VirtusLab

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the delivery principal for a creative logistics company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VirtusLab?

We needed help with Scala development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done a lot for us over the years. Most recently, they’ve taken our delivery monolith and split it up so it’s all in Scala. The team has also taken over the whole business domain for our company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around 2.5 million GBP (approximately 3.1 million USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2017, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their quality is great. They have an excellent staff that delivers great code.

How did VirtusLab perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Skype, Microsoft Teams, and email, and Zoom to communicate. They’re excellent at scheduling and managing deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

If they come into an issue early, they’ll communicate it and proactively come up with a solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. They have done some difficult projects that come with their own challenges, but a lot of them have been our fault, internally.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to work with them and jump in with both feet. You can waste a lot of time not trusting a company, but you’ve got to just dive in; they’ll deliver every time if you give them the opportunity.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a cybersecurity company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VirtusLab?

We were looking for a team experienced in cryptography. We needed to build custom software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

VirtusLab helped create custom security programs for our clients, working collaboratively with our internal teams. They provide full-stack development on the platform using Scala and C++. The main focus is the support and development of the backend of the solution.

What is the team composition?

We work with five people: four backend engineers and a frontend engineer.

How did you come to work with VirtusLab?

We evaluated multiple companies from various locations. They were the best fit for us and had a very good quality to price ratio.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $500,000 – $1,000,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been impressed by the quality of developers, as well as the involvement of their management to make sure clients are satisfied.

How did VirtusLab perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re proactive in finding solutions and work in agile Scrum methodology.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Technologically speaking, they’re extremely strong at functional programming and in using Scala.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re very happy with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clarify the requirements and responsibilities of the team early on. It will help them provide the right people for your project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of engineering of an insurance SaaS platform. We help insurance companies manage their data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VirtusLab?

We were looking to scale our development team in a cost-effective and flexible way.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re an extension of our team. We have a group of developers in the UK and a group of developers provided by VirtusLab in Poland. They work as peers on the same project. The team uses predominantly Scala and TypeScript, as back- and frontend languages, respectively. Our stack is on AWS.

How did you come to work with VirtusLab?

They were a referral from a previous work contact.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $200,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with the quality of work that the engineers do. We’ve been happy with all of mid-level to experienced engineers provided. From a project standpoint, they’ve been great, and as described.

How did VirtusLab perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is very good. We’ve met with their management several times and all of our concerns have been dealt with satisfactorily. We work closely together, which helps keep our relationship successful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our company and theirs have a very similar outlook as to how we get products built. It’s all about relationship building and letting engineers know what we’re trying to do. We definitely have a shared outlook.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to meet the team face-to-face and give the team time to understand your company and what you’re trying to do. That will come back many times over in their commitment and ability to perform for you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for an IT consulting company. Our advisers facilitate process changes that help businesses adapt to challenging market requirements and stay competitive. Over 25 years, we’ve expanded our capabilities by combining expert knowledge and strategic thinking. We provide high-quality products and innovative services informed by the latest advancements in the technology space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire VirtusLab?

Our project was a Register of Social Welfare Units. We were implementing this system for our government’s Ministry of the Family. We hired VirtusLab because we lacked in-house resources with appropriate qualifications and had short deadlines to meet. Having worked on a similar project together previously, we knew VirtusLab would complete their tasks both well and on time. 

What were your goals for this project?

We prepared a scope analysis and detailed design. Customer requirements included portal standards, website accessibility for persons with disabilities, and the appropriate appearance for individual subpages. Our client also has specs for the service-oriented architecture (SOA). They requested the use of secure sockets layer (SSL), a standard security protocol to establish encrypted links between a web server and browser in online communication. VirtusLab developed appropriate communication mechanisms and integrations with other systems.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We considered two companies while choosing a supplier. Our department’s dedicated project manager participated in the selection process. We chose VirtusLab based on their competitive prices and our familiarity with the quality of their work. 

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

VirtusLab analyzed our detailed RJPS project, supplied unit data, and instated support for users. The team was responsible for designing, developing, and implementing the portal for the entire RJPS environment in accordance with user requirements. In addition, they’re conducting training and promotion. They will be providing support and further development for the next three years.

What was the team composition?

