Software Mind S.A.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a delivery manager in the IT department of Baillie Gifford & Co. Our headquarters are in Edinburgh, Scotland. I head up the Kraków office and am based in Poland for most of the year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Mind?

We wanted to extend our application development capability and it was getting tougher to hire experienced IT staff in Edinburgh.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Software Mind has collaborated with us on several tasks and are currently working across eight different projects. These projects consist of in-house applications for our office back in Edinburgh—some are for the front office, some for the back office, and some are client-facing.

We work with Software Mind on a wide range of development tasks. We have a web-based frontend, so they have been using a development stack comprised of .NET, Visual Studio, PFX, C#, JavaScript as well as Angular.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we started with two developers and now have 35 developers and two security developers on board. We have two tech lead architects who I speak to daily, as well as a project manager, who deals a lot with the people, helps with the recruitments, and keeps up with the projects and the work that we need to do. Some people from their team are relatively new to development and some are just new to Software Mind, so part of the focus has been getting them up to speed with the Software Mind’s processes and development style.

How did you come to work with Software Mind?

We looked around Europe, and after a bit of research, we chose to look for a vendor in Kraków and spoke to a few companies. We found Software Mind through a networking agency for multinationals and chose them because they had the flexibility, experience, and talented people.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around €2 million per year (approximately $2,232,998 USD) on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2018 and the collaboration is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with your partner evolve?

Started working on one project with some augmented staff and over the years the team has grown to the extent that we have just under 30 people spread across multiple internal projects. Relationship with the Software Mind team has grown where we now share best practices and also learn from each other in different areas such as guilds, big data, AI etc.

In what ways can they improve?

Happy with the relationship just now and hoping we continue to build out more capabilities across different areas.

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

Start small, get used to working with the team and then build up when you are happy the team are adding value.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on October 8, 2019.

Derek Martin

Delivery Manager, Baillie Gifford & Co

IT Services

11-50 Employees

Poland

$1,000,000 - $9,999,999

May 2018 - Ongoing

Project summary

Software Mind ramps up the company’s development efforts, assisting with a variety of tasks that span several projects. Some of the apps they’re working on are client-facing and some are for in-house use.

Feedback summary

The products that are live get only positive feedback from users, and have had minimal to no bugs or other issues. Collaborating with Software Mind is easy thanks to their daily-stand up calls and regular face-to-face meetings. They have really high standards when it comes to producing quality code.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a delivery manager in the IT department of Baillie Gifford & Co. Our headquarters are in Edinburgh, Scotland. I head up the Kraków office and am based in Poland for most of the year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Mind?

We wanted to extend our application development capability and it was getting tougher to hire experienced IT staff in Edinburgh.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Software Mind has collaborated with us on several tasks and are currently working across eight different projects. These projects consist of in-house applications for our office back in Edinburgh—some are for the front office, some for the back office, and some are client-facing.

We work with Software Mind on a wide range of development tasks. We have a web-based frontend, so they have been using a development stack comprised of .NET, Visual Studio, PFX, C#, JavaScript as well as Angular.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we started with two developers and now have 35 developers and two security developers on board. We have two tech lead architects who I speak to daily, as well as a project manager, who deals a lot with the people, helps with the recruitments, and keeps up with the projects and the work that we need to do. Some people from their team are relatively new to development and some are just new to Software Mind, so part of the focus has been getting them up to speed with the Software Mind’s processes and development style.

How did you come to work with Software Mind?

We looked around Europe, and after a bit of research, we chose to look for a vendor in Kraków and spoke to a few companies. We found Software Mind through a networking agency for multinationals and chose them because they had the flexibility, experience, and talented people.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around €2 million per year (approximately $2,232,998 USD) on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2018 and the collaboration is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Users have been pleased with the products that have gone live. These have gotten through testing pretty smoothly, without many bugs or defects. We've received positive feedback so far.

How did Software Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has gone fairly well. Most of the team is based in Edinburgh, and the Software Mind team is here in Poland, so we use Microsoft Teams for day-to-day communication, Zoom for video conferencing, and a Scrum-based approach to development.

We do stand-up meetings every morning through Zoom, which we find easier and more effective than doing it over the phone. We also have face-to-face meetings every six to eight weeks, or three months at the latest, where a specific team of four or five developers will go over to Edinburgh for a few days and work with the in-house developers there.

Two or three months later, the team from Edinburgh will come over and work with the team here. Everyone in the office here has been to Edinburgh at least once, and most have been two or three times. Most of the projects have been carried our here.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most impressive things about Software Mind are their high standards and the quality of the code they build. They strive to make their code as best as possible and want to deliver within a decent timeframe. We tend to focus on making sure the type of solution is what our users want. Software Mind works on the priority features first and then continue to develop the product, making sure it's all usable for the business from the start.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The main thing I've received comments about is that Software Mind will sometimes be very quiet via Zoom conferencing, making it a challenge to try and get enough conversations going. I think it's more of a cultural and distance-related issue. We don't experience the same situation when meeting face-to-face. When it comes to the quality of the code, it has all worked really well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that someone is working closely with them. There has to be constant communication to make sure that things are moving along and the desired quality is being achieved.

