CognitiveClouds

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of software development for a tech company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

We needed staff augmentation to help with development. We wanted someone who had done work in the cloud space and had experience with specific technologies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CognitiveClouds has been providing software development services on our premises. We give the entire product roadmap to them. They provide Node.js, MongoDB, Angular, and Cloud development services.

When we started working with them, they worked on a web application. Then, we augmented them to do a mobile application.

What is the team composition?

We have had up to 17 people.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

We shortlisted companies who worked in the specific technologies we were using. Along with CognitiveClouds, we looked at around six companies and chose them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very satisfied with them. We have hired many of their people to our organization.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle the project management. We have a meeting with the team members daily. They’re easy to manage, and they complete work on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are skilled people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were looking for somebody at the level of an architect, and we weren’t able to get that from them. We had to augment with a different source. Other than that, they’ve been able to provide the right kind of skills that we need.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re a pretty technology-oriented organization. They’ve done some very interesting products. My advice is that you have to work very closely with their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of a digital business card mobile application.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

We hired CognitiveClouds for engineering an application from scratch that would allow our users to share and track the usage of their digital business cards.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The developers at CognitiveClouds built an iOS, Android, and backend web app from scratch using Swift, Kotlin, and Firebase. This included frontend design and an admin integration panel for the web version.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5–6  individuals over the course of the project. There were two iOS developers, two Android developers,1–2 backend web developers, and one part-time QA.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

We searched online and ended up using Clutch reviews to narrow our options down to a few of the best companies. We met with and got quotes from each of those teams, and then made a value-based decision that led us to CognitiveClouds.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we’ve spent around $50,000 AUD (approximately $34,900 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We engaged with CognitiveClouds in July 2018 and started work on the frontend of the application in September, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We get regular updates through product demos that we have been extremely happy with so far. We don’t have a lot of data since the product has not been rolled out yet, but we have been pleased with all of the work done so far.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

CognitiveClouds has managed the project very well. They put together a progress spreadsheet where we could see the action points as they accomplish them and stay up to date that way as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very flexible and understanding of the needs of a small startup.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there isn’t anything that I would have changed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would just suggest to either come to them with a prototype already designed or to do the project end to end with them so you can avoid any errors in translation or hand-off periods.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a healthcare startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

We needed resource augmentation for Angular, Ionic, and Python development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us develop our consumer-facing apps, as well as an internal one used by our operations staff. The platform was built as a mobile product using Node.js, Angular, Ionic, and Python.

They didn’t create the whole app, but they worked on key functionalities and continue to work alongside my team, taking some of our load, and helping us with the process. Some of the work they’ve done was from scratch, always working along with our team.

What is the team composition?

CognitiveClouds assigned five developers. They’re working onsite with us, so the project management is quite light, but we were in touch with their head of engineering for contractual matters.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

I got a referral from a former colleague. Though I contacted others, I was comfortable with CognitiveClouds, so I decided to stick with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around 10 lakh rupees (approximately $14,000 USD) per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2017 and the project is ongoing. We’ve finished one part and are moving on to other phases, while also using them for support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I measure their performance in the same way that I do my own team—completion time and similar factors—and find the collaboration to by typical.

The feedback on their work has been positive, and the few unsatisfactory resources were either retrained or replaced.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t use them for project management as they’re integrated into our team. We set very high standards.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their people is impressive; they do a very good job of training them. Though most of their team work from our office, they go back to CognitiveClouds almost every other week. They’re doing a good job on their end to keep people happy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a couple of people who could’ve performed better, but that was to be expected. Overall, I’m happy with them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Trust them and don’t try to micromanage the collaboration. As long as the requirements are clear, they’ll do what’s expected.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of engineering development for a large web services provider and online advertising company. I’m part of the team creating solutions for advertisers to show ads on our websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

We needed to build a companion mobile app for our main website, where our advertisers could render campaigns. We had internal resourcing challenges, so we started looking for someone who had expertise in mobile development outside.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted iOS developers to help us build the product. We gave them a specification of what needed to be done, and their team worked with ours to develop the app and its UI.

Advertising is data-driven, and the app offers different representations of it, including data tables, charts, and graphs. They came up with nice renderings of charts, which were crucial for us. Advertising also involves images, so they created an intuitive UI for uploading and resizing them, making sure they fit the format we’re looking for.

Due to the success of the iOS app, we started an Android project, which is still ongoing. We’ve also started building a web portal that will be a lighter version of the one we already have. That’s still a work in progress.

What is the team composition?

When we started, we had two developers and a QA, though now we’ve expanded the team to almost five developers. We’re involved in the selection process as we have certain criteria, especially when it comes to the quality of the deliverables.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

We looked online for offshore mobile development firms and came across CognitiveClouds, as well as a few others. Their quote was the most competitive.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launched the mobile app to the iOS App Store, which is a clear metric of success. It’s impacted both our internal and external customers as we’re able to bring in many more features and make our processes more efficient.

Our internal sales team meets advertisers everywhere, so a mobile app allows them to quickly show how ads look and how campaigns are performing. The mobile-first approach is a lot more efficient, and it helps drive business.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

We work collaboratively with them, meeting almost daily. We give them weekly milestones of what we want to achieve, which gives the developers a clear focus. They give us daily code drops so we can build the software. validate it, and make sure the quality and functionality are there. It helps us keep a close eye on the progress they’re making.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to listen, take feedback, and try to do what’s best is impressive. Complex development is never a straight line, and they’re always willing to take the time to make sure that any challenge is looked into and addressed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We continue to coach them on how their processes fit in with ours, in terms of coding guidelines and automated testing. This is to reduce the time we spend reviewing their code.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Respondent 1: I’m the marketing manager for American Steel Inc. We make metal buildings for customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

R1: We needed someone to create a brand-new website from scratch. We also needed a calculator so our customers could create buildings and price them on our website. Another company had created a 3D tool for us, but it was much simpler than we wanted, so we had to update it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

R1: They developed a portal where our dealers can log in and request information from us, place orders on behalf of the customer, and request quotes and information regarding our products. It’s a responsive web application.

Respondent 2: They also implemented a 3D visualization tool so customers can see what they were ordering and have an idea of what they're going to purchase. We’re working on the final stages of the project now, making little adjustments.  

R1: Using the tool, customers can build their building on our website and request information about it. It supports different building types including agricultural structures, carports, garages, workshops, and lean-tos. They can add walls, windows, garage doors, and change the roofing style. There’s also an application where customers can overlay the building they created on their land using AR.

What is the team composition?

Both: We worked with a project manager and different developers and designers depending on our needs. For example, we had a developer who specialized in forms, one for design and color, and one for 3D features.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

R1: I found them online. I saw good reviews and samples of their work on their website.

How much have you invested with them? 

R1: We’ve spent $60,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

R1: We’ve been working together since January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

R1: We’re almost done, and we’re extremely excited to see the final results. We’ve gotten good feedback from our employees too. CognitiveClouds has fulfilled all feature requirements within our scope and budget. Overall, we’re quite pleased.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

R1: They’ve been excellent. We email back and forth, and video chat while sharing screens.

R2: We also have conference calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

R1: They pay detailed attention to technical specifications, which is important for a company dealing with customer requests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

R1: If we find something we don’t like, they’re able to make changes. We haven’t had any issues with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

R1: Prepare your scope of work and be specific about what you want, to cut down on the time-consuming back and forth.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive Vice President of Utilitworx, which is a leading provider of web and mobile applications. I run our operations team at our Chicago office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

We needed help designing and engineering a web-based, cloud platform for a client. We were looking for a development company to build the solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CognitiveClouds is a full-service engineering firm that has built several workflow management applications for us.  They did a very simple project management application and also a customized project management workflow for utility companies. They were involved in mapping out the requirements for the application and checking in with us to make sure they were on the right path in terms of the features and design we wanted.

The app tracks financial information, budget information, how much money has been billed and collected, and what part of the process the construction is under. CognitiveClouds also implemented very specific features that the client needed to have. Users are able to document measurements, details, and financial information, geared towards construction site inspections. There are certain survey forms that need to be filled out to make sure the work was up to code and the company’s specifications. At the end of the project, they gave us testing capabilities with user IDs to log in and play with the solution, allowing us to make sure the function and design were what was needed.

What is the team dynamic? 

We deal with four people total, including the team development lead and one person from each of the three different teams we work with: design, development, and quality control. The team lead facilitates interactions with those different teams to make sure they get things signed off and get feedback from us. They’re a friendly team.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

I wasn’t here yet when we started working with them, but I think we found them through a web search. We were looking for a US based company that had overseas staff. Our CEO reached out to them. We were a very new business at the time and were trying to find vendors to work with. One of the highlights for our CEO was that the owner of CognitiveClouds went to college in Illinois which is where we’re based. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $500,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2015, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have anything fully released or used full-time yet; everything is still in demo piloting stages. The feedback we’ve received from clients has been very positive. They were impressed with the app’s overall UI/UX. We’re very impressed with what they built.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a development team lead who is responsible for making sure they’re getting the information they need and communicating information to us. The lead verifies features and requirements with us and arranges times to chat. They are good at keeping us in the loop. Since they’re in India, they schedule conference calls once or twice a week. They go through a demo mode and show us what they’ve accomplished. They've nailed communication. They do a good job of completely understanding what’s required before moving forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re open to feedback and are very responsive. If we tell them something needs to be changed, they fix it quickly. They’re eager to make sure that what they’re building is exactly what we need. Since they’re not in our office, it’s important that they have their finger on the pulse. If we need to call after hours, they’re willing to adjust their schedule. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. It would be cool if they were not in India because that would make things easier. But considering that constraint, they do a good job of making sure they’re in constant communication with us.