We appointed coordinators on both our side and from VirtusLab’s team. These two teammates arranged all the details. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

VirtusLab delivered individual products that were verified and accepted by a representative from our company. I don’t have any information I can provide for specific results.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We held frequent design meetings with VirtusLab. The two coordinators cooperated well together. Using this management structure was a positive choice. We had access to shared document repositories and source code. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

VirtusLab is experienced, competent, and delivers high-quality products. I appreciate their timeliness, openness, and flexibility.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

It's hard for me to judge. I did not notice any problems during this collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of an online property investment platform that includes a trading exchange.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VirtusLab?

Our customer proposition is to provide access to property investment. We hired VirtusLab to help us develop the software for our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The focus of VirtusLab’s involvement is on the backend of our platform, which is the brain or engine that enables automated property investment. Our users can trade property shares and loans all within the platform. They programmed this technology using Scala. As a software development house, that's their area of expertise. 

The core of our product and basic feature sets are complete. The next phase of our relationship is about improving those feature sets and troubleshooting during a business-as-usual, trading phase when we're driving customers to our website.

What is the team composition? 

We've worked with VirtusLab both in terms of a business relationship and commercial resourcing. This dynamic is based on how many heads they make available for our project on a managerial level.

Under that, we've also worked directly with the development team lead and subordinate software developers. They collaborate with our internal development team. Rather than a completely outsourced situation, our engagement felt more like hiring contractors. 

How did you come to work with VirtusLab?

We were introduced by another UK software development house. They hadn't been able to take our work on, so they recommended VirtusLab. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2017. Our platform has been customer-ready for a couple months now. We completed the initial phase of development in December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

VirtusLab developed a functional, reliable platform. Thanks to their support, we’ve completed the first phase of our project. From my perspective as the CEO and founder, they've delivered on all our specifications. Our platform seems to be working well at the moment. The challenge will be performing at scale when we’re driving live customer traffic.

Our lead backend developer is very satisfied with their working relationship. I’d certainly know if the collaboration wasn’t working well, and that isn't the case. VirtusLab works to a very high standard compared to other software development houses. They've been successful partners so far. I’m pleased with their ability to deliver within their area of expertise.

How did VirtusLab perform from a project management standpoint?

My team is responsible for project management, so we have to direct VirtusLab in the way we want them to work. The success of this aspect of the project rests on our shoulders. Under that, however, they're managing their own team at a sub-level. They're effective communicators, especially given that English is not their first language. We use Jira to keep track of progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m pleased with VirtusLab's ability to deliver within their area of expertise. They work to a very high standard compared to other software development teams. They've got a great work ethic.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Even though they’re based internationally in Poland, I wish they could work in my offices in London full time. At the very beginning part of the project, they actually did spend half the time here.

In addition, they could expand their service offerings beyond Scala backend development to include frontend technologies. It would be great to have a one-stop shop for all my needs, but they're so skilled at what they do because they specialize narrowly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Good project management is essential, which is relevant advice for working with any development company and not unique to VirtusLab. When integrating contracted developers into your project, it’s critical to direct them properly rather than expecting them to do so themselves.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm an independent software developer. I do a lot of contract work in the programming language Scala. I work for a variety of different companies but generally, I work by myself most of the time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VirtusLab?

About two or three years ago, I was working on several contracts at the same time. I simply didn't have enough time in the day to do all of the work that I had agreed to and one project was taking longer than I had hoped. It was an Akka-based distributed system with various security and encryption features. It had a particularly difficult bug that had taken me several weeks to analyze. The bug happened very infrequently, which was part of the problem because we had to keep it from every occurring.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I was able to describe the problem to them. They spent a couple of weeks to find, diagnose, and fix the problem. They prepared and ran tests for extended periods of time in order to guarantee that the problem would never happen.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the CEO who managed the account and the developer who worked on the project.

How did you come to work with VirtusLab?

I'd been aware of VirtusLabs for a couple of years because they’d been in and around the Scala programming community. I attend a lot of conferences in the software community that VirtusLab had also attended or sponsored. They had impressed me with some of the things I knew they were doing. They seemed like a good candidate to outsource to.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent between 2,000€–3,000€ ($2,300 –$3,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

They spent approximately two weeks working on the project over May 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They managed to fix things within a couple of weeks on a project they weren't familiar with and without any prior knowledge. After a couple of phone calls for me to explain the details to them, they were able to get it working. I was quite impressed. Fundamentally, they solved the issue. The quality was unquestionable. It was exactly what I needed.

