The Development Factory

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a healthcare software company that provides mission critical solutions for pharmaceutical inventory management within hospitals and health systems. I’m the vice president of split billing and enterprise sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Development Factory?

We had a software platform that needed a refresh but lacked the in-house resources to make changes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They mostly focus on the frontend and the parts the customers utilize. They did a lot of our backend work as well, which we supplemented with our in-house database team. They played a role in product management and we put them in touch with prospective and existing customers and consultants to get a better understanding of the market. We provided mock-ups and documentation and they did the rest.

The platform itself interfaces with electronic health records and drug wholesalers. It operates as an accounting tool for drug inventory and tracks medication usage and accumulation within hospitals. Those numbers are audited, so they have to be very accurate. That accuracy also provides an immediate ROI, as it saves hospitals from overstocking. It shows exactly what is on hand and is a critical piece of information for the centers that use it.

What is the team composition?

Andrew (CTO, The Development Factory) is our main point of contact. We also interact with Suzanne (CEO, The Development Factory) and Suzy (Product Manager, The Development Factory). We don’t interact directly with their development team.

How did you come to work with The Development Factory?

A colleague recommended them. We brought together stakeholders and executives together for a series of conversations with them. We felt they could provide what we needed.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2017. They provide ongoing development support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The reaction from our customers is phenomenal. We went from dated solutions to a unique strategy that may be the best in the industry. It’s a very viable platform for the hospitals we serve. TDF is very supportive and put the emphasis on quality code and rapid response.

How did The Development Factory perform from a project management standpoint?

They do exceptionally well. We meet in person or use Pivotal for day-to-day interactions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their outputs, the level of their engagement, their response times, and their willingness to speak with end users gave us the best platform possible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Get Help®. Get Help is an online platform that helps professionals and the public find addiction and mental health treatment resources.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Development Factory?

We needed help building our initial product and developing our platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided us with product management, development, and strategic consultation. We had started to build the product and had initial wireframes and mock-ups. They evaluated what we had and gave us feedback. Then, they created a plan to replace and fix what had already been done. Then, they created new wireframes and executed the plan.

In addition to the development work, they also took care of logo design and design work. They used Amazon Web Services for our platform. We have multiple features such as an API, database, and an administration tool for our own interface. We have a provider tool for facilities to update their data within the database. People can find resources on our web page, web application, and an iOS and Android app.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was the CEO. We were also in touch with a lead developer and a project manager.

How did you come to work with The Development Factory?

I met the CEO at a party. I chose them over other companies because of their ability to handle strategic issues as well as development issues.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve invested around $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2016 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been able to deploy our products within the set timelines. The work has been high-quality, and they’ve met and exceeded our expectations. Any issues or bugs are addressed immediately.

How did The Development Factory perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. We meet in person, sometimes multiple times a week, and we use Pivotal Tracker to track the work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The planning process and product development process have been the most impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they had more people and hours to give.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to their recommendations sooner rather than later.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and chief executive officer of Integral Healthcare Solutions. We are a consulting firm that specializes in working with healthcare organizations who are seeking to become accredited, stay accredited, or are working with particular healthcare legal compliance issues that we specialize in.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Development Factory?

The management of a typical accreditation process is complex for both the applicants and consultants providing them with help, so we wanted technology to help simplify and clarify that process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The Development Factory developed and designed two important pieces of software for us that have gone through multiple iterations over the years. The most important is The Goldfinch Accreditation Management System. Goldfinch is an online project management platform that has all of our resources in one place. Through Goldfinch we are able to have secure communications with our clients and exchange documents and feedback important to the accreditation process. We also have dashboards for our clients that allows them to track their process and see how they're doing based on our scoring system that scores any documentation that will be sent to accreditation organizations.

The second piece of software The Development Factory built is a training program called AccrediTrain. We had a training software before, but they built a new self-service version that is completely automated, allowing a client to schedule a training for their employees without having to involve any of my actual staff.

What is the team composition?

I interact with their CEO and CTO almost exclusively. The CEO worked with me in the early stages as we came up with the concept and design, while the CTO really got involved as we moved into development. The CTO also mediates communication with their developers.

How did you come to work with The Development Factory?

The CEO was a friend of mine but I didn't know what she did. At one point we were just chatting about her company and what my company needed. One thing led to another and I decided that they were the right people to hire.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them since July 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are now able to handle a larger number of clients with the same number of staff as a result of The Development Factory’s work. This has led to our revenues increasing by a factor of four.

Beyond that, the reactions to our platforms have been outstanding. Just recently a new client was having her first experience with Goldfinch and she said it was just amazing. Another client of ours is a competitor and asked us for help on a project. This is an organization that has a particularly sophisticated knowledge about the accreditation process, and their CEO and president was very impressed by our software platforms.

How did The Development Factory perform from a project management Standpoint?

