Sigma Software

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product officer of the ed-tech company Mindvalley.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sigma Software?

For the longest time, we've been average Facebook as a social network presence for community-based learning. Students would take courses through our mobile app, but they would use Facebook groups for the community aspect.

In the two years prior to this project, we’d started to hear customers grumble and complain, saying that they were unhappy with Facebook. We decided to build our own social platform in 2019, and that’s where Sigma Software came in.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Sigma Software to build an MVP social network mobile app. They provided project management and development teams for Android, iOS, and the backend. We had our own UI/UX designers.

Everything was built from scratch, using no legacy code or libraries. Our only criterion was to build the backend on Elixir, which is a bit of a bleeding-edge technology. Our CTO has given the direction to move our overall stack to Elixir.

Our goal was to get feature parity with what a social platform should be. People can make posts and comments, organize or host events, add friends, and so on.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with one iOS, one Android, and one backend developer, one QA tester, one solution architect, and one project manager. There were also one DevOps person and one solution architect, who came in when required.

How did you come to work with Sigma Software?

They came recommended by our previous project manager. She was from Ukraine and quite connected to the startup scene there. Sigma Software was already with the company when I joined earlier this year. We were midway through the project by then. Working with them, I can see why we picked Sigma Software.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sigma Software in May 2019, and it’s ongoing.

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

We measure the success of the project based on a set of deliverables. We operate on a scrum-based project management. We agree on certain deliverables at the beginning of every sprint. Sigma Software delivers everything they commit to. The aim over the last one and a half years has been getting predictability, and they’ve done their job very well.

Even though the app started out with just the basic functionalities of a social platform, we’ve started giving it our own twist over the past year, related to education. To that end, Sigma Software has brought their own creative contributions.

How did Sigma Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Most vendors will struggle with also providing the innovation and creative input of a proper agile team, beyond just delivering output. There’s always going to be a conflict, where their account manager will try to have us plan what we should deliver over the whole year, then use that as a benchmark, to see whether we delivered on the project or not, but agile doesn’t really work that way.

We will change our plans as we build each iteration, so there’s always a bit of a conflict between their account manager and our project manager. We’ve gained a lot more trust in each other moving forward, so both parties are generally happy with the working relationship.

We’re on the Atlassian platform, so we use Jira and Confluence. We use Slack extensively for work communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This is impressive as well as a frustration: at the beginning of some sprints, we’ll bring in last-minute, complex problems for them to solve. That’s usually when the agency/project management side kicks in. They’ll tell us that they don’t think they can do it. They don’t want to overcommit, but they’ll usually tell us by the end of the sprint that they’ve secretly finished all the things we wanted them to do.

We’re happy about that, but it’s not good from a product management and agile practice point of view, because it means losing a bit of predictability. It creates a bit of a bad habit with the upstream stakeholders, in that they’ll think that Sigma Software can deliver more than they say they can.

The agile coaches and scrum masters on our side are happy with what Sigma Software Software is delivering, but, from an agile practice point of view, they say that it’s not a good thing to encourage.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Coming back to my earlier point, it would’ve been better if they had more experienced scrum masters that could coach the development team to aim for predictability rather than being heroes every other sprint. Had I kickstarted this project, I would’ve probably asked Sigma to hire a scrum master for this purpose.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d advise them to hire a scrum master.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I´m head of development on a tech company focusing on delivering payment solutions for smaller companies as well as enterprises

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

Sigma offers the great flexibility in terms of available resource types which is great for a relatively small company as ourself. We cannot afford to have all disciplines by ourself. But we can afford Sigma. Also, Sigma offers high professional treatment and highly skilled co-workers.

How did you select Sigma Software and what were the deciding factors?

I had previous experience from last work place with Sigma. And after interviewing a couple of other offshore companies the decision still fell on Sigma to be our choosen supplier.

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

We have had everything from UI designer involved for solving mockups of order application. To experienced developer pinpointing maintenance and performance issues in SQL Server and Windows server environments.

Right now we mostly use quality assurance and DevOps services.

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

Account owner and project manager are primary contacts that concerns high level plans and making sure that everything goes according to plan. Quality assurance is mostly involved in discussions relating to day-to-day work.

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

More product releases in shorter time frame! From on release in 6 months. To once every 2:nd week.

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

We use Jira and Confluence for planing and information gathering purpose. Daily stand-ups with team and QA. Also weely meeting with PM. And monthly meeting with account owner.

