Closeloop Technologies LLC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an e-learning platform that focuses on business and finance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

Instead of making our platform web-based, we wanted to turn it into a mobile app to make it more accessible to users.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop developed an Android and iOS mobile app that could allow users to upload and view paid or free course videos. I provided the structure and framework for the app, and their team helped me with implementing everything in the best way since I’m not a technical person. They also took care of the UI/UX design.

What is the team composition?

My primary contact is the project manager, but I’m not sure how many people are working under him. 

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

I’ve known their project manager for a long time. He was the one who suggested I work with Closeloop.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The development lasted from January–July 2021. We’re still working with Closeloop for updates on the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have around 500 paying customers on the app. Users are happy with the platform,  and we haven’t had any problems with it. If we do encounter an issue, I can easily reach out to Closeloop to have them address it promptly.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great in this sense. Though we’ve experienced reasonable delays, especially with the COVID-19 situation, Closeloop ensures to deliver ahead of schedule when they can. We use Zoom to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their quickness to respond stood out to me. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I don’t have any recommendations for improvement. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear idea of what you want to achieve because that will make it easier for any developer to create what you want. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a platform for companies and candidates to find each other in the recruiting process without bias interfering. To accomplish this, we create equity at every stage of the hiring process. Our proprietary matching algorithm in the tool presents candidates based on the input requirements only.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

Our CEO used to be the CEO at a talent agency (for which I also worked) and she got the idea to develop a hiring platform without bias. Additionally, our goal was to develop a platform that eliminated five friction points in the hiring process while working without any bias: time to hire, access to qualified talent, lack of workflow transparency, scheduling, and access to feedback.

Rather than just being a development factory, we wanted a partner that would collaborate with us on every step, from inception of the idea to launching a full-fledged product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were their first recruiting industry client, so we started by educating them on our work and friction points, following by sharing our vision for the solution. After that, we had days-long whiteboarding sessions where they shared their knowledge in terms of software development.

The solution has three portals: an admin portal, a job poster portal, and a job seeker portal. A third-party designer created the job poster portal, and Closeloop modified that design for the job seeker portal. Closeloop also handled the internal admin portal. In terms of functionality, they developed multiple backend proposals for how our matching algorithm and automated scheduling features should work. Technologies used include JavaScript, MongoDB, Node.js, and React.js.

What is the team composition?

We have roughly 15 people working on our project right now. I mainly work with four PMs — two senior and two junior. Two of them are based in US with Assim (CEO & Founder), and the other two are in India. The rest of the team is made up of front- and backend engineers, system designers, etc.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

Our CEO has had a personal relationship with Assim for a number of years.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $1 million so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our former company is using the system, and they’re successfully running a $40 million recruiting agency through it. The system has almost 6,000 job posters and 230,000 job seekers. Since they launched the tool in May 2020, we’ve successfully sent out 20 production deployments.

Assim has been instrumental in guiding us toward what success means in a development project like this. Our goal was to find 5–10 medium-sized bugs after deployment, but we’ve actually found zero. And there have been zero major bugs identified as well. Closeloop’s ability to pre-test the solution is amazing.

We’ve also run client feedback campaigns, and the responses are that the tool increases transparency, time to hire, and the ease of working with the talent agency using it. End-clients never have to speak to the talent agency or work with the account managers there because of how effective the tool is. They can create a job posting, search through candidates that our algorithm selects, request interviews with the automated scheduling tool, and make a hire, all by themselves. Almost all the points of friction have been alleviated.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

This is their most impressive area. Assim and the project managers have taught me everything I know about running development projects. They adhere to timelines diligently yet are also flexible in switching directions with us when necessary. With unmatched follow-through, they know what needs to be done to hit the timeline.

They’re also over-communicators, and I mean that in the best way. We’re over-communicators as well. Even if there isn’t anything major to discuss, we touch base once a week. We manage the project through Jira and communicate through Skype and in-person or virtual meetings.

