SEVEN

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the technical lead of a social impact startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to create a marketplace for charity based on Magento. We needed help to setup the sever infrastructure, the platform and develop custom components sitting on top of the software platform.

SOLUTION

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

We compared SEVEN with other IT companies. The factors for the decision were technical skillset, experience, flexibility with new developers and pricing going a long with an excellent pitch presentation.

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

We setup a requirements documents, developed a project plan with timings. Than SEVEN developed in Figma a site structure with layout drafts. SEVEN setup our infrastructure in the cloud and the platform using Magento. We extend the platform with a lot of custom applications, payment methods and extensions.

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

Different persons worked with us. Project managers, backend developers, frontend developers, UX/webdesigner and dev-ops for infrastructure.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Deliverable was a working e-commerce platform including staging enviroment.

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

We are using Jira, Confluence for planning and execution, Skype and Zoom for communication.

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

Their flexibility and friendliness were impressive.

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

Everything worked as expected.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Managing Director (MD) at Acumen International.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have hired SEVEN team to help us develop the Global Payroll Tax Calculator covering 190 countries where we offer global employment services as a service provider.

SOLUTION

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

The expertise and experience were vital in selecting the SEVEN team as our preferred vendor. When I was talking to the team, namely to Oksana, she was able to understand our company objectives and the challenges that we were facing. Oksana offered us not only the solution that would fit with the company's short-term objectives. But she also has demonstrated 'an eagle-eye' approach and offered us the long-term perspective in our product development.

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

The key deliverable for the project was the calculation module adjusted for payroll taxation for both local citizens and expatriates in 190 countries. Quite a challenging task!

Technologies used:

• Java - backend.
• Laravel - frontend.

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

2-3 people including Oksana as a Senior Project Manager, a Project Manager, and also a Head of Engineering.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching the Global Payroll Tax Calculator in September 2021, we have been both using it internally to prepare employment cost simulations for our clients and to sell the software (SaaS) to our clients. The product has proved to be profitable and value-adding

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

The communication and the project management of the SEVEN team is highly appreciated by me personally and our team as well. I could ask the questions based on my technical background and overall understanding of the task to get the Calculator live. However, the SEVEN team and Oksana and Julia, and Serhiy were able to hear what was said, and suggest the technical implementation that would help mitigate various consequences and risks that might arise in the future as the product grows. The recommendations we have received from SEVEN team were exclusive and added a great value as they were based on the rich experience with other products too!

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

The knowledge of the consequences, both technical, financial and others, which SEVEN team has helped us avoid. Their professional recommendations during the whole process of product development has helped us save costs and time too.

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

I would suggest improving the Reporting on completed works. But this is a minor change. If you are looking for a robust solution with the team of professionals that might be your Development team extension, I would 100% recommend SEVEN!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a brand new company called Chatremedy. We do mental health video therapy sessions; it’s like a mental health counseling app. It connects therapists to people who seek immediate counseling, and we’ll be releasing the app in the next three months in Japan and the UK. In the meantime, we have a welcome page. We just use it to get emails for people who are looking forward to the app launch.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SEVEN?

In Japan there isn’t Talkspace or BetterHelp, so we wanted to build something similar. We needed help with mobile app development. We tried to start back in 2019; we worked with several companies to build the software, but it was a complete and utter nightmare. We wasted lots of time and money.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, SEVEN had a turnkey app that we wanted to use. They offered to build it from scratch, but we just modified it. We told them what we needed the app to do, and they’ve done everything. They’ve also built a web server that connects to the app so we can control the backend through the server.

For now, the app will only be available for iOS. It’s a platform where therapists can register, and people who are looking for therapy can go through it in the privacy of their home. Users can set up immediate video chats and counseling, and they can message each other and get counseling through text, emails, and so on. We’ll release the Android version in about nine months. 

How did you come to work with SEVEN?

We were looking at several companies to work with; we looked online and came across their website. After speaking with Adrian (Founder & CEO) and seeing their turnkey product, we knew they understood what we wanted and how to make it because they’d done it before.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our engagement in January 2021, and we’re still working together. They’ve just sent me the final draft of the app, and my team is looking at it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched yet, so we don’t have any customers. The app is pretty much finished; everything looks promising. The quality is excellent, and every stage of the product has been very professional. We’ve worked with other companies before, and it was a complete mess. We had to spoon-feed them what we wanted.

With SEVEN, we just tell them what we need the app to do. Every single stage, they’ve brought us something that we can understand easily. Working with them is great because we don’t have to know anything about development — they break it down for us.

Moreover, they think about what we need and anticipate it. They have experience in building these types of apps, so they know exactly what payment systems we need, and so on. Since we’re releasing the app in Japan, there have been some issues. However, they bring them back to their team and come back with a solution. If we’d found them in 2019, we would’ve launched already.

How did SEVEN perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is fantastic. Other companies go over deadlines and charge through the roof. SEVEN explains every single step. If we need a change, they go away for a couple of days and come back to tell us how many hours it’ll take and how much it’ll cost additionally. We can agree before any commitment’s made, while other companies wait and just tell you how much more it’ll cost.

On the other hand, SEVEN has never gone over deadlines. If it looks like they’re going over, they explain to us why. Also, from what I understand, a lot of the work is delegated to different departments. Everything’s built simultaneously, so we don’t have to wait for something to be done.

We mainly communicate through email and Zoom. I speak to Adrian through email, and I also have him on Skype, which makes things easier. Additionally, we have meetings on Zoom with him and a couple of the programmers, and they explain everything to us in layman’s terms. We hate these technical programs, but with email and Skype, it’s just like being in the office with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re easy to work with because they anticipate our needs. Also, they explain everything to us. Even without a programming background, we can understand them. Moreover, the app is high quality, and they excel in professionalism. If something isn’t working properly, they don’t show us. The team waits until it’s 100% ready, and then they present it to us. In general, everything with them is fantastic and problem-free.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t point out anything that they’ve done wrong. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I definitely recommend them and would work with them again. They really know what they’re doing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CTO of a telecommunication solutions company with branches in Europe and East Asia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The goal was to develop a custom Softphone solution with some special features.

SOLUTION

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

We select them from few companies which could deliver such solutions. We were convinced by their previous projects.

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

Android based app, Kotlin, Java.

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

There were 3 persons in the core team, a project manager and 2 senior developers. Other resources according to the project needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project was finished in good quality and in time.

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

Good communication and project management with the tools like Redmine, Skype, Teams.

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

They were always available for necessary meetings during the collaboration.

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

Just keep the current quality.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

At Kings Distributed Systems, I lead the motivated team behind the Distributed Compute Protocol, a high throughput distributed computing framework built on web technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

All of our engineers were all busy and focused on building the core platform. We didn't have enough resources to simultaneously work on front-end components, so we decided to outsource.

SOLUTION

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

We were introduced about a year ago, discussed potential collaboration, and kept in touch. When our need arose, we reconnected and launched the project.

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

We provided designs and mockups, as well as a mostly functional backend, but a lot of work needed to be done to implement the new frontend and connect it to the backend. Some backend work was also required to streamline functionality and connect it correctly to the user interface.

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

One excellent web developer was able to deliver all aspects of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

100% satisfaction with our internal team, testing underway with live clients. All appreciate the interface's new aesthetic.

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

Quite mechanical, which we appreciated.

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

They promised high-quality engineers/web developers, and they delivered.

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

Honestly, no negative feedback, all positive.