Accelerance

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO at Wiser Solutions. We are a 150 person company with offices in San Mateo, Boston, Paris, and Monterrey Mexico. Wiser Solutions helps retailers and brands turn omnichannel data into action that increases revenue, reduces costs, and improves marketing effectiveness. Wiser's services span brick-and-mortar retail and e-Commerce to include pricing intelligence, repricing, MAP monitoring, brick-and-mortar retail auditing, and more. Wiser gathers and analyzes billions of data points using a unique combination of data science and human validation, so Wiser data is high-quality, accurate, and near-real-time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Accelerance?

We were looking to find a high quality nearshore partner to augment our engineering team. We needed help to assess our readiness for offshore and to choose the right partner for our culture & development needs.

SOLUTION

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

Accelerance was a referral from another member of our executive team who had worked with them at a previous company.

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

Initially, they did an assessment on our readiness for working with an offshore partner. They provided two consultants who came onsite in our two US offices. The consultants interviewed key members of our leadership, product, and engineering teams. They followed that with a thorough report with specific recommendations on changes we should make internally that would better ensure a successful partnership. Following the assessment, they took us through a partner selection phase.

Based on their understanding of our team needs and their knowledge of offshore partners vetted through their network, they recommended three potential partners. The Accelerance consultants then led us through the evaluation process, facilitating introductions and interview sessions. After my team scored the partners and identified the one we wanted to work with, Accelerance assisted with the contract negotiation to ensure we had all our bases covered.

After selecting the partner and onboarding the initial set of developers, one of the Accelerance consultants facilitated a workshop to kick off the project, followed by weekly meetings between our team and the partner for the first few months to ensure things were going well and address any issues.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

Once the partner was selected, we worked with the partner's staffing team directly. We wrote up job descriptions and met with them to describe the roles, the team, and the company culture. It took the partner about 3 weeks to find the right developers to fill our roles.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We onboarded our first four developers in March 2020. Three of those four team members are still with us in December 2021. Since then we have expanded the partnership to 14 people and plan to add additional staff through our partner in 2021. The average fill time for developers through our partner is 3-4 weeks vs 3-4 months for full time team members. We have also reduced our average headcount cost with this partnership. Hiring Accelerance to help us find the right partner has proven to be highly valuable. We found the right partner and got up and running quickly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Developers from our partner are treated just like our full time team members. It has gone very smoothly.

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

The best thing about Accelerance was that they were right there with us to help through every step of the process. They listened to our needs, presented honest feedback and recommendations, and made themselves available to help whenever we had questions. They made the offshore selection process much easier and made our team feel much more comfortable that we were making a good decision. Long after our project was completed, they still continue to follow up to make sure things are going well.

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

None that I can think of.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm CTO of an event company. We are a large, unique event and rely on a suite of proprietary software tools developed in house.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Accelerance?

We needed to add Sr. level Rails developers to a project with tight timelines.

SOLUTION

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

Accelrance's ability to quickly connect us to several agencies with proven records of recent project success was just the help we needed.

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

Accelerance learned what our requirements were and then connected us with several agencies that matched our needs. They supported us as we met and interviewed the agencies and selected the one that was most suitable. They continue to provide guidance and support as we've engaged with the agency to augment our staff.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We were able to evaluate multiple agencies based on the kind of talent they had, their rates, time zone, policies, etc. After choosing the agency that worked best, we were able to interview the individual engineers before finalizing the deal.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been able to hit project timelines aggressively by adding senior-level developers who hit the ground running.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication has been great. We were able to collaborate with the agency on workflows and it has been very productive.

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

It can be really daunting to try and evaluate the many staff augmentation options in the market. Wading through marketing material doesn't feel like the best use of time. With Accelerance, we knew right out of the gate that the agencies we were evaluating had recent histories of success for their clients.

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

We've definitely learned some lessons about how staff augmentation works, and I reckon we'll get even better results next time with this experience under our belts.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering at Buildout Inc, a commercial real estate marketing software company in the B2B space. We work with commercial real estate marketing brokerage. Our team provides them with marketing materials, automation services, and lead generation and tracking. I oversee our entire software development department. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accelerance? 

It was already difficult for us to recruit people even before the COVID-19 pandemic, which made things even more challenging for us. On top of that, there was tight competition among companies for good engineering talent. Meanwhile, we didn’t have a problem recruiting in the long run since we were a solid company with good benefits and a growth path for people. 

