Scriptex

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a former product manager at Paytec, a fintech platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scriptex?

We developed a payment processing web application. We had taken our output, refactored it, and then designed a new software and architecture to support it. We hired Scriptex to help us set up the app's first iteration.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scriptex provides us with consultancy services around cloud architecture design and implementation. They’ve helped us develop a Microsoft Azure stack to optimize our infrastructure cost. They’ve also assisted us in deploying it for the first time; the team has set up new Microsoft Azure DevOps depositories and the deployment pipeline associated with that.

Our app is a payment processing platform that allows corporations to upload new contracts for insurance or subscription purposes. These contracts are scheduled for recurring billing. For the most part, these transactions are processed using the direct debit method, though there are also card transactions. 

For example, a corporate with a sales form on their site can capture a new subscription and either pass it to us through a REST API or consolidate their sales at the end of each day, uploading them to the app. The platform also allows users to view reports on their billing performance, the number of successful transactions they've had, and customer billing details verification.

The Scriptex team set up disaster recovery and other fallback services in the event of a network outage with Microsoft Azure. They also did some security consulting. Additionally, the team has helped us with some software development, mostly related to cloud architecture. They’ve taken over some trickier development regarding the web API and some of the automation services we’re running in the background.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with two developers.

How did you come to work with Scriptex?

We worked with another company, and one of their employees had worked with Scriptex’s developers at another agency and had been very impressed. He referred them to us and said we should chat with them if we went the cloud route. At that point, we were very confident in Scriptex, and their pricing was really reasonable, so we decided to go ahead with them.

How much have you invested in them?

So far, we’ve spent close to $250,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our uptime has been fantastic — we’ve achieved 99.9% uptime. Thanks to Scriptex’s work, our deployment windows are 15-minutes long or less, so we can continuously deploy as necessary with limited downtime. 

Moreover, we’re really pleased with the disaster recovery they set up. Regarding their security consulting work, we haven’t had a security incident. The app is the primary product our company sells, so it’s responsible for 80% of our business revenue. However, it’s tricky to measure the impact of Scriptex’s work in this regard. 

How did Scriptex perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really fantastic at project management. The team is experienced, and they’ve exceeded our expectations around timelines. Initially, we thought project management would be challenging since we only work with two developers. However, they’re very confident and can work much quicker than anticipated. We got most of the work done within a month, which was amazing. 

We typically communicate through Microsoft Teams and use Shortcut (formerly Clubhouse) to track tasks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed by Scriptex’s experience with multiple cloud solutions. They have expertise with Microsoft Azure as well as AWS and have been able to guide us around the selection of different services. These platforms can be quite daunting when it’s unclear which will perform better in what circumstances and which will work out cost-effectively in the long run. 

Scriptex is very clear about the pros and cons of the different solutions, and they’re knowledgeable about the cost impact. As a result, we've been able to forecast the operations cost of the software since early on in the project, which has helped a lot.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although they’re a competent team, they have a very small operation. For us, the issue has been that Scriptex only has two senior developers, and they’re quite expensive. If they recruited a couple of junior developers under their direction, the engagement could be a bit more cost-effective. In this scenario, we could use more of their services. We’ve swallowed the cost over a long period to make it more affordable for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and communicate with Scriptex about the best options. If you’re still trying to figure out what you want, you’ll struggle to make a success of your project. They’re quite expensive, so discovering your needs with them could be quite costly. However, if your requirements are set, you’ll be able to get good value for money with Scriptex.