SoftwareMill Client Reviews

Portfolio

Key clients:

We work with a wide variety of clients from startups to major corporations. We created software for the banking, telecommunications, e-commorce, energy and logistic industries.

Tipser
Knip
Zerigo
IP Integrated
Vocado
Attikis
Intelli

Ecommerce: Tipser

Business / Education: End-to-End workflow management

Business/ Media: Big Data Back-end for Mobile App

Business: REST API for Cloud Management

HR & Recruitment: HRoBOT

IT: UpdateImpact

Insurance recommendation service

Telco: Reporting and analytics platform

Entertainment/ Media: Large Scale Social App

Security: Rule-based monitoring and alarm system

Communication: DNS Panel and internals

Business/ Telco: High-performance SMS broker

Legal/ Marketplace: LegalUp

Mobile: Scalar Conference Mobile App

Reviews

4.9

9 reviews

Submit Review

Development

Feb 23, 2018

the project

SMB Proxy Dev for Majoir Telecom Company

"...[T]hey carefully explained the technical steps they took to accomplish their goals."

Development

$50,000 to $199,999

Nov. 2017 - Jan. 2018

4.5

Quality:

4.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

4.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

$50,000 to $199,999

Nov. 2017 - Jan. 2018

Project summary:

SoftwareMill augmented internal staff for a development project. They used Java to add an SMPP Proxy layer to an existing product.

201-500 Employees

Philippines

Quality Engineering Manager, Telecom Firm

Verified

the reviewer

Quality Engineering Manager, Telecom Firm

Internet

201-500 Employees

Philippines

Verified

4.5

Quality:

4.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

4.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

"...[T]hey carefully explained the technical steps they took to accomplish their goals."

Feb 23, 2018

Feedback summary:

Their expertise was crucial to project success, and SoftwareMill took proactive steps to ensure completion ahead of schedule. Their quality engineers took time to explain their methodologies and provided weekly updates.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the quality engineering manager for a telecom firm in the Philippines. I’m in charge of both manual and automated testing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareMill?

We had a project with a strict timeline and lacked the necessary in-house resources. We needed a firm with expertise in SMPP Proxy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I served as the point person for the project, relaying our requirements to SoftwareMill’s team. We needed to add an SMPP Proxy layer to an existing product to connect with our postpaid subscribers. Most of the tech stack was built using Java.

What is the team composition?

We were assigned two developers, in addition to a part-time project manager.

How did you come to work with SoftwareMill?

We searched for a vendor with the necessary expertise that could complete the project within our timeline and on budget. It was clear from the interview process that SoftwareMill could provide technologies that would expedite delivery of the product.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between November 2017–January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SoftwareMill helped us finalize the contract so that we were both clear about our respective roles. They also began work while we were still finalizing the contract, allowing us to complete the project ahead of time.

How did SoftwareMill perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided weekly updates and managed the project through Trello. We could monitor their progress and easily add any repair requests, which they addressed quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was very impressed by their proactive decision to start the project before finalizing the contract. Communication was also easy, as they carefully explained the technical steps they took to accomplish their goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They provided quality engineers, but these individuals also handled testing. It would be helpful if they supplied separate testers to eliminate bias.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We experienced a slight delay because we failed to articulate our requirements in the beginning. Be sure to clearly explain your goals.

4.5

Overall Score

5.0 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

4.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

Costs were above average.

4.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

Development

Aug 01, 2017

the project

Proof of Concept for E-Commerce Start-up

"They are truly not only passionate about their work but prideful in seeing the success of their customers."

Development

$10,000 to $49,999

Nov. 2016 - Feb. 2017

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

$10,000 to $49,999

Nov. 2016 - Feb. 2017

Project summary:

SoftwareMill developed a solution for data cleaning and curation pipelines for the food retail industry. Their work used the Scala stack, and the end result provides rich data searchable by any parameter.

1-10 Employees

San Francisco, California

Andy Zelinski

Founder, Welio

Verified

the reviewer

Founder, Welio

Andy Zelinski

Information Technology

1-10 Employees

San Francisco, California

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

"They are truly not only passionate about their work but prideful in seeing the success of their customers."

Aug 01, 2017

Feedback summary:

SoftwareMill was recommended by world-class developers, and the team still managed to surpass all expectations. Their code was high-quality and very clean. The team was flexible and worked quickly, and they established a trusting relationship for the duration of the project.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

We’re a small food e-commerce startup in San Francisco, and I am the founder. Our company was seed-funded in early 2016. We pivoted into a more general e-commerce platform for food retailers after an initial attempt at a nutrition-focused app in the consumer’s space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Mill?

