End Point Dev

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the project director. We product instructional videos for coaches and athletes in 15 sports.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire End Point, and what were your goals?

We had an outdated program that included our invoicing, customer management, inventory management, coupons, mail lists, etc. It was on an old server in a closet at our headquarters. End Point updated the code and the UI and put the entire database in the cloud.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They came recommended by our outgoing IT director as they were able to work with our old coding language.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Unfortunately, when I came onto the project it was pretty far along, so I mostly pushed it across the finish line.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

End Point used a handful of people for the project. Primarily, a project manager, a developer for the app, and a developer for our website. In addition others were brought in as needed, including an IT manager to manage our servers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The key to the project was to get our database into the cloud before our old server crashed. Mission accomplished! The system now runs in a web browser (versus a desktop app), which allows us to use it remotely during our coaching seminars. End Point worked with us on a budgeted number of ours per month, which made the project take longer, but it made it more affordable for us.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Much of the communication was done through email. We also used Google sheets and Trello. In all, the plans and steps were transparent and it was easy to get a status update by using the task management tools or a quick email. The project manager was adept at speaking in laymen's terms to walk through our staff's needs and could also talk to the developers to discuss ideas for how to tackle various phases of the project. Communication is timely and consistent.

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

The quality of the work and the ongoing communication are outstanding. Sure, we had a few bugs, but they were quickly remedied. And the team generally had suggestions and ideas for how to develop solutions to any given challenge we ran upon.

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

None that I can think of. As I mentioned, any issues were quickly and fairly remedied and the quality of work was very good.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general counsel and practice manager of a large emergency medicine practice. Our company staffs the emergency departments of four hospitals. I oversee our day-to-day operations and work with the company owners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

Our employees work in the emergency departments of our customers, so we don’t have any offices. Given that, we need an environment where our management group, partners, and staff can access information, emails, and other IT resources wherever they are throughout the state. We’re a business that runs 24 hours a day and 365 days a year, so we also need such an environment to be available all the time. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

End Point has set up all of our IT support needs in the cloud. They’ve also given me a way to manage that on a day-to-day basis. We keep all of our documents in the cloud; our team also does video conferences there. Moreover, everybody needs access to information, documents, emails, and calendars across the company. Essentially, End Point has created our entire IT backbone. 

In addition, End Point assists us when dealing with the IT systems of the hospitals that work with us. Since we provide healthcare services to emergency departments, the team also helps us remain compliant with existing regulations. This applies to everything we do, and they help us secure and encrypt all of our communications with our customers. The team also ensures we’re complying with HIPAA standards. 

What is the team composition?

My primary point of contact is Dan (VP of Systems & Operations). He’s also pulled in other people here and there to work with us. 

How did you come to work with End Point?

I worked at a law firm before, and End Point set up the IT system of that law firm. In other words, I hired them for this project based on my past experience with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent $50,000–$75,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

My partnership with End Point started in October 2017, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re concerned about complying with the confidentiality of our engagements with customers, and End Point has been helpful with that. We’ve also had no downtime, and if something does crop up, the team is highly responsive. Overall, I truly appreciate their willingness to solve issues quickly. 

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

The End Point team recommends solutions that serve us, which is great because we can’t do our job if our IT backbone doesn’t work. I’ve been in places where IT providers make the engagement easier for themselves but not for their customers. By contrast, End Point is truly focused on the end user. They do things on time or early, making sure that the end user experience is good and everything’s up and running.  

Meanwhile, our communication methods have changed over time. We currently do video calls and screen-sharing, but we also use emails.

What did you find most impressive about them?

End Point picks the right solutions for us, and those solutions are cost-effective; they maximize the experience of the end users and our staff. They do what’s best for us and supply us with the most efficient services. That way, IT becomes a tool and not a burden to our employees.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They’re responsive and able to solve our problems, so I have nothing critical to say.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your primary concerns and goals. You can trust End Point to help you get the right solution for your organization; if you directly tell them your needs, they’ll be great at figuring out good solutions.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of an online B2B platform that works with high dollar transactions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire End Point, and what were your goals?

We had a complete website build that incorporates our Salesforce database to drive product offerings. Our website was outdated and clunky. We were looking to improve our search and filtering functionality while streamlining our product offering.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Due to the massive amounts of data we have in Salesforce, we originally were looking for a developer within the Salesforce ecosystem. After reviewing several proposals, the salesforce developers were not able to come up with a solution to fit our needs. End Point, specifically Dylan Wooters, had written a technical article on a cool search and filtering technology that our CTO wanted to incorporate into our build. After meeting a few times, they understood what we were trying to accomplish and within the budget we had expected to pay.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a kick-off meeting to discuss existing technologies to re-incorporate from our existing platform as well as new technologies to incorporate into the new platform. Our CTO setup a meeting cadence as well as incorporating slack to discuss items and share information efficiently. Our site is built on Vue that pulls data from our Salesforce instance to populate online.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had a project manager, two frontend full stack developers and two backend full stack developers. With a graphic designer to develop the UI/UX.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We launched our site two weeks ago and have been able to maintain our google rankings, which was the number one priority for us. Not to mention they finished our project under the original estimate.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

As mentioned above, we had weekly updates with a weekly standup meeting and constant communication flowing on slack.

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

The core two developers on our team were Dylan and Greg who are a dream to work with. They were open to suggestions and adjustments as we progressed through the build and quickly made those changes. This is the 3rd time we have worked with a development shop and the best team we've ever come across.

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

Dev team was great. We do not have any gripes about this group.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of a printing and publishing company. We provide unique solutions for printing and distribution of products for our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire End Point, and what were your goals?

We have worked with End Point for many years to develop applications on our site to support our customers through the publishing and distribution process.

SOLUTION

How did you select End Point and what were the deciding factors?

End Point bought the company we had worked with for years and we have continued to work with them because our programmers is still with End Point. However, we now have access to additional skills and talented programmers that we would not have had prior.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We are currently working on a project to provide online quotes for a variety of our products and services. The team at End Point has been awesome in providing feedback and ideas to implement this new feature on our site.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We are currently working with two programmers on this project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have not yet implemented this new feature, but I anticipate that this will increase our efficiency 20% and will increase our sales 25%.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We have had Zoom calls to outline and define the project and we use email and Trello to manage tasks.

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

The programmers are creative, helpful, super smart, and work within our budget.

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

The team is awesome! I wouldn't change anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am currently the Head of Accounts for a financial services research firm. I am also one of the two most senior members of our technology team. Having started at my company as an analyst 12 years prior and working my way up, I have the most universal in-depth understanding of our internal employee portal as anyone at my firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire End Point, and what were your goals?

We hired End Point 7-8 years ago to manage our internal employee portal and, as necessary, build out upgrades to it as we deemed necessary.

SOLUTION

How did you select End Point and what were the deciding factors?

End Point was recommended by our previous technology partner and they have absolutely lived up to the expectations that I have had in working with a technology firm that executes on what we ask of them while also explaining to a group of fairly unsophisticated technology experts how and why their solution to our requests works best.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We generally make about 1 new enhancement to our internal portal every quarter; however our overall project pipeline is much bigger. End Point is tasked with keeping the portal up and running as well as executing easy and convenient ways to implement our new tech ideas and requests.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We mainly work with one account rep/project manager but then also communicate with 1-2 developers on the back-end. To End Point's credit, when our account manager is away, they have a distribution list set up which has 3-4 more employees to help us in case we run into an urgent technology issue.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The 7+ years of working with End Point have been great. Based on our business model, I cannot translate directly the revenue we have generated from all our technology enhancements and how that compares to the cost of the those projects, but it has been well worth it. Additionally, the amount of work hours they have saved us with these project upgrades has been great. No once have I felt like End Point under-delivered on a request.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We have a weekly conference call, same date and time each week, to catch up with our project manager. Beyond that, we often use Zoom to share screens when testing and discussing product enhancements before we roll them into production. Whether it is by email or by phone, I find communication to be one of End Point's strongest attributes.

End Point is great about pricing out all of our requests, answering questions, communicating a time line on their end and then working with us to test the new code/software prior to moving it into production.

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

I doubt that my firm is a very big or important client for End Point from a revenue standpoint. I'm almost sure we are one of their smaller clients. That said, they treat us like we are the most important and I find that to be extremely impressive.

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

Because our project demands and work that we give End Point in terms of software development can ebb and flow, there are times when we do actually have a number of projects we would like to get completed ASAP but because we only have one developer who works with us, it can slow things down. It makes sense that we only have one developer because our requests for new projects can be low at times. End Point is aware of this though and they know it's something to work on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of product management for a company that offers managed audio and web conferencing services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

We have a proprietary event management application that we use to deliver our services. We were looking to augment our team. We went to End Point because we wanted a technical architect, an improved process for code reviews, additional development resources, and help with development operations for deployment of new releases and system administration of our production and development environments.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a monthly contract for 24/7 support of our environments and also have a bundle of hours that can be used for other development and other work.  They have expertise in managing environments on AWS and also experience in both Perl and Java.

What is the team composition?

We have a primary contact, one specialized developer, and have worked with a few other resources as needed.

How did you come to work with End Point?

Our CEO worked with them years ago, so he was familiar with them. It’s difficult to find development companies with Perl experience.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $200,000–$300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2018 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have resources with a variety of different skillsets and capabilities. They work in partnership with us to design a better product for our customers.  They respond quickly to requests, and when things aren’t working, monitor notifications and fix issues promptly. We continue to give them more work due to the quality of their services.

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

They do well. They’ve been very responsive. We called them once at 2 am, and they were able to fix a system issue within 20 minutes. Our primary resource solicits needed team members, leads, and communicates requests to accomplishing the needed goal.  We use email, a messaging app, and phone conversations to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very easy to work with and are very knowledgeable. They make things easier every day. They do their job seamlessly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it has been a great experience.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a website and app called Campendium. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

We needed a part-time developer. It makes more sense for me to work with contracted developers on an as-needed basis, as opposed to having them in-house.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

End Point has provided front- and back-end development and administration services for our website. Currently, the team is using Ruby on Rails.

What is the team composition?

We work primarily with 3–4 individuals, of whom I work with one daily.

How did you come to work with End Point?

I’ve been working with End Point for more than 15 years so it’s hard to identify one specific challenge. I also worked with them at a previous job so it was natural for me to bring them on at Campendium. I chose to work with them because of their loyalty, dedication, and ability to jump on any project. We work really well together. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $63,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Campendium and End Point began working together in Q4 of 2004.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m extremely satisfied with the deliverables that End Point’s developers have provided. They are also able to identify areas that need to be worked on before they become larger issues. They’re a proactive team.

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is very efficient. We are an agile company, so End Point has adapted to our flexibility. We use Slack and Trello. Depending on the developer, some go above and beyond in terms of documenting their work while others just provide basic notes. I’m fine with either method. They also have detailed timesheets so we know how they’re spending their time.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve had a good relationship.  I’m extremely loyal to them, and they’re loyal to me. This makes them feel like they have a strong sense of ownership over and dedication to the work they’re doing. They also have pride in their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no suggestions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I work directly with the developers so I know exactly what’s going on. But it does require some technical knowledge on my part. I would advise potential customers to have a technical project manager on their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Based in the Mid-Atlantic, Alex Cooper Auctioneers is a company that conducts real estate and personal property auctions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

We hired End Point to create and manage an information management system and CRM that was custom to our business. They’re also using an API to communicate with our customer-facing website, from that information management system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our team scoped out the work and developed the project with End Point. They created the initial system, and we’ve built a large version-two with them a year and a half ago. Their team fully brought up the system to the current version of Ruby on Rails.

End Point incorporated much more of the process we do to conduct our business into the information management system. They also created a much tighter integration with our customer-facing website. We’re always actively working on the system. It’s never totally quiet, but there was a significant push in 2017.

What is the team composition?

I mainly worked with Patrick (Web Application Developer, End Point), but I’ve also talked to Rick (CEO, End Point) and Elizabeth (Client Liaison, End Point).

How did you come to work with End Point?

I previously worked with a programmer that went to work for End Point. I struck up a relationship with them by continuing to work with that programmer until they left the company. End Point turned out to be a great fit, going back several years.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of our latest project was around $175,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The length of our last project was around 15 months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

End Point has been a game changer for our business. It was a hard project with a lot of moving parts and integration with other software and systems. There were a lot of kinks to work out on the integration side, which is simply the nature of the beast. We’re very happy and satisfied. It’s what we thought it would be.

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

Depending on what we’re working on, the team can increase or decrease. Currently, I’m working with one software engineer daily on a variety of tasks. End Point is extremely flexible with their scalability. If I come to them with a 100-hour task that I want done in two weeks, they’ll immediately put another programmer on it, so that there will be two or three people working on it.

While working with Patrick, he gives weekly updates on project management. When I was working on larger projects, there was much more in-depth reporting. It’s commensurate with the side of the project and the number of moving parts. We generally have to pay for someone to do all of that. If someone’s only doing five hours of work for us, there’s only so much they can talk about in a report.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness to emergencies is impressive. They have programmers across the world. With time zones, if it’s 1 a.m. and we have a Linux problem, it’s 9 a.m. with someone else they have. For the size of client that we are, which isn’t that big in terms of software development, that level of availability has always been astounding to me. I plan on giving them more business through offloading an existing engineer that does work for us and then have End Point continue with it. Their level of service, for the size of the customer we are, is just amazing.

