End Point Dev

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Hydropool.com. We supply pool and spa related chemicals, accessories, and equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

We’ve worked with End Point since 2001. The latest major project that involved them was an overhaul of our website to make it more responsive and mobile-ready.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with elements and concepts we liked from other websites. They provided mockups and design boards of different options, layouts, and formats. We went back and forth with the design team, with continuous revisions over a few months. Once we were happy with the modifications, we turned it over to the engineers and developers to produce. They broke it all down into the proper code using RedHat Interchange.

They set up the wireframe and technology for us, and built the logos, layout, functionality, and features for both the frontend and backend. We then populated the site using local tables we maintained.

What is the team composition?

We had six or seven people working on their side. We initially worked with a project manager, then worked with the designer directly. Once the design was finished, we moved back to the project manager, who worked directly with the developers.

How did you come to work with End Point?

We were originally working with another company that was eventually acquired by End Point. We wanted to stay with them after the acquisition, because their people knew our system and our site.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested more than $30,000 on the redesign, our latest major project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on the redesign in February or April 2016, and we launched the new site in November 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Most of the feedback is positive. The website is easy to navigate and find what you’re looking for. The volume of product inquiry calls into the office has decreased since the launch, and we’ve seen an increase in conversions from both tablets and other mobile devices.

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

They did very well. Most of our communication was by phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re thorough, and they review a lot of their work ahead of time. It was rare that they presented a solution or evolution of development that had additional issues or bugs creep in.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not that I can think of.

This was the not the first major project we’ve used End Point for. Beyond the original design of our commerce site and subsequent redesigns, they have been involved in many front-end and back-end design, programming, and integration challenges. They always offer thoughtful consultation, solutions, and efficient execution.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go for it. They’re a great company, they stand behind their work, and they’re very reliable.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the president of a multichannel live plant company. We ship perishable products to homeowners across the country

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We use End Point for our website hosting and e-commerce support.

What were your goals for this project?

Our website has to handle many custom applications unique to live plant shippers. We need creativity to solve our problems in a way that causes the least friction to our e-business.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had a long history with a company that merged with End Point. We would follow them anywhere, as they are the absolute best at what they do.

Describe the project in detail.

They have landed numerous projects, from full tokenization of our checkout processes to implementing fully responsive architecture on our site. The list is huge as the web world is constantly evolving.

Explain how the solution addressed your business challenge.

They make this stuff fun!

What was the team composition?

We work with a core group of 3 people, and they bring in additional help as the project demands.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

Can't get into specifics, but we are thriving with their help.

How effective was the project management?

It is extremely effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They focus on finding the best solution to the problem and do not treat the code as untouchable. As a result, we've never had to sacrifice how we want our business process to run.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

Try them out on something small and see what you think. We have been pleased with our relationship and would be amazed if you weren't as well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for an online startup that has created a real-time on-demand web platform that helps many customers connect with providers of services.

What is your position?

I am the owner and founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

They helped develop an Uber-like platform for my company.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

I worked with them for a period of about five years. They took my solution from its inception point to a full-fledged platform. They acted as my entire technology team, being in charge of the whole process.

How did you come to work with End Point?

I found them through research, referrals, and conversations with various companies. I was very diligent in my process, and looked at a number of candidates for getting my company off the ground. I made the decision to work with End Point, which proved to be a very good one. They were always outstanding.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The annual development cost was around $50,000-$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2010, building a minimum viable product. After that, I engaged in a marketing stage for it and continued enhancing my solution.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I am very satisfied with End Point. They are a fantastic company to work with. Their engineers are outstanding, their communication skills are excellent, and the delivery speed is great. I have nothing but good things to say about their company.

The minimum viable product was built within six to nine months, and over the course of five years, we continued to build the platform to a very robust, multi-tenant solution. It was licensed to major organizations and we experienced a degree of success on the business side. The technology itself was the most successful part, which is where End Point's role came in.

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

Over the course of our five year collaboration, I had the pleasure of working with around a dozen of their employees. Every single one was of the very highest standard. They have a decentralized company in the sense that our team worked on an individual basis throughout the development.

What distinguishes End Point from other providers?

Different developers got involved depending on who was available at a particular time, but everyone there had skills of the highest standard.

Is there anything End Point could have improved or done differently?

Not that I can think of. They're incredibly competent engineers, trustworthy, efficient, and fair. I am 100% percent satisfied with their company and would recommend them to any other business.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an attraction marketing company. We're based in the largest cities in the United States, and also have a foothold in the international market. We bundle attraction tickets to the most iconic spots in places like New York City, Seattle, or Toronto. When a customer buys a city pass, they receive tickets to multiple different places and have customization options. The typical savings range from 30-50% of the retail admissions.

