Diya

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company provides business consultancy, IT support, and bespoke hardware/software solutions with focus on financial/professional services and government sectors. I am the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Diya?

We needed a team of level 1, level 2 and level 3 helpdesk and support engineers to help us scale our growth.

What were your goals for this project?

The 3 goals of our project were: baseline and upgrade our existing client infrastructure, consistently manage and administer client network infrastructures, and provide real-time end-user helpdesk support.

SOLUTION

How did you select Diya?

We found DIYA on Upwork. They were shortlisted and they impressed us with their depth of offering (call management, level 1, 2, 3 engineers). 

Describe the project in detail.

When DIYA initially came on board as our support subcontractors, our company was operating with very few processes and procedures. DIYA worked with us to help define and refine these processes. We ended up with a pretty finely tuned support machine.

What was the team composition?

The team was led by their project manager (Anatoliy) who helped us flesh out the staffing requirements for the project. We ended up with a team of six level 1 and three level 2 engineers working multiple shifts to provide our end users with 24/7 support at the end of a phone (or other instant messaging platforms).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Within 6 months of bringing DIYA on board, we had a significant decrease in patching related support incidents. Once we had upgraded the remaining clients' infrastructure, our company had the opportunity to shift our approach from that of a fire-fighting/break-fix IT support company, to more of a proactive and consultative technology partner.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

DIYA was very willing to adopt our (rapidly changing/improving) SOPs. Once we established clear policies and procedures, we shifted to a client/customer relationship management focus. We implemented weekly staff meetings to discuss any ongoing issues and highlight upcoming projects/opportunities.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Flexibility and friendliness: this is what impressed me most about DIYA. They pull out all of the stops when required and are not afraid of working non-standard business hours to get projects done. And they always seem to be happy to help.

Are there any areas for improvement?

IT is a dynamic and constantly shifting landscape. It's difficult/impossible to be trained in everything. DIYA works on keeping its staff trained and provides a good mentoring environment for the level 1 staff.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an IT security company that provides consultancy services to clients across various industries. I’m the managing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Diya?

The main challenge was to find a team with the appropriate skills that we needed to fill skills gaps. We also needed to leverage — instead of hiring one person full-time — a team of part-time resources with different skillsets.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Diya has worked with us on different projects, starting with a lower-level interaction to build trust on both sides. The most recent project was when they provided a level one help desk solution that was available 24/7. We were also able to avail ourselves of level two and three technicians if we needed them. They were basically triaging our health desks and escalating based on the clients' needs and task severity.

They were helping our users migrate from different platforms onto Office 365. This required them to work off their hours to work when our clients were working. This allowed our client to have no downtime.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an admin resource, a dedicated triage resource who took our clients’ calls. There was a team of around 15 people in total. Another specific resource was a business development resource. They helped us manage the team.

How did you come to work with Diya?

We found them on Upwork, initially, and liked the skillset they had. Once we got to know them, there was no going back or moving away from that. We’ve been helping them develop their own business by finding clients through our referrals. Even though we’d like to keep them our little, hidden secret, we know they need to build their business and we want to support them any way we can.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re up to around $40,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main metric is the length of our relationship and the fact that we have no intention of dissolving that relationship. We love what they do and they do it to the highest of standards. They’re brilliant, both technically and with communication. They don’t work with us as an independent unit. When we talk about our clients, it’s all of our clients. They see our clients as theirs, as well. When we do service reviews with our customers, there are never any issues. Our customers are extremely happy, and a chunk of that is due to Diya.

How did Diya perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is fantastic. We’ve built the relationship to the point where, if there’s something they need to do, we’re completely straight up about that. We’ve never missed a deadline. They’re transparent enough to tell us if a deadline is unrealistic. They don’t tell us what we want to hear all the time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been with Diya almost since their beginning, and we’ve seen them grow and progress and develop and improve over the last few years. Their balance of technical skills, communication skills, and organizational skills also stands out for me. Everyone knows what’s going on, it gets done on time, and it gets done well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Moving forward, their challenge is going to be maintaining the communication levels as they grow.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be completely honest about every aspect of the project, so that everyone knows where they stand. This will give them a fair chance to manage expectations. Clear communication also provides them opportunities to solve challenges you haven’t identified with

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior IT officer for an NGO working on government-funded projects across the globe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Diya?

We were addressing the issue of outsourced IT managed services. Our IT department had shrunk from five to two people, so we needed to engage an external partner to provide services at both our headquarters and field offices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Diya ran our IT support system and resolved all tickets. Any ticket coming in needed a response within four hours, and a resolution in five days.

What is the team composition?

I had a main point of contact, and we worked with 6–7 people from Diya.

How did you come to work with Diya?

We posted a job request on Upwork, and Diya was one of the companies that responded. Apart from the services they were offering, we were looking at how much the services would cost.

We liked Diya’s response, so we decided to engage with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was based on the number of hours they worked, which we logged on Upwork.

The tier-one personnel had a cost of $15 per hour, and it went up to $18. Depending on the ticket, we averaged 6–8 hours per day.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Diya around February 2018, and we stopped working with them at the end of September. Due to internal cost-cutting measures, Diya was one of the services we had to let go of.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we first started, I had to handle a lot of the tickets. As time went by, most of it was pushed out to them, as they got more comfortable with how we did work internally.

We started pushing more of the ticketing work and resolution to them. Our target was to get Diya to resolve 80% of the tickets coming in. We never got to that percentage due to certain internal factors, but we were reaching around 60%. Some tasks required higher-level permissions, which Diya didn’t have.

