Stepwise

Stepwise main role was to demonstrate that the current on premise architecture can be migrated to cloud in order to improve performance. The Proof of Concept had to show that cloud technologies can integrate with existing data sets and sources.

The challenge
It had to be demonstrated that the new cloud based solution was able to smoothly integrate with the existing data set and data sources. Report generation should take place in real-time or close to it. The second challenge was to prepare the infrastructure for the subsequent growth of the geospatial data, which had to be visualised. The expected data growth is hundreds of gigabytes per day.

The solution
The Proof of Concept was based on the fact that we wanted to build a solution that, with the help of Dataflow, would process data from different customer sources in parallel. The next step was to process this data. We used Big Query for this. Then, based on BigQuery, we created a geospatial data visualisation using BigQuery Geo Viz.

The results
We have proven that by using BigQuery and Dataflow, it is possible to almost completely reduce the cost of maintaining the infrastructure and ensure that it scales with data growth. This allows the customer to focus on data analysis instead of data maintenance. Furthermore, with BigQuery and Geo Viz we have proven that data analysis, report generation and visualisation is possible within >1 min.

Project Background

International flights require landing and overflight permits. Currently, all documentation is created manually, which increases the possibility of human error. There was a strong need to improve the entire permit application process.

Main Challenge

The main goal was to create a solution that would solve the problem of creating permits manually. 3,000 permits are obtained every year which require 10,000 documents, of which one carrier is approximately 80 aircraft.

The serious consequences of incorrect applications, such as delays and flight cancellations, generate huge losses and become a challenge.

The question was how to create a reliable and useful solution that would meet all the requirements of such a demanding industry?

Our Approach

Our Product Design team proposed an individually selected UX design process. 

We began with a Discovery phase to get to know the client’s requirements and needs. Thanks to this, we gathered the necessary knowledge for us to group and identify areas in which to streamline the entire process of obtaining flight permits.

As a result we were able to design an interactive prototype with powerful functionalities to satisfy the users’ goals.

Usability tests carried out with a target group allowed us to finally confirm the intuitiveness and usability of the application. This gave our client the confidence that the whole initiative was going into the right direction.

Final Outcome
"The application process is simple, easy and intuitive", replies one of the respondents, which confirms to us that the process we chose was necessary in creating a valuable product. The client had a great idea and our Product Design team turned it into a valuable solution.

As a result, we were able to successfully deliver an interactive prototype which became the foundation for MVP. This then allowed the client to present the product to potential investors and customers within just 3 months!

Project Background

Manufacturing efficiency in factories is subject to a wide range of constantly changing factors. Machine operators and other qualified production workers need to keep monitoring the particular stages of production and, if need be, respond appropriately and immediately.. These manual technical activities may take a few hours, generating bottlenecks in the manufacturing process. Companies are then to a large extent dependent on the experience and skills of their staff. Stabilis, a company specializing in intelligent applications for Industry 4.0, decided to resolve these issues with our help.

Main Challenge

Our task was to create an algorithm to take values from the manufacturing machine and advise when and how settings should be altered. One of the challenges in this project was the fact that gathering and processing additional data (particularly data coming from the surroundings) was not possible. An additional algorithm was necessary to identify if any available sets of data contained data essential for the main algorithm, and then to select that data.

Our Approach

The first step was to check and analyze the data the customer possessed. 

Our team developed an algorithm that signaled the need to alter parameters and settings of a manufacturing machine, and then indicate which of those will facilitate production.

Python and Scikit-learn libraries were used for developing the software, and the entire software solution was packaged into a Docker image and given to the customer with complete documentation.

Final Outcome

The Stepwise team created algorithms that are able to suggest parameters required to change the settings of manufacturing devices. Using this technology, manufacturing companies are now able to considerably and rapidly adjust appropriate settings for their machines, which enhances production effectiveness and saves on raw materials and other consumables.

Project Background

SLS is a Polish start-up that came to us with a concept for creating a SaaS platform offering advanced tools to support Business Process Management in the financial industry using AI and ML mechanisms. We took on a responsibility for their architecture design and entire product development process.

Challenge

Create from scratch a SaaS platform that supports loan and credit businesses with the use of a decision-facilating and scoring engine.

