Varbintech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the managing director at Digital Toucan, a company that builds cloud-based solutions for project management. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Varbintech?

We were developing a completely new product for product management. We'd learned about another business opportunity through our other product and needed a skilled frontend team to help us develop the new product. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Varbintech with an existing set of requirements for the frontend at the beginning of the project. At first, only one of Varbintech's resources was working on the project, but we soon expanded the scope of work to include additional front- and backend support. Their team has been developing the entire frontend in TypeScript and React following the design we've provided them. They've also integrated services that my team has created.

For each new developer Varbintech has made available to our team, we've been able to evaluate their English language and technical skills to see if they'd fit with our team. 

What is the team composition?

We work with five frontend developers from Varbintech; we've also worked with two backend developers. 

How did you come to work with Varbintech?

We'd previously worked with the Vitalii (Independent Contractor), who serves as the head of Varbintech, and had a good impression after that engagement. He was a good communicator who delivered on time and had reasonably-priced services. Also, Varbintech was available for the time we needed and understood our technical product requirements. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested around $250,000 with Varbintech.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Varbintech began in July 2021. However, we expect the partnership to be complete next month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We already have a lot of customers using the product, and they've provided a lot of good feedback, claiming that it's easy to use and intuitive. Clearly, users are happy with the product, and we track their satisfaction through our customer satisfaction metrics. Many things feed into our customer satisfaction, including product performance and bugs. There haven't been any major bugs, so there isn't anything to cause customer unhappiness. 

How did Varbintech perform from a project management standpoint?

Varbintech works alongside our internal team and follows agile methodologies. We are in direct contact with the developers integrated into our team, and Vitalii manages the entire partnership. We use Jira, Slack, and Confluence to manage the project and communicate. All of our source code is stored in Bitbucket; we also provide code feedback on Bitbucket. 

Varbintech's developers don't always meet deadlines, but they are honest about delays and communicate them ahead of time. Sometimes delays have been because they've underestimated the time it would take to execute larger chunks of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Varbintech is committed to our project. They make us feel like they're a part of our team and that our business results are important to them. Varbintech's team is technically adept and can execute project requirements; they blend in well with our in-house team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything major for Varbintech to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd advise customers to include Vitalii in the long-term planning of a project so he can provide feedback on the resources he can provide at any given time.