Kellton

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are Howard Building Corporation. Our company is what is called an IT management platform. It’s a new way of doing IT. In the past, companies had to go to companies like ServiceNow or Remedy for ticketing. For project or resource management, they would go to multiple tools such as Workday, and then they would go for budgeting to tools like Hyperion. Most mid-market companies could not afford it, so we started developing a scalable platform in which we could pretty much self-govern the product. It’s called UGovernIT, and I’m the Chief Executive Officer of that company [not Howard Building Corporation].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech?

We could go and set up our own development team in India. Since we focused on mid-market, we have a demand for up and down. We needed trustworthy partners who virtually act like an extension of our development. We have some in-house development in the US, which is very limited. Most of it is outsourced to two vendors; one of them is Kellton Tech. Kellton Tech becomes literally an extension of my development arm, so they can scale up and down as I go. The three key things they bring to the table for me are: trust; trust is most important here. We are dealing with a lot of intellectual property. Second is flexibility; that is bringing different types of resources when we need it. Third is scalability; we may go up and down. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform is built on .NET and we have a Chief Technology Officer who organizes the architecture and the implementation team and then builds it. What they provide is custom controls on top of this platform. With any platform, to make it useful it needs some business logic and custom controls. As an example, what Kellton Tech is working on right now is in the construction vertical where we are integrating a sales and marketing tool for project delivery, which is an end-to-end that does not exist in the construction industry. What we do is we have a group of CIOs and leaders in the industry who are giving them specifications. We sit with their team, they will use this platform called UGovernIT, and on top of it, they will add these custom controls. It’s an Agile development model which we use. In fact, I am running that particular project myself, so I work with Kellton Tech people on a day-to-day basis. They provide me the support. The .NET platform development is very critical, and they understand. They understand also the business domain that we are in.

How much have you invested with Kellton Tech?

I would not be surprised if we have spent with them close to $1 million over several years.

What is the status of this engagement?

They were a different company before Kellton Tech bought them out. They used to be called Tekriti, and then they became Kellton Tech. I would say that the relationship goes back as much as seven years through different stages of development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We are on what is called a fixed-fee month model where we pay them a fixed fee based on the days they work, based on hours. We manage the sum total of the deliveries, so we don’t hold them accountable to come back and say, “This is the metric you have to stick to.” This is more on a build-operate-transfer [BOT] model, so their people act as our employees. We set the expectations, but we don’t have quantitative measures.

We are working with a large construction company that is a Google partner. Their feedback on the development that has happened has been very good. People have been very happy. They’ve been very responsive. One piece feedback we get is that they are extraordinarily productive and respond to our needs very well.

How did Kellton Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

We actually literally treat them as an extension of our staff. For that reason, we don’t manage by objective, where you must adhere to “this” to get “this”. We think that’s old-school management; the new school is more about quality and delivery, so we are motivating them. They are involved in all of our discussions. They understand what we are doing. They’ve become a trusted partner.

What did you find most impressive about Kellton Tech?

They keep the culture of the company very sound. People tend to stay there a lot longer than many of the other companies I used to deal with.

Are there any areas Kellton Tech could improve?

While they hit all the internal targets that we set in terms of schedule, we always concentrate on the quality issues. We train them on how to test and how to build. We actually take them as an extension of our staff and train them.

That’s an area where perhaps they can run some non-standard account management. Today, account management is all about, “hey, are they doing well and how can we sell more?” I think their account management has to shift to, “are they doing well and how can we do to even do better?” To that extent, I must also admit that they have started doing some audits, which were very helpful. They came back and asked me the kind of questions that you are asking, which is very good and very proactive. I met the CEO and he’s a very dynamic young leader. I think he’s going to take them in the right direction, so I don’t see any issues.

They learn fast, and their productivity is incredible. When you have very high productivity, you do compromise some quality. For quality, I am sure they need to do some homework, but I have no cost complaints.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

It's a software development firm that provides custom relationship management solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses via an online software as a service applications.

What is your position?

I’m one of the co-founders and one of the directors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge(s) you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Kellton Tech?

We’re a relatively small team of developers. One of the issues we had was that when we picked up ad hoc development work with clients, our ability to expand and constrict our team was proving quite difficult, because, obviously, there’s a certain period of time required for locating, vetting and onboarding new developers. Our primary issue then was increasing our development potential for short-term projects, because we simply couldn't keep up with the pace. At that point we realized we needed to approach the problem differently. We decided to outsource some of our development work to a qualified technology partner. 

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of work that Kellton Tech delivered?

