"Proactive and diligent, Arcanys acts like a part of our team."
Arcanys provides ongoing development support for a traffic monitoring company. They troubleshoot issues within a C++ system and create new interfaces using Java, C#, and other technologies.
"Proactive and diligent, Arcanys acts like a part of our team."
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a software development team deputy for Citilog. We provide intelligent video monitoring systems for the transportation industry.
What challenge were you trying to address with Arcanys?
We engaged Arcanys to provide development support for long-term projects. We need help handling day-to-day issues like customer requests and bug fixing, formalizing procedures, and improving the system’s overall quality.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Arcanys is in charge of developing our embedded systems. We use a C++ and Linux environment. Their team works on various projects including the engine, the communications protocol, a Java UI, and C++ features.
Arcanys also works on the UI of our desktop products using C# and DevExpress library, in which their team has in-depth knowledge.
What is the team composition?
We first worked with one C# developer, and the team has grown as we’ve increased Arcanys’ involvement. We now collaborate with five people; four work on development tasks while one is dedicated to testing. As my side’s primary point of contact, I also communicate with a manager and the founders.
How did you come to work with Arcanys?
My predecessor found their team through our company’s network.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Arcanys around 2011, and the partnership is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Arcanys works well within our sophisticated software system. Their UIs have received positive user feedback, and we have full confidence in their ability to troubleshoot and fix complex items. They have truly improved our system.
How did Arcanys perform from a project management standpoint?
We manage the project from our side. We communicate every day via Skype and email, and we use a shared test bay and a shared development platform for testing requests. We also visit their office once a year to get to know their team better.
The team overall is highly attentive and flexible. They have remained patient with us as we formalized our system. Every team member—from the developers to the founders—is easy to reach and willing to fix issues as needed. Despite some ambiguities over the years, Arcanys always meets their schedule and alerts us about potential delays.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Proactive and diligent, Arcanys acts like a part of our team. They ask questions if they don’t understand something, and they point ways to refactor a request or improve a process if needed. We appreciate their openness; they feel as invested in our success as we are.
Are there any areas they could improve?
We first were worried about evaluating potential resources through remote interviews. However, we’ve developed a recurring process with Arcanys to assess each incoming team member constructively and thoroughly. We’re thrilled with the collaboration overall.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
Have a formal onboarding process. Visit their team regularly as well to clear any communication issues.
“We’ve become more rapid in our build and release process because of them.”
Arcanys augments the internal dev team, providing offshore developers. They collaborate closely and work on various projects, including cloud services and web apps.
“We’ve become more rapid in our build and release process because of them.”
Arcanys offers a great value while still doing high-quality work. The team is skilled and flexible, making them a great partner. They have good project management and communication skills, allowing for an optimized and efficient partnership.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CTO of NZ Funds, a financial services organization that specializes in investment management, wealth management, and financial advice. Our customer base is private investors, retail investors, and financial advisors.
What challenge were you trying to address with Arcanys?
We needed a cost-effective way to scale our IT team.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Arcanys provides full-time resources who work with our in-house dev team, taking on tasks from within our weekly or monthly sprints. They recently collaborated on a geo-based cloud service for wealth planning and financial advising. Arcanys works in Azure Stack and uses SQL servers to accomplish their work. They also build web-based apps, using tools such as JavaScript, C#, and Entity Framework.
What is the team composition?
They initially provided three developers, but we went down to two.
How did you come to work with Arcanys?
We wanted a cost-effective offshore partner located in the Philippines because they overlapped with our time zone. We did an extensive search, doing email introductions and phone interviews with about six or seven different organizations. We then did an in-person visit in the Philippines to conduct a deep dive into the businesses. We chose Arcanys because of their skill set, web presences, and client references.
How much have you invested with them?
We spend about $10,000 a month.
What is the status of this engagement?
We partnered in December 2017, and the work is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our partnership allows us to move faster and enables our dev team to implement solutions quicker. We’ve become more rapid in our build and release process because of them.
How did Arcanys perform from a project management standpoint?
Overall, we’re happy with their level of communication, documentation, and responsiveness. We had to let one developer go because their work wasn’t what we expected, but Arcanys helped make the transition. They’re flexible and allow us to adjust their involvement based on our needs. We mainly communicate via Skype, email, and WhatsApp.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Unlike other firms, Arcanys is a genuine tech partner, not just a resource provider. They also have a payment structure that keeps them engaged in our projects instead of locking us into a partnership for a long time.
Are there any areas they could improve?
As they grow, they should continue to focus on being a tech partner with advanced skill levels.
“They possess initiative, excellent problem-solving skills, and great personalities.”
