Enterprise64, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

When I worked with Enterprise64, I was a senior program manager at a former company. My former company provided IT consulting services to the federal government and some civilian agencies, and I was in charge of a large portfolio worth about $30 million.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Enterprise64?

We needed help with staffing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We used Enterprise64 as a sub-subcontractor to get qualified staffing resources to accomplish milestones on significant projects for the government. For this, I just provided them with complete descriptions of what we were looking for.

Our goal was to establish a process to identify candidates and onboard them within two weeks. Ultimately, the people they provided us with helped us with retirement estimates and disability-related modernization.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six people from Enterprise64.

How did you come to work with Enterprise64?

We found them through word of mouth and decided to work with them because they had a thorough understanding of our business requirements. They also helped map the technical skills that we described to the candidates easily.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from 2011–2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t remember any delays, and Enterprise64 accommodated our needs very well. We also got great results, so we were very satisfied.

How did Enterprise64 perform from a project management standpoint?

We had great communication throughout the project, and Enterprise64’s subcontract management was fine. We had bi-weekly subcontractor meetings, where the leadership on the program walked with the companies’ leadership to ensure that they were performing as expected and to communicate any additional needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Enterprise64 listened to our needs and did what they said they would do. Their effective listening was one of their most important skills. Other subcontractors just want to make money, so they’re constantly thinking about the next thing. However, Enterprise64 had a general interest in understanding our technical and business requirements to bring in resources that met our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although there’s always room for improvement, I didn’t find that Enterprise64 had any trouble with staffing. However, I could advise them always to have a broader pool of talent and ensure that they don’t provide the same resources that anyone can find through any other staffing agency.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them detailed information about your business and technical needs and let them run with it. They’re very capable of understanding both of those things, so the more information you give them, the better they’re going to meet your requirements. In our case, we were very detailed, and they did a fabulous job.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the e-commerce strategy manager for Nutricia North America, a division of Danone SA, a large international consumer goods company. Our division markets and sells medical nutrition food in Canada and the US. I lead all of the operations and marketing of our seven B2C websites and our B2B websites for trade customers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Enterprise64?

We needed e-commerce development services, so we hired Enterprise64.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Enterprise64 initially helped us manage our e-commerce business. Over the years, the engagement grew and the team helped us manage seven e-commerce sites. 

Currently, they assist our marketing team with any type of digital work, including website functionality development and email marketing campaigns. That’s their core competency. Moreover, Enterprise64 serves as our database specialist. We rely on them around data manipulation, sourcing, and reporting.  

Moreover, our key B2C e-commerce platform is ASP.NET. Enterprise64 also works in multiple CMS platforms, such as WordPress. They manage our B2C CRM via Acoustic IBM and our homegrown middleware system. On top of that, the team has been integrated within our SAP ERP, and their resources are familiar with the APIs we use. They’re also experts in Braintree, and they use various independent APIs for marketing. 

What is the team composition?

I primarily work with three people from Enterprise64, including an account and project manager. 

How did you come to work with Enterprise64?

My boss worked with Enterprise64 in a different company, so he was quite familiar with the team. When I came on board, he told me to look into them. Given that, I interviewed them and saw what they could do. The team seemed to know what they were doing, and that was when I made the decision to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent several million dollars on this engagement. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2007, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Enterprise64’s work is second to none — they’re absolutely outstanding. In fact, they’re one of the best partners we’ve ever had, and they’ve been such a long-term partner for us. They go 120% out of their way to finish their projects. Their team members even work at night and on weekends to get a project done and to meet deadlines. Moreover, the team is extremely proficient in what they do. Their resources are knowledgeable, and they deliver with accuracy and with few errors. 

How did Enterprise64 perform from a project management standpoint?

The team’s communication is also second to none. We have a number of communication channels. For one, our team has weekly meetings with them. We also use spreadsheets to track progress. Moreover, we conduct regular calls not only for team projects but also for individual tasks. Depending on the campaign, we sometimes have a call every day to complete critical tasks. Overall, the Enterprise64 team is always willing to do whatever it takes to meet our expectations. We’ve never had any pushback or any situation where they fail to deliver. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

When we give Enterprise64 a task, we know it’s going to be done right. If they don’t understand our requirements, they come back with questions to make sure they know what to do. They’re technical people, but they take our requirements and put them into a document that a marketing person like me can understand.

When they take on a task, they divide it into several stages of work using the agile methodology. Then, they review and test everything. As a result, when we get the final product, it’s always exactly as we expect it to be. There are minimal errors, and the product is typically ready to go live. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have spreadsheets where we track projects, but it’s better if we have additional ticketing tools. As our projects evolve over time, our workload has increased fivefold over the past couple of years. As such, we’ve talked to Enterprise64 about establishing a ticketing system where project leads can verify their progress and communicate better. So far, that’s the only thing that can further optimize the way we work. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When working with a development team like Enterprise64, everything is about requirements. As a result, you should be vigilant about such requirements. Take the time to figure out what you want, and write it out if you can. The more specific you are with the requirements, the better you’ll communicate them to Enterprise64. They’re going to ask questions, and you must get into the details. Overall, success depends on the quality of that initial requirements discovery process. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a chief consultant for an internet, phone, and cable company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Enterprise64?

We started a new division to go after the enterprise market, so we needed to build a new customer portal and many integration services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Enterprise64 to provide software development services. A lot of the backend development was in Java, some frontend in Angular, and they also used Python. They developed a full-service application from customer onboarding to billing, support, ticketing, and monitoring. There were a lot of other operational support systems which fed data into this platform. 

