Sombra

Custom software development that makes you happy

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Sombra is a global technology consulting company. Since 2013, we've been helping mid-sized businesses to deliver quality software on time and on budget.

With two development centers in Eastern Europe and Latin America, we have over 300+ tech talents ready to utilize their technology, process and domain expertise to implement digital transformation for your business. We're proud that 9 out of 10 of our US, UK, and Canadian clients claim Sombra's vetted tech expertise helped them achieve their business and strategic goals.

Featured services:
- Software consulting and modernization
- Software analysis, design and planning
- Custom software development
- Data engineering, analytics, AI/ML
- DevOps, testing, and support
- Dedicated engineering teams
- Software consulting & development for wealth & asset management firms

Main technologies: 
- Java, NodeJS, .Net, Python
- Angular, ReactJS
- SQL/NoSQL DB's
- AWS, GCP, Azure

Certifications

ISO 27001
$25 - $49/hr
250 - 999
2013
Locations
Ukraine
Zelena, Lviv, Lviv 79000
+380972750055
United States
1550 Wewatta St, Denver, Colorado 80202
+1 (720) 707 1608
United Kingdom
Ivor Pl Marylebone, London, London NW1 6DX
Colombia
Carrera 42 #5 Sur-145, Medellin, Antioquia 050022

Focus Areas

Service Focus

60%
20%
20%
  • Software Development
  • Mobile App Development
  • Cloud Computing Services

Client Focus

60%
40%
  • Medium Business
  • Small Business

Industry Focus

25%
25%
20%
20%
10%
  • Financial & Payments
  • Banking
  • Business Services

Sombra Executive Interview

Viktor Chekh
Viktor Chekh
CEO
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Please introduce your company and give a brief about your role within the company?
My name is Viktor Chekh, and I am a CEO at Sombra. We are a software development company that helps the UK, US, and Europen small/medium businesses and startups to build remote engineering teams in Ukraine. We've developed strong expertise in Java, JavaScript, .NET, Python technologies. Our team consists of 120 people, and we continually grow.

As a CEO and co-founder, I am responsible for the whole company strategy and operations. I take care of both internal and external activities, including Sales&Marketing, Finance, Administration, etc. Also, I represent the company on the events and manage the brand of the Sombra.
What was the idea behind starting this organization?
I have a tech background under my belt, and my first work was in software development. But very soon, I realized that my passion lies not on the technical, but rather business side. I wanted to help people create something new and innovative. The idea behind the organization was to create a perfect place for employees to work and offer great value for clients.
What is your company’s business model–in house team or third party vendors/ outsourcing?
We don't outsource or hire third-party vendors for any of our projects. Our in-house team counts 120 qualified engineers that can create a product from scratch or augment the existing team with valuable expertise. Doing so we can ensure the quality of our delivery, which is very important for us.
How is your business model beneficial from a value addition perspective to the clients compared to other companies' models?
Unlike other companies, we don't try to please; we try to deliver. I believe that clients seeking engineers who can advise and provide feedback rather than just extend a team. Approaching a new project, we strive to understand clients' goals and get things done the way business really needs it. Our value is proactivity and detail-orientation; our engineers always suggest new ideas and ask questions.
What industries do you generally cater to? Are your customers repetitive?
We work with all industries, but analyzing our previous experience, I can say we have more customers from the Financial, Healthcare, and Retail industry. Cooperating with leading companies has made us experts in those spheres.

The majority of our customers are repetitive, they have stayed with us for three or four years, and we extend our team there regularly.
Mention the objectives or the parameters critical in determining the time frame of developing software.
For us, the requirements analysis stage is crucial. We analyze the given requirements and determine a time frame for project development. Also, at this stage, we try to clarify all the points and ask all possible questions.
There is a standard set of parameters that differ according to the project type and requirements. Among crucial I can highlight:
● features of the project
● complexity
● number of supported devices, operational systems
● third party integrations
● design
● security
● resource availability
Each of the above parameters is imperative to determine the time needed to present a ready product.
How much effort in terms of time goes into developing the front end and back end of software?
In software development, time can easily change. Time effort very much depends on the project; therefore, it is difficult to say what is more time-consuming - front-end or back-end. Speaking about developing projects from scratch, back-end development involves more time and effort compared to front-end development.
What are the key parameters to be considered before selecting the right framework for developing software?
Before choosing a framework for development, we ask one question: "What we want to achieve". Project goals and time at our disposal are our top parameters. Other vital objectives that affect the framework selection are:
● The popularity of the framework, it's easier to work with the popular framework that has the tech community around it.
● Documentation, we work only with frameworks that have reliable documentation, which can help us out if any problems occur.
● Support, it's essential to be able to find answers to our questions and get professional help and support.
Which languages & frameworks do you prefer to use in the development of software?
In Sombra, we have a stack of technologies we work with; it is Java, JavaScript, Python, .Net, NodeJS. When it comes to frameworks, we follow up on current tech trends and try to use new and progressive ones. In software development is going to be Play, VueJS, Ember, Django, Angular.
What are the key factors that you consider before deciding the cost of the software?
The cost of the software is determined by the time needed to develop a product. After we receive a list of specifications from the customer, our team of pre-sale, including business analyst, project manager, and senior developer, start with the time estimate. They analyze the project scope and divide it into smaller tasks and estimate the time for each errand. Having a time estimate, we can calculate the cost of the development. In general, the scope and complexity of the project determine the cost of the development.

