AccelOne

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I founded FMB Consulting. We’re a technology and product innovation consultancy that covers everything, including design and development, electrical, mechanical, or firmware engineering, proof of concepts, and prototyping.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AccelOne?

We were creating a showpiece for my client that wanted to extend their reach in the aircraft services and include new and emerging technologies, such as biometrics technologies. We had biometrics technology including retinal scanning, facial and voice recognition, and fingerprinting, all from different companies. Each of those technologies used a different interface to control their product, and we needed to develop a similar frontend user experience across all of the interfaces to make it seamless and simple for the user to interact with, regardless of which technology it was for.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We needed to create a consistent and unified user experience across the technologies. All of the different software interfaces that controlled the biometrics hardware was either Java scripting interfaces or web service interfaces, so AccelOne worked with those and developed a common user experience across them.

These biometric technologies are used all through airports. For example, facial recognition is used as people are deboarding planes and going through immigration centers; shops are using fingerprinting technology for transaction services; multiple biometric technologies, such as voice recognition, retinal scanning, and fingerprinting are used to gain access to secure areas. They developed an interface in which a user could very easily interact with voice recognition technology, and then facial scanning technology, and then fingerprinting.

What is the team composition?

They provided us with four or five developers, as well as a primary program manager. We shared developer management oversight, with us taking on about 25% of that responsibility.

How did you come to work with AccelOne?

Our companies have worked together for six or seven years. I originally met one of AccelOne’s key principals at a social event, and we discussed what we each did for a living. As I got to learn more about his work and capabilities, I decided his company would be good to work with. While this project was certainly the largest in terms of scope, we saw it as a good opportunity to work together, which we enjoy doing.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent roughly $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their involvement with the project began in August 2016 and finished in October 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did a phenomenal job given the limited time and limited amount of additional resources from the technology providers. The quality of their work and their responsiveness was exceptional, and they were perceptive of the needs of the multiple stakeholders. They were very skilled in developing a plan and implementing it in a very collaborative environment. They had wonderful delivery and execution.

How did AccelOne perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great in terms of communicating, keeping me informed, and managing milestones. We communicated daily and on a weekly basis. Once a week, we would have a team call to address project progress, milestones, or hurdles. Then daily, through either phone calls or email, we would tackle any troubleshooting or implementation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did a lot of high-quality work, in a short period of time, at a reasonable rate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think anyone or any project is perfect, but we didn’t have any notable problems on this project. As I said, we’ve worked with them before, so we’ve addressed results or processes we weren’t happy with during our previous projects. We discussed issues in the past and implemented a course correction, which was evident in how smoothly this project went.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As general advice, I would tell people to be as transparent as possible with their communication. When working with a solutions provider, many people don’t want to share too much information because they’re concerned with intellectual property, but I would say conveying as much information as you can, will get you better results.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a product manager for a major media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AccelOne?

We needed QA testing to start production on a new cloud gaming solution for the Latin American market. Initially, our development partner did QA testing. However, we decided that another vendor would be more appropriate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They QA the solution as well as its cloud-based systems integrations. The team has completed functional, regression, and usability testing.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager and about six QA testers.

How did you come to work with AccelOne?

We found AccelOne through a contact. The price was optimal and their standards matched our expectations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2017 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After several months, we expanded the QA process to other areas because we were very happy with their performance. We plan to expand more next month and want AccelOne with us because their QA is exceptional.

How did AccelOne perform from a project management standpoint?

They come on site for planning meetings. They provide reports and we communicate via Slack and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve worked with a lot of vendors and we have been, by far, the happiest with them. We chose them for their lower costs, but the team has stepped up and surprised us with quality work. AccelOne is the main core of the production. Everything in each stage has gone well.