Welio was building a proof-of-concept for data cleaning and curation pipeline for a richer e-commerce solution. Smaller food retailers have been slow to adopt e-commerce solutions and larger food retail platforms have been stagnant in innovation. However, both see the need to develop better experiences to compete with online services like Amazon.

I had some proofs-of-concept that we hacked together with a couple guys. The POC was by no means what skilled software developers consider production-ready. We were so early in the process that we used a suite of niche programming languages. We needed some talented software developers to take this proof-of-concept in its early phases, review it and make some edits. Then totally rewrite it and make it a more ‘production-ready’, into an actual prototype. In summary, we basically had them take it from proof-of-concept to build a prototype.

We developed using the Lightbend (Scala) stack. Software Mill was strongly recommended to me by the folks at Lightbend. I delivered them a first prototype and a loose set of requirements as guidance and then gave them the freedom to develop as they saw fit. I only had 6 weeks before I had to show the proof-of-concept to potential customers. The challenge was the transfer of knowledge and the theory behind the concept. With only hours to meet and explain the product, they needed to start developing with little time. SoftwareMill did an immediate free two week, no-risk trial and has some world-class developers in the organization. It was hard to not explore this.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on a risk data ingestion and cleaning integration pipeline. We stuffed out some data inputs. It could come from some API feed or actual UI form uploader where you can just imagine people that are part of the ecosystem are somehow uploading raw data.

This pipeline basically needed to, first, save it to the back end and then start this pipeline work, ingest and curate and clean and tag throughout different stages and deposit it into another data store.

We would ingest inventory from a food retailer and then apply it to this food ontology graph. Then it would pull up in that graph and everything that's connected one or two degrees from that data product. It's really hard to put this succinctly. But maybe a nutrition content or recipe that's included in that data product, and then it moves to the next phase.

Then we would do some cleaning of the text that's associated with it. The next phase is maybe just calculations on cost and cost per weight. Next, it goes through this sequencing to go from raw data that you can't really use to build applications in really rich e-commerce platforms. It's just kind of sloppy data. The end result is very rich data that you can search from any type of parameter you might have imagined. So, if the data pipeline had nutrition calculations, now the end result is that you can search for e-commerce products based on protein content.

How did you come to work with Software Mill?

I met with the lead of the group that was to collaborate on the project, and in about an hour I knew I had the right team. Admittedly, the personal repertoire I developed with him had a lot to do with the selection, but I think the way the company is structured played a large part. The person I met with was genuinely interested in the success of the project, almost obsessively. This trust is key; every startup knows "never hire a consultant" in the early stages, because the incentives are just not fundamentally aligned. So much mutual trust was established early that I ended up not even worrying too much about an NDA, which also seems absurd, but that’s just how SoftwareMill rolls. Contractual issues fell to the wayside in favor of focusing on turning out the best possible product.

How much have you invested with Software Mill?

In total, we spent around $28,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

There was some legwork done but it was kind of a mess. They turned it into this beautiful thing that's easily extendable. Any developer can walk into the code base and see it's very cleanly done and know what direction to take from there. They did a two-week trial back in November 2016, and then we took off the rest of the four weeks.

Obviously, I had intended originally what to be a little bit of a slightly longer project, a few months, but we ended up being pressed for time because I needed to get the prototype to a conference to show some potential customers. We had to contract the length of time slightly. I think the project was four weeks-- after the two-week trial, it was four more weeks starting around January 14th and into the first or second week of February.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results were beyond my expectations. The provided high-quality design and code. It's too early to provide metrics, but the project started as a proof-of-concept that had a few working programs, and SoftwareMill turned it into this beautiful thing. It's very well done.

The suite of technologies we're using is open source, so there's a corporate backing, but it's based on the best developers in the ecosystem. They were the ones that recommended SoftwareMill. World-class developers backed the team, so it didn't surprise me at all that they developed very clean code. I was very happy with it.

How did SoftwareMill perform from a project management standpoint?

Because it was so early and we're just seed-funded, there's a lot of flexibility that other companies might not have. I flew out to Poland for both the kickoff of the trial in November and then for the full four weeks in January.

It's against general wisdom to bring in consultants so early in a startup because the incentives of the consultants are misaligned with the company. Working with SoftwareMill was a risky choice, but they did very well. SoftwrareMill was a joy to work with, and the product was a major success. They are truly not only passionate about their work but prideful in seeing the success of their customers. The amount of work they accomplished in weeks was impressive.

