HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a legal services business.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

We engaged HeapTrace Technology to develop a platform that we’d use daily but also make available to law firms and clients if they need it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve relied on HeapTrace Technology to develop our web-based platform that helps both our internal team and clients to manage legal documents. The technology has two main elements: a proprietary system and a natural language processing (NLP) tool that we’ve adapted to read legal documents.

The proprietary system is a rules-based expert system—a variation of AI—that I had developed previously. It uses a graph database and allows users to visualize complex contract playbooks automatically.

For one client, we handle a particular type of document in large volumes every day. Our team applies the client’s playbook rules to the documents, which involves uploading each file into the NLP tool and then integrating using the expert system.

What is the team composition?

I work with a project manager, two developers, and a QA tester. The project manager will usually deliver instructions to the developers, but I am sometimes in contact with the developers as well.

How did you come to work with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

I began this project by creating an MVP of the platform with a UK-based developer. Because we are a startup, I couldn’t afford to continue development locally, so I had to look offshore. I was referred to Mulshanker (CEO & Founder, HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.) because he had experience working with these same technologies. I gave them some small development projects to start, and I was pleased with the results. We then transitioned to more substantial development of the platform.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2018, and it is an ongoing project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we’ve been working together, my confidence in them has only grown. We use the platform every day. My in-house version has one set of data on it, and we have created a number of models for service that I am gradually taking to market and getting staff to demonstrate with the goal of generating sales.

Part of practicing law is handling a lot of non-disclosure agreements. When I first started my practice, it took about an hour to process these documents. With this technology, it now takes about 35 minutes, which is a significant improvement.

How did HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

We have conference calls once or twice a week. Otherwise, we will email or utilize their internal portal, where they post documents and the source codes that I can download.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are a terrific value for the money. We are developing a healthy relationship. They have a keen sense of what we need even if we only provide a few ideas or details.

I am looking to expand the relationship because they have performed so well. I still do not have a CTO, so HeapTrace Technology could serve as a one-stop shop for me. I wouldn’t want to create a scenario where my development team is not in the same place as a project manager, so HeapTrace could potentially be a long-term partner for me.

They set themselves apart because they are not afraid to exercise their creative freedom and work proactively toward my end goal. They understand what I am trying to do, and they help to achieve that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, I think they do a good job. However, I think they could have more rigorous testing practices. There are times when they develop a feature and then deploy it, but I soon find that it doesn’t work how I want it to. It becomes time-consuming to repeat this process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Repindex. We’re under the umbrella of text analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

I was looking for a development company to upgrade two of our text-searching systems and implement new features.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our first system is an archived database of blogs that is constantly being added to. It’s Java-based and contains over 36 billion searchable words, which have been built up over ten years. HeapTrace increased the speed with which our spider searches established RSS feeds and adds articles to our database.

They also implemented Elasticsearch to increase our word-search return speed. Within these results, users can hover over a result to see its context in the source material. Finally, they implemented a three-tier permission system. As the super-admin, I can appoint other admins, who can then add an unlimited number of users.

They’ve also worked with our legal contract-specific Python system. HeapTrace analyzed our current desktop version and mapped out a process to move it online or to the cloud. They recreated it with all its existing features, in addition to new ones they added.

What is the team composition?

We work with a full-time developer, a project manager, as well as Mulshanker (CEO, HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.). Depending on the system we’re working on, we’ll either work with a Java or Python programmer.

How did you come to work with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

One of my colleagues recommended a company in India who took on the work originally. Throughout that time, we got to know Mulshanker, who was then a project manager at the company. As with all businesses, mine went through a quiet period, and we paused the project. When I restarted it in earnest about a year ago, we heard that Mulshanker had started his own business. I then reconnected with him.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since September 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Legal tech is a hot subject currently, and we have an angle that potential clients find intriguing. We currently have 4–5 pitches lined up with law firms that are interested in our system. We’ve also received interest from academic and university departments about our blog database research tool.

How did HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

They have their own project management tool where they list tasks and actions and mark them as completed. I’ve also created a spreadsheet with their project manager to prioritize things. The project manager has been the same throughout the project and has been excellent. We had 3–4 Skype meetings per week while we worked in the beginning to establish routines and procedures.

We’ve since reverted to two meetings per week where we share screens, and they'll show me what they've done. They work on their local machine and then deploy to my server when things are ready. Additionally, the project manager emails me their progress at the end of every day. If we reach a difficult development problem, they’ll call in Mulshanker, who has tons of experience, and brainstorm a solution.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very assiduous and on the ball. If I think of something or something isn’t working, I can get a rapid response outside of regular meetings. I have no complaints about their responsiveness.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was given a different project manager once, while mine was out sick for a few days, and their English skills could have been better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Before you automatically say yes to the project manager they give you, have a short trial. Chat on Skype to make sure their written and verbal English skills are going to be good strong. Simple communication often works best.

From time to time, I’ll get an email about their public holidays. It’s wise to look at their calendar to see when the public holidays are in India, as they observe them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Elimu Informatics Inc. We’re a consulting and product company in the health information technology field.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

At the time, we had a few consulting projects coming in that required us to increase our engineering capacity. Because we’re a small company, we reached out to HeapTrace Technology to serve as an offshore extension of our development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They have helped us with architecture, design, coding, and QA. As we move to the cloud, they also are helping us with our devops. In terms of products, they have developed software services, web clients, and apps for us. 

