Symphony Solutions

Please describe your company and your position there.

I currently work as the CTO for the Online division at Editec. The company is a successful lottery and sports betting operator, with a strong presence in more than 20 countries in Africa.

The company is globally recognised as a start-up specialist for gaming operations in emerging markets. The company is fast growing, has doubled in size over the last 3 years. The business has an active online customer base of 180k+ per month. The number of Sports bets exceeds 7 million per month

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

Our main goal was to find a team with good all-round experience in agile development but also had some knowledge of betting and gambling business domain.

The team would help us to rebuild our current web application with new UI/UX and using the latest technology stack which is the best fit for our requirements. The site has to be fully responsive mobile/desktop site with scalable frontend to be stable during peak times. Integration with third parties is required, which should be agnostic to be able to switch between different systems.

The complexity of this task is that our customers are from African countries, and they use low-end, specific to African market devices and often have slow Internet connection. In addition, CMS should be built to allow the management of the site, based on the ability, to support many countries and brands configuration and content.

How did you select Symphony Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

We undertook a thorough tender process which provided requirements and scope of work that was expected to be delivered by the partner. Symphony Solutions was selected based on the proposal presented, with the suggested technology stack, process, and team of experts.

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

Since the project started 3 months ago, the team has managed to deliver a number of deliverables to name a few:

• Create a project architecture
• Set up a process using Cloud services for CI/CD
• Good understanding of the third-party APIs even with all the difficulties and challenges that brings
• Planned MVP scope together with POs
• Creating a skeleton CMS
• The building of microservices and Frontend web application.

Given the challenges associated with mobile connections in Africa, one key area of focus in this project is the user's connection speed. The team has taken it into account when selecting the most appropriate technology stack for this project, which is React for main website and Angular for CMS.

Currently, team is working on MVP to be delivered at the end of H1. There are already plans for the post MVP phases, development/rebuilding of new functionality, expanding market to more countries, and adding localisation.

There is also a plan to develop a light-mobile version which will be supported by Opera Mini on low-end devices. Symphony Solutions is also involved in creating new design for the light mobile version and doing UI improvements on the full mobile version.

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

The specialists who are assigned to the project are a service delivery manager, an architect, a DevOps, a proxy PO, UX/UI designer, two teams, which consist of a Tech Lead, 2 FE Developers, 2 BE Developers, a QA Lead, 1 Manual QA and 1 Automation QA. The team is motivated, responsible and ready to go an extra mile when needed.

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

We started working together in October 2020 and are currently still in the process of building MVP launch.

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

We have daily stand-ups with teams, along with all the other agile ceremonies. We utilise Slack as the main method to communicate with the teams.

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

They are able to understand the requirements and have a proven record in building applications in this area.

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

It would be good to meet the team more often but due to the current restriction this has been limited.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the director of Spoedtestcorona.nl (VIRUSSPEEDCHECK B.V.), a testing center offering rapid screening tests for Covid-19 to individuals as well as companies in the Netherlands and Belgium.

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

During the Covid crisis, there is an urgent need for quick testing with immediate results, which at the moment is taking 48+ hours. We’ve noticed this need arising for testing facilities which are accessible, affordable, and allow people to get results in 15 minutes, not days.

This is not only for the comfort of an individual who wants to just get tested and go on with their life, but also allows eliminating the risk of asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers spreading further the virus, endangering people around them without even as much as suspecting it.

Our goal is to enable such quick testing in the Netherlands and Belgium. We needed to create visibility for this vital project and thus reached out to Symphony Solutions for their services.

A real challenge was to execute MVP plans within two and a half weeks. The goal for the project was to design and develop digital and non-digital parts of the solution which is to provide speed test service in the Netherlands and Belgium, including a website that would have the functionality for people to do all the “paperwork” online and only come to the testing facility for a quick nose swab in a drive-through.

How did you select Symphony Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

We were referred to Symphony Solutions by company’s Dutch client. Good price performance and capabillity of delivering in short deadlines were crucial for us.

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

The Symphony Solutions team worked in multiple directions, providing a comprehensive solution, both digital and non-digital parts, entailing service design, branding, web development, testing, DevOps and digital marketing. 

