Interclypse

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the lead IT program manager at MIS Insurance Solutions. We provide technical solutions for insurance companies, carriers, and MDAs, mainly in the work comp industry, diving a little into the general liability and some auto. I work with the clients to assess how the software works and with the development team to ensure we can do those things.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Interclypse?

We have a development team here, but our clients’ requests vary depending on the season and their needs. We initially hired them as an additional development source, but now we’re also using them as a consulting agency to get our technology up to current standards.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Interclypse has helped us with our React tool. It’s a new language, and our team doesn’t have much experience. They’ve taught our developers the basis and helped us push forward and develop new features.

They’ve also helped us with our security. We’re bringing new backend security for our web integrations, and their team has dug into that, provided us direction, and helped with our development efforts.

Over the last six months, we’ve used them more as consultants and trainers. They help us understand the new technologies and processes, and we can ask them questions about everything, ranging from system software development to hardware and cloud integration.

What is the team composition?

We started with Nicholas (Program Manager & Senior Solutions Architect) and Julio (Lead Software Engineer & Director of IT). Nicholas is still our main point of contact, but Julio has taken a step back. He helped with the initial implementation and assisted in the training of some junior developers. Now, he comes in here for consulting.

However, our team has grown, and we’ve gone with the junior developers over the last six months. We’re currently working with Robert (Software Engineer) and Pamela (Software Developer).

How did you come to work with Interclypse?

My boss met someone from Interclypse at a conference, but I don’t know how they set up the initial call.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $40,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and our relationship is ongoing. We’ve been more into consulting lately, but as projects come up, we pass them over to Interclypse.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve helped us advance our technology and train our developers to have better bench strength on our end. Also, their communication skills are excellent. They always seem to walk us through the process as a team, which is really nice. Moreover, about 80% of their work performs very well.

How did Interclypse perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager interacts with us, and he’s pretty good. He’s always open to conversations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team has a vast knowledge base — Julio is like a giant scribe; he knows everything. Also, they can work around many different scenarios and any problem. Those are their highest bench strengths.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a big project from July–September, and we shared a lot of feedback back and forth that could’ve maybe been avoided if we had an additional senior developer. However, we talked it through with the management team, who understood our point. I think they just underestimated what the project would entail, but I probably should’ve put my hand up earlier and point it out.

Also, they’ve fallen back a bit on the development cycle and testing. Sometimes they produce something, then toss it over the fence instead of running it through testing. A while back, we had a small project that we couldn’t get to work properly until we asked them their testing parameters. That’s the only lack of communication we’ve experienced, but it has taught us to be more descriptive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Try to go beyond standard development and use them for their consulting side. They have a great knowledge base and teaching ability, and that’s another piece of the equation that would thoroughly help a company grow.