Leale Solutions

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an international benefits third-party administration company and insurance provider. We design, distribute, and administer medical travel insurance and major medical for both individuals and companies who are away from home. We provide travelers with coverage for accidents and illnesses.

What is your position?

I am the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Leale Solutions?

The challenge was that we weren't sure what our challenges were. We have a 26-year-old business that has been family-owned and operated for 23 of those years. We've mainly used homegrown systems and processes. When working with a global business platform that has been built during such an extended period of time, there is a large amount of complexity and sophistication required in paying, for example, a claim made in China for an American traveling on business. This can be a problem in terms of conceptualization alone, but building the processes and the technology platform that can facilitate that can be even harder. The same system must function in Central Africa and with Brazilians traveling to the United States in order to get healthcare treatment. There are many issues that were solved, as with many family businesses, as they emerged. We ended up with an accumulated patchwork of various smaller solutions that may have had some defects.

I started my work in the company as the chief operating officer and executive vice president three years ago, when the business was already being run by the private equity that had purchased it from the family. I started to get a hard look at the holistic issues, including data. We had an IT [information technology] team that averaged eight to 11 years of employment for each member. This implied that there were many duct tape and bailing twine fixes involved, which were only known by those people. This is a huge issue for a firm that wants to grow globally. It was obvious to me that we needed a strong, objective consultant that would not be employed on a project-specific basis.

I'd worked with Leale Solutions in the past while serving on another project and found them to be different to any other technology firms until then. It was obvious to me that we needed them to come in and treat the task as if they were the brand-new CTO of the firm. They needed to find the things that could undermine our growth and address them first. Afterward, we could work on getting better and building a new platform.

I needed someone to come in and take on the heavy lifting. The selected vendor had to meet certain criteria. They needed to be objective, subject matter experts, and trustworthy. Those three things are mission-critical for any relationship that is core to a business. This is the circulatory system of our company and, without it, we cease to live. Handing it to someone else required a very high degree of confidence.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

We don't work in a project-specific manner. Leale Solutions has been acting as our CTO for more than a year, helping us source the right talent. I view the relationship as business technology consulting. There is an interesting comparison to be made to old manufacturing. There used to be tool-and-die departments that no longer exist. Between 10 and 15 people would be employed, waiting for a problem on the factory floor to arise and for someone to tell them that it was broken. Those people would then design a tool to fix the problem. That art has disappeared in the conventional sense, but Leale Solutions do just this in a manner of speaking. They assess problems and hypothesize solutions. Then, they build a tool to fix that problem, just like a tool-and-die shop would. That tool would have bio-specificity to the particular factory and problem. It's not an off-the-shelf item that can be jammed in with an adjustable wrench.

Leale Solutions has advised us and handled huge data migrations and data warehousing as well as business intelligence projects for us. They've done some mobile app development for our company, too. We engaged in both Android and iOS mobile development with quite a bit of analytics on the back-end, as well as UI/UX [user interface/user experience] design. It included expertise that we didn't have. I wouldn't necessarily hire staff full time for this because these are projects for specific, time-bound deliverables.

We also engaged in deep data migration and scrubbing as well as running sophisticated algorithms for tying up data points, changing it from a transactional database to an object orientation data structure. It's a phenomenal feat to be able to implement raw algorithms on disparate data sets, come up with a unique object identifier and link everything together. I think it is a special skill set provided by the database architect that we've used, along with the Ph.D.s in mathematics employed by Leale Solutions in order to do that. It's completely different requirement to simply developing standard mobile apps. This was not a resource I could find on a day's notice in Indianapolis and manage successfully.

Stand-alone is never a good word when talking about technology. We have to consider how to integrate each part into a greater, holistic solution. When I asked Leale Solutions to pull back to a few hundred feet away in order to get an overview of our business from a technology standpoint, they were able to do it. My internal team lives, breathes and sits very close to the factory floor. They don't have the ability to pull back and achieve the same level of objectivity.

How did you come to work with Leale Solutions?