Symphony Solutions built a web application where people or companies are able to register for a test in their preferred location, pay online and receive an email with results in 15 minutes after the test is done. Besides that, companies can purchase multiple tests for their employees. Another part of the project is an Admin platform where all the management is done - locations, schedules, clients, doctors and the test results.

Next, we needed to bring visibility to the web application so that our potential clients could actually find it. Symphony Solutions marketing team within 4 days conducting market research developed an omnichannel digital marketing strategy, prepared a promo campaign, and content plan for further execution is on its way. In short,

Symphony Solutions provided a full list of services ranging from design, web architecture, development, testing, DevOps to digital marketing and production support.

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

We have a Scrum team of front-end developers (Angular, javascript), back end developers (Node.js), QA engineer, UI and UX designers, DevOps, product owner and service delivery manager.

Additional Scrum marketing team was involved part-time and included lead marketing strategist, marketing designer, motion graphic designer, SEO expert, SMM expert, PPC specialist and copywriter.

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

Making testing for Covid-19 fast, affordable, easily accessible and safe is my goal. Frankly, I wouldn’t have realised this idea without Symphony Solutions’ contribution and start on time. It’s a vital link between the people who want or need to get a test and our testing facility. And it’s our own contribution to addressing the global crisis.

project is not completed yet, we are to roll out new features ind coming period and increase load significantly

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

Very efficient agile project management, which allowed to launch the project in the shortest time possible with a constant refinement of requirements. The team really committed to it and delivered results instantaneously. We had a diverse team of specialists working on the project which required coordination and effective communication. If that’s not proof enough of excellent management, I don’t know what is.

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

Symphony Solutions took responsibility for practically full product cycle, designing and developing solution, which included:

• both service design of both digital and non-digital parts
• branding
• design and development of lead generating website
• back-end admin system
• full cycle of marketing and production support

All this delivered in record time which was crucial for the project. The team’s commitment to the cause and ability to maintain the high quality of the product despite the harsh deadlines is truly noteworthy.

I also find impressive probably how fast everything was executed, from the moment we had our kickoff meeting to the launch of MVP - they did a massive scope of work in just a little over two weeks. We saw everything happening before our eyes. That was quite inspiring, especially taking into account the important mission that we took upon ourselves when creating this project!

The project has just started, a lot of new features are planned to roll out and I hope Symphony team continues to deliver high-quality results

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

Nothing to mention, really.

Please describe your company and your position there.

WWG is an Italian software house with a strong focus on innovation, bringing value to our customers and eliminating every waste.

We strive to bring innovation in every department - organization, customer engagement, accounting. We also provide consultancy for IT start-ups. I’m the founder and CEO of WWG.

For what projects/services did your company hire Symphony Solutions?

In the beginning, we were looking for team augmentation services. Then we found out about their Design and Marketing departments, saw what amazing work they are putting out.

So, we’ve decided to go all out and give our company a boost with a new look and established presence on all marketing channels.

What were your goals for this project?

Our main goal was to level-up our brand reputation and position our brand on top of market retailing. Create a strong image that would communicate to our audience our mission.

Since we started with one project and then decided on a complete overhaul, a lot of our goals had to be defined in the process with a lot of initiative coming from the Symphony team. I had many ideas and the team embraced them and knew exactly what I wanted.

How did you select Symphony Solutions?

We needed an outsourcing company to partner up with and started looking for one on Clutch. After the initial screening, I personally travelled to meet up with each prospective partner in person.

I’ve met all sorts of people, big companies that gave me a warm welcome and offered me all these perks. However, they didn’t leave an impression. Finally, I met Sunny, the Business Unit Manager.

And something clicked. It was an immediate connection — we shared the same thinking, philosophy and values. Right then and there I knew that I want to work with this company, and my gut feeling was right!

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We did a complete rebranding for the company including logo, color scheme, brand book, company profile, branded items for internal use. We developed and launched a new website.

I myself am very stylish so it was important for me so that the new branding looks cool and refined. But, of course, that wasn’t all. Not only did we need to get the style right, but also the idea behind it. It had to send a message. It had to feel right.