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

We feel that Sigma is part of our company. This is due to the way that collaboration is made funny and engaging for everyone within the team.

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

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of PROCURE Alliance, a cancer foundation that helps men with prostate cancer and their families to obtain information, find support, and invest in research.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sigma Software?

With the COVID-19 situation, we weren't able to have fundraising events where people could mingle in person. The challenge was to have a cycling fundraiser where participants can be virtually together without being physically together. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

I came up with an idea for an app that would allow us to host virtual cycling fundraisers. At first, we presented our idea to Sigma Software through a PowerPoint. We wanted to have an app that was similar to Strava in time for our event in September. Having our own app enabled us to aggregate fundraising information and kilometers cycled in one solution.

Sigma Software really grasped our idea after that. They came up with a super simple app that was slick digitally and in-line with what we do. Their solution helped bring virtual challenges for all the cyclists. Above all, it was available on both Android and iOS. 

What is the team composition?

There were 6–7 people I worked with directly which included designers, developers, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Sigma Software?

With my background, I have a couple of contacts and have a broad network. I contacted them and they suggested two companies including Sigma Software. It wasn’t only a monetary investment but a people investment and that made me feel really comfortable.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s really inexpensive. We spent $10,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sigma Software from June–September 2020.

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

The virtual challenge was really part of the company’s success this year. The apps launched at the beginning of September, and we raised over $360 more per participant. Additionally, hosting a virtual event through the app made people feel like they were taking charge of something. They weren't just fundraising for the sake of fundraising.

How did Sigma Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided great support. We had meetings twice a week, and the team’s interaction was awesome. They were never in panic mode. Whenever we brought up some issues with the software, Sigma Software handled it quickly.

I was quite impressed with them. That’s why we sent them a gift—I felt they were working with me and not just working for me. The interaction was great, and we really saw that they cared about our project as if it were their own cause.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sigma Software went beyond just providing an app. From the CEO to the developers and UI designers, I never felt like I had to convince them that this project was important to us. Even after the project was delivered, the project manager contacted me to ask about the status of our fundraising project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to say if there’s anything they could have done better. For example, when we had issues getting the app in the App Store, they were able to solve that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you want a specific project to be realized, you have to make your objectives clear. We came to the table with a clear objective and we collaborated with each other to come up with solutions. Sigma Software saw what we were trying to accomplish and they came up with a blueprint of what was going to be developed. 

Overall, I really felt we were aligned. Projects have a tendency to lag or to not realize what the user is expecting because this is not set up at the forefront.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the software development manager of LeoVegas. We’re a GameTech company providing a software platform for the online industry. I manage six development teams and five Sigma Software development teams.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sigma Software?

We had a hard time finding developers in Sweden. There’s a high demand for skilled front- and backend developers here. We needed help in order to be competitive, scale our company, and stay at the forefront of technology.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started a new team at Sigma Software to build a service that fulfilled regulatory requirements for responsible gaming. The requirements would synchronize accounts and other data types between different brands. We had to sync all of those brands in order to be compliant in different markets.

Our architects had a high-level understanding of what we wanted to do. We recruited five people from Sigma Software as well as their program managers who helped with the recruitment process. They offered 6–10 pre-vetted CVs for junior-, mid-, and senior-level developers, with pricing that varied accordingly.

Their developers worked with our architects on the high-level solution, and they came back with some suggestions to make it even better. We started building it from there.

We’ve expanded the collaboration since that project. There are currently two teams from Sigma Software that own core services in our platform, and we’re using three other teams from them for integration.

We’ve made the scaling of the teams work through a very streamlined onboarding process. We started with integrations of new third-party services, in order to avoid the need for long onboarding and domain knowledge.

As Sigma Software proved that they could deliver, they took on more and more services. The onboarding process now involves me telling them about the business of the company, after which Sigma Software’s developers will look at a prerecorded architecture run-through of our platform.

They’ll then sit down with the team and get to know the services and architecture of the product area they’ll be working on. They’ll start by setting up a Hello World project in our platform, including the deployment and monitorization of the task. That’s all done within the first two weeks, so it’s a really impressive process.

What is the team composition?

We started out with five developers, and we’ve grown to 22 at the moment, spanned over five different product areas in our company. There’s a team of three backend developers from Sigma that works on location with our team in Sweden.

How did you come to work with Sigma Software?

