TechHuddle

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an online platform which lists housings in the Mediterranean that can be rented directly from the owner or house manager.

I am the owner and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechHuddle?

We needed a developer for our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TechHuddle developed our website based on our designer's work. TechHuddle didn't have an in-house designer at the time, but they've contracted one since, which I've used on a few tasks. Any changes to the original design were agreed between myself and TechHuddle. We use Stripe Payments, which was integrated into our site, but the other functionalities were hardcoded. We have a custom-built CRM [customer relationship management] system, with accounts for every owner or manager.

I worked with one lead backend developer from TechHuddle, as well as with a frontend developer who came onboard 2 months into the build. We also had a tester. I interacted directly with them.

How did you come to work with TechHuddle?

TechHuddle was recommended by a friend who had used them to build his own website. I got in touch with 2 other UK-based agencies, ultimately choosing TechHuddle.

How much have you invested with TechHuddle?

The total cost of TechHuddle's services has been around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our site was completed in August 2015. TechHuddle has maintained and upgraded it since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our site has only been live for a couple of weeks and hasn't been promoted yet, so I don’t have any tangible results to share. The feedback from the people who have seen it, including other developers, has been very good.

How did TechHuddle perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project kept growing, so the budget increased as well. I feel that I've gotten very good value for my money.

We used Slack, Google Hangouts, and Skype for communication, and Jira for tracking tasks. The tools were all recommended by TechHuddle. I hadn't used Jira in the past, but the process was straightforward.

What did you find most impressive about TechHuddle?

I don't have a good frame of reference, so it's not easy to say. Compared to the quotes I received from UK-based companies, I'd say that price is a main differentiator. I appreciated working with TechHuddle's principal. He was always at hand for giving advice and was helpful in going through designs and wireframes, making sure that everything was tied together nicely.

Are there any areas TechHuddle could improve?

I can't think of anything.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with TechHuddle?

Any clients looking to start a web development project should choose their agency wisely and stay as involved as they can at every stage of the process. Quite often, people think that they can get an agency to do the work for them, but it's quite often not the case.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company was created by estate agents in order to compete within two major property portals in Britain. We provide a property portal which was launched aggressively within the B2B [business-to-business] space.

I am the IT director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechHuddle?

We normally use on-site contractors, but I was familiar with TechHuddle and gave them a try.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We developed the web apps for our portals in-house. TechHuddle was in charge of creating the native mobile apps. Users can search for properties and register in order to receive notifications for any new additions to the market.

We used Amazon Web Services behind-the-scenes. We used Clojure on the server side, which is a programming language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine. We also used many client-side technologies like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Frameworks. The native development was done for Android and iOS phones and tablets.

We built the APIs to which our apps connect in-house. The development was done in parallel with TechHuddle's mobile development. They also helped us with data processing and data entry tasks, which we initially outsourced to India.

TechHuddle provided 2 developers, 3 designers, and 2 testers for our project. We use TechHuddle for testing both our native and mobile apps. They're responsible for doing small fixes, as well as adding features. We've recently added a new home search functionality and are working on form states and land search.

We have switched from an on-demand collaboration, to using dedicated resources from TechHuddle 6 months ago.

How did you come to work with TechHuddle?

Our collaboration with TechHuddle was an experiment brought forth by the fact that I'd seen the work done by their principal for other people. We gave TechHuddle a small amount of responsibility on building native apps. We gauged their progress and saw that after one month, TechHuddle advanced significantly. I have no regrets at all.

How much have you invested with TechHuddle?

This is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with TechHuddle for 2 years and have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I was skeptical in the beginning and considered that all developers needed to be kept at arm's length.

The work done by TechHuddle was high-quality. I can't think of a single bug for any of the apps. Whenever we needed something done quickly, TechHuddle worked on evenings and weekends. TechHuddle's testers are very reliable and they've integrated with our systems.

How did TechHuddle perform from a project management standpoint?

TechHuddle integrated well with our team. We use HipChat for technical communications, as well as email and Jira. TechHuddle uses all our systems.

