Ezeiatech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of digital transformation for a cement manufacturer. We’re 100 years old, it’s one of the oldest companies in the Indian Conglomerates, and it’s the largest cement player in the country. We have minimal exports, but we’re largely an India-based company.

I focus primarily on sales and logistics transformations using technology, along with a bit of mining.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ezeiatech?

We’ve done two projects with them, the first being a mobile-enabled census tool. One of the challenges in the finance area is that we need to do a market census to determine consumption capacity, market spread, and market share. It’s an in-depth, four-week survey, and we essentially distributed it in an offline manner until around three years ago. We went to Ezeiatech to build a secure tool for the census that we could use on Android devices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with Ezeiatech on two models: time and materials — through which they give us outsourced resources for our in-house development projects — and turnkey, as is the case with these projects. Ezeiatech developed two mobile apps from the bottom up for us: a census app, which is Android-only, and a photo-sharing app for iOS.

We gave them broad concepts and business requirements documents; our teams developed detailed specifications together. Ezeiatech created wireframes as part of the fourth and fifth steps, followed by material design. Since then, they’ve helped us with development and UAT. We handled go-to-market completely internally.

What is the team composition?

There are around three people from Ezeiatech on one project, and 10 on the other. The projects were sequential.

I’ve contacted different people at different stages of the development, interacting a lot with the development team lead, as well as with Kunal (Founder) and Mukesh (COO).

Mukesh worked with us at the point of ideation to define the contours of development. Once the document was signed and we went into pure development, I would interact with the development team directly. My interaction with them has been only around the turnkey projects.

How much have you invested with them?

For the time and materials model, there’s a bill of about 250,000 Indian rupees per month (approximately $3,000 USD). For the two turnkey projects, the total amount we’ve spent with Ezeiatech would be 7–8 million Indian rupees (approximately $94,000–$108,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Ezeiatech around November 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve had a good experience with Ezeiatech, and there are never any problems with their quality of work. They operate as more of a partner than a vendor, and they’re always accommodating when we change requirements mid-project.

Success metrics are dependent on the nature of the product, but the primary success metric is delivery time. Bugs and app downtime are accounted for in the service contract, but there’s never been problems around that.

Both apps are deployed and being used internally. We have continuous feedback cycles, and we keep making improvements to the apps.

How did Ezeiatech perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was the primary reason for engaging with Ezeiatech; they’re good in this respect.

We communicate over a business WhatsApp group, as well as email. There are several project management tools we use internally, but not with Ezeiatech, as it’s easier to collaborate with them on WhatsApp, given our fairly small development cycles.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their code stands out the most. In my experience, providers will get rookie developers to write the code on turnkey projects, which doesn’t scale up well. I’ve not faced that problem with Ezeiatech, however. The focus they have on quality outputs makes them stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could focus a bit more on scaling. There’ve been times when they haven’t able to pick up my project because of their limited team.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I can only speak for myself, but clients should work with Ezeiatech as partners. They do a lot of thinking for the client in the overall interest of the project.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of strategy for Experion. We’ve started with a student housing vertical, and I’m in charge of strategy and student coordination. I’m also working on digitization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ezeiatech?

We needed help building our suite of digital solutions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ezeiatech is designing and developing our iOS, Android, and web apps, for both our B2B and B2C efforts. While the B2B app is used to manage properties, the B2C app is a marketplace for students, coordinators, and working professionals looking for rental housing. Users can search listings and book viewings, and the system will make recommendations based on what users have clicked on.

The platform also has a backend panel and an ERP integration, and the B2B app was done in Flutter.

Ezeiatech is very much engaged in the design work as well. They’ve created the entire UI based on our documentation, but we agreed that the whole process would be handled collaboratively.

It’s an ongoing project, as we’re constantly making additions.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with around 10 people from Ezeiatech’s side, including Kunal (Founder), Mukesh (COO), and Amit (CTO). I talk to the developers as well.

How did you come to work with Ezeiatech?

They were recommended to us by someone whom they did some good work for.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Ezeiatech just before COVID started, in February or March 2020, but everything got put on hold during the pandemic. We’re now expecting to release a phase-one MVP in the next couple of months.   

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The people that I’ve interacted with from Ezeiatech are outstanding. We’re still doing QA testing, so I can’t comment on the final output, but, judging by the designs and functionalities we wanted to develop, Ezeiatech has met our standards.

How did Ezeiatech perform from a project management standpoint?

Mukesh is the main project manager on their side, and he’s been on target the whole time. Team members from both sides have been down with COVID, but as of now, we’re on schedule to meet all our timelines.

