Regarding the opinion of SoDA member companies, last year was full of challenges. Although there were many obstacles, the IT industry coped very well. The end of 2022 did not look too optimistic – a powerful spectre of economic recession, raging inflation, and energy crisis.
Despite this, many software houses started the new year calmly and with a vision for the coming months about developing current and new projects. Several Polish companies have also been honoured on the Clutch 100 Best list. We asked their representatives about 2022, what solutions they implemented to cope with the difficult market situation and their plans for further development.
Digital acceleration and consulting
One of the SoDA member companies featured in this prestigious ranking is Netguru. For this company, digital acceleration was marked last year. It also resulted in numerous new projects, e.g. for an American consulting studio or the e-commerce industry.
If I sum up 2022 in one phrase, it would undoubtedly be digital acceleration. The transition has become necessary in recent years, even for previously hesitant companies. However, this is only the first step for those who want to grow, stay competitive, or become category leaders. It is critical to make quick decisions, deploy new features and products in less time, and change how we think about selling, building digital products, and managing teams. So 2022 was a pivotal year for us, not only because we assisted our customers in making such a change to help them navigate this economically turbulent period, but also by doing so, we co-educated the market on how we see the future of consulting and tech. This approach has resulted in a 76 NPS (customer satisfaction) score, which is critical to us. And it’s the best indication that we’re on the right track. Digital acceleration also guided Netguru’s new investments, which include the US consulting studio Pilot44 and the UX and Shopify solutions agency mohi.to. We also collaborate with leading innovators worldwide and in Poland, such as Zabka, with whom we developed autonomous stores, and Cosmo Group, with whom we jointly developed an application offering a virtual try-on nail salon for Neonail. Although this past year has been difficult for the entire market, Netguru is forecast to grow by around 30% compared to 2021. — emphasizes Mateusz Krawczyński – Product Management Lead, Netguru.
A variety of technologies and an international presence
Another company that Clutch has awarded is STX Next, which has been creating web and personalized mobile applications since 2005. Since 2018, the company also provides DevOps services – through continuous integration, configuration, optimization and monitoring. Among others, the key to success in the brutal 2022 was strong involvement in international markets and a flexible approach to customer needs.
Here’s what Maciej Dziergwa, CEO of STX Next, told us:
This year’s inclusion among Poland’s Best-Performing B2B companies fills us with pride. With our increased international presence, we can better help customers worldwide than ever. At STX Next, our team of over 600 tech and business experts knows that developing special software starts long before the first line of code is written. We are Europe’s largest Python software house, but we also provide a wide range of services to meet all our customers’ demands. For our long-term technology partners from across the globe, we work with JavaScript, React Native, Node.js, DevOps, Machine Learning, UI/UX and more to support them comprehensively and proactively in product development and the introduction of new technologies. It gives us great pleasure to be acknowledged as the leading software development services provider by Clutch and our clients. We are also proud to gain increasing recognition as a leader within a growing portfolio of service lines. We’re grateful to our clients for providing their valuable feedback to Clutch. As a result, the team at STX Next continues to be recognised for the diverse and high-quality services we provide.
We also asked Lukas Gmys, Director of Growth at STX Next, why customers rate the company so highly in Clutch:
Our versatility is part of why customers rate us so highly on Clutch. The foundation of a successful business in the 21st century is unique and effective software. Finding a partner to help you take advantage of the latest technological trends is a crucial and challenging step in business development. Outsourcing software solutions is not a simple task – how do you choose among so many companies? It is not easy, especially when time and money are at stake. It is at this point that customer recommendations come to the rescue. These reviews lend credibility to companies like ours, making us viable candidates for any project. Customer satisfaction is our top priority, so we are thrilled to be again listed as one of Poland’s Best Performing B2B Companies.
Numerous awards and engaging projects
2022 was also booming for 10Clouds. They have successfully implemented a new strategy that allows specialists to take advantage of opportunities on the web3 and fintech market and better look after the entire team’s needs and take care of other business branches.