In terms of keeping things on time, budget, and to our standards and specifications, they’re unmatched.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As engineers, they have to have certain amount of understanding of the purpose of what they’re building so as to solve problems effectively. The amount of care Closeloop puts into understanding our business and understand the purpose of everything we ask for stands out. If we ask for a specific button, they don’t just go ahead and agree, they ask what ROI were going to gain from this choice and what issue we’re trying to solve.

They have white-glove-level customer service, going out of their way to gain a 360-degree understanding.                

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know, honestly. This is my time working with a development vendor and my experience has been incredible

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you listen to their questions and answer them well, even if they don’t technically need all the information you’re providing. It’s easy to brush them off, as we’re all running one million miles per minute, but allowing Closeloop to dig into the business side of the engagement will lead to the most well-rounded product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager at a financial services company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We engaged with Closeloop for a variety of purposes. The biggest one this year was the launch of generation two of our loan servicing and underwriting platform. It was a massive software platform launch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop worked on specification gathering and requirements definition, and then they did the development of the platform. From there, the team tested the platform, after which we launched it. This was a close collaboration, but we let them drive the process. 

At present, they provide support and improvement services for the platform. We also do many sub-tests. On top of that, the team provides us with strategies and best practices based on their work with others. They give us many business examples and marketing advice as they relate to the platform experience. That being said, most of what they do focuses on the technical aspects of the software, ensuring we get the functionality we need out of the platform. 

Speaking of functionality, the platform supports a variety of features. It checks the qualifications and generation of loans from our company. That includes verifying whether or not a certain project is eligible for a loan. For context, some projects are eligible only in certain territories or under specific government rules. 

The platform also has a decision-making and data storage feature for underwriting loan applications. It stores information about such applications and finalizes their approval or denial. Moreover, the platform logs the details of all projects, tying them back to their approval or denial status. If a loan is generated, it creates invoices and documents related to the loan. Overall, this platform is the core of our business.

What is the team composition?

The team composition can scale up and down depending on the project. With that said, I work with at least 20 of Closeloop’s members. I deal more closely with 3–4 of them; their positions vary from project manager to QA engineers and developers. I check with the project manager and QA engineers for testing and double-checking their work, while the developers handle the nuts and bolts of the code. The CEO is also involved in many of our discussions.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

Closeloop has been our chosen vendor since I started working in our company. Selecting them for this project was a no-brainer because they supported our platform’s previous version. Over the time they did that, they also became truly familiar with our business and industry. Simply put, it made sense for us to have their services for redesigning and revamping our platform. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent at least $1 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started engaging with them in January 2020, and it’s ongoing. We launched the platform in August 2020, but they continue to provide significant improvements to the platform on top of technical support. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Even though our platform is a brand new financing product, the launch has been highly successful. We’ve recorded an 80% approval rate for people applying for our product. On top of that, we’ve increased our market share. While I don’t have specific statistics on that, Closeloop has helped us exceed our market share goals. 

Meanwhile, for instances of bugs and crashes, their resources are always responsive. They have a US-based team that’s always available and have immediate access to developers. We’ve experienced two small outages, but they’ve responded instantaneously and put us on backup within the hour. They also report issues within the day or next, and the team tells us what they can do to rectify them so they won’t happen again. 

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Closeloop’s project management is great. Their US-based project managers fill their roles well by providing documentation on where things stand. They keep meeting minutes clearly, recording what’s been decided and why. That way, if we ever question them months down the road, we can check the documentation. We also use Jira to maintain communication on all the improvements, updates, and bugs that we have. On top of that, they don’t spend too much time writing things down instead of actually doing things. 

Apart from Jira, we also use Google Suite. Google Documents has been particularly useful when multiple people are editing documents. Closeloop also uses Skype, which works best for international calls. It doesn’t get choppy or break as much as Zoom and Teams when it comes to overseas communication. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Closeloop keeps lean teams. They split their resources between US-based and offshore teams, so we have regular contact with them and there’s no downtime. Moreover, their business model works well; the speed at which they accomplish tasks has been quite impressive. Compared with other software vendors I’ve worked with in the past, Closeloop favors action over discussion and documentation; they can react quickly if we miss anything. 