How did VirtusLab perform from a project management standpoint?

They kept me informed, letting me know what approaches they were using to find and solve the issue. It was a small project so the communication was no more or less than I would have expected. I couldn’t have asked for more in terms of reporting. I got insight into the problem as well from their communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was quite impressed by the developer I worked with. He was quite young but extremely capable and very methodical in his approach. He made sure he understood every step of the diagnosis in order to know how to proceed. He was professional, methodical, and able to do what I needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have pressed me harder to give them more work in the future because I certainly would have.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CEO and project manager of a startup developing a simulator for financial traders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VirtusLab?

The project was partially financed by the state. Our business plan was tailored for a state financing competition that supported innovative startups. The first challenge was to fit everything scheduled in the business plan within a one-year time frame. We had to provide all the features declared in the app for financing purposes, and we didn’t know what problems we could meet along the way.

Our app was complex with a lot of interaction between the user computer and the server side. There was a lot of data movement and server queries. We couldn’t know if this communication could be made efficient enough to provide comfortable usage. Another challenge was getting developers up-to-date with our activity domain so that they would understand every aspect of the project and get a feel for how it should be coded. Our first overall challenge was developing a usable app that would be live, efficient, and met the goal of practicing trading skills.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

VirtusLab developed our web app simulator. I specified the necessary features and how they should work. The simulator enabled financial traders to test trading strategies in adjustable replay mode. Historical data from different financial instruments was shown in replay mode; price fluctuations were shown in a financial chart, and traders could practice their skills using price action analysis on a particular financial instrument. It also processed fundamental data. They could replay histories more quickly or slowly in order to practice their trading and timing skills. The tool was offered as an online app.

What is the team composition?

I worked with their owner and 3–4 developers. I acted as designer, and the owner was responsible for the overview and the selection of the technology. The developers were responsible for coding features.

How did you come to work with VirtusLab?

My brother told me about them. He is a developer, and his employer collaborated with VirtusLab. I met with them and showed them my project. The chemistry was good, and I could see that they had experience in this field. They also offered me a good hourly rate. We decided to work on a task basis instead of a project basis, so I paid them for development hours spent.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with VirtusLab in 2013. The project was finished one year later, in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

VirtusLab’s developers were full of ideas and keen to learn the domain. They came up with ideas on how to improve the features. The modifications they made to my original specifications led to a better outcome.

Another value point for me was the knowledge they shared with me about the development process. I could gain insight into the area and see the risks and disadvantages. They were open with everything, and the experience I gained will be crucial for the further development of the app.

The app is universal; it’s a charting engine that can be used in many different contexts, including the cryptocurrency market. I have different possibilities to develop the product further, given that the market has also developed in a broader perspective.

How did VirtusLab perform from a project management standpoint?

They went above expectations in some cases. They were fast. They were exact, and they understood the final outcome of a task. I was sometimes surprised at how fast and good the work was. We met every two weeks and discussed the given tasks.

There were also some problems. The replay mode was not working properly; the developers looked for bugs, but they couldn’t find any. This became stressful at times, given that we were losing time and we had to spend it on finding a reason for the issues with the displayed data.

There were some delays, but I can frankly say that I’m happy with the outcome of the development. The code quality was very good. I was satisfied from this perspective.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They didn’t just do the work and forget about it. They liked the project, and they had the right energy for it. It was a good atmosphere, and it was a lot of fun to work with VirtusLab.

Are there any areas they could improve?

VirtusLab was also within a development phase. They were learning about time management and organization. There were some delays during the project. They should work on avoiding issues like this in the future.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Customers should try to build a personal relationship. Meet the developers, get to know them, and discuss the project, the product, the tasks, and the features. It’s crucial to find a good team with a good chemistry and energy in a software project so every member of the team is motivated from inside out. This is doable with VirtusLab. Get in touch with the CEO of the company and get good developers on the team. Their CEO puts a lot of effort into providing high quality for the customer. If you are able to develop and keep a personal relationship with him, there will be a high probability that you will get a high-quality outcome.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and founder of a software technology company called Mestudent.com. We are based in Melbourne and Sydney, Australia, but have moved to Poland to establish an office and develop software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with VirtusLab?

I wanted to develop a web application and have a dedicated team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We didn’t have a contract at first, but we signed one later. We paid them money, and everything was fine. We worked well for about nine months, and I wanted them to continue the job.

