Software Mansion

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Software Architect of O'Neil Software

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

O'Neil Software, founded in 1981 and headquartered in Irvine, CA, is a leader in records and information management solutions. Serving over 1,000 locations in 102 countries, our flagship platform, O’Neil Stratus, and other innovative solutions enhance operational efficiency for physical records centers. 
With integrity, innovation, and excellence, we support commercial, government, and corporate clients, managing over 100 million boxes globally. Our expert team operates from the US, UK, and Australia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mansion to accomplish?

• Develop a hybrid app for web, ios and android
• Provide Next.js, Expo and React Native technical expertise
• Implement Expo Modules accessing custom device features

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mansion?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Software Mansion over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Software Mansion were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Project Overview: 
The goal of this project is to supplement our in-house development team with technical expertise in developing hybrid (cross-platform) apps that function seamlessly across web, iOS, and Android platforms leveraging cutting-edge technology stacks including Next.js, Expo, and React Native.

Deliverables:
    •    Provide expert knowledge and support in Next.js, Expo, and React Native.
    •    Resolve difficult hybrid app technical issues (eg, cross-platform component styling.)
    •    Optimize the hybrid app architecture for scalability and maintainability.
    •    Perform package migrations and resolve breaking changes.
    •    Develop and integrate custom Expo modules.
    •    Assist with integrating backend services.
    •    Assist with the full-cycle development including PR reviews.
    •    Assist with deploying the hybrid app to respective platforms.
    •    Regular status meetings.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Project Metrics:
    •    Follow the existing patterns and practices.
    •    Blend with the existing development team.
    •    Mentor the developers to raise their technical expertise.
    •    Minimize platform-specific components.
    •    Maximize cross-platform components.
    •    Minimize defects/rework.
    •    Resolve blocking technical issues.
    •    Accelerate feature development.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

SWM blended their team into our project management utilizing our JIRA and GitHub workflows. They understood our requirements and frequently/efficiently communicated their progress. They are open-minded, flexible and easy to talk to.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mansion?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

SWM is a leading authority on all things Expo, React Native, iOS and Android.

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

No, not at this time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Sesame, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

No Insurance Needed — Affordable, Hassle-Free Telehealth Appointments From Quality Providers On Your Schedule. Ideal For Those With High Deductibles Or Without Insurance. Convenient, Affordable, Fast.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mansion to accomplish?

• Ship a mobile app in React Native on iOS and Android
• Contribute to open source projects relevant to our build

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mansion?

• Referral
• Open Source

Why did you select Software Mansion over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Open Source

How many teammates from Software Mansion were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Software Mansion helped in all aspects of a from-scratch build of a mobile app for our consumer product. This included infrastructure, UX/UI design and feature development. They were part of a larger team that included internal resources and another third party development firm, but were the lions share of the resources on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

This is still in flight, but we have made tremendous progress towards our launch goals.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Software Mansion feels very much like a "normal" member of the team and thus I don't feel that we can easily separate their delivery from the team overall. But the team overall has delivered on time and SM has provided senior resources, junior resources, desginers, and basically anything we needed in a very rapid yet flexible way.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mansion?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

There is clearly a deep bench of talent and this allows us to flex up and down as necessary with a high degree of confidence that new folks will be productive on day 0.

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

Generally, no. The partnership has met all my expectations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Readwise.
Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Readwise builds consumer software that helps readers get the most out of what they read.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mansion to accomplish?

• Build an android version of our react native app
• Add new features to our complex react native app
• Various bug fixes, native additions, and other maintenance work on our React Native app

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mansion?

Referral

Why did you select Software Mansion over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Software Mansion were assigned to this project?

