Vazco

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder and CEO of Torus

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Torus facilitates transformative experiences of language and culture exchange to help refugees and immigrants integrate into the US system by providing free virtual and in-person English classes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Contribute to development of an EdTech mobile app in React Native.
• Develop a core feature – communicator/messenger
• Manage an augmented team (Vazco developers and Torus’ volunteers)

SOLUTION

How did you find Vazco?

• Referral
• Initially, we’ve been connected by Tech to The Rescue

Why did you select Vazco over others?

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

How many teammates from Vazco were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Vazco developed a real-time messaging feature for our app to facilitate efficient communication between volunteers and learners (immigrants and refugees).

The communicator has two parts: individual and group conversations. Individual conversations enable volunteers and learners to exchange messages, send photos, download files, send voice messages, and translate messages into other languages. Group conversations connect one volunteer with multiple learners, allowing for additional features like changing group details and managing conversation admins.

Vazco also implemented push notifications, configured Firebase, chose a CMS tool, and set up Firebase App Distribution for easier deployment. They provided guidance on prioritizing tasks to expedite the app's release on Google Play and the App Store. Additionally, Vazco advised us on selecting key technologies and project management. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Vazco delivered all essential features, establishing a strong foundation for future development. They future-proofed the project by creating a priority backlog and shortening the time required to launch the application. 

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

The project management was extremely professional and punctual in delivering tasks. They went the extra mile to satisfy the inquiries and needs of our organization. All tasks were delivered in a timely manner with great outcomes. 

What was your primary form of communication with Vazco?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Initially, this was a non-profit project facilitated by Tech to the Rescue. However, I chose to continue our collaboration beyond the non-profit phase due to Vazco's genuine engagement, accountability, and ownership. 

This experience has been transformative for both Torus and me personally. What stands out is Vazco's commitment to excellent customer service and expertise. They seamlessly guide you from initial development to the final product. The team also demonstrated a deep understanding of our mission and goals. Vazco showed proactiveness in advising us (i.e., selecting the right technology and tools), and delivered even more than we asked for.

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

I was satisfied with our collaboration and results. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Director of Compp.ia

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Strategic Business Consulting for Company leveraging Digitalization, AI & Blockchaintechnologies

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Audit & Strategic consulting for TheRing.io (currently known as Dailyn) In-depth technology assessment in order to make major decisions about further investment, strategic development, and key technology choices.

SOLUTION

How did you find Vazco?

Referral

Why did you select Vazco over others?

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

How many teammates from Vazco were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

I advised thering.io (Dailyn) in a pivotal moment – they were planning rapid growth, extending their active user base from 20K to 1M. The technical assessment was crucial for the startup’s investors. They wanted to see if the budget is being spent well and whether thering.io is technologically ready for the next big leap. I’ve sought trusted partners to help my client reach their ambitious goal securely and sustainably. 

The technical audit included the assessment of: Development process, operations management model, and process. Quality control process and tests. Technical infrastructure assessment. Frontend application. Backend services and data structure. We conducted an audit for thering.io (Dailyn) along with two other companies, Fibertide and Droids on Roids. However, Vazco took responsibility and ownership of the project, as well as the consulting work of the other companies involved. 

I’d like to add that even though multiple companies were involved, Dailyn felt they were talking with one company. They delivered a presentation for stakeholders and a comprehensive document (audit) concluded with an actionable list of recommendations prioritized by urgency/impact/risk.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the work that has been done was impressive. Vazco has shown performance technologically and strategically, their expertise was business-oriented and any given recommendation was prioritized by impact/urgency/risk. I confirmed that the final stakeholder (Dailyn) had a feeling of working with real experts. In particular, they appreciated the suggestions for optimizations in the process and have started implementing them immediately.

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

I was very impressed with their project management style, and I’ve got to praise Damian for it. The plan for the consulting has been laid out at the early stages – it was clear when and what both me and my client can expect from them. Vazco delivered great value in assessing the client’s project management (how to apply agile methodologies efficiently in Software Development). It’s evident that their expertise extends far beyond technical issues.

What was your primary form of communication with Vazco?

Virtual Meeting

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

We have collaborated on this project a while back. Vazco made such a positive and lasting impression that I eagerly talked with them again when experiencing complex challenges. This speaks volumes about the quality of work they delivered. Vazco builds long-term relations based on trust. I’m very excited about our future collaborations.

