Liventus

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Shareholder of ECS Financial Services, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

ECS is a public accounting firm that specializes in the equipment leasing industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Process automations
• BI Reporting
• Application Development
• IT Support

SOLUTION

How did you find Liventus?

Referral

Why did you select Liventus over others?

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

How many teammates from Liventus were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Liventus is our partner for everything IT. They are our managed service provider for application development, all business process automation, as well as our network support. We have numerous custom applications that we use to support our clients in our niche industry, and Liventus has developed them and continues to maintain them. 

They also integrate into industry-specific programs that we use to make our processes more efficient. Liventus has been a wonderful partner and has been integral to our success.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The partnership with Liventus has yielded quantifiable results that reflect both progress and success in various aspects of our business. Here are some measurable outcomes: 

1. Efficiency Gains: After the implementation of custom applications developed by Liventus, our operational efficiency and employee productivity increased significantly. 
2. Cost Savings: Through business process automation, we were able to reduce operational costs by at least 20%. 
3. Performance Metrics: The network support provided by Liventus has helped us achieve a 99.9% uptime, ensuring uninterrupted service and boosting customer satisfaction. 
4. Integration Success: The seamless integration with industry-specific programs has allowed us to do more work without additional staffing.
5. Revenue Growth: As a result of the operational improvements and custom applications/automation, we attribute increased revenues to our partnership with Liventus. 
6. Scalability: The systems put in place by Liventus have proven to be scalable, supporting an increase in business volume without requiring additional infrastructure investments. 
7. Compliance: With our specific industry, we are held to certain compliances and standards, and the solutions by Liventus help us become and maintain our compliance. They are fully compliant with industry regulations, greatly reducing our security risk.

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

Liventus project management is great. We have weekly communication, if not more regular, and that maintains a very healthy relationship.

What was your primary form of communication with Liventus?

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

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

They are a true partner that looks out for our success, which is hard to find in other vendors.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Administrative Operations in Facility Operations at DePaul University.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Liventus, and what were your goals?

We needed a number of adjustments to various Access databases that we utilize within the areas that I oversee. Everything from new reports being created to additional fields added to getting the databases to work in both 32 and 64 bit (with the upgrade to Office 365).

SOLUTION

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

Liventus was recommended by a previous vendor that stopped supporting us. Based on our conversations with Liventus directly we made the decision to proceed with them

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

After initial contact we had a Teams meeting with both our primary representative and a program side individual. After that meeting, we placed required files in a DropBox. The programmer began work and communicated with us as needed to test and ask questions. They then put final files in the DropBox for us to test. After that the project was complete.

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

Thus far it has been mostly what I will call our primary representative and then one program side individual. Previously we have dealt with multiple program side folks as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The changes that were implemented worked perfectly. There is not much else I could ask for!

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

No issues with deadlines, and I would say faster than I expected. Communication has always been good with them.

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

It's always hard to find good and reliable help, but Liventus does it right.

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

At this point I can think of nothing that needs to be done differently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product and general manager of consumer at a lending company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liventus?

We’re currently working on different projects with Liventus, but we initially required scripting software support for financial reporting.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Liventus helped us with scripting. They wrote and delivered a series of SQL and Python scripts that allowed us to reconcile a couple of different loan reporting systems. We deploy those scripts to calculate numbers so that we can report our performance to finance partners.

We managed the database of our loan book ourselves, and we provided them access to this data for them to develop the scripts. We also provided them with documentation and sample outputs.

Currently, we’re starting to bring some of Liventus’ team members to support us on web design, but this project started a week ago, so we don’t have any input on that side of their services yet.

What is the team composition?

We’re currently working with three people from Liventus: a project manager, a senior developer, and a mid-level developer.

How did you come to work with Liventus?

We got in touch with Liventus through a financial partner of ours. They had built a lot of tools for this other company, and that’s how we got to know them. As for how we decided to work with them, we did a lightweight RFP process, and they provided us with the simpler and most cost-effective solution compared to the other vendors we spoke with.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2019–January 2020 on this project. Our current engagement is for a totally different project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Liventus delivered a very high-quality, extremely well commented, clean, and simple code that business owners could run. We don’t use this software very often, but it underlines the reporting on a roughly $700 million loan book, so it needed to be done right. That’s why we appreciated Liventus’ service.

