Technologies is offshore, and we employ an Agile methodology. We dialed in on daily meetings and had at least one weekly call with the entire team.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

We had a concept, but not the technical expertise for developing it. We did know that we wanted to use Python for development, so searched Google for offshore teams. The cost would be lower, but it would also be easier for us to communicate with the team after-hours since we all had other full-time jobs. We talked to a couple of groups, spoke to references, and felt like SayOne Technologies had a good understanding of Python and Django, as well as being reasonably priced.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SayOne Technologies in April 2016 and had a 6-month development run, which was a bit on the higher end of our estimates. The initial build has been completed, but we're working on some second-phase enhancements for the website using SayOne Technologies.

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

We are now in the beta phase, so we only have 15 or so users so far. Regarding general experience, SayOne Technologies was very easy to work with and quick on their feet. There were times when we needed to perform data extraction and had a choice of different technologies which SayOne Technologies' team themselves didn't know. They learned quickly, made an assessment for us, and came back with what would be best for our needs, and implemented everything quickly.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Jira for project management and Taiga for bug tracking. We also had daily calls with SayOne Technologies, going over the work. It was a smooth communication process, and SayOne Technologies was always available for us.

What did you find most impressive about SayOne Technologies?

SayOne Technologies is a smaller company, so they're very accessible. Whenever a developer working on our project didn't know how to handle a particular issue, we could bring in someone with more experience easily. SayOne Technologies made another resource available on the next call, helping us along the way. Not only were the developers themselves willing to collaborate, but SayOne Technologies as a whole provided an agile environment.

Are there any areas SayOne Technologies could improve?

Time estimates were a bit overly optimistic. This had to do with the fact that we were also a little weak initially regarding requirements. SayOne Technologies could improve on this front, but we've had an overall positive experience. I have never worked with offshore teams; even though some portions were a little vague, SayOne Technologies was good in working with us and finished the work within our budget.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a California-based LLC which has developed a platform for assessing sensory sensibilities. We ask users what they love, hate, and want. Based on the answers, we can find out preferences for spicy foods, restaurants, or soft towels, for example. We are able to assess what we call a person's Vinotype and tell them things about themselves, like the fact that they cut tags out of their clothes, their mother had morning sickness, and they love Pinot Grigio.

Our platform is a sort of Instagram for wine. It separates users into 4 typologies, including a hypersensitive category, and prioritizes posts based on their relevance. Seeing a 2-star review for a Mexican restaurant on Yelp won't offer any insight into who the reviewer was. We show reviews for places which people similar to the user have liked the most.

I am a co-founder and managing partner of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with SayOne Technologies?

We needed help building our initial platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SayOne Technologies developed our platform, initially as an iframe part of a WordPress site, and then in the form of a full Python-based Django site. We offer integrations through an open API. We've taken our survey platform and also built a mobile app out of it, which is now nearing completion.

SayOne Technologies has built almost everything related to our platform. I act as project manager and have provided the general concept and direction. SayOne Technologies has worked with me through the entire process of integrating functionalities for camera filters, review sharing, and so on. SayOne Technologies also handled the frontend design work, almost in its entirety.

How did you come to work with SayOne Technologies?

We are based in the Bay Area, where we posted an ad on Craigslist for local developers who had an interest in wine and would be willing to help us build an initial version of the platform. We found a local person who had worked with SayOne Technologies in the past, and made the introduction. He turned out to be quite flaky and didn't deliver, so we ended up going to SayOne Technologies directly.

How much have you invested with SayOne Technologies?

Each project we've had with SayOne Technologies has had a cost between $25,000 and $50,000, depending on the scope.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SayOne Technologies 7 years ago, and have an ongoing relationship. The 2 mobile apps aren't yet available in the stores. We're finishing the submission and approval process.

I've actually helped them build their own business by introducing SayOne Technologies to other contacts. I work with a non-profit organization in Napa Valley, for which SayOne Technologies has built websites and mobile apps.

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

SayOne Technologies has a good, talented team which works hard, and they've always been willing to dedicate resources to us. If we don't have enough people for getting a job done, SayOne Technologies will assign 2-3 additional developers in order to make sure that we hit a timeline.

In the first 3 years, we profiled 25,000 people through our platform, but this was mainly a function of marketing and distribution, and may not speak directly to SayOne Technologies' technical prowess.

How did SayOne Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

SayOne Technologies has been very organized in terms of project management, using different tools in order to wireframe approvals and make sure that we gather project requirements. We have weekly calls, making sure that we're on the same page, and SayOne Technologies has remained committed to getting the work done in a timely manner. I've usually had to use separate design and development teams in the past, but SayOne Technologies has in-house resources for both.

What did you find most impressive about SayOne Technologies?

We've been very pleased overall. I've worked with other developers in the past and found that asking them to create a cool, clean product didn't always translate. SayOne Technologies has been good at understanding requirements and putting together a finished product which didn't need a lot of revising.

Are there any areas SayOne Technologies could improve?

The time distance is my only complaint. I've spent a few late nights working with SayOne Technologies' developers in India. If they could start sleeping during the day, it would be great.

There will always be technical issues surrounding communication, and it can be difficult to understand accents, but this is the norm for working overseas and I don't find it to be a downfall of SayOne Technologies.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with SayOne Technologies?

Clients should set their expectations and be flexible. Projects always change, even in terms of timelines and pricing. One thing that I've liked about SayOne Technologies is their ability to be flexible, revising proposals and timelines, but the same mindset is required on both sides.