FusionHit

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are in health insurance space, helping US consumers to enroll and service their health insurance needs. I am responsible for engineering quality delivery of our online digital solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

eCommerce website development and QA.

SOLUTION

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

We researched and interviewed multiple vendors. We were looking for a partner near-shore, who shares our culture and value, can supply quality engineers with reasonable cost. FusionHit was our top pick.

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

We are an Agile/SCRUM development shop. The engineers from FushionHit are completely integrated with our internal team. We are responsible for multiple transitional eCommerce websites. We use ReactJS, Node and MongoDB as technology stack. We are totally cloud based.

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

Six engineers ranging from mid to senior level in both development and QA. And the team is growing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The skills of engineers are outstanding. We were able to get them onboarded in just 1-2 days so they started to contribute very quickly. Their communication skills and code quality are excellent.

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

We have integrated the contract engineers into our team so they are using the tools we use. The engineers are very up-to-date with our development process and tools. It was very easy to fit them in.

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

I found the management team cares about their employees. They do a great job screening candidates and supporting their day to day work. So the result is a stable, reliable and motivated workforce.

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

We had wished the recruiting could be faster. But with the due diligence they put in to evaluate candidates before presenting to us, we like the result we are getting.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FusionHit?

We were looking to build a team of engineers with a specific skillset and we needed them to work during our working hours. We also needed them to be more senior.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve used them for multiple projects as a partner. We sell to customers here in the US, and then we have customers to whom we sell software development services through them in Costa Rica. A lot of their work is staff augmentation.

So, if we have a customer who needs to add more resources to the team and wants them to work directly with their team in the US, we’re able to hire engineers through FusionHit who work during the same timezone. 

The biggest technologies they use are React.js and Node.js. We’ve also done a lot of work with Microsoft Dynamics with them, as well as WordPress. 

What is the team composition?

In total, across all of the different projects, there are about 30 teammates involved. Most of those engineers work directly with the leadership at our clients’ businesses. 

How did you come to work with FusionHit?

We knew we wanted to go to Costa Rica. We interviewed 10 different companies in Costa Rica and narrowed it down to three. I then went to Costa Rica and met with them, and they were the ones who best aligned with our principles. Additionally, some of the engineers they had were talented. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent well over $1 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in August 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We usually start off with a smaller set of resources, and as that improves, we’re able to increase the number of resources, and that’s been successful for us. FusionHit is able to set good expectations and deliver on them. 

When it comes to hiring, we’ve set the bar quite high, but the team never gets frustrated about the bar being too high because they’re in alignment with us. Finding senior engineers is important to the success of any development project, and they’ve done a good job of staffing the teams that way. 

They have the same philosophy around hiring and treating their employees as we do, so we find that their employees are as talented as the ones we hire, which means we don’t end up with a skillset gap. The team does a good job of creating a good culture. 

How did FusionHit perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great. On the projects that we don’t manage, they never bother us. We rely on them. They’re very responsive, and we use Slack for most of our communication. With some teams, we have daily stand up calls. 

The team uses an agile methodology internally as we do. They do a good job of being flexible while communicating really clearly throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

FusionHit is very mindful of the expectations that they set, and they’re good at making sure that those are set correctly in the beginning.

When working with software development partners, it’s somewhat rare that you’ll meet someone who has expectations that are aligned with reality. The team makes sure that the engineers and leadership they hire set expectations well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing jumps to mind right away. If anything, we wish they would hire faster. However, it’s not necessarily their fault; it’s a factor of circumstance. I’m not sure it’s something they can improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

During the first couple of interactions that you have, the responses to questions about how long the development will take are very important, because they will be taken as commitment.

Additionally, trust them because they know what they’re doing. FusionHit may not give you the answer you’re hoping for, but you can definitely trust that it’s the right one.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Asurvio, a consumer software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FusionHit?

We needed to scale our engineering team to help with our task backlog.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We contracted FusionHit on two occasions for smaller projects. During these projects, their team enhanced existing Chrome extensions. Now, their team provides a full-time engineer who works on our projects using React.

What is the team composition?

We work with one-person full time from FusionHit on our internal development.

How did you come to work with FusionHit?