What did you find most impressive about SoftwareMill?

The number one thing I would say about SoftwareMill is their ability to put startup anxiety at ease. The way they operate and their organizational structure helps in that. It's a flat structure, and everyone is involved with the project and wants to see the success of their company. Now, being a part of Clutch shows they take pride in word-of-mouth.

The interaction I had with the lead developer when I met him was like I was dealing with a friend by the end of the second day. We established such great rapport. There was so much trust established, and that alone, whether or not they had the best code or they even knew exactly how to go about the problem at hand, was the big hurdle for a startup. These guys really are passionate, almost obsessively passionate, about seeing my success. So much so that we didn't even discuss the details of the contract until we were well into it.

Are there any areas Software Mill could improve?

It's hard to say. It was a short project, and I was happy with the product. Maybe if we worked together for longer, I could pin-point things. Some companies might prefer SoftwareMill working in a different style. They have team members working all over the world, and we would have a meeting once a week for half of the day or a full day, and then they would go back to their hometowns. I had no problem with that, but some companies might rather have them located somewhere specific.

Also, they charge per day. I was a little reluctant also at first because the commitment in terms of hours could be subject. However, it seemed pretty apparent that that policy was to protect their sanity, and they probably ended up working more than a typical eight-hour day on an average work day.

5.0

Overall Score Cannot say enough about this company. They are very high class developers

5.0 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

I worried my expectations may not have been realistic, but they met them anyway.

5.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

Everything went as agreed upon, they were only slightly higher price than average.

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

Clean code accomplished its basic goals and was easy to extend and build upon

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

A great alternative to the astronomical costs of developers in the Bay Area.

Staff Augmentation

Jun 23, 2017

the project

High-Performance SMS Broker

"I soon realized that SoftwareMill had the right technical expertise."

Staff Augmentation

$200,000 to $999,999

Nov. 2011 - Sept. 2015

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

n/a

Cost:

n/a

Willing to refer:

n/a

$200,000 to $999,999

Nov. 2011 - Sept. 2015

Project summary:

SoftwareMill designed and developed a bulk-SMS system to support expanding web and mobile service capacities. After testing and managing the software’s deployment, they provided IT support and enhancements.

11-50 Employees

Melbourne, Australia

Adam Lau

CIO, Intelli Messaging

Verified

the reviewer

CIO, Intelli Messaging

Adam Lau

Telecommunications

11-50 Employees

Melbourne, Australia

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

n/a

Cost:

n/a

Willing to refer:

n/a

the review

"I soon realized that SoftwareMill had the right technical expertise."

Jun 23, 2017

Feedback summary:

The finished messaging gateway carried a substantial majority of service volume, demonstrating increased throughput and availability for third-party marketing and operations. SoftwareMill leveraged their reliable performance, quick results, and industry presence to strengthen the partnership.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Intelli Messaging lets users cost-effectively build mobile communication into their business processes for either marketing or operations. We work with app providers, telecommunication services companies, and large businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareMill?

We offer the technology to deliver simple or complex messages reliably. Our services include SMS API gateway services with full customer account management, re-brandable end-user SMS messaging applications, and mobile and web CMS services.

The volume of messages we were routing for customers was about to extend past the capacity of our existing system. We especially needed to maintain an excellent level of service for customers by addressing our high throughput and availability requirements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SoftwareMill was engaged to develop a new bulk-messaging gateway that met our expectations for messaging volume, throughput, and availability. This included software design and development, testing, deployment, support, and project management for the new gateway system.

How did you come to work with SoftwareMill?

While researching technologies for the new system, I came across articles by SoftwareMill. After initial discussions, I soon realized that SoftwareMill had the right technical expertise and a well-developed understanding of our challenges. I had also come across (and used) a number of active open-source projects that were contributed by SoftwareMill staff. That really set them apart to us and made me feel that we were engaging the right people for the job.

What is the status of this engagement?

The initial deployment took approximately 8 months. Over the next 3 ½ years, SoftwareMill enhanced and handled increasing volumes of traffic.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

By the end of the engagement, the gateway SoftwareMill had developed was carrying the overwhelming bulk of our messaging with higher levels of throughput and much better availability.

What did you find most impressive about SoftwareMill?

Due to the nature of the problem domain, we required early quantifiable results for any of the technology under consideration. SoftwareMill met this challenge and provided an excellent methodology for testing and verifying performance characteristics.

