Smartym Pro

BACKGROUND

I am the founder and chief executive officer of REalyse. Our company provides UK real estate industry professionals with tools, technologies, and data to give them a significant performance boost. At the moment, we are a compact company of around 10 professionals.

Our web platform allows real estate developers to optimize their time and effort, saving 90% of the time they would otherwise spend on data aggregation and analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Here at REalyse, we already have an in-house development team, but in order to launch on the market as soon as possible, we really wanted to speed up the development process.

Basically, we were in search of a professional outsourcing team that can take care of a significant part of development activities.

The main goal was to develop scalable web platform for massive data processing which can provide users with various data on the UK real estate market. Our platform implies some heavy data collection and distribution.

SOLUTION

We found Smartum Pro via a business search platform. We chose them because of reasonable prices, a similar time zone, the right level of expertise, and a collaborative approach. The Smartum Pro team is really communicative, and this is a big thing when it comes to a complex development process.

The Smartum Pro team helps us with both polishing the front-end part of our platform/landing websites and developing core backend functionality for our main product that allows us to gather massive amounts of data and provide our clients with it.

Right now we’ve been into the project for several months and we plan to continue our cooperation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

We’re still working on the project, so it’s hard for me to talk about specific metrics, but the amount of times where they’ve had to re-do anything was insignificant, and that’s a good thing.

Smartum Pro has developed and implemented a quite complicated parsing/analysis module which processes real estate data from more than 12,000 locations. They’ve also developed an optimized algorithm that allowed to speed up data collection up to 3 times. Overall, the code quality is really good.

They also came up with multiple useful suggestions regarding development process and individual system features. The communication process is pretty good; I can hardly remember a single gap.

They’ve successfully covered the agreed scope, though there were few times when it required more time. Still, they’ve had no problem with working during weekends, which is great especially when you’re on a tight deadline or if something needs a quick fix. I think they can work on their team allocation flow; sometimes it was obvious that the project required more team members.

BACKGROUND

Our company provides a platform for searching trucks and freight in North America. Our target audience consists of truckers who need to increase their loaded miles, and brokers, shippers and various manufacturers whose cargo needs to be shipped efficiently.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our expectation for hiring an outsourcing team was to speed up development. One of the main KPI’s was a quality result. We also wanted to hire a team that could easily adapt to our own workflow.

Originally, Smartum's team started with minor tasks, like bugfixing in our iOS app. As our confidence level has increased in their capability and skills, we've assigned to them the development of both of our apps, iOS and Android.

SOLUTION

The most important primary task was to update our iOS app with newest development tools (for example, we needed to make UI transfer to auto layouts), update current frameworks and clean up the existing application’s code, so everything would run better. The task itself required a total UI redesign. Smartum's team provided us with fresh and modern design updated according to newest platforms’ guidelines.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

While working together on our project, we were using time-material mode and the result was within our expectations.

The iOS application refactoring took a bit more time than it was originally planned, but still all terms/budget changes were quite reasonable. Most of the time was spent on code review and analysis of the reports, provided by third party tools.

Also, for the purpose of evaluating the overall work quality, we used KPIs like tasks/bug ratio, estimation accuracy, amount of man hours spent, etc.

So, in the end, the result was satisfactory - Smartum’s price/quality ratio is very good. There were some communication issues because of the time difference, but no other issues.

BACKGROUND

I'm the founder of Unius. Unius is a UK based company that provides a Human Resource Management/eLearning platform for internal learning process optimization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our primary objective was to implement support of mobile devices into the existing system. The project itself was developed by another team (it took us about 2 years), and the system in its current state was hard to customize for our end-customers, so it had to be fixed.

We started with design prototyping and the creation of a mobile version of the website. Additionally, the Smartum team had to add new features in the existing system, and customize it for one of our clients.

We decided to select a development team from Eastern Europe mostly because of communication convenience (close time zones) and the high level of technical expertise in that region.

SOLUTION

Smartum suggested using RESTful architecture for mobile website development. REST would also allow us to quickly set up everything for further mobile app development and system updates.

Initially, the system was developed using PHP. Various parts of the product had to be updated. Smartum suggested that we use module-based architecture for our project, so it would make the product much more flexible and we would be able to easily customize required features for each end-client integration. At this point, Smartum continues to work on improving customized versions, tech support, and the SaaS solution.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

As a result, Smartum delivered new features requested by end-customers, developed a mobile version, and an API ready for development of new mobile and desktop clients. Also the product has been optimized for high server loads (3000+ active users) and integrated with our client’s internal systems (Single SignOn , data export/import).

The project was delivered on time, I can’t say about the budget for sure, as there were many changes and additional tasks, but in terms of separate tasks, the changes in price were reasonable.

All the tasks mentioned above took Smartum 2.5 months to implement, but there are always new tasks to be done, so we want to continue our partnership.

The best thing about our cooperation was that Smartum took care of all the technical aspects of the project, and was able to deliver all 3 parallel products from design to technical support.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Admark is a young company based in Moscow, Russian Federation. Admark provides an advertisement and sales enforcement mobile platform for sharing sales, catalogs, and Admarks with customers in worldwide markets.

What is your position?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Smartum Pro?

The main goal was to build a high quality and user-friendly mobile and web platform for advertisement. The system needed to be easily scalable up to 1 million users, with support for apps by a wide range of devices. The system also needed to manage payments that require a high security level of solution.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Smartum's team started out in the requirements clarification stage. They were responsible for preparing software requirements specifications, prototype design, and technical architecture design.

The project was managed by Agile/Scrum methodology and took three months before our first release. Two of those months were active development, and one month was stabilization and launching. For now, we are continuing implementation of new features.

