Exoft

Please describe your company and your position there.

Engineering Software Lead at an international IT/Greentech company with offices in Europe and in the US.

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

Introducing a new product line while experiencing a substantial growth with the current product/service portfolio put us in a position where our growth became limited by the recruitment/training processes. Basically we needed a larger team very quickly to be able to serve the increasing demand.

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

Exoft demonstrated numerous similar, already accomplished projects, where their skilled developers helped out clients on time and within budget. The skillset their developers provided completely matched our requirements.

One further deciding factor was the relatively small geographical distance (almost in the same time zone, which was vital for efficient communication).

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

The cooperation had two major stages:

In the first stage, a text document generator was developed based on existing specifications. The task covered the retrieval of the HTML-based templates, substitute and expand template elements by actual data, then convert the text to office document and printable formats, along with visual customization. The developers helped to improve the custom template language used in this task as well. The component deployed in this stage got deployed to production and is used on a daily basis.

The second stage covered the development of a drawing arrangement and a pathfinder tool for engineering drawings. The goal was to develop a component that based on input data provides an optimal arrangement of engineering symbols and connects them.

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

There were two people working with us on a daily basis in a software developer (coder) position.

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

We were able to upscale our team without losing momentum on the new product development side, and without harming the support quality for our existing clients. The components delivered by Exoft people are deployed in production and are an integral part of our workflow by now.

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

The project management was absolutely flexible, Exoft 100% adapted to our needs both in terms of communication tools, reporting routine and timelines. We could integrate the two developers into our team in a seamless way.

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

The response time of the management and the technical preparedness of the developers were both extraordinarily good. This, together with the flexibility offered made working together with Exoft a very pleasant experience.

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

We cannot see any issues with the cooperation. This is how it is supposed to work in all the cases.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and co-founder of xTECH. We do web and mobile development using JavaScript.

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

A new client in Germany needed a web application developed for their customers, and the backend had to be built using .NET. We only do JavaScript development, so we needed a service provider to help us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We did the frontend development on our side, including all the API specifications. Exoft developed the actual API using .NET. The deliverables at the end were the codes of the API and a deployed version of the API on a Linux machine that the client provided. Exoft also provided us some documentation on how to use and configure the API and the structure of the database. The documentation was for our client’s developers if they wanted to do development internally.

The main work ended in February, but the client had more features they wanted to add, so I worked to define those features and understand everything. is currently finishing those additions.

If we need more developers in the future, we’ll get back in touch with them.

What is the team composition?

We were in contact with one developer on a regular basis. Their CTO set everything up with us at the beginning and connected with us when needed moving forward. He was responsive if I had organizational questions.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We did some online research and posted the project to Upwork. Some applications came in, and we set up a simple test project for them. We were happy with Exoft, as they demonstrated the required skills for the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $8,400 on the initial build, and the new features total around $1,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2020.

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

The project isn’t live yet, but our clients are satisfied. They’re doing internal tests, and everything seems to be fine. We also tested the API on our side before we delivered it — any time we found an issue, Exoft responded rapidly.

We were able to take on the project because of Exoft’s services; without their expertise, we wouldn’t have accepted the project at all.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We were responsible for Exoft developing the API correctly, so we gave them access to our Clickup tool to manage tasks. We also shared documentation with them — part of it came from the client and part of it we created. We also created the API specifications for them to follow through on.

Regular calls help us to define tasks, as well as their integration into our Slack environment. This allows us to communicate in real-time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness and availability stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Exoft’s CTO communicates well verbally, but the developer was a bit more challenging to understand. His written communication was clearer, however.

They could also work on enhancing their documentation. I had to rewrite some of the documentation before giving it to the client. Exoft prepared very technical documentation, but it wasn’t usable by the client in its initial form.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk with them about the project; they’ll tell you if something is unclear and ask for details, so they know what to do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of NextMove PRO, which is a real estate sales management system.

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We sought a development team to take over the project. We hired contractors who weren’t permanently assigned to the project. We needed a permanent solution.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft basically jumped into the project without any onboarding from the previous team. In the beginning, their team fixed bugs and then updated the product. They then built additional features. It has been a full stack project.

