Software Engineering for Clinical Research Company
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Custom Software Development
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Other app platform
- $200,000 to $999,999
- Mar. 2020 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 4.5
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"They’re willing to work through with us on the specific needs of the company."
- Other industries
- Vienna, Virginia
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
A clinical research startup hired KiwiTech for their development services. The team produced a web and mobile application, focusing on UX/UI design and an AWS architecture. They provide testing support.
While the engagement is ongoing, the team at KiwiTech provides consistent and quality development work. Their efficient project management style makes them stand out. They're also flexible, personable, and transparent. Customers can expect a reasonable team that's easy to work with.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the founder and CEO of a seed-stage startup company based in Tysons Corner, Virginia. We’re on a mission to accelerate human-centric clinical trials using a SaaS platform that accelerates patient recruitment and retention.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What challenge were you trying to address with KiwiTech?
We wanted to build a SaaS platform on AWS in a bring-your-own-device model. It would be a web-accessible application with multiple users and role-based access.
Both the data and interface would vary between the role and permission level of the user logging in. We were building it for both mobile and desktop devices.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
KiwiTech’s range of services included software requirement elicitation. They produced specifications from a functional, technical, and security standpoint. They handled UX/UI, database, AWS architecture design, full-stack software development, and data integration and analysis.
They’ve delivered a number of documents, including requirements design, a traceability matrix, release notes, and user guides. They handled the deployment and testing of the software product itself. The platform was built as a responsive app.
They release new components and features at the end of each two-week sprint. In addition to the product development itself, they also offer a startup ecosystem and investor introductions. They’ve introduced us to around 15 investors so far.
What is the team composition?
There have been around 10 people from KiwiTech involved on a regular, ongoing basis, and another five that provided support from a sales and marketing standpoint.
All in all, I’ve interacted with around 15 people from KiwiTech on the product side. I was the main visionary behind the product on our side. I provided most of the requirements. Aside from me, there were 4–5 people from our side involved in the development.
Our chief science and technology officer was involved for about six months, and we had a subject-matter expert available on an ongoing basis to clarify requirements. There were also advisory board members available to guide the engineering and architecture at a high level.
How did you come to work with KiwiTech?
We chose them mainly because of the open and candid communication. KiwiTech had an attractive business model for startups. They put their skin in the game by investing in our company and vision, and they provided the service in a flexible, high-quality manner.
They had a good setup from a strategic standpoint for startups to engage with.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent a total of $350,000 so far.
What is the status of this engagement?
I first met them in December 2019, and we started working formally in March 2020.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
It’s an ongoing journey, but they’ve lived up to delivering the quality product that our healthcare and life-science customers expect.
They invested 50% of our company's development cost, but with the intellectual property remaining solely ours. Our software has significant regulatory requirements, in addition to technical ones. KiwiTech was flexible in supporting us on an as-needed basis.
How did KiwiTech perform from a project management standpoint?
From a project management point of view, they’ve delivered everything we expected.
KiwiTech definitely met the standards of having a quality management system, in terms of processes and documentation, as well as on HIPAA and other regulatory compliance requirements. They helped address most of our third-party audits.
We have billable and non-billable resources on their end. Not all 15 people from KiwiTech bill us, but they do guide from a project management perspective. They have a dedicated project management office, and we have a technical project manager and a regular project manager onboard.
I have daily Zoom calls with them to review our current status, features to be developed, and so on. The project managers pull in all the pieces on KiwiTech’s side to support the project.
We have monthly review meetings with their CTO, project management office, and senior vice president of operations. We review how the project is going and whether there are opportunities to improve.
We’re using several tools, including Jira for bug and resource tracking. KiwiTech sends us a monthly resource utilization sheet, detailing what activities developers, QAs, and all other resources performed. There’s a lot of transparency in terms of billing.
Basecamp is used to organize all the team members regarding access permissions, and all documents are tracked there. We use Google Docs and spreadsheets for requirements tracking. We share folders to organize documents. They use InVision to deliver all the UI designs. We can collaborate and provide feedback through it.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their team is easy to work with. They’re friendly, open to listening, and very reasonable. I’ve developed a comfort level with them over the last two years of interactions. KiwiTech adheres to everything written up in our agreements, but there’s flexibility in making any minor accommodations we may need on an ongoing basis.
They’re willing to work through with us on the specific needs of the company.
Are there any areas they could improve?
The documentation process is one area where we’ve had to make improvements.
KiwiTech had standard project management and documentation processes for both fixed-price and time-and-materials agile projects, but we’re using a quality management system, which means that we have audit trails and logs of which person offered which document, from requirements to design, test plans, and architecture.
Every little aspect has to be documented from cybersecurity, privacy, and compliance standpoint. Defining and documenting the process is one area where we’ve worked together to improve the months.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
My advice is to understand the process. We have to plan for significant time commitments, and it’s also important to coach their team. KiwiTech provides excellent resources, but the client needs to take the time to set expectations right from the beginning.
There’s nothing called a “standard software engineering process” in the industry. We have capability maturity models (CMM) levels 1–5, but we’re not looking at that rigorous process for a startup.
Each company might be at a different stage in its evolution. Depending on the specific situation, there will be a shared responsibility there. The client shouldn’t look at it as a matter of outsourcing everything to KiwiTech and staying less involved.
Rather, they should take an active role in coaching the team and setting expectations on the level of speed, quality, and process documentation they need.
The KiwiTech team has demonstrated that they can be flexible, but there have to be daily, weekly, and monthly interactions to continuously set expectations.
RATINGS
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Quality
4.5Service & Deliverables
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Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS
