Brainvire

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner of The Healing Tree. We have a retail store, offer wholesale, and do online retail for health products such as personal care, joint care, pet supplies, tea, and herbs. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire Infotech?

We need them to create a website that has subscription features and a recurring revenue model. If somebody subscribes to our site for $40 a month, they get 4 products monthly. We have an affiliate program, too, so if they share our site on social media and someone else joins, they get paid a share monthly as long as those members stay active. Normally, with the affiliate program, they get paid once per sale, but this is a monthly payment. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an existing website that Brainvire Infotech built on using Magento. I wanted a subscription program and a backend where members could log in to track earnings on their order history and share their unique link for others to join. I gave them information in a text document, along with Photoshop designs of the look with notes for different functions. They executing my outline. Once the site was live, we did user testing and made changes based on that feedback. The first stage took 3 months. Now, we’re in the second stage making changes.

How did you come to work with Brainvire Infotech?

I was referred to them by another web developer in Poland who didn’t have time for our project. Brainvire sent me their portfolio, which was similar to what we were looking for on our website.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $9,500.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in April 2017, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t launched the site yet. The launch is supposed to take another 220 hours. We don’t have a date yet. Based on our timeline, their work has met my expectations.

How did Brainvire Infotech perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re thorough. When they don’t understand something, we have a Skype call to clarify. If the solution is simpler than that, we communicate through email. Their availability and responsiveness are excellent. Their founder, Chintan [CEO, Brainvire Infotech] will even come to Los Angeles to visit me every few months. He’s brought some of his team as well. I rarely get to meet a CEO of another company. He stands by his work, and that’s why he’ll meet me face to face.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire Infotech?

They’re able to adjust to my needs. We started the project in a certain direction, and they completed everything. But, when we go to the mobile site, we needed to make changes. Based on the user testing, we go back and request other changes. They’re able to adapt as we identify areas for improvement. The changes cost more money, but they’re part of the process because we can’t know everything in advance.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When I make a design and give it to them, sometimes what they upload from the coding isn’t quite right, and things aren’t aligned. I’ve asked them to fix this. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of CGETC, an e-commerce company started in 2003. We sell electronic and home living accessories online in the U.S. and Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We have multiple websites and brands. I was looking for IT support for the Magento store as well as IT support. They complement internal resources that we have.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re working on managing our Magento e-commerce store. They do all the programming and development related to the Magento store. The second thing they’re doing is our ERP system. We have a proprietary ERP [enterprise resource planning] system in-house, and Brainvire is maintaining and developing functions and features for the ERP. The programming language is PHP, and the database is MySQL.

Our Magento store currently has 27,000 active SKUs. It’s been running since 2003, so it’s sizable and has a history to it. The ERP communicates directly with the Magento store. Our ERP system encompasses the overall aspects of our business. We don’t just do Magento web store business, we also do Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and various other marketplace business as well. Our ERP system ties all the marketplaces into one.

How do they interact with your team?

We email requests and they email back. We also communicate via Skype, calls, and messages. We have regular Monday morning meetings at 7:00 a.m. PST which is 7:30 p.m. their time. They’re really good with keeping meetings and updating us on progress.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

They reached out to us via email. We get a lot of solicitations like that through email because we have multiple websites. The difference in their sales pitch is that the person that contacted us came to our office for an in-person meeting. Putting a face behind a foreign IT resource company was a game changer for me.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

We’re spending at least $10,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2017, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I feel like we haven’t worked together long enough to see the impact. My trust level is manageable with them because they pulled through on due dates. We’ve had times where we had to go back and explain more and make modifications, but it’s to be expected when doing this size of a project; plus, we haven’t worked together very long.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Asana for project management. We have a project manager that coordinates with their developers. The developer and project manager get on the call with us over Skype to discuss the issues, etc. If there are occasions where the developers don’t understand, we coordinate with the project manager.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

Their communication and special attention from the management is impressive. The CEO, Chintan Shah, keeps checking in. He didn’t just pass us over to one of the project managers and forget us. I really appreciate the personal touch.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

Because of the time difference, there are times we can communicate but there are also times when they’re offline. I haven’t discussed it with them, so I don’t know if they have 24-hour support available or not.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Brainvire?