Ezeiatech has project management tools in place, and we have in-person meetings, since our offices are close by.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Development requires asking a lot of intelligent questions, and Ezeiatech’s team has the proper experience. It’s the difference-maker for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re augmenting the team all the time, and further additions will help with their delivery.  

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

The difference between us and Ezeiatech’s other clients is that we’re not a tech company, although we do have some technical people on our team. If the client has a clear understanding of the requirements, and if wireframing is done early on, it will help firms like Ezeiatech perform better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Virinchi is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE: VIRINCHIQ) and provides world-class technology solutions to its Financial Services clients. As Executive Director and Head of US, I ran Virinchi’s Enterprise SaaS Loan Management Software (LMS) that provided end-to-end loan lifecycle solutions to our banking and private lending clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Ezeiatech as a technology partner to work closely with our engineering team and help develop/ maintain our core SaaS Loan Management software, do custom development (including mobile app development) and to support one of our Medical Device software.

SOLUTION

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

I have known the Ezeiatech founders for more than 15 years and have worked with them on various other projects before Virinchi. I have always found them to be technically competent, asking lots of questions at the initial design/ requirement phase and then delivering to a high quality and within agreed timelines.

One of the deciding factors was the breadth of their engineering teams capabilities/ experience and the sheer quality of their management team. Our partnership and communication with them has been really smooth and their pricing is competitive when compared to similar companies.

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

There have been multiple projects that we have worked with Ezeiatech but I will share one relevant example. Ezeiatech helped us built a mobile app for a customer app for our mobile banking clients. We discussed the requirements in a lot of detail, explaining to them the various features and functionalities we wanted to implement from the user side, as well as a admin interface. Ezeiatech organized a few workshops to nail down every detail of the requirement, asking lots of questions.

From there, they quickly came up with mock designs and frameworks for my team to review and give feedback. They also finalized the tech stack that needed to be implemented in consultation with us. Once our teams agreed on the design, content and functionalities, Ezeiatech delivered a native iOS as well as Android version of the App within our agreed timelines. We had daily update meetings with the team and a weekly/ bi-weekly steering committee meeting to discuss progress, issues and risks. The entire process was handled very competently by Ezeiatech.

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

Ezeiatech has helped us with multiple projects. A typical project team includes a Project Manager, a Technical Business Analyst, Front End and Backend Developers (with the required tech expertise per the project requirements) and Testing/ QA resources. Typically a senior resource from Ezeiatech is available part time as a Delivery Manager/ overall Engagement Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As I said before, Ezeiatech has helped us across multiple projects. For our Enterprise SaaS Loan Management Software, they have helped us with new feature developments as well as ongoing maintenance work. They have also helped us build mobile apps to deliver various customer centric features. We have been able to deliver our software upgrades/ new features within the agreed budget and timelines and I have been very happy with their performance.

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

We followed a 2 week sprint methodology. We broke down the entire project into 2 week sprints, with tasks assigned for the coming 2 weeks. The entire project team participated in a 30-min (to 1 hour) daily standup to report on progress/ issues/ blockers/ risks/ bugs etc. and the PM documented action items (with owners) coming out of the meeting. The Delivery Manager/ PM/ Tech BA were also involved in forward planning for the upcoming sprint(s) so we were always planning ahead. The team used JIRA and Slack.

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

I am very impressed with the breadth of their team's tech capabilities as well as their related experiences. The team and the management are very competent technically and easy to work with.

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

Communication is always a challenge, given that we work across different geographies/ time zones and sometimes the time lag has not helped with communication between our teams. Although the Ezeiatech team has done a commendable job trying to communicate with us with every passing project, I still believe there is some scope for improvement here.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the AVP for revenue at OYO Hotels and Homes. OYO Hotels and Homes is the largest hospitality provider in India, South and South East Asia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Marketing Kalkulátor, and what were your goals?

We were working with state and central governments in India to digitize visitor registers at the hotel. This would have helped OYO in improving customer experience. While doing so, almost all governments asked us to implement the system as an independent system in their data centers since they saw merit in expanding this service to all hospitality providers in their jurisdiction. This required dedicated staff and OYO engineering staff were engaged in core company activities.

We contracted Ezeiatech to device the system and implement the system in multiple states. Ezeiatech deployed the system in Jaipur NIC (Rajasthan), Chandigarh Hartron (Haryana), Vijayawada NIC (Andhra Pradesh) and were working on deploying systems in Goa and Bhopal when the pandemic hit stopping further development.

