KMS Technology

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Birdseye

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Birdseye combines AI-powered surveillance, live remote video monitoring, and an intelligent Gate Management System to deliver 24/7 site protection, faster threat detection, and real-time response, all tailored to your operational needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KMS Technology to accomplish?

• Birdseye is partnering with KMS Technology to build out an MVP of its Yard Management System (Customer Portal) that will monitor the movement of trailers in the yard and dock of a facility, distribution center or warehouse.
• This system will provide agility and efficiencies by filling in the visibility gaps and create better business intelligence and transparency in operations capabilities between transportation, yard and warehouse.

SOLUTION

How did you find KMS Technology?

Referral

Why did you select KMS Technology over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from KMS Technology were assigned to this project?

Other

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

Augmented the Birdseye engineering team to deliver on roadmap features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project Health and Status Reporting: Weekly Status Reports: These reports include the percentage complete for each item in the sprint and the overall project. Project Health Indicators: The project plan is. updated weekly.

Code Quality and Compliance: Successful adherence is measured by the code's compliance with Birdseye's coding standards, with any non-compliant code being rejected and fixed, preferably within the same sprint.

Timely and Effective Communication: rucial to avoid hindering progress or delaying timelines. Smooth and efficient communication, as outlined in the Communication Plan, is an underlying indicator of a successful partnership and project execution.

Delivery and Predictability: Success is measured by the team's ability to deliver reliably. Key metrics include: Percentage of sprint commitments delivered on time. 

Code and Fix Quality: The stability of the software is a critical success factor. This is measured by: Unit Test Coverage, Code Review Effectiveness, and SonarQube Metrics.

Testing and Validation Speed: Efficient and effective testing processes are a sign of success. Metrics include: Regression Coverage, and Bugs Created Vs. Bugs Resolved.

Client Confidence and Satisfaction measured by: A decrease in reported defects, and On-Time Release Readiness.

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

The team did a great job tracking the project in Jira.  They consistently delivered on their sprint goals. 

What was your primary form of communication with KMS Technology?

Virtual Meeting

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

They're able to offer a wide range of roles. In addition to software development, they were able to provide great BA's and DevOps engineers.  

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

Nothing comes to mind.  They were very open to feedback and quickly accomodated any adjustments we requested. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO & CPO

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We build IT Financial Management software to help companies have transparency on their IT spend and maximize value.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KMS Technology to accomplish?

• Develop new features in our flagship product
• Fix defects in a complex codebase
• Provide all testing support for our Enterprise application

SOLUTION

How did you find KMS Technology?

Referral

Why did you select KMS Technology over others?

Good value for cost, Referred to me

What was the size of KMS Technology’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

KMS developed more than 10 new major features, some based on our designs and some which they developed the designs themselves. These features were delivered at high quality in public releases and included full-stack development from the database layer up to the browser and javascript work. KMS also resolved many (100+) preexisting defects in our large and complex codebase.

KMS also completed all the testing of the application -- story level testing, feature testing, smoke testing, performance testing, and regression testing. KMS developed and executed the test plans. They also built and continue to expand an automation test framework for these tests.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Few escaped defects
• On time delivery of planned scope
• Positive feedback from customers on the product

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

KMS was highly collaborative and consistently delivered their expected work on time. They were fully integrated into our sprint planning process and daily huddles but managed the work of their team members internally. They consistently delivered on their sprint commitments in alignment with our goals.

What was your primary form of communication with KMS Technology?

Virtual Meeting, Email or Messaging App

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

We were impressed with their high-quality work and ability to work in a complex space. They successfully trained their own staff on our product and processes with little support from us once we got a few of their team members on board.

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

The time zone difference was the only major issue for us. Our US team is 12 hours different, so we had minimal overlap time, but KMS consistently made themselves available when we needed them. That said, it's not the same as having them available for the full workday. Occasionally we had languages challenges with accents, but this was not a major barrier and their written communication was excellent.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of client success at Kibo; we provide e-commerce and order management services to our clients. We also offer e-commerce website hosting services and provide a platform for clients to build websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KMS Technology?

We’ve engaged KMS Technology to provide us with custom software development and support. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KMS Technology handles all the custom coding and development work for our market live platform. The platform is a single-tenant staff software application for each of our customers. Our frontend technologies include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and React. They also support our backend database using MySQL and Oracle Database. 

