TechMagic

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

HAGTAP was born out of a need for finding new places to spend a night out. The same old spot is always a good fall back, but what if you're feeling extra adventurous that night? That's where HAGTAP comes in. Information on bars, specials, and happy hours coalesced into one place for your knowledge. Access the app and immediately get a feel for what's happening in the area.

What is your position?

As a UI/UX designer at HAGTAP, I have worked with TechMagic closely throughout every iteration of the app. I am responsible for providing interactive mock-ups that need to get developed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TechMagic?

The application we're working on is basically a local events application. The idea is, when you're in the city, whether it be your hometown or you're going right into college, and you're looking to figure out what the happy hours are, where the live bands are, and when the town has a festival. The thing is we are trying to build this system based off maps and based off information that doesn't exist. You can't find happy hours in a directory for the entire United States.

We have interns that come in here from time to time, help us manage all this data. Nightlife is a huge industry, but heavily divided. Hence, why there hasn't been any tech leaders. What we're trying to become is like Netflix. Similar to how Netflix first hosted other people's licensed content, and then they started developing their original content. We're going around the same idea at first. We're putting in a lot of time on finding out everything that's happening in a particular area. Right now, we're working in New York and New Jersey, and we're spending time figuring out all the happy hours and every single event. Then, within the upcoming year, we're going to be throwing our own events.

The good thing is that they follow a lean methodology. We're all on the same page when it comes to, none of us really know what's going to go on, so the best thing we can do is iterate it as fast as possible. That makes it very easy to work with them as opposed to working on a final product. We're always working on developing the product, and it's very hard to get a team to understand that concept.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

What they helped build out is the iOS and Android apps, the entire management system – a CMS [content management system] on the back-end – a way for us to work with permissions and remote workers. They also helped us with UI/UX, and they also have a project manager there that's been helping us and making sure we hit the deadlines. We have used Node.js, MongoDB, Objective C, and Android to develop our consumer products. We believe in agile development and wanted to use a tech stack that lets us iterate quickly.

How did you come to work with TechMagic?

We found them on Elance. I code and program for a living. I do UI/UX also. That's my role right now. Because I know how to code, I wanted to make sure that we had test projects, like "Here, build this simple program for me" to see the quality of the code. The back-end is done in Node, and it's using a MongoDB database, but now we're using the AWS [Amazon Web Services] for our server. I interviewed more than 100 different firms on what they can do.

Each of these agencies would respond to my questions. I would measure them on how fast would they respond, in what detail, were they trying to sell me something, what was the portfolio looking like. Surprisingly, TechMagic was one of the two I was interested in. It was a lot of work to get them on board.

That's the problem with Elance – you have a lot of great talent there. They were probably the 76th person to apply to our bid. Being the 76th person, I can only imagine that most people would never go with them. A lot of people who go on Elance just pick the first five bids and negotiate with them. It was really interesting.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It is between $50,000 and $200,000. We're almost running past $200,000 within these two upcoming months. Within the full year, it will be more than $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since October, and the relationship is ongoing. The application has been launched. The third version has been launched, and we're working on the fourth right now. That should be launched in September.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

In terms of apps we developed with them, we've already developed two different apps. Both have similar focus, but one for the venues, in which the venues are paying to record information and post. They've also build out the iOS and Android apps for the consumers. Great work. I can't say really anything bad about them.

How did TechMagic perform from a project management standpoint?

It's great. I would say they work really well, and if you give them an eight-week scrum cycle, they always tend to meet that deadline. We have been hitting all our set milestones and constantly focusing on growing our key performance indicators.

What distinguishes TechMagic from other providers?

What they helped build out is the iOS and Android apps, the entire management system – a CMS on the back-end – a way for us to work with permissions and remote workers. They also helped us with UI/UX, and they also have a project manager there who has been helping us and making sure we hit the deadlines.

Is there anything TechMagic could have improved or done differently?

I guess in the beginning, at the onboarding process and being able to sell themselves. That's about it. As a salesman, I was looking for code quality. But, in my mind, I can only imagine the average person who's not technically savvy would be looking for someone to sell themselves. That has nothing to do with my project. But, for the help of their own industry, if they can just make sure that they can pitch better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of a clinical software.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Create the next-generation software for medical doctors to improve their clinical notes and reports.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• build a no-code configuration tool
• help building a consistent & accessible design system
• expertise on frontend architecture

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

Referral

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• accessible and consistent design system
• ready to use components in Figma for prototyping
• UI/UX design of a drag-n-drop form builder UI
• analysis of product requirements 
• development of the form builder 
  • drag-n-drop components
  • template managment & versionning
  • search
  • wizards for complex logic

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• complete design system in Figma
• 100 closed PR's on Github
• deployed application which is used by end-users

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Very good. TM foresees extra personel and time to make sure requirements are communicated clearly and expectations are aligned. TechMagic takes the responsibility to make sure project goals are reached.

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• good remote work ethics
• effective and pragmatic work
• open and transparent communication

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

Nothing I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Technical Project Manager of BlackBird Lab

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a team of energetic, curious, smart, and open-to-new challenges tech pros who prefer efficient async communication, flexible working hours, a co-working office model.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• Penetration testing

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

Referral

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

To ensure the security of existing functionality TechMagic provided BlackBird with security service testing, including one Black Box VPN Server pentest in accordance to best practices, PTES, OWASP testing guide, and Penetration testing methodologies.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Security Certificate
• Letter of attestation

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Very effective and fast management from the TechMagic side. Quickly started the project and assigned a team of specialists. Delivered the project with very strict deadlines with all expected outcomes. 