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

We’ve talked about some minor improvements with Vazco; they proactively sought my opinion on the matter. I appreciate this approach and highly praise it. There’s nothing of importance that I would like to share with you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Reactivic

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Develop Saas product for education

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Enhance the performance and scalability of Meteor.js-driven application. Ensure that, starting in September 2023, when new schools are onboarded, and substantial traffic is expected, Campus Skills will be capable of accommodating the increased traffic effectively. Expedite the development time by acquiring Vazco's Forminer, a React-based product for building form systems

SOLUTION

How did you find Vazco?

• Online Search
• Referral
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Vazco over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vazco were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

My collaboration with Vazco commenced with the acquisition of their React-based form-building product. Following a period of approximately one year, I approached them once again, seeking their consultation regarding my Meteor.js application. 

The aforementioned Meteor application incorporates two solutions from Vazco; an open-source forms product called Uniforms and a commercial offering known as Forminer. As September approaches, optimizing the application's scalability is imperative to accommodate increased traffic. The objective is to enhance performance without incurring excessive costs. The scope of our collaboration primarily entailed conducting a comprehensive analysis of the entire application in terms of performance and scalability. In addition, Vazco generously provided valuable suggestions to enhance Developer Experience and Cybersecurity as a supplementary benefit.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The audits conducted revealed areas of improvement for my product. The outcome of the audits comprised a comprehensive inventory of issues that aligned with the key priorities of my business. Notably, Vazco provided valuable guidance in configuring alerts for CPU usage, optimizing cache settings, and enhancing application performance. 

Additionally, they supplied me with a thorough report encompassing errors, performance concerns, and cybersecurity considerations. I can say that the delivery provided by Vazco was characterized by a diligent presentation of facts, prompt responsiveness, and a willingness to address any inquiries I had during the entire process. In addition to the audit results, I am also very satisfied with the React-based form builder tool, Forminer.

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

Vazco's project management was impeccable. From the onset, they set clear expectations regarding deliverables and timelines. Their structured approach ensured that every phase of the project was executed seamlessly. They consistently delivered items ahead of the set deadlines, which significantly eased any potential stresses tied to the imminent school onboarding in September. Their communication was both transparent and timely, utilizing virtual meetings and messaging platforms to keep me updated throughout the project's duration. 

Whenever I had questions or required clarifications, Vazco was quick to respond, showcasing not just their expertise but also their dedication to client satisfaction. Their proactive approach in addressing potential challenges before they arose played a pivotal role in the project's smooth execution. Their adaptability to my needs, combined with their methodical management style, made the collaboration truly remarkable.

What was your primary form of communication with Vazco?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their expertise in Meteor.js is exceptional. They are great advisors - even a single consultation can be of great value to your project. Initially, I purchased a product from their company, and later decided to engage their services for an application audit - without any doubt, Vazco is a real digital one-stop shop. I am delighted in terms of ROI - the audit was conducted swiftly, surpassing my expectations. Not only did they deliver exceptional value, but their approach was also characterized by utmost professionalism. 

Vazco demonstrated remarkable responsiveness, and the audit report presented factual insights, instilling a sense of genuine customer care. Furthermore, Vazco promptly addressed my urgency, providing their input on the project within a few business days of initial contact. I can confidently affirm that they consistently delivered exceptional results.

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

Nothing comes to my mind at this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder & CEO of GeeGee

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I’m CEO of GeeGee, a mobile application that enables users to participate in various sport activities and challenges regardless of their location. GeeGee meets the digital generation on a platform where they can create, play and share MicroSports. It's a place for having fun and healthy competition.

Communities around the world are redefining sports and fitness, and we wanted to create a platform that truly celebrates that and our main goal is that how do people get that good game - GeeGee feeling every day

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• We engaged Vazco firstly in the back-end improvement and further development of our mobile app- GeeGee.
• The initial goal of our project was to improve an already existing application and make it ready for public launch and build further functionalities in line with our roadmap and thanks to Vazco we managed to reach our goals.

SOLUTION

How did you find Vazco?

Referral

Why did you select Vazco over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Vazco were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of work firstly included rewriting and improving code quality and optimization of already existing components on the back end side of the application. Once Vazco had delivered a new backend, we were focusing on applying new features, improving application performance and user experience by design changes.

Vazco also consulted us on planning architecture, technical dependencies, application’s security and further app development. As for the technologies, we use ReactNative, Apollo, Cloudinary, GraphQL, TypeScript and Squelize.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Firstly, we have reached our initial business goals - the application was published to the market and is currently used and tested by the public. Secondly, we see improved performance of the application, it's faster and smoother, users videos are of a nice quality.