The server part of the system was built on Java, as well as REST [representational state transfer] services with SOA [service-oriented architecture] with deep integration to Amazon infrastructure for easy scaling support [elastic load balancer and auto scaling]. The project used modern development frameworks and tools. The administrative interface with responsive web use involved AngularJS. The Mobile application was built with native mobile SDKs [software development kits].

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total cost of this project was between $50,000 and $199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project took three months to complete, but we are still working with Smartum to implement new features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Something I really like is that we always discussed every detail regarding the cost of apps, time requirements for that, and the quality of work. All the rules were complied with and deadlines were successfully met. We rarely receive complaints regarding malfunctions or defects in the system. When anything comes up, it's usually resolved within 48 hours.

I am completely satisfied because, for me, it's important to rely on our partners. Our technical specifications and requirements are sent to their management, and we explain what we need immediately.

What distinguishes Smartum Pro from other providers?

The Smartum Pro team is great at communication, and they have a deep understanding of the project. It's been good to work with guys who can understand what we need.

Is there anything Smartum Pro could have improved or done differently?

If can't think of anything the Smartum team needs to improve. I think we should work more together. I find that collaborative approaches are more successful in the long run. For now, I am very satisfied, so I can't say what they need to improve right now. The best advice I can give a prospective client is to make sure you scope out the work in detail before you begin development. It's very important to have a good design and architecture in place before you begin the functional development.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of a seed-funded startup in the South East Asia region with focuses in America and Australia. Our company is premised on structuring big data for healthcare use.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Smartum Pro?

Our previous development partner in Ukraine didn't have the necessary expertise for our project, so they referred us to their own development partner, Smartum Pro.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t agree on a scope and never signed any contracts. Part of our MVP involves machine learning and artificial intelligence. After a successful discovery phase with the first company, they referred us to Smartum Pro, who has successfully completed extremely complex projects. They have senior level computer vision and machine learning resources on staff.

I didn’t want to do a new discovery phase, but I reluctantly agreed to it. It included redesigning the UI/UX and creating a features document, architecture, and flow for the app. At one point, they didn’t understand part of the design for the dashboard. I’d sent an explanation via email nine days prior. They acknowledged they’d been looking at the wrong sketch file. I was happy to pay for these services but wanted them to prorate the MVP development cost, a stage we never reached.

They sent us the minimum features and user story questions I asked for. My COO flew in for our first scheduled scrum meeting. The questions they’d prepared didn’t make sense to us. I asked them to revise the set of user story questions twice, and they sent back two improved versions within the two 48-hour deadlines I set. I interpreted this as theft. I refused to sign the contract they requested.

What is the team dynamic?

I was in direct contact with three people including a project manager, computer vision resource, and a forward-facing business developer. I truly believe they have excellent developers like the original vendor told me they do.

How did you come to work with Smartum Pro?

We found the first vendor during our initial searched for teams in Ukraine. After completing a successful discovery phase, that team referred us to Smartum Pro who had the computer vision skills they lacked internally, like natural-language processing (NLP), optical character recognition (OCR).

How much have you invested in them?

We spent $2,600 on their services. I asked them to fully refund the $3,000 discovery phase fee I’d reluctantly agreed to pay. They sent me a word document contract to sign while I was abroad finalizing an investment. I’d raised another $250,000 in startup capital at that point. I thought the contract should be an encrypted form instead.

They sent me a DocuSign version of the contract and the second set of revised questions. I still wasn’t satisfied with the quality so I refused to sign it. After requesting my business registration in Singapore, they refunded me $400. Their most recent email explained the charges for currency exchange, bank commission and three days of work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them for two weeks in May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

Not signing a contract or going forward with an engagement with Smartum Pro delayed my project by two weeks. I felt like the discovery phase was a waste of time. As a start-up, small little things like this can set us back quite a bit. My co-founder and I were disappointed by the quality of their product roadmaps, feature documents or specifications, minimum requirements, and three sets of user story questions. It didn’t seem to me like a senior resource had worked on them.

We had a partner waiting for us to finish the API to integrate it in line with their timeline and milestones. We’re pre-revenue and pre-product funded, with about $500,000 from private equity investors in the Singapore region who aren’t happy. I told the original team how disappointed I was during a phone call. They tried to make it right paying me out of pocket for the other vendor’s service charge. The referring company knows Smartum Pro well and didn’t understand why our engagement ended this way.

How was project management handled?

We communicated through email, WhatsApp, Trello, and Slack, which I didn’t think was effective. We used a detailed Trello board for the management and product roadmap. Like nine out of ten comparable vendors, Smartum was unable to create innovative UI and UX screens for two key features on our Trello board. After they logged into the board, they didn’t leave comments.

They asked numerous questions that I didn’t think were direct or relevant enough, so I didn’t answer them. I didn’t want to change my business operations processes. I asked if the computer vision resource was confident they could complete the project with 100% accuracy and specificity. He told me that he hoped so.

In what specific areas can they improve?

They should strive to be ethical and upfront about the work they’re capable of. Since I didn’t sign the contract they asked me to, I feel like they stole from me since they started working before I was ready. I haven’t seen many reviews of their team and want to share my opinions about my experience with other early-stage entrepreneurs who start working with them.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

Make to do your due diligence and don’t send money until you’ve signed a contract. I got caught up in the moment and forgot about basic tasks. Looking back, I would have made a phone call between the two teams’ project managers and myself mandatory since it was a referral. This would have ensured all the information was passed along accordingly. I didn’t see a reason to do two discoveries. I assumed they’d do this on their own time and send proper questions since the two teams have a working relationship.