Know your expectations, goals, and due dates. Outsource teams do as well as you want them to. You have to be clear with your expectations and due dates.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Veritas provides first-level ATM maintenance for around 20,000 machines in India. If a machine goes down, has an issue with its UPS [power supply], connectivity, card reader, encryption pad, or if it just needs consumables replacement, we take care of that.

We receive tickets from customers through our portal and then direct them to engineers. We bill clients based on the fixed number of ATMs we service in a month. I am the founder and operations manager of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We needed to develop a portal for the incident-management department, which is the most pivotal part of our company’s operations. The calls from customers are sent here and then distributed to individual engineers. Prior to that, we had been doing the majority of operations using spreadsheets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire provided all the features we asked for, including building a map for field inspectors and automating the process of information updates from engineers. The technology was built using .NET and Microsoft Dynamics.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

I previously worked in an ATM cash-management company as the chief operating officer. During that time, we called various companies to develop software for us to manage our logistics resources. We chose Brainvire after they got in touch with us during the initial RFP and RFI. This prior experience is what led me to hire them for my own firm.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

The cost of their work has been 22 Indian lakhs [$34,000]. We have a monthly fee of 20,000 Indian rupees [$300] for maintenance and upgrades.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brainvire in July 2016, and the product was delivered in August. We started a trial period on both systems at the beginning of September, and eventually rolled out the software in April 2017.

Typically, in software development, ideas evolve into other things. During the work for my previous organization, we wanted control of a lot of things that weren’t necessary. Certain iterations were done on both occasions because we recognized things needed to be done differently. It’s been running successfully since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have 5 customers who each manage 20 banks, and there are 25 people monitoring the operations between banks and customers, as well as 750 field engineers. Out of the 200,000 units present in India, we manage around 20,000 of those.

Brainvire suggested using the engineers’ devices so they could update the status of ATMs immediately, whereas before they couldn’t do that. This has improved customer satisfaction tremendously because we have instantaneous information. Before, banks would only be notified about the status of a machine after they received a screen from the customer.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

The line items stated in the RFP were quite different from the final output. We have made certain iterations, but Brainvire managed this with no major complaints. There have been elements which were not part of the original arrangement, but they accommodated us. In terms of project management, Brainvire went out of their way to make sure the project would be delivered on time.

We have communicated mostly through email.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

They are able to suggest things which the client may not have come up with on their own.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

There’s nothing I can think of at this time. I have no major or immediate suggestions for them because the work they provided was good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a frontend development shop for a software-as-a-solution [SaaS] product for healthcare. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

Originally, we wanted them to create a managed solution for us, but then we went a different route. They basically augmented our staffing with additional resources for development. We had already developed a product that was on the market. We brought in Brainvire to maintain and augment it as required. Once they joined our team, they handled all of the product enhancements. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We offer a site for physicians that lets them capture billing data and send it for insurance claims. We had versions of the product for Android and iOS and on the web. At the start of our project with Brainvire, we needed some help with the Android version. We brought in a developer to enhance the Android product. We already have folks working on the other versions, so we don’t need assistance in other areas right now.

We initially needed Brainvire to clean up our Android version, enhance the product’s features, and make sure the software is robust and able to support our clients. Once we got the developer working, we looked at whether Brainvire could provide support from other resources in their company. For example, if the developer encountered a technical challenge, we wanted their team lead or other resources to help overcome those technical challenges. Brainvire did assist us along those lines.

