Auriga IT

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

ShopClues is an e-commerce company founded in 2011 which is very similar to eBay in the U.S. Basically, it’s a market list platform where a very large number of sellers offer their products to mass consumers. Most of these consumers are from smaller towns and cities in India, and around 2.5–3 million units are shipped in a month. I’m the CEO and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Auriga IT?

I was with eBay for many years in the U.S., which is where the founding team of ShopClues came together. When we came to India, we consisted of 4–5 co-founders, and I was heading technology and product due to my experience operating a marketplace.

My main job was to build the platform from scratch, but we were a startup with little money. We were looking for a partner who could help us with our technological needs while working under our guidance and set budget. We were building in-house technology, but we needed to outsource and augment development for our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Auriga acted as onsite augmentation for our team during development, and we managed the day-to-day activities. I worked very closely with Hiren [VP Technology, Auriga IT] who was a senior developer on their side. We worked together to build the high-volume, large-scale billing and payments systems. I explained what I wanted, and then Auriga designed and architected the platform. Hiren also helped the team members come together for delivery. It was all a very efficient process.

We primarily used PHP and MySQL. We also used Java for a little work with Android development.

What is the team dynamic?

We had 3–4 people from Auriga working with us, and they worked closely with me for at least 1.5–2 years. My main point of contact was Hiren, who was responsible for architecture, development, and product management. I was insistent that an engineering manager was also my project manager because I didn’t want someone outside of the development team managing the project.

How did you come to work with Auriga IT?

I knew one of the co-founders was an alumnus of Rourke, which is a good college. I’m unsure where I met them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent ₹800,000 Indian Rupees [U.S. $12,319] per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in August 2011, and completed the project in late 2012–early 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were a part of a larger team, so it’s hard to provide metrics. There were about 25–30 engineers on the entire team, of which Auriga was augmenting 5–7, or about 20–30%. We view the entire billing and payment system as a success.

I can’t comment on the entire Auriga team because I only know the people I worked with personally. Hiren was a smart individual, and I would be glad to work with him again. He’s actually become a good friend after the engagement, and has continued to work on other assignments.

The system does about 10 million billing transactions in a month, so it’s a pretty high-volume system. Hiren built the foundation and core of the system that we’re able to build on top of today. Any software product that can live 4–5 years and handle evolving from 10 to 10 million transactions in a month is impressive.

How did Auriga IT perform from a project management standpoint?

I was very insistent on how we would interface, and they were flexible enough to provide what I was looking for. Their environment revolved around project management.

We did a short project off-site to see if it was something that would actually work. I gave them a small task for them to build and show to us, and they did a reasonable job. Their professional ethics were in the right place, and I didn’t have to worry about their development or billing process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with many developers, but had consistent trouble finding someone who could work within ShopClues’ small budget while remaining effective. Out of all the vendors we’ve worked with, Auriga was the best out of all of them. Their engineering quality is really high, and they became part of our overall plan. Our goals and their goals became synonymous, and we shared the objective for our company to become successful. We’ve come a long way, and Auriga definitely helped us get there.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At one point, they became very critical of what ShopClues was trying to do. I wanted there to be a certain transfer of knowledge between our teams to avoid delays in development. We wanted to avoid the scenario of only 1–2 people knowing how to handle certain areas. For example, Hiren was the critical resource responsible for building the billing system, so if he would have disappeared one day, I would have had a big issue.

They also viewed their employees as their employees and not an extension of my team. At some point, it’s important to give their clients the comfort that they’re not going to go out of business. I wanted to create a certain amount of transition so the continuity of business could be maintained. Due to this disagreement, we gradually ended the engagement and brought all of our systems in-house.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are India’s largest engineering company having $17 billion in sales, working across more than 80 countries. The majority of our work is in India. We collaborate with 31 of the largest airports in India including Abu Dhabi, Salalah, Muscat, etc. We are a communications company.

My division of our company works with a Safe City, a Smart City, and communication technology. This is an IT wing. I am a general manager looking after the business development and the execution of the project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Auriga IT?

We work on government projects. Some time ago, a Smart City came to us while we were executing a project in Jaipur where Auriga is. We wanted a local company over there with whom they wanted to develop solutions. We developed a kiosk solution with them and the environmental solution also. These 2 solutions were developed with Auriga.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rajasthan is a state in India, and Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan. Rajasthan is a tourist place. The Golden Triangle is in India and many tourists visit Delhi, Agra Taj Mahal, and Jaipur for their fort and old historical building and monuments. Some monuments are UNESCO protected. A lot of domestic and international travelers visit Jaipur.

The government wanted to develop a solution to put an information kiosk into public places where tourists visit. The idea was that tourists should have a facility for browsing the internet, booking a taxi, and finding information regarding their train or air booking. They should also be able to find information about the monuments, the city, shopping places, and restaurants. All of these things can be implemented into a touch-based kiosk with a 42” screen. Auriga developed the solution. It was liked by the chief minister and government people and is being replicated in other cities.

Auriga collected the information, developed the content, and put it in an easy format so that everyone can review it. Apart from the hardware supplied by us, we hired them for the development of 17 kiosks. They did the development work, the software, and integration for each kiosk.

What is the team dynamic?

