Bluelight

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Engieering of Simpleview a Granicus Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Bringing together cutting-edge technology, experience services, and data-driven insights to transform the way people interact with government and destinations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Support and maintain a complex legacy product
• Augment our data engineering team with skilled engineers

SOLUTION

How did you find Bluelight?

linkedin

Why did you select Bluelight over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Bluelight were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

During their engagement they were soley responsible for maintaining one of our product platforms. For this project, maintenance has included platform updates necessary to continue its operation, changes to the platform reducing its operation costs, regular deployment of updated SSL certificates, monitoring and expanding the capacity of the indexing operations, and expanding error reporting to allow operations to troubleshoot and improve indexing recipes. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

-maintained and supported a product we did not have the skills to maintain.  They kept this product alive and earning revenue with little to know documentatation.  

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

The performed very effectively within the scrum framework provided.  There were no project management expectation set forth in the engagement.

What was your primary form of communication with Bluelight?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Felt like we had worked with them all for years.  All the resources from Bluelight were friendly but open and able to contribute to techncial and non-techncial discussions.  

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

No.  Id keep working ewith them if I could.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of Goldrush Getaways

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Travel agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Develop a custom CRM
• Merge existing systems into one application

SOLUTION

How did you find Bluelight?

Referral

Why did you select Bluelight over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Bluelight were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Replace our current systems (Filemaker, Joomla) with one single custom CRM application.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We review progress every two weeks. We are very happy with the process and communication throughout the development process. The development team has been great. We can see the progress, we are getting closer to the finish line, and we are excited to deploy our new CRM. 

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

Our project manager has been outstanding. She has immersed herself in our systems, so she can speak to every finest detail. We are confident that they have the necessary knowledge and understanding of our systems to deliver what we want. She has been excellent at keeping our project on schedule with only a few days of unforeseen delays in the past 8 months. Our experience with Bluelight has been even better than we anticipated.

What was your primary form of communication with Bluelight?

Virtual Meeting

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

Bluelight made it extremely easy to select a professional development team that we could afford and start developing the custom system that we have always wanted.

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

Honestly, no. The Bluelight process has been incredibly easy and efficient. We communicate regularly, we are involved every step of the way and we develop incremental goals for each following sprint. I couldn't imagine a better or more efficient way to recreate our systems from scratch.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner of a web design agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Health personnel don’t have the time to learn complicated systems, but they will use something that is intuitive and at the same time follows their natural workflow. At the same time, we are aware that building solutions for the healthcare industry requires navigating strict regulations while remaining realistic about user onboarding. We engaged Bluelight Consulting to help us find nearshore software developers to build two proprietary solutions for our client.

SOLUTION

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

A referral from a previous client that had a good experience working with them.

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

We gave them the reigns to take over a proof of concept and turn it into a working product within specified go-to-market timeline.

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

3 backend Developers, 2 Frontend developers, UX/UI Designer, and a project manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our objective was to deliver an EMR solution that helps doctors to easily manage patient records and get quick access to their full medical history. Additionally, the solution would allow general practitioners benefit from features such as examination requests, e-prescriptions, previews of test results, and integrations with 3rd party systems (e.g. for external examinations). Thanks to our engagement with Bluelight Consulting, we were able to deliver the right technology and tools that allows medical practitioners to deliver better care to people in need.

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

Our cooperation with Bluelight Consulting worked out very well. Their experts find the right solutions for various problems, they work quickly, provide the right people for each job, and offer valuable suggestions on how to improve the product. Their flexibility and ability to adjust to our situation was the most important factor for the success of the project.

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

I have to say, their high-level productivity and commitment to project delivery within strict timelines were really impressive.

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

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Managing Director of a Professional Services Consulting firm

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We Identified that to scale our business, changes needed needed to be made to the underlying application hosting platform. The infrastructure supporting the product needed refinement to support customer growth and remove single points of failure.

SOLUTION

How did you select Bluelight Consulting and what were the deciding factors?

Bluelight Consulting augmented our staff with a US-based DevOps engineer to support our internal team of software developers.

