Unicreo

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Safe Video Communications, a videoconferencing software developer that’s creating a federated system to compete with Skype, Zoom, and similar services. “Federated” means that we’re putting it on one server. Our product is a web and app-based videoconferencing tool and we're also an email server provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Unicreo?

Unicreo has helped us to develop our product for the last four years. We’re developing a system to connect to a partner company’s email servers. This partner is currently running 4% of the world’s email servers, so we will gain access to their user base and they will have a federated conferencing system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

WebRTC is the main technology used. We’re also using .NET Core, RESTful API, ASP.NET MVC, Java, and other technologies or components to connect the web applications to Android and iOS, as well as to the backend system, which sits on Windows servers.

The app is also web-based and can be used on any browser that supports WebRTC. Currently, that’s about 80% of browsers in use today. Safari doesn’t support it, but Edge will as soon as they move over to Chromium. Otherwise, it’s supported by Opera, Chrome, Firefox, and so on, so it’s very good.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of this project has been $300,000–$500,000 up until now.

What is the status of this engagement?

I had worked with Unicreo about 10 years ago. This project has been going on since September 2016, and we have a contract with them for at least another six months for the development of our system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve worked in sprints and keep track of all our targets for this project. Unicreo has been able to reach nearly all of them and we’re pretty happy with their services.

How did Unicreo perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re pleased with the two project managers we’ve worked with. They’re fluent in English and have a good level of understanding. We had a lot of language-barrier issues a couple of years back, but the current project managers take ownership of the tasks we give them and actually get involved in the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I really appreciate having the ability to get in contact with them at odd hours. Our company is based in a different time zone, but I can ask a question at midnight if I need to, and I’ll get an answer even if it’s after work hours. They’re a dedicated team that doesn’t punch out after four o'clock, which I find very practical.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’d like to see reports more frequently so that we can have a clearer day-to-day and week-to-week view on the work that’s being done. This is partly based on our organization’s preference for reporting tools and there’s nothing at fault for Unicreo. Right now, we have a weekly spreadsheet.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should be specific about the tasks that they want to do, as well as the timeframe and cost. I think this is good advice for anyone who wants to do a development project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of Gratify, a freelance platform based in Slack.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Unicreo?

We wanted to scale up development resources in a fast and cost-effective way.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Unicreo helped us develop two libraries in the BotSpace. We were defining some of the cutting-edge trends in the industry and we had a vision for what we wanted to build. Our most recent project was the Botkit library. We used Node.js and Ruby on Rails for our server, and we also used Redis, PostgreSQL, Express.js  for development. That's a new platform for making chatbots, and we were contributing members to some of the code base and the testing process.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Alex (Founder, Unicreo), and there were about four other team members dedicated to our project.

How did you come to work with Unicreo?

They were recommended to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $120,000 with them in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2013 and we wrapped up the project in May 2019. (We're taking a different direction and we don't have as much work for them.)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our products are 90% written by Unicreo and 10% by us. They brought a lot of value to the table and adapted fast in a very small team. We wouldn't be able to build the product without them.

How did Unicreo perform from a project management standpoint?

I was doing most of the project management. Unicreo was always able to give us the resources that we needed and they worked faster than we had expected. Also, they're very honest. We overpaid them one time and Alex immediately let us know. We used Slack to communicate and they were very responsive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If you know what you want and there is no need to go back and forth, Unicreo can produce the code faster than your internal development team. Also, they're very personable and friendly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'd like them to be more open to feedback. They have a different cultural background, so feedback is often seen as something negative. However, our feedback just meant that there was a different perspective on a problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your requirements ready, and Unicreo can produce the code very fast. They do an excellent job when it comes to development and scaling applications. Also, allow some time for testing the code to make sure it aligns with your vision. There are different cultural expectations, so we found that it works better if you keep the feedback loop tight.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a software company for promotional planning and evaluation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Unicreo?

When we started to grow about ten years ago, we needed outside help with programming.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The product is a client-server application running on SQL server, and the app itself is a .NET app. Unicreo supports the development of our software app, which is used by numerous companies in a fast-moving consumer goods business. They also do code changes for updates and customer requests, and they answer any questions about how to use the system.

What is the team composition?

My main contacts are Nikolay [CTO, Unicreo] and Alexey [.NET Developer, Unicreo]. I also work with a number of other people who do the programming and the coding. It’s been a fairly consistent team.

How did you come to work with Unicreo?

I knew Nikolay from before Unicreo. When he started the company, he asked me whether I would still be interested in working with him for the support and development of the tool.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2007, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

If our customers are happy, then I’m happy. If we have issues with the application, we discuss them, but we don’t have specific metrics in place to measure the performance of their work.

I’ve been working with them for ten years; If I didn’t like them, I would’ve found a different company. They’re flexible, and they don’t mind working late or on the weekends. With IT projects, it’s never easy and things can sometimes be more complex than initially planned, but that’s part of the business. I’m quite happy with their services.

How did Unicreo perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a tool that we use to communicate with each other and with the customers. It allows people to log tickets on our system, and everyone can see and monitor the replies and add comments. I’m able to access that tool and follow the progress of what is being done and check if that is according to what our customers were expecting.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re not just programmers or coders; they have strong analytical skills, which allow them to quickly understand the problem. Even if the briefing of the specifications isn’t 100% clear, they will fill in the gaps themselves or ask relevant questions to understand.

I’ve worked with some other programmers who would do exactly as you specified even though they probably knew it wouldn’t work. Unicreo doesn’t do that. They first think about it and only start working if the solution makes sense.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes they can underestimate the complexity of a task. They’re sometimes a little too optimistic, but it doesn’t prevent them from delivering the expected results.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’m happy with Unicreo and I would highly recommend any similar organization to partner with them.