Speck

Please describe your company and your position there.

KTC is a Croatian retail company with consumer goods stores (food and beverages), and a number of other activities (agricultural pharmacies, catering, and restaurants, gas stations) present in the north of Croatia.

On top of that, KTC also offers customers the option of online shopping and home delivery. I work with KTC as a graphic designer and marketing manager in charge of the visual and marketing director of the company.

For what projects/services did your company hire Speck?

We wanted to improve the quality of our current website and implement the webshop ability. Our website was aesthetically dated and overdue for a refresh. We hired Speck to conduct the website redesign and webshop development.

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

We’ve chosen Speck based on the recommendation from a colleague. We have invited Speck for a pitch and after the initial negotiations, we decided that we are a great match!

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Speck was hired for the design and development of the new KTC WordPress website, as well as introducing the new company service - online shopping and home delivery through the web app.

After the initial kick-off meeting, the team delivered wireframes and mock-ups, as well as the webshop integration plan. After several design iterations, the Speck team designed and developed a completely new informational website and the first KTC webshop with at-home delivery.

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

The Speck team working on KTC 2.0. included: Project Manager, UI designer, and Developer.

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

Soon after the initial launch of our new website and webshop, we noticed traffic spikes - website traffic increased by 30%. Moreover, introducing an easy-to-use eCommerce solution helped us gain new users, lower bounce rates, and extend website session duration.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They were very responsive and communicated well. We mostly coordinated the project development through daily check-ins and have used email for communication.

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

They have a high level of technical knowledge and experience, with an amazing eye for details and proactivity.

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

The first launch had a few minor bugs that we communicated and they fixed them very quickly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a coffee cloud company. We provide IoT solutions for the hospitality industry, specifically for the professional coffee industry, by installing small IoT sensors in professional barista coffee machines — the devices then collect the data. We have an app on the AVS Amazon web service where our users and customers can connect to, and actually monitor the coffee machines in real-time.

What challenge were you trying to address with Speck?

We actually engaged Speck to provide us with additional features and updates to our web app solution on AVS Amazon.

What was the scope of their involvement?

To start, we detect the problems and what our customers need, and collect the data from our IoT sensors. We then provide a database on Amazon and use some of the tools provided by AVS — we also created our own tools to manage all the databases from our customers. After that, we select them and check all positions of our customers. 

Speck then develops different features for different customers. That means baristas, coffee shop owners, restaurant owners, coffee distributors, and sales managers all have specific roles and features for their platform — that's how we actually bring and accept the differences between our customers. We then collect and catch all the data from our devices, and put it in some analytic tools where we’re able to send the data directly to our customers. 

Apart from that, Speck has also engaged in different phases of this solution such as customer role development, and developing features for using coffee machines like cleaning and coffee counting mode.

Prior to this, we discussed all the positions of our customers with Speck. We provided detailed documentation about our IoT sensors and how they actually analyze and send the data to the cloud. We also gave them all the documentation from AVS Amazon, and that's how we engaged and let Speck know how to create our own customized solution.

For each position, role, and feature, we do the discovery of the solution and discuss them separately. We also talk about the system, how the data will be collected, and what will be the benefit for the customer.

What is the team composition?

At the moment, we have four people from Speck in our development team. Eduardo (Project & Product Manager), Mario (UI/UX Designer), and Mihail and Jayco (Developers).

How did you come to work with Speck?

We got some recommendations from some companies in the US who had already worked with Speck.

How much have you invested with them?

At the moment, we’ve spent around $60,000, but it should be more next year.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we started our ongoing partnership two months ago, around early April 2021. The project will continue until the end of this year, but we will probably have to extend the solution.

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

They are actually great. It's easy to talk to them and they are really well-equipped to understand what we need. It's not always easy to engage the right people and talk to developers, because they have their own languages, and it's not easy for us as users to talk directly to them. However, Speck is really, really easy to discuss and talk with — that's why we plan to work with them on a long-term basis.

How did Speck perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform great. They are fast to understand, easy to talk to, and they really jump on every issue. It's not a big deal for us to directly discuss our problems, and Speck really listens to seek and understand what we need. For our communication, we use different channels, but it's usually emails or something like Skype and some other tools. We have meetings with developers two or three times per week, so we can discuss things through live conversation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're really easy to talk to. When you talk with developers, you need to speak their language, but Speck is really fast to understand the problems from any industry. We find it easy to talk to them because they write down all the things in our usual language, not in developer language.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At the moment, we are satisfied with them and we haven't detected any problems so I don't know. In the future, when we will have more tasks, I can probably share if something could be better — but at the moment it's great.

Any advice for potential customers?

We have been working together for two months, so I'm not sure what advice would be useful for another company.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Peterson’s, a test prep and education company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Speck?

We offer test prep for 180 different standardized tests. We’ve seen an increase in mobile demand, particularly for offline test prep in a non-Wi-Fi dependent environment.

We asked Speck to develop an iOS and Android app that allows individuals to begin and fulfill their test prep ambitions in a mobile-first environment.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Speck did the initial scoping, architecture, and design. They developed a function that sits between our services and the app to ensure offline content and user management's stability and persistence. They were involved in everything to keep the app alive and to perform well.