The development process was relatively pain-free. They did a very good job of getting things right, not on the first try, but very soon after. In general, we were very happy with the quality of development and support we received.

How did Liventus perform from a project management standpoint?

Ours was a light-scope project, so there wasn’t a lot of project management involved. However, I can say that Liventus met the deadlines and was very communicative. We didn’t use any project management tools due to the size of the project, but the project was well managed in general. We used email to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Liventus delivered what they promised under budget, which was key for the success of the project. We only needed a simple solution, and we got a simple solution. A lot of other vendors pitched us complex, full-software solutions, but we only needed scripts, and that was what we got.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. It was a simple engagement, and they stuck the landing. If it had been a more complex engagement, maybe I would have had different feedback.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more upfront thought you can put into your needs, and the better you can communicate that with the help of documentation and examples, the better the project's outcome will be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software developer at an IT company. We provide cloud-based software applications for different industries. I’m currently working on a case management software for nonprofit organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liventus?

We hired Liventus to write the API software our customer needed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a client who used a Windows Web Services API (WWSAPI), and they wanted to connect that to our case management software. Since Liventus didn’t have access to the web services API during the development or testing process, the team had to spin up their own web services API to test against. Once the development and testing phases were completed, they walked us through the code they delivered.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Tim (EVP of Client Engagement) to initiate the contract. Then, we worked with one of their senior developers in completing the software.

How did you come to work with Liventus?

We were looking for an organization to handle our project, so we contacted Liventus. We were familiar with their company for a while, but this was the first time that we had a contract with them. After that, they sent over an ad hoc agreement the same day we contacted them because we only had a limited scope project. Then, we initiated the project the next day.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $3,000–$4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them last February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Liventus delivered a software that worked perfectly, and we didn’t have any issues with it. In addition, our external client didn’t interact with them, but they signed off on the team’s deliverable.

How did Liventus perform from a project management standpoint?

Their process was extremely straightforward, but I wasn’t exactly sure how they handled their project management process. After we signed the contract, they immediately assigned an engineer who set up a kickoff meeting with us the next morning. Overall, we had great communication with their engineer throughout the partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Liventus was able to work with a variety of technologies that we were involved in. In the end, they were able to deliver a product that met all of the requirements we asked for — a product that could run and be connected to WWSAPI at the same time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, our project went flawlessly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define the majority of your requirements before starting to work with a partner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Technology at a mid sized advisory intermediary who focuses on healthcare real estate transactions. I am responsible for all things tech related and maintain oversight of our firm's application development to ensure stakeholder requirements are met.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Liventus, and what were your goals?

We initially hired Liventus to help us stabilize our enterprise application that was suffering from numerous bugs that had been left behind by the previous developer. Our goal was to increase the speed of our application and to enhance user experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select Liventus and what were the deciding factors?

We selected Liventus after conducting several interviews with other firms. Some of the deciding factors in our decision were: 1) They were competent in our existing tech stack and would be able to immediately start fixing critical bugs. 2) They were familiar with our unique situation regarding the legacy development of our app. 3) Locally based, responsive to our needs and requirements 4) Thoughtful team

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

Our application was a Wordpress,PHP app that had been decoupled from Wordpress and migrated to a cloud environment. After the migration, Liventus was hired to step in and fix mission critical bugs within our system. After the application was stabilized, we engaged Liventus to develop a new feature set for our finance & sales departments. These features are being developed currently alongside app maintenance.

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

A project manager is the main point of contact, I also speak regularly with a team of approximately 4 developers. Our weekly standup call generally consists of 6 or so team members from Liventus.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Yes, Liventus was able to patch up the legacy bugs pretty swiftly, while simultaneously developing new features. They are communicative and the general feedback from stakeholders at my firm is overwhelmingly positive.

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

Weekly standup calls, bi-weekly demos/standups on new feature development, Azure develops, emails. Project management has been great.

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

They really listen to the issues we are trying to solve and develop tailored solutions to help us address those issues. Management is very responsive, helpful, and pleasant. Overall, they are just a great team to work with.

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

Not at this moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product development coordinator for a manufacturer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liventus?

