The 5th of June is a significant date for XB Software, because 15 years ago, in 2008, it was the day when the company was established. A small group of enthusiastic programmers decided to create a startup that would help other businesses in improving their processes. It became the turning point that defined the strategy of our company.
To know more details of the company’s success story, how it all started, and what is happening in the company nowadays, we talked with our Chief Operating Officer, Vitaly Hornik.
On June 5, XB Software will celebrate its 15th anniversary. What’s the story behind it and how did it progress?
Well, 15 years is a considerable period of time, and I’m really grateful to all the people who contributed to this journey. However, the story began long before creating XB Software, when coding was not even my passion at first. But after I enrolled at the university and understood how programming helps to solve scientific tasks, I started to enjoy it. I got a Ph.D. in IT (Computer Science), worked as a developer and technical project manager, took courses in PMI and Tallinn School of Management. I remember my first commercial project back in 2000, it was a project for Human Resources specialists and micro tenders organization.
When me, Nickolay Borisyuk [the CTO of XB Software], and a few other people decided to create a startup, we couldn’t even imagine where it would lead us. Our goal was to do something more significant than just coding, and this is how the story of XB Software began. We wanted to help others by doing what we do best and make the life of other businesses easier by helping them to develop and modernize solutions they need. And, as a result, to help them succeed in their niche.
We valued and still value self-reformation and improvement, sincerity, and openness. It means that every employee is able to speak their mind and suggest upgrades feely. That’s how we work. Thus, our goal slowly transformed into a whole company with many other various people. This diversity helps us to see from different perspectives, and even a new junior specialist can sometimes share ideas that other employees didn’t even think about.
We understand that mistakes can be made, one can regress to the previous stage, but it is all a part of evolution. Sometimes, you just have to take one step back to be able to make two steps forwards, because you can’t always find the perfect solution right away. That is why, I think that you can consider a company anniversary successful when you focus on the people who made it great and the story of their journey.
XB Software delivers IT outsourcing projects since 2008. What market/region are you focusing on?
Well, of course, since 2008, many things have changed. Each year, we have expanded more and more and delivered our services to a wider public. But, we are still offering IT outsourcing services and support businesses in developing custom software and improving their inside and outside processes, that’s for sure.
At the moment, we are glad to be able to help small- to medium-sized businesses that are in need of custom web and mobile solutions. Usually, we have clients that come from various industries, such as Logistics and Transportation, Construction, Energy and Utilities, Manufacturing, Real Estate, Education, Healthcare, etc. But, of course, we also work with customers from other business domains if we can lend a hand. Our team is really adaptable and open to world technology changes and new trends. Thus, for example, we were able to help one of our customers to develop a real-time cryptocurrency exchange platform, and the outcome was successful. In general, it all depends on the client’s requirements, so we can always meet each other halfway.
What were some of the early challenges and benefits of setting up the Poland office? How has the team grown since then, and what special strengths do they bring to XB Software?
Opening the Poland office brought a ton of benefits, from a stronger foothold in the European market to some awesome tech partnerships. But early on, we had to figure out local regulations and syncing up our processes, which kept us on our toes. Over time, though, we adapted and got things running smoothly. Now, the team in Poland has grown a lot, and they bring unique strengths in software development, project management, and QA. Since the opening of our polish office, we have even been winning awards here and there as top custom development company in Poland, which we see as a huge credit to the hard work and skills of our team!
What is the company doing best?
I would say front-end development and JavaScript development. We can assist clients’ in-house teams in dealing with the back-end side, however, our main focus is to develop the frontend side fast and on a professional level to make an application intuitive and easily customizable if a customer wants it to be.
To increase the speed of the development process and lower costs, we offer customers our own JavaScript UI libraries, Webix and DHTMLX. Many of our clients are still our dear partners after we offered them to use our products to satisfy their needs. Some of them are still with us after 5 and even 10 years, and we really appreciate the choice they made.
Which services that you provide are the most popular among the clients and why?
Looking at the beginning of XB Software journey, our clients wanted to have solutions for their project management systems. Our products are able to cover most of the needs for such software, so we offered them to our customers. Nowadays, we are helping to find issues in each client’s business processes and suggest solutions that can improve them. We communicate with each other, brainstorm, uncover troubles, and decide what will be the best.
Also, we have a lot of requests to help with the app modernization. In general, customers may need to have assistance in modernizing legacy applications, improving UI/UX design of a system, or can ask to develop brand new software that will include innovative data visualization tools alongside those that are commonly used. Besides that, we can build and modernize SaaS applications, Cloud software, single-page applications, cross-platform, and mobile apps.
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What are some of the most memorable or successful projects that you have delivered and are proud of?
Well, our success rate is higher in comparison with the average success rate in the industry. And, as I said earlier, most of our clients still communicate and work with us. I think it speaks a lot.
I see it like that: a successful project is a victory, and 10 successful projects are 10 victories. However, I think that the true victory is when you solve a client’s problem without starting a project. I feel really proud of the outcomes when we spent some time during the presale stage and found a simple solution to the customer’s issue. As a result, we saved our customer’s time and money. Yes, we lost a project in this case, but we gained a friend that can help us to find more projects in the future. We think about the customer above all things, so we want to implement the idea as much as the client wants it.
“Working with XB is an experience that brings mutual thinking and take their implementation beyond my expectations. A business relationship built on mutual respect.”
Founder & Entrepreneur at Avista Time
“I have been using DHTMLX and Webix for well over a decade to support my research program. What initially drew me to this library was the comprehensive set of Javascript widgets, and excellent documentation. Their software tools have significantly improved my ability to rapidly generate fully functional prototypes. Several years ago, I realized I could directly leverage the significant expertise of the XBS team, and their consulting services; I no longer have to spend 2-3 hours trying to tweak CSS or small UI tweaks. As a Physician Scientist who enjoys coding, I have been able to code the “guts” of the UI components I need to support my research program with Webix, while leveraging the XBS team to further polish, test, and improve my custom applications.”
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Informatics at Emory University School of Medicine
“I have been using and working with XB since 2010 to develop applications in the Healthcare sphere. I really value their innovation, their problem-solving abilities, and their focus on efficient solutions, both in time and cost. I frequently recommend XB to clients and colleagues.”
Consultant General & Colorectal Surgeon at Mater Misericordiae University Hospital
What you learned as COO from 15 Years in the IT Outsourcing Business?
I can say that I learned to be the COO. 15 years ago, I was a junior specialist and knew nothing about COO or how to be one. I read a lot of books that helped me to understand people and myself better, which gave me a huge boost in improving my skills. Now, I know ins-and-outs and deal with the problems successfully. Maybe 15 years more and I will be able to predict them. There will be no need to deal with the problems, because I will know about possible issues beforehand and create a smooth path that won’t cause them.