Sigma Software was recommended to us by our CTO, who’d worked with them at his previous company. We had a couple of interviews with them and discussed what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. They had 20 years of experience in nearshore development, so they also gave their input into the process.

We looked at Swedish consultants, but Sigma Software was more cost-effective. Swedish consultant prices span from €120–€140 (approximately $140–$160 USD) per hour and the average price of a Sigma Software developer is €30–€50 (approximately $35–$60 USD) per hour. That’s a vast difference. We also wanted to find a nearshore company that was in the same time zone as ours or close to it. They were also able to provide the developers we wanted within two weeks.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of the 22 developers we’re using at the moment is €100,000 (approximately $120,000 USD) per month on average.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sigma Software in August 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. The second team was established in November of that year, the third and fourth ones were in March 2020, the fifth team was in April 2020. We’re looking to scale up during 2021.

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

They delivered way over our expectations. If it was up to me, I’d only have people from Sigma Software. The level of technicality they have is incredible. They’re very skilled developers and can also come up with architectural and implementation solutions, along with setting everything up themselves. They’re very self-driven.

One of the initial teams we set up is working on a core component with our internal architect. They’re the only people allowed to touch that component, and that in itself speaks to the level of detail and knowledge they have. It’s amazing.

How did Sigma Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We think of them as teammates and colleagues, and not as consultants. We visit each other’s offices and have regular information meetings and after-work activities. They’re intertwined with our company.

Aside from program managers, Sigma Software also assigns project managers to each team free of charge. They take care of all managerial items like setting up meetings, communicating, and sending off weekly letters. We get regular updates and have monthly meetings going through all the development.

In the one year I’ve been with Sigma Software, they’ve always delivered on time or before. They haven’t been late once.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The recruitment process makes them stand out. They scope out and understand the needs of the client, and then they cater to those. Out of the 22 developers we’ve gotten from them, we’ve only had to exchange one because that person didn’t live up to what we expected. They did that right away and free of charge.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their test automation skills. They’re up to date with the latest development and database frameworks and techniques, and they’re good with QA but they could bring in more people who could guide us when it comes to test automation.

They provide English courses for their employees, which is helpful because not all of their team members are 100% fluent in the language.

The last part is setting up and sending them hardware devices. Ukrainian laws regarding this are a bit complicated. It takes up to a month to send devices, and there’s a hefty customs fee. This is something that Sigma Software takes care of, but it’s still a hassle.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d make sure I know what I want and could specify it. This is in order to get the right resources for the job. Someone building a full-stack team should mention that as the goal. If they only want backend developers, questions will come up about how the testing and validation will be done.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of College Finance Company. We help college students and parents find ways and strategies to better save, borrow, and pay for college. Our business launched just six months ago.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sigma Software?

We’re a lean business without in-house developers or product managers. We needed a development partner who would help us launch our website. We also needed help in building some software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve done several interrelated projects with them. They designed and deployed a WordPress website, and then provided consulting to help us maximize its SEO performance. Sigma built custom tools and interactive features — like a savings calculator — and integrated these into the site. I believe the site is hosted on AWS.

What is the team composition?

We have a project manager who is our primary point of contact. She organizes and delegates tasks to designers and developers in the team. We also interface with an account manager who helps scope out our projects with them.

How did you come to work with Sigma Software?

They were a referral by a friend of mine, who also owns a startup. He had successfully worked with Sigma and highly recommended them. I got to know them through that introduction.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $65,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2020 and have an ongoing partnership with them. They’ve essentially evolved into our development arm.

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

Sigma Software has been a dedicated, proactive partner. They don’t hesitate to give us guidance in areas that are outside of their strict scope of work, and we’ve benefitted from their insights. While we rely on another agency for SEO, Sigma Software gave us recommendations on how to further improve our positioning. We immediately benefitted from their input.

Additionally, I’d say that they’re excellent at managing me to make me a better client. They’ll look for ways to help me be most efficient and active in my execution. I’ve really appreciated their support and insights, in that way.

How did Sigma Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager is very good; she has a full command of design considerations, technical components, and SEO, so she’s very efficient to deal with.