We wanted to create the ability to connect our product to our customers’ WIFI and had a WIFI module built. We needed a mobile app developed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For this engagement, Liventus created four mobile apps: two for residential and two for retail. They are available on iOS and Android. With the app, customers can create and manage their accounts on the app. The team gets notified of any product problems via text or email. They also manage the API calls and server end of the WIFI module.

What is the team composition?

I work with an associate app development manager and a junior app developer. 

How did you come to work with Liventus?

The CEO had worked with their president before, and they decided to partner in this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around June 2016, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It has been a smooth engagement from the start. Liventus is quick at fixing any issues that arise with the WIFI module.

How did Liventus perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything is good. They’re very responsive and have met deadlines well. We have good communication, and the app developers are both great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them, meeting every challenge. They go above and beyond our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your scope in place and know your vision. Go over everything in detail, communicating clearly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Beacon Funding. We’re an equipment leasing company and what we do is call on small businesses throughout the company and we help them acquire the equipment they need to grow and expand. For example, we would finance equipment for an embroidery company. We would do the same thing for new tow trucks, food trucks, septic trucks, screen printing, or apparel.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liventus?

We originally reached out to Liventus to help us with our original CRM installation. We use Microsoft Dynamics here. Over the years, they’ve been a key partner to build a tremendous amount of automation around that core frontend system. Now we have a very automated frontend system that streamlines our application, credit approval, documentation, and evaluation processes with our customer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re basically our technology team. They still support and maintain our CRM. We’ve branched off of that and they’ve helped with our sales process. When someone completes an application, they go through for credit approval and funding. We built an extension of our CRM system to manage the commission associated with those deals.

They also built a CRM module that will help us repossess equipment if the company can’t make their payments.

They’ve also been very involved with our data. We’ve accumulated a ton of data since 2002 and Liventus has helped us build data warehouses, master data management projects, and then use that data now to more intelligently engage with prospects. It helps us identify companies interested in buying.

What is the team composition?

We work with about 10 people on a regular basis. Over the course of the project, we’ve probably worked with about 30–40 people.

How did you come to work with Liventus?

I don’t know how we found them. It was a very long time ago. I think the founder of Liventus is local so we probably connected through common acquaintances.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $500,000– $1 million per year (approximately $9 million).

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Liventus since February 2002 and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We conducted about 2,000 leases and manage millions, and all of that goes through our platform. The whole process is so simple now. The automation has seriously improved the process. It used to take our accounting team 4–5 days to close a commission, and now it’s an automated process. It is one of our core competitive advantages because we can bring in new talent and they can adapt to the system quickly.

We’re rather dependent on them because they have such a robust understanding of our CRM platform. It would be hard to replicate that partnership elsewhere.

How did Liventus perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a project manager here, and he has daily standups with the Liventus team daily. We’re talking to them all the time. So if there was an issue, our project manager would interface with the development team. I can also call them if I need help. I have all of their phone numbers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

At this stage in the game, they’re so knowledgeable about our organization. I can throw business requirements at them and they come up with solutions that suit our company well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It is expensive, but like anything else, there’s a cost-benefit for working with them. Do I make more as a result of this partnership? The answer is clearly yes. Of course, they’re not perfect. Sometimes I wish things would go faster.  But if you compared our competition’s platform to ours, theirs would pale in comparison.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you’re working with Liventus, or any technology firm, it’s a two-way street. We put a tremendous amount of time and effort into these projects as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of sales and ticketing at the Nederlander Producing Company of America. I’m responsible for implementing technical solutions for our website and different products. We offer products for online digital lotteries and online ticketing for our shows.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liventus?

Our challenge was hosting a digital lottery, distributing tickets, and selecting winners in a scalable way for tens of thousands of people every day. We had a complex set of goals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us to create a platform that gave us the ability to create and host lotteries. While my team created the specifications, Liventus delivered the code. The platform’s a consumer-facing website built on WordPress. However, their team developed a lot of proprietary code for the platform.

They built a CMS into the system that connects to a merchant account with an online payment processor. Their team baked security protections into the system too. We also set up a validation system and protections from bots and attacks.

After the lottery project, we flipped over to them from a previous provider to overhaul our website. We wanted the highest possible Google rankings in organic searches but our website wasn’t built in that way. Their team completely overhauled our original website design and developed a new platform for us.

