Consagous Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of Otboo, a scheduling app to make doctor appointments. It connects users to hundreds of local doctors so that they can choose their own appointment from a live selection.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Consagous Technologies?

We needed someone to develop our website and mobile app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our website and a hybrid app for iOS and Android. They did the wireframing, UI design, and front- and backend development.

What is the team composition?

There were four people on the team.

How did you come to work with Consagous Technologies?

They were referred to us by a friend who had worked with them. We got quotations from 10–14 IT companies. Consagous Technologies’ offer was very reasonable.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application has launched and received 8,000 downloads so far.

How did Consagous Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was seamless. They were receptive to our ideas. We communicated via email and Skype, working in sprint cycles with detailed planning of the entire process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They delivered on time and kept me informed of the progress throughout. They’re the best technology company for a startup.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing they need to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I have no advice to give.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an author who has published seven books. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Consagous Technologies?

I hired them to upgrade my website with new designs and special effects.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to make my website more attractive and appealing to visitors.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Someone I once worked with recommended them. 

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Using AfterEffects, they created visual effects on several pages. They marked the opening of the website with a flashy introduction to the kind of books I write. They also added special effects and designs to several pages, aiming to attract parents and kids to a specific trilogy of books.

What was the team composition?

Aside from the managerial staff, the project team included a special effects designer and a programmer. Their business development manager directly oversaw the project. She stayed in constant contact, communicating with me and sometimes interpreting my instructions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Visitors to the site responded positively. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The business development manager was my initial contact, and she apparently received her assignment for that reason. She effectively maintained lines of communication and rapidly responded to my instructions.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by how easy it was to communicate. Their high level of personal cooperation enabled them to design and implement enhancements to the website.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Very little needed improvement. More individuals could apply their own special talents and add their own ideas to the project. However, I'm happy with the results.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A video marketing business and I am currently the graphic designer and software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Consagous Technologies?

To assist in developing an easy to operate eCommerce site, Change our existing design.

What were your goals for this project?

To create a less cumbersome eCommerce site.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

By word of mouth after a chat with a friend of mine.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They will rebuild the existing eCommerce site and add all the new videos.

What was the team composition?

A software developer (programmer). Web developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

As the prototype develops, I see that Consagous has created a great looking site, so far what I've seen so far, it will be what I wanted. A very easy to maneuver and the payment gateway are coming along. It should be a welcomed access.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The development and output is on schedule. Their PM team has obviously put some effort.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The constant communication and step-by-step updates.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Not that I see.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My name is Sean, and I am the CEO of a startup company called Purposs. We provide on-demand services for women to find jobs through a dedicated platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Consagous Technologies?

We have divided the project into 3 basic areas: implementing chat for the application, a reservation and booking system, and payments. We had a working app before bringing on Consagous, which had been created by an in-house developer in our team. He recently left the company, so we decided to outsource the work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Consagous Technologies picked up where our previous developer left off. Our number one priority at the time was to build a chat integration for the Android and iOS apps. They created this, as well as push notifications, so that our buyers could communicate with sellers, and notify them whenever there is a job opening.

We had been using Stripe for in-app payments. The functionality had been hardcoded into the software, but there was a Stripe API update. Because we’re a marketplace, we have what are called connected accounts. Our original developer had put defaults on those accounts, but the payments being made were actually going to his account. We had Consagous go in and remove his account, setting up our own as the default.

We are now starting the third phase, namely building booking and ratings for the app. We will be able to set up appointments and sync calendars, and allow buyers and sellers to communicate through platforms like Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, and so on.

Once the service is completed, the buyers and sellers will be able to rate each other, similar to how an Uber driver can rate a passenger, and vice versa.

Consagous has done some work on our website, implementing a Stripe Connect button on it, which allows people to self-sign-up to our platform and perform payments at the same time. It was predominantly mobile development, though.

We ultimately chose the technology to be used. For example, we use Twilio for chat, as it was already in place for SMS logins. The continued development made by Consagous gave us chat and push notifications. On the last piece, the ratings and booking functionality will be custom work, but we might look at an API tool like Calendly.

Our primary use communication channels were Skype and email. There were 4 people participating in our chats, assigned from Consagous. I’ve mostly dealt with 2 main contacts.

How did you come to work with Consagous Technologies?