5.0

Overall Score

N/A Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

N/A Cost

Value / within estimates

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

N/A NPS

Willing to refer

Custom Software Development

Jan 04, 2017

the project

Team Augmentation for Boutique Mobile Agency

"They work well in a remote environment, working on their own initiative and coming up with creative solutions."

Custom Software Development

$200,000 to $999,999

2010 - Ongoing

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

$200,000 to $999,999

2010 - Ongoing

Project summary:

SoftwareMill supplies experienced Scala engineers who work primarily on server-side projects. Assigned resources collaborate closely with an internal dev team to solve problems and code reliably.

1-10 Employees

Los Altos, California

Managing Director

Verified

the reviewer

Managing Director

Information Technology

1-10 Employees

Los Altos, California

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

"They work well in a remote environment, working on their own initiative and coming up with creative solutions."

Jan 04, 2017

Feedback summary:

Language barriers failed to impact any project outcomes. In fact, communication is a key strength in addition to SoftwareMill's familiarity with JIRA, Bootcamp and several related management tools.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of a mobile app development studio based in Silicon Valley, California. We focus primarily on iOS, Android, and connected TV applications. Our industry focus is typically media entertainment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareMill?

We were looking to supplement our engineering staff in Silicon Valley, primarily for server-side technology. All of our resourcing engagements have involved adding members from an external supplier's team to supplement our internal development teams. However, most of our client-side mobile application development has been done with local resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve had SoftwareMill work on a number of projects over the years, with a primary focus on server-side developments. In the media and entertainment industries, there’s quite a bit of metadata processing that needs to take place—importing various streams from different data providers, creating APIs that can be accessed from the mobile applications for that data, etc. They’ve been responsible for that on a number of projects. For instance, there’s a pretty extensive process around importing images related to TV and other media. We’ve had them work on projects to auto import, crop, and scale images on the server as well as work on facial recognition solutions. They make that available through APIs to improve the performance of the bandwidth required for mobile apps. They’ve also done a lot of work for us around user account management—security, log-on, authentication—the types of requirements that are needed for mobile apps. They’ve also done server management for us. We’ve looked at scalability, performance and optimizing performances of certain APIs when we see issues.

How did you come to work with SoftwareMill?

I’ve been working with the principal, Adam Warski, and his team since about 2010. Once we got in contact, we were impressed by the quality of their resources. They’re based in Poland, but I found them to be on par with local resources we could find in Silicon Valley. In some cases, they surpass the available resources due to the demand here.

How much have you invested with SoftwareMill?

We have invested nearly $500,000 a year with SoftwareMill.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with some of their resources since about 2010.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don't have any quantifiable stats. Their projects have been on time and within the agreed upon budget, and I haven't had any issues with major delays or cost overruns. They work well in a remote environment, working on their own initiative and coming up with creative solutions without a lot of hands-on management. We’ve had pretty consistent results on all the projects we’ve assigned them.

How did SoftwareMill perform from a project management standpoint?

We interview their resources before they come on board, taking recommendations from the senior team. We try to target more senior resources within SoftwareMill like those who have 5-years or more of Scala development experience. That’s worked out for us so far, but those resources don't come up often.

They’re the only offshore company I've worked with, and I've had good luck in terms of communication and working with them. There haven't been any language barriers or issues I've encountered that have led us down the wrong path. I have worked primarily with local resources to supplement the team.

We’ve used almost every platform to manage our projects. We tend to use the tool used by the customer, everything from JIRA to Basecamp. They work well in that environment. It’s actually pretty effective when we’re tracking tickets and they’re replying to specific issues. I’d say their preference is JIRA, but they’ve been pretty flexible about working with different VPNs and messaging clients.

Are there any areas SoftwareMill could improve?

I haven't had any issues. They’ve been very professional.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with SoftwareMill?

The time zone challenge needs to be taken into consideration if you're US-based, but it’s worked out well for us. Most of our communication either has been early in the morning or toward the evening. In some ways, it’s improved our efficiency in that we can almost have a 24-hour development cycle. We queue up our requirements in the day, pass them on, and then see their progress the next morning in Pacific Time when we continue the engagement. There’s a bit of process required to work with a remote development firm in a different continent, but that’s not necessarily unique to SoftwareMill.

5.0

Overall Score

5.0 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

We’ve been quite happy working with them. We haven't had any major setbacks with working in different time zones.

5.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

Custom Software Development

Nov 22, 2016

the project

Scala Server Development for Mobile Apps

"SoftwareMill works well in a remote environment, coming up with creative solutions without a lot of... management."

