Sparq

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr. Engineering Manager of the company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We empower companies’ B2B Customer Success teams to create best-in-class customer experiences with powerful analytics, automation, and project management capabilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Octobot to accomplish?

• Complete critical customer integrations
• Additional bandwidth for bug support
• Help level up the integrations platform with improved architecture and documentation for onboarding.

SOLUTION

How did you find Octobot?

Referral

Why did you select Octobot over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Octobot were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The primary business objective of this work was to focus on improving integrations to 3rd party platforms. The initial scope of work was integrating google calendar with applications, setting the foundations for future calendaring and meeting object feature improvements. 
Deliverables were a functioning integration, fully documented, and training supported for internal team knowledge share and support of continued maintenance and improvements on the integration. Subsequent to delivery of this the same deliverables were then provided for a JIRA integration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Successful project management of these integrations starting from product requirements specifications to execution. Key outcomes were achieved around appropriate requirements and milestone setting, which led to high-quality integrations being implemented in a timely manner.

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

The team was a powerful partner in ensuring project delivery hit its timelines, identifying risks and necessary mitigations, and communicating their status effectively along the way.

What was your primary form of communication with Octobot?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

From the developers to the account support team, each member has impressed me with their level of professionalism, skill, and effective collaboration skills which enabled us to onboard the team quickly and see outcomes right from the start. They are constantly looking for feedback to further improve their work and impact and quickly adjust when it's provide so each engagement goes even smoother than the last.

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

No, the team worked hard to ensure we had the right set of folks that the project required and the constant feedback cycles were great at continuously improving an already strong engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I lead the strategic initiatives for an AR/VR education company. We make the only education-able device for elementary, middle, high, and higher education schools.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?
We're working on a big new system for our customers and partners to help them manage their programs with us, including their hardware and software subscriptions. For this project, we required help with the web portion specifically.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
Octobot is helping us develop the web app portion of our new ecosystem. Before working with them, we had done a fair amount of work to outline the problems and our goals, so we had an initial discovery phase. During the first 30 days of our engagement, we provided Octobot with knowledge about our business and outlined some of our concerns.

Octobot then provided us with their insight and other questions regarding the discovery. As part of this process, their team also spoke to some of our customers and stakeholders to ensure we didn't leave anything on the table.

Since then, Octobot has provided us with a lot of support on the UX design portion, too. We're trying to build a very complex system, which has a lot of use cases and edge cases, so we've been working with their designer to flesh those out and create high-fidelity prototypes and a design system. Currently, we're wrapping up the second kind of primary use case for the design.

The process has included detailed wireframing. We've also defined our data structure and integration strategies with other systems and moved out of some user flows and wireframes into higher fidelity screens and prototypes. As we already have a design system and an outlined primary user flow, we're going through the wireframing of the second major objective of our initial product.

As for the development side, this project will require integration with a couple of key systems we already have in place, including Salesforce and NetSuite. As part of the technology plan, we'll be using a Postgres database with Node.js and TypeScript. Regarding the frontend development, we'll be using React.

The biggest feature of this system is the integration with our Salesforce data so that we can make available what the customer purchased, allowing them to manage their purchases in a hands-on manner. The other important piece of this system is the capability to organize and group the devices that customers buy and their software subscriptions.

Schools are very complex places, so there are often a lot of different buildings and people involved. Therefore, we want to give our customers a good sense of what their program looks like without having to visit every machine that they've purchased.

What is the team composition?
Octobot has provided us with a small team to start the project, which includes a UX lead, a tech lead, and a delivery lead. We're looking to expand that team next year as the project gets more legs.

How did you come to work with Octobot?
We actually found their name on Clutch. Before going with Octobot, we had spent many months interviewing close to two dozen organizations. We were looking for a company that had a significant overlap with the US time zone, so Octobot quickly made it into our top-five potential partners.

We had a lot of conversations with them about their team, their approach to managing projects together, and best practices. After some deep dives into what the project would look like, we decided to go with Octobot.

How much have you invested with them?
We've spent between $50,000–$199,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in September 2023, and the engagement is still ongoing. We anticipate that our first MVP will be ready in April 2024, and we're already planning additional use cases. Therefore, we estimate that this will be a 6–8-month project, and we'll decide what other features to add once we complete the most important ones.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Given that we're integrating this web app with our other business systems, we've tried to be really thoughtful about its performance and reliability. Octobot's team has successfully been able to mimic some integrations we have today, decreasing our data processing time from 22–25 minutes to 5–8 minutes using some integration approaches. That result will be very important as we deliver this web app to our customers, ensuring their data is accurate as frequently as possible.