What is the team composition?

We worked with eight people.

How did you come to work with Speck?

A friend referred us to Speck. They had a long working relationship with them. We evaluated three or four app developers that were both US-based and offshore. We concluded that Speck had the technical expertise, credibility, and reliability to be a good partner for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from August–December 2020.

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

Our client is ecstatic about it. The ratings in the app store have been quite favorable. We’ve engaged third-party testers to find any issues, and they have been minimal. We did a soft launch, but we’re confident to take this to market.

How did Speck perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, they’ve been excellent. We used Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their ability to find creative solutions to complex technical and business problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage them early in the process.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

24sata, which translates to “24 Hours”, is the biggest media company in Croatia. We’re part of Styria Media Group, the leading media company in Austria. The whole corporation has about 3,000 employees, and I’m the CEO and a board member at 24sata.

What challenge were you trying to address with Speck?

We launched a new news portal in June 2020, and we were switching from a multipage architecture to a single-page one. That resulted in a loss of our SEO ranking and a complete downfall of the website traffic. Our development team didn’t know how to fix it, and we got the recommendation to hire Speck.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Speck conducted detailed SEO and technical performance analyses of our platform and created the roadmap for its optimization. They then provided specifications of what we needed to do to optimize the platform; they consulted our developers to help in the process.

What is the team composition?

We had an account/project manager on Speck’s side, along with an SEO expert, two backend developers, and one frontend developer.

How did you come to work with Speck?

We called everyone we knew in Croatia, asking for advice on a provider that could help us. Speck was recommended by a friend in a global IT consulting company. After an initial call, we decided to work with them. They were serious and had good recommendations.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project ran between September–November 2020. We’ve accepted Speck’s second quote, and they’ll perform another SEO and technical analysis in January 2021 to see how the platform is operating two months after implementation.

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

One week after implementing all of Speck’s proposed changes, we saw a recovery of our organic traffic. Site loading speed also got better, and all vital Google KPIs were increasing. We also saw a loss in programmatic advertising revenue, and that’s also started to come back.

How did Speck perform from a project management standpoint?

I was afraid that our developers would have problems working with external consultants, because of egos or other reasons, but it was just the opposite. The feedback was really good, and they benefited from working with Speck. The team gave us some tips and tricks on single-page technology, and our developers’ learning curve quickened. Speck was on time, dedicated, concrete, and to the point. We used email for some confirmations, and most of the communication was through video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with 15–20 development companies throughout my career, and I’d say that Speck was really dedicated to the project. They really wanted to help, and they got involved in the project. It was as though it was theirs too, not just ours.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We can always perform better, but this experience was really great.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I’d definitely recommend them for someone who wants to get things done on time. They really get involved in the project, and there’s no bureaucracy with them. They do everything fast, and with great quality.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Minka is an open banking platform built in the cloud with blockchain technology that allows fintechs and traditional financial institutions to create new financial products in a minimal amount of time.

I am the CTO at Minka and my previous background is most prominent in the fields of business planning, innovation management and blockchain. I am in charge of all technical operations regarding building a Banking-as-a-Service platform modelled as an Open API.

For what projects/services did your company hire Speck?

We hired Speck for the development consulting services and some additional work on the implementation of the solutions they provided through consulting.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal is to develop an open, flexible and highly scalable financial service infrastructure that companies wishing to provide financial services, such as money transfer and electronic wallet, can use instead of developing their own infrastructure.

Unlike traditional financial infrastructure, Minka is cloud-based and ensuring data protection and scalability were our top priorities.

How did you select this vendor?

We’ve chosen Speck based on the recommendation from a colleague who is an expert in the field.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Speck provided consulting services in regards to making our architecture more scalable and secure. They’ve also been engaged in developing certain parts of the core API.

Both Speck’s team and our developers dedicated the initial two weeks to the discovery and research process which addressed both our general vision and the specific pain points and challenges we’re facing in our current development.

Speck proved to be extremely flexible, within a few weeks from the start of the project their developers joined our team in Bogota for an on-site three-week workshop.

Speck’s help consulting-wise was invaluable: they addressed the initial challenges regarding the optimization of the number of requests the platform can receive and further scaling, and continued to provide ongoing support throughout the further development process.

They took the time and effort to consider and test different technologies before providing the final solution.

Introducing an SQL approach instead of the existing graph solution drastically improved our transaction tracking process and the numbers of transactions we can process per second. Activity spikes are optimized through the right choice of the queue manager, also recommended by Speck.

Apart from providing expertise through consulting, Speck’s team joined our team on developing certain features of the architectural solutions they provided.

What was the team composition?

Speck’s team consisted of four developers and one project manager.

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

We’ve hired Speck to consult on optimizing the flow of server requests in order to scale more quickly and cut down the costs. Speck’s expertise played a crucial role in the further development of our platform, allowing us to reach an unprecedented number of 10.000 transactions per second.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We’re very satisfied with the overall workflow - communicating our ideas and demands to Speck was easy and Speck’s delivery was on time and of exceptional quality every time.