Before Upwork came to its current form, it was 2 separate platforms. I had used one of them 5 years ago, when I needed to have an e-commerce website created. I sent out a job, received some replies, and happened to choose Consagous. I believe that Mukesh Kumar Singh might have been the one coding my website, before he became the CEO of the company. When our in-house developer quit more recently, I started thinking about whom I could replace him with, and went to Mukesh.

How much have you invested with Consagous Technologies?

The total budget we have is $50,000, but the current work has amounted to $11,500. The full scope will probably be $25,000-$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the current project with Consagous Technologies on April 1st 2017. We plan to start testing and launch the platform to users, which will hopefully be the end of the collaboration. We aim to sustain the product through our own efforts, but we don’t have our own developers, so we might use Consagous for follow-up support. They’ve done pretty good work so far, and we’ve been on budget.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s still too early to tell. We’re a startup, and we’re going through a business accelerator program. The company is still in market-validation mode, and we’re talking to users to see what they want. The current live version of the app has fairly limited capabilities, and all of Consagous’ work is still in the staging environment. We’re testing everything, making sure that it all works, and planning to push out to users soon.

We have pushed out chat, and have worked on Stripe in the past week. I’m hoping that, by next week, we will start on bookings. It’s hard to mention results and metrics, but the app works and it’s what I wanted.

They went above the scope in terms of what we needed design-wise and so on. We got them to scale down, and keep it simple. Consagous has shown us some work which would have been more complicated for end-users, making the platform similar to Snapchat.

How did Consagous Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve outsourced in the past to other companies, and the communication was not the best at times. We ended up needing to redo projects because elements weren’t understood fully. Now that we’ve worked with our own developer, we know how to manage our own projects a bit better. We have made our own screenshots, we go through our own design thinking, and so on, so we’re able to communicate clearly based on what we want.

Consagous has been in communication with us every night. They’ve kept us up to date, gave notifications when things were finished and what was being worked on, etc. It’s been pretty good.

I was actually given a discount after disputing a few work hours, which I’ve been happy with. One of their developers entered 23 hours in a single day, which didn’t seem credible. It turned out that he was doing research, but I didn’t want to be charged for this.

We have 2 apps being worked on at the moment: a production one and a development one. Previously, everything our developer did would be within the test app, from design changes to anything else, making it look exactly like the production version inside the app store. Consagous has been able to go into that environment, code it, and show us what it looks like. We can discuss any changes that need to be made based on that.

What did you find most impressive about Consagous Technologies?

I’ve only used a handful of developers over time, but I’d say that Consagous stands out through easy communication. They’re from India, and the language barrier with that region had been a problem for me in the past. I would spend a lot of money redoing things, but the fact that Consagous can communicate with us clearly hasn’t led to second tries or additional money spent. Whatever I’ve requested, they’ve been able to do.

Are there any areas Consagous Technologies could improve?

Honestly, I think they’ve been pretty good. I would have mentioned any areas of improvement.

BACKGROUND

Can you describe your firm, role, and responsibilities?

I work for a company called LoYakk. It is a new firm based in California. I myself have about 20 years of experience in the IT industry. I’m one of the co-founders of this startup, which we started back in 2011. I work full time as the chief technology officer. Most of our resources are outsourced. Mukesh [Kumar Singh], principal of Consagous, is one of the partners that we work with. I have been working with Consagous for more than two years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the work with Consagous?

I think they had their profile listed on oDesk, and I thought they could help us. I talked to Mukesh, the CEO and owner of the firm. Our requirements at that time were expertise with backend Web service, API [application programming interface] kind of work and work on our platform. Our mobile app is available on Android and iPhone. I started using resources for all three those categories from Consagous.

SOLUTION

Can you please go into the scope of their work in more detail?

Mostly, it was development work. It was systems where we developed products from scratch. In one case, we already had developed it halfway by another company. Mukesh got involved. We wanted an additional resource. We added that person to a team. There were two to three different teams working on the product.

What was your process for selecting Consagous?

I believe we found them on oDesk. I don’t think anybody had introduced me to them. We met one resource on their team, and that expanded to include companywide resources.

Is their work ongoing?

Currently, we have an ongoing partnership. In addition, I have introduced Consagous and recommended them to a bunch of my friends that he’s engaged. I’m also involved on some of those projects in a partial capacity, not in a major role, but in a consulting kind of role. Usually when somebody asks me, “Do you know a good firm in India?” I do definitely recommend him because he does provide quality candidates. They are pretty good about finding the right resources for the right job.

Can you give us the sense of the size of the initiative with a general cost range?

