Focaloid Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m part of a startup called Human Capital Pioneers, a platform that matches job candidates to companies with cultures that fit them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Focaloid?

We needed an outside vendor for app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially wanted to develop native apps for Android and iOS, but our discussions with Focaloid convinced us to launch and tweak the app on iOS and then configure the finished app for Android. They also developed a web portal allowing individuals to upload their own short testimonial videos about their careers. The app creates interactive links for each video, which can be posted on the users’ profiles and shared with recruiters. Companies looking for candidates can view only the relevant videos at first before reviewing the candidates’ full profiles. We chose this approach over the limitations of traditional keyword searches.

What is the team composition?

We have two main developers, one for the UI and one for the backend, along with a project manager who coordinated with Focaloid’s team, answered our questions, and kept us updated on their progress.

How did you come to work with Focaloid?

I was referred to them by a friend who’d done business with the company. We were in the very early stages of the startup and we were looking for partners, so we reviewed multiple options on crowdsourcing sites like Fiverr. I reached out to my network and spoke to someone who owned a company locally, who introduced me to Focaloid. I got in touch with Venkat (Co-Founder and CEO, Focaloid) and had an initial meeting with him and my teammates. We went from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $27,000–$28,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around a year ago and the engagement is currently in testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve shown the app to potential users, and we’ve received lots of positive feedback. We’re currently trying to bring more users to the app to make it viable. Focaloid’s deliverables have been consistently good, and they’ve supported us in coming up with new ideas.

They helped us realize that we needed to develop the app for just one OS to start. Had we developed it in parallel for both platforms, any later changes would cost us a lot of time and money. Being the partner that they are, Focaloid wasn’t hesitant in bringing that point out, even though it wouldn’t earn them as much. They want to have satisfied clients and grow their business, rather than have one-off projects and move on to the next thing.

Focaloid was clear about the fact that our project was outside of anything they’d developed before, so it would take some additional time, but they were very accommodating when it came to making small changes.

How did Focaloid perform from a project management standpoint?

We maintained communication through email and we also created a WhatsApp group, including calls with screen sharing when needed. They communicated our progress and timelines through email and conference calls. It was easy to get in touch with them and vice versa. They addressed our questions quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The developers assigned to us were really good, and the UI looked exactly like we anticipated. We had a conference call with the developer after the product was delivered, and he delivered all the changes we requested a couple of days later, exactly as we specified. The app looks like a mature product made by a bigger company than ours. Their own testing team signed off on everything before it was delivered to us. Their process made sense because they didn’t want to share incomplete work with the client and drive things in the wrong direction.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re completely satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of an IT company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Focaloid Technologies?

We were looking for a company to build a prototype of a unique mobile app for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The idea was to build a small mobile app that could be used to guarantee a secure access into food manufacturing facilities. The mobile app would be associated with web apps, which would help us evaluate the functionality, the design, and the user experience. We divided the project in three phases: the concept, the design, and the documentation of the prototype. Focaloid created the wireframes and then, they developed the UI designs and an MVP for us.

The application will be used for access control. Today, when you enter a food facility, you write your name and the time you came in. Then, you get a badge that you attach to yourself. Everything is done manually. The problem is that there is no way to identify who the person is, the exact location of the person within the food facility, or whether they exited the facility or not. That is a safety concern, particularly because of bioterrorism. The new app will help track when the person leaves a point of exist and ensure the person has passed all the preclearance requirements from the company. The food processing industry is very conservative and slow to adopt new security features unless mandated (because of the cost), so there is nothing like that in the market.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and 3–4 developers.

How did you come to work with them?