There were 3 people from TechHuddle involved in project management at first. We have taken on this aspect of the work now. I always appreciated TechHuddle's ability to remain flexible. They pick up the project management whenever we don't have the time for it.

We've met in London with their principals and developers, and have also received good service remotely from TechHuddle.

What did you find most impressive about TechHuddle?

Even though TechHuddle is based in Bulgaria, their resources are all good English speakers. Their team is professional, polite, and eager to help.

Are there any areas TechHuddle could improve?

Compared to everyone else I've worked with, there's nothing I could cite as an improvement for TechHuddle.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company provides insurance for cyclists and their bikes, covering for cases of theft, damage, and personal accidents. We transact predominantly online and are very reliant on web channels. I am the chief marketing officer of the company, and I oversee the digital side of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechHuddle?

The problem with our service, insurance, is that it can't be sold like other commodities. Our site features a real-time pricing functionality where users can create baskets with different policies. These options have fixed terms for one-year periods and monthly payments. The contents of a user's basket have big implications since they are directly related to possible accidents. As we are formulating our product, it has to observe a set of rules and exceptions. For example, the form development process includes maximum bike values and minimum age values, which must be followed into an eventual payment window. In addition, the checkout is done through multiple providers, depending on whether it's for an annual or monthly contract. Upon checkout, an active policy is created. This active policy can be interrogated through the back-end, analyzing criteria against the policy. From there, we offer a renewal at the end of the term. There is absolutely no room for error in the live environment, particularly when it comes to pricing or the final terms on our certificates. Another important factor is that we work within a regulated environment. We need accuracy from the consumer's perspective, and there are huge fines that come with any mistake. TechHuddle provided development resources for our website that helped address these issues.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TechHuddle developed our website from scratch using a combination of technologies. Basically, we started with a piece of white paper, built out our requirements for the front-end design, and undertook that phase internally. From that point, TechHuddle helped turn those ideas into reality. We have a stage setup for any functionalities before they are implemented on the website itself. This setup involves a bit of quality assurance, too. There is a lot of information flying around for our process, and we're legally obligated to provide it through policy documents, which are presented as PDFs. Our site is predominantly HTML and is built responsively in order to allow user access across all types of devices, browsers, and resolutions.

For the build, there was a team of three full-time developers assigned to us by TechHuddle, and we interacted with their project lead. Despite the fact that I wasn't a coder, the TechHuddle project lead, and I were able to map out the requirements and designs used for the site. TechHuddle then translated those and determined the best technology for our needs. TechHuddle also provides one resource for site maintenance.

How did you come to work with TechHuddle?

We were recommended to TechHuddle by a third party. After meeting them, we became confident that they had the experience, pricing, and ongoing service levels that we were looking for.

How much have you invested with TechHuddle ?

The total cost of our project with TechHuddle has been more than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We keep a service retainer with TechHuddle. This allocates us a number of hours per month for updates and other work, which we normally exceed. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We spend extensively on online marketing, and we're constantly optimizing the site and adding new features. It's difficult to take a snapshot of any individual task, but we set the requirements and TechHuddle has delivered against them well.

How did TechHuddle perform from a project management standpoint?

We've exceeded our time and budget allocation several times when we asked for extra features on top of the main ones discussed with them originally. TechHuddle offered a number of project management tools for us, but these solutions seemed like too much for what we were trying to do. We prefer to work with them through Google Docs. We've also used off-site nontech designers before, and getting them to work with coders has always been a tricky issue. In the case of TechHuddle, the process has been quite smooth.

What did you find most impressive about TechHuddle?

The proactive side of TechHuddle's involvement stood out when we asked them to come up with specific functionalities. We've recently asked for increased reporting capabilities, optimizing the three or four requirements that we wanted. TechHuddle came back with another six, building them at the same time at no considerable extra cost. They've been useful tools for us, so TechHuddle has shown initiative across the job.

Are there any areas TechHuddle could improve?

We have a two-hour time zone difference with TechHuddle, which created a bit of contention in our relationship. However, it can also be an advantage sometimes. Overall, we've been very happy with TechHuddle's service.