e-Core

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was an application architect for a group within a large agro-business company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with e-Core?

We had a lot of projects, but we needed more people to help us with them. We were having a really bad time finding good resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had the need to develop a couple of projects within a financial services group umbrella. We went to e-Core for a reliable team that could help us get those applications built and maintain them. They gave us business analysts, a QA team, and developers to help with the builds.

What is the team composition?

There were around 15 people assigned from e-Core for our projects, and I interacted with all of them.

How did you come to work with e-Core?

We already had some projects we were working with e-Core on. Having tried both large and small companies in the past, we found we ended up wasting a lot of time with interviews—the candidates that got to us weren’t ready or weren’t the right fit, and the quality of some who started wasn’t good. We started looking for something else and as e-Core had already worked with some groups inside our company, that’s how we started.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost at least $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

e-Core has a long relationship with our company and is ongoing. My project with them started in September 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the people I worked with before e-Core, our relationship was cold with no sense of ownership. Once we started working with e-Core, it was a completely different experience. They did a good job of filtering candidates, who were always reliable and good. The business behind our project is unique and hard to learn, but e-Core learned it very fast. The return to the business was amazing.

How did e-Core perform from a project management standpoint?

They also committed, demonstrating a sense of ownership; we felt they were actively working with our business, looking at how to improve and looking for answers. They were a team we could rely on. They managed the one to three-hour difference well, working more closely with us when it was longer.

We had a single point of contact who represented all the projects we were working on. We could discuss anything with them, with another point of contact for more high-level matters. We did have a project manager on our side, but we could rely on e-Core’s resources when we needed to build a new story, knowing they would take ownership of it and manage the tasks. They used the Atlassian suite.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were comfortable with their tech expertise and were impressed by their sense of ownership—they worked extra hours if they needed to resolve a problem. As we didn’t need to do interviews anymore, we saved a lot of time and money. The candidates that e-Core presented were prefiltered, having already passed strong interviews. It was very rare for them to put forward someone that we didn’t find to be a good fit.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it was a great experience working with them. They were always in touch, asking how they could improve.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be as open as possible. e-Core is a reliable and trustworthy company with good technical expertise.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the technical lead of the main web application asset at the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire e-Core?

We hired e-Core to provide additional offshore development resources as well as consulting related to Atlassian products / customizations / configurations.

What were your goals for this project?

We had a major application to be maintained with plans of transitioning from a rather monolithic architecture to smaller, micro-services like structures in the cloud. With regards to Atlassian: the company used the products but lacked in-depth knowledge of the features / capabilities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Not sure.

Describe the project in detail.

The project involved maintaining Java components (frontend, backend) as well as configuration scripts. I was the tech lead of the application and contributed with specs and code reviews. e-Core was responsible for certain components with regards to maintenance, code development, and testing.

What was the team composition?

We had a team of five on-site engineers and one remote engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

e-Core helped us add a great deal of stability to the web application. The components provided by them demanded no rework, working as expected. We also used their knowledge to re-architect a portion of the application into microservices.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

In terms of workflow, it was very effective. We used a chat tool, Jira, and Confluence for team communication. We also had daily standups and feedback review meetings.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Overall, e-Core's strength was in providing the right talent for us: the developer that worked closely with our team was very capable of (i) working remotely (ii) adapting to the company's culture (iii) understanding requirements and being curious to learn more about the domain and (iv) providing quality code.

With regards to Atlassian product consulting, e-Core provided us with a set of new setups and offerings of products that improved our usage and contributed to improving our software development process in general.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of a database service company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with e-Core?

We reached out to e-Core to develop software that would help us meet the needs of our clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

E-Core helped us develop our database software from scratch, allowing all sorts of search capabilities for our clients. They provided backend, frontend, and UX design. They also continue to maintain, update, and build out new features for the platform as needed. 

What is the team composition? 

I work with Matheo (VP, e-Core) and the main developer based in the US, as well as Gustavo (Delivery Lead, e-Core) in their Brazil office.

How did you come to work with e-Core?

I've been working with them so long, I don't remember how we originally found them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested over $1 million over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since June 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product e-Core originally developed was so successful that we decided to expand it to thousands of clients across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. We've received consistent rave reviews from users regarding the functionality of the platform they've created. 

How did e-Core perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage the project exceptionally well. They're open in communications, on time, professional, and solutions-driven. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their dependability and the quality of their deliverables sets them apart.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to work with Matheo or Gustavo if possible–they go above and beyond to meet client expectations.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the COO of a startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire e-Core?

We hired them to custom build most of our product for us.

What were your goals for this project?

To build a solid product that could become the core base of our startup.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended to us through another client.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They provided custom software development and did a solid job. The software is a custom inventory manager. 

What was the team composition?

There were a few developers in the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They successfully completed a solid product for us.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We handled the project management on our side.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're very solid with their customer relations, and their developers are very strong.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We definitely paid a premium for quality.