BACKGROUND

I am an experienced product leader who has previously overseen multiple teams of product managers, designers, and engineers as part of an innovation lab for a Fortune 100 company.

This engagement was something I did on my own, not on behalf of a larger organization. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

I engaged Cognitive Clouds to build a minimum viable product [MVP] for an app concept that I wanted to experiment with. The app was a photo sharing and chat app focused on live events. The purpose was to get a functional app in front of real users to see what they would do with it. 

SOLUTION

I interviewed four different offshore development firms. I selected Cognitive Clouds because the account rep [Ben Obear] was local and fairly knowledgeable about other startup efforts. He was very professional, responsive, and reasonable. The senior tech lead in India had worked at the same firm as an old colleague of mine, so I had heard good things (indirectly) about him. Also, the engineers were able to use the stack that I wanted (Node.js) and not Ruby, which most firms wanted to use. And finally, the price quote was not the lowest that I received, but I was willing to pay more given the reasons above.

I engaged the firm for engineering work only. They provided two engineers: 1 backend, 1 front-end, and some minimal quality assurance [QA]. I hired a separate designer to work with locally and spelled out all the requirements personally.

The engagement was initially estimated at 3-4 months. The project ran longer, about 5-6 months, but the firm did not charge me for the extra time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

The Cognitive Clouds team delivered the product to my satisfaction, though it took longer than originally estimated. They followed through on their promise to meet some fairly extensive and complex requirements. I was able to release the app on the app store and use it reliably at real live events. I obtained useful data on MVP usage that led to refinement of the concept and roadmap.

The main reason I was happy with the engagement was their flexible attitude and willingness to follow through on promises, though it became more complicated than originally estimated. I also thought the quality of the work product was good, and the code I received on Github was well organized.

Areas of improvement include better QA; there were many many bugs that I had to find and document myself. This should have been done by a QA engineer. Perhaps a more structured methodology, i.e. project management, in how work is scheduled would be useful as well. There were no documented sprints, so I wasn't sure what to expect on which dates during the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We work in the health industry. I am the chief operations officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

We wanted to create an iOS app which allowed our company to communicate with medical facilities. It would allow us to transfer information to our team on the ground.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CognitiveClouds designed, developed, and launched our iOS app.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

This was the first time I'd worked on app development. I looked online for different companies, determining which ones had better reviews. CognitiveClouds' name came up along with 2 others. Their sales manager was very good at his job and very responsive, so we chose CognitiveClouds.

How much have you invested with CognitiveClouds?

The total cost of our project will be between $70,000 and $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project is almost completed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I am very satisfied with CognitiveClouds and feel that it's been a very good project. We don't have any metrics for the app yet.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

The US office manager of CognitiveClouds has been very good. They made our communication process easy, taking the lead for most of our work.

Are there any areas CognitiveClouds could improve?

CognitiveClouds could make more staff available in the US. Other than this, they've been phenomenal.

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

Clients should make sure that they communicate with CognitiveClouds' lead. I am good at business, but this was my first app project. Having a contact like ours for communicating our needs has been an advantage.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The mission of Yoopine Inc. is to connect citizens to the political process in real time, through the convenience of their preferred mobile devices. We aim to empower our members by aggregating individual user votes into powerful data sets that will get the attention of political decision makers. The Yoopine app is available for free download on the App Store for iOS devices and on Play Store for Android devices. By using the Yoopine app, users can voice their opinion on legislative bill proposals, create petitions and initiatives, learn about their elected officials and candidates, and contact their elected officials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

The Yoopine app's primary purpose is to make it easy for every citizen to participate in the political process. Yoopine presents users with actual data and information and enables users to express their opinion. Elected representatives with the Yoopine app on their devices can see opinions of their constituents in real time. For example, users can see the actual federal legislative bills proposed by the Senate and House of Representatives and express their support or opposition. Users can also learn about their elected representatives voting record, money contributions received, statements and promises made, express their opinion on the performance of their representative, and so on. The app will track users' preferences on legislative proposals and compares with the voting record of their elected officials to show the degree of match with their representatives. Members can use this free app to hold their elected officials accountable to the promises and statements they make.

Our goal is to make Yoopine app an indispensable tool for every United States citizen to participate in the political process. Our goal is also to make Yoopine and indispensable tool for the elected officials to get real-time feedback from their constituents.