We didn't go through a full vetting process. We based our choice on interviews and personal relationships. It was important to know if we could trust them. Being able to articulate very complex technology ideas and solutions in a business vernacular that made sense to executive lay people, such as ourselves was important. Leale Solutions spent an enormous amount of time on the ground with us working in IT steering committee meetings. If something had to be done, they would find the resources to get it done for us and honor their promise. This went a long way for me. I'm much less sensitive to price than I am to value. We couldn't afford to get things wrong, so we chose people whom we believed could get it right.

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

The annual cost for Leale Solutions's services is in excess of $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We used to be owned by a private equity firm. Then, we sold the company in October 2015 to another private equity firm. For the three-year period between one sale and another, Leale Solutions acted as our technology safety net. They were our acting CTO at the time of selling our business. Anyone who knows anything about business will know that selling a company from one private equity firm to another is indicative of having created quite a bit of value. The best testimonial is the integral part that Leale Solutions played during that 36-month period in helping us create value across the entire enterprise and going through the due-diligence process of selling a company, from the role of acting CTO.

How did Leale Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We established a project management unit internally. Leale Solutions helped us build it, which was useful. There will always be issues in translating business requirements into technology solutions, deploying them, making sure that quality assurance testing is done right, and putting together a meaningful task list. This is more than a six-month project. From my point of view as the president of the firm, things will never go as cheaply or as quickly as I would like them to. There were no gross oversights, and I was always kept informed if we were outside of scope in terms of time and budget. Many of these issues were due to internal prioritization and the shift in our work assets.

What distinguishes Leale Solutions from other providers?

In the technology world, specialization is key. They have been finding their own niche so they can deliver meaningful value to firms. There is a choice to be made between being software developers and consultants. They stand out by focusing on the performance of the business they're assisting. If a piece of technology doesn't positively impact the performance of a firm or its operational outcomes, then it's effectively useless. I give Leale Solutions credit for making the work be about our business and not their ego.

Is there anything Leale Solutions could have improved or done differently?

I've had this conversation with their two founders, [CEO Dan Stantamaria and COO Steven Bowman]. The issue is always one of scalability, rather than simply being able to accomplish a task. The question is how much can be done and how quickly can it be done. If budget is not an issue, can resources be deployed in order to quickly solve my problem? Leale Solutions has tackled this well, although we haven't put a large demand on them. There are not huge issues to mention.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Incapital is an investment bank.

What is your position?

I was in charge of application development and project management in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Leale Solutions?

My company was developing a number of applications. Leale Solutions was contracted for building a document editor that would be used for putting out medium-term notes and dealing with other investment banks. We needed to customize bills for different institutions. We had a manual process for the automation of which we needed the help of a development firm. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Leale Solutions put forth suggestions for our platform, and we came up with a design to be implemented. We developed the application using .NET.

How did you come to work with Leale Solutions?

The major reason for choosing Leale Solutions was that Dan Santamaria, one of their principals, had been associated with Incapital previously. He had the necessary knowledge base for working within an investment bank. He is very technically oriented and had a good understanding of what we were dealing with. In addition, his partner proved to be very knowledgeable as well. Their firm was unique in the fact that they had both onshore and offshore resources in Ukraine. I was a bit hesitant in using them at first because I'd had some poor experiences using offshore resources in the past. His team was fine, though, including their English proficiency. I had no problems understanding them whatsoever.

We also considered a number of different firms but, when we put the pros and cons together, Leale Solutions outweighed their competition. Many firms will look for long-term, large engagements and will focus on the money more than anything else. Leale Solutions is willing to engage in smaller projects. Once they understood our business, they were very keen on proposing different solutions and growing along with our firm. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted for about half a year. We haven't expanded our collaboration past the original development due to some budget constraints and because of changes in our management team. We would have continued to work with Leale Solutions had this not happened.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It's hard to quantify the success of the software exactly but, from a time perspective, it was an improvement. We didn't complete the project using Leale Solutions because of budget constraints but, what they did for us helped eliminate many of the mistakes in our operations and helped us see certain elements in a new way.