Thirdly, we have now new features available for our users - notifications hub, educational screens, recommendation syste, and private squads they can join, our community is growing! Summing up, the cooperation with Vazco has remarkably improved the application, its general quality, performance, and security and brought many cool features- we would definitely recommend them.

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

Their product owners have been really proactive in our partnership, they help us to structure the processes, manage the team and day-to-day activities to ensure smooth deployments. We are using Linear for planning our backlog, Figma for our designs and Slack as our internal communication tool.

We discuss the process improvements on end-of-cycle retrospectives. The team remains receptive to feedback, fosters open and transparent communication, and demonstrates a willingness to adapt to new expectations and changes.

What was your primary form of communication with Vazco?

Virtual Meeting

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

Vazco is a trustworthy and reliable technology partner. They're very clear about what they're doing, how they're doing it and they understand our business objectives and purpose. They've always been open and honest as the stakeholder person and they are experts in their field.

Based on my experience with GeeGee and Vazco I would highly recommend them to anyone that's looking for a technology partner. I've only felt supported in my journey with GeeGee, they are genuinely committed and dedicated professionals.

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

For us nothing. They have delivered and a reliable technology partner!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the Founder and CEO of Onyx One. We offer contractor management systems for safe and smooth cooperation between hiring clients and contractors/subcontractors. Our platform - Onyx One - is used worldwide (Europe, Australia, USA, RSA), developed in cooperation with industry to increase the efficiency and safety of the collaboration. It provides custom workflows of registration, qualification, training, administration, monitoring, communication, and reporting. We simplify and streamline business processes and help clients to apply the safety requirements of their business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vazco, and what were your goals?

We engaged Vazco from the very beginning in the design phase of our new product. The goal was to replace our existing portal with a fully customizable no-code platform, which will enable rapid adaptation to the specific requirements of our clients in the industry (addressing the need for custom workflow on the fly). Our redesigned platform allows non-technical users (citizen developers) to design any custom business process using the WYSIWYG configurator, define the entire data set to be collected, build a multi-step form using a drag & drop interface, and publish to chosen groups of end-users. We also hired Vazco for another side project - a native mobile application with the e-passport system to verify on-site access.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We selected Vazco 5 years ago as we recognized their experience in the development of forms management systems in React. Their popular React open-source package - uniforms - addressed our need to generate forms from schema. It was an off-the-shelf solution that enabled to show the results of PoC quite fast. They convinced us they have an experience in both backend and frontend technologies, which we had been looking for.

Last but not least, we chose Vazco as we had been looking for partners who could take ownership of the complete process of architecture design, guide us in terms of technologies applied, and who would be capable of challenging our vision.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Our cooperation started with the discovery phase and the identification of business and project goals, analysis of product vision, and pain points of our previous platform. At the series of workshops with Vazco, we worked out together the architecture design. We decided to use existing software solutions at the market and open-source to speed up development. The use of Camunda as the process orchestrator enabled the seamless creation of workflow management in BPMN. Other technologies recommended by Vazco: Node.js, React.js, GraphQL, MongoDB, Apollo.

The entire platform consisted of two applications: Qualification Builder and Dashboard. The first one plays the role of the studio to connect Camunda workflows, create all fields from the pre-defined repository, design the entire form layout with drag and drop, add custom rules, define validation of fields and calculation of their values, manage permissions, launch automated translations with DeepL, linking data between forms, define groups of users, preview, and publishing of entire form.

Another application - Qualification Dashboard - has been prepared for end-users to launch business processes and submit data using published forms. It is also used to track the status of process instances in the kanban board view and stores the history of documents.

Once the product was released to our clients, Vazco on the one hand, continued the product development according to the feedback we gathered from the market but also focused on scalability and performance optimization for the increased traffic. Vazco prepared for us also a working MVP of a hybrid mobile application (using cross-platform integrator: Capacitor).

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The engineering team fluctuated over time. We had 1 architect/tech lead, 1-2 full-stack developers, 1 QA, and 1 Product Owner. Once we delivered the product to the market, we slowly organized the development team on our side, and step-by-step took over the ownership of the code and application.