This is where the team probably had some challenges as I’m very passionate about my business. I have a lot of ideas and a clear vision of what I want. Symphony Solutions team got it right every single time as if they were reading my mind. That’s what was so cool about working with them.

They did a great job with the website as well. It looks simple but at the same time, there’s a lot of complex functionality and flexibility. We can do pretty much anything with it and adjust the website to address different audiences.

Another important thing to note is that starting from the designing phase, everything was accounted for. The marketing team did a thorough research and looked over every step of the process.

The project was very well thought through. The team was aware of every tiny detail and how it could affect us long-term when it comes to marketing and sales.

What was the team composition?

We had a well put together team of top-quality specialists. Designers, marketing specialists, developers, QAs, as well as outside people providing feedback.

It was a great experience working with these cool and strong professionals, seeing them put in 100% effort. I enjoyed working with them and will do it again.

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

We’ve already had some feedback from customers and partners about the new branding.

The new face of our company is professional and gives a strong sense of skill and competency. Our brand positioning is higher and we’ve firmly established our presence across channels.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Only positive feedback here. Project management was efficient and quick to fix any issues.

The team did its best to deliver the best quality and value. Reporting was always clear and transparent. Great communication.

And even though we are a small company, they made us feel big and very important.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Communication. Strong culture. Honesty. Transparency. Work ethics.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Improve communication with the financial department. We’ve run into a bit of an issue with invoices not having the complete information that’s required by regulations in my country.

We had to go back and forth with the financial department before they got it right.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CRMWaypoint is a Salesforce boutique partner in the Netherlands region since 2007 and early adopter of Salesforce Cloud solutions. CRMWaypoint delivers Salesforce consulting and development, including Architecture and integration and became the first and largest local Salesforce partner. CRMWaypoint was acquired by Accenture in 2016 where the Salesforce partnership continued.

For what projects/services did your company hire Symphony Solutions?

Given the growing strong demand for technical Salesforce expertise (i.e. Architecture, Integration, Development, DevOps) CRMWaypoint closed a partnership with Symphony Solutions in 2010.

Salesforce development was delivered at medium-sized and large enterprise clients in many industries like Manufacturing, Consumer Goods, Finance, Insurance, Automotive, etc. Symphony Solutions was able to scale fast and established a dedicated Salesforce team including seasoned Java architects who made the transition to Salesforce Architecture.

What were your goals for this project?

Main goal of our company was to become market leader in experienced Salesforce Development to help clients and Salesforce with their growth. Quality, Quality, Quality was another goal, especially in the fast growing Salesforce consulting community where quality was not always a first priority.

How did you select this vendor?

We knew Symphony Solutions from non-Salesforce development expertise and we trusted them for their expertise, quality an honest behaviour towards our company and our clients. We liked the 'make it happen' approach.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

CRMWaypoint delivered over 700 Salesforce projects in the period 2008 - 2019. Many if not all are related to bespoke Salesforce Development, Architecture designs and integration with 3rd-party systems (ERP, HRMS, Mainframe, etc.).

With partly remote from one of the Symphony Solutions Delivery centers and partly onsite these projects were run and managed. From start to finish. Specific Salesforce agile DevOps approach was introduced. As well as end-to-end testing and quality checks during all development.

What was the team composition?

Depending on what type of client, industry, complexity of the project, duration, location and type of Salesforce solution (Sales-, Service-, Marketing) the composition varied. But always with a mix of on-shore and near-shore (as we called it) team. Including Project Manager, Architect and Developers and/or Integration specialists.

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

Thanks to the partnership with Symphony Solutions our company CRMWaypoint was able to deliver successfully very complex Salesforce development projects at many clients in many industries. This helped CRMWaypoint to become the first and largest Salesforce partner in this region.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The projects were always managed from the Netherlands, but always in liaison with Symphony Solutions delivery centers abroad. Daily agile stand-up meetings, Project manager onsite and daily reporting were part of the management of projects. Given that no project was run out of budget and time this approach was very effective!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were quick to build up technical Salesforce development expertise. To recruit the right candidates, train them and get Salesforce certifications in place.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Very little to improve. Salesforce solutions and architecture grew fast and for any company with Salesforce expertise it might be a challenge to keep up with that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of Graphyte AI, a real-time personalization and recommendation engine. Our SaaS platform is primarily targeted at the betting and gaming industry

What challenge were you trying to address with Symphony Solutions?