Typically, I’ve had guys from him ranging on different rates. We have had four to five resources with all of them all working full time 40 hours a week. Sometimes, the arrangement has been on an hourly basis based on the requirements. This ranges from mobile app development to website development to backend Web services. Each arrangement is customized. Most of the time, we have had people working full time for us from Consagous. There are other projects that my friends have engaged him where it’s kind of a similar arrangement, but maybe I would say two to three people at a time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics you could share about the success of the work?

Some of the resources were so excellent that we made sure they stayed on the project long term. A couple of them are still on the project. That is the case even today. In terms of success, they’ve been pretty good. We are very happy with the kind of people that worked with us. Sometimes, we need to switch resources if one person isn’t doing well. That has been a rare scenario.

Can you please assess their performance overall?

I think overall it’s pretty good. I’ve worked with multiple firms in the past. In terms of performance and actual attention to quality and customer satisfaction, I would rate Consagous highly. Their leaders are truly upset when we aren’t satisfied. Their CEO is very diligent about those kinds of things.

Is anything unique or special about Consagous as a company that stood out for you as different from other IT firms?

They are very diligent about making sure that the customers are happy. That would be the biggest differentiation. Ultimately, the CEO is not the technical guy who is doing the work. His job is to make sure we are happy. He does that very well.

Looking back on the project so far, is there any area that you think Consagous could improve upon or something you might do differently?

No. Not really. Immediately all problems we raise are fixed. That would be the biggest differentiating factor compared to other outsourced firms.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your firm and your role and responsibilities.

My company is Optimize Business Solutions. We do online marketing, Web design, and graphics design. I’m the owner and creative director of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the work with Consagous?

We wanted certified Magento developers that could as we brought on Magento projects, handle the scope of work in order to deliver for our clients. We outsourced our Magento development work to them.   

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work in more detail.

For our purposes and our contracts with them, they just did the development. We have people in the U.S. speaking to and working through Optimize, our team is actually working with the clients one on one. Our project management team deals directly with them as freelance developers.    

Is this ongoing work?

We’ve had a few projects completed already. We will continue to give them many more projects related to Magento as they come to us. They do great work for us. They work for our clients and keep everyone satisfied.

What was your process for selecting them?

I actually found them through a service called oDesk. I posted a job. They applied, and we did our interview. They were the best candidates.

Can you provide a sense of the size of the average initiative with Consagous?

They’re generally very quick with the turnarounds. The projects range in size. We’ve had smaller client projects, and we’ve had full revamp website projects. So, there’s not really an average project size.

What is the average cost range of the projects with Consagous?

It’s generally less than $10,000, but there are larger projects. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the projects? Please assess their overall performance.

They have great turnaround time. They have great communication. As the project’s being worked on, our project management team and myself are kept in the loop so that we can communicate directly with our clients. In this relationship, we are the clients, so their client interaction is very open and transparent. 

They let you know what they’re working on. They stick to their deliverable dates and, if something is going to change for whatever reason, they’re really on top of making sure that I understand that there’s going to be a change in the deliverable date and the reasoning behind it. So, it’s not like they just miss the date and disappear.

Is anything unique or special about Consagous that makes them stand out compared to other IT firms?

The thing I like best about them aside from their ability to complete any task that we have, is they’re certified developers. They do great development. Aside from all of that, it’s really just their communication. I’m big on companies that will communicate with you rather than leaving you in the dark. They are great at updating us on their progress.

I don’t have statistics or metrics. I can say Consagous has been able to deliver 100 percent of what the clients have asked.

Looking back on the work, is there anything that you think they could improve upon or something you might do differently?

No. Not really. They’ve done a great job. That’s why I plan on continuing to use them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Consagous Technologies?

For mobile application development

What were your goals for this project?

Develop a wireframe for a mobile application

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Through phone interview

Describe the project in detail.

A wireframe was developed

What was the team composition?

NA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Wireframe was completed on time

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was very effective

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their response time to my questions and concerns was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our private company is a innovative startup based in Frisco, TX. We offer restaurants increased exposure by advertising real-time deals to our users. My current role is President/CoFounder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Consagous Technologies?

Consagous was hired to develop 4 native apps and web admin console. We added billing software during the project.

What were your goals for this project?