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

There were optimizations in the development process that could be made to enable new features to be released, faster. The development team had a desire to adopt a new methodology to foster good DevOps practices.

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

The project was executed with the help of a DevOps engineer and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They are providing the thought leadership and technical delivery we were looking for to re-architect the application hosting platform and implement a new continuous delivery continuous integration pipeline.

This has had a positive knock-on effect on the efficiency of running our business processes and eliminated the challenge we had of having multiple single points of failure.

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

Our collaboration was mainly through Slack for day-to-day project related communication, Clickup for task management, and Zoom meetings for weekly project progress updates.

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

Their reliability stands out in the workflow. They successfully redesigned and built our highly customized AWS DevOps environment from the ground up.

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

The DevOps engineer was a little too self-reliant in solving emerging challenges, even instances where he needed help, which is not a bad thing entirely but other than that, they are the real deal!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company core business is affiliate marketing within the entertainment industry. I'm the owner of partner operations processes of certain markets from Europe. I deal with KPIs, accounts creation and monitoring.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Bluelight Consulting?

We decided to transfer our customer-facing applications away from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Google Cloud Platform. This need arose as a result of the high-cost structure, dependence on AWS services, and the lack of flexibility challenges we encountered while operating our business on AWS. All our web and mobile applications through which our customers managed services, paid bills, checked rewards, and subscribed to plans were all on AWS, but it was proving unsustainable for our business.

SOLUTION

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

We did some prospecting about the best nearshore IT staff augmentation service providers in California and got positive recommendations about how good the team at Bluelight Consulting is. When we contacted them, they were great and quick to engage. They brought in an architect and really tried to help us understand what they can do for us and what was possible on GCP.

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

We had a couple of tasks we brought in the expertise of Bluelight Consulting to manage and deliver our desired outcomes. They helped us:

• Create a GCP Account and ensure the team have relevant access to existing AWS instances
• Configure project and organization on GCP for migration
• Create relevant roles & service accounts following permission structure on AWS IAM (Identity and Access Management)
• Set up an account in the tool for exporting and migrating VM
• Install agent tool in AWS EC2 instances to enable live replication
• Create blueprint (properties of target machine on Google Cloud type of instance, name, subnet etc) for configuration of instance on Google Cloud once the replication is completed
• Launch machines on GCP in test mode to test continuous data replication between AWS and GCP
• Complete testing on the migrated instance and implement cutover mode to remove all contact with AWS instance

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

We had a Cloud Architect, a Cloud Engineer, and a Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Following a short discovery phase, they took over the project and successfully migrated our consumer-facing apps from AWS to GCP. The migration was seamless. No one noticed that we switched to a completely different cloud provider. To be honest, using GCP is like having a black box. We just push the code, and GCP does what it needs to do to keep the system running.

Once we push the code, App Engine, and the other services scale automatically, which saves us a lot of debugging time. It’s just a super simple system to use, with super simple services. But the best part is we achieved significant cost savings, as we had envisioned with the success of this migration.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They ran a really big project with many stakeholders and really went out of their way to ensure that all stakeholders are consulted and eased in their concerns. They were also extremely flexible with the changes we requested and always completed all the projects on schedule. I'm really happy to have worked with them.

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

From the get-go, you can tell that Bluelight Consulting's certified specialists have field experience with large-scale migration projects across a variety of industries. Look, our legacy solution stack was leveraging ec2 to run our applications, it was expensive and we had to dedicate entire servers to one application.

The team from Bluelight Consulting was able to work with our legacy applications. They containerized them and created a CI pipeline to support building and deploying to GKE. Now we can run the same amount of applications on a third of resources. They delivered. Everything they do, be it assessing existing workloads, developing a strategic plan, performing production deployments, to mentoring your teams, is best in class and bespoke to your business with clear attention to detail.

