Case Study - SoftReactor

Andriy Demkiv had been working as an IT consultant for a number of years, when he decided to begin his own business. He founded the New Jersey-based software development company SoftReactor LLC in 2003 with the goal of establishing a top-quality firm based on a distributed workforce in the United States and Eastern Europe.

"oDesk's guaranteed payment system takes care of a lot of headaches."

– Andriy Demkiv / Founder, SoftReactor

How oDesk Helped:

Later, in 2006, Demkiv came across oDesk and decided to register his company as an oDesk service provider. He created a profile for himself and for his company to get started. "The initial experience was quite positive so over time we introduced more of our developers to oDesk and created profiles for them," says Demkiv. "Now, oDesk is becoming our primary sales channel. We still do direct sales, but we are using oDesk more and more because it's so convenient."

Most of SoftReactor's developers are located in Ukraine and Moldova. "I grew up in both countries, so I have a lot of personal contacts there and it was very natural to utilize them," says Demkiv. The majority of SoftReactor providers begin working for the company part-time and all of them go through a rigorous interview process. As providers become more experienced with oDesk, most opt to work for SoftReactor full-time, as the company offers better conditions than other available jobs.

SoftReactor has offices in Ukraine, but not all developers work in the offices since the company doesn't want to limit the talent pool to certain geographical areas. "We hire the best talent available -- most developers have an M.S. in computer science and some have Ph.D.s. We have lots of contacts with universities, especially in Ukraine, so we're able to attract new talent all the time."

SoftReactor features programming experts in the following technologies: C#/.NET, J2EE, Oracle, Flash, and Graphic Design, with a focus on PHP, MySQL, and AJAX, which are currently in the highest demand. "We always try to cater to demand. For example, Facebook applications are gaining traction really quickly," explains Demkiv. "One of the benefits that oDesk has is a wide variety of job openings in a huge range of technologies. There is some demand for almost all programming skills."

SoftReactor finds oDesk's most valuable attributes the quality of its users and hourly work model. Demkiv estimates that 99 percent of SoftReactor's providers do hourly jobs. In fact, if they get a fixed price project, they often try to convert it to an hourly assignment for the added security that oDesk offers to its providers. Demkiv is especially pleased with oDesk's guaranteed payment system. "I had never seen that before oDesk," he said. "It works quite well -- takes care of lots of headaches. It saves a tremendous amount of time and resources for the billing so the company can spend more time on core services instead of collecting money."

Demkiv states that oDesk brings more serious buyers than other online marketplaces. "Many clients on oDesk have longer-term projects, which are attractive to SoftReactor. We have established strong business partnerships in the United States, Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. Because of oDesk, SoftReactor has become a truly global company."

Since starting with oDesk in 2006, SoftReactor has grown to be the fifth largest provider company currently billing nearly 2,500 hours every month as of mid-2008. "We are definitely planning to continue to expand our presence on oDesk," says Demkiv.