1 Employee
Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We've worked with Software Mansion for 3+ years on developing our two mobile apps. It started with creating an Android version of our iOS-only React Native app, but over time, the brilliant engineer from Software Mansion (Arek) has helped us with various bug fixes, adding a new native home screen and share sheet plugins for iOS and Android, adding new features to our two apps, and of course hundreds of bug fixes. We are super happy with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Shipped Android app, as well as many, many features and bug fixes to our various apps.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes, they are very productive, on time, and provide seamless communication.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mansion?

Email or Messaging App

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

Great engineers; they really know React Native.
Are there any areas for improvement or something Software Mansion could have done differently?

I suppose they could offer an even higher level of React Native knowledge/expertise, but they are already the best development first for React Native we know of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Executive at Tribute Brand

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Tribute Brand is a fashion brand, focused on using emerging technologies and connecting physical and digital realities, through the medium of Digital Fashion, AR, Generative AI, Blockchain and sustainable physical clothing production.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mansion to accomplish?

• Blockchain development
• Backend (Ruby) development

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mansion?

Referral

Why did you select Software Mansion over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned
• High quality software solutions

How many teammates from Software Mansion were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

1. Backend Development: Software mansion has supported our ongoing development of backend services and API used by our web frontend and mobile app. 
2. Smart Contract development: - Delivering 2 different Ethereum smart contract based projects, with application services that helped generate 3D assets and provide metadata for blockchain based content, and through the API used by our client apps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

1. Successful launch of the new tribute-brand.com website. 
2. Successful sales of >2000 digital items. 
3. Integration with Shopify and Blockchain that allowed us to sell >200 unique luxury physical fashion items.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Every part of the communication was well timed, thoughtful, and team has delivered on time. Project managers kept an eye on the workload + deadlines, effectively managing the number of assigned developers needed to help on the project, along with introducing them into the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mansion?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their work ethic, strong expertise, and good communication are impressive.

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

Software Mansion team has proven to be capable of adapting to the project timelines and needs, and successfully fixing all the problems and avoiding setbacks, so there isn't much to say except - keep up the good work!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of engineering of Moxie

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We help nurses and doctors launch, run, and grow their own independent medspas across the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mansion to accomplish?

• Software engineering
• Design
• QA

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mansion?

Referral

Why did you select Software Mansion over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Software Mansion were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Software mansion was the leading party in architecting, designing and implementing our application. This included data modeling, creating a design system and then numerous workflows within that system, and implementing the majority of features for the application. The team has been successful in developing the MVP of the app and then supporting that application as the company grew rapidly month over month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The team has maintained a high velocity over the course over the project, and has successfully implemented multiple projects with a very high degree of quality. This includes work touching financial systems, sensitive health information, SMS and email scheduling, and other challenging domains. Through their work the platform has facilitated millions of dollars of revenue for our clients, and has been able to keep pace and growth with them.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They can be counted on as highly responsive, iterative, and able to deliver work with good velocity and high quality. Projects are implemented and completed on time. The team also excels at working in multiple time zones, including with engineers operating from other countries.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mansion?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Every time member is outstanding, with a high degree of technical ability, great communication ability (both written and verbal), and good worth ethic and attention to detail. This is true of everyone, from our QA team to design to all of our engineers.

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

As a company focusing on mobile, FE, and design, I would love to see SWM expand more into backend development and data analysis and engineering.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO & Co-founder of Campy App

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Campy is an app for campers in Europe. Helping them find the perfect camping spot and plan the best camping trip.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mansion to accomplish?

• Add innovative and unique functionalities
• Increase activation, retention and paid conversion
• Refactoring, bug fixing, security and performance improvement

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mansion?

AppJS Conference

Why did you select Software Mansion over others?

Authority in React Native

How many teammates from Software Mansion were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Implementing unique innovative features in our app to provide competitive edge. The features included implementing an API for specialized navigation and introducing a new content type (camping trips). Meanwhile SWM made the test and release process more efficient and improved the app performance because of the influx of app users and functionalities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Launched 5 new features in the app 
• Implemented automatic testing Implemented remote config 
• Fixed >100 minor bugs

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Very professional. Great communication where correct expectations are set and topics are discussed well before the become an issue. They always put the interest of our company first, and speak about the app as it is their own, which shows ownership and responsibility.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mansion?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The culture amoung collegues and relation to their clients. It is fun but always professional, which makes you feel secure and comfortable.