Moreover, the team provides ongoing support to our clients who use the market live e-commerce platform. They interact directly with our customers to resolve issues. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve always had at least one project manager supporting us. We’ve had as many as 30–35 people involved at any given time, including software developers, QA managers, and database administrators.

How did you come to work with KMS Technology?

We found them through a referral. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $2 million–$3 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around January 2015, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure KMS Technology’s success based on the quality of their custom software deliverables. We also measure their defect leakage, which is consistently low. They have a very low percentage of severe defects, which is good compared to the complexity of our code base. 

With regard to customer support, we measure their resolution time and customer satisfaction scores, which are excellent. They typically have a 9.5–9.8 customer satisfaction score, which is higher than the rest of our business. Their responsiveness and ability to resolve issues and communicate with our customers is outstanding. 

How did KMS Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

KMS Technology performs excellently when it comes to deadlines, communication, and budget. We use Slack and Zoom to communicate and Jira to manage development projects. The team just switched from Salesforce to Zendesk to manage the support side. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve had a positive experience overall. They’re flexible and communicative, and we’ve built an awesome relationship. They fill a lot of different needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

As with any outsourcing agreement, we’ve seen stretches of higher turnover, but nothing unexpected. We work with other service providers who have higher turnover rates than KMS Technology.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate your deliverables clearly. If you do your part to give them clear direction, they’ll stay on task and deliver.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm working as a Head of Testing in a telecommunication company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KMS Solutions, Inc.?

As KMS Solutions is well-known for its experts and technology, we've reached KMS Solutions for a comprehensive automation testing course. As our goal is to accelerate the testing process, we hope that after this training course, we can adapt more mature automated testing framework.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We considered many international vendors and selected KMS Soluions as they had completed similar project

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

In our setup, we worked with a PO from KMS Solutions. We had frequently short meetings to report about the issues, bugs, and releases in real-time.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We work with a small team from KMS Solutions. Our project needs 4 people in total.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

They did a tremendous amount of individual and regression testing, and they had successfully identified several defects or bugs within the application that we were actively working to fix.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

In terms of project management, KMS Solutions has excelled. They were self-sufficient and highly adaptable when it came to moving individuals to meet our needs. Their communication has been excellent, and their work is quite thorough. They attend all of our meetings and provide us with thorough updates on their test cases and any faults they had identified.

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

We believe their expertise in the testing area impresses me the most. They also did a great job and response quickly whenever we need

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

No problem was recorded. Moreover, we're looking forward to doing more projects with them in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Head of QA at a financial institutions

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KMS Solutions, Inc.?

We engaged with KMS Solutions for an automation testing project. Since our projects have become more complex and expansive, manual interventions in the test cycle are no more practical. We've engaged with KMS Solutions to improve our testing capabilities and shorten the testing process.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We found KMS Solutions on a B2B research site and were really impressed with their skills and experience in the BFSI industry.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

At first, the company offers us careful consulting sessions and analyzed our associated business problems. From that, they advised us of some possible solutions and delineate an extended roadmap to fulfill our goal. We had weekly online meetings where we could discuss our issues, bugs, and ways to improve.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a team of 5 people, including 1 QC lead, 3 software testers and 1 developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We've completed an automation testing course within 3 months and could reduce the testing time by 20%

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have frequent meetings both online and offline to discuss updates on the test cases and any faults that had been identified. KMS Solutions is excellent in managing projects and helping us with the new technology.

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

We believe their expertise in the testing area impressed me the most. They also did a great job and response quickly whenever we need

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

No problem was recorded. Moreover, we're looking forward to doing more projects with them in the future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Project Manager of a Singapore-based financial institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KMS Solutions, Inc., and what were your goals?