What is your position?

I am the vice president of e-commerce and the web team leader. My role is to acquire customers through our website, citypass.com. I am in charge of our website, which is our customer-facing shopping experience, and also of other online marketing channels for getting new customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

They've historically helped us with outsourced development needs, and also provided turnkey solutions for our e-commerce web app hosting, while also helping with security and hardware maintenance. We have a lot of servers and virtual machines which End Point helps orchestrate for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We've had a longstanding retainer with their company. Right now, we're working on a handful of projects, but End Point is mainly an extension of my staff. Some of their team members have been working with us for eight years or even more.

Their main job is helping us maintain and upgrade our e-commerce platform. Our order management system and the core e-commerce platform have been originally built by End Point. Over the years, we've customized our solutions highly in order to fit our business.

Many of their team members are instrumental in helping us keep doing everything that we need. Our business evolves and changes. They help us make sure that what we're building is up to snuff, and scales well with our company. We've grown considerably since we've hired them.

End Point has also helped us with some training and documentation. We're working on attaining a higher level of PCI (Payment Card Industry) compliance. It's an important issue for any retailer which handles credit card data. Depending on how many transactions they make on a yearly basis, they will have to comply with different standards imposed by the credit card companies. There is a massive checklist of best practices that needs to be met in order to make sure that cardholder data is secure. End Point has been with us from the beginning and has helped us build this business, especially the online arm of CityPASS.

Right now, they're working on upgrading the security level of our servers to Transport Layer Security 1.2.

They're a very good partner for us. You never know how an inherited partnership is going to turn out, but End Point is very engaged and dependable, which is very important for me.

End Point hasn’t helped us with design work per se.

How did you come to work with End Point?

They predated me. Their team was referred to my company, but I'm not familiar with the selection process.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The yearly cost for their work is $100,000 or more.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship is ongoing, with no plans to stop. We work with End Point through a monthly agreement and receive invoices depending on the amount of work being done. In months with high volumes of upgrades and development, the pricing will scale up accordingly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

In the last four years, we've more than doubled our visit volume. Within the last two years, we've reached our all-time highs in terms of online sales. We receive more than 13 million visits to our website every year, so we need an infrastructure that can support it. End Point has been one of the main architects for our content caching system and the general calibration of our servers.

Over the last year, we've added the option to make purchases using Canadian Dollars. This makes a lot of sense, because Toronto is one of our cities of interest. Roughly 5% of our orders have been paid using CAD.

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

I treat End Point like they're an extension of our team. They attend our team meetings and bi-weekly planning sessions where we plan what work we're going to do next. We also have team stand-up meetings in the morning. One of the members from End Point joins every one of those in order to give us an overview of our progress.

What distinguishes End Point from other providers?

I've worked with a lot of different service providers. Results can vary across the board. End Point is very transparent about what they're working on in terms of providing complete details. We don't have any surprises at the end of the month as a result. They're very dependable, delivering what they promise every time.

A lot of times, consultants will tell you what you want to hear, not what needs to be done. With End Point, we have a very strong relationship and I trust them to tell me what we really need to do, and not just grow projects for the sake of doing it. There have been times in which they've told us what direction our company needs to take, even though that may have meant less dependency on their services for customizations on our e-commerce platform. This is very unusual, but in a good way. End Point designs new architectures which makes it easier for us to control our own destiny. It can potentially reduce the amount of business they can get from us, but we've found that they evolved along with our business and have not been insecure about these types of decisions.

Is there anything End Point could have improved or done differently?

I can't think of anything offhand. I've been extremely satisfied with them, and the fact that we want them to be a part of our team is a testament to that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company does screen printing graphic design, mainly for apparel. We also offer online fulfillment for individuals and bulk ordering.

What is your position?

I am the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with End Point?

We have an interchange system that allows individuals as well as organizations to place orders. We cater to companies with multiple locations, having preprinted inventory in-house and a custom site on top of the interchange system, allowing their managers to order from our warehouse. We ship directly to each store. End Point has worked on this system for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We use them for the e-commerce fulfillment portion of our business, which is a separate system from our main site. End Point had built a system for another company I'd worked with. I licensed this existing system and made additional development on it using End Point.

How did you come to work with End Point?

