12 Tech

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Lead Engineer of KUHL

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a clothing company specializing in the outdoor and active lifestyle space. I am the Chief Engineer of KUHL.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 12 Tech to accomplish?

• Our existing DevOps engineer was leaving the company and we needed someone to take over the responsibilities. In addition, we also wanted to utilize the opportunity to level up our DevOps as well as general Cloud support including security. We were concerned that as we continue to grow, our current approach to DevOps and the Cloud would not scale and we would run into serious issues including outages and security incidents. Thus we wanted to take this opportunity to address those concerns and set us up for future growth

SOLUTION

How did you find 12 Tech?

Referral

Why did you select 12 Tech over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from 12 Tech were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The Challenge
Our existing DevOps engineer was leaving the company and we needed someone to take over the responsibilities. In addition, we also wanted to utilize the opportunity to level up our DevOps as well as general Cloud support including security.

We were concerned that as we continue to grow, our current approach to DevOps and the Cloud would not scale and we would run into serious issues including outages and security incidents.

Thus we wanted to take this opportunity to address those concerns and set us up for future growth

The Approach
Scope Of Involvement
12 Tech did a tremendous job in taking over the control and responsibility of all the support as well as uptime in a matter of just a few days. 

Then they comprehensively audited the existing environment and presented us with their plan of how they would follow modern Cloud Architecture and DevSecOps industry best practices to incrementally improve our environment and processes overtime yet handle the most critical issues on priority

The scope of work included not just DevOps and Cloud Architecture, but also the maintenance, support, uptime with on-call and SLA-based response times, security and cost optimizations for all your AWS and GCP accounts

In a nutshell, 12 Tech served as our company’s DevOps and Cloud Services department, responsible for all aspects of our growing cloud environment

Team Composition
12 Tech provided us with a Principal Cloud Architect and then had multiple Senior DevOps Engineers available. They integrated seamlessly into the rest of our team and functioned just like the rest our permanent team members, readily available on all our official company communication channels including for video calls on Teams.

How did you come to work with 12 Tech?
They were referred to us by our previous DevOps engineer.

Status Of Engagement
With all the initiatives successfully completed and processes streamlined by 12 Tech, they have now trained our internal staff and transitioned DevOps to them.

All our repetitive tasks are fully automated
CI/CD pipelines run fully automated without any manual intervention
In the ops space, we have a comprehensive production monitoring and alerting setup and the stakeholders get notified in case there are any issues
We have a comprehensive logging and telemetry setup that helps us investigate issues and find root causes
Our entire cloud environment is fully secure. We have confirmed this by checking our compliance with popular industry security frameworks like CIS, AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar etc

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have come a long way in terms of our DevOps maturity level. To list the impact which 12 Tech has created here are a few milestones/outcomes we have achieved:

All our repetitive tasks are fully automated
CI/CD pipelines run fully automated without any manual intervention
In the ops space, we have a comprehensive production monitoring and alerting setup and the stakeholders get notified in case there are any issues
We have a comprehensive logging and telemetry setup that helps us investigate issues and find root causes
Our entire cloud environment is fully secure. We have confirmed this by checking our compliance with popular industry security frameworks like CIS, AWS Well-Architected Security Pillar etc

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Fantastic. They seem to have streamlined processes that are very mature and are able to function optimally

What was your primary form of communication with 12 Tech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their work ethics.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 12 Tech could have done differently?

There is always room for improvement, but we are talking about small details that I really can't recall.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Managing Partner of a software company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Social investing platform that encourages customized stock portolios

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 12 Tech to accomplish?

• Transform a prototype used in test markets into a fully operational version ready for market deployment
• Redesign the backend algorithm for the platform
• Add new features to improve the user experience

SOLUTION

How did you find 12 Tech?

Referral

Why did you select 12 Tech over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from 12 Tech were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We have done several sprints with 12Tech and are in the process of doing several more.  The scope of work is outlined below along with a summary of key deliverables.

Invites:

• Objective: Manage user onboarding and contest entry through invitation links.
• UI:Detection and Storage: Implement functionality to detect and store URL parameters that associate a user with a specific contest they are invited to.
• Redirection: After a user completes the onboarding or sign-in process, they should be redirected to the page where they can join the contest they were invited to.
• API:Database Records: Develop an API to create and maintain records in the database to keep a persistent relationship between users and the contests they are invited to.