For instance, the sync function is a critical part of the product, maintaining everything between the web and mobile applications. There was a lot of lag in the speed of the application, limiting its ability to show data quickly to the users. It’s a pretty robust application with a lot of data. Brainvire contributed new ideas to tackle this kind of challenge.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

My team lead helps me with all kinds of things. He did some research and met with Chintan [Shah], who’s a principal at Brainvire. He was quite impressed, so he told me about the company. We interviewed some resources and decided to go ahead with them, after looking at a few other vendors. Brainvire’s portfolio and credentials impressed us. Chintan and his partner sat with me and gave me confidence in their work. I visited their office and liked their setup, so I thought they’d be a good choice.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

We’ve spent at least $25,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December of 2015, and our relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any metrics since we haven’t managed a specific project with them. We’re just outsourcing a resource to them. We started with a developer, and then we had another resource take over. I think something transpired internally, or maybe it reached a stagnation point. Thankfully, Brainvire is able to provide different resources as needed. They ramped up the new person quickly. We have a condition in our outsourcing agreement for when there’s a change in resources. We need at least 4 weeks with both resources assigned to us to ensure a proper sharing of knowledge before the trade.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been okay. We don’t really have a requirement for a project manager because we’re only using a single resource. My lead in India is my project manager, so we’re literally using them as an outsourced development resource. We don’t have much experience in this area, but we had to go back to them on the few occasions when we’ve needed extra help, and they came through each time.

It’s been quite a collaborative relationship. Our Brainvire resource is in the same city in India as my lead, which is a key requirement. In fact, my lead is in touch with Brainvire on a daily basis. Sometimes, they’ll go to his office and work from there to get things done faster. We’ve provided all management tools. We have quite a distributed team in the US and multiple locations in India, so we’d rather have everyone on our system for simplicity.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

Because they’re supporting a software product, we do have challenges. I don’t know if we would have had the same success without my internal lead. I can’t pinpoint anything in particular about Brainvire. They provide a straightforward development resource, and all developers have their ups and downs.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

They could be more proactive with incorporating feedback and ensuring that the developers are performing at the highest level. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of LetMySpace, which is a startup based in UAE. We’re primarily an online rental portal that allows landlords and tenants to connect directly. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We initially had a concept that we wanted to create. After the prototype, we were looking for some technology partners who could actually build this platform for us. Brainvire had done some work for us in the past, and we explained the project to them. They’ve been part of designing, developing, and implementing the entire project. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform has a complete registration process for landlords, right up to adding their property details. We have a backend administration section where we rate every user and property that’s listed before it’s published on the portal. Then, we have the search section where the tenants are able to search those properties. A tenant is required to register as well in order to get in touch with the landlord. The unique proposition of the platform was the match-o-meter. We built an algorithm that basically compares the tenant’s preferences against the landlord’s preferences. The match-o-meter determines whether it’s a good match.

We used Symfony, MySQL, and Elasticsearch. In terms of payment integration, we have PayPal in the UK and PayFort in the UAE. We offer a subscription model: the first few connections are free, and then users need to subscribe to a paid package. We’ve integrated with Mixpanel to track user activity.

We have a mobile app for Android and iOS that launched a few months ago. These apps were completely developed by Brainvire. The requirements were the same, but there were some additional features. For example, we’re able to track the user’s location, and we have push notifications based on account changes. We built a hybrid app, and the process was pretty similar to the web platform.

At the inception stage, I was working with the head of development and a project manager. I liaised with them almost twice a week. When we were doing the user acceptance testing (UAT), I worked more with the developer and the quality assurance (QA) person. I have a technical background myself, so I found it easier to communicate with the tech team directly. During the launch and post-launch, I’ve been liaising directly with the QA and the developer. Earlier, it was a big team, and now a few people help out post-launch.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

I met an associate who knew Chintan [Shah], the CEO of Brainvire. We sent an RFP to Brainvire and some other providers, giving them our requirements. We liked the way they understood what we were trying to achieve. They filled the technology gap in terms of designing an infrastructure that met our needs. They assured us they could build what we wanted within the timeframe and budget we had in mind.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

We’ve spent $60,000 so far on the MVP. We’re now working on a month-to-month basis, adding new features based on the feedback received. We do have a roadmap for future enhancements, but we’re a startup, so we are hoping to raise more funds before investing further in the platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project ran from June through October of 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were professional, and they delivered on time. They have a team of very experienced people. From a technical point of view, they’re definitely sound and have great expertise.