There were also business support systems on the backend of enterprise applications, ERPs, and CRMs. This system sat in between the systems and pulled the data from both places to provide the information to other business users who needed to serve our customers. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with at least 5–7 people from their team.

How did you come to work with Enterprise64?

They were referred to us by someone who had done some previous work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $1.5 million with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2017–February 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered everything that we asked of them on time, and our project was very successful. We were also able to quickly integrate two acquisitions into our entire business and start delivering services. In addition to that, we went from zero dollar revenue enterprise to $6 million in less than five years, and this customer portal was a big part of it.

How did Enterprise64 perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a biweekly release of every sprint, and they also did well with no delays. In terms of tools and communication, we used Jira, Microsoft Teams, and Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very prepared and professional. The resources they brought on board were skilled, and they knew what they were doing, which helped us get things done much faster.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they did wonderfully, and we would’ve loved to have hired some of their people internally.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a former executive at Starband Communications, an internet service provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Enterprise64?

At the moment, we were selling high-speed internet delivered by satellite through a satellite TV network company. The company we partnered with stopped selling those products overnight, so we had to pivot on our business model and figure out how to manage the services on our own.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with Enterprise64 to develop a custom software called Partners Place, which is an online portal that allows our distribution partners to price quote customers efficiently, configure services, and manage clientele. 

They currently provide maintenance to it by iterating it and making it fancier.

What is the team composition?

They assigned us two people from their team. Also, they do the development work with a talented workforce overseas.

How did you come to work with Enterprise64?

They were referred to us by someone who knew their work.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $3,000–$5,000 a year with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product they’ve delivered enabled us to emerge from Chapter 11 — our company survived purely because their team got this project up and running.

How did Enterprise64 perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been open, straightforward, and have the right amount of discipline in reporting to us and reaching the milestones we set. They’re also prompt with feedback; their responsiveness to take care of any issue that presents.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their effort to understand what we’re looking for is impressive — they’re smart and strategic leaders. They thoroughly learned our company and ideas, which helped us to get to the end product faster.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It might sound unrealistic, but I want them to deliver a flawless product. Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be patient in explaining then what you do and what you’re hoping to achieve. Also, provide direction so they can try and iterate beyond your expectations to deliver a solution.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general partner and founder of NexttVentures, a venture capital firm focused on innovative and disruptive technologies that change the way the world works today. Like typical venture capital firms, we raise funds from our firm and investor partners, and then we find companies that are worth our investment. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Enterprise64?

Previously, when we raised a series of funding rounds, the data around who was investing in what and how much had been invested was captured in Excel files and Carta. Meanwhile, the value of their investment changed constantly every valuation round, along with a variety of other factors. That data was also reported to investors through Excel files. Simply put, the process was highly complicated and cumbersome. As a result, we hired Enterprise64 to develop a web portal that allowed investors to take a look at their portfolios. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Enterprise 64 developed a web portal with a custom frontend that pulled data from Carta and used our algorithm to submit reports to investors. This portal allowed investors to log in to their accounts and manage their passwords while seeing a snapshot of their portfolio. 

Moreover, this process also helped us verify data — we didn’t want to show investors the wrong information, which could lead to many angry phone calls. In other words, we needed the portal to be error-proof, removing the human error out of the equation and completely automating the process. 

At present, we’re looking to build a mobile app. It will be the mobile version of this web portal. Given the magnitude of the web portal project and its cost, we want to ensure that the first engagement is successful first before investing any more money in another project. 

What is the team composition?

Day in and day out, we’ve worked with their project manager locally. Meanwhile, the offshore team has fluctuated depending on the stage of the project. 

For example, during the design phase, we worked with six people. For the development phase, we doubled to 12–15 people. We then dialed back to 4–5 members as we near the end of the project. 

How did you come to work with Enterprise64?

A friend of mine used Enterprise64 before, so when I started looking around for custom software development firms, they were one of the three companies that came highly recommended. We had conversations with all three firms, but the Enterprise64 team wasn’t the largest or the cheapest. 

However, because of their size, they’d bend over backward to make sure we were happy — that was a big factor in our decision. In my experience, hiring larger companies meant going their way, and that would be the end of discussions. By contrast, smaller companies often gave us more leeway. As a result, we decided to work with Enterprise64.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $500,000–$600,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2020, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company has launched the portal near the end of this year’s first quarter. So far, we’ve generated a good ROI, and everything’s been great; we’ve done two reports through the portal and everyone seems comfortable with it. In fact, we’ve received great reviews. Moreover, the people who have previously worked on the Excel file reports — which used to take three months to complete — have moved on to other roles within our organization. 

How did Enterprise64 perform from a project management standpoint?

Having been a CTO in the past, I understand that communication is the most important part of working with development teams. Ensuring that what I say is heard and relayed back to me makes a huge difference. That way, we get what we want. With those things in mind, our team and Enterprise64 have met several times a week during various stages of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Enterprise64’s flexibility and value are impressive. They aren’t the cheapest or the most expensive firm around, but we’ve definitely received our money’s worth. The team has bent over backward to make sure we have what we want.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Early in the design phase, Enterprise64 didn’t push our hard-headed executives back hard enough. 

That being said, the team was likely just being careful and respectful. In any case, we had a conversation with them and told the team to lean on the project, and that was all it took for them to improve. They quickly understood what we were saying. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Start with a small team, and then expand from there. If it’s your first time outsourcing teams for software development, start small to get a feel for the collaboration. After that, expand and accelerate. Once you’ve built a cadence with the Enterprise64 team, everything will go a lot smoother. In other words, you must first build a relationship with them just like you do with an internal team.