Arck Interactive

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the executive vice president and general manager for North America and Europe for Six Apart Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arck Interactive?

I used Arck as my lead outsourced provider for pretty much every project. I started the North American and European offices or divisions for a Japanese company because of the language barriers. We couldn’t really work with a team in Japan, and they didn’t understand US specs because they were different than what we were looking to achieve versus Japan. Arck really was my go-to outsourced team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I use them for web payment platforms and custom software licensing platforms. So everything that they did for me, they pretty much built from scratch. They also did a bunch of Salesforce integration work and custom coding for things we were working on.

We used Reddit, Elgg, WordPress, and Movable Type. There would’ve been both dynamic scripting and Perl and legacy stuff. Two or 3 developers were assigned to this project.

How did you come to work with Arck Interactive?

It was a weird circumstance how I found them. We met at a conference. Then 6 months later, I had a project and I needed to get it done quick and needed to find someone who had direct experience. When I talked to them, they said, “We built this for someone. It looked just like this, and this is what we used.” That was exactly what we needed so we started working on one project, which led to multiple projects.

How much have you invested with Arck Interactive?

We have spent between $200,000 and $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in 2014, and I have worked with them up until now. The project is completed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The licensing software, the integration, and the automation saved us from having to hire people and lots of man-hours. The custom licensing product they built for us was something that we were able to sell to other small vendors. We had zero bugs, at least to my knowledge. It was really high-quality work and they documented it extremely well.

Some agencies I have worked with in the past kind of hold back on stuff because they want you to keep coming back to them and spend more money. These guys were very transparent, very upfront, and understood us. I made it clear to them how I wanted to do business. I didn’t want to have to come back every time I needed something done, so I needed them to document how they’re building the product and how it’s set up so that we can do some of the general stuff ourselves. This leads to trust and more projects, and they’re 100% on board with that.

How did Arck Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

I think they were great, both on time and on cost. If we were making any kind of radical departure from the original plans, they were very upfront in saying, “This is a big change. It’s not going to be a freebie. So let us know if you want to complete the project as is and then come back and reiterate it at a later time.”

They really managed everything well and had very clear communication. A lot of agencies promise much and don’t always deliver. These guys were on time. They made sure to get all the specs upfront so I wouldn’t get the constant big tricks in the industry such as, “Sure, we can do that. It’s $12,000. Do you want to add that? It’s another $3,000.” They were not like that. They were very thorough, upfront, and what they quoted was what they did the project for. In one project, they actually underestimated what it would cost. They told me that, but they kept their word and ate the additional cost overrun at their expense. Like I said, they’re real stand up guys.

We were on Basecamp. We did some code review on a code repository.

What did you most impressive about Arck Interactive?

There are a lot of people that have the skills, are they communicative? Do they understand your particular challenge? All that stuff is really the “special sauce” to me, and they had that. It was a combination of skills and ability, but then also understanding the business problem and business challenge. In some cases, even making recommendations beyond what we thought of to make that fix even better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We run peer networks of senior executives, giving them the opportunity to find and connect with each other, both virtually and face-to-face, solving real problems with real solutions. I am the community technologist of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arck Interactive?

Our business goals were to provide a virtual environment for the executives who are members of our networks to interact with one another and ask questions within our forum tool. We also run online blogs and face-to-face meetings for each network. We needed the ability to have event registrations on our platform and things of that nature.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Arck Interactive helped us design an environment which provided a toolset for members to find and connect with one another. More recently, Arck Interactive has developed a mobile app which provides the same prime interaction features to our members.

Our site was built using a platform called [Unintelligible [00:01:59.09], which rests upon several other technologies.

We've typically worked with one main developer from Arck Interactive, but there have been other people assigned to our projects, depending on the needed areas of expertise.

How did you come to work with Arck Interactive?

We were already working with Arck Interactive when I joined the company. I believe that someone who was involved in the design of our online platform was connected with Arck Interactive, so we explored that relationship.

How much have you invested with Arck Interactive?