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

None that I can think off

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Engineering of dscout

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

dscout is a research tool that captures thoughts, reactions and behaviors in moments as they happen. Progressive researchers can gather qualitative feedback--in the form rich video, voices, images and text--and then analyze it within a quantifiable framework. We discover how people experience products, services and everyday life — in the same moment they do.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mansion to accomplish?

• Help deliver software project in Elixir

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mansion?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Software Mansion over others?

Specific Software Language Offerings

How many teammates from Software Mansion were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

SWM team members has been helping us with technical design and software development for various features across different teams and products. They have been participating in all process ceremonies and helping with product thinking, optimization of our code base and systems and delivering software product features to the market.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Projects are delivered on time, with minimal issues, with great level of communication.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management is mostly done on our end. The team/SWM engineers are incredibly responsive and adaptive to our process and only strive to make things better. When it comes to communication with the vendor, their Account Managers are responsive, understanding of any issues that arise (if any) and helping to think through the situations while thinking of the best outcome for both our company and their team.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mansion?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I'm impressed with their very high-quality and result-oriented team members. SWM has been a great partner for us!

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

There are always things that can be improved and we communicate them openly with the team and their management. We have never had a situation that we couldn't get resolved!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Umbrella is a marketplace of skilled community workers that help homeowners 60+ take care of their homes. I am a software engineer at Umbrella responsible for web, mobile, and internal tooling.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Mansion?

Software Mansion assisted us across all of our initiatives from web to mobile development to working closely with us on internal tooling. They were effectively a part of the team joining weekly stand-ups and collaborating with us closely on engineering.

What were your goals for this project?

We had a varied schedule of engineering work and wanted the flexibility of varied hours with the consistency and quality of a full-time in house engineer.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We came across Software Mansion by way of referral, and found them the best option among the other vendors we were considering.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Software Mansion worked with us week to week dissecting product requirement docs, producing engineering specs, and developing software across all of our platforms. Our tech stack included React, React Native, Django, and PostgreSQL.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of 5 - 6 people: a product manager, a designer, an in house full-time engineer, 1 - 2 engineers and a project manager from Software Mansion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project was critical in moving our business metrics as we worked to improve our customer experience. Over the course of our work with them we increased our customer engagement rates by 30%, decreased issue rates by 50%, and increased retention by 15%.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Trello for managing our week to week and communicating specs. For everyday communication we used Slack and email as well as Google Hangouts for video calls.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They worked very closely with us to understand requirements, iterate on the product, and build robust processes to improve productivity. Their focus was on our metrics for success rather than strictly on deliverables.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Flexibility of engineering work can be difficult to address. There are tradeoffs between rigid and highly flexible schedules, such as ramp up time, costs, and quality of work. To strike a good balance between the two often requires a thorough assessment.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of the company and oversee the development of the product at a high level.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Mansion?

Software Mansion has helped with a number of aspects of our software. Crucially, many of the libraries we include in our development clients were developed primarily by Software Mansion (our camera view for example). Parts of our build service were also built by Software Mansion.

What were your goals for this project?

Our business is that we provide a set of tools and services that help people build application software across Android, iOS, and the web. We have had Software Mansion help with almost the entirety of that effort. Our goals are to become the best and most popular way to build application software in the world; we aren't there yet, or even close, but we have a start.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our CTO, James, knew Krzysz from working together at Facebook. We worked with him on something small and then engaged others at the firm to do more.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We have had people at Software Mansion help with: - Building libraries for our development clients. These include react-native compatible libraries for camera, video, OpenGL graphics, notifications, location, background location, and more. - Building a robust service for building Android and iOS applications in the cloud, including a reliable queue, reliable reporting of errors, and autoscaling. - The React Navigation library which is a very popular library that works across native and soon the web.