I'd worked with them at a previous company and was always happy with the services they provided. I've contacted other web development companies as there are local shops that can be cheaper, but I've never quite felt happy with anyone else that we've talked to. I never had the confidence that those other companies could build a system that wouldn't break, especially in busy periods.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Our first two years of development totaled a cost of $10,000 to $50,000. For the ongoing work, we're spending less than $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I've worked with End Point for four years, and my previous company had an eight-year relationship with them. We're not doing much development work at this moment, but our relationship is completely ongoing. We are using an older system, but it works well, and we were always able to construct any missing features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We're satisfied with the system. It has allowed us to grow our customer base. Most other printers do not hold preprinted inventory or offer our type of fulfillment. End Point has developed a solution custom to our market and the clients we're going after. This has been critical for us, and it will be more so in the upcoming years.

There haven't been any complaints, either from me or any of our users, other than issues to do with poor computer operation and user errors.

Our wholesale revenue, just through the online portal, has been $130,000, going from 0 percent to 7 to 8 percent of our total sales. Even though it's a niche for us, it has become a significant part of our sales, from being nothing in 2012 to now.

How did End Point perform from a project management standpoint?

We've never had any significant issues. If any little bugs turn up, End Point are quick to solve them. We've never moved away from them because they work extremely well.

What distinguishes End Point from other providers?

Their billing process is the most transparent of any vendor that I've worked with. I haven't done much work with other IT [information technology] firms but, even so, theirs stands out as being very detailed, broken down by quarter hours. It features not only headlines for the work they're doing, but also engineer explanations for each task. It was very nice to see. If I ever have a question, I can always refer back to the engineer entries in the billing.

Is there anything End Point could have improved or done differently?

I can't think of anything. Any issues would be more with me, not assigning the right level of importance for a task.

On the hourly side, they tend to be higher end, but are definitely worth it. You get what you pay for.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

Our organization is a research entrepreneurial organization housed in a top-tier university. We study how technology has affected various parts of our society. I run the IT department in our organization. We deal with development and maintenance of the various tools that the researchers use.

What is your position?

I’m the director of technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with End Point?

One of the very first initiatives was the custom development of a writing application. Our development tasks were somewhat scattered and unpredictable. We had a lot of work and then we’d have very little work. It really wasn’t consistent at all. Instead of staffing up and staffing down, we chose to work with third-party developers. One of the companies that we worked with, End Point, helped smooth out many of those lumpy periods. Having a reliable, external development team was the real impetus behind searching for a technology partner like End Point.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the work End Point was responsible for?

We worked closely with them on a variety of levels. One of the levels is a partnership with our application developers in which they will work on specific modules or specific sections of code that can be easily delegated. We also work with them on a much higher level, which is we ask them to go from a conceptual design to the complete deployment of an application or tool. They’ve functioned in all capacities in between. They really augment our team when we need additional resources to deal with large and complex project.

How did you select End Point as your solution partner?

We had inside knowledge of their working because I’d previously hired one of their developers. Having that knowledge made End Point an easy pick. I was well aware of their internal expertise and capabilities.

Could you provide the sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

The cost varies largely based upon the size of the project and the tasks we delegate to them. I’m thinking around $527,000 during the course of 2013.

How long have you maintained a relationship with End Point?

We have been working with them for almost five consecutive years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

As for user feedback, we’ve worked with them on a variety of projects, and the results are typically great. I don’t know any specific feedback that I could mention, and I don’t have any specific statistics. The only anecdote I could give you is the fact that we continue to give them more work. I don’t foresee that changing anytime soon.

When working with End Point, is there anything you’d consider special or unique about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve work with?

One great attribute is their size and their distribution across the U.S. and the world, which is an advantage for the various projects taking place foreign time zones. The size of their organization allowed them to scale up and down in accordance with our project requirements. That kind of capacity has made a real difference for us.

In retrospect, are there areas you think End Point could improve upon as a service provider, or are there things you’d do differently as the client before initiating a project with them?

In some cases, they tend to take a more efficient approach to problem solving. While that’s great in terms of saving money, they could take a more refined approach, in my opinion. There were a few times that we had to go back to them and say, “We need to think this over a bit more, because this approach is incorrect.” Once they had that feedback, and they understood a specific aspect, or a specific feature, they were able to rethink their solution and deliver a better product.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe your former organization?

I was working as a consultant for Mobixa, sort of an acting chief technology officer. Mobixa was a new division or project, if you will, that was a part of a larger company that refurbishes mobile phone handsets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address at the time you initiated the relationship with End Point?

Being a brand new business in a crowded space, it was very important that the site had extremely good usability and was aesthetically pleasing. We were essentially a startup trying to compete with some well-established market players. It was important that we felt like we were running with the big boys. We were also trying to move into the state-of-the art realm in terms of usability and functionality. There was considerable SEO [search engine optimization] involved in their marketing plan, so we had to make sure all of our content was optimized for it.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of this project? For instance, did it involve custom visual design, backend development, training, and support?