Also, we offer a service called Discovery Phase of the Product Development, where we develop a scope, requirements, and make time and cost estimate for the project.
What kind of payment structure do you follow to bill your clients? Is it Pay per Feature, Fixed Cost, Pay per Milestone (could be in phases, months, versions etc.)
We prefer the Time&Material payment model since it is more beneficial for the clients. For example, Fixed Price often associated with the risk of not fitting into the predefined budget. In this case, the client can have false expectations toward the project results. Time&Material provides more flexibility in terms of budget planning and ensures a lower risk of exceeding costs of development.
Do you take in projects which meet your basic budget requirement? If yes, what is the minimum requirement? If no, on what minimum budget you have worked for?
Since we work with mid-market and small businesses, the desired budget starts at $10,000.
What is the price range (min and max) of the projects that you catered to in 2018?
The smallest project in 2018 was at the point of $50,000, and the biggest was $600,000.

Sombra Clients & Portfolios

Key Clients

  • OANDA
  • Womply
  • Workrise
  • Studio Ninja
  • ZappySales

Remindee | SAAS for sending reminders for past website visitors
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Remindee | SAAS for sending reminders for past website visitors
  • Remindee | SAAS for sending reminders for past website visitors screenshot 1
$0 to $10000
35 weeks
Advertising & Marketing

SAAS platform that helps businesses to turn abandoned visitors into customers.

Top three feature:

  • real-time analytics and easy-to-read charts
  • track conversions from visitors that came back on the website
  • responsive design
ZappySales| E-commerce system for distribution business
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ZappySales| E-commerce system for distribution business
  • ZappySales| E-commerce system for distribution business screenshot 1
Not Disclosed
60 weeks
Retail

E-commerce system for a distribution business that manages products and orders across multiple marketplaces. ZappySales is a platform that optimizes the process of selling a high SKU catalog via various marketplace channels.

Challenge:

In dropshipping business, databases powers the system. Our project has one database that combined all the information about orders, clients, and products. When

 bulk vendors change the price of the product, the system updated the whole thing. We’ve got a high number of deadlocks as other functions were making requests to the database.

Solution:

To overcome the issue we have done database normalisation. Our team created a new database with a clear structure that contained only prices for every item. Therefore, updates were performed separately, not overloading the main database.

The H Hub | Platform for Instagram influencers
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The H Hub | Platform for Instagram influencers
  • The H Hub | Platform for Instagram influencers screenshot 1
$0 to $10000
15 weeks
Advertising & Marketing

The H Hub is a platform that allows Instagram influencers (people that have a big amount of followers) gather in one place. We provided the tools necessary to unite users in groups, chat, exchange advice, grow the number of their followers, check their statistics and communicate in different ways. The platform enables not only to create a strong network but also to initiate business ties.

The goal was to build a platform enabling users to get seamless experience and improve their performance on Instagram. Our team was tasked with creating a platform with a vibrant and sleek interface.

Shark-Byte | CRM for Mechanical Service Industry
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Shark-Byte | CRM for Mechanical Service Industry
  • Shark-Byte | CRM for Mechanical Service Industry screenshot 1
$10001 to $50000
50 weeks
Industrial

SharkByte is a CRM that streamlines sales processes for mechanical service contractors. Our client, Perfectware Solutions, is a leading provider of service management and sales tracking software for Mechanical Service Industry. The company was seeking a team to develop a CRM with multi-tenant elements. It was important to the client to hire vendor with successful experience in the CRM building. Since Sombra had an apposite case developing multi-tenant software, the client chose us among other candidates.

We pursued the goal to create the tool for simplifying and automating the selling process specifically for service constructors. The other crucial point was to maintain the integrity of the company's data within one own database and tuning the system to the needs of companies.

SPRAVY.COM.UA | Management system for lawyers
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SPRAVY.COM.UA | Management system for lawyers
  • SPRAVY.COM.UA | Management system for lawyers screenshot 1
$10001 to $50000
50 weeks
Business Services

About: The main goal of this webapp was to help law companies in Ukraine to automate their processes and relay as much routine work to the webapp as possible, so that lawyers could concentrate on their actual work. This system lets law companies store all lawsuit-related information securely in the system. 

Technologies: Java, Spring, MySQL, HTML5/CSS3, GWT.

You could take deeper look at spravy.com.ua case

CONCIERGO | Virtual concierge services
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CONCIERGO | Virtual concierge services
  • CONCIERGO | Virtual concierge services screenshot 1
$0 to $10000
10 weeks
Hospitality

About: Mobile app which is used by hotels to make virtual concierge services. With the app, visitors could know where they can go for a taco or get a taxi. It saves time for visitors and hotel administration. The challenges were to use native mobile platform features for the app created using PhoneGap in order to save development time.