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

They are a complete package.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm and HR-IT Lead Consultant & Project Manager at Flexso for People

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have a proprietary custom software product that is essential to how our business runs and serves our clients. Unfortunately, we were facing challenges with the existing development partner responsible for updating and maintaining our software. In a nutshell: 2 years elapsed without any major updates Software features did not correspond with their requests Communication was a problem and ineffective

SOLUTION

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

When we realized we wanted to go in another direction because of the challenges we were facing with our previous development partners, we sought to find the best custom software development providers in the US. After extensive due diligence and meetings with the CEO, Chase Bolt, their service offering stood out to us compared to the other options we were looking at at the time.

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

We decided to work with the team at Bluelight Consulting to get product development back on track with a range of new feature releases. We also needed a reimagination of the application's architecture to allow for larger clients and build a new sustainable process to ensure visibility, alignment, and communication between client teams. Lastly, we wanted them to be able to work with in-house staff to design and build a tool to implement best Agile practices for product development.

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

The team we are working with is made up of a full stack developer, a designer, and a front-end developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Bluelight Consulting team took over the software development process fully in one month. We established an improved production process while delivering 3 major and 6 minor releases in 9 months. Each release was right on schedule and within the set budget limits. Along with these releases, we redesigned the product to increase scalability and improve performance with the latest technologies.

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

They have maintained clear and open communication between us and are always committed to ensuring we are on the same page at every stage of the development process. We use slack for communication and Clickup for managing projects. Overall, everything is working seamlessly.

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

We’ve worked with a few nearshore development companies and Bluelight Consulting has been the best we’ve dealt with. Their developers delivered quickly, deployments were relatively bug-free, they were reactive to our concerns and worked with us instead of trying to milk the situation. Top marks.

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

We had some initial miscommunication between the sales staff and delivery team, but the team handled the situation very professionally and came through without issue.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of Level Debt

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Level Debt helps Americans break free from the burden of debt with smart, proven strategies that put financial freedom within reach.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Wordpress Sites
• API
• Other Dev Work

SOLUTION

How did you find Bluelight?

Referral

Why did you select Bluelight over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Bluelight were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

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

There's been several ongoing and completed projects with our Bluelight employee. Most of these projects have consisted of server migrations, Wordpress, and mobile app development. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Several projects have been completed early and done well. 

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

Yes, always delivered on time or early. Always extremely responsive anytime we reach out. 

What was your primary form of communication with Bluelight?

Email or Messaging App

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

They have a very robust team, and everyone is extremely communicative. We never have a problem getting a hold of anyone at Bluelight and they are quick to reply and happy to help. They provide top knotch service and talent. 

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

There's nothing I can think of that could have gone differently. We are very happy with Bluelight. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Web Developer/Designer at smartboost.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a Growth Marketing agency that specializes in helping tech products and services, startups, software, and SaaS businesses achieve sustainable growth through the use of data-driven marketing strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Bluelight Consulting to accomplish?

We hire Bluelight consulting to develop our software.

SOLUTION

How did you find Bluelight Consulting?

Referral

Why did you select Bluelight Consulting over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Bluelight Consulting were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We put a list of items that we could add to our website to improve and provide a better experience for our client.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was successful, and there is no issue with the project

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

yes, they delivered on time, and their communication was very good.

What was your primary form of communication with Bluelight Consulting?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were good at all parts of the project.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Manager of Digital Marketing Pros

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are the premier Website Design & Digital Marketing Agency for small to mid-size businesses

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Bluelight Consulting to accomplish?

• we hire Bluelight to develop our software

SOLUTION

How did you find Bluelight Consulting?

Referral

Why did you select Bluelight Consulting over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Bluelight Consulting were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

After concluding our NPS survey, we put together a list of items that we could add to our portal to provide a better experience for our customers. This list helped us define an initial MVP. Bluelight consulting were responsible for the delivery of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

62% increase in recharges made through the portal is above our initial progression after project completion.

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

Our project was manage well and they are responding to our needs on time

What was your primary form of communication with Bluelight Consulting?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The fact that we did not have any time zone challenges, which was a key point for us being that they are nearshore software delivery team

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

It's been great working with the Bluelight Consulting team.