.What is the team composition?

Currently, they’ve assigned four teams comprised of mid-level engineers and a QA specialist. As the scope of our engagement has increased, we’ve recently started with a senior engineer who serves as the director of engineering across all the projects. He’s responsible for establishing coding standards and engineering approaches.

How did you come to work with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

I initially worked with Mulshanker (Founder and CEO, HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.) on a project in which both our companies were involved. When he started HeapTrace Technology, we decided to have him help us with a project.

How much have you invested with them?

Our partnership with them continues to grow. Our current spending with them is about five times what it was in our early days. 

​​​​​​What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with them since November 2014. We continue to engage with them, and are very pleased with their services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we’ve recently shifted from a consulting business to a product business, most of their work involves helping us build our products. Not only are they cost-efficient, HeapTrace Technology has also improved our productivity and efficiency. We have a good rotation of people working most of the day. They’re able to work while we’re asleep because they’re based in India while we operate on Pacific time. In the morning, we touch base with them as we take over.

How did HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle the project management using an agile methodology. Every morning, we meet with at least 1–2 of their teams to check progress. We also have scrum and sprint planning meetings scheduled throughout the week.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate how flexibly they work. Depending on our needs, we’re able to add on or reduce the number of resources, but it still feels like we’re working with an in-house team. They’re an extension of us, which is key to our projects.

As for the quality of their work itself, it’s comparable to other outsourced development firms. Mulshanker is a superstar when it comes to engineering projects. When he works on something personally, it tends to exceed our expectations. He’ll even make creative recommendations to improve a product’s functionality or make prototypes that go above and beyond.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As we've scaled, we’re starting to see issues with consistency across our four projects. Collaboratively, we are addressing this concern by bringing in the senior engineer to standardize processes. We already are seeing a big impact due to that change.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Project management and communication are crucial. Make sure you’re clear with your requirements and speak with them frequently. Rather than giving them the specs and letting them develop something for a few weeks, we talk to them every day to make sure they’re headed in the right direction. It doesn’t have to be formal; just have small check-ins.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Maxis Technology. We offer a software product called Alchemize and additional data management and archiving solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

We needed development support to build up our Alchemize platform, a data management solution. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

HeapTrace Technology works with my team of enterprise architects on our Java Spring-based platform. The solution does complex data operations (electronic transactions ordinance (ETO) transactions) and works with tools like Elasticsearch, Hadoop, and relational database management systems (PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL server) for big data platforms. It can move data from one point to another, so customers don’t have to worry about what type of platform their data is sitting on.

Our team came up with the ideas initially, but as we grew comfortable working together, we’ve pulled back on the management side. They’ve taken responsibility for many of our service components. They’re identifying problems with the product and areas of missed potential, and I’ve given them free reign to develop appropriate remedies. We’ve been able to do some pretty amazing things.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with two UI resources, who also interact with our backend, and multiple testers. We also have a personal relationship with Mulshanker (CEO, HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.). He’s been an outstanding partner to work with.

How did you come to work with HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd.?

I found them online.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $500,000–$600,000 so far.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best metric is that we convinced a multinational information technology company to start using Alchemize internally for their migrations to the cloud. I can’t give enough credit to Mulshanker and his team for that. We’re currently expanding our footprint with them. 

How did HeapTrace Technology Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re incredibly flexible. We sometimes need them to work US hours, and they’ll be up all hours of the night, without complaining once. We communicate over GoToMeeting and Skype and use Redmine as a ticketing system. It’s on both parties to manage things so nothing gets lost. Like any project with an offshore partner, there’ve been times when something didn’t get communicated. Unfortunately, we’re facing a 10—11-hour time difference, so we lose an entire day when that happens.

I let the CEO find the right expert on his team and dictate who we need. We’re always able to trust him to bring in someone professional because of his deep technical background. He even helps us with some of the internal, complicated technologies himself.

What did you find most impressive about them?

No matter what we ask for, their team has enough breadth and depth to address it. I’ve been in the technical world for 25 years, and HeapTrace has as talented a bench as anyone. If we’re working with new technology, they’re smart enough to either pick it up themselves or bring someone on with the necessary skills. 

There'll always miscommunications with offshore teams, but there’ve much fewer than normal with HeapTrace Technologies. When something happens that’s not quite what we want, we have such a forthcoming relationship that it’ll be turned around and dealt with immediately; it's quite refreshing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Communication is the toughest part of any collaboration. The best ideas and most determined follow-through can amount to nothing if the right people aren’t told what they need to do. Thankfully, HeapTrace Technologies doesn’t have any weaknesses in this area. Yes, we’ve had a few struggles, but they do the absolute best they can. All in all, we have a highly successful partnership.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Build your relationship with the manager that Mulshanker chooses. Also, think through and articulate your expectations for delivery, because you can easily burn 24 hours going back and forth about something. Additionally, don’t try to do everything via email—a ticketing system is a necessity for offshore situations.