Our Approach and Outcome

We created a fully scalable SaaS platform, which is now successfully implemented by 4 end clients. We have conducted complex integrations with 3rd party solutions offering risk assessment and borrower verification services. We have made sure that the final product follows the PSD2 and GDPR guidelines. 

Technology

• Google Cloud Platform
• Java
• Flowable
• Kubernetes
• Tensorflow

Project Background

The client tried to create an ambitious and sophisticated SaaS platform targeted at the broadly understood Renewable Energy sector on the German market. The solution was to connect the world of private investors, visionaries and local businesses with the world of finance and corporations ready to invest in a quickly developing sector of the economy.

Main Challenge

Due to significant in-house investments, which ultimately did not bring the result, the client needed a relatively quick result that went beyond the standard MVP. Within 6 months, a fully functional portal had to be created, containing core functionalities, fulfilling operational functions and suitable for implementation on a national scale.

Maintaining high quality with very short lead times required quick scaling of both the team and the platform itself. By the way, it turned out that Stepwise could not use the existing solution effectively and had to design the entire architecture of the platform.

Our Approach

Working on the software development process to adapt to the dynamically changing requirements was a considerable challenge. Fortunately, the client understood the seriousness of the situation and fully trusted us in terms of the methodology of work and the selection of technology. The main goal was Time to Market. It required meticulous handling and controlling the level of technical debt in the project.

Final Outcome

We provided the client with the expected solutions based on the best practices and work standards, and most importantly, on the agreed date, responding to dynamically changing requirements. 

We have proved not only to the client, but also to ourselves that we are able to create global products on a large scale within tight deadlines while maintaining the highest quality of services.

Project Background

As one of the leading innovators in the area of renewable energy, Greenbird has come up with a concept to help Utilities optimize their traditional grid operations, which so far have been largely dependent on the outdated IT architecture and lengthy system integrations outsourced to external partners. To accelerate the integration process, Greenbird has created the Utilihive platform enabling grid operators to become a digital utility. Thanks to the platform, they are able to accelerate traditional system integrations at a lower cost and risk level. The end clients can optimize their grid operations, embrace data economy and look forward to the concept of Smart Cities.

Main challenge

The platform itself is cloud native by definition and built around cutting-edge technologies. The main challenge was to help end customers integrate various systems easier and faster by providing pre-defined connectors, adapters and a monitoring system. Another challenge we had to face was management of complex data flows, critical for the optimization of the overall grid operation.

Our Approach

Initially, Stepwise joined our client’s team to help them in the busy period of product development and platform integration with key end-customers. A very important aspect of the initial cooperation was building trust on the technical and communication-side as for Greenbird it was the first and only near-shore partnership yet.

Final Outcome

After the warm-up period, our collaboration with the client has extended exponentially, including development of the platform’s subproducts used to simulate smart meters rollouts and support of individual end-client projects.

Our Stepwise team has build our position as an expert in the field of new technologies step by step. Thanks to the commitment and skills of our Developers, we've been asked to develop core functionalities and automate key technical solutions.

Project Background

Lecko is management consulting company that facilitates digital transformation processes and analytics. They do it by analyzing qualitative data related to actions taken by people in their working environment. 

Main challenge

Integrating Lecko’s existing analytical systems with business solutions providers such as Office 365 and GSuite.

Our Approach

We conducted a thorough technical audit of the currently used systems and implemented cloud solutions based on GCP and Azure. The project involved a full configuration of the cloud infrastructure as well as performace improvements in the existing systems to allow real-time processing of large data quantities.

Final Outcome

Thanks to our help, Lecko was able to successfully move all their analytics to the cloud, which in turn boosted up the overall system performance. By reducing Time to Market, they can now react faster to the inreasing client demand, which was much needed given that their analytical platform provides currently business services to around 20 organizations willing to accelerate their digital transformation.

Technology

• Google Cloud Platform
• Azure
• Java
• MongoDB
• BigQuery

Project Background
Mondeca is a company that develops market-leading software for taxonomy, ontology, and content annotation management. At the beginning we sat with our client and talked about the history and current situation of the product: Intelligent Taxonomy Manager. This application was created for enterprise taxonomy management, business data management and semantic data management.