I researched different companies with expertise in development. When I went on a business trip to India, I met with Focaloid’s team in person. They seemed intelligent, energetic, young, and keenly aware of the newest technologies, so I decided they’d be a good fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Focaloid between 2016–2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were happy with the quality of their code and the prototype met our expectations. Since it's a prototype, it's not a functional product yet. However, it achieved our objective and demonstrated it to the consumer market. The bell curve on early adopters is only just starting, so we're still waiting for the market to catch up. It might be another three years before the market is ready.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

They used a project management software and we also had weekly phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We didn't have any disappointments or setbacks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We don’t have any feedback from the market, so I can't pinpoint anything specific.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very detailed and clear about your expectations and system requirements. We did that because we had prior experience working with other software providers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Former CEO of evolv.ng. It’s an online platform for high school counselors. Before I left the company, we managed to integrate the platform with 8% of high schools across the U.S.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Focaloid Technologies?

We were a startup company with a small staff and a limited budget. Therefore, we needed to outsource the app development project to a cost-effective firm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

By the time Focaloid Technologies joined the project, we had a decent product/market fit and knew exactly what we wanted to build. However, we carefully walked them through our ideas because we knew the platform would evolve. They provided a proposal that outlined two different pricing models, an hourly rate and a project-based estimation. We initially hired them to complete the entire project, but later paid them via an hourly rate as customer feedback necessitated more work.

Focaloid Technologies built the whole platform and tested it on various OSs’. This includes a web app and the mobile versions for both iOS and Android. They brought in a third-party designer to help us create the mobile version’s impressive frontend interface. They also helped connect us with an expert in Amazon Web Services, so we could better define how we wanted the system to be configured. We didn’t end up hiring either resource, but they provided outside expertise that benefitted the final product.

The average public school guidance counselor is responsible for roughly 500 students. Using that figure, we established that counselors usually spend 20 minutes with each student per year. Our platform helps counselors deliver personalized messages and advise college admissions tasks. To do this, the web app enables counselors to group students by the different types of colleges they’re applying to or the scholarships they’ve received. Instead of bombarding students with all the information available, counselors use this software to deliver information that’s relevant to the specific needs of each student.

Another significant feature enables counselors to assign students a list of tasks to complete. Students use the mobile to apps to access the task lists and receive reminder notifications regarding important dates. An engaging UI/UX was crucial to the platform’s success. We needed every advantage to ensure students would use our software to move their admission processes forward. Focaloid Technologies kept the code transparent and accessible us in case we ever wanted to hire a new firm. Finally, they built a marketing webpage to complement the platform’s launch as we took it to industry conferences.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three project managers throughout the engagement. They also assigned a backend engineer, an iOS developer, and an Android developer. A fourth resource joined development as needed to assist with specific tasks.

How did you come to work with Focaloid Technologies?

They were referred to us by a mutual contact. We were actively searching for outsourcing companies and interviewed multiple candidates. Ultimately, we hired Focaloid Technologies.

How much have you invested with them?

We ended up spending close to $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

They worked with us from February 2014–October 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They delivered a stable platform that quickly enticed users. We’d attend conferences to demonstrate the platform’s applications to potential clients. By setting up laptops with the software installed, we’d let counselors explore the app as they please. We never had to guide anyone through the interface or worry that they might click on a non-functioning feature. Being able to immediately integrate the platform with the internal systems of public schools was a significant selling point. People didn’t have to wait for our solution.

They developed the platform’s marketing webpage within a week. During the fundraising process, a lot of venture capitalists noted the webpage as the determining factor for their investment. It adequately communicated the value of our product.

Students gave the mobile versions positive feedback and remarked on the intuitive interface. Both apps were free of bugs and crashes. It functioned quick and cleanly with a modernized feel. We conducted frequent testing and Focaloid Technologies always responded quickly.