Divye Teja [Founder & Director, Auriga] was our primary contact. He was involved in the development, and below him were 3 or 4 people who implemented it.

How did you come to work with Auriga IT?

We came to know through references. We evaluated them, and we found them okay to go ahead.

How much have you invested with them?

We initially had them do the development and software for 17 kiosks, and each kiosk was 500,000 rupees ($7680.55).

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship was from October 2015 to January 2016. Within four months, we completed the entire project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The design and the content development were so fascinating that the politicians like the solution, and it is replicated in other places also. Everything is working fine, and everybody is appreciating it. Tourists are using it fantastically, and it has become a very popular information site in Jaipur.

How did Auriga IT perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a very short timeframe to complete the project and hand it over to the government and Auriga did it in the time we had. Our team put in a lot of work to help them understand the requirements, and they responded. The solution that they developed met all requirements.

We used audio conferencing on the phone and WhatsApp, and our team in Jaipur had face-to-face meetings also.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Divye Teja has technical expertise and the ability to understand the requirements and convert them into a solution. I really appreciated him. Also, they were willing to work hard to deliver the project on time. If it had not been delivered on time, then there would have been a penalty. I appreciated their understanding and project management capabilities and their willingness to do it fast. They were involved in some other projects with some U.S. companies, but they gave due diligence to this project too.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This was a fantastic development, and they have a fantastic technical team that can develop any kind of software. But, they have a weak marketing team. If they really want to grow and if they really want to improve, they have to market their capabilities and the products they have developed. If they do that, that would be good for them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of OutSell is a sales-enablement software helping teams generate product knowledge, as well as reinforce their skills on the field. The training on-the-go is done through a web and mobile application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Auriga IT?

We got the idea for our platform three years ago and started to approach vendors who could help us develop it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Auriga IT developed our platform using the LAMP stack, PHP and AngularJS. From a technical perspective, our entire content management system was built from scratch, including its analytical dashboard. We don’t have any notable integrations with Salesforce or other platforms as of yet.

In terms of the overall design of our feature set, the intellectual property is owned by our group. We went out and understood customers’ requirements, and put together a six-month roadmap with Auriga. For example, we only have an Android application for now, since most users in India don’t use iPhones. From an analytics standpoint, we specify the kind of data the product needs to cover. They will take our requirements and make suggestions on whether to use existing components or develop from scratch.

What is the team dynamic?

I have worked on the business side of this product, while our CTO focused on the technical aspects, and worked with Auriga IT directly. The team varied, with 10 developers working for us initially, along with a client manager from their side, and a project manager from our side. On an ongoing basis, we’ve continued to use two to three people working with us on a case-by-case basis for feature development and support issues.

How did you come to work with Auriga IT?

We had done some work with them in the past, building some basic websites. A colleague of mine had worked with Auriga IT on other projects, and initially put me in touch with them. I found that they had a young team coming from a well-respected engineering college in India. The pricing was also competitive.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of development for OutSell has been close to $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Auriga IT in June 2012. The development on our platform started in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve gotten fantastic feedback from the ground and from customers with large sales teams. We have demonstrated how the top 10% of their salespeople are also the ones using our platform. There’s a straight correlation between our tool and sales impact on the field.

We have anecdotal feedback from sales reps who’ve told us that they were able to sell a certain product better or explain a functionality because they had the information on their mobile. There is enough evidence to prove that there’s been an impact with people using the app on a daily basis. They’re able to sell better because of it. In the last 3 years, we’ve had a less than 10% dropout in our customer base. Our 90% retention rate year-on-year speaks for itself.

How did Auriga IT perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m happy with their responsiveness, but they need to develop more critical thinking at a team level when it comes to software development. We’ve used Trello for team communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In terms of value for money, they deliver what they charge for. I would not rate them as the best in the industry, but, considering that working with the best would require me to pay double, I am satisfied with Auriga IT.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are great at taking orders, but I would have liked a bit more questioning from them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Kyynd is a SaaS-enabled marketplace for charitable giving. I’m the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Auriga IT?

We needed help building our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a web- and mobile-based solution that is both consumer and business facing. The business portion needed to be enterprise friendly and user experience was important for the consumer-facing portion. We've integrated with numerous payment gateways, such as Stripe, as well as with all social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google. It’s primarily PHP based.

What is the team dynamic?

I have a dedicated team of nine people there, which includes a project manager.

How did you come to work with Auriga IT?

They came recommended through one channel. When I did some digging, I received a second recommendation through a second channel.

How much have you invested with them?

Over $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in October 2016 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There are two aspects to this: what you see on the website vs. what’s behind the scenes. For what's in front of you online, you can make an assessment for yourself. From the backend, there are a couple of things they’ve done quality work on. This is a platform that's been built—not just simple software. It's fully scalable across multiple metrics and variables such as categories and the number of sellers, buyers, donors, and fundraisers, as well as the types of fundraisers. This has positioned us very well as we move forward.

How did Auriga IT perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very flexible. On days when we have designated meetings,  video conference calls are done exclusively through Skype. There's also constant communication through messaging platforms or emails. I can call them or they call us if there's a question. It’s a good working relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their capability and ability to deliver on time and on target is impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing I can think of.