Our user base has increased by an average of 20%–25% every quarter. We are looking to automate further. We currently have over 5,000 landlords registered and over 12,000 tenants.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management perspective, they typically follow a waterfall approach very well. They have a detailed requirements specification document. My preference leans toward Agile, and it was a learning curve for their team to work in an Agile way, but they adapted to my preference.

I think they communicated to my satisfaction. I shared feedback once when the team members were changed on the project without anyone informing me in advance. It took time for the new person to catch up on the project and gain background knowledge of the product.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

In terms of experience, they put the right team members on the project. I noticed very few bugs or issues. The team delivered a good product to me. I think they’re technically sound.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

They could improve their Agile methodology. Also, they didn’t really emphasize security when we built the product. In hindsight, if that had been taken into consideration, it would have been better. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company operates a couple different websites, including a retail store for online jewelry tools and metal-stamping supplies. We have a wholesale site for the same items. I am the website manager of the company. I deal with Brainvire on a daily basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We needed to rebuild one of our retail websites, and had also moved our wholesale website to Magento. We didn’t like the company who worked on that project, and went to Brainvire.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire developed our new Magento website from scratch. They continued to handle any issues which our team and customers came across.

We use XTENTO to handle the back-and-forth between Multichannel Order Manager and Magento. We didn’t want to install many extensions since each instance increased the chance of breaking the site. But, as things progressed, we needed more and more. We use M2E for eBay integration, and we’ve also started selling on Walmart in the past two months. Brainvire had created an extension from scratch for this, and installed it on our site. We were put in contact with their Walmart extension specialist, who walked me through the process of getting the product up and fixing any issues.

We sell metal stamps which jewelers use for production. We will be providing a custom-stamp service through which people will be able to upload their own artwork, and have us create stamps for them. This was a completely new direction for our business, and we needed a customized website on which people could upload artwork. It has a custom dropdown FAQ and other information.

We have in-house graphic designers who worked on many of the pages. Brainvire was able to implement those precisely.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

My boss did some research on web development portals. Brainvire provided a portfolio of websites they’d built, and we compared those to the work of other firms. We liked their material, and also received good reviews from past clients of Brainvire.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

The cost of their work has been between $20,000 and $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brainvire around one year ago. They continue to support our sites, and have recently finished our custom stamp project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered within the estimate, and we were impressed with how little we found wrong with the site. We’ve dealt with other developers, and always found bugs. With Brainvire’s work, we only identified a few changes which would only become apparent once the actual website was delivered. By the next day, all the small things we found were fixed.

There’s definitely been a better user experience. We have seen increased sales and reach, based on the fact that we were coming from an old Network Solutions site. The Magento platform is tenfold better.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

We have been very pleased with Brainvire, especially compared to our previous developer. They’ve been flexible with the hours spent, so the team is there when we need it. They’re very responsive, talking to me on Skype and email every day. We use JIRA for posting any issues or tasks to be worked on. We deal with Bhavesh Surani, their head of e-commerce, as well as with his team manager. They’re very responsive to any kind of issue we may have, especially critical ones. They’ll be on top of everything right away.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

Compared to the other developer we used, Brainvire has been much more responsive. They let us know what the work would entail, and were open to our ideas.

Being available is the most important thing. With these websites, things can sometimes go wrong, and important elements that affect the customer experience can stop working. Brainvire is there to fix things when we need it.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

Communication could be a bit better, but this is probably a language issue. English is not their first language, so I will sometimes have to ask questions a couple of times, in a couple of different ways, in order to get the answer I’m looking for. I have had to learn how to phrase things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Zafco is a car parts distributor across 85 countries. Our main business is based in Jebel Ali, Dubai, and we have offices in the US, China, the UK, Germany, and India. We have more than 300 white-collar employees across the world, and around 200 blue-collar employees. Our main focus is on tire distribution.