We were looking for tech talents for our new software development project at that time. The project called for coding, testing, and a user interface that we need a digital team around 5-10 qualified staff.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were referred to KMS Solutions by our business partner. They were told to be extremely professional and committed.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started with detailed meetings about our project and what we're looking for from the tech talents. Then, KMS Solutions provided us with the plan for technical support, including the number of people involved, their tasks and the duration of each sprint. We had regular meetings where we could sit together and report the problems and what we'd done so far.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

They introduced us to a team of Full-stack Developers and Testers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We had completed the project on time, which we couldn't achieve without outsourcing. The project is also stable and runs smoothly.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The communication between our two teams was done effectively during the full project. We also had calls and meetings when needed. The KMS Solutions team met the deadlines we set for them, which was important for us. The KMS Solutions team applied different new techniques through sprints. We did have strict deadlines at times, but for most of the collaboration, we simply had a backlog of tasks to perform.

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

We were impressed by the friendly and proactive engagement we got from every member of the team. Moreover, they have a professional working process that make us pleased.

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

Working with KMS Solutions is a good experience that we have nothing to complain.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an engineering manager at a financial service provider, which focuses mainly on helping individuals and businesses with their financial capabilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KMS Solutions, Inc., and what were your goals?

"We approached KMS Solution for a software development project since it has a broad variety of services. We looked to build an innovative, fast, and user-friendly digital banking app to catch the trends of BFSI. The app needs to be stable when there're over 5,000 users accessing it at the same time and include functions such as online investment, QR code payments, online bill pay, etc."

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We found KMS Solutions among the best software development agencies on Clutch.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The project started with briefing and product research. Later, KMS Solutions team created the first wireframes and prototypes later. After several adjustments, they moved forward with product development. We had weekly meetings and were always informed about what was going on in the project flow. We also know that KMS applied the Agile approach and ran regular use tests to make sure that everything works smoothly.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

KMS Solutions connected us with their project manager, and she navigated us during the entire project. We also communicated with their lead designer. There are 5 people involved in this project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We've received lots of feedback about the friendly user interface, app stability and fast money transfer.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We were communicating very effectively during the full project flow. Timely completed milestones, regular meetings, and updates, convenient collaboration tools - all of this helped us maintain mutual understanding between teams on the project.

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

We love how their team communicates with us and other clients — consistently, clearly, and effectively. They're also proactive and help us a lot in giving suggestions about the logic and design.

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

We didn't notice any problems, so we have nothing to add here.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KMS Solutions, Inc.?

We were looking for tech talents for our new software development project at that time. The project called for coding, testing, and a user interface that we need a digital team around 5-10 qualified staff.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Through searching, we found KMS Solutions as one of the top outsourced companies for technology in Vietnam.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We started with detailed meetings about our project and what we're looking for from the tech talents. Then, KMS Solutions provided us with the plan for technical support, including the number of people involved, their tasks and the duration of each sprint. We had regular meetings where we could sit together and report the problems and what we'd done so far.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

They introduced us to a team of Full-stack Developers and Testers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We had completed the project on time, which we couldn't achieve without outsourcing. The project is also stable and runs smoothly.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication between our two teams was done effectively during the full project. We also had calls and meetings when needed. The KMS Solutions team met the deadlines we set for them, which was important for us. The KMS Solutions team applied different new techniques through sprints. We did have strict deadlines at times, but for most of the collaboration, we simply had a backlog of tasks to perform.

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

We were impressed by the friendly and proactive engagement we got from every member of the team. Moreover, they have a professional working process that make us pleased.

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

Working with KMS Solutions is a good experience that we have nothing to complain.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of software engineering at Elsevier. I work in the nursing health education department, and I’m part of the data analytics and content team.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KMS Technology?

We’ve identified opportunities to build new products or enhance existing products within the nursing education space. That being said, we’re partnering with KMS on a couple of different projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KMS is working with our enterprise content management team, primarily helping out with the development and testing of Java-based software. They’re also aiding our insight squad in developing student and faculty-facing dashboards. For this, they use React and Node.js for the frontend and Java for the backend. 

In both projects, they augment our internal teams with their own staff. They do take on some design tasks, but they’re generally focused on execution and implementation. 

What is the team composition?

The way we’re organized is we have product owners for each squad. These product owners are responsible for defining the features that they want to be built. We also have scrum masters or delivery managers that work with the onshore and offshore teams to build out new capabilities based on the requirements of the product owner. 

How did you come to work with KMS Technology?

KMS was already onboarded before I came in. 

How much have you invested with them?