As we don’t have an in-house team, Exoft manages everything. Their responsibilities include maintaining the system, fixing bugs, and building new features. For example, they built a payment system. Their team uses .Net, Vue.js, JavaScript, and HTML.

What is the team composition?

There are 3–4 people from Exoft working with us. Two people from their team oversee the project while two others work on the development.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We found them through UpWork. This project was complex because we didn’t have much documentation. We went through 12 different teams that passed our interview process. Exoft was one of the only teams that could figure out our system and made the process easy.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$25,000 on their services so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought them on board in October 2020, and we’re still working with them.

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

No other provider we interviewed was able to deploy updates. When we deploy a new feature, we consider how much trouble we face. Honestly, deployments have been super clean. From testing to deployment, it has been perfect. Nothing has gone wrong.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

When we started with Exoft, we weren’t super organized. It was a new team, and we weren’t super clear on what we needed. Exoft was patient and worked with us even over the weekend.

We communicate via Skype and email. I’m grateful to them because their team is able to jump into projects with us whenever needed. That wasn’t our experience with previous providers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s so easy to work with Exoft. They’re always available to help us work through a problem. Their team is always patient and kind, which isn’t typical. Their team’s willing to walk us through anything. They’re understanding and willing to do whatever we ask of them. Their team always answers right away. Working with Exoft has been a completely different experience from working with any other vendor. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we haven’t had any trouble with them. Everything has been easy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you need and know what you have. When looking for a team, ensure that you have what you need to share with them. Proper documentation is extremely helpful. However, Exoft can figure it out if you don’t have it.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of technology at a software development company. We provide services and build engineering applications for companies in oil and gas, manufacturing, and other sectors.

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We’ve always had difficult hiring resources and staffing projects, so we hired Exoft.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft provides us with dedicated development resources and specialists when we need to find people quickly. They also provide the option of doing complete projects for us, if we don’t have the resources to do them ourselves.

Working with Exoft, we selected and onboarded each team member. They work specifically on web-based engineering applications for the scientific environment. We specify what technology to use, and they execute accordingly. They work with a microservices architecture and AngularJS on the frontend.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with 20–23 people from Exoft at the moment. Alex (Client Partner) is our main contact.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

Originally, we began working with another company and were miserably disappointed with their work. After that, a friend of mine who had worked with Exoft recommended them to me.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $500,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Exoft in April 2020, and the project is ongoing.

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

Exoft has very good resources at various levels. Their developers are completely embedded into our teams and we work with them on a daily basis. The developers were hired specifically for our team and they deliver high-quality work.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Exoft handles the physical hiring in Ukraine, but almost everything else is managed by us. They’re on our Slack channels, so we can talk to them quite easily.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to the previous team we’ve worked with, Exoft is good at finding resources. They also communicate very well. They’re transparent about how well each person is performing so we can make changes as needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only thing I’d change would be for them to be a bit more proactive in filtering resources. We’re currently in the process of hiring 15–20 more resources, but we have to start from scratch. Exoft doesn’t have enough staff members to provide us with that many resources. Consequentially, they need to recruit more people, which is will take time.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If the objective is just resource acquisition, Exoft is a very good choice. My suggestion is to go to them early and give them time to find the right people for your team. Time is always an issue, and there are a finite number of resources. I didn’t do it early enough, and that was our fault.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product for a performance tracking AI platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

My company was looking to augment our internal development team with experienced resources. We wanted to accelerate current projects and create a future roadmap.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft provides us with experts in .NET, C#, Azure, Microsoft stack, and Angular. We use JavaScript as well. They work with our internal developers and serve as the main part of our development team.

They do everything and are fully responsible for the development of our product from end-to-end. They do back- and frontend development, DevOps, and cloud management.

They’ve worked on multiple projects. They worked with our data scientists to develop some machine learning services and a lot of integrations to external systems. We also developed add-ons for collaboration tools.

What is the team composition?