I found them by Googling nearshore teams, specifically around Costa Rica. I wanted a nearshore development team because my experience with an offshore team didn’t go well.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our partnership in March 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They knocked out the two initial projects quickly and inexpensively. I’ve been impressed with the quality of the candidates that FusionHit provided. I imagine that we’ll expand our relationship over time.

How did FusionHit perform from a project management standpoint?

Our dedicated engineer sends a status update via e-mail every day. I also communicate with a project manager who's in constant contact with our engineer. I always know what our engineer has done and doing. I know that I’m not paying for an engineer who doesn’t work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re communicative. FusionHit’s a high-quality agency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve been happy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If anyone needs to augment their staff, they’re a perfect company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and managing partner for a consulting firm called Alliance Partner Group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FusionHit?

We needed web and software development services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our objective was to build a new type of software that leveraged AWS and, specifically, Alexa. They also built the frontend of our website using Laravel.

What is the team composition?

We worked with four people on average.

How did you come to work with FusionHit?

We did a lot of research online to find software engineering teams that had the required expertise. Their profile and website looked terrific, and Costa Rica was terrific for us because it was a little bit more cost-effective to do work there. At the same time, they work in our time zone, so communication was going to be very easy. Finally, they understood the business challenges we were trying to solve very well.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the work is fantastic. They’ve been accessible for any bugs that have arisen and repaired them very fast. We’ve been absolutely delighted. I’ve worked with a lot of software engineering teams over the years and they’re definitely on top of the stack of vendors I’d consider working with.

How did FusionHit perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been very transparent and easy. They leveraged Jira, and we work on a Kanban board where we can add cards and watch their progression from beginning to end. We also communicate by Slack and phone. Their process is in-line with how we’re accustomed to working in the states.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their willingness to not just execute what we ask them to do but also bring back suggestions and original ideas of their own. It’s been really helpful. They’re so knowledgeable about what AWS and Amazon can do that we’ll occasionally adopt their ideas. We appreciate their willingness to think outside the box.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing jumps out at me. I’ve been very delighted with the way they’ve been working. My expectations have been totally met.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re an IT and management consulting firm, and I’m the director here.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FusionHit?

We were looking for a nearshore partner to help us fulfill a 24/7 maintenance contract with one of our clients. We needed a cost-effective way to carry out that particular service-level agreement (SLA).

Over the course of a decade, we had built a custom software solution for our client. It’s a complex, code-rich application. Because the software is mission-critical for the client’s company, it requires consistent support in case any bugs or errors occur.

The software was deployed across several time zones, so we needed a partner who would be available to address any and all issues, at any time.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FusionHit worked to understand how the complex application works and learned how to implement basic­ to intermediate debugging. Since the vast majority of errors was the result of bad data inputs, they were able to resolve them fairly quickly. If there was anything that was truly complicated, they would defer to us to fix it.

There was a portal to keep track of all the open issues, and if the issue lasted longer than what the SLA had outlined, I would become involved in investigating it. In most cases, it was just waiting for the client to get back to us. Otherwise, they operated with little supervision and with direct contact with the client.

What is the team composition?

There was a team of three—one primary team member, and two backups—available to support at any given time. They would rotate on a weekly basis.

How did you come to work with FusionHit?

One of my colleagues had considered them for an earlier project. They were among the 3–4 usual partners I considered and interviewed. FusionHit was able to put together an excellent proposal that met all of my needs, and they were a good price, so I decided to go with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in early 2017 and the engagement ended—through no fault of theirs—in June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were a reliable partner with good technical abilities. It was a mostly seamless engagement, where they effectively performed debugging when things went awry. They had to understand the very complex software in order to resolve its errors, which they did, and that was the most important aspect of our partnership.

How did FusionHit perform from a project management standpoint?

There were no problems, as they met all the necessary deadlines. They were mostly managing their time in fulfilling the SLA, so there was little project management to speak of.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated the fact that I mostly worked with the same people over the course of two years. With off- and nearshore providers, the team turnover can be a constant source of frustration, but we didn’t have that problem with them. Language was also not an issue, as they spoke very good English.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While I don’t hold it against them, they could have pushed our client a little harder in order to get the required information or data from them. Their reluctance to do could exacerbate an issue, but I understand their sensitivity in dealing with a third-party client.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you’re comfortable with the technical skill set of the team. Luckily, we got good quality folks who delivered on what they promised.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I'm a senior VP of engineering at Workwell Technologies. We build cloud-based applications, primarily in the time and attendance space. While all the products that we support have a cloud component, a vast majority also have a hardware component. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FusionHit? 