Then, VirtusLab started slowly moving engineers away from my business. They gave us five people, then, one by one, took three of them away. The engineering team was talking on the phone and not coming to work, but we still had to pay them by the hour. Multiplied by seven engineers, that was a lot of money every month. We saw that something was wrong.

Finally, VirtusLab got another competitive project in Dubai and took all of our engineers away. Basically, since someone else paid more, they just moved their people there. I was left with no one. They said they would not continue development, and that we had to pay off the money, which we did.

What is the team dynamic?

Initially, between five and seven people were dedicated to the project. At first we had five people, but they took one of them away later. I asked them what they were doing, and they told me they had to move them away. They offered to give me someone else at no charge.

As is typical in software development, we needed to train the new person. It took me six weeks to move someone into the project. I accepted this, but they did the same thing two months later, taking away another person from my project and giving me someone new. They were using my project to train people and move them to other projects.

How did you come to work with VirtusLab?

We found them on Google. A large American company called Lightbend does Scala programming. To resell the solution, VirtusLab became a technology partner of Lightbend.

Have you hired any other companies to pick up where VirtusLab left off?

We had to hire internal people because we had no engineers when they left. The project stalled for four or five months. Because of this experience, I hired an in-house team rather than a third party. Now my project managers works in my office in Krakow.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was close to $300,000 AUD ($230,000 USD). We decided that it wasn’t worth fighting for it and just gave up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

VirtusLab used contractors. None of those people were employed, so we didn’t have the copyright for the work. When you develop software, all IP belongs to the contractors. We’ve had to move the IP from their contractors to their company and then to ours.

Some of their contractors didn’t want to do this. Unlike U.S. IP law, Polish law is quite weak, so if things go badly the ownership of IP rights will become a problem. Now, 12–14 months after the project ended and we paid them everything, they haven’t transferred the IP to our company. VirtusLab didn’t disclose this.

They made $1,200–$1,500 AUD ($900 USD) every month. They played with the conversion rate and cheated us every time we sent them money.

It’s a sizeable startup, so I didn’t worry, but I spoke to my lawyer later. Our lawyer ran a background check, reviewed all the payments, and checked the conversion rates, and we found out they were cheating us. The lawyer sent letters, politely stating that we had overpaid them and that they should investigate. They refused to refund us at first, and there is still around $10,000 AUD ($7,619 USD) that they don’t want to return, but we finally won. It cost me a fortune to pay the lawyer and execute from them.

My expectation was that I would pay them money and they would work for me. My expectation wasn’t that I would pay them money, and that they would take away my project team. It was very unethical—especially since they’d worked on my project for a long time.

How was project management handled?

When I was there, we met face to face. Otherwise, we used email, Skype, and Slack.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

Check the intellectual property, make sure that they are employing people, and make sure they have strong contracts. Don’t be afraid to ask the right questions and review the providers. At the end of the day, a software house is there to work for your startup or department—not the other way around.

Also, talk to their past clients. Never just look at a portfolio. Half of VirtusLab's projects—with those beautiful interfaces and designs—don’t exist anymore. There’s no real portfolio.

Company Responses

This comment was provided by Rafal Pokrywka, Founder of VirtusLab, on June 15, 2018. 

1. The project team consisted of 3 to 5 engineers. The contract was based on hourly rate in AUD currency and lasted 18 months. We were discovering requirements and iteratively delivering results. To the best of our knowledge the solution is being used.

2. The customer is due to pay us around 15000 AUD. The amount was calculated by customer’s own legal representative and written in agreement. There is no other “legal action.” 

3. One engineer left early due to personal reasons but was substituted by a senior developer. A year after beginning, due to the atmosphere at the customer’s own office, a few engineers were willing to leave. We communicated that in advance, proposing substitutions and discount. The customer rejected the proposal and chose to release engineers. We advised differently but the customer later, as problem continued, decided to release the whole team instantly bringing risk to the project.

4. Additionally, to help build the customer’s office, we were hiring people on the customer's behalf. We bore costs in PLN currency and charged in AUD with NO margin. Conversion was done at market rates plus estimated conversion costs. All clearly specified on invoices. We have not played with rates.

5. Intellectual property was transferred from employees and contractors in a legally binding form from day one. This is standard in software development. Documents were provided to sign.

We wish the customer success with the project but he should trust engineers more.