I also appreciate their ability to scale up and down. Along with being flexible and easy to work with, End Point is collaborative and open to working on projects, doing whatever they can to get the client to the finish line. I’ve noticed that many programmers I’ve previously worked with can be territorial and more finger-pointing at other parties. End Point’s attitude is the complete opposite. They’ve got the right idea, focusing on the end result for the client. With that, they’ll continue to get my business.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. Given the number of projects we’ve done with them, I’ve had to call Rick at times, and he’s always been responsive. When things happen, they address them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Every project and relationship are different. We have an ongoing relationship with weekly status meetings and weekly hour detailed reports. Some customers may have an issue with that, but I like to be as hands-off as I can. Our conversations can take anywhere from 10–45 minutes. While we do have a weekly meeting, we touch base more than once a week. Even if there isn’t much to talk about, I’ve always found the check-ins to be helpful for everyone.

I don’t know whether it’s unique to them, but I’ve pushed to make sure multiple programmers know about our software and have access. That’s a handy tip. Sometimes people go on vacation or don’t have enough hours. Others can be busy with other clients, and I’m always mindful of making sure that there are at least two engineers in place that can work on the project. They’re also aware, but I always nudge it.

Even though the turnover is pretty low, I’ve been working with them on projects for eight years. I’m on my third primary engineer, which isn’t too bad. I always make sure two people are in place, so, if something needs to be done quick, it gets done.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We produce, edit, and distribute instructional videos for sports coaches, while also running several regional coaching clinics. My position is co-CEO and VP of Business Development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire End Point?

We had a variety of IT needs that were beyond the scope of our internal expertise and required a specific skillset, as well as familiarity with Interchange.

What were your goals for this project?

To assist us as we transitioned from a full-time IT staff member toward becoming more self-sufficient. We wanted an IT workflow that’s more intuitive.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

When our previous IT manager of 15+ years left the company, they suggested End Point as a possible solution should we ever have issues with Interchange. We interviewed them early on and then returned to them when we had larger needs.

Describe the project in detail.

We had to set up a new AWS server, become PCI (payment card industry) compliant, and work within the scope of an obsolete, custom-programmed database. Our servers were close to capacity and we needed reliable, expert-level assistance to ensure our databases didn’t crash.

We were also in the early stages of launching a new platform which required additional expertise in Interchange to allow customization within our rigid framework.

What was the team composition?

It depended on the specific assignment. They’re located around the world, so some of their resources are in our time zone, while others are six hours ahead.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We accomplished the server migration successfully with their help. We’re also completely PCI compliant and have eliminated some unnecessary expenses that we’d been incurring.

Phase one of our new platform has launched, and we’re now looking to begin the next phase that involves renewals and new monthly cycles. Finally, we’ve made a variety of small server fixes, updated tax laws, and done email updates.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have a very positive workflow. They set expectations, provided regular progress updates, and were detailed with regard to billing.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their collection of talent is quite impressive, as is the ease with which we worked through any issues. It was refreshing; they’re a great group of people.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They’ve been an excellent help us solve the issues and problems we have had. Early on, the amount of work far exceeded our budget and expectations; however, once we agreed on a specific workflow, budget, and plan, everything has been positive.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the internet manager for Bellwetherbooks. We sell books on over 10 online marketplaces.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire End Point?

We engaged End Point to create a custom internal inventory system to support our purchases and sales.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted either a new inventory system or a repaired one depending on the serviceability of our existing tool. The system needed new functionality to reveal valuable information on our inventory and current sales.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

For several years, we actively searched for a company that understood our old system enough to fix its code and implement new features. Our search process involved word of mouth and reviewing online IT solutions. We considered 20–30 companies before finding End Point. They were highly knowledgeable and responsive to our needs.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Since we lacked internal support, End Point first evaluated our current antiquated inventory system on how feasible it was to continue using. They then created a new inventory system with custom features to reveal deficiencies in our inventory and evaluate our sales.

What was the team composition?

We work with 2–5 people depending on the needs of the project at any given time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen a 30% lift in sales and a 30% reduction in inventory costs thanks to the newly designed system. End Point’s work has given us valuable insight and easily accessible information about our current inventory and sales. They delivered precisely what we asked for.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Elizabeth (Client Liaison, End Point) leads the team and excels at allocating the essential personnel. She has recommended and implemented all systems necessary for us to complete the project—from communication platforms to test environments. We use Google Hangouts, Trello, Skype, and Zoom to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is highly responsive and adaptive; they manage our requests and changes easily. Their adaptability has made the development process highly manageable to our staff.

Are there any areas for improvement?

End Point charges high prices, but their rates are fair compared to other quotes we received.