Frequently asked questions

You may have a software specification, or requirements for your software solution, or just an idea. We’ll be ready to estimate the cost of its implementation. But the more information you can provide about the project, the more accurate our estimation will be.

First of all, it is important for you to understand, what do you need software development for? Do you plan to opt for mobile application development or web, or maybe you are interested in having a dedicated development team?

Secondly, it’s essential to be sure of your idea. A clear idea in mind is one of the keys to successful application development.

In case you have little experience and knowledge in software development, feel free to read our article about the keys to successful software development projects.

Of course, it depends on the project. But in situations where there is not much time and it’s necessary to test the idea as soon as possible, we offer an MVP development. Concentrating on core necessities rather than secondary functionality, we empower you to test your product on early adopters just in 3 months.

To give you a more precise answer, we need to organize a Discovery stage, at the end of which we will prepare Project Vision & Scope documents that will enable us to give a detailed estimation in terms of time and budget. Having this document, it will be easy to say exactly what part of the functionality we will deliver already in two weeks, in one month, in 6 months, etc.

If we speak about MVP (Minimum Viable Product), it takes 3 months for us to create a working solution with minimum functionality – just enough to demonstrate the main features, test it on the stakeholders and target audience to see if the idea works, what are the weak spots, what else needs to be done, etc. If you have an idea for mobile or web application, MVP development is the best solution to test your idea.

As soon as possible. Typically, the period of preparation for the start of the project can take up to two weeks.

Before we start working together on a project we need to sign an SLA (Service Level Agreement) and make other double-sided confirmations, agree on the team, price model, software development methodology, the type of the application we are going to create and the main goals of the development.

You don’t have to worry about different time-zones, our team members are always ready to be in contact with you any time that will be most comfortable for both sides. We have experience in working with countries that have 12 hours difference and more, and there was never any trouble in communicating since we are carefully planning together with the customer all the meetings and other project-related stuff together.

Moreover, when you have a whole dedicated team all under your control,  you can organize all the software development workflow according to your time preferences and manage our professionals and distribute the duties as you think is better for your project. With a Smartym Pro’s dedicated development team, you won’t have to worry about time zones ever.

When dealing with offshore development, there can appear such risks as:

1. Data security and privacy risks – to mitigate this risk, we always sign an NDA with our customers and security protocols, when needed.

2. Hidden costs risks – we are always precise and transparent, when it comes to costs and workforce, so you don’t have to worry about such a thing as extra charges. Everything that concerns the costs, is strictly determined in the contract and SLA.

3. Communication risks – our team speaks several foreign languages, and most of the members have a full proficiency level, so there will be no intercultural problems or misunderstandings throughout the whole development process.

Of course, Smartym Pro doesn’t provide only development services, but also we are glad to offer our clients Software Maintenance services, App modernization services as well as Project Rescue services.

It depends on many factors: whether it’s a mobile or web application, the complexity of the technology stack, the number of team members needed, the service level and many others. We always negotiate with our clients about the prices and are able to find the most appropriate cost-effective variant for everyone.

Also, the final cost of software development will depend on the pricing model you choose.  We have 3 pricing models:

1. Fixed price. This model is suggested for cooperation in cases when the projects are well-defined. Well-defined means there is a well-documented scope and clear system requirements. According to this approach, before the start of development, our team estimates the timeframes of the potential project and the total cost. Then we present our detailed assessment to the client and coordinate everything. The final agreed price, as well as the project’s scope of work, are not subject to change, thus ensuring the lowest risks for both parties;

2. Time & Material. According to this cooperation model, our managed team is assigned to a certain project for one particular client. The necessary functionality is delivered on-demand, which allows changing the project’s team size and scope at any phase of the development cycle to enable the optimum balance between efforts and costs;

3. Dedicated Team. When you choose our “Dedicated team” service, you get access to the pool of technically skilled professionals with various business domains knowledge. Opting for a dedicated team, the client receives full control over the project flow, he can hand-pick the team members, vary the project’s scope and the requirements.

We believe that budget planning is very important, especially when it comes to big projects. Without proper planning, the project may fail, and this is also a risk to take into consideration – check out our article about how to avoid any unexpected issues when planning software development budget.