From my perspective, we’ve invested between about $500,000–$1 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in 2019, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure success by the actual delivery of software and the required capabilities. We also reach out to our customers to gauge our NPS (net promoter score) and measure user satisfaction. That being said, we’ve seen our NPS go up, which means that KMS has addressed the capabilities that OUR customers need and want. In general, it’s been a very successful partnership. Their work has become a factor in the growth of our business. 

How did KMS Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

They do extremely well in terms of project management. They have their own structure of support to help manage the financial aspects of the project, and they facilitate regular reviews where we talk about deliverables and plan our next efforts. 

We use Jira to manage the project and Zoom and Slack to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I find them to be very capable, and they work well with my own teams. It’s been a very positive experience working with them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I have no recommendations for improvement at this point. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It helps to have some type of onboarding structure or onboarding team that will facilitate your partnership with KMS. A good operating model for augmenting your internal teams will also be beneficial since you’ll need to liaise and collaborate across different time zones. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief architect at UnitLeader, a venture capital group. My role involves working on most parts of the deal, including due diligence and term sheet negotiations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KMS Technology?

We mostly invest in property technology companies with a software component or SaaS solution in the multifamily space, and we needed help testing that software.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KMS Technology does software code reviews for the companies we invest in as technical due diligence. They’ve worked on several investments with us, doing software audits; the team does the analysis, and we make a decision based on that analysis.

We have an initial call for each project about the scope, what the software is supposed to do, and what we think it should do. We also tell them the information that would be important in our decision-making process, and they take notes on everything. 

At that point, we usually make introductions to the company that KMS Technology will be working with, and they establish their own NDA. The KMS Technology team schedules interviews, talks through the documentation and challenges, and works through the roadmap of the processes and setups. 

We often have KMS Technology do a code audit; they run the code through their software to look for any issues or best practice problems. For us, the audit is about finding out the software’s quality level, whether it’s scalable, and if it’s doing anything it shouldn’t. The KMS Technology team looks out for anything from minor tweaks that could be made to critical issues with the code that we should be aware of.

Lastly, we try to get a feel of the level of effort for someone to create the software from scratch. This helps us gauge how long it would take for a potential competitor to build the software. KMS Technology estimates how many developers and how much time would be needed. 

KMS Technology usually gives us feedback within 2–4 weeks of our audit request. The results give us an overview of what we’re investing in and the software’s level of sophistication.

What is the team composition?

I interact with Leo (CEO) at the beginning of each process, and then Jeff (VP of Software Services), our main point of contact, gives us the technical breakdown at the end. They also have multiple people supporting the process, though I don’t know how many.

How did you come to work with KMS Technology?

We were originally introduced to KMS Technology through another group that we work with that’s in the M&A space, so they work with many companies that do technical due diligence. This group recommended KMS Technology to us.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. Our partnership is on a case-by-case basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

KMS Technology does a great job of giving us technical insight. Their reports have good quality, making it easy for us to understand a company’s technical qualities and get a feel for everything. 

The team can express technical information in layman’s terms and understands that we’re looking at it from a business application perspective, so they assess it that way. 

How did KMS Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good at project management; I haven’t had any problems with them. They usually send us a statement of work and solidify things via email or Zoom calls, which are our main communication mediums. When I ping them, they usually respond within minutes.

They always meet the timeline, even when it’s tight. We don’t typically give them a heads up because when we get a term sheet accepted, we have around 30–45 days to do an analysis. KMS Technology usually has to work within a tight window, and they’ve been able to do it each time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality and depth of KMS Technology’s reviews have been super helpful not only to us but to the companies that we invest in. They get right into the source code and give line-specific feedback. From what I understand, their level of review isn’t the norm within the space.

The fact that they write code themselves and audits are not their sole source of revenue gives them a differentiator in the market. Even though I haven’t used any other company, we like KMS Technology, and we’ve never needed to try another group.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been one or two opportunities when we’ve had to reach out to them for an update. This has only happened a couple of times, though, and they’ve immediately responded, so it’s a very minor issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear on what you’re going to get out of the engagement with KMS Technology. For us, we understand why we’re doing the process and what the team is consulting with us on, which makes it easy to set up the scope — they tell us what they’ll do, and we create a statement of work.