Even though we mostly collaborate remotely, Speck’s team proved to be flexible enough to provide support on the spot when deemed necessary to speed up the process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Speck’s team integrated seamlessly with our own and the expertise they provided architecture-wise and their strategic approach really elevated our project to another level and saved both our time and money.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can’t think of any. At this point, we are very satisfied and planning to continue and span our collaboration.

Please describe your company and your position there.

KidzToPros is a platform that provides STEM- and sports-based after-school enrichment programs and summer camps. Our vision is to provide meaningful enrichment to the 23 million elementary-aged kids across the US who either do not have access to or cannot afford these activities. Over 5,000 parents enroll more than 6,000 kids in weekly programs held in 150 schools across 15 cities on the West Coast. As the COO, I lead all ongoing operations regarding platform growth and development. 

For what projects/services did your company hire Speck?

We hired Speck for the design, development, and project management of the KidzToPros platform. We also anticipate engaging them for digital marketing and business scalability support shortly.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal is to develop an easy-to-use platform that facilitates multiple user roles and makes after-school programs accessible, affordable, and safe for kids across the country. We wanted to specifically address the challenges kids, parents, schools, coaches and instructors face regarding safety, reliability, and opportunity in organization and communication.

How did you select this vendor?

Early in the planning stages, we knew that UX/UI was going to be our biggest challenge; the app features many roles and many different features for those roles. We had already begun development but were looking for someone to assist with the design. During a web search, we discovered a blog post and work showcase by Speck’s lead UX/UI designer. We arranged a meeting, and after the first design sprint, we were convinced by their strong display of skill in modern technologies. 

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

KidzToPros is a platform for after-school activities that enables parents to enroll their kids in after-school programs and keep track of their activities. It also allows schools to hire vendors and organize programs and schedules, and provides the option for coaches and instructors to manage their activities in coordination with schools, vendors, and parents.

At the time we engaged Speck, we definitely needed to revise the platform design, but we were also considering rebuilding the platform with modern technologies, with which Speck was greatly experienced. With the mobile app now based on technologies such as Node.js, React, and ReactNative, we hope to ensure its scalability as our company and user base grow.

What was the team composition?

Speck’s current team consists of two UX/UI designers, four developers, and one project manager. 

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

KidzToPros is an ongoing project. However, since hiring Speck, our user base has doubled, and we have expanded our business to two new additional states. The team is thorough in every aspect, from clean code to detailed reports. They really pay attention to the smallest UX/UI design details. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The collaboration between the project manager and myself has been great, and I work closely with the entire team on a daily basis. An initial team was established at the outset, but as the project has grown, every new addition to the team is carefully planned so that the adjustment period does not set us behind schedule in any way.

Everything is going smoothly, due in large part to Speck’s workflow consolidation in regards to defining new tasks and reporting completed ones. We have occasional revisions, but this is to be expected with such a large project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their user testing is detailed and uncompromising. Establishing customer journeys has helped us understand how our product is being used and how we can optimize our acquisition funnel.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are no issues thus far.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the head of the cloud development department for Combis d.o.o., a leading ICT (internet and communications technology) company in the Adriatic region.

For what projects/services did your company hire Speck?

We engaged Speck to develop and design the UI/UX for three SaaS applications as part of a product bundle for telecommunications infrastructure. They also provided project management and user testing.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create an advanced set of cloud-based applications with a unified interface and a user-friendly experience. The products needed a high level of customizability and intuitiveness for the end customers. We also wanted them built in React and Node.js to make customization, scalability, and maintenance easy.

How did you select this vendor?

Some of our team members were already familiar with Speck’s expertise. The Speck team had proven their knowledge in React, ReactNative, and Node.js at an international ReactNative meetup. 

In our initial conversation, they presented their workflow and a brief from their lead designer and project manager. We felt that their client-oriented approach matched our needs and that they would deliver within our timeframe and budget.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Speck developed three cloud-based SaaS applications for us: a Virtual Private Server (VPS), a Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS) platform, and a product called CloudMail. 

The team first led market research to define the best architecture and methodology to use for each product. They then conducted a design sprint with the lead designer and project manager. They created mockups for the layout, and after a few revisions, we agreed on the general frontend design and architecture across all applications.

Development has been a straightforward process. Speck uses technologies that enable continuous integration and delivery, which means faster updates for our end customers.

What was the team composition?

We work with a dedicated team that comprises three developers, a project manager, and a designer.

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

Two of the three products—VPS and DRaaS—are already deployed to our marketplace and being used by end customers, business, and private clients.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Speck leads a cohesive workflow. We use agile methodology to revise and improve features promptly if needed. They provide thorough daily reports and are willing to elaborate on decisions and make adjustments at our request.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is truly dedicated to our needs. They demonstrate a proactive level of ownership and in-depth knowledge of modern technologies, Node.js, and React. We think of our collaboration with Speck as a long-term partnership with their team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re thrilled with Speck so far. Our continued engagement is a testament to their high-quality work.