Uptime Development

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT development manager at Alexela AS, an energy company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptime Development?

We needed to build a web application for our company. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Uptime developed a mobile app that is also accessible on the web. Uptime cooperates with two other companies that operate our legacy systems, including the design company responsible for our public website and customer data integration.

They developed our loyalty rewards app that shows customers who signed electricity contracts with us their existing discount rates. The customer has an overview of their discount campaigns, recent transactions, and how many points they’ve collected. Uptime also programmed several customer support functions into the app. 

The app is now complete, and they’re now adding additional features. 

What is the team composition?

We communicated with about 10 people, including 1–2 project managers and a few analysts.  

How did you come to work with Uptime Development?

Uptime onboarded with our company in 2010, before I joined as the development manager. They first developed the ERP for our customer management and billing solution. Based on that project, we chose them to develop our web app. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested €220,000 (approximately $249,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020 and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re based in a small country of just 1.3 million inhabitants, but we have over 50,000 Android and iOS downloads — a tenfold increase. We also have a lot more application traffic. 

How did Uptime Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Uptime sticks to the budget and delivers as promised. Their team takes care of any bugs immediately. 

We use Jira to track the project progress and communicate over Skype and Microsoft Teams.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uptime is excellent at communicating with us to determine the exact purpose of the project — they explain what they’re doing so we can either change course, continue, or fix issues in the project. They’re very tuned in to what we want, and we trust their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would like it if Uptime would bring their prices down. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with Uptime! 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an IT project manager at Sandman Group AS. Our company deals with B2B domestic electronics sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Uptime Development?

Since our B2B website was pretty outdated, we wanted to renovate it to provide a better experience for our customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Uptime Development is using Vue.js for our frontend development and building our website using C#. The team has done a bit of design working with assets done provided by other companies. 

What is the team composition?

The team composition depends on the workload. We’ve worked with five people: four developers and a project manager. The project manager is responsible for keeping both their and our development teams on the same page and having a complete overview of the project.

How did you come to work with Uptime Development?

I wasn’t involved in the hiring process, so I’m not sure how they came to work for us. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership started in May 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new website is very easy to use, and we haven’t had any major issues with it. We feel more confident now to invite clients to use our online services. 

How did Uptime Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Over the years, we’ve had three project managers, and they all have performed well, keeping us updated about what’s happening and asking questions if needed. 

We have biweekly meetings where we check their work and talk about any new inputs from our side. In these meetings, their developers also come up with solutions to achieve our goals. We use Microsoft Teams for communication and send emails if necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Uptime Development’s most impressive aspect is their responsiveness. The team is really active and keeps the project going — they don’t just wait for things to happen. They’ve become pretty good partners, and we can communicate freely with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on the design front.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They communicate all the time, so don't worry about constantly reaching out to them.