Key Deliverables:

1. Detection and storage of URL parameters.
2. Redirection of users to the contest page post-sign-up/sign-in.
3. API to manage user-contest relationships.

Stock Trades:

• Objective: Facilitate and manage stock trades during the contest.
• UI:Trading Management: Create a screen where users can make trades and view their current stocks and previous trading history.
• API:Trading Routes: Develop API routes that support trading functionality, such as submitting trades and retrieving trading history.
• Contest Engine:Alpha Calculations: Modify the contest engine’s alpha calculations to consider both current and historical stock data using a specified algorithm.

Key Deliverables:

1. User interface for trading management.
2. API routes for trading.
3. Updated alpha calculation in the contest engine.

Admin Portal:

• Objective: Provide tools for administrators to manage contests and monitor user activity.
• UI:Admin Dashboard: Develop a dashboard for admins to create new contests and view existing ones.
• Contest Management: Allow admins to view details of current and past contests, including user participation and rankings.
• Routing: Ensure correct routing for admin users to various functionalities within the admin portal.
• API:Admin Routes: Implement API routes to support the creation and management of contests, and to access contest data.

Key Deliverables:

1. Admin dashboard and associated pages for contest management.
2. API routes for admin functionalities.

Update UI to Design Spec:

• Objective: Revise the user interface to accommodate new features and design specifications.
• UI:Layout Revamp: Update the frontend to support user-created contests and the ability for users to participate in multiple contests simultaneously.

API:Information Architecture: Adjust the information architecture to align with the new UI layout and page flows.

Key Deliverables:

1. Updated UI according to design specifications.
2. API adjustments to match the new page layouts.

Technical Infrastructure:

• Objective: Enhance system performance and notification capabilities.
• Game Engine:Stock Data: Modify the game engine to fetch stock data once per minute and use it across all active contests.
• Websocket Integration: Implement websockets for event-driven updates, such as starting or finishing contests.
• Text Service:SMS Notifications: Integrate with a service like AWS SNS to send text messages for contest invitations and updates.

Key Deliverables:

1. Updated game engine for efficient stock data handling.
2. Websocket implementation for event notifications.
3. SMS notification service integration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

12Tech collaborated with us diligently to meet the defined scope of work and managed our expectations pragmatically. We held multiple meetings before each sprint to optimize time and efficiency. To communicate changes and adjustments effectively, we used Figma, video calls, and Trello. We anticipate that all objectives outlined in our scope of work will be completed by the end of summer.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The items were delivered within the expected timeframe, and any delays—whether due to our team's deliverables or theirs—were communicated promptly. They consistently addressed our concerns and resolved issues efficiently and confidently.

What was your primary form of communication with 12 Tech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

12 Tech's commitment to collaboration and ensuring our satisfaction with the final result was not unique. Still, it was refreshing in an era where service etiquette is often overshadowed by the rush to complete projects quickly.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 12 Tech could have done differently?

NA

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical director for HubSync. We provide SaaS products for the tax workflow market, enabling large CPA firms to have a modernized workflow suite.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 12 Tech?

We engaged them to bolster our DevOps processes and overall development and assistance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

12 Tech provided technology consultation services. They handled everything remotely and helped us clarify many issues among our internal engineering team to get results.

What is the team composition?

We only worked with Syed (Founder).

How did you come to work with 12 Tech?

Our CEO found them on LinkedIn and connected with them based on what we were looking for. Then, we scheduled an introductory meeting with Syed. We engaged them for their expertise; they did a spectacular presentation.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2021–February 2022. We’re looking to extend our involvement with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We didn’t have statistics, numbers, or timelines; our measure of success was moving our projects forward. 12 Tech came in and was highly professional. They were also instrumental in getting our initial monitoring solution. In general, it was an excellent service.

How did 12 Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed exceptionally well. They had a professional approach, making it easy to work with them. We didn’t struggle with anything; they just jumped right in. 