We had a bare-bones MVP solution that we were going out to market with and we were looking to turn that into a full commercial software product that could underpin the business, taking it from idea to reality.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Symphony Solutions developed all facets of our software platform. We run continuous development processes on our products and their team provides end to end services, from software development and testing.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of six or seven at Symphony Solutions, headed up by a service delivery manager who is our main point of contact. We also have regular catch up sessions with the CEO and the country manager.

How did you come to work with Symphony Solutions?

I inherited Symphony Solutions as a development partner in a previous role and was really impressed with their work. As soon as we had a need, I got in touch with the owner of Symphony Solutions.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested roughly £300,000 (approximately $391,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Symphony Solutions began in November 2018.

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

The work they produce has been integral in winning business and expanding out to multiple brands in the marketplace. Thanks to their work, we have been creating new product verticals. Symphony Solutions has been crucial in developing existing client relationships.

How did Symphony Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Symphony Solutions is incredibly transparent. We have regular video conferencing standups in the morning and communicated extensively through Slack. Additionally, we have monthly governance meetings. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Symphony Solutions does great work, but they also have a fantastic company culture. They’ve instilled an exceptional corporate culture across multiple offices. They all have the same values, goals, and ideals. Working with a company with that kind of strong ethos is inspiring. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, they do a great job but should continue to improve their cross-customer consistency and knowledge sharing so that we can benefit from their knowledge and experience in other engagements.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Really put your arms around them and treat them as part of your team and your company. Don’t see them as separate, you get as much out of the relationship as you put in.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and director of TEZEMO Limited, which is a monitoring and communications system for channel distribution. It contains Service for End-To-End Communications & Management System for Stakeholders in TV Channel Distribution.

For what projects/services did your company hire Symphony Solutions?

My company hired Symphony Solutions for developing a fully responsive online web site that contains a large scope of information, rich features and modern plain design.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to create an intuitive design and ease the business processes across the platform. It was essential to design a responsive layout that would remain easy to operate for both mobile and desktop users. Another challenge was to successfully monitor communications in the system for television channel distribution.

How did you select this vendor?

I selected them after getting recommendations and carrying out reviews of other companies based in the UK and India.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The idea behind the project was to create an online web service where television networks can monitor their TV channel distribution via the Tezemo management system specially build for our stakeholders. The basic concept was innovative, as it required considerable effort to create the basic logic in the backend. Symphony Solutions marketing team conducted initial market research which made significant updates to the overall idea. Along with this we have constant support from the Product Designer team here in Symphony Solutions.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of a service delivery manager, UX/UI designer, digital marketing specialist, full-stack developers and a QA engineer. They were very effective and synchronised very well as a team, since they've gathered and understood all our requirements very well - for what needed to be done On top of that they carried out good market research, updated our concept, creating a modern and intuitive design and built the website within the agreed timeline for delivery.

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

The website meets all the requirements that I initially planned to build, which is very important for this type of business. Even though it was built in Angular JS and Java in backend, which at that time was quite challenging SEO-wise, nevertheless Symphony Solutions managed to index it properly in order to become ranked on the search engines.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was excellent as they well understood my idea, took some time to analyse it and provide me with their proposal and solution on how to offer the best possible value for my potential users.

They've communicated effectively throughout the project and kept me informed on the progress, which the potential impediments are and what are they proposed to do in order to overcome them.

They've managed to meet the required delivery deadline. In general, the communication is the key for any project or service delivery management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about Symphony Solutions, is that while working with this company I have the impression that they consider this project as their own.

This has been like a partnership and that they're working not just to respond to my requirements, but to build a successful product that will solve the users' needs. I also liked the team composition, structure and their professional communication while we were making all the features.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I'm very satisfied with the proficiency level that Symphony Solutions performed and can't think of anything notable where they could improve. Very satisfied customer!