This system implementation will also result in our business saving money because we're going to take up less of our data concurrency and data connection since the processes are getting shorter in length. We also have another important result on the design side. One of our really important business processes has 12 different iterations of customer and purchase profiles, and we already have high-fidelity prototypes for those, which has been great.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?
Communication with Octobot has been great; everyone from their team has been very available. We have daily stand-up meetings via Zoom and chats via Slack. We also use Jira and Confluence to document shared tasks. Moreover, we use Figma for the design side and Google Drive for any other documents that don't fit into the other tools.

As for timeline compliance, Octobot has stuck to the schedule that we agreed upon for this year, and a lot of the delivery work will start coming in pretty fast next year. As we look forward to planning for next year, we're right where we expected to be based on the team's size and our goals. I have a high level of confidence that we'll keep on track moving forward.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?
I would like to congratulate the whole Octobot team; everyone is doing a lot of great work. We've been very impressed by how everyone on their team has understood our business. They've asked questions and processed things in a way that works well for us.

One of the things that is unique about Octobot is that, outside of our conversations, their team meets a lot internally about this project and works collaboratively. It really feels like they have a high level of ownership and accountability for delivery. They don't wait for us to make every decision and plan, which is really nice and has led us to move a lot faster.

Moreover, everyone on Octobot's team is excited and eager to do things. They're really personally motivated and hold themselves to a really high standard, which has been great.

Are there any areas they could improve?
Octobot's project-level work is always seen through the details of what types of tasks take the most time, so outside of our daily verbal communications, I don't have a lot of details about time tracking. Having insight into how long tasks actually take will become more interesting and more important as the project goes on. I hope to have more visibility into task times as we move out of design and into development to compare estimations versus execution.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Ensure to make your team available and leverage the fact that they're not biased by heat has already happened. They'll bring a new perspective to the table, so it'll be very helpful to bring a lot of people to talk with them, helping you uncover some opportunities and prevent missteps. In the end, you'll have great results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of SendEngage, a B2B marketing application. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?

We hired them for software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Octobot handles all the development of our application. During the first month, we asked them to build a proof of concept (POC) to show us they could build the underlying technology our app needed. From there, we created an agreement for them to develop an MVP within a certain timeline. 

Currently, Octobot has moved past the MVP and is working on the beta version of our app. The app enables B2B sales representatives to send automated, one-to-one outreach emails to prospects. The app then provides follow-up and manages the replies to those emails. The team uses React and Python for development. 

Additionally, Octobot has designed the app and our website. Initially, I picked the color scheme, and the Octobot team designed the logo. The team has designed the entire app and our website around the logo and color scheme. Octobot also provides us with QA services. 

What is the team composition?

We work with around six teammates from Octobot, including a designer, a delivery lead, a tech lead, a QA specialist, and three developers. 

How did you come to work with Octobot?

I found them through a Google search and read about Octobot on Clutch before contacting them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $200,000–$1 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of Octobot’s work is very good. They don’t focus on speed; they create quality systems that can endure. Moreover, everyone on their team is really smart, and I appreciate their pushback on ideas they disagree with. The whole team is doing a great job.

Moreover, the project scope has evolved as we’ve worked, and Octobot has been very adaptable. We don’t have any quantitative metrics because, at this point, we still measure the project based on qualitative aspects. 

How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?

The team provides time estimations for the feature builds. We use Jira and Slack for communication and project management and have a Google Meet call once a week. 

As for the budget, we initially didn’t know what it should be. We’ve been flexible and have moved at a comfortable pace, and Octobot has stayed within the budget as we’ve increased the scope of work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with Octobot’s team. The whole team is on our weekly calls with all their cameras on, so we have face-to-face meetings even though we’re in different parts of the world. Moreover, every team member takes a turn to talk about what they’ve personally accomplished since the previous meeting, going through everything in great detail and screen-sharing. Octobot’s teammates are very good at taking individual accountability, which has been important in building trust.

Octobot’s sales representative is also very good. She checks in with me to ensure we’re happy and sends us small gifts now and then. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There aren’t any areas they need to improve at the moment. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you use Octobot to build a product, you should be clear about your expectations, heavily involved in defining the project’s vision, and patient with the process. Certain things may take longer than everyone thinks they will — that’s how software development works. I also recommend attending the weekly call, asking questions, and getting to know Octobot’s team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP, R&D of LeasePilot

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

LeasePilot is a cloud-based software that accelerates and simplifies the commercial lease drafting workflow

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Octobot to accomplish?

• Increase the velocity of the engineering department
• Team augmentation

SOLUTION

How did you find Octobot?

