Volo

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of MobiDram CJSC. We’re a telecom subsidiary of the Russian company MTS and are licensed by the Central Bank of Armenia to provide digital payment-system company services. We handle fund transfers, issue electronic money, open accounts in virtual environments, and serve clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with Volo?

Back in 2010, we needed to develop a mobile payment platform so our clients could open online accounts and transfer funds electronically. Our in-house staff didn’t have the expertise to build it, so we hired a contractor.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Prior to hiring them, we’d been relying on a web platform to meet our clients’ needs, so Volo transitioned us to a mobile app. After we provided them with a broad scope of features and functionalities we needed, their team handled all of the design and development work. The platform processes many kinds of financial transactions and we’re always adding more options. Volo continues to help us improve our existing services and develop new products so we stay competitive in the marketplace.

What is the team composition?

Their team consists of developers and QA testers.

How did you come to work with Volo?

They were already handling web development for our parent company and applied to work for us when we advertised for developers. After evaluating our options, they proved to be the best choice.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested almost $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2010 and we have an ongoing relationship.

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

We handle 60% of the telecom market in Armenia. At this level, there’s always a dilemma about whether to develop software in-house or hire an outside vendor. Given that this was a new area of development for us, Volo's team has been worth the investment.

We constantly need new products and their team’s expertise has made it possible to keep up with those demands. They’re well-informed on how to minimize security risks and hacks, which has been invaluable.

How did Volo perform from a project management standpoint?

We started out using Trello, but have switched to Team Foundation Server. Our in-house project manager coordinates with the team on Volo's side and plans our actions at two-week intervals. We control the implementation throughout each planning cycle. Since we’re continually rolling out new versions of our app, it’s important to keep a log of all the product development and document the features in each update. All of that’s monitored and controlled by the project managers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is very passionate about what they do. They’re quick to respond, proactive about solving problems, and they’re committed to our product. Developing new products is a challenge since we’re always creating new products from scratch, so it’s important that the Volo's team is equally dedicated. It’s not just about the total number of hours logged—we’re also committed to our targets and deadlines, and everyone tries to do their best in order to reach them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As a client, we always want more, faster, but there’s only so much you can do with your budget and resources. For this time being, we’re well-calibrated and we understand each other. I don’t know what to suggest as an improvement. I always encourage Volo's team to be on the edge of new technologies and developments in the space.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I don’t have any at the moment.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Trade Cloud Services. We provide a communication platform that helps commodity traders find partners and conclude deals. So far, we’ve gone live with metals (e.g., aluminum, zinc, nickel) and are planning to expand into energy and agricultural products.

What challenge were you trying to address with Volo?

When we first reached out to Volo, we were just an IT startup and lacked an established infrastructure. We didn’t have any organizational processes in place and we were still defining our future platform. Not to mention, we didn’t have the internal resources to build our systems. We needed an agency that could be flexible and innovative enough to persist in a changing environment, so we approached Volo to develop our web-based platform as well as our iOS/Android app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They initially helped us scope out the project, creating a set of technical requirements that addressed our needs. Using our prototype designs and screens, they looked at ways to implement security measures into the system, get the platform running on the cloud, and then monitor and manage it in the future. They then built the platform and mobile versions according to our specifications.

Our product is essentially a web app comprised of mostly HTML screens. Because their team is primarily a Microsoft shop, we restricted our technology to Microsoft products. They built the backend using .NET Core and developed a technically complex chat feature using MongoDB with a SQL server. The chat system required a number of real-time functions that not many IT companies could provide.

Additionally, we needed the platform to work on a wide range of devices. Volo ensured that all components (e.g., database, server pieces, front- and backend) could run on browsers across China, Europe, and America as well as on iOS and Android. We’re now looking to implement blockchain technologies in future developments.

What is the team composition?

Over the course of the engagement, we’ve worked with about 35 team members, including website designers (who worked on our public website), UI specialists, architects, full-stack developers, native Android and iOS developers, DevOps specialists, various testers, user acceptance testing (UAT) environment specialists, QA staff, business analysts, and project managers.

If they lacked a specific skill set, they would bring in outside resources to supplement their efforts. They’ve always been very clear when hiring external people.

How did you come to work with Volo?

I found them through a personal recommendation. Previously, I had a consulting business before selling it to a nearshore IT firm. Because of that, a number of people came to me for advice on nearshore businesses, and I learned a lot about several companies. I particularly liked a few firms in Armenia and, after a selection process, decided to go with Volo.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $1.5 million thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work began in February 2017 and is ongoing.

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

Because we're an IT company without an in-house development team, Volo has been at the heart of everything. They’ve literally built every piece of our platform, and the quality of their work is striking. I’ve worked in IT for a long time and have seen an enormous volume of projects; to date, I’ve never seen a project with fewer bugs going live.

How did Volo perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve continued to partner with them because their work process has been particularly effective given our style. They participate in workshops, have plenty of discussions, and can work onsite or remotely. We use Slack to coordinate their activities and Jira and Confluence to record their results. I also appreciate that they’re able to communicate with my teammates who are less tech-savvy.

In terms of scheduling, we’ve hit most of our deadlines. There have been some instances when we’ve been a few weeks late on a task, but those were typically due to functional changes that were out of their control. On those occasions, they’ve worked hard to get things done on time, so we haven’t suffered from the timing issues that other companies tend to have.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Despite our unique way of gathering requirements, they’re flexible enough to work with us and have adapted to our style. I also value their commitment to completing tasks. Compared to other providers, they’re able to deliver as promised, which can be rare for tech companies.

At the moment, we’re doing some work in the blockchain space, so I’ve asked them to look at a few newly released technologies. Even though they haven’t seen the software before, they’ve been able to leverage their past blockchain experience to quickly get up to speed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don’t really have the scalability to provide people on short notice due to their size. On occasion, we’ve hit resource bottlenecks when trying to find people, particularly on the mobile side. I've also noticed that they don't have Java specialists. While they did provide some Java development, in the end, it didn’t live up to our expectations.

What’s more, I would appreciate it if they were able to work across multiple offices. They have a number of locations across Armenia and Ukraine, and I’ve worked with a few of them in Ukraine. However, it didn’t feel as integrated or seamless as when they were all in the same place.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of Procivis. We do a lot of work with blockchain and smartphones and I'm responsible for the overarching technology strategy and product delivery service.  

What challenge were you trying to address with Volo?

We were launching a crowdfunding campaign and we needed a company to help us with our website and a mobile app prototype.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We already had a website, so Volo redesigned it. They also developed a working prototype of an iOS app from scratch. The prototype displays the frontend of the app without a backend integration.

We had a tight deadline, so we had to work on short sprints, where their project manager and myself defined the requirements on the fly. We also worked closely with their designer and the frontend developer, who implemented the design. My technology team was very small, so I relied on their resources.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two developers, a couple of project managers, and a designer.

How did you come to work with them?

Our CEO knew them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between December 2017–February 2018.

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

We used the app as a marketing tool for crowdfunding to showcase our vision. The website helped us convince our investors of the quality of our team and the project. As a result, the crowdfunding was very successful. Volo worked quickly and immediately implemented the changes we asked them to do.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

We had phone calls to discuss the features and we worked via Skype to finalize the design specs. When the development phase started, we reviewed the code in GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have quality developers and offer a good price. Also, their English was great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They delivered everything I had expected and more. I was very happy.