However, our lead times have gotten long and inconsistent. There was no real way to say when open positions would be filled. Moreover, we didn’t have a big in-house recruitment department. As a result, we needed an offshore software development firm to help us find software engineers in a much easier way. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Accelerance helps us find a good software partner; they’re like a middleman or a logistic company that finds the best offshore software companies for us. We give them our requirements, such as how much we’re willing to pay per hour. I tell them whether we want a nearshore or an offshore company and if we prefer a more integrated team than a consulting one. Apart from that, they also ask us what tech stacks we require the engineers to use. 

Afterward, they give us a number of options, and we pick one that we think will be a good fit for our needs. Then, the Accelerance team introduces us to the chosen company, and we take the partnership from there. Our main relationship pivots toward that company. 

Accelerance also checks in with us to make sure that everything is going well in the partnership. They also check if we need any help. If we’re planning to hire more resources for roles outside of development, Accelerance can provide those resources, too. Overall, we tell them when we have problems filling a role, and they give us options right away. 

What is the team composition?

We work with an account manager, who’s our main point of contact. Another person reaches out to us every once in a while. 

How did you come to work with Accelerance?

Accelerance was a referral from someone who’d worked with them before. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve paid around $5,000 per month for their services. Apart from that, we also pay a finder’s fee, which is a portion of what we spend for the offshore resources. If we pay the offshore company a certain amount of money, a percentage of that is added to the total cost and goes to Accelerance.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Accelerance has found a partner for us quickly, and we’ve been able to onboard them fast — we’ve been up and running since April 2021. The turnaround time has been only 2–3 months, and we’ve spent much of it on negotiations and making sure we’re speaking to the right people. 

Moreover, when we need additional staffing, they find resources within a couple of weeks. If someone’s not performing well, they can swap them out with someone that better suits our needs. On top of that, the partner that they’ve found for us has already built a good institutional knowledge of what we do. That’s a good reflection of what Accelerance has been able to do; the partners they find for us work out so well.

How did Accelerance perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve had no problems with Accelerance’s project management. The team is efficient, and they plan things well. I don’t have to drive a lot of our conversations, and everything is well-documented. If we want, Accelerance can also take over many of our management and onboarding processes. Though that’s not necessary with the partner we currently use, it can be truly useful if we go for a partner that doesn’t have their own project management team. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I trust Accelerance to find the right people for us; I trust them to locate good software engineering and technical outsourcing firms. In other words, I don’t have any problem recommending them, and I’ll definitely use them again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don't provide any direct resourcing by themselves; they find partners for outsourcing. While they do a good job of showing us the cost and value of the companies we’re working with, I could’ve also contacted the companies that email me every week and still find a good partner. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want. If you don’t have a technical person to help you, Accelerant may not be able to help you find a good outsourcing partner. Our engagement was easy for us since I already know what I want and what to look for, whereas others find it difficult to find good engineers because they don’t have a good set of criteria upfront. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an It and management consulting agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accelerance?

We were looking for an offshore partner with a technology profile that could help us with research.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Accelerance started by assembling 3–4 potential partners we spoke with — they arranged all the interviews. After that, we selected one and moved forward to outsource research work in South America’s time zone.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with 3–4 members of their team.

How did you come to work with Accelerance?

I reached out to them initially because they had interesting white papers about outsourcing in different parts of the world. After that, I contacted their CEO, and we talked about what we were looking for in a partner from technology, cost, and quality standpoints.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2016, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was trying to do this project on my own, but once I realized the expertise that Accelerance brings to the table, it was a no-brainer both in terms of finding quality partners and saving my own time.

How did Accelerance perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a committed team to delivering what they say they’ll do. In terms of communication, we use phone calls and email.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

The depth of their network and the amount of work they put into curating it are outstanding. I also like how they have leverage with our partners and represent us whenever we try to negotiate or solve an issue with our development associates — they’re always willing to assist us in resolving any situation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they’re doing a great job in delivering what I need them to. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear understanding of your technology requirements and clarify the cost structure you’re willing to engage in.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the SVP of Engineering at a company providing wireless networking services to several vertical markets, including hospitality, student housing and senior living.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Accelerance initially to assist our team with finding offshore UI development using React.js. Later, they helped us find additional offshore developers with for web UI, mobile iOS and full-stack experience.

