Kanda Software

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President / Senior Research Scientist of Friends Research Institute

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Friends Research Institute is a multidisciplinary, non-profit research institution dedicated to advancing research to promote health and well-being.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kanda Software to accomplish?

• Enhance the content, interactivity, and features of a digital intervention for individuals with substance use disorder.
• Assistance in fulfilling IEC 62304 safety standard and regulatory requirements.

SOLUTION

How did you find Kanda Software?

Online Search

Why did you select Kanda Software over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Kanda Software were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Backend Migration & App Analysis App Compliance Documentation and Retrofit User Acceptance Testing and FDA Submission

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Enhanced the interactivity and capabilities of the digital intervention.

Adhered to the IEC 62304 life cycle requirements for software development.  

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Engaged in weekly virtual meetings to discuss content and feature updates, review deliverables and progress, and address potential issues.  Items were delivered on time and met or exceeded our expectations.  Issues were addressed during the weekly virtual meetings or through email.  Response times were quick and the information shared addressed our needs.  

What was your primary form of communication with Kanda Software?

Virtual Meeting

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

It took a long time to find a company that could not only enhance our digital intervention but that could also assist in addressing IEC 62304 requirements.  In addition, the Kanda staff were pleasant, very easy to work with, integrated well into our team, and we looked forward to discussing our content and feature updates with them.  

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

Kanda provided excellent customer care that exceeded our expectations.  Post primary project completion, they are still providing ongoing maintenance and support services.  They also connected us with a consultant who could assist with Human Factors testing.  There is nothing else that they could have done differently and we would welcome working with them again on future projects.  

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Director of Crafting Minds Group

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Crafting Minds Group is a boutique professional development provider and curriciulum development comapny focusing on literacy insruction in grades K-5. We empower educators and district level decision makers with knowledge, tools and resoucres to foster strong foundational literacy skills in students. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kanda Software to accomplish?

• Develop a fully customizable literacy lesson plan tailored specifically to students' reading needs.

SOLUTION

How did you find Kanda Software?

Referral

Why did you select Kanda Software over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Kanda Software were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The Kanda team collaborated closely with us to fully understand our ideas, current business model, and our practices consulting and designing resources for elementary teachers. They conducted a thorough review of the resources and tools we were using and spent time learning what was important to our clients. From there, they helped conceptualize and desgin the web application. Weekly tests, check-ins, and meetings ensured the team understood the nuances needed for the tool to be successful. Once the application was functioning, the team continued to improve and refined the functionality, working hard to create the best possible version of the appilcation.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The success of the project relied heavily on the creation of a comprehensive scope and sequence of literacy concepts. This document served as a foundational guide for the project and enabled the prompt engineer to systematically fine-tune requests and adjust parameters to consistently achieve the best possible output. Once the scope and sequence was estabilshed, the prompt engineer seemlessly coordinated with both the front and back-end development teams. This collaboration ensured that the functionality of the application was robust, but also visually appealing. Frequent meetings to fine-tune aspects of the application resulted in a user-friendly tool that we can't wait to launch to educators all over the world.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project managers effectievly communicated the needs of our project to the appropriate team members. They cooridnated and summarized meetings, delegated responsibilites, and helped trouble shoot as needed. The Kanda team was incredibly responsive to our needs throughout the entire project. 

What was your primary form of communication with Kanda Software?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Kanda's ability to respond to our needs with their hands-on support and proactive communication make us feel valued and confident in the work they were doing. 

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

Our project lead changed half-way through, and this resulted in a bit of a bumpy road. Once the new project manager was brought up to speed, the project refocused and was back on track.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Content Director of an Orthodontic Appliances Manufacturer

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

A leading manufacturer of orthodontic appliances since 1976.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kanda Software to accomplish?

• Create a HIPAA compliant laboratory management software
• Create a custom portal for prescription submission and management

SOLUTION

How did you find Kanda Software?

Referral

Why did you select Kanda Software over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Kanda Software were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Kanda Software was tasked with creating a full laboratory management software, unlike anything exisiting on the market at the time, to allow for clients to submit new orders and manage their active cases. This software also needed to function as operations and financial management for the company. 

Key deliverables include:

• Cloud-based software
• Mobile appliation
• Support services 
• Databse management and integration
• API development and integration 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The software deployed in early 2019 has successfully managed one of the largest orthodontic laboratories in the country to this day. We were able to weather the pandemic largely because of the flexibility this software enabled our technicians to have, by managing work orders from home and allowing consistent communication between our team and our clients. We also regularly receive updates from our clients comparing our prescription submission features with others in the industry, and receive consistent feedback that our platform is more user-friendly and intuitive than other otpions. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Kanda Software is very transparent with their project management, and we have consistently had a view into what tasks are expected in each sprint, and their status. Tasks are consistently delivered on time, and our needs are always attended to as quickly as possible. This often includes actions like reprioritizing tasks into smaller sprints, releasing interim hotfixes, and the like, if ever we need items sooner. 