How did Diya perform from a project management standpoint?

We had projects across different time zones, so they worked 24 hours a day for us. They were pretty good in terms of responding. They had a supervisor overseeing the work, and we coordinated with her all the time.

We had weekly meetings with them, and they were good at making suggestions for issues that cropped up from time to time. We had to put in a couple of ticket monitoring tools to ensure that nothing would be left unanswered for more than an hour, and that made a dramatic improvement to how the ticketing system was handled.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Relative to industry standards for the support services they provided, I think that Diya did pretty well in terms of responding to tickets and giving support.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I had to make constant follow-ups to ensure that some of the lower-level staff were following the procedures. For example, they had to ensure that all the necessary fields were populated when making an account because missing one would cause all kinds of issues.

We sorted that out by having regular meetings and pointing out what needed to be improved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to set up a system that’s closely monitored and have regular feedback on what’s going on. I recommend having one-on-one meetings with the supervisor every week, to make sure everything’s on track.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Swiss Basketball is the governing body of all basketball leagues in Switzerland. I work as Streaming Coordinator.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Diya.pro?

Swiss Basketball offers a live streaming service of all of our professionnal league games on our YouTube channel. Since 2017, Diya.Pro supports us in the technical/IT part of it.

What were your goals for this project?

Contribute to the developpment of Basketball in Switzerland through the live streaming of our games.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were looking for a remoted IT support. Diya.Pro offers serious IT support, they are always available and very responsive.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected the vendor, we discussed terms and the contract. It was all done per e-mail since Diya.Pro is based in another country.

What was the team composition?

At first, there were approximately 4 different people working for us. Since the beginning of this season, Diya.Pro increased their team to a couple more workers. As already said, they have always been very responsive regardless of being a small or bigger group.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of our videos has kept improving. As a result, the number of views on YouTube show that there are more and more people watching our videos.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have an online excel sheet that contains all the information of our games. In addition to that, we communicate via e-mail and WhatsApp groups directly with the teams.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are very responsive, always available, and very skilled. They know what they are doing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They may want to brief some of their new collaborators a little more before integrating them fully to the team. It did non happen often though.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Tech Cloud, a software service company. I specialize in remote support for small businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Diya.pro?

I needed a partner to take over most of the day-to-day remote support calls from my clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Each of my clients is in a WhatsApp group. Diya.pro monitors those groups for any requests from the clients. They deal with most of the questions or requests for help from my clients on the WhatsApp groups. If there was a request for any IT support, they responded and the work was done remotely using our tools. 

Most of the work they did was first- and second-level. There were some times where a client would want further reconfigured or a new project done – something beyond day-to-day work. I would engage Diya.pro’s resources for those project-based assignments.

What is the team composition?

I worked with two account managers who coordinated the requests and ensured that the tickets were attended to.

How did you come to work with Diya.pro?

I was referred to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $800–$1,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and we ended our engagement in March 2020. Since COVID-19, I’ve taken over all support. Our relationship is on hold until things pick up and then hopefully things go back to normal.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have tickets for any work that is to be done. We have tickets logged for any of the work. The information would get put in as to what was done, the time spent, and how the time was spent. All of that was done quite efficiently. 

I never had issues with anything taking too long. They charge for time spent and the time spent has to be described. There’s no need for me to nitpick on anything because it was all clear. I have no issues with their work. I appreciate the way they work. We just had to get used to each other as to what I meant and what needed to be done.

How did Diya.pro perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management worked very well. I’ve dealt with other remote support companies as well and they didn’t have the setup that Diya.pro had. There’s an account manager that oversees all the work being done. It doesn’t just go from technician to technician. 

There were times mistakes were made, but it was corrected very easily. There weren’t any issues with getting the work done. The main challenge working remotely was making sure we understood each other very well on both sides.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really efficient. They look to communicate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were planning how to scale up and we were going to get a dedicated technician, but it fell by the wayside because of COVID-19. 

There are some cultural differences as well. When I say something or communicate in a certain way, it may be interpreted differently on the other end. I started to recognize that as time went on. There’s always room for improvement with communication on both ends. It takes time of getting to know one another.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Customer Support Manager of AirPatrol

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Offers remote home heating solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Diya to accomplish?

• To assist with customer support

SOLUTION

How did you find Diya?

Online Search

Why did you select Diya over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Diya were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Diya is helping us mainly with live chat with our customer, but occasionally with email support as well. The main goal for our team effort is to help out customers solve any issues with our services and answer any questions they might have. The key is to help and leave our customers satisfied with the support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our customer support level and success rate is high. We were able to set up 24/7 live chat feature for our company with the help of Diya. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The whole team and project managers have been a pleasure to work with and all items have been delivered as needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Diya?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I'm impressed by their dedication and professionalism; they are just lovely people to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Diya could have done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Digital Strategy of Troesser & Co.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Management Consulting

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Diya to accomplish?

• IT

SOLUTION

How did you find Diya?

Online Search

Why did you select Diya over others?

High ratings, Great culture fit, Good value for cost

What was the size of Diya’s team?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

External IT Service provider, IT Support, IT Security Desk

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Working IT Infrastructure

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes, they are available 24/7 and usually respond within 30min. They have multiple lines of service, therefore minimizing costs but still having the expertise in-house if needed.

What was your primary form of communication with Diya?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We appreciate their flexibility.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Diya could have done differently?

Communication between the IT Support and the End users could be improved. They should describe more to the person that is being supported what exactly they are currently looking into to solve the problem.