We have a B2C vertical, catering to customers’ needs at their homes. We have mobile vans which go to customers who want to change their tires, but don’t want to go out to have it done. This service is unique in the UAE market.

I am the head of operations and IT, and have been with the company for the past 15 years. I am a certified SAP Material Management consultant, as well as a Cisco consultant. I handle infrastructures and SAP, and have 12 years of experience in supply chains.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We tried multiple vendors in various regions of the world for sustainable B2B services for our 22 separate portals. We wanted to have a B2B solution with integration to SAP, but didn’t have success with vendors in the past.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire developed a proof-of-concept for us, which was fantastic. It was done fast and at high standards. The team was very proactive, and allowed us to deploy 11 B2B portals in three months’ time. We have brought all 22 websites under one unified platform with the help of Brainvire, making our e-commerce centralized.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

They were referred to us.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

We have spent $7,000 per portal, which is a very good cost for the UAE market. We plan to build another B2B portal, and have additional B2C revamps in the works. The total cost has been approximately $50,000 so far, and plan to spend another 1,000,000 AED [$270,000] in the next three years. Marketing will consume most of that budget, and the rest will go to maintenance and other small enhancements.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brainvire in November 2016. We have extended our contract for the next three years. We have also signed up for their SEO services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before our B2C business was fully online, we used to have four orders per day. We have gone up to 27 orders per day, which was a huge improvement for us. We deal in high-range tires like Pirelli, Bridgestone and so on.

Our German portal went from two orders per day to 80. This was all because of organic search, and Brainvire’s design for the portal. They have maintained the site, and continue to improve its performance on organic searches. This number is huge for a B2B service. Similarly, for Spain, we are getting 40-50 orders per day. UK is a slower market, and has 10-12 orders per day. In the last three months, there have been more than 18,000 who have searched for tires, and were routed to our portals. We are the number one result in Dubai and Abu Dhabi for “tires Dubai” with our B2C site.

In 2016, the total number of visitors to the site was 6,000. After Brainvire started the work, the number went up to [an annualized rate of] 18,000. Our conversion ratio is about 10%, and we’re happy with that. We have earnings of 50,000 AED per day, or between $15,000 and $20,000, only for the B2C part.

The B2C site works in three simple steps: searching for tires, booking orders and scheduling a delivery. It integrates seamlessly with our SAP, and everything is automated.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

They are fantastic. The reason we chose Brainvire was their precise reporting on timelines and progress. Other Indian vendors will typically make hourly estimates at the beginning, and double that number along the way. We lost money with other companies, but Brainvire has been very precise in estimates, and they didn’t bill us for any additional time spent on the work.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

They deliver what they say, which is what we like about Brainvire. They don’t focus on the sales pitch, and are very business-minded. From the first day, Brainvire told us clearly what was and wasn’t possible, and expressed their thoughts in a straightforward way. Secondly, I appreciate their time management and commitment. Deadlines are important for Brainvire, and, if a task is set for 10 days, it has to be completed within that time. I’ve seen many vendors in UAE who promised to complete projects within one month, only to drag them to six months. This doesn’t make for a good relationship. Brainvire’s team is perfectly managed, and they deliver what they say.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

For any B2C portal, blogs are very important. I’ve told their team that content writing has to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a media company publishing print newspapers and other formats. We are a 170-year-old organization, and are one of the most respected publishers in India. We have one of the largest-selling newspapers in the world. I have been working for the company for three and a half years, and serve as the VP of architecture and delivery. I lead all projects in this area, and report to the CIO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We outsource projects on the web, in the mobility and technology space. Brainvire is one of our vendors for mobile.