They preformed very well. They're very good about communicating what's going on. If we have technical issues they have good systems for tracking resolutions, including Pivotal Tracker and Groove.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really listened to our description of what we do and how we do it and then turned that into software that quite beautifully captures what we do and how we do it. They clearly care about us and our satisfaction.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of any. They gave us what we wanted at the price we wanted with great customer service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come into the engagement with a clear idea of what you want. I was fortunate that I have a high level of expertise about what our firm does and so I knew a lot about how things ought to go. I wouldn't come in with partially or barely formed ideas; it's really good to know what you're doing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We streamline interactions between healthcare vendors and facilities and ensure that all partnerships are compliant and efficient. I’m the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Development Factory?

We wanted to create a platform for a new suite of physician offices. We also wanted to evaluate existing platforms at other facilities that were suboptimal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped build everything from scratch. We came to them with the problems we faced and our ideas for solutions. They did all the design for the website, including logos and platform flow.

One of the more challenging components was the scheduling feature. We wanted a booking option that allowed healthcare reps to meet with doctors and medical practitioners. They also built an automated hub for document storage. It houses compliance documents and operates like a library. Once a document is uploaded and approved, everyone involved has access to it.

What is the team composition?

It’s a joint effort between the two founders, Suzanne (CEO, The Development Factory) and Andrew (CTO, The Development Factory). Suzanne takes more of a project management role. She guides us through the process and makes sure we get the right product. Andrew is the lead developer and liaison with the rest of his development team. He manages and deploys the workflow.

How did you come to work with The Development Factory?

I found them through a Google AdWords campaign. We started with a phone conversation that became a mutual interview. We liked the two-way interaction and could see that they operated at a high caliber. We felt that they would be a good partner to help build the whole product.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $270,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in January 2017 and deployed the first platform in April or May 2017. They still do development work and build out the platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had minimal issues and bounced back quickly from two problematic scenarios. They always corrected minor crashes or other situations in a reasonable amount of time.

How did The Development Factory perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a great job. I had very little experience in this and they guided me through the best creative options. They gave us the resources we needed for a successful outcome.

The simplicity of the process and their ability to quickly understand the space were perfect. They’d never worked in this industry but delivered an intuitive product for a complex environment.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The healthcare industry is difficult to understand, but they grasped all the important points. They built a user-friendly, comprehensive platform that worked for facilities and practitioners. They eliminated any unnecessary steps and made something simple and easy to use.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Overall, everything is very good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Depending on your team, there may be some redundancy if you already have a project manager and decide to take our approach. We didn’t have any project management experience, which is why we had Suzanne on the team. We had no technical experience at all, but they put everything together. The model works well for companies like ours but might be different if she stepped away. We couldn’t do this on our own.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of Givsum, a software and data analytics company that services the philanthropic market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with The Development Factory?

In-house, we have a backend engineer, a graphic designer, and a frontend designer that doubles as JavaScript engineer. They managed our platform until it grew too complex for their team size. Consequently, we needed a third-party vendor to help move forward with an open beta product that we wanted to bring to market and generate revenue.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had about five meetings with the CEO – who served as product manager – to discuss functionality, the competitive landscape, and how to address the market need. They then translated our discussions into Pivotal Tracker, their operating software. The team established a roadmap for high priority needs and initiated two-week sprints for Ruby on Rails development. For each sprint, the team did testing and released code onto the main platform.

We’re located in a major public university. To accommodate, we added a core feature that allows users to log volunteer hours and rate organizations on a scale of one to five. We outlined this feature and then designed it. Our site allows the campus administration to put out survey questions and analyze response data.

What is the team composition?

Four of the company’s six employees work on our project. The team includes the CTO, backend engineer, frontend engineer, graphic designer, and the CEO as the product manager. The CEO was our main point of contact, followed by the CTO, who worked primarily on roadmaps. The frontend engineer focused on QA and coordinated indirectly with the UX/UI designer.

How did you come to work with The Development Factory?

Three years ago, I met one of their sales representatives at a professional event and she pitched me on their services. I then met the CEO and CTO in Los Angeles. We started a year-long relationship, which led to the contract.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $150,000 to date. However, we expect to increase our investment with a larger contract over the next six months. At that point, we expect to spend between $50,000–$200,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work started in April 2017 and is ongoing. We plan to hire them again for the coming year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Previously, our site had 200 daily bugs; they’ve decreased that number by 95%. Cleaner codes have enhanced the user experience, but more work is still needed. Additionally, we love their designs; we’re excited about their high quality. The platform’s now ready for any developer to onboard quickly.

How did The Development Factory perform from a project management standpoint?

They regularly schedule meetings to keep everyone informed. They’re responsive via Pivotal Tracker and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The CEO is a true professional. She knows how to effectively implement my ideas and vision. She is phenomenal; I look forward to working with her in particular for many more years.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any complaints, but I’d love if they were less expensive. However, costs are much lower than hiring additional in-house resources. The partnership benefits us at this stage of our company.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to the CEO; trust her process and instincts. She’s proven herself many times throughout the relationship. She’s also fun to work with.