Clutch Site

Why did you select Octobot over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit

What was the size of Octobot’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

We hired Octobot to help with the development of a project we needed to release as soon as possible. With the help of 2 remarkable engineers, we were able to deliver the project on time and release it to our customers. The engineers we hired were engaged, independent, and skilled. They became productive quicker than we anticipated. Some of the key deliverables were:

• Improve the backend APIs using TypeScript and Next.js
• Improve the user experience by working with the UX team
• Improve the stability of the software by working with the QA team
• Build entire features spreading both the client side and the server side

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Delivering the project on time
• Reducing the number of open bugs

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

The management team was super attentive to our needs and provided the team the hardware and support needed to be successful.

What was your primary form of communication with Octobot?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Octobot is considered one of the best workplaces for software engineers in Uruguay!

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I'm the CEO of an international remittance firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Octobot?

We needed help with custom software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

We've been working with Octobot on several projects, including integral development from outlining to design. They've helped us develop a back office platform for remittance management. Also, recently we worked on an update to help us make our process more scalable, which implied networking our software to an international platform. We also were looking to integrate different payment methods and create a frontend solution that could be a self-management platform for our clients.

In terms of tools, they use the latest technologies, like React, AWS, and Django.

Currently, they're providing maintenance to the platforms.

What was the team composition?

We've worked with Guillermo (CEO), a manager, a team of developers, and a tech lead, among other members of their team.

How did you come to work with Octobot?

I knew about them through Guillermo, who I know personally.

How much have you invested in them?

So far, we've spent around $100,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have weekly sprints with the developers in which they handle different requirements, and we evaluate how satisfied we are with the results. So far, regarding design, they've met our expectations, and our team is delighted with how they've responded and handled communications.

How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?

Their response time has been outstanding; the project was determined to last about four months, and we're in good timing. Regarding communication, we use Slack, emails, and weekly follow-up meetings. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their key attributes are their project management skills, organization, and great follow-up process. Also, the price-quality ratio they offer is great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could arrange meetings with the product owner on our side once every month to communicate the project's progress.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your needs, and work on your outlines before working on the development itself.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical co-founder and senior director of software development for an online marketplace that provides a service for dog owners, such as dog sitting, walking, and training.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?

We were looking for developers to supplement our software development efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We brought in Octobot to supply us with software development experts that specialize in the Django, Python, and React frameworks. Our partnership is largely remote, but we still have people come to our office periodically for some of our in-house operations.

What is the team composition?

We’re currently working with about 11 software engineers and developers.

How did you come to work with Octobot?

One of our senior engineers met somebody from Octobot at DjangoCon.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in October 2021, as we start to ramp up our partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure the success of the partnership based on development velocity and positive feedback from both industry managers and senior engineers on the team and so far, they’ve been performing up to our expectations.

They’re able to fill the roles we need rapidly and we highly appreciate the skill set and communication skills of their individual engineers.

How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?

Octobot performs well from a project management standpoint, as they consistently meet their deadline and budget.

We mainly utilize JIRA and typically communicate through Slack and Google Meet.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with how their technical focus perfectly aligns with what we’re looking for, and their efforts in implementing a diverse pipeline when it comes to hiring people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any constructive feedback as Octobot has exceeded all our expectations. Getting everybody on board has been a smooth process and it has accelerated our entire project in a meaningful way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to communicate with their leaders clearly because they’re extremely accommodating.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is focused on the electrification of the world. We’re after improving sustainability through efficient motors and batteries. I’m the product lead for the data warehouse and for our product quality group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?

I brought in Octobot to complement my digital thread and product quality teams.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Octobot works with us as consultants and contractors. 

What is the team composition?

All of the people that I’m working with are individual contributors who are either architects or general engineers. One of them leads my digital thread team, and the other is on their way to becoming a lead for my product quality team.

How did you come to work with Octobot?

When we asked them to look for someone in data engineering, Octobot said that they have someone on their side who has those skillsets. This person was doing project management for Octobot since they didn’t have any data engineering work for her.

We took this person on, and we were so pleased with their technical background, collaborativeness, and communication that we decided to move forward with the partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since the fall of 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Octobot always closes their tickets and completes their work. They’re agile, reliable, and accurate. In fact, there are other teams within our company that have hired Octobot.

How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?

We really like them because they’re thorough and easy to work with. They understand direction and take ownership of a ticket. Even though they speak varying degrees of English, they all speak well enough to collaborate with us and get work done. 