We’ve partnered with them on multiple digital initiatives, primarily for business-process automation applications and mobility-based innovations. We wanted to get a reliable, long-term partner who had specific experience in the digital and mobile space, is agile with our requirements, and can scale up and down as needed to stay cost-effective.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire initially worked on a project for automating our e-paper content. They’re also running a managed-services project for our newsprint and scheduling web application.

In terms of technology stack, we use Java, HTML and MySQL. We have APIs which convert XML and PDF files into web-based text and images. Our newsprint tool has similar functionality, but is aimed at the 100-odd newspaper vendors we have globally. We are using it for procuring more than 1,500 crore rupees annually ($232 million). It is used for scheduling, forecasting, and inventory management of the print.

We’ve also worked with Brainvire on BI and reports for both of our applications. We have standard reporting using .NET algorithms, and we publish on SharePoint. We use Highcharts on the visualization side. The SAP integration required that the scheduling application be done in-house by our team.

Brainvire had a total of around 15 people working at different points, and 8-9 on a constant basis. We also had a business analysis team from Brainvire working on our scheduling application for a month and a half, documenting processes and improving them along with our own team. There was a six-to-eight-person team on that project, and there are two developers who continue to support the application on a month-by-month basis, providing enhancements, changes and bug fixes.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

We have a standard process for technical evaluation and commercial evaluation besides the basic criteria like minimum size of the vendor, their experience and their expertise. One critical criterion has been response time and adaptability to our changing business landscape.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

The cost of Brainvire’s work has been around $500,000 over the last three years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brainvire about three years ago. They continue to make enhancements and provide support, and new projects keep coming up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had good feedback and renewed contracts from the business community. The e-paper platform converts approximately 105 editions and 2,500 pages per day. It’s being accessed by two million unique visitors on a daily basis.

We have around 60 users using our scheduling application internally, and 125 vendors using it globally, mostly in Southeast Asia, as well as in Europe and the US.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been on time. The scope creep is limited to 5-15%. From a development standpoint, Brainvire has helped us implement application lifecycle management using Microsoft Team Foundation Server. They follow our own program management processes in terms of managing resources. We’ve not had issues with this, but there were escalations typical for this type of project. Brainvire’s CEO engages with us for monthly reviews, ensuring that our work is going well.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

From a technology standpoint, I think that Brainvire is working on standard issues. There isn’t anything special about them, in particular. Our e-paper conversion application has taken some time to complete, but it was delivered well. On the reporting side, they have managed some complex algorithms well. They’re very flexible and responsive, which is crucial.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

Brainvire has potential to scale as an organization and get larger, more complex projects. Implementing large-scale Agile development, integrated UX design, business analysis services and more subject-matter expertise for the industries they’re working with will take them to the next level of maturity.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a large diversified financial services institution in India. We are headquartered in Mumbai and are a listed company. I’m the vice president in charge of application delivery across the organization, and I’ve been working here for the last 10 years. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We have gone to Brainvire for resource augmentation. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire has been tasked with maintaining a retail site specializing in coins, which had been delivered by another business partner. This was our biggest engagement in terms of maintenance services. Brainvire also developed a small website for us for a business that eventually closed. They have also undertaken a task-manager project with mobility components, which took 3 months to complete. That project was scrapped after we adopted WorkApps within the organization. It has all the collaboration tools and mobility components we require.

Brainvire has a varied pool of talent, but we’ve used them primarily for their PhoneGap knowledge, which is a platform for developing the same application on multiple mobile operating systems. We didn’t build native versions for our task-management project.