Main challenge

Stepwise main aim in this project was to ensure that the application provides a unified and coherent experience through all the user interfaces. What’s more, we wanted the software to guide the users in their daily work more easily. The system had to be prepared for heavy loads and support for many users at the same time. Last but not least the ITMX app should be ready to handle large quantities of complex data.

Our approach

The ITMX was an existing application, so at the time Stepwise focused heavily on the right strategy of building (or modifying) the architecture and code of the current software.

One of the initial problems was to assess whether it was reasonable to reuse the existing codebase and build upon it. After extensive analysis of the current system, we decided that in order to satisfy Mondeca expectations mentioned in the section above, the application would have to be rewritten from scratch. 

Stepwise implemented a new application with the use of scrum methodology, where we were mainly responsible for development and some of the project management aspects.

Final Outcome
The cooperation between Mondeca and Stepwise is still ongoing. Trust and thorough knowledge of our client's business expectations allow us to consistently deliver the best quality software. Probably that’s why ITMX is our 3rd project with Mondeca. From the very beginning we have shaped transparent rules of cooperation, so our teams could carry out their tasks effectively.

Project Background

Digital Building Passport is our response to the changing world – protecting the environment through energy saving and the EU directive on reducing energy consumption by 2050.The application is intended mainly for property managers, construction developers and local government institutions.It will allow to easily, e.g. control buildings status, plan renovation, optimize costs related to the maintenance of individual buildings and manage media consumption from the application level thanks to “Self-regulation” panel, which is a unique option thanks to which you have a real influence, for example on energy consumption.As the application is based on new technologies and is to serve business, we focused on the use of minimalist, readable fonts, subdued colors and simple visual solutions. We do not want unnecessary details to hinder the use of application functionality. We hope that the Digital Building Passport will introduce a small revolution to the real estate world!

Problem overview

Looking at the market, we came to the conclusion that there is no single application that would collect all the functionalities necessary for comprehensive buidling management in today's technological world. Therefore, we decided to create the application from scratch, taking into account all the potential needs of users and adjusting the Digital Building Paspport to the requirements of the Energy Performance of Buildings directive (EPBD). 

Project Background

Qemotion is an AI company that specializes in development and distribution of online marketing based on emotional analysis. They translate the analysis into actionable insights for marketing strategies and business decisions.

Challenge

Provide best in-class User Interface solutions for the end users’ B2B platform.

Approach

Before working on designed features we set up frontend architecture and developed core components for the platform. The end result of our collboration with Qemotion is a fully functional product ready to implement on the end user side. What our client appreciated the most about our contribution to the project was the high quality of code and ease with which you can scale the architecture of the final solution.

Final Outcome

The end result of our collaboration with Qemotion is a fully functional product ready to implement on the end user side. What our client appreciated the most about our contribution to the project was the high quality of code and ease with which you can scale the architecture of the final solution.

Technology

• React
• D3
• GraphQL
• Styled Components
• Webpack
• Google Maps
• Apollo
• Jest

Project Background

Spica Technologies Ltd is a global prop-tech company, offering services and technologies for the management of properties, facilities and building equipment. The main area of cooperation with Stepwise is developing a cloud-based platform for workplace experience management.

The Main Challenge

This Stepwise customer already had web and mobile digital products developed using one of the newer technologies available in the market from Google – the Flutter framework. This decision was associated with several important facts:

●    Software created with Flutter is future-proof.

●    With just one codebase, a customer can produce software for several operating systems and devices, which facilitates time-to-market and reduces costs incurred by making a few versions of one product.

●    There are very few companies offering reliable support in developing software with this new technology.  

Our Approach

At the beginning of our cooperation with Spica Tech, we chose two experts in mobile and web solutions from our team to provide our customer with competences combining technical knowledge and extensive experience in software development. We knew that efficient work and effective cooperation with open source communities would be very important in that project. 

Three months later we had a solid basis for developing that IT project. Our experts prepared the essential foundations for cooperation with Spica Tech and the Google team. That time allowed us to get to know our customer’s expectations and business needs.  We prepared a set of best practices for that project and actively supported our customer. We also engaged our UX/UI designer.

Final Outcomes

After almost a year, the partner cooperation between Spica Tech and Stepwise resulted in a great mobile application for the insurance industry.

