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Please introduce your company and describe your role within the organization.
QArea is a software development and QA outsourcing company. I am Bruce Mason, the CTO and Delivery Director at QArea and TestFort (our second enterprise). I ensure that our technical work aligns with our client's business goals.
With over 20 years of experience in software development, I have gained extensive knowledge in Banking and Fintech, as well as eCommerce, Travel, and Public Administration. This diverse background gives me a deep understanding of these industries and their unique challenges.
What inspired your company's founding, and what is the story behind its inception?
QArea has been in the market for over 23 years, and I have been part of it for five of them. Our founders launched the company in 2001 because they saw great potential in the software development and testing market and had skilled engineers with whom to take the first steps.
Our roots are in Ukraine, but for more than a decade now, we’ve been operating globally. With headquarters in Europe and specialists worldwide, we cover almost all time zones.
What are the core values and principles that drive your company's culture, and how do you ensure alignment with these values across your team?
QArea is driven by a product mindset, niche focus, and an entrepreneurial approach. We strive to understand and align with our clients' real business objectives.
We foster an entrepreneurial culture within our teams, encouraging specialists to grow and explore new technologies and business domains.
Can you highlight some of the key achievements or milestones your company has accomplished since its inception?
I know that "Expert team" has become an overused term now, but we truly had an expert team with rare niche competencies and robust projects to show for it.
QA quickly grew, leading us to work with big clients and enterprises almost immediately.
By 2013, we were listed among the top 100 outsourcing companies. Due to the volume of QA projects, we separated TestFort as our second company to make it stand out and focus on delivering specialized QA services.
Along the way, QArea achieved CMMI Level 3 certification, confirming our process maturity. This certification is rare among small and medium dev and QA companies and sets us apart, especially for enterprise-level projects.
Could you explain your company's business model? Do you primarily operate with an in-house team or utilize third-party vendors/outsourcing?
We've operated with outstaff and dedicated developer models from the beginning. In the past two years, we've also introduced partnership programs. The largest of these is Unicorners, which brings together developers and tech experts from various niches, allowing us to cover almost any client request with minimal time loss.
For instance, if we're handling a general software development project, we might use our partner's machine learning expertise for the data science components. We have a strong network of both industrial and solution-based partners, including Virtuoso, Google, and Amazon.
This extensive tech and niche coverage enables us to stay relevant to changing client demands and quickly assemble the necessary teams and solution stacks.
How does your company differentiate itself from competitors in the industry?
We differentiate ourselves by focusing on a niche-specific approach and adopting a product mindset. We prioritize delivering consistent, high-quality results while always keeping our client's business goals at the forefront.
Our team goes beyond surface-level requirements by deeply analyzing each project and the tasks involved. We evaluate the necessity and impact of each task on the client's business, ensuring that our efforts are aligned with their objectives and contribute to their success.
How would you describe the dynamics within your team, and how do you foster collaboration and teamwork to achieve common goals?
Our team operates within a horizontal structure, free from rigid vertical hierarchies. We encourage entrepreneurial thinking, where team members are rewarded for bringing in new customers.
Collaboration is built through regular technical and internal business meetings and active cross-project knowledge sharing. We blend independent, asynchronous work with teamwork for flexibility and efficiency. It also allows us to reduce burnout-related risks.
What measures do you take to support your employees' professional development and growth? Do you offer training programs or opportunities for skill enhancement?
We support our employees' professional development through a combination of internal and external training programs. When an employee wants to learn a new skill, such as a programming language or automation for QA, we provide courses, lectures, practical tasks, and mentoring to help them grow.
Beyond technical skills, we offer English language courses and sports activities to promote well-rounded development. We also organize physical activity competitions within the team and sessions with a psychologist.
No matter the recession, we maintain our mental well-being and professional growth programs. This kind of investment has never failed us.
Could you share a notable success story or case study that exemplifies your company's impact on a client's business?
We have many projects to be proud of. Sometimes it's the scope of development, the product’s impact, or a well-known client name, like Skype or Huffington Post.
Here are a few examples to show our range:
We did Quality Assurance for a world-famous UK-based fintech company’s mobile banking application. It offers extended services for businesses, and every step had to be flawless. We registered almost 700 bugs in 6 months and also improved the onboarding process, which had a noticeable impact.
For another project, we developed software for a medical device network router that enables doctors to monitor patients remotely. We used the MQTT protocol and AWS IoT service to provide stable connections with remote locations and securely store and process device data.
We create full products and MVPs from scratch and work on new modules and updates for existing products. Some clients have been coming to us for updates, new products, and QA for over 10 years now.
What industries do you primarily cater to, and do you have a significant percentage of repeat clients? If so, what is the ratio of repeat clients?