We have 3 pricing models:

1. Fixed price. This model is suggested for cooperation in cases when the projects are well-defined. Well-defined means there is a well-documented scope and clear system requirements. According to this approach, before the start of development, our team estimates the timeframes of the potential project and the total cost. Then we present our detailed assessment to the client and coordinate everything. The final agreed price, as well as the project’s scope of work, are not subject to change, thus ensuring the lowest risks for both parties;

2. Time & Material. According to this cooperation model, our managed team is assigned to a certain project for one particular client. The necessary functionality is delivered on demand, which allows changing the project’s team size and scope at any phase of the development cycle to enable the optimum balance between efforts and costs;

3. Dedicated Team. When you choose our “Dedicated team” service, you get access to the pool of technically skilled professionals with various business domains knowledge. Opting for a dedicated team, the client receives full control over the project flow, he can hand-pick the team members, vary the project’s scope and the requirements. If you are not sure what a dedicated development team is and what are its benefits, we recommend familiarizing with this topic on our Dedicated team service page.

We can offer you our app modernization services. Smartym Pro’s experts analyze your legacy software, together with you we think over the best solution: data modernization, remediation or re-platforming (e.g. migration to Cloud), etc. 

We are always ready to give a hand and provide a Project rescue service. Our team of experts carefully audit the current state of your project in order to define the problem, provide consulting services in order to help you figure out the available ways of project rescue. Also, we can provide a better team for you, that will certainly satisfy both the quality and the deadlines needs. And finally, our team is able to rescue the whole code of the project.

Before taking any actions, you need to know that the first step to Project rescue is the process of the audit of your project. Don’t know, how to prepare for an IT project audit? Read our recent article with a check-list and tips on IT project audit.

The word “Blockchain” can be heard everywhere these days. Everyone wants to have it, but not everyone understands that sometimes their business can lose more from integrating a technology their business doesn’t even need.

In order to not get yourself confused, we offer you to ask yourself a couple of questions, that will make you get on the right path. If you answer “yes” to the majority of questions – trying to create a project on Blockchain will be a good idea, if the answer to most of them is “no” – contact us so that we could find a better and more cost-effective solution for your idea.

1. Does your project require a huge database?
2. Do the data assets have many different states?
3. Are there more than 3 user roles in your project that can influence and affect the data?
4. Do you feel like you can’t trust some users to make changes to the data for 100%?
5. Do you want to have full transparency of all the users’ actions?

Our team has deep expertise in blockchain technology and our experts can provide consulting services for you. We have a lot of recognized experience in implementing and adapting blockchain to business needs. Write us a letter, and we will contact you in order to give the best advice for your business and how to correctly implement blockchain or suggest another more suitable solution.

If you want to know more about the range of Blockchain services we offer, check out our Blockchain development services page to see what we can do for your project.

Smartym Pro provides a wide range of services. Starting with full-cycle mobile and web software development and providing a dedicated team and ending with project rescue services and application modernization. We have front-end and back-end developers, Blockchain and DevOps specialists as well as UI/UX designers. We create bespoke CRM and ERP systems, Loyalty programs systems, eLearning solutions, and many others.

We suggest you take a look at our portfolio to have a better understanding of what we can do.

Depends on your individual case. While mobile and web have their own pros and cons in different cases, sometimes it is better even to have both. Mobile software development, especially native Android or iOS, is more expensive than web application development. There is also cross-platform development via React Native, for example. Another compromise solution can be Progressive Web App development – if you are unfamiliar with this term, we suggest you visit our PWA page. One way or another, we are ready to help you with all of the above – whether it’s a complex web solution or a mobile ecosystem backed-up by Blockchain.

The most important idea of the Discovery Stage is estimating product development. Initially, it is done via Project Vision & Scope documents, that are being written during the Discovery Stage: the team prepares product requirements and project planning documentation which is used as a basis of the development.  This documentation includes the most essential for the project launch:

1. Business and other High-level requirements;
2. User requirements and Functional requirements;
3. Wireframes and Designs;
4. Project plan.

Whatever the project is, we split the development into two stages: Discovery and Development stage. So as to avoid any hidden costs that may further appear after the project launch we start from the investigation – our so-called Discovery stage – to shape the project idea in detail and estimate it. Afterwards, we develop the project following the output of the Discovery stage.