On top of that, their CEO has a wide breadth of experience, especially with some big-name companies out there. This helps their credibility and credentials. Beyond that, his involvement in the project has been truly useful — he engages with us in both the small project details and the bigger picture. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Closeloop should get a deeper understanding of our business processes and the real-life aspects of our platform. That’s not to say that they don’t understand us —  in fact, they’re coming to the office more frequently — but a deeper knowledge about our industry can help them enhance their services going forward as the engagement gets bigger or more complicated. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat Closeloop more like a partner than a vendor. They’ve earned our trust over the years. Their quality of work has spoken for itself, so we truly trust them. Given that, if you want to engage them, don’t treat them like a vendor that you can push around. Treat them like a partner by trusting them to accomplish your project and achieve the goals of your business.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am one of the co-founders and COO of Omnidian. We provide performance assurance solutions for distributed energy assets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Closeloop Technologies, and what were your goals?

We partnered with Closeloop to develop the first iteration of our technology platform. The scope of this project included, integrating with third-party data sources to ingest/validate / store time-series performance data, analyzing data to identify anomalies, generating alerts based on those anomalies, and facilitating workflows to respond to those alerts.

SOLUTION

How did you select Closeloop Technologies and what were the deciding factors?

We were introduced to Closeloop by a friend who had used Closeloop and highly recommended them. We evaluated a few alternatives to validate the decision to use Closeloop.

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

Closeloop worked within our tech stack and environment to develop the initial project. For example... we communicated on individual tickets in our Jira account and the Closeloop team managed code through our Bitbucket account. After the initial project, we pivoted into ongoing collaboration through subsequent projects and ultimately a monthly support model.

How many people from the Closeloop Technologies team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We partnered with two folks in California as our primary, day-to-day contacts. One of these people was a dedicated, senior-level project manager. The other person was both a Project Manager and developer. Our project was also supported by a team of engineers in India. Closeloop was able to tap specific resources on an as-needed / as-appropriate basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Closeloop delivered the project on schedule. This allowed our team to continue growing our business.

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

The Closeloop team is great at communicating. Common communication channels included scheduled meetings, ad hoc phone calls, email, and Jira. We also hosted several in-person working sessions.

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

We really appreciated the perspective and support from Closeloop's senior leadership team. Closeloop essentially filled the CTO role as our company was launched.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the chief digital officer for Tailored Brands, Inc., which is a leading men’s wear category retailer in North America. I was in charge of e-commerce, omnichannel, and innovation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We were looking to build an e-commerce mobile app with a backend platform for the clothing industry, but we didn’t have the technological resources and knowledge to build it in-house.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop Technologies helped us develop a mobile app that essentially operates as a virtual closet and it allows consumers to interact and understand how to put outfits together.

We had very frequent check-ins and the CEO would even meet with us locally on a weekly basis for business strategies and overall program management ideation. We went through multiple iterations for this app and it was delivered on time, because we were able to conduct all of the consumer testings we had set out to do.

What is the team composition?

We worked closely with the CEO.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere between $80,000–$100,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2017–April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We ended up not commercializing the project because the priorities of our leadership changed. However, we had metrics for the delivery of the interim product throughout the life of the project, and Closeloop Technologies was able to hit every one of those milestones.

They designed a fully-functioning app and provide thousands of our beta users with its full capabilities.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good. They hit all their deadlines and kept the communications simple and easy to understand. It was very seamless interacting with the team even though they had a large offshore group doing the work.

We communicated through emails, Zoom, phone calls, and also had in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were impressed with their unique onshore and offshore model and highly-experienced CEO — we liked him so much that we offered him a separate contract to retain him as our technology adviser on our other projects. They were able to go all the way from strategy, idea, and business partnering with us at the highest level, all the way down to the execution of the project.

