Survin IT Solutions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director of a plastic bag manufacturer with 70–100 employees.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solutions?

We were in the process of rebuilding all our websites to become better known in our market. We wanted to provide a better user experience for customers, making it easier for them to find our products and request quotes. We also wanted to improve our Google SEO.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used examples from their previous work to select a look for our site, specifically looking at websites similar to ours. They’ve used these examples to rebuild our WordPress site. They’ve created new graphics, set up a color scheme, and designed the layout. They’ve integrated a quotation form and a WhatsApp contact button for customers. They’ve also embedded a video to the website.

We’d done some previous SEO work on the website for which Survin IT was asked not to make any changes that would affect our ranking. Most of their work has focused on four site redesigns. We’re making final changes on the first one at the moment.

What is the team composition?

I’ve had a couple of main contacts from their team, but I’m not sure if they’ve assigned a project manager.

How did you come to work with Survin IT Solutions?

I found them while looking online for both local and international companies. I got in touch, inquired about their services, and requested a quote.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2017 and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

Survin IT has improved our SEO ranking through the new page. We can assess the impact of their work based on our AdWords campaign analytics. We’ve garnered additional contacts through the WhatsApp contact button they’ve implemented. We’ve seen four additional quotation requests per week on average.

How did Survin IT Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They always listen to our requests for both the general design of the site and subsequent changes. Working with their team has been a good experience. They’re in touch with us all the time, immediately reporting any changes to the site.

We have to consult our entire internal team, so giving them feedback can take some time. They organize themselves fast and implement any changes within three days at most as soon as we get in touch with them. I can’t always expect to receive fast replies due to the time difference, but I’m fine with this. I often write them during the afternoon so that the team can see the message the next morning and work during the day. We mainly use email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I value their speed of communication and openness to suggestions. I don’t know anything about web design and appreciate being able to ask any question I may have. Survin IT has always been open to hearing my thoughts and they’ll tell me if they’re good or not. I feel confident in their work and I know that I can rely on them for any questions or requests.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any negative comments about them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and the CEO of the company. We provide a home furnishing platform aimed at simplifying and personalizing the process. Similarly to what KAYAK offers for bookings, we partner with top retailers on the internet and aggregate the best-reviewed products from their sites. We allow clients to visualize those products in a virtual showroom.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solutions?

We didn’t have enough technical capabilities on our team to accomplish the task at hand in a timely manner. We started looking for outside help in order to speed up the work.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a basic 2D design tool that allowed users to pick and place different items—couches, tables, bookcases, bathroom items, and so on—into a virtual showroom and see what they would look like next to each other. We had received a lot of feedback from customers and wanted to perform certain feature enhancements.

We gave Survin IT requirements based on which they executed the development work. They helped us change the floor and wall colors based on user inputs, and retain those options in our database so that every time a client would come back to look at their room, they would see the same walls and floors. The object placements would also be stored.

Initially, a user had to place all the items at once. Survin IT customized our platform so that users could add and remove different items along the way. Saving different items correctly was our biggest challenge. People had told us that they needed to save designs locally, given that sessions would expire without transferring data across devices. Survin IT came up with the idea of saving everything to our database so that designs could be retrieved consistently on any machine.

What is the team composition?

I’ve only been in contact with their project manager.

How did you come to work with Survin IT Solutions?

We found them on Upwork, where they had some great reviews, so we contacted them and asked for a proposal. Survin IT had a good price, relative to what we were looking for, and promised to deliver quickly. Their proposal made them seem very knowledgeable and experienced with our kind of platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2017. The collaboration is ongoing.

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

We have seen increased conversions on the site. We can now encourage people to not only sign up for our service but also purchase more. The new version allows customers to see what different products will look like in a living space, instead of having to imagine what something would look like based on pictures.

How did Survin IT perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the best. The team gets things done quickly, even though they’re nine-and-a-half-hours ahead of us. Survin IT is always available and we haven’t had any communication problems.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They stand out by their combination of speed and quality of work. Survin IT is able to understand requirements immediately and get things done fast. If we have any changes to make at the end of the project, they will address them. Nothing we’ve assigned them proved too big of a hurdle.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should make sure that their requirements are clearly defined and kept in order before starting a project. Survin IT works fast, so they’re likely to go down the wrong path if a certain topic is unclear. We don’t really have the time to see the project unfold; we basically just see the requirements and the finished product.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a freelancer and work with other companies in web development. I’m based in the U.K. but I do work internationally.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solutions?

