Serengeti

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Erste Bank Serbia is the oldest financial institution in the country, established in 1864 as the first savings bank (Novosadska štedionica). In 2005, Novosadska Bank became a member of Erste Group, which was founded in 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank. Today, Erste Bank Serbia has a network of 90 branches and 4 centers for corporate clients, with approximately 1,100 employees serving around 490,000 clients.

Our focus is on operations with retail clients, local communities and small and medium-sized enterprises.

We insist on the speed and quality of services, thus contributing to clients’ stable and sound growth. We continue with the expansion of our base of satisfied clients and increase our market share in key segments.

We push the boundaries in the field of e-banking and cards on the Serbian financial market and we strive to meet all of our clients’ demands.

My role in the Bank is the Head of Organization Unit, and I am leading Business analyst team. In short, we support improvement of Bank processes by supporting improvement of existing or implementation of new IT solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with the vendor?

We wanted to improve and ensure the stability and reliability of the Core Banking System of Erste Bank Serbia.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Their scope of work includes the maintenance of the Core Banking System of Erste Bank Serbia and improvements by implementation of new change requests in desired timeline.

What is the team composition? 

Team dynamics with Serengeti are excellent, improving our overall performance and contributing to getting the maximum out of each one of us. Serengeti has a very dynamic and flexible team, ready to respond to specific business needs at any time.

How did you come to work with the vendor?

Serengeti is an international company that was the subcontractor for EGIT HR, engaged for implementation of change request for Erste Bank Serbia (EBS). 

What is the status of this engagement?

Ongoing

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Cooperation started in period of time when they were the subcontractor of EGIT HR, through implementation of one change request. It was very effective due to the fact that they are reliable and responsive. Now, Serengeti provides EBS services of development and maintenance of our Core Banking System. 

How did the vendor perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a very active, daily communication with their team in solving challenges related to business needs within our Core Banking System. I would like to add that Serengeti management is also available and that they provide strong support whenever needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Serengeti team supported EBS in implementation of a complex change request according to requirements without any defects, despite the fact that the implementation deadline was very tight.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is always room for improvement. My recommendation for Serengeti is to continue with the exchange of knowledge between team members and to constantly upgrade their knowledge in accordance with the market trends.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a software development company dealing mainly with banks and insurance companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

Our customer needed to centralize data management for all our employees and customers. We had the internal resources to cover the tech lead and project manager, and Serengeti covered development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The deliverables scope included a custom CRM with multiple API integrations with different systems. Our project manager provided guidance and feedback to Serengeti’s team when needed, and their tech lead and project manager were able to handle the development without any major issues. Serengeti was responsible for the design and development of the software. They communicated with the customer on an as-needed basis.

What is the team composition?

There were four members from Serengeti assigned to the project: one account manager, one part-time project manager, and one senior and one mid-level developer, both fulltime.

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

We did a quality check on the market among eight companies of different sizes, looking for ones that provided senior and mid-level developers with significant experience in custom software, and with proven records for on-time delivery and low bug counts. The selection was done by our tech lead, project manager, the development lead for the whole company, and our two directors.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Serengeti between February–June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Due to the quality work done by Serengeti, the customer has recognized us as a good and reliable partner, they’ve given us another project, and they’re considering us for additional ones.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager followed best practices. The project had an agile approach, we had daily standups, and we used Jira. Everything was delivered on time, and the number of bugs was incredibly low. There were only two blocker bugs in the whole project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were really satisfied with the quality, scheduling, and cost, and we’d definitely recommend Serengeti. We give them top marks overall.

We were impressed by their care for developers' seniority and knowledge and their professional approach to all tasks. The specific care given to the developers was reflected in their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If we were to change anything, we would just extend the team, probably adding one more senior developer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Verso Altima Group, which consists of two companies: Altima, which is a software integrator, and Verso, which is a network and infrastructure powerhouse.

During our collaboration with Serengeti, I was the CTO of Altima, and I was responsible for the software sector of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

We were delivering a digital transformation project for a telco client in Bosnia–Herzegovina. The scope grew during the development of the project, and we realized that we needed to outsource development to an external party.

We have a bunch of Java developers, but they were occupied with other projects, and the scope was growing. We wanted to outsource the development of a CRM platform that was part of the telco solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Serengeti provided developers and lead developers for our project who worked in collaboration with our in-house team. They analyzed business requirements, mainly talking to our solution designers, but also directly with the customer. Mainly, we were a proxy between the customer and Serengeti.

Then, they took care of implementation and unit testing. The solution was Java-based.

What is the team composition?

