Vention

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder of a keto diet company headquartered in New York.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to rebuild and expand our existing Android app to be on both iOS and Android and add a huge number of features.

SOLUTION

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

We searched online for a few months between freelance sites, google and clutch and interviewed over a dozen vendors. We decided to work with iTechArt due to how competent their team was throughout our meetings, as well as the overall assessed cost for our project.

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

We decided on utilizing React Native so we could hire one team to build out both iOS and Android apps simultaneously. We worked 3 specialists from iTechArt - frontend, backend and API developers. Our redesigned app had dozens of screens and hundreds of new features which we built out over 3 years with updates released roughly every one or two weeks.

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

We hired a frontend, backend and API developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the new version of the app after about 6 months on both iOS and Android. The new app was a huge success and had optimized performance speed and quality compared to the original Android app (even though that one was fully native). We're very happy with the team and final results of the app (we had ongoing development for 3 years).

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

We used slack for communication and I (co-founder) was effectively the project manager as I had enough experience from a technical and design standpoint to work with the developers. The team worked quickly and was extremely responsive.

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

Their mobile app development skills were very high level. There wasn't a problem they couldn't solve.

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

The team was great with not much room for improvement. I'm very familiar with development and delays and know to expect possible issues that come up sometimes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Engineering at tails.com - a company that provides tailor-made pet food via subscription to over 250,000 pets monthly in 9 countries and counting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired iTechArt to place engineers into our existing teams in an augmented way, as well as standalone teams to deliver an entire project on their own.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for a company that could offer us great talent quickly, at times when we'd have peak resource needs and hiring in the UK would take too long but also for side projects so that our perm team can continue to focus on our main projects.

The engineering pool size and quality at iTechArt stood out as substantially above their competitors when speaking to the company and some of the engineers - which was then underpinned once we started working with them.

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

Engineers from iTechArt worked on several projects with us, ranging from Python-based APIs to full-stack applications written in Python and Vue.js, to pure frontend single-page applications written in Nuxt.js

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

We've worked with up to 5 engineers, which included a mix of frontend, full-stack and back-end specialists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Despite a very tough and immovable timeline, the Nuxt.js project was delivered bang on time and with fantastic results. They deliver strong code quality, high test coverage, and brilliant architectural design.

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

We did the project management ourselves, working directly with the engineers. All of them were strong communicators, always available and reacted quickly to changes in scope and priorities.

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

The quality of engineers. We've worked with other near-shore companies in the past and despite giving them a clear brief, ended up rejecting the vast majority of profiles that were put forward to us. iTechArt was the opposite. Profiles were on point and when we interviewed the engineers, almost all of them were added to the team. (for comparison, we hire 1 out of 300 perm applicants)

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

Not that I can think of. Marc was always there to check if things are going well and even at the slightest challenge he reacted quickly so solve it. Can't ask for more.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of engineering for a UK-based property portal that hosts properties for sale or rent for several real estate agents. The app also has several additional features, including home moving, energy, and broadband services. We also have a service that allows buyers and renters to submit forms to book evaluation and viewing appointments. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with iTechArt Group?

We wanted to bring on an offshore team to scale our team up and down where we needed to.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

iTechArt Group’s developers work alongside our team on website development. They also work on the backend of our system and handle some other development aspects. Since our company is still young, their team has played a big part in developing each aspect of our platform from scratch. 

What is the team composition?

About 8–10 teammates from iTechArt Group are embedded in my engineering department. On average, each team in my department has 1–2 iTechArt Group teammates. 

How did you come to work with iTechArt Group?

My CTO and I worked with a few development companies before looking at iTechArt Group. My CTO knew the CTO of iTechArt Group, so we contacted them. We had a chat with them and highlighted our product, what it was, and what we wanted to achieve. 

We were looking for a specific engagement style that wasn’t purely project work; we wanted to embed iTechArt Group teammates into our internal teams. We needed a company that we could partner with long-term that could develop a deep knowledge of our product and our voice. 