Vazco helped us in recruiting the right people and onboarding them to the project and also facilitated successful cooperation in the mixed/augmented development team from both companies. At the last stage of our cooperation, Vazco supported our developers with ad hoc technical consultation. We also collaborated until the end with the Product Owner from Vazco, who supported me as CEO in defining the product roadmap.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Within a few weeks after design workshops, Vazco was able to showcase the Proof-of-Cocept integration with key services and technologies. In a few months, they released MVP, which allowed us to test the platform and engage pilot end-users.

With the help of Vazco, we released the platform to our first clients and integrated it with our previous system to take out most of the new features and, at the same time, don’t lose the advantages of the already live Onyx One system. As an organization, we succeeded in the market with the new system; we managed to grow our business and engage with new global business partners.

It has been in use worldwide, we onboarded clients from Europe, Australia, and the US. Vazco also helped us to organize our own development team and, step-by-step, successfully transferred full ownership of the code and application to our team. Although we took over the entire development process, we still use from time-to-time as hoc consultation of architects and tech leads from Vazco.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Vazco is strong in managing the Scrum process (it's relatively rare in the market). From the very beginning, Vazco structured the transparent process. We had direct communication with the entire development team on a daily basis. The backlog has been planned in line with our business objectives (verified on bi-weekly planning and weekly roadmap meetings). The development team showcased deliverables at the end of each sprint (demo session). We discussed the process improvements on bi-weekly retrospectives.

Vazco always presented openness for honest feedback, promoted transparent communication, and readiness to adapt to changes and new expectations. The Project Manager with whom we have been collaborating for 4 years - Damian - is very good at Scrum and Agile project methodologies. He also challenged our business process and suggested process improvements to our other business processes as well. Last but not least, Vazco helped us in organizing a successful augmented team with the mixed squad of our and their developers.

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

They are truly engaged professionals when they attack things as architects, developers, and project managers. We have not only outsourced development to Vazco, but we managed to build successful business partnerships which lasted almost 5 years.

They not only delegated developers but have been making good use of in-house knowledge and offered additional services, like: pentesting, auditing, consulting, etc. We also appreciate Vazco’s experience in Scrum and Agile methodologies - they partnered with us in organizing well-structured and efficient processes.

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

As this project started from a clean sheet, we missed the opportunity to focus on unit testing than on E2E testing.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I lead engineering for a small women's health and wellness company. We sell a microbiome testing kit and build our a digital results experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vazco?

We were looking for an annual cybersecurity audit and penetration test. Since we collect health-related data, it's important that our systems are secure.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

This vendor was recommended to me from a friend who had used Vazco's cybersecurity services previously. Vazco's pricing was also highly competitive.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

They performed a cybersecurity audit of our web app (both external user-facing and internal site). Then they delivered a detailed report describing and rating all vulnerabilities found. After we addressed those vulnerabilities, they retested again and generated a new report.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had one project manager and 2 security researchers working with us

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

They helped identify multiple critical and high vulnerabilities which we were able to then address.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was very effective. We primarily communicated through slack and through written documents and reports. All reports were extremely clear and well-written, so didn't require any follow up to discuss in person. However, they readily offered to discuss in person if anything was unclear

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

I found the communication very impressive and very smooth. I also appreciated how when first engaging their help, they helped walk through their various different plans/tiers and what their recommendation would be for a project of our size.

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

At the beginning, when drafting a document for their team to go over our system and the credentials they needed to test, it would have been helpful to have some guidance about what their team needed. I was able to ask a friend who had worked with them previously, but it would have been helpful to have some guidance given that it was my first time using pentesting services

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Sapiens International Corporation is a leading global provider of software solutions for the insurance industry. The company offers digital insurance software platforms, solutions, and services for the property and casualty, life, pension and annuity, reinsurance, financial and compliance, workers’ compensation, and financial markets. With more than 35 years of experience delivering to over 600+ organizations globally.

I’m the Head of the Development Team in the R&D Department at Sapiens. My team's role is to develop Journey & Form Composer product, a no-code/low-code transformative tool allowing users to build advanced forms using the library of components and orchestrate forms with the processes, including external data sources and API integrations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vazco, and what were your goals?