They do work that is beyond my experience. I had to do an API that was more advanced than what I was experienced in. It was a reporting system where we were pulling through information from another website and populating the site we were working on. Survin had more experience in that field and the work was quicker and more stable by using their expertise.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The largest project we worked on was this API project. There was a lot of complexities because it’s a bugging system. We had to pull through two different reports and it was difficult because we had to figure out which report to run through first. We were getting the weeks and availability on two different reports. I asked Survin what was the best way to do it and they gave their recommendations which was really helpful. The reports kept changing and there were different errors, so it took a couple of weeks of work. They were very understanding and willing to help and test. I appreciated that they took over because they were a lot more technical about the reports than I was.

How did you come to work with Survin IT Solutions?

I found them on Upwork. I sent them a small project to see how they worked before I started introducing them to the more advanced things. They were very friendly and polite. They explained what the issue was and their code was very neat and had comments so I could see what they updated. I was very impressed with that. Their prices were a lot more reasonable than other companies. On Upwork, they had a few good reviews which was another one of my major concerns. I was concerned about their availability and previous comments they received. After the small project, I saw I could trust them and since then, it’s been great.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent between $5,000 and $6,000 with them for this project. I’ve spent about $10,000 with them in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2016, and the work is ongoing.

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

Once the project was launched, there were no issues. When I was looking at the code, I could understand it and it looked like something I would’ve done if I had the experience and the time to investigate and build it myself. We’ve had changes but that’s because the spec has changed. That wasn’t anything they did wrong. I was happy with the work. The client was happy and the requirements were met.

How did Survin IT Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicate with them on Upwork to keep everything in one place. They’re always there when I need them. The one project was urgent and there was an error, but they worked throughout the weekend to fix it. I appreciate all the work they’ve done. I trust them and would work with them again.

They make sure to let you know when they start the project and what their end date will be. If they had any questions, they let me know immediately. When they needed me to make a decision, they gave me options to choose from. This week, they were busy and couldn’t work on anything until they finished another project. I completely understood because I just sent them a message and didn’t book anytime. They gave me a timeframe and I was grateful for that. I knew when I could schedule my work and they normally finish work quickly if it’s a quick task.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re friendly and understand that I’m also busy. The one task I gave them, I had no time to do it. I sent them everything and asked them to make it work. They became the project manager and organized everything for me. I was grateful for that. I worked with another freelancer who I had to send everything, including screenshots, to in order to show them the error. I understand it’s better for them to have the exact details so they didn’t do anything wrong, but if you’re so busy, you need some give and take. Working with Survin, it’s been a lot less stressful. I know if I hand it over and they have questions, they will start working on things they can do and will wait for my approval. The other freelancer, I admired their work and understood their need for instructions, but it felt more time-consuming.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything; I’ve had a good experience and they haven’t let me down. They’ve put in extra hours to meet deadlines, which was my fault because the client changed the spec at the last second. They’ve worked weekends and are always available

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Group-A Engineering manufactures performance auto parts for vehicles. I’m the marketing director.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solutions?

We had a web developer working on our website, but it fell through, and they were unable to complete the tasks that needed to be done to get the website off the ground.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t have a functioning website before going to Survin IT Solutions. They had to do a completely new design from scratch. We laid out the design statically in-house through Photoshop mockups, and then they took the designs, turned them into code, and made them work as a website.

It was a little bit more complicated than just the site. The backend is one site, but four sites actually connect to it. That’s why I think the first developer bit off more than they could chew. We needed the functionality to handle both wholesale and retail. Being the manufacturer, we also needed to have the information base. It’s a WordPress-Magento hybrid, but it’s also one site acting internally and four sites externally.

I only dealt with one person from Survin. He would say, “I’ll give this over to the team,” but I don’t know how big the team was.

How did you come to work with Survin IT Solutions?

I found them on Upwork. There was a huge flux of people bidding on the job, and then I got it down to five. Based on the experience level listed and their previous projects, we decided to go with Survin. The decision was based more on their expertise; the price part was secondary. I gave them access and had them take a look. Having just been burned by somebody else, I already knew what I wanted to make sure that they could do. I also wanted to make sure they could access the old files that were brought over.

In conjunction with their reviews and the other sites they had done, they looked like a good fit. However, it wasn’t a straight-up contract right away. There was a test at first to see if they could do it. By the next day, they had the whole list addressed. Then, we moved on from there to finish the site and make it functional.