They manage the maintenance of the website every month. Liventus also creates bespoke CMS functionalities that we use every day.

What is the team composition?

I always had a project manager and 2–3 developers.

How did you come to work with Liventus?

I initially worked with Tim (EVP of Client Engagement) on a ticketing website many years ago, which he built from the ground up. At that time, he had a different company that eventually merged with Liventus. That’s how I found the Liventus team, and I’ve stuck with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably invested $1.5 million–$2 million in their services. Their maintenance services cost about $120,000 every year.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started to involve Liventus in our lottery project around June 2015, and our partnership’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The lottery process is 95% automated based on our work with Liventus over the last five years. It’s hard to express the success of the lottery. We’ve had as many as 65,000 people enter the lottery in one day.

We also created an algorithm that picks the winners and notifies everyone within a minute of the lottery closing. Many other digital lotteries don’t notify people who enter them that quickly. We need to move quickly because the shows start within two hours of the lotteries.

We started selling our own tickets about two years ago. All of a sudden, COVID-19 hit and shut down our industry. We had no tickets to sell because there were no shows. And yet, our website continued to thrive in organic search results. Over the last 3–4 months, we more than doubled our organic results from a year ago even though the industry’s on pause. That’s a testament to how our website was built and the relevancy of our content.

How did Liventus perform from a project management standpoint?

They have met every challenge that I’ve thrown their way. Not every single day is perfect, which is an unrealistic expectation. However, we work through challenges. Their team pays attention, gives solutions, and strives for perfection. When they make mistakes, they find solutions.  

I still work with the same team that I was working with five years ago. That’s important because they have the mental history of our unique system.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team’s always available when we need them. I can’t remember a time when I reached out to Liventus and didn’t receive a response almost immediately. They deliver for us and meet the needs of our business.

Their team’s also quicker than most other developers I’ve engaged. When you receive a product from a developer, sometimes it will be only 30% of what it should be. Liventus’s first version of a product’s 75%–80% where it should be. I can attribute that success to their process, our team’s organization, and the communication between us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I honestly can’t think of areas for improvement. We addressed our challenges.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do your homework. If you come to the table prepared and clearly explain what you need from them, they’ll deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of laboratory operations for an independent handling and inspection company for carbon-based fuels. We primarily work with petroleum coming from a refinery, as well as coal and biomass, and we provide sampling and analysis services for anybody along that supply chain.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Liventus?

We needed to transfer an old lab information management system from a Microsoft frontend to a web-based application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team started out by helping us develop elements of a web application for different parts of our business. We worked one by one so that we could get functionalities implemented without having to build the entire application at once but eventually pulled back from that as well due to cost concerns.

Since then, they have continued to work with us in a maintenance capacity on our existing applications and provide occasional updates to the Microsoft frontend. We continue to develop with them as we can but in a more limited capacity.

What is the team composition?

I had two points of contact on their team, one of whom was well versed in the web development side and the other who focused on Microsoft Access. I believe they had others working on the project behind the scenes, but I didn’t have direct interactions with them.

How did you come to work with Liventus?

We had a computer hardware provider that we worked with who referred us to them. They presented to us and we moved forward with them from there.

How much have you invested with them?

The total spend has been around $150,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we started working around June 2018 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They really did a great job in the first year that we’ve worked with them. The web app itself is great, and we only have problems when we make a large change on the Access frontend. It’s everything we wanted.

They are still providing good service, but we have seen some increase in the errors that we’re getting and the severity of those errors over time.

How did Liventus perform from a project management standpoint?

The first year went really well in terms of timelines as well, and we were able to complete a lot of work with them. Their communication was really good, and we had good turnaround times on all of the work. This year, that performance has gone down, which is partly a result of the change in our work with them and partly due to a change in our project manager and a loss of institutional knowledge as a result.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been really pleased with their overall ability to sit down with us and discuss so that they get all of the information that they need to do what they need to do. They are able to translate our needs into the specific deliverables that they need to produce in order to satisfy them. Because of the work they put in on the frontend, the better product they are able to provide to us in the end.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The communication could definitely use a little work. I’ve addressed that with them, and they are working to improve in that regard. It’s not bad right now, but It’s not as good as it was before we changed personnel.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be clear about what your end goal is and what your expectations are for them, and they will deliver that for you.