Star Ratings

Overall rating: 4.5

Quality: 4.5

Cost: 4

Schedule: 4

Willing to refer: 4.5

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at Vita Mojo International. We have a software platform for restaurants; we call it an OS because restaurants can use our solution to manage their business from end to end. They can take orders digitally or manually, deliver them, manage everything, and report sales. We’re a London-based startup and a series B company, so we’re moving outside the UK into Europe.

I handle the whole engineering department, including processes, teams, and recruitment. I’ve been in the company for six and a half years, so I’ve been involved since the beginning.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Mind?

Six years ago, we had an MVP version causing many issues. We had to rebuild our software from the ground up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Software Mind to build our software. We started with a team of four engineers, and now they employ 24 people for us. They handle the admin, HR, and recruitment sides, and their people work alongside us as one team. It’s not project-based delivery; it’s a collaboration.

Initially, we went to them with our basic product. They rebuilt it for us, and then we kept expanding, transforming, and modernizing it to what it is today. We went from a software solution that worked for one restaurant to a platform that now serves thousands of restaurants simultaneously across different countries. It has more modules and is a much more complex software project.

When we expand and hire more people, Software Mind has two ways of going about it. First, they see if internal resources are available and propose the candidates to us. If they don’t have enough people to put on a project, we need to do some recruitment. The HR team advertises the positions in multiple countries, mainly in Eastern Europe. They do recruitment interviews, and then we do technical interviews to select the candidates and ensure there are no red flags.

Additionally, they do training. This year, we had an internship program that they helped us run. Software Mind got three recent graduates and had a two-month software training program. They brought them into our project so they could learn with a hands-on approach, and now they’ve hired the three candidates. On the other hand, they have a learning and development budget for their employees, which they can use for different trainings. For example, most of our people have access to language or English lessons. Most of them don’t need it, but they’re still there if people want to develop their language skills.

What is the team composition?

We have a main point of contact with one of the seniors; he oversees the project. However, most of the people in the team are developers, including an engineering manager and a delivery manager. Additionally, we’ve worked with QA people, but not anymore.

How did you come to work with Software Mind?

One of our founders got in touch with the managing director. We had a small contest between them and other providers. Software Mind showed us samples from other projects, and we chose to work with them due to their pitch and costs.

How much have you invested with them?

Over six years, we’ve spent close to £2.5 million (approximately $2.8 million USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2016, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We look at how fast we can get people in when we need them, how long we keep them employed, the quality of people they bring forward, and so on. Since we’ve built our software team with them, it’s been an enormous success. The growth hasn’t been abrupt — we’ve added people along the way but still have three people from the initial team. All in all, we haven’t had any major issues. Occasionally, we get someone who doesn’t fit in, so we have to let them go after their probation period. However, that’s generalized across our business; it isn’t specific to Software Mind’s support.

How did Software Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

We treat them as part of our organization. We do annual performance reviews as a joint effort. First, they provide reports with feedback after the three-month probation period. Then, we do the annual review with everyone. Software Mind does their internal evaluations, and then we help with more information. We build the report on the team members’ levels and where they can improve.

We don’t have a middle layer of communication, so our engineering managers, the product team, and the people working from England have direct access to the engineers and developers in our team. From that perspective, everything is very agile and swift. They’re very responsive and available, and we collaborate through Slack and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we have issues, we can talk directly to them. They’ve been along the journey, always supporting us in our endeavors. Also, the management team is excellent. They’re open, supportive, and communicative — it’s a very transparent relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their recruitment process for different countries is a bit fragmented. For example, it’s more challenging to recruit people in Poland because the recruitment team has many hoops to go through. It’s not a major issue, but they’re working on it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest and transparent. If you can be hands-on with the team, you’ll get the most out of them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CPO of GemOne. We deliver Telematics solution to deliver insights about fleets of off-highway industrial equipment by connecting them to the cloud.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Mind?

We hired multiple SoftwareMind teams to build and grow our GemOne IoT Cloud Platform. Apart from augmenting staff, we received lots of advice about IoT & Cloud development best practices.

SOLUTION

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

The ability to deliver qualitative cloud software at scale is what attracts us at SoftwareMind.

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

Together with SoftwareMind, we're building IoT solutions which provide actionable insights and opertational data streams about their fleet of industrial equipment.