We receive weekly summaries of progress, and their constant engagement ensures that they’re never the ones slowing us down. It’s almost always the case that I’m the roadblock, and not them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication and client management have been exceptionally effective. I’ve worked with 7–8 software development firms and many, many individual developers. Usually, they neglect to give me the feedback I need to stay on top of things. Unlike them, Sigma Software has been excellent at keeping me on track.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Most of their team is located in Ukraine. Sometimes, we benefit from the time difference, but there have been a few occasions where I wished they were accessible in the same time zone. It’s not a big problem, by any means. It’s simply something I’ve been frustrated about, from time to time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set and try to be crystal clear about your expectations upfront — what you want from the project. They’ll be very proactive in making sure you achieve it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO for DanAds International. We deliver a white label service platform for digital advertising.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sigma Software?

We needed IT & software management services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are our software development partners, offering development, QA, and product management. They operate all of our clients’ platforms using AWS and their dedicated team for onboarding new clients. At the start of a project, the project manager is assigned and assembles a team of developers and QA to manage the onboarding of a new customer. They also have a fixed support team, managing and operating all of the live platforms and our 24/7 service desk.

What is the team composition?

Anna (Recruitment Team Lead) is the account manager we interact with. There are 50 people working with us from their team.

How did you come to work with Sigma Software?

They’ve worked with our company since it was founded. They started with 5-6 people, and we’ve expanded over the course of the engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $3,000,000–$4,000,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them around January 2016, and it’s ongoing.

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

The most important metric is that we’ve had zero loss of customers since we launched. Our customers are extremely happy with the deliverables. We ensure onboarding continues to get more efficient and streamlined. We have good collaboration between our project managers and theirs.

How did Sigma Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They do well and are always improving. Anna is very responsive and available.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very engaged in what we do and take a lot of responsibility. I like their Agile mindset and way of working as well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I’ve seen.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get a dedicated account manager from their side to operate the on-site team.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Zapp360 is a software-as-a-service ad-based platform for local marketers. We sell and channel through local resellers looking to use digital tools in order to engage better with their audiences and drive traffic into stores, to events, or for the services they provide. I am the founder and CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Sigma Software?

We needed tech developers. We had scoped out a rough idea of what we wanted to bring to market but had no technical skills to build the actual product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sigma Software took our platform from wireframe to reality, providing interface design and coding. We're constantly making new developments and maintaining the platform, so Sigma Software remains a key resource in our world. We also have internal product managers, but Sigma Software provides most of the coding.

Sigma Software assigned 8–12 developers to our project. As we added new requirements and expanded the budget for executing on those requirements, the team size grew. Our resources include C++ and JavaScript developers, designers, QA specialists, and database managers. We have a one-to-one collaboration, with a key product manager on our side interfacing with Sigma Software's liaison. Their manager has been integral to our product's success. We do interface with Sigma Software's resources directly from time to time.

How did you come to work with Sigma Software?

I used to be engaged with a company that used Sigma Software's services. We also looked out to the market for partners with end-to-end capabilities for making our platform come to life. We looked in places like India, but also locally, in the US and UK. We also considered hiring in-house resources but came to the conclusion that Sigma Software would be the best choice for creating a market-ready platform in under 6 months.

How much have you invested with Sigma Software?

The cost of Sigma Software's work has been above one million dollars.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sigma Software in early 2013.

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

The platform built by Sigma Software became live and revenue-generating within 6 months. There was a lot of feedback in that short period of time, with tweaks, upgrades, and changes to the development schedule. Sigma Software was accommodating and flexible in doing this.

They worked with us in interpreting what we were trying to get done. Our main expertise was around the marketing for a software-as-a-service platform. This kind of interpretation can't happen in a vacuum, but rather through the organic collaboration between coders, designers, and technologists acting as business visionaries.

How did Sigma Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Working within two different time zones has given us time to think and develop requirements, with Sigma Software resuming work while we were sleeping.

We used Skype for live chats, which occurred on a regular basis: daily during the early stages and weekly at the moment. We also used certain software for tech development and timeline tracking on Sigma Software's side, as well as phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about Sigma Software?

One of the reasons for outsourcing a particular component of a business is the gained efficiency, as well as access to the know-how and resources available in certain parts of the world. There are barriers in terms of time zones, cultures, and languages, but Sigma Software embraced our way of communicating. Although their native language isn’t English, they were far better than others in terms of understanding what we were trying to do, regurgitating it back to us, and executing it. I found this aspect to be unique, compared to other outsourcing shops.

Are there any areas Sigma Software could improve?

I can't think of anything off the top of my head. We consider Sigma Software to be a strategic partner and an integral part of what we're doing at this time. They've grown as a company since our first interactions, adding offices in the US and other locations.