What was your primary form of communication with Kanda Software?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Our team at Kanda is very dedicated to ensuring they understand the needs of our business, and our overall goals when suggesting new features or tickets. They use this understanding to guide the development toward the best solution. Given that we have a more limited scope of development understanding, this is critical for us because it ensures that we are getting the truly correct solution for our underlying problem. 

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

In the beginning of our project, we had some differences in communication style that took some attention to work out. However, since those early days, we have not had any issues, and contribute that to the proactive approach that was taken to ensure communication was consistent, and not only in response to issues. Kanda has dedicated considerable time and attention to us in this effort. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Development Officer of Lookout

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

As the leading provider of Data-Centric Cloud Security, we set a new standard for helping businesses protect the sensitive data and information they care about most.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kanda Software to accomplish?

• Develop a new front-end and modernize a legacy system.

SOLUTION

How did you find Kanda Software?

Referral

Why did you select Kanda Software over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Kanda Software were assigned to this project?

30

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

New front end developmemt

Legacy system modernization 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our collaboration with Kanda has led to significant successes.

It included a large-scale deployment for a tier-one mobile carrier, which impacted over 12 million subscribers across the U.S. 

Additionally, Kanda supported Lookout in deploying our own product globally, serving over 10 million active monthly users. 

The scale and impact of these projects were a direct result of Kanda's ability to deliver solutions at an enterprise level, and their contributions have been instrumental to our success. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The quality of Kanda's engineers has been consistently outstanding. The success we had building and deploying solutions at scale is a testament to Kanda’s ability to provide top-tier talent.

They delivered high-quality work on a very complex project that required specialized skills that are not easy to find. 

The Kanda engineers have also seamlessly integrated with our teams, becoming an extension of our own workforce. 

The Kanda project managers provided detailed data-driven updates that gave me confidence that the projects were on track. 

This proactive approach and their willingness to own the outcomes made it possible for us to deliver on time and meet our high standards, even under challenging circumstances. 

What was your primary form of communication with Kanda Software?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Kanda’s commitment to our success was clearly evident from how flexible and nimble they have been throughout our relationships.

The ability to quickly scale up resources has been crucial for us, especially when working with large, demanding clients like a tier-one mobile carrier. 

We were able to ramp up a team of over 30 engineers in just six weeks, which is no small feat. 

They also adapted quickly when unexpected challenges arose. 

This kind of responsiveness and flexibility is something I haven't seen with other providers. 

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

none

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of a fintech company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a digital transaction platform built for real estate professionals.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kanda Software to accomplish?

• To augment our Engineering teams in a cost efficient way that would afford us the flexibility to scale up or down as our needs evolve..

SOLUTION

How did you find Kanda Software?

Previous Engagement

Why did you select Kanda Software over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Company values aligned
• Previous positive experience

How many teammates from Kanda Software were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The Kanda engineers augmented our existing R&D teams executing a mix of front-end and back-end development tasks in support of our product roadmaps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

There were no specific metrics per se as the project was essentially to augment existing teams in fullfilling their current roadmaps, but the Kanda staff performed very well and as solid engineering colleagues.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Given that the project was of a staff augmentation nature, project management was based on our normal Agile methodology involving the teams in which the Kanda engineers were embedded. The Kanda staff participated fully as teammates.

What was your primary form of communication with Kanda Software?

Email or Messaging App

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

This is the third client company from which I've engaged Kanda. One of the reasons I keep coming back is that they have always been able to source real engineers rather than just coders; people who think things through and push back when they believe they have better ideas. The leadership at Kanda also understands that this is a people-first business, both outward to their clients and inward to their professionals. Their partnership network gives them incredible global reach.

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

I am very satisfied with Kanda Software, which is why I'm a third time customer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m currently the VP of engineering operations and data at Seniorlink Incorporated. Our product helps facilitate communication with caregivers, coaching them through helping people stay at home.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kanda Software?

I worked with Kanda Software at my former company SERMO. We did two things at SERMO: we had a social network for doctors, and then to fund that social network, we did marketing and research surveys into that same user base. I joined SERMO as the director of engineering and then became SVP of engineering. Kanda Software provided team augmentation services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kanda Software provided both QA and development resources to our team on an ongoing basis. The development group helped us build the social network server, and then the QA group helped validate that server. They also worked on our self-service marketing SaaS platform. 

