Team Extension for Adorama’s Growth

IT Craft's expert staff augmentation revitalized Adorama's e-commerce platform, covering the client's ramp-up needs cost-effectively and ensuring top-notch customer satisfaction.

Duration 2007 - 2019
Team 5 - 54 members
Type Photography and Filming
Industry E-Commerce
Platforms Web

Project challenges

Find cost-efficient and flexible staffing solutions to expedite feature deployment in the existing product.

Overcoming time zone differences to maintain efficient communication between a team and clients requires synchronized work schedules and tailored communication tools.
Addressing the challenge of high staff turnover which necessitated the introduction of an extensive retention strategy.

Pressing needs to rapidly accommodate the client's expanding requirements, demanding fast yet appropriate staffing decisions.

"Staff Augmentation goes beyond simply recruiting individuals who are a perfect match; it's also about delivering exceptional service and unwavering support throughout our partnership with clients."

Volodymyr Borodin, PMP, MBA, Head Of Web &
Mobile Dev Department, 15 years with ITCraft

Results

54

Team members
10 working days

To recruit a specialist
3 years

Avg. expert tenure

Over 13 years, IT Craft seamlessly scaled its team from 5 to 54, expediting feature deployment for Adorama's complex e-commerce. Achieving 99.8+ uptime, we ensured platform reliability.

Recruitment efficiency was evident with a 10-day average hiring time. Despite challenges, our commitment ensured a smooth project transition, underscoring the power of expert staff augmentation.

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.NET
C#
JavaScript
MS SQL

Planning

Input

The client initially:

A complex e-commerce platform that served multiple businesses
Previously partnered with another vendor, unsatisfied with the low performance and inability to support scalability, the in-house team sought a new collaboration
A need for adopting existing processes

Analysis

The team:

Streamlined staff augmentation with expert integration
Aligned with the client's corporate culture and development activities
Implemented strong retention strategies with HR monitoring
Adopted client's hiring standards, fast-tracked onboarding, and maintained a knowledge base
Adopted processes to the number of people in the team

Result

Our work resulted in:

A predictable and sustainable delivery process
The process of hiring people to meet growing needs and demands
Achievement of 99.8+ uptime, indicating high reliability
A streamlined onboarding process reduces the integration time from a month to just a few weeks

Business benefits

Cost-Efficient Scalability

The seamless integration of IT Craft's expertise with Adorama's in-house team led to rapid platform development and an agile response to evolving business needs.

Enhanced Platform Reliability

Achieving approximately 99.8+ uptime demonstrated the platform's robustness, ensuring consistent user access and fostering customer trust.

Low
Staff Churn

Implementing a comprehensive retention policy effectively keeps turnover rate of 12% for 10 years, ensuring continuity of expertise and preserving institutional knowledge.

Streamlined Onboarding

The refined project knowledge base and systematic approach to staff augmentation reduced the onboarding time from a month to mere weeks, accelerating project timelines and fostering agile responses to market shifts.

Main Steps

Initial Engagement

We started cooperating with the Adorama client with a minor project task. IT Craft assigned one developer to the project and a project manager (PM) who:
- Communicates client goals to IT Craft’s team, ensuring project engagement and the desired pace.
- Manages online/offline communications, including standups and team activities.
- Regularly aligns team objectives with the client’s vision and continually refines collaboration by tracking feedback and monitoring daily advancements.
Completing the project task, we were chosen for greater project involvement.
Early Expansion

IT Craft’s team increased to 3 developers, an Account Management Coordinator (AMC), and a Business Analyst (BA).

We streamlined communication processes to address time zone challenges by:
- Synchronizing our work hours for greater overlap with the client’s team.
- Integrating tools like Slack for shared communication.
- Employing offline methods, such as video recordings and detailed sprint reports.
IT Craft’s team began taking over significant portions of the main project.
Full Project Takeover

Team grew to 15 members. To reduce staff turnover, we leaned into our retention strategy, encompassing:
- consistent staff satisfaction checks,
- periodic performance assessments,
- direct HR manager consultations,
- mentorship and training initiatives,
- tailored growth plans for individuals
- specialized retention approaches for pivotal team members.
We took complete control of the project at this stage, handling all major aspects. Adopted and contributed to processes of the client’s management team.
Cultural Alignment

Our team integrated with the client’s internal group by adopting their corporate culture. This enabled our engineers to collaboratively engage in planning, development, and goal-setting, enhancing development speed.

Additionally, we actively participated in the client’s brainstorming and team-building events, fostering cultural alignment and optimizing development processes.
Peak Expansion & Diversification

The team surged to 50+ members to accelerate development—and expanded operations to other platforms (a total of three).
Team Balancing

Initially boasting a strong contingent of 50 members, the team was streamlined for efficiency. As the project’s demands evolved, the core focus was maintained with a dedicated squad of 15 members, ensuring agility and effective project management.
Project Transition

After successfully achieving the primary objectives and balancing needs and demands, the In-house management team prudently chose a six-month knowledge transition phase.