VENE Dash & Overwatch

Media Elements Digital was a provider of mobile content and entertainment services with nearly 200 people on board, operating in subscription and affiliate models. Their challenge was to launch a holistic application for performance marketing and compliance (a PaaS) to be sold worldwide, based on their internal tool. The client was already aware that their internal pre-existing solution had some drawbacks, such as incomplete documentation, which became the reason for the slow progress of the development process. The client was not sure whether they could find anyone to complete this demanding task.

The lack of documentation was, indeed, the major challenge. The solution was based on an old PHP code and it was difficult to debug. Moreover, it was problematic for the client to provide us with detailed business knowledge and debrief us about the company’s needs and expected application functionalities. The method for us was then to observe how the application worked and figure out its purposes based on its functionalities.

Obviously, this is not how any complex application should be created and developed. In order to complete the project successfully, we needed to obtain much deeper insights into the company’s business goals and needs. This is why we put effort into consulting every single detail of the application to come up with the most relevant solutions.

After the kick-off workshop, we came up with the approach to the challenge quite fast. We immediately decided to improve the existing application while building a new API together with proper documentation. We defined this task as the most critical step of the process that could allow us to move on with further development.

The client decided to stick to the PHP programming language. They also selected the main technical stack, with Kubernetes among other technologies. On top of that, we added a few modern tools that helped us to accelerate the development process. This is how we combined the client’s requirements with a satisfying development experience.

In the first stage of the project, we mainly focused on delivering the requested features. However, after we got into the project a little deeper, we could detect many opportunities for improvement. We re-organized the team’s development process, so the tasks could be completed more efficiently, and we provided the client with tips on how to develop their ideas and methods and solve occurring problems.

We understood that in order to complete the project successfully, we had to stay proactive. Rather than relying on the client’s requirements, we made sure to see the big picture and find the best solutions. This is how the client started to trust our expertise and competencies. As a result, they kept delegating to us more and more elements of the system that had previously been developed internally but we could complete them much more efficiently.

As a result of the project, we first created a new, fully functional frontend and significantly improved the logic behind the application for the client to be able to continue operation. The whole system was simultaneously re-written, debugged, and repaired. We also managed to optimize the maintenance cost which has already been reduced by circa 40%, with the realistic goal of reaching 53%. Moreover, the client’s team improved their internal communication and learned how to work in an agile way. The client trusted us and decided to delegate even more tasks than were initially requested, which made the final effect exceed their expectations.

Since then, system downtimes have been a thing of the past. We created a stable solution and helped them to solve the problems that had been their weakness for many years. Thanks to us, the client did not only have a fully functional solution. They also learned a lot from our fully remote cooperation that excellently prepared them for further challenges that came along with the 2020 pandemic.