Syndicode

Please describe your company and your position there.

Bookyabike is a booking platform for rental bikes. Customers can book bicycles from different bike rentals. Rental stores can manage their bookings from the platform.

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

Syndicode designed and developed our WordPress and Ruby on Rails website from scratch.

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

We evaluated different software outsourcing companies. Syndicode convinced us with their professional estimate and pre contract engagement in our project.

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

We started from scratch with Syndicode, they programmed a WordPress based website for our blog as well as a Ruby on Rails based website for the bike rental search and booking process.

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

They assigned 2-5 people to our project. The team size varied with the amount of work to be done. The team included a project manager, designers, frontend and backend developers.

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

Since the launch of our website, traffic has been increasing steadily. Our customer love the design and the UX is excellent.

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

Until the release of the Ruby on Rails based homepage, we had full availability of the team which included backend developers, frontend developers, a designer, a WordPress developer and a project manager. Our project manager did a great job, we could contact him at any time with our concerns, received a prompt response and the tasks were completed quickly. Even after the launch our project manager continued to provide us with full support. The work of the entire team was meticulously recorded in Jira by our project manager, so that we could fully understand when and what had been done.

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

Syndicode's most meaningful performance is reflected in their reliability and willingness to do the job perfectly. The constant availability of the project manager is particularly outstanding. The competence of the backend developer assigned to us was remarkable, on the one hand great technical knowledge and on the other hand a high degree of common sense, which was helpful in relation to the complexity of the project.

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

In terms of personal contact, reliability and availability, we can only report good feedback. When we started working with Syndicode, QA was not a fixed part of the service offered, which caused some avoidable issues and extra time. Syndicode learned from this and changed it, so that future projects will only be offered with the addition of a QA engineer. We are very satisfied with Syndicode's performance and can recommend the cooperation.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a travel platform that connects travelers with unique hosts.

What challenge were you trying to address with Syndicode?

We were trying to connect unique properties that weren’t traditional campgrounds with travelers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We assigned Syndicode to develop a web app that connects members and hosts, and we gave them documentation and wireframes ahead of time. After that, the team expanded the wireframes and developed the UI. 

The platform enables members to book stays and allows the internal team to manage membership transactions. The web app also has a communications system. The first phase of the project has been completed and we’re set to launch the platform. After the launch, we plan to create additional phases to enhance the web app.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with six people such as the project manager and designer. Several people are working on the front- and backend, too.

How did you come to work with Syndicode?

We searched for possible companies that could help us. Syndicode wasn’t necessarily the cheapest, but we felt they were going to deliver quality work. Above all, it was important for us that the source code would remain ours as opposed to just being licensed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2021, and we continue to collaborate.

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

Our project manager has a good grasp of the project management process we need, helping us fulfill our goals at different stages of the project. She’s been instrumental in enabling us to navigate through the project with success.

How did Syndicode perform from a project management standpoint?

We have biweekly meetings where we discuss the project’s milestones, and we communicate using Google Meet. We appreciate that the meetings allow us to assess and request modifications from the team, and we like that they deliver against the project timeline effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They put in the effort to dive deep into our requirements and what we’re trying to achieve. Above all, despite the many moving parts of the project, they do a great job executing what we want.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about what you want to achieve and how you’re going to do things because everything will be smoother and easier that way, allowing Syndicode to do what you need.

Introduce your business and what you do there?

I’m the president and co-founder of Le New Black. We’re a wholesale platform for fashion brands and retailers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Syndicode?

We needed to stabilize one of our main mobile apps.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Syndicode has collaborated with our internal designers and developers to stabilize our mobile application. We were on the 10th or 11th version of the app, and our designers provided Figma screens and instructions to the team.

It’s a legacy app for brand sales reps to use at fashion fairs, tradeshows, and so on. All of the features work offline, which was a main requirement.

What is the team composition?

We work solely with Alexander (Ruby Developer).

How did you come to work with Syndicode?

One of our shareholders referred them to us. We liked their experience with B2B e-commerce and legacy apps. Also, they seemed reliable.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent €60,000 (approximately $70,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around October 2018, and it’s ongoing.

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

Before this partnership, the app was unstable, and it crashed often. They’ve helped us stabilize the app, making it more robust and reliable. Also, the response times are much quicker. Their code is clear, self-expressing, reliable, and easy to maintain. We’re happy with Syndicode, and we plan to continue this long-term project.

How did Syndicode perform from a project management standpoint?

They communicate clearly, and it’s easy to talk with them. We use Jira and Slack for project management and communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The seniority and expertise of their developers are impressive. They’re good with complex apps, and they offer reasonable prices.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes they work so fast that minor details get overlooked.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give a detailed list of specifications and emphasize their importance in completing the project. You’re in good hands with this team.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Campsited.com is a consumer facing online search and booking platform camping holidays is 18 countries. As CTO of the company I am responsible for the architecture and delivery of our website.