What is the team composition?

That team fluctuated between 4–7 people.

How did you come to work with Kanda Software?

When I joined SERMO, they had a preexisting relationship with Kanda Software. I continued to grow the relationship with them and actually brought more people on to get additional skillsets.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $300,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in February 2013, and that lasted until October 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I would not hesitate to hire them again, both from engineering and quality standpoints. Their engineers are top-notch in terms of technical and communication skills. They matched our current group from both a quality and a performance velocity aspect.

We found them to be very knowledgeable and critical thinkers with excellent communication. I have never seen validation people find bugs so detailed in my career.

How did Kanda Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We ran everything in an agile fashion, and they joined all of our team meetings and standups. Management from that regard was very easy; they were actually full members of the team. We used Atlassian Jira and Confluence. They were remote and based in Belarus, but it was easy to manage them; they tended to work around our business hours, which meant working a bit later in their day.

As for higher-level relationship management, we’d meet with Tibor (President) and Alex (Founder & CEO) quarterly or at least twice a year to talk about the relationship and how things were going. They were good at both project management and business relationship levels.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It would’ve been a nonstarter if they weren’t valuable assets. My favorite part of working together was learning about the industry and talking about where things were headed, both from an Eastern European sourcing standpoint but also a technology standpoint. It was great to have conversations with Tibor and Alex about next steps because they had a breadth of contacts in the industry that they would talk to. Bringing some of that to our conversation helped me to guide the team and determine how to grow. It was a tremendous benefit for the growth of the company, not just the development team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I did have any criticism or something they could improve upon, I’d have the conversation with them, and it would get remedied. I think onboarding sometimes took a little bit longer than we expected, but for our type of work, it was less of an issue because it was long-term. It tended to take a bit longer to get them up to speed, but once we did, it ran great.

Any advice for potential customers?

Keep the communication dialogue open – it’s very beneficial. Also, work as team members.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the former lead solutions architect for Docurated. It’s a sales enablement platform SaaS solution where I handled customer success and had more of a client services role there. I was there from 2013 until the end of December 2019.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kanda Software?

We were looking to scale Docurated business in our platform, but we were hitting a wall in terms of QA resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The main allocation that we asked Kanda to perform was the QA function. They also supported various other roles, but we started with manual QA testing and went from there.

After we got started, we then outlined and introduced the automation platform because it was a SaaS web-based application that was continuously growing. To be able to scale and meet our customer demands, Kanda helped a lot with manual testing but also implemented work with us to overview the automation platform.

Because of us being a small startup, customers needed support and training. Kanda allocated another resource as well who was a tech writer. She would shadow the QA counterpart and create user guides and training materials for our customer base.

What is the team composition?

Kanda gave us two full QA resources who were working primarily with me to design, implement, and test various things. The on-demand technical writer wasn’t full-time but was always available to work when needed. We also had our account manager who we would interact with on and off.

How did you come to work with Kanda Software?

One of my close friends in Boston was working at one of the startups there. He found Kanda and leveraged them for QA and development resources pretty heavily. We were talking, and I mentioned that we were looking to augment and improve our QA response. He recommended Kanda to us. They are local in Boston and just down the street from where I lived, so I went to see the VP of account management and we began talking.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent approximately $6,000 a month during those three years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We hired them in April 2015, and we phased them out in May 2018. Docurated was actually acquired by another company that had internal QA resources. They started to migrate Kanda out and by May of 2018, we ended our engagement with Kanda.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There is always that kind of stigma in hiring someone overseas: people might think the work will never get done or there might be trouble with communicating. With Kanda, all those things we thought we might see were proven wrong. They were probably even more responsive than my colleagues in the office.

As diligent outside thinkers that performed great work, Kanda helped shape the vision of our company. I appreciate how much care, detail, and testing performance they put into our partnership. It also helped us get acquired by another company, which was very important for us.

How did Kanda Software perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of project management, we ran a pretty extensive Jira and Confluence implementation with them. They were super proficient with Jira so we had a lot of integration in terms of ticketing and an agile framework implementation and we ran all of that with them.