10Clouds has also won numerous awards. We’ve been recognised multiple times by Clutch and The Manifest, the world’s leading B2B review platforms, while SODA has awarded us for EB projects: the highly successful workation and the inclusive and very forward-looking neurodiversity program, “10Clouds for all kinds of minds”. As software developers, we focus on design, which helps our clients build user trust and gives a significant competitive advantage. According to Dribbble, we are in the global top 30 in this respect. Earlier this year 10Clouds’ board was joined by Małgorzata Pietraszewska, our Head of People, who over the last 5 years has created opportunities to double the size of our team in a highly competitive IT talent market. We currently have nearly 200 specialists on board. In the first 10 months of 2022, 10Clouds generated higher revenue than in the entire 2021, and at the end of the year, double-digit growth is expected again. — said Maciej Cielecki, CEO and Co-Founder of 10Clouds.
The technology company is incredibly proud of the design and development cooperation on the mobile application for Crescent, an earning platform aimed at generation Z. The case study of this project won an award from Behance in the UX and UI category. It was also appreciated at the most prominent Polish conference in the design industry – Design Ways.
It was a complete process that involved our team from user research, through full branding development and user path definition, to banner production and motion design. We still have the opportunity to develop Crescent’s product at the following stages of its market life.
– said CEO 10Clouds.
Partnership cooperation and technological experience.
The next company to make the Clutch 100 Best List was Miquido. Last year they managed to: a music industry app for Dolby, and a fitness app Trainn. They also helped create the award-winning YouMap app. Miquido are the pioneers of Flutter, occupying top positions in the global rankings of Flutter developers. What else was going on with them in 2022? Jerzy Biernacki, Head of Operations at Miquido, told us:
The beginning of 2022 indicated that this year would be a tough one. The main challenges were the record increases in salaries in IT and uncertainty in the market related to the outbreak of war in Ukraine. On top of that, we began to notice signs of a slowdown in the market, including reductions in funding for startups and cuts in corporate budgets. These challenges motivated us to change our strategy and internal processes, which helped us mature significantly as an organisation. For some time now, we have focused on partnerships in building digital products instead of limiting ourselves to being only tech providers. I am delighted with the real impact of the introduced changes on the satisfaction of our customers. Thanks to the hard work of the entire Miquido team, our average rating on Clutch has increased to 4.9 and we maintain top positions in the rankings for most of the services we offer. At the same time, the results are visible in our growth rates — revenues have increased by 40% this year. The profits earned allowed us to improve the financial cushion available in a market collapse. Strengthened by the experience and the success of 2022, we look forward to the next year with grand ambitions and plan further intensive development.
Last year was also summed up by Anna Gawlikowska, Head of People & Delivery at Miquido:
2022 has been quite a challenging and very much a “VUCA” year for our software house (but which one hasn’t been recent?). The challenges include the Russia-Ukraine war, a significant wage increase, remote work, and the post-Covid psychological burden. Being prepared for the idea of crazy worldwide changes after COVID-19, we planned to address a start-up→enterprise shift in project types, wage increases, scaling up production and mental support of our employees. Of course, some things didn’t work out as we wanted them to, but others resulted in long-term monitoring and action processes, like our bench management, which has become much more advanced than before. We increased our presence on the Asian market, landed a few unique brands (e.g. Warner, DivX), significantly scaled up our Flutter, React Native and Product Management teams and opened a new business branch focused on team augmentation. We maintain an average 4.9 rating on Clutch and still get most of our clients from referrals. So life at Miquido is stable in its software-house instability. We grow steadily, have investment and operational plans for 2023 and are prepared for more unexpected events. Together we will discover what 2023 will bring!
We congratulate SoDA member companies and wish that 2023 and the following years will be full of numerous successes and long-term projects that will be appreciated in Poland and the international arena. SoDA, as a community of the IT industry, will be happy to support the implementation of plans and employee development.