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and director of FlowerCompanies, a global online search engine for the floriculture industry. It contains structured and organized information about 100.000 floricultural companies, such as growers, importers, exporters, logistics, packaging and other industry-related services.

For what projects/services did your company hire Symphony Solutions?

My company hired Symphony Solutions for product design and custom software development of a fully responsive online floricultural directory that contains a massive scope of information, features and modern plain design. To bring up visibility of the platform in Google Symphony Solutions provided wide range of digital marketing services. Symphony has been maintaining and upgrading the product upon demand.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to create a product that will fully serve the needs of the users delivering great experience design across the platforms Another challenge that was successfully resolved was the admin panel which needed to be simple, intuitive, but without information loss for the end-user. The admin panel was divided into main tabs in order to deal easily with a massive scope of information. The tab amount depends on user payment plans.

How did you select this vendor?

Another company recommended Symphony Solutions, after some contact moments we decided to continue. We have a some great experiences with Symphony Solutions and are very satisfied with their serivces and knowledge.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The idea behind the project was to create an online yellow pages for the floricultural industry. The basic concept was simple but troubleshooting, as it required considerable effort to find contacts of companies from new floricultural markets out of their limited digital presence. Symphony Solutions' marketing team conducted initial market research which made significant updates to the overall idea. From then on, started the story of FlowerCompanies as a global floricultural online directory.

The website offers the companies the possibility to put information for their businesses, add their own websites and complete their company's profile. It also provides a possibility for the companies to add advertisements, to make recommendations and rankings, and to increase their visibility by paying for premium membership.

What was the team composition?

The team was consisted of a service delivery manager, graphic and experience designers, digital marketing specialists, 2 full-stack developers and a QA engineer.

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

The product fully meets search engine requirements, which make it easily reached by the target audience, which is very important for this type of business. Even though it was built in Angular JS, which at that time was quite challenging SEO-wise, nevertheless Symphony Solutions managed to index it properly in order to become ranked on the search engines.

They were very effective and synchronized as a team, since they've gathered and understood well our requirements for what needed to be done, they've made a market research and updated our concept, created a modern and intuitive design and built the website in the agreed deadline for delivery.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was excellent, as they well understood my idea, took their time to analyze it and provide me with their proposal on how to offer the best possible solutions for my potential users. They've communicated effectively and let me being in the know on how they're progressing, which the potential impediments are and what are they going to do in order to overcome them. They've managed to meet the required delivery deadline.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The most impressive thing about Symphony Solutions, is that while working with this company I've got the impression that they consider this project as their own, and that they're working not just to respond to my requirements, but to build a successful product that will solve the users' needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

As a director and a company owner, I'm very satisfied with the proficiency level that Symphony Solutions performed.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Blexr, a performance marketing company that provides online lead generation services to forex companies and iGaming operators.

For what projects/services did your company hire Symphony Solutions?

We hired Symphony Solutions to coach and mentor our cross-functional teams, senior management, and all business units in what it means to adopt a lean-agile mindset.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to support the growth of the business by moving from a traditional waterfall development process to a lean-agile mindset. Last year, our company grew from 25 to 100 people, so we wanted to remove the silos in the organization. We wanted to create an open culture that supports honest analysis and a learning environment.

How did you select this vendor?

I selected Symphony Solutions based on my previous working experience with them. Malta’s talent pool is limited, and finding staff is a constant challenge.

Describe the project in detail.

Symphony Solutions first assessed our current setup. Afterward, they conducted a product increment planning session for implementing the agile process. They supported our teams during sprints, guided us through retrospectives, and covered gaps in engineering talent.

What was the team composition?

Initially, we worked with a certified SAFe® trainer who coached and mentored our internal agile coaches. We added frontend and full-stack developers as well as QAs.

