eGrove Systems

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that runs a cross-border e-commerce platform for Japanese products that are sold to people outside Japan.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eGrove Systems?

We wanted to connect Japanese online stores to our website platform using API services. Our challenge was handling millions of products on a site that uses multiple languages and currencies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

eGrove Systems provided us with all the resources needed for the project—designers, developers, architects, and project managers. They created the entire e-commerce website from scratch using Magento. They applied different Magento pages depending on the country’s domain, and these pages use a shared database. eGrove Systems also worked on the API interface. For example, they connected our platform to one of the most popular Japanese domestic e-commerce websites.

How did you come to work with eGrove Systems?

We found eGrove Systems through a web search.

How much have you invested with eGrove Systems?

We paid $50,000–$199,999 for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in March 2014, and it was finished by October of that year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They developed and provided everything that was necessary for the website. eGrove Systems’ team has top-quality website development skills. We encountered a few difficulties and had to make numerous adjustments to the site. eGrove Systems’ team worked hard to meet our requirements—they were even working during weekends.

How did eGrove Systems perform from a project management standpoint?

In general, eGrove Systems was excellent at meeting deadlines. However, we did experience a few delays due to various problems. We communicated via email, Skype, and GoToMeeting. We also talked on the phone. They were always quick to respond to our messages.

What did you find most impressive about eGrove Systems?

After working with eGrove Systems for several months, we felt that they were more than just a business partner. Given the numerous adjustments we requested, we were impressed by eGrove Systems’ speed and agility. We appreciated their loyalty and honesty—they have earned our trust.

Are there any areas eGrove Systems could improve?

They could improve in terms of website design, particularly the quality of their user experience and user interface.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Delphync, an IT service company based in Southern California. We cater to a lot of large, midsized, and small startups all across the country, primarily in Southern California. A lot of our clients are local. We provide application development, mobile development, big data, DevOps, and infrastructure.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eGrove Systems?

Some of the projects we’ve worked on with eGrove were ideas that needed to be turned into reality in the form of an app or a website. Other projects were implementations where the project already existed, but the performance wasn’t fast enough.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

eGrove Systems has helped us rewrite a lot of the functionalities of the TruckIT app that was built for iOS and Android. The app was running on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, and they helped us migrate it to Amazon Web Services. In addition to that, they rewrote the payment platform using Stripe, and they completely rewrote the app using Ruby on Rails. The end result was good and the migration went well.

eGrove put in a lot of time during the planning stage, which was a fairly big. They broke it down into small chunks of tasks, and all those things were planned pretty well. The purpose of the app was for users to find a food truck in their area. Food trucks are popular, but it’s also a seasonal business. Right now, there’s no way for you to know if your favorite food truck is passing by your area or not. The app allows you to find food trucks in your area, favorite a food truck, and interact with them. The app works in different states and the plan is to run them almost everywhere in the US.

Using the app, you can find out the truck’s location, their hours, their menu, and their next stop. It uses a GPS running in the background to track proximity to food trucks. It’s like a performance enhancement that eGrove introduced in order to decrease the battery life. The app existed before, but eGrove built more than 70% of it.

How did you come to work with eGrove Systems?

I found them through a reference, and we’ve worked on several other projects since then. They had a good structure when I spoke to them. They designated an account manager for our projects, and it seemed like they had a good set of developers for each platform. Android and iOS are like two different worlds and they seemed to have expertise in both. Their communication was good as well. Based on our initial talk, the kind of ideas that they were proposing were good. Taking all that into consideration, we picked them. We did, in fact, talk to other companies, but among all of them, eGrove stood out.

How much have you invested with eGrove Systems?

We spent less than $10,000. They were economical, but the quality was good.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in the summer of 2016, and the project was completed that same summer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work was well-received. We were struggling with our older technology and older platform, and they brought in fresh ideas. In a matter of a few months, they were able to get us migrated. Overall, everyone was happy with the new implementation. It worked very well and the customers were happy. All the features were intact. In fact, they proposed some new ideas as well, which we’ll have to think through for future releases.

How did eGrove Systems perform from a project management standpoint?

They had a dedicated project manager that broke down the entire project into small tasks. He provided his estimates and his deadlines on each task. In case they faced any impediments or they had any questions, they were promptly asking and getting those impediments resolved. Overall, they delivered on time. The project management portion was definitely a bonus.

Are there any areas eGrove Systems could improve?

For this project, I think they did the best they could. It seems like they have experience in building all of these components as if they’d done it at several other places. Because of that, they were able to come up to speed faster.

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

In their area of expertise, I think they do a good job. Obviously, I think it’s better to plan the project upfront. I know a lot of the projects here are time-sensitive and you want your resources to start right away and finish the project, but it might help if you do the planning stage beforehand wherein you analyze what needs to be done. I think that phase has to be there, the upfront planning and agreeing on the scope and estimates.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager of a men’s fashion retailer. I take care of product development in terms of technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with eGrove Systems?

We needed an e-commerce website where we can send products across India and abroad.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

eGrove set up our website from scratch on Magento and Spree Commerce. It’s process oriented and completes the loop. We don’t have a differentiation between offline and online customers, so it’s a pretty extensive setup. They also developed a kiosk and an app for that. If a customer is looking for a product that is not in our stores, they can order it on the iPad. We shared the idea and the wireframes of what we wanted, and eGrove Systems designed and developed it. They came up with the architecture of how to build it on the cloud and what hardware resources we would need. We have a very good relationship with them, and their CEO was involved in the process. We have gone to their office and worked with the product developers and product managers. They have shown a lot of interest in our project and are involved in other parts of our business. For example, they’ve been a good consultant for us in terms of social media.

How did you come to work with eGrove Systems?

We searched for technology partners and shortlisted some agencies. eGrove looked very promising in terms of technology and their knowledge of various customer management systems. They’re a very established company, so it was easy for us to trust them.

How much have you invested with eGrove Systems?

We spent $50,000 on the app project and $50,000 on the website. We’ve spent between $2 and $3 billion over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

eGrove Systems has exceeded our expectations so far, and their team is always willing to do more. They take our ideas and give a better output, providing more than they promised. They’ve done a lot of improvements and resolved any issues that came up.

How did eGrove Systems perform from a project management standpoint?

On a scale of one to ten, it would be seven or eight because of the quality of work they deliver and the constant updates they provide. They’re available even when we want more from them. We’ve communicated through email, phone, and face-to-face either at their office or ours.

What did you find most impressive about eGrove Systems?

They have a good knowledge of different languages and multiple platforms. They have a team dedicated to different platforms.

Are there any areas eGrove Systems could improve?

I can’t think of anything.