Technologies: Cordova, YELP API.

You could take deeper look at ConcierGo case

eSENSE | Measure your skin temperature & skin conductance with the microphone input of your smartphone
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eSENSE | Measure your skin temperature & skin conductance with the microphone input of your smartphone
  • eSENSE | Measure your skin temperature & skin conductance with the microphone input of your smartphone screenshot 1
$10001 to $50000
20 weeks
Healthcare & Medical

About: eSense is a mobile app which is used for medical purposes like stress tracking and monitoring. The main goal is to reduce anxiety and relieve stress by measuring a temperature of our hands and skin conductance response.

Technologies: Cordova, Ionic, Node.js, Gulp.

You could take deeper look at eSense case

OnCFO | Finance planning and analyzing platform for businesses
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OnCFO | Finance planning and analyzing platform for businesses
  • OnCFO | Finance planning and analyzing platform for businesses screenshot 1
$10001 to $50000
16 weeks
Financial & Payments

About: OnCFO is a modular financial platform providing functionality such as budgeting, forecasting, KPI tracking, dashboarding, commission management, and cap table management. OnCFO replaces the majority of XL-based sheets, templates and models for SMBs (<$50M ARR). The platform features a financial planning & analysis platform that uses 100% Excel syntax to ensure maximum ease of use.

Technologies: Spring MVC, Spring Data JPA, MySQL, Apache POI, AngularJs, Bootstrap, Metronics UI.

You could take deeper look at OnCFO case

CXM | Creating Customer Experience Management System
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CXM | Creating Customer Experience Management System
  • CXM | Creating Customer Experience Management System screenshot 1
$10001 to $50000
30 weeks
Business Services

About: Any customer transaction is associated with an expectation and an experience. CXM shows the gap, so customers can adapt their business. CXM is a solution that measure users' experiences of their companies. We provided an app which measures customer satisfaction by sending SMS’s and emails. These ways are very customized so that it allows to users work with the system faster and get right to the customer experience index.

Technologies: Java, AngularJS, Twilio API, Stripe API.

You could take deeper look at CXM

STUDIONINJA CRM | How to create custom CRM for certain niche
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STUDIONINJA CRM | How to create custom CRM for certain niche
  • STUDIONINJA CRM | How to create custom CRM for certain niche screenshot 1
$50001 to $100000
80 weeks
Business Services

About: The goal was to create a SaaS platform which can be very specialized for photographers. So, StudioNinja is a management software for photographers (CRM) that helps grow business, frees up time, and automatically keeps in touch with photographer's clients. This project was created from scratch. We have developed the frontend and backend and have provided requirements and project management services.

Technologies: Java, AngularJS, Stripe API, Google Calendar API.

You could take deeper look at StudioNinja case

Sombra Reviews

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Trees De Bruyne

How Riditti development turned into a success

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Review Summary

As a startup I was struggling to find a good partner to develop my platform. It was not easy as the foundation was build by someone else. And of course because it is a new idea it is not that staight forward. Together with a great project manager we figgerd out how to work together. Consistancy is key but of course budget is always an issue as a startup. Together with the IT team we found a way of working that fits the project and gives me some security on SLA front. Riditti is located in Europe but thanks to their flexibility and online communication tools this is realy no problem at all.Looking forward to develop our app as well together in the near future

What service was provided as part of the project?

E-commerce Development

What is it about the company that you appreciate the most?

Flexibility and response times

What was it about the company that you didn't like which they should do better?

I'm pretty happy with the way we work. I guess sometimes some communications issue more due to the language but if you take a bit more time during the call that's really not a problem.

Alex Gekht

Good Compony

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Review Summary

Working with Sombra for almost 2 years, very pleased with their job and comunocation.

What service was provided as part of the project?

Software Development

Mark Noonan

From Concept to Completion

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  • Schedule & Timing
  • Communication
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Project Detail

$200000+

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Review Summary

Developing a software product from the ground up seemed like an enormous task. We understood the industry and what we wanted to accomplish, but we needed a development partner that could see our vision, and work together with us to help develop the process and flow, and do it from the other side of the world. Sombra has fulfilled that role, and is continuing to provide us with vision and direction. Our product would not have been as robust without their involvement.

What service was provided as part of the project?

Mobile App Development, Software Development

What is it about the company that you appreciate the most?

Their developers worked incredibly well with our team, and the communications was excellent.

Henrik Worse

Agile partner

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It all starts with a great business understanding. Sombra translate that into technical requirements and develop from that. They are responsive, proactive and keep asking questions until they are sure they understand the requirements.

What service was provided as part of the project?

Software Development, Web Designing (UI/UX)

Chris Garbacz

Amazing team of developers

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I've been working with Sombra for over 2 years now and they have been amazing. The communication is daily, we have a dedicated team and they are producing great work. Check out our project at www.studioninja.co

What service was provided as part of the project?

Mobile App Development, Web Development, Software Development