We also like how they ask great questions and inform us of any staffing changes ahead of time. In that respect, they’re very reliable. Working with them is like managing the already self-managed. If I could have my whole team be like the Octobot team, that would be ideal.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They execute and they’re high-performing. I like that I don’t have to spend money or get charged for managers that I don’t need; I can simply integrate individual contributors from their team into ours and approach their leadership when we’re facing certain issues. They’re very quick to figure out solutions or correct any mistakes, which in turn has made it really easy for us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t see anything that can be improved, and it’s a big thing when I don’t have any complaints. I simply wish there were more of them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t come after my guys — but if you do plan to work with them, don’t micromanage. Let them perform to the maximum potential, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of Engineering at Edquity, a company that is building a platform for emergency aid and cash assistance programs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Edquity intended on launching a new product in addition to the education focused emergency aid. As more staff was required, we chose Octobot to help with staff augmentation

SOLUTION

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

I searched online for staff augmentation companies that met the following criteria: Little to no language barrier, little to no time zone difference, and familiar with our company's tech stack. Octobot easily met all three.

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

As developers were onboarded to augment the internal dev team, they quickly integrated into the team and increased our velocity by 950%.

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

Five full stack developers worked closely with my internal development team while we were increasing staffing. There were also 2 members on the leadership team that helped ensure everything was working smoothly and efficiently.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new product launch has several interested partners that have initiated conversations in order to integrate into our platform.

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

We used daily standups with the development team and weekly meetings with the leadership team.

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

The company leaders are fantastic about keeping open and consistent communication and asking for feedback on not only the developers but also the process itself.

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

No, the launch of our product went off without any major problems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product lead at SES-imagotag, a global leader in providing digital solutions for retail companies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Octobot?

Our company has done business with enterprise-level customers globally. However, we wanted to shrink our product footprint into something more appropriate for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). As a result, our team reimagined the way our systems worked in the form of an app, and we hired Octobot to serve a pivotal role in this campaign.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Octobot started working with us by providing a UX designer and an engineer to develop the entire solution, which was a mobile app for iOS and Android. We started with a blank slate, and our teams went to an exploration of the app’s UI/UX design. Part of that was learning about our existing system. We also sent them some hardware as they dove deep into our enterprise software. 

With their UI/UX design team, we prioritized the features we could include in the SMB version of the enterprise software. Ultimately, much of the app’s UI/UX design was simplified immensely. From there, we created a clickable prototype, which we used to get feedback from the entire team. 

At the moment, we’re at version 1.2 of the app. We have a monthly cadence for version releases, and our team conducts weekly sprints and daily standups, adhering to the standard agile scrum development methodology. We’re using React Native and Firebase on the backend to build the app. We use internal feedback and guidance to iterate the product’s design and development as we add new features every month. 

What is the team composition?

The team composition has varied throughout the engagement. In the beginning, we worked with 5–6 people from Octobot, including a developer, a UX designer, and a senior architect. Meanwhile, for the last few months, we’ve mainly worked with one lead developer, one junior developer, and one UX designer. 

How did you come to work with Octobot? 

Most of our resources and third-party developers were in Europe, but we wanted to work with a company that was more closely aligned with our timezone. As a result, I searched online for a vendor in the Americas and eventually found Octobot via Clutch. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $40,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2021, and the project is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While we haven’t gone to market yet, I’ve shared the app internally. A vast majority of people who’ve used it have been impressed with its design and functionality. Based on their feedback, we should’ve built the app a long time ago. Overall, the reception has been positive both in terms of its aesthetics and ease of use. 

Anecdotally, we’ve enjoyed working with Octobot. They’re well-versed in all the modern technologies we use; the team is familiar with the right tools to get the job done. 

How did Octobot perform from a project management standpoint?

Octobot doesn’t provide a dedicated project manager — that’s my role. However, I’ve been surprised by their lead developer’s ability to help me. In a way, that developer doubles as a project manager because he’s great at staying on top of deliverables and keeping himself accountable along with the junior developer. 

In terms of communication and scheduling, they’re great. The lead developer is usually the first person on every call, and the team doesn’t miss any meetings. For tools, we use Jira for project management, Figma for design, and Miro for brainstorming sessions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The attitude that Octobot’s resources bring to the table stands out. I’ve worked with other third-party development shops that have communication and transparency issues. By contrast, the Octobot team has a positive attitude, and they’re great at communicating. We never feel we’re in the dark, and they quickly bring in experts if we have problems — they offer this service quite liberally. Overall, Octobot is great at fostering values around good communication, and I’m deeply impressed by that. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Octobot should let us know early about resource constraints. For example, when their lead developer had to take a vacation, it was brought to my attention a little late. 

Since we don’t have a big team, we need to know whenever we lack any resources. If we’re losing someone, it should be brought to our attention early. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I wholly recommend working with Octobot. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by their service.