Arcanys collaborates with in-house staff to develop and maintain a financial tech company’s payment platform. Their team also handles cloud hosting security and ensures the platform’s PCI DSS compliance.
“They possess initiative, excellent problem-solving skills, and great personalities.”
Their team has been a major asset and has helped scale up business significantly. Since partnering with Arcanys, business has grown nearly 150% year over year. Their staff has excellent technical skills and communicate progress effectively.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CTO and a co-founder of Payment Logic. We’re based in Australia and provide our customers with cash flow benefits from commercial credit cards while earning reward points. We also negotiate early payment discounts.
What challenge were you trying to address with Arcanys?
We utilise a hybrid software development team with resources based in Australia and the Philippines and we were looking for a technology partner to help our company scale up cost-effectively.
What was the scope of their involvement?
They’ve been involved at every stage of development from defining project requirements to final deployment. Our staff build the payment platforms and then their developers help us to build and maintain web apps and cloud hosting infrastructure. Some of that includes overall security and payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS) compliance. Everything is built using Microsoft technologies like Azure.
What is the team composition?
When we first began, we had two developers. Over time, we increased their team to six full-time staff, including a project manager/business analyst, three senior developers, and two QA engineers. We’re currently in the process of bringing on three more people.
How did you come to work with Arcanys?
We were recruiting in Australia and Arcanys responded to our online job advertisement. We’d never hired contractors before, so we met with them to learn more about their business. Their technical capabilities, company culture, quality of staff, and cost structure were impressive, so we decided to hire them for an initial proof of concept project. After seeing the quality of their work, we were sold.
How much have you invested with them?
When we started, our investment was approximately $10,000 per month. We currently pay just under $30,000 per month and have spent around $400,000 in total to date.
What is the status of this engagement?
We’ve worked together since 2016 and the project is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Deloitte Australia’s Technology Fast 50 recently named us as Australia’s 34th fastest-growing technology company. We’ve averaged 148% growth over the last 3 years. This success has been supported by the agility, skill, and dedication of our Arcanys resources.
How did Arcanys perform from a project management standpoint?
I’d originally had some concerns about managing a team of remote resources, but it’s been much easier than I anticipated. We use Agile/scrum methodologies, so we talk daily via video conference. We strive to have open communication and it’s worked really well despite their team being in another country. To achieve this, we use Azure DevOps for planning, task allocation, and status tracking. It helps to have efficient workflows through our software development platform.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Not only do their staff have great technical skills, but they also possess initiative, excellent problem-solving skills, and great personalities.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There are some subtle cultural differences between the Philippines and Australia. Occasionally, the team is so eager to please that they jump in and start working before the full project team agrees to a concrete plan. We’ve been working to ensure everyone’s in sync and trying to take the shortest possible path from conception to release.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
As great as our Arcanys resources are, they are like any other valuable resources: they need to be managed and nurtured. I suggest getting to know the team and encouraging two-way communication, which includes listening to what they tell you.
“Their developers demonstrate a level of foresight that’s rare among outsourcing firms.”
Arcanys is developing a cloud-based manufacturing automation platform using AWS and Kubernetes. With the backend infrastructure firmly in place, they’re currently designing a user-friendly frontend interface.
“Their developers demonstrate a level of foresight that’s rare among outsourcing firms.”
Arcanys implements a forward-thinking to approach product development. They consistently improve a complex platform and deliver polished code within established deadlines. Their project manager communicates effectively and leads a talented team of professionals. They’re a valuable resource.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CEO and founder of Medulla. We’re a technology startup that facilitates manufacturing operations by improving the traceability of products.
What challenge were you trying to address with Arcanys?
While we were able to create a functional model of our software internally, our team doesn’t possess the skills required to take the project further. Therefore, we needed a development partner to build a cloud-based version of the platform.
What was the scope of their involvement?
The Arcanys team are building our factory system from the ground up. It’s an AWS platform that utilizes the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. They use Kubernetes to enable continuous operation integrations that deploy automatically. Considering the previous build required us manually initiate procedures, I’d say they’ve improved the platform significantly. Now that the core functionalities are up and running, they’ve allocated several designers to implement an intuitive UI/UX.
What is the team composition?
They assigned us a project manager, two backend developers, a UX designer, and a QA resource.
How did you come to work with Arcanys?
We previously worked with development firm based in India, but we weren’t happy with their ability to manage the time zone difference. That experience made look for a vendor closer to home. I connected with the co-founder of Arcanys through a network of professionals.
How much have you invested with them?
The cost fluctuates as the project evolves, but we generally spend around $10,000–$12,000 each month.
What is the status of this engagement?