We hire Vazco to audit our digital product, along with related documentation and code repositories in order to get a general overview of the architecture and to define the steps to complete the transition of 2 clients into the application. In the second phase, Vazco team joined our development team and they were responsible for the implementation of recommendations from the audit, and further product development. The most crucial business goal was to support custom components in our product so that it would be possible to introduce any given custom component or the whole library of custom components to the Journey & Form Composer.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We decided to engage Vazco as they are experts in the area of building forms in React. They are authors of the globally-recognized React library for building forms - uniforms. They also proved their expertise in this matter by showing several examples of commercial implementation of form builders for their clients. Vazco also offers its own FormBuilder as a licensed product. This all convinced us that they have significant experience to help us in overcoming challenges with our product and guide the growth of our own developers into more senior skills.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Vazco started with the proper definition of the business need. They ran a technical audit of our project, keeping in mind what are the business problems that our architecture needs to address. Afterward, Vazco joined our development team in order to implement their recommendations from the audit.

Soon, they brought several technical improvements: successful transition of the code of our product from multi- to mono-repo (Node.js, React.js), build from a scratch system of migrations, DB transaction system, cashing builds with Nx Cloud, and cleared deployment through Github pipelines. On the functional side, Vazco was responsible for designing the integration of external custom components in Journey & Form Composer, in order to let us make a transition of a client to the new product.

As a result, using the example of one of our clients, they implemented a bridge that allows for the integration of any set of custom components into our product. In the next phase, they start migrating specific components, so that our client now is able to use digital Journey & Form Composer to build their form flows through drag & drop.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Team of 5 engineers (1 Senior Tech Lead, 3 Full-Stack Developers, 1 QA), and 1 Product Owner.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Transition to the monorepo, which Vazco recommended in the audit and then implemented, significantly increased the efficiency of the entire development team. The code is now more resilient, easier to walk through and extend, and more reusable - the overall Developer Experience has been improved.

The improvements brought actual cost savings. Cashing builds that Vazco introduced with Nx Cloud shortened the build time by 45% and saved us 100h of development a month. On the topic of custom components, they designed a bridge that allows the integration of any set of custom components into our product. They proved that we are able to make a transition of one of our clients to the new product using just the client’s specific components from an external library.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Vazco cooperates in a well-structured scrum process. They delegated a Product Owner who was dedicated to creating a backlog and prioritizing its items according to the business needs. He effectively collaborated with the Product Owner from Sapiens' side, with me as the Development Team Lead, and with other stakeholders. Tasks were created, refined, and estimated in advance to ensure transparency for the workload planned for further sprints.

Their Agile is really business-oriented - on the one hand, they prepare roadmap and estimations to give control to the business stakeholders on the investment. On the other hand, they are still adaptive to changes and ready to switch priorities if this is required. Vazco promotes open and transparent communication by each of the team members. They also brought interesting processes and collaboration improvements to my entire team, e.g. structured communication, PR standards. Developers are willing to cooperate and offer support for other team members, even after-hours if the situation requires it.

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

Vazco is a reliable partner; they're professionals at addressing complex technical and business problems.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m Head of Code Club for Prenda. The Prenda Code Clubis a web-based educational software where kids can learn to make websites, video games, apps, animations, programs, and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vazco, and what were your goals?

We had many heavyweight development tasks that we couldn’t complete only with our resources. Our goals included, Consulting and research of new language engines we could use in our app, Website lift-up , new workflows, new screens, administrator features, etc.  External integrations, i.e., Scratch engine, Zoho Survey’s.

SOLUTION

How did you select Vazco and what were the deciding factors?

Originally, Vazco was suggested to us by the Meteor Development Group. They have a large number of developers who specialize in Meteor, as well as Node.js and React.js. We liked the value their consultation services gave us, that’s why we decided to extend our cooperation.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Tasks included, building new flows in our application, Front-end and back-end work, integrations of other engines  and (e.g. Scratch) Stack, Meteor.js, Node.js, and React.js.

How many people from the Vazco team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with two developers. Krzysztof, the senior developer, was responsible for the heavy-weight tasks. Piotr, a regular developer, was responsible for improving our application and building new features. There was also a project manager assigned to help everything run smoothly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We were able to deliver a new integration to our programming school website. The Scratch engine was integrated into our platform in a way that is easy to maintain and gives us flexibility in its configuration.

We also worked on lifting up the Student, Teacher, and Administrator panel, together with adding several minor improvements to our application. Overall we’re delighted with the results.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Their communication responsiveness was excellent. Fluent communication on Slack channels was beneficial, too. Despite working in different time zones, they were always available for us.

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

Our feelings about working with Vazco are very positive overall. I think what I really respect about Vazco is its technical expertise. We came to them with really challenging problems, and They've delivered high-quality solutions in a short amount of time. We will go back to Vazco when we encounter technical challenges too challenging for us.