There’s one team lead, who is a senior developer, and two other developers.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

They were recommended to us. We interviewed their resources and were impressed.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $150,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

They’re very quality-oriented and openminded to feedback. They work well with our team.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Exoft is very dedicated, and they deliver. They act as if they’re internal employees. They have adapted to our development methodologies and tools. We use Jira and GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re committed to our success and the mutual success of this relationship. They don’t see themselves as an outsourced resource, but rather, as part of the company they work for and with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I’d have them improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as part of your team with all of the internal ceremonies. Let them feel and understand the business and customer needs. Have a full engagement.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO of wellsUP, an organization that sells SaaS for the oil and gas industry. We do monitoring and surveillance, as well as diagnostics and optimization of artificial lift systems.

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We needed to apply the latest technologies and use some out-of-the-box thinking. I had a team in India that worked for the company and they were a direct-hire, but they lacked creativity. I wanted a partner who had unique ideas, using some of the latest technologies, Microservices, distributed systems, as well as cloud-based elasticity.

There were a lot of concerns from a SaaS perspective. We wanted someone who had experience on that side, offered good ideas, and was willing to do the research and give us recommendations before they commenced the work. 

We didn't want it to simply provide them with the specs and then have them just carry out the development; wanted someone to help us and steer us in the right direction.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started by giving them an overview of our intention without providing them with written documents and specs. We worked on multiple quick prototypes or proof of concepts (POC) of elements that might be in line with what we were thinking of until we finally agreed on something to move forward with. 

Exoft then helped us write and define complete specs for the software. They did the proof of concept and brainstormed with us to properly define what we wanted. The team also did the development, testing, and validation by hosting the initial product. 

They used C#, Microservices, containers for virtualization technologies, MongoDB, and Cassandra. We used certain types of databases for certain tasks and also structured and unstructured in a different database. The team ported C++ code into it as well. Now, they take care of maintenance. 

What is the team composition?

It varied. My main contact was Ivan (Co-Founder), and he assigned us a project manager who did most of the conference calls and weekly updates.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

Initially, we found them after conducting a search. We sold my old company to a large multinational organization, and Exoft continued to do a lot of work for us. After we sold the company, I stayed there for two years and then when I started my own business, I contacted them.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $300,000–$350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them on this project in 2015, and the work is still ongoing. They still provide maintenance and support, and they’re adding new features as well.

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

Anytime I have an issue, Exoft jumps on it immediately. They support my team, and if we need something urgently but it’s still in the approval process, they get me the proof of concept (POC) quickly so that we can validate the idea. Their support is top-notch and that is really the main motivation I have.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided us with progress reports during the development phase. All of the team members can communicate in English, but, occasionally, some of them had a tough time understanding. Nevertheless, it all worked out in the end. 

As far as communicating the progress and the project schedules, their communication is peer-to-peer and prompt. They are always aware of our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One thing that stood out was that anytime we wanted to do something, they were so quick to give me a proof of concept (POC). Other vendors would want you to go engage with them on a long-term contract, overcomplicating the POC. 

When you tell Exoft what you want, they do it quickly. You validate what you want and they go ahead and put meat on the bones.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When you need resources, they might be engaged in other projects. At some points, they had more projects than they could handle. To be fair, when we gave them a heads up, they did provide the resources. 

Sometimes, I selfishly want things to be done faster. However, Exoft isn’t always able to provide me those resources due to their scheduling, workload, and other commitments. Additionally, they all write well in English, but not all of them are fluent in spoken English.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you give them a heads up on any project you want to get done. You will get the right resources for your needs. The best way to leverage them is when you have ideas and want to be creative, engage them early on, and they will come up with a quick proof of concept (POC). 

The team will also help you come up with ideas. If you have any ambiguity about what you want to do, they are a great team to help, and that is what sets them apart.

If you have a project with written specs, there are a million companies that can do it, including them. But if you have out-of-the-box ideas and want to come up with the best and latest and greatest for your environment and your development, they are head and shoulders above a lot of other companies I have worked with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software company. We provide software development services.

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We needed high-quality software engineers at a rate that was affordable to my customers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve been working on a software platform for a customer of mine. In that time, they've been writing the code for the solution. They have a very good understanding of Microservices for the domain-driven design. Their experience with .NET and .NET Core is excellent.

They were building high-scale features for a platform for tens of thousands of people concurrently with appointment scheduling, building custom reports from scratch, etc.

