TAVO tech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of Bike BUBL, a window cleaning company in London.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TAVO tech?

We needed a web-based application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a complex backend system, which was a painful process simply because of the detail involved and the requirements to get a database to work. We can now go ahead and integrate some APIs into our system and potentially start building a frontend too.

They used Java, Python, and Django for the web interface. They've implemented many features for us. It is essentially a large database that is recording data and moving it around in a way that is suitable for us. We're currently getting them to add a Stripe payment system.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two people: my main contact and the head of sales. We might be working with someone else quite soon due to trying to build some more APIs which their team has experience in. I do know they sometimes ship a lot of their jobs to Ukraine as they are based both in the Netherlands and Ukraine.

How did you come to work with TAVO tech?

I spent some months in Ukraine searching for a tech company. We were one of TAVO's first projects and they really impressed me with their enthusiasm, knowledge, and immediate willingness to try and understand the project. Plus. they were impressive compared to a lot of the other pitches.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent about £15,000 GBP ($19,966 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on the initial project from March to July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Previously, the administration was complicated as it was divided between spreadsheets. Now, many aspects are automatic. The amount of admin work required decreased from about 10 hours to two, which is the main thing and a reason why the project was so large.

They successfully made something that has made our lives so much easier in the last two months. It has really been worthwhile, but there was so much effort to get it done.

How did TAVO tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Having one main contact has been very good and the project management was excellent. I've been managing a business as well as managing this at the same time, and the fact that it was possible says quite a lot. We mostly use WhatsApp to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very communicative. We can get in touch with any issues that might pop up and they'll take care of it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They initially mentioned the project was running ahead, but then it ended up being a little bit delayed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open with the communication and make sure that you are very clear on project goals from the beginning. Keep track of what is going on, making sure that you are aware of what stage they are at, and be as communicative as possible with their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of product and development for a reading intervention and digital supplement provider in the EdTech space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TAVO Tech?

We wanted to accelerate our development. We didn’t have the in-house resources to tackle a particular project, so we needed an outsource team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a PDF printing service for us in Java based on Apache’s PDFBox project. It allows us to quickly and easily generate server-side PDFs to deliver to our end users.

We finished that project and are currently engaged in another engagement. I can speak more on that once the process is complete.

What is the team composition?

We had a project lead wo oversaw all the work, as well as two Java developers and a QA engineer.

How did you come to work with TAVO Tech?

We worked with other companies in the past. TAVO Tech was recommended to us by a software engineer we worked with.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around September 2017 and wrapped up the first project in December.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The service hasn’t gone live yet, but we hope to have metrics once it does. The software is reliable and meets the expectations of our senior engineer. The quality of the code is good. They proved themselves in the first project, so we’ve presented them with more work.

How did TAVO Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good. We had calls every other week for status updates. The dynamic was fairly hands-off. But for some interfacing with our senior software engineers, they tackled problems independently.

We communicated via Google Hangouts to touch base and ask face-to-face questions, Slack for shorter bursts and Q&A, and email if we had bigger tasks that needed communication records.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do a good job overall.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Time zone differences created a small challenge in the first project. They’ve agreed to work with us in our time zone for the next project, which is a helpful change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Invest as much time as possible into scoping the project. They can deliver on anything, but it’s important for any project to have a clear scope.