SOLUTION

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

Our COO worked with this vendor before and recommended them to Single Digits.

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

They have worked on several aspects of our project, particularly on User Interface development. The technologies included web UI using React.js, mobile iOS, web portals using standard HTML, as well as microservice development using Java and node.js.

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

We worked with one representative from Accelerance, and eventually contracted 6 offshore developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is ongoing, however the results delivered from the technical team have met our expectations. Accelerance was able to find offshore developers that met our criteria and have contributed well to our core team.

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

I meet with Accelerance on a regular basis, usually once per quarter. We meet with project management from the offshore partner at least on a monthly basis. Communication has been very good using Teams and Zoom.

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

Accelerance has listened to the requirements of our project and presented various offshore options to us.

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

There has been some turnover from the offshore team that we did not expect and could have been handled better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the CEO of a company that developed a new search engine concept using a blue-chip domain name.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had done some development in-house but ran into technical issues accomplishing what we wanted our product to do. We needed a development partner to bring our product to a MVP stage where we could demonstrate it for potential investors in order to raise funding to do the full development.

SOLUTION

How did you select Accelerance and what were the deciding factors?

We relied heavily on Accelerance's advice and technical expertise. They introduced us to three potential partners, all of whom were impressive. We could tell Accelerance was qualified to match us to a development partner because all three candidates they brought us were more than qualified.

This early success in our partnership increased our confidence in Accelerance. Ultimately, the deciding factors included what we felt was a partner who understood our limited initial scope and would not blow out our budget over-solutioning an early-stage concept, a partner that was small enough that we could interact directly with their top execs, their level of interest in our concept, language, and time zone.

Technical expertise actually wasn't a huge factor because all three candidates were more than qualified. There is absolutely no way we would have found such a great development partner (or any of the three candidates) if we had tried to sift through the thousands of offshore developers in the world without Accelerance.

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

We were building a functional prototype of a search engine that brought in social sharing elements and the ability for the user to select which sites would provide the primary results of their searches. Key deliverables were simple: we walked them through our current product, told them what we really wanted it to do, and they solved it.

The first step was fixing back-end server issues that we had not been able to solve. They migrated us from Azure to AWS, which fixed our technical issues and lowered our server cost. Next was a workable solution for displaying search results from multiple third-party websites into an user-customizable interface (I can't explain the details of this solution due to proprietary IP). They also cleaned up the UI and optimized for mobile.

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

We had two points of contact, the CEO and CTO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered everything, and since they understood users better than we did, they actually proposed many improvements which we accepted along the way.

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

They gave us detailed proposals with modular pricing and timelines so that we could prioritize development. They were informal and personable, and always made themselves available. We never went more than a week without a check-in, usually with a personal demo of their progress.

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

They were both relatable and technically skilled. They put in the effort to understand our target users and us. Working with them was like working with friends, except they were smarter than my friends.

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

Probably, but I'm not smart enough to know what those things would be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of engineering operations of an automotive software and firmware development company. I am responsible for the software development life cycle processes, QA, and automation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accelerance?

My company does automated regression testing and needed additional resources to augment our current automated development team. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Accelerance serves as a networker and broker, bringing us individual companies to partner with. Through them, we’ve acquired staff to augment our in-house automated development team.

The teammates they secure for us generally work with C#, Selenium, and Microsoft SQL. 

What is the team composition?

We currently have one automation engineer working with us. 

How did you come to work with Accelerance?

I had done some online searching for a nearshore provider that had the services I needed. I came across an Accelerance advertisement that intrigued me, so I reached out to them. 

How much have you invested with them?

The consulting company that they helped us partner with paid Accelerance's fees. Their services were free to our company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in May 2021 and our partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s hard to measure Accelerance's influence because it's a mixed team of in-house and external engineers, but we’ve been able to accomplish a lot. We’ve reduced testing for one of our firmware devices by 15% and reduced our overall time to market. 

We’ve saved five weeks of testing time on our current project working with Accelerance — our conversions should be done around mid-December. 

How did Accelerance perform from a project management standpoint?

We defined the budget upfront, and Accelerance is able to stick to it. Since Accelerance is just augmenting our staff, we drive the project management and everything has worked well so far. 

However, Accelerance manages and keeps to the schedules we set to align with our third-party providers. 