How did Focaloid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a positive experience with the first project manager and maintained a common communication channel. However, the second project manager lacked the technical expertise required and wasn’t a good fit. The development team started to bypass her instead of explaining each process they completed. Once we told Focaloid Technologies about the issue, they promptly assigned a new project manager and got us back on track. We primarily used Google Hangouts to communicate in addition to phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Focaloid Technologies brought in third-party resources to guarantee they’d deliver the best platform possible. They’re a well-run and high-performing team. Also, their asking price was significantly lower than similar firms in the market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As I mentioned, the only issue we experienced was with project management. We should’ve communicated the problem earlier as they fixed it as soon they could. Also, they didn’t do a lot of product testing themselves, so we expressed that expectation and they addressed our concern.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep the communication channels open and treat them as part of your team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company with the mission of democratizing access to affordable credit. We work with employers and deliver our program as a benefits offering for employees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Focaloid Technologies?

We have a completely digital offering and were looking to develop an application portal for employees. As a startup, we didn’t have any system or software in place, so we engaged with Focaloid to build a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a responsive web-based platform for us. It’s hosted on AWS, with PHP as primary technology and some JavaScript as well. The portal includes user registration, payment calculators, application capture and decisioning, document signing, and inquiry.

We’re building straight-through processing functionalities, which will remove manual decisioning. We’re continuing to identify more and more external APIs for improving our account holding process.

Focaloid is continuing to build features into our application, as we integrate third-party APIs and make our customer experience more intuitive and flexible. We’re also continuing to improve the look-and-feel of the application, based on feedback from internal and external users.

What is the team composition?

I've worked a lot with Venkat (CEO, Focaloid Technologies) and also had contact with their project managers and developers.

How did you come to work with Focaloid Technologies?

We found their team to be made up of hardworking, committed, and well-meaning software professionals. Their CEO is client-focused and they’re flexible in terms of doing business with us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2016. The first version was launched in 2017, we made an upgrade earlier in 2018, and the third version will be launched tomorrow or today.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People who’ve seen the platform found it easy to use and intuitive. We’ve put effort into reducing the number of data-entry points and making it less error-prone and easier to go through than its pilot. It’s generally robust and functional; it meets the needs we have. We’re continuing to improve it, as we go forward.

How did Focaloid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, the quality of work is decent. They have a good attitude and they’re willing to adapt to changing requirements. The team compensates for potential gaps in their internal processes by working harder and bearing the costs of mistakes on their end. They’re transparent, accept those situations, and move on. They focus on delivery, which is good from a customer point of view.

We’ve used Microsoft Project and email, along with weekly meetings and reporting. We don’t have any complicated frameworks for sharing the project plan. We use an agile approach and we have demos after every sprint. We see updates on the tasks that have been delivered, the ones that need to be done, and open issues and how to resolve them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Web development is their core focus and they’re good at implementing business processes and automation via the internet. The developers are good and their management team is supportive, focusing on the actual work and not letting bureaucracy get in the way. Core web project delivery is their area of strength—taking requirements, passing them to the team, and delivering on them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have to continue building cutting-edge technical talent. They should invest in attracting top-notch architects and DevOps, so that we can introduce a lot more automation in our processes. They should continue improving their internal processes, in order to make the delivery more efficient. They should also improve in the UI/UX area; they currently partner with design service providers, but they could get some web designers into the team.

Generally, they’re a relatively young team, so they need to continue expanding their talent and processes, but they’re heading in the right direction. They delivered what we asked them to do, so we’re continuing to work with them as we improve our offer and onboard more clients.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Make sure that you're as open as possible in communicating the initial requirements. They're good at taking those requirements and creating a prototype, but the client definitely needs to invest time into determining what they need to get done. After that, stay on top of the work and give timely feedback. Not doing this will run the risk of discovering issues too late.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

List Premier Education has been creating interactive educational solutions for almost 20 years. Our clients have included private kindergartens, language centers, government departments, and mining companies. As the strategic sales and business manager, I was personally involved in the project with Focaloid.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Focaloid Technologies?