After we discussed our engagement plans and the different roles we needed to fill, iTechArt Group provided us with some developers to interview. Those developers needed to have good technical and communication skills. A lot of their team had experience in the type of engagement style we wanted and knew how to scale projects up and down. Also, we liked that iTechArt Group had UK-based managers that we could talk to without worrying about communication issues or language barriers. So, we hired them. 

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve invested about £1 million (approximately $1.3 million USD) with iTechArt Group.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership began in July 2020 and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are no specific metrics I can point to that measure the impact of our engagement with iTechArt Group, but we are happy with their work, and our partnership is continuing. The developers from iTechArt Group have really helped my company build and launch the platform — they continue to ensure the platform runs smoothly. 

How did iTechArt Group perform from a project management standpoint?

iTechArt Group’s project management is good — we have a direct people management style. We have regular meetings, and each iTechArt Group teammate has an individual meeting with an internal team lead. They take feedback well and are consistently promoted for their high-quality work. 

We use various tools for communication, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, and a video call platform. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to other companies I’ve worked with, iTechArt Group’s developers are more experienced and passionate about their work. There are a lot of teammates who make the extra effort and work past contracted hours to deliver for us. It makes our entire partnership work smoothly — iTechArt Group isn’t just there to complete a task, they’re building a product with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be helpful if iTechArt Group and I worked together to set up review meetings every 3–6 months to discuss the overall team, what is working well, and what isn’t. While we do have regular meetings, we don’t often look at the broader picture to see how team growth might help our project over time. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise customers to talk through the type of engagement they are looking for with iTechArt Group and the developers they want. My company spent a lot of time interviewing their team members, treating the early stages of our partnership as a recruitment phase, and I would advise other companies to do the same.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Engineering of a learning platform and content creation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired iTechArt to add to our internal team of developers, to assist with large upgrades to our systems, and offer ongoing development of new features. We also used them for our annual penetration testing.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for vendors online, and did interviews with their sales team, and then in some cases with developers from their team. Cost, ability to work in house with our team and scaling options were the deciding factors.

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

We have used the team for a large scope of work, but key things have been upgrading our Python backend, migrating our database to SQL and updating our JavaSript code base to use React.

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

We have had two lead engineers, and four mid level engineers working directly with our team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are still in the working stages of the project and have no measurable outcomes yet. Early signs of improvement to API response speed is heading in the right direction.

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

We use Slack, Jira and weekly calls via Zoom. All the team are highly available and are good to work with. Leaders on the team manage their teams well, and have worked directly with internal developers and stakeholders when required.

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

Their team is easy to work with, and they all continue to work hard.

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

We had some issues early on with one developer, who was removed from the team. Identifying that earlier internally to iTechArt would have been better, but once the concerns were flagged, the management team dealt with the issue swiftly.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

TWINO is fintech company which created unique investment platform for p2p lending business model. In 2021 TWINO acquired Investment Brokerage services license and is on the way to provide asset back securities investments and other financial instruments (CFD, stocks, crypto, ETF, etc.) for investors. My position is CTO of TWINO and I'm responsible about all IT strategy and execution within TWINO companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

After receiving Investment Brokerage services license we needed to re-design our web application according to new business model and offering. As hiring of in-house team was challenging and we needed to move fast, we were looking for reliable outsource partner who could help us reach goal - redesign web app on latest tech and designs to provide new services to investors

SOLUTION

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

We were creating shortlist and sending out practical task to outsource partner engineers. Then we choose company which engineers submitted best results for interview. In interview we checked if developer fits in team and has our mindset of things. iTechArt checked all the boxes and had great results.

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

We had on-boarding meeting to explain project, team process, technology stack and introduce with other team members. Technology used is VueJs and Nuxt. Project was split in several steps and roadmap created. Team worked according to roadmap

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

Three front-end VueJs developers from which 1 is senior and 2 is middle.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project is still in development, but implemented features makes page much more compelling and with better user experience. Also implementation speed due to new tech is much faster and easier.

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

Daily standups in Slack, weekly grooming's and status update. Sprint planning, retrospectives and check-ups.