We use Jira to track project progress, and we use Slack and Microsoft Teams to communicate internally. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I am not aware of any other company that does what Accelerance does. They really work to understand the resource needs of a customer in relation to their budget. They’re able to find and vet firms to work with us within our parameters. 

They also oversee contract negotiations and ensure all the upfront work is done well so projects run smoothly. I’ve never had a company provide this service before; I’ve always worked directly with vendors. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients need to be prepared with exactly what they’re looking for. It’s essential to know the type of resources and the engagement style needed before approaching them — that is a great way to speed up the hiring process and get the most out of the partnership.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the VP of Research and Development for Softdocs. Softdocs provides Enterprise Content Management software for Education institutions in the US and Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Accelerance?

We need to boost our staff with expert software engineers, automation test engineers and product owners to quickly grow our systems' capability to meet the demands of new markets we were entering.

SOLUTION

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

Accelerance had a reputation for providing value on a continuing basis, not just a transaction model. Outsourcing is risky, but they have a history of bringing the complex into reality. This was their reputation and our experience after engaging them.

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

We hired a small sprint team from the company recommended by Accelerance. We trained this team on our code base, and treated them like team members. They learned our code, produced several wins for us, so we hired two more teams of equal strength to continue with this success.

Now, we are hiring their team members to work not only on outsourced teams, but as additional head count for local teams

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

Accelerance has a vetting process for the companies that they recommend. It is about providing value to us as customers. They maintain touch on a basis that we recommend to ensure that our outsourcing agreement is having the impact we need it to.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team that Accelerance has recommend exceeds our expectations in so many ways. What a big win for Softdocs to have this outsourcing experience.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We meet with them quarterly to ensure that our outsourcing relationship is providing the value. We have a customer success representative that is expert in the area of working with outsourcing firms. He continues to be aware of our needs and makes suggestions as we grow.

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

Their level of customer service is impressive.

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

I have had a great experience so far, so I have not run into trouble yet. Not qualified to speak to if there are problems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Just Networking, and we manufacture hardware for networking products in the entertainment industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accelerance?

We needed to replace a legacy development team with a more robust partner. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first engaged Accelerance on a consultancy basis to help flesh out our roadmap and identify the best path to scale our business. Once that was done, they introduced us to several candidates for our partnership and we were able to select the best set based on their personalities.

They essentially provide lower-cost outsourced resources, so they still provide us with consultation and check in on our company every couple of months. 

What is the team composition?

We work with Mike (Managing Director) and Glenn (VP of Delivery).

How did you come to work with Accelerance?

They were recommended to me by a mutual friend.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in June 2021. The bulk of the consulting work is done, but we still go to them whenever we need new services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Accelerance is an outsourcing firm that not only provides us with technically-skilled resources, but also a human element to our needs. They help scale our team and provide us with talent at a cost that nobody else could provide.

We wouldn’t have been able to experience this growth without their efficient services.

How did Accelerance perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great from a project management standpoint. They manage our needs to a large extent, guide us through the process, and ask all the right questions. We typically communicate through Slack and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their reach and the resources that they’re tapped into. They made me a believer in outsourcing and completely killed all my worries and hangups about it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The services they initially provided could’ve been more heavy-handed, but that’s not a really fair expectation. They were ahead of us in capacity and capability, so we had to catch up to them — but that’s more on something that we could’ve done better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise having a great plan of what you need to do and a clear and comprehensive understanding of what you want to accomplish. In that way, they can bring the best team to execute the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am a department director at SAI

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide customers with accurate and timely laboratory analyses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Accelerance to accomplish?

• Improve our existing software solutions.
• Create new software solutions,
• Maintain our software solutions.

SOLUTION

How did you find Accelerance?

• Online Search

Why did you select Accelerance over others?

• The ammount of research available on their site impressed me.

How many teammates from Accelerance were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

We were looking to augment our development team to support our SDLC.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The options for staff augmentation that Accelerance suggested for us were all solid. Not only had Accelerance thoroughly vetted these vendors, but they encouraged and enabled us to as well. We were able to speak with and ask questions of the vendor's previous clients. This enabled us to be very confident that we would have good results.

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

Accelerance, and Evan in particular, always delivered as promised. They went above and beyond to find a partner for us that would be a perfect fit.

What was your primary form of communication with Accelerance?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I felt that Accelerance was very interested in our success. Every step of the way Evan really wanted to ensure a positive outcome. He took into account my concerns and answered all of my questions.

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

No.