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

We have been able to scale up and down high-performing teams at SoftwareMind, in accordance with investment budgets. This type of 'flexible workforce' is extremely valuable while scaling our SaaS offering.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been building out a telematics platform connecting thousands of machines already and we are preparing the foundations to support connecting millions in a performant and secure way.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The agile way of working at SoftwareMind made it a smooth integration in the way of working with the GemOne teams and other vendors, collaborating on the same products.

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

Their professionalism working in a complex environment with cutting-edge technologies is top-notch!

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

SoftwareMind could claim a more business-driving position from the start of the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the CTO of a software company. We built SaaS products for financial management, and I worked in product development and operations. We had 300 people in the company, and then we utilized external resources for product development, so I also managed them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Mind?

We were developing our own software product. We needed someone to scale up and resource our product development. Mainly, we were after scalability and expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Software Mind acted as a subcontractor for us. They provided a pool of SCRUM resources, and we basically hired them on a full-time basis. Their team worked with our product development unit, which consisted of in-house and external resources work. Software Mind produced 80% of that external resourcing.

We started with a pilot on a small scale and ramped up from there. Initially, we provided some basic documentation, but they gathered the experience and knowledge they needed throughout our collaboration. We mostly used JavaScript, but we ran a bunch of other languages as well. We used MySQL on the database side, Vaadin on the frontend, Spring Boot, and Cassandra for the message queue.

In summary, they produced quite a lot of things. Their team did the document management part and most of the public API provided to our customers. Also, they made critical changes to the core of our product and worked on UI design as well.

What is the team composition?

We had a main point of contact and 35 people working on 6–7 SCRUM things. Some were software architects, and we had a few software engineers, 5–6 QA engineers, SCRUM masters, and 1–2 designers.

How did you come to work with Software Mind?

I spent a while researching the options and went through about 50 companies. I came across Software Mind through someone I knew beforehand. He had more experience in this type of operation, so he suggested some good companies.

How much have you invested with them?

It was roughly €5 million (approximately $5.8 million USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2016, and I left in May 2021. The company is still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final evidence was the company’s business growth. During those years, our revenue increased by 30% annually. Moreover, Software Mind produced good quality work. When we compared their quality, it was on par with what we did in-house. We were very happy about that.

How did Software Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered what they’d promised. We didn’t do much project management together. They were under our management style, and they did well. We mainly worked remotely, but our teams also visited each other. Every month, someone from our office would go there, and then they’d visit us a few times a year. On the other hand, it was pretty different during 2020 due to the lockdown.

We used Slack, Microsoft Teams, emails, and phone calls to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, they stood out for their ability to deliver technology. From a cooperation standpoint, they were direct, honest, and easy to work with. Software Mind said what they thought and actually told us when we asked things that didn’t make sense.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At some points, we saw people leaving. Also, there were occasions where we could’ve prevented changes if we’d acted sooner, so maybe they could be more proactive on that front.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Getting the home base in order first helps a lot. Then, you have to approach them and be willing to hand them business-critical tasks and complex challenges. That’s when they prove they’re valuable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I oversee multiple teams that include Devs, QAs, and BAs, and as a company we focus on hotel benchmarking. We collate statistical hotel data and measure these establishments against each other.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with number8?

We needed their team’s software development and testing services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over the course of our working relationship with number8, they provided resources that integrated within our teams and helped develop several platforms and custom applications for both internal and external consumption.

What is the team composition?

The number8 resources were mixed in with existing teams, which usually consisted of 3–4 devs, QA, BA, and a PM.

How did you come to work with number8?

One of our managers had an existing professional relationship with number8 before I was onboarded in the company.  

How much have you invested with them?

I estimate we spent close to $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship with number8 lasted several years and came to an end in March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saved valuable time and money because of number8’s efforts. We didn’t really have definite KPIs or metrics to measure number8's specific impact within the teams, but I could confidently say that number8 delivered cost-effective results.

How did number8 perform from a project management standpoint?

number8 was a highly cooperative team — all the resources we worked with were accommodating and delivered tasks efficiently. They knew our business well given the length of our partnership, and they used that as an opportunity to generate quick yet logical results.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with their keen ability to deliver tailored and high-quality solutions. Our long-term engagement with number8 was enough proof that we found their services beneficial to our business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t encounter any aspect that they could’ve done differently. number8 was a proactive and professional team that listened to our needs and took our feedback into consideration.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust number8 to be the right partner for your company. They’ll not only deliver efficient results, but they’ll also work closely with you to ensure they are meeting expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the head of the software engineering department for a financial software company. We create solutions primarily for car finance companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Mind?