We needed to develop digital learning materials that would work on multiple platforms.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to produce attractive digital learning materials that would allow users to create and share new content online.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I googled various developers and saw that Focaloid had good references and sufficient experience. They were quick to reply to my query and seemed quite knowledgeable.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

After we provided Word documents explaining our content, Focaloid created e-learning materials using HTML5. Not only did they make everything look beautiful, but they also added reliable UI functionality and gamification.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a contact person, a graphic designer, and a programmer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The results were extremely positive, to the point that we are considering creating more content.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I have used many offshore companies and assumed I would have to micromanage the project. However, Focaloid was quite professional and completed the project ahead of schedule. They provided regular samples for approval and feedback. We also had weekly video conferences.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were impressed with their great range of expertise and professional manner.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

They need to spend more time testing samples before sending them for approval.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of a nightlife mobile app company. Our platform allows users to understand and navigate through nightlife with real-time information.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Focaloid Technologies?

They have served as our outsourced software development provider. They developed all the software we use to run our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built our mobile app and some server software that powers our mobile app. The app is available on iOS, and the software is deployed on AWS.

What is the team composition?

Over time, we’ve worked with 10–12 members of their team. That group includes UX designers, project managers, backend developers, and mobile app developers. It was a broad spectrum of a development team.

How did you come to work with Focaloid Technologies?

They were referred to me by a colleague. He’s a reputable and trustworthy colleague, so I used them on his reference.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our development is still ongoing, so I have no data to report.

How did Focaloid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a full development staff, and they bring various resources to the table. We message through Slack and WhatsApp, so we have real-time communication, and we share files using Google Docs. They’ve been agile and flexible. They’re a half a world away, but we trust them fully. We’ve never felt that their integrity was in question. We never thought they wouldn’t deliver or that they wouldn’t be accessible. Their founder has always been a phone call away. They’re very attentive, and they work hard.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are the perfect combination of trustworthy, responsive, cost-effective, and reliable. We are in the early phases of our venture, so we wanted to be careful with our money while we build out our MVP, and they really served that purpose well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve rotated some people through the project over a couple years, but I don’t think that’s uncommon with offshore developing teams. That was one thing that was apparent, but it was not a detriment to the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of MoneyEdge Pro, a small software development and financial firm based out of Austin, Texas. We offer our clients financial planning and wealth management services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Focaloid Technologies?

We were endeavoring to redesign our entire legacy site and segue it into the latest and greatest modern technology platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Focaloid Technologies is helping us rewrite our entire platform in ASP.NET Core while leveraging multiple components. They’re using the MVC architecture. Despite the difficulty of finding resources proficient in Angular 4 in their market, they’re able to procure that talent.

The platform lets advisors easily manage their clients and portfolios for retirement or non-retirement related assets. They leverage APIs to aggregate clients’ accounts across multiple financial institutions. In addition, they helped us aggregate some educational, home, and rental APIs.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with 7-8 resources including an assigned project manager, five developers, and some designers.

How did you come to work with Focaloid Technologies?

A friend recommended using them. The team had performed great work for our contact during that engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since September 2017. They’re continuing to flesh out and improve the platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our selective current beta users have given us very positive feedback about the design. Focaloid Technologies is roughly 80% done with our project. They’ve been doing a great job thus far.

How did Focaloid Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

In addition to biweekly calls, we use their Microsoft Project and our internal Redmine and ActiveCollab tools. Focaloid Technologies is organized, on track, and works proactively to meet and outpace our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s very tough to retain developers in India. Therefore, it’s a rarity that they’ve stuck with us since we started the project. We’re happy with the design and the architecture so far. They’re easy to work with and incorporate all the feedback we give them. Not only is Focaloid Technologies a team of talented developers, but they also offer competitive pricing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The language skills are a common problem in this market. Overall, the customer-facing project managers are fluent in English.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate with them twice a week. The distance can become a problem if you don’t have a regular contact. Be flexible about timing. For example, we had to have calls late in the evenings and early in the mornings. Know that they’ll deliver on their commitments.