Obviously, because there is a seven-hour time difference, it was slightly challenging to have a daily standup. At the same time, it was great because we would plan activities the night before, and they would work through the night because that was their daytime. When we got to the office in the morning, we would have debriefings and meetings with them. By having that project planning and schedule, we created more efficiency. And because of the time difference, we had 24-hour coverage of our application, which was really beneficial.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When they were leaving in 2018, I had a conversation with them. They told me how much they loved the project and the people. They were always available to help even outside of their allocated hours. Kanda had a per-hour model, but they were always willing to jump on the project really quickly. There were challenges with our SaaS applications, but they were always upbeat and ready to learn and help our engineering team. They were always learning, and they had great personalities and people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve given them this feedback, but Kanda was good at following instructions almost to a fault. It was amazing they always followed what we presented, especially when I wasn’t working with them, but that also prevented them from doing outside implementation. I hoped that they would stop and see if there was something that I hadn't thought of, but that meticulous approach prevented Kanda from exploring more of the app. I had to always give them the instructions; otherwise, they would be dependent on me. That was only a minor thing, though. Otherwise, they were really, really good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should let them be on their own but guide them from a knowledge and system perspective. They are really bright people that may create testing scenarios that you might not think of. Let them run a little bit on their own because you might see a lot of benefits from that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is the first, single technology platform used by oncologists, labs and payers that streamlines workflow and facilitates real-time alignment in precision medicine. The company obviates the need for traditional prior authorization, enabling value-based care while quickly giving patients the most appropriate, evidence-supported options when time matters most. I work here as the Head of Product, where I oversee all software development of our products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Kanda Software?

To develop the suite of software solutions necessary for our business development, maintenance, and support.

What were your goals for this project?

To develop a suite of software solutions consistent with our business development and product needs. These products were rolled out for production use to end-users, as well as internal employees.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were selected by our previous CTO.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Develop the suite of software solutions, including integrations with customers/partners third party companies.

What was the team composition?

The scope and size f the team has changed over time. But for the past several years, the team has included developers, DevOps engineers, QA analysts, and architects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Kanda has been an amazing partner during our time working together. They have been able to respond to our changing needs by providing quality resources quickly, and working with us to resolve any issues. They have been integral to our company growth, consistently providing high quality services and support, and maintaining open and responsive channels for communication.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management has always been terrific. We consistently hit our goals and milestones, and have rarely faced significant bugs or issues.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The quality of the Kanda resources have always been very high. And management has always been willing to work with us to support our changing needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Very little can be improved, as our experience has been overwhelmingly positive. There has been some occasional developer turnover, which is not uncommon, but Kanda has always worked with us to make the transition as smooth and efficient as possible.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of a company that provides research materials to academic libraries. It’s a collection of magazines and the oldest political journals in the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kanda Software?

They were responsible for developing a platform for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were to build a search engine that would can across all of our content and provide relevant, fast responses to the queries inputted by our users. We asked them to design the system itself. It was kept for it to be a uniform solution that delivered fast results.  

What is the team composition?

I worked with about 5–6 people, including a project manager.

How did you come to work with Kanda Software?

I knew of them before I started this engagement. While working as a sales representative in a previous role, I contracted them to handle projects that our companies weren’t staffed to do. That was about 25 years ago. I was satisfied with their work then, so I hired them for this work as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We collaborated in 2005, and it was about a three-month effort.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They prioritized the project and delivered it on time and according to our budget. Their work withstood the test of time. We still use the solution today, and their willingness to host the solution for us has allowed us to stay up to date technologically. Our customers enjoy the solution, and it still serves its purpose effectively.    

How did Kanda Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They put together a very detailed proposal. From there, they followed through on the features and requirements. We communicated via phone and email. They were very responsive and gave me regular status reports and updates.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical knowledge is excellent, and I know I can rely on them as a technology partner. They have always been able to provide feedback based on their expertise. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Start the engagement with a strong idea of what you need from them. Their design process is able to accommodate changing needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of product at a healthcare IT company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kanda Software?

We needed QA help for our software team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We do our development in-house, and Kanda does quality assurance testing on every single ticket, as well as regression testing on all of the code we ship.

What is the team composition?

We work with 1-3 members of their team, depending on our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $800,000 over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2013, and we’ve stayed together ever since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Every time we’ve been assigned a new resource, they’ve already been trained, which makes things easy for us. Their quality of work is always really good. Anytime we have any issues, which have been extremely rare, we’ve been able to work with them through it. They’re very responsive. We’re very happy with them.

How did Kanda Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate on a daily basis via Slack and have bi-weekly calls to discuss the scope of what we're working on in our next sprint. We give them tickets to review every day and they hold to an SLA (Service Level Agreement) of getting our engineers feedback on the tickets within 24 hours of them deploying the feature.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail and ability to pick up complex things in our product is impressive. They’re well documented and recall requirements for software that I designed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Occasionally, we’ve had resources where there’s a bit of a language barrier. Whenever we’ve had issues, the management team has resolved them very quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to set up a steady stream of communication and be clear what you’re asking of them to do.