We have also leveraged Brainvire’s Microsoft technology knowledge, namely .NET and SQL Server. We have not used them for Java or other languages.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

We made inquiries with a number of vendors. Our company has a risk-mitigation plan, so we don’t assign any particular vendor more than 10% of the total IT development spend. We heard about Brainvire from an existing vendor and made reference checks for the group.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

The cost of Brainvire’s work has been around 25 Indian Lakhs or around $39,000 over a period of 3 years, across different projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brainvire around 2012. Our last project, the mobility task-management solution, wrapped up 2 years ago. The website Brainvire built for us was delivered at the end of 2015. Currently, we are not using their services. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We didn’t assign Brainvire very complicated tasks, outside of our commodities portal. They delivered well.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

When it came to the maintenance work, Brainvire took over and handled everything well, but we definitely had a challenge with ground-up development. The team sometimes overestimated delivery times. The delivery date for our PhoneGap project was delayed by almost a month, which was not acceptable to us, especially since we gave them the flexibility to come up with a timeline. I kept the entire management on our end in touch with our date for going live, so it was a very bad experience for me.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

Their support and maintenance services were very good.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

Outside of what I’ve mentioned, no. But, I would suggest that any prospective clients have interviews with Brainvire’s team.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Brainvire?

I have a long list of vendors that I periodically update, blacklisting certain companies. I have not yet blacklisted Brainvire, and they continue to be a group that we can use, but I would not call them our top choice. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We specialize in buying and selling other companies, particularly ones with an e-commerce focus. I’m the owner of the company, and I’m effectively responsible for a whole lot of everything.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We were looking for a good developer who wasn't insanely expensive and could manage our day-to-day work. We wanted a company that had Magento expertise but could also expand into other areas as needed. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The work has been fairly varied. At a high level, our requirement was to make everything work, but Brainvire has been involved with UI/UX development, adding new features, integrating third-party work through APIs, implementing security patches, and everything in between. The team required a management understanding of marketing, light SEO, PPC, and so on in order to interface with our other resources, both internally and externally.

Our initial project involved integrating a skin and a couple of plug-ins for a site. There was an organic growth from that.

Our larger projects involve site management, so Brainvire's team needs to handle whatever I throw in their direction. We have at least one full-time resource for the LAMP Stack, specifically Magento, from Brainvire; they juggle people in and out as needed. Our project manager has stayed the same, except when he is on vacation. We've also tapped people for API and plug-in work, as well as custom coding which fell outside of UI/UX. This usually happens seamlessly in the background, so I don't worry about these issues very much. I mainly deal with the project manager. From this perspective, the relationship is more white-gloved on my end.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

We were put in contact with Brainvire by our server company. They don't normally give recommendations, but their salesperson had other clients who used Brainvire in the past. One hugely different thing about them, compared to other companies we'd used around the world, is that we've met Brainvire's owners numerous times, around once per quarter. We’ve sat down for multiple meetings and met the project managers and everyone else on the team, without actually traveling on site. I've worked with companies based 10 minutes from my house and didn't see the same approach. This makes it feel a lot less like an outsourced relationship. Beyond this, Brainvire's owner met with our operations person on-site, even though we were thousands of miles away at the time. I don't think that most other companies are like this.

How much have you invested with Brainvire?

The cost of Brainvire's work has been between $30,000 and $40,000 overall during our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Brainvire 2.5 years ago. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don't review lines of code or anything like this, but one metric I've liked is Brainvire's ability to take care of problems. If something seems off, they will either refund or not charge us.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

If I have a problem with the project manager, I can reach out to the owner of the company and have a meeting about it.

What did you find most impressive about Brainvire?

I’ve recommended Brainvire to a friend, and he was able to sit down and have lunch with the team two weeks later. This doesn't happen with most outsourced firms. Brainvire is an expensive developer relative to Indian prices, but we're getting experts in their field, which is unlike any other outsourced firm I've ever used. I’ve spent a lot of time and money around the world, and I know how groups will typically approach most projects. I've been happy with Brainvire to the point of telling friends that they can approach the company without the reservations associated with most Indian developers. This is not something nice to say, but I have had problems and wasted money in the past. I've also had the same issues with developers in California. Brainvire has given us a great mix of price, quality, and speed. We plan to work with them in the future for Magento or other projects.

Are there any areas Brainvire could improve?

This is true for all outsourced companies: I wish that everyone stuck to a tighter timetable and estimated correctly every time. This is not a reasonable expectation, though. I've been on both sides of the table.