Trends in software development move fast, and the business needs of global companies move even faster. Having a unique selling proposition that sticks out in a sea of diverse solutions is hard, but some companies like Notum Technologies have found their niche thanks to specialization.
The Czech custom software development agency founded six years ago by Ondřej Janošík and Jiří Mouka can boast being one of the five official Strapi implementation partners in Europe thanks to their expert know-how on this headless CMS. Coupled with extensive experience building solid mobile and web applications, the team at Notum, comprised of over 40 experts, is a safe bet for any company willing to develop its own software solution to serve its clients better.
As a Localazy partner, Notum offers tailored localization services in their stellar service package. Find out how our collaboration came to be and learn more about their development practices in this interview with co-founder Jiří Mouka.
💎 Your Strapi development experts 🔗
Hey, Jiří! Can you describe the primary problems Notum Technologies addresses?
We are a custom software development agency specializing in team leasing. Our primary service involves providing expertise that clients may not yet have in their teams or simply expanding their capacity.
Our vision is to contribute with soft and hard skills to make software a key component of our clients' success. 🧑💻 This commitment means we value transparency, openness, and continuous learning. To support this, we organize meetups focused on Strapi and Vue.
Who are your customers?
Our clients are mainly in the insurance and telecommunications sectors. We serve larger companies globally, from Japan to Finland, from Italy to the USA, with a strong focus on 🇨🇭 Switzerland and 🇨🇿 Czechia.
You offer a vast catalog of backend, frontend, testing, and QA solutions. Which one stands out for its high demand, and why?
Our agency primarily receives requests for React Native (which appears straightforward but can present complex challenges) and Strapi development, as we are one of the top three Strapi implementation experts.
That is amazing. At Localazy, we love Strapi and are amazed to see that you're one of the few European official implementation partners of this CMS. How did this collaboration come about?
We've been using Strapi since it was just starting out. While it had its share of issues in the early days, it helped us accelerate our backend development. This enabled us to build a relationship with the core team, who were the only members of the company back then.
👀 Are you a Strapi user? Check out Localazy's plugin on their marketplace and automate your localization process quick as lightning!
Can you point out a project the team is especially proud of (because of its complexity, scope, or out-of-the-box creativity)?
While we have several projects under strict NDAs, I can share one remarkable achievement: we have worked closely with Strapi's core team to migrate Strapi.io's website from version 3 to version 4. 🎉
Additionally, we've provided valuable assistance in developing their official plugins and successfully released several on our own.
What does success look like for your company?
Seeing clients achieve their KPIs more efficiently through the solutions we create is always great. We also prioritize transparent and honest communication in our journey toward achieving these goals.
💼 From a 9 to 5 job to expansion 🔗
Let's circle back to the beginning of Notum. How did you come up with the idea, and how did you put it into motion?
I have been building software for almost ten years now. I studied Economics in Brno and wanted to combine these two disciplines. My partner and I used to have regular jobs, and every evening, we worked on clients' projects for 4 to 6 hours. After doing this for a year, we finally founded Notum in 2018 and went all in. 🙃
Was this your first project as an entrepreneur?
My first was a charity called RightCharity.com. Its goal was to collect affiliate commissions and give them to charities people could vote for.
How is Notum funded?
We charge on an hourly basis and provide estimates before we begin coding. At the end of each month, we send a timesheet for customers' review and approval. Our adaptable approach allows you to select the specific roles you need through our team leasing service.
What does the future of the company currently look like?
Our priorities include expanding to Switzerland and supporting our self-managed developers' growth in soft and technical skills. 💪
🇨🇭Honoring the Swiss standard 🔗
How does Notum stand out from competitors in a highly competitive software market?
It all mainly comes from how we work and develop new solutions. It also has much to do with having communicative developers, being an official Strapi partner, and honoring the Swiss standard.
Apart from that, we are also:
- 👨💻 Open-source contributors and open-source lovers.
- ✅ We've finished 40+ Strapi projects.
- 📚 We are happy to share all our know-how in team leasing and make teams self-sufficient in technologies such as Strapi in 3-6 months.
What would you say are the most significant risks and challenges for your company?
As our product is not limited to any specific market, there are no typical risks associated with it. Currently, our challenge lies in expanding to Switzerland and establishing a Swiss Notum branch. We have already elevated our standards to meet Swiss requirements and are now ready to enter this market fully.
In which fields are you innovating? Any future services you can tease?
Like many companies, we actively leverage AI technology. Additionally, we extensively utilize Figma and its plugins, allowing us to create extensive design systems, tokens, and variables. This approach helps bridge the gap and reduce the time between the design and development phases.
What will the software development industry look like about ten years from now?
I anticipate that CMSs will soon autonomously generate AI-driven content at a large scale, with marketing teams focusing on fine-tuning the results. 🔍 Additionally, I believe another layer of AI will emerge to summarize this content or transform it into different formats, such as shorter text or video content.
🧩 Integrating Localazy 🔗
Why did you decide to offer Localazy to your clients?
Many of our clients have international businesses; hence, their websites must be available in multiple languages. We chose Localazy because it integrates with Strapi via plugin, so it seemed like a great fit.
Did you have previous experience with localization before Localazy?
Yes. The people who create content for the websites we make often copy and paste the text into translation tools like Google Translate or Deepl. Then, they copy the translated text back into Strapi. Sadly, this takes a lot of time and effort.
"The people who create content for the websites we make often copy and paste the text into translation tools, and then copy it back into Strapi. This takes a lot of time and effort"
How was the integration process?
We really like Localazy; it's a fantastic tool! The control panel is easy to use, with instructions for nearly everything you can do. We had some problems making the Localazy plugin work with the exact version of Strapi we were using, but after getting help from your team, everything worked fine. 👍
From the perspective of a whole team of software makers, what is your favorite Localazy feature, and how has it made your life easier?
I don't think I can highlight just one feature, but the overall automation that Localazy adds to the translation process is fantastic. It can save a lot of time when handling content in multiple languages.
How many languages have you implemented for Notum? Are you planning to add more?
We added two more languages besides Czech, which was the original language of the content: English and German. This met our needs, but since we also have clients from Japan, we might test how Japanese works with Localazy in the future.
Apart from Localazy, would you like to highlight some services or products you really enjoy?
We would love to mention our open-source Strapi plugins, which, when used with the Localazy integration plugin, can enhance this CMS' capabilities even further.
Well, that's a wrap! Thank you for your time, Jiří. We'll keep an eye on what Notum does next! 👀 If you want to be in the loop too, follow them on their social channels, and make sure to take a look at their impressive portfolio here.