We used Azure DevOps to manage tickets, and we had our own custom products to manage our projects. Also, we communicated over Teams and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a calm demeanor, especially in trying situations. 12 Tech’s team was extremely professional and knowledgeable. They walked us through the project and were articulate with their approach. Moreover, it was easy to work with them — they worked on the same level as everyone else and didn’t treat anybody beneath them. Also, they always offered sound solutions and advice.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, I can’t think of anything. I’d work with them again.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of SecurePoint 360.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 12 Tech?

We weren’t too happy with our development team and we’re looking for someone to come in and give us an independent assessment. They looked at our code and architecture and reported their feedback.

We liked what they had to say and felt they were explaining technical concepts to us at a level that we understood. The decision was made to outsource our development work to them and sever our relationship with our previous outsourced development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The initial review included them going line-by-line through the source code of our application. We had an executive meeting with their CEO and technical architect after they presented their report to answer questions. This was the initial engagement.

We then decided to bring them in from a development perspective. Despite the consulting we sell when we sign a client to a plan, they get free access to a platform that scans their environment and find vulnerabilities. 12 Tech now owns 100% of the development of this platform.

It is a complex product that interacts with a lot of backend tools. When 12 Tech did the architecture review, it wasn’t as deep as when they started fixing the problems and writing the code. We gave them architectural diagrams and a conceptual overview of the platform, as well as a demo.

They’ve taken over ownership of the whole process. If we give them an enhancement request, they’ll write a user story about it, review it with us, and create a detailed design after we’ve agreed on the functionality. They own the process of translating our high-level requests into requirements, as well as writing the code.

We run in the AWS environments. The frontend is mostly JavaScript, and the backend is mostly Python. We use SQL databases. Their work is all remote.

What is the team composition?

As far as the development goes, we work with three full-time developers and one full-time QA resource.

How did you come to work with 12 Tech?

I met Syed (Founder) through a networking event. It was right around the time I was growing unhappy with our old developer.

There are two reasons we went with 12 Tech: they had a strong technical expertise, and when explaining their plans, they spoke to us in a way that we understood, even though they were more technical than us. They showed us that they heard and understood us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Our platform wasn’t functionally stable and had a lot of bugs when we started. The 25 clients we had at the time were hearing a lot of noise, but now we’ve stabilized things, and our number of clients has grown to 40–45. We brought 12 Tech in because our business growth was impeded, and now those impediments have been removed.

Because of how happy we are with their work, we’ve begun to utilize their services in two other areas: DevOps and cyber security. There are now as many people working in these two areas as are working on our development project.

We’re comfortable and confident with what they’re doing.

How did 12 Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re careful and meticulous. Syed helps with the project management and understands the key aspects of what it takes to do a good job in this area. 12 Tech values relationship and invest their personal time in building it.

We use Jira to track user stories and sprint progress and Zoom to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we’ve worked with other companies, it has been a very transactional experience. People in power in those situations will charge you for the seconds that meetings run over.

We’ve fostered a more open, innovative experience with 12 Tech. They’ve been a true partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When I started, I expected them to come up to speed a bit faster, but I’m not sure if that was an issue with their work or my own expectations. It took closer to 6–9 months, rather than 3–4 months.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Syed is trying to build his business, so try to build partnership with them that is valuable to both sides. If there was one thing to be wary about, is whether they can scale their organization. If they had two more clients that were our size, I don’t know if they would have had the team in place to fill that capacity.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of a software startup

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 12 Tech?

I was considering purchasing the technology platform of an existing company based in Brazil. The tech platform was for a virtual workspace and my goal was to build on top of it as a SaaS offering. As a result, I needed it to be scalable, robust and secure. I hired 12 Tech to do all the technical due diligence for me, and then possibly building on top of it after purchase.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Initially I thought I could find a great contractor on Upwork to do this. I interviewed about 8 different contractors and was not super confident about any of them except 12 Tech. It turns out 12 Tech had an entire structured offering around this, and they were very experience doing due diligence as part of the M&A process. I felt very confident about their abilities..

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

12 Tech laid out the various stages of their Due Diligence process: 1) Local Development Environment setup, 2) Main Functionality Testing, 3) Code Review, 4) Architecture Review, 5) Information Security Review.