For important e-mails (like follow-ups, documents) we use Gmail, for daily communication with the team and the customer we create a channel in Slack, where we can discuss everything that concerns the project, any time of the day. For calls and video-conferences we usually choose Hangouts.

How often do we communicate? No restrictions, we are always ready to answer all your questions and organize additional meetings on demand.

Your involvement as a customer will be very important since our aim is to make a product that will meet all your demands and requirements at their fullest. This being said, it is essential that the client should be very precise with his wishes and needs and be ready to answer some questions concerning our future work. And of course, the customer is always involved in regular meetings, where we talk about the progress we’ve made so far, to let the client know about every aspect of the development process.

Security of our applications is one of the fundamentals of our work. All the projects under our control are strictly compliant with GDPR politics and Open Banking approach (when it comes to fintech projects), international security standards and always go through very detailed security tests by our QA engineers. We always use only proven technologies and methodologies.

Our team constantly keeps in touch with the clients via Slack. Most of the time you will be communicating with the Project Manager and Business Analyst, however other members of the team are also available to answer all your technical questions.

Of course, we provide additional software maintenance services. They are not included in the development service, however, if you want our team to provide post-release activities for your project (and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a project developed initially by our team), we will sign an additional SLA. Our software maintenance services include: bug fixing, release cycles, servers monitoring and others activities on demand.

In most of our projects we stick to Agile development methodologies, preferably Scrum. However, our experts are also able to work according to the Waterfall methodology.
We pick the most suitable methodology together with you, the choice will depend on the project’s specifics and your preferences.

First of all, we need to make sure that the application completely meets your expectations. Afterwards, when the application is released in production, we are happy to offer you post-release maintenance activities that include technical support, monitoring, etc. Even if you decide to do everything by yourself, don’t hesitate to contact our team in case you need advice or have an urgent situation.

You can check the company’s references on clutch and goodfirms. We’re sure, this will let you get a more unbiased and independent opinion on our performance.

All the team members in Smartym Pro are highly skilled – all middle or senior developers. Besides, our developers are constantly upgrading their skills, they are always keeping in touch with the latest trends, changes in technologies and new ways of achieving our customers’ goals.

Smartym Pro has been on the market since 2012. We have worked with various businesses all around the world: retail, FinTech, real estate, healthcare, sports, social media, logistics, advertising and fundraising,  insurance and many more.

Smartym Pro experts have explicit proven experience in mobile application development: both native and cross-platform via React Native, web development, creating Blockchain integration for complex industrial information systems. For years we have been creating loyalty programs, social portals, e-learning solutions and provided business process automation, delivering better and better products as the years go by! Check our portfolio to know more about what we have already done for our customers.

The quality of our developers’ code is being constantly reviewed via SonarQube. And what concerns our QA-engineers, they execute a full set of software tests regularly during each development iteration: smoke-testing, functional testing, load testing, security testing, and others.

One of the most important elements of our QA approach is automated UI testing. Recently we have conducted our own mini-research on creating an optimal environment for automated UI testing, we suggest you take a few minutes and read about our expertise on Medium.

We have been delivering projects for clients all over the world since 2012. Throughout these 7 years, we’ve been constantly improving our expertise and developing new skills to be able to suggest our clients only the most relevant solutions.

Our team utilizes the most relevant and effective technologies. However, the most core technologies we use are: Java for Android apps, Swift for iOS, JavaScript for Web Applications and also React Native framework for mobile applications in general. In our Blockchain projects, we use Solidity and Truffle as well as provide customized Hyperledger solutions.

If you are interested in learning more about the software development languages and tools our team uses, we suggest you check our portfolio use cases.

Ever since 2012 we have delivered more than 100 unique projects. And more to come. Be the one to become our new guest, you are always welcome here at Smartym Pro!

We have worked with numerous absolutely diverse industries, we delivered Healthcare solutions, eCommerce projects, Sales, Real estate solutions as well as Logistics development, eLearning, Manufacturing and many others. Check out our portfolio to find out what other industries we have delivered services for.

Our team consists of 50+ software development experts: mobile and web developers, backend and frontend, blockchain, as well as professional project managers and business analysts. Each member of our development team is aimed at the best result, that’s why we always give our employees opportunities to continuously enhance their skills.

If you would like to learn more about our excellent software development team, we gladly welcome to Our Team page.