Having come into the company at a later time, I cannot provide a number.

What is the status of this engagement?

I estimate that we started working with Arck Interactive 4-5 years ago. We have an ongoing relationship with them. The main PC-based online environment has been up-and-running for some time, but we continue to make modifications to it based on our business needs. The mobile app is also live and is being evolved continually.

We start development projects yearly, which is why we continue to work with Arck Interactive. They host our environment but are also there to handle our business needs as the company grows.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We're in the process of developing some analytics tools in order to measure better and assess the use of our environment, but I don't have any metrics to share specifically.

How did Arck Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

Arck Interactive has used JIRA for ticket tracking on our sprints. We also communicate to a large extent using Basecamp. Arck Interactive has been accessible and responsive to our needs, both immediate and long-term ones.

What did you find most impressive about Arck Interactive from other providers?

We've had a good working relationship with Arck Interactive. They're responsive to feedback in whatever form we provide. Arck Interactive has helped us scope the nature of our projects, and supplied the resources that could accomplish that.

Are there any areas Arck Interactive could improve?

We have constantly tried to improve the way in which we work and communicate with one another, but there's nothing in particular to highlight in this area.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a large international financial organization which lends to third-world countries, with the goal of alleviating extreme poverty, and increasing prosperity for everyone on the planet. I am an information officer for the organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Arck Interactive?

We were in an emergency mode after bringing in an open-source collaboration platform with which we didn't have a lot of experience. We started customizing and changing it to fit our needs but ended up making a mess out of it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Arck Interactive came in and saved us from ourselves, putting our system on the right track. They had good familiarity with the Elgg CMS [content management system] and had some development resources for this purpose. We maintained a good relationship in tuning the product to what our needs were, from both data collection to its front-end and user experience. 

Arck Interactive assigned 2 development resources for the work. We've since moved away from using the platform. It was an experiment that the bank underwent when we needed some in-house collaboration tools. When we decided to migrate, Arck Interactive was there to help us move the content into our current one, Jive.

It was a great experience, and Arck Interactive was able to come in at a moment's notice. They were willing to work with us across a couple of time zones, originally. When we needed it, Arck Interactive even flew into our location during the holidays and helped get the platform working again.

How did you come to work with Arck Interactive?

We found Arck Interactive through LinkedIn.

How much have you invested with Arck Interactive?

The cost of our project was between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Arck Interactive 5-6 years ago. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our experience with Arck Interactive was stellar. I've worked with developers constantly, bringing new software and solutions to the bank during my 32 years in the field. Arck Interactive stood out overall, going the extra mile to help us achieve our goals and get us to where we needed to be.

 How did Arck Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

We did use a cloud-based project management tool. It was a great fit for the project, allowing us to transfer files back-and-forth in a secure environment.

What did you find most impressive about Arck Interactive?

I don't have anything specific to mention, but the overall experience working with Arck Interactive was great.

Are there any areas Arck Interactive could improve?

I wouldn't say so. Arck Interactive was thorough, professional and extremely confident in their programming strengths.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an assistant professor at Pace University in New York City.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Arck Interactive?

We hired Arck to provide Elgg development and hosting for Pace Commons, the online home for Pace’s educational technology programs.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal is to provide students with a powerful alternative to the traditional learning management system. Pace Commons is also a research tool for my work investigating the development of learning networks.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Arck had experience with Elgg installations and development.

Describe the project in detail.

Pace Commons is a social network I designed for Pace students as an alternative to the traditional learning management system—Blackboard, in our case. Students can use the site for coursework, in addition to more traditional social media interaction. We identified Elgg as the desired software, and then I did the initial design and deployment. As the project expanded, I needed development and hosting support, which Arck Interactive has provided for the past two years.

What was the team composition?

I had another colleague working with me, and we interacted with Arck’s team of developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Pace Commons functions as we envisioned it would. It provides a reliable platform for our educational and social media tasks.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our communication was quite smooth. We had very few issues.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Arck Interactive features a knowledgeable and reliable team. They are responsible and professional.