Custom Software Development

$200,000 to $999,999

Nov. 2011 - Ongoing

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

$200,000 to $999,999

Nov. 2011 - Ongoing

Project summary:

SoftwareMill supplemented an app development team to perform server-side technology support. The team works with Scala on a variety of projects on an as-needed basis.

11-50 Employees

San Francisco, California

Managing Director

Verified

the reviewer

Managing Director

Information Technology

11-50 Employees

San Francisco, California

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

"SoftwareMill works well in a remote environment, coming up with creative solutions without a lot of... management."

Nov 22, 2016

Feedback summary:

SoftwareMill adheres to budget and time constraints well. The developers were creative hands-on senior level employees. Most notably, the team has done great work on user account management and security. They were communicative and easy to work with overall.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a mobile-app development studio based in Silicon Valley, California. We are primarily focused on iOS, Android, and connect-to-TV applications, specifically ones for media and entertainment.

What is your position?

I am the managing director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareMill?

We were looking to supplement our engineering staff in Silicon Valley, primarily for server-side technology development.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

SoftwareMill has provided additional resources for our projects, primarily for server-side Scala development. In the media and entertainment industry, there is a lot of metadata processing which needs to take place—importing various streams from different data providers and creating APIs which can be accessed from mobile applications. SoftwareMill has been responsible for this over a number of projects, working on everything from metadata for TV and media, schedule data, and image importing.

One of our projects involved auto-importing images, cropping and scaling them, and providing face detection through APIs, improving the performance and bandwidth requirements for the mobile app.

SoftwareMill has also done a lot of work for us around user account management, security, login authentication, and so on, in order to meet mobile-app requirements. They've worked on server management, also looking at scalability and performance and optimizing certain APIs when we identified issues.

We are involved in interviewing resources before they come onboard. SoftwareMill does take recommendations for the senior team. We've tried to target resources with more than 5 years of experience in Scala development. Typically, when we needed resources from them, SoftwareMill made someone available. They have a large pool of talent which we've drawn from.

How did you come to work with SoftwareMill?

I have been working with SoftwareMill's principal, Adam Warski, since 2010, preceding my current company. Once I had a chance to work with SoftwareMill's team, we were very impressed with the quality of the resources. The company is based in Poland, but I found them to be on caliber with developers in Silicon Valley, in some cases exceeding them.

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

The cost of our work with SoftwareMill is north of $500,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

I have been working with SoftwareMill for 5 years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Qualitatively, SoftwareMill has always hit projects on time and on budget. There have been no issues around major delays or cost overruns. SoftwareMill works well in a remote environment, coming up with creative solutions without a lot of hands-on management. Most of our engineers have been on a senior level, so the results of our work have been consistently high.

How did SoftwareMill perform from a project management standpoint?

We haven't found any major setbacks in working through different time zones. I've worked with a number of their resources and always had a good experience. Adam Warski has been one of our engineers for the duration of our collaboration, but I've worked with a handful of other developers, as we needed to ramp-up.

We tend to use the customer's tracking tool, so we've gone through everything from JIRA to Basecamp. SoftwareMill works well in this environment, and they are effective at replying to tickets and resolving issues. I would say that their preference is JIRA, but SoftwareMill has worked with various project-management and messaging tools.

What distinguishes SoftwareMill from other providers?

SoftwareMill is the only offshore company I've used, so I don't have a good comparison. I've had very good luck in terms of communication in their case. There have been no language barriers or other issues to lead us down a wrong path.

Is there anything SoftwareMill could have improved or done differently?

I haven't had any issues with SoftwareMill. The time zone challenge needs to be taken into consideration by any US-based firm, but most of our communication with SoftwareMill has either been early in the morning or towards evenings. In some ways, it's improved our efficiency to have an almost 24-hour development cycle. We can gather up requirements during the day, pass them on, and see progress the next morning. It's a particular process to work with a development firm from another continent, but this is not unique to SoftwareMill.

5.0

Overall Score

5.0 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

5.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

Development

Sep 23, 2016

the project

Outsourced Software Development for Software Company

"I am extremely satisfied with SoftwareMill. They have moved at a faster pace than any team that our company has used and accomplished a great deal more in one year than we ever had."

Development

$1,000,000 - $9,999,999

Sep. 2015 - Ongoing

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

$1,000,000 - $9,999,999

Sep. 2015 - Ongoing

Project summary:

SoftwareMill was hired to redesign and rearchitect the client's core product with the end goal of improving sales channels and ultimately revenue.