We wanted to expand our capabilities to scale quickly by having additional partners. We also wanted to validate that we could work with an external partner that wasn't part of the same company. Additionally, we wanted a bit more than our previous development partner could provide, since we had to do all of the design and specifications while working with them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They serve as an augmentation of our full-stack development team for our Java web application using a Spring and Hibernate framework, with JSF. We started with a pilot team, and they came here for a few weeks, where we did some intensive training about the product. Next, we mixed them into teams with some of our employees and gave them real work to complete. As the team grew familiar with the product, we wanted to scale further and created self-sufficient teams comprised of all Software Mind employees.

What is the team composition?

We had 18 members from their team at the peak. We typically fluctuate between 10-17 members of their team and I have one main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Software Mind?

We performed an extensive search across Eastern Europe, and we got a cold call from Software Mind at the time when we were looking. We were really impressed right from the start. They were the clear choice out of all the candidates saw.

How much have you invested with them?  

We invest €70,000 per month (approximately $78,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was obvious from the minute we started working with them that they were really passionate about software development, best practices, and doing things the right way. We had a legacy product that had been built in the last 10-12 years that had a lot of technical debt and had built bad practices around some of our processes. Software Mind was pretty vocal in trying to remedy that and make it right. We were used to partners who do whatever we ask, but they actually helped us improve. In the two and a half years of working with them, they've helped us identify issues and suggest solutions.

Sometimes, we can't always change things and they've been good about accommodating those circumstances. Overall, it's been really good. They're passionate about software development and it rubs off on anyone they work with. They're very hardworking, too and have been a huge help to us.

How did Software Mind perform from a project management standpoint?

Their communication is really good, and we have a good policy in place of trying to have video calls whenever possible. We visit each other's offices quite regularly, and they feel like part of our team rather than just an outsource team. We use Jira for project management and delegating tasks to them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their willingness to share knowledge and passion for their craft is infectious. It certainly helps improve our developers, as well as helping us to improve our product. They share knowledge really well within their company; they have a lot of teams working on different technology stacks, they share all of their experiences and knowledge between teams, and we then benefit because they share with us, too.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It's hard to say, but the only real challenges we've had with them are our limited ability to update technology stacks and address technical debt quickly has proved challenging in keeping their best team members happy and motivated. This is largely due to our constraints rather than a failing of theirs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to involve them as much as possible. If you're looking for someone to just do a quick & cheap enhancement to an existing product, they might not be the best company for that. If you're looking for a company that will come in and help improve all aspects of software development and your product development processes, they're the right choice. I've never seen anything like them and I've worked with several outsourcing partners.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Applications Development Manager of W.B. Mason

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Business to business product delivery and ecommerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mind to accomplish?

• Contract skilled developers
• Modernize standards and practices
• Unit Testing
• Increase number of concurrent projects

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mind?

Online Search

Why did you select Software Mind over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Software Mind were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• Modernization of ecommerce website. 
• Create standalone deliverables for each page. 
• The ecommerce site currently contains over 50 pages that will be replaced piece by piece. 
• Create microservice APIs to fulfill front end requirements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sprints and continuous integration and delivery.

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

They prompted constant communication and delivered all items on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mind?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Skilled developers and a wealth of internal resources.

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

None.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Programme Management of Snow Software

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Snow Software is the only unified cloud-native platform delivering actionable insights on your IT environment. Bringing together SaaS management, software asset management and cloud cost management, you can optimize IT spend, rein in cost, mitigate risk and drive value from all your technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Software Mind to accomplish?

• Expand our software delivery workforce.
• Accelerate our Product delivery.

SOLUTION

How did you find Software Mind?

Referral

Why did you select Software Mind over others?

• Pricing first our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Software Mind’s team?

30

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

Software Mind has provided 30+ staff across various disciplines within Software Product delivery, including Developers, Product Owners, QA staff and more.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Staffing goals achieved
• Quality staff delivered with low churn
• High output contribution by supplied staff

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

Software Mind Account management does an excellent job of finding the high-quality staff we need quickly, ensuring these staff are onboarded smoothly and managing any issues during the lifecycle.

What was your primary form of communication with Software Mind?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are able to provide talented and motivated staff quickly and efficiently at a highly competitive price.

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

No concerns or improvements requested.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of a software company developing navigation and compliance software in the maritime sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had to quickly grow our dev capacity in order to deliver an updated version of our flagship software.

SOLUTION

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

Based on contact we had in the past we contacted SWMind to help build this increased capacity.

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

Project management, dev and QA of a desktop software using .Net WPF.

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

Up to 8 Dev, 3 QA and a project leader.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their team managed to quickly create a performant team with a low turnover at a fair price. The Software was delivered and accepted by our customer.

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

Agile dev with daily stands up. We were really feeling they were an extension of our internal team.

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

How quick they can build a team of .Net dev. Quality of their dev.

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

A better understanding of the maritime business would have helped some of the challenges we faced during the project.