We used a wide breadth of services from End Point. I’ve been working with End Point for a long time on various projects. When I have something substantial, they’re my go-to people for Web development and design. I’ve known some of the guys at End Point for a very long time. They came up with some very ingenious and inexpensive ways of rapid prototyping our idea. Working with them, I was able to get a prototype of our idea in just a week or two in order to prove the concept for the client. From there, the scope kept increasing, and End Point was able to bring more and more people in different disciplines onboard. We had a project manager, we had a couple of Ruby developers, and we had a frontend developer and a graphic designer. By the end of it, End Point had contributed to each and every component of the project.

How did you select End Point as your solution partner?

As I’d mentioned, I’ve been working with them for quite a while. I can barely recall how I was first introduced to them, but I think it was through some basic research and word-of-mouth guidance.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

In total, it cost between $60,000 and $65,000.

When was the project completed?

I’m going to say it was probably finished 18 months ago. Not last fall, but the fall before that [in 2012].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

The conversion rates that we observed from the visitors to the site were very good. Unfortunately, the underlying business did not ultimately succeed. The parent company that was investing in this went out of business for reasons unrelated to our project. We were never able to see it come to full fruition. The marketing resources that they were budgeting for were never brought to bear. But, all early indications were very positive, and as I'd mentioned, the quality of work was fantastic. 

When working with End Point, is there anything you’d consider special or unique about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve worked with?

The main thing that sets them apart is the quality of their work and their talent pool. Most of the time that you’re going to hire a consulting firm for outsourced software engineering or Web development, you aren’t going to get the caliber of developer that you’d get with End Point. I have a lot of experience working with external development teams, and End Point is in a class by itself. I’ve never had an issue with quality, and their developers are more than code monkeys. They’re strategic thinkers with the ability to solve complex problems from the client’s standpoint.

In retrospect, are there areas you think they could improve upon as a service provider, or things you’d do differently as the client before initiating a project of this nature?

Right out the gate, we did have a little stumble where the guy that I’d been working with at the start, the one that came up with some very ingenious solutions, abruptly left the firm and left us hanging. Several days went by, and I hadn’t heard from him. I was left wondering what’s going on. It wasn’t long before another member of the End Point team reached out and apologized on their behalf and explained the situation. They were able to make it right fairly quickly, and we didn’t end up losing a lot of momentum, but it was rather unnerving right at the beginning. That said, I don’t think there as anything they could have done to prevent those circumstances.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Infrastructure Director of American Welding Society

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Welding Standards

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire End Point Dev to accomplish?

• SSL Certificates Procurement
• DNS Management

SOLUTION

How did you find End Point Dev?

Referral

Why did you select End Point Dev over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from End Point Dev were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Proactive SSL Management & Monitoring

Proactive DNS Management & Monitoring

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

99.9% uptime

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

Timeliness & Delivery: A+

Responsiveness & Communication: A+

Organization & Planning: A+

Problem-Solving & Adaptability: A+

What was your primary form of communication with End Point Dev?

Virtual Meeting

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

Great ability to pivot and adapt.

Exceptional performance.

Consistently exceeding expectations.

High technical knowledge.

Are there any areas for improvement or something End Point Dev could have done differently?

Our experience with End Point Dev was outstanding.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of a marine electronics company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I sell high-end marine electronics.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire End Point to accomplish?

• Web Hosting
• Miscellaneous Programming

SOLUTION

How did you find End Point?

Online Search

Why did you select End Point over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fits our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from End Point were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

For over 15 years, the wonderful people at End Point have hosted my website and provided valuable programming assistance to keep it up and running.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This month celebrates 20 years in business and End Point has been integral for the last 17 years of those years.

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

As a small, one-person operation, everyone at End Point, from the top down, has gone above and beyond to help me with any issues I have had.

What was your primary form of communication with End Point?

• Email or Messaging App

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

I've actually watched End Point grow and expand to the broad scope of services they now offer. I was most impressed with how they genuinely care about each and every client regardless of the size of the project.

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

There is nothing I could think of to do differently. The fact that I've been using them for 17 years proves that!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President of Musica Russica

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We publish and sell Russian choral music.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire End Point to accomplish?

• Build new website

SOLUTION

How did you find End Point?

trade show

Why did you select End Point over others?

Discussion at trade expo

How many teammates from End Point were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Build a number of pages and developed custom shopping cart

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• They built pages that worked, took into account our extensive database of products, cross-linked products.

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

At first it was very good and prompt. Things got slower as website was launched and we entered support stage. Here responses were sometimes delayed, and timetable for implementation was not always made clear.

What was your primary form of communication with End Point?

Email or Messaging App

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

They have competent programmers, who were relatively easy to deal with, some more than others.

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

Hard to say.