We build, enhance, and maintain Android mobile apps to support our products. We were trying to scale our mobile team. We needed to find native Android developers that were less costly than local talent in San Diego and easier to work with than offshore teams many time zones away.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

FusionHit primarily provides staff augmentation of native Android developers. We made a decision about two years ago to move to the Xamarin platform. FusionHit was able to bring in their expertise and do training on their side to help us build up that additional resource for cross-platform apps in iOS and Android.

What is the team composition? 

The number of resources fluctuates between 2–4 at any given time. We've had three full-time developers assigned across a number of projects for about two years now. 

How did you come to work with FusionHit? 

We started researching nearshore partners using Google search. We narrowed it down to three firms. We met with each one and asked them to complete a pilot project. We wanted to determine how well they can grasp our concepts and assess the quality of their code.  FusionHit ultimately won that event and we decided to move forward with them. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

Work began in December 2016 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The original goal was to scale our mobile team. By engaging FusionHit, we were able to scale that that team six months faster than had we done it locally. We’re also paying a lot less in compensation than we would for the market rate in San Diego. Their work helping us to spearhead the migration to the Xamarin platform is the biggest accomplishment. It allows us to produce iOS and Android apps at the same time and cut down on 80% of the re-work.  

How did FusionHit perform from a project management standpoint? 

Having them in a nearby time zone has greatly improved communication as related to our staff augmentation processes. We have the ability to talk to them at any given time. We use Slack, email, and other real-time communication tools so it’s as if they're sitting in the office next door. There's no language barrier. FusionHit has adapted to our internal tools for project management. We treat their developers as part of the team. They understand our workflow and are able to follow it quite well. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

One thing that stands out is that their leadership does a really good job of being a cheerleader for the developers on their team. They're always looking for ways to help team members grow their skills and advance, while also making sure that they're happy with their work. That’s not something I've seen from other offshore or nearshore firms. FusionHit is different in that they actually care about the advancement of their employees.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

There was some learning curve with our processes and expectations. We've pointed out a few things that we want them to improve. That includes unit testing to ensure that what’s delivered to our QA team is well-tested and won't break. FusionHit has started to adapt to that by taking extra time to ensure that everything will be well-tested moving forward.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CSE Insurance is a P&C Insurance carrier based in Walnut Creek, CA and serving policyholders in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah. I am the CIO for CSE Insurance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire FusionHit?

Software development, BI Development, and infrastructure support

What were your goals for this project?

The software that supports an insurance policy management system is very complex. Once a developer learns a particular software system they become very valuable. We selected FusionHit because we wanted a stable company that could provide excellent developers that would work for us for years.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I interviewed a number of different companies and selected FusionHit based on their professionalism,

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Software development, BI Development, and infrastructure support, they do a lot for us.

What was the team composition?

we have 3 developers, 4 QA, and 1 senior infrastructure engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have provided excellence on every level.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We use agile and we perform daily scrum meetings with the whole team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

quality of the team

Are there any areas for improvement?

I am happy with the service as it is.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the VP of engineering at an insurance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with FusionHit?

We needed staff augmentation for our engineering, QA, and project management tasks.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

FusionHit provided staff augmentation services for our e-commerce team's engineering, QA, and project management efforts. They worked on several projects.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 12 teammates from FusionHit.

How did you come to work with FusionHit?

We found FusionHit through a referral. We chose them over other options because of their great alignment on technical competence, much better cultural fit than overseas options, and time-zone considerations.

How much have you invested with them?

I don't recall how much we spent.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together in 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

FusionHit consistently delivered assigned tasks, which allowed us to quickly execute tasks that stakeholders asked of us. The team exceeded our expectations.

How did FusionHit perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was great. The team was polite and responsive. The project manager was one of the best I've ever worked with. Every member of the team was competent and well-vetted. We communicated via online meetings and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone was excited to prove themselves and went out of their way to go above and beyond.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Occasionally, candidates didn't fit. Some didn't pass our interview process, and a few didn't last long once brought into the team. However, FusionHit's management sought to better align with our needs and send qualified candidates.