Central American Software Services

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Kodestarters specializes in software development for new and emerging companies, primarily startups. I am the owner and founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Central American Software Services?

We needed help with mobile development, particularly under the Xamarin platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

This software is specifically designed to assist in Internet of Things technologies. We brought them in as an expert resource under the basic Xamarin environment.

What is the team dynamic?

There are multiple developers, all of whom do a good job, with their project managers intervening in the process. You’re a little shielded from the developers, but the questions and communication are very good.

How did you come to work with Central American Software Services?

We had been partnered with an Indian software development company. The main obstacle in dealing with that was the time zone difference. I needed help supporting my other customers, and to do that, I had to be able to get a hold of people during the day. I was looking for somebody within my central time zone or at least a North American one. I stumbled across these guys on Upwork, and it’s been fantastic.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $5,000–$10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

If I’m technically challenged by something, they can work on it. When I have issues or problems, I can offload those. It basically increases my overall bandwidth to deliver for my customers, who are happier—and I’m happier. That was the goal when I outsourced them. Their job is to make my life easier.

How did Central American Software Services perform from a project management standpoint?

They are excellent. Their project management is definitely a strength; we do many little projects with them that are part of a bigger project. They do a good job of communicating, letting me know what’s going on and if they have any issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

From an outsourcing perspective, their written and verbal English is extremely strong. They're responsive and do a good job, which is not always the case.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything has been pretty good so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We develop software for medical digital consultation of a patient for hospitals and pharmacies. I’m the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Central American Software Services?

Our software provides digital consultation to the patient. Currently, in the U.S., all consultation is given by the pharmacist in person, which takes time and effort. Also, the consultation quality depends on the pharmacist. We tried to standardize quality and provide medical information to the patient digitally. We wanted the patient to have access to the information anytime and anywhere. We are a small company and needed tech support from other resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re developing the software on a website and we’re using .NET on the backend, Angular, and SignalR for the communication. They also developed an app for tablets using Xamarin.

What is the team dynamic?

We work with a team there but I don’t know how many there are. I have a contact person to talk to about the project.

How did you come to work with Central American Software Services?

We searched online and found several companies. In the end, we chose Central American Software Services (CASS).

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $15,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in the beginning of 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. We finished the first version and have evolved to the second version.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are currently in the testing phase. We’re in the beta version of the app. We presented a demo to our potential clients.

How did Central American Software Services perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated through email and video conferencing. We’re using Microsoft Team Foundation Server to do the co-version control on both sides so we can make sure all the code is synced. I know they also have a system to track their progress because when they send us the invoice it shows a progress report from the system they’re using.

We had some challenges around time zones. We also needed to get used to working remotely. It’s not always easy to get in contact them right away. They’ve been responsive and helpful. There are times I can see not all the team is available and they’re not able to get a result back as soon as we expected. But overall, it’s been good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The cost is much cheaper compared to U.S. companies. Their development team and management team is trying to improve their quality and communication. Overall, I feel they’re a responsive company and they’re trying to grow.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their user experience design team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

My company is called ApoloDev. We are based in Colombia and have been 3 years in the market. We specialize in web and mobile application development services. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Central American Software Services?

They've mainly helped us with the mobile apps' user interface for different types of businesses: restaurants, dance school, a CRM. They've supported us a lot with other types of mobile apps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were mostly helping us with the graphics of the mobile apps' user interfaces and they've potentiated our company in this regard. 

What is the team dynamic?

We always use the same technologies for the projects. They've focused mainly on Xamarin and its different distributions or versions. We work with .Net technologies. 

How did you come to work with Central American Software Services? 

A friend referred them to us. We have a friend in common who worked with them and the apps they developed. The first impression was that they did an excellent work. Everything was done within the set timeframes and their interfaces seemed good. We thought they could be a perfect partner. Our friend connected us and it was great. I needed a partner to help us with the mobile app user interface and they came in just in time. 

How much have you invested with Central American Software Services?

We've invested from $6000 to $7000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working at the beginning of 2017 and it's an ongoing collaboration. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven't measured any results coming from their designs, specifically. But some subjective or qualitative results, in my opinion, are that their work is excellent and they always meet the timelines. They've met all deadlines and sometimes they even deliver before the agreed timeframe, which I think is excellent. 

How did Central American Software Services perform from a project management standpoint? 

They've done everything really well. They use tools like the Microsoft's Team Foundation for project management and development. We've communicated effectively through Whatsapp. They immediately and directly communicate what is happening at the moment and we haven't relied on any other tools to track metrics or how the project is going. 

What did you find most impressive about Central American Software Services? 

I'm a developer and I wasn't able to come up with the quality designs they deliver to us. It's worth to highlight that this work is very complex but they are very talented and deliver what we call "perfect pixel." Pixel-by-pixel, their designs are almost perfect and I wasn't able to find the same quality with other allies here in Colombia or internationally. None of them delivered the same level of design with the technologies we used. This is noteworthy of their team. 

Are there any areas Central American Software Services could improve?

They've performed really well and no areas for improvement come to mind at this point.