11-50 employees

Washington DC Metro Area

Development Manager, Software Company

Verified

the reviewer

Development Manager, Software Company

Computer Software

11-50 employees

Washington DC Metro Area

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

"I am extremely satisfied with SoftwareMill. They have moved at a faster pace than any team that our company has used and accomplished a great deal more in one year than we ever had."

Sep 23, 2016

Feedback summary:

SoftwareMill is complimented for strong project management skills, great pricing, and delivering at an impressive speed. SoftwareMill is recommended the top vendor the client has encountered.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a software company offering a CCM [customer correspondence management] correspondence management product. I am the Vice President of Development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareMill?

We are redesigning and architecting our product for new markets, as well as adding new types of products to our line.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SoftwareMill provided software design, architecture and development services for our company.

How did you come to work with SoftwareMill?

I went through some of the software components which we wanted to use for our new product and found that SoftwareMill was a contributor for some of them. I contacted all contributor companies and described our requirements. SoftwareMill seemed to have the right team and references for our work.

How much have you invested with SoftwareMill?

The total cost of the project is over one million dollars of which Softwaremill is a part. This is a multi-year effort.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with SoftwareMill for a little over a year. We have an ongoing project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am extremely satisfied with SoftwareMill. They have moved at a faster pace than any team that our company has used and accomplished a great deal more in one year than we ever have with any other vendor.

How did SoftwareMill perform from a project management standpoint?

We utilize an Agile methodology. SoftwareMill presents the accomplished work every 2 weeks. SoftwareMill has mostly worked off-site, but we collaborate on a daily basis.

What did you find most impressive about SoftwareMill?

SoftwareMill is extremely adept at picking up new ideas and implementing them. SoftwareMill has always found a solution to our problems and never refused us, which I find unique.

Are there any areas SoftwareMill could improve?

Poland has a long hiring process, so when we need to add someone new to the team, it will usually take SoftwareMill a while to hire and bring in new resources, if there isn't someone on the bench already. SoftwareMill is extremely choosy about whom they bring in, and very good at hiring, but the Polish law imposes a 3-month delay for the hiring process.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with SoftwareMill?

Clients should listen to SoftwareMill's advice on how to run projects, and how to design and develop products.

5.0

Overall Score SoftwareMill has been the most successful outside vendor that we've had.

5.0 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

SoftwareMill has not missed a deadline yet.

5.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

We don't work on a fixed-price basis. SoftwareMill is an extremely cost-effective solution for us. We've moved work to them from other areas.

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

Deliverables were run through SoftwareMill's unit testing, as well as our QA [quality assurance]. It rarely fails.

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

Web Development

May 19, 2016

the project

Flagship Solution Redevelopment for Technology Firm

"They ask the right questions and ultimately build something that does what it should do."

Web Development

Confidential

2012 - Ongoing

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

4.5

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

Confidential

2012 - Ongoing

Project summary:

SoftwareMill is building a next-generation platform in Scala. They are developing most of the key system components and provide code reviews. They are currently migrating customers to the new system.

201-500 Employees

Atlanta Metro Area

UI/UX Team Lead, Technology Company

Verified

the reviewer

UI/UX Team Lead, Technology Company

IT Services

201-500 Employees

Atlanta Metro Area

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

4.5

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

"They ask the right questions and ultimately build something that does what it should do."

May 19, 2016

Feedback summary:

SoftwareMill is an essential asset to the company, with deep contributions to the existing code base. The team is self-sufficient, sees the high-level view of a task, receives design input, and works the entire stack end-to-end. They communicate well and deliver consistent, high-quality results.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We sit between people who automate their supply chains, in terms of negotiating product prices and so on, and the providers of said products. Our company provides an intermediary state by which any data the client has, in whatever format, can be sent to us and be mapped to what is needed at the other end of the transaction. Many of these business processes will involve multiple message exchanges involving requests for X amount of a product and confirmations of those requests. We have automated the process all the way up to invoices. Anything that requires human interaction in done through the clients' dashboards.

Since we are an intermediary, we can interact with smaller suppliers that don't have an automated system. While our new platform doesn't provide this yet, there are applications that pretend to be an automated system, but are essentially just a web application.

What is your position?

I am the UI/UX [user interface/user experience] team manager. SoftwareMill is technically part of our UI/UX team. Their focus is taking UI designs and building the software from there.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with SoftwareMill?

We were working on a next-generation platform for our company, for which we hired SoftwareMill.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

SoftwareMill built our platform using a web framework of Scala called Lift. They also used HTML, JavaScript – particularly the jQuery and Knockout libraries – and CSS.