What was the team composition?

The Swm team that works with us has changed over time. It has usually consisted of 2-8 developers working on the projects above and usually one project manager, along with the leaders of Swm as business contacts.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We have grown to trust Software Mansion to the point where we have them build significant parts of our core technology alongside our own team. Our software products wouldn't be as far along today if we didn't have Software Mansion's help along the way.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

There is a dedicated project manager on each of our projects and they are good about making sure that the appropriate resources are staffed and not blocked and that timelines are communicated clearly and, if necessary, deadlines met.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The combination of outstanding engineering skill, organized management, honest communication, and fair cost is extraordinarily hard to find in a firm. Software Mansion is remarkable in that they bring all those elements together.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It's sometimes a little hard to work together because of time zone differences (we are halfway around the world)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Klarna was founded in 2005 in Stockholm, Sweden with the aim of making it easier for people to shop online. In the last 15 years, technology has evolved, excited, and transformed the world around us, yet our mission remains as relevant as ever – to make paying as simple, safe and above all, smoooth as possible. Klarna is now one of Europe’s largest banks and is providing payment solutions for 85 million consumers across 205,000 merchants in 17 countries.

Klarna offers direct payments, pay after delivery options and installment plans in a smooth one-click purchase experience that lets consumers pay when and how they prefer to. When the company acquired SOFORT in 2014 the Klarna Group was formed. Klarna is backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital, Bestseller, Permira, Visa and Atomico.

I lead a small cross-functional global team that focuses upon extending our Nordic SME domination to the US and other EU markets via creative partnering with game-changing commerce platforms. Our goal is the enablement of the latest Klarna features, preferred placements as competitive advantages, and autonomous global distribution deals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Mansion?

Klarna has partnered with Software Mansion to globally integrate with Shopify as a set of alternative payment methods. Shopify enables alternative payment integrations via a Hosted Payments SDK via a redirect from Shopify Checkout. Software Mansion helped architect the hosted payments page, develop the code to integrate to the Shopify API, and support the integration which is currently used by thousands of merchants.

What were your goals for this project?

To enable Shopify merchants to easily integrate Klarna Payments into their Shopify store. Merchants should be able to do this with a quick integration and no coding in their store. Software Mansion not only has to make this integration functional, but it needs to have a user experience to cover a wide range of expectations and skills across many different merchants.

Since Shopify is a SaaS platform, updates must work well for all merchants for each code release. The integration must maintain high standards for uptime and handle merchant load, particularly important during high traffic times, such as Black Friday holiday shopping.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Klarna chooses vendors based on skills, experience, cost, and recommendations.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Software Mansion provides project management, software development, and production support.

What was the team composition?

Software Mansion provides a project manager, multiple developers (front and back end), and on-call support. As needed, we have worked with Software Mansion VP’s as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Software Mansion has always gone above and beyond to make our project successful. Even though we’ve had to work across disparate time zones, Software Mansion has worked very hard to exceed our expectations. One example of exceeding expectations is when we encountered technical obstacles due to API restrictions, Software Mansion came up with creative options to help us get to a reasonable resolution, and always with aplomb and polite consideration.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Klarna and Software Mansion work mainly with recurring video meetings, Slack, and JIRA tickets. There is just the right amount of process and project management to keep the project successful and on track, without wasting anyone’s time on unnecessary efforts. Software Mansion is open to our direction, but also is always looking for ways to improve the cooperation.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Technical skills are a high on the list of course, but I’ve been most impressed that everyone I’ve worked with at Software Mansion are great people, which makes together so much easier and more enjoyable.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As with any partnership, communication and setting expectations are key. Software Mansion is open to feedback and continual improvement and I can certainly recommend them!