Asahi Technologies

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an international association, and we're located in downtown New York City.

What is your position in your organization?

I am the information technology specialist, which is the equivalent of chief information officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Asahi Technologies?

We needed help with our website – what we call our digital platform – which actually is both the public face of the association and the membership-driven platform for our members.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Asahi came on board roughly about eight months ago to take over support for us from our previous digital vendor. Their job is to maintain the site, to make sure it's online and functioning and to resolve any bugs or issues that might come up. They will also be responsible for implementing future enhancements to the platform.

How did you come to work with Asahi Technologies?

I had actually known about Asahi in my previous position, so when I was developing our RFP [request for proposal], I included them in the list of our potential digital vendors. They actually came in on the lower end of the scale financially, so we gave them the support contract.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The range is between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for eight months [2015], and we're still currently working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Asahi Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Asahi has a project manager in New Jersey – most of the team is offshore, so I personally deal with the person in New Jersey: the onshore project manager. He has been superb, very professional and very diligent in his communications to me. He has met my deadlines and provided the information that I requested. Overall, I think his participation in the project, and the fact that he makes sure that the offshore team is running at full speed and meeting their goals and deliverables, is what makes Asahi a successful organization.

What distinguishes Asahi Technologies from other providers?

Throughout my career, I've dealt with a lot of digital vendors. Asahi Technologies is a relatively small vendor. As such, we get a lot of personal attention from them. The CEO [Vinod Kumar] and I are in constant communication. If there's an issue, I'm able to pick up the phone and call him directly, and he responds immediately. I think that personal touch is what makes them stand out in comparison to other larger, more bureaucratic digital vendors I've dealt with in the past.

Is there anything Asahi Technologies could have improved or done differently?

They have already corrected their major problem by bringing a project manager onshore at my suggestion. That was quite helpful. His experience and his professionalism show, and that actually is a real value to me. He is actually doing a lot of the work that I was previously spending my time doing with Asahi. They took my recommendations into consideration, and they implemented that change. As of right now, there is nothing that comes to my mind that needs improving.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a general contractor. We operate in the civil industry market, so we build subway stations, tunnels, and bridges. At this point, we have operations in several states across the United States.

What are your position and responsibilities?

I am a business assistant architect. I deal with process and engineering, designing information systems for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Asahi Technologies?

We had been dealing with a lot of problems. We have too many applications. In a current snapshot of our information systems landscape, we have 20 or 30 applications. That means the users have to deal with multiple applications, and not all the processes are streamlined. All the applications are very generic. They don't really customize at an acceptable level.

SOLUTION

How did you come to work with Asahi Technologies?

We had prior experience working with them. We engaged them on a small project maybe three years ago. I was looking for partners to help me in this current engagement, and what popped up was our prior work experience with them. We were looking for a very strong technical architect who could partner with me in developing a streamlined application. I interviewed the technical architect with whom I'm working right now, and he had a lot of experience building enterprise scale applications. Another important aspect was their rates, which are very competitive.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We're looking at a team of at most five people, and we have projects in the pipeline for the next six to eight months. We're probably looking at $5,000 to $6,000 working with Asahi Technologies.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's a very new engagement. We've been working with Asahi Technologies for just one month now, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from this engagement?

It's been a highly productive month. We were able to achieve our first milestone. The project plan includes building a strong foundation before going on to the different modules. We picked a sample project, a very important process. We wanted to make sure that we were satisfied with the process so that we could focus on the technology. Asahi Technologies was able to meet and even exceed our expectations. We are at a point where we are very confident of what we can potentially achieve in time.

What distinguishes Asahi Technologies from other providers?

The Asahi Technologies team is definitely dedicated. I would say they have a stake in the project. For me, the stakes are very high. They feel like my success is their success, which is very good because if everyone is oriented in the same direction, objectives are met more easily, and there are fewer bridges to cross.

They are very good at problem solving, and they are very good at researching various technology options. They have come up with a lot of proposals on different options, on alternate ways to achieve the same objective. They're bringing in the latest technology solutions that are available.

Is there anything Asahi Technologies could have improved or done differently?

It's too early to comment on that, but I'm very sure we are on the right track.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-foudner of a mobile dating application / members club.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had designs for a mobile dating application but needed to develop it from scratch including enhancements and a deeper review of the UX flow. We needed to build it in react native so as to be able to have an iOS and Android app. We had high standards for usability as we were aiming to compete with larger incumbents in the US dating app market.

