Erbis

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

FIND is a non-profit organization. The name stands for Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics. We focus on improving existing diagnostics solutions for diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and HIV, which primarily affect poor countries. I am a senior statistician and the head of the data management team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Erbis Cloud Services?

We needed to design and implement a database for virtual strain collection. It needed to be accessible by users worldwide, who would upload information related to tuberculosis strains.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Erbis Cloud Services designed our database. It is accessible by people who register to our service.

Each lab which has strains known to contain mutations can upload the data, giving other researchers access to it, who can then request specific experiments, information or specimens directly.

The platform was developed using JavaScript and HTML, with AngularJS for visualizations. The database is being hosted on Amazon Web Services. I believe that Maven and Git were used as repositories.

There were three people from Erbis’ side involved in our project. The head of the company was our main contact, and we also had a project manager. We were in touch with the technical people, who were copied in emails whenever we had a request or an announcement to make.

How did you come to work with Erbis Cloud Services?

They were initially contacted before I joined the organization. There was a call made to developers for the application, and we received several proposals. Erbis was chosen because they seemed to be technically capable of doing it, and had a more competitive price.

How much have you invested with Erbis Cloud Services?

The cost of their work has been between $20,000 and $30,000. We have spent around 300 hours on the project so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Erbis Cloud Services in August 2015. The project finished in March or April 2016. We are considering asking them to perform other work, and will at least include them in the bid for a new project. We also have contractual maintenance time remaining, which we will use in the future, once people start using our platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform has just been deployed to our production stage, so we have a limited number of users, around 10. Everything so far has been done in order to test it and make sure that users could upload data in the easiest way possible. We will widen our reach and advertise the platform later in the year, and hopefully reach around 100 users, which is a good number, given the scope of the solution. Before this is done, we will upload our own data first, so that users have enough content to play with.

How did Erbis Cloud Services perform from a project management standpoint?

They were always on time with deliveries, and any delays were due to insufficient feedback from our side. Erbis Cloud Services often came up with improvements for our specifications. Some of those were not really relevant, but we were overall satisfied with them.

We mostly communicated via email and Google spreadsheets. I don’t think that more sophisticated project management tools were used for our interactions.

What did you find most impressive about Erbis Cloud Services?

We were quite happy with how the project was managed, in terms of coming up with propositions for improvements. We’ve worked with other consultants who, although focused on the job given, were never really pushing for any kinds of updates. Whenever we gave Erbis Cloud Services feedback on features which we wanted to improve, they did it and expressed their own comments. We’ve had a good partnership, and not a one-sided relationship.

Are there any areas Erbis Cloud Services could improve?

At times, the first solution proposed by them was not the most straightforward, and didn’t take into consideration how people would actually be using our platform. We’ve needed a bit of back-and-forth, but Erbis ultimately understood our needs. This was due to a lack of experience on their end with this specific kind of data. Everything else worked smoothly, and we were satisfied with Erbis’ work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company operates in the professional services sector. We are a privately owned company with 350 employees in Denmark and Germany

I am the IT manager of the company. I am responsible for strategic IT decisions across the group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Erbis Cloud Services?

We had an existing cloud service offering for customers. The solution had been built by a previously outsourced team which ceased to exist. We needed a new supplier who could become a stable development partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Erbis Cloud Services has provided business analysis and full-stack development, including database automatization, backend services, application distribution channels, web frontends, desktop applications, as well as iOS and Android app development.

How did you come to work with Erbis Cloud Services?

We found Erbis Cloud Services through a reference.

How much have you invested with Erbis Cloud Services?

I find that Erbis Cloud Services is not the cheapest contractor on the market, but they are the least costly option for top quality. I cannot provide an exact figure, though.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Erbis Cloud Services several years ago. We have an ongoing contract.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our internal feedback, as well as that of customers, shows that the quality of Erbis Cloud Services' work is great. We're not buying specific development for a specific case, but rather we utilize a wide spectrum of expertise and resources from Erbis Cloud Services, including quality assurance and business analysis. Outsourcing quality testing to them is a statement of Erbis Cloud Services' work. We've never experienced a big number of defects, which is crucial for our company.

How did Erbis Cloud Services perform from a project management standpoint?

We run an Agile environment to the bone and have never specified fixed deadline projects. There has never been a case of needing to build an exact scope within a fixed timeline, but rather we set release ranges, and maintain flexibility on the content of what is being developed. Whenever there was a fixed deadline, we adapted the functionality to match that deadline, which is part of the nature of Agile development.

What did you find most impressive about Erbis Cloud Services?

Erbis Cloud Services' members are passionate about what they do, which is important. They have a desire to only attract top-notch employees who want to build a better solution for customers. Erbis Cloud Services has members who are able to work in a team, communicate with the customer, and obtain great results.

Are there any areas Erbis Cloud Services could improve?

There are always areas for improvement. The only drawbacks are things which Erbis Cloud Services cannot control. The political environment in Ukraine has had an impact on our ability to travel to their location and meet the team for training. Erbis Cloud Services cannot improve this without relocating, which I don't find to be necessary at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a startup company developing could-based apps. I am the owner of the company and I also act as project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Erbis Cloud Services?

We were looking to fill some development positions while building an integration between our solution and the SuccessFactors cloud-based module.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Erbis Cloud Services performed the data mapping backend work for integrating our platform with another cloud solution. They also developed some frontend functionalities for UI [user interface] transactions.