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

Nothing readily comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a startup in the fintech/regtech space. We created the modern reinvention of the client portal for fiduciaries, funds and lawyers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vazco, and what were your goals?

Due to serious team restructuring and the need to continue development on parts of the software, we needed some experts that supported us through this difficult and impactful time. We knew Vazco from their open-source contributions and were thus confident that they would be the right partners to help us with feature development, technology consulting and flexible scaling of the team depending on the needs that were a bit fluctuating.

The goal was primarily to create continuity for that part of the application and later to extend on features, process and quality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We did some scouting around based on the technologies we required. Knowing that they are a major contributor to the open source community for some of the frameworks in use, we knew they were top of the list from the get go.

Once we reached out, they responded incredibly professional, rational and efficient to all our enquires. Thus, we could significantly speed up the selection process and talk operations, outcomes and goals. Their flexibility and proactive way of thinking made this a pleasant experience and the boundaries and expectations were clarified from the get-go.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The main work was done on the client facing web app built with the Meteor framework. Starting with small, relatively simple features (for quick wins and to understand how we can work together) we moved to ever larger features and bugs on the roadmap. Regular reviews of roadmap items, defining key results with the developers for each iteration and sprint.

Later, we decided that we want to increase speed while also increasing quality of the development process and started working on test automation and continuous delivery pipelines to free up developers and ship with confidence. Again, Vazco had the right resources and expertise to help us achieve this goal too.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

4 FTE, 1 project/account manager, 1 senior and one junior developer, 1 test automation engineer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The colleagues from Vazco allowed us to hit our internal OKRs as well as freeing up internal resources to pursue other opportunities and sales. Features developed by Vazco were instrumental in winning over two pilots.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Typical stack with Github and Slack. We opted for Notion instead of Jira as we have modelled everything in there. Communication was effortless, timely and professional - from both the project management and developers alike. All were very well versed with agile working methods and adapted quickly to our way of doing things.

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

Flexibility. In terms of new agreements, finding the right resource or bouncing ideas on how to implement something.

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

All areas of improvement were discussed during the project and addressed very quickly. Also, nothing major ever came up and quality of code delivered was great.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Vice President of Digital for CallisonRTKL an Architectural Design Consultancy for the built environment

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Vazco, and what were your goals?

Our goal was to deliver a web-based app for vendors to submit their qualifications and tax information for approval by the accounting team and legal department. Previously this process was handled manually. The goal was to reduce the time needed to manage vendor documents and updates and to increase the number of the updated documents every year.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Vazco’s developer was a speaker at a tech conference we attended. He made a great impression on us, that’s why we decided to contact them. During the first call, they addressed our goals to the point and followed up with a good plan for our project. We decided that out of other contractors we talked with, Vazco was the best choice.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had already conducted a requirements mapping exercise with our key stakeholders and came to Vazco with a spec. If we did it all over again, we would have included them in the specification workshops as well. Key technologies: Meteor, React, GraphQL, Apollo, TypeScript, React Router, RxJS, Uniforms, Universe i18n, Ant Design, Cron, uniforms.tools. Deliverables: Live version of the system, delivered with a Scrum-based, lean-approach.

The application attempts to reproduce and optimize the process of updating crucial documents and data provided by vendors, in iterations. The second part of the process is the verification of the data and documents. The most crucial part of the app includes complex forms, with validation rules, conditions, diverse types of fields, and a search capability. Uniforms.tools package was applied here. The app was prepared to integrate with REST API, which we did in-house.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have worked with a product owner, senior developer, mid developer, and a QA tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We’re very happy with Vazco’s professional help. The app met our business goals. We decreased the time needed to onboard a new vendor and reduced the time needed to handle the process of updating data and communicating with vendors. We also increased the number of vendors who update data and documents on a regular basis.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We received a team, managed by a shadow product owner. The team proactively helped us plan the next steps of development. We worked in a Scrum framework. Our representatives took part in the regular demo meetings. We met at weekly check-in meetings. We used Jira to manage the project, and MS Teams to communicate and for videoconferences. The project was delivered within 3 months - later than we initially planned, however, it’s perfectly acceptable, given the increase of the scope

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

They helped us deliver our goals, in a professional approach, every step of the way. It was fun to work with them. Their attention to detail as well as their proactive suggestions around design improvement was impeccable.

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

We came to Vazco with a predefined specification and were adding new functionalities to the scope after particular sprints. For future projects, we plan to organize discovery meetings and design meetings with Vazco, in order to move more planning to the beginning of the project.