SOLUTION

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

We conducted an extremely extensive search for a developer partner. We looked at teams in the US/Europe and India as well as remote individual developers in latam etc. We decided to use a firm in India and had Clutch help us review a handful of vendors. We felt Asahi had the best understanding of how to interact with US customers and also deliver products that were up to US requirements. We had attention from their sr. team from day 1 to help us evaluate our strategy and technical goals.

They were more than just a vendor — they were a partner that helped us think through strategic decisions, especially around things like designing algorithms for the feed. They have a US focus which was important to us. They were also fair in pricing and flexible to fit our budget so that both sides felt happy.

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

We came with designs but had to do further UX refinements where they were actually surprisingly helpful. They pointed out issues and suggested improvements that even our US designers had failed to thin k about. It was built in react native and they help us set up the AWS servers etc. Used JIRA for project management.

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

In the first phase we had attention from the head of the firm, their lead project manager who functions as a product manager in terms of US titles, and their head of technology who helped design the technical architecture. We received a lot of attention from these three in the beginning to the point it felt like they were a part of our company.

They spent a ton of time making sure we had the right framework so that when the rest of their team began executing and building their were wholes in thinking. once we finalized the plan they assigned 3-4 engineers on an as needed basis to help us get the project to testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Development of an iOS and Android app were the key deliverables as well as web-based admin panel. They delivered on the stated goals within the budget and timeline agreed at project kick-off.

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

They used modern tools like JIRA to track sprints and hours. Very clear communication around expected hours billed and if any deviations are expected they notified us to approve.

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

Their US-centric approach and ability to understand / review the competitive landscape to ensure our product met the minimum qualities and in some cases provided strategies to develop more innovative product functions than the incumbents.

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

More clear communication around how best to structure add-ons and change requests to the initial scope. We evolved some of our product functionality a few months in and that created some confusion on both sides for how best to prioritize and bill for that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

fmcg industry procurement

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Asahi Technologies?

To develop an application that allows us to broadcast essential information to end users

What were your goals for this project?

To achieve the end product in a reasonable span of time with a reasonable budget

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

After analyzing a lot of vendors through many factors such as cost, ratings and many more, we decided to select this vendor.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Asahi Technologies developed an application with a built in automation tool to extract and compile critical data points affected constantly by factors that fluctuate in real-time such as interest rate, exchange rate, demand and supply, and raw material pricing from global vendors. This data is stored and then retrieved for a number of requirements such as supplier shortlisting, resource allocation, and selection of effective performance models. The tool handles a large volume of data across several vendors based in different parts of the world.

What was the team composition?

In our online calls, there was a team consisting of developers and project managers with a mix of required talent and skillset that helped us to ensure the completion of this project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Using this application that was developed, it streamlined our entire negotiation and market discovery by saving us a considerable number of man hours through automation. It also helped us improve our turnaround time to market events and deliver on both resilience and savings

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very smooth and punctual with clarity

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They (Asahi Technologies) really are an asset when it comes to providing effective software solutions for complex problems. Their team is very detail oriented, professional and responsive. Thanks to their skills in requirement gathering and problem-solving, the roll out phase was extremely smooth and had no unforeseen complications. They are reliable technology partners and have ensured that they deliver every milestone well before the deadlines.

Are there any areas for improvement?

nil

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a marketing and advertising agencie.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Asahi Technologies?

Development of a website

What were your goals for this project?

To finish the development in a very short time period within the budget.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They approached me

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Development of a website

What was the team composition?

the team I worked with consists of a project manager and a full-stack developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They were a great sparring partner with good knowledge of the system.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

It's was awesome! the project manager had a total overview of the project and kept us up to date with the progress. Really happy about that.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their project management and knowledge of their developers impressed us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nope

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Chief Operating Officer for The World Trade Centers Association. The World Trade Centers Association stimulates trade and investment opportunities for commercial property developers, economic development agencies, and international businesses looking to connect globally and prosper locally.

Our association serves as an 'international ecosystem' of global connections, iconic properties, and integrated trade services under the umbrella of a prestigious brand.

The exclusive 'World Trade Center' and 'WTC' branded properties and trade service organizations are located in more than 90 countries and supported by 15,000 WTC professionals that deliver integrated, reciprocal resources to solve your business needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Asahi Technologies?

To develop digital tools for membership

What were your goals for this project?

to enhance user expereince

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

RFP process

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

To develop tools for WTCA's global membership

What was the team composition?

Project Manager located in the USA and dev team in India.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Project was completed on time and on budget.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Coordination was done over the phone and via teleconference. It was very effective due to having a strong and experienced team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They knew our needs even before we knew what we needed.

Are there any areas for improvement?

none