Stepwise specialists felt comfortable in the Spica Tech structures and offered high availability, reliability and comprehensive support in developing the software. 

Project Background

Our Client from public healthcare sector wanted to build a platform that integrates huge amount of data for a group of diverse end users ranging from the Dutch Ministry of Health to patients and providers.

Challenge

Design and build the frontend of a web-based data platform following  extremely vague end client requirements.

Our Approach

We started with UX Design process, mockups, suggestions and technical insights that were based on end client requirements. Next step was choosing the best technology for the final solution. We worked in an agile manner with short iterations and bi-weekly demos to a client.

Final Outcome

The result of our work was a fully functional web application that allowed end users to compare and analyse large quantities of data in an intuitive manner, including customization. The Client was also impressed with the quick pace, flexibility and high quality of our work provided.

Technology

• React
• Typescript
• MobX
• Material UI
• Emotion
• Sketch
• Zeplin

Project Background

Client owns ca. 30 sport news websites (Wordpress-based) in Benelux countries. All are hosted on GCP. Due to serious issues with the infra stability, service availability and scalability in their highest peaks, client searched for GCP-based infrastructure experts. 

Main Challenge

The main issue was the required response time and the enormous operational risk at the business level.

The issue with the infrastructure was coupled with two independent aspects disrupting the operational continuity of the business, which required a quick response.

The first issue occurs at the end of the seasons in most disciplines, causing increased traffic on almost all websites at the same time.

The second one was the sudden loss of external technical support responsible for cloud operations by the Client. 

Our approach

After a short audit and analysis of the technical problem, Stepwise decided to transfer all Wordpress servers to the Kubernetes cluster, which provided Service discovery and load balancing, Storage orchestration, Automated rollouts and rollbacks, self-healing, auto-scaling, monitoring and alerting.

This move solved the downtimes problem in a relatively short time. 

Final Outcome 

The goal of the project was to ensure the continuity of the business. The priorities of individual tasks were set with the Client.

We improved the GCP infrastructure iteratively and successively, minimizing the operational risk. After dealing with downtimes, we focused on databases and higher layers, changing Local Storage to Cloud Storage and moving from Standalone MySQL to Cloud SQL.

The result is a cloud-native like infrastructure and a model implementation of media services on the Google Cloud Platform. 

Main Challenge
The main challenge was to ensure the user an easy and fluent experience with the app while they start one of the 5 marketing programs. The UX Design phase was crucial here and due to the Time To Market factor it had to be carried out in parallel to the software development process. So it was crucial to work in an agile methodology and constantly work with the backlog to deliver maximum business value as quickly as possible with limited resources.

In addition, what the customer also wanted was the automation of some processes from the administrative side, so that the customer could redirect their most valuable employees to strategic activities and creating added value from the business point of view.

Our Approach

The product is a model example of how Stepwise works with the client in the MVP phase. The client came to us with a well-defined vision of the product and business knowledge. Stepwise approached the project comprehensively, i.e. in addition to the team of engineers and designer, we proposed an appropriate approach to the software development process, chose the appropriate infrastructure and technology, communication method, best practices regarding work management, and advised on the choice of payment method on the platform.

Final Outcome

After 5 months of designing and developing, the client received the desired product. The result of our work was more than just an MVP, because the product was ready for monetization. The end users are able to test the platform, or go through the full business process. They can begin a program to reach more investors or gain more exposure. 

Also, this application makes it possible that the Client’s employees have to spend way less time on administration and guiding the client. Instead, the software takes care of that. 

Client is actively working on a long term product development roadmap while operating with its first Clients and potential Investors.

Project Background

A Dutch-Singapore startup contacted us with a request to build a product that will focus on technological capabilities for the market research industry, improving the management and deployment of questionnaires, survey data and data integration projects.

The core of the technical platform is an online/cloud-based system to manage the flow of information with respect to market research.

Main Challenge

The biggest challenge of the entire platform was to create an original language editor (human readable), which would cooperate with algorithms specially written for this purpose, converting a given text into other languages.

The difficulty was that there weren’t any existing alternatives and open source solutions on the market for this approach. Stepwise had to create a syntax highlighting used in this industry to analyze the original text. The syntax function was also to display potential linguistic errors and enable text formatting. Importantly, the text editor was intended for a non-technical person.