How did Leale Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They became part of the overall project management process in our company. We use JIRA for all of our meetings and project management. We created a wiki for Leale Solutions, through which they could look at all of our notes. The daily collaboration with their developers helped us significantly.

My biggest concern when employing them was whether their developers could work with our company despite the difference in time zones. During our working hours, it's late at night in their region. I left the coordination mostly up to our applications development manager and architect. Overall, it proved to be a good experience.

What distinguishes Leale Solutions from other providers?

Our company proposed the direction that we considered most beneficial to us. In many cases, development firms would come in, listen to what we had to say and make that implementation, without proposing alternatives. Leale Solutions listened to what we had to say and came back with what they thought would work better for us. They made suggestions for reducing the development time while still getting to the goal. This has been a big plus in my mind. They were willing to stick their neck out and go against the grain.

Steven Bowman, their chief operations officer, seems to have a different set of strengths to their CEO. He was very adept at warehousing, mobility, and other elements with which we were just becoming familiar.

One of the companies I used to work for outsourced development to India. It was a disaster. People worked in 12-hour shifts, switching between working days and nights. With the first chance they got, developers would switch to day shifts. We always interchanged people as a result, which pushed our projects back. Leale Solutions have been able to hold their staff intact. Two years after I first worked with them, the same people are still there, which is highly unusual. Just like in the case of a sports team, if the status quo can be maintained, the group will be stronger.

Is there anything Leale Solutions could have improved or done differently?

At the time, they were more of a startup firm. We communicated directly with the developers, and they seemed to be weaker from a project management perspective. Now, they seem to have developed a much larger development staff. The biggest issue was to do with their overall processes. They've sorted this out since that time. Leale Solutions have brought on a couple of business analysts and project managers.

Engagement is key when dealing with a software developer. The client needs to know what the end results will be. It's important that they're open to the path that will get them there. Too often, in the development world, applications managers and the chief technology officer will know what's best. The IT [information technology] world is changing very fast, so IT consultants and contractors will tend to be on the leading edge of things. There are many different ways of getting from point A to point B, and it's very important to be open to listening to other solutions.

The overall management team of Leale Solutions was composed of people who had a vast business perspective. Their firm is now branching out to developing their own products. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Preferred Medical Plan was a health maintenance organization.

What is your position?

I was the director of business applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Leale Solutions?

We needed help developing our website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Leale Solutions created our website and incorporated some marketing technology into it, including A/B testing on landing pages and a model–view–controller architecture. They also helped implementing SharePoint functionalities.

The development was done using ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server, AngularJS, HTML5, Ajax, and Microsoft SharePoint. They specifically used ASP.NET MVC [Model View Controller], which is a paradigm shift from a classic web form.

Our main website functioned as a marketing application. We incorporated A/B testing into it, which is a way of alternating between two pages for different visitors. Visitor A gets page A and visitor B gets page B. There is only a slight variation between the two. Whichever page gets more people to do what we want them to do is chosen. After that, one other small change is made, and the process is repeated. This can consist of wording, different images, and so on. The design will thus be data-driven, based on what the customer thinks, not on what a designer thought would look good.

Leale Solutions also helped with a provider portal project, but it was left unfinished because of internal decisions. I managed their team from a very high level, in terms of deliverables and timelines. I only interacted with their project manager, so I'm not sure of the exact number of developers assigned to us.

How did you come to work with Leale Solutions?

I had worked with Leale Solutions at a previous engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for three years. Our most recent project was completed in December 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Everyone loved our solution, including the way in which applications ran and how they looked. We didn't have any complaints, even though around 250 employees and the executive management.

Our company was an HMO dealing with The Affordable Care Act also known as ObamaCare. Due to some problems, it was shut down, so we didn't get a chance to measure response to the site. The clients that did see it gave us some good feedback. I'm sure that the site would have contributed much more to our conversion rate had we continued our operations.

How did Leale Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They were able to deliver their work within time and budget. We used JIRA at Leale Solutions's recommendation.

What distinguishes Leale Solutions from other providers?