We hired them in September 2018 and the work is ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I haven’t found any functional problems with the builds they’ve developed thus far. Their QA tester has mentioned a few bugs, but none that require immediate action.
How did Arcanys perform from a project management standpoint?
We run development sprints every two weeks, and their project manager ensures that everything goes smoothly. After I walk them through the sprint requirements, the manager creates a task list for each developer to follow. There’s a lot of work involved in that process, but they hit each benchmark as scheduled. Despite a small language barrier, communicating with them is fairly easy.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their developers demonstrate a level of foresight that’s rare among outsourcing firms. Most vendors will build what’s asked of them, but won’t think outside of the project’s scope to solve problems. Arcanys looks at each project holistically and will recommend solutions before potential issues occur. By always looking ahead, they ensure that each new element can seamlessly integrate with the other modules in our roadmap. That ability is incredibly valuable to us.
Are there any areas they could improve?
An initial lack of communication resulted in us getting billed for hours without knowing what was being done. Once we communicated the issue, they addressed it quickly. We’ve been receiving frequent updates ever since.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Utilizing their project manager allows us to keep track of the engagement without having to allocate a dedicated resource.
"Arcanys’ younger staff won us over because they were in tune with current thinking regarding app development."
Arcanys acts as an ongoing maintenance and development partner for a project management application. They’re currently revitalizing the app’s appearance while preserving its MySQL database and PHP structure.
"Arcanys’ younger staff won us over because they were in tune with current thinking regarding app development."
The app performed well in an independent evaluation and has been floated as a possible government-wide standard. Arcanys has expert technical skills and fosters a transparent atmosphere with consistent communication. Customers can expect a forward-thinking partner with a modern style.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the president of Manta Ray Consulting, a consulting group that primarily provides support for large projects relating to building and upgrading particle accelerators. Our customers are Department of Energy laboratories in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and other locations throughout the country.
What challenge were you trying to address with Arcanys?
As part of our consulting work, I wrote a project management application that we utilize in the facilities we work in. A group based in Bangalore, India built the application, but they grew to busy to manage it and give me the attention I needed. Arcanys took over the application’s maintenance and development 4–5 years ago. It’s been a fruitful collaboration.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Initially, they took over maintenance of the application developed by the Bangalore team. They learned a great deal regarding what the original design and development team did. I then gave them the green light to improve the application. They studied the front- and backend in-depth and provided recommendations to improve the app’s UI and backend performance. Afterward, they were responsible for keeping up with maintenance and adding enhancements customers requested.
As of August 2018, they’ve started to develop the second version of the application. To save money, they’re using the existing backend structure (an SQL database and .NET platform) and making mostly cosmetic changes. I’ve worked with two developers to evaluate the app’s current design and revamp it to be stylized and sexy.
What is the team composition?
I worked with a project manager in the early stages, who introduced me to the lead developer. I’m also a project manager, so I began working directly with the lead developer. She’s a brilliant woman, who, in my mind, is a miracle-worker.
How did you come to work with Arcanys?
I looked at reviews online and narrowed the choice to 2–3 companies. After interviewing the people in charge and the developers we’d be working with about their experience, it came down to Arcanys and another firm based in the Philippines. Arcanys’ younger staff won us over because they were in tune with current thinking regarding app development. Though both firms had similar development skills, we liked Arcanys’ modern appearance.
How much have you invested with them?
My average expenditure with them in the early stages was about $3,500 per month. It’s tripled since then because we brought on a design and development team. In total, I’ve spent between $100,000–$200,000 with Arcanys.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started the most recent iteration in January 2017, but I believe the overall collaboration began 4–5 years ago.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
An independent cost review of our work at a facility in Berkeley, California used the app to prepare and develop their plan. Two weeks prior, we gave community members access to the tool so that they could evaluate it. They were so impressed they recommended to the Department of Energy that all projects use the app going forward. Their recommendation made it all the way to Washington, which is quite an endorsement and success story for us.
How did Arcanys perform from a project management standpoint?
I’ve developed a tight-knit relationship with my team of developers at Arcanys, so the communication is wide-open. Because they’re in the Philippines, we talk over Skype. We also use Jira to upload stories and discuss technical issues.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They have really talented developers.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They’re 13 hours ahead of us, so I would change their time zone. I have to work late but that's just the way it is.
Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?
It’s important to understand the cultural differences that exist between your and your provider’s locations. Empower them to speak their minds and alert you if you’re leading them down the wrong path. I told our developers this first thing, and we've been fine.
The interfaces have garnered praise from stakeholders, and Arcanys’ resources reliably fix issues within the software system. The team has integrated seamlessly thanks to constant communication, timeliness, flexibility. Their willingness to ask questions and suggest improvements stands out.