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

Our website has traditionally been a monolithic Ruby-on-Rails web framework based application and over the past number of months we have been migrating key functions of the app to an api based architecture, making the web application a consumer of those apis. We have also been implementing regular new UX features and products as we strive to grow our online business. The challenge in this time period has been to seamlessly migrate to the new architecture, and at the same time support the new UX features and products implementation which ensuring we have no negative impacts for customer experience on our site.

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

We conducted a search for a partner and selected Syndicode based on their past experience with the technologies that we needed help with and the profile of their resources.

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

High level scope included the following: 

1. Changes to RubyOnRails app to support new features
2. Various production support items such as issue investigations and resolutions, and general systems health checking
3. DevOps changes to support creating and enhancement to automated jobs.
4. Data migration related activities

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

In general we had one dedicated developer, one part-time PM and support from senior architect and account manager if we needed it.

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

We measure the impact of all new features that are implemented on our site - for all new features we saw a positive uptick in conversion rates. In general our bookings grew year on year by just under 100%. Another key focus area for us is site uptime/downtime. In the migration period we say no downtime for the site.

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

We had a check in each morning with the PM to confirm priority items that are to be worked on each day. If required the PM convened conference calls for our team to explain/clarify requirements. Time was efficiently logged and sent to our internal team for sign off at the end of each month. In general the PM engagement was very good.

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

Syndicode's approach was very efficient and professional. The steps taken at project initiation to compile and clarify all requirements had been very effective.

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

In general the project would have benefited from dedicated QA engineer to lead and executed tests before deployment to production. There were a couple of instances where issues were not caught prior to production deployment.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Evrlearn works as a market network, powered by the principle of network effects and cumulative information. On the user side, learners experience a highly customizable recommendation algorithm providing specific search results based on their actual curricula and career goals. They can search, connect with peers and coaches, book courses and provide feedback about their learning experiences. Providers benefit from a publishing platform with management capabilities. They can manage enquiries and registrations, interact with curious learners, publish information on featured courses and get access to relevant market information. I am a Co-Founder and Head of Product.

For what projects/services did your company hire Syndicode?

Building a MDP = Minimal Desirable Platform to launch Evrlearn commercially. We were looking for a partner with a strong marketplace experience and the capabilities to develop a first version on time - Front- and Backend-wise.

What were your goals for this project?

Build a transactional marketplace for a rather complex product / lifelong learning courses.

How did you select this vendor?

We discovered Syndicode through a classical reasearch. We were impressed by there knowledge around the marketplace-business model. We talked to 3 other development agencies.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Syndicode developed the marketplace based on requirements and designs. User stories were written in an agile mode. Syndicode developed the Backend, Frontend and runs the Tech Project Management.

What was the team composition?

At the peak, about 6 people were involved. The average team size was around 4 people.

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

Evrlearn builds the base for a new setup of the lifelong learning-ecosystem and an accelerated (and needed) lifelong learning on an individual level.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management was impressive The vendor managed and communicated issues in a proactive way. We work with Jira and Slack. Daily calls build the base for the communication and for build trust with the team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a very open and transparent way of working. High level of trust.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is very little what they could improve. One thing might be to work more on an advisory level about Tech and related decision. And then communicate these baselines more clearly to the partner.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Kinderlime. We provide preschools with a complete childcare management solution.

What challenge were you trying to address with Syndicode?

We needed some custom web development done.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided the requirements for the backend, and their engineers came up with the solutions using Ruby on Rails. They were responsible for the code base, and QA. They also took it into the production environment. They also did work on our WordPress website, built on PHP.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people on the project.

How did you come to work with Syndicode?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $150,000 - $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2017 – March 2020.

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

They accelerated our backend release cycles and made the platform fundamentally better. They provided high-quality work.

How did Syndicode perform from a project management standpoint?

They did well regarding setting expectations and planning. They communicated clearly about when and how the delivery of specific tasks would come in. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are good partners who understand their clients and work well alongside them. They have a good spectrum of engineers available. We were able to lean on them for any engineering or development needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we were very happy with the engagement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clearly present requirements, product, and customer needs, and work closely with them. This allows them to better understand the project in its entirety and build the best possible code base, and product, for you.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a company that offer different home services to individuals. We have 2 marketplaces, with 2 different target groups. One focuses on young couples/families, and one for elderly. These services differ from cleaners to caretakers. For our cooperation with Syndicode, my position was Project Manager.

For what projects/services did your company hire Syndicode?

We wanted 2 custom-made marketplaces platforms, built from scratch.

What were your goals for this project?

With this project, the goal was to attract more users to our website, that would end as paying customers. Furthermore, we wanted a user-friendly platform, that would distinguish from competitors. Syndicode is the pary we chose for, and that helps us integrating all features we want and need in order to reach our goal.

How did you select this vendor?