They were very thorough about their review process and they included both a detailed writeup as well as a call or email to go into further detail at each stage. I always felt that I had all the information I needed to get to the next stage and make a decision. I was very confident in their review and analysis.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

My main point of contact was the Chief Strategy Officer based in New Jersey, but most of the detailed review was done by Mian - a very competent resource based in Pakistan.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

12 Tech's analysis was so detailed in terms of the current functionality and future prospects of the tech platform that I was able to make a confident decision about whether to move ahead with the acquisition. Their work was amazing and I felt very confident about my decision.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was strong and ongoing, and I always knew where we were in the progress. There were some delays but they were mostly because of the seller and 12 Tech kept me abreast of the timing and issues.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I was super impressed by the established progress they had for a project like this. This was my first time doing a technical due diligence for a potential acquisition - but they were experts and came in with a system in place. I felt like all bases were being covered and that it would be a thorough review.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing that could have been done differently. It went great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO and a principal consultant in charge of all the projects of a tech business solutions firm. My responsibilities are primarily twofold: I make sure that we pick the right technologies for use within our company as well as our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 12 Tech?

We needed some expertise in using Google’s AI platform for a call center project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We partnered with Tech 12 to create a chatbot for a federal customer. They centered around the automation of the bot, working with JavaScript and Google Call Center AI to facilitate the conversation end of the bot. We did the rest. The project included programming of the bot, voice response, logic, and database access. Finally, we came up with a prototype system of the bot that permitted the federal agency to field inquiries and pass them along to a live agent.

However, the bot didn’t stop there. It actually listened to conversations and made distinctions between the agent and the client. The bot automatically determined the context of the conversation and brought it to the agent to help satisfy that particular client’s need.

They also helped us with other projects. I can’t say much about it, but it involved website design and development. I was impressed by how quickly they were able to respond and provide us with the right people to get the work done.

What is the team composition?

We worked with their principal consultant and another senior-level person. We also worked indirectly with some of their developers. It was probably four people over the course of the whole engagement. 

How did you come to work with Tech 12?

We put a request on Upwork because we were having trouble finding people with the right talent for this project. Fortunately, Tech 12 had experience with Google Call Center AI, which was primarily the reason we decided to hire them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in March 2020. However, we had to put the project on hold in August 2020, but we expect to start again soon.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We measure success by completeness, timeliness, and quality, and Tech 12 matched up to that. 

How did Tech 12 perform from a project management standpoint?

We used our own tool management platform. Apart from that, we communicated via Google Meets, email, texting, and Signal. As far as deadlines, they were always on time. We never had an issue understanding what we needed to do and by when. Everybody was on the same page. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were professional and knowledgeable in their domain. The quality of their work was outstanding. Working with Tech 12 was always a pleasant and enjoyable experience. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We don’t have any complaints. We felt very satisfied and got everything we wanted.

Any advice for potential customers?

The Tech 12 team is very proactive. If they need something, they will contact clients. Having thorough communication is the only way to meet schedules, and Tech 12 exceeds at that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am CEO of an AI startup in the Greater Boston Area. We are a team of 5 people with a strong background in data science.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 12 Tech?

Our technology was developed over the last 6 months by our internal data science team. We had customers who wanted to use our models and decided a cloud-based product was the best approach. We didnt have the skills in-house to move our work into the cloud.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted our customers to be able to call our AI models from their back-end processes through a series of APIs. This required us to build an AWS architecture and APIs that would cover the training, deployment and inference of our models.

SOLUTION

How did you select 12 Tech?

My team submitted a project proposal to Upwork to find freelance help. 12 Tech responded with a clear proposal to meet our needs and had good success with other clients found on Upwork. After speaking with Syed, we were impressed, and hired 12 Tech.

Describe the project in detail.

We wanted our customers to be able to call our AI models from their back-end processes through a series of APIs. This required us to build an AWS architecture and APIs that would cover the training, deployment and inference of our models. 12 Tech took care of this process.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager and developer help as required. Our project was conducted remotely with regular catch up meetings on Zoom and day-to-day interactions over Slack. 12 Tech were prompt to respond to any questions and queries and delivered as promised.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our project was a success. 12 Tech gave us a structure and process that enables us to provide access to our models to customers through AWS hosted APIs.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent as described above

What did you find most impressive about this company?