How did you come to work with Erbis Cloud Services?

We made some web research and found Erbis Cloud Services. The contact was quite informal: we got along with each other, had a few calls, and proceeded forward.

How much have you invested with Erbis Cloud Services?

The cost of Erbis Cloud Services' work was $35 per hour.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Erbis Cloud Services in October 2016. The project has been downscaled a bit, but I plan to use Erbis Cloud Services again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Erbis Cloud Services was on time, did good work, and provided useful feedback beyond their own work.

How did Erbis Cloud Services perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints in this regard.

What did you find most impressive about Erbis Cloud Services?

I liked the expertise provided by Erbis Cloud Services during architecture discussions. They even provided suggestions for other parts than those which they built.

Are there any areas Erbis Cloud Services could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide an on-demand platform for global supply chain visibility and execution. I am the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Erbis Cloud Services?

We've been in business since 2004; most of our product development has been done in-house over the last decade, being split between maintenance mode, building new features, and functionalities. As engineering and development resources have gotten more expensive in the Bay Area, we came to embrace the notion of offshore teams. We've used several for various parts of our business in the last decade.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially used one senior Java developer from Erbis Cloud Services' team. We were looking to augment our existing onshore team with some development resources, so we ended up bringing in a total of 3 senior developers from Erbis Cloud Services and other shops, as well as a UI [user interface] partner. The primary function was to get these resources up-to-speed on our platform, which had been architected and built over the span of a decade. There were a big footprint and a lot to understand, not just regarding technology from a code perspective, but also from a business perspective. 

One of the most impressive things I've observed was Erbis Cloud Services' ability to grasp our technical requirements and understand our business quickly. Within 2 months, Erbis Cloud Services was up-to-speed on our core platform, coming to contribute to our maintenance work, before we came to rearchitect some of the parts of our platform. This is where Erbis Cloud Services started to shine, from a technical expertise perspective.

How did you come to work with Erbis Cloud Services?

We were looking to bring on a new partner for offshore development and posted a request for a senior Java developer on Upwork. We ended up interviewing 30-40 individuals, as well as organizations, coming to find Erbis Cloud Services.

How much have you invested with Erbis Cloud Services?

Erbis Cloud Services has an hourly rate. I believe that our original developer had a cost of $30-35 per hour. Since then, we've expanded our project scope, coming to use several resources consolidated into the team. They range from $20-45 per hour.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Erbis Cloud Services one year ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How much have you invested with Erbis Cloud Services?

The primary differentiator of Erbis Cloud Services' work has been technical expertise. They've proven to understand not just Java, but also more current technologies like AngularJS and Ember.js. Erbis Cloud Services has also been very resourceful in bringing on new development resources. Since the project started, we've brought on a full-time testing and QA automation person, a DevOps resource, a full-time UI designer, and a part-time database administrator. Erbis Cloud Services has become our complimentary offshore partner, working in tandem with our US team. 

How did Erbis Cloud Services perform from a project management standpoint?

Erbis Cloud Services' communication has been exceptional. We require not only good English skills and understanding of our requirements, both in written and verbal form, but also being proactive. One of the more difficult things about managing offshore teams can be the fact that, when not understanding requirements, teams won't be proactive in expressing it before starting the work, or, in the worst-case scenario, they won't do anything. I credit Erbis Cloud Services' leadership team for managing our team proactively, helping us evolve the daily scrum process and making sure that resources are fully self-sufficient and knowledgeable on the development process and product objectives. We're not losing any time due to lack of communication and understanding.

As with anything, our product scope evolves. Erbis Cloud Services has done a good job of meeting deliverables. We don't have hard-and-fast feature enhancements, but rather we have one big team effort, working on one platform. We have continuous improvement around projecting story-points, understanding functional requirements and making sure that we're not changing the scope. I don't isolate Erbis Cloud Services' team as having specific tasks. They're working in concert with our team; we're collectively responsible for delivering new features and enhancements to the platform in our sprint cycle. I've been pleased with Erbis Cloud Services' quality of code. With them, we've refined our process, making sure that the pace of development is slowed down enough to increase the QA process, now that we use 2 full-time automation engineers. We focus on the sharing of information around our platform and its features by doing demos and code review.

What did you find most impressive about Erbis Cloud Services?

We've worked with around 10 shops over the last 15 years. I'm most pleased with Erbis Cloud Services' ability to be proactive and good communicators. They have proven to be a trustworthy partner. The biggest surprise was Erbis Cloud Services' good understanding of technical resources. Anyone being interviewed and brought to our team is evaluated very well, which is critical. Erbis Cloud Services isn't simply trying to bring in resources that would maximize their profit margin; they've scrutinized resources and candidates before introducing them to our team. It was a surprise to find someone take so much pride in building a team. The result is having a long-term partner.

Are there any areas Erbis Cloud Services could improve?

As with anything, we've learned that, when managing a growing team on the partner's side, we must make sure that all resources are kept happy. There's a balance between part-time resources working out of the office or remotely, and full-time ones. We have lost a few part-time people after the work deviated from their expectations, or because they were too isolated, and didn't feel like a part of the team. I wouldn't hold this against Erbis Cloud Services exclusively. It's a challenge which anyone managing a team will have. The pros far outweigh the cons.