They became involved fairly early in the process, and they've proven to be indispensable to us. Because we have a small team, we don't have much time for hand-holding, so we rely on people to be self-sufficient. Whenever we assign tasks, their team needs to come to us with any questions they may have about the details we supply. SoftwareMill has shined in this respect. They take in the high-level view of the task and get input in terms of design, after which they work through the entire stack, from back-end to front end. They ask the right questions and ultimately build something that does what it should do. Not only this, but they produce high-quality code.

How did you come to work with SoftwareMill?

I started working with the company after they had been hired, so I'm not sure how they were found.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for between three and four years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

SoftwareMill has been involved in developing most of the key components of our system, either by providing code reviews or by building entire components. They've had a deep contribution to our existing code base, especially the front-end parts of it.

We're in the process of migrating our customers to the new system. So far, we've only gotten good feedback about the UI in terms of how things look and feel. The platform is in stark contrast to our old one. We haven't experienced any significant bug reports. The system is very stable. We do receive enhancement requests, though.

How did SoftwareMill perform from a project management standpoint?

For most of our collaboration, we've employed an open-ended arrangement. We typically ask SoftwareMill to jump on more urgent tasks, meaning that they need to change gears from what they working on at the moment. Regardless of what they're doing, they're generally timely and produce high-quality outputs in terms of features and actual code.

We've implemented Targetprocess internally for project tracking, so SoftwareMill uses it like everyone else. We also use Flowdock, which is a team chat tool. Approximately 98 percent of our interactions are done through it.

What distinguishes SoftwareMill from other providers?

Their quality and communication skills are consistently impressive, both in terms of actual work and when it comes to interacting with us, drafting contracts and so on. I don't have much visibility into the latter processes because they are managed by our vice president, but what I have seen has been high in terms of professionalism. If we could have hired SoftwareMill as our employees, we would have done it four years ago. They are a very well-structured organization, and they have a collaborative approach to helping each other grow within their firm, so they're not interested in becoming our full-time employees.

5.0

Overall Score

4.5 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

We don't have as many project deadlines as a typical client.

5.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

Web Development

Oct 22, 2017

the project

Web Dev for Telemetry App

"The product is very intuitive to use, and the modern look fulfills our PR goals."

Web Development

Less than $10,000

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

4.5

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

Less than $10,000

Project summary:

SoftwareMill developed a telemetry-focused app and website, with the capability for remote data uploading, and incorporated up-to-date design features to enhance project visibility.

1-10 Employees

Warsaw, Poland

Inna Uwarowa

Project Manager, Warsaw University of Technology

Verified

the reviewer

Project Manager, Warsaw University of Technology

Inna Uwarowa

Aviation & Aerospace

1-10 Employees

Warsaw, Poland

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

4.5

Cost:

5.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

"The product is very intuitive to use, and the modern look fulfills our PR goals."

Oct 22, 2017

Feedback summary:

The app and website are functional not only for technical experts, but also by interested novices. Despite being a remote, pro-bono team in a different time zone, they adjusted to maximize workflow and communication and delivered well-designed and well-received end products.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings
Company Response

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a project manager of the satellite project PW-Sat2, which is built by the students from Warsaw University of Technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what reason(s) did your company hire SoftwareMill?

The team needed help and support. The common project was a pure nonprofit supporting action for our student project team.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted an app and website to facilitate the uploading of telemetry data coming from the satellite. A secondary goal was also public relation activities, so everyone can follow the "health" of the satellite.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found each other through our common friends. The student satellite project is nonprofit, and the company agreed to support the project for free. Plus, they were enthusiastic about cooperation and activities related to the space sector.

Describe the project in detail.

The telemetry can be downloaded from the satellite by anyone in the world who has sufficient radio equipment—mainly the radio amateur community.

Since the team has only two available ground stations (both in Poland), the communication with the satellite is reduced to the fly-by time above Poland. However, the satellite transmits data during the whole orbit, which means that people in other countries can collect the telemetry. Therefore, it was necessary to create a place where people can upload the collected data.

What was the team composition?

There were two software engineers and one UX designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We're very happy with the results. The product is very intuitive to use, and the modern look fuilfills our PR goals. The app is very flexible, so it can be used by various types of users—both advanced users and those without specific technical backgrounds.

While the project is finished, it's not yet public since the satellite will be launched in the first half of 2018, at which point the telemetry will start to flow.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their team completely fit into our workflow, even with the weekly teleconferences being outside their normal work time. We also used Slack with them, which helped improve the workflow.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They took a very professional approach to our project, with several on their staff dedicated to it. Their ability to fit into a completely different work style and environment demonstrated their flexibility.