SOLUTION

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

1. Founders' qualification and experience
2. Solution proposed
3. Ability to do online deployment in multiple locations at the same time
4. Wonderful working knowledge of government data centers and how to navigate through the bureaucracy to be able to deploy
5. Prior experience in working with OYO - had very good feedback from business managers at OYO about the responsiveness of Ezeiatech

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

1. Build and deploy digital register systems in various government data centers.
2. Provision APIs for multiple hotel systems and proprietary HMS' to connect and send data
3. Implement the system taking into consideration all security aspects, including secure storage of PI data
4. Support every deployment for a period of 8 weeks from launch
5. Conduct trainings - tech transfer to respective state engineering teams and operations training for police officers for that particular jurisdiction

Tech used: nodejs + postgres

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

1 lead, 3 onsite resources, Offsite team including designers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

System was deployed in Jaipur NIC in 12 weeks from start of the project. This was supposed to be a 4 - 6 month project given the number of agencies and departments that were to participate in enabling this system.

The first system was deployed in Hartron data center for Haryana police in 4 weeks flat. This was however a pilot project and the system had to be reworked on after the test phase.

All 3 deployments took place in record time. The hybrid delivery model of Ezeiatech and the deep tech knowledge of the founders was key to this. Keeping in mind that this was being worked out in partnership with multiple state governments, it was very important that the implementation process did not have any breaks to keep the government team engaged. Ezeiatech pull this off very well.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Ezeiatech is a niche provider. They are very particular on the kind of people they hire and invest heavily on their teams. Most of their leads have spent years with the company and are quite satisfied with their work. This makes them take good ownership of their projects and further build and mentor engineers they hire for delivery. As said earlier, the team that Kunal and Mukesh have put together makes all the difference.

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

Tenure of the people. Given the deep technical knowledge, these engineers and leads can get multiple options elsewhere. Keeping them together and their longevity with the company makes all the difference for Ezeiatech.

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

Given the amount of feedback they had to process, there were instances where they had to rework. At the beginning, the assumption was that we build a system in a one size fits all method and offer it to all the state government. However, as we progressed, every deployment had a fair bit of customization required. Ezeiatech adapted well to the situation to meet the timelines and deploy, however, I feel that a bit more research upfront would have saved time and resourcing efforts.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I worked as CTO of Yatra Online Pvt Ltd, one of India’s largest online travel agencies. Right now, I'm located in Bangalore.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ezeiatech?

We were trying to get into the corporate travel business, so we engaged with Ezeiatech to build parts of our corporate travel. They offered us custom software development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave Ezeiatech a brief about what we wanted to build. They were responsible for all the design, architecture, and details around it. They built everything related to the backend services and systems for our corporate travel product. In terms of the stack, they predominantly used open source technologies for workflow management, including Java-based tech to break out the complete backend services to store some of the information.

The platform had three parts: the first part was the backend services, which interfaced with the system for hotel bookings. The second part was for self-booking, which was given to corporate employees to manage the travel bookings themselves. The third part was another set of systems built for travel arrangements and roles primarily for administrators for accounting and monitoring finances.

What is the team composition?

We started working with a small team, and it gradually grew. We worked with around 12 people, including junior engineers, senior engineers, and an architect at some point.

How did you come to work with Ezeiatech?

One of the co-founders at Ezeiatech used to work at Yatra. He was familiar with what we were doing because he’d worked there for a long time. When he exited the company and started his firm, he enrolled Yatra as one of the first customers. It was a known entity from that standpoint.

How much have you invested with them?

The total investment was roughly around $150,000–$200,000.

What is the status of the engagement?

We began our partnership in March 2016, and it came to an end in June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Several aspects were essential for us. One was building up this entire platform and systems in time because we already had commitments to our customers. Although there we some delays, they met the timelines, and it wasn't problematic. We were also very keen on using them to do a few early implementations. In any enterprise software, there's a fair amount of customization and configuration that needs to be done when we take it to a customer.

Moreover, we looked at the quality of work, how many issues we got from our customers, and how easy it was to customize and configure the entire system for a specific customer. Finally, they had to meet some stringent guidelines that the customers had around their data security and privacy. The data was kept in a shared system, and we wanted to get a much better sense from their audits and other things.

How did Ezeiatech perform from a project management standpoint?

It was fine; they didn’t do all the management by themselves. We had our project manager working with their team, and they had their own. Therefore, we were getting information regularly.

We also reviewed their work almost every month. Ezeiatech provided a fair amount of information from planning and execution to closing. While some of it could have been structured much better, the information was still available.

Also, it was important for us to have a face for the entire project, which was one of the company’s co-founders. We could call him up, and he’d understand the challenges because he was like an extension of our team rather than an outsourced vendor.