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

Expertise and interest in our project. We consider us to be on the same team with the project and it feels like we are on the same page. They are interested to give best to our project and team.

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

They have been great!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President of custom software development company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Occasionally, when we don't have our own resources, we partner with companies who have the required talent.

SOLUTION

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

We found that whenever we need solid software engineers, iTechArt was a company tat we knew we can rely on. They have grown tremendously in the last several years, while maintaining the quality of their programmers.

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

The iTechArt engineers worked with us on several engagements. Not only were they one of the bests in terms of sills, but they have also been a reliable partner to work with.

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

We have employed various number of people over the last couple of years on various projects, and hope to continue this fruitful collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The customers where we partnered with iTechArt have been impressed by the quality of our work, timeliness and attitude to work

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

Most of our projects are Agile with 2-week long sprints. The teams are very comfortable working in this agile environment.

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

We've been most impressed by the strong technical skills of their software engineers.

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

As everyone else, iTechArt is facing the labor force crunch and the increases in labor costs. We have to find a level that works for our customers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a startup working in medical device development. We’re researching new medical monitoring indications for patients with specific conditions and risks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with iTechArt Group?

We sought an integrated solution that would allow our custom sensors to interface with a variety of preexisting tablet and mobile devices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

iTechArt developed an app to serve as the primary functional data displays captured by our sensors. They started from scratch, so we began the process by identifying user workflows and required interfaces. Their team worked with us to create a UI/UX. Once we settled on the app’s look and feel, they moved into the development phases. For its initial release, their team only built the app for iOS devices.

The overall purpose of the app is to serve as the primary UI and data display for our remote sensors, which communicate over Bluetooth. The UI displays values coming from sensors in an understandable format for users. Once the user determines whether or not the data’s appropriate, they can move on to data collection, which the app handles, stores, and uploads to central servers for processing and analysis.

What is the team composition?

On the technical side, we had a primary contact. For project questions, we communicated with David (Sales Director). Olga (UX/UI Designer) created the UI prototype, and Nikolay (Senior Software Engineer) focused on backend coding.

How did you come to work with iTechArt Group?

From the beginning, iTechArt approached the project with the right perspective. Their team was interested in engaging in a rapid development cycle, which fit our needs. They were ready to understand and quickly move to the specification and prototype phases. In addition, iTechArt presented an overall good value.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our initial pathfinding engagement at the end of 2019, and we started the project in early 2020.  They produced a usable output around the early third quarter.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The success of the project was determined by how the final product fit the intended use case and the number of end-user complaints. Regarding UI, backend data logs, and responsiveness, the app has performed very well. Considering those elements, the app was a success.

How did iTechArt Group perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily used a high-level timeline with milestones regarding the initial concept development. After we established the initial concept, their team moved into backend work and coding. We tried to keep the use of external tools lean, so we used spreadsheets and an online tool for UI prototyping.

iTechArt also did a good job with code management on the server. I had an engineer working on backend code in one location while they worked on code in another location. That was smooth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by their ability to understand what was asked and turn the question into functional solutions that accounted for the literal request and potential pitfalls. They delivered a solution that didn’t create additional issues, which I’ve seen when working with other vendors. iTechArt managed complexity and found efficient, clean solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind immediately.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

This is standard practice but think through everything you want to do. Come to the table with a high-level vision for how all of the components should interact.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a fintech company that offers a platform for banking and non-banking clients who want to bring their products to market quickly and efficiently.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with iTechArt Group?

We integrate with multiple core services in the banking industry, which demands significant work efforts and human resources. We went to iTechArt to help us with deliveries on some sprints.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The effort is around wrapping SDKs in our environment. We’re running a React Native mobile application for iOS and Android, and we need vendor services to be translated into that code. We take packages from vendors and wrap them in a React Native format. This is what iTechArt is helping us with: taking code from existing sources and adjusting it to our needs. 

We’re developing a fintech banking app for making payments, requesting and managing cards, and, in the US, scanning checks.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with two developers and one coordinator from iTechArt.

How did you come to work with iTechArt Group?

