Testimonials

Marcel Kampes,
Former CEO of Aurum Europe

High quality solutions, an ability to empathize and competitive rates: BusyMachines stands out in every respect.”

The customer

Aurum Europe develops and produces energy saving solutions. Through a small box that can be connected to the electricity and gas meters in the meter cupboard, the company offers consumers and organizations a simple way to track their gas and electricity consumption with their smartphones. One of the unique qualities of this real-time energy monitoring system is that it works for both smart and old-fashioned meters. Today, the Aurum is the only independent energy monitor for every configuration and its accuracy and user-friendliness make this one-of-a-kind system appealing to consumers, energy suppliers, real estate companies, and municipalities alike.

The old situation

Aurum Europe needed the turntable and gas meter’s figures to end up in the box through sensors, then the data would be sent to the worldwide web through a router. The company went on a search for adept parties that would be able to translate their wishes into a specific solution, scrutinizing each of them carefully to reach the best decision. As BusyMachines’ founders had already collaborated with Aurum Europe when they were still working as freelancers, BusyMachines was taken into consideration as well.

The solution

After a thorough selection process, Aurum Europe decided to join forces with BusyMachines. Shortly afterwards, BusyMachines wrote an application that allowed Aurum Europe to look up its clients in the back office, providing a large number of additional useful data, such as their location, consumption and issues. Basically, all the administrator tasks regarding individual clients were covered through registration in the back-end system developed by BusyMachines.

Benefits of working with BusyMachines

Able to interpret our needs
Translates a client’s wishes into concrete solutions
Great price/quality ratio
Well-versed in development
Innovative mindset

“One of the main reasons why I chose to work with BusyMachines was that they have the ability to identify with a client’s wishes,” says Marcel Kampes, who was the CEO of Aurum Europe until late 2014. “Unlike many of their competitors – who start with providing all kinds of functional and technical specifications as well as business requirements – they could really empathize with what we wanted to achieve. That makes BusyMachines a great match for all organizations – also those who have not yet defined everything from a to z. Their empathy enables them to understand the overarching goal and develop a plan for a suitable solution.

“BusyMachines sat down with us, listened carefully and came up with a solution.”

The fact that BusyMachines was able to interpret Aurum Europe’s broadly defined needs – thus allowing for greater freedom in the early stages – brought a lot of relief: “Other companies quickly force you into consultant meetings dominated by paper work”, explains Marcel. “Throughout the course of our collaboration with BusyMachines, there were several moments that clearly showed BusyMachines’ unique approach: whereas regular software processes would have become extremely costly due to an extensive analysis and definition stage, BusyMachines allowed us to practically knock on their door and indicate our needs. We did not have to specify everything indefinitely; they simply sat down with us, listened carefully, and came up with a solution and a plan of action.”

“Nearshoring with a unique twist leads to top-notch results.”

Another appealing aspect of BusyMachines was its competitive rate: “Obviously, their collaboration with Romanian talent has everything to do with this”, says Marcel. He used to be skeptical of the traditional nearshoring concept, because a more difficult communication with developers often leads to the remote team not understanding a client’s intentions and needs – but with BusyMachines, it was different: “The Dutch branch acts as an ‘interface’ between the client and the team in Romania. It translates the client’s issues into the complex language of developers, passing it on to Timisoara, where the actual development takes place.”
According to Marcel, who has been through his fair share of IT processes, this differentiates BusyMachines from traditional nearshoring companies, which never truly provide what a client is looking for. “Communication is usually the main issue. BusyMachines, however, handled it very well. Surprisingly, explaining the problem we wanted to solve, clarifying the data we wanted to process in the backend, and elucidating our objectives were not a challenge at all.

“Excellent programmers and outstanding communicators: BusyMachines has both.”

In Marcel’s experience, excellent programmers and developers are not always the best communicators: “I have often found that techies aren’t big talkers. Most of the time, they are either technical geniuses or great interlocutors. BusyMachines is the exception to the rule; they are able to program and communicate at a top level.”
Moreover, the geographical distance did not result in cultural misunderstandings. “One would expect this, but it didn’t happen. Some of the Romanian programmers came to our office a couple of times to get a feel of our company, discuss important issues, and exchange ideas. It all went really well. BusyMachines’ Netherlands-based founders coordinated everything very professionally. They served as a linchpin who listened to us carefully to subsequently provide the brilliant, not-so-talkative programmers with clear-cut instructions. As a result, we never felt the distance.
Although Marcel has since moved on to a new job, he would definitely recommend BusyMachines to other companies: “Actually, I have already done this more than once. The price/quality ratio is nothing but excellent!

“BusyMachines is a flexible, innovative, and one-of-a-kind company. Its state-of-the-art development platforms and its ability to empathize prove to be a powerful combination.”

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