The use event sourcing on CQRS. They use ESB as a service bus. They use Cosmos DB in Azure and much of the Azure Cloud infrastructure all deployed in docker containers inside Kubernetes.

Their team uses SQL server as well as some CI/CD tools. They use Azure DevOps like Octopus Deploy along with various frameworks.

What is the team composition?

I have two teams from Exoft.

How did you come to work with Exoft?

I interviewed about 15 different providers and I went with two. Exoft was one of them. They seemed like an established, professional business in Ukraine, which was what I was looking for. They came in at the right price. They had very high-quality engineers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

The Exoft teams delivered twice the number of features than the customer’s internal development team delivered every two weeks. They’ve done very well, performing beyond my expectations.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good. I’m the product owner from my customers, and they provide custom software development services for my customers. This involves daily conference calls with myself and my customers. Exoft is very professional and good at what they do. They're impressive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Relationship management was one of the things that separate them from other providers that I’ve used. They have a really good understanding of continuous deployment and continuous delivery.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we have a very good working relationship with them. They delivered what I asked of them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them. They’re very good. I’ll be using them again.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO of a Legaltech Startup. We are developing software that lets lawyers build legal expert systems.

For what projects/services did your company hire Exoft ?

We had a simple prototype of our solution developed inhouse. We needed to create a minimum viable product of our solution. We hired Exoft to build an MVP using modern Microsoft technologies.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the project was to develop a fully functional MVP that could be presented to investors and potential clients. The solution had to be built using Angular, ASP.NET Core and hosted on Azure.

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us by another company. After conducting an interview with Exoft, we decided to try their services.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Exoft received our requirements and specifications, they determined the scope of the project and provided a talented developer to work on the project. We used Scrum framework to manage the project with two-week sprints.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of one project manager from our side and one full stack developer from Exoft. Exoft changed a developer during the project but the transition went smoothly.

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

Exoft succeded in completing development of our solution on time and according to specification.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Scrum framework for project management, where we had daily scrum meetings through Skype. Azure DevOps was used for planning and tracking the progress. It was easy to communicate with developers since they are fluent in English, it helped also that our project manager is fluent in Ukrainian.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed by the skill level and talent of the developers as well as their attitude towards the project. They are not afraid to express their ideas and propose solutions that can benefit the project.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always something one can improve but there have not been any major issues.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a leading electric car charging service provider. I am the head of engineering.

For what projects/services did your company hire Exoft ?

Our company hired Exoft for the following projects: development of B2C user portals, portals for B2B partners and a public website.

What were your goals for this project?

Extend and improve functionality, incorporate designs developed by UX.

How did you select this vendor?

Via an online freelancer platform.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Fleet portal: an online tool for registration and management of fleets. CPO portal: an online tool for registration and management of CPO partners. White label portals: an online tool for registration and management of OEM customers. POC: an operations centre for internal administration processes. Public website

What was the team composition?

The two frontend engineers worked underneath the product owner and UX specialist.

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

The projects were important for more efficient, streamlined management of B2B and B2C customer relationships.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The two frontend engineers worked underneath the product owner and UX specialist. The project timeframe was managed following best practices of Agile/SCRUM framework.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Company provided services as requested! We did not have to use resources to recruit or administer for these roles.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We found the services provided to be adequate.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of marketing at an event planning platform. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Exoft?

We were in the process of moving to a new platform and we needed additional development resources. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Exoft mainly helps us with Angular web development. We usually give them the wireframes and they implement our requirements. Their backend developer joined us pretty late in two development projects, but they picked it up very quickly. We were happy with the work, so we ended up bringing on a frontend developer as well. 

What is the team composition? 

We mostly work with a backend Angular developer and a frontend developer. 

How did you come to work with Exoft?

We found them on Upwork. We needed a team that was fluent in Russian, because that's where our team is set up. We gave Exoft a sample project and they did a great job, so the relationship grew from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started working with Exoft in April 2019, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

Exoft has definitely demonstrated a strong level of understanding and attention to details. If we have any feedback, they're always willing to implement it.

How did Exoft perform from a project management standpoint? 

We use Skype to keep in touch, and they have daily scrum meetings. They're fluent in both English and Russian, which makes it easy to work with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, we're happy with the quality of their work. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.