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• Fast and effective team management
• Professional communication
• The transparency of the tech team was unique

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

No areas for improvement, everything went well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the CPTO of an information technology company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Low-code/no-code test automation solutions for Salesforce and other enterprise systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?
To facilitate the high level design of a new product

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

Referral

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

TechMagic worked with our product and technology team to facilitate the creation of a new product high-level design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We agreed a statement of work with the following deliverables, which were successfully delivered:

• Vision & Scope document
• Mind Map
• Prioritized backlog for MVP
• User stories and user journeys for MVP

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

TechMagic were highly collaborative, and responsive and went above and beyond to deliver the items on time.

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

Virtual Meeting

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

The TechMagic team were very competent, knowledgeable, and easy to work with. They were also very aligned to our own values.

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

Nothing that comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the CEO of a supply chain, logistics, and transport company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Creating AI-powered search chatbot for a travel company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• Providing ongoing product support
• Enhancing competitiveness
• Fixing the lack of maintenance

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

Referral

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Improved User Experience
  the chatbot engages in a conversation and asks questions like an actual human
• ‍Personalization
  chatbot provides personalized offers based on the specific user`s needs
• Timesaving
  search with the AI chatbot is faster and more automatized, allowing users to receive the needed information in a second
• The successful POC
  AI solutions that understand user text queries show significant potential. with sufficient parameters to guide the mapping, AI features can seamlessly be integrated within many existing solutions, even large legacy systems

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

By directly dealing with problems and offering useful changes, the client became the market leader and now helps more than 20,000 users. They also ensured timely issue resolution so clients experienced minimal downtime, increasing the app’s client satisfaction by 150%. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Communication with the team was quick and clear. We could discuss all issues in the chat and on weekly video calls. Mei liked that the team knows the industry and recommends solutions to improve our product.

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I took into account the experience and how many years the company has been on the market. There's a stable team here, so I can trust the guests with technical issues and not worry about them.

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

No, there's nothing they need to improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Security Head of a SaaS company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Agile planning and collaboration SaaS.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• Penetration Testing

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

Online Search

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Penetration testing of our SaaS platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Quality of the produced penetration testing report and findings therein.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Items delivered on time and generally meeting the expectations.

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I was impressed with their excellent communication throughout the project.

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

• The final report could use a bit of polishing, format and content wise.
• Findings should not change between the first delivery of the report and in the final report, after the re-test.
• More transparency on calculating severity score for the reported findings would be great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the HR Manager of a sports company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Cycling Media content online and on a Mobile App.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• Build a website.
• Migrate ecommerce services.
• Build a mobile app.

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

• Online Search
• Referral
• Other

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We had ecommerce sites that needed migrating and maintaining. We then built a custom website that went live in 2023 - this was helped hugely by the TechMagic team and is largely what they were working on towards the end of the contract. We also had a native mobile app with a subscriptions service behind a payroll. The TechMagic team also supported with integrating live and on-demand content to that service, as well as integrating a content 'social media' style feed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The new website was a huge success. It was launched later than we wished, but this was not down to any fault of the Tech Magic contractors. The coding and usability of the site has been great since launch, with very few issues. The mobile app (although now closed) was also a very built platform. The TechMagic team who worked on the video on-demand and live streaming side of the App did a great job of building reliable, solid code that completed our in house developers.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Always on time. Very responsive. Worked well with the team. Great account management team and support from the Tech Magic business.

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The empathetic and effective account managers. They were never pushy or desperate for more business, and understood the commercial needs. They were also very reasonable when it came to costing and the invoicing has always been reliable. Plus, the developers were all absolutely fantastic and very good at what they do.

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

Not from our POV.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder and CEO of Arxax

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Building a digital payment system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• Build product MVP

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

Online Search

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Building data architecture, AWS platform organisation and preparation, Meta business account set up, automated chatbot built on whatsapp, Quicksight visualisation, algorithm development and refinement.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Whatsapp automated chatbot built and tested with multiple early adopters.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Items were delivered on time. The team was professional, patient, and attentive.

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

Virtual Meeting

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

The working culture. Patient and attentive and strong collaboration with the client.

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

Our experience with Techmagic was positive and we continue using their services.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Engineering Manager of RR Mechatronics

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Design and Manufacture Medical Instruments for tthe IVD/Hematology market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• Implementation of back- and frontend for a new IVD instrument
• Design and implementation of web application for data analysis

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

linked in

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Great engineer

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Proof of Concept for a webapplication used for the management and analysis of medical data.
• Create a back- and frontend application that controls an IVD instrument intended to work in a laboratory envirornment as well as the user interface for operators and field service engineers to use.
• Build the backend in such a way that it can be controlled via a REST API by an external application.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Working IVD instrument software.
• Functional web application and architecture for medical data analysis.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management responded promptly and were active in meeting the needs of their customer.

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• Great customer focus.
• They showed active participation in customer satisfaction.
• Open culture.

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

No identified improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of a software company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Pricing software

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire TechMagic to accomplish?

• Build our software

SOLUTION

How did you find TechMagic?

Previous Experience

Why did you select TechMagic over others?

Good value for cost

How many teammates from TechMagic were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Create the framework of the software based of architectural and UX design. Frontend and backend, plus API connections with external parties

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Sprints completed and launched in to the product

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Somewhat, it is always difficult to define the scope of a project. So it was ongoing communication and moving of the deadlines

What was your primary form of communication with TechMagic?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They have a high level of competence

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

Sometimes the English some team members isn't great. Which makes it difficult to give them tasks. Sometimes they are eager to add business value, but this is not their strongest part.