TMS Outsource

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am co-founder of a London-based fintech company which delivers platform solutions to regulated financial institutions. We help them manage and close their deals faster.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TMS Outsource?

TMS Outsource helped us hire our original development team in Belgrade, managed ongoing training and delivery and even helped us set up a subsidiary in Serbia. Working hand in hand, we developed an enterprise grade platform solution with integrated mobile app addressing a range of challenges around privacy, security and scalability. Alex and his team advised us on the most appropriate tech stack and implemented the latest agile approaches to manage and grow the team.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to deliver a world class solution that could be deployed both on server and on the cloud by blue chip financial institutions to manage private transactions. It was vital for us to stay on track in terms of timing, quality and cost. It was also crucial to hire the right team members and to instil best practices within the team to adapt and scale over time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I started working with TMS Outsource after initially purchasing a great WordPress plugin produced by Alex and his team. I required support to implement server-side processing for a client project and started working with TMS Outsource in Q4 2014.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed, developed, configured and launched a new digital solution for managing and executing private transactions. The project began by rapidly building a working prototype to gather feedback from clients and investors. This led us to a detailed scoping exercise and the development of a more sophisticated second version of the software. Once this had gone live with enough clients and feedback had been gathered, we developed an entire new solution with integrated mobile app and data science insights. We worked on the basis of 2-week sprints, with parts of the team dedicated to managing customisation projects for our largest clients.

What was the team composition?

With TMS Outsource's assistance, we grew the team to 40+ within 4 years across the full stack. This was led by a COO and composed of several project managers, front end developers, back end developers, mobile app, quality assurance and devops.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We raised capital from sophisticated investors and successfully deployed our technology to leading global financial institutions. The team's delivery was highly consistent, professional and of the highest standards. We underwent extensive due diligence from our investors and clients and our solution is actively used by finance professionals.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The fact that we are based in London and TMS Outsource in Belgrade was absolutly not an issue. Alex and his team communicate very effectively in English and can comfortably handle changing priorities and challenging development tasks, sometimes under signficant time constraints. We relied on Jira, Slack, Email, Skype, Whatsapp, Phone and other tools to stay in touch as one team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

TMS Outsource are highly ethical and professional. They always give the right advice even if it isn't self-serving. They are reliable in terms of timing and delivery when they quote a budget and never 'bait and switch' or mis-manage expectations. Given the risk of outsourcing to teams in other countries, I highly recommend TMS Outsource as a partner firm in Serbia and generally across the region.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I was highly satisfied with the work TMS Outsource did. With time the team will grow along with broader capabilities (e.g. mobile, data) and the team is stronger in some coding frameworks than others. Overall, they provide the flexibility of a small team with the quality of a larger development firm.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for VirtualPostMail. We scan postal mail so that people can read it online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TMS Outsource?

We wanted to migrate our existing products’ frameworks. We were outsourcing a portion of our development team but needed to hire some software developers who could work for us either part- or full-time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TMS Outsource transitioned our internal and external web-based applications’ existing frameworks. The team integrated necessary changes into the platforms, improving the interactivity of their UIs.  

Existing on AngularJS, the monolithic framework wasn’t working for us. Their team migrated our platforms’ user dashboards and all their functionalities to ReactJS, which produces a smaller app size and offers more flexibility.

Recently, TMS Outsource moved our internal mail processing web-app into a more native environment. They’re also working to build the platform into an Electron app.

What is the team composition?

As there’s a lot of specific information that needs to be passed on, we work with two developers daily. We also work with a designer as-needed. There’s a project manager who keeps an eye on things, but we don’t go through them given our preference to communicate directly with the TMS Outsource team.

How did you come to work with TMS Outsource?

We found TMS Outsource through a blog they’d posted. We wanted to hire developers on a part-time or full-time basis. If they were full-time, they’d have to work exclusively on our project and couldn’t be on our payroll.  We received quotes from companies in different countries, but TMS Outsource was able to work best with our expectations.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in October 2018, and the collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wanted our partner to be an extension of our team— to really be a part of us. When we collaborate, we focus on several qualities in a partner: openness, skill, experience, and knowledge. Since they’re a contractor, it’s important that their team has been able to perform without the extensive training we provide to our employees. TMS Outsource has met our expectations by about 80%.

How did TMS Outsource perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve communicated with the TMS Outsource team through Slack. They’ve followed the same routine as our in-house developers. Similar to our internal standing meetings, their team reports daily on what they’ve worked on, what they’re working on, and any challenges they’re facing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Initially, their integrity drew me to them. We were looking for a long-term engagement and wanted to make sure the values of our partner matched ours. TMS Outsource has become a part of our team, even though they’re remote. They’ve given time and resources to the project, committing to our more dedicated developer model.

Their team views working relationships long-term, which is difficult to find. A lot of times, companies are more focused on profit and gaining more customers but TMS Outsource has sacrificed some of their short-term gains to support long-term engagement. They’re willing to make compromises.

Are there any areas they could improve?

TMS Outsource has a decent sized team, but they’re smaller than other firms so they may lack experience and background. The firm may not have all the necessary skill sets that people may want; this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because we’re pretty focused on specific types of technology— serverless platforms and tools as well as cloud development tools. They follow a traditional type of environment and haven’t really gotten frontend technical experience, but not that many companies have that either.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Identify the type of development and the needs you’re looking for from an outsourcing company. Low cost doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bang for your buck.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the managing director of Viewmy.tv Limited. We offer Videowire, a platform that allows publishers to source the latest videos from 20 global news agencies—over 400 news videos daily in 12 languages.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TMS Outsource?

TMS Outsource built the entire platform from scratch.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to build a working platform that could syndicate videos automatically.  

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

A fellow entrepreneur recommended TMS Outsource. The interview assured us of their skills and ability to manage a project of this scale.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Initially, TMS Outsource developed the full-functional specifications. They then built a complex platform that allows the automatic uploading, streaming, and hosting of videos from large broadcasters. They also assisted with project management, server hosting, and DevOps.

What was the team composition?

We worked with 2–4 people for several years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We achieved our goal within the first two years of our collaboration with TMS Outsource. The platform is the core of our business and absolutely essential in solving our clients’ challenges.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had weekly meetings. They were well-organized.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I’m impressed with their ability to cover different tasks. They demonstrated expertise in front- and backend development, design, hosting, etc.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would recommend them to any client.