FlexisUS

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for an IT [information technology] company in the financial industry.

What is your position?

I lead the R&D [research and development] department of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with FlexisUS?

We had a failed project with another consulting company, which failed before I got this new role. It was a very important project in financial reporting. I had to find someone with very specific skills. FlexisUS was the right candidate.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

FlexisUS was charged with redesigning and building a failed enterprise software product as well as analyzing why the old product failed to see how we could change it to make it a successful product.

One of our biggest challenges that FlexisUS overcame was fixing problems with Adobe, a platform that we were using for a document management and workflow management system called Lifecycle Enterprise Services. We also had challenges to get the proper support from Adobe. The internal engineers and architects and executives of Adobe could not address certain problems with their own product and FlexisUS was capable of doing that. We also used Microsoft products as part of the solution. We had issues that even Microsoft couldn't fix. Again, FlexisUS was capable of solving those issues. In my opinion, FlexisUS has an incredible team from a professional standpoint superb work ethic, which helped to deliver the product successfully to the market.

How did you come to work with FlexisUS?

Since the company was already heavily invested in Adobe technology, I was going over the website of Adobe looking for different solution providers. FlexisUS caught my attention as one of the possible alternatives. I contacted them and interviewed them and the team. It seemed that we were talking to real professionals who were capable of delivering.

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

It cost more than $1.5 million altogether.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The results were incredible. We had a product that performed extremely well from the usability perspective and scalability perspective as well. The market was reacting well to it. It was integrated into the new platform, which was developed by our team. Integration went smoothly. As for as numbers and how it impacted the bottom line, I can't disclose that. It definitely created a lot of buzz in the market and huge satisfaction on both the business and technical side.

How did FlexisUS perform from a project management standpoint?

FlexisUS performed very well. They were very professional and on top everything.

What distinguishes FlexisUS from other providers?

I had three teams on this project, one based out of India, United States, and FlexisUS in Europe. It was a day and night comparison. FlexisUS was definitely way more professional not just on the technical side, but on their work ethics as well. They do whatever it takes to deliver a great product. They work non-stop to get it done on time and with quality. Sometimes, I had to ask my team in India or U.S. to deliver a certain feature. It would take a few times, and it still was not done the way it was supposed to be done. Normally with FlexisUS, if it's done, you never go back to that feature. It's done, it's working, and it's usable and user-friendly from the first iteration.

Is there anything FlexisUS could have improved or done differently?

There is probably no company in the world that can say everything I do is perfect. Everybody has to do something to improve. I would say on the process side increasing more of a transparency and setting up the right expectations. I think they were very good, but this part of the process could be improved a little.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is Starfall Education. We are dedicated to inspire a love of learning in young children. We focus on kids from 18 months to grade two. We teach mathematics, science, social studies, and reading through an online platform. 

What are your role and responsibilities?

I'm the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with FlexisUS?

We were looking to transfer our content onto a mobile platform. The biggest challenge was that we had 10 years worth of content on Adobe Flash, which has been disallowed on mobile devices. We needed a developer that could take our content and make it mobile-friendly.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

The content was established, so FlexisUS took what was working on our website and adapted it and modernized it to work in the different platforms, including an iOS app and an Android app. They used Adobe Air to do most of the work, and did it in conjunction with our in house team. They were given portions of the website and transitioned it both with their insights and with the way that we needed it to be done. FlexisUS also helped transition another portion of our content to HTML5. 

What was your process for selecting FlexisUS?

FlexisUS was recommended to us by one of our clients. We didn't look any place else. They picked up the ball and it rolled.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative?

The size of the project is close to $1 million.

When was the work completed?

It's completed at the end of 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

FlexisUS helped us create a series of standalone apps that we needed to do quickly and in advance of the larger project. Our "Learn to Read" app was No. 1 in children and education for six months. The larger project is getting 60,000 downloads a day.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

We are very pleased with FlexisUS's work.

What differentiates FlexisUS from other partners?

It's so difficult to get someone who will work with you the way you want to work. Some firms want to code the way they want to. You wind up with a project you can't maintain yourself. FlexisUS was very respectful of our practices. 

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

You need to communicate. If you're concerned on the code level, you need to have somebody who can do code review and make sure those procedures are happening the way you want them to. If you're not concerned about that, you can readily hand that over to them.