How much have you invested with them?

The projected budget for the contract is $40,000 – $50,000. We’re somewhere between $20,000 and $25,000 right now.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Survin in July or August 2016.

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

Survin IT Solutions is really fast and efficient. There is little need to reiterate anything. They take notes, pictures, and screenshots, and it’s done overnight. We have a 9.5-hour time difference. That is more convenient for me to layout stuff that needs to be done. When I come in the next morning, it’s done.

How did Survin IT Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been a million times easier working with Survin than with other developers. I don’t have to wait on calls getting returned because the feedback or questions are already there; with previous developers, it would take two to three days for a response, and then I’d get another question instead of the finished work. I’ve never had to wait more than 24 hours for any interaction. There is daily communication with them. We use Skype and email as the primary methods of communication. I’m really pleased with them. That is why we have continued working on additional projects after the web project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I don’t have a ton of experience with developers. I had the company that was initially working on the project and fell out, and then another company that I hired that couldn’t do it at all. I then came across Survin and they have knocked it out of the park. Comparing their work to the other developers, they are fantastic. I’m very pleased with the service they are providing. If that’s the industry standard or above it, that’s great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think I have anything to mention. Everything has been super smooth. We haven’t had any snags on their end. We have had snags on our end, such as management changing their minds on something, but they have been extremely quick to accommodate our requests. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I have a news aggregator website that's going to be coming online shortly called infodrunk.com. We'll be providing both sides of each political story that's making news that day. I'm an app developer.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solution?

I hired them to help me design and build the site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I had some basic materials, but they did assist me with improving the docs that I sent to them. They built the functional aspects, and they designed the user interface. I had one point of contact with them.

How did you come to work with Survin IT Solution?

I found them on Upwork. I was a little nervous at first. We spoke to a handful of people, but I felt comfortable after speaking with them. I was impressed with them because of how quickly they picked up on the vision of the product that we were looking to build. Price was not so much a factor as expertise. We wanted to get it right the first time. What I found this even though somebody might be a little bit cheaper, if the skill set isn't what it should be, it's going to end up being more expensive in the long run due to prolonged development, corrections, and so on. I've never used a service like that before, and I'll definitely be working with them again on some additional projects.

How much have you invested with them?

It definitely could have been more expensive if I had gone with other firms.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was a 4 – 5-week project that started in November 2016. It was complex, but I think they had a pretty good handle on it. Fortunately, we were able to do it in a quick amount of time.

How did Survin IT Solution perform from a project management standpoint?

What I enjoyed most about them is the back and forth we had. They're overseas, but it didn't matter what time of day I contacted them. They were always prompt to get back to me. If there was something that needed to be changed, those changes were made instantly. That day, I could expect an improvement on either the UX or UI. It was a good relationship because I didn't have to wait and the time zone didn't make a difference. We mainly used Skype to communicate.

What did you most impressive about them?

I've dealt with several agencies before, but this was the first time I had such a good experience with the collaborative aspect. They did such a good job of understanding what we wanted, and the communication between us was something that I have not experienced before. They were incredibly proficient when it came to any changes like I mentioned earlier, but we immediately had a good relationship. They were extremely professional and went above and beyond. I can be rather picky, and it didn't seem to test their patience. If it did, they didn't let me in on it, so I appreciated that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that I know of. I don't have any negative feedback for them. I had an overall very good experience that will lead to us working together in the future.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Sunstrike is a boutique inbound marketing and web design studio that provides fresh and exciting products, services, and digital experiences for its clients. We specialize in creating beautifully responsive designs. I am the communications director.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solutions?

We were working with a dollar store chain on a big project. The client wanted to replace their old manual way of ordering stock from their warehouse with a private web app in order to streamline operations, avoid waste, and improve productivity. We needed an uncomplicated system that employees could be trained quickly to use, and yet be powerful enough to include the robust functionalities we needed to ensure growth and sustainability.

However, we did not have enough internal resources and manpower to take on a project of this scope. Therefore, we decided to contract Survin IT Solutions to build us a custom inventory and warehouse management web application, and handle the development work and coding, while our team focused on managing the client and working on the UX and UI. Together, we were able to deliver the fully-fledged solution. 

What was the scope of their involvement? 

The team at Survin provided us with very useful and practical design and development for the web application, as well as coming up with the right solutions that addressed the problems that we faced.