Before choosing for Syndicode, we researched several companies that are experienced with building software /marketplaces. We had several interviews, with 4-5 companies , outside Syndicode. Syndicode was the company that we felt really understood what we wanted ,and had the capability to help us succeed and reach our goal, by being able to built a marketplace from scratch, with every feature we can think of. They also came accross as trustworthy during the interviews.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We offered the team in the beginning of the cooperation a document with our goals we want to reach with the platform and our wishes and needs. The team built the marketplaces from scratch. From the UI/UX design to a working platform.

We had many technical requirements, such as automated invoices and reminders, automated bookings, filters, possibility to choose different services and many more. The team of Syndicode was responsible for all the tecnical features of the platform. Furthermore, the team took care of designing the Jira environment in such way that all tasks were clear for everyone.

What was the team composition?

There have been many developers involved on this project from Syndcode. I believe we have had 2 UI/UX designers, 3 Seniors backend developers, 1 Frontent Senior developer and several junior developers. We also had a QA manager and a Business analist. At the moment we work with 2 BE Seniorrs, 1 junior BE, and 1 FE Senior.

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

The project is not live yet, so the impact cannot be measured yet. However, we do not hesitate it will have an impact on the time-consuming activities we work with at the moment - these activities are now more automated, which leads to more time on our hands at the office, for more important issues.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Slack, Jira and Google Hangouts for communicating with the team from Syndicode. These methods were very useful, as we could share all documents needed, make different teams within the team and also divide the project in tasks and milestones.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The number of employees capable of building any feature from scratch was very impressive to us. Furthermore, the involvement of the CEO was also very appreciated.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We believe the price and time estimation could have been more thoroughly thought of.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We promote holiday rentals of villas, apartments, yachts, cars, and other travel services, based on the island of Lefkada in Greece.

For what projects/services did your company hire Syndicode?

We needed API development services for our website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to have an easy and reliable interface for our new potential customers.

How did you select this vendor?

We did a lot of research online and saw that they had good reviews from many clients. Our initial communication was clear and precise.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They developed a RESTful API interface for our web portal, using the Ruby programming language.

What was the team composition?

There was a project manager and two developers.

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

The new API interface gave us direct access to many more customers and businesses.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

It was very successful and effective; on time and on budget.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by their good communication and managerial skills. They did a quality job.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.

Please describe your company and your position there.

BlueApple Design is a graphic design team based in Silicon Valley. We provide services comparable to an in-house design team for growing tech companies. Our services include branding and identity, web, and marketing material (online and print) design. I am the principal and creative director.

For what projects/services did your company hire Syndicode?

We have an ongoing relationship with Syndicode where they help us implement and maintain websites that we design for our clients.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals are to achieve pixel-perfect implementation of our approved designs with best web implementation and optimization practices in mind. We want to build sites that are easy to edit and scale.

How did you select this vendor?

Syndicode was recommended by a trusted collogue, but I have interviewed a number of companies with similar services. Syndicode was very easy to communicate with, had clear responses and recommendations, and came absolutely at the top of the list during our evaluation.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

For the last six months, Syndicode has been providing implementation and maintenance services for my clients with no glitches. 

With each project, they typically establish a timeline for the site implementation along with any clarifying questions. Once we resolve all the details, they develop a WordPress site according to our provided designs and functionality requirements. I then have the ability to review their work to make comments or corrections. After completing the implementation, their team deploys the site to the client’s server and ensures proper functionality.

What was the team composition?

They’ve assigned a project manager and a few developers.

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

Having a reliable implementation team I can consistently rely on allows me to offer a much wider set of services to my clients. It also gives me peace of mind that they’re there to take care of implementation, deployment, and maintenance as well as all other dev-related issues.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Communication is always clear, punctual, and reliable. I have a great project manager who communicates with me on almost a daily basis, giving me progress reports on where things are and what parts can be reviewed. From there, I have the option to give comments and make any corrections. They deliver everything on time and on budget.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Syndicode’s work makes me and my company look great. The team is very responsive and responsible. They’re great at communicating issues and coming up with solutions. Having a capable team like Syndicode allows me to focus on design and client management while knowing that all my dev needs will be handled.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, there’s nothing that I can suggest.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a company that is developing a content creation service.  

For what projects/services did your company hire Syndicode?

We hired them to develop our SaaS service.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal is to become the leader in our market by offering a high-quality product. We also wanted to become a streamlined SaaS company that knows how to attract and convert leads effectively.

How did you select this vendor?

We interviewed a lot of options before selecting Syndicode.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Syndicode handles almost all of our product development. We are building an interactive content creation service for polls, quizzes, surveys, slideshows, and more.

What was the team composition?

We’ve worked with three excellent developers.

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

They’ve had a tremendous impact on the business in the last two years.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project management is great. We have daily phone talks and ongoing communication.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Syndicode strikes a balance between getting the product out quickly and keeping it high-quality. We can trust Syndicode to get the job done.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, there’s nothing specific that I can think of.