We work very closely with our clients to ensure quality and consistency. We know that outsourcing some of our development tasks might undermine the quality and consistency of our deliverables, so we had to ensure that the firm we selected was capable of maintaining a certain standard of development. Over the past four years, there really isn't much that they haven't had a hand in. They've been a huge part of our process, everything from conceptual design to functional application development. Our team handles most of the QA/QC testing, but I have to admit that we rarely identify flaws and defects in their custom coding. 

How did you select Kellton Tech as your solution partner?

Back in the day, we used Google.com to reach out to competitive vendors, and we selected them based on the quality of their work. Price, obviously, comes into place, but it wasn't the most important factor. The proposal we received from Kellton Tech was the most compelling, and I felt very comfortable with their track record. They made it a point to emphasize that they maintain the highest standards when it comes to their development methodology. They're extremely results-driven, which is also a key driver for us. 

What platforms or technologies were they providing custom development services for?

There has a bit of mobile app development on iOS, but mainly, it’s been .NET and Microsoft SQL related development. They've worked to some degree with HTML5, but the majority of the frontend development we prefer to handle ourselves. We also deal with QA/QC testing internally. We have a dedicated team that reviews their assignments and deliverables. 

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

It’s probably around $15,000 for each individual initiative. There’s been a couple of those, and there’s almost no time when we haven’t got something going on with them. In fact, I can’t think of a time in the last three or four years without having at least some work for them, even if it’s relatively small.

What was the largest project you’ve worked on them with?

The largest project was slightly over $100,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they've delivered?

Only anecdotal, nothing that’s written down, because we have our own testimonials, but more system-wide rather than specifically on areas that they’ve worked on. I don’t have anything direct that I can claim because we don't promote this. I can tell you anecdotally that there’s never been a client who has spotted a difference between work we've done ourselves and work delivered by Kellton Tech. That, in and of itself, is a pretty big deal. 

When working with Kellton Tech, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other vendors you’ve worked with?

I believe there are a couple of things. The biggest thing I would say is the stability of their development team. With Asian outsourced vendors, you tend to find that they have a problem with the continuity of their project team. Perhaps you'll begin a particular project with a set of developers, and two months later there's turnover, and you'll end up with completely new developers. This presents challenges in terms of knowledge-transfer, and it can lead to a decrease in the quality and constency of the deliverables. And it also affects the timeline of projects. We've rarely had this dilemma with Kellton Tech, which we've greatly appreciated. 

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve upon, or are there things you'd do differently as the client before approaching this type of project?

As much as them, I think sometimes we’re a little bit too loose with our briefing and our documentation of work. You’ve always got to remember that, however good their English, it isn’t their native language. We’re used to that sort of relationship where you can exchange ideas and you’re sort of building something together through a collaborative effort. I think when you’re utilizing some of these outsourced vendors, you’ve got to tighten up the specifications, but I don’t think that’s unique to Kellton Tech. I think that’s probably unique to any outsourced partner. That's been a learning experience for us, and it's something we were aware of before initiating the relationship. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Development Director of Purchasing Power

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Atlanta based product company in B2B e-Commerce space. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Kellton to accomplish?

Develop and manage iOS and Android Apps for eCom Customers

SOLUTION

How did you find Kellton?

Referral

Why did you select Kellton over others?

Good value for cost

How many teammates from Kellton were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

kellton is invlolved in developing and maintaining our iOS and Android Apps. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Delivery on time with minimal defects. 

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

They attend our daily agile stand up calls, understand the reqwuirements, provide the level of effort (LOE), and complete the releases on time. We do monthly releases for new functionalities and bug fixes. 

What was your primary form of communication with Kellton?

Virtual Meeting

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

Very easy to work with. The developers are responsive to our asks.

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

Probably the devekopers can gain more expertise in App development so that they can fix complex issues faster. 

BACKGROUND

Briefly describe what your company does and your role there. 

I am a Back End Developer in my organization and I developed the back end part of software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What were your company's goals when you started looking for a partner?

Our goal is to provide IT services that delivers innovative solutions to our clients.

SOLUTION

Describe the scope of your partner's work with your company. Please include a summary of any key tasks or deliverables.

For our clients, we provide different IT services and software solutions so that the work goes smoothly.

How many people does your company work with?

Over 11 people

How did you find this provider?

Referral

Why did you choose to work with them?

• Positive reviews and ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred by a trusted source
• Company values aligned

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What are the results or deliverables of this partnership that demonstrate progress or success?

The progress is great and we will also look forward for the partnership in future also.

How does your team communicate with this service provider?

• Virtual Meetings
• Phone Calls
• Email or Messaging App
• Project Management Platform

Are there any areas for improvement or something this service provider could have done differently?

The work is going on smoothly the only thing is the delay due to geographical location for some urgent work.