At that time, we used Bugzilla as a project management tool. We mainly used emails for communications, as well as meetings and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the things that we liked about them was their flexibility. We asked their team to work from our side, and they were open to that. They were able to meet any demand we had from a structural standpoint and weren’t stringent about following a specific methodology.

Moreover, the collaboration between the internal and external teams was seamless. For example, we also built an Android app, and our internal team was also doing a large part of the development. Ezeiatech worked closely with us to deliver.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they had a lot more senior engineers on the team to make a fair amount of decision-making faster. There were a lot of times where the co-founders had to step in. In summary, the team was very junior for my taste. They should have a more balanced team to execute much more nuanced and profound projects.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have somebody from your team dedicated to working with them; don't just leave it on them. Review all the decisions from a tech and product standpoint because if they work in isolation, they may go in a different direction.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of TV Today Network Limited, one of the biggest media companies in India.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ezeiatech?

We needed their team to develop a custom software system that aggregated all our channels.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We've kicked off the engagement through a scoping phase, wherein we've relayed our requirements to Ezeiatech's team and provided a complete FRD with the wireframes for our product. We've then given them access to our CMS, and they've made necessary changes to add value to our product. Upon finalizing the wireframes, they've conducted API integration to link our channels together and developed the entire frontend of our product. Additionally, they've devised a functionality that overwrites content depending on the daily featured news.

Apart from helping us develop our custom platform, Ezeiatech has also built a Flutter mobile astrological consultation application for our users. They've integrated payment channels to allow users to pay their consultation fees and download their astrology charts. Depending on their wallet balance, users can also opt to avail of a comprehensive astrological reading through a video call. We've recently launched the app's Android version, and we're planning to launch its iOS version soon.

What is the team composition?

My main points of contact are Ezeiatech's founders, and at least 10 members from their team are involved in our project.

How did you come to work with Ezeiatech?

We shared a lot of common friends and networks with Ezeiatech, and we weren't strangers to their field expertise and impressive portfolio.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $250,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing collaboration started in May 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ezeiatech has delivered a thorough database that enables us to relay more factual news to our audience, and they've built a robust system that's met our technical standards and expectations. We've given them vague instructions and requirements, but they've turned everything around by completing a reliable product that has simplified our operations and improved our digital presence.

Our customers are particularly impressed with the usability of our products and the custom features that allow them to personalize their search results according to their preferences. Overall, we're highly impressed with Ezeiatech's development and data gathering skills.

How did Ezeiatech perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via email and WhatsApp. Ezaiatech is an adaptable partner that understands our changing requirements and innovatively identifies solutions for our technical obstacles.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Ezeiatech works like a part of our team rather than a mere service provider — they utilize cutting-edge technology and maximize their skills to meet our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can consider staffing up to accommodate more of our development needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be as collaborative and transparent as Ezeiatech — don't be afraid to exchange insightful ideas with their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there? 

I’m the VP of engineering for Bharti Airtel Limited. We're one of the largest telecommunication companies in India.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ezeiatech Systems?

We needed a partner to help us move into a new technology by developing a platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ezeiatech Systems developed a CRM platform for us. We started by providing them with documents laying out our expectations and requirements. Then they migrated us from Legacy to newer technology such as MongoDB, React, Java, Oracle, and MySQL, among others. The platform is a B2B software interface platform; it has a complete customer journey and subscription options. The platform also helps us understand critical use cases for our enterprise business.

Currently, Ezeiatech Systems provides ongoing support and services to our customers, as needed.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with two teams until now; 6–7 people built the platform, and 6–8 people provide ongoing support and services. In terms of our main points of contact, we've interacted mainly with the product manager for development and the account manager for support services.

How much have you invested with them? 

We've spent $100,000–$200,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We like that they are customer-centric, showing flexibility and a good balance in their work. They also find solutions for any issues that arise and understand our business and the critical importance of the platform. In addition to that, we know that the platform has helped our customers in the hospitality industry.

Overall, their team does well in key areas, like processes, technology choices, and suggestions.

How did Ezeiatech Systems perform from a project management perspective?

We work in Agile, using two-week sprints. We also use Jira, Confluence for documentation and communicate via Zira, email, and calls. In terms of promptness, they delivered the platform ahead of schedule. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

The partnership is more relationship-based than contract-based; there is give and take and understanding on both sides, and we work well together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should continue to hire the right resources with technology expertise, and they need to spread into more areas geographically.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define the scope of work in detail, including timeline, budget, expectations, internal skill sets, and requirements. Also, agree on task management assignments.