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

Our agile transformation is well underway, although it is a constant journey with continual improvement and tweaks. We release more often, so we have far fewer “big bang” releases. Not only have we removed all silos, but we’ve also seen improvements in organizational learning and morale. Plus, our time to market has certainly improved a great deal.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was excellent.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed with their transparency. Their desire to go the extra mile is a rare quality in third-party relationships. It’s superb that Symphony Solutions’ team and our staff subscribe to the same view.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Virtualstock is a digital supply chain and marketplace platform. We work in the retail and the healthcare sector, primarily in the U.K. but we currently have some clients in Europe. We help them join up their supply chains so that they can operate more efficiently and have a wider range of products available. I’m the chairman and CEO.

What challenge were you trying to address with Symphony Solutions?

We were looking into options for resource augmentation for our development team. Our platform is written in Python and those skills are quite difficult to find in the U.K. We wanted to find a new pool of talent that could supplement our development team.

Our product, the Edge, is an Agile data connector. It’s a data translation platform for suppliers: they load products and inventory into our system and it’s translated into a format that retailer’s systems require, in real time. The platform is built in Python, Bootstrap, Django, and the base platform is PostgreSQL.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They support our journey through the implementation of Agile methodologies. They’re skilled in Agile and have worked with a number of companies to help them implement Agile approaches and integrate an end-to-end Agile methodology. They’ve been insightful and of value to us in helping us structure and execute that project. Without them, we wouldn’t have made near the progress we have with Agile.

We split into 4 scrum teams that work on different areas of the Edge product. They have people working in each and every scrum, so they’re an integral part of our core development team now. They cover development, testing, and service desk. They are the majority of our QA [quality assurance] testing resource and do almost all of our QA testing, about a third of our development resource, and all level one support on the service desk.

What is the team dynamic? 

We started with one developer and a couple of testing people. Now, there are 25 people from Symphony working on our projects. The total development team is about 50, so they are about half our team. They’ve become part of our team. We have a project manager and he’s the person that we go to for any resourcing requirements and coordination requirements.

How did you come to work with Symphony Solutions?

They were working with another colleague and friend of mine who recommended them to me. The principal is also a long-time colleague and friend that I trust.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $200,000 and $1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in September 2015 and have an ongoing engagement.

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

The biggest measure is that we’ve carried on expanding the team. Our head of development thinks they are delivering high-quality people who integrate well into our team and become productive very quickly.

How did Symphony Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re first class. I would never grow from 2 people to 25 people if they hadn’t been delivering great service, high-quality, and great value. We work remotely. Most of the team lives in Macedonia or Ukraine, but logically they are very integrated within our development team. We have Symphony represented in each and every one of our development teams.

We haven’t any issues with communication. They’re used to working in an environment where their team is remote from the customers that they work with. They all collaborate very well. They’re all using the same common tool sets. We have daily calls and they use Slack channels. In some ways, the project has helped us develop a model of working which is less dependent on a physical presence and is more productive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their resource around customer care and customer satisfaction is the best. They would do almost anything to ensure that they deliver high-quality output that more than satisfies and more than meets our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve been happy with them and everything they’ve done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to Symphony when you start working with them because they’re very experienced in working both in an Agile development environment and a highly distributed environment. It’s easy sometimes to dismiss external advice when it could be helpful in making sure that the new working methods and approaches are as productive as they can be. They have a lot of experience in making these sorts of projects really successful.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of sportsbook architecture at a U.K. and Ireland based sportsbook gambling company. We deal with horse racing, football, betting, online casino games, etc., and have about 3,000 retail shops in the U.K. and Ireland. We’re a FTSE 250 company in the U.K., so we’re also in the stock market.

What challenge were you trying to address with Symphony?

We were mainly a vendor-driven organization, but we weren’t getting the service we required in terms of support and product requirements from some of those vendors. The overall architecture was unstable, so we we wanted to own the IP and drive our own future. We looked at doing it onshore with our business, but at the time, we didn’t have the wider in-house skills. We decided to look offshore.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We range from doing software development, QA automation, and backend development. We’re doing a lot of native web developments with Java, and there are a lot of integrations with providers as well. We cover the whole stack and lifestyle.

They do frontend web development, mainly single-page applications. They build native applications for iOS and Android, and the platform allows user registration, login, account history, and placing bets. There are a lot of microservices around KYC [know your customer], and they’ve also developed a lot of microservices data aggregation.