I also found their execution very disciplined and timely. They provided us with cost-effective solutions at a quicker pace compared to some of the larger competition — so they were very economical in that sense.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were happy with what they delivered so I can’t think of anything they could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have a complicated and difficult problem and you’re not exactly sure how to build it, Closeloop Technologies can help shape the solution for you. They can provide you with a fast and economical approach and will work with you with the ideation and understanding of the market.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the senior VP of Tailored Brands, Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We were looking to help people utilize their mobile devices to style their clothes or recommend the right items to wear on certain occasions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop Technologies helped us build a personal stylist via a mobile app experience. The partnership started with a whiteboard brainstorming session where we discussed customer behavior and challenge points. 

We decided on the design then talked about the key features, functionalities, and what the UI would look like. After that, they developed a prototype to help us visualize what we were developing. The app is completely custom-coded and was developed for the iOS and Android platforms. 

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with the CEO and product manager.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

They were referred to us by our CDO at the time. We chose them because the Closeloop Technologies team has such an amazing background and deep technical expertise. They just really understand the connectivity of mobile app technology.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $60,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2017–June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The measurement of success was Closeloop Technologies’ ability to translate our requirements into a functioning prototype — they understood our business and designed a user-friendly mobile app. It was an amazing experience because I only shared my vision verbally, but they were able to successfully execute my ideas very well.

We presented the app to a company-wide annual event and it was welcomed with a positive response. 

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really responsive from a project management standpoint. We gave them really tight timelines, but they were just so great with their communication and each iterative round was significantly better than the last.

We typically communicated through emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were very impressed with how they were able to translate the ideas and vision from someone’s head and bring it to life. We were also impressed with the quality of their work and how they were able to deliver in really tight timelines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I usually have constructive feedback, but the Closeloop Technologies team was world-class, professional, and responsive throughout. Working with them is one of the most impressive experiences I’ve ever had.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think sometimes a lot of people are very constrained on how things should work and what the requirements might be, so my advice for them is to dream big. Closeloop Technologies will figure out the hows because they’re visionaries that understand how everything works.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of US Outreach, a consulting practice based in San Francisco.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We were building our business so we needed a structure and framework to do some billing and keep track of our consultants’ timesheets. As a result, we wanted to have an invoice platform, a CRM, and other various tools to be more efficient and to automate the processes of our services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop Technologies developed a custom software that would help us qualify our leads. After that, information on our qualified leads could then be transferred to the database. They also helped us automate our billing so that we didn’t have to manually load information. On top of that, we could provide an invoice to our clients. They integrated a feature where we could keep track of the time that our contractors were putting in, too.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with Assim (CEO & Founder), and he had a team that supported him. We also collaborated with Swetha (Senior Product Manager).

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

We saw Assim at an event, and he was one of the jury panels there. He asked great questions, and we saw that he was experienced. He had a background of supporting technology companies as a consultant. On top of that, we liked his approach and his responsiveness. In the end, we chose his company because he really understood our needs and what we wanted to create.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Closeloop Technologies from April 2019–April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Without Closeloop Technologies, we would still be manually crunching numbers. The team really helped us handle much more, which allowed us to generate more business. With their work, we were able to secure more customers, and we were able to perform much better than before.

Overall, we were very happy with what they did, and we didn’t need to implement changes after their development process. Our engagement only ended because our business didn’t change so we didn’t really have new requirements that we wanted to integrate into our platform.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a lot of meetings at the beginning of the project, including discussions on what we really wanted. During that time, they really showed that they wanted to address everything that our business needed. Since they wanted to see the big picture, it forced us to think outside of the box and plan ahead what we wanted to implement on our project. 

We communicated over email, Zoom calls, and face-to-face meetings. The face-to-face meetings only happened before the COVID-19 pandemic. They had a very straightforward communication style — they didn’t go for a novel type of reply and always made them in a bulleted form. Overall, we were satisfied that they really kept things moving and that they were reliable from start to finish. We’d definitely recommend them to other companies. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We followed the same model during our engagement so we had a close collaboration with them. We also felt that they valued our ideas.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they had no areas to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Dedicate some time to think about what platform you need and when you need to scale it. More importantly, you need to trust them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software company that does real-time video processing. We’ve been recently acquired.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We created some pretty innovative video technology that needed a full-scope app to go around it. The app needed to include user profiles, data processes, a billing system, and a whole backend admin panel.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop Technologies developed a robust, three-dimensional application for us. It had a backend data system that aggregated consumer user data and allowed businesses to have control and manage marketing campaigns. They built all those services and the billing system around them.