Our approach

The project was carried out in cooperation with:

• Codersco, our regular partner from the Netherlands, who created the algorithms for processing and conversion between languages, and
• Stepwise – we took care of the overall development of the platform, the visual layer and supporting the Software Development Process. Our team also took care of the required performance, system security and its scalability.

Final Outcome 

The created platform went beyond the originally assumed ideas. The main goal of MVP was to find potential investors for further product development and to enter the global market.

We are currently working on obtaining further funds. 

Technology

• React
• GraphQL
• TypeScript
• Node.js
• Apollo
• PostgreSQL
• GoLang
• GCP

Project Background

Our client already has a working mobile application for managing sports teams (football teams, basketball teams etc.). The application had features like scheduling training sessions, games and communicating with players. Additionally, you could track the results of major leagues in a given country. There was also a betting feature with integrated payments.

Main challenge

After a successful year on the market, the application hit the 100k registered users milestone. But with a huge amount of users, first problems occured: scaling issues, problems with simultaneous access, performance and security. It was extremely hard to solve them as the client’s team was dispersed around the world.

Our Approach

The client asked us to take over the backend development of their application. This meant our team had to face all the above-mentioned problems.

We started by familiarizing ourselves with the application and conducting a thorough audit of the existing infrastructure. After those two weeks, we came up with quick fix ideas and decided to move the application onto the Google Cloud Platform, which was very well received by our client’s team. Then, we slowly started to implement additional solutions to help fix security and performance issues. At the end, we implemented an API monetization model.

Final Outcome

After six months of work, our client had a scalable, secure and performant system based on Google Cloud. After those changes, the product was sold to a Venture Capital connected to Bundesliga.

Technology

• Java
• Grails
• Firebase
• Kotlin
• Docker

Project Background

Roomzilla is our office neighbor in the center of Warsaw. As an independent startup, they are a partner to a larger CIC group from the US East Coast. Its team is developing a powerful, yet lightweight meeting room booking system that is managed through the browser with the help of onsite meeting room displays. Simply put, Roomzilla is a cloud-based room reservation system which works on any device and supports Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar.

Challenge

Roomzilla contacted Stepwise with a request to help develop the frontend part of their application in Vue.js technology. Our team, although experienced in various frontend technologies, very quickly had to jump to a high level in this technology that we have never previously used commercially. Our Partner needed experts to help their application rise to a higher level of maturity and scalability.

Approach

The Stepwise team started the work work by carefully writing out the roadmap with the client, determining the main pain points and, what is very important in this case, the model of cooperation with the backend team operating in a technology that’s outside of our usual stack.

The works were planned to meet very short deadlines on our client's side, for whom the most important aspect was the Time to Market.

Final Outcome

The project turned out to be a model example of Stepwise's cooperation with a startup. Both teams kicked it off immediately and the whole project can be called a success story of agile product development.

There is one more aspect that we are particularly proud of in this project. One of our core values is Delivery by Research. Despite the lack of commercial experience in Vue.js, we rose up to the challenge and provided the application on time and according to our client’s requirements. We enriched the project with an UX audit, which was the icing on the sweet cake in the form of a finished product for our client.

Technology

• D3
• RxJS
• Lerna
• WebSockets

Project Background

Our Client is providing software tools for: taxonomy management, natural language processing, content auto-tagging and knowledge management. The areas of focus are: make a business sense of content, monitor consumer risks and transition to the data world.

Customer applications are written in various technologies that ensure the stability of operation. However, along with the changing Taxonomy and Natural Language Processing market, the Customer had a strong need to harmonize the technological stack and improve the competitiveness of its product.

Main challenge

Improve the performance of existing systems and scale applications for scaling up in the future. Increase the competitiveness and sales potential of applications for new end customers.

Our Approach and Outcome

A modern, efficient and scalable user interface was created for the Content Auto-tagging Manager system. On the basis of the refreshed application, the Customer may at any time be able to reuse components in the entire range of his applications.  

The outcome of our work is an improved end user journey experience, resulting in strengthened sales potential for the Client.

We are currently working with the client on extending cooperation to other fields such as architecturing a major release of one of his products and seeking new opportunities for the development of his business.