We started with just one lead developer from Serengeti. After the onboarding stage, we added three more people. There were four people from Serengeti involved, not all of them full-time. 

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

Our client is actually based in a part of Bosnia–Herzegovina where they use the Croatian language. They wanted someone who they could communicate with in their native language, not English. 

We’d heard about the good development companies in Zagreb. We also had colleagues who knew members of Serengeti from university. We chose them because they had good references.

How much have you invested with them?

The commercial part didn’t go through me, so I’m unsure how much the project cost. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Serengeti around June 2018, and we wrapped up in March 2019.

Our team took over development when the module was done to a certain degree, after which it was a matter of polishing and integrating it into the application. We were happy with the documentation and with how the model looked, and we’d also exhausted the budget for the collaboration. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Serengeti’s work allowed us to finish the project phase within the expected timeframe. It was fully successful, and I didn’t identify any cons during the collaboration. The project definitely benefited from Serengeti’s involvement.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated with them through the development lead, who was involved from the beginning of the engagement. We had a project manager on our side, and we developed in two-week sprints. We had daily scrums with their lead, discussing what was done in the previous day, what was planned for that day, and any open issues. We also had in-person meetings with them for sprint plannings and retrospectives, at least every two weeks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very efficient. They weren’t familiar with the CRM when we started, but the lead developer was very quickly onboarded, and he quickly started to have very good suggestions. He understood all the concepts we had within the system. Later on, he was very efficient in using the additional three developers from Serengeti’s team. They were pretty much self-sufficient. We had communication with the lead developer, and he didn’t overload our people with constant questions and requests.

We also had scheduled calls with their managers, asking us to rate their employees. Serengeti strived to improve their quality and the experience we had with them.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our CEO was saying that they were pretty expensive, but that goes with the quality. The quality of the code and the documentation they produced were excellent. We didn’t have any drawbacks or complaints in that regard. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

When we initially onboarded the lead developer, we were open and gave him all the necessary information, not only for the part they had to do but also on the full background and the other processes in the system. It was beneficial for him to be knowledgeable about all parts of the system. 

My advice to other companies is to give the team an overall picture of what is happening. It’ll make it easier for them to lead and push the implementation and development more than they would’ve been able to had they only gotten strict requirements and feature requests.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of project development for an automation integration firm. We do software, hardware, and automation services. We have a warehouse management system in place that needs to be customized from project to project. These customizations are done in my department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

Hiring external resources allows us to be more flexible and scalable rather than looking for employees in-house. We had a stable team and we needed to expand.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started by hiring Java developers. At first, we had one resource from them. Since 2018, we have a second one. The first resource started as an architect, but then took over the role of a team leader of the software development. The team consists of our own employees and sometimes it’s just the resources from Serengeti working on a project.

What is the team composition?

There are two full-time people from their team. 

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

I’ve only been in this department a little more than a year, so I’m unsure. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very integrated with all the projects and can take on big tasks for us. They provide positive value for us to have more than our own people available for high-quality projects.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

We have daily or weekly calls and startup meetings when a new project starts. Sometimes they come to Austria, especially for the kickoff meetings — it’s nice to have everyone in one room. They’re fully integrated and everything runs smoothly. They’re also very available for us because we trained them thoroughly. 

There are no issues with communication. They’re available just as if they were in the next office. They manage their own team, so working with them is very convenient. The distance is really no problem.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They integrated nicely with our team— we don’t view or treat them as external employees. It’s a very nice team climate. They’re flexible. If we need extra support on the weekend or very late hours, they’re willing to cooperate with us and take over these tasks. They also have good soft skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing to be improved.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an IT consultant. While working with a different company, I worked with Serengeti.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

We had a resource challenge. The staff we had didn’t possess the skill set we needed for that particular project. It wasn’t easy to ramp up resources in the timeframe that we needed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We decided to partner with them to work on a website. Software testers and software engineers were necessary. Once we realized that working with them was successful, we ramped up the team in order to close the gap we had to deliver projects to our customers.

On our end, we needed someone who can develop software. We were mainly using Java with customized subtexts and frameworks. IBM WebSphere, Spring Boot, and Pivotal Cloud Foundry were all used. We did a number of different projects based on different frameworks. It was a remote-based relationship with their team.

What is the team composition?