Their primary task was development work and coding. They helped to plan and design an intuitive web application integrated with a CMS [content management system] that could handle product uploading, as well as the other custom features we required.

We went through three iterations of the web app before settling on a final build, which the client was very satisfied with. 

How did you come to work with Survin IT Solutions?

We found them on Upwork, previously known as Elance.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested $55,000.

What is the status of this engagement? 

The project has already been completed with everything that we asked for and delivered with minimal setbacks.

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

Compared to the previous way of manually dealing with inventory and placing orders from the warehouse manually, our client’s order taking process was streamlined, saving them a lot of time. We measured that after the staff was properly trained, and they took 76% less time to achieve daily objectives after the implementation of the custom web application.

Feedback from the employees of the company was satisfactory because the web application gave them more time to be more productive and saved the company money. They also pointed out that the system was well designed and simple for them to quickly get the hang of it without much trouble.

How did Survin IT Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, the team at Survin performed well to our expectations. They were very dedicated and meticulous in every stage of the process and kept to the stated project requirements and timelines. They replied promptly whenever we had a query, and were quick and timely when it came to project status updates.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What sets them apart from others is their excellent and professional communication, as well as their exceptional quality of work when it came to coding.

They were very prompt and responsive in their communication with us through Skype and email, always giving us the assurance and trust that they will be able to deliver what we asked for. Working with a company that is not there physically with our team presents many challenges, but with Survin there were no problems at all.

Compared to other outsourced providers we have engaged, they were by far the most professional, and could always be easily reached. They also delivered daily updates on the project status. Having that assurance and trust for a project of this scope meant a lot to us, especially having dealt with many unreliable providers in the past. 

Additionally, their coding work was excellent; there were very few bugs and issues with the work, even for the first build.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

They handled the project professionally. We had no difficulty working with them, so we feel that there is nothing that we would do differently in hindsight.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of M3 Media, a development company specializing in websites and graphic design.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solutions?

We use Upwork in order to outsource larger projects. Survin has been one of our partners through that service, which was formerly Elance.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Survin is in charge of every part of my projects. I have a single point of contact to whom I assign requirements.

A recent project was for a watch manufacturer, where I had to design a watch customization portal. Survin was able to implement the design and, after it was approved by the customer, they built everything. The next phase of the project will be to implement the portal into a new website.

What is the team dynamic?

Typically, there will be around three developers assigned to my project. I interact with them through the project manager. I've never had an issue with one of their resources. I can't use them for every project because they aren't the cheapest possible option, but when I need to get the work done correctly, I definitely go to them.

How did you come to work with them?

I found them through Elance originally.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of Survin's services has been more than $2,000 and less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have an ongoing relationship.

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

Survin delivers work with a quick turnaround. I need to make a change on a client's website, eliminating a material that wasn't used anymore. They fixed my problem in 30 minutes without charging me.

How did Survin IT Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I've been doing this type of work for some time while also keeping a full-time job. It's difficult to manage a contractor who has bad communication or procrastinates. I can tell Survin what I need to get done and, when I wake up in the morning, receive it in my email. It has definitely been a positive experience. We collaborate through email and Google Docs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Survin isn't the cheapest option, but they ensure the delivery of quality work. The work is always done correctly the first time, and they try to maintain reasonable costs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only area for improvement would be maintaining availability through U.S. hours of operation. It hasn't been a huge issue because the tasks that I send them aren't urgent.

I work for a tech company that has vast client experience and technical expertise in custom software development, consulting and product development services. We work successfully across industries like media, finance, travel, automobiles, and entertainment. Our corporate headquarters are based in Singapore and we have separate facilities operating in both China and India, too.

I'm the project manager. It's my job to ensure the successful delivery of our client projects, which entails tracking progress, reporting, making strategic and tactical recommendations, and keeping an open and clear line of communication with our different providers, including Survin IT Solutions.

There were several challenges with the system we had in place beforehand. One major issue with that it generated inconsistent reports, which made decision-making extremely difficult. We also had another project that involved mobile development work, which we needed some support with. 

We didn't have the resources to do all of this by ourselves, so we decided to outsource the work. That's when we went searching for providers.

We needed them to include some new features in the mobile app for both Android and iOS devices. Both versions of the app were developed in parallel. We even managed to sync the mobile app to our Drupal website for some for increased functionality. We found them using Elance. They were one of a handful of companies that submitted a proposal to us and, after considering them and interviewing them, we decided on Survin.