What is the team composition?

We primarily worked with Assim (CEO & Founder). He acted as our CTO for the application, and we had a project manager working with us. They were our direct points of contact. Additionally, we sat on many calls with the dev team, but it wasn’t necessary.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

It was through a referral. We had a small team, so we couldn’t take on the bandwidth beyond what we were doing. In the past, we’d worked with many software development companies that turned out to be pretty bad, so we did a lot of research.

After I got the referral, I talked to Assim and liked the idea that he’d take the role of CTO. He assured me he’d get it done. Also, his prices were very competitive.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2016–July 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product worked really well. It accomplished all of our goals and was nice-looking and easy to follow. Basically, it allowed us to present our core technologies.

Moreover, they were the first software company that delivered the product they promised. We had some tight deadlines because our first goal was to be ready for a conference, and we thought there was no way they’d make it happen, but they did. We met the deadline and showed off the product at the conference, where we got some great prospective contacts and investors just by showing the working app.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

It was fantastic. We had daily status meetings and ongoing updates. Assim let me fit into all of the dev team meetings. They kept every deadline, met the sprints, and ensured that everything was completed when we needed it. Also, they let us make changes to the scope if we had to.

Whenever there was a bug, they responded quickly and fixed it. We never had to beg them to do anything, and they spent a lot of time whiteboarding and going over ideas. We were able to meet them in person, which was great since they were offshore developers.

Overall, Closeloop Technologies was an excellent asset, and they added to what we were looking for. It was a great experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to meet deadlines was their best trait. It’s a huge challenge in the industry, and it’s really important in a lot of cases, especially if you have a tight budget. Closeloop Technologies was able to come in within that.

Also, they had deep technical knowledge. Assim came from really great companies, and he always had his finger on the pulse of what was going on in the tech world and Silicon Valley.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a great experience that ended up with an acquisition, so we were happy overall. The only thing that would be nice is if they were in a different time zone, but using offshore developers keeps costs down, especially if you’re a startup.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Choose them. Many software companies overpromise and under-deliver, and Closeloop Technologies doesn’t do that.

On the other hand, have an honest conversation about your goals and budget. Also, don’t scope creep because if you keep adding features, you’ll never be done.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a music company, and we have a platform for discovering international music. Basically, people audition their music, and they license it through our platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We engaged Closeloop Technologies to handle our web and app development projects. They said they had an outsourced facility that could do the app rather easily.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop Technologies only worked on our site’s backend. Since we had a content database, they worked on the backend to make sure that the search functionality of our website was working well. The backend was intricate and custom-made, but I wasn’t sure what it was built on. On the frontend, we had an internal designer and she changed a few pages, which were implemented by the team’s technology group.

They then began building our iOS and Android app, which we used to show how our website works. Once they completed that, they provided us with maintenance services and they resolved all of our technical issues. The team continues to implement updates on both the site and app — nothing’s ever complete and we just continue to enhance what we have.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people, but we mainly worked with their project manager. They also had a team of developers based in India.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

I met their owner at an event I went to.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2018, and we continue to collaborate. We currently have a retainer agreement with Closeloop Technologies.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internally, we like what they’ve done to our site and app. However, we don’t have feedback from customers since we’re a B2B company. We also made a lot of money because of their work because we’ve been able to use it for demonstration purposes. Overall, they're great because they always do what they’re supposed to do.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a great project management process. We communicate through phone calls, texts, and emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been impressed with their communication skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was a time when they had a personnel change and that made things very difficult. However, I know that it could happen to anybody.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be very clear about what you want from them, and they’ll accomplish it.