We built a single page application for our website. From there, we built a CMS system using NodeJS, Java, and Mongo, which defines the specifications of the app on the fly. We’ve been working with them on the CMS for our apps and how we can roll that out to the wider business. We’ve been advising on this as they expand their business into customer managements and account managements.

They’re integrating with a number of sports feed providers for live video streaming. They’ve also integrated with Playtech and OpenBet, and have interacted with a lot of other development companies within our company’s project sphere as well.

They also do a lot regarding WebSocket technologies. We’re on the Amazon cloud, so it’s an AWS [Amazon Web Services] based solution. They do a lot of performance testing for us, as well as job site performance. Since we work in a regulated industry, they also do a lot around compliances with us to ensure and validate that the software agrees with industry standards.

What is the team dynamic?

We participate in their recruitment process and initial screenings of candidates, so there’s full transparency. It’s a very collaborative rather than a client-supplier approach.

We have 11 Agile development teams totaling 85–90 people with Symphony who are responsible for building features. They’re all very self-sufficient. Each team is comprised of a scrum master, QA, automated QA, front and backend full-stack engineers, dev ops, native engineers, and automation engineers. We also have about 20 people total involved with QA.

In the last 2 ½–3 years, we’ve built our whole product engineering team with Symphony, so we are a large part of their customer base. They’re actively part of our Scrum or standups. Our product engineers and engineers work closely together on the product. I don’t just hand them requirements and expect them to deliver. We work with them on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour basis. They’re a very integral part of what we do.

How did you come to work with Symphony?

We looked at development companies in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Poland. We did a review based upon our ability to recruit the relevant resources and scale to the level we wanted to be at. Within a year, we wanted to have 80–90 resources working within the organization, as well as a close collaborative process between engineering and product. Many companies we went to see were only going to write code, but we needed a team that would be an active part of what we deliver, have ownership, and have a buy-in to our product.

One of my colleagues had previously worked with Symphony for 3–4 years. I met Symphony in 2014 when I was head of software development and architecture prior to our merge. We liked how they approached the business and their ability to actually influence the way the processes were driven. We liked their attitude, recruitment policy, and availability of resources. Their rates were comparable with the rest of eastern Europe, but when it came down to their recruitment process, their quality of engineers compared to other companies was much more attractive.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2015, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

One year after we started working with Symphony, we had to be off our existing platform. They delivered an entire sportsbook app with 35 people at that point. We were able to save the company, and also saved a lot of money in engineering costs and revenue share. In our first year, we reduced our yearly costs by working with them. Our Twitter reviews are far superior than what we had 2 ½ years ago with our previous product.

Their quality of work is excellent. We have better engagement within our business because of the quality of product they’re delivering. They have a good understanding of our business and requirements, and their engineers also have excellent communication skills.

How did Symphony perform from a project management standpoint?

We drove our Agile approach within the Symphony arena. We also introduced SAFe [Scaled Agile Framework], and with their help, we’ve taken that into our teams which allows them to conduct training. It’s nice to see them take what we’ve brought into them and extend is as part of their business proposition.

They’ve come to London for planning sessions, and my product colleagues and I spend a large part of our time in Ukraine with the team as well.

They’re very responsive and have excellent communication skills. We get a turnaround time of 20 minutes regarding support. They’re meeting their SLAs [service level agreements] 97% of the time. Their engineers work in U.K. time and are always available to us, even outside of work hours. They run our 24/7 support desk, so we operate 365 days per year with them. We have real-time monitoring via New Relic, which they implemented.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re highly competent. They have passion around engineering and their management team. They’ve delivered work for us under extremely difficult circumstances. To actually build a sportsbook within a year, when they knew nothing about it, was phenomenal. Anyone in the industry would say that’s impossible to achieve with an outsourced company.

The quality of work and passion of the owners, senior management team, and engineers for delivering a quality product is impressive. I’ve worked with a lot of engineering teams, and even built one in-house, but Symphony consists of some really amazing people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could strengthen their management team, but there are only a couple minor-level points. Their ability to support our business after hours and on weekends during busy times is phenomenal. If they replicate that with their other clients’ projects, they would see it as very beneficial and successful.