Also, they took the initiative to learn more about us and the type of work we're doing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

With the project being so specific, their main challenge was integrating into our team rather than just thinking of us as a client.

5.0

Overall Score

4.5 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

5.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

They did the work for free as a sponsor to support the project.

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

I would refer them. They're very professional and easy to work with.

Company response

CONTENT QUALITY = B

Development

Oct 20, 2017

the project

Development Staff Augmentation for MVP Delivery

“I was happy with the seniority of the developer assigned to us.”

Development

$10,000 to $49,999

July - Sept. 2017

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

4.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

$10,000 to $49,999

July - Sept. 2017

Project summary:

SoftwareMill developed an MVP version of a back office system product on a short timeline. The software supports corporate processes and allows users to maintain and develop a community of technology experts.

11-50 Employees

Cracow, Poland

Radosław Kamiński

CEO, NexoCode

Verified

the reviewer

CEO, NexoCode

Radosław Kamiński

IT Services

11-50 Employees

Cracow, Poland

Verified

5.0

Quality:

5.0

Schedule:

5.0

Cost:

4.0

Willing to refer:

5.0

the review

“I was happy with the seniority of the developer assigned to us.”

Oct 20, 2017

Feedback summary:

SoftwareMill collaborated seamlessly to facilitate an effective workflow and delivered a product that can be easily maintained and extended at a later date. The team was instantly available and readily accepted new challenges. They provided top-level communication and experienced, senior developers.

the review

Background
Challenge
Solution
Results
Ratings
Company Response

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

NEXOCODE is software company focused on Agile teams delivery. We develop tailor-made software in-house for our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what reason(s) did your company hire SoftwareMill?

We needed to speed up time of delivery.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed an MVP version of product within a short period of time and the ability for it to be maintained and extended later.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected them after reading reviews on the web.

Describe the project in detail.

Unfortunately, we can't say too much because we have an NDA with our client. This is a back office system for supporting corporative processes. It allows users to maintain and develop a community of technology experts.

What was the team composition?

We've taken one software developer from SoftwareMill. The team on our side consisted from three developers, UX designer and Scrum Master.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Unfortunately, there are no metrics to share at this time.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our workflow was very effective! The developer assigned to our project was almost instantly available and ready to take on new challenges.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have top-level communication and I was also happy with the seniority of the developer assigned to us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I couldn't think of any from our three months of cooperation.

5.0

Overall Score

5.0 Scheduling

ON TIME / DEADLINES

4.0 Cost

Value / within estimates

The price is not the lowest but we got high quality services in exchange.

5.0 Quality

Service & deliverables

5.0 NPS

Willing to refer

Company response

CONTENT QUALITY = C

Needs more content before viable to publish

Contact

Custom software by true engineers

headquarters

Focus

Portfolio

Ecommerce: Tipser

Business / Education: End-to-End workflow management

Business/ Media: Big Data Back-end for Mobile App

Business: REST API for Cloud Management

HR & Recruitment: HRoBOT

IT: UpdateImpact

Insurance recommendation service

Telco: Reporting and analytics platform

Entertainment/ Media: Large Scale Social App

Security: Rule-based monitoring and alarm system

Communication: DNS Panel and internals

Business/ Telco: High-performance SMS broker

Legal/ Marketplace: LegalUp

Mobile: Scalar Conference Mobile App

Reviews

Reviews

the project

the reviewer

the review

Feb 23, 2018

the review

ON TIME / DEADLINES

Value / within estimates

Service & deliverables

Willing to refer

the project

the reviewer

the review

Aug 01, 2017

the review

ON TIME / DEADLINES

Value / within estimates

Service & deliverables

Willing to refer

the project

the reviewer

the review

Jun 23, 2017

the review

ON TIME / DEADLINES

Value / within estimates

Service & deliverables

Willing to refer

the project

the reviewer

the review

Jan 04, 2017

the review

ON TIME / DEADLINES

Value / within estimates

Service & deliverables

Willing to refer

the project

the reviewer

the review

Nov 22, 2016

the review

ON TIME / DEADLINES

Value / within estimates

Service & deliverables

Willing to refer

the project

the reviewer

the review

Sep 23, 2016

the review

ON TIME / DEADLINES

Value / within estimates

Service & deliverables

Willing to refer

the project

the reviewer

the review

May 19, 2016

the review