Technology

• Angular 8
• NX
• NGXS
• JEST
• Java
• Maven 3
  

Project Background

Huge Thing is a Polish startup accelerator and Venture Capital working with young companies from all over Europe. They support founders in their journey to become smart entrepreneurs able to build strong and capable teams. Their goal is to give them the tools and knowledge necessary to build a successful business.

Challenge

Huge Thing observed that early-stage companies frequently struggle with technology including architecture, technical debt, and security loopholes.

Stepwise was asked to help the most promising startups with those challenges. We were hired as tech experts familiar with Fintech solutions.

Approach

We began our work by organizing workshops sessions with selected by Huge Thing startups. Each company could choose an area that required an urgent tech audit that impacted directly their business model or simply could potentially cause problems (architecture, security, technical debt). 

Stepwise delegated two software architects experienced in various IT areas (backend, frontend, cloud, security) and one business resource who could relate to non-technical entrepreneurs and founders.

The idea was that the tech people would communicate with their counterparts on the startup side and Stepwise’s business strategist would discuss any important decisions with the business reps. This ensured everyone had a common level of understanding.

Final Outcome

Thanks to our business-oriented approach and expertise in the Fintech sector we were able to create added value for each startup. We paid a lot of attention to ensuring that business owners understand the relationship between the technical side and the monetization of their products. The audit also had the task of preparing businesses to scale solutions in the future.

Each audit ended with a report and recommendations addressed to both: individual companies and Huge Thing, the VC responsible for the development of these young companies.

Technology

• React Native
• Java
• NodeJS
• GCP
• AWS

Project Background

Since 2003, Signes de sens has been making learning, information and culture accessible to people with sensory, cognitive, mental and psychological disabilities.

They had already released a few Android and iOS applications with their character – Ben the Koala (Ben le Koala), but the rollout process didn’t go smoothly. We proposed a refreshed single code base application written from scratch using Flutter – a novel cross platform technology.

Main Challenge

Stepwise has prepared a work plan to improve the operation of the existing application. Our client wanted to improve the quality of the code, change the design and improve the management of the entire system.

We wanted to ensure that the application provides the possibility to play a variety of Ben le Koala videos, and to allow parents to follow their children’s progress and become better teachers, with additional tips being provided for every acquired skill. Also, to enable product development and in-app purchases of physical products in the future.

Our approach

As existing applications are hard to maintain when built using native technologies, our client wanted a complete overhaul of the application interface, so we finally decided to start from scratch. An obvious choice for us at Stepwise was to use Flutter, with which we have a lot of experience and strongly believe in the product.

We are able to use a single codebase for multiple platforms, which makes production and maintenance a lot easier. With the help of CI/CD pipelines, we will ensure that App Store/Play Store releases will be a seamless experience for our client.

Final Outcome
The project is still evolving. Cooperation between Stepwise and Signes de sens is ongoing. We are successively implementing all the assumptions of the project. The application we are working on, in the future, may be helpful not just for parents, but also in the wider education and health care industry. We are proud of it.

Project Background
Our client is a platinum partner of Atlassian, a global IT giant that produces software for Developers and Project Managers such as JIRA, wiki and Confluence. Despite the success story in the area of consulting and selling licenses, Clearvision decided to diversify its business model and create a new product. A marketplace for Atlassian consultants.

Main Challenge
Clearvision approached us with an idea for a product, defined business model and target audience. In this case, the biggest problem was the technological stack imposed by the IT department, which was great for a MVP, but would not work at all when scaling

Our Approach
The two main goals presented to us by the Product Owner were the scalability of the system in the future and time-to-market of the MVP. Stepwise proposed an alternative technology stack and convinced the client to change the originally planned tech stack. We used Grails (JVM), which is ideal for rapid prototyping and scaling in the future. The application was put on Amazon's cloud.
As a part of the development process of the application, we have implemented SCRUM methodology for the client.

Final Outcome
Working in short sprints and creating weekly demos enabled us to deliver a ready, fully functional Marketplace after just 3 months of work. Stepwise finished the product before an important conference, where our client could present a fully-rounded solution. Most importantly, the new product immediately caught the attention of potential users and customers who would be interested in using the marketplace, which was crucial for our client.