There was a team lead from Serengeti and a varying number of dedicated software engineers depending on demand. We’d scale up between 2–6 engineers based on need. The team lead was our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

While we were searching for a new solution, we had a discussion with the CEO of Serengeti. We went through interviews on an organizational level and a technical level.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in early 2016 and ended at the conclusion of 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have tons of talented people. The resources we had were extremely skilled. We had to adapt to a remote team based in Croatia, but we learned together and successfully augmented the onsite presence we had. In order to facilitate better communication, we worked with a team member directly in Germany. They were very skilled people that closed the gap we had.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team communicated well and worked better than expected. I didn’t really believe in the idea, but they proved me wrong. They understand Germany companies and were highly flexible. Any time we had cuts or increases in support, they were very adaptable.

Some of the team members on both sides weren’t comfortable with English, but we were building a multicultural team. We made all of the documentation to be in English. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They executed the remote-based model perfectly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of application architecture for a card processing solutions company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

Because we offer many projects and initiatives, we had a shortage of internal resources. Therefore, we needed to involve external developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company deploys Serengeti’s resources in several different ways. We use both on-premise and off-premise resources from them. Sometimes, they help with our internal teams. Other times, we use their resources completely offsite. In this case, we arrange a complete development team to work outside of our premises. This team delivers a certain number of functionalities or user stories.

We financially work with them in two different ways. One is with standard time and material, which means their developers are paid hourly. This is typically for the on-premise work. For off-premise engagements, we agree upon a fixed scope of work and engage them by a fixed price.

We’ve had three major fixed projects. One was for our merchant portal application. Another was when they developed support for Apple Pay. The third was the completion of a clearing application.

What is the team composition?

There are typically 20–30 developers.

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

There aren’t many companies available in our country for this kind of engagement. Serengeti proved to be the best partner over the years so we’ve decided to continue using them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend €150,000 (approximately $165,000 USD) a year for time and material. For the three major fixed projects, we spent €63,000 (approximately $69,000 USD), €103,000 (approximately $114,000 USD), and €46,000 (approximately $51,000 USD). Everything adds up to around €5 million (approximately $5.5 million USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in Fall 2012, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

No matter how we work with them, they prove to be an excellent partner. The quality we receive is extremely good in relation to the money we have to pay. Seregenti is our strategical partner at this point. The impact of our engagement has been very good.

Without their resources, we wouldn’t be able to run the company and our revenue would be significantly lower. They’re crucial in maintaining our good relationship with clients and for delivering everything that’s expected of us.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage on-site engagements and projects ourselves. For the fixed-price projects, Seregenti assigns their own project manager. We mostly use Skype to communicate and occasionally use email and telephone. Our teams work in an agile methodology, and the work is split into sprints.

Even when Seregenti works off-site, the developers come at the time of retrospective and review for two weeks. During this, we have face-to-face contact to create plans and agree on the next steps.

Cooperation is very good and there are no significant problems. There have been different issues we’ve had to resolve along the way, but that’s normal for any development process.

Once, there was a situation where they couldn’t deliver the scope of work agreed to within the allotted timeframe. For several weeks, Seregenti kept working on the project for free in order to meet the goal and not break the initial agreement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re committed to their work and have good attitudes. Their team has a very professional approach to projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I definitely recommend using them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We work in software development. We offer a protection planning system for our customers worldwide. We're controlling the production process on the machine side. To do this, we develop computer-based applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

We couldn’t get developers in Germany because the market is empty. Since we needed new development capacities, we got in touch with Serengeti.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The developers we hired are included inside our local base development team as if they were our own members. We have one product that we’ve kept for over 25 years. So, don’t have a fixed schedule — it’s a completely open project. They’re working on defined work packages that are integrated in our existing software project.

What is the team composition?

We work with two developers. 

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

Our management office hired the team. Our team was in contact with a head hunter office in Austria. When we announced we were searching for developers, we ended up getting in touch with Serengeti’s agent.

How much have you invested with them?

They send us a monthly invoice depending on what they’re working on. It’s between 10,000 and 15,000 euros each month (Approximately $200,000 to $999,999 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January of 2018, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They are a satellite department in our internal development department. The main benefits of working with them are their availability and cost.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate with them mostly per mail or skype. Their task management is very professional. We have a yearly meeting in Croatia to get in touch face-to-face. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They can open our minds. We’re working in a closed environment where we only have our own experiences. They provide fresh input from a new perspective.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I hope they are able to develop things more independently and that we can integrate them more into our special products. Currently, they are working on the main surface. We want them to work with our specialized products as well. To achieve this, it will be necessary for them to overcome a more detailed learning curve.
 
Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s a good decision to work with this team — it has been a good experience. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

FINA, or Financial Agency, is a Croatian institution for IT development and services for banking systems and governments. I’m the head of the application center, leading around 50 programmers and IT designers in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

We’re primarily using them for staff augmentation of senior and junior developers as well as testers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Serengeti’s team members work on-site with our staff. They’re intermingled in our teams and handle Java programming, web service design, and protocols. On the day-to-day, they use Git, Jenkins, Apache Maven, and other platforms for continuous integration and continuous delivery. They know how to use branches and so on. What’s more, they use automated testing tools like SoapUI and perform manual tests through test scripts.

Currently, we’re working with them on an electronic invoice platform for B2B and B2G. There are three senior developers, two junior developers, and one tester from Serengeti working on it.  We’re also working on a forced payment system. It’s implemented for businesses and citizens in order to regulate the relationship between payments and creditors.

In addition to that, we have another project developing a real estate and property enforcement system. The scope is conducting electronic auctions. There are two junior Java developers from Serengeti on this project, working on mixed teams with our staff. We’re also using a senior developer from them, who’s strong in IBM business process management technology.

What is the team composition?

They’re supplying nine programmers and three testers to us.

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

We ran a public procurement process and chose Serengeti as the best team. They had enough programmers, testers, and designers for our purpose.

How much have you invested with them?

We have a contract for a few million Croatian kunes.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Serengeti four years ago, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Serengeti’s developers’ work with our staff has generated positive results overall. The result of their work is an application system in production. Serengeti’s senior developers are very strong, and the junior developers are on par with ours. That’s exactly what we wanted from them — employees of equal quality to ours.

They’re strong in Java programming and web service design. With regard to the latter, they have strong knowledge of the SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and REST (Representational State Transfer) protocols. They’re also experts in the PEPPOL (Pan-European Public Procurement Online) area.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is good. Everyone works and collaborates seamlessly. Every day, we hold standups for most projects to cover tasks and issues. We propagate those to the project managers and leaders and use them to optimize the work. What’s more, we use Excel files as well as whiteboards with post-its and written tasks. Our effective approach is to work based on errors returned by our test tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The staffers’ extensive knowledge in the PEPPOL area is most impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their junior developers could improve in skill.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d advise them to specify a lead-in time for new employees and have a one- or two-month period to test Serengeti’s staff.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of R&D at audiofon GmbH & Co., a medical device manufacturer. We develop hearing aids.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Serengeti?

We were looking for software development resources. We have a core team in-house, but every couple of years, we need additional resources for 6–12 months due to new technologies in the engineering field.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Two people from Serengeti are permanently allocated to our team to help with software development projects. They know our company and the projects, and they are part of the project team. 

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, there were 2–3 people. One person was from business development, one was the company owner, and another one was for internal processes. Today, we’re in contact with the person responsible for HR and another person from the quality department.

How did you come to work with Serengeti?

I believe we met on LinkedIn.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $500,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2017, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have faster time-to-market because we have a shorter hiring process for our temporary workers. We’re now able to scale the team based on project requirements in a really short period of time. In the past, it took us up to six months to set up a team with temporary, external people. With Serengeti, it takes about four weeks, because our two permanent resources know our needs, projects, and processes. They help us when we need special skills, like software architecture.

How did Serengeti perform from a project management standpoint?

We have phone calls every two weeks.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have developed a friendship with our developers. On the weekend, they go out and have a beer together. It’s like a partnership.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they do a good job. The owner of Serengeti knows what to do very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Tell them your story and try them. We have had a good experience.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

SVP Software Engineering - Hospitality Vertical

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Serengeti, and what were your goals?

We had to rebuild existing software offering into cloud native application. User Interface was completely rewritten using Angular and Java monolith was converted to micro-service architecture. Complete solution was deployed on AWS using AWS CI/CD.

SOLUTION

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

We found them trough referral. There was several options but the company was picked based on

1. Experience in Hospitality domain
2. Ability to quickly deliver resources
3. Being able to provide guarantees
4. Review of existing similar projects

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

Rebuild of the services and User interface.

1. UI- Sunsetting Sencha JS and rebuild in Angular 11
2. UX improvments
3. Back End Services - Java 6 monolith to Java Spring microservice

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

Front end scrum team including team lead and 4 developers Back end team of 4 developers focusing on specific microservices

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to migrate all of the 2k customers to new application. Team was quite solid taking into consideration last minute changes, customer feedbacks and daily releases.

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

We used Agile and Kanban methodology taking into consideration input from the existing customer base and our own product management team.

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

Ability to take ownership and cooperate with our own teams. It helped that we were able to use the same resources and use know-how accumulated trough the overall project.

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

As the team was completely embedded into our own organisation we do not see any are of improvement. Overall success of the project was great and daily challenges were kept at the scrum team level.