Silevis Software

Please describe your company and your position there.

Head of Digital at ProVeg International - ProVeg is an international food awareness organisation working to transform the global food system by replacing conventional animal-based products with plant-based and cultured alternatives.

ProVeg works with international decision-making bodies, governments, food producers, investors, the media, and the general public to help the world transition to a society and economy that are less dependent on animal agriculture and more sustainable for humans, animals, and the planet.

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

To develop a calculator which will help industrial level caterers and other food professionals calculate how they can reduce the impact of their meal production on animals and the environment by replacing animal products with plant-based alternatives.

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

We were introduced by Tech to the Rescue and we agreed to work with Silevis after a review of their portfolio and a meeting with the team convinced us they were the right fit for this project.

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

The Goal was, to create an impact calculator that is able to calculate animals spared when replacing ingredients such as eggs, milk or different kinds of meat, when replacing meals containing different kinds of meat or when moving from an omnivorous diet towards a plant-based diet.

Originally it was planned to also include a part on environmental impacts, however it was not yet possible to implement this but might be part of later updates for the database. The work included 2 steps. ProVeg Created a database containing most relevant data on the amount of animals used per person per country, yield for different livestock species and others as the foundation to calculate the impact on animals of replacing animal-based ingredients.

Data from various sources was used. The core was Data on food balances and production in alle world regions and countries from the FAO. Furthermore it was worked with various factors to correct the given data to obtain edible meat yields and others, as well as data on different meat cuts or age classes for populations in different countries. Data preparation was carried out mainly with R-Statistics.

This database was used to create a calculator that is able to calculate the how many animals would have been used, if a specific product, meal or diet contains animals. The calculator contains an ingredietns calculator, a meals calculator and a diet calculator.

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

Over the course of the project, between 2 and 5 Silevis staff were engaged with us at any one time. Their positions ranged from project management, to design and development.

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

We now have a very important and useful tool to share with our stakeholders and to highlight the importance of the goals our organisation is trying to achieve.

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

We foudn the project management style to be informal and friendly while remaining informative and effective.

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

The Silevis team was very impressive in a number of ways - firstly, they were quick to understand our goals and seemed genuinely invested in what we were trying to achieve. The team was always friendly and approachable while staying professional and focused on the end goal.

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

I have no suggestions for improvements.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Saxess Software GmbH, a software solutions provider for medium-sized companies. We specialize in creating interfaces to transport data from ERP systems into controlling software. We write our own components and configurations for other companies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Silevis Software?

We needed help with software development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are involved in our development. They create components based on .NET Core and Angular. We have one developer from them that is continuously building such components in our code and organizing the development process with us. He’s a full member of our team.

What is the team composition?

I am the product owner. There are three people on our side and one developer from Silevis Software.

How did you come to work with Silevis Software?

I looked online for people who could help me with the software’s architecture. We got in touch with Michael (Founder), who worked as a freelancer programmer. He eventually built his own company, and we hired one of his employees to our team as an external developer.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €350,000 (approximately $414,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2014, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

We work with a highly qualified member of their team. He’s a leader of our development team and a big help to us.

How did Silevis Software perform from a project management standpoint?

As the product owner, I have clear things that I want to achieve. I address those things, and the resource we have from Silevis Software is the main developer who organizes the work. We have daily meetings. The developer is directly connected to our infrastructure and Atlassian toolset.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide very stable communication and work. It’s nice to work with the assigned developer. He’s a really great member of our team. It’s good ongoing work.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I give all advice and organize the project. There’s not much space for them to improve the process. What they do, they do very well. We’re very satisfied with the code.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The way we work with them works very well. We’re the product owners and have very clear expectations of what to do. I recommend having the product owner on the side of the customer and discussing clear expectations.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Datico GmbH, a human performance firm. We measure how athletes and patients improve their physical performance. We measure the data by connecting to devices, we record it, and we show them their improvements.

What challenge were you trying to address with Silevis Software?

We don’t have an in-house development department.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Silevis Software is our software development provider. They do the whole deployment process, testing, and operations on our cloud platform. They also manage the backlog.

What is the team composition?

We work with five teammates, including a product owner who is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Silevis Software?

The company I was with previously had worked with Silevis Software, which is why we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €150,000 (approximately $177,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2018, and our engagement is ongoing.

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

The quality is okay. There’s a little room for improvement but they are improving very strongly. Silevis Software is a young, growing team with really good motivation. We’re fine with the services they provide.

How did Silevis Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a lot of contact with them, and we use Azure. Our relationship is quite close, so project management is not necessary for us. Our backlog and scheduling of sprints are proficient enough for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The partnership is really good. You can even talk to the founder. They always try to find a solution, and they’re quite pragmatic. Silevis Software is the complete package.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have more seniors.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your own product owner on-site and have a good idea of what you want to achieve.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at Gefasoft, which is a software product company. We provide software maintenance, application management, and project management services.

What challenge were you trying to address with Silevis Software?

We wanted to build a product that would connect machines and robots in production environments. The product would include data aggregation and visualization capabilities. We needed to enhance our software engineering capacity to connect the aggregated data with the frontend and scale it.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Silevis Software makes up about half of our development team. Their work’s heavily Java-based. They also use HTML and Angular. Their team also integrates into the production environment needed for the site’s frontend development. They’re also half of our testing team.

What is the team composition?

Michael (CEO)’s my main contact but about 10 people from Silevis support this project.

How did you come to work with Silevis Software?

Before I joined the company, our founder met Michael. In addition to their integrity, Silevis’s expertise in software programming and architecture led us to hire them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around June 2018, and it’s ongoing.

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

Their team offers impressive software expertise. They're also curious about innovation. Silevis's an integral part of our development team and business model. We’re able to complete more story points during sprints than we were without them. 

How did Silevis Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Their scrum handles all aspects of the Agile and Scrum methodologies. We look at the workload, development, story points, and tickets on a monthly basis. We use Jira to track the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re flexible and push forward to keep projects on track. Their team’s eager even through the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re innovative and creative.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Silevis could be more proactive. For example, they sometimes plan more for sprints than is feasible.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know your current operating model and your target operating model. Include Silevis in your planning and listen to their ideas. Also, be ready and able to guide them when necessary.