An ability to work with folks from a different technical background and translate our work into a cloud based product.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Some additional help working through the long-term cost impacts of decisions made about our cloud infrastructure now, would be helpful for long-term business planning.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Managing Director of a boutique marketing and branding agency that serves health-tech companies

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 12 Tech, and what were your goals?

We've been working with 12 Tech to update and create new webpages for our clients. In some cases, we wanted to optimize the performance of the pages and streamline the UX. In other cases, we asked 12 Tech to create new pages.

SOLUTION

How did you select 12 Tech and what were the deciding factors?

We conducted a broad search for smaller, more nimble development agencies to help us with our projects. I asked each agency to answer a set of 3 technical questions. We worked with a technical consultant to evaluate the responses. 12 Tech had the most thorough, technically sound responses, as well as a collaborate, open communication style.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We've done a range of projects with 12 Tech so far. Each involves a kick-off of sorts, in which we explain our needs, goals, timeline, and budget. Syed, the head of 12 Tech, does an initial assessment of our needs and then assigns us a developer and/or web designer, depending on the project.

Updates are provided to us on a regular basis, sometimes multiple times a day, which is very helpful in keeping our clients up to date. Draft web pages are usually created on a staging server, so we're able to see and provide feedback before that code is pushed to production. For web design work, the designer works in Adobe XD and we're able to provide feedback asynchronously.

Both are processes that are efficient and effective. What's also particularly effective is that Syed oversees the developers and web designers, and he typically reviews the workplan before they get started and reviews the work before it gets sent to us for review. The developers and designers are very skilled, but it's very helpful to have a senior-level person guide the workplan and quality of work.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We've worked closely with Syed, the head of 12 Tech, as well as a some of the developers and web designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

In one project, website performance was much improved. For other projects, we received very positive feedback from our clients on the UX and design.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Communication is done through Upwork, which has been working well for us. The 12 Tech team is very responsive and amiable. Do keep in mind that the developers and web designers are in Pakistan and so they're about half a day ahead if you're in the US.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

High-quality technical help and support, very responsive communication, great project management, professionalism is very high

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing comes to mind

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Owner of an advertising & marketing company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Tell Me Your Goal is a digital marketing agency that helps customers increase their online visibility.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 12 Tech to accomplish?

Create AWS architecture for a new project.

SOLUTION

How did you find 12 Tech?

Online Search

Why did you select 12 Tech over others?

High ratings

How many teammates from 12 Tech were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Created well-architected AWS infrastructure for a new Python application. Delivery was a full CI/CD pipeline as well as cloud infrastructure.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Completion of the cloud infrastructure and a working ci/cd pipeline. This was demonstrated with a full end-to-end demo of the working infrastructure.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They were very responsive and delivered all projects on time.

What was your primary form of communication with 12 Tech?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They were very experienced and precise with their implementation. Everything they said they would do, they did.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 12 Tech could have done differently?

No, the execution went very well.

BACKGROUND

Briefly describe what your company does and your role there. 

I am a MEAN stack developer and developed the both components of front end and back end of websites in my organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your company's goals when you started looking for a partner?

Our company's goals were to developed custom websites, portals and Cloud deployments, migrations and cost optimizations when we started looking for a partner.

SOLUTION

Describe the scope of your partner's work with your company. Please include a summary of any key tasks or deliverables.

The scope is wider with our partner's company's work as they are very effective in cost optimization in any software development project and cloud deployment is also great.

How many people does your company work with?

6 - 10 people

How did you find this provider?

Referral

Why did you choose to work with them?

• Positive reviews and ratings
• Pricing fits our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred by a trusted source
• Company values aligned

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results or deliverables of this partnership that demonstrate progress or success?

As a result of this partnership we have deployed many cloud applications and have managed the cost efficiently for any software whether it is mobile application or website development.

How does your team communicate with this service provider?

• In-person Meetings
• Virtual Meetings
• Email or Messaging App
• Project Management Platform
• Mobile Text Messages

Are there any areas for improvement or something this service provider could have done differently?

The website development and cloud deployment are great, and our partner did it efficiently.