The whole project took about 2 weeks to complete and their response time was fantastic. On a few occasions they even went above and beyond and gave us more resources when things got tight, which we appreciated.

Both iOS and Android versions have been successfully developed. At this point, we have had multiple clients interact with them and the feedback has been mostly positive. Only a few minor issues were discovered but none of them were critical, which was great. Overall, I would say the quality and consistency of work was great. 

There was no scope-creep and they hit their deadlines just like they promised.

The biggest differentiator for us was how analytical they were with their approach. We were not sure what to expect at first but once we began to discuss our requirements and the product objectives, they were able to come up with a lot of great suggestions.

I'm the president and lead strategist for a performance oriented digital marketing firm. We're a hybrid digital/direct response agency focusing on helping clients use online marketing to:

• Improve their lead flow and CPL
• Optimize conversions (CAC)
• And greatly improve revenues and profits from existing clients (LTV)

We develop full marketing funnels using proven systems for driving profitable client acquisition online.

We engaged Survin IT Solutions to help us develop a new type of landing page that was highly functional (vs. informational).  We needed a greater degree of client and server-side technology on this page than what we normally use.

This page's main focus was to get customers to submit an application to receive quotes on home insurance. The primary benefit was consumers could compare many national insurance providers without getting bombarded with dozens of phone calls from pushy insurance providers.

We asked them to help us develop functionality to also capture only partially completed requests. Our aim was to allow the insurance provider to follow up with email (and a phone call) to customers who abandoned the form.

The form had many conditional questions and required quite a bit of programming and database work to achieve the functionality we were looking for.

We found Survin IT Solutions on Cluch.co and were convinced they had the right mix of technical skills, understanding of what we were looking for, and attention to client service.

The project had an aggressive deployment timeline and we worked closely with them during the development cycle, slowly but surely refining the product and approach. It was very structured. 

In every way, they managed to exceed our expectations. 

The work was done efficiently, it was correct, communications were effortless and attentive and the entire project ran smoothly without a single setback or hiccup. We found it very impressive, especially given that they are an outsourced solution provider.

Without a doubt, we will work with Survin IT Solutions on future projects and enthusiastically recommend their services to others. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of the company. We help corporations adapt their business model to new digital channels. We offer digital strategy consulting, suggesting improvements, changes, and new developments. We also work with digital resources from websites to digital marketing in media tunnels, development of mobile and smart TV apps, and so on.

What challenge were you trying to address with Survin IT Solutions?

We've had an increase in project development work volume, which required us to use the help external companies. We just didn't have the resources we needed to complete the work we were being awarded. We wanted to find a partner that could provide additional resources at a fair price while still balancing the talent level of their developers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We work with them mostly on mobile and web app development. They use Java for Android and iOS projects, and PHP and HTML5 for web development. One particular project was developed in Ruby.

The size of the team they assign to us varies depending on the project. We worked on a large project a month ago, for which at least five people were brought on board. On smaller projects, we may use one developer or possibly two.

How did you come to work with Survin IT Solutions?

The selection was a trial-and-error process that ultimately led us to Survin. They seemed to be the most capable when taking into consideration the price estimates. 

I researched several companies online. My strategy was to assign a small yet complex task to different companies that were under consideration. Survin came in the first place through this process. In fact, they were above the average to a significant extent in terms of quality, support, and availability. They were available for 48 hours end-to-end until we finished the task. The quality of their code was also exceptional.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Currently, we're working on two projects and will be starting another one tomorrow [January 2016], for iOS and Android.

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

My customers, especially one particularly demanding company, have noticed a 50 percent improvement in delivery times and overall lack of bugs since we've been working with Survin. I'm able to do twice the work in half the time, with 90% fewer bugs.

How did Survin IT Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the things that impressed me about them was that they always deliver early. If we set a milestone for seven days, on the third day, you will already have the task. They try to push themselves, which is something I haven't found in other providers. We use JIRA and Basecamp for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have been in this business for almost 20 years. This is the first time that I have found a remote team that cares more than me about the project on which we're working. They will call me regarding things I was not thinking about, improvements that they think we can apply, and so on. I first thought it would last for maybe one week or until I paid them, but I was wrong. These guys bring a lot of additional value to their clients. 

They have even been very flexible with payments, too. There was an issue with a customer that stopped payments in the middle of a project. I spoke to them, and they allowed me to change the payment date. I've stopped working with other providers, and now send all my projects to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like to have something to complain about, but I don't.