Our key goals were for Consagous to develop our apps as an entry product into the restaurant app industry. The total completion of the project was scheduled for May 2018.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My team contacted Consagous after reading reviews on this website. Our initial contact was Bhavesh. We selected Consagous based on Bhavesh having a good understanding our needs and total cost.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

After selecting Consagous we sent discussed our requirements and scheduled goals. This project was to be completed in three months. This was a very aggressive time table. We spoke with a project manager and their team and began the UI development. The project was new development of 4 apps and a web console. Four apps in total, restaurant owner app and user apps on IOS and Android. We optionally added billing software API during the project.

What was the team composition?

Initially we were assigned a project manager, and 2 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

As a startup, we needed the development to be on time and apps to be working. They were able to produce working prototypes 2 months behind schedule. We lost time due to bad programming that was confirmed by our technical advisers. Consagous were using bad coding which had to be changed to our standards. Ultimately, we were able to move forward to making the apps more responsive and bug free. This was the most brutal part of the 18 months we worked with them. The whole process although the apps were working somewhat were grueling. Multiple errors started to present itself. Consagous deemed the app ready for market when we were gradually finding things wrong with the app. They were trying to push us in Nov 2018 deem the project complete when our billing api was not working properly, spelling/grammar errors, stretched photos, and more. Overall 12 months was spent with practically begging them to fix problems that persisted throughout the apps. This cost us a lot of time and lost revenue.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The best part of this project as I will state throughout this review was working with the UI team. This UI part of the project was organized. The rest of the project was quite chaotic. No project schedules, not arriving to skype meetings on time are just examples. We had 4 project managers in a 6-month span. It was really bad.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

UI team were the best. All other aspects of the company were not very good.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are several areas of improvement for Consagous and I will discuss below. Project management: When working on projects as large as this one, project schedules are very important. We had to consistently ask for project completion dates. All aspects of the project except for UI ran late. We had one project schedule at the beginning of the project. However, as the project missed milestones, we never received updated schedules and had to consistently ask “where are we”. Hire competent project managers. In total we had 4 project managers in a 6-month span. Consagous would deliver milestones that was stated to be completed but were not. We had to ask for a summary of the technology (programming, stack, etc) close to project completion. Legal/Management: Very light contract with not a lot of commitment on their part. The latest versions of apps should always be a standard practice when building and releasing apps on the market. Our apps were placed on the market with IOS 10 when IOS 12 was released. Android 8 when 9 was available. They didn't correct this issue and wanted us to pay for the versions that should have been on our apps which we paid for already. We constantly communicated with the management team to finish tasks, and they continuously tried to charge us for work that was incomplete. I was told our project ended in November, but we never signed off on or agreed to this project being complete at that time. Consagous knew there was parts of the app that was not working properly or incomplete. Project was ended unofficially this month by us. I can’t express how frustrating it was to work with management to resolve issues. We spent 12 months trying to resolve issues. Quality Assurance: Consagous says they have a QA but in my opinion they don't, this department is horrible. Their contract states they perform spell checks however our team spent hours finding & correcting spelling and grammar errors. Billing software API never worked but passed 6 months of QA testing. Our product launched with billing software not working properly but was told that it was after every fix. UAT was not performed nor did we obtain any proof they were performing any testing. Programming: Average at best. Our team in the 2nd month discovered shortcuts being taken and we lost a month with them having to recode based on stack recommendations. This would have costed us thousands on maintenance later. Our final product was missing swift files and versions were not up to date. Consagous team could not get billing software to work for 6 months after launch. We asked them to disconnect the software (we were told continuously that it worked but when we tested each fix, it never did). Communication: At the beginning comms were good, but after we paid for the project comms progressive got worse. Most communication done through skype or email. Had to ask for conference calls to clear up issues. Price quoting: We didn't add any additional projects, but we inquired about a few early in the project. It seemed $1200 was the standard rate. They would quote these rates and not provide any rationale behind the quote we would have to ask them for hours, etc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Travel & Aviation App for reviews Positiin: Director

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Consagous Technologies?

We had a poorly designed app and we needed it upgraded and we had to rework and rewrite codes. It was a long process, but well achieved result.

What were your goals for this project?

Simplification. Ease of use. Clean App Great UI/IX

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had worked with one of the team members from the previous development tcompany. So we moved with this member.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We needed to rewrite previous codes and work on improving the look and feel of the app. We also needed to make it easy to use and so there were upgrades we did.

What was the team composition?

We had a project manager, web, android and iOS developers as well as testers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We are yet to ascertain as we are yet to launch.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Frequent call and mail exchanges until we agreed to all terms.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Regular updates.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Costing and charges on some basic features.