I am the founder of Yoopine Inc.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The Yoopine app was developed during a 12-month period from design to publishing in the App Store and Google Play Store. The total cost in six figures. The app was designed using RoR for back-end, Objective C for iOS, and Java for native Android version. CognitiveClouds provided all the services including project management, design, and software development for both back-end and front end.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How do you feel CognitiveClouds performed on this project?

I am very pleased with the services provided by CognitiveClouds. Although Yoopine app is very simple to use for the users, it is a complex app to develop. The app was developed 100 percent remotely. I never had a single face-to-face meeting with the developers. It was developed entirely with remote communication with the designers as well as the software developers. I interviewed the VP of sales [Srinivas Nayak] and the founder and CEO [Prasanna Gopinath] of CognitiveClouds in face-to-face meetings, but all technical aspects of the app were developed remotely. Developing such a complex app remotely would have been impossible without the strong project management capabilities, technical skills, and commitment of the CognitiveCloulds team. I found the development team to be honest and responsive. When mistakes are made, they owned up to them and fixed them. CognitiveClouds impressed me by taking ownership of the project from the beginning and being very committed to all delivery dates. 

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve or things you might do differently?

As the app was developed 100 percent remotely, communication was at times challenging. I had to spend several late nights clarifying the features, testing the sprints, answering questions, and providing guidance on design choices. One thing I would do differently on future engagements is to document every conversation and decision in writing so that there is no confusion, and so that there is good hand off between different developers. Documentation and hand-off processes between different developers is also an area of improvement for CognitiveClouds. However, overall I am immensely satisfied with the work delivered by CognitiveClouds.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We provide a very simple solution for small to mid-size businesses to manage their human resources needs. It's an easy-to-use HR system that helps with onboarding, offboarding, managing time off, and various levels of compliance-type HR activities.

What is your position?

I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with CognitiveClouds?

They helped us come up with the initial prototype, the MVP [minimum viable product] basically, that we took to the market and got funding to expand. Then, we got valuable feedback from customers based on that MVP.

They helped with the design as well as the development. Based on that MVP, we actually made significant progress with customers as well as investors, and now they are continuing to help us build that further. We've now got engineers in-house, but we're still working with CognitiveClouds very closely.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They provided design of the application, UI/UX [user interface/user experience] design, and then the development piece. In total, they provided programming, backend, architecture, and similar work for the initial MVP.

How did you come to work with CognitiveClouds?

I talked to several companies in the United States as well as several offshore companies. I talked to a few firms in Russia, some in Romania. I also talked to six or seven companies from India, but we ended up choosing CognitiveClouds.

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

The initial MVP was under $50,000. As our product is getting more complex, we're also growing, we're investing more into the company. Right now, we're probably in the six-figure range, between $100,000 and $200,000, but what I want to point out is that the costs are this high because it is what we need.

They were very good in terms of their cost estimates and working within the budget. Our feature sets were pretty complex, and some of the things they actually didn't realize that it would take extra work, but they stuck to the number they quoted. They put in extra time and extra effort to deliver a good product without changing that initial number.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration is ongoing, and we plan to use them in the future. Initially, it was only me and my co-founder, and they did most of the MVP work. Now we have a team ourselves, but we're continuing to work with them. We have a very good relationship with CognitiveClouds, and we will continue to work with them for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I am extremely satisfied with their performance. We've got some very positive feedback. Last week we implemented it with a customer, and we've got a customer quote already based on that experience from a product technology standpoint, and also from a service and support standpoint. Although the service and support was all on my end, the technology and product piece was mostly because we implemented the MVP product that CognitiveClouds has developed.

How did CognitiveClouds perform from a project management standpoint?

The most pleasant part of working with them is that they do what they say. There are no changes, no games, and no gimmicks. There were a few things they couldn't do or they weren't sure of, and they've been very upfront about those. I appreciate that sort of candid relationship.

What distinguishes CognitiveClouds from other providers?

What I liked most about CognitiveClouds was their responsiveness and their grasp of things. They understood very quickly what we were doing. They also asked me about the business side of things, the business goals. I appreciated that because it's hard to develop a widget if you don't know what that widget does. They were actually really interested in who were the end customers, who was going to use it, and this was the initial contact that gave me a lot of confidence. If they are asking me these types of questions, that means they want to come up with a good product. The first contact was very good, and then they were continuously extremely responsive, and followed through brilliantly. They're very good.

CognitiveClouds is a very competent bunch of people and very easy to work with, and those two things don't typically go together. To sum it up, they're extremely competent, extremely smart and intelligent, and they're just easy to work with.

Is there anything CognitiveClouds could have improved or done differently?

Nothing really. I only have good things to say. The project was mostly very smooth. One or two times we had to do extra things, which was really kind of our fault because we needed more features that we didn't really define properly. Even in those cases, they never changed their cost estimates, and they never complained about it. It was very easy to work with them.