I connected with them on LinkedIn. We had a call, and I liked their approach.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent £12,000–£16,000 pounds (approximately $16,000–$21,300 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with iTechArt in September 2020, and the partnership will be ending in mid-December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any exact measures for the results, but they’re getting things done. It’s been a great experience. iTechArt is always on top of things. We’re happy with the quality of their work.

How did iTechArt Group perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve used a Slack channel, and we have weekly calls, discussing both the development and the coordination side.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their overall project management structure was very impressive. The communication was fluent and good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. They’ve delivered exactly what we expected from them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s always good to have the project scope figured out before onboarding developers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of CollectorIQ, Inc. We provide a SaaS application that provides data and analytics on fine art assets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with iTechArt Group?

They’re our e-commerce development partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

iTechArt has played a critical part in the development effort that’s complemented our internal resources. They’ve been involved in both the ideation and development of features and functionalities, which involve aggregating customer information and unique data. With our team, they’ve helped develop algorithms that help predict value for our customers’ assets, while at the same time creating the aggregation technology and machine learning to discern value very quickly. 

The team developed our iOS app, using a wrapper for the Android app because we wanted to have a single code base. 

What is the team composition?

There’s probably a dozen developers of different types working on our projects. One of the advantages of working with iTechArt is not only their deep bench and skill set, but also the ability to tap into specific development needs as the use case arises.

How did you come to work with iTechArt Group?

iTechArt was my e-commerce development partner at another company I’d founded. They helped me build out the platform and expand both geographically and with regard to functionality. 

We identified them through an RFP process. We selected them with an initial modest-focus assignment, and then expanded. I was really impressed with their effort, which is why I hired them again.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since May 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have thousands and thousands of users, and the site has never gone down. The application iTechArt architected is very robust and complicated, and they’ve done a great job. They’ve enabled us to scale in a very positive way. The fact that we’ve been able to build incrementally on this solid foundation has been a cornerstone of our company’s success.

iTechArt has been critical in enabling us to develop a leading data service. Having been through many development cycles with different firms and internal resources, I’ve never lost any sleep about the development process and the quality of the foundation technology with them.

How did iTechArt Group perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management has been excellent. There’s been some cyclicality in both the cadence of work effort and the project needs, and iTechArt has always been flexible with regard to both of those aspects of the development process. 

The team has been able to meet all deadlines, and they perform very well. From a project management standpoint, we’ve been very pleased. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

At a high level, iTechArt delivers outstanding quality on time and on budget, which is all we can hope for. Also, all of their developers are in one place. They’ve been able to establish a team effort that’s very important to project continuity. That cohesion has been extremely helpful to our process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been able to adapt to any challenges.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We started as a healthcare social network driven by SEO. We pivoted to a creator economy app during COVID

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Web and mobile (react native) engineers. Our goal was to improve our MVP. We had clearly defined features and products we wanted to ship but lacked the team. We wanted engineers who could get shit done without needing perfect PRD's.

SOLUTION

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

Referred by another founder. He spoke highly of iTechArt. I had a hard time interviewing, it was hard to tell who was good. So I did references on the engineers for their past projects and they were glowing. It was a pretty easy decision after that.

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

We started off with 1 web (rails & js) engineer and 1 react native engineer. The web engineer worked directly with me and i basically ended up letting him run with everything and i just scoped stuff out roughly and he was able to crank out everything.

For mobile, we had a clearly spec'd mobile app and the react dev ran with it. When we pivoted we hired two more rails engineers. We're now a team of 5 engineers with 3 from itechart. We built an MVP in 3 weeks when we pivoted and have been improving it ever since.

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

4 3 senior rails 1 react native

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Finished mobile app (didn't launch b/c of covid) Launched 2 redesigns. Launched 1 MVP. MVP is now doing 50k+/mo in GMV in third month

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

It's up to us. We use github for basically everything. For different engineers you can spec projects to varying degrees. I've been pleasantly surprised by how they can run with ambiguous requests.

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

Quality of engineers for price

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

I wish they could learn the types of engineers we like and hand place the best that would fit instead of us having to interview them (probably an impossible task but we can dream)