QArea primarily caters to the healthcare, fintech, entertainment, media, and eCommerce industries. We have a strong track record of delivering successful projects in these sectors, which has led to a significant percentage of repeat clients. This loyalty speaks to the trust and satisfaction our clients have in our services.
What initiatives does your company undertake to foster innovation and stay at the forefront of industry trends? Do you invest in research and development projects?
We're tech-obsessed. I can’t call it any other way. Just some examples from the recent year:
- Partnered with Virtuoso, a leading AI testing platform, to push the boundaries of automated testing and lean heavily into no-code solutions that clients can adjust later on their own;
- Collaborated with cutting-edge data science companies to develop solutions that use the power of big data;
- Received Google Cloud certification and Partner status to give our eCommerce clients a competitive edge, optimize search, and drive sales.
We stay updated on industry trends, test new technologies, and provide our team with tools to learn new programming languages. This approach ensures we remain at the forefront of the industry.
Please share some of the most sought-after services clients approach your company for.
Clients often come to us to add niche technical talent to their teams, especially when they need specific skills quickly. This can be a web, mobile, or web app development project or building a multilevel CRM product with internal and external integrations.
We're experts in melding legacy systems with modern solutions, rebuilding certain parts from scratch, and essentially breathing new life into outdated technology.
How do you build and maintain strong relationships with your clients, and what mechanisms do you have for gathering and acting upon client feedback?
We build and maintain strong relationships with our clients through daily collaboration and constant communication. Our account managers and sales team stay closely involved to address any issues promptly. Whether it's our ICE or PM team, we proactively plan, discuss, forecast, and propose tasks for future projects.
To gather feedback, we regularly send out surveys to understand client satisfaction and areas for improvement.
How has your company adapted to changes and challenges in the business landscape, and what strategies have you employed to ensure resilience and sustainability?
We are proactive and strategic, constantly assessing the situation and making action plans.
One key strategy is using new technologies to give our clients more value while keeping costs down. This helps us deliver high-quality services more efficiently. At QArea, we're always looking for new ways to save money without sacrificing quality. We don't stop innovating and trying to improve.
We also focus on building stronger relationships with our existing clients and working to increase the number of clients who return to us.
Our ability to adapt, efforts to optimize costs, and commitment to client relationships have been essential in keeping our company resilient and sustainable when facing change.
What payment structure do you typically follow when billing clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, or Pay per Milestone (phases, months, versions, etc.)?
We typically follow a dedicated team and outstaffing payment structure, with the fixed cost model now being active.
Unlike many outsourcing companies, we've invested the time and effort to master accurate estimations. This allows us to provide clients with predictable pricing and clearly defined deliverables.
When it comes to AQA, we break the process down into several logical stages. This helps us optimize for the client's needs and ensures that we don't overcommit or underdeliver.
Do you accept projects that meet your basic budget requirements? If yes, what is the minimum budget requirement? If not, what is the minimum budget you have worked with in the past?
Yes, we have basic budget requirements, but we mostly focus on a project's potential impact. While we usually adhere to these budget thresholds, we make exceptions for projects with significant impact.
For example, as our commitment to meaningful initiatives, we took on a small but important and urgent development project aimed at reducing the spread of Ebola by involving local communities.
Can you provide an overview of the price range (minimum and maximum) of the projects your company worked on in 2023?
There is no maximum here, as we take on multi-level enterprise projects or work on products that require unique niche skill sets, technology, and our partners' expertise. The minimum budget is $70,000 for fixed-cost projects, while for monthly engagements, it ranges from $7,000 to $10,000, depending on various factors. The overall cost depends on the team assembled, their seniority, and the project's specific requirements.
What technological capabilities does your company possess, and are there any ongoing or planned investments in technology infrastructure or tools to enhance your services?
We're a Google-certified partner and use its products intensely — Google Cloud for power and security and Vertex AI for easy, enterprise-ready generative AI experiences.
For automated testing, we’ve partnered with Virtuoso AI, the top name in the game. We also collaborate with data science companies to constantly learn and innovate. New tech partnerships are always on the horizon, so we can keep giving our clients the edge.
Where do you envision your company in the next 10 years? What are your long-term goals and aspirations for growth and development?
We’ve learned our lesson during the pandemic and stopped planning more than 2-3 years ahead. The market is changing fast, the war in Ukraine is ongoing, and unfortunately, it may be just the beginning of difficult times.
Contingency plans are more necessary than 10-year strategies.
Process standardization, along with checks and balances, wins over long-term missions.
QArea focuses on improving adaptability and reducing financial and organizational fragility. We know our clients face similar challenges. To stay resilient, we remain open to new forms of cooperation and flexible pricing approaches.