They have integrity. I worked with them at a previous company in order to make sure that Leale Solutions would do a good job. They went above and beyond in order to make their client happy. I've reviewed their code, going through their processes and have continued to use them after leaving that other company. I simply trust them. I know many of other consulting companies that look to extend their contracts and inflate the time necessary for getting things done. Leale Solutions provided the best service possible, for the best value. They never dragged their feet.

My new company mainly focuses on databases and business intelligence. We refer Leale Solutions to our clients constantly. If I ever work with a company through which I will benefit from Leale Solutions's services, I will use them.

They are great at working with people who have not had prior experience with technology providers or are not very tech-savvy. Leale Solutions breaks things down at a business level and takes the time to understand what business means. They can also read between the lines and make out the difference between what a business thinks they need versus what they actually need. They can explain this in layman's terms and deliver the best solution. Anyone working with them will have that experience and won't need to worry about their personal ignorance of technology.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an IT [information technology]-managed services provider offering complete outsourced technology services for our clients, including cloud hosting, Internet, phones, and so on. We work through a monthly support agreement. We offer managed firewalls and security monitoring as well as emergency repairs for servers. We also offer IT consulting and remediation. As an example, we've recently worked with a group of attorneys on a hacking case, offering expert witness services.

What is your position?

I am the managing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Leale Solutions?

Anytime a client is in need for custom software, we call upon Leale Solutions. They've been involved in app development for some very big, successful projects.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

We've worked on .NET framework projects with Leale Solutions. They use several different frameworks in their development process and have custom libraries that they reuse. They've been involved in creating both web and mobile apps. Another component of their work involved the back-end server and database development.

Most of our projects have had between three to five team members assigned to them, including a project manager. A typical project will include development for a user interface and an application layer as well as a database layer. Their developers are cross-trained, but they usually assign a specialist for each type of work, depending on the size of the project.

We don't have any developers in our team, although we did use to work on software development. Our present coding efforts are at a PowerShell and systems level. We handle basic maintenance of our sites, but we engage Leale Solutions for real application design and development as well as database management. They also use our company for systems implementation.

How did you come to work with Leale Solutions?

I hired their CEO [Dan Santamaria] while working at a medical software company 22 years ago. He was in college at the time. I've always taken credit for his career because of this. We got in touch again in 2011 and have been working together ever since. They are top-notch people. Leale Solutions is very particular about who they choose as clients and don't take risks. I love working with people like this. They dot their i's and cross their t's.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The work with our insurance client was our biggest project. We brought Leale Solutions in because that company was using an application written in ASP.NET 1.0, which is the initial framework developed by Microsoft. Their initial development team was very bad. They had been in production for almost a year and had invested a lot of money into a nonworking piece of software. Leale Solutions came in, did an assessment of what the priorities were, including renewals, locking down the database and encrypting it, as well as migration to the newer .NET framework.

One of the most impressive things that I've seen them write was a utility that tells the user how many errors they have. The insurance company can run this app through their database and identify possible errors in the present calculations. It works as an enterprise dashboard that the executives can use to visualize reports. It has a SQL [structured query language] back-end and is completely web-based. The company has an international presence, with users from 60 countries accessing their web servers. Through the app, the error level was brought down to less than 2 percent, starting from an initial number of 100,000 errors. Leale Solutions also wrote the entire interface for visualizing stocks. They approach problems at an enterprise level, understanding who their client is and how the problem can be solved.

How did Leale Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We used a number of project tracking tools, including JIRA, for helpdesk, ticket tracking, and so on. We work with different systems based on the project and how the client wants to manage it.

What distinguishes Leale Solutions from other providers?

Their team is unique through their selective approach in terms of whom they choose as a client. Leale Solutions puts a priority on success. We've brought several clients to them. Everyone wants to make a web or mobile app right now, but a $100,000 investment won't always bring a return. Certain clients don't have an understanding of the development process, including code quality, documentation, testing, and so on. The people with Leale Solutions are pros at what